Hello everyone! im so so so sorry for the delay! My computer happened to die on me! But, thankfully, im on break now and i've gotten a new, much MUCH better computer, so I managed to finish the chapter for today! I hope you enjoy it!

When I woke up my face was stuck to my arm. Literally. I'd shifted in my sleep to use my arm as a pillow and, had, accordingly, drooled all over it. Said drool had dried, and now my cheek was stuck to my arm.

I sat up, and peeled my arm from my face with a wet snap. Like wet elastic.

"Eeeeew."

My eyes were crusty with sleep and my beanie was on the floor. I was sure my hair was a mess as well. Great.

I sighed and sat up, looking around the lonely house before sliding off the couch. My shoes tapped on wood quietly and I inched over to my bag, taking it and then starting down the hall, checking my watch. 5:30. Usual wake up time. Grand. Couldn't even let myself sleep in, huh? Dummy.

The bathroom was sparse. There was a tub and sink of course, and some shaving supplies. I wouldn't be using those, however. Whatever shampoo the old man had owned was not my... For-Te, so I went without.

I also fell asleep in the shower for a while. With my clothes on. But, well, who cares. That didn't happen, nah. Nope. Hahaha.

Ha.

I'd almost used the bar of soap until thinking better of it and just rinsing off and getting out. Towels smelled like old man too. I was sure they'd eventually smell like me but, well... I felt a bit bad about that. Also having old man-smell on my bare skin would be… kinda gross.

Running around the house – my house now I guess – in only a towel with fogged up glasses, I found some sort of cartoon-brand cheery-O's – HAPPY-SNAX! the box loudly claimed – and poured myself a bowl, deciding to go over today's plans.

Well, make some plans for today at least.

I pulled out my sketch book and drew a little doodle of myself – I'm not saying I did this or anything, but I may or may not have spent some time checking out my new cartoon-features in the mirror this morning – giving me – real me, well, sorta. Cartoon-real-me – a thumbs up and a "you can do it!" that would be squeaky if the tiny-me could talk, I'm sure.

Anyway.

I wrote "THINGS I KNOW" in large letters, and then proceeded to make a list.

So, I knew where I was. (IZ land) check.

I knew I had some sort of 'life' to me. Or at least a consciousness.

I knew where both Zim and Dib were. Hella.

I also knew that I had to go to school if I wanted to have any sort of interaction with anyone. Ever. And also get a free lunch.

I drew a line under that, and started to list things I did not know.

This list was much longer.

I did not know where Sasha was, or if she was okay.

Or alive.

I didn't know how to get back home

I didn't know if I even wanted to get back home.

I most certainly did not have any idea how to interact with the characters here.

Don't know how to get into school either.

I didn't know how long I could keep myself in this house.

How long my money would last

What I would need for school

I stopped writing, getting depressed, and sighed. My hair was dry, my cereal gone, and I ought to get to work. I stood and put the dishes in the sink before I put my old clothes on again and went on a scavenger hunt for keys. I ended up finding them in a ash-tray marked 'best grandpa'.

Oh god I was such a horrible person.

I put my beanie back on – shame beanie at this point. Hiding my shameful face. Shame shame shame – and my backpack. I made sure the front door was locked, anything with the ability to create fire successfully turned off, and snuck out of the house through the back yard, crouched and nearly doubled over. I righted a tipped over bird-bath, glancing to the greenhouse structure for a moment. I wiggled and scooted my way across wet grass before jumping over the fence. Or rather, I grabbed the top of it, pulled myself half way over it, and got stuck on my stomach. I let my leg twitch, huffing, aaaaaaand then fell down into a bush on the other side. Ugh.

I spat out a leaf, crawling out of the bush. I stopped long enough to pull a branch out of my sleeve, and then skirted around the edge of the neighbor's house. I quickly ran across their yard and down the street. I didn't stop running until I was a block away. Totes not suspicious at all. Totally. You go Casey.

Better safe than sorry, however. If I got caught, well... I honestly had no idea what would happen. I would probably not like it, though.

I sighed, tired, and looked around. I was half way down the hill towards Dib's house and the sun was rising slowly. Nice fall morning. A bit cold, but I had a long sleeved shirt on, so it was pretty okay. Okay enough for someone stuck I a cartoon. Also in possession of a dead guy's house.

