Well hello everyone! Looky here, an update, and much quicker than last time!

First off, I would just like to thank you all for your reviews and kind words, they ceritantly made me feel better, and I am so glad and thankful towards all of you who have continuously followed and reviewed this story.

It really makes my day when I open the internet and see that I have a new review. And a kind one at that.

Well, first off - since I have not done it in a while - I DO NOT own Invader Zim. (cries) I only own Casey and have partial ownership over Sasha, who's main creator was/is Psycho Invader whom I am glad to see has commented on this and read it.

Oh, also, 50 BLOODY REVIEWS! OH MY GOSH, thank you all so much!

Ahem, I ALSO do not own Good Charlotte... sadly.

But onwards! To the story!

…

Sasha calmed herself down after a moment, and I managed a small grin. "You done?" I asked curiously. I didn't want anymore potentially ego degrading happenings today, nuh-uh. No thank you, give me the return address for that gift, please.

Sasha snorted. "Yeah, that's enough teasing for one day." She laughed. "Maybe." She added in a 'creepy' tone.

"It'd better be." I muttered, finishing my first carton of orange juice and grabbing my second. "Any more embarrassment and I might just die."

"I didn't know that embarrassment was fatal..." Sasha mused, then got a very devious look on her face. She looked at me, grinning.

I groaned. "I really need to stop giving you ideas..." I said, looking at her sideways as she started eating her mutant PB&J and Mystery Meat hybrid of a sandwich. I was secretly waiting for something to happen... Most likely something bad. No good could come of that sandwich. No Good I say.

"Nah, keep doing what you're doing." Sasha said, grinning at me. I rolled my eyes. Nub.

For a while, lunch was pretty calm, you know, other than the DEATH GLARES Dib occasionally sent us and the EVIL PLOTTING/CURIOSITY ones Zim sent us. Yep. Calm. Just a bunch of kids chatting it up – save for the weird and insane kids and the scary ones... Aka, us.

I was drinking my last orange juice and poking at my fruit cup curiously, watching the eye twitch with a morbid curiosity, as Sasha played with her sporks – making the first Leaning Tower Of Sporks, by the look of it – when something caught my attention.

"... So what do you think of those two new kids?" I heard a female voice ask in a low whisper.

My spine abruptly stiffened and I sat up a little straighter, my hand slowing to a stop in it's relentless poking of my fruit cup. My ears pricked and my eyes narrowed in concentration.

I couldn't help it. I've always had good hearing – both a blessing and a curse – and I always seemed to tune in automatically to different parts of conversations. Usually it was just the weird stuff, but sometimes – a lot of times, actually – I tuned into things like this. I was... A figurative radio, I guess...

I recognized the voice as Zita's – it was that slightly nasally squeaky tone that I kinda liked – and I recognized it easily. I peeked at the 'popular' table out of the corner of my eye, eyebrow raised in interest. Who was she talking to anyway?

"What, you mean those two girls over there?" I heard a voice filled with contempt ask. It was the blond girl – Jessica – who was talking about Zim in... Oh, Bestest Friend or whatever it was called. "You have them in your class, right?"

"Ugh, yeah." I heard Zita say. "As if we need any more weirdos in that class. I mean, we already have crazy Dib and that green weirdo Zim, why do we have to get all the bad new kids?"

I actually smirked at that. No, I wasn't really that offend. I'd been called weird enough times that it bounced right off of me, and, honestly, I found it to be a complement. So did Sash, usually. So, we were the 'new' weird kids in class, huh? Duly noted.

You really shouldn't be proud of that... A small part of me whispered. A part that I ignored.

Darn, getting embarrassed had bashed my confidence a little... Now my worries were slipping through the cracks...

Either that, or I was hearing voices because I was insane.

I was honestly on the fence when it came to which one was the real answer.

"Did you see them the other day?" Jessica asked, leaning in closer. The other girls at the table leaned in too, even that one girl that looked a little like 'Dora the Explore'. I think that she was the one who was knocked over by Zim in the first episode when he was fleeing from Dib..."When they signed up here or whatever?" She continued.

