CHAPTER NINE

Dib didn't know what Zim was going to do, but he knew that it would somehow involve getting him into trouble somehow. Zim smirked when Mrs. Bitters turned to him.

"Yes, what do you want now, Zim?" she asked, a bit irritated.

Zim turned back to Dib, smirking, but noticed Sam was staring at him. This was his chance to get the Dib-human into trouble, but he would also get Sam into trouble.

'Hurry up and stop wasting my time." Mrs. Bitters glared down at Zim.

Dib looked down at the letter in his hand, realizing what was going on. He looked at the container of glitter on a nearby table and grabbed it. Without a second thought, he took off the lid and dropped it; silver sparkles spilled over the floor.

"Dib! Go get a mop from the broom closet and clean up this mess." Mrs. Bitters ordered.

"Yes, Mrs. Bitters."

Dib hoped this had distracted Zim, but then he heard the alien speak.

"Mrs. Bitters, I wanted to know if. . .um. . ." then his voice became squeaky "how many moons does the sun have?"

Mrs. Bitters raised an eyebrow at Zim. "none. Now get back to work so you can be educated on how insignificant you are in the universe."

Zim nodded and sighed. That had to be the worst job of covering up for himself that he'd done. But that was the least of his worries. Why had he covered up? He glanced at the bag sitting on his desk and sighed again.

The recess bell rang, and everyone hurried outside, Zim carrying his bag. Dib ran up to Zim, stopping him from walking.

"Why didn't you get me into trouble?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Zim retorted.

"I know very well that you were going to tell Mrs. Bitters that me and Sam weren't working. I've never seen you back down before today, Zim."

"Fine, next time I'll get you into trouble." Zim walked past Dib, up to Sam, who was surrounded by her classmates.

As Zim approached them, he heard that they were talking about an announcement some 'anime' station had made about her birthday, and they were asking her questions.

"Wow, do the TV people give you things since you're famous?"

"Why are your parents making you come to school on your birthday?"

"Can you fire your parents?"

"can you fire Mrs. Bitters?"

Sam was ignoring everyone's questions and trying not to die of boredom,, when she felt someone pull her out of the crowd. No one followed her since it had been Zim who pulled her away, and they didn't dare intentionally go near the reject, Zim.

"If you continue to bother me like this, Zim, I won't be held accountable for my actions."

"I. . .just wanted to say. . .happy birthday. . ." Zim said, lowering his eyes.

". . .oh. . .well, thanks. You are the only one besides Gaz and Dib to actually say that. . .everyone else is more interested in bothering me with questions. . ."

"I wanted to ask you something." He said.

"What?"

"What did you mean yesterday when you said 'superior race'?" he shifted uncomfortably.

"Just what I said. You think you're so much smarter than the rest of us just because you aren't human. You think you see everything, and yet you're blind."

Zim's eyes met hers. "So. . .you know I'm an alien. . ." he spoke, meaning that as more of a statement than a question.

"Yeah. Besides the fact that your disguise sucks, Dib told me you were an alien as soon as I got here. Dib would never lie to me."

". . .oh. so why did you pretend to be my friend?"

"I didn't pretend, Zim. You're really my friend, or at least you were my friend, until you decided you hate me."

Zim felt guilty for yelling at her and pushing her down the day before. He glanced down at the bag in his hands.

"Here Sam, this is for you."

She took the bag, not sure if it was a trick or not, and began to open it up.

"It's a part of your birthday present." He explained.

She pulled out what was inside. It appeared to be one of those small musical jewelry boxes, but when she opened it, she gasped in awe.

The box looked plain and wooden on the outside, just her name 'Sam' engraved in gold lettering on the top. Inside, it was lined with red velvet, and there was an indention in the bottom. On the inside of the lid was an imprint, painted in bold-permanent ink. The imprint was of the Dark Witch, Sam's favorite duel monster's card.

"I thought you could put those card thingies in it. I made it for you myself." Zim smirked proudly "If you meet me after Skool, I'll give you the second part of your present."

Sam pulled Zim into a hug, something he hadn't been expecting. Dib walked up to them, his normal glares at Zim.

"Hi Dib! Look at what Zim gave me for my birthday!!!"

Zim wandered off, smirking. The Dib-human's expression when he saw the beautiful gift was priceless.

'this is PERFECT! I can get on the Dib's nerves by making his pitiful little GIRLFRIEND think I'm her friend!'

Zim was so proud of himself for talking himself into believing the perfect story. He wouldn't ever admit to anyone, including himself, that he thought of Sam as a (dare I say the 'f' word. . .) a friend (gasp!) and even worse, he would never admit that he was. . .a bit jealous of Dib because of his attachment to Sam. But instead of admitting to this, his ego and stubbornness had allowed him to insist that the human was simply a part of his destruction-of-earth scheme.

The rest of the day went by normally. Zim glared at Dib, Dib plotted ways to get Zim on 'Mysterious Mysteries', Gaz played her Game Slave 2, Sam drew in her sketchbook, Mrs. Bitters talked about doom, and the rest of the class was just. . .there. after Skool let out, Sam hurriedly caught up to Zim, who had been the first person. . .er. . .the first one out of class.

