I obviously don't own Invader Zim, just this story and some fan-made characters! No harsh critics please, I am sensitive! Thank you! T-T

Test Stage II

"Hey..."

Den was still filling her notebook with lots of numbers and symbols, adding more and more equations.

"Hey, you..."

She kept scrabbling, exaggeratedly stuck in her work, until that kid approached enough to project an annoying shadow over her notebook, what made her finally lift her glance.

"Huh?"

"Just wondering, what are you doing?" he inquired, confusedly, as he pointed vaguely at the scrabbled page.

"Why? Didn't you ever see anyone studying maths?" she replied, already foreseeing a cruelly mocking answer.

"Well... Actually, it's the first time I see a drawing made of equations..."

"What?"

Den looked down, to then realize that it was true. The twisted equation lines were forming a face, with enormous eyeballs and antennas.

"What is it?" asked that boy.

"No idea, I was... improvising" she muttered, closing the notebook.

"And by the way, are you new here or something?"

"Yes, since like five seconds ago"

"I see... In that case..."

The boy came suspiciously closer.

"Make sure that they don't see you when you're doing that maths stuff. You could be labeled as strange"

She lifted an eyebrow.

"Hum... Okay?"

"Seriously, be careful. Once you turn into a freak, it's hard as hell to survive. You only have to ask to the last one..."

He turned, along with her, to a closed dumpster in a corner, that had been sealed with lots of adhesive tape. A high-pitched moan was blaring inside.

"I can't breaaath..."

Then Den looked back at the boy, who just nodded.

"See what I mean?"

She frowned slightly.

"Anyway... What would be so strange about equations? Is it so wrong to exercise my brain?"

"...want me to be honest?"

"Well, I like being like this, if anyone has a problem then I shall ignore it"

An electronic bell went off, announcing the start of the first class, as Den kept her notebook and stood up to then walk away. That boy watched her leave, shaking his head.

"She's dead..."

...

"WELCOME! To a new, exciting, hyper funny and educational NEW YEAR!"

Den couldn't know what was scarier. Surely that gloomy school was eerie, but that extremely glad woman with that grin in her face was definitely something worse.

"It's a great pleasure for me to tell everyone that we have received new students this year!"

Right after hearing that, Den, who was sitting in the depths of the classroom, hid her face behind an open book. The last thing she wanted was to be noticed. But instead of looking at her, the teacher turned to the door. Someone was entering slowly.

"Ah! There you were, sweety! Come in, don't be shy!"

Den narrowed her eyes to get a closer look.

"Class, this is Zal!"

"Heeeellooo Zaaaal" greeted the kids dismally, with almost creepy monotone voices.

Den had to stand up, since she barely could see the small figure next to the teacher. She was really short. Maybe even Kiki was taller than her.

"Well, Zal, is there anything you would like to tell to the class?"

The girl shook her head quietly.

"Good! Now sit wherever you like! And remember to be nice with her and make her feel comfortable, class!"

Little Zal sat down in the first file, and Den sighed, relieved. The back seat had worked perfectly, no one seemed to have noticed her presence.

"Oh... I almost forget it! There's another new student in this class! Miss... Den! Den? Where's Den?"

Until now...

"Over there, I think" said someone, clearly pointing at her, to make it even more evident.

"Indeed, there she is!" exclaimed the teacher happily, and also clapping briefly by some spontaneous reason "Den? Could you come here and introduce yourself to the class?"

Simply perfect. She had to put the book down to look at the teacher and try to answer so politely as she could.

"No, thanks, I don't think I have anything to say"

The woman stared at her by some seconds, then twitched and began to laugh madly.

"Oh, COME ON! I'm sure that you have lots of interesting things to tell!" she exclaimed, practically making Den jump in her seat.

"N-no, really..."

"GO NOW! Please, thank you!"

Without wanting to question that horrific and possibly fake smile, Den got up and went towards the chalkboard, shivering a bit since the teacher was still staring closely at her.

"Hum... Hi, I'm Den"

"Heeeeellooo Deeen..."

