Part One: Dib

Chapter One

17 year old Dib Membrain sat at his school desk staring out the window. He was in his junior year of high school and only a month in. 'Only another year of this,' Dib thought as he watched the mid October leaves fall to the ground, 'and I'm out of this stupid town.' He glanced over at Zim, who was scribbling something on a sheet of paper. 'Probably another plan to enslave humanity and no one even cares! Well they probably would care if they knew...' No one knew Zim was an alien. No one but Dib. He tried to tell them. He told anyone who was withing ear shot, but no one ever listened.

When Zim first showed up, that day in eighth grade, Dib tried to show everyone. He pointed out Zim's odd skin color, his almost nonexistent nose, but the alien played it off as a skin condition. When Dib asked about Zim's nonexistent ears, the impostor faked a cry. From then on, everyone in class didn't care about Dib. They thought he was shallow because he called Zim an alien. Now thanks to Zim, everyone took his opinion with a grain of salt.

When he cornered Dib at the end of school, he told Zim he knew he was an alien. Dib didn't exactly know what he expected Zim's reaction to be, but he certainly wasn't prepared for what Zim said. That innocent schoolboy look had disappeared from his face and was replaced with a grin of insanity and malice. His eyes were narrowed. Mockery danced within them. "No one will ever believe you," the alien sneered.

From then on, Dib fought Zim and collected evidence against him, but no one would ever listen to him. His dad was too busy working on his projects and didn't have time for his son's 'fantasy stories.' His little sister always avoided him. Then again, she avoided everybody. Gaz liked to keep to herself. 'Just once,' he wished, just once I wanted someone to listen. They don't have to believe me. I just want to be heard.'

"Alright students," his teacher said, snapping Dib back to the present, "We have a new student in our class. Come on in, dear. Don't be shy." The teacher motioned towards her and Dib leaned over in his desk a little to get a better look at the new student. A young girl peeked her head in the door way and slowly walked in the room. Her chocolate brown hair fell slightly over her shoulders while her bangs hid most of her forehead. In fact her bangs were slightly long so they slightly fell of her her eyebrows. Her eyes were a dark brown that reminded Dib of black coffee. Her skin was slightly tanned, probably from being outside a lot. She was of average height, most likely 5'7 or 5'8.

She was dressed simply, wearing a dark blue tee shirt and a black half jacket that went down to her ribs. She wore faded blue flare cut jeans and black ankle converse. A simple necklace hung around her neck made from a single string of leather with a dark blue stone threaded on it.

"Why don't you introduce yourself to the class?" the teacher asked.

"I'm Vivienne Johanson," the girl said softly.

"Tell us a little about yourself, Vivienne," the teacher told her.

"I-I'm from Iowa," Vivienne practically whispered, "Um... I lived on a farm and... yeah." Dib could tell all she wanted was for the ground to swallow her up. Yeah, he knew the feeling.

The teacher sighed, knowing that was probably all she was going to get from Vivienne. "Well, you'll need a desk. Why don't you take the one over there?" she said, pointing at the empty desk next to Dib. Vivienne only nodded and quietly sat down in the desk. As soon as she sat down, she looked downwards so her hair covered her face. "Now class, today's lesson is going to focus on linear equations..."

Dib didn't really pay attention to the lesson. He kept stealing small glancing at Vivienne. Once when he looked over at her, she turned her head and their eyes locked. It was only for a second though, because Dib quickly turned his head back to the board. He could feel his face getting warm. He knew his face was probably pink and silently cursed himself for his paleness. Dib never really felt self conscious, but he suddenly found himself fidgeting and wanting to look in the mirror.

A loud ringing suddenly cut through the room. As the teens filed out the class and towards the cafeteria, Dib looked up to see Vivienne standing in front of his desk. "Hi" she said, giving him a shy smile.

"H-hi..." he said looking at her surprised.

"I'm Vivienne," she said, holding her hand out to him.

"Uh, Dib," he told her shaking her hand slowly.

"You wanna go get lunch?" she asked smiling.

"Sure," he said, getting up. The two walked side by side to the cafeteria.

"So Dib, how long have you lived in Fatal Falls?" Vivienne asked, breaking the silence between them.

"My whole life," Dib said, handing her a tray. She took it and thanked him. "What about you? How many times have you moved?"

"This is my first," Vivienne admitted as a lunch lady plopped some grayish lump on her tray, "I miss that little farm."

"So you're a country girl?"

Vivienne shot him a grin. "Born and raised," she laughed. The two sat at an empty table. Dib noticed that as soon as they sat down whispers erupted from all the tables. Apparently Vivienne noticed too because a small frown tugged at her lips. "Why are people whispering?" she asked, "We only sat down."

"Uh, people don't usually talk with me much less sit with me at lunch" Dib admitted awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck.

"Why not? You seem like a cool guy."

Dib blushed slightly at the compliment. "Everyone thinks I'm crazy."

Vivienne cocked her head to the left in confusion. "Why would they think that?"

