Dlbn: Hey, everyone! Merry Christmas Eve!
Nbld: Felt like total crap earlier, but now that I'm doing good, I'm ready to update. Let's begin with the Review Corner! Thank you to Invader Johnny and Zim'sMostLoyalServant for reviewing! Christmas cookies for you both!
Invader Johnny: This is true, he should. While it lasts, that is. After all, all good things must come to an end. One way or another.
Zim'sMostLoyalServant: Things can never stay civil, can they? Not in the IZ world, anyway. Glad you're liking. I didn't want to make it too sappy and over the top, so I hope I haven't ^^"
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot and fan characters (Currently only Lahna and Dee have appeared). I make NO money off writing this. If I did, I could pay bills.
Dedication: Merry Christmas Eve, everyone!
000
Zim wasn't sure what to say when he saw Dib standing near the windows of their homeroom, back on the windowsill and arms crossed defensively over his chest. He was standing right near Zim's seat, which was a bit more alarming. He felt every warning sense in his body start to scream at him to be wary, but he chalked it up to spending so many years on the wrong side of the law and in the military making him as paranoid as Lahna pretended not to be.
"What's up?" He greeted instead. "You're normally with Dee before class, aren't you?"
Dib's jaw was set. "Got time to talk?" He asked.
Zim cocked an eyebrow. "I do something wrong?" He wondered. "I swear you just growled at me after that."
"I just want to talk."
"Sure…"
Zim followed him out of the room, shooting a confused look to his sister and shrugging his shoulders at her. Dib led him down the still crowded hallways. Homeroom wasn't going to start for another ten minutes or so, so no one was in a rush to get there yet.
"What's going on?" Dib asked.
"Huh?"
"Lahna coming here and just taking my place, you and Gretchen being so standoffish, my sister being even more bitchy than usual…something you guys aren't telling me?"
"First of all, Lahna didn't take your place. Gaz was going to introduce her to the entire group. You just happened to pick Dee that day…and every day since then…" Zim rolled his eyes. "Second, as far as Gretch and Gaz and I go, you should know exactly what the problem is here."
"Enlighten me."
Zim was slightly reminded of how his father tried to make him feel like less of a man by acting like more of a man than he was. The thought was sickening.
"You ditched us."
"No I haven't."
"When's the last time we hung out? When's the last time you sat with us at lunch? When's the last time you didn't give me a dirty look because your girl was around?"
Zim folded his arms over his chest, taking up the same stance Dib did earlier. His head tipped back enough so he was almost looking down at the teen, even though they were the same height. It was a power move that drove members of Covert into the shadows with their tails between their legs. But Dib seemed unfazed; unaware of just what that stance meant. Zim was preparing for a fight.
"I can't even tell you when, but it was before she came into the picture. We feel abandoned, a'ight?"
"A'ight? Since when do you talk like that?"
"Sorry, my old accent shining through." He shrugged one shoulder. "Doesn't change my point. You ditched us. And for what? Breasts and a tiny slice of popularity being dangled in front of your face?"
"Watch it." Dib glared. "She's my girlfriend, and they're my friends…"
"Friends that, last year, would be throwing you in the dumpster and trying to get you kicked out of their teams for class projects." Zim rolled his eyes. "People that wouldn't give you a second glance unless it was to make sure you were upset at being bullied. People that made you invite me into your group to avoid because 'we gotta stick together'? People that rub it in the faces of your real friends that you're not with them anymore? Seriously, Dib, wake up. These people aren't your friends. They never were, and they never will be."
"You don't know them like I do."
"How can you be certain its real, hm?"
"I just know it is, okay? I don't like to always see the worst in people. Unlike you."
"Excuse me?" Zim took a step closer, knowing people were watching nervously for a fight to break out, but not caring. "All my life, people have shown me nothing but the worst." He snarled. "Pardon if I'm a bit of a cynic when all I've been shown is nothing but hatred and anger my entire life, a'ight? Your friends are going to toss you aside the moment they're bored with you or Dee kicks your sorry ass to the curb because she got bored."
Dib took a step closer, too. "You don't know her, Zim. Back off."
"She hasn't exactly given me the pleasure to do so." Zim informed. "If you couldn't tell, she barely knows me and she thinks I'm the scum on the Earth."
"She doesn't think that about you."
"I've seen that look in the eyes of too many people to not know what it means, Dib." Zim shook his head. "She gets offended at everything I say, everything I do. For god's sake, I can't even breathe without her going down my throat."
"Maybe if you didn't say such weird, creepy shit like cannibalism when she and I were just kissing, she wouldn't have a problem with you." Dib rolled his eyes. "And if my sister and Gretchen have such a problem with this, why haven't they said anything?"
