A/N: Hi everyone, sorry this is a short chapter, I don't like this chapter very much but I'm still not all that sure where I'm going with this story so you'll have to bear with me for a little until I can come up with some crazy underlying plot X3. I still have major writers block, I haven't updated my most popular story since February and I feel horrible.
IMPORTANT: Those of you who Rp, talk, Text, skype and or email me and are not getting responses just know that I am not trying to ignore you. I just am working out other things. I will be absent from most my electronics for a while by my own choice, because I feel that I have disconnected with the two things that are the most important in my life and that is my horses and my reading. My horses as most of you know are everything to me, and I rode for the first time in maybe two to three months today. Clearly by my horses behavior, I need to focus in a little more on what's important at home. Did you guys know my book diet last year was three books a month? This year, I haven't been able to even finish two of my own selection. Clearly things are falling apart a little bit. But I digress, my personal problems should not be brought into my writing but I thought it was fair that those of you trying to contact me constantly know.
I would also like to say thank you for all the encouraging reviews, favs and follows. Keep those coming and this story will be flowing...hopefully :3.
This chapter is based off the song Iridescent by Linkin Park :3
I have a few review responses I want to add at the bottom C:
~Deathwish1234 'still struggling to get back in the saddle X3'
Gaz gasped as her knees came in contact with her father's lab floor. Her hands were out in front of her as she stared at them, wondering if the time machine actually worked. "Dad?" she murmured quietly, slowly glancing up through her royal purple hair to see she was in fact alone, sitting in front of the machine that had been previously working not even mere seconds ago.
"Well…I guess it worked," She chuckled calmly, slowly pulling herself to her feet and brushing off her clothes. Her dad's main computer in his lab shone bright white letters throughout the dark room saying: "5:55 AM."
School started at six thirty, making her grumble to herself angrily. That means she'd actually have to catch a ride with Dib today. She wasn't angry because Dib was a bad driver, he was in fact one of the safest drivers she knew, but she was angry because it was well…Dib. And today would be no different with him than it was a month ago. The subject of interest in his conversation would still and always be: Zim.
"GAZ!" She heard his piercing voice screech out, making her clench her teeth and growl, "Are you awake yet!?"
Opening her mouth to shout back something snarky, she stopped and bit back her rude comment upon hearing her own voice, "SHUT UP DIB OR I WILL SEND YOU TO A NIGHTMARE WORLD WITH NO RETURN!"
A small smile carved itself onto her face, "Now that is music to my ears." She'd have to wait for a couple minutes now and then do the horrible deed of running to catch the bell before school started since now her ride plans were cut short. 'I'll have to work harder to avoid myself today than anything else!' She thought with a hint of annoyance.
For a moment she debated destroying her past self, but then she figured her present self would just disappear if past Gaz became no more.
Grumbling angrily to herself, she sat on her dad's lab steps and waited for a whole ten minutes until the door slammed shut and they were gone. "FINALLY!" She snapped at no one, being angry that she would in fact have to run to catch the bell now. If there was one thing she hated more in this world other than Dib's voice, it was running to catch something as stupid as an attendance mark for school. However she did promise her dad that she'd get that science grade up…
She checked the time before rushing out of her dad's lab and her house, sprinting down the street the opposite way of school, knowing that if she ran fast enough, her past self and Dib could possibly spot her when they got stuck at a red light. So she was initially forced to go the back way. Which also unfortunately happened to be the longer route of the two, it did however pass Zim's home and Gaz remembered him being late today, since she was so entertained by the teacher yelling more at Zim than actually teaching. But that was back then…or um…soon to be back then? And she wouldn't let it happen again.
She pushed herself a little bit harder until she got into a full on sprint and was zipping through back alleys and taking corners in stride until she spotted Zim's house. They had five minutes before school started and she was lucky enough to find that he was just exiting his house, heading towards his car that he retrieved to look more normal to the human race.
"ZIM!" She shouted, almost to relieved to breathe. She noticed he didn't yet have his disguise on and was just carelessly dragging it behind him, along with his bag.
His antenna snapped up when he heard his name being called and his eyes slowly pierced into Gaz's gaze. He did NOT look pleased to see her at such an early time in the morning. "Wait up!"
He looked like he wanted to just brush her off and drive away, but his gaze quickly dropped back down to the ground and he waited. Gaz ran up to him and slowed to a stop next to him, "Thanks for waiting."
