A/N If you are at the start of Crushing the Code right now, or haven't read any of it yet, DO NOT READ THIS. The spoiler alert is only for people who haven't gotten to a fairly important part in the story. I won't be posting spoilers of what will happen here, but straight off you learn something here you don't know until chapter three. So, go read the real story before looking at this, okay? Okay. That being said, this is Dib's perspective of first coming into Mr. Lancer's room and meeting Danny. I hope you like it!

With a small sigh, I followed the teacher that the secretary had just introduced me to. Mr. Lance, I think it was? Zim was jabbering on about how this was an awful idea, remember what happened at my old skool, (completely leaving out his part in it, I might add) the kids were sure to be brats, I should just get an online degree… blah blah blah. I'd heard his little rant a hundred times, and I was sick of it. I was going to get a normal high skool experience if it killed me! …Okay, not literally, as the irken brat in my head started laughing that really annoying cackle of his. Zim started on how no one would fall for my backpack. Yeah, I knew that if they fell for a wig and a pair of lavender contact lenses, they wouldn't care about my backpack.

I shifted the backpack a little, shaking my head slightly as the teacher led me into my new classroom. It looked like I was pretty tall compared to most of them, but they were sitting down…

"Class, this is Dib Mem-"

Aw, crap. The records! The skool records must've had my real last name on them! I didn't think anyone was going to trace me, but better safe than sorry… I leaned over and hissed into Mr. Lance's ear, "It's Othen! Dib Othen!" He looked confused.

"What? But it said-"

"The records are old, we haven't changed them yet." He gave me a quick look, but corrected himself.

"Class, this is Dib Othen. He's a transfer student from out of state." I turned to get a better look at everyone, rubbing one sweaty palm on my pants. A few gasps resonated above the muttering, and I clutched my books as tightly to my chest as I could.

See, they don't like you! Can we go back to the apartment now? Zim complained.

Shut up. I knew this was coming- I look like a freakin' vampire, in case you haven't noticed. Give it time. You don't want to be holed up with Gir for the rest of my teenage years, do you? The image of Zim in my mind that he pulled out every once in a while when he wanted to feel more 'normal' shifted uncomfortably.

No. No I do not. He huffed, before crossing his arms. I realized everyone was staring at me-I'd probably been standing stock still.

"Hey." I said, in a tone that was calculated-not too over eager, but not one that automatically would push everyone away. My mind was racing to think of something witty to say, but Zim chuckling smugly wasn't helping. "This is the part where I introduce myself, right?" I felt like smacking myself in the face. 'This is the part where I introduce myself?' Nervous much? "Huh… well, I'm an inventor, and I like working with biology. Any kind of science really, but my favorite is the paranormal. That is, aliens and ghosts and the like." I looked over the class, squinting a little to see the kids in the back better.

Why did you tell them about inventions? They could ask and we'd be found out! Zim, paranoid as always…

We'll be fine, I've got this. Relax, space-boy. I saw one girl's hand move to her mouth, and it suddenly struck me they might not have seen something like my glasses before-after all, I'd worked on them myself, although part of the blueprints came from Membrane's goggles… I took the glasses off, holding them up slightly. "Oh, these?" I blinked at the loss of them-everything blurred at the edges except for the kids right in front of me. "I just improved them so they wouldn't be so annoying." I put them back on, seeing an African American kid in a beret sitting in the third row leaning forward. "Any questions?" A boy wearing a green sweatshirt that had a Grey with a pointed chin on it raised his hand before asking anyways.

"Where did you come from?" Crud. They'd probably never heard of it… I mumbled the name of my town quickly. I got a few looks for that, but oh well. It didn't matter.

"You said you liked ghosts, right?" This one came from a fairly pretty Latina girl in pink. Huh. Weird person for a question like that… remember, nearly everyone here is interested in ghosts! I chided myself before answering in the affirmative.

"Yeah." Apparently, she wasn't finished.

"How? Like, as a hunter?" Wow, the people here were pretty perceptive… I probably should be careful about what I say.

That's what I was telling you! Zim practically yelled. I rolled my eyes up to the ceiling and placed my index finger on my chin as I tried to piece my words together carefully. "I made a pact to myself to study them, and only eliminate them if they prove to be truly dangerous. Say, I've heard of this Danny Phantom ghost who 'lives' here." My fingers tightened around my books. He was… interesting. Most ghosts were immediately evident about whether they were 'good' or 'bad' in the loosest definition, but Phantom seemed to switch between both, not to mention it seemed the town was split on their opinions of him. It seemed mostly positive lately, but still-the fact that a ghost seemed to know enough to not only appear to change its ways, but could mess with the press, was astounding. I planned to find out more-he seemed to show up at Casper Hi (The wording in front of the skool was weird… they should've fired the person who did signs, Zim had informed me snidely) a lot, so it was only a matter of time. "He's got a lot of both bad and good publicity but I'm not going to do anything until I actually meet him." I paused, shifting my books again and tracing my new boot on the ground before continuing, albeit a bit quieter. "I'm… I'm never going to make the mistake of hurting someone innocent again."

