Author's Notes: So, upon a guest readers request I have decided to make Dib as Awesome at his work as Zim is at his own. He's also fit and able to make plans and inventions himself! He is way too smart for his own good, but is still stuck in high school much to his own dismay.
With that said please enjoy!
(Back to Dib…)
He was too smart for his own good.
No, correction he was way too smart for his own good!
Dib groaned loudly and dragged his feet to his home room class in utter indifference.
"Seriously Dib it's not that bad." Gaz said.
"NOT THAT BAD!" Dib yelled. "NOT THAT BAD!"
Gaz gave him a sideward look, at age 16, a year younger than Dib she felt more like an 80-year-old nanny constantly keeping her brother out of trouble. Trouble with dad, trouble with the law, trouble with bullies, trouble with teachers. You name it, and Dib's disciplinary file will say it somewhere.
Of course, it wasn't his fault, no it was his obsession that was to blame. Gaz shook her head. Dib was tall, well built, fit, good looking, and sensitive. A kind of guy that any person with feelings, and half a brain would want. However, Dib had one drawback. One disadvantage that had gotten him in trouble with every form of authority since he could talk!
His obsession with the supernatural!
Yes, it was the root of all the bad in Dib's life.
When you're young and still in diapers, adults find it cute when you run after imaginary monsters, but that cute little kid soon grows out of it.
Dib never did, no he just got worse!
It all started when he was six and was convinced their babysitter was a witch who cooked children into stew. He ended up calling the police on her after she said something on the lines of. "You're so cute, I could just eat you up."
That poor sweet old lady stayed the night in jail while their dad and the police tried to sort the whole mess out. Eventually she was free to go, and the charges were dropped. Needless to say, her career was ruined, and no one ever wanted to baby sit for their father again! Which left Gaz with the job of keeping her brother out of trouble. A job handed to her at age five, and now almost eleven years later she was still trying to keep him in line.
When he was seven Dib was convinced that the little boy next door was an alien wearing a child's skin as a clever disguise. This of course led to him nearly dissecting the boy just to prove it. And well that did not end very well, Gaz was told that the little boy still had nightmares. And once word got out about the incident all their neighbors moved at least four houses down the street.
Now when he was eight the boy before Gaz had accidently raised the dead. Okay it wasn't an accident Dib was performing an experiment to see if zombies could actually exist, but he just didn't expect it to work. Unfortunately, it did, and a whole cemetery was raised.
Their father was furious, saying no son of mine is going to be a mad scientist! A scientist? Yes, just not a mad one!
When he was nine Dib was convinced, the mailman was a werewolf, and tried to prove it. Unfortunately, that included him chasing the poor man around the yard for a hair sample every time he came to deliver mail. After a few times of this happening the mailman filed a restraining order.
When he was ten Dib was sure his teacher, Mrs. Bitters was a vampire! And tried to stake her. And well that one ended with him being under observation at the town crazy house for three nights.
And the list goes on and on!
Mummies, ghouls, demons, big foot, you name it Dib has accused someone of being it! And this alone was the reason why he never had a date, or a kiss, and why he was 17 and still a virgin! This one obsession had ruined his life forever!
Of course, Dib sees it differently. No, the only ruiner of his life was their over controlling father.
"I mean seriously Gaz I should be graduated from college by now with 12 PHDs, but no dad won't let me skip any grades. He wants me to set an example for my peers by showing them up at all this easy stuff." Dib complained.
"Sorry Dib but I am on dad's side on this." Gaz said. "You need to mingle with people your own age. Not be cramped up in a stuffy room full of adults."
"Right cause everyone here just loves me!" Dib whined.
Gaz bit her lip, even she had Peg who had now been her girlfriend for almost a year, but all Dib had was herself. Countless times she tried to match him up with a friend, who could be something more in the future…maybe. But once they found out it was Dib, they went off running in the opposite direction. "Maybe I can help." She said hopefully.
"NO that never works out!" Dib said. "Besides, I can get my own friend!"
"Sure, you can." Gaz scoffed.
"Oh, you think I can't make a friend!" Dib yelled. "I'll show you; I'll show you and Dad, I'll show every kid in this school!" Dib declared. "I can be social, and I can make a friend!" with those final words he stormed off.