"Yeah!" The Dora girl said with a nod. I ought to ask for her name. "That Casey girl or whatever was dragging her down the hall! Who does that?"

Well ME of course.

"AND, did you see that Sasha girl outside? After that weird Casey girl threw her into the rain, she freaked out! She was running around like she was STABBED or something!" Sara – the long haired, big eyed girl wearing the dark dress – said, folding her arms. "That Sasha girl's crazy."

True. I agreed silently. So true.

"Not even that," Jessica said, "I mean, that Casey girl is weird and creepy and a freak all, AND kinda insane – but totally not as insane as Dib – but that Sasha girl, she's like a freak too, and crazy, but she's like, mentally retarded or something, too! I mean, she's obsessed with sporks of all things! How'd she even GET into school, anyway?"

I wasn't aware that my fist had closed until my orange juice exploded all over the table, gaining a few laughs from some of the other kids. I hardly felt the juice dripping from my face, or saw it on my glasses lenses or my now shaking fist as I stood up, wiping it off with a napkin that shook in my hand.

"Casey, no, don't!" I heard Sasha say quickly, and I looked down to see her staring up at me wide eyed. She'd heard it too. "I don't care, really! They're just a couple of jerks. They don't bug me! Cas?"

I knew she didn't care. I knew it didn't bug her. But it bugged me. It ticked me off.

"Stay here." I muttered angrily, grabbing the cup of cream cheese that I had gotten for my bagel with a shaking fist and dropping the napkin. I could feel my eye twitching as I stepped over the bench and started stalking over to the popular girl's table. Only being noticed by my fellow 'freaks' as it were – Zim and Dib.

How dare she? I thought as I stalked towards their table, fists clenched at my sides. I was slowly gaining the attention of the other kids as I passed – their heads were raising as if they could sense my rage – but I didn't notice. I didn't care. How dare she? How dare that ignorant... That monster... That egotistical, little, stupid...!

No one at the 'popular' table noticed me until I had grabbed Jessica by the shoulder, spun her around, and practically punched the small container of cream cheese into her 'pretty' face, hearing a satisfying thud as my hand met her face through the plastic.

The lunchroom half fell silent and half burst into interested murmuring as Jessica let out a shriek of surprise and rage. "UGH! OWWW!" She shouted, wiping the stuff off of her face as her friends stared up at me in shock. I stood there, leaning forward slightly, fists clenched and teeth grinding together. "What the heck?" Jessica squealed, glaring at me as she wiped the cream cheese on her face. She took one look down at her shirt and let out another cry of rage. "Look at what you did to my shiirrtt! This was new! It cost me sooo much!" She yelled, then glared at me. "Why would you do that, you fre-"

"LOOK!" I shrieked, voice going so high it nearly cracked. Her mouth snapped shut as I leered over her, glaring. "I don't CARE if you call me a freak. I don't CARE if you call me crazy, or weird, or any-BLOODY-thing else, but when you insult Sasha. When you call her mentally retarded, when you assume that you are above others and that you have the right to degrade someone else in that way, to actually try to hurt them, belittle them, then I care. THEN, I have a problem." I leaned forward suddenly, pointing a finger at her and digging my nail into her shoulder, eyes nearly shut as I glared at her. "So LISTEN UP you little idiotic wench, and shut up. 'Cause next time, it ain't gonna be something as nice as cream cheese hitting your 'pretty little face', it's gonna be something that screws your face up so bad that you'll be considered only very ugly at a far distance, and unbelievably, inconceivably ugly a few feet closer! So GO TO PURGATORY YOU LITTLE RAT!" And with that shriek still ringing in the air, I spun around and stalked out of the cafeteria, kicking the garbage cans over as I went.

…

The cafeteria was silent for a full six seconds before it broke into excited murmuring. Sasha watched as Jessica stuttered out a "F-Freak." Before turning back to her friends, who concernedly asked if she was alright.

