Dlbn: Hello, everyone! Sorry for the long hiatus, but no time and no drive to update left me kind of in the cold. But I'm back with a vengeance!
Nbld: Review Corner! Thank you to Invader Johnny and Zim'sMostLoyalServant for reviewing! Cookies for you both! I baked them myself!
Invader Johnny: It really should be Zim's personal motto. And Dib's at this point. He has a brain, he just doesn't use it well all the time. ^^"
Zim'sMostLoyalServant: Thank you! It takes time for me to get from point A to point B, but it's coming. I'm trying to make chapters a little longer to get it here quicker, since the more I read through it, the more I'm like well there's a lot to go through here. Hoping it helps. There are a few little explosions between the big blow outs, as well.
Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OCs. Anyone/anything canon to Invader Zim belong to Jhonen Vasquez. I make NO money off writing this.
000
By the end of the day, every locker of Zim's friends had been hit, including Sila. Zim happily took the hit for her, sparking an ugly rumor that he knew was pissing off Zayena without her even having to say anything. She didn't invite him over that night, but he guessed he didn't mind. He lay on his back in bed, three open cans of beer on the floor and a fresh six pack sitting, untouched, on his nightstand. He scratched the back of his neck. Now he had to do damage control with Zayena and deal with this bullshit. They'd reported every incident, but with no proof, the Principal wasn't about to do anything. He knew he wasn't going to get it, and he knew no staff was going to try and use the security camera footage. He knew they were afraid it was Torque and they'd have to take him out of the game. That was pathetic. A bunch of grown adults being overshadowed by a pigskin ball and a mindless jock. A knock on his door made him roll over and grant permission for the person on the other side to come in. The door opened and Lahna walked in, arms wrapped around herself.
"Can I stay in here tonight?" She asked.
"What's wrong?" He sat up immediately. "You can stay here, of course."
"Thanks."
She climbed onto the bed and got under the covers, snuggling with him like she had done as a little girl.
"Are you alright?"
"I had a nightmare." Lahna muttered. "I don't want to talk about it."
"I won't ask you to."
"Do you think Zayena's telling the truth about not knowing anything about it?"
"I don't know."
"For real?" She looked up at him.
"Shraela was a little too accepting of the idea that she might be telling me everything." Zim shrugged.
"You know how she is. She stupidly tries to keep balance between you and Caleb while using you to piss him off when she gets mad at him. She's a manipulator to the highest degree." Lahna shook her head. "Like you, except you know full well what she's doing when the girls you messed with didn't know any better."
"Still, her saying that was too well timed. She had plenty of opportunity to tell me, but she waited until you were bombed."
"Just don't do anything rash. She's jealous over you protecting Sila earlier, so I'm pretty certain she still has a thing for you."
"I don't know why. I would have done the same thing for you if I had known you were next."
"I'm your sister. She understands that you don't mess with blood." Lahna smirked. "Sila isn't blood."
"She's more blood than our damn parents ever were."
"…Do you think they ever wonder where we are or what we're up to? Or do they just not give a damn?"
"Honestly, I don't think they care. Dad knows I talk to Gram, but she's told me he doesn't ask about me and she doesn't tell him anything because it's not his place to know anymore. As far as they're concerned, we're just one more burden out of the picture."
"Mhm." Lahna yawned. "Still, it's nice to fool yourself into thinking they do give a slight bit of a damn."
"Keyword there is fool."
She nodded. The door opened and Sila walked in, one hand on her hip and the other arm leaning on the door frame.
"What, a sleepover and I'm not invited?" She smirked.
"Can't sleep?" Zim asked.
She slightly waved the beer that was in her hand near the door frame. "One last drink before I go to bed. You guys in?"
"Nah, I wanna be sober tomorrow." Zim stated.
"He bitches when I drink." Lahna stated. "I just wanna go to sleep."
She curled over.
"I hear ya. Been a day." Sila joined them on Zim's other side without asking, knowing he didn't care.
"Yo, my bed ain't big enough for three."
"Well, no threesomes in your future."
"No sex at all if Zayena's that jealous of you."
"She's an idiot." Sila rolled her eyes. "If I wanted to fuck your brother, I would have done so by now. This ain't the first time I've been on his bed, or him on mine, and it won't be the last. His best friend's a girl. Zayena just has to get over that."
