Dlbn: Hello, everyone, I'm back! Life has been crazy busy and I'm super sick. But I'm here with my last update of the decade.
Nbld: Corny moron. Anyway, let's get to getting. Review Corner! Thank you to Invader Johnny, Zim'sMostLoyalServant, thejammysod, and RandomDragon2.0 for reviewing! Party poppers and NYE hats for you all!
Invader Johnny: He's got the opportunity to be redeemable. Whether or not he does or not is up to him.
Zim'sMostLoyalServant: Some bonds are hard to break regardless of how much they fray. Knowing Caleb, its nothing good.
Thejammysod: He's trying to at least. Seems he has some remorse for turning his back on his friends. Glad you liked. I'm never sure about my fight scenes when I write them, so I try not to use any if possible.
RandomDragon2.0: Thank you, I'm so glad you're enjoying! All in one day? Some kind of record, I think, honestly. I can't even get through it in one day.
Disclaimer: I do NOT own Invader Zim or anything/anyone canon to it belong to Jhonen C. Vasquez. Anyone not canon is one of my plethora of OCs, which I do own. I make NO money off writing this.
000
The sound of skin on skin rang through the not so empty homeroom that Zim and his friends were assigned to. All eyes were on Zim and his small group on their side of the room. Shraela was seething, hand stinging from slapping Zim across the face. Zim rubbed at his cheek and Sila and Lahna looked ready to kill her.
"What the hell?" He asked. "What did I do to you?"
"Not me. Caleb." She glared. "He won't be able to talk for who knows how long now, thanks to you."
"It's not like I started it."
"But you finished it!"
"His friends jumped me, you idiot." Zim scoffed. "Last I checked, rules of the streets give me a right to kick his god damn ass."
"I thought you changed, Junior…" She looked away.
"Yeah, so did I." He stood and leaned close enough to whisper to her. "I'm trained by our military as an elite soldier. That means I'm trained to fight until they're dead and then some." He scowled. "He's lucky his jaw is the only casualty."
He stormed out of the room before anyone could say anything, his friends at his heels.
"Are you okay?" Keef asked. "What happened?"
"I was jumped last night, Keef." Zim replied.
"What?!" He latched onto him. "My god, are you okay?"
"I'm fine. Caleb, not so much." Zim nodded to where he was standing with his school friends. He looked alright, but his jaw was swollen. Clearly, he hadn't gone to a hospital or it would have been wired shut to heal. At least, that's what they did back home. Maybe he did get help. Their eyes locked for a moment as Zim and the others passed, but he broke the gaze and shuddered as he looked away. It looked like he learned his lesson. For now.
"What happened?" Gaz asked as they approached. "Rumor's going around school that Shraela hit you."
"Already?" He vaguely remembered someone in class texting after it happened. "Caleb and his goons jumped me and I dislocated his jaw. She's pissed." He shrugged.
"Who knew you had it in you." Gaz smirked.
"Don't encourage this, Gaz." Gretchen ordered, nervously playing with the hem of her dress. "I mean, I'm glad you're okay, Zim, but this violence…"
"I understand." Zim replied, giving a nod to Dib as he passed the raven with his girlfriend.
Dib gave a small smile back but hid it so Dee couldn't see.
"What was that about?"
"Your brother and I have a bit of an understanding of one another." Zim spoke in a hushed tone. "He got me out of there."
"He did?" Melvin asked. "Well, damn."
"I guess he figured six twenty-somethings against one me wasn't fair."
"I wonder if he's going to come back to us." Iggins commented.
"Try to." Gaz corrected with a snort at the idea.
"Yeah, try to."
"I don't know." Zim shook his head. "But whatever is going on, he's starting to crack."
He pushed open the door to Ense's office. His brother was half asleep at his desk as he clicked around on the computer, but he startled when the group entered the room.
"Good morning…?" He asked.
Zim gave him a small smile. "Ense, I fucked up."