"If your sister says anything, you and I both know it will be with her fists; not her words." Zim shook his head. "And Gretchen's too kindhearted to yell at your ignorant ass."
"So now I'm ignorant?" Dib glared. "I thought we were friends, man. Nice to know you think so lowly of me."
"You're sure acting it." Zim laughed. "Last I checked, friends don't ditch their friends for a broad."
Dib took a swing, but Zim sidestepped it. Years of physically fighting with members of Covert, mostly Caleb, and military training had made it easy for him to outmaneuver a child with zero experience in fighting other than getting beaten up.
"Look, you don't know my girl, so back off."
"She doesn't know me either, so she can back off my back." Zim rolled his eyes. "I may not know your girl but I know a thing or two about loyalty. And whatever loyalty you had shriveled up like a raisin the moment she came around. I've been jerked around by people turning on me, Dib, and I won't be jerked around again. You're right. We were friends. But the moment you decided we weren't worth your time anymore, that went out the god damn window."
"You're a total ass, you know that?"
"So, I've been told."
Dib glared. "Whatever. This isn't worth my time. Just because I have new friends and am moving up the food chain around here, you feel threatened."
"Threatened?" Zim laughed. "Don't make me laugh boy. Back home, I ran the streets. You wanna see true power, meet me out back after school hours and we can settle our shit."
"Bring it on." Dib snorted. "I don't need to get put down by a loser. I'm better than that."
"What did you call me?" Zim's glare hardened. "A loser? A week or two ago, you were a loser, too. Do yourself a favor. When your throne of almightiness crumbles, don't forget that."
"I…I didn't mean that…" Dib's hands balled into fists and he looked at the ground, unknowingly telling Zim he'd won. "Heat of the moment…" He looked back at Zim, blushing red as a tomato.
"Whether you meant it or not, Dibberton, you said it."
"Full name calling? Really?"
"Nicknames are for friends, I believe."
Dib glared. "Look, I was hoping to fix things, but it doesn't look like that's happening any time soon."
"No, I should say not." Zim glared. "You can thank your friends for that."
Dib rolled his eyes. "Mad I got better friends?"
"Better, eh?" Zim huffed. "So now the truth comes out. First, I'm a loser, now your new friends are better than your old ones. You're a real piece of work, kid."
"I don't…ugh, you piss me off so much I say things I don't mean to say…"
"I think you mean to say them and when you realize that I heard you say them, you change your tune." Zim rolled his eyes, holding his chin with one hand and balancing the elbow for that hand on his other palm. "Why don't you tell me what's really going on, Dib. They in your head or something? I know they're hard to get out, but to turn you on your friends like that. Tsk, such a shame."
"Dee doesn't like you; you're right. She doesn't know you, you're right again. But you do say some things that are just downright creepy and don't need to be said." Dib sighed. "She and I had a really long talk last night…"
"So, she's in your head, not them. Good to know. Continue." Zim waved his wrist around.
Dib glared. "She thinks it would be best for our relationship and my new friendships if we just…took a break…"
"So…she doesn't want you to be friends with me anymore?"
"Basically…" Dib rubbed the back of his neck. "That doesn't mean I have to stop being friends with Gretchen and the others, though. Or that I will."
"Unfortunately, we're almost always together, so avoiding me won't be possible."
"I know." Dib nodded. "I have to make a choice here. And, honestly, to have an easier time here at school and to make my life better in the future, maybe it is best we part ways. I mean, everyone else is mad at me anyway."
"Not mad. Disappointed." Zim corrected. "We thought you were better than this, dude…"
"I thought we were better than this, too." Dib sighed. "I don't want to stop being friends, but if it's what I have to do…"
"Let me put something into perspective for you, okay?" Zim offered. "I had a serious girlfriend before I moved here, a'ight? I mean, hell, I was in love with the broad. But if she told me to ditch my friends, ditch Sila, I'd toss her ass to the curb before she got the chance to finish her sentence. Bros before hoes, man…"
"Sila?"
"My best friend back home." Zim sighed. "Not the point, Dib. You still want to be friends, you want to fix this? Then tell her to back the hell off."
"I can't do that. She'll walk…"
"Then is she really worth keeping?" Zim asked. "She's a freshman, not a senior. Is she really worth losing every friend you have?"
Dib thought for a second. "Y-Yeah…she is…"
"I…had hoped your answer would be different, honestly." Zim sighed. "This is just pathetic, Dib, and I got done with being pathetic a long time ago. When you get your head out of your ass, we'll be waiting. I'll be waiting for a proper apology. A loser…that's not something I'd ever think I would hear you call me. I'm even more disappointed in you than I was before." He huffed. "I don't know how the hell I was ever so close with someone who's so weak."