"What do you want Gaz human? I'm already going to be late." His voice was icy cold and his eyes held no emotion in them as he looked at her, waiting for a response.
"I um…" She hadn't exactly planned all this out, but she knew something was wrong, just from his demeanor. "I need a ride to school."
"And why should I give you one?" He retorted, shoving his bags in the back seat before shutting the door and paying all his attention to her.
Gaz was already at a loss for words now. She didn't want to be questioned by him; she merely wanted to help him without revealing why she was helping him, "Because if you don't….I um…I'll tell Dib that you planted spy cameras in our house. And then you'll never hear the end of it."
Zim growled and lowered his antenna, "Do you have any idea how many times I have tried to remove those inferior things? They are of no use to me anymore." She just quirked an eye brow and put her hands on her hips, giving him a look. He stared at her for a moment before growling and unlocking the rest of his car, "Get in."
"That's what I thought," She muttered to herself, plucking the door handle open and slipping into the vehicle, surprised to find the seats warm instead of cold as most cars sitting out all night would be, "How do you keep your seats warm?" She calmly asked while buckling up.
"Zim built this car; I think I know how to add a couple extra features to it." He snorted, before zipping his dark pink jacket up more, "Though Zim does not understand how you think it is warm. I find it to be freezing in here."
"Really?" Gaz was actually surprised to hear this. "How hot is your normal body temperature?"
"It is as hot as it needs to be, little Gaz," He answered gruffly, "Did the Dib send you here to bother me this morning?"
"No, no I just came alone."
"What reason could you possibly have for leaving your home late to see me, only to catch a ride and be late to school?" He questioned, slowly backing the car out of his drive way and putting it into first gear to get it started.
"My reasons are what they need to be Zim," She countered, smirking to herself when he shot a glare over at her. Silence followed as Gaz watched him shift the car smoothly as they pulled through traffic crowded streets, "Why is your car manual? Aren't these things thousands of years old?"
"I am 190 on my home planet," Zim growled.
"Your point?" Gaz asked, crossing her arms and giving him another look.
"I like the simpler things. They tend to prove to be more of a challenge when building them. That and Gir bought the wrong supplies at the store back when I was making this." He sighed after that and gripped the wheel tighter, making Gaz internally smack herself. She should've guessed Gir had something to do with it. And that was part of why Zim was lonely. With Gir gone, he didn't have any minions. And to be frank, she hadn't seen the little moose thing in a while either.
"Zim," Gaz said quietly, making his antenna perk as he looked over at her, "Are you…ok?"
Seeming a bit taken back by her comment Zim had to stop and think of how to reply, "Fi-"
"Don't lie to me." She interrupted, looking at him through vibrant amber eyes. Zim stopped again before looking away. "Zim, please tell me."
"We're here," he growled lowly, stopping in front of the school and reaching back to grab his wig and contacts. Gaz wanted to push more but she knew that probably wasn't the best idea as she waited for him to put on his disguise.
He didn't put it on right again, so this time, Gaz decided to help him, "You're antenna are hanging out."
"And?" He snapped, making her internally punch him.
"Shut your trap and put your contacts in," she hissed lowly, reaching over and gently pushing his antenna back under the fabric of his wig. He jumped when she touched him, but at least he didn't jerk away from her. "There, much better now."
"Zim didn't ask for your help, human," He frowned, glaring over at her through his recently put in contacts.
"I didn't ask for your permission," She merely shrugged, getting out and waiting for him to get his stuff.
"Why are you still here?" He asked, noticing that she didn't have a bag, nor was she dressed in her normal scary attire, plus her skull pendant was behind the rim of her shirt, not in front. His eyes narrowed upon noticing these minor imperfections and he quickly started gaining suspicion.
"We have first period together. I thought if we were going to get yelled at, we might as well get yelled at together."
"You are acting very strangely, Gaz human, are you ill?"
"It's just Gaz, Zim…actually it's Gazelene but only my parents call me that…or I guess just my parent now." Zim's expression hardened slightly at this as he stepped forward toward her.
"What happened to your mother unit?"
"She was having an affair with another man and left us when we were just babies," Gaz answered calmly. The fact that her mother abandoned her all those years ago had always bothered her, but she was more open about it now, not that anyone would actually normally discuss this sort of thing.
