A.N. Ok, thank you so much to my lovely reviewer of the last chapter, and thank you for all you people who have faved this, which was like. . . 3. . . and uh. . . thanks to all who read this, but don't bother leaving a review . . . spring break in 4 hours! I'm excited! and I think "dope" is a funny word. . . hence, the name of this chapter. . .

Chapter 4- Dopes in Distress

This is so stupid.

After asking Ms. Bitters if we could be partners in front of the entire class, Dib's still avoiding me. What an idiot.

During lunch, he's sitting several tables away. To freak him out, I keep staring at him blankly, and he'll occasionally glance up nervously.

It's really only when his wretched sister shoots me a death glare, do I stop staring.

"I'm going to eat his big head. . ." I hear Zim hiss beside me.

"Why is that, Zim?" I ask in mock interest.

"I just am," Zim snaps. "Look at the Dib. . . he's so. . .Dib. . ."
"Oh my, you're right, I never would've guessed," I say, and for once Zim gets my sarcasm and narrows his eyes, but then I flash him a smile, just to confuse him.

It works.

I supress a laugh and then I see Dib coming toward us.

From Zim comes a disgruntled cry of,

"Ugh!"

"Hello Dib," I say, ignoring Zim.

"Hey Tak," Dib says, "Could you me meet me after skool today? For the project?"

"Sure."

As Dib walks away, Zim says,

"What does he want with you!"

"It's for the project, Zim, calm down. . ."

"No! The filth brain's up to something, I just know it!"
"You worried for me?" I ask softly, and I'm only half teasing.

But then Antoinette walks up before Zim can answer.

"Okay," she says, "I've decided we'll research earthquakes. I'll gather information, you make a fancy poster. Got it?"

Once again, Zim only stares and blinks.

"Seriously, who are you?

Antoinette glares and says,

"That's not funny,"

and walks away.

Zim looks confused, but then sort of shrugs and turns to his tray.

"What were we talking about?" he asks me.

I sigh.

"Nothing important," I mutter.

I'll never admit it to anyone, but there is one thing I find. . .likable. . . on this planet. The ocean. It's. . . just different. I don't know.

It's even. . . sort of. . .ugh. . .pretty. . .

Oh, why am I thinking this?

Well, I'm at the beach for one thing. . .

Dib and I have decided to research tsunamis for our project. Even though we can get more done in the library, he dragged me here.

And. . . yet again. . .he's not talking. Fool.

"So Dib," I say, louder then necessary, and he seems startled by the broken silence, "How much research do you think we'll get done on the beach?"

". . . Tak," Dib says slowly, "I actually. . . I have to talk to you. . ."

"That's new," I mutter.

"You see. . ." he says, suddenly I notice a slight blush, "When I first met you. . . before I knew you were. . . well, I liked you."

Crud.

Crud, crud, crud. . .

"And even though, I. . . know. . . you're not human. . . Tak, you don't have to help Zim take over the earth. . ."

Look at him. He's so serious. . .

I sort of snort, then cover my mouth, but then I'm laughing and I can't stop.

Dib. . . what a dope. . .

And then it's like I'm laughing for no reason, like how I used to with Steg and Joon, only at the thought of them, my laughter sort of dies. And also, Dib looks really distressed. And my side hurts.

Wiping a tear from my eye, and accidently letting one more laugh escape, I say,

"Dib, if I wanted to take over this miserable rock, I'd be ruler by now."

Dib's eyes are big as he says in bewilderment,

"Wait. . . you. . . so you don't want to. . .? Then why is Zim always saying he's your ally?"

I catch a deep breath and go back to my usual mood.

"We're friends," I explain. "But that doesn't mean I want to help him take over Earth. Besides, his mission's-"

I stop. Think for a second.

As amusing as the Dib-Zim conflict is, if I were to tell Dib Zim's mission was a setup, Dib would no doubt use it against Zim. . .

But then again, there's little chance Zim would believe him. . .

I frown and glance at my leg, still bandaged up from yesterday. Think of Zim caring to it without hesitation.

Why would he do that? He never helps anyone. . .

"His mission's what?" Dib asks, breaking my thought.

I stare for a moment, then say,

"His mission's his alone. I'm not allowed to aid him."

"Oh," Dib says.

We're quiet for a little while. Then I say,

"Ya know, I won't kill you if I see you starting up with Zim."

Dib doesn't say anything, but he glances at me for a second.

"Later Dib," I say, and I get up and leave.

I opened my eyes. There was blood everywhere. Covering the ground, splattered across my clothes, but I didn't think any of it was mine. But then I realized my lip was cut, because I tasted blood.

I didn't know where I was. But Joon was there.

He, too, was covered in blood.

He was beside me, asking,

"Are you okay?"

"What happened?"

Suddenly my head started pounding, and pictures of. . . something, of Steg, of. . .