Gaz shook her head; she knew Dib would get nowhere with the students who had already labeled him. 'What we need is someone new!' She thought. 'Someone who has no idea just how bad Dib is.'
Of course, that was a silly pipe dream. Her school never got new…
Gaz suddenly freezes as a new face walks by her.
He was a tall pale boy, who in her opinion wore way too much black and blue, but he was real, and appeared normal enough and around her brother's age. He was walking with two adults that she assumed was his parents and talking quietly to them as they headed towards the front office.
'This could be it.' She thought trying not to get excited, after all she had gotten her hopes up many times before. 'Still, he could be just what the doctor ordered.'
(Back with Zim…)
He had never felt more nervous in his life.
Not even his first day at the academy, or his first mission had made him this nervous.
It was hard to explain but Zim could feel their judgmental eyes staring him down, and well…judging him!
Still, somehow, he had managed to make it to the front office with his parents. They were greeted by the school secretary. A rather large woman who, in Zim's opinion wore way too much pink. However, she took the foraged documents, and filed them without a single glance.
Zim shook his head. 'Humans…so trusting.' Well, he supposed that made his job easier. However, the definition for easy for Zim, was the same as the word BORING! But as always that was besides the point. For now, he simply had to survive his first day on this filthy planet and go undetected by its strange inhabitants.
"Yes, Norman we've been expecting your arrival since Monday." The secretary said. "Your homeroom is room 772 with Mrs. Kilmore." She gave him his schedule and shooed him away.
Zim could only assume the computer had hacked the school systems and made a note of his arrival somewhere. Which would explain why he was expected to be here.
After the secretary gave him his schedule Zim said goodbye to his parents and wished them good luck in their job hunting before setting off to find his locker. The rustic storage unit was easy enough to find, and Zim opened it to see that it was filled with books, and a note.
Dear Norman,
Your mom called me yesterday. (Sweet lady your mom.) And told me you'd be arriving today with no school supplies due to it getting lost during the move over here. Tough luck, luckily the teachers donate school supplies throughout the year for anyone who finds themselves in your predicament. I also took a peek at your schedule and grabbed all your textbooks and placed everything in your locker.
I hope this helps you have a smoother first day. Sincerely your class president,
Jessica Homes.
Zim smiled whoever this Jessica was she sure saved him a lot of trouble, if he saw her today, he'd have to remember to do the polite thing and thank her. After all his chosen personality as an animal lover made him the soft and sensitive type, not the mean and rude type. After finding the appropriate books for his first three classes Zim closed his locker and made his way to homeroom. It took him a little longer to find it then he thought, but soon he stepped into room 772 where a nice-looking woman who he assumed was Mrs. Kilmore waved him over to the front of the room.
"Class, can I have your attention?" Mrs. Kilmore asked sweetly. The class slowly settled down and all eyes were on him.
"This is Norman our new student." Mrs. Kilmore began. "Norman is there anything you'd like to say?"
Zim paused and tapped his fingers together anxiously, knowing that if he failed; he would die or worse be captured and experimented on! He couldn't let the Tallest down.
"Yes, I actually prefer to be called Miz." Zim said.
"Very well Miz." Mrs. Kilmore smiled. "Where did you use to live?"
"My father is a traveling architect." Zim answered. "So, I move around a lot, we just recently came back from Japan where my father was overseeing a group of workers who were restoring one of the historical palaces."
"My, that sounds adventurous." Mrs. Kilmore said. "Anything else?"
"Uh yes, I was wondering if the Class president was in this class." Zim said. "I wanted to thank her for all her help."
A girl with long red curly hair stood up.
"Hi, I'm Jessica and it was my pleasure." She said beaming.
Zim smiled.
"Alright then." Mrs. Kilmore went on. "Where to sit you." She scanned the room, but there was only one empty seat, and it was by some boy in the front who was staring suspiciously at him.
He had black hair, some of which licked back in a way that should have been physically impossible, round glasses that framed brown eyes. He wore mostly black with the exception of a blue shirt with a grey face on it.
Dib's eyes narrowed on the new kid, this Miz. What kind of name was that anyway? Maybe a made up one! Dib looked the boy over thoughtfully. After his first lesson with agent Darkbootie, Dib had been opened up too many more secrets.
