Chapter 8

I had been pacing my room for most of the day yesterday and eventually passed out from exhaustion. Today I woke up and got ready faster than usual which gave me some extra time to pace some more. Yesterday was the day Gin almost died, from the rain.

It was odd how everything happened; I mean…Zim has never once reacted so extremely to water, I mean sure it burned him but never has he almost died. I suppose I should be thinking of ways to use this against him and Gin…however I wouldn't have the heart to hurt Gin again like that.

It made me sad to think that she could be dying as we speak, or permanently altered for the rest of her life. I sighed and decided it would be best to stop thinking about it. I went downstairs where Gaz was eating cereal and told her I was leaving. She nodded and went back to eating. Over the years Gaz has become slightly nicer; still scary however.

I made my way out the front door and towards the high-skool, skipping Zim's house for today. I was too nervous anyways to see what had happened, and I doubt Zim would let me into his house.

I got to the Skool to find everyone talking with friends in their own individual groups and frowned slightly. I never really had friends but I wonder what it would be like to have one. The closest person I could ever think of as a friend is Gin and she's only been here for three days.

There is something about that dysfunctional Irken that makes you want to like her. She has this dangerous aura about her as if one wrong move and she could take your life in a matter of seconds; however despite that aura she's kind and intelligent. Instead of making you uncomfortable, as I normally would be, it kind of makes you open up your heart to her, and it makes you feel like she cares about you. Perhaps it is the contradiction of her background and her personality that makes her so…I dunno attractive. Not in the way your thinking; I mean attractive as in, I want to be around you because you make me feel nice.

It was these qualities about her that made me want to be as important to her as Zim is, I mean, I've seen the way she is with him. Gin really loves Zim for some reason that I can't quite figure out. I always wondered what it would be like to feel so loved and cared for, but that image seems almost like a fantasy. It would be nearly impossible to find a girlfriend in this town for me; however I don't even roll that way so you can imagine how hard it would be for me to find a boyfriend. I doubt anyone in this town is even gay…well, maybe Keef but he creeps me out. But what am I thinking?

I am always way too busy fighting Zim to have silly love affairs. And I shouldn't want to befriend Gin, she is an Irken and therefore the enemy…that doesn't make me feel better at all.

Why must I always use him as an excuse? I always tell myself he is the reason I don't have anything socially pleasing in my life however, maybe it's because I'm keeping myself from enjoying anything…at least that is an idea going through my head, it could just be that Zim-ugh! I have to stop thinking about him. That pesky Irken is in every little thought that goes through my head. I never think or talk about anything else. Can you imagine how unhealthy that is for me? It's becoming an obsession…

He's everywhere I go, around every corner in every room, in my every sentence and though I will probably never grow tired of beating him I still feel…empty almost? I sound really lame right now don't I?

I finally realized I was talking to myself, and out loud at that, when someone called me a freak and threw-get this-a slab of meat at me…a slab of meat, really? Who carries that kind of stuff around?

I got ready to yell at whoever had thrown it when I spotted a familiar face.

"Gin!" I yelled before jumping down the stairs and running to where she and Zim were standing on the sidewalk. Before I knew what I was doing I had my arms wrapped around her and was giving her a tight hug. She gave off a small hiss and I heard Zim emitting an angry animal noise from my right, most likely for injuring Gin. I attempted to pull away quickly but Gin pulled me back into the hug ignoring the pain.

I looked up at her face and noticed she looked tired and her disguise had changed slightly. Her eyes were now green and she had glasses perched on her nose. She smiled at me in a tired and beaten way and continued to hug me. She also appeared to be enjoying the hug which surprised me. Finally she pulled away and turned to Zim.

"Zim, I will be late to class, however I need to speak to Dib for a moment. And I don't want you growling at him every five seconds," she leaned over and whispered something in his wig and his upset look softened and he nodded smiling at her. The smile was quickly replaced by a glare for me and he walked off with that ridiculous march of his.

I sat on the steps and Gin sighed before glancing at me warily.

