The End of the World

Gaz's POV

"He's an alien, I tell ya'!"

I ignored Dib's normal loud chattering about how Zim was an alien. I already knew Zim was an alien. Form the moment he came to Earth he was different. You could clearly tell that his hair was fake, as well as his eyes, not to mention he had green skin and no ears, but what made him different was that he didn't act like any other person. He didn't stare mindlessly at the teacher while he or she was talking, he never ate human food - with the exception of waffles, Dib once told me - and continued to blabber on and on about world domination. How he, the all-mighty Zim, would one day rule over all human kind.

Does that sound normal to anyone?

"Just look at him, Gaz." Dib said, shaking my arm. I was trying to read a book, but apparently I wasn't aloud to when I was around my idiot brother. "He's just sitting there, probably plotting how to destroy the Earth while he just pokes at his food."

"I can hardly call this 'food', Dib." I said. I was on Zim's side on this one: the skool food was disgusting. Even in Hi Skool the food was the same. I looked at my own food, seeing as how I hadn't touched anything from the grey lunch tray either. Most of the 'food' in the skool cafeteria didn't look very appetizing, some of it looking like pieces from the frogs we would dissect in Biology. I personally thought that the teachers would just give the dissected remains to the cooks and have them serve it up with 'spinach surprise' written on the label for the students to devour.

Yuck.

I didn't need to look up from my book to know that Dib was glaring at me; he always does when I took Zim's side for anything. Even small things, like how Dib had a big head . . . Yeah, that brought back memories . . .

"But Gaz, look at him!" Dib argued, knocking me out my glorious memories from when I would throw stuff at his bulbous head during our childhood. I snarled at him, but he didn't notice, he just continued to rant. "When is he going to realize that I will never let him take over the world, that I, the Awesome Dib Savior, am going to stop him whenever he tries to pull another one of his diabolical schemes."

In a way Dib and Zim were completely the same. Example A: They were both self-absorbed.

"Diabolical?" I asked, rolling my eyes. "Last time I checked he was just attending skool and doing things we do everyday." I paused as Dib suddenly looked fatigued, lost for words. I smirked slightly and continued. "And the Awesome Dib Savior? You can't even throw a punch . . ." I put my book down for one moment and smacked him hard in the arm. He yelped loudly and fell off the bench, cursing under his breath. "And you can't take a punch either." I added.

Dib stood up, rubbing his now sore arm. He didn't turn to me, instead he now glared right at Zim, who was sitting one table from us. He was facing us, looking down at the dirty brown lunch table, writing something in a thick notebook as he pushed his food away from him. Eventually, when he wasn't looking, the 'food' slid off his plate and ran out of the cafeteria, moaning like a vicious monster. My eyes darted back to Zim, who was still writing something in his notebook.

I thought for a moment about what he was taking note on. Probably the way the Hi Skool was run by the staff, its' security features, and the making of this horrible - dissected *cough* - 'food'. But, then again, I have been wrong about Zim before.

"What is he doing with that composition book?" Dib said.

I think that was supposed to be a rhetorical question, but I answered it anyway. "Probably his next di-a-bol-i-cal plan, Dib." I said sarcastically. "Better hurry or he'll invent a device that's able to suck all the world's dirt in and create thousands of tornadoes all over the world." I laughed evilly as thunder flashed outside, creating the sky to turn dark and the cafeteria went black for a moment. I stopped laughing and everything went back to normal. Nobody seemed to notice anything different. "Or at least that's what I would do."

Dib's giant head snapped in my direction. "You're right! I have to stop him before he . . .does what you just said!" Dib finished lamely. "Oh, am I going to do something alright! And today is that day! He'll never see it coming . . ." He sat back down next to me and continued to stare at Zim angrily.

I raised an eyebrow at him. "Freak."

After a few minutes of silence, I was lost in my book, but, out of nowhere, Dib stood up on the table, shouted something at Zim, then proceeded to throw a muffin at him. I watched in utter astonishment when Zim didn't do anything. He didn't react to Dib's horrible comeback, instead continuing with his work as if nothing had happened.

I looked back at Dib, who was steaming mad. By other circumstances I would've laughed, or perhaps have thrown my own muffin at his head myself and then laughed, but I was too preoccupied wondering why Zim was ignoring his arch nemesis after he threw a puffy pastry at his abnormally green head.

I lifted an eyebrow at Zim when he finally looked up and noticed the muffin sitting beside his notebook. He simply picked it up, sniffed it, and, before making a gagging noise, placed it back down on the table, looking sullen and lost in his work.

I heard Dib squeal something incoherently. He was most likely cursing, but I paid little attention to his temper tantrums. He had always been easily frustrated, even growing up, but now it was just getting childish. He was seventeen, about to have his eighteenth birthday, for crying out loud! I was seventeen also, but I didn't act like a big baby the way Dib does.

