Set in their Junior year
Zim ran to Hi Skool, dodging the shuriken that Dib had recently begun using. A few dug into the metal door as it closed behind him. He leaned back against it, catching his breath. The few kids nearby simply rolled their eyes and ignored him. Seeing the time on the clock, Zim snickered as he ran to class. He'd make it, but the Dib-worm would be late yet again.
Dib cursed as he slipped into class as the teacher, Mr. Green, simply shook his head dissapointedly. He had another Saturday detention, thanks to Zim.
Once the class had settled, Mr. Green motioned for a new girl to come up to the front.
"Class, this is Kelly Drews. Kelly, would you like to tell the class a little about yourself?"
Kelly appeared to think for a moment, before giving Mr. Green the finger and going to sit back down. Mr. Green grabbed her by the wrist, and brought back up to the front.
"Please, Kelly, isn't there anything you'd like to share? Something about your family, pets, maybe a boyfriend?"
Kelly froze for a moment before bringing her knee up, sharply. Mr. Green doubled over in pain and Kelly kicked him once in the side for good measure, before heading back to her desk. As she walked, she caught sight of Zim and paused, a pained expression flitting across her face. Noticing her gaze, Zim looked at her and Kelly drew in a quick breath, before turning sharply and sitting down. Zim blinked once, before shrugging and returning to his doodle of a giant moose gnawing on Dib's large head.
Once Mr. Green's voice returned to normal, he asked the class to stand one at a time and say their names so that Kelly could get to know them. Kelly ignored them all until Zim stood and quickly stated his name. The pained expression returned, and her eyes unfocused as she thought of the past. Seeing this, Dib glanced from the new girl to Zim, who just shrugged.
At lunch, Dib slid into the seat across from Kelly. Not bothering to look up, she sighed.
"What do you want?"
"I noticed you looking at Zim. Can you see what he is?"
Kelly rolled her eyes, but didn't look up as she mumbled her answer.
"Alien. Irken, to be specific."
Dib blinked, she knew more than he'd expected. Before he could come up with another question, she looked up at him, eyes cold.
"If you open your mouth one more time, I will be forced to hurt you."
From behind, another voice joined the conversation.
"Well, may I speak?"
Kelly turned to face Zim. Her expression softened, but only very slightly.
"I will allow you a chance."
Zim tried to supress his desire to rant at the human about not respecting the almighty Zim, his need for information was, for once, greater than his ego.
"You obviously know what I am, and yet you do not try to proclaim it to the world. Why?"
Kelly glanced briefly at Dib, this probably explained the shuriken embedded in the door.
"I tried that, once. It didn't work. I decided against making a fool of myself a second time."
Dib's eyes went wide.
"You've encountered aliens before? And didn't report it?"
Kelly put a hand to her head, resisting the urge to smack the boy.
"Yes, I've encountered aliens before. A couple years ago, while I was still in grade skool, a new kid showed up. He was slightly tall, but was green, without a nose or ears. I followed him around, trying to learn about him. Once I realized he was an alien, I tried to get as much evidence as I could, to send in to some tabloid or something. He always caught me though. Well, almost always. One day, in middle skool, I managed to get some hard evidence, and hid it somewhere that he couldn't get to. He knew he was defeated, but in the years we'd been enemies, he'd grown to like this planet and wanted to stay, so he told me what his planet was like."
Kelly looked around, no one was within hearing distance.
"All of the young on his planet are raised to invade, conquer, and destroy. Because this is what they are taught, and usually all they know, they don't think anything of it, just follow their orders, often with pride. Tem was different. For some reason, something in his code was off and he hated the idea of destroying other races just to make room for another parking planet. He was able to hide his disgust long enough to graduate and get a decent position as an adviser to the rulers of the planet. Eventually he managed to get himself banished, said goodbye to the only Irken that didn't despise him, and made it to earth."
Dib blinked, trying to process the information. Zim, however, sat next to Kelly.
"What happened when he arrived? My computer has not detected any other Irkens."