"I, uh... am kinda into the paranormal," he said looking around, not really able to look into her eyes.

"Really?" she asked.

"Yeah..."

"That's pretty cool," she said smiling.

"Really?" he asked, looking at her surprised.

"Yeah. I think that kinda of stuff is kinda interesting."

"Seriously? I mean, I've never met anyone who was into it."

"Well you just did," Vivienne said, grinning at him. Dib smiled back. "Did you hear about the Bigfoot sighting in Mississippi?"

"Yeah!" Did exclaimed "That footage was incredible!"

"I know right? They also found this really clean foot print and made a cast of it!" Vivienne said excitedly, practically bouncing up and down on her seat.

"Really? That is so cool!" The two new friends spent the rest of the lunch hour talking about recent sightings, hoaxes, and research. Vivienne and Dib walked to class together and kept chatting until the teacher called for class to start.

As soon as the last bell rung, everyone jumped out of their seats and ran out the door. Well, everyone except Vivienne and Dib. "Hey, uh, Vivienne," Dib asked rather nervously, "You wanna come over? We could do our math homework together."

"Sure Dib," Vivienne smiled, "Just give me a sec to call my mom." She dialed a number on her cell phone. "Hey Mom! Pause. No, everything's fine. I was just wondering if I could go over to a friend's house to work on homework. Pause. No, he's a guy. Longer pause. No! Of course not, Mom!" A light blush dusted her cheeks. Pause. Till like, 8? Pause. Kay, Mom. Love you." She pressed a button and put the cell phone in her back pocket. "Mom said I could stay till eight. Is that cool?"

"Yeah," Dib said smiling.

"Cool. Let's go." The two teens got their bags and walked to Dib's house.

Dib led Vivienne into his house. Dib's little sister Gaz was on the couch playing a video game and seemed pretty engrossed with. She didn't even look up when the door opened. he motioned her to follow him and led her up the stairs and into his room. While Dib shut the door, Vivienne looked around.

"Dib. Your room looks so cool!" she exclaimed.

"Really?" Dib asked shocked. Of all the things she could have said, he was expecting that.

"Yeah! It looks like the inside of Supernova!" It was true. He had posters of all paranormal shows taped on the walls. Articles of strange sightings and claims from newspapers and magazines were tacked to a cork board and the walls. On his desk were gadgets of all shapes and sizes. Vivienne didn't really know what they were for, but they looked cool.

She sat on his bed and patted the spot next to her. Dib walked over and sat next to her. Vivienne dumped out the contents of her bag in front of them on the bed. "Let's get our stupid math homework out of the way," she said grinning. Laughing, Dib agreed and got out his homework. The two spent the next 20 minutes solving and graphing their math equations.

Dib didn't really need Vivienne's help with math. Actually, he was probably the smartest in his class. He just wanted to spend more time with Vivienne. But could anyone really blame him? She was the first person to willingly hang out with him. She actually listened to him. And she liked the paranormal! How awesome was that?

He also had to admit, it was pretty funny watching her solve the equations. When she was focused, she would bite her bottom lip and cock her head to the side slightly. When she was thinking, she would tap the eraser of her pencil on her lips and look thoughtfully at the ceiling.

But the cutest thing was when she was confused or couldn't solve a problem. She was literally glare down at the paper. Her lips would set into a small pout. And that is what she was doing right now. Dib let out a small laugh and she sent him a mock glare. "And just what is so funny, Dib?" she huffed. Dib chuckled.

"Having a little trouble?" he asked grinning.

"Wipe that grin off your face," she said, trying to seem mad but failed when a huge smile grew on her face. Dib only laughed again, so she threw a pillow at him. He caught it and grinned. "Shut up," she said, looking back at her paper.

"I didn't say anything," he said, grinning cheekily. Vivienne stuck her tongue out at him childishly to which he did the same. "You want some help?" he asked.

Vivienne sighed and nodded. "Yeah. I can't figure out number 21." Dib leaned over and helped her out. When they finally finished their homework, it was only a few minutes until Dib's favorite show since hew was in middle school came on, Mysterious Mysteries. The show was dedicated to anything and everything paranormal or unexplained.

Dib glanced at the clock and shot off the bed like a rocket. "It's almost six!" he cried.

Vivienne's eyes lit up. "Mysterious Mysteries comes on in a few minutes!" she squealed.

Dib looked at her with wide eyes. "You like Mysterious Mysteries?"

"Dude. It's my fave show since I was a kid!"

Grinning like a mad man, Dib grabbed her arm. "Come on, then! We're gonna miss the theme song!" With that, he flew down the stairs with Vivienne right behind them. The two best friends spent the next two hours watching their favorite show and talking about their favorite episodes. For Dib, eight o'clock came way too soon. Vivienne slung her back over one shoulder, waved good bye to Dib, and left for home.

Dib quickly ate his late supper. After he got dressed for bed, he collapsed on his bed and waited for sleep to come. He couldn't wait for tomorrow.