For example, Darkbootie was supposedly undercover posing as an alien, and trying to make connections with whoever sent that transmission six months ago. Luckily, he had made contact, however he couldn't understand what it was saying to him. So, he spent most of his days trying to decipher them. He had been hoping Dib's recent discovery would help him, but Dib had used an older transmitter then he had access to. So, finding the same frequency that Dib had used to get the aliens to sound human was proving to be a challenge. However, he never stopped trying every night he listened, awaiting further messages. His hope was that he would find the frequency and for one of the aliens to slip and say what they wanted with the Earth if they indeed wanted anything at all.
Meanwhile Dib's job was to look out for any undercover agents.
And suddenly having a new student at your school when that never happened was looking mighty fishy right now.
"How about you sit by Dib here in the front." Mrs. Kilmore suggested.
A loud gasped filled the room.
Dib rolled his eyes. 'Seriously what are we six?' he thought.
"Mrs. Kilmore not Dib!" Jessica said.
"Yeah, that's a death sentence." A girl name Zita agreed.
Zim openly bit his lip looking unsure.
"It's fine." Mrs. Kilmore assured Zim.
Zim nodded and cautiously sat beside the boy. "Hi, I'm Miz." he said offering his hand to shake which he had read was a formal greeting on this planet.
Another gasped filled the room.
"You actually want to talk to me?" Dib asked.
"Uh I'm just trying to be friendly." Zim said, looking a bit hurt. "But that's okay I guess." He took his seat, looking down at his desktop.
"Wait a go, Dib." Jessica snapped.
"Yeah, you sure know how to make a new guy feel welcomed." Zita agreed.
Dib bit his lip. 'Why did I do that?' he asked himself. 'I just might have ruined my one chance at having a friend!'
Zim tried his best not to smile and blow his cover, playing with human emotions was just too easy! He looked up as the teacher began to drone on about space and its inevitable implosion, but Zim really didn't need to hear what these earthlings thought about space, he needed to know how well defended they were, so he quickly raised his hand and waited for Mrs. Kilmore to call on him.
"Yes Miz?"
"Do you happen to know how prepared we are if we were faced with, oh I don't know… an alien invasion?" Zim asked, trying to seem calm.
Dib's eyes widen, a fellow alien enthusiast. Was it possible that maybe he had heard the transmission too! If so, maybe he could help him and Darkbootie!
The class was silent for a moment, and then Zita said. "Oh, great another alien hunting nerd, just what we need."
"Zita he's new." Jessica reminded her. "Be nice!"
"Well, Miz I'm not sure if we are ready for something like that." Mrs. Kilmore admitted. "Do you really believe in aliens?"
"Well, we can't be the only ones." Zim said. "I mean space is huge right?"
"I suppose you have a point Miz." Mrs. Kilmore nodded.
Suddenly A bell rang throughout the school and Mrs. Kilmore dismissed them. "Wow homeroom is short." Zim said out loud.
"What, they don't have homeroom in Japan?" The boy known as Dib asked walking up beside him.
"Oh, so now you want to talk to me." Zim snapped walking through the hall to his next class.
"I'm sorry." Dib admitted. "I'm just not use to people trying to be friendly to me."
"Why not?" Zim asked. "You seem normal to me."
"It's because I believe in imaginary things like monsters and aliens and ghost." Dib said.
"Aliens aren't imaginary." Zim said without thinking.
"You really think so?" Dib said.
Zim swallowed hard. "Well…I've never seen one...but I just have a hard time believing we are the only ones out there." Zim bit his lip he had slipped up. On other planets he had conquered, aliens were a known fact, but here humans didn't really think they existed. Some did, but most just thought Earth was some rare special phenomenon. And races all over the universe called Irkens self-centered.
Well, the Irken Race had nothing on the humans that was for sure. "Why do you ask?" Zim went on.
"Well, I was just wondering if you've ever seen one or heard one talk." Dib asked.
"Nope." Zim answered…then stopped. "Have you?"
Dib nodded.
Zim's eyebrow rose. It was probably a hoax the kid found on the internet, but just to be sure he acted all surprised. "Really?"
Dib looked from left to right as if unsure, then with a deep breath he whispered. "About six months ago I heard a transmission from space." he told him.
