Arm: Chapter eight! Yeah, and it's on time! Have fun reading everyone!
Leg: Don't forget to review on the way out!
Betraying the Rivalry: Chapter 8: Debbie
Zim walked home from skool, wondering why Dib acted differently around him after their conversation before skool. During lunch, they rarely spoke to one another. Zim hoped that his interest in what was bothering Dib wouldn't cause Dib to not come over his house.
Dib asked himself if he should go to Zim's. They still had a lot of work to get done on Pir, and since he had most of the plans with him, Zim wouldn't get very far by himself. Dib just didn't feel very sociable today.
"Dib, are you going over Zim's house today?" Gaz asked suddenly.
"I don't know, Gaz," Dib answered, finally looking up from the ground.
"Well, if you are, tell his green ass that if the two of you make me go to skool early again, I will destroy the both of you," Gaz threatened.
"Yeah, sure, I'll tell him," Dib replied as he went back to thinking.
"Hey, whose car is that?" Gaz asked suddenly. Dib looked up from the ground again and noticed the blue Mitsubishi Mirage in their driveway.
"Well, we know that isn't one of dad's friends, neither of them have a car that blue," Dib stated. Then his eyes got wide as he remembered something. "No way," he whispered to himself.
"No way what, Dib?" Gaz asked.
"Remember what mom's car looked like?" Dib asked. That car looked like the one his mother used to own, and if it was her car, then that meant….
"No, I never really paid much attention to it," Gaz replied without hesitation. Then she looked at Dib strangely. "You're not saying that that's mom's car, are you?" Gaz asked him.
"I don't know, but there's only one way to find out," Dib replied as he headed towards the front door. He was feeling hopeful that it was his mom's car and that his mom was back, but deep inside he knew she wouldn't possibly came back after that amount of time and expect to be welcomed back.
"Dad, we're home!" Dib shouted as he entered the house. He waited for the usual "Hi son," but never got it.
"Dad?" Gaz called out.
"Gaz, Dib, you're finally home!" Membrane said from the kitchen. Dib could tell by the sound of his father's voice that he was happy that they were finally home (for once). "Come over here into the kitchen you two, there's someone here to see you!" he ordered lightly.
Gaz nearly ran into the kitchen in hopes that it was their mother. Dib walked slower than Gaz and gripped the strap to his book bag so hard that his knuckles were nearly white. He was feeling anxious. What if it wasn't his mother? What if it was? What would he say to her? "Hey mom, where have ya been? I hope you enjoyed your time, I sure know we didn't since you left us out in the cold"?
He walked into the kitchen finally, to see that it wasn't his mother, but another woman. It was someone his father knew quite well though. Dib saw the disappointment in Gaz's eyes. She really hoped that it would be their mother. Dib sighed, but he didn't know if it was a sigh of disappointment or relief. The woman had bright blue eyes and light red hair, and Dib could tell that she was someone his father worked with. She was dressed in the almost same exact attire as his father.
"Hey dad, who's this?" Dib asked as he sat down in the chair next to Gaz.
"This is Debbie, she's my new…uh…" Membrane trailed off in slight embarrassment.
"Girlfriend?" Gaz supplied as she pulled out her GameSlave from her pocket.
Dib inwardly flinched at that word. His father already fell for another woman? Dib knew he should feel happy for his father, but he didn't want a stepmother, at least, not now.
"You can say that," Membrane replied. Suddenly the phone began to ring. "I'll get it. Debbie, get to know the kids," he stated as he headed for the phone.
"Um, I work with your father, and I've heard so much about the two of you from your father. I hope we can become really good frien--" She was cut off by Membrane telling Dib that the phone was for him.
"Excuse me, Debbie," Dib said in his most polite voice. He thanked whoever called him for getting him out of that conversation with Debbie. "Hello? …Oh, hi Zim… No, I don't know if I can…. My dad just introduced Gaz and I to a 'friend' of his…. He might not let me go, you know…. Alright, alright, I'll try to get him let me over. And tell Gir I said hi if I can't, okay? Bye." Dib hung up the phone and walked back into the kitchen.