"Cas..." Sasha murmured, staring after the place her friend had disappeared. She quickly stuffed her sporks into her pockets before getting up and dashing into the hall Cas had disappeared into, not even bothering to take away her tray and dump her garbage, seeing as the garbage was all over the floor now.

Zim was staring after them with interest, a calculating look slowly spreading over his face. That Casey girl certainly was... Persuasive... He grinned down at his food, a plot starting to form.

"Gaz," Dib said, staring at the hall the two had disappeared into, eyes wide. He didn't notice Zim's look, and if he had, he might've been just slightly concerned over it...

"What?" Was the apathetic reply. Apparently, Gaz wasn't impressed by the little shouting fit she'd just witnessed.

"That was so not human."

"Mhhm.

"And also, Gaz?"

"What, Dib?"

"... Remind me to never get that thing mad at me."

"Mhhm."

…

"Cas...?"

I looked up in surprise at the sound of Sasha's voice. I'd run outside after my yelling fit so that I didn't yell at anyone else and had hid behind a tree in the playground, far away from the kids already outside. I'd buried my face in my arms, drawing my knees to my chest, and let out a stream of muted curses that would've melted the ears off of my mother.

I hated her, I hated her, I hated her! She was such a pretentious little, spoiled brat and I HATED HER! I knew that freaking out and yelling wasn't the best choice – I was probably going to get into trouble – but I didn't care! She just made me so MAD! How dare she talk like that! NO ONE made fun of MY friends, NO ONE! Cartoon character or other-wise, you do that, you're on my hit list!

I admit, I half wanted to cry. I was just so mad. And frustrated. Why did people have to be such JERKS anyway? Why couldn't we just be nice to one another?

Sasha sat down next to me, looking worried. "You okay, Cas? You... Kinda f-freaked out back there for a moment." She laughed nervously at that.

I blinked slowly at her, eyes wide, before I managed a crooked sort've smile and wiped at my eyes, though I wasn't crying yet. Naw. I didn't cry... And I wasn't gonna cry over some bully. "Y-Yeah." I laughed, "I... I'm fine. Just... A little sad and a little angry." I grinned a little wider, if only slightly. "Sorry about all that..."

Sash grinned at me. "It's okay, Cas! Actually, that was kinda awesome!" She elbowed me a little. "Liked the Purgatory reference. Maybe the 'dragons' will get her?"

I couldn't help but laugh. Good ol' Sasha. She wasn't concerned about the fact that she'd been bullied, or that I had blown up, she was more concerned over the fact that I'd used a 'Supernatural' reference. "Yeah, maybe!" I sniffed, smiling and wiping at my eyes a little, though I admittedly didn't want that. I didn't hate her that much...

We sat in silence for a moment. I could hear more kids leaving the building and coming outside for recess, and I awkwardly scratched at the ground. I felt embarrassed now. That had been a little dramatic of me, geeze, I already regretted it. I bet I was already the topic of discussion in all the gossip circles – Casey, the psycho girl.

Heh. Funny. Sasha was the crazy one...

Real smart, idiot. Make yourself look like a complete psychopath on your first day. A real trend-setter that is.

Oh shut up! I thought angrily at myself.

"That was kinda stupid of you, though..." Sasha admitted sheepishly. "You kinda just made an enemy, you know? And I bet Dib's gonna go crazy over this..."

"Ah, belt up!" I snapped. "I know that I probably completely botched any chance of me having a good time here, you don't have to rub it in..." I muttered sourly.

Sasha laughed a little at my sour expression. "Sorry." She apologized at my look. "But, uh, hey! I don't think that you completely ruined it – that does mean ruined right? – just look at Zim over there!" She said, and pointed at a random spot to our right. "He doesn't seem affected."

Blinking, I glanced over in that direction and, sure enough, Zim was standing by a picnic table, seeming to be muttering to himself (I swear I over heard something along the lines of; 'now to simply figure out how to harness the energy for the 'Rage-ray'!) and occasionally glancing at us or the Skool building, eyes narrowed in thought.

