And we're back! (What?) I said that we're back, Sheen. (Oh… didn't realize you had left). Sheen, it had been a while since I posted a story in this section of the site… how couldn't you notice it? (Uh… you were talking to me? I was remembering something that happened yesterday in Ultralord's show.)
I should have known… okay, can you say the disclaimer, please? (Of course I can do it, compadre… DISCLAIMER; Ramiro here doesn't own any character portrayed in the story. My good old pal Jimmy and yours truly, as well as the rest of the gang, are copyrighted by Nickelodeon and DNA Productions, and used here just for fun.)
Thanks a lot, Sheen; enough with the introduction… and now… (Let me say it, please!); fine, do it, Sheen. (TO THE LAB… oh, wait, wrong line… ON WITH THE SHOW!)
Musical Confession.
A Jimmy Neutron's story by Acosta Pérez José Ramiro.
"BRAAAK! Okay, kids, take out your Art notebooks, because you'll start working on your projects."
Most of Miss Fowl's class got happy expressions, and took out their notebooks in excitement… most of them, that is, with the exception of the school's most brilliant student.
"Why we need to have Art in this school?" Jimmy groaned as taking out his notebook, which didn't go unnoticed by the blonde sitting next to him.
"What's the matter, Nerdtron? Are you afraid my project is going to beat your again?"
"Vortex, please do the both of us a favor and close your oral cavity for once." Jimmy replied while opening his notebook, staring angrily at the blank page.
"Hey, it's not my fault that a Chihuahua has more artistic creativity than you." Cindy joked, making Jimmy to glare at her while Libby, sitting next to the blonde, rolled her eyes for the hundredth time, as she did whenever a heavy argument between her friends was ready to start.
"Jimmy has more creativity than a Chihuahua!" Sheen defended his pal, and then got a thoughtful expression. "Unless you're talking about that one that sells tacos; the little guy is an Oscar-deserving genius!"
Jimmy, as well as Miss Fowl (who had been watching the whole exchange, ready to act in case it was needed) and everyone else around Sheen, rolled his eyes at the Mexican's comment. A moment later, everyone was working as said; they all knew that Miss Fowl would allow them to work on the projects for the rest of the day, so nobody was really in a hurry and, except Jimmy, could enjoy the assignment.
Jimmy sighed while still staring at the page; as much as he hated to admit it, Cindy was totally right. His brain's logical and scientific side was so enhanced that the artistic one was almost totally undeveloped, which made him the less capable student on this particular kind of work; Sheen had tons of imagination, and could draw anything popping on his head and make it look cool (even if sometimes wasn't easy to identify); Carl was pretty good making clay figurines, and only needed a half-made drawing to get an idea about how to do them; Libby, of course, breathed and transpired music, and could make an award-winning song any day before breakfast; and Cindy, well, she excelled in any artistic discipline, so, when competing with her, instead of being an even match (as it normally was on other classes), Jimmy felt like a flea trying to stop a tank, or, as the blonde mockingly said once, Barney fighting Godzilla.
Cindy gave him a discreet look, and sighed. The girl was feeling awful and ashamed of herself for degrading and mocking Jimmy; when she did it on other classes, the girl knew the boy could always ignore or not take her comments so seriously since he was aware of his superior intellectual capacity and at the end his grades could silence her, but, when it came to Art, he felt insecure about his skills and inferior not just compared to her, but the rest of the class as well.
"Why I keep doing this? I'm just hurting someone I care more than anything or anyone else… and no matter how bad I feel, I know tomorrow will do it again!" Cindy thought as staring at her own sheet, and then, after giving a last, deep sigh, started writing on it; she never really thought about what she would do when working on Art. The girl simply allowed her mind to guide her hands, and the poem, song, or essay on her head would take form on its own, being as natural on her as breathing; later, she would just work on the style and do some minor corrections.
RIIIIIING!
The sound of the bell woke up Cindy from her daydreaming; the girl looked down at what she had written, and gasped.
"There's no way I'm going to use this for my project! I have to be more careful… my mind has one of its own!" Cindy thought as quickly closing her notebook and praying nobody had read it over her shoulder of something.
