Dlbn: Welcome back everyone. The last chapter was pretty much just filler, so here's a bit more of I guess you'd call it action going on. Its not major, but it's getting back to the plot.

Nbld: There's a major plot overall that sums everything up, in a way, but that's quite a way down the road. Let's get onto the Review Corner. Thank you to Invader Johnny and Zim'sMostLoyalServant for reviewing! Cake for you both!

Invader Johnny: Hello. Thank you very much. It's been a difficult few days. We just buried my dog Saturday, so the weekend was rough. Glad you liked. My friends are (were, since most don't talk to me) more family than my actual family. Pizza and video games are the only way to survive Gaz, it seems!

Zim'sMostLoyalServant: Thank you. That chapter was just there for Maddie (who becomes a bit more plot relevant later) to show up. Things are going to start happening. Slowly, but they're coming along.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot and the OCs you should all know by now. Everything canon belongs to Jhonen C. Vasquez. I make NO money off writing or posting this.

Disclaimer 2: Translations. A bit of Irken is used, but its short and simple.

Ya ve: "That's enough" or "stop that"

Amagito: "Friend"

Yas se: "I know"

000

Zim was only half surprised to find something of his at the school vandalized again when he arrived the next day. This time, his homeroom desk had a few derogatory terms, mostly poking at his social status and sexuality. He rolled his eyes.

"Nice desk you got there, Zim." Torque commented. "It's got a point. We've never seen you with a girl that wasn't Gretchen, Gaz, Lahna, or Sila, and none of those are relationships. You sure you're not gay or something?"

People snickered.

"I don't know." Zim stated. "Why don't you ask your mother."

Keef gasped, covering his mouth with both hands as the other students bit back gasps.

"What did you say?" Torque wondered, standing up.

"I said. Why don't you ask your mother?" Zim dropped his bag at his desk. "Oh, right, we all know why you can't."

His mother wasn't around, but no one really said why. Zim had an idea, but he wasn't going to enlighten the rest of the school. He wasn't that cruel. Okay, he wasn't that cruel to anyone that wasn't Covert or Caleb himself. And it wasn't like Ense or Chase would break confidentiality and tell him whether he was right or wrong. Even if they said he was wrong, he'd have to assume it was to protect Torque's family secrets.

Torque stalked over to him and Zim stood as tall as he could, preparing himself for the jock to take a swing.

"Take it back."

"Make me." Zim snarled.

Torque leapt at him, but he took a step to the side and he missed.

"Nice work." Zim teased. "I'm so scared."

Torque growled as he recovered and attacked again, this time slamming into Zim's graffiti covered desk and making it slide as Zim moved out of the way.

"Mr. Smackey, what do you think you're doing?" Their homeroom and math teacher wondered as she sauntered in, followed by a student that looked vaguely familiar, but Zim was certain wasn't a student.

Another transfer?

"Nothing…just playing around, Miss." Torque gave Zim a good-natured pat on the back, but he used a bit more force than necessary and the teacher frowned.

"Refrain from causing disruptions in my classroom." The professor's eyes fell to Zim's desk. "And just what happened here?"

"Someone vandalized my desk." Zim informed. "Seems my sexuality is coming into question and it's proper to write about it all over my desk."

"I fail to see how that's anyone's business but your own." The teacher rolled his eyes.

"And the business of ninety-five percent of the women in Seoul." Sila pointed out as she entered the room. "Seriously, what the hell, Jun? Who you piss off now?"

"Take a guess." Zim nodded his chin at Torque, who growled.

"God, you can't go anywhere without causing all kinds of problems, can you, Junior?" The new kid spoke up.

Zim recognized him instantly from his voice and his eyes narrowed as he realized his days at Skool Hi were going to get a lot tougher.

"Caleb." Zim growled.

Sila cocked an eyebrow at him. "You serious? Well shit."

She pushed around him to join her friend, knowing that having both him and Caleb in the same room together was just asking for a brawl.

"You know each other?" Keef asked.

"From back home, yeah." Zim nodded.

