7. I Want To Believe
Outside the Skool, the cloud cover that hung like a sopping wet blanket trembled over the City. The sun departed from the immediate hemisphere and intensified the rich wet smell in the air. Laura could only describe it as muddy concrete, but she knew the word existed somewhere in her word-files. She ducked into a corner of the skool building's exterior, shivering, feeling naked and small without her backpack's weight on her shoulders -
"Petrichor! Petrichor, petrichor, petrichor." A triumphant sensation won her over from the frigidness of dusk for a few moments. She had successfully retrieved the word. But the cold and impending second wave of rain still threatened the last of her body heat. It was at least slightly warmer than detention had been, anyway. Which reminded her, where the fuck is Dib with my stuff?
A drizzle began to descend steadily onto the already wet asphalt. She rolled her eyes. Her watch indicated two hours and thirty minutes had passed, and she had tried and failed to re-enter the skool building during the first rolls of thunder. She ended up squatting low to the ground as the wind picked up, grateful at least for the beanie on her head absorbing most of the droplets of moisture. For now.
Inside Room 250, the overhead lighting flickered. Dib and Ms. Bunting looked up, their nearly-complete grading work interrupted. French-house-electronic-disco-dance played in the background of the teacher's laptop, soft enough that it guided their pen marks and helped them concentrate without activating the camera - until the distraction from above.
"I believe that was lightning! One of my favorite natural phenomena besides a beautiful moonrise. Thank you for helping me out again, Dib."
"You're not going to wait for me to finish the last stack? I was making some pretty sweet progress."
"It's fine, Dib. Remember, weren't you supposed to see your friend?"
"Oh! Ohshit-" Dib's face paled. He eyed the black backpack he'd been sitting next to and somehow completely forgotten about in his habit of finding refuge away from the typical skool population. "Yeah, you're right, I gotta go. Sorry!"
"I'll finish up the last few items on the to-do list on my own. You should really hurry and try not to get sick in the weather!"
Her last remaining student didn't quite catch that in the midst of throwing on his own backpack and racing out of the door, cradling his charge with both arms. His trench coat whipped out of sight and Bunting listened to the sound of his footsteps to make sure he was really gone.
She sighed in relief and unlocked a special silver box from a pouch sewn behind her bean bag. Nobody in class knew what was in there, of course, as they respected her and her things. But this was more for job security. Its contents emitted a powerful smell.
Eyeing the Noize-Activated security camera, she rotated so that her back was to its blind spot, just to make sure - and selected a playlist featuring Borb Morley's greatest hits. Ordering the security door remote-sealed from her control, the blonde could finally inhale her medicinal herb in peace.
In just a few minutes the real rain arrived. It pummeled the sidewalks with a roaring ambience that would have been soothing to the tiny girl still waiting on skool grounds, had she at least had an umbrella. But that umbrella was in her backpack. And her backpack was late. There was no way she'd go home without her things, thunder or not.
Ughhh. What are they gonna think at home?
Another peal of thunder crescendoed above Laura. She startled and swore in Spanish to herself. Fuck the first day of skool here.
"Hey! New kid!"
"Huh?" Is that the guy with my backpack? The stiffened student slowly got to her feet, shivering all the while. She managed a flicker of a smile when Dib faltered as the deluge hit him. "Praise to all that is holy, yes! You didn't leave. I need my umbrella. I gotta go home now."
He approached her by the side of the entrance, careful not to crush the innards of the bag as he handed it over. "Just like that? I thought you wanted to hear the truth about Zim!"
"Look, man. Feel my hands. I am in frostbite mode. Unless there's a place I can hide or something, it's not gonna happen." Dib felt her painfully icy touch on his chin and shivered. "Been like this since detention."
"Jeez. How far away are you from skool? It looks like the rain's harder on you than being locked up for however long it was."
"I'm planning on walking, I dunno. A little over a mile away. It's not too far and I like the rain, but usually only when I'm warm and indoors. And detention wasn't so bad." Her scowl did not convince Dib. He decided not to press asking about her punishment.
