This installment is a little shorter but I wanted to get something out. Next part is mostly written too, just need to fill in some gaps and edit. I'm going to try and focus on The Crown because I know how anxious some people are about that, and I'm sorry for the delay! Enjoy!

Radio Silence

Cindy was like a forest fire. Took out everything in her path without care. Passionate and strong, with the potential to hurt others. Jimmy could admit that he admired her drive. The girl never stopped. She didn't miss a day of school, a practice, or a club meeting. Jimmy wouldn't be surprised if he learned that she was actually a mutant that never slept or ate. Competitive to a fault, and she acted like she knew everything.

He didn't know what her objective was for trying to turn Betty's party into her own. Popularity? Power? Being able to one-up someone? Those were just guesses but also strong possibilities. Jimmy felt bad for Betty, though. She really was too nice and was going to be pushed around by the person she asked to help her.

Maybe she didn't realize this, but she'd given him leverage by telling him she couldn't swim. He hoped she didn't back out of their deal. He didn't want to use her secret against her.

Not knowing how to swim wasn't a big deal, but to the girl who knew everything, it was bad - in her eyes anyway. He doubted anyone would actually make fun of her but she obviously had it built up inside her head.

"What did she say?" Carl asked when he arrived back to his lab after talking to Cindy. His friends had waited on him eagerly, with DJ powered down on the couch.

"She agreed to it. It took some coercion, but we're good to go."

"How did you do it?" Sheen asked, surprised.

"Cindy's a tough one to crack sometimes," he said vaguely. "You guys want to talk to DJ now that he's been upgraded?"

Sheen rubbed his hands together conspiratorially and Jimmy took that as a yes. He flipped the switch on the back of DJ's neck, and then closed the flap to make the switch invisible to everyone else.

"Hey there dude," Sheen said casually. He held out his hand to DJ for a fist-bump, who returned the gesture without any hesitation or awkwardness. So far, so good. "How do you feel about Ultra Lord?"

Jimmy winced. Hopefully DJ wouldn't launch into an encyclopedia-like monologue about the subject. "It's a good show," DJ said. "For little kids."

Sheen looked enraged and Jimmy slapped hand to his forehead. "Did you program him to say that?! Rude!"

"No