Zim stood in front of Ray's house, rang the doorbell, and waited anxiously for her to answer. Unlike yesterday, which had been cold and rainy all night, this morning was bright and sunny. Zim rocked back and forth on his heels, hoping she hadn't already left.
Ray answered the door with Vir standing behind her, continuously yipping and swishing her tail around. "Good morning, Zim!" she exclaimed cheerfully, "What brings you here? I was just about to leave for Skool." Zim smiled and handed Ray her umbrella.
"I came to return your umbrella," he explained, "and, um...maybe walk to Skool with you?" Zim felt too nervous for his own good - he had the feeling that Ray might refuse. He stared down at the ground, wishing he could calm himself, but finding it much too hard.
"Aww," Ray commented, putting the umbrella somewhere inside her house, "That's really sweet of you, Zim. Thank you. Oh, and I'd love to walk to Skool with you." Zim blushed, but before he could do anything else, Ray took his hand, and the two of them began their walk to Skool.
Ray and Zim didn't talk much, but they stared at each other quite a bit. Occasionally, one of them would look away to glance at a nearby tree, or bush, or rock, or maybe even a flower, but other than that, they didn't look away from each other at all.
Neither of them noticed it, but they had passed Dib's house only a few seconds before. Dib had just left, the black eye Zim had given him looking just as horrible as it did the day before. When he noticed Ray and Zim up ahead, he forgot about being shy and rushed right up to them.
"Hi, Ray," Dib began quietly, "What's...um, what's going on with you?" Hearing his voice, Ray immediately came to a stop and turned around. Because they were still holding hands, Zim had to turn around as well, but he accidentally let go of Ray's hand as he did so.
"Not much, actually," Ray answered, either not noticing Dib's black eye or just not mentioning it, "but...well...I'm really sorry for how I acted earlier. I...I'm sorry about not being able to see that movie with you." Zim watched them, feeling guilty yet again when he noticed Dib's injury.
"It's fine," Dib told Ray, smiling a bit, "Can I talk to you for a second?" Ray nodded, waving rather quickly at Zim as Dib led her off toward a nearby tree. The two of them stood under it, with Dib making sure Zim couldn't hear them before speaking up.
However, Ray started the conversation first. "Dib!" she almost-shouted, staring at him worriedly, "What happened to your eye?" Dib stepped back slightly, not expecting this type of response. As a matter of fact, he half-expected Ray to slap him, but that's beside the point.
"I got punched," Dib muttered, "It doesn't matter, Ray." Ray stared down at the ground sadly, as though she had done something bad. Dib couldn't shake the feeling that she really felt awful...for caring about him. Deciding to comfort her, he put his hand on her shoulder.
"I'm sorry," Dib confessed, sighing quietly, "It just...it doesn't matter much. This kind of thing happens to me all the time. That's not what I wanted to talk to you about, though. It's...it's about Zim." Ray looked up, realizing that she had pretty much expected this.
Ray stared at Dib's injury for a moment, and then figured it all out. "Zim punched you, didn't he?" she asked quietly, leaning up against the tree with a hint of nervousness. Dib nodded, staring at the ground. When he spoke up again, he sounded sad and distant.
"Ray..." Dib began softly, "I...I just don't think...I don't think Zim is very...well, I don't think he's very good for you. And, of course, you've probably guessed that I...I don't like him." Ray nodded just like Dib had done only a moment before, although the gloomy expression she gave him made it different.
"I have to work with Zim," she pointed out, "I thought that...being nice would put us on friendlier terms and...and make the project easier to finish." She felt horribly guilty then - it was as though she had broken something in her relationship with Dib. Something had shattered and come apart.
"Okay," Dib responded, letting go of Ray's shoulder, "I...I just thought you were being kind of...too friendly. You know I...well, I strongly dislike Zim. Maybe that's making my opinion on him kind of biased, but...um..." He found it impossible to figure out what to finish his sentence with.
Ray sighed exasperatedly, but still smiled. "I know you two hate each other," she admitted, "and I wish you two would get along." Dib paused, unsure about what to say to that. Then, he rather abruptly remembered what he was going to ask her in the first place.