"Where's Steg?" I demanded, as I struggled to sit up.

Joon didn't answer right away.

"Damn it, Joon, where's Steg!" I shouted.

Then he pointed, and lying no more then two yards away, was Steg.

I slowly stood up and made my way over, but I stumbled halfway, and then just fell on him.

He was dead. Steg was dead.

"Tak. . ." Joon whispered.

"Who did this? I asked softly, no emotion.

"Ginna. . ." Joon said, and then added quickly,"But she's dead."
"How?"

". . . You killed her."

It's only a little bit chilly outside, but I'm shivering anyway.

I'm lying on Zim's roof, just staring at the night sky.

Thinking.

Why is it that lately all these memories are coming back to me? Horrible ones, anyway.

I'm not even sure I have happy memories. . .

"Why aren't you wearing your disguise?"

Zim's voice. I look and see him climbing on the roof on the opposite side.

"Oh, sorry," I say, and I go to turn on my holograph.

"Um. . .it's okay," he says, "so long as no filthy humans see you. . ."

"Then take off your disguise," I say, and he looks nervous for a moment, but then removes his wig and contacts.

He's. . .

"What are you doing?" he asks, as he sits beside me.

"Just. . .thinking," I say.

We're quiet for a little while.

And we're staring at the same sky that a few months ago I had been traveling in. The same sky I used to look at when I was little, wondering what Irk was like. . .

"You were born in a lab, right?" I ask Zim. He nods, and I continue, "I wasn't. I had real parents."

"Really?" Zim's antennas perk up in interest. "What was that like?"

"Well. . . I can't speak for everyone, but. . .I hated it most of the time." Zim doesn't respond, but he stares, as if he wants me to go on. So I do. "They constrained me. I wasn't allowed to embrace what I was- Irken. My parents didn't approve of Irken society. I wasn't even born on Irk. My parents always said they wanted me to grow up away from such a 'small-minded' society, so the idiots decided to raise me on Slaytia."

"But. . ." Zim says, suddenly confused, "Isn't Slaytia and Irken enemy?"

I smirk.

"Yeah. My parents were brilliant, weren't they? I was saved from society, and instead, I got attacked by Slaytian children constantly." Zim's expression has that weird, unreadable, not happy look again, so I add, "I fought back though. And I had help. . ."

I sigh.

Why am I telling him all this? Because I have to tell someone? Because the night sky, for some reason, is making me feel more open tonight? Or because I want him to know?

Why do I want him to know?

He's waiting for me to continue.

"Two Irken boys," I say. "Joon and Steg. They were brothers. Had the same problems with their parents as I did with mine. . .we all agreed to escape to Irk one day. . ."

"Did you?"

"I did. Later Joon did too, but I only saw him once on Irk after I arrived. . . and then I left to train in the Irken military."
"What about Steg?"

". . .Died."

And we're quiet again.

I feel really weird. Like I'm going to cry. . .

"Tak," Zim says.

"You know," I say, "I think this is the longest I've ever heard you go without screaming."

"Well, I don't want to bring attention to us," he mutters, or something like that. Then he pauses and says, "Why're you smiling?"

Huh? I'm smiling? Not again. . . why is it that I never know when I smile lately?

I look to Zim.

And then I notice something weird. . . and I'm not looking down at him, or even straight at him. . .I'm looking up. . .

"Zim. . ." I say in disbelief, "Have you gotten taller?"

"Heh?" he says. He looks up, and then down at me. And suddenly a huge smile creeps on his face. "Yes! Yes, I have!"

I hold in a laugh as he stands up and shouts,

"I AM ZIM!"

But then I guess he realizes screaming that in the middle of the night might just bring a little attention to him, because then he sits down quickly, and fumbles to get his disguise back on.

I mutter,

"Idiot," as I turn on my own disguise, and then we both decide to go inside after that.

My lip was stitched up, my clothes were cleansed of any blood.

Steg was buried.

Joon watched me as I boarded my ship.

I glanced at him, and he asked,

"Where will you go from here?"

I paused then said,

"Irk. I'll try to find something there. . . are you sure you don't want to come?"

"Maybe one day," Joon said.

". . . Are you sure?" I asked again.

Joon nodded.

"You know," I said, "We've both lost everything. . . we should. . ."

"We should start over," Joon said,"but not together. We won't be able to get over it together."

I couldn't say anything. I couldn't feel anything.

"Don't worry, kid. . . you'll be fine."

End of chapter 4. . .

The whole Zim-growing-taller thing is such a common element found in ZATR stories. . . heh, heh, oh well. . .

Next chapter starts the turn-of-events and crap. 'Twill be enjoyable, but I won't be able to get it up until after spring break.

First sentence of chapter 5. . .

"Dib likes you," Kacer says.

Yeah, that's it. . . heh heh. . . as always, please review. Like. . . seriously, I'm begging you. . . falls to knees in desperate tears