"What's your project about, Cindy?" Libby asked her.
"Uh… guess my muse is on vacation or something, Libby; this first drabble wasn't as good as I expected. Actually, it's so bad I'll rather throw it away." Cindy commented as quickly opening up the notebook and making a ball out of the sheet she had been writing on.
"Maybe I can correct it…"
"Thanks, but... it's not good at all. Trust me." Cindy said as making a perfect three-pointer from her desk to the wastebasket. Libby arched an eyebrow at her, but said nothing as everyone started leaving the classroom.
"So, did you have a good idea for the project, Jimmy?" Carl asked his friend as them and Sheen left the classroom.
"No… I made a little drabbling, but nothing really came out of it." Jimmy rubbed his temples.
"You only need inspiration, Jimmy. Why don't you use my method? Lots of sugar, a videogame, and the newest Ultralord's movie, 'Attack of the Zombie Robots; The Director's Cut', and you'll get a million ideas." Sheen said as taking out the movie's DVD out from nowhere.
"You brought it to the school again?" Carl asked while rubbing the back of his head.
"Yes… I did… I DON'T HAVE A PROBLEM!"
Jimmy sighed at Sheen's outburst, and then stopped on his tracks, slapping his forehead.
"Oh, I was so messed up because of this Art thing I forgot my Math book at the classroom! See you guys outside." Jimmy said as returning to the room; Carl nodded at him while Sheen hugged his DVD against his chest.
Jimmy grabbed his book and was about to leave when noticing a few paper balls at the wastebasket, obviously rejected projects from his classmates, and got an idea. Despite his usual wackiness, Sheen made a good point when suggesting him to get a little inspiration; maybe some of the others' drabbles would give Jimmy an idea for his own. The boy genius grabbed a few balls, and unfolded them.
"Wait… this is Cindy's writing! Weird… she is quite good on this class, and never throws away her works, at least not that I know." Jimmy thought as reading the paper; his eyes wide-opened, and his jaw fell. It took him a few seconds to recover from the shock, and then re-read the paper a few dozen times (being a genius, it only took him a couple of minutes), and then took a deep breath while leaning against the wall, a little smile forming on his face.
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Meanwhile, at the schoolyard…
"Ultra-Queen, wait!"
"Sheen, please don't call me that again." Libby rubbed her temples while turning to face the hyperactive boy running to meet her. Cindy rolled her eyes, wondering what did Libby can see on Sheen to actually considerate him boyfriend material; the blonde could only think about him as raw material for government experiments.
"My bad… anyway, good thing you pointed the love names' detail." Sheen said with his usual large smile. "I had been thinking…"
"Miracles do happen." Cindy thought out loud.
"… and since you hadn't liked any of the love names I had used with you, maybe you would like a Spanish one."
"Excuse me?"
"Hey, I'm Mexican, remember? Spanish is my native language." Sheen said proudly while Carl moved next to him.
"I thought it was Mayan."
"Technically, yes and maybe Aztec too… CARL, DON'T CONFUSE ME!"
"Sorry."
"I might regret this later… okay, Sheen, I'm hearing your suggestions." Libby sighed yet got a little smile. Sheen cleared his throat, and took out a few cards with the names he had thought, mentioning them in his best Casanova's voice.
"Mamacita. Morenita. Morenaza. Mi Reina. Cosita. Preciosa…"
"Uh… Sheen, I don't know what those words mean."
"Ah, here's the translation," Sheen passed her a card, "I said 'Mommy', 'Brownie', "Big Brownie', 'My Queen', 'Little Thing', 'Precious'…"
"Nope… none of them; but thanks for the effort," Libby smiled widely at Sheen, who got a goofy (in his case, goofier than usual) grin. Cindy couldn't help but chuckle a little, and feel a little jealous; even if Sheen was as smart as a lobotomized baboon, it was obvious he cared a lot about Libby, and that was something Cindy always hoped could apply to Jimmy and her.
"Can I keep the card, Libby? I can use some names for the baby llamas I'm going to model for the project." Carl shyly asked.