"As if I'd sleep with you anyway." Zim rolled his eyes. "You have too much self-respect for that, which is odd for a Seoulian, by the way."
"And you have too much respect for her to turn her into another one-night stand." Lahna pointed out. "Also odd for a Seoulian, especially you."
He laughed. "I can't argue with that."
"Here, here." Sila took a swig of her beer, which Zim quickly stole and took a second swig from. "Thought you didn't want any."
"One sip won't kill me."
"Makes you stronger if it doesn't kill ya."
Zim smirked. "Yeah. That's why Torque's crew is gonna get a rude awakening soon. Jell-O is nothing compared to the sweet hell Riot can cause."
"And now he's coming back." Sila smirked. "Missed ya, Jun."
"Yeah…I kind of missed me, too."
000
There was an assembly the following day about the locker incidents the day before. Zim and his friends sat together under the whole strength in numbers attitude. Gretchen was still visibly shaken, and Zim had spent half the night up dealing with Lahna having nightmare after nightmare. To say the middle Haven sibling was irritated would be an understatement. He was certain there was nothing the Principal or anyone could say that would make Torque's clique change their ways and leave he and his friends alone, especially with Chase and Shraela egging them on now, so it would only be a matter of time before he had to take matters into his own hands. After all, there wasn't much egging on that Caleb could do with his jaw wired shut to heal, now, was there?
"I don't know why anyone thinks this is acceptable." The Principal began, receiving feedback from the microphone that gave Screamy a run for his money. "You are all young adults, and some of you will very well be adults very soon. The time for pranking and attacking your classmates through acts of vandalism and invasions of privacy is not now, and the place is not here."
A staff member leaned over and whispered to him. He nodded.
"Let me rephrase. There is no time where this is acceptable, nor is there a time when it should be occurring." The Principal was flushed. "I'm not going to bother asking for whoever did it to come forward, or for someone to stand up and say who did it, because we all know no one is going to say anything. And judging by who the victims were, it's safe to assume who the perpetrators are." He glared at Torque's clique near the bottom of the auditorium, near the stage. "If this doesn't stop, I don't care who is involved. Anyone who commits an act against another student on or off school grounds will be punished. It's time for the childish games to end."
He stepped away from the platform and the school psychologist took his spot.
"You might not be aware of it now, but this type of bullying behavior can have long, lasting effects." He began. "Did you know that bullying and suicide are related topics? Did you know that bullying is one of the stresses that can join up with others to make someone want to commit suicide? Are you aware that there are many types of bullying, including sexual, physical, and cyber? Did you know that there are laws against bullying?"
"As if they care." Zim whispered to his sister. "Especially Caleb and Shraela. Breaking the law is their forte."
"I wonder what they got caught and sent here for doing." Lahna whispered back,
"I wonder, too."
"Every time that you make a decision to bully someone, you are making a decision to tell them that they are not good enough for respect. That they are bullied because that is what they deserve. Why make the choice to hurt when you can make the choice to help?" The counselor looked around to see if anyone seemed even remotely effected by her words. "You may think that bullying is no big deal, that no one really gets hurt. That the people who get bullied just need to learn to stand up for themselves and grow a spine and deal with it. But you're wrong. When you're bullying, it's not because there's something wrong with the victim you have chosen. You are bullying because it makes you feel good to feel superior to someone else, if only for a little while. And that, children, is just sad. It doesn't make you cool or popular to bully. It makes you sad and weak."
When she sat down, the school nurse stood up. "We are all here for you." She informed. "If you see bullying of any kind, you come get a trusted staff member. Find a teacher, find a hall monitor, find myself or Counselor Gregan. Find someone that you trust that is in a position of power to help you. Don't just be a bystander, don't just be a victim, and above all, please don't just be a bully. You are all better than that."
"Anyone who wishes to seek counseling over the incident from yesterday is more than welcome to at any point of the day, no questions asked, no points missed for being tardy or absent." The Principal stood. "If you need help, or see someone who does, do not hesitate to ask for help. I know some of our staff has already physically intervened with students who were fighting," he glanced at Ense and Chase, who seemed to ignore his words. "I would ask all staff to not physically intervene unless necessary."
"They had no choice!" Torque called out. "Zim was about to get is ass beat!"
His friends started laughing.
