Sorry for any spelling errors these next chapters have, but I don't have a spell-check program.

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Torque arrived early at skool the next morning. He had just needed to get away from the family. Or at least that's what he told his friends when they all arrived fifteen minutes before the warning siren.

'Hey TOrque. You're looking a bit sick. Didn't study for the test today?' ONe of his friends joked at him.

Torque grunted at him. 'Ate some bad milk.'

'Ewww. Well, don't puke on me. And what's with the hat? Trying to bring them back?' Something distracted his attention. 'Look, it's that freak, Dib. He's got a new coat from yesterday. How about we make it a bit dirtier?'

Torque looked over uninterestedly. 'Nah. I'm bored of him.' He looked around and spotted Zim. 'I want to beat up the green kid.'

'Zim? He's fun, too. I like the way he screams.'

Torque grinned. He would enjoy Zims screams, too. He strolled over to behind Zim and tapped him on the shoulder. 'Hey, Zim.'

Zim turned around. 'What do /you/ want?'

Torque grinned nastily. 'You're standing in front of my locker, Zim. Doesn't it just /irk/ you when people do that?'

'What are you talking about. This isn't your locker.' Zim looked around in confusion. 'Your locker's over there.' He pointed towards the other side of the hall.

'But I find it so /irksome/ to have to go all the way over there when I want my stuff.'

Zim fidgeted slightly. Why did the human keep on repeating that word? Did it know anything about him? He had always placed this human as a low-level threat, not worth considering.

Dib was looking over in interest. Did Torque realise Zim was from Irk? Would he have an ally to help him on his quest to save humanity?

'Come on, man. Just shove him in his locker or something. Don't talk to him.' Torques friend was tired of the talking. He wanted action.

'You're not going to tell me what to do.' Torque calmly said to his friend, then he slammed his fist to the side of Zims head, blocking him from his attempt to sneak away quietly. 'You're not going anywhere, either.'

'Let me go.' He said, trying to go round the other side of Torque, only to have the other hand hold his shoulder down to the wall.

'I should let you go.' Torque said. 'You might be late for class.' Then he picked Zim up, and pushed him inside of an open locker, then closed the door. 'Or, I could put you inside Gretchens locker. And she wouldn't open it again, would you, Gretchen?' He smiled at her. SHe shook her head. He knew her name, and she had already taken all her books out.

'Hey!' Zim shouted, banging on the door. 'Let me out of here!' He wasn't large, but the locker was still a bit too small for comfort. He couldn't see. It was too dark, and small. 'Hey! Hey! DOn't leave me in here!' He then added in a small voice: 'It's dark in here.'

Torque banged on the door, much to Zims displeasure. 'What's the matter Zim? Scared of a few shadows?'

Then the Siren went, and Zim was left alone in the hall, still banging on the door to the locker.

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Zim finally extricated himself from the locker when he remembered that his PAK had laser attachments. They were usually the last thing he forgot about, but he had been put off by the way Torque had been talking. He got into class 10 minutes late.

'You're late, Zim.' Miss Bitters hissed. 'You're going to be punished for this.'

Zim nodded 'I will accept whatever punishment you view as acceptable.'

'Just sit down.' Miss Bitters couldn't stand it when they didn't beg for mercy.

Zim sat down and looked about the classroom. Dib was there, staring at him. Stupid, staring human. Torque was over there, sleeping. Wait! Torque wasn't sleeping! He was watching Zim behind his eyelids.

Zim turned back towards the front of the class, and used a small spying tool from inside his PAK to watch Torque. He was watching Zim. Why? What had the human found out? How had he found out? Zim would need to be clever about how to get the information out of the human. If only he still had Pustulio...

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When Zim made it to the cafeteria at lunch he cursed. DIb had gotten to the Torque human first. He sat down at a table nearby and listened into the conversation...

'Hey Torque.' Dib said conversationally. He didn't want to scare him away by mentioning aliens too early.

Torque looked down at Dib. 'Oh, it's you.' He put his lunch on the table. 'What do you want?'

'I overheard your conversation with Zim this morning, and I thought we could work together.'

Torque looked down at Dib. He had spent alot of time with this child, and though he was capable, he wouldn't be of any use. Might as well humour him, though. 'Work together? How?'

'You could help me catch Zim! You know he's an evil alien.'

'You're being stupid. You couldn't help me. And Zim's not alien.' He added as an afterthought, just to make Dib go away.

'But, this morning you...' Dib sighed. If he was going to deny it there was no use trying. 'Fine. I'll go away now.' He glared at Zim as he passed the table he was sitting at, then went and sat with Gaz. 'Can you believe these people?' He looked at her. 'Well, can you?'

Gaz turned and glared at him. 'Dib, I'm on the last level and only have six lives. If you distract me again, I will destroy all your Mysterious Mysteries tapes.' Dib gulped. She was serious. 'But, no.' She added. 'I can't believe these people.'

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'Class.' Miss Bitters hissed, after all the kids had come back in from lunch, 'the school curriculum states there must be at least one group activity per semester. It shall be a presentation on the ten diseases with the highest death rate. Pair yourselves up, but if I see anybody smiling, you'll be placed with Dib. You have the rest of today top work on it, but that's the only class time you'll be given. Now go.' SHe sat back down in her chair and watched the children scamper about. 'Zita.' She called out. 'I see you with a friend. Go sit with Gretchen.'

Dib gasped. He had been given the greatest opportunity of all to spy on Zim! He leapt out of his chair, just in time to see Torque grab Zims wrist. 'Nooooo!' He cried out, falling to his knees.

'Dib.' Miss Bitters said. 'You're the only one without a partner. You'll go with Willie.'

'So Zim,' Torque said, when the skool day was nearly over. 'I think we should work on this project after skool. Why don't we go to your house to work on it. I'm sure you'd have all sorts of interesting things in there.'

'Uhhh.' Zim didn't want any more humans in his base. The Keef incident had been enough. 'WHy don't we go to your house, or the library. I'm sure the library would be useful. All those delicious books.'

'Nonsense. We'd be much better off at your house.' The siren rang. 'Come on. I know the way.' He grabbed Zims wrist and dragged him out the door.

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Yes, irk is a real word.