As I watched him, I spotted Dib and Gaz exit the Skool, Dib scribbling furiously in his little notebook and Gaz – for once – not playing her GS-2. Looks like she wanted to enjoy the nice weather – which was surprisingly warm after that rainstorm...

Dib didn't seem to be paying attention either, and was walking straight towards Zim. He and his sister reached the table and Gaz casually sat down, the blank look she always wore still dressing her face, though she seemed to have a faint aura of 'smirking' about her. Her mentally preoccupied brother, however, continued walking, taking notes, right until he bumped into Zim.

"Ugh! Oh, sor – UAGH!" He started to apologize, only to leap back in fear and disgust at the sight of whom exactly he'd bumped into. Zim made a high-pitched shrieking noise and jumped back, too, hiding behind the picnic table. He stared at Dib wide eyed for a second before suddenly regaining his composure and stepping out from behind it, eyes narrowed.

"YOU!" He shrieked, pointing at Dib as if he was some sort of hideous mutant. (And hey, we – humans – probably looked just like that to him.) "You DARE try and spy on ME, Dib-stink? You dare to spy on the mighty ZIM?"

Dib suddenly regained his composure himself. "Wha? What are you planning you filthy monster?" Dib snapped, glaring at Zim.

Zim sneered. "You'll never be able to guess, idiot-Dib-thing! HA! The amazingness of Zim's brain is too much for your puny human one to understand!" And with that, he darted away, ignoring Dib's angered cry or protest and slightly confused look. Yes, it was rather hard to understand, wasn't it?

I snorted. "Well, that was amusing." I muttered as Sasha snickered. "Did you hear what he said about the 'Rage-ray' or whatever?" I asked Sasha, looking back at her and grinning. Hey, that could be fun, right?

Sasha blinked at me. "Uh, no. Aww, man! Why can't I have ears like yours?" She whined, crossing her arms and glaring at me like a child. And, well, Sash was really just a child at heart, in all honesty.

I smirked, raising my nose a little. "Because my ears are too awesome for you to handle." I said, petting them jokingly.

"I doubt that." Sasha said. "Can I just, like, cut one off? Please? I'll give you one of mine!"

I laughed at her insanity. "Nope! My body parts are not for sale, thankyouverymuch." I didn't exactly plan on pulling a Van Gough any time soon...

"Aw, man."

We both laughed at that, then started randomly watching the Skool kids because, well, we were bored and this was Invader Zim. WHAT ELSE were you supposed to do?

Dib had, of course, gone back to his furious note-taking – I had a 'hunch' that it was about us... He certainly was muttering our names often enough – and Gaz was just ignoring him, glaring up at the sky. Or... Enjoying the noon sun on her face...

I couldn't really tell with Gaz... She was harder to understand, but Something told me she was just enjoying the sun... I don't think the sky had done anything recently to tick her off, so it was a good guess... Maybe.

I glanced around again and spotted Zim. He was sitting on a picnic bench on the opposite side of the playground, giving a couple of girls playing jump rope a disgusted look. I didn't even try to understand why that disgusted him so much. It would just cause me to go... More insane than I already was, and that wasn't exactly something I could afford.

My eyes flickered back to Dib, watching as he sat back down, taking notes. I let out a sigh of relief. Well, it didn't look as though they were acknowledging each other – aka no bomb about to go off. That was good. Not that I didn't enjoy watching their fights – they were hilarious, after all – I just preferred the calm at the moment.

I watched some of the kids playing and couldn't help but smile. Some of them – a group of a few boys and girls – were playing a type of tag. One of the kids would go up to the other and poke them then, squealing with laughter, they would run away as the person they'd poked chased after them, laughing too.

I laughed a little. I used to do that when I was a little younger. Except, I had a lot of guy-friends, so it was usually shoulder-punches instead of poking or tagging. I smiled at the memory. I had some cool guy-friends. I'd had them for years and, yeah, they were a little rude at times, but they were funny and good company and they didn't require you to go on and on over some stupid TV show or pair of shoes... But, thankfully, Sasha wasn't like that... The show thing... The TV SHOW, however, I actively took part in... I was partaking in it now, actually, if you get what I mean...

