Jimmy and I exchange worried, confused and intrigued glances – though we both knew we just going to be paired up for some kind of contest with our superior knowledge of everything and our talent of doing anything we put our minds too… oh and don't forget our ability to smoke the competition with our extreme-

"CINDY VORTEX GET YOUR HINEY UP HERE!!" the teacher interrupts my thoughts. I grab my bag and rush up to the front joining Jimmy and Mr. Holomer. "Jimmy, Cindy, you too are Retroville's greatest minds." Jimmy and I roll our eyes expecting to either receive an award or compete for one.

"But this whole fighting thing isn't working." his words immediately surprise me. "You and I both know competing is a natural instinct of every living being; but when to exceptional minds like you compete with each other instead of combine your efforts, no one wins – in fact, you can't help but lose!"

"But we've gotten along fine so far individually; I don't see what the problem is?" Jimmy asks. I nod "yeah, we haven't lost anything yet. In fact I would say the competing is what makes us so smart. It boosts our reaction time, our common sense and our ability to predict the next move of our opponent." I add.

"Yes, yes I know kids, and that makes you killer at chess, but this is life. Not a board game. I need you to stop your bickering at once or I won't be able to recommend you to the appropriate college. I know you have it in you to work together, I want to see a dramatic change in attitude by the end of this week or you won't even be able to get into a community college"

I gasp and look at Jimmy, who is studying the board like a precious jewel "Mr. Holomer, could I please talk to Jimmy outside?" I ask.

He nods "take as long as you need to settle this dispute" he stands up from his chair and starts lecturing the class as I drag Jimmy out into the hallway. After the door is closed I begin.

"Alright Nerdbrain, listen up, if I can't even get into a community college, then Yale is obviously unattainable, and I'm not going to stand for that. If it takes blackmailing to make us stop fighting then it is obviously an issue." I say.

Jimmy nods "and I absolutely need to go to Harvard for my medical degree so I can continue doing my experiments to benefit the human race – and that would be off limits too, so truce?"

I extend my hand "shake on it"

He grips it and we shake "now, if we can last the rest of this semester without a word of disagreement, then we'd be home free." I smile "yeah, you off to Harvard and I'd be off to Yale."

"And we won't have to see each other – much less fight – ever again!" he weakly smiles. I frown "don't say that Neutron, I'm sure we'd bump into each other later on in life and by then we'd be over this stupid dispute."

"About tomatoes and cowboys?" he chuckles. I laugh "exactly. Maybe this whole 'no fighting' thing won't be so bad. We'll be over it easily. Just like that" I say snapping.

He rolls his eyes "Vortex think about it, think about our reputation, each and every day we fight about something. This isn't exactly going to be a cakewalk."

"Neutron, if it were a cakewalk, we getting along would be out of pure luck" I say.

He shrugs "I know, I was suggesting we had to work at it, that it wasn't going to be easy." he smiles, trying to lead me along.

I feel a slight anger inside me boiling "I'm sure at our level of intellect that getting along, a very simple thing to do, isn't going to be any trouble at all!" smiling sarcastically back.

He shakes his head "No way Vortex! Being smart doesn't get you out of hard work!"

"It does when you know what to do!!" "No it doesn't vortex!"

"YES IT DOES NEUTRON!!"

"NO IT DOESN'T!!"

"YES IT DOES!!"

"DOESN'T"

"DOES"

"DOESN'T"

"DOES!"

"IT DOESN'T JUST ADMIT IT VORTEX!!"

The door swings open frightening us, I jumped about a foot and Jimmy screamed. Mr. Holomer appears fuming.

"CHILDREN!! You're interrupting our class!! Get in here and stop fighting!" Mr. Holomer pulls us in and we sit down as yet another person chews us out because of our squabbling. "Now I understand that this might take some getting used to, but if it doesn't get done by the end of this week, I will even put in a bad word for you." he continues.

"If this is going to get done, I suggest you practice every night this week. So I'm going to make up a chart, I need you two to see each other at least 2 hours each day after school."

"WHAT!?" Jimmy and I object in unison