000
Without concrete evidence that it was Torque's doing, Zim couldn't report anything to the office. Obviously, no one had come forward, but the school didn't seem to care anymore. No one talked about it, no pointless assemblies were held. That didn't stop Keef's parents from coming to campus during lunch. Zim's lunch table was vacant, as the entire group was in the office concerning the matter, listening to Keef's parents shout at the principal about how gay rights being violated and hate speech being tolerated at the school were outrageous and needed to be dealt with in a more efficient matter. The Principal was mostly silent, or at least quiet about it when he answered the outraged parents. Keef nervously wrung his hands as they sat there, waiting to be called in.
"God, I'm so nervous." Keef complained. "People are going to say things, the bullying is only going to get worse…every time we stand up for ourselves, they bite back."
"So, we bite back twice as hard." Sila offered, lounging in the chair she was sitting in with Lahna.
Zim was leaning on the wall next to them with Gabe and the cousins. The others took up the rest of the chairs. The shouting in the office suddenly stopped and the doors opened.
"Alright, we're going to do this one student at a time. Once you speak with me, you can go back to class." The principal greeted. "Keef, you first."
"Y-Yes, sir…" Keef agreed, entering the office and closing the door behind himself and his parents.
"What do we do, Junior?" Daila asked. "I know we're not going to lie, but we all know this won't end well for us."
"No one goes around alone, not even to and from one class to another." Zim offered. "Don't give them a chance to make a move."
"Like that's going to stop anything." Sila snorted. "Get real, Jun. Caleb is backing down because of his jaw, but the others are ready to go to war. This isn't what we wanted."
"It's not like we had a choice." He argued. "The school isn't going to stand up for us, so we have to do it for ourselves."
"I don't mean to interrupt," The secretary intervened. "But the school is taking this very seriously…"
"Then why are they getting away with this?" Zim asked. "One look at the security cameras and they will have all the evidence they need. But they won't because Torque is on the football team and no one wants to lose a game. They put their sports before their students."
"I understand how it seems that way, but…"
"Because it is that way…" Gretchen piped up. "If they cared, they would have put a stop to this before it came to this. But things just keep getting worse. And if we fight back, it gets even worse from there."
"I don't…" The woman sighed. "I don't think I can keep that up. Listen, I know the school isn't doing enough to protect you kids. But now that Keef's parents are involved, they will do something more. And if your parents get involved as well…"
"They'll try and do even more." Zim nodded. "We know."
"Parents are the people they want to keep the happiest. It has nothing to do with sports. If parents are unhappy, they pull their children out. They pull their children out, the school loses funding. There goes the sports teams, and there go the championships they're so worried about. You kids want something done, get your parents in on things."
The door opened and the secretary went back to work as Keef and his parents exited the room.
"Who's next?" The Principal asked.
"I'll go in." Zim offered with a shrug, following the man inside the room.
The door was shut behind him and they both sat down, Zim tossing his feet up on the desk and leaning back, arms folded behind his head.
"You're acting rather strangely." The principal greeted.
"I got jumped."
"By who?"
"I don't know. Some punks."
"And you're alright…?"
"They're worse off than I am." Zim nodded back towards the door. "Checked out Caleb's jaw lately? My handiwork."
"Then you know who did it."
"He was there, but as far as anyone else, I'm not certain."
The Principal nodded. "Do we need to…address that incident?"
"I'd prefer if what happens in the streets would stay there, thank you." Zim replied. "It was a mistake I won't make again."
"What mistake?"
"Met someone in the middle of the night, got jumped on the way home. I'm not sure if its connected, but if they're spying on the guy, that's more problems for me than I need."
"Guy?" The Principal cocked his eyebrow. "Pardon, but are you…?"
"Gay? No, I'm a total ladies' man; just ask half the women back home." He laughed. "It was nothing like that. Just an informant with some information regarding Keef's desk."
"Oh?"
"None that you will believe."
"You think it's one of Dib's friends."
"One of Dib's friends thinks it's one of Dib's friends." Zim laughed. "I'm not going to blast anyone's name out there to start trouble. I've clearly got enough of my own to deal with, you know?"
He nodded. "Without giving up who told you…who do they think it was?"
"Take a guess. You've been protecting him since day one."
