Zim and the others quietly filed into the room and took seats near the back. They were probably the only students that didn't scream when they saw their substitute teacher. Even the kids who hadn't had her for a teacher in grade skool were scared. Ms. Bitters looked even more unpleasant than she used to, if that was possible. Once all of the students were seated, Ms. Bitters steepled her fingers and peered out at teh calss.

"You're regular teacher, Mr. Green, had come down with sdome sort of virus, probably fatal. I recognize most of your mizerable faces, so I know what this class will be like. You'll all end up mizerable losers, living off of your mizerable parents."

Kelly leaned over to Tem.

"Well, she's right about the mizerable part."

Tem gave her a symapthetic smile, just before Ms. Bitters appeared behind her.

"No talking! You four will get detention."

Dib turned around t face his old teacher.

"But Ms. Bitters, Zim and I didn't do anything."

"I remember you mizerable children. You annoy me. Detention!"

Dib slumped in his seat and Zim banged his head against his desk. The rest of the class went normally, Ms. Bitters lecturing on how they were all doomed, and most of the children falling asleep. On the way out of class, Kelly didn't want to speak, in case Ms. Bitters heard her, so she made a rude sign in referance to her, and Tem had to stfle a laugh. He made a 'funny' gesture, and they kept walking.

Once the four of them were sitting down at their lunch table, Kelly looked at Tem.

"SO, what was that surprise you were hinting about?"

"You'll have to wait to find out."

"Tem, you ought to know by now tht I'm not exactly a patient human. Tell me."

"No. You have to wait."

"Fine then, I guess this calls for more drastic measures."

Before Tem could ask her what she meant by that, Kelly had pulled a fully loaded pocket-sized water gun out and had it pointed directly at Tem's face.

"Tell me."

"Oh, not this again. Kelly, please, I want it to be a surprise."

Kelly fired a couple drops, which hit Tem on the forehead.

"Ow ow ow. Kelly, come on. I thought you promised that you wouldn't do this again."

"Except in extreme measures. Now, tell me."

Tem refused, and Kelly hit him with some more water. After this had been going on for a while, Dib leaned over to Zim.

"This seems almost crueler than what I plan to do to you, once I finally catch you."

"In some very wrong, twisted way, I must agree with you."

A minute before the bell, Tem finally gave up.

"Alright, I'll tell you. But just remember that yiou don't get it until you move in."

"Okay."

"I made you your very own Voot Runner."

Kelly squeled and hugged Tem, very tightly.

"Gah, Kelly, let go. You're crushing my organs."

Kelly laughed and let go of Tem.
B"Thank you so much Tem! I'm sorry about the whole water gun thing."

"It's alright. I've always been a fast healer."

"After what I put you through the last time you were here, I should hope so."

They both laughed on their way to their next class. They made it through that and the rest of their classes that day without any major trouble. As they were walking out of their last class, Ms. Bitters appeared in front of them.

"Detention!"

"I know, Ms. Bitters. But If I don't call my parents they'll come looking for me."

Ms. Bitters didn't like parents, so she allowed Kelly to call. Her parents didn't care, and told her to come home whenever, so she hung up and returned to Ms. Bitters classroom. The four of them were made to stand in a corner and write an essay on why they were doomed. Dib wrote about Zim's plan to take over the planet, Zim wrote about wretched human filth, making sure to include plenty about Dib, Kelly wrote about her parents, which is what Tem also wrote about. They weren't allowed to leave until all of them had finished, which took awhile, since Zim had gone into rant mode. The four of them walked home together until they reached the intersection where their paths split. Tem and Kelly waved at Zim and Dib, then continued walking. Once they were within view of Kelly's house, Tem crossed over to the other sideof the street. Kelly told him that she'd finish packing and move in during the weekend, since her parents never paid attention to her then. Tem nodded and they walked into their houses.

Once Kelly reached her room she tossed her backpack on the floor and flopped onto her bed with a sigh. She layed there for a minute before getting up and doing her homework. By the time she finished that, it was time to make dinner. She made spaghetti, and had it out just in time for her parents to come in. As they were eating, Kelly's mother did something rather unusual. She spoke.

