AUTHOR'S NOTE: This story completely SUCKS, so read at your own risk. The end is kinda cute, though.
Current time--6:03 a.m. (5:00 a.m.-7:00 a.m. quiet time)
Dib sat on the bottom bunk, studying the trail the campers would be going down that day.
Zim jumped off of the top bunk and hit the wooden floor of the cabin with a thud. As he walked to the door to the halls of the cabin, Dib looked up at him and asked, "What are you doing up so early? No one has to get for another hour."
"What does it look like I'm doing?" Zim leaned against the door. "I'm going to the bathroom, not that it's any of your filthy business."
Dib smirked. "Hold on just a sec. I've got a dare for you."
"What kind of dare? I accept!"
"Don't you want to know what the dare is first before you accept it?"
"Tell Zim the dare already!"
"Hold it till eight tonight. Do you accept?"
"Of course I accept! I AM ZIM!"
"And I still don't care, no matter how many times you say that. It's actually starting to get a lot more annoying than it was at first."
Current time--10:34 a.m. (9:00 a.m.-11:30 a.m. free time)
"It's ten thirty," Dib commented. "Are you gonna give up yet?"
"It's only been four and a half hours, Dib-Flith," Zim replied. "The time has just flown by. The next ten hours will be a breeze as well."
"Will they really?" Dib pulled the folded-up map out of his right back pocket. "Look at today's hiking trail? I chose today to dare you on purpose."
Zim unfolded the map and looked at the trail marked with blue ink. "That's very nice. But all those streams won't have any effect on ZIM!" he lied.
"Okay, then. I'm gonna go and watch the girls' dodgeball match. See ya later!"
Once Zim was sure that Dib was gone, he leaned back against the tree and buried his face in his hands. "Only four hours? Time is going be so slowly today. I can't make it ten more hours, and the hiking trail we're going down realy isn't going to help, either. What have I gotten myself into?"
Current time--1:13 p.m. (12:30 p.m.-1:30 p.m. safety reminders & lecture)
"Hey, Zim, you're pretty fidgety," Dib commented. "Are you considering giving up yet? We both know that I'm going to win the dare, so why do you even try?"
"I am...a self-respecting...Irken Invader," Zim replied, moaning quietly between his words. He could hardly get his mind off of his awful pain for a couple seconds; how was he going to manage seven more hours of torture?
"You're going to have a lot less self-respect by the end of the day." Dib smirked. "You're obviously not too self-respecting if you decide to risk total humiliation for just a couple of seconds of satisfaction. It's not worth it, moron."
"Non...NONSENSE!"
Dib rolled his eyes. "Whatever you say."
Current time--2:18 p.m. (1:30 p.m.-4:45 p.m. hiking trip)
"About six more hours, Zim. Are you sure you don't just want to give up already?" Dib taunted the suffering alien whom he had been unlucky enough to get paired up with.
"I'm...just fine," he replied. "And I...refuse to...give up."
"Why don't you just stop torturing youself already?"
"I will not...give up. I'm no baby!"
At this point, Zim was focusing on four things: not crying, not showing desperation, not peeing himself, and ignoring the small streams that trickled right next to the path. He knew he was blushing a little, but he didn't really care; there probably wasn't a single person who would notice.
Current time--5:11 p.m. (5:00 p.m.-6:00 p.m. dinner time)
"Are you...are you crying?" Dib asked Zim, sitting down across from him. "I'm a bit surprised."
"N-no," Zim replied shakily. "Z-Zim would...never!"
"Okay, sure, that's nice. But you are, I'm looking right at you."
As Gaz walked by the table, she looked over and noticed something that she found quite interesting. "Wow, Dib, how badly did you have to torture Zim to get him to cry like that?"
"He accepted a simple dare and it's really been torturing him. I didn't think he'd cry like this, though. I honestly didn't expect him to cry at all until he was completely humiliated in front of everyone."
"I..am not...crying..." he sobbed. "Why don't...you two just...go somewhere else?"
Current time--7:59 p.m. (7:00 p.m.-8:10 p.m. campfire time)
"Impressive. Ten more seconds."
"Zim...always...wins."
"I'm quite surprised. I never thought that--"
Zim got to his feet and raced off towards the bathrooms. Gaz got up to go after him, but Dib grabbed her arm. "Don't go after him. You're not allowed in the boys' bathroom anyway."
Gaz glared at her brother. "I'm going after him whether you want me to or not!" she yelled, her voice sounding more like Haruhi Suzumiya's than her own. "Guys' bathroom or girls' bathroom, I don't care. I'm not afraid tell you all how I feel right now! I feel sorry for the poor little guy! Who do you think you are, torturing him like that, Dib?"
She broke free from her brother's grasp and ran into the boys' bathroom. She unlocked the last stall with her fingers and walked in, closing and locking it behind her.
"What do you want?" Zim demanded bitterly. "Do whatever you want to me... Dib was right after all. I was being really stupid."
"No, I don't want to do anything with you," Gaz promised. She gave the poor aien boy a smile and Zim instantly felt a little more secure. "I want to help you. I'm sorry for my brother's actions. I actually couldn't blame you if you mad at me because of what Dib did."
"G-Gaz?"
"What is it?" She took off her jacket and tied it around Zim's waist. "This'll help."
"It's pretty cold out tonight, though..."
"The campfire is really close. I'll make it. Sorry it's pink, but it's all I've got." She held out her hand. "I'll hold hands with you on the way there."
"That'll ruin your reputation with all your friends, won't it?"
"Who cares what those morons think? I can have a crush on whoever I want to, I can be friends with whoever I want to, I can do what I want to. Just walk me back. It's really cold outside and I want to be able to stay warm. If you don't want to be friends, just let us be friends for a couple hours. That's all I ask." She yawned, looking quite tired, but extremely adorable. "Please?"