"I could take you any day of the week and knock you flat on your ass, Torque, don't test me." Zim snapped back at him. "Ask Caleb. He's got plenty of experience with pissing me off."
"Fuck off." Caleb called.
"Make me!"
"Zim! Caleb, Cada ves!" Ense called at them. "Alia!"
Neither of them said anything, but Caleb turned back in his seat, grumbling to himself.
"Yes, whatever you coach said…that's enough of that…" The Principal seemed confused.
Chase snickered into his hand.
"Anyway." The Principal adjusted his collar as if he were suddenly uncomfortable. "I think that is enough or today. Each class will be required to watch a different video today about bullying. A three-page report is due from every student in homeroom tomorrow morning about what they watched overall."
A collective groan filled the auditorium.
"Should I make if four pages?" A chorus of 'no' made him smirk. "Alright, everyone head to class. This period will be shortened to keep the scheduled periods running the same as usual. Dismissed."
"You know he just wanted to get a rise out of you." Keef informed as they stood with everyone else to leave. "I don't know why you fed into it, Zim."
"Hey, anything's worth it to get a rise out of Caleb." Zim snickered.
"You really hate him, don't you?" Todd whispered.
"More than you could ever know, Todd."
"Just dislocate his jaw again and you'll be fine." Sila waved him off, shoving her friend forward a little bit more.
"Again?" Gretchen asked.
"Four times that I admit to." Zim shrugged. "The other two he claims were me, I don't remember."
"Probably because you didn't do it." Melvin offered.
Sila made a drinking motion with her hand behind her friends' backs so they couldn't see, making Zim snicker.
"Yeah, probably."
"I don't think this assembly did anything." Gretchen fiddled with the hem of her dress. "They're just going to lay low for a while and start back up once everyone forgets."
"I'll take a brief period of peace and silence over a long period of torment any day." Keef nodded.
"Me too!" Screamy added.
"You need a mute button." Gaz growled.
"Or an off switch." Iggins added.
"Sorry!"
"No, you're not."
"Nope!"
Torque's clique passed them with the rest of the middle section together before their side could be let out by a teacher. Caleb jostled Zim with his shoulder a bit and shouted out a false apology, so teachers wouldn't say anything, but the elder just rolled his eyes. How immature. Shraela giggled and wiggled her fingers at him in greeting. Zayena made a 'call me' motion with her fingers that made Zim think her group was already up to something. No way she would call him out in public like that with the chance of them seeing unless it was big.
000
Between lunch and their respective science classes that followed, Zim and Zayena met up under a staircase in a corridor of the school that wasn't widely used by people that would recognize them well. She was on him the moment they met up, looping her arms around his neck and attacking him with a rather generous kiss for the location they were in. He kissed back and threaded his fingers through her hair just before she pulled away.
"I needed that." She commented, brushing stray hairs off her neck. "Thanks, Junior."
"That's what you wanted?" He asked.
"You know they're going to lay low and not do anything for about a week and then start up again, right?"
"Do you know what they're planning? Gretchen had the same fear."
"I'd just be careful." She answered. "Like Shraela said, Caleb doesn't trust me, so now Torque doesn't either. Total bullshit. Guy's just a tool. Can't even see Caleb is using him to further his own agenda."
"Which is?"
"To make your life a living hell, knowing you can't do anything about it to the people doing it because they're minors."
"He's using Torque and his buddies as fodder."
"Basically." She shrugged. "He knows you won't hit a kid, so he's using that to his advantage. They do his dirty work for him, he doesn't get into trouble."
"What's going to happen when all his pawns are used up?"
"Eventually he's going to try and turn me against you." Zayena stated. "And no offense, but to keep up appearances, I'll have to follow him. He's going to try and ruin my reputation around here and I can't have that. I'm looking for a fresh start, just like you. You understand, right?"
"You'd at least warn me first, right?"
She nodded. "Yeah, I'll warn you if I have the chance to, but it's likely he's going to make a move when I can't get to you first."
"Prom is around the corner." Zim stated. "You can't go unless a Junior invites you, but the rest of them are eleventh graders, so they can go with no problem."
"You're a Junior. In more ways than one."
He laughed. "Yes, but for your reputation, you'd have to say no."
