( Author's Notes: I'm having fun writing this story. Yay. There may be some mild OOC-ness during this chapter, but if there is, I'll have a reason for it, I promise. Anyway, enjoy! )

"You mean you've actually had aliens in your house?" Dib said with genuine interest as he watched Squee pull a group of books from his locker. Squee had been in skool for a few weeks now, and over those few weeks, the two had become good friends. With Dib's knowledge of the paranormal and Squee's unintentional experience with it, it was no wonder that the two got along so well. For Dib, hearing Todd's (he had never told Dib that he was called "Squee" at his old school) stories was just as exciting as seeing them happen. There were so many things he never imagined happening in the next town!

Squee slammed his locker door in an attempt to close it, but failed, as it sprang back open almost immediately. The lockers in the skool didn't seem to be in very good condition at all. "Uh-huh. Twice." He tried to shut the door again, this time succeeding, and picked up his books, stuffing them into his bookbag. "The first time they did some spooky things to my head. Really spooky. The second time they took my parents. They don't remember, but I think the aliens did some spooky stuff to them too."

"Were they the same kind as Zim?" Dib asked eagerly.

"I don't think so."

Dib was disappointed, but only slightly. He would've loved to see more aliens like Zim, but from what he had gathered, not even the other Irkens liked Zim. They wouldn't come to Earth for just anything. The two began walking to the door, ready to go home and escape skool for yet another day. "How come none of this ever happens to me? You're so lucky. Aliens in your house, ghosts in your room...either I move into your house, or you move over here," Dib said wistfully. He pushed open the skool's front door and stepped out into the bright sunlight.

Squee raised his eyes to talk to Dib, since Dib was almost a head taller than he was. "Well...it was fun having my parents away for a while, but all this weird stuff happening to you gets old. It's like someone with a sick sense of humor is running my life." He laughed nervously, shoving his hands into his pockets. "Maybe for someone like you, it would be fun, but for me, it's..." His voice trailed off as he spotted a familiar gray car parked in front of the school, and with a "squee," he ducked behind Dib in fear.

"What's wrong? Why're you hiding behind me?" Dib said, twisting around to look at Squee. He clutched onto Dib's coat, trembling as he pointed towards the gray car.

"It's him, the scary neighbor man! I thought he moved away!" Squee peeked out from behind his friend's body, hoping that the tall, lanky figure in the car couldn't see him. "Why's he here?"

The man in the car was looking out at the crowd of skoolkids, his impossibly skinny arm dangling out the open window. There was no doubt he was looking for someone. Dib frowned, turning around to look at Squee again. "Oh, come on! He doesn't look that scary! Not compared to the other stuff you've supposedly seen!"

Shaking his head furiously, Squee let go of Dib's coat. "No, no, you don't understand! He really is scary! He lives next door to me, and almost every night you can hear really bad sounds coming from his house. He has a tunnel coming into my house, and when we first moved in, I found him in my bathroom, going through our stuff! Right before he moved away, he came into my room and knocked my daddy in the head with one of my toys! Schmee said he chops people up and throws them in the trash can! SQUEE!" He finished with a squeak as he noticed the man looking in his direction.

Apparently, Johnny C. had found who he was looking for. Smiling, he got out of his car and crossed the street, glad to see his little neighbor friend for the first time in a long while. "Hey, Squeegee! It's been a while, hasn't it?" he called, waving as he made his way towards the trembling little boy. "You wouldn't believe it. I was sitting at the other school for a good couple of hours when I realized you weren't there. I went to your house and asked your mother where you were—luckily, she was too drugged up on her usual pills to be worried. Oh, and who's this you're hiding behind?" Johnny said, seemingly noticing Dib for the first time.

"Um...this is Dib. He's my friend," Squee said in a low voice.

"Friend?" Johnny raised an eyebrow. He was very suspicious when it came to Squee's "friends"; they weren't usually a very nice or trustworthy bunch. They usually only wanted to humiliate poor Squee or laugh at him for no reason. He began to scrutinize Dib for any potential signs—so far he was quiet, and he looked nice, but Johnny knew all too well that a nice exterior could have an ugly interior. After a moment, he seemed to approve, because he extended his hand with a smile. "Well, nice to meet you. I'm Johnny, but you can call me Nny if you'd like."