Kelly looked down, sad.
"I handed him the evidence and walked away. The next day we talked, adn it turned out we had quite a lot in common. We became friends, for years we were inseperable. Then, just before Hi Skool started, his new radar found that there was another Irken on the planet. Fearing for his safety and mine, he left."
Dib was still shocked, but Zim just looked thoughtful.
"This Irken....What was his name?"
"Tem, why?"
Zim froze, then looked very closely at Kelly.
"He didn't happen to leave you anything you could use to contact him, did he?"
"If he had, I would have used it by now."
"Did he leave anything at all with you?"
Kelly took off her necklace, carefully handing it to Zim. Zim turned it over in his hands. It appeared to be made of pale amethyst, with a thin ring of silver circling it. Inside the stone, if you looked carefully, was a small picture of a purple-eyed irken. Zim handed the necklace back to Kelly.
"On the silver there is a micro-enscription. It's a frequency code, which could possibly be used to contact him."
Kelly's face lit up, before falling slightly.
"After skool, if I can, I will meet you at the 24/7. We will then go to your base and try that code."
Zim nodded, and Kelly tilted her head slightly.
"Wait a minute....You were the friend Tem mentioned, weren't you?"
Zim nodded, and Kelly smiled, before shaking his hand. Dib just shook his head slowly, simultaneously deciding to follow them and sneak into Zim's base.
Only ten minutes after skool had ended Kelly ran into the 24/7, red-faced and breathing heavily. Zim looked at her strangely. She grinned.
"C'mon, I only have half an hour before I hafta get home."
Zim nodded, and begame walking towards his base. Across the street, behind a bush, Dib smirked and began following them.
Zim led Kelly down to his lab, and she stood in front of the screen as he entered the code. The screen blurred for a moment, before forming a picture of Tem, who was passed out on the keyboard. Kelly laughed.
"Tem! Get up!"
"Whu...? Kelly? Kelly!"
Kelly laughed as Tem sat straight up, blinking dazedly.
"Wow...Been a while. You haven't changed much, and....wait, is that....Zim?"
Zim grinned, moving next to Kelly.
"Been a long time Tem. You've grown."
"So've you! Wow, I think it's something to do with that planet's atmosphere. Tallest, the last time I saw you you couldn't have come up past my waist....I bet you're at least up to my shoulders now."
Just as Kelly was about to speak again, there was a loud noise behind her. Spinning, she saw Dib sprawled on the floor. Zim growled.
"Dib! What are you doing here?"
"What do you think I'm doing? I'm trying to get evidence."
"Why do you still bother? I always win, and you know it."
"Only in your dreams, alien scum."
Kelly and Tem glanced at each other before starting to laugh.
"You guys act just like we used to.....And I have to go....My parents will be hiome soon."
Tem cringed slightly, before smiling at Kelly.
"Y'know, since I'm in no danger of benig reported by Zim, I could probably come back."
Kelly's eyes shot wide open.
"Really?! You mean it?"
Tem nodded, and Kelly couldn't help but squeal.
"There's an empty lot just down the street from my house. When will you get here?"
"I should arrive in a couple months, if I hurry. And you should go, if your parents are coming home."
Kelly nodded, then ran off. Dib tried to sneak off, but Zim's computer caught him.
"Oh no you don't, Dib. I've got a few experiments I've been wanting to test...."
Tem and Zim laughed as the computer took Dib out of the room.
"Y'know, you should be nicer to him."
"Not in a hundred millenia. He is my enemy."
Tem shook his head, amused.
"I used to think the same thing about Kelly. Well, I should get packing. If I'm even a day late, Kelly will hose me."
Zim nodded and Tem cut the connection, then headed down to the room where Dib was being held. He really had been wanting a live test subject for his latest experiment. He'd discovered that chocolate was actually poisonous to humans, and wanted to find out the dosage required for it to affect one.
Man, I wanna be the test subject for that experiment! Well, I hope you liked this better than the original version ><; It was baaaad....Please Review!