"Weak? I'm willing to take a leap at love, and you call me weak? You think this is easy, Zim? Because it's not. It's not easy to up and leave all my friends behind. It's not easy to forget about Gretchen and Keef and Melvin and Todd and Screamy and my sister and Iggins, and you." Dib flailed his arms for dramatic purposes. "But this is a huge opportunity for me."
"So's going off to Yale, but I don't see you filling out any applications."
"You're impossible."
"Takes one to know one, Dib."
He rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Just tell the guys I'm sorry, okay?"
"How about you be a man and tell them yourself. Or are you too afraid they'll see right through your sorry? I don't believe you're sorry at all. You're doing this because you want to. If you were truly sorry, you'd tell Dee and her bonehead friends to take a hike."
"Again with the insults. God, can't you be nice for once?"
"Says the guy who just called me a loser and said his new friends were better than me and his old friends."
"Oh, would you come off it?" Dib growled. "I said I was sorry."
"And I told you I wasn't buying what you were selling." Zim bent forward at the waist. "For real, Dib, this is low, even for you, but don't lie about it. If you're gonna be a rat, then own up to it."
"Why, you…" Dib took another swing.
This time Zim caught his fist, squeezing it just enough to show the boy that he'd won and wasn't taking his shit.
"You're a smart kid, Dib, and you know it. Use your words; not your fists. Save fists for the useless idiots like me."
"At least you admit what you are." Dib rolled his eyes.
"Gonna apologize for that one, too?" Zim sneered.
"No, that one I meant."
Zim couldn't help himself. He suddenly wanted to deck the kid. He made a fist, but didn't swing. He'd have more self-control than this. He wasn't that guy anymore. He wouldn't be violent. He wouldn't hit a teenager.
"If you're gonna hit me, Zim, then hit me." Dib stood tall, puffing out his chest in some sort of challenge that Zim found almost laughable.
"Two things I don't hit are women and children. I'll let you decide which category you fall into."
Dib swung, but Zim blocked it. Dib swung with his other fist, Zim maneuvered his way out of his path.
"Come on, Dib, I'm barely putting up a fight here." Zim pretended to yawn. "I'm getting bored."
"Shut up!" Dib tried to swing again.
"Dib!" Gretchen called.
"Aiyies!" Lahna shouted.
Both boys stopped and turned towards the voices. The crowds parted like the red sea. Gretchen and the rest of their group came up from one side, and Dee and her friends came from the other.
"Finally letting him have it?" Torque laughed, slapping Dib on the back. "About damn time, man."
"Uh, excuse me, but he's yet to land a hit." Zim waved the fist he'd caught.
"Not the point." Torque rolled his eyes.
Lahna grabbed his arm that he hadn't realized was poised to strike the teen.
"Nayde mas. Per fevur?" Lahna whispered to him. "Per mia? Ey no gustar la."
Zim nodded, putting down his arm and letting Dib go. "You're right. He's not worth it." Zim glared.
"Excuse you?" Dib started at him again, but Gaz grabbed him by the arm to stop him, digging her nails into the teen's arm.
"You're making an ass out of yourself, Dib." She glared at him, immediately making him shrink. "You too, Zim. Quit it."
He put up his hands in a defenseless gesture. "I already backed down. See?"
Lahna let him go, putting a hand on her forehead and shaking her head against it.
"I see the old you shining through, and I ain't sure I like it." She muttered in Irken.
Zim flushed.
"So…are you not friends now?" Dee asked.
"Just like you wanted." Zim glared at her. "Enjoy. He's all yours. I'm going to homeroom. Go or don't, Dib; not my problem. Just stay the hell out of my way."
Zim pushed past him, making sure to bash into his shoulder with his own as he did so. Dib glared and started after him, but Dee's friends encouraged him to let the angry adult go.
"You're an idiot, you know." Lahna told Dib. "He would have beat your ass into next week, and if we weren't on school grounds, I wouldn't have stopped him."
"Well aren't you a saint." Dee rolled her eyes.
"Honey, you don't want to step to me." Lahna laughed. "He won't actually hit Dib. With you, I'll make it look like an accident."
"Enough." The math teacher for the sophomore class ordered. "I don't know what's going on here, but it doesn't belong in the school halls. Threats are not tolerated, Ms.…"
"Evans." Lahna answered. "Sorry…"
"Everyone head to homeroom." The teacher ordered. "Nothing to see here; show's over."
The crowds dispersed. Lahna gave Dee's retreating back one last glare before running off to find her brother.