"And... I hope to not get into trouble, thanks"

Then she ran back to her seat.

"Deeeeeeeen! What are you doing?"

Den stopped abruptly, gulping.

"Returning to my seat, miss teacher..."

Still smiling in that disturbing way, the woman lifted one finger and moved it from one side to other.

"No-no! Don't hide there, even though you're new, it's still nasty to escape from your classmates!"

"But I don't mean to..."

"Come to the first line!"

"I..."

"PLEASE!"

"F-fine..."

Once she sat down, Den could get a better view of that other new girl called Zal. She was, indeed, very very short, and her long dark hair was tied in a pair of a bit weird-looking pigtails. She also was wearing a disgustingly cute missy pink dress. Den sighed. Yes, just another Kiki.

The class was long and boring, like any normal class. The recess, however, would be more interesting.

"Hey! How's it going?"

"I like your hairstyle!"

"Where are you from?"

"Wanna play?"

It was incredible, simply incredible. Maybe Den was invisible but, unlike her, that other new girl was attracting all the attention ridiculously fast. And she couldn't even get why, since it was obvious that Zal was very shy. Very very very shy. Anyway, shortly afterwards, and little by little she started to talk to the crowd. It was what some would call to become popular. That brought Den a great sensation of relief.

"Finally, peace... No one could notice me now" she whispered to herself "So I can continue with my freaky stuff... Wait, what did I just say?"

But instead of that, she kept watching the group. She wasn't feeling lonely, neither envious. Just... curious.

"Now, now, everyone, let the poor thing breath"

She startled at that voice, recognizing it immediately. It was that boy, that same boy that she had met before.

"I-It's okay, it's good to know this place is so friendly" replied Zal nicely.

Den shuddered. For some reason, all that cuteness and happiness were making her feel uncomfortable. So she stood up and, at last, she left, entering back in the school and going to the empty classroom.

"W-what are you doing?"

She turned. Speaking of sick cuteness...

"Hi, Kiki. Nothing much, just... maths... I think"

"No-no, I mean, what are you doing here? Haven't you talked to anyone yet?"

"Not really"

Kiki frowned a bit, then approached and poked Den's head with the octopus plushie that she was carrying.

"S-s-s-socialiiiiiiiiiiize!"

"Kiki, please..."

"H-how do you think your dad would feel if he sees you like t-this?"

"Don't start with that, everyone says it and, actually, my dad understands me perfectly, we don't have any trouble"

"Does he understand you or does he pretend to do it?"

"Now you're sounding like the psychiatrist" she sighed.

"P-pleaaaase! At least one? I have an adorable friend that could be your friend too!"

Den rolled her eyes, knowing that she wouldn't stop so easily, besides it would have been definitely mean -and/or insane- to refuse.

"Fine, fine..."

Kiki let out a pretty high 'Yay!' and took Den's hand, pulling her out of the classroom. She was practically being dragged out. They ran and ran, and after a while, Kiki stopped in a hallway, that was full of vending machines. And effectively, there was someone drinking a can of... something, in a corner.

"H-hey! Hey! I'm back and I brought Den!" shouted Kiki happily, as she waved the figure.

Den froze. It was almost a 'Take that!', a 'Don't keep running from fate!', a 'JUST SHUT UP AND ACCEPT IT!'

Because there she was, in front of her and still with that gentle smile in her face.

"Den, this is my best friend, Zal!"

Fifteen minutes and they were friends. No, best friends...

"Hello" greeted the new girl kindly.

"Hi..."

"And now that you know each other, let's do funny things together! Wanna join, Mr. Octopus?"

"That sounds great! Mind if my piggy joins too?"

"Sure! The more, the better!"

And so, the three girls went away laughing. Well, at least two of them. Den was still in a deadly state of shock. The pig... Just... the pig...

She was sure of it since she was little. Every time she saw a pig, something terrible would happen later...

AND NOW THE LIGHTS GO OFF

DOHOHOHOHO~

Review if you liked, what I hope :3