"Oh. That Caleb."

The man cocked an eyebrow,

"Don't get too full of yourself." Sila snapped. "Just reminiscing on the past."

"I see." Caleb nodded, biting a little on the bottom left of his lip. "Hope my name isn't brought up again…I'd hate to see what would happen."

"Pretty sure if we mention you three ties, you get summoned." Zim answered.

Keef giggled behind his hand.

"I'm not sure I get it."

"You don't have to." Keef stated. "It was funny."

"Well, since we all seem to know one another, I won't bother with introductions." Their teacher stated. "Two open seats here. Over in the back by Torque, or behind Zim. Why don't you sit behind Zim? New kids tend to…"

"No!" The three gangsters protested.

"That's a terrible idea." Caleb stated.

"You can say that again." Zim agreed.

"We're agreeing on something?"

"I don't like it."

"Me neither."

Zim rolled his eyes.

"Okay…then I guess near Mr. Smackey, if he's done making nice with Zim's desk. Are we sure it's his sexuality we should be calling into question here?"

The kids laughed as Torque grew beet red and went back to his seat. The entire time Caleb followed him over, he and Zim kept their eyes locked on one another.

"Ya ve." Sila muttered to Zim, a hand on his shoulder. "Not worth it, amagito."

"Yas se, yas se." Zim nodded, waving her off and sitting down. "I feel like you knew this was coming."

"How so?" She followed suit, seeming a bit offended.

"You said he wasn't here yet."

"With everyone else showing up, him arriving wouldn't surprise me. Or anyone. I'd be more surprised if he didn't show up. Least that means his territory is unprotected now. Hope someone's smart enough to snatch it up."

"Like who? Gabe?" Zim snorted. "None of the girls have enough brains to come in out of the rain, and after you and me, Gabe's all we got."

"Gabe?" Keef asked.

"Another friend of ours back home." Sila stated. "Yeah, I guess you have a point, Jun."

Gretchen walked into the room, talking to someone who was following her.

"I'm sure this is the right place." She informed the young woman following her. "We have the same professor this hour, after all."

"Then it makes sense to follow you to the class you have this hour, hm?" The girl giggled and Zim instantly knew who it was.

"Frigging Shraela. They probably got their asses arrested together." Zim muttered to Sila.

"That wouldn't surprise me." She shook her head. "Careful, here comes the fake enthusiasm."

He nodded. "Unless she doesn't know who he is."

"You can sit with us until he gets here." Gretchen offered.

"Thanks."

They stopped to talk to the teacher. Zim heard his name and looked that direction, only to lock eye with Shraela. He watched as a smile pulled at the corners of her red painted lips as she seemed to recognize him, if not Sila at his side.

"Junior!" She greeted enthusiastically. "How good to see you again!" She walked over, arms out, and hugged him when he stood.

"You too, Shraela."

He didn't need to see her face to know she was giving Caleb some serious side eye. She only flirted with him to piss off her boyfriend when she was either bored or pissed off at him. Judging by the fact that Gretchen mentioned a guy getting there later, it was probably the latter.

"You too, Shraela." Zim replied, giving her a lose hug and relishing in the chuckles from Sila that told her that Caleb was fuming.

"Another childhood friend?" Gretchen asked.

Shraela laughed, moving from Zim's hug to stand next to him with an arm around his neck. "Oh, yeah, Junior and I go way back."

"But they're not friends." Sila was quick to point out.

Shraela gave her a look, but she was smirking. "Aw, Sila, I'm sure you secretly love me."

"Not in the slightest." Sila huffed, looking away as she rested her chin on her hand.

"But she has a point." Zim moved out from under her arm.

"Aw, you're no fun."

"You just use me to make your boyfriend jealous. And from the tension in the air, I think it's working."

Shraela giggled and waved her fingers teasingly at Caleb as she pulled Zim so they could both sit down.

"Jackass went on without me. They had a problem printing my schedule for some bullshit reason and he didn't want to wait. Some fiancé."

"For real?"

She flashed a small ring on her finger.