"Ray?" Dib asked, "D-do you want to go see that movie with me tonight?" He almost felt too nervous to ask her, afraid that she would immediately refuse. However, that didn't seem like the "Ray" thing to do, so he just waited for her to respond with a reasonable solution.
"Sure," she answered, "Will you be walking with us to Skool today? I know I'm also walking with Zim, but maybe you can get along for a little while...?" Dib nodded reluctantly, and the two of them returned to the sidewalk, continuing their trip to Skool.
Ray was singing quietly to herself, occasionally skipping ahead of both of them but then waiting for them to catch up. She appeared to be oblivious to what Zim and Dib were doing, but she was actually casting a critical eye on the cold looks they kept giving each other.
...
The boredom class usually filled Dib with was multiplied by ten that day, because the only thing he could think about was Ray. He was looking forward to the movie that night, along with getting to hang out with Ray, but he was also nervous about her relationship with Zim.
The fact that that day's lessons were even more boring than usual just made Dib feel worse. Plus, he knew the students in the back of the room were whispering about him, laughing about the injury he had sustained. This was standard fare, and it had happened even before Ray had come into his life.
The only strange thing was that Zim wasn't laughing along with them. He kept switching from being bored (during class), being happy (waving at Ray from across the room), and looking guilty. Dib had no idea where the guiltiness was coming from, but decided not to think about it.
When lunch finally rolled around, Dib practically jumped out of his seat, eager to leave the room for a little while. However, his excitement faded when he realized that Ray and Zim would probably just sit with each other yet again. He sighed and began a slow walk to the cafeteria.
When he finally arrived, Ray and Zim were sitting at their usual table, with Ray waving at Dib in a somewhat-wild manner. Zim still had a guilty look, but Dib had the idea that it wasn't directed toward him. Little did he know that it actually was meant for him.
Dib approached them, but knew he wasn't going to sit down. "Hey, Dib," Ray began cheerfully, "Um, you don't have to sit with us if you don't want to, but I was just wondering what time we were going to meet up." Zim looked confused, but Ray didn't notice.
"How about six?" Dib asked, "Will that be okay with you?" Ray nodded, and was about to motion toward the seat next to her, but Dib was already walking away. She sighed dejectedly and watched him walk off, wishing she could get Zim and Dib to get along.
Zim was about to ask what all that was about, but didn't say anything. For a moment, both of them were silent. However, since neither of them had gotten food and really weren't all that hungry overall, there wasn't much to do. Starting up a conversation was inevitable.
A few minutes later, Ray and Zim were already lost in a whole other world. "I don't get it," Ray admitted, telling Zim about a book she had read recently, "I mean, the bad guys won. Reading stuff like that just makes me feel sort of empty inside...like I didn't really finish the book."
Zim couldn't honestly tell Ray that he had been through the same thing, but if his definition of "the bad guys" ended up winning, he had the feeling he would be pretty empty inside as well. "Maybe you could write an alternate ending," he suggested, smiling a bit.
"Interesting idea," Ray commented, "but I don't really think I have the skills for that. Mostly, I just write fanfiction, if I ever feel like writing." Zim was about to ask her what fanfiction even was, but decided against it, thinking he would sound like an idiot in front of her.
"Cool," Zim remarked, although he still didn't know what fanfiction was, "You're really interesting. My life seems incredibly boring compared to yours." Ray laughed and shook her head. "So what do you write about?" Zim asked, smiling cheerfully.
"Most of the time, I write about my favorite cartoon," Ray explained, "but I write about other stuff as well. Video games are another favorite subject of mine." Their conversation continued, including things like vacations, endangered animals, and the next ice age.
"Hey, Ray," Zim began, starting to feel a little nervous, "are you...are you coming to my house tonight? Since we barely have anything left to do, maybe we can just finish it off in less than an hour." Ray paused for a moment to think about what he had just said.
The conversation had lasted to the point where she had completely forgotten about her plans with Dib. Under normal circumstances, she would have sadly refused and told Zim she would come the next day, but she had forgotten about everything except for him at that moment.
"Sure, of course I'll come," Ray responded, smiling optimistically, "I've been waiting to get this project finished, after all." The two of them spent the next few minutes going over their previous observations about the project, neither of them knowing that Dib was watching them.
