I had to admit I was nervous about what Zim could be plotting. From his discussion with the Tallest, it definitely didn't seem like he was about to waste any time getting rid of me. If he was as hell bent on the idea as I imagined he was, especially now that I had infiltrated his base and witnessed everything, I found it only necessary to really watch my back from now on.

On Monday morning, I had asked my mom to drive me to 'skool' just to be extra cautious. I figured that Zim would wait until I was alone before making an attempt to attack me. At least this way, there was safety in numbers. "So how do you like it here so far?" she asked as we pulled into the parking lot. "Have you made any new friends yet? What's up?" "Um," I really didn't care to go into detail about all the craziness that had occurred while she was away so I decided to keep it as brief as possible.
"Well, it's not as bad as I thought it would be and so far, I've made one friend." "Do tell!" she urged with interest. "His name is Dib. He loves to delve in paranormal study and he's very smart and very nice." "Ohhh," she drawled in that typical you-have-a-crush tone that most mothers do. I could feel my cheeks flush scarlet, which I knew did little to hide it.
"Well, maybe we could invite him over for dinner some time. I'd love to meet this tall, dark and handsome paranormal investigator. He's handsome too, isn't he?" "I never said that."
"So why are you blushing like that then?"
"Mom!" my hands flew to my face and she laughed and pulled me into a hug. "Oh honey, I think it's great that you've found someone who makes you happy again. I don't see you go on dates too often."
"Trust me mom, Dib and I are hardly dating." "Well, it's normal to start out as friends first. Then as you get to know each other, who knows? Things might become deeper between the two of you if you really wish on it." "I guess," I said, staring out the window at the gloomy gray day. "Just think about dinner together, okay honey? We can plan it whenever you want but in the meantime, please mention the idea to Dib, okay?"
"Okay, sure," I grabbed my book bag and climbed out of the car, shutting the door behind me. "Thanks for the ride, mom." I said as she rolled the window down. "You're welcome, honey," she called, waving. "Have a good day!" I watched as she drove away down the street before heading up to the 'skool'.

Besides the fact that it was open season on me for Zim, the other thing that was still gnawing at my brain was mine and Dib's almost kiss. Fortunately, I still had some time before first period began, so I decided to sit out on the bleachers and compose some love poems to pour my heart out of these feelings that were brimming within. If aliens were smart, there was no way they would attack a human in broad daylight while a group of jocks practiced their sport out on the football field below, so I wasn't too worried. While doing my best to drown out the shouts of "Throw it here, Torque!" I uncapped my red fountain pen and began to write.
My raven haired Adonis
how can the world go about its day when Heaven is upon us?
When such beauty haunts my dreams
filling them with shooting stars and celestial moonbeams?
You have won me over with such sweet rapture
your lonely heart I long to capture
Your touch makes me quiver with feelings oh so divine
Oh how I'd love nothing more than to make you mine

"Hi there!" a bubbly male voice suddenly made me jump, causing me to drop my notebook as I nearly toppled over with it. "Jeez!" I turned to see a freckled kid with curly red hair and bright green eyes. He wore a sky blue shirt with a rainbow across it with skinny jeans and red and white Converse on his feet. "Sorry," he giggled as he caught me by the arm to help keep me steady. "Didn't mean to startle you. Here, let me get that." He bent to retrieve the notebook from the metal bleacher in front of us.
I tried to snatch it up before he could touch it and see the contents it held within but he was too quick for me.
"Here you go," he handed it to me with a friendly smile. "My name is Keef. I saw you sitting here by yourself and just thought I'd come over and say hi. You're new, right?"