"You'll have to come to my house for your present, so tell the Dib where you'll be, so he won't worry."

Zim smirked inwardly when Sam nodded in agreement and ran off to find Dib. When she returned, she sighed heavily.

"He's mad at me." was the first thing out of her mouth.

"Mad? For what?" smirking inwardly, the smirk getting bigger.

"He yelled at me because he thinks I'm hanging out with you way too much."

Zim felt a bit guilty as well as happy. He was happy because by making Dib and Sam hate each other, which he was doing, Zim would be taking away the one person who cared about Dib as well as taking away all of Dib's chances to expose him, but guilty because he felt sorry for Sam. He had seen the soap operas GIR frequently watched, and when there was a failed relationship, the female would cry and become miserable.

Zim wasn't sure how close Sam was to Dib, so he didn't know how she would react. All he knew was that they lived together, hugged each other, and hung out, so hopefully when Sam turned against him, Zim would be able to mold her. Maybe even have her join forces with him and they could destroy the earth together. . .

The walk to Zim's house was fairly quiet. Once they were there, Zim stopped Sam from walking any further.

"Before you go inside, I need to ask you something. Do you trust me?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I. . .need to blindfold you. I don't want you looking around."

"Why? Don't you trust me?" she quirked an eyebrow.

Zim stared at her for a few seconds and then sighed.

"yes, I trust you." He walked up to the door and opened it. "don't tell anyone about anything you see, especially don't tell" Zim paused to shiver at the thought "Dib. . ."

"I won't tell anyone anything. I swear."

They walked inside, and Sam was immediately knocked down by GIR, who began slobbering all over her.

"GIR! Get off of her!" Zim yelled.

GIR got off, and Sam stood, wiping drool off of herself, but giggling nonetheless. GIR danced around Sam, happy because of two reasons. One, he liked her very much, and two, she was the first visitor allowed inside of their home.

Sam followed Zim to a set of stairs and they began to walk up. Once they finally reached the top, they came to a door.

"Now, normally I wouldn't do this, but since you already know that I'm an alien, and because you don't seem to want any harm to come to me, I think I can trust you."

"you can. I swear, I won't tell anyone about this. Not even Dib."

Zim nodded and opened the door. Inside was a silver air craft, much like the one he had flown in when he first came to earth, but it was a bit bigger, and could fit two instead of just one. Zim pulled something out of his pocket, and they appeared to be keys. The pushed a button and the roof opened up. They were slightly blinded by the sun, but not for long. The top of the craft lifted up, and Zim climbed it, offering a hand to Sam to help her up.

She looked at him for a few seconds, and then took his hand without hesitation. She sat in the seat next to him and watched, completely mystified, when the top came down and Zim reached around her to buckle her in. then he buckled himself in and put the key in the ignition and started it up. He took off, and the roof closed back over the house. Zim took the craft up high in the air, high enough to be out of sight from any people who might look up into the sky.

He accelerated, and just when Sam thought he was about to slow down or level out the craft, he surprised her by flipping the craft so that he was flying completely upside down. Sam extended her arms much like you would do on a rollercoaster, and squealed excitedly. Zim looked over at her and smiled. He straightened them out and began flying higher, so high, in fact, that it began to turn dark outside the window and windshield. They were almost out of earth's atmosphere when Zim leveled them out again. Suddenly, without warning, he did a dive downward, the ship was completely vertical with the ground.

Sam was so excited by this; her heart was pounding from the excitement, and she couldn't even form words, so instead, she just squealed again. Zim had positioned them in a deserted area far from the City, so they went very low to the ground. In fact, they stayed in the dive until they were only a few yards from the ground, and then he made a complete u-turn and took them back up.

Several dozen barrel dives, flights upside down, and other aerial tricks later, Zim carefully landed on the inside of the roof of his house as the roof opened up for them again. When the craft had come to a complete stop, Zim looked back over at Sam, who was still catching her breath.

"Wow, Zim. That was. . .that. . .it was amazing!"

Zim smiled and leaned over to unhook the seatbelt and then helped her out. She was a bit dizzy from the ride, and Zim couldn't help but giggle at her as she tried to make her way down the stairs again, but he caught her every time she nearly fell. They walked into the living room where GIR was downing yet ANOTHER milkshake and watching the scary monkey show.

"So. . .aren't you going to give me the grand tour?" Sam asked Zim.

"Tour?"

"Yeah, you know, show me around the house?"

"I don't think that's such a good idea. . ."

"Oh. . ." she looked a bit disappointed, but then smiled. "Oh well that's okay. I understand. You probably have tons of really important experiments and stuff."

She began to walk towards the couch where GIR was, when Zim gently turned her around by the shoulder.

"I guess I could show you around. . ."

Zim thought it was a bad idea, but he couldn't just turn her away. . .she was harmless. She wouldn't tell anyone what she saw.