"What was the physical contact for human?" she asked sounding even more beat than she looked. I blushed slightly and looked at my hands folded in my lap.

"You mean the-,"

"Hug, yes," she cut me off and I looked at her curiously.

"Do Irkens, hug I mean I didn't think you guys display that much affection," I said and she chuckled.

"We do know what hugs are yes hmhm. However even if I didn't know I would still be able to find out in a matter of seconds," she said and I was now confused.

"How's that?" I asked and she looked up at the sky squinting. She adjusted her glasses before looking back down.

"The internet is very useful, especially when your pak is wirelessly connected to it," she said and I nodded in respect because it was clever.

"My connection to your internet was luckily not damaged, nor was my memory chip, and because of this I was able to preserve all my knowledge. Because of the internet and the multiple knowledge resources I am connected to, I have learned many things about your race. I have learned so much in fact that I could become anything I needed to blend in. I could be a doctor, a lawyer, a teacher, a chef, a stripper…oh calm yourself I was just kidding about the last one," she laughed at my slightly horrified expression.

"But really, that is how I know so much about you humans especially human emotions. Those emotions are your biggest weaknesses. I know things about you Dib, that even you don't know," she said seriously and I shivered.

"I also found many interesting things that have nothing to do with your race and instead have to do with your culture. Such as art, food, dance, music, etcetera. Honestly music was one of my favorite things to discover, we don't really have it on our planet. I didn't even realize sounds like that were capable of being created," she said babbling and I smiled. It was funny how interested she was in us and it was funny hearing her go on about it.

"Really, you like music huh? What's your favorite?" I asked interested to hear her reply.

"Well, I've really been enjoying all types but the kind that I enjoy the most is what you call, alternative or punk?"She said and I nodded.

"Cool me too. I like bands like that, maybe I could show you some of my favorite bands one day," I said to her and she smiled sadly.

"Most likely not, which brings me to the actual reason I came here to talk to you," she said and I started to panic.

"What…what happened Gin?" I said and looked her in the eyes where despite the fake color I could see pain, sadness, and even some fear.

"I'm leaving Dib…however I'm not leaving," she said and I was thrown off. What is that supposed to mean? If she's leaving then how is she not leaving?

"What do you mean?" my confusion was very obvious now and Gin's eyes started to fill up with a blue liquid that looked like tears.

"Hold on I will explain everything. Once my pak was reset and Zim had woken me up, he stayed to take care of me. After a while however he left for his base and I decided to run a diagnostics check on my Pak. There are going to be a few permanent results of the damages. I can no longer see clearly and am now forced to wear these glasses. My pak has gone into a sort of paranoia mode and is overly cautious to anything it feels might be a threat. My disguise has been slightly altered as well as you can see from my eyes. The biggest problem however is that the chip and the wire that enabled me to feel emotions were damaged and so Zim had to replace them with some updated Irken technology," she stopped and took a deep breath.

"That means that I will soon become emotionless and ruthless, just like the other Irkens. That means I will not be as I used to and will act rude, and merciless. I will try to hurt innocent people including Zim and You. So my personality will completely disappear and be replaced with something that I am not. However my biggest concern is that I will try to destroy this planet, and tell Zim the truth in a way that will crush his spirit. So then he will truly have no one with him to help him through any of this," she said and I stared at her in shock.

"So you're going to become evil?" I asked and she nodded.

"The changes will be small at first but after a few weeks become more noticeable and soon take over completely. I will miss you, tiny earth human…I thought we would be friends, here," and with that she placed something in my hand and walked off towards her base completely ignoring the school in front of her. I looked down and saw that she had given me a small chip, which looked like it could be put into a human computer. This must be the chip she was talking about…

"Oh and Dib?" I looked up and she had her back to me.

"Take care of Zim for me, and remember what I said. Love and hate are two very similar emotions…who knows when they will become the same thing," and with that she walked off hands behind her back and head held high.

For someone who was about to go through a terrible change she was being incredibly strong…It was at that moment that I made a vow…a vow to protect earth, and save my friend.