"Oh, congratulations!" Gretchen giggled.

"Thanks." Shraela smirked. "But he keeps this shit up, this ain't staying on my finger much longer. And no one here really knows I'm Caleb's girl so…"

"Wait. They hate each other, but you're friendly?" Keef asked. "I'm so confused."

"I have never had a problem with Junior." Shraela pointed out, shaking her head so milk chocolate curls bounced. "Plus, if Caleb thinks I like him even a little bit, it keeps it fun for me. I get bored easily."

"Only boring people get bored." Sila chirped.

Shraela glared while Zim laughed. "How rude." She commented.

"Mhm." Sila nodded.

The teacher whapped a ruler on her desk as the bell rang.

"Alright, that means announcements will be starting soon." She greeted. "We have two new students, Caleb and Shraela, and I hope you'll show them as much respect as you show everyone else. Keep quiet and listen up."

Caleb and Shraela in one day? Things were sure about to get interesting.

000

As expected, Shraela ditched Zim and his friends for Caleb the moment the bell rang. The blonde gangster didn't seem fazed by her jovial chatting with the Riot leaders earlier in the class, so Zim figured it was best to let sleeping dogs lie.

"We get so many new kids, I'm afraid we're starting to overcrowd." Keef stated, twirling a piece of fiery orange hair. "At least they're not coming to our table. We're so out of room."

"All we need is Gabe, Jun's exes, and a few girls from our old squad here, and we'll be all set to start over." Sila commented.

"Hey, I moved here to start over. Not to drag my past somewhere new." Zim complained.

"Not my problem."

Lahna and Gaz quickly joined them.

"I heard the news." Lahna stated. "Caleb and his girl are here? What did they do?"

"We didn't ask." Zim answered. "He chose Torque's group the moment he saw me, and of course she follows like a tool."

"Speaking of being a tool." Sila looked at Torque's gang at the end of the hall, where Jessica was introducing the shy and socially anxious Zayena Carmen to Caleb and his girl rather loudly. "Does Zayena know she's being used?"

"Used?" Keef wondered.

"It's a possibility that they're using her to get to me." Zim stated. "She clearly knows they don't like me, but she risked them seeing her talking to me and hanging all over me her first day here and breaking her little act. I'm not certain if she's still in love or playing me for a fool."

"I think it's genuine, but what do I know?" Sila asked, shrugging one shoulder. "Never had a guy before."

"Never?" Keef wondered.

She shook her head.

"Well that makes two of us!" The redhead proclaimed.

Zim laughed at him. "And now you're out. God, this day is full of surprises."

Keef blushed. "S-Shut up, Zim." He ordered, but it was so meek that Zim didn't count it as anything but a suggestion.

"Maddie said the same thing yesterday."

"Who the hell is that?" Sila wondered.

"Coworker of mine. Sort of my confidant, if you will."

"Thought Sila was your confidant. You two tell one another everything." Lahna informed.

"Before Sila got here, I had no one. Well, I had Keef and the others, no offense guys."

Gaz only grunted as she mashed away at buttons on her game but Keep accepted the apology with a 'no harm done'.

"So, she kinda filled that role."

"Best be careful, or I might end up replaced." Sila folded her arms over her chest.

"God, Zayena was jealous, too. What's with you women? Am I really that irresistible?"

"I can't speak for her, but you're so full of yourself."

"Can you blame me?"

Sila gave him a look, but she was laughing at him. "I have a right to be territorial. I've been stuck with your ass since we were kids."

"Of this I'm aware, but betraying you is the last thing I'd ever do."

"Last thing?" Lahna asked.

"Well, one of them."

"That's better." She nodded once.

"Yeah, I ain't going nowhere neither." Sila offered.

"I'm aware."

"Friends forever!" Keef proudly proclaimed as they passed Torque's group, one arm around each gangster's shoulders.

Zim pretended not to see the hurt look etched on Dib's face or the annoyance on Dee's. But even as they entered the classroom for history a few minutes later, the images were infused into his mind's eye.