I don't own Invader Zim okay? I know it's been awhile since I have updated this story but I will when I get a chance to update and some inspiration hits I will. Anyway, enough of this A/N, on with the fic!

Tak was sitting in her bunk with Tenn, trying to think of how they were going to handle her new job. Meanwhile, Tenn was more concerned with what Tak was going to wear to the homecoming dance. If she was going to meet up with Dib, if she wanted Red to play her father and have him meet Dib, which at that suggestion Tak nearly smacked Tenn. "Do be realistic here. We could not possibly hope to keep everything under wraps with Dib. He's smart and our disguises may fool some of the people some of the time but he's smarter than the rest of them."

"Well your disguise generator seems to work well enough for what we do." Tenn said.

"Yeah, that it does, but I don't trust Zim with it. Skoodge either and you know the Tallest would want me to give it to them. Besides, I can't make it make someone appear shorter and I think the Tallest's height would be kind of a red flag to Dib. And they float more than walk so I would have to make the illusion walk which would not look normal to someone like Dib who has trained eyes on that kind of thing." Tak explained.

"Okay but are you going to tell him the truth? What if it goes further than just what is seen as the typical high school boyfriend and girlfriend thing?" Tenn asked. "I mean there's prom coming up and I know he is bound to ask you and what if he wants to follow the tradition and go all the way?"

"What?" Tak asked confused but she knew with some of the books that Tenn had been reading it could not be something good.

"Oh boy, did they not tell you about it in Skool?" Tenn rolled her eyes.

"What?" Tak asked confused.

"Oh my dear Tak, let me tell you about the Earth term 'The Birds and the Bees'" Tenn sighed.

Meanwhile, Dib was staying after Skool to help the librarian put the books back on the shelves and to make sure the computers did not have any inappropriate programs installed. She was an older woman, one who should have retired years ago, but never could do so. She had liked the job, and while she did it well enough to keep it, she had a hard time understanding the technology that was brought up with every upgrade. Sure, the operating systems and hardware were out of date and things Dib recalled using when he was a young child, but beneath the stern façade she kept up during the school day about silence in her library, Mrs. Dewey was actually kind of fond of Dib. He was one of the few stundents who actually used the library in the first place and did not make fun of her. So in an effort to help him out and get him in less trouble with the Skool, she would always have him stay after school and either help put the books up, update the computers and various other tasks she had a hard time doing herself. In exchange for his help, she would handle the school when it came to discipline for him and be a reference for when he did apply to college. It had helped to pay off in some applications for colleges that weren't focused on the name and just the grades. His grades were great, disciplinary record was questionable in some cases but Mrs. Dewey had a way with words that could win over almost anyone and turn Dib's file into something that showed he was a brilliant young man who cared about his community and always pushing the boundaries and wanting to discover more. As he came over to the stack of books, Mrs. Dewey looked at him and sighed. "Is anything bothering you?" She said warmly. Now that the school day was over and the rest of the children had gone home, she was more open to showing the concern she had for Dib. One thing she did pride on was that she did not show favorites when it came to disciplining for talking in the library.

"Nah." Dib said as Mrs. Dewey looked at him.

"Do not lie to me." She said with almost a scary death glare. "You know I will keep your confidence and that any of the gossip about you that goes around is something I do not listen to at all." She smiled. "I heard you had gotten Miss Marshall in such a fluster that she slipped back into her natural mountain accent. Please dearie tell me how you did it." Dib looked at Mrs. Dewey contemplating on if he should tell her or not. "I want to know so I can try it out myself." Dib looked shocked. "You see, I hate that transatlantic tone she puts on to hide it. Like she should be ashamed of what she accomplished coming from where she does. I see it as being cowardly. If she's so afraid of what people here would say about it, well why did you move here?" Dib smiled as he had found someone who found Miss Marshall as insufferable as he did.

"Sounds like she was running away from people who made fun of her." Dib said

"Oh that makes her more of a coward." Mrs. Dewey said.

"I also have WVU on my shortlist because I find the legends and lore of the monsters in that state fascinating." Dib said honestly. He didn't say he wanted to hunt them down and find proof just quite yet but he knew that Mrs. Dewey could respect someone that wanted to know more about folklore and legeneds. "And the stargazing is wonderful."

"I would imagine so compared to this toxic city." Mrs. Dewey said.

"But she was rather disparaging to the people of Point Pleasant. I had told her that even on a hypotehcial exercise that sightings were mass hysteria just to cope with the tragedy of the bridge collapse, no one deserves poverty or to suffer with PTSD from such a tragic event. She did not like that." With this, Mrs. Dewey laughed.

"Glad I could be of assistance." Dib smiled. "So, you need to update the servers?"

"Yes." Mrs. Dewey smiled. "Thank you so much. There's no other student I could rely on for something like this. Any of the other ones that could do so won't bother coming in here and the IT department never really likes the library. We are too 'old school' for them."

Dib rolled his eyes at that. "Don't take it too harsh Mrs. Dewey. These are the same people that think a link to a jpeg is a good investment and that crypto is a good investment. And I don't know much about the world of investing."

"Don't bother trying to learn those types. I have heard what some of the kids who are really interested in technology were talking about AI for the creative arts." Mrs. Dewey shuddered. "That's unnatural. Humans have a creative soul and to leave that to a computer, a cold and soulless machine?" She shuddered. "I know people may say I am getting old and stuck in my ways, but some things don't need to be automated. While many of my colleagues hated going from card catalogues to a database, I find it helps make things so much easier and can even alert the curious onlooker if the book they are looking for is checked out, saving them time. Do you know what it was like needing a book and you found that it was already checked out? After spending hours trying to find the perfect card in the card catalogue and it is such a space saver. I can open it up for workstations and the periodical section, even if I find that it not helpful."

