Chapter 1
Dib sat in the classroom of the Hi Skool, bored. He glanced over at Zim, who was lazing in his chair, his skeletal body stretched out across it.
He wondered for the hundredth time why the alien had grown. He remembered that their whole society was based off of height, and that Zim had apparently stopped growing before he'd arrived on Earth. Maybe it was something in the air?
The bell rang and everyone scrambled to their seats. A girl he'd never seen before stand at the front of the room.
She was tall and attractively muscled. Her skin was decently tan with golden hair and dark grey eyes. She wore a purple shirt tucked into a black pants held up by a perfect white belt. The pants were in turn tucked into white boots. Multi-colored bracelets adorned her white gloved wrists and a black scarf that nearly covered her two dark necklaces. Wire-rimmed glasses perched high on her slender nose.
"Class, meet Xia. She is a foreign exchange student who will be joining our class today. Be nice."
She smiled winningly at the class, "Hallo. Pleased to meet you."
Her English was heavily accented and she obviously didn't know what to do. He glanced around at the other students. Most of the other guys, he noted, had their eyes solely fixed on her decently sized chest.
The teacher gestured to the seat in the center front, "Sit there."
She nodded and obeyed.
Class flew by quickly, most of it the students focused on the newest of their number.
As the day ended and everyone charged out of the room, Dib moved to walk home and realized that the girl was walking ahead of him.
And suddenly, she was gone.
An alley appeared as he closed in, curious.
Had she been pulled in there?
He stepped into the darkness, trying to see.
A sharp blade pressed against his throat at the same moment he registered the presence behind him. A foreign word echoed in his ear. They tried again, this time in heavily accented English.
"Identify."
It was the girl, Xia.
"Answer."
"I-I'm Dib! I'm in your class. I was walking home! I live this way."
Silence.
She shifted, moving to stand in front of him, the tip of the blade never leaving his neck.
"Prove."
He slowly showed her his Hi Skool notebook. Her eyes flicked down to it and the knife vanished.
"Sorry. I thought you were…not you."
"Who else would I be."
She thought for a second, thinking of the right word, "…Killer?"
"An assassin?"
"Yes!"
"Why?"
"Foreign. Ambassador child? People love to see head on pole."
It was silent for a second, then she stuck out her hand, "Xia."
He stared at the hand for a moment, then decided that she was okay. He took the hand.
"Dib."
She smiled lightly and, not letting go of his hand, led him back out into the sun.
"Dib…I like that name. Walk me home?"
"Sure."
And so he did.