"Uh yes I am," I said, taking the notebook from him and slipping it into my book bag. "Nice to meet you Keef. I'm Wendy."
"Nice to meet you too Wendy," he said pleasantly. "So what were you writing just now?"
"Oh nothing special. Just finishing up some homework for Bitters." He gave me a puzzled look and scratched his curly carrot topped head. "That's funny. I don't remember getting assigned any homework from her class on Friday." Nice one Wendy. "Oh," I improvised. "Well, it was for extra credit." To my relief, Keef looked satisfied with my excuse. "Oh okay. That makes sense."
"So," I continued to drag him further away from the subject. "Tell me about yourself, Keef. What are some of your hobbies and interests?" He seemed touched by my attempt to get to know him better. "Me? Oh well I enjoy theater arts and going to the renaissance fair and video games but not the ones with a lot of blood and violence. I prefer the happier ones over those." "So I guess that leaves out Silent Hill, right?" He shuddered at the name. "Are you kidding? I would have nightmares for weeks! But other than that, I also really like animals, especially hamsters and puppies. I'm lactose intolerant and I enjoy making new friends but for some reason they never seem to stick around. They either move away or just stop hanging out with me."

I shot him a surprised look. "Really? They would move away without staying in touch or just decide you're all not friends anymore? That's pretty crappy." He smiled and shrugged. "It's not a total loss. If they don't want my companionship I can always offer it to someone else in need of a friend. Like you." Before I could express my gratitude for his kindness towards me, the bell rang and we proceeded to make our way down the bleachers. Keef draped an arm around my shoulders as if we had been best buddies for years. "Come on, Wendy. I'll walk you to class. I want to hear all about you on the way also."

At lunchtime, I stood there scanning the crowded cafeteria for Dib but he was nowhere to be seen among the sea of students.
"Sorry, excuse me," I said as I began elbowing my way through. Frantically, my eyes darted every which way. Still there was no sign of Dib or any other familiar faces. That was until I tripped over someone. "Watch it!" a disdainful female voice shouted. As I lay sprawled on the floor, I looked to see a sour faced cheerleader with long blonde hair glaring down at me. "These sneakers are brand new so don't you dare scuff them with your idiotic clumsiness, you freak!" She turned to one of her fellow squad members and a knot of dread formed in the pit of my stomach as I recognized the snide little smirk and lavender hair.
"Is this the one you've been telling me about?" Zita's baby doll eyes darkened scornfully and she nodded. "It certainly is, Jessica. Stay away from her. She's already been contaminated with Dib cooties, which means she'll most likely become a raving lunatic like him."

"Wendy!" A tiny wave of relief washed over me when Keef came bustling over to me. "I've been looking all over for you! Are you okay?" He offered me his hand and pulled me to my feet. "Eww!" Jessica cringed. "First para sci fi boy and now the human suction cup? You're so totally right, Zita. If this is the kind of company she keeps then she really must be avoided like the plague. Come on girls, let's get out of here before we all catch a serious case of unpopularity." And with that, she led the entourage away in a black and purple uniformed single file line. "Bye ladies!" Keef called after them, waving like a teenaged Mr. Rogers. "Hope you have a wonderful day!"

A few cheerleaders turned to roll their eyes at him and continued onward, clearly annoyed their attempt to belittle him had been an epic fail. "Kill them with kindness," I observed. "Nice work, Keef. You really handled that well." "Oh I'm nice to everyone," he said. "Even when someone is rude what would be the point in acting out the same in return? Not only does it not solve anything but I'd only be stooping to their level, right?" "You're a pretty wise kid." I complimented. His pale cheeks flushed slightly. "Thanks. So hey, do you want to have lunch together?" "Umm," "Hey! Wendy!" My heart leapt as I finally spotted Dib sitting with Gaz at a table against the back wall and waving to me. "Over here!" "How about next time, Keef?" I said. "I'm actually supposed to be meeting someone right now."
"Okay, that's fine," he said cheerfully. "I have to head to the library to finish up a book report anyway so my lunch break is going to be cut short for me I'm afraid but hey, let's exchange contact information before we part ways." "Sure." I said. He withdrew a cell phone from his back pocket and extracted it from its colorful case and I did the same. After punching in each others' numbers, home addresses, etc he gave me a quick hug and we bid one another farewell as I headed over to join Dib and Gaz.