WHY DID YOU SAY THAT?! One of these filthy teens could snoop around and we'll be in huge trouble, you little worm! Zim spat at me and my eyes dropped slightly.

You underestimate the power of teen laziness-oh. Another question.

"Again?" It was a girl in front, with slightly curly brown hair. I decided to forgo the clever wordplay and just go for the flat truth.

"I really don't want to talk about it." I turned to the teacher. "Can I sit down?" He looked around.

"You can sit next to Danny. I think you two will find a few things in common." A boy with tussled, kind of messy black hair and a white shirt with a red oval on it groaned slightly. He must be Danny…

"Thank you, Sir." The man smiled at me.

"You can call me Mr. Lancer." Ah, there was an 'r' at the end. "Danny can show you around Casper High, and I hope you enjoy your new home." I grinned at that, images of chasing ghosts around and actually possibly getting some real friends flying around in my mind. Zim was staying silent for once-I think he knew I needed this moment at least.

"I'm sure I will, but thanks." I scooted through the aisle, glad for my fairly slight frame, before plunking down to 'Danny'. He seemed to be looking me up and down…

"So, Danny then?" He nodded at me as I held out my hand. He took it and shook firmly, looking puzzled about something.

"Yep, Danny Fenton." Huh, his voice sounded… familiar… but where? Maybe he'd been on a news report about the ghost attacks-I'd watched a lot of those to try and get clues about Phantom on the way here, and they sometimes interviewed the kids who were there. "Say, isn't that uncomfortable?" He pointed to my back. Trying to remain casual, I traced a long line along one of the straps.

"Nah." Time for a subject change. Fast. "So, what do you think he was talking about, us 'having a few things in common'?" I made air quotes. Danny took a few moments to think before replying.

"I don't know… Tucker's the techno geek." He pointed to the kid in the beret who'd looked interested before. "I'll introduce you later. I guess it has to be…" He drummed his finger against his chin as I shifted slightly in my seat. Okay, so he was right. The Pak was uncomfortable as heck on hard chairs. But there was no way I was complaining... "Well, my parents are ghost hunters."

"Really?" This was great! A kid who seemed to be at least halfway nice had parents who were ghost hunters, and he seemed to think it was just fine! Okay, I was just going off how he'd said it, but he sounded nonchalant, like you'd say 'My parents work in an office' or 'my sister is the head of her class'. If I could find out exactly what they did, what other people thought of them, then I could work even better than before! "Do you think I could talk to them?"

"Well, I dunno…" Danny started rubbing the back of his neck and dropped his eyes a few inches. "They're pretty solidly into the 'shoot first, ask questions later' camp, especially my dad." Still, if I could learn the general attitude about ghosts, a pair of ghost hunters was probably the best place to start looking.

"Still, If I'm going to live here-" I just about shot straight in the air when Mr. Lancer suddenly barked out our names. Zim laughed-his really irritating laugh too, the one that sends shivers up your spine. I'd never get used to that…

"Danny! Dib! I know Mr. Othen is new, but he should know not to talk in class."

I'll say we should know not to talk, Dib! You remember what Bitters did to children! You don't want that to happen here, do you? His condescending tone had me gritting my teeth.

It won't! Just… just shut up Zim! I can't concentrate on anything! Whenever Zim felt emotion very strongly, which happened all the time, sometimes my vision got blurry, so I closed my eyes to try to avoid that. Suddenly….

I'm taking over. You don't know how to deal with this. I bit my lip and drummed my fingers hard against my desk, using the slight pain to concentrate and force him back. I think my head was bobbing up and down-I probably looked nuts-but I didn't feel myself, I was too busy trying to get Zim to go back.

No! I hissed. Skool. Is. Mine! We agreed on that ages ago! With one last shove, Zim finally stumbled back with a glare. I huffed out a sigh as I heard my name float through the air from next to me.

"Dib? You okay?" I quickly shook my head, trying to erase the lingering cobwebs that he left. I set my palm on my head, digging the fingers in slightly to help come back.

"Yeah, fine." I tried to reassure him, opening my eyes again as proof. He blinked at me, so I looked up at the board. He let it drop. Good. I got the feeling I was gonna like Danny…

A/N ….This was long. I honestly didn't expect to make it this long. I might do an 'in Dib's head' for the fight at the end of chapter one, but other than that… these are actually kind of tricky. Although I think Dib's a little more sarcastic than normal, and Zim really didn't show up much, I do like it. This is my first 'in first person' little writing. Does it show? Oh well… I hope you liked it PenguinBandit523! Reviews are, as always, appreciated!

*Grey= One of the most famous types of aliens-grey skin, big black eyes. Supposedly the aliens at Roswell. I actually really like this stuff, so there might be a few little 'real aliens' or other paranormal references. After all, it is Dib…