--Previously--

I coughed, gaining his attention. His antennae twitched slightly and he stood stiff before turning around to face me. Speechless - that's what he was. When he'd seen the scowl on my face, he immediately thought this had something to do with himself.
"Zim... I think we need a plan, and fast!" 
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My eyes skimmed over my Dads newly written work on his computer; he left the room and headed to bed. As usual, he'd forgotten to turn his computer off again; it was probably due to the lack of sleep he'd caught. What he'd written so far wasn't all that bad, but he had remembered quite a lot - not to mention that I didn't have time to delete the most important piece of work!

The draft looked like any other. It started with him writing the date and his name, then he wrote about everything he could possibly remember. Of course, he missed out a few details here and there, but not many. What really caught me off guard was seeing two similar images upon scrolling down. The camera quality wasn't the best, neither did the boy in the image pose for the camera. It made sense since he didn't realise the image was taken of him at the time. 
I shuffled back from the computer. It was indeed Zim: the first image taken when he was in his human disguise, he'd stood stiff and pointed a finger towards an unknown figure - it was blured; the second image had a completely different vision to it. Zim - in this one - looked a little flustered, his wig was mostly on his head but one antennae was visible. Of course, Zim had never touched his contacts so his natural eyes weren't visible. It was known to the whole school that he wore contacts (thanks to Jessica). Despite this, they never knew the true reason why - they just assumed he was too shy to wear glasses and couldn't see properly. 

Once I heard footsteps, I scurried behind the door, trying not to make a peep. When it came to  the right time (as my Dad was walking to his desk) I took this as an opportunity to creep out of the office. Indeed, it was successful! Still, I never got to deleting that document.
Maybe it was a good thing. That if I had deleted it, my Dad would know exactly who did it and why they did it. I've already went through that trouble once (and quite recent too). There wasn't a chance I'd waste risking it again. There had to be another way...
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About an hour later, I made my way into school and sat at my desk. The teacher had just taken the register and we'd all settled for the morning. It was no surprise the day was boring. As the day progressed, I began to feel even more anxious. I just couldn't stop thinking about the images that were taken. By now, Dad was probably awake; if so, he's definitely began writing the article. 
You see, what my Dad does first is jot down all of the information he's collected. Then, he'd start on the article. The surprising fact is that he's usually quicker with writing an article this way. 

My worry did not go unnoticed.

Practically everyone knew that I was somewhat distressed, yet only Alex bothered to talk to me about it. Time passed and it was soon lunch. Our group sat at the table: me, Dib, Gaz and Alex (Zim kept a distance because Dib was sat with us today). While everyone seemed to be eating the slop they called food, I had my very own lunch in front of me. Still, I never touched it; I just looked at it, resting my head on my hand supported by my elbow. 
"Alright," Alex huffed, "what's wrong?" 
This question caught the attention of everyone on the table, but was targeted at me. Within an instant, Gaz and Dib dropped their forks and looked up at my face. I would've much preferred to tell Alex or Gaz - without Dib - I couldn't. Me and him weren't exactly on the best terms right now, he just sat there since he was used to it. So I started,
"Basically, my Dad's writing an article about-" It was then I stopped myself. I couldn't tell her every detail - she doesn't even know Zim's an alien! Though it was tempting, there was no way I'd risk another one knowing about Zim's identity - she'd think I was crazy anyway. No matter how hard I thought, I just couldn't bring myself to talk. Gaz could see I was struggling with words so she made something up; something that would - in a way - relate to my real-life problems. She was definitely some sort of mind reader. Either that, or she was eavesdropping on Dib and I yesterday.
"She's sad because her Dad is a journalist and he's writing an article about something unimportant. She's afraid he'd get himself fired." Alex perked up.
"Really?" She questioned with her mouth full of food. "What's it about?"
This only made it worse. Now Gaz was left on the spot.
One surprising thing is that Dib was the one to save my skin this time.
"It's my fault! I took a few pictures of 'missing posters' and sent them to her Dad. For some reason, he came up with the title 'Teenagers missing - Some suggest they got lost!'" Dib shrugged. That only made my Dad look stupid so I glared at him, he (again) shrugged with more movement this time. I rolled my eyes at his behaviour.
"Yes... he came up with that. Thank you, Dib, for clarifying that." I clenched my teeth, noticing some spit coming out of my mouth with I later wiped off the table with the end of my sleeve. The spit part only made it awkward since everyone on the table noticed. Now I felt embarrassed...

I grabbed my lunch box and stood up. Watching everyone's expression change slightly made it more of a reason for me to scurry away. So I did. I left and made my way to a large, almost empty table. I sat next to Zim. As you've probably guessed, no one wanted to sit next to Zim. It was sad, really, but now he had company - angry company. With a sigh, I dropped my lunch box onto the table and made myself comfortable. This alarmed Zim, so he turned to me, watching as I began to shove food into my face. I tilted his head with confusion, nor daring to utter a word.
"Zim..?"
He perked up.
"I don't know what to do, okay! You've asked me to think of a solution but I can't!!" I raised my voice, pulling strands of hair out of my head. "I just-"
"(Y/N)." He helped me relax a little by putting both of his hands on my shoulders. "Quiet. Don't worry. We have time."
He tried reassuring me and it worked a little. But I knew we did have much time left anyway. Perhaps he said that to keep me hopeful. But then I saw that unnerving, confident smirk.
"If the time runs out, however, I'm sure you wouldn't mind leaving this planet forever."

Before I had time to react, Alex came rushing over to me. She sat next to me, leaving me in the middle of both her and Zim. With a bright smile, she pointed a finger to the sky, suggesting a solution.
"You can always find a better article!"
I realised where she was going with this and began to smile myself, forgetting the conversation me and Zim just had. I am rather glad I did. If I had remembered frankly what was going on, I would've felt frightened.
"Do it when you get home, maybe once your Dad leaves the house. When he's finished writing the article and has already printed it out, replace it. People are dumb on this Earth, they won't even suspect a thing. Just relax, try and find a better, more interesting article and replace it like I said. You can thank me later."  That only confused me.
"I can, but wouldn't they be able to see if it's an existing article?" I questioned, not even realising she'd already answered it beforehand.
"Well, we just hope for the best-" She replied, but Zim cut her off by speaking loudly. He had the intention to put the spotlight on him right now.
"Humans are such stupid creatures! Most of them have the IQ of a brick. I doubt they would ever notice such a thing, as long as money is involved."

Really, her idea was great. The only issue now was the way it'd be carried out.
'Maybe a nice meal with the Membranes would help...'
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A/N: Art!

Word count: 1483 words

Amberzoeheart~