"Who was it, Dib, your girlfriend?" Debbie asked.
"No, it was my bestfriend. He wanted to know if I was allowed to go over his house today. We're working on a skool project together, and we have to finish it real soon. He doesn't want to work on it by himself because I have most of the plans and he doesn't want to mess it up," Dib explained to her.
"You and Zim are always working on something," Gaz said as she looked up from her game. "I'll never understand how the two of you became friends in the first place. You were sworn enemies," Gaz continued.
"We came to an understanding, that's all," Dib told her.
"Oh what? Did he tell you he was really an alien like you suspected or something?" Gaz asked.
Dib looked at Gaz like she had grown two heads. "No, something happened to him and I realized how much he needed a friend," Dib told her.
"So, Dib, tell me about your friend Zim," Debbie told him.
"He's a pretty cool guy. He's new to this area, but I'm helping him get used to it here--"
"Yeah, Dib thought Zim was an alien, only because he's weird," Gaz told Debbie. Debbie just smiled at Dib's reaction to that.
"Yeah, and? Zim and I cleared that up," Dib stated. "Zim's also very smart. He and I are going to create the best project the skool's ever seen, and he called to tell me that he needed my help. His dog, Gir, messed something up on it that he can't figure out how to fix. So, dad, can I go?" Dib rambled. He hoped that Membrane would say yes.
"I don't know, son. Don't you want to get to know Debbie better?" Membrane asked.
"Oh, let him go to his friend's house. This seems very important to him," Debbie said to Membrane.
"Oh, okay, but be home by six," Membrane ordered.
Dib said thank you to his dad, and thanked Debbie for convincing his father to let him go. Dib ran upstairs to his room to get his plans. Why did Gir have to go back on his word? Dib said a quick good bye to his family before heading out the door.
Dib slowed down his pace the second he was out of the house. He needed to think. How could his father possibly even try to replace his mother? At least this was the first one, and it had been nearly two years after his mother left. He knew his father couldn't possibly hold off being single for much longer, but it still hurt to know his father had given up on his mother.
Dib was snapped out of his thoughts as he saw Gir run towards him.
"Help me Dib!" the poor robot shouted, "Zim's really gonna kill me this time!"
Dib saw Zim round the corner. He did look really pissed, but when he saw Dib protecting Gir, he relaxed a little. "Oh there you are, Dib. Keep Gir over there behind you for a while, he nearly destroyed Pir while you were on your way over to my house," Zim explained.
"Nearly destroyed Pir?" Dib asked. Gir looked as if he were about to cry.
"I-I didn't mean to!" Gir said in defense for himself. He didn't like it when Dib was angry with him too.
"I know you didn't mean to, but the point is that you did, Gir. We now have a month or less to repair and finish Pir before Jazz gets here. Pir is very important to our mission, Gir," Dib explained. "Now, listen, Gir, and I want you to take this seriously, do NOT go near Pir or Zim's lab until we're done with Pir, got it?" Dib ordered.
"Yes, sir," Gir said in a meek voice.
"Now, go back to the house, I need to talk to Zim about something," Dib ordered. Gir ran off and headed for the house.
"What are you going to tell me, Dib?" Zim asked.
"I have no idea, actually," Dib answered. He did have an idea of what he was going to say, but he no idea on how to word it.
"Does it have anything to do with your dad? Maybe your mom?" Zim asked. He noticed that Dib's face darkened after he mentioned the word "mom."
"I don't know, Zim, alright?" Dib asked as he became defensive again.
Zim now had an idea on what was bothering Dib. Maybe if he just asked small things about Dib's family while they were fixing Pir, he could get to the bottom of what was bothering Dib.
Dib hoped that when he got home Debbie would be gone. There was something he didn't like about her.
Arm: Hey, you guys should have known this was coming. Pay attention to what Leg said at the beginning of this part, and do what she says! Bye bye!