( Author's Notes: This story is a little something I scribbled down in school and just embellished on after reading my Squee comics one day. I don't know how frequently this will be updated, probably as often as my Johnny-Sue story, but I hope you enjoy, since this is my first time in a long while at trying at an actual plot. )

"To be honest, we're tired of seeing you come home every day. That's why we transferred you to the school in the next town. We're hoping that the longer walk home will get you lost," Mr. Casil said as he slowed to a stop. His son Todd, better known as Squee for the squeaking noises he made when frightened, looked from the strange new building back to his uninterested father. He looked almost eager for him to get out of the car.

"But Daddy, I..."

"Glad you're excited. Go on, and try to remember to get as lost as possible on your way home," said Mr. Casil, ignoring his son's protest. He began to pull away from the curb before Squee was fully out of the car, causing him to fall on his face.

What a great way to begin the year.

Picking himself up, Squee looked at his new school. It looked almost exactly like his old school, a squat two-story brick building with a large playground in back. The sign above the double doors read "Skool." Well, it was a definite improvement from "Scool." Taking a deep breath as if he were going underwater, Squee pushed the doors open and walked inside his new skool.

After a brief visit in the office, Squee found himself in Ms. Bitters' classroom. She looked like his old teacher as well; the schools must've been cloned from one another, or something of that sort. Looming over him, she began to introduce Squee to the class. "Class, I'd like to introduce the latest hopeless deadweight to the doomed pile of our student body. His name is Todd."

Looking out towards his new classmates, Squee was relieved to see that they appeared friendly. Normal too, except for one kid who sat on the left side of the room. He was wearing a long, dark red shirt that almost looked like a dress, black boots, and black gloves. But to Squee, his clothes weren't the surprising thing—he had green skin! For all he knew, this kid could've had a bout of flu, but still. Green skin was a rather odd occurrence.

The boy on the opposite side of the room had a slightly larger head than everyone else, but he looked completely normal compared to the green-skinned kid.

Ms. Bitters looked down at Squee. "Take a seat now, Todd. I hope you're as well-behaved as you look, because if you mess up, the rest of your year will be a living nightmare!" Her threat was enough to make him utter a trademark "squee" and hurry towards the back of the classroom. Sliding into an empty seat, Squee trembled with fear. Yes, she most certainly was cloned from his old teacher; there was no doubt about it. Since he had not been assigned a locker or anything of the sort, he just slid his backpack underneath his chair for later, still shaking.

"Now class, today we will be continuing with our experiments on inserting objects into the human bloodstream. Everyone get out your objects that you brought from home."

- - - - -

Before Squee knew it, it was lunchtime. He was relieved to see the lesson end. Ms. Bitters had pulled a boy named Melvin to the front of the classroom and, just as she said, inserted the various objects the students had brought into his bloodstream. Squee couldn't bear to watch the actual insertion process, but from Melvin's screams and how disheveled he looked afterward, he assumed it was quite painful. The first day at his new skool was shaping up to be an interesting, if not downright frightening, one.

Since hell would freeze over before his parents would give him any money, it was up to Squee to pack his own lunch. His lunch was usually pretty simple—a sandwich, some juice, a piece of fruit or some chips. It was small, but still filling, and Squee was now hungry. He grabbed his lunch bag from under his chair and edged his way into the crowd of students heading towards the cafeteria.

Always smaller than most kids his age, Squee had a bit of difficulty going down the hallway without being jostled a bit, but eventually he made it to the cafeteria unharmed. Looking around, he noticed all but two of the tables were full. At one table was the kid with the green skin Squee had noticed earlier; at the other sat the boy with the large head. He was sitting with a purple-haired girl who was enthralled in a handheld video game. Like in the classroom, they were sitting at opposite ends. Since the boy with the green skin was picking at his food with bored interest and made Squee nervous, the other table seemed much more favorable. He sat down at the far end of the table and began to eat his lunch.

Meanwhile, Dib stared intently across the cafeteria. "Look at him, Gaz. Sitting there, just picking at his food, thinking he's so...normal."

"Everyone picks at their lunch, Dib. Now be quiet," Gaz said, not taking her eyes from the Game Slave's illuminated screen.

Dib looked at his sister, frowning in disbelief. "Oh, come on! It actually bears a semblance to real food today! You'd think Zim would at least try to appear normal and eat the stuff."

Gaz opened an eye, glaring at Dib. "And maybe you'd appear normal if you'd eat your lunch and stop staring at Zim."

"You just don't..." Dib's voice trailed off as something moved at the opposite end of the table. Blinking, he moved his head so he could see around Gaz. There was someone sitting at the other end. He tapped Gaz's shoulder and motioned towards the opposite end. "Is someone actually sitting at our table?"

Gaz briefly looked up from her Game Slave to glance at the far end of the table, then turned back as if it was an everyday thing. "He must be new. Nobody who's been here more than a day would think of you as normal."

"Actually, Gaz, I think he is," Dib said, ignoring her last comment. "Ms. Bitters was talking about a new transfer student this morning, but he was so quiet that we forgot he was even there. What's his name—Todd?" He tapped his chin for a minute. "Wonder if there's something wrong with him."