I lifted my foot to move on, and my back tingled like someone was watching me with great interest.

"Casey! Casey! Over here!"

"Huh!" I looked up, my eyes darting all around until they landed on a certain green-bean standing slightly behind me.

Zim.

He gave me an almost withering look, one eye widening. I assumed that if he had eyebrows they would be raising. "I didn't say anything, worm-child." His lip curled. Obviously I already disgusted him. Wow, new record. He hadn't even seen me pick my nose or fart yet. Amazing.

"I-I, uh-"

He narrowed his eyes and then pushed past me, fake wig bouncing, feet marching. He started down the hill.

"Stupid human."

I gaped after him as he marched down the hill and then, softly; "Rude. He's so rude."

That was my first encounter with Zim. Aka Mr. Rude.

Wow.

I giggled, starting to smile, I considered, just for a moment, running after him, saying hi, trying to make a conversation at the least. But, he didn't seem in the best of moods. And I tended to be... Annoying. I'd get to meet him at lunch or something. Probably.

Oh god Casey he just keeps getting further and further away you'd better start running.

I did.

And I tripped almost immediately.

Stupid human indeed.

By the time I got back up, spitting gravel, he was out of sight and I had a scraped hand that was bleeding slightly. I just wiped it off on my pants.

I looked around for him, already forgetting the voice I'd heard only moments ago in my rush to catch up to Zim. I flew down the hill, feet skidding and squeaking on black-top as I stumbled into the road for a moment.

I rounded a corner as quickly as I could, skidding again as I did. A large-headed object appeared suddenly in front of me and I ran right into it, causing both of us to stumble and land on our butts, both with squeaks of surprise, though the big-headed object 's squeak sounded a bit more like 'NYAH' than my squeak did.

Oh.

Well I'd forgotten about Dib.

Ow.

"Hey!" Voice cracking, Dib rubbed at his head, squinting his eyes angrily at me. "What was that for!?"

I blinked at him, pushing my glasses up in order to see. "Oh, o-oh dude I'm sorry." I got up, hesitated, and then stuck out my trembling hand for him. "I'm super duper sorry I was running too f-fast, oh man." I was blushing like an idiot and I felt like a total jerk. God, just your luck, Casey. Stupid human me. Already I'd embarrassed myself TWICE today. Jeeze.

Dib looked at me, frowning and making a confused face before getting up by himself. "Uh, it's okay." It was really, really neat to hear his voice, it sounded the same as it ever did, but. Wow. "You've got, uh, blood on your hand by the way..."

"Oh." I dropped my hand, stomach pitching. "Sorry, uh, I should get going?"

Dib frowned suspiciously. "Okay...?"

"No, it's just, I'm new and I've gotta register in school, er, skool and… stuff..."

"Uh, huh..."

I smiled sheepishly and then quickly started down the path, blushing like a dummy. God that was so so stupid, Casey. He probably thought you were an alien now. Uch.

That wouldn't be so bad if I knew with certainty that he wouldn't attack me to see what kind of alien guts I had. But, of course I didn't have that certainty. I didn't know anything for certain, actually. I could die any second in a place like this. A giant hotdog could fall from the sky and smite me, and it would be totally normal here.

I glanced back. Dib was following me slowly, Gaz having suddenly appeared next to him. Oh, but that made sense, I'd run in to him in front of his house. He seemed preoccupied with Gaz, rambling to her, so I considered it safe to start speedwalking. After a few corners, I could just spot Zim up ahead, too far for Dib to see, thank goodness, and at least I wouldn't get lost on my way to 'skool'.

That spelling error would just bug me the entire time I was here, I knew it.

Feeling – somewhat – secure between the two main characters, I walked at a leisurely pace for a few minutes before Zim turned a corner, disappearing. I quickly followed, and to my surprise, the Skool loomed in front of me, children clambering to it like ants to a dropped suck-munkey.

I blinked, and then felt butterflies in my stomach. I hurried behind Zim, waiting for him to enter before me of course, too shy to go any further into his field of vision, and then entered. I could feel myself smiling like an idiot, and then frowning in surprise.

What really struck me was the smell. Vomit mixed with rhino sweat, as far as I could tell. I'd never sniffed a rhino's armpit, but I had to thank the school for giving me the supposed experience of it.

