Disclaimer: "Why yes, I DO own Invader Zim. What of it?" people in white suits come over and put me in straightjacket "yeah, she doesn't seriously own Invader Zim. She's just crazy." then they walk away whilst I struggle... That dramatic reenactment was just to show you that I truly DON'T own Invader Zim. Got it? MUST YOU RUB IT IN! argh...
Molly stood over a coffee machine, wearing only a long t-shirt, looking tired but still grinning. "You want coffee?" she called up the stairs. A disgruntled voice mumbled a 'yes,' and she put in more coffee stuff, humming quietly.
Gir pulled on the bottom of her shirt, and she looked down at him with a smile.
"Yeah Gir?" she said.
"You gonna make waffles with mango and paper sprinkles?" he asked.
"Okay Gir. I'll make you some." She had always been a great cook, cooking for her parents and all the Membranes. It had four years since she moved here, and she was now seventeen. She had been secretly dating Zim for a little over six months.
She was still making the waffles when Zim walked down the stairs, wiping the sleep out of his eyes.
"Hey," he said, wrapping his arm around her waist and nuzzling his head into her hair, smiling.
"Hey," she said, turning around and kissing him. "I'm making waffles, okay?" Zim smiled.
"My favorite." Molly gave him a lopsided grin.
"They'll be done in a minute, 'kay?" Zim nodded, and sat down at the table, taking out a newspaper.
"Hey, the artificial beavers are rioting against the scientists," he said, skimming the paper. Molly brought out two plates stacked with waffles, and Gir and Zim began to eat. Molly glanced at the clock.
"Oh, I've got to go! Bye," she gave Zim a kiss and ran out the door.
"I liiiiiiiike to eat wwwwwwaaaaafflllllllees..." said Gir happily.
"Hi everyone!" said Molly, opening the door. Gaz walked by with her GameSlave, wearing a black and purple elf suit.
"You're late," Gaz said. Kaitlin passed by wearing tight black pants, a red sleeveless shirt with the words, "you've been a bad boy, go to my room," and a multitude of black bracelets. She gave Molly an all-knowing smile, saying loud and clear, 'I know where you've been you little whore,' but in a nice way. Dib walked in wearing a blue and black Santa suit.
"Hurry up and get into your costume. We're taking the Christmas photo soon." Molly nodded and rushed upstairs. She came back down wearing a Santa hat that was a matching blue to her eyes, the same color blue spaghetti-strap shirt with white fluff around it, and a short blue skirt with the white fluff.
"Ready," she said brightly. They all crowded into the living room and posed, making sure not to block the hologram of Professor Membrane wearing his lab suit in red and a red and white hat. They took the picture, and Gaz immediately went upstairs to change. "I can't believe it's Christmas already!" Molly said to Dib. Dib laughed. "Yeah, so what do you want?" Molly shrugged.
"I dunno. What about you?" Dib immediately went into a long explanation of all the new equipment and spygear he wanted.
"By the way, where were you all night?" he asked suspiciously. Although they were the same age, Dib was always very protective of her. He treated her like a younger sister, or the way he would have treated Gaz if she wasn't so... not younger sister-like. Molly shrugged, careful not to give anything away. She would tell him that she was having a sleepover with friends, but he knew as well as her that she had no friends. She was always talking about the paranormal, just like Dib, so people tended to stay away. Kaitlin walked in snickering.
"I'm sure she was having a very busy night. Did you get a good work-out?" she asked smiling. Molly gave her a 'ha-ha' look.
Dib raised an eyebrow. "You weren't with a guy, were you?" Molly blushed while Dib rolled his eyes. "You really shouldn't be doing that kind of stuff, you're too young ..." although he had gone all the way with a foreign exchange student from Russia after only a few weeks. "Anyway, who's the guy?" Molly blushed deeper.
"No one you know," she lied. Dib raised his eyebrows even higher.