Dib had matured physically, but, as I said before, not emotionally. He now reached to a full 5'9" and he towered over my 4'11", and his hair had gotten slightly longer, but it still kept to its spiky boyish look. However, some things never changed. He still wore his dorky glasses, saying he wasn't 'ready' for contacts - wimp - and his head was still as huge as ever. In many ways, he was still the obnoxious-Mythology-loving-nerd he's always been.

Me? I haven't changed much either. Like I already said, I'm pretty short, probably the shortest girl in the 11th grade, although I have matured just the same as Dib. My Ianthine coloured hair fell in front of my face in long, teased strands and past my shoulders, curling slightly to the small of my back. I wore a big black bow hair band over my teased hair, making it look cute. I continued to wear black everywhere - although my brother believed my 'Goth' phase should have been forgotten when we hit puberty - and I still kept my skeleton amulet I received when I was born. Other than that, I was basically the same, although, I must admit that I was pretty zaftig, if I do say so myself.

As Dib continued to squeal at Zim, who wasn't paying a spec of attention to my brother, I began to drift back into my own thoughts. I looked down at my skeleton necklace, twisting my fingers through the black leather strap. I gripped my amulet in my right hand, admiring the smoothness of the silver pendant, the golden Jasper stones for the eyes, and the delicate curve and handiwork of the skull itself. It was absolutely beautiful . . .to me, at least. I've had some of the mean girls say it was just another Goth piece.

God, I hated the mean girls.

My eyes widened at the sight of the Jasper stones. I could have sworn that for at least five or so seconds, the eyes liquefied from that golden honey colour to a crimson red. I blinked a few times, but the red colour didn't return, replaced, once again, with gold.

I dropped my amulet, letting it fall back and hit my chest. I stared at the floor, thinking over if it had just been my imagination or not. I was then aware that Dib was no longer speaking. Again, by other circumstances I would've been happy with his silence, but I couldn't help but look up, just to find him staring wide eyed from Zim to me. I raised an eyebrow and looked over at Zim, too.

Zim was, indeed, staring in my general direction. His pale blue eyes - or contacts, since his natural Irken eyes were like rubies - were locked on me, analyzing me. I arched an eyebrow at him and said, loudly enough for him to hear, "What, Zim?"

Zim blinked several times before moving. He stood up, cocked his head to the side, and walked towards our table. He stopped when he was about to bump into me, all the while staring at me still. I could feel my face get hot since he was standing so close. No boy, or excuse, NOBODY, had ever dared to get that close to me. Of course, Zim wasn't like most boys . . .or people.

I kept my voice even and held my ground. "Why are you staring at me?"

Zim blinked one last time before finally speaking. "Anung Un Rama?"

My eyebrows shot up. Where have I heard that before? I know I've heard that somewhere . . .

"What?" I said after a thought about where I had heard that from. My guess was from a video game or a book.

"Anung Un Rama?" Zim repeated, astonished.

I glanced sideways at Dib, who was, again, lost for words. "What's he talking about?"

Dib merely shrugged, glaring daggers at Zim.

I remained silent as Zim pulled me up off the bench and forced me to stand up straight.

"Don't touch her!" Dib hissed at Zim, although he was clearly being ignored.

"What're you doing?" I asked when he began to circle me. He looked me up and down, left to right, face to feet, until his eyes finally rested on my chest. I was about to slap him for staring at my chest, but then I noticed he wasn't gawking like every other perverted boy in Hi Skool, he was staring at my amulet.

He slowly lifted the pendant away from my shirt carefully. "Where did you get this?" He asked, tracing his green, spider-like fingers over the Jasper stones.

"I got it when I was born, now stop touching it!" I slapped his hand away from my necklace, feeling very protective over my little trinket.

Zim stared at me again, his mouth agape. I pushed his jaw up and his mouth clamped together instantly. "Don't keep your mouth open like that, otherwise bugs will nest in your throat."

"Well, I, uh, like gross bugs in my throat then." Zim said, returning to his normal behaviour. "After all, the all-mighty Zim is not afraid of pesky little insects!" He posed, mocking Superman.

"Whatever." I mused as I returned to my seat.

Dib stood up and walked over to the naïve alien and pushed him out of his stance. "I told you to stay away from my sister, you Irken! How can you even listen if you don't have any ears!"

Zim sneered back at Dib. "At least I'm not a zygote like you."

"I am not a . . .hold on, what?" Dib looked stunned at Zim's smartass comeback, even though he didn't know at all what it meant.

"Now that was funny." I chuckled. I knew what it meant - not like I was going to tell my brother that, though.

"A zygote, Dib-stink." Zim repeated.

"I know what Dib-stink means, but, seriously, what's a zygote?" Dib asked again, pushing his glasses back up the bridge of his nose where they had been falling down.

I picked up my book and began to read again, all the while trying to ignore Zim and Dib's annoying conversation.

This is going to be a long day . . .