"So Kelly, have you made any new friends yet?"

"Um, yeah. A couple."

"Well that's good. What are their names?"

Kelly was startingn to get a little nervous. She must have heard something from a mother of a popular kid. She took a deep breath, gathering her courage to tell the truth, since she refused to let her mother rule her life any more.

"Their names are Zim and Dib."

"Oh, I've heard about them. Zim's the strange boy with a skin condition, isn't he?"

Kelly nodded.

"And Dib, he's the son of Professor Membrane, right?"

Another nod.

"Well, at least you chose one friend well. I would suggest dropping that Zim boy though, he just sounds strange."

Kelly couldn't keep from glaring at her mother.

"Mom, Zim's really nice. I refuse to 'drop him' as you so eloquently put it, simply because he's different."

As Kelly stood up and took the dishes, she glanced at her mother.

"By the way, I thought you'd be interested to know that Tem's back."

Kelly turned and entered the kitchen, missing her mother's enraged face.

Once she finished the dishes, she went back up to her room and started packing, only taking things that she either couldn't, or didn't want to replace.

At 1:00 a.m., Kelly quietly sat up. She was still for a moment, making sure that her parents were asleep. Once she was confident enough, she carefully threw on her coat, since she hadn't changed out of the clothes she had during skool, picked up her backpack and single suitcase, into which she had crammed everything important, and carefully slid the window open. She crawled out, clinging to the drainpipe as she closed the window with her left hand. She cautiously climbed down the drainpipe, dropping to the ground once she was close enough. Then, before her parents could check to see what the noise was, if they even noticed, Kelly ran across the street, stopping just in front of Tem's door. She caught her breath, then knocked. It took a moment before a robot opened the door, Tem standing in the shadows behind it. The robot twitched as its programming kicked in.

"Hello Miss, may I help you?"

Ignoring the robot, Kelly smiled and waved at Tem, who blinked in surprise. He shut down the robot and let Kelly inside, closing the door at the same time.

"Two questions."

Kelly smiled a little.

"What?"

"First, how did you see me? Second, I thought you were going to move in this weekend?"

Kelly sat down on the couch, dropping her bags.

"Answer to question one, with how the light was coming from the light post on the corner, it made your eyes almost seem to glow, answer to question two, I decided it would be safer to move in now, since I kinda told my mom you were back."

Tem sat down next to Kelly

"Why?"

"Well, she asked me if I had made any new friends, and I told her about Zim and Dib. She wasn't very happy, and told me that Dib was alright, since his dad's famous, but that I should drop Zim. I just opicked up the dishes, and told her you were back as I walked past her."

Tem simply nodded.

"Kelly, you look like you're about to fall asleep. I haven't had a chance to set up your room yet, so you can sleep on my bed for tonight."

"Where'll you sleep?"

"The couch."

Kelly looked up at Tem, and it was obivous that she was only half-awake.

"Nuh-uh. You can keep your bed, and I'll sleep on the couch. I don't mind, it's comfy."

Tem smiled and rolled his eyes, before picking Kelly up. Kelly squealed.

"Hey! Where are you going, Tem?"

"You're gonna sleep on the bed, even if I have to knock you out."

Kelly, realizing that he wasn't joking. crossed her arms and pouted the rest of the trip up to Tem's room. Once they got there, Tem set Kelly down on the bed, and she just crawled under the covers. Tem stood for a moment, looking at her, then turned to leave. Before he had taken two steps, Kelly had wrapped her arms around his waist from behind. She giggled.

"Nighjt Tem, and thanks.'

Tem smiled and patted her head.

"Night and welcome, Kelly."

Kelly laid back down and Tem left the room, closing the door behind him.

The next morning, Tem wa woken by a whining and scratching noise coming from outside. He quickly put on his disguise and opened the door to see what looked like a chocolate lab puppy. Tem smiled and let Mir inside. The SIR unit ran straight for the couch, sat down, and turned on the t.v. with a remote that it retreived from the storage space in it's head. Tem's jaw dropped.

"So you had the remote all this time!"