Hello y'all! This is a oneshot I've been wanting to write for a while now. Thought it was best to get it out while I was still on my JN kick! I'm not entirely satisfied with this but I did put a substantial amount of work into it, so I guess it's whatever.

Recommended Listening: The Scientist by Coldplay

Reviews are deeply appreciated! Also, I don't own JN!

A storm was approaching Retroville. It looked absolutely ghastly outside. The sky was an eerie shade of red and dust was flying erratically across the front lawn of Retroville High School.

Cindy tapped her foot impatiently against the wooden leg of her desk. It was getting late and she needed to get home in time for her piano lesson. She was sure her mom had forcibly convinced her teacher to drop by even though the weather was awful. She dreaded her lessons—she found them to be terribly tedious, and she wished she could substitute them with extra lessons in Judo or Jujutsu.

Finally, she heard the sound of shuffling feet in the hallway. She breathed a sigh of relief. The sooner she handed in her extra credit essay on Wuthering Heights, the soonershe could run back home before her mom blew a gasket at her. Ms. Conrad, her AP English teacher made her way into the classroom with a bunch of papers tucked under her arm. She was joined by none other than Jimmy Neutron. Immediately Cindy's mouth pressed into a scowl. The very sight of the teen genius made her blood boil and her heart sing—err, sick. His clear blue eyes had none of their usual shine, and his hair was neatly combed back as customary.

Why did Neutron look so upset? Probably a bad score on that essay. She sniggered quietly to herself. He probably forgot some key element of analysis. I bet he didn't even add that an underlying theme was the tragically self-consuming nature of passion. But then again, what does Neutron know about passion?

Jimmy may have staked out his spot at the top in the sciences, but the humanities were Cindy's claim to fame. She smoked him in any subject that involved the least bit of emotional intelligence and perceptiveness about human nature. He wasn't too far behind though—seeing as he was a genius.

Her lips curled into a smirk as their eyes met. He looked downright miserable and failed to even acknowledge her. Cindy only took this as a further sign of defeat.

"It is truly a shame James. I'm going to miss having you in my class." Ms. Conrad looked at him with an odd mixture of pity and sadness. Cindy was confused. Was Neutron dropping AP English? This late in the year? She rubbed her hands together diabolically underneath her desk. She was going to have a field day with this one!

Jimmy simply nodded. "Thank you Ms. Conrad." He seemed to have difficulty responding. He handed her a stack of books he'd borrowed. Cindy recognized the blue cover art of The Great Gatsby and the worn spine of Tess of the D'Urbervilles. Ms. Conrad set the books on her desk and offered her hand to Jimmy to shake. His hands seemed to quiver as he returned the gesture. "I wish you luck James." He managed to thank her again before he all but ducked out of the room without even stopping to glance at his rival.

Cindy smiled to herself. This was golden! Neutron was so ashamed of his failure that he could barely bear to look her in the eye. Ignoring the gnawing feeling of disappointment that was growing in her stomach, she reflected that this was perhaps the best day of junior year—

"Ahh Cindy. You have that essay for me?" Ms. Conrad looked a little downcast. No matter. Cindy practically shoved her essay at her teacher and ran out of the room. Nothing could ruin this glorious day for Cindy.

"Wait up Nerdtron!" Cindy panted as she caught up to a sullen Jimmy. He didn't even stop to address Cindy with some choice insults as he might on any other day. Cindy didn't care. She began to gloat.

"I can't believe it. Jimmy Neutron—a coward." A smug look occupied her features as he turned to face her. She didn't even notice his growing look of frustration as she continued her diatribe of affronts. "I mean, I knew your essay on Willy Loman's character in Death of a Salesman wasn't particularly adept seeing as it only received a 92%, but come now, I didn't think you'd actually quit the class."

Jimmy didn't say anything for a few seconds. After a few more minutes of her haranguing, he found that he had had quite enough. "Please, Cindy, for the love of Newton—not today." His voice was deathly quiet—packed with venom and some quivering, unidentified emotion.

"What's wrong Spewtron? Can't handle a taste of your own egotistic medicine?" She spat. Years of coming second had turned her bitter and had only made things more complicated.

Jimmy opened his mouth and closed it again. He seemed to contemplate telling her some horrible truth, but decided against it. Cindy saw a flicker of heartache flash across his eyes.

"I'm not quitting AP English." Cindy gaped at him, a sinking feeling building in her throat. "If you're not—"

"I'm moving. And I needed to see all my teachers to say goodbye and hand back textbooks."

Cindy's knees felt very weak all of a sudden. She felt like she'd been hit with a giant stone. "Where?"

"Across the country. My dad has a new job, and I got an offer I couldn't refuse."

Her secret nightmare was coming true—he was leaving. He had left once back in the fifth grade and she'd been a wreck then but he'd come back and she'd avoided a complete breakdown. But now—things were different now. The rows of red lockers blurred before her as her eyes misted over with tears.