Taking the offered hand, Dib shook it and said, "Yeah. Like he said, I'm Dib."

This concerned Squee. Why was the neighbor man being so friendly all of a sudden? Normally he never left his house, or even talked to anyone. This was strange, and deep down, Squee hoped he wasn't going to kill either of them. It didn't matter how friendly he tried to be. He was still scary, just by looks alone. All of those strange and somewhat sickening sounds coming from next door made him even more frightening.

"Glad to see you've made a friend who isn't the spawn of Satan," Johnny said off-handedly. Dib threw Squee an inquiring look, but he kept his eyes on Johnny, worried. "I know you've had lunch already, but damn if that skool food isn't inedible. How would you like to go get some real food? I'll pay."

How does he get his money, anyway? Squee thought. He tried to think of an excuse, but all he could do was stammer a response. "Well...erm..." He looked over to Dib, wondering if it would be a good idea.

Shrugging, Dib said, "He's right. It was tuna and relish today. I'm hungry anyway, and I know you are, too." Squee couldn't deny it; he was pretty hungry. Lunch came too early in the morning for the kids. Who'd ever heard at eating lunch at 10:30 in the morning? "Who knows what time I'm having dinner tonight, and your parents don't even bother cooking for you half the time. Besides," he lowered his voice, "he doesn't seem as scary as you describe him."

Squee looked down, turning the thoughts over in his mind. No, he didn't know if his parents were even cooking dinner tonight. Mommy would probably have too many pills in her to cook, and Daddy would just get fed up and take her out to dinner. They would probably bring him back a doggie bag, but most of the time, they were gone too late for him to wait up. There was always food in the house, but it was mostly canned soup and microwave pizzas, and quite frankly, he was sick of them. If he went out to eat, Dib would be there to keep him company, and the scary neighbor man wouldn't hurt him if he was there. Not that he had ever tried. Finally, he looked up, smiling. "Okay. Let's go."

The two climbed into the backseat of Johnny's car, shoving aside trash he had carelessly tossed onto the seat. "I say Taco Hell. What do you think, Squee?" Johnny said, shifting the car into gear and driving away.

"That's fine," Squee said, folding his hands into his lap and looking down into the floor.

Squee? Dib thought. Where in the world did that name come from? He looked over at his friend, who looked absolutely terrified. I don't get it. I can understand some of the things he's scared of, but this guy seems pretty harmless. I mean, he looks anorexic and he looks like he's been to Hell and back. How could he beat up Sq—Todd's dad?

They came to a stop in front of the local Taco Hell, where the usual lunch crowd was beginning to dissipate. Johnny opened his door and climbed out, and so did Dib, but Squee was rather reluctant to get out of the car. He followed the two into the restaurant, and stood beneath the metal fencing that kept the eager customers in order as they ordered. He hadn't even thought about what he wanted to eat until Dib poked him. "Your turn. What're you getting?"

"Oh. Um..." He was a bit too short to see over the counter, so he stood on his toes to glance at the menu mounted on the wall behind it. "I guess I want the quesadilla combo...and a small drink." He always worried about ordering meals that cost too much whenever someone bought him lunch, but Johnny didn't seem to mind. He silently paid the cashier and took their meals without saying thank you.

"Yeah, you're welcome, you skinny prick," the cashier muttered. Johnny felt himself tense up at the overwhelming hate towards other human beings, but he was determined not to scare off Squee and his friend today. There was plenty of time to come back and disembowel the new workers later. He sat the tray down at a booth near the back of the dining area and slid into the seat. Squee and Dib sat down opposite to him.

"So. What's this about you going to a different school?" Johnny said, giving Squee a look as he bit into his taco. "Did your parents get fed up with you again?"

