Invader Tak (DATR)

Chapter 3 

"All right, class, since you've greeted the new student, it's time to resume our lesson. I'm going to hand each of you a textbook that says 'doom, doom, doom,' and I want you all to turn to chapter 10," Miss Bitters said as she slithered to each desk with a stack of textbooks in her hands. After distributing them, she returned to her desk, got her own book, and started reading, repeating 'doom, doom, doom' over and over again. Dib was so bored, reading the same repetitive lines, that he started thinking about the girl behind him. He still couldn't get over the fact that she didn't ridicule him like most of the other classmates. "Why isn't she saying anything mean to me? Why is she being so nice? So many questions. I'm always used to being bullied like this. I've never encountered someone being so polite to me. When I looked in her eyes, she seemed to feel bad for me. Maybe I should try to befriend her; she's really pretty," Dib thought.

As he looked through the boring text lines, he felt a tap on his shoulder. He slowly turned around to see Tak with a confused expression. "What exactly are we doing here? It's just the same line on every page," she said, flipping through the pages that all said the same thing: 'doom, doom, doom.' Dib waved his hand dismissively, giving her a look that said, 'she does this all the time.' "It's every morning, and we have to endure the same lecture of doom over and over again." Tak sighed in boredom and then replied, "Listen, if you ever need anyone to talk to, you can talk to me. You don't seem annoying like these dirt pigs over here." She smiled as she reached for his hand, gently grabbing it in a comforting gesture. However, the moment was cut short when one of the students noticed them. But before the student could snitch, Tak gave them a hypnotizing stare. The student froze completely, then said in a monotone voice, "Nothing. I thought I saw something," and resumed their work.

Dib was surprised by her ability to hypnotize people to make them forget what happened. "What did you do?" Dib asked. She shrugged and replied with a slight giggle, "I made her forget what happened. Don't worry, they don't need to know." Dib smiled back but then noticed her fingers. They didn't seem very human, but he didn't dare ask her about it, thinking it might be a sensitive topic. He decided to ask her at some point in the future when they were more comfortable with each other.

After enduring the teacher's rambling doom lecture, the bell finally rang, signaling lunchtime. Everyone rushed out of the classroom, leaving only Dib and Tak. "It says here on my schedule that I have lunch with you," Tak said, pointing at her next period and handing him her schedule. He looked through it and saw that she had the same exact classes as he did. "Well, it looks like you don't need to worry about anything; we have the same classes," he said, handing her back her schedule. "I'm going to grab my lunch from my locker. Do you want to come with me?" Dib asked. Tak replied, "I'd like to. I'd like to show you where my locker is anyway," she said, smiling and blushing slightly. Dib made a mental note of her constant blushing. "She definitely has a crush on me, no doubt about it. And I'm starting to feel something too," he thought.

When they finally got to their lockers, Tak realized that they were locker neighbors because her locker was right next to his. "Wow, what a coincidence! We're locker neighbors," she said as he unlocked his locker to get his lunch. "Well, at least now you don't have to worry about anything because you can always rely on me," he said, grabbing his lunch and shutting his locker door. As they walked down the hallway, Dib thought again about what had happened in the classroom. She had held his hand, and he hadn't pulled away. It felt so calming, like he actually had someone who supported him and wanted to be his friend.

When they got to the cafeteria, they sat down together at an empty table. Gaz, Dib's sister, entered the lunchroom and noticed that her brother wasn't sitting in their usual spot. She scanned the room and saw him talking to a girl. "Weird, usually nobody talks to him, but shockingly, someone is. I guess she really has lost her mind, but he does deserve some friends," Gaz thought to herself, returning to her GameSlave.

"So, where are you originally from?" Dib asked Tak. Her Squiddlyspooge pained a little, and she had to lie to him. "I'm from the UK, as you can tell by my accent. I'm British," she lied. He nodded, "That's interesting. I've heard about that place, but it's always rainy there as far as I know." She rested her head on her hand and replied, "Yeah, it rains a lot there. Sometimes it's sunny, sometimes it's not. It's just boring over there, so that's why I moved here." "To the United States?" Dib added. "Yes, your country. I've heard a lot of good things about the US—good music, but very unhealthy food, popular movies, and it's all about freedom." Dib nodded again. He then got up and said, "Hold on, I have to use the bathroom." She said okay, not really knowing what a bathroom was, but she would find out later. As soon as he left, Gaz approached Tak, taking a seat. "I've noticed how nice you've been to my brother," she said while playing her GameSlave. Tak gulped slightly, then responded calmly, "Well, when I was in his class, everyone was bullying him badly. When Miss Bitters showed me where my seat was, it was behind him. The other students started bantering, telling me not to sit next to him and to find another seat. So I stood up for him, saying that he's not crazy, and that I don't care what they think."

Gaz listened and then replied, "That's good because my stupid brother needs friends. He's always by himself with nobody to talk to, but you seem to make him happy. Please don't stop being friends with him—he really needs some company." She got up from her seat and returned to her table.

Back in the hallway, Dib was trying to find the bathroom, but he bumped into his bully, Torque Smackey. "You've got a lot of nerve bumping into me, nerd. You know that girl's not gonna be friends with you for long," Torque said. Dib shrugged his hand off his shoulder and replied irritably, "I really don't want to deal with you right now." But as he tried to pass, Torque hit him in the face. Dib stumbled back, hitting the lockers. He felt a warm liquid running from his nose and touched it. It was blood. "All right, that's it!" Dib yelled as he charged at Torque but failed miserably, getting punched in the stomach. He fell to the ground, clutching his stomach, feeling the pain spread through his body. He finally yelled, "TAK, HELP ME, PLEASE!!" "She won't hear you. She's in the cafeteria. It's impossible for her to hear you!" Torque sneered as he pulled out a switchblade.

Meanwhile, in the cafeteria, Tak had a weird feeling that Dib was in trouble. He had been gone too long. Her antenna, hidden under her disguise, twitched uncontrollably as she sensed his cries for help. She immediately sprinted out of the cafeteria. As the screams got closer, she watched in horror as Dib was being stabbed twice by his bully. Just as Torque was about to make another stab, she ran up to him and drop-kicked him in the face. He stumbled back from the hit, but before he could react, she kicked the switchblade out of his hand as blood dripped from the knife. She punched him in the throat, making him gasp for air, kicked him in the stomach twice, and finally landed a hard punch to his face, knocking him out. She then turned her attention to the most important person to her—Dib. He was on the floor, bleeding from his stomach. "DIB, ARE YOU OKAY? PLEASE DON'T DIE! I'M RIGHT HERE, OKAY!!" she yelled in desperation as she knelt beside him, holding him tightly and rubbing his head. Dib regained consciousness for a moment and said, "Call an ambulance. My phone is in my pocket." She nodded tearfully, then he passed out again. She kept one arm around his head while she searched his pockets for the phone and immediately dialed the emergency number. "What is your emergency?"