I grinned. Though my parents weren't very fond of my guy-friends, they DID like Sash. I glanced over at her to see that she was staring at something in her hands with awe. I peeked over her shoulder to see it better and I too stared at it in awe.

It was her MP3 player.

Thank God... She would've been in a horrid mood without it.

"Lucky!" I gasped.

Sash grinned at me. "I know right? It was in my pocket!" She put one of the ear buds in her ear, leaving the other out so she could talk with me. "Full charge too!"

I crossed my arms. "Lucky you." I muttered.

"What?" She asked, giving me a 'raised-eyebrows-you're-being-grumpy-again' sort of look.

I pouted more. "My phone only has a little music on it... I don't even know if any of my other things came along with me... I was too freaked by the size of my bag to check."

"Well, check!" Sasha laughed before going back to listening to her music... Something by Good Charlotte I think... Good, I liked them...

Feeling curious, I took my back pack off and opened it. It – as it had every other time I'd opened it – appeared to be filled with a black shadow, and only the closer things were visible – a few pencils, a notebook some gum (yum, didn't know I had that). I narrowed my eyes in thought as I stared at it.

In cartoons, people always seemed to be able to reach into a bag and pull out just what they needed – unless it was a comical or dramatic 'rummaging' montage – so... Maybe, they just... Got it 'cause they wanted it...? Or needed it...?

Crossing my fingers and hoping that I was right – though wondering if I was insane because I was even considering it – I closed my eyes and reached into the shadows in my bag, concentrating on the object of my desire.

I waved my hand around in there for a moment before I felt my hand connect with something. With a surprised gasp I pulled out a rectangular object maybe nine and a half inches wide and thirteen inches long, eyes snapping open. I stared at the white object before me, eyes wide. I heard Sash's gasp and, after a moment, I let out a squeal rivaling that of my earlier orange-juice-squeal, and hugged the piece of plastic and metal to myself.

"My laptop!" I squeaked, and looked at Sash, wiggling in place. "Sasha! Sasha, look! It's my laptop! My laptop!" I hugged it tighter to myself with another squeal. "Lappy, baby I missed you!" I cried, about ready to cry.

And yes, I did call him Lappy. That's his name. Shut it.

"Don't be so over-dramatic." Sash mumbled, jealous.

But I couldn't help it, I'd just realized something... And that something was actually making me cry. And I never cried, ever... That was only enforced by the look of shock on Sasha's face.

Sasha stared at me as I shook my head, hugging the piece of technology tighter to myself. "No, Sasha, you don't understand, this is really important to me!"

Sash stared at me. "Casey, are you crying?" She asked, shocked. I nodded, wiping at my face with a hand and smiling faintly, choking down a sob. This was really wonderful. "Why?"

I sniffed a little before wiping at my eyes again. "Sash, it's got pictures of my mom and dad on it." I explained, looking down at my white laptop. I eyed the stickers I'd put on it – a 'my soul was removed to make room for all the sarcasm' black and white sticker, a red 'being evil makes me happy' red and black sticker with fangs on the 'y' of happy and, alarmingly, a Gir sticker.

I quickly peeled off the Gir sticker and pulled a binder out of my bag, sticking it on the inside cover. As I shoved it back into my bag, a look of understanding over came Sasha's face.

"Oh." She said, before half smiling. "Cool, Cas, I know you got a new phone, and I didn't think that you had any pictures on it..." She smiled. "Good thing I have some of my mom and dad and brother on mine, right?"

I smiled sadly at her and then hiccuped a little, gaining a laugh out of her. "At least we have that, right?" I asked quietly. Mom and Dad... Man, I missed them already...

Part of my wanted to cry and throw a fit. Part of me was scared and horrified at the predicament we were in. Part of me was terrified and scared and wanted to go home... But another part, one that I thought that Sasha was certainly experiencing too, was amazed, and happy, and full of joy and wonder at all this. We were in a new place, having an adventure, and that part... That very, very good part, was sure that everything would be okay in the end... That this was going to be a 'happily ever after' of sorts.

