A Place in Our World - Invader Zim Fan Fiction

Chapter Five - Skool

Dib did not expect to see Zim at skool Monday morning. Whenever Zim got depressed over something dumb, he would lock himself in his house and spend all his time feeling sorry for himself on his couch, watching TV and eating loads of snacks.

"That can't be very nutritious," Dib mumbled aloud as he stepped into class.

And there was Zim, slouching in his chair and staring off into the distance.

Dib had to stop and do a double take. Ms. Bitters had not arrived yet and most of the class was still chatting and wasting time. Dib gritted his teeth and marched over to Zim's desk.

Zim rolled his eyes when he spotted Dib.

"What are you doing here?" Dib quizzed.

"Why wouldn't I be here? I'm a perfectly normal stink baby just like you. I have to come to skool to feed my stupid and pathetic human brain," Zim said.

"I thought you'd be moping at home. After finding out your Tallests were dead and they never liked you," Dib sighed.

Zim clenched his teeth and growled. "Do NOT speak of my rulers like that you USELESS WORM!"

The rest of the class did not even flinch at Zim's outburst. It was rather mild after all, compared to most of Zim's tantrums.

Dib rolled his eyes. "Why do I even try anymore?"

Dib made his way over to his seat, ignoring Zim's penetrating glare.

Zim stood up in his seat to holler at Dib. "The human filth speaks of what he does not know! How dare you even BEGIN to think that someone as superior as ZIM would be tossed aside by—" Zim glanced around the room at the rest of the students. "—my perfectly normal human rulers."

"Your parents?" one of the girls in the class sighed.

Zim huffed. "Yes, whatever."

Dib continued to ignore him and stared at the empty teacher's desk.

Zim chuckled. "What's the matter? Are you scared of the almighty ZIM!"

Dib sighed. "No, I just don't care about your problems."

Zim spluttered angrily. "Zim has no PROBLEMS!"

A few of the classmates snickered.

"You could have fooled us!" a male student laughed.

Zim hissed and flopped back into his seat, crossing his arms and muttering furiously to himself.

Ms. Bitters suddenly appeared at the teacher's front of the room, stepping out of the shadow of the desk. "Alright, children. Sit down, it's time for the horrible skool day to begin."

Kids rushed to their seats and began to pull out their skool work.

The first half of the skool day dragged by. A seemingly endless cycle of useless information that Dib will forget after he graduates. It was kind of funny, everything he ended up using in everyday life he learned on his own.

Finally it was lunch period. And even though the lunch here was always... questionable, the break in dull classes was most welcome.

Dib silently took place in the busy lunch line, not bothering to search the crowd of students for his sister or even Zim. They would find him sooner or later if they wanted.

The entire cafeteria smelled of vinegar and stale bread for some reason. And the echoing voices of what felt like hundreds of kids drowned Dib's thoughts.

He grabbed a plate from the beginning of the line and made his way down. He was served what looked like mashed potatoes, or maybe it was corn? Then there was a stale cheese sandwich and a carton of plain milk. And at the end of the line, there was a dessert being served.