"Hey guys." I said as I sat down. Dib greeted me with yet another stunning smile followed by a "Hi Wendy." while Gaz on the other hand kept her eyes glued to her Game Slave 2 and just gave an irritated grunt. "So," I started, trying my best to ignore the toxic hatred his sister was emitting towards me. "What's the story with Zim so far?"
"Well, I noticed he was ducking in and out of class a lot," said Dib. "Which could only mean he's plotting something against us."
"Or me," I said miserably. "He even said so himself. He vowed to the Tallest that he was going to come up with a way to get rid of me so that I won't interfere with his plans for world domination." "Well, he's going to have to get rid of me first," declared Dib.
"And we both know that will never happen. So don't worry Wendy. We're a team and together we'll find out what he's up to and put a stop to it and the world will thank us. By the way, you're smart not to eat the cafeteria food."
He nodded towards my brown bagged lunch as I set it down on the table. I gave him a curious look."Is it really that bad?"
"Only when it causes someone's liver to turn up missing." Gaz suddenly teased, a dark smile playing over her lips as she looked up at me for a brief second. Dib rolled his eyes at her. "That was Zim's doing! Don't you remember in elementary school? How he had gone around harvesting organs from everyone and replacing them with inanimate objects? How he stole my lungs and replaced it with some stupid cow thing? It was not easy getting my lungs back and even worse, I was dubbed as the Hideous Mooing Cyborg Boy!"

"How could I forget that?" Gaz snorted as she resumed playing her game. "Well, I'm glad you find that so amusing." Dib said sarcastically. "You mean," I started worriedly. "Zim actually did something like that?" Dib's expression turned grim. "Yes Wendy. That other night when he tried to take your brain, that wasn't the first time he's attempted that. He was so desperate to appear human that he used alien technology to steal the organs of several students and teachers so that he could hoard them for himself and trick the school nurse when sent to her office. The worst part was he succeeded and he got away with it."

I took a bite from my tofu sandwich but it was difficult to swallow past the lump of dread in my throat. If Zim was serious about doing away with me, I really hoped he wasn't planning on resuming what he tried to do with me when he first officially met and that he would leave my organs out of the equation. "Dib?" I asked. "Do you think maybe I could come over again today after 'skool'? I just think I'd feel safer at your place if I hung out with you there for a few hours." His smile was kind. "Sure! Just meet us out front and you can walk home with us. That way, we can plan out our next move. Hopefully, we'll figure something out before Mysterious Mysteries starts. You'll probably want to go home by then and not want to have to sit through that." My eyes widened with interest. "Are you kidding? I love that show! I'll stay and watch that with you for sure." Dib raised his eyebrows in utter astonishment. "Really? That's great! I-I can't believe we actually have this much in common. This is just...so cool!"
"Oh...brother." Gaz muttered from the far end of the table. Suddenly feeling satisfied, I finished the last of my lunch, crumpled the paper bag into a ball and stood up. "I'm going to throw this away," I announced. "Be right back." I spotted a trash can against the wall across the cafeteria and started for it. Then I stopped in my tracks. Zim sat alone at a nearby table, scrutinizing and poking a green Jello mold with a plastic fork as if he were dissecting a frog in biology class. "GAAAH!" As it jiggled in response, he let out a frightened yelp and dove under the table. Slowly, his head reemerged halfway so that only his eyes peered over the edge as he continued to watch the strange food suspiciously. In spite of the fact that I couldn't blame him for distrusting any type of food that moved, it was a hilarious sight. Normally, I would have stood there laughing at him but for now, I wanted to get around him as quickly as possible and just dispose of my trash and remain unnoticed so I crept behind him and made a beeline for my destination.