"We haven't been…"
"Cut the bull." Zim ordered, putting his feet down and leaning forward towards the desk. "I don't get why everyone thinks I'm a complete moron. Torque has been sent here more times than I can count on my fingers and toes," he wiggled his fingers for emphasis, "and yet nothing has happened. No detention, no punishments, no expulsion: nothing. Even Dib tells him to cut the shit out so he won't be stopped from playing in the game. So, we all know he should be punished that way. But no one here wants to lose a game, so he gets to skate by on his relative charm and good fielding record."
"That's not a football term."
"I'm not a fan, sorry," Zim rolled his eyes. "Meanwhile, my little group is suffering every day, and the most you can do is give assemblies that almost ninety-nine percent of the attendees sleep through or otherwise ignore? At the last one, the entire row in front of me had on head phones and were playing with their cells. How much longer are you going to let this go on? This isn't even bullying or teasing anymore; this is a hate crime."
The Principal stared, letting Zim get his opinion out without interruption. He waited a few seconds in case the soldier had anything more to say before speaking.
"We need something called evidence, Zim." He informed. "We can't just go accusing and punishing people because you and your friends think that they're up to something or behind the problems you're having. That's not how a democracy works."
"We all know there are security cameras at this school. If you watched them, you'd get the evidence. But no one will do that because they don't want to catch someone they don't want to punish acting out." Zim replied. "If Keef's parents ask for the footage, it's over for you and this little protect the sportsmen game you're playing." He sighed. "Look, I get it. You protect your own. Your strongest soldiers are the ones you need to back up because, without them, you have nothing. I know how it works; believe me, I do better than anyone in this school does. Except maybe Sila, honestly." He shook his head. "But when are you going to do something? When someone gets seriously hurt? Or dies? Daila was hit in the head on purpose with a softball in gym class and the offender didn't even get a slap on the wrist over it."
"We were made aware of the situation, but…"
"It would ruin things for you, so you couldn't do anything." Zim snorted. "I understand where you're coming from, but…"
"The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few." The Principal interrupted this time. "If we punish one child at the school to help out one small group, such as yourselves, everyone else will suffer. But if we protect the larger group, which is the student body, by not punishing the one or two students causing problems, we spare a larger group trouble."
"So you're saying my group of friends is too small to be worth protecting?"
"I'm saying we have to do what's best for the best amount of people. If we lose games, we lose funding. We lose funding, there are no supplies for teams or classes, there are no field trips, or food in the cafeteria…"
"Let's get real. You know you can do better than what's in the cafeteria now. Hell, nothing is better than what's there."
"Tread lightly, Zim, please." The principal sighed. "You're just a kid, so you don't get it."
"I'm just a kid?" Zim stood. "My parents kicked me out when I was fourteen. I've been an adult for longer than you can imagine, and not just because my parents tossed me to the curb and told me to go bother my grandmother and, in no uncertain terms, to go fornicate with my own di…"
"Enough."
Zim cleared his throat. "You think I don't know anything, but I do. I know how the streets work, I know how you and the rest of the school works. If our parents all pull us out because of what is happening, with the exception of me because I will just walk right out of this building, what happens to your funding?"
He stayed silent.
"I thought so." Zim rolled his eyes. "I'd carefully consider your needs of the many speech, sir, because you are putting a greater number of people at risk. My friends and I will be without a high school education, and your students will lose funding for the things they love. And when other parents learn of that, they'll pull out their kids, too. Suddenly you're losing more and more funding, and the people left behind are suffering more and more. Eventually you'll shut down, and all the staff will lose their jobs. You lose a game, you lose funding and people suffer. You let us suffer for the sake of everyone else and we get pulled out of here, everything else starts to decline. You're in a catch-22 here. It won't kill the school to lose one or two games because the quarterback doesn't get the basic concept of human decency." Zim pushed the chair back. "If you'll excuse me, I think I'm done here. I honestly doubt you're listening to half of what I'm saying."
"You're a good kid, Zim." The Principal stated. "I don't want you falling down the wrong path."
"Sir, with all due respect, I fell down the wrong path years ago and have spent all this time slowly trying to crawl my way back out." Zim informed, hand turning the office doorknob. "Maybe it's just time I give up and let go of the edge I've been dangling over so precariously since all this started. It seems there are a lot of people who are rooting for me to fail. I'd hate to disappoint. The needs of the few outweigh the needs of the many, after all."
He left the room, hoping his words did some good, but knowing they didn't.
