Truthseeking

Rubbing Salt Into The Wounds

Zim shared a glare with Dib as he sat down, scowling at him.

The human seemed like he was about to make a snarky comment, but the bell had cut him off before he even started, which was one of the only times Zim felt grateful for the irritating sound. He didn't feel like dealing with Dib right now.

He tried to turn his attention to his teacher Mrs Bitters, who was now speaking, but he found that none of her words seemed to peak his interest.

All boring, inferior human stuff. With a roll of his eyes, and an internal sigh, Zim began to carve small drawings onto the desk before him.

He had no interest in the lesson, so he spent his time on what humans had called "art". Carving many different lines into the desk, he found himself zoning out before he knew it.

Zim had been halfway through scratching a random portrait when something wet and slimy was splattered on his face, admittedly catching the irken off guard.

Whatever had been thrown at him had started to burn, and with a gasp, Zim realised some sort of water was in it, and quickly swiped the glob of filth off of him with an annoyed growl.

He zipped his head around to the origin of the attack, Dib.

The irken was about to return his attack, but was quickly shut down when he noticed Mrs Bitters approaching his desk, with a handful of papers.

" Zim, hand these out. " Mrs Bitters ordered, and Zim realised that she kind of reminded him of his Tallest.

His teacher was about to plop down the stack of sheets, but paused. He squinted an eye in suspicion, not getting why she had stopped.

But then Zim realised what she must be staring at.

He glanced down at what he had carved while zoned out, and winced a little at the amount of the Tallest he'd drawn. Along with other irkens, and there was one of GIR in his disguise.

Zim swallowed, embarrassed. Before trying to act if he had no idea why his teacher had paused.

"Of course" Zim complied, with what he wanted to be a warm smile, but was unsure if it looked right.

He speedily grabbed the papers from her hand, attempting to distract her from the scribbles on his desk.

"Zim." Mrs Bitters harsh tone made Zim freeze mid step, nervous smile still bearing on his face as he clutched the papers.

"Yes, Mrs Bitters? " Zim said openly, turning to face his teacher with the most innocent face he could bare.

"Detention after class. " The teacher bleakly stated, turning to go back behind her own desk.

The irken bit back a snarl, and instead just nodded with his fist clutching the stack.

He began to hand out the papers, sliding one onto his own desk in the process.

Zim squinted his eyes and scowled when he reached Dib, who now stared at him with a cocky smirk. He felt his teeth clutch in anger, stupid human thinks he's so superior! Well he isn't!

"Whatcha got in trouble for this time, Zim? Planning some evil, alie-" Dib's confidently spoken taunt was cut off by a paper shoved in the human's face. Delivered by Zim, of course.

"Ahk!- hay! " Dib spat angrily, grabbing hold of the paper and shaking his head, grunting.

The alien smirked, not so high and might now, huh?

Feeling energised by his new victory, Zim marched back over to his desk and sat down, turning his attention to their teacher.

He kept his attention on what Mrs Bitters was instructing, it sounded boring. But Zim would do it anyway, majorly to avoid another detention.

"You will be working with partners that I've assigned. " Mr Bitters informed, picking up a sheet from her desk.

Zim didn't even think he'd care who he was paired up with. He already knew how to do this so he wouldn't even need the help.

"Our first pair, Dib and Zim. " She continued, looking down at the paper, that likely and the pairs pre-written.

Nevermind. He took back what he'd been thinking, he actually minded a lot now, why did he have to be paired up with Dib out of all people?

Zim scowled and glared at Dib, who looked equally annoyed.

When Mrs Bitters had finished listing the pairs, they were instructed to sit next to each other, so they could both work on the project.

He wasn't going to move though, the big headed human would have too.

Once the Dib-Human had finally got off his high horse and moved, the teacher had already handed out the extra supplies needed for the project.

It was a simple cut-and-glue task, but Zim didn't care, he just wanted to get this over and done with, so he could get away from Dib.

Zim began to cut some of the pieces out of the paper, there was an awkward silence between the two boys as Dib picked up the cut pieces.

"I'm going to expose you, Zim. " Dib sliced through the silence, threatening him.

The irken rolled his eyes, ignoring the human. Zim did not need to waste time speaking to this inferior smeet.

Dib seemed annoyed by his comment going unanswered, as he glared down while glueing the pieces to the other sheet of paper.

"Just because I haven't managed to yet- doesn't mean I won't do it! " He spoke again, this time leaning in a bit, glaring at Zim.

"Shut up, Dib-thing. Your inferior human Brian could never come up with a plan to expose me, the superior Zim! " Vowed Zim, holding a fist above his head in confidence.

" You may think you're winning, but you're not, Zim. I'm going to expose your alien identity before you can even be a tenth done destroying earth! " Dib Continued, his tone confident and sure.

Zim slowed down for a moment, feeling like his wounds had just been poked with needles, re-opened slightly.

He was about to snap something back when Dib interrupted again, seeming to not notice the irkens reaction to his last statement.

"You invaded the wrong planet! " Dib disclaimed, pointing a finger at the alien before continuing on his rant, he didn't seem to notice Zim's reactions at all.

The rest of the human's words seemed to fade into the background, everything was blurry again, time felt as if it was going both slower and faster.

He had invaded the wrong planet, he had been from the start. He knew this. But Dib was just spreading salt in his wounds now, he was taunting him.

Zim clutched the scissors in his hand, making them cut through the paper, he didn't care about that though.

Zim's eyes were arched in emotion, he thought he might've even felt his tears threatening to flow again.

He felt his calmness dropping just as the paper in his hands had.

He met Dibs eyes, who dragged off whatever sentence he'd just been chattering about, pausing, noticing his reaction.

Zim let out a cry, a grunt of fury and out of a fit of rage, used the scissors in his hand, and aimed straight for Dib.