Zim's eyes widen. "OMG you've got to show me!" He exclaimed, keeping up the act. Yes, it was better to be safe than sorry.
Dib couldn't believe it; the kid wanted to see? He wanted to hang out with him. 'What if it's a prank?' he wondered. But what if it wasn't? According to Darkbootie there was only a handful of members of their secret society, and he had been encouraged to scope out possible new recruits. Sure, Miz was even less experienced than he was starting out, but that was ok. He had the excitement, the wonder in his eyes, the will to learn.
"Look if you're serious meet me after school at this address." Dib said scribbling his address down on a piece of paper.
"Okay I will." Zim said, taking it.
There was an awkward silence between the two finally Zim said. "You want to help me find my next class?"
Dib's whole face lit up. This was it; he finally had a friend who just might be into the same things he was. Gaz would be so proud, and Dad would finally get off his back about being an outcast at school. Going on about how he was the most popular kid in his own class, and everyone wanted to be him, and he expected nothing less from his son. But now something in his life was finally going right, and Dib couldn't think how any of this could get any better.
However, the young teen would soon learn that the happiness he was feeling now was nothing compared to the feelings of betrayal that he would soon feel towards his new friend in the near future.
(Later on, that day...)
Interesting...
Yes, that was the one word that came to his mind when he thought of the boy before him now. And what was so interesting you might ask?
What was it about this Dib that actually made his presence more tolerable than the rest of the human filth on this planet?
Well, after spending a good few hours talking to Dib as they walked from class to class throughout the day (classes in which they actually shared a few with). Zim had found out that the human had quite an eye for the strange and paranormal. And as Zim listened to the boy go on and on about aliens, and how they could be real Zim began to realize that the boy did know what he was talking about.
The way he described his theories on how they travel from planet to planet so quickly, what they might look like, and what they might need to survive made Zim realize that this kid was the real deal. He wasn't some child who thought he knew about outer space, and how other different worlds might affect different life forms. No, this was a child who knew other life was possible, and had explanations, and scientific theory to back it up.
The question was, where was Dib getting all these facts?
Well, Zim wasn't sure, but he knew it wasn't no normal library, for the Irken himself had downloaded the Knowledge of many science books into his PAK, and more than half of it had to be deleted because the knowledge was wrong! However, everything Dib had rambled on about was right on the nose!
But how? As far as Zim could tell Earth was very green when it came to the knowledge of aliens, and there was no real proof that they existed. And yet here was a boy standing beside him who not only knew what he was talking about, but had claimed to have said proof already!
Yes, the boy was very interesting indeed.
Unfortunately, this knowledge of his caused others to believe that he was crazy, including his family. "I had trouble with bullies once." Zim admitted as they were walking to the last class of the day.
"Really?" Dib asked
"Yeah, before puberty I was short, and had this squeaky little voice." Zim said. "Luckily, I grew out of that, and my dad's job had us in a new town by the end of the year." He explained.
"So, I've been meaning to ask." Dib said. "Why Miz?"
"OH, I had a dog named Miz." Zim answered. "She was the mother of my puppy GIR, but she had him when she was a bit too old."
"Oh." Dib whispered.
"She didn't make it, and well with a family that's always moving Miz was like my constant, and now I carry her name around with me as a reminder of my first best friend."
'Wow.' Dib actually felt tears coming to his eyes; that was so sad. He shook his head, and stopped at a door. "Well, this is it." He said. "Your last class of the day."
"Finally!" Zim exclaimed.
"You know I could walk you to my house after class, so you don't get lost if you want." Dib offered.
"I'd like that." Zim agreed, before entering the classroom, leaving Dib out in the hall.
Dib fist pumped the air, now he could show him to Gaz and prove to her once and for all that he wasn't a helpless cause, and he could get a friend if he really wanted too. Dib raced off to his last class happily unaware of the small robotic fly that flew cautiously behind him.
"Careful agent Moth-Man." Darkbootie whispered as he watched his young partner's every move from the aid of the spy bug. "I know he seems normal enough, but we can't afford to overlook anyone."
Darkbootie's eyed narrowed at his own words.
He couldn't explain it, but there was just something about this Miz that didn't sit right with him. And he didn't like that feeling, no he didn't like it one bit!
-To Be Continued