*Author's Note: All character's are about 4-5 years older (except Ms. Bitters), so Gaz is about 13 or 14, and Dib and Zim are about 15.
*Co-Written with Vampira1989
Chapter 1: The New Girl
Melanie stood in front of the class, nervously shifting her weight from one foot to the other. Ms. Bitters was introducing her, but Melanie did not hear a word as she surveyed her classmates carefully. They all looked pretty normal except for a few students: one boy had that aging disease which made him look like an old man, one boy with glasses had a particularly large head, and another boy was green.
"If you have anything to say, Melanie, say it now because I don't ever want to hear you speak for the remainder of the year!" Ms. Bitters snarled. Melanie shook her head, too shy to speak to so many people she didn't know. "Then take a seat." Melanie looked around for an empty seat. She spotted the empty desk behind the boy with the large head and decided this would be her seat.
Dib turned around in his seat to get a better look at the new girl while Ms. Biters had her back turned. She was cute and on the shorter side with curly brown hair past her shoulders, big brown eyes, and glasses. Simple as her glasses were, they worked very well with the Lolita costume she was wearing.
The girl, Melanie, looked up at him and gave him a faint smile.
"Hi," said he in a whisper. "My name's Dib."
"Hi," Melanie answered, her smile widening and becoming less shy.
'God, she's cute,' Dib thought noticing the pink color that came to her cheeks when she smiled.
"If you want to know anything -anything at all- just ask me, or if you just want to talk…" Dib let his voice trail off. Her smile was now full and genuine and her cheeks were a nice rosy pink and the curls about her face made her look positively adorable!
"There is someone I want to know a bit about," Melanie admitted, tucking her curly locks behind her petite ears. "The green boy. Who is he? And why is he green?"
"Oh," said Dib, feeling a little disappointed that she wasn't asking questions about him. "That's Zim. He says he has a 'skin condition,' but I know that he's really an alien."
'Great,' he thought glumly. 'Now she's going to think you're crazy like everyone else does.' To his surprise, she let out a loud excited squeal. Ms. Bitters was at Melanie's desk in a heartbeat, growling like a rabid dog. Melanie shrunk down in her seat in fear.
"I…uh…I-I saw a r-r-rat," Melanie stammered, trying to cover up her squeal as a shriek. Students let out screams and started climbing onto their desks.
"It sounded more like excitement than fear to me," Ms. Bitters hissed, narrowing her eyes.
"Y-yes ma'am," Melanie continued. "Y-you see, I love all animals and creatures, so I was excited to see one so close. My squeal scared it, so it ran under the shelves here," (she pointed at the bookshelves along the wall beside her desk, beneath the windows), "so it's probably outside now." Ms. Bitters didn't seem convinced, but she slithered back to the front of the room anyway and class resumed.
When Dib was sure Ms. Bitters wasn't looking, he turned back around.
"Why'd you squeal when I told you Zim was an alien?" he inquired in a low voice.
"Well, I wasn't lying when I said I loved all living creatures," Melanie whispered back. "And I've always wanted to meet an alien." Din stared at her, not sure what emotion he should be feeling at this news.
"You…you don't think I'm crazy?"
"Of course not! I've always believed in aliens!"
'I like this girl already,' Dib thought as he turned back around in his seat.