"If they go to Skool, then I'll probably know them." As Molly was thinking of a lie, Gaz walked in, wearing her usual outfit.
"What are you two doing still wearing those?" she asked.
"You're right. I'll go get changed." said Molly in a rush, running upstairs and closing the door quickly.
"What's wrong with her?" asked Gaz. Dib shrugged.
"I dunno, but I'm gonna find out."
They all walked to Skool in their customary silence. Occasionally Molly would have cheery one-sided conversations, sometimes Dib would chime in about aliens, and Kaitlin would try to keep them up to date about all the guys wooing over her (even though it was hard to keep up with them all,) but they were generally quiet. Although it was the middle of winter, they still wore the same outfits, occasionally on a cold enough day they would throw a winter jacket over the rest of their clothes, except for Kaitlin, who had changed her entire wardrobe since the first day. She was wearing an ultra-mini black skirt with hot pink ruffles on the bottom, big black boots that came up to the bottom of her knee, a super-tight hot pink shirt that came up to her mid-abdomen, exposing the faint outlines of abs. She also had a black dogtag with the inscription of 'Nickel-whore,' which explained her extreme fetish with nickels, where if someone has a nickel on their person, she will GET IT. NO QUESTIONS ASKED. IT IS HERS... for instance, if a boy happened to cough cough accidentally cough cough show her a nickel, she would, in desperate measures, be on top of him, wrestling it away. She also had a black hoodie, and numerous amounts of studs on her ears.
"So," began Dib, feigning cheerfulness when they could all hear the seriousness and suspicion. "When we get to Skool, why don't you point out this guy to me?" Molly rolled her eyes, mumbled something, and walked faster. Gaz snickered.
"Dib, you're so stupid. As if she'd actually want you to know him." Molly had told Gaz and Kaitlin about Zim when they confronted her about the guy she was seeing, and they had promised not to tell anyone. The three of them were a surprisingly close trio, although they didn't flaunt it. However, they all kept each others secrets and were loyal to one another. Dib shrugged. "I'll find out sooner or later."
They got to Skool, and Gaz and Kaitlin went to their classes while Molly and Dib went to theirs. The teacher they had now always handed out a packet at the beginning of class, told them to read and study it, and then fell asleep at his desk all day. The seating arrangement was that Dib sat in front of Zim, and Molly sat to the right of Zim. Therefore, Zim and Molly could pass notes and Dib couldn't see, and when Molly was busy studying her packet Zim would pelt Dib with spitballs.
Although Zim wouldn't relinquish his extreme dislike for Dib because of Molly, he tried hard not to be nasty to Dib in Molly's presence. She had come to accept that they would never like each other after all the years of battling, but she made Zim promise not to try to kill Dib anymore, and to at least try not to get into so many fights. For the most part, Zim listened, but sometimes he just couldn't resist.
"Hello Zim," said Dib, adding emphasis on the word. Zim opened his mouth to retort, but seeing Molly by Dib's side, closed his mouth and nodded curtly. "Dib-monkey." Dib gave Zim a funny look, and then sat down at his seat. Molly and Zim caught eyes, and she gave him a brief smile. Then they all sat down and began their long, boring Skool day.
Finally, the bell rang and it was time to go home. Molly and Dib went outside to wait for Gaz and Kaitlin, while Zim walked outside and waited for Gir, who came everyday and walked home with him.
Just as the quartet was about to leave, Gir came up and saw Molly. Walking up, he hugged her, (or her legs, because even though she was short, she was way taller than Gir, as was Zim, who had found that earth's gravitational pull was far less than Irk, and over the years he had grown an additional few feet. He was now 6', which was a whole foot taller than Molly. PRAISE GRAVITY!) And then Gir left. Dib raised his eyebrow, very confused, and Zim only watched.
"Um..." began Molly eloquently. "What's with that puppy?" Dib shrugged, and they all walked away, but only after Molly and Zim had shared a that-was-close glance.