When my business was finished, I started to head back towards Dib and Gaz when all of a sudden a hand gripped me around the wrist, pulling me backwards. I turned to find myself looking into the face of Zim, his eyes glinting maliciously through his contacts and his mouth curled into a serrated toothed grin. "Very sneaky, little Wendy," he taunted. "But not sneaky enough."
"What the hell do you want?" I asked, annoyed yet cautiously. "Oh I just simply wanted to inform you that my plans to destroy you and the Dib monkey are going along quite swimmingly," he said. "In fact, they are so flawless, so intricately designed and so devastating that even I am amazed by my own brilliance." "Get over yourself," I said, rolling my eyes. "And what exactly are your so called 'plans' for us?" His laugh was so loud and harsh that it could be heard even throughout the noisy cafeteria, drawing the attention of several students. "Foolish little girl! Do you honestly think Zim is going to tell YOU his secrets, especially his most secret of all secret plans?" "Okay, okay! I get it, it's a secret! But whatever you're planning on doing with Dib, keep in mind that you have to go through me first because there's no way I'm letting you touch him." Zim's smile widened at my challenge. "Oh you know that I fully intend to do just that. Don't worry, little Wendy. You'll find out soon enough what Zim has in store for you and how he's going to a stop to your miserable little existence, and soon Dib will follow-" Before he could finish trolling me, I picked up the Jello in its styro foam bowl and smooshed it in his face before walking away. A few students, including Dib pointed and laughed while Zim clawed at his face, screaming "MY EYES! MY EYES! I CAN'T SEE!"

"That had to have been the funniest thing I've seen all day!" Dib told me later that evening in his room. He stood doubled over, chuckling deeply as he recalled the scene earlier today in the cafeteria. "Well," I said. "He deserved it." I heavily plopped down onto his neatly made bed where I removed my winter coat and scarf and set them beside me. The day had seemed to go on endlessly, which was exhausting so I was relieved and excited to once again be at the Membrane residence.

"That he did," said Dib. "What was he saying to you anyway?" I shrugged. "The usual 'I'm a big bad alien, I'm going to destroy you and your measly little planet and there's nothing you can do about it, blah blah blah' sort of thing." "So he said nothing important?" Dib inquired like a detective. "Well, he did say he's supposedly devised a plan already to stop us but obviously, he wouldn't tell me what it was." "Which means we're going to have to come up with a way to make him spill the beans," he said as he started pacing around the room. "Or maybe the surveillance system we set up will tell us something. Either way, we need to stop him before he can act on whatever he plans to do." Before I could answer, another voice beckoned from the computer. "Agent Mothman. Come in, Agent Mothman." "What? Mothman?" I wondered aloud. Dib strode over to the mysterious man who appeared on the screen, apparently through a web cam. His face couldn't be seen as it was completely shrouded in darkness so that he looked like some sort of shadow figure silhouetted against an unknown background. The only features you could really make out were a pair of red almond shaped eyes and a goatee on his pointy chin. "Mothman," His voice was unnaturally deep as though it had been modified so that it could remain unidentifiable. "Agent Darkbooty here. Have you reinstalled those spy cams inside the alien's base like you said you were going to?"

"Most of them," Dib replied. "One of them got um...lost but it's nothing I can't solve. It's a process that will be finished in no time and you'll all soon witness what I've been telling you about." "Excellent, then you-" "Wait a minute," I started. "Did he just say his name was Agent Darkbooty?" The man paused once he became aware of my presence and eyed me defensively. "Yes?" I couldn't help bursting into laughter. His red eyes narrowed as he grew even more annoyed with me for making fun of his name. "I'm sorry," I said once I managed to catch my breath. "It's just a funny name is all." "Agent Darkbooty," Dib said, trying his best to remain stone faced. "This is my friend Wendy. She's also my partner who is helping me on these paranormal escapades."
"Charmed," the cryptic man responded sarcastically. "Is this the kind of impression she will be making on all of the members of the Swollen Eyeball Network as well?" "Sorry," I said, confused. "The Swollen what?" Agent Darkbooty heaved a tedious sigh, indicating his patience with me was now spent. "Perhaps you could help her to see past her ignorance on this one, Mothman."
Well, we sure got off on the right foot now, didn't we? "The Swollen Eyeball Network," explained Dib. "Is a secret organization designed to investigate paranormal activities and expose anyone associated. There are six agents of the group, Darkbooty and myself included. We also go by aliases aside from our real names. For example, I go by Mothman."
"That's very fascinating." I said honestly. Dib paused for a moment. Then spoke again as an idea suddenly struck him.
"Hey. Wendy, you should join the Swollen Eyeballs!" "I should?" "Yes! We could use more members and you'd be great! You've got stealth, courage, brains, spunk, all the potential we need." I could feel myself melting inside from the warmth of his compliments even as Darkbooty glowered at me disapprovingly. An ecstatic smile played its way across my face and I nodded in agreement. "I would be honored to become a fellow Swollen Eyeball."

