Clock Watching
Chapter One / Smells Like Teen Spirit
7:30 am
The morning of Jimmy's thirteenth birthday started out like any other. His annoyingly noisy alarm dragged him from his dreams around seven thirty, and he appeared in the kitchen ten minutes later, eyes still half-closed, arm held out sleepily for his usual glass of juice.
After he'd properly woken up, Jimmy looked around expectantly, but his parents – his mom scrubbing the oven, his dad making a tower out of waffles – didn't pay him the slightest attention.
Jimmy finished his breakfast quickly, cleared his throat, and opened his mouth to say something, but his mom got there first.
"Jimmy! Oh, I almost forgot! Do you know what day it is, young ,man?"
"Well of course, mom, I-"
"That's great Jimbo," said his dad. "We'll see you later! We're going shopping for pie, they've got a new flavour out!"
"Huh?" was the only reply Jimmy could muster.
"Jimmy, you said you remembered. It's opening day down at that new hardware
Store, and you promised your father new toaster parts! Though I don't know if there's much point anymore, after what happened to the last...twenty five." Judy Neutron sighed deeply, as if she was remembering something particularly unpleasant.
Jimmy chose to ignore the end of his mom's rant, still not believing how blasé they were being, about such a...significant day!
"That's, um, it?" he asked, suspiciously.
"Yes, honey. Why, was there something else?" His mom smiled at him, but Jimmy couldn't detect anything unusual in her expression.
His parents left in a hurry, Hugh clapping excitedly at the thought of pie, and Jimmy watched them go, thinking hard. How could his parents think he was so naive? Of course he knew they were up to something. Something to do with his birthday. But what?
***
Once he was washed and dressed, surprisingly quickly thanks to his beloved old inventions, and numerous new ones he had created in the last year or so, Jimmy headed outside, intending to find Carl and Sheen, but instead crashed straight into someone else.
"Watch where you're going, Nerd-tron!", came Cindy's automatic response. Then paused, took a deep breath and, in a much friendlier voice, spoke over Jimmy's half-formed angry retort.
"Sorry Jimmy. Are...are you alright?"
What was going on? Sure Cindy was his friend now, and their relationship was far more civil than back in elementary school, but her abrupt and apparently deliberate change of tone threw Jimmy momentarily, for reasons he would think about later. He knew he should answer, but Jimmy could only nod and carry on staring. At Cindy. What was that about?
The atmosphere was touching on awkward now.
"Well, uh, I'll see you later Jimmy!" Cindy said as she started to walk away. Then she turned around and mumbled, very quickly, "Happybirthday."
That was nice, thought Jimmy. She actually remembered. He smiled to himself, and, in an inexplicably cheerful mood, carried on walking to Carl's house.
There was no-one in. Or at Sheen's. They weren't likely to go anywhere without Jimmy, but he checked the Candybar just in case. No Carl or Sheen. He thought things were getting a little weird, but couldn't think of anywhere else to look, so he started back home, stopping off at the hardware store on his way.
***
Jimmy had been gone about an hour, and his parents weren't back yet, but this didn't surprise him in the least. He knew his dad and pie!
Jimmy called for Goddard and went out into the backyard, already plucking out a hair to be scanned. As he and Goddard approached the clubhouse, something caught Jimmy's eye. A piece of paper was taped to the door, with his name written at the top.
Jimmy,
We knew you'd find this here! But no sneaking off to your lab today, genius! There's something waiting for you at Cindy's house, so get over there quick! See you soon...
Your friends
Ps. Make sure you ring the door bell before you come in!
Jimmy was suddenly very excited, but he forced his legs to go slow on the walk over the road, and as he went he wondered what his surprise was, with Goddard following patiently behind him.
He walked up the few steps, slowly pushed in the button on the door bell, and waited. He thought he knew what was coming.
***
Jimmy was right, of course. The door flew open with a bang, and he was deafened with a shout of "SURPRISE" coming from over fifty people crammed into Cindy's living room. Why it was happening at her house was anyone's guess, but Jimmy sure was happy to see his parents and all his friends clapping and cheering, and, more importantly, holding presents! Jimmy felt his mouth stretch in a massive grin that he had no hope of containing.
"C'mon, Jimmy, open my present! Open it! Open it!" cried Sheen, practically nose-to-nose with Jimmy.
"Noo She-een," whined Carl. "I want jimmy to open mine now!"
Jimmy finally escaped who knows how much later, having placated them by announcing he would open everything at home after the party. He saw Cindy looked quite disappointed with this, but he had no time to wonder, he was soon preoccupied with his parents, both excited (well, mostly Hugh) about how they had 'fooled' him that morning. Jimmy played along for a while, but he still had one burning question.
"Mum, Dad. Why is my party at Cindy's house?" he asked, half eager, half fearing the answer.
"Well, dear, she insisted. Said she wanted to do your party herself. She is such a sweet girl! You really should go and thank her, sweetie."
"Uh, yeah. Yeah, I will, Mum," said Jimmy, and he looked all around him, but out of all the happy faces, he couldn't see the one he wanted.
"She's upstairs," said a voice quietly in Jimmy's ear, and he jumped, slightly startled. He turned and saw Libby, smiling knowingly, and nodded his thanks as he struggled through the crowd to the stairs.
Having reached Cindy's room at last, he wondered if he should knock. The problem was solved for him, as the door opened to reveal exactly who he was looking for.
"I thought I heard someone clomping up the stairs," she said, smiling at him. Jimmy just stood there, gormlessly smiling back. "Come in, then!" He wondered in after her, and they sat awkwardly side-by-side on the bed.
"I wanted to give you your present now, if-if that's ok...," she said, holding out a small box, looking apprehensive. Jimmy took it wordlessly, and lifted the lid. Inside was a short, thick, silver chain, with a small circular charm hanging off it. He looked at Cindy questioningly.
"It's a chain for guys, don't worry!" She laughed nervously. "It sorta attaches to your jeans...," she took the chain out of the box and did just that for him, and Jimmy had to stop himself from flinching at her warm touch. He fingered the silver charm, and discovered that it opened, like a locket. Inside was a tiny picture of...
"Me." Cindy said, unnecessarily. "I got it as a...reminder. Um, I mean, you meet all these girls.... There was April, and then there's Betty, and I just thought, maybe, it would make you, well, think of...me." She couldn't look at him, and instead kept her gaze fixed on the faded pink pattern of her blanket.
"It's lovely. Really, really nice. Brilliant." Jimmy was talking in a loud voice, shocked by Cindy's blatant nerves, when she was normally so sure of herself, her amazing, but also slightly scary, gift, and by the way he was reacting to it.
"I, uh, I mean... Thanks," he mumered, in a much quieter voice.
"Your welcome," she whispered back, mocking his tone, all self-consciousness gone once again, but took his hand and smiled at him, to let him know she was joking.
"I guess I'll have to come up with something to top this," Jimmy said after a moment, his voice teasing.
"Ha! You couldn't top that in a million years!"
"Oh, really?"
"Really!" Cindy giggled.
They were whispering again now, and Cindy's face was alarmingly close. Jimmy swallowed nervously. His eyes slid shut of there own accord as he moved his face even closer, and he suddenly found himself kissing Cindy, properly, and everything else was wiped from his mind.
The evening of Jimmy's thirteenth birthday ended like no other. Perfectly.
THE END *