I missed my mom and dad, though. I missed them so much and part of me wondered how they were, if they knew that we were missing, if any time had past... Wondered at how much time had past, at how my pets at home – all ten of them – were doing... But my computer – Lappy as I had named him – had pictures of them... So that made it better.

"Are you crying?" A voice suddenly asked, and Sash and I looked up to see Dib standing a little ways away from us, a confused look on his face while he held his note-pad loosely at his side.

I sniffed, wiping at my eyes and smiling faintly, a little embarrassed. I wasn't one to cry in front of others and I found it embarrassing. "Hey, Dib." I laughed, before holding up my laptop a little. "Look, my laptop, lame right?" I laughed again as Sasha giggled slightly, and put her other ear bud in, tuning into her music completely. I didn't know if she was as sad-happy as me... She didn't look like it, but I'd have to talk to her later about it... I didn't want her getting depressed or something. Sasha didn't get depressed and I wouldn't allow it. Depression was my thing.

Dib's expression only got more confused. "You're crying over a laptop?" He stared at me. "What kind of alien does that?" He demanded.

I laughed again, wiping all the tears away now. I tucked 'Lappy' back into my bag as I spoke. "A human one." I said, putting my backpack back on. "But it's what's on it that's making me cry."

"Human, yeah, ri- Wait! What? What's on it? Some sort of evil plan! Huh? Huh!" Dib snapped, pulling out his notebook and glaring at me, ignoring Sasha's snickering (She was a bit of a lip-reader). "Don't bother holding back any information Casey – IF THAT'S EVEN YOUR REAL NAME! – I'll find out all about you soon enough!" He narrowed his eyes at me, maybe expecting some sort of panicked, squealing reaction akin to what he got out of Zim.

Ha. Not likely.

I laughed. I couldn't help it, and sat up straighter, looking up at the 'leering' – as I'm sure he was trying to pull off – figure of Dib. "No, Dib, just some pictures..."

I watched in amusement as Dib's eyes lit up. "Pictures? What kind of pictures, huh, huh? Alien planets? DOOM-rays? TEST SUBJECTS? Don't bother hiding anything from me! I'm a great paranormal investigator, you know!" His expression grew half smug at those words, leaving me to wonder if that usually scared Zim or something.

"No, Dib!" I said, full out laughing now. Leave it to Dib to cheer me up without even trying – just being a spazz. Sash was trying desperately to stifle a few laughs of her own. "Just a few pictures of my mom and dad and my pets."

"You have parents?" He gawked, as if the thought had never even crossed his mind – jerk. "What do they look like? Is your race similar in appearance to humans, or are you really some sort of horrible slimy blob thing? Huh? Is Sasha your sister or something? What do you really look like? Are your 'pets' human slaves or something? Where are your 'parents'? Back on your home planet?" He held up his notebook, starting to scribble things in it furiously, grinning evilly at me.

I blinked at him. "Well, first off, yes I have parents, idiot, I don't just exist on my own. Yes my race is similar in appearance to humans because I – and Sash – are humans. My pets are seven dogs, one cat, and two finches. This is what I really look like. Sasha isn't my blood sister, but she might as well be, and finally, my parents are back in Wisconsin, Sasha and I are here with a foster-'parent'." I said, crossing my arms and raising an eyebrow. "Does that answer all your questions, Mr. Inquisitor?"

Dib sent me a nasty glare. "You didn't tell me what your parent's look like." He muttered, seemingly annoyed over the fact that he couldn't get any alien information out of me.

I snorted. "Well, if you must know," I started, ignoring Sasha as she snorted, a hand covering her face as she tried to shut herself up. "My mom's got the same colored hair as me, just darker and cut a lot shorter, and she'd got brown eyes. I look a lot like my dad, so just look at my face shape and imagine it male. He's older, and his hair is turning gray and he's got a bald spot on the back of his head but he's got such pretty blue eyes!" I smiled sadly, missing them. "My mom's super nice and so's my dad..." I trailed off.