She angrily wiped them away with her sleeve before he could notice. "You didn't think it was important to mention this to me, Neutron?"

"I didn't think you cared." Came his indignant reply.

Cindy took a second to ponder this. Jimmy Neutron thought that she, Cindy Vortex, didn't care that he was leaving. It was rather preposterous. She'd ragged on him, taunted him, and acted insufferably towards him, but surely he had to—know? Surely he had to understand—what she could barely understand herself. It shook her to her very core, and the urge to just fall apart right then and there washed over her.

Despite his previous actions to ignore her, he reached out and touched her arm. "Err—are you okay, Cindy?"

Cindy flared up again, resentful at his very touch. Oh the things it did to her—"There's clearly a bunch of loose screws in that immense head of yours, Neutron."

"So you—care?" He ventured boldly. He might as well. He had a meager twenty four hours left in this town and it was likely that he would never see Cindy Vortex again. For some reason that thought pricked at the edges of his mind. For better or for worse, they had known each other for something like ten years. It wasn't without some measure of agony that he uttered these words.

Cindy searched desperately for a meaningful response but nothing came. He's going to leave forever and I still can't bring myself to come out with it. She staredat himawestruck. He stood there patiently, wresting his gaze from her for a few seconds to worriedly stare out the window at the growing storm. In this moment of colossal need, Cindy felt words failed her.

Merely moments ago, she'd been sneering at him because she thought he was leaving her English class. She noted -not without some amount of regret that she would no longer walk into class to plop into the seat next to him, ready for whatever literary debate they were going to conduct that day.

Now she was imbued with the knowledge that Jimmy Neutron was leaving this school and this town for good. And the only words she could utter came tumbling out in a tart voice. "Guess valedictorian will go to the rightful winner now." The stoic look on Jimmy's face was replaced by one of open hurt. His sapphire eyes smarted with fresh tears at her jab. He forced himself to remain calm however, and glanced at the floor and then back up at her after he had composed himself.

Cindy looked wholly unlike herself. Her forehead was crinkled with concern, her emerald eyes seemed hazy and her lips were trembling.

"Congratulations Vortex." His voice sounded hollow, and after a few more minutes of studying her expression, he turned and walked down the hallway. Cindy's mind was screaming at her to apologize, to run after him, to tell him she didn't give a rat's ass about some dumb title.

She didn't, she couldn't. Her pride and ego simply would not allow it. She remained rooted to the spot, falling to her knees as he walked away. She let out a pained cry. Vitriolic spite flooded her senses. She broke down and let out her suppressed sobs. She didn't want to be valedictorian. She didn't want it at all.

If out of doubt that anything had transpired in the hall, Jimmy turned back to look one last time at the hallowed hallways where he'd spent the better half of the last two years. He pictured laughing with Carl and Sheen and getting whacked by Libby and even his arguments with Cindy about string theory and the moral repercussions of European colonialism. He felt like he'd been dealt a great blow to his gut. He gulped and focused on a point in the distance. At the very end of the hallway, a flash of green stood out. He could make out the faint outline of Cindy. An all too familiar pain tugged at his heart. Did he really want to end things like this? He found his feet dragging him back to where he had been moments ago of their own accord. As he approached her, he instantly lost sight of any ire he'd had against her. She was on her knees, ceremoniously crying like a child. Against his better judgment, he knelt to the floor and embraced her. She didn't fight it. She shed tears into his red cotton shirt. "Jimmy, I don't want to be valedictorian."

He was remarkably moved by her unsettling state. Cindy was never this vulnerable. He'd never seen her cry in all the years he'd known her and yet here she was sobbing in his arms—he supposed there was a first (and technically a last) for anything. It was still disconcerting to see the strongest girl he knew bawling. It was only made more alarming by her repetition of that same sentence over and over. I don't want to be valedictorian, I don't want to be valedictorian, I don't want to be valedictorian.

"But you deserve it."He whispered.

She looked up at him with wide eyes. "Admitting to my intellectual superiority, N-Neutron?"
He managed a smile. "Hardly, Vortex." It was no concession, but it was enough to assure her for the time being. She buried her head in his shirt again. He drunk in her jasmine scent and closed his eyes.

Somehow this didn't feel like goodbye—couldn't be goodbye. Jimmy didn't know if he wanted to be the one to have to say it, but he felt shouldered now with the burden of exorcising the ghosts of the unspoken words that had always lain between them.

"I love you." He said quietly, his heart racing. Cindy looked at him with an expression of total surprise. He had caught her off guard. Every moment shot through her mind—their kiss after the news show, their idyllic night on the island, their countless arguments. It all culminated into this. Cindy couldn't help but think how cruel time was. Everything she'd ever wanted was right in front of her and it would all be taken away in the space of twenty-four hours. She clung desperately to him, and at long last offered an indubitable confession of her own. "I love you too."

Instilled with the comprehension of reciprocation, the two smiled at each other shyly, almost forgetting the context in which the disclosure had been made. As the storm raged on outside, they continued to hold each other tightly.