Zim was this weird kid in our school who never seemed to fit in or get along with the other kids. I remember looking at him in the classroom, often staring at the green tinted skin he had along with the strange black hair that barely covered the back of his head. I thought he was strange and I never really paid much attention to him, what with Dib poking and prodding him all the time and always asking him questions I figured he always wanted to be alone.

Since the air conditioning seemed to have conveniently broke right before summer vacation let out, the school had ordered these giant fans to keep us cool, with settings of normal, high and blast off your skin speed. They told us never to put it on the last one.

He sat in the cafeteria near the exit. He always seemed to sit near the exits. I went to scrape all the…whatever the school was calling the food then, stain boosters… Off my plate. Most of the kids had left to go outside for recess. Dib, Zim and I were the only ones near the exit.

I never expected what happened next...

"Slardle, NO!" The doors split open so fast they caused cracks against the wall and the giant fan came in seeming to have a mind of its own and the wind was powerful. It knocked a bunch of kids backwards and flying like in a wind tunnel. Kids held on to whatever they could and since I was pinned to the food island with Dib, we just were pressed against the lunch trays as they went flying like a deck of cards being tossed into the air.

Zim was not so lucky. He held on to the table with all his might, his eyes peeled back from the air and then suddenly the strange black hair just whipped right off except two long strands. I was horrified, if it was strong enough to tear of his hair then I was scared what it would do to me. The remaining kids flew out the window where a giant sky squid whipped them away. Sky squids have been an issue as of late, the heat makes them joyously grab children.

Dib's glasses were pressing against his eyeballs and our lids were peeled backwards along with our lips. We had no choice but to watch as Zim held on with all his might.

Then he seemed to grow legs out of his back and I thought I was dreaming. They scratched along the table and then his eyes popped out! I screamed with the leftover wind I had left in my lungs – but any noise I made was whipped away with the wind.

What was left were bright red glassy sockets.

The fan began spinning out of control and then took off through the ceiling, flying with Slardle and Smacky dangling from the power cord and we watched while I wondered how it was still flying and will it come back down or if a sky squid would eat it.

I looked back down and Zim was standing on the bench, in his stance. I looked up to his face and all I could see was an alien's face. His eyes shone in the light like glassy red lights, and his antennae were thick above his head and stood high.

"Zita! Now do you see! He IS an ALIEN!" Dib shouted in my ear and I was numb from shock as I just stared at the alien boy standing across the way, my jaw was open and slack.

"Look away fithly child!" Zim shouted, when did he have zipper teeth? He slowly transformed in front of my eyes from this strange green boy that I was intrigued by and thought about asking to a few dances, whom I dressed as an alien for Halloween to make him laugh since Dib was always teasing him, I watched him transform into a real alien. Green skin…red eyes…antennae. He was living proof there was something else out there. He was trying to cover his face and Dib was rummaging through his bag for something.

Those long legs that he had grown came out and he lept into the ceiling, and disappeared not before shouting "This isn't over earth children!"

"Zita! Tell me you saw that and understand it! Do you finally believe? Huh Do ya? Do ya?" Dib's eyes were gleaming with want and need for validation.

I turned and looked at him, and backed out of the cafeteria as quick as possible.

"Wait! Zita! Don't go! You know now! You know! You knowwwwwwww…."

I grabbed my backpack from the hall and ran all the way home and had nightmares in my locked bathroom of little green spider men holding me hostage, stealing school supplies and taking over the world.

I woke up bewildered, not knowing where I was with my mom knocking on the door telling me that no matter how much primping I do it wouldn't make a difference if I don't show up for school.

I couldn't believe it, aliens existed. Dib was right. That last one made me feel uneasy, everyone did not like him.

I walked to the bus stop with caution and quiet. I sat at the back of the bus away from everyone, staring blindly out the window. And then we got to Dib's house.

"Zita! I have to talk to you!" He clamored into the bus and sat down beside me. "I know what you saw! You have to believe me now! You just have to!"

"I do." My voice was quiet and crackly. The kids in the bus had turned to watch the spectacle, expecting me to tell him to go away.

"How can you say that after you saw- wait you believe me!?"

"Looook Zita's now one of Dib's friendssssss….. Let's not talk to her anymore!"

"I don't have any friends! Unless you want to be my friend, Zita?"

"I…I want to know what's going on…" I really did, my head was spinning from everything going so fast from not knowing about aliens to suddenly there is one living in my classroom bent on destruction of the world…if Dib is telling the truth about that too.

"Right!" Dib shouted. "Here, I'll let you look through my laptop with all my files on Zim and his evil alien plans…there's a lot of them and some of them might not be very relevant but we can catch you up to speed on the last year and a half!"