Dib looked at her. "I find it's helpful. I mean where else will I get access to all these articles? I mean Junior Skeptic is always worth a read."

"I wouldn't find that helpful for yourself." Mrs. Dewey said.

"Yeah, you'd think so." Dib said. "But the way the present counter arguments to common theories of the paranormal is actually a responsible way to debate a topic so contested."

"That's good to hear." Mrs. Dewey said. "I have always thought there was more out there than what we know is established. I mean think about plate Techtonics. It wasn't discovered until the 1960s. So much of what we know as scientific fact was thought of as a loony theory at one point."

"THANK YOU!" Dib sighed in relief as she looked back at him. "I mean look at Galileo."

"Yes, He was thrown in jail after all for what was proven to be a fact." Mrs. Dewey said. She took to the pile of the magazines and began to put the old issues to the side. "Do you want some of your usual favorites?"

"Sure." Dib smiled. "It makes it so much easier to have these on hand for my research."

After a few hours of updating the server and all the desktops and putting the new magazines in the systems into the computers and databases, Mrs. Dewey decided it was time to head home and have dinner. Closing the library and locking the door behind her, she smiled at Dib as he headed down the stairs and to the main entrance of the school. Normally when he had stayed behind to help Mrs. Dewey, he left as the night janitors were getting to their work. However, as he passed the auditorium, a familiar voice spoke up. "DIB!" Gretchen said waving to him. "What are you doing here this late?"

"I could be asking you the same thing." Dib said. "You don't normally find yourself in trouble or detention or anything like that."

"Oh, there's a musical the school will be putting on in the winter. I auditioned for Mrs. Claus." Gretchen smiled.

"It's not even homecoming yet..." Dib laughed. "And you're already auditioning for a Christmas play?"

"Dib, you don't know how long it takes to get ready for something like this?" Gretchen said rolling her eyes.

"Guess I don't." Dib sighed. "So, what did the role entail?" Dib asked.

"Thanks for asking." Gretchen smiled. "Well, it's a musical about how Santa and Mrs. Claus met in high school." Dib looked at Gretchen as if she had said it was something that was the worst idea ever. "Yeah, stupid I know." she slung her backpack over her shoulder. "But I wanted to give acting and singing a shot. Did you hear me? The auditorium is near the detention hall."

"Why did you think I was in detention again?" Dib asked somewhat confused.

"You weren't?" Gretchen asked.

"I would have been if Mrs. Dewey hadn't needed work done in the library computer systems." Dib smiled. "I was given some of the old paranormal and scientific magazines when the new ones came in."

Gretchen smiled. "It's so nice that you would help Mrs. Dewey like that."

"Well, she's gotten me a lot of help when it comes to college applications and getting me out of trouble. Although Miss Marshall isn't going to like her much more..." Dib said.

"Word got out that you got Miss Marshall to yell out unintelligible craziness." Gretchen laughed.

"She's from West Virgina." Dib explained. "Hates that fact with a passion so that's why she hides it all the time in how she talks. She also holds a major grudge on how they treated her growing up, so she wishes the worst for them. You should hear her. She actually said, maybe not exactly word for word but heavily implied that the people of Point Pleasant did deserve poverty and they were all delusional and it was mass hysteria thing when the Mothman was first spotted."

Gretchen bit her lip. Sure, she found some of his ideas interesting, but at the same time, she knew he was more interested in Tak and that he only saw her as a friend and nothing more. "Well, that's awful that someone would think that." As they headed down the road, Gretchen asked. "So, do you have a date for the homecoming dance?"

"Maybe..." Dib said. "Do you?"

Gretchen blushed. Maybe this is it! Maybe he will ask me...no he would likely be taking Tak. "I have had a few people ask..." She giggled honestly. But I was wondering if you would finally notice me.

"And who would that be?" Dib wondered.

"Haven't decided yet." Gretchen said.

"You're lucky." Dib sighed. "Puberty did miracles on you, so everyone loves you. You have the voice of a goddess, perfect teeth and perfect looks. You can have anyone you want. You don't need to cozy up to me just because we have a history going back to like Elementary skool as the rejects in the corner."

"Yeah..." Gretchen said. "So, who are you taking?"

"Tak, of course." Dib said. "I really like her."

"Good." Gretchen said as she buried her feelings and turned down the street towards her house. Once Dib was out of earshot, she moaned. "What in the hell do I have to do? And why doesn't he see me as anything more than a friend who got popular? It's not my fault or anything like that. It's not like I picked the genes I got, and it got this way! I couldn't help this any more than I could help how my teeth looked when I was younger. Why does he like Tak more than me?" She sighed as she opened the door to her house. She thought for a minute. "Who hates Dib the most?" She growled. "Torque always did a number on him." She said as she pulled out her phone. "Torque, get ready and look good after the football game. You're a shoe in for homecoming king when you go with me." And to think if you noticed me, I could get people to stop bullying you with my approval. You know how people are when it comes to following people who are popular! They forget what they thought before. You could have used my status to get people to listen to you! She thought in frustration as Torque agreed to go to homecoming with Gretchen.

So how was that? Good? Bad? Short? Long? Let me know in a review. I know it took me a long time to update but I have so many projects that I don't know what to do with myself. Anyway, not much else to say, so remember to read, well you just did, and review. Ciao for now,

Otherrealwriter

Aka

Realm.