"Talking about that, where's our frustrated art genius?" Cindy asked in the usual mocking tone she always reserved when talking about Jimmy.
"Here." Jimmy said as joining the group, and then addressed the blonde. "Cindy, I can't believe I'm saying this, but need your help with my project."
Everyone froze at Jimmy's speech.
"Someone pinch me, because I'm in shock." Cindy finally said, and then snapped at Sheen, who was about to do it. "It was just an expression, Ultra Moron!"
"Well, excuse me for not being a mind reader!" Sheen replied in a half-offended, half-scared tone while Cindy talked back to Jimmy.
"Okay, Captain Cranium, spill it… you want to prank me, or another of your inventions screwed your brain again?"
"No, I'm serious. Look, there's no use on denying that my artistic abilities aren't as good as yours, and really would like making a decent job on this assignment. I was thinking that, since I can't really do anything original when it comes to music or art in general, my project should be based on other people's works; my idea is using already existing music on someone's original lyrics, you know, like your songs or poems you have done for this class, or maybe get an already existing song and change its style, like using rock n' roll in a hip-hop song and so."
"Well… in that case, Libby would be a better helper."
"She is going to be busy for a while, don't you think?" Jimmy pointed behind Cindy, making her to turn and see that Sheen was already trying the rest of his love names on the Afro-American girl, and it seemed he was far from finishing, especially with Carl asking for the discarded names and translations as well.
"I see what you mean." Cindy rolled her eyes, and pondered about the situation for a moment; she then looked at Jimmy's anxious look, and it was more than she could resist. "Fine, I'll do it… but I want credit on this; I'm not helping just for a certain show-off genius claiming he did all on his own."
"Thanks!" Jimmy smiled widely, and then started walking away. "See you in an hour at my lab; I'm just finishing the rest of the homework so we can dedicate entirely to this; got to blast!" Jimmy waved bye to Cindy and the others, who waved back in reply.
Once he was out of the gang's sight, Jimmy activated his backpack's rocket and flew back home. He really needed to hurry to do what he planned, but didn't want Cindy to know about his eagerness, at least not yet.
After getting home and greeting his parents, Jimmy ran to the clubhouse with Goddard next to him. Once at his lab, Jimmy opened his backpack and took out the paper he got from the wastebasket as well as the books he needed for his homework.
"Goddard, I want you to check these lyrics, and try to accommodate them in some short songs… maybe from TV shows or movies, or something," Jimmy said as showing the paper to his dog, "while I do my homework; it's not too much, and wouldn't take me more than ten minutes or so. Once I'm done, we'll check the songs you already had, and choose one."
Goddard barked while nodding, and then showed his screen to the boy.
"Any style?"
"Well… I would like one for slow dancing… but a more rhythmic and agile tune would fit better, at least for the first try." Jimmy told the dog. Goddard nodded and started checking his files while Jimmy did his homework; the boy finished before he had calculated, and then joined his dog.
"If this works, Goddard, my greatest dream… besides discovering cold fusion, of course… will become truth!"
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Cindy, at her bedroom, finished her homework, which took her less than thirty minutes, and then grabbed a bunch of her poems and songs that she had already used in the past, walking out of her house a couple of minutes later, showing more excitement that she wanted. It wasn't everyday that Jimmy actually invited her to the lab, and this time they were just the two of them (without counting Goddard, of course); with some luck, they wouldn't argue as much as usual, and maybe actually do a fine work together.
"Hey, Neutron, it's me!" Cindy knocked the clubhouse's door, and then took a deep breath, knowing what was coming next. As always, the trapdoor opened under her feet, and the girl fell on her butt; however, unlike other times, Cindy didn't hit the floor, but a soft mattress.
"So, you finally realized it was a good idea to put something to soft the falling, and only took you, how much; a million hits?" Cindy said to Jimmy, who was in front of her.
"I can take an advice when it's said the right way, Vortex." Jimmy said with a discreet smile while offering Cindy his hand to help her stand up. The girl smiled back, and accepted the help.
"So, you already have some tunes, or we're going to choose them together?" Cindy asked as they walked through the lab.