"That would be one thing you'd have in common," Gaz said, finally getting up and leaving Dib alone at the table. He frowned at her as she walked away, then stood up and walked down to the other end of the table.

- - - - -

Squee absentmindedly took a bite of his sandwich, staring unfocusedly at his food. Today had been too fast for him. It had started out normally; getting up, eating breakfast, getting dressed, preparing to go to school, and then all of a sudden, Daddy told him he was going to a whole new school. Of course, he didn't have to look at this so negatively. Nobody knew who he was, so he wasn't picked on...but of course, this was his first day. They'd find out soon enough. But then again, there was no more Pepito lurking around. Going to school with the Antichrist wasn't exactly thrilling.

A voice then snapped Squee out of his reverie: "Hey, what're you doing down here all by yourself?"

Looking up, Squee found himself face-to-face with the boy from the other end of the table. "SQUEE!" he squeaked, scattering his lunch as he flailed in shock from this sudden appearance. Putting a hand over his chest, he tried to calm down, receiving strange looks from his visitor. "Uh...sorry, um...eating my lunch?"

The boy sat down across from Squee, pointing a long finger at him. "You're that new transfer student in my class. Todd, right?"

"Uh-huh," said Squee. Maybe he thought it would've been better if he didn't know him by his nickname, as he didn't jump in to correct the boy immediately. He was too surprised that someone was actually talking to him in a friendly way. Maybe they would actually turn out to be friends, he hoped.

He nodded. "Thought so. I'm Dib, by the way."

Squee brightened. "Oh, you're the one with the weird head at the front of my row!" He then looked downwards as he saw an irritated expression cross Dib's face. "Oops."

"Yeah, that's me, I guess," Dib sighed. "I don't think my head's that big...anyway, why are you sitting here at my table? Not to sound rude or anything, but why'd you pick this table out of all the others? Nobody ever sits here."

Looking around the cafeteria, Squee pointed out towards the occupied tables. "Most of the tables in here were full, and the other empty one...well, the green kid at that table, he's just spooky." He pointed to the table, where Zim was waving some glowing piece of metal over his ketchup and rice.

Dib perked up at the mention of "the green kid." "Green kid? You mean Zim?" He looked over his shoulder, then back, smiling to himself. Here was a new kid, with no idea what the others thought of him and no reputation preceding him. He also looked quite impressionable. Maybe he could actually fill Todd here in on Zim's true identity so he could prepare himself as well. He leaned in towards Squee, motioning for him to lean in as well. "Let me tell you something. Zim over there is no normal kid, as much as he thinks he is."

"He isn't?" Squee asked, his eyes full of confusion. "You mean he has more than the flu?"

"The flu...? No, not that. It's something bigger than the flu. Zim is..." Dib looked around, hoping no one else was listening so he wouldn't have to deal with insanity accusations. "Zim's an alien. Now, I know what you're thinking," he said quickly, holding his hands up as if to protect himself from any personal attacks, "but it's true. Everyone thinks I'm crazy because of this, but you believe me, right?" He looked at Squee hopefully.

Squee pondered for a moment. Aliens had been in his house on more than one occasion. He had also met his "future self," a giant dust mite had taken up residence in his bedroom, a homicidal maniac lived next door to his house, his teddy bear absorbed his nightmares, and he was friends with the son of Satan. After all of these encounters, an alien in the skool didn't seem too unbelievable. "Yeah, I believe you, Dib," he said. "I've seen scarier things."

Dib raised an eyebrow. This was certainly a breath of fresh air. Usually he would be met with strange looks, cries of "man, you're crazy!", or in rare cases, someone running away. "Um...okay. Well, I guess I'll explain to you everything that's been going on, then."

For the rest of the lunch period, Squee listened as Dib told him of the different encounters he had with Zim. Flooding the earth (where was he when this happened?), trapping him in a time warp, being threatened by fellow members of his race...it was no more unreal than what Squee experienced at home. But still, it was something to think about.

- - - - -

The bell rang, indicating the end of another day as kids left the skool in droves. All in all, Squee thought that his first day was a rather good one. True, someone with a reputation for being crazy had told him that one of their classmates was actually an alien, complete with detailed supporting reasons, but Squee believed him. When both you and your parents have been abducted by aliens, there is no doubt in your mind that they exist. After all, just as he said, stranger things had happened.

However, he couldn't help but notice that Dib had been unusually nice to him. Well, nicer than most kids had treated him, anyway. Maybe, just maybe, he had actually made a friend? One that didn't have spooky demonic powers or killed people on an everyday basis? The thought alone made Squee look forward to the next day a little bit.

Looking up, Squee realized that he was home. The walk home didn't take as long as his parents had suspected; at the most, it was only ten minutes longer. He could tell his parents were disappointed when he opened the door, but as usual, he didn't notice. His mind was too preoccupied with what might happen tomorrow.

"Dear, who's that little boy that just walked through the door?"

Squee could hear his father's exasperated sigh as he made his way upstairs. "He's your son! For God's sake, which of those damn pills make you forget that everyday?"