Jimmy walked down the street. His attempts to suppress his feelings thus far had not proven to be as exemplary as his scientific discoveries. He just could not shut her out of his mind no matter how hard he tried. He looked back on the days of their childhood. They first met when he moved into town one day. He did not expect to find anyone who could rival him in scientific matters, but alas, she had been the one to occupy that spot. Surprisingly, their competition did not repel him, but actuated his love for her. A woman with whom he could hold a steady conversation had always been something for which he yearned. Her looks of apparent disdain, while he attempted to shrug them off, affected him deeply, for in truth he had always craved her affection. When he arrived at the Candy Bar, he shook himself from his dreamlike state and entered. He approached the table at which he usually met his friends and sat down. They had not arrived yet, and Jimmy whispered maledictions under his breath as he was cursed to further indulge in his thoughts of Cindy. He had been having these thoughts for a while everywhere he went unless he had a distraction at hand. It was always confounding, his love for her. Her pugnacious attitude certainly wouldn't attract a majority of teenage boys, but for whatever reason, the way she contravened him was the thing he liked about her the most. He simply could not wrap his mind around these feelings he had for her. Of course, there was that one ephemeral instance they had shared on the island. She seemed to be genuinely interested in him wihout the others around. Perhaps it had all been a ruse designed to increase her apparent fortitude. After all, she despised the fact that her crown as the smartest in town had been usurped. He wondered if the confrontations they frequently held were disingenuous in actuality. Her actions as a whole were extremely discordant. He sat there with his head in his hands, confused in contemplation. He was a neophyte, an underling incapable of handling decisions in a field such as this. He was a man of science, not a man of romance. He didn't know the first thing about women. He glanced out the window in an attempt to suspend these thoughts on hiatus when, through the barely translucent window, as Sam had likely not cleaned them in eight months, he noticed Sheen and Carl striding up to the front entrance. They entered the establishment and claimed their usual seats beside Jimmy and inquired as to what he had been pondering. These were his best friends; they had every right to know what was going on in his life. He told them about the way he felt for Cindy, his urge to spend all of his time with her for no logical reason. At first, they abjured the proposal. There was no way on Earth those two would end up together after all the fighting they had done. However, as Jimmy protested, their docile minds began to comprehend the enormity of the situation they were handling. Their first reaction was to issue him a serious caveat. Should he ever tell her of his feelings, he could be solely culpable for the utter annihilation of their tightly knit group of friends. The persistence with which he spoke was laudable, but Sheen and Carl agreed that he needed to be more frugal with his love. A girl like Cindy would never fall for him in a million years. He'd be better off with Betty Quinlan. Unfortunately for Jimmy, his heart has different plans. He thanked his friends for the advice and began his long journey home. He had taken this path many times before, but on this occasion, it felt a bit more painful. His thoughts plagued him as he returned to the cold and loveless emptiness of his lab. His science would not help him now, and if science couldn't help him, then what would?