"Natural mothers on Irk are forbidden to leave their smeets for any reason until they're old enough to go to the academy. If a mother unit leaves, she is hunted down and killed and her children are sent off to be cloned." Zim said, curiously eyeing the fact that she didn't have much make up on this morning either.
"What if she's being abused by the father?"
"Father's usually aren't present in an Irken family. Most male Irkens move into the military as soon as the opportunity shows itself."
"Is that what you did?"
"Zim was a clone, not a defective natural born." He scoffed, "Red and Purple thought cloning was much more efficient for the Irkens."
"Don't you mean your tallest?" Gaz asked as they walked the hall toward first period. Zim clenched his teeth at that, along with his fists and initially crushed the spine of the book he was holding. Gaz heard the crack of the book's back breaking and looked over at Zim to see he'd stopped moving.
"I forgot something in my car," He said in an eerily quiet voice.
"Ok, then let's go back and get it."
"I wish to go alone Gaz," Zim snapped.
"What about first period?"
"Go alone," He growled back, taking a moment to step into her personal bubble and reach over to grab and pull her necklace string up, using his other hand to grab the skull pendant and neatly let it go above her stomach, "Next time, when you lie to Zim, make sure you keep your pendant out. It's easy to see your lying when it's put away."
"What?" She said, shocked at how observant he was, "How did you know that?"
"I fight with your brother constantly; you lie to him about where you go nearly every day after school. I always see you go to that filthy human restaurant instead of doing your homework at the library." He answered turning and walking away without another word.
Gaz stood there speechless for a moment before growling and crossing her arms. She actually couldn't go to first period without being seeing by her former self. So Gaz, being the sister of an obsessive supernatural observer, did what she learned to do best.
Create chaos within the school and get her former self out of it.
A/N: What a way to end a chapter huh? PATHETICALLY WTF. Anyways, this was a rough draft made yesterday at 3 am and I did not proof read it. I was pretty much writing while asleep at my key board XD. Sorry if the characters might be a little OOC from here out, but attitudes change when you grow up and get the shock of your life. I would know :).
I just picked a couple reviews that I wanted to respond to and I'm sorry if you wanted to be responded to and weren't. Just let me know and I will make sure to say something next chapter for you!
Mrryantoyou: First of all I just want to say that I don't have enough words in my mind to express how thankful I am to have someone like you in my life, even if it's just through a computer screen. You are probably one of the single most amazing and nice people I've ever met. I am so thankful I have your support and I may look you up to say hi sometime! Secondly I'm glad I haven't disappointed you with the story, but you initially made me make this into a chapter book! Your kind words and pleas in the first ever chapter made me feel...well great. It made me feel like I truly wrote something that someone physically enjoyed and had the courage to express that enjoyment to the rest of the world. I should dedicate this book to you Ryan and in fact I will. You are a wonderful friend, person and supporter and I am more than happy to have you in my life. I think that we will be very good friends in the near future. I hope you enjoyed this chapter too, even though I wasn't as fond of it, and don't be afraid to shoot me a PM whenever you feel! I can't promise I'll reply right away! But I will get back to you!
And finally to AndyH: You review impacted me greatly as well. I'm glad that this story is moving to you because it's moving to me too and I really appreciate the fact that you took time out of your day to tell me that. If you believe you are a nobody, then I'm sorry but you're wrong. You are not a nobody to me. You're in Fact someone really cool that was nice enough to give me some extremely good feed back. I've noticed a lot of nobodies in real life, become somebodies on this site, through writing, reviews, favorites, follows, PM's and friend ship. So just remember if anyone ever makes you feel like a nobody...well you have friends on the other side of the computer screen that can always spare a good chunk of her time to talk. Pm me anytime and I hope you keep on reviewing! You are also one of the nicest people I've met and I thank you for your sympathies. My acknowledgements are with you and I hope you have a more than wonderful day or night. Because you're wonderful to me!
Again I'm sorry in advance for anyone who was not recognized here that might've wanted to be. Let me know and I will never count you out! My Authors notes might just get a bit longer though CX.
Please keep on reviewing, following and favoriting. You guys are some of the best and if anyone needs and or wants to talk, well you know where to find my profile to PM me! Goodnight all! And I hope you forgive the horrible writing of this chapter!
~Deathwish1234