The entire tour took nearly an hour, and after the first hour, they were barely at the lab, which Sam insisted on looking through thoroughly. She was amazed with the technology that Zim had inside of the lab. Things that humans could only dream up in futuristic movies.

Zim thought it was actually nice to show someone all of his secrets and not have any fear. That was something that he didn't understand. Why did he trust her, anyway? This wasn't actually part of his plan, this just. . .happened. he didn't even trust other invaders with his possessions, and yet he had allowed a human, his worst enemy, to not only become exposed to his things, but he wasn't at all worried. He didn't think that there could possibly be any consequences.

Sam sat down in the chair that Zim usually used while working on anything mechanical and began playing with the spare parts that were lying on the table. She began to put bits and pieces together, and Zim realized that she was trying to make something. By the time she was through, the whatever-she-was-making was about the size of a cat, and it appeared to be a wire frame with something inside of it. Zim looked around the side of the chair.

"Whatcha doin'?" he asked her.

"Nothing. Just making this."

He took the frame and realized that she had bent random pieces of wire to create a frame and had written her name 'Sam' inside of a heart that she had created with wire also. She stood up and began to walk off with it, exploring the rest of the lab.

"You have to leave that here, you know." He said bluntly.

"Why?"

"I don't want you taking anything from my house. Safety precautions."

"Oh. . ." her eyes lowered. "You won't mess it up will you? It's really pretty."

". . ."

"You should hang it up! I'm sure GIR will love it! Maybe in there by the TV so he can look at it all the time when he's watching TV."

"I guess I could find somewhere for it. As long as it doesn't get in my way." Zim took it from her and set it on the table. "It's after nine. Maybe you should go home now."

"Do I have to? I'm having so much fun!"

"I don't want the Dib to worry about you and try to sneak in."

"Oh. . .right."

Zim decided to walk Sam to her house since it was 'polite', and after all, he wanted her to think that he cared about her. So, they walked outside. Almost the entire way to her house, or should I say Dib's house, she made comments about how wonderful it was outside, and about the breeze, and Zim felt sick to his stomach by all of these 'wonderful' comments. Finally, they arrived at their destination. They stood on the porch, and Sam spoke.

"thanks so much for everything, Zim. I'm pretty sure I've never had this much fun in my entire life."

"Yeah, whatever. Just remember not to tell anyone about anything."

"Right."

There was a moments silence, and Sam pulled Zim into another one of those hug things that he hated so much. They pulled away, and Zim was about to say something when the door flew open, and there stood Dib, his arms crossed.

"what took so long?!" he yelled.

"We were. . .doing stuff." Sam replied. "See you in Skool tomorrow."

"Yeah. Bye Sam." Zim said, glaring at Dib.

Sam walked inside and Dib closed the door on Zim's face.

"I'm going to take a shower now." Sam informed Dib.

"Fine. Meet me in my room when you're done, okay?" Dib asked her.

Zim walked home, sighing every now and then.

"How could I have lost my focus on the mission? THAT is what is important, not that FILTHY DISGUSTING" it was time for another anti-human rant "PITIFUL. . .and yet something about her. . .no. . .must focus. But. . .maybe when I destroy earth, I could keep her alive. I'm sure the tallest will be so pleased with my work, about not having to send the armada in, and about how efficiently I handled this place, that they won't mind if I let one of the humans live."

Zim walked back into his lair and didn't even bother yelling at GIR for creating a HUGE mess on the floor with his spilled lemonade and went downstairs. He looked over to the table and found what Sam had made from the wire. He picked it up and stared at it for a few seconds, and thought about where to put it. He didn't want GIR to mess it up, so he thought about hanging it above his main table in the lab, but then thought better of it. Instead, he frustrated shoved it into a desk drawer and sat in a dark corner to re-remember why he hated humans. . .

Dib was sitting down on his bed when Sam walked in.

"Cute." Dib said, referring to the pj's she was wearing with little black kitties on them (a/n: Kuro-Neko-Sama, to us Trigun fans . )

"Thanks." She replied, sitting on the bed next to him.

"Did you have fun?" -Dib

"Yeah." -Sam

"So, you got him to show you around the house right?" -Dib

"Yeah. He showed me the entire place, including the lab." -Sam

"Excellent. I knew he'd show you. Did you have to beg?" -Dib

"Nope. Just gave the puppy eyes." -Sam

"Awsome. So. . .tell me everything." -Dib

END!!!

Peggi-Surprisingly enough, that cliffhanger was thought up by. . .my mom, who thinks that Zim is not only out of character in this fic, but thinks that even from the beginning of the fic to the present fic time, the personalities of (most) of the characters have changed drastically. All I have to say to this is. . .yep, I know. I intended to change Zim's personality in the first place, and as for Dib, well, I wasn't really focusing on him anyway. And Sam? Well, no one can say her personality changed, because how do you know she isn't bi-polar? Like. . .like me?! Well, be proud, this chapter is VERY long (over 8 pages, I believe) so please review.