A kid screamed off to my right, reaching a decibel I didn't quite believe. A hand shoved my back and I stumbled forward into a thinner part of the crowd. I wondered if I could get away with just joining a class, no muss no fuss.

The entrance led down the hallway, a clear shot, but off to the side was a small cubical like window, up kind of high on the wall. As the kids streamed past – some still shoving me with sticky hands – I went to the window, standing on my tiptoes. There was a little bell that made a tickling sound when I rang it. I tried to peer over the edge of the counter, cursing my new height, but was unable to see the floor, just a; "WE'RE ALWAYS WATCHING :D" sign hung on the opposite wall.

With a swoop a seat appeared and a figure fell down from the ceiling with a thump, making me jolt. The man grinned at me, and my eyes widened.

"Mr El- e-er, s-Sir?" I blinked, staring. It was the glasses-wearing always-cheerful Mr. Elliot. Of course. Who else would it have been. They had to lure students in somehow, and give parents a sense of ease. If it had been Ms. Bitters the school would be shut down. If that was even possible. Maybe anyone not satisfied with 'customer service' was referred to the Underground Classroom.

"HeeeeLLLLO young man! How can I help you!?"

"Er, I'm a girl."

"Oh, WELL, what can I help you with young miss?! Do you need some extra special help to a classroom!?"

My eye twitched before I glanced at his earnestly clasped hands. Gently, I reminded myself that he was an idiot, and looked back up to his face.

My voice took on my 'faking it' accent. All too proper and almost British. My 'talking to adults' voice.

"Well, yes, actually! I'm, er, new you see. My grandfather just died, and, well, right before registering me. Really, it's awful." I directed my eyes down to my hands, now clasped at my stomach, and tried to look deeply, horribly upset.

Mr. Elliot gasped. "Oh well now isn't that just a shame! I'm sure we can take care of it right away! Now, what's your name?"

I looked up, mouth open a bit. "O-Oh, uhm, Casey. Casey…" My eyes darted around, "S-Staple-foot."

Dang it dang it dang it.

"Well Miss Stablehoof-"

"Staple-foot."

"Staplefoot! Most of our classrooms are filled up, so if you could just fill these out," a slot in the ceiling opened and a stack of papers fell onto the counter in front of me with a slam. "We can see which classroom would be the best for you! Hopefully mine! Isn't that neat?"

I smiled a bit, taking the papers. I nearly dropped them. It was like carrying an anchor. "O-Oh, uhm, s-sure!" Not likely, I thought. I'd rather be with Bitters. That's where all the fun was, anyway. Even if she was some sort of unearthly demon.

Mr. Elliot gave me a thumbs up before the slot in the ceiling opened and he was sucked up into it with a 'fwump'. The slot closed with a beep just as the bell started to ring.

Children rushed past me, making monkey and other various zoo-noises as they attempted to make it to class before the bell finished. Gaz was down the hall, walking with her nose in her Game-Slave. I figured no one was brave enough to mark her tardy. I sure wasn't.

Feeling lost for a moment, I looked down at the papers. The stack of it reached nearly my chest. Wow. I inched over to the wall, dropped it, and then sat down. I pulled a pen out of my pocket and started going through it. "Maiden mother's name?" N/A. "Blood type?" N/A "response to sunlight? "Fair."

Some pretty weird questions, but they got weirder. "Opinion on zombie monkey torturers being used on children as a modern punishment?" Undecided.

Gotta love sch- Skool.

…

It took me a while, but I managed to get through all the paperwork, and weird as heck questions. ("Opinion on dog meat being used as a substitute in the Lunch meals?" No. Just, just no.) I stood, picking up my papers with a strained grunt. I'd started at, maybe 8:22, and it was now 8:40. Pretty good considering the amount of paper I had to work through, and the fact that I wrote out some pretty good answers to weird questions. ("While I cannot fully condone the option of strapping hungry rats to detention-students, I can, however, support it under certain circumstances.")

This scho- Skool was pretty neat. Despite all it's apparent fatalities. And how much it smelled like a zoo.

I slid the paperwork onto the counter. The bell let out a loud ring and I jumped, looking around as – seemingly older kids – left and switched to different classrooms. Younger kids probably stayed in the same class all day. I checked my watch.

9:00

9:00?

Weird… I, guess I'd zoned out for a bit. Well, for… around ten minutes. Which wasn't unusual, of course, but I usually had a day dream during that period, or at least vividly imagined conversations.

Huh, cartoon-reality crud I supposed. It was unnerving, but didn't make me have a panic attack, so that was... okay I guess.

I turned to the counter and yelped. Mr. Elliot was leaning over the counter. He grinned at me. "Well hello there! Finished that paperwork, Casey?"

I blinked and then assumed a 'nice', and not at all forced, smile. "U-Uhm, yeah. All done. So, do I come back tomorrow, or…"

Mr. Eliot continued leaning over the counter, grinning at me as if I hadn't spoken. He blinked, and I heard a bit of a faint squeak, and then he sat back. "Well let's just let the computer decide where to put you!" As he spoke, the papers were sucked up into the ceiling again. There was a beep, and then a single sheet of paper floated down. Mr. Elliot snatched it from the air. He looked at it, and his face turned a slightly lighter color. "Oh."

I smiled hopefully. "So…?"

"Oh, well, it appears that, since you're twelve and, uhm, all the other classrooms are filled, we'll have to put you with Miss Bitters, but… I assure you that she is an excellent teacher!" Once again chipper, he handed me the sheet of paper, grinning. "It's right down the hall Miss Stablehoof!"

"It's Staple-"

Mr. Elliot was sucked up through the ceiling with a chipper beep and I was left alone.

"-foot…"

Just me and my backpack. And the Security cameras. They finally turned to me, making whirring sounds. Apparently, now that I was a member of the sch-SKOOL, I was to be observed. How charming.

I made a bit of an awkward coughing noise before starting down the hall, looking around. Well, more specifically, looking for the cul-de-sac of classrooms that I recognized. The ones near Miss Bitters' room. I knew what it looked like, or well, loosely remembered, I just didn't know how to get there.

I breathed out, looking down at the sheet of paper and chewing my lip. "NEW STUDENT, MISS CASEY STAPLEFOOT" It said, along with my locker combination and number. God, I could have chosen a better last name, that was just ridiculous! Staplefoot. Staplefoot. I was so stupid. And awkward. And a number of other things.

I looked up as I reached the cul-de-sac, a room with "MISS BITTERS" printed on its' frosty window immediately catching my attention. I held my breath, stopping in front of it. Low sounds of a woman's voice claiming "doom, doom, doom…" sounded from inside it. I sniffed, looking the door over.

Okay miss 'Stablehoof', this was it, the big one. The 'holy crap you're actually doing this' moment. The moment of doubt where I realized how smegging stupid I am being oh my gosh.

I made a low whining noise, fingers clenching on my paper. I shifted from foot to foot, biting my lip yet again. I didn't really know how to proceed, but, well, bugger it!

I took in a deep breath and knocked before reaching to the brass knob, cold under my fingers. I pushed the door open, trying to fake a smile. Calm down, Cas, calm. Bullspit it all. Best way to get through life is a 'I dont care' attitude after all!

Oh gosh were those my legs knocking together?

The "doom-track" stopped as the door swung open with a squeak, and all eyes turned onto me. I breathed out and squirmed, quietly walking up to the desk. I looked up, and Miss Bitters was suddenly learing over me, the rest of her body twisting to a point at her desk chair where it disappeared. Perspective gave her an incredibly imitating look as her black dress wavered like shadow. I turned my eyes to the white sheen that were her glasses. Oh man she was even cooler looking in person.

"Yes?" She croaked dryly. She didn't sound too pleased to see me. I wasn't even sure if she could feel anything other than 'not-pleased'. A fly suddenly buzzed out of her mouth.

Whelp.

"O-Oh, uhm…" I handed her my slip of paper, coughing into my hand awkwardly. She took it with a hiss, starting to look it over. I glanced around out of the corner of my eye. Zim was giving me a look, as if I was something GIR had dragged in, and then looked away with dis-interest. Dib was squinting suspiciously, eyes narrowed. He kept glancing to my beanie as well, as if I had a third eye under there. Great. Great first impression, Casey. The other students were giving me bored looks, some drooling. At least there were only two people interested in me.

Too bad they both didn't like me.

Bitters made a scoffing noise and suddenly her body flowed to join her head, leaving her crouched over me, hissing. One of her eyes widened at me slightly. "You answered positively to the rats, I see."

"O-Oh, uh, yes?"

She sniffed, and then looked towards the classroom. "Class," she said lightly. "It seems we have a new student; Casey. She may be a bit more promising than some of you. She likes rats." She glared at Dib who looked rather outraged that rats would be the deciding factor of my popularity.

"Uh, hi." I mumbled, waving. "Rats are, uhm, neat?"

Miss Bitters went on speaking. "Doomed to become yet another failure of the human race, one cell of a dying body, yada-yada-go sit there." She pointed to a seat in the back of the classroom, flies buzzing above it.

I frowned, looking at it, looking to Miss Bitters. The desk. Bitters.

"It looks stinky."

"That's because it is. Now go sit in it."

A fly buzzed somewhere in the classroom as I blinked at her, probably the one that flew out of her mouth. Someone coughed awkwardly, and I looked down, quickly skittering to the seat behind Zita. The desk was marked with scratches and someone had written "Rob sat on meat" on it, and smelled like Rob had indeed sat on meat. I squinted, sliding my backpack off, and sat in the chair, which, immediately, let out a squeak. Ghost of Rob or his meat as far as I could tell.

Zim was glaring back at me, eyes narrowed as he peeked over his chair. Miss Bitters slithered back to her desk, sitting there, and somehow managing to look incredibly tall, despite her feet peeking out from under her desk.

Zim squinted at me angrily and then turned around in his seat, sitting normally and apparently uninterested. I blinked, confused, and then looked over to Dib.

He was staring at me out of the corner of his eye, and quickly sent me a suspicious glare before looking down into a note book that was on his desk, scribbling something out.

I blinked, squinted, and then sighed, leaning back in my chair. Miss Bitters looked over the class, starting to speak.

"Thanks to new school regulations, the video on war and carnage I was going to show you has now been postponed. Instead, you are all to make lists, long, long lists, of horrible, horrible things to do to the school board for such an atrocity. Those who get the best grades will have their lists checked over by me. If you're lucky, I may use a suggestion. Now get writing!" She growled the last word angrily, teeth gritting.

I jumped, as did the whole class. My desk squeaked and I got a few glances of annoyance before people started pulling out paper. I saw Zim grabbing paper with seeming relish, grinning. Looking to Dib, it appeared that he was already writing.

I sighed, bending down to my backpack. My desk let out another horribly loud squeak, making me flinch. I scowled and dug a notebook out of my backpack. I turned the jellyfish cover to a new, clean sheet of paper, and started writing.

It wasn't that hard to think of bad things. Kind of negative in its own right for me to be like that, but, hey, I watched a lot of horror movies. I tried with the first few sentences to use my best penmanship but, of course, I started getting lazy and it petered off into mush. Sighing, I put my chin on my hand, doodling small pictures of swords as I tried to think up something new. A sword turned into a bee stinger and a bee, and I wrote "swarmed by bees" before going back to doodling.

I heard a flutter, and looked up. I had time to squint in surprise before a paper airplane nailed me directly in my nose, the tip of it crumpling. I yelped, covering my nose as it fell onto my desk. I scowled and looked around angrily for who'd thrown it. No one was looking towards me. A few students had given up and started talking to each other, but that was it.

I huffed and snatched up the paper plane. I almost crumpled it for a moment, but something on it caught my attention. Along with a scrap of math homework, I could see half a doodle, the other half hidden by a fold in the paper. The doodle, however, looked like guts.

I quirked an eyebrow and unfolded the paper. On one side was math homework. Graded with a hundred, only to be crossed out and moved to a 80 for, as a little note said, "inappropriate math doodles".

I wondered if I would get a deduction for my doodles as I looked at the said; "inappropriate math doodles". I blinked. They were crude drawings of Zim being dissected. Why would anyone throw this at me?

I hesitated, and then turned the paper over. There, scribbled angrily, it seemed, or maybe that was just how the person – whom I'd already guessed at – wrote, was a note. Well, more of a demand.

'Are you an alien?!'

Of course that was it.

When I looked up, I saw Dib glaring at me. He quickly looked away however, turning his glare onto Zim, who'd lost all zeal for the project, and was now staring at the clock and clicking his fingers on the desk. Upon catching Dib glaring at him, his eyes narrowed and he scowled.

My stomach twisted into an excited knot and I wiggled in my seat. I immediately stopped however, because that made the squeak. I hesitated, and then smoothed out the note, writing my reply. Instinctively I wanted to be careful and eloquent, but, well I was supposed to be twelve. A twelve year old student who likes rats, not a sixteen year old girl trying to shmooze her way into main character's lives.

'No, I'm not. Why?'

Figuring I might as well play dumb, I added a little emoticon as well.

':-?'

Which wasn't really playing dumb on my part. I loved emoticons.

I figured I wouldn't be very good at throwing a paper airplane. It would probably go up Bitters' nose with my luck. So, instead, I opened my desk to look for something heavy. There was an instant hiss from its dark depths and I shut it with a slam, throwing my body weight onto it. I squeaked along with my chair as the desk started to rattle and shake until, eventually, it calmed down with a growl.

I lay on it, frozen in shock. A few students had looked back at me, including Dib and Zim.

"Oh, I wouldn't open that if I were you, miss Staplefoot, that's where the school keeps it's punishment badgers." Miss Bitters said loftily before looking down at her desk, seeming to zone out.

"I fig-gured." I mumbled, frazzled. My beanie was on crooked and I'm sure I looked panicked. I fixed my hat and sat normally before looking around. Dib was still staring at me, eyebrow raised.

I blushed, and then crumpled up the note, tossing it over two rows of kids heads. It went a little far, hitting the window and bouncing off of it to hit the back of Dib's head.

He yelped, and then quickly stooped to pick it up, unfolding it and reading it, eyes darting quickly all over the page before his face fell to disappointment. And then something like distrust. As if he'd been expecting some sort of drawn out confession and explanation. All written in three seconds, apparently.

He started writing his reply and I went back to my list. Well, doodling, really. I was drawing kittens now. Tiny kittens. So, so tiny. And they had lasers.

With a 'boop' a crumpled piece of paper fell onto my desk. I blinked, glancing to Dib. He gave me a squinty look, watching.

I blinked, and then opened the note.

'That's JUST WHAT AN ALIEN WOULD SAY!' was written in all caps, loudly and angrily, and then had been promptly erased. 'How do I know that you're not lying?' was written below it instead.

I snorted, writing my reply. 'You don't, but I don't look like a lizard or anything, right? :-? idk what an alien would look like tho'

I smiled excitedly. I was talking to Dib, well, writing to Dib, and, maybe, making a friend?

Crumpling it back up, I tossed it to Dib, who managed to catch it. He unwrapped it quickly, read it, and then started scribbling a reply. I waited, and soon enough he threw it back. A few kids looked up as it passed over head but other than that ignored it.

Catching the paper with a bit of fumbling, I glanced to Miss Bitters. She, well... She looked like she was asleep, honestly. I opened the note.

'Well, yes, but you could be wearing a clever disguise! And if you want to know what an alien looks like, look in front of you! The green kid! He's an alien, bent on our world's DISTRUCTION!'

I smiled a bit, glancing to Zim. He was looking to Dib, squinting, and then looked to me as soon as he realized Dib wasn't staring at him. He narrowed his eyes more, frowning, and I quickly looked down to reply.

':-O omg. Really? The green skin is pretty weird, but... :-? Maybe he's just a sick kid?'

Yeah, sick in the head. Man, playing it dumb sure was aggravating. I tossed the paper back, this time Zim watching. Dib caught it again, unfolded it, and squinted. He frowned and then wrote a rather short reply, tossing it back.

I caught it in surprise, opening it.

'So you don't believe me?'

I reached for my pencil, and then dropped it as the bell rang. I looked up as kids started to put their things away.

Miss Bitters came to life. "LUNCH! Go on, get." And then she promptly melted into the floor.

I blinked, and then got up. I put away my notebook and put on my backpack before starting down the row, glancing at Dib, who was hurrying behind the other children to meet me at the end, where Zim, also, was waiting

ta da! lovely. If anyone has any requests or ideas as to who's side Casey's going to be on, what she's going to do/going to happen, feel free to comment about it! I've got a pretty good idea myself, but I'm pretty loose with the plot so far! Merry Christmas!