I gingerly took the laptop from him while everyone was still staring at me like I had suddenly grown horns and was wielding a giant space monkey.

The files had a lot of different things, many of them just pictures of him as normal…well what I thought was normal before with regular human eyes and a strange 50s black hairdo. My heart skipped a beat when I saw a picture of him through a tinted window, a silhoutte of what I had seen the other day.

Dib must have noticed my gasp because he shouted in my ear.

"Yes! You see! You know! You know now! You're one of us now! You can get a swollen eyeball account and see the way that things work around here and what the evil alien would be up to! We can get cool costumes and infiltrate his base and gather evidence and -"

"Dib! I don't want to do all that…" I said.

"What? Why not? He's an alien! You still don't believe me do you? Or are you just denying it because you want to keep your popularity? You're just going to mock me still like everyone else huh? Why don't you? Huh? Out with it!" He had a really hurt look in his eyes. I looked away.

"I'm scared." I said, honestly.

"Oh." He said, his voice much softer now, he scooted a little closer. "I understand. I get scared sometimes too. BUT THEN I remember I am the only one to save the human race!" His fist rose up in the air, then his shoulders dropped to a more compassionate look in his eyes. "And maybe, you, now…if you want."

I stared at him, I was damn near crawling out the window; it was all too much, we had all accepted that Dib was crazy and now I couldn't deny what I had seen…it made me wonder if my sanity was in question now too, that scared me more than a terrifying alien sitting in front of me in class…

Sitting in front of me in class…oh god.

We arrived at school.

I climbed out of the bus carefully, holding onto my backpack while all the other kids ran around in the front lawn. Dib was peering over my shoulder behind me.

Then…I spotted him about fifteen feet away. He was walking past me on the sidewalk, his strut still the same as ever and his chest puffed out. I traced his head with my eyes and wondered how the thick antennae were hidden from that strange wig.

Suddenly he turned on his heel and looked straight into my soul through those glassy contacts. My stomach dropped to the floor as he glowered at me from across the small yard. I swear I could see those blood red eyes leak through the contacts.

His fist clenched and he raised it up to his face and made a slicing motion with his throat. I internally screamed and suddenly couldn't move. Dib was standing next to me and put a hand on my shoulder.

"Leave her alone Zim!" He shouted.

His eyes bulged out like a bug and I swear I could hear him growl from across the way.

"Dib! You have no business!"

"It's always my business when you threaten one of my race!"

I couldn't make out what he had said but it looked like he said something like this, "Same goes for me, Dib. Same goes for me. See you in class, Zita." His eyes followed me like a predator as I jetted into the school and straight into the girls' bathroom.

"HayyyyyZittaaa!" Melanie shouted from the sink. "I saw you on the bus today, you were sitting next to that Dib-guy, weren'tcha? Werentcha? What's up with that, gurllllll? You tryin' to make somebody jelly?"

"I…." I couldn't think as I ran into the stall. "I need to be alone!"

"Yah, okay, but don't let any of his crazy rub off on you, yknow! It's contagious I hear. His head emits crazy radio waves that make people around him insane!"

The thought made me shudder.

I stayed in there for over an hour before a dark figure loomed over my stall. My heart leapt in to my throat and I could have sworn I saw spider legs. Just when I thought I was going to pass out clutching my backpack I heard Miss Bitter's voice, which nearly made me pass out anyway.

"Zita! You're over an hour late for class. Zim said he saw you this morning by the Dib boy in the school yard. You can't escape the test today Zita, it's mandatory."

"…Yes, ma'am." I lowered my head. I thought she never left the classroom, let alone very far from her desk.

"Come back to the classroom and sit in your seat for the quizzing."

"On my way."

I slinked into the classroom with my eyes peeled. Zim was sitting kind of slyly with his elbow on the desk looking cocky and seemed to be taking pleasure in my fear. I never noticed really the way he dressed before, it looked more like military now, more like war. And that terrified me. He had boots that were crossed underneath the table shining in the light. I had seen the metal backpack on his back before, I did sit behind him for over a year now but it looked stranger now. He had transformed into something different entirely.

As I walked by him, his eyes followed me and I sat down staring at my terror right in my face.

"What's the matter, Zita? Spider got your tongue?" His low chuckle shook my bowels and all I could do was stare at his zipper teeth, they were more terrifying up close. I gulped, my seat all the way back to the desk behind me.. His claws grasped my desk and I thought he was going to flip it.

"Zim! No cheating! You will have to wear the cheating helmet if I catch you looking back at Zita again!"

His face seemed to fall but he turned to face Ms. Bitters.

"Zim has no reason to cheat! Zim is AMAZING!"

"Do you want to wear the backtalking helmet instead?"

"No Sir!" He saluted.