"Goddard and I got some tunes, and actually, already adapted one to a work of yours. We even used my voice synthetizer to make it sound as if you had recorded the song here at the lab." Jimmy said to Cindy while she petted Goddard's head and arched an eyebrow at the boy.
"How did he… of course, he used one of those I already sang in front of the class! Jimmy surely memorized it." Cindy thought, and then realized there was a large dancing floor at the middle of the lab.
"A dancing floor… you really are taking this whole thing seriously!"
"Yes… I thought you would judge my work better if actually enjoying the tune, and, well, since we have danced a few times in the past…" Jimmy rubbed his left arm and smiled shyly while Cindy chuckled nervously.
"Well… you already did all this… why not?" Cindy grinned as she and Jimmy moved to the center of the floor. "So, what tune you chose?"
"It's from an anime, Ranma ½. I had never seen the show, but Goddard found the theme song, and it fitted well with your lyrics; it's for fast dancing."
"Oh, I had seen it… good for a laugh or two."
Jimmy gave Goddard a signal, and the robotic canine started playing the song with the blonde's lyrics and voice. Cindy froze at the spot, and got a shocked expression.
Always love,
Reason doesn't know.
And that's how, into my heart
It did finally come.
How it did
Still don't know
What it was;
Attraction
Or aversion
What us, together brought.
"That's the song I… but… how did you…"
"Want to dance, Cindy?"
The girl smiled widely at her companion, and, a second later, they were both dancing, following the rhythm perfectly.
Always arguing,
Fight for everything.
The weird way
We both chose to flirt.
Why can't simply
Give a chance to us?
One 'Love you'
That's all!
One kiss
That's all!
Everything
For the best would be.
See that time
It's running fast.
Regretting, maybe, we'll later be.
Nobody knows
How much it'll last.
We just have a lifetime
To enjoy it!
If you want,
Jimmy
Yours I'll be!
This love is quickly growing.
Oh, please,
Jimmy,
Just say 'Yes'
And all my heart
You'll receive.
Hear what I'm saying!
Forgive my bitterness.
Give me your tenderness.
Always arguing,
Fight for everything.
The weird way
We both chose to flirt.
Why can't simply
Give a chance to us?
One 'Love you'
That's all!
One kiss
That's all!
Everything
For the best would be.
As the song finished, Cindy and Jimmy, slowly, stopped moving, and gave each other a fond look.
"That song wasn't supposed to be read, you know?" Cindy folded her arms and smirked playfully at Jimmy.
"A girl's garbage is a boy's treasure." Jimmy shrugged. The blonde chuckled, and moved closer to him.
"You know… I made that song without really realizing until it was already finished."
"Maybe your subconscious mind was giving you a little push… I wish mine could work that way." Jimmy stared at Cindy's eyes. The girl did the same, and, a moment later, they both kissed tenderly for a few seconds, with Goddard giving them his best version of a robotic smile.
"Want to hear it in the 'slow dancing' version?" Jimmy lovingly asked Cindy when they broke the kiss.
"There's nothing I would love more, Jimmy." Cindy lied.
Of course there was someone she would love more.
She would always do.
THE END.
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So, what do you think, Sheen? (Short, sappy, but I had some scenes and Libby was here too, so… yes, I liked it.)
Now it's time for a second disclaimer, Sheen. (Sure thing; the anime mentioned in this fic, Ranma ½, is an original creation from Rumiko Takahashi, one of the most famous manga and anime's writers.) That's right, and the lyrics I used are actually a more or less literal translation of the Spanish-dubbed version of the show, with some adaptations and editing, of course. (You should have used Ultralord's theme song; want to hear it?) No, thanks, Sheen; I would like to conserve my ears as undamaged as possible.
So long, everybody, and thanks a lot for reading. (And, by the ultra authority bested on me, I command all of you to leave a review before leaving!) Who gave you the authority? (One of my head's voices; it's a very kind one, unlike the other one that keeps telling me to practice bungee jumping. Tell you, that voice is mean!) Why you say it? (Want me to do it without the rope!)
I'll better leave now. (Me too; so long, guys!)
Keep the good writing.