Dib was writing things down rapidly but paused to look at me. "But you've got green eyes?" He mumbled, before going back to writing. "That's weird..."

I shrugged. "Meh, whatever, I'd always thought that I was adopted." When he looked back at me with interest, I laughed. "Kidding."

He glared at me a moment before turning to Sash. "And what about you, 'Sasha'? What's you're family and planet like? Huh? HUH?"

Sasha – who'd calmed down after her little fit – ignored him.

Dib's eyes narrowed. "Hey? Hey! I'm talking to you!"

Ignored.

"What, so you're just going to ignore me?" He snapped, and I giggled. His head snapped around and he glared at me. "What's so funny?"

"She can't hear you, dolt." I snickered. "She's listening to Good Charlotte."

"I'm not a DOLT!" Dib snapped. "Whatever that is... And what's a 'Good Charlotte?'" He asked, looking, for once, not as threateningly curious. He looked more naturally curious, not the same as that panic and anger driven inquiry a second ago.

"An older band." I explained, before pausing to listen. "I think she's on... Ah, yeah, 'The Story Of My Old Man.'" I grinned. "I like that one."

Dib raised an eyebrow at me. "What is it, some sort of alien code? Is this 'SONG' some sort of encoded message?" He glared at me. "IS IT?"

I laughed. "No, no it is not, but that's a clever idea." I grinned at the suddenly mortified look he sent me as he realized that he'd given the 'alien' an idea. I changed the subject before he could freak."You wanna hear it?"

He gave me a weary look. "Uh... I don't think your friend's gonna want to share..." He said, staring at the Zoned Out Sash. She was currently staring at a leaf.

I shrugged, pulling out my phone. "No biggie, I've got a speaker setting." I scooted over slightly and patted the ground next to me. "Come on, sit, or are you afraid that I'll suck out your brains or something?" I teased, smirking.

Dib gave me a very surly glare and crossed his arms. "I'm not afraid of some stupid alien." He snapped. Ignoring the spot I'd patted, he sat in front of me, eyes narrowed. "I don't trust you, is all." He muttered.

"Which is obvious by the foot of space you're keeping between us." I murmured distractedly, scrolling through my play list on my phone in search of the song as he glared at me.

I was a little offended, honestly. I wasn't going to hurt him – I was too big of a fan, plus I'm not that mean – and I kinda liked him. No, not in the 'love-struck' way – though I do admit that I have a fangirl crush on him and Zim, to name a few of the characters.

No, I liked him in the 'like' kind of way. I would really like to be his friend, honestly. 'Cause, come on! Dib's pretty cool, you guys.

Dib harrumphed then blinked in surprise as I let out a hissy little 'yeesssss!'. "Found it!" I said, and pressed play, grinning in excitement as I held up the phone so that he could hear.

I always got excited and enthusiastic when introducing someone to something I liked, and I always really hoped that they liked it, too.

Dib cocked his head as the drums and guitar started, looking fairly interested and I couldn't help but grin.

I don't too much about. Too much of my old man... I know he walked right out the door, we never saw him again... Last I heard he was at the bar, doing himself in. I know I've got that same disease, I guess I got that from hiiim.

This is the story of my old man. Jut like his father before him. I'm telling you do any thing you can, so you don't end up just like them. Like theeemmm...

I watched Dib's face interestedly as he listened. He looked like he was listening very hard to the lyrics. I grinned in amusement as I watched his expressions change, going from confused to interested to kinda enjoying it. After the two or so minute song ended and went onto loop, he blinked then looked at me.

"That wasn't too bad..." He admitted, a ghost of a grin on his face.

I beamed. "So, did you like it?"

"Uh... I guess?" He asked, staring at my enthusiasm with caution.

"Like, how did you like it? Was it cool? Awesome? Amazing?" I shot off, leaning forward excitedly as I paused the loop.

Dib gave me a 'okay-this-chick-is-nuts' sort of look. "Uh, I liked it."

"No, you don't understand." I whined, shaking my head. I gave him a disappointed look before looking down at my phone again, scrolling through my music. Darn, I'd thought he'd be a little more enthusiastic.