"You know Caleb as well as I do. He's going to suggest that I ask you to take me, or he's going to tell the others he thinks you're going to invite me and that I have to say yes so I can help them with whatever they're planning for prom." Zayena stated. "But you'd need to actually ask me, and I know you won't because you know how much this means to me to keep somewhat descent friends."
"Right." He pulled her closer by the waist. "Of course, we can't prepare for everything."
"Like people overhearing you?" Sila asked, joining them and dropping her backpack on the ground under the stairs. She moved to the wall so passersby's couldn't see her.
"You heard us?" Zayena went pale.
"I was looking." Sila stated. "Jun ran off right after lunch, so I had a feeling he was with you. But legit, secret meeting under a staircase?" She shook her head. "This has cheesy 80's movie written all over it."
"Good thing the only 80s kids here are us or we'd be found sooner."
"So, is this just a theory or do you have something concrete?" Sila cocked her head in Zayena's direction, eyes looking down on her even though they were almost the same height.
"I have nothing concrete yet, but it's something my girls back home would have done, so I wouldn't be surprised if Caleb does the same thing. He's as small minded and narrow-vision as they were."
"Don't miss them at all, do ya?" Zim laughed.
"Not in the slightest. Didn't even try and back me up when I got arrested the first time. Total airheads. Least Gabe stood up for me."
"Our Gabe?" Sila wondered.
Zayena nodded. "Yeah. Said as long as I used to be Junior's girl, it made me Riot." She hiked up her skirt a little to show a bleeding-heart tattoo with their riot shield gang tattoo in the middle of it. "I joined the moment he gave me the chance. Your people look out for me better than my own do."
"Unfortunate." Sila clicked her tongue. "The world's bottom rung hopping up where the top didn't bother to reach."
"I wouldn't say the top…"
"Girl, we all know where you grew up and what you were before you fell into Jun. Or until he fell into you. I don't know who was on top, nor do I give a damn." Sila rolled her eyes.
"Hey!" She complained.
"A stairway meeting? How fun!" Shraela poked her head around the corner. "Before anyone says anything, I don't know what you're up to, and I don't care, and I didn't hear anything. Couldn't help but overhear Zayena's protest as I passed. No one's with me, so you're in luck. We have class, Sila. Don't be late. You shouldn't keep your friends waiting!"
"What I wouldn't give to punch her in the fucking face." Sila sighed, picking up her bag. "Hear anything, Zay, let us know."
"You got it, Sila."
"We should go, too." Zim stated. "I'll hustle out with Sila. You come out later so no one gets suspicious."
"Alright." She kissed the corner of his mouth. "You're coming over tonight, right?"
"Oh, I'm coming alright."
She giggled behind her hand and flushed as he left.
"Nice line." Sila told him, snorting.
"Sorry I can't be a poet, Sila. I'm no Shakespeare."
"Who?"
"Never mind."
"Alright…"
"Earth references. Eventually you'll get them."
"Lucky me. Then I can finally give up on life knowing I've assimilated into this culture of idiots."
"Hey, I'm assimilated into this culture of idiots."
"Give up."
"Hey!"
She laughed. "Get your ass to class. It's the other way. Stop bugging me." She shoved him down the right hall.
"Yes, mother." He bowed, crossing his arm over his chest in a form of military submission he'd been taught back at the academy when it involved a taller commanding officer.
"You're such an ass." Sila threw after him, shaking her head as she walked towards her own class.
"Good. Means there's still a little piece of the old me left!"
She didn't answer him, but he could hear her laughing over Shraela's giggling. Zim chuckled and turned to walk forward into class. He stepped into the room the second the bell rang.
"I was wondering if you were going to show up." Mr. Miles informed him. "You're never late."
"Had stuff to do." He answered. "Least I got here."
"Mhm." He nodded, ushering Zim to his seat as he began instructions for the lab they were having.
Melvin instantly sat down with him at a lab table the moment they could go get to work.
"What were you doing?" Melvin asked. "You booked it out of lunch really quick."
"Had to take a crap."
"Yeah, sure." Melvin rolled his eyes, laughing. "When you're ready to tell me the truth, be my guest."
"You can't handle the truth, Melvin."
While the blonde got the reference, and started laughing, Zim couldn't help but smirk even though it was killing him inside to do so. Melvin definitely wasn't someone who could handle the truth. In more ways than one.