Chapter 3

"A month? I've been gone an entire month? Well, what's been going on? How's my family been without me? All the school that I missed, everything that I left behind, my friends. How is everything in my dimension?"

"I haven't been able to get back there ever since… well… your death."

"I'm not dead!"

"I heard you the first 12 times." Zim stirred the peas on his plate. He sighed and put the spork down, turning back to his ex-assistant. Seeing her alive was a strange thing and he felt stranger being around her. It was sort of like talking to a corpse. It was a strange but fun feeling. Like he was doing something amazing and then something completely wrong at the same time. "And do not yell at Zim."

"I've been meaning to ask you this for a while, what's with all the OCness?"

"O…C… ness?"

"I'm asking you why is it that whenever you're around me you don't act normal. I watch you talk to other people and you're all self-confident and your mind is so full of yourself that people want to strangle you or freaking stab you. Then, whenever you get close to me, you get really out of character and you don't act like yourself."

"Name one time that happened!"

"The day that I died! You freaking cried Zim! You cried! That's just pathetic…"

"Do not call Zim pathetic!"

"I'll call you whatever I want to!"

"Insolent human!"

"Troublesome Irken!"

"Impertinent pig-smelly!"

"Disrespectful lizard!"

"Short-tempered zombie!"

"Repulsive cretin!"

"I'll show you to be disrespectful of Zim!" He took hold of his spork and thrust it into his peas. Then Zim flung the small, edible orbs at Brooke.

She dodged out of the way by merely ducking her head down and turned to watch as the peas flew across the room and struck Kita in the face. Brooke giggled a little bit. Her giggling stopped when Kita yelled out a single word that sent a shiver down her spine.

"Food fight!"

Brooke had never really been in a food fight before. She's seen them from outside of the cafeteria once or twice but they were much harder to stark up in her dimension than they were in Zim's. Partially because the children from her dimension were always more cautious so that they didn't get in trouble. The schools that she had gone to had had pretty harsh punishments. For instance, one time Brooke corrected her teacher, got scolded and then had to stay inside. It wasn't like that for each teacher but the punishments were near the same and just as ridiculous for the most ridiculous crimes.

Brooke ducked under the table, pulling Zim to the floor in the process. The Irken didn't even fight. They sat, back-to-back, caught in the crossfire of the fight. It was a horrifying and revolting sight watching all of those children throw food and act like… children! Brooke had to suppress a gag as some of the cafeteria hit the floor and then started to crawl away using a fork.

She heard Zim squeak with surprise as a pile of mashed potatoes came close to hitting him. The last thing he needed was for mashed potatoes falling into his eyes. He wouldn't be able to go to school for a while if that happened. Zim backed up as far as he could, sort of pushing Brooke out from under the table. He didn't even realize what it was that he had done until it was too late.

Brooke was pushed out into the crossfire of food and wasn't able to make it back in before a glob of meat was sent towards her. She ended up having to run out of the way to avoid it. Carefully she did a series of acrobatics to avoid the food that came from all around her. She dove under a table where the boy with the webbed toes was.

He looked at her, his brows raised.

"What to see my--?"

"No."

She poked her head out. The boy was staring at her and it made her uneasy. Brooke took hold of his collar and pushed him out of the hole to his mashed potatoed doom. She watched him run around the hall until the potatoes got him in the eyes. The scream that came next made the hair on the back of her neck stand up and it made her feel so good at the same time.

Scream! Scream! Scream! Scream! Scream! Scream! Scream! Scream!

EB ducked out from the table. She clicked a button on her wrist transistor and waited as a black glove illuminated its way onto either one of her hands. She pulled them up high and picked up the potatoes off of the boy's face as she ran past. The next thing she realized she was on one of the tables close to the cafeteria serving spot and was throwing the potatoes like there was no tomorrow. She ducked out of the way as peas came for her and grabbed some cookies as they flew past her head. EB thrust them back with so much force that the children she hit were sent flying into the wall.

She continued on this method as she thrust food at each and every kid in that room. She stopped herself just before she hit Zim climbing out from under the table.

EB looked at the damage that she had done to the cafeteria in her fit of rage. It was a good amount. There were children sticking to the walls and some were writhing on the floor as the food seep past their eyes and into their brains! She smiled with delight and turned around.

The sight she saw surprised her.

Willy stood up from behind the countertop, a slab of bologna in his fat hand. He grinned in his stupid way as he looked for a target to throw his weapon of mass destruction at. Instantly, his eye fell on the girl standing on the table in front of him. Willy pulled his hand backwards, ready to throw it.

I'm outta here!

What?!

Willy threw the bologna right at Brooke's head. It struck on precision, just close to the hairline on the right side of her head. She fell backwards and hit the floor hard. Her PAK made the impact hurt all the more and the fact that it was Willy that had struck her down after such a good fight really diminished her dignity. She lay there on the floor for a second, trying hard to process what had just happened.

It was at that time she noticed a sharp pain in her temple. It started out large and grew even larger! Brooke sat up and rolled along the floor, her hair stood up straight as she screamed. "The meat! Ah! The horrible meat! Holy shit, I sound like Zim!" She lay there on the ground, twitching from the intense pain that swelled up in her head. Luckily for Brooke she had a very high tolerance for pain. It could have hurt her an awful lot more had she had normal tolerance like a lot of her friends, or Carden. LOL.

Zim walked up and stood above Brooke, his hands behind his back, his brows lowered in thought. "Curious…"

Brooke twitched in response to his word. She eyed him, not moving her head. "What are you staring at?"

"This may be a bad time to ask but would you like to go to the school dance with me?"

The pain was too much for her head and caused a series of tremors in her brain that forced out a bunch of grunts and hums. Brooke didn't really answer but Zim smiled at it nonetheless.

"I'll take that as a yes."

Then he scurried off before Ms. Bitters ended up in the room. When she did everyone pointed to Dib. Save for Brooke, who was just leaving the room, her hair covering so much of her face it was a surprise she didn't crash into the poles that littered the hallways.

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Kim: Aw! Zim asked you out!

Brooke: You wrote that.

Kim: Aren't you a little bit happy?

Brooke: No.

Kim: Emo…

Brooke: what the fuck did you say?!