Chewing his quesadilla, Squee finally looked up and stared at Johnny in the face for the first time. He had looked a lot different since the last time he'd seen him. His hair had finally grown back, and he looked even paler and skinner than normal. Squee remembered him saying that he was going on a little holiday for a while...he didn't want to know where the trip was. He had enjoyed Johnny being gone, but it just hadn't seemed normal without him next door. "I...I think so. Daddy said something about me not getting lost coming home from school, and he wanted to put me in the next town."

Johnny nodded. "I see. That's a shame, though you are away from those horrible little trolls you called classmates. That's good, isn't it?"

"Uh-huh."

Meanwhile, Dib listened to the conversation, trying to look uninterested. He couldn't help but feel bad for Squee; his parents sounded awful. His dad didn't exactly qualify for Parent of the Year either, but at least he was there, whether in person or not, and gave him and Gaz what they needed. It was as if Squee's parents were trying to act like they never had a kid in the first place. He thought this over until he heard Johnny's voice addressing him: "So...uh, Dib, was it? You live around here, right?"

He snapped out of his thoughts immediately. "Huh? Oh, yeah. I live a few blocks away from the skool."

Johnny tilted his head slightly, blinking. "You look pretty familiar."

Dib smiled. "My dad's Professor Membrane."

"I thought so. Are you interested in science, too?"

Dib's smile grew even wider. "Not quite. I'm actually planning on becoming a paranormal investigator. It's sort of my specialty. Did you know that there's a real live alien going to our skool? It's true! Ask Todd!"

For the second time, Johnny raised an eyebrow. Interesting kid. "I...see. Well, I think it's time we left." He stood up, intentionally leaving the tray on the table. He smirked to himself as the cashier called after him.

"Hey, you idiot, we aren't busboys!" He'd be fun to kill later on. Johnny made a mental note to come back later tonight, while it was still fresh. Hopefully he'd catch him before his shift was over.

With Dib giving directions, he was able to take him home and drop him off before it was dark. "Bye, Todd! See you tomorrow," Dib said as he got out of the car. After he walked in the house and shut the front door, Johnny turned around to face the backseat.

"Hey, Squee? Do you mind getting up front while I take you home?"

Squee. "Um...I guess not," he said, climbing out and re-entering the car through the passenger's side. He slid in and fastened his seatbelt, and Johnny took off, driving towards the next town.

"You're probably wondering why I came looking for you," he said, glancing at Squee every few moments. Squee's silence told him to go on. "We both know your parents aren't the caring type. Hell, nobody's really looking out for you except for me and that creepy little devil kid. But you aren't at that school anymore, and when I didn't see you walking home today, I got concerned. I wanted to make sure you were alright, and make sure that your parents hadn't committed you again. People in this world...well, they're insects." His face started to gain the look of hatred he usually got whenever he talked about his distaste for the human race. "They want to infest your mind and take away any shred of innocence you possess or hurt you just to satisfy their pathetic little selves. While it's your parents who should be telling you this, I figured they wouldn't be doing it any time soon."

Squee watched him silently. He had gotten a similar type of lecture before Johnny had left on his trip, but what was he talking about?

Johnny sighed. "I'm rambling, I suppose. I really should stop doing that. Anyway, now that you're in a new place, you should be aware what those kids can do to you. You should know, from those despicable monsters at your old school. You need to look out for yourself, especially with your new friend. He might not be there with his...fascinating knowledge of the paranormal to back you up one day." It seemed to be perfect timing, because as soon as he finished, he slowed to a stop in front of Squee's house.

All too ready to leave, Squee grabbed his bag and hurriedly climbed out of the car, for once glad that he was home. "Um, thank you for the lunch. And for the ride. That was...nice of you," he said softly. Even though he was still scared of Johnny, he managed to give him a weak smile.

Smiling back, Johnny said, "No problem, Squeegee. Remember what I said, alright? I'll keep my eye out for you, just in case." He watched Squee go into the house before pulling into his driveway next door and retreating into his house.

Once inside, Squee sighed. The house was empty, just as he expected, but it didn't bother him. Johnny was back, and he was slightly more frightened than usual. He would look out, just as he was told, but not for other people. He would look out for the scary neighbor man, and decided not to tell Dib about their conversation the next day. Some things were best left alone.