"Don't understand? What? What don't I understand? What is it?" He shot off, staring at me wide eyed. "Was I supposed to understand something? What is it?"

Ha, hook line and sinker, now he was interested in it.

I peered up at him, grinning at his slightly worried and confused look. He stared at me a moment before, realizing that he was being friendly, with an 'alien', he got a horror-struck look on his face and leaned away from me.

"What did you do?" He demanded, glaring at me. "Was there some sort of hidden message? Was that some kind of mind controlling song? It was, wasn't it? AM I AN ALIEN SLAVE NOW!" He yelled, pulling at his ears and looking terrified, not seeming to notice the looks he was gaining from fellow students in his panic.

I laughed – so did Sasha, she'd turned off her own music to listen to mine – and shook my head. "No, you're not an alien slave. Geeze."

Sasha's snickered. "Cas is just a freak about her music." She said, elbowing me.

"Oi!" I snapped as Dib calmed down enough to stare at us curiously, though he still held at his ears. "No I'm not! There are others like me!"

Sasha raised an eyebrow. "What, really? No way!" She gasped.

I punched her shoulder. "Shut up! I'm not that weird!" I spotted Dib looking amused and turned on him. "I'm not!" I complained, gaining a chuckle out of him. At that, we all paused in out laughter – or bewilderment in my case – and Sasha and I stared at Dib, who looked rather surprised.

"Did you hear that, Casey?" Sasha gasped dramatically.

I clutched at my heart. "Oh my Gosh! Can it be?" We looked at each other, eyes wide.

"Dib laughed! With us!" We gasped in union, before turning towards Dib, grinning teasingly.

Dib, looking thoroughly horrified, jumped to his feet, glaring at us and looking unnerved, "Nnn, that doesn't mean anything, scum!" He snapped, backing up. "B-Besides, I was laughing at you, not... Not with you!" He started walking backwards, glaring at us. "I'll expose, you, you hear me? You and your little friend, Zim!" He turned around, starting towards the table and his sister. I noticed something, however, and grinned.

"Oi, Dib!" I called, and he spun around. I threw his dropped notebook at him and it hit him in the face, making him make a surprised 'nya!' kind of noise as he struggled to catch it. "You forgot something, and my name's spelled C-A-S-E-Y, not C-A-S-I-E."

Dib stared at us as Sasha cackled and I grinned before muttering something darkly and turning around to stalk back to his table. I heard a fainter laughter and looked over at Zim to see him snickering at Dib, grinning. I grinned at him as he suddenly looked over at Sash and I, only to frown a little as he suddenly glared at us and looked away.

Oh well, Dib was, at least, a little more friendly with us now...

It was funny how, after I'd blown up like that, and been so sad and depressed, Sasha and Dib, a friend and a wanna-be enemy – and a song – could cheer me up...

I was probably one of the new freaks in Skool now – Sasha too – but that didn't really matter... I realized that we were just starting to carve out a bit of a life here, and if we were gonna be here for any length of time, and have to deal with all the consequences, then, well... We'd done pretty good. I didn't care about what all the other students thought, anyway. They were idiots. As long as I had Sasha, and a chance of being involved in Zim and Dib's lives – a chance at an adventure – I was fine. I was happy. Sad... But still happy.

I grinned at Sasha and she grinned back. "Well, that was fun."

Sasha nodded. "Yeah, it was nice to be nice and a little weird... But now, can we go back to being weird, please?" She asked, looking at me.

The bell suddenly rang, and as we stood up and the other students started to re-enter the Skool, I couldn't help but smile. "Always." I promised, teeth bared in the most genuine smile I'd had on since this morning.

Well, this was freaking short. Sorry guys! ;^;"'

I'll try to update again soon, I'm in a bit of a writing mood, so yay!

And no, this is not the end, nor will it turn into Dib/Casey, sorry ahead of time to the shippers out there...

Or, perhaps, I am lying...?

...

Nah, I'm telling the truth, REVIEW, PLEASE! I NEED IT SO BAD!