000
Zim couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't quite right between himself and Sila. While things were going on as normally as they could with all the garbage going on, she was still a little more reserved. When he'd playfully flirt with her just to get a reaction, she'd just wave him away and call him an annoying brat. When he offered her beer, she took it without a word and downed half a beer in the time it took him to open his can. She didn't laugh when she ran over hookers in her game, she didn't even acknowledge Gaz stopping over to avoid her brother and his annoying new friends. She ignored Lahna asking to order pizza for dinner, and Gaz promising that anyone that argued that idea would get a boot shoved up their rear end. Maybe she was sick, but he couldn't help but feel strange when she elected to go to bed instead of staying up late with Zim and the girls. He excused himself from Gaz and Lahna's Super Kicky Fighter Seven tournament or whatever they called it, and went downstairs about ten minutes after Sila did. He found her in their room, reading something in bed.
"You're reading?" He asked. "You must really be sick."
"Piss off." She argued.
He laughed. "Whatever, Sils." He went into the bathroom and relieved himself before joining her. "Alright, what gives?"
"What?"
"I didn't shut the door, I didn't flush, and I didn't wash my hands."
"So?"
"Normally you'd be all over my ass, not pretending it didn't happen." He went back in and washed his hands anyway. "So what's up? You've been acting weird."
"I'm fine, Jun."
"You sure?"
"Yes."
"Alright then…"
"Oblivious." She muttered.
"There you go again, calling me oblivious." He rolled his eyes. "Something going on I should know about? You meet a guy or some shit, so you're being flaky?"
"What the hell?" She chucked her book at his head.
He ducked. "That's more like it."
"Maybe I'm just tired, ever think of that? With all the bull going on, I'm surprised you're not passing out where you stand, either."
"Unfortunately, I couldn't even if I wanted to." Zim shook his head. "You know how hard it is being the rock for a bunch of teenagers too scared of their own classmates to stand up for themselves? Plus, the thirty hours a week I work. Plus keeping up with you and my sister, not to mention Chase and Ense."
"What's up with Chase, anyway? He's been acting happier than usual since you went over."
"He wanted to introduce me to someone and it went well."
"A girl?" She sounded annoyed.
"No. Possessive much?"
She rolled her eyes. "Then who? Some friend from home?"
"You could say that." He replied. "I said I'd let him tell you guys, so I have to keep my mouth shut." He handed her book back and sat on the bed.
"What? Is he afraid to come out of the closet or something?"
"…Maybe…"
"You're a terrible liar, Junior."
He flushed. "You didn't know, and you didn't hear it from me, a'right?"
"You don't have to tell me twice." She shrugged. "Try not to tell anyone else."
"I won't," He shook his head. "You dragged it outta me. Sorry."
She smirked. "Hard to drag something out of you when you're as willing to share information with me as you share your dick with every woman over eighteen you meet."
"Well, now." He laughed, falling back onto the pillows. "That's more like it."
"More like what?"
"You. You're being more like yourself."
"I guess."
"That time of the month?"
"I should beat the shit out of you."
"That's a yes."
She hit him with a pillow. He grabbed one and swung back. They play fought for a few minutes before she pounced onto him, pinning her slightly younger friend to the mattress.
"Foiled again." He mused dramatically. "I should learn not to test your might, Sila." He looked away in defeat.
"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up, playboy." She ordered, letting him go and leaning her hands on the bed next to his head. "I know you're trying to flirt to get me to yell at you as usual."
"It's called teasing, Sila." He responded. "Come on, you're as smart as you are pretty." He touched the side of her face. "You should be able to figure that out."
She grabbed his wrist and twisted it.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck!" Zim cursed. "God damn it, Sila, you know that's my bad wrist."
"Stop being such a prick."
"I'm always a prick, and you know it." He argued. "God, it's like you're trying to hide the fact that you're falling in love with me or some shit."
If she was affected by it, she hid it well.
"What's wrong? Can't handle the fact that there's one women in Seoul that's not your blood that doesn't want you in bed?" She teased, pushing off him. "Control that shit, Jun…"
"Sorry, sorry." He sat up.
Silence took over for a minute.
"You seriously are pretty, though, you know."
She hit him again.