"Um, why don't we take a detour to my place instead? Just for a little. It's closer to skool than yours is. And on the way there, can you hear me out? If you don't like what I have to say, I'll be disappointed, but statistically speaking, I should be expecting rejec-"
"Yeeesss, I sort of made a promise. I think." She gave him a narrowed side-eye without fully facing him. "Will there be tea? I'm stiff as shit."
Dib's face lit up again. "Of course. But first, let's try not getting any wetter." He motioned to take off his trenchcoat and give it to her, but Laura refused and began roughly rummaging through her backpack.
"I've got an umbrella. Somewhere in here. Hold on. Let's start walking-"
"Oh, it's okay, I won't need one. If it's my hair you're worried about, I'm letting you know now, don't bother. It's waterproof."
"Really? Guess Zim's not the only weird one in this town, huh? Hah." She struggled to zip the backpack back up again while shivering violently and attempting to walk forward - Dib had to help her close it completely.
"At least I'm not the alien from a sick, parasitic empire attempting to ruin this whole planet!"
Uh-huh. Laura glanced up at his face directly now. Shit's getting serious. "Go then. I'm listening."
"Okay. Why don't you take my trenchcoat now, then? I'll be fine. I have backups at home." Before she could protest any more, it enveloped her and her backpack. The weighted, lined leather made all the difference in the absence of warmth. Still, rain dripped from her soggy beanie and tufts of hair, leading to rivulets down where her neck was exposed to the sky. The unpleasant sensation made her impatient and more uncomfortable with the situation than it already kind of was.
"Eyugh." She shuddered, a pained grimace lit up by the street light they walked under. "Can you just tell me everything from the beginning and go a little faster please?"
"White sage, lavender, or plain filtered hot water?" Dib offered. "The white sage also has caffeine in it. My mix."
The noise of a ceramic mug held by rattling hands was his only answer. He felt a twinge of concern for the sight of shock in his guest's face that did not go away as fast as he'd hoped. All he had really done was fall back upon pictures of Zim in and out of his crap disguise, and a few other unnatural elements of his home base. He hadn't even started on the videos he would be able to show her once they reached his residence, and records of nether-worlds and Tak's ship. It seemed that this was enough to open her eyes, to make her connect the dots, but...
"I need more time to process," was all Laura could let out from inside a vaguely burrito-shaped mound of blankets. She sat hunched over her mug inside it, her faithful backpack at her feet.
"Sage for you, then. It should help with that."
Silence settled in again, cut through only by the gentle pouring of water into two mugs. This, Dib realized, is the closest I've ever gotten to convincing someone of the truth. And it's happening so fast, right in front of me. He hardly dared breathe too loudly between sips, let alone utter a pointless, extraneous word in the spirit of socializing with someone new. It would break the integrity of the moment, and possibly her concentration.
"Whaaat the fuck, man." Hearing that, he finally looked up from his astringent, caffeine-spiked tea into her still-wide eyes. Behind the glasses, comprehension had finally dawned - "I was just joking about Zim in the morning. When I was growing up, I believed in ghosts and the Devil and shit, 'cause that's what they told me to make me behave safely. But obviously I stopped, for the most part, once I started thinking about things. And then you tell me about fucking aliens being real, that Zim is really one of them? And you have irrefutable proof of this."
"Yes, and that's what nobody here seems to be able to believe or care about!"
"Does anyone else here, in your house, believe or care about it?" She raised her head a few inches and clutched at the edge of the blanket-cocoon. I really don't need this in my life. Please, someone else, take care of this impending catastrophe...
"Gaz knows. She's just never been on board. And dad doesn't care. He's never really around except once a year. He's Professor Membrane, the guy who's on TV at conferences all around the world for saving it. You know."
"And that's why you can just do things like invite a stranger to your house, dry their clothes for them, and lend them your stuff! That's pretty cool. I could never get away with that."
"I'm surprised you're okay with absolutely all of this."
"I'm okay with lots of things, as long as... mmm... they don't hurt or annoy me. And having this confirmed can only, like, help. Yeah, that's all I wanted to say. And that sometimes I forget things I'm thinking before I can say them."
"Oh, I noticed. In STEM block, right? When you didn't let that old hag Bitters abuse you?"
"I am also not a morning person."