"Great," Dib said, thrilled. "Now all we need to do is figure out your name." "How about Agent Bride of Frankenstein?"
Darkbooty chimed in, snidely. "She definitely looks the part seeing how frizzed up her hair looks from the rain over there."
Even obscured in the darkness, it became apparent that he shouldn't talk due to the receding hairline he had himself. It was almost tempting to retaliate with such an insult but since I was already the one who pissed him off first, I bit my tongue and focused on my new name. "Butterfly," I decided. "Agent Butterfly."

Finally the clock struck midnight, and Dib and I were camped out on the big red comfy couch ready to watch Mysterious Mysteries. Even though we were sitting a good three foot distance apart, the thought of being on a couch with a boy I liked made my palms sweat. Tonight's show featured vampire babies who had bitten nurses in hospitals after being delivered. We were only five minutes into the episode when my phone started ringing. Confused, I withdrew it from my pocket and viewed the caller ID. Keef. What was he doing calling me at this hour? You'd think a kid like him would be in bed by nine on a school night. I decided to just brush it off and let it go to voicemail. A few more minutes into the show, it rang again. Then a third time.
Dib cocked an eyebrow at me. "Who keeps calling you? Your mom? Does she want you home?" "No, no," I said, silencing my phone. "It's just a friend. I'll call them back later." "You sure?" "Yeah, I'm sure."

Despite the subject of undead infants attacking people, the rest of the episode turned out to be disappointingly not that exciting. In fact, it was so boring that when I turned to look over at Dib, I saw that he had fallen asleep during the last ten minutes of the show, and what an angelic sight he was. I would have loved nothing more than to take a picture of him to have on my phone but then I remembered that the flash would probably wake him and it would turn out too dark if I left it off. So I did the craziest next best thing any stalker girl would do. Slowly, I scooted closer until I was lightly snuggled against him and my head was resting on his shoulder. Then just as I was reaching my hand up towards his hair, my phone vibrated noisily in my pocket, startling me.
"Friggin' Keef!" I whispered. Taking it out, I viewed the text message on the screen.

Hey Wendy!
It was great meeting you today. I can't wait for us to hang out again at school tomorrow :)
Have a spectacular night.
Keef

Well that was thoughtful. As I eased my phone back into my pocket, I resumed where I left off. Carefully, I grabbed hold of Dib's jagged spike of hair and began to caress it gently. The touch of silken raven was enough to make my fingers sing. It felt stiff from being done up with lots of gel or hair spray yet soft and sensual. For a little longer, I continued to loving pet his hair while Dib lay there snoring softly. That was until I noticed from of my peripheral vision that someone was watching me. I turned and gaped in utter dismay. Gaz stood at the bottom of the stairs, her eyes widened in a mixture of shock and disgust at the sight of me fondling her sleeping brother. One could only determine how long she had been there. Instantly, I slid to the other side of the couch. I didn't know what else to do other than smile awkwardly. "Umm...hi Gaz. I was just-" before I could finish, she held up both hands signaling me to stop before saying, "I'm not even going to ask." She then made her way back upstairs where she slammed her bedroom door shut with a colossal bang. Sighing heavily, I flung myself back against the couch cushions, hands flying to conceal my now beet red face. Will I ever stop embarrassing myself?