A few students occasionally passed the table he was sitting at, laughing about his black eye, but he ignored them - he was too happy about getting to see a movie with Ray that night. He sighed dreamily and almost entirely forgot about the other students' existence.
"Is this about your girlfriend?" Gaz asked, looking up from her Game Slave for just a brief moment, "Doesn't she seem to hang out with that stupid green kid more often that she does with you?" Dib stared at her, finding it impossible to say anything mean to his younger sister.
"Yeah, it's about Ray," he finally muttered, smile fading slightly, "but we're going to see a movie tonight. She's only hanging out with Zim because they were partnered for a science project...not because she prefers Zim over me." Gaz ignored him and went back to playing her game.
...
As soon as class ended, Dib dashed out of the room, excited about seeing the movie with Ray. However, Ray stayed behind, packing everything up and getting ready to leave. She still hadn't remembered her plans with Dib, and was now quite excited about going to Zim's.
"Hey, Zim?" she asked, looking up for a brief moment, "Do you mind if I stop at my house before coming over? I...I need to grab something." This wasn't entirely true - she was just going to put some of the things she brought to Skool with her back at her house.
"That's fine," Zim answered, smiling, "but do you remember where I live?" Ray nodded happily and swung her black backpack over her shoulder. "Okay, then," Zim told her, "I'll be waiting for you." Ray laughed cheerfully and left the classroom, skipping down the hallway with a look of general excitement.
"That's strange," one of the other students muttered, "Ray isn't walking with her boyfriend today." Ray came to a halt and whirled around to face the student who had spoken. She was smiling, but a faint trace of anger shone clearly in her dark eyes.
"Excuse me," she began, "but Zim and I aren't boyfriend and girlfriend. Zim is just a friend who's a boy." The student watched, trying to prevent his jaw from dropping open as Ray skipped away, humming to herself as if nothing had happened. She seemed to be completely oblivious to what he had said.
Dib had actually been watching her, standing under a nearby tree and listening in on the conversation. He couldn't help but smile as he heard what Ray said about Zim. Not only was he happy about seeing the movie later that day, he was also joyous about what she had said.
So she and Zim aren't...more than friends, Dib thought happily, Maybe I still have a chance. He watched as Ray skipped off, looking forward to seeing the movie. Unfortunately for Dib, however, Ray didn't have movies on her mind at all - she was only excited about Zim.
Ray arrived at her house a few minutes later. She pushed the door open and stepped inside, flicking a lightswitch with one finger to turn it on and watching as Vir jumped up from her position on the couch. The pink fox dashed up to her, yipping cheerfully.
"Hi, Vir," Ray told her friend, laughing, "Listen...I need to talk to you about something, okay?" Vir nodded, and the two of them sat down on the couch, staring at each other for a few short moments. When Ray spoke up again, her voice sounded quiet and somewhat-faded.
"Listen, Vir..." she murmured, "You know how I've been hanging out with Zim a lot...right?" Vir nodded yet again, yipping softly. Ray smiled weakly and scratched Vir behind her ears. Vir made a slight purring sound and nuzzled up to her owner gently.
"Okay, that's good. However," Ray continued, "My friend Dib...well, he hates Zim. He seems to think of them as worst enemies. I just want them to get along, but...they don't seem to be doing that very well." Vir gave Ray a sympathetic look as she spoke.
"That brings me to my biggest problem," she muttered, "Zim and I have been hanging out a lot in order to finish the project. As a matter of fact, I'm going to his house in a few minutes to finally complete it. However, Dib seems to think otherwise about what we're up to."
"Overall, Zim and Dib seem to really hate each other," Ray finished, "and...well, I just don't know what to do. Zim has been so nice to me, and I've tried my hardest to be a good partner, but...Dib seems to think I...that I...oh, I can't do this." She sighed and stared at the ground sadly.
Vir yipped quietly and gave her a look, as if to say, "It's okay, it'll be fine." Ray wasn't hearing any of it. She buried her face in her hands for a few moments and then stared right into Vir's eyes. The look she gave her pet fox was filled with pain and nervousness.
"No, Vir," she whispered, "It's not going to be okay. I...I think I have...well, I think I have feelings for Zim."