Chapter Two I Hate You All

One week later, Gaz sat down at the table, left to her father and Dib sat across from her. He was strangely angry today... And Gaz seemed distracted somehow. She was thinking, As soon as Dib starts to freak out and tell dad about Zim and show him his proof, I'm gonna make a run for it. Sure, it might have been a silly idea, but it would work. The dinner was slow and Professor Membrane was asking obvious questions that he should have known, being their dad, but it was coming: the question he always asked.

"So Dib, anything you'd like to tell your sister? Don't hold back..."

Since the professor was there, Dib smirked, "Well..." Gaz twitched as he continued, "There's this alien at school, but Gaz doesn't believe me, and she just has been berserk over the past week, with hating Christmas and all.. You know, she won't even admit that Zim's an alien, but he is!! She's even seen him--"

"Okay! That's it! I am so sick of you always talking about Zim! Is he an obsession or something?! Do you have a crush on him? Or is there something deep down inside you that makes you think that he's better than you? Fine! I'll say it! Zim IS an alien who's hell-bent on destroying the Earth! But I don't care! And do you know why I don't care?" Gaz paused for a second, leaving Dib too appalled to think, but at the same time, think so much, "It's because he is the worse invader in all of Irk! He's not going to take over Earth! The Tallest made it so that he couldn't! With Gir around he can't do anything right!"

There was a long, and awkward silence.

Dib finally found his voice, "How do you know all that?"

"Because anyone with the right equipment can figure all that out and if you were better at spying, then you would know," she said, passing him up at what talent he thought to be only his talent.

"You--you spied on Zim? Why?"

"Because I wanted to know more about him than you, so that one day when you thought you knew everything, I could beat you, because you always think that you're the best."

"Wh--what?" Dib was dumbfounded.

"I hate this stupid place! I hate our school, this house, this city, this PLANET!"

"What are you going to do about it?"

"I'm leaving." She stated bluntly.

"How?"

"I'm going to get a ship from Zim and leave."

"You can't do that!"

"I am, and you can't stop me!" She bolted for the door that she had unlocked earlier for quick escape. Being on her father's left, she was able to get to the door more quickly. Snagging her bag of things, she jumped out of the door and slammed it in Dib's face for the third time. She took one step before her eyes grew wide. There the new girl was, with research papers in her hand.

"Gaz!!!" Dib shrieked, fiddling with the knob. Gaz wasted no time and flung the girl behind her, running as fast as she could to Zim's fortress.

Dib flew out of the door, right into the girl, and they both shrieked a similar shriek. "Oh, sorry, " Dib picked up the papers, forgetting what he was doing.

"I brought some papers I found on Lepopratic. You know so you could--"

"Ah--sorry--I have to go find my sister," Dib shoved her out of the way and headed for Zim's place.

"Just a few more adjustments and we'll have fixed your behavioral problems, Gir," Zim said, jumbling through Gir's head, "What is this?" He asked, pulling out a sticky, chocolate substance.

"It's a cupcake!" came the high-pitched shriek.

The doorbell rang.

"Oh what now? Don't they know an invader's work is never done?!" Switching into his brilliant disguise, he approached the door, with Gir in his dog suit, coming up behind him. Opening the door, he was surprised to find Gaz standing there, "Umm..."

"Yeah, yeah, hurry up, Dib's coming." Gaz pushed her way into his house and slammed the door shut, although not in Dib's face this time.

"So, what are you doing here?" Zim asked, locking the door.

"Okay, I know you're an alien, so don't even say you're not... Who am I supposed to tell anyway? I'm not like Dib, and I hate this place just as much as you do."

"Yeah, I'm an alien."

"Your disguise blows."

Zim laughed heartily. Gaz managed a giggle, but she doesn't know what's funny.

"So how do I get out of this dump?"

"You'll need one of my state-of-the-art ships.. But they take years to learn how to maneuver."

"Well--"

A loud banging came from the door.

"It's gotta be Dib," Gaz said.

"Quick, there's a secret--"

"Yeah, I know," she interjected, pressing a button on the back of the couch and sliding down a chute to a secret, enclosed area.

Zim answered the door with Dib standing there, just as Gaz had said.

"Where is she?" He shouted at Zim.

"Where's who?"

"You know, Gaz! She said she was coming here."

"She said no such thing to me."

"Of course she didn't tell you, she was going to steal one of your ships! She told me!"

"She must have been joking with you then. Everyone knows you're crazy."

"I'm not crazy!"

"Crazy."

"I AM NOT!"

"HAVE YOU THE WORMBRAINS, PATHETIC HUMAN?!"

"What?"

"The wormbrains.. oh they're eating your insides," Zim said unenthusiastically, "oh dear. Better report that to your father, now run along puny, Earth scum!"

Dib was too confused to argue, a technique that Irkens used all the time. Distract the enemy long enough to take them down. Dib wondered about half-way to his house when he met the girl again and she started rambling on about Lepopratic. Zim took off his disguise as he pressed the button on the couch again and Gaz resurfaced.

"Come to my lab," he said ominously.

"How'd you get rid of him?"

"Utter confusion... A technique us Irkens have used for..."

"Yeah, yeah, I didn't ask for your life story."

Zim smirked at her comment.

They reached the lab through the trashcan once more and Zim took her to the controls, "This button brings all the models onto the screen. If you need any help, Computer will teach if I am not around. This is very delicate equipment so--"

"What's this button do?" Gaz asked, pressing a violet button.

"No don't--!" A large volt of electricity went through the entire house and the rest of the town, giving everything and everyone a mild shock.

"Ooh cool," she said, her voice peaking with interest. She reached for the button again, but Zim grabbed her wrist.

"Don't do that again," he narrowed his ruby eyes, and she giggled nervously. It was perfect.