This elicited a laugh from Dib, which made Laura chuckle a little. A series of hard thumps from somewhere above quieted them.
"Gaz wants us to shut up. We should get out of the kitchen before she comes down for snacks. She brings the stick down with her so she can signal from here, too."
"What. Does she, like, control the place or something? Is that normal?" The girl's eyes narrowed again. What is he about to tell me? What the hell is her deal?
"She's kind of vicious. We've drifted apart. We should really head up to my room now! It'll lessen the chances of her meeting us on the stairs. We're way better off not seeing her," Dib hissed that last part and looked around as though there were cameras here, too. "Come on," he urged Laura, picking up the backpack for her again. Laura shrugged under the blanket-orbit and took her mug, tip-toeing in Dib's lent socks. The diffused green kitchen lighting helped illuminate the way upstairs somewhat.
Dib practically sprinted up, whereas Laura took her time to prevent her tea from spilling. She was a lot quieter on the stairs than her host, of course, as his boots were still on. He gestured the way to go with his hand and they both scrambled past what must have been Gaz's bedroom. It was a simple medieval-style wooden door with a few signs forbidding Dib's entry. Trite, Laura huffed in the privacy of her own mind. Privacy is a privilege. Something about that bothered her, but she put it out of her mind.
They entered Dib's room and shut the door. Laura stopped short just inside. It was dark, save for the computer and window on the far right. An austere, full-size bed took up the center space across from the door. To the left, a hulking vault labeled [PROOF] caught her eye.
"Is this...?"
"This is my life's work. It's not just about stupid Zim, either, although he indicates a problem bigger than we can handle if everyone's just labeled me crazy and ignored the hard evidence."
"Right... the invasion. Is it okay if I sit...?" The girl motioned her head to the bed.
"You're still shaking. Here, let me take your tea." He reached out to take the mug and their fingers touched, just long enough that her skinny digits received some of his heat. She's so cold. I'm actually concerned now...
"I am still very cold. I think it's from the shock of this, like, you know? I read about doom and gloom all the time. But if anything would happen to this planet, I figured it would be us ruining it with nukes or whatever. Not fucking real aliens, oh my God. I was just joking. What can we even do, Dib? What can I do?"
"You haven't even had your tea at all. Why don't you just, uh, try to center yourself? Bunting taught me a few mantras for mindfulness. Look, I get where you're coming from, and I haven't given up my one-man mission here. But deep down, I know Zim could come up with something to get one over on me. So I never let my guard down, against him or anyone or anything else." He took a seat at his computer and rolled back to the bed over his Swollen Eyeball carpet.
"Anything else?"
"The Irken species' repulsive manifest destiny may be the sole evil I want to destroy in my life, but that doesn't mean there aren't other creatures out here in the City. We've got bodysnatchers, skinwalkers, Bigfoot, shadow people, vampires... just about everything goes. It's not the biggest place. But the majority of us are unobservant. That's how things slip by our senses. If you just get off of your phones and stop blindly following social conventions, you'll notice why the garage has a hole in it and what's living under the highway overpass by the mall, dressed in Victorian clothing, mingling with all the cool goths-"
"I don't have a phone. And why did your garage have a hole in it?" Laura's shaking appeared to have stopped. She was now listening with rapt attention. It was a glorious feeling to the speaker.
"Oh, I don't have a phone, either. Don't need one. And that was Bigfoot. He doesn't really come around anymore, but I found him there in elementary skool and nobody believed me."
"Yeah, because that sounds fucking crazy... and what can you tell me about these shadow people? All I've done is internet research and they always mention hats and capes, but the ones I've seen..." Now, finally, she tried taking a sip of the tea and blanched. "This tastes like shit."
Dib laughed again, a proper guffaw from his stomach this time. Nobody but Zim had ever made him laugh like that, as far as he could recall, and never in a situation as newly intimate as this, it was always schadenfreude-
"Shut the fuck up, DIB!" But he pushed that thought train to the back of his mind when Gaz's muted screaming reached them through the walls. He was in teaching mode now, and he cleared his throat, secretly thrilled. "It's an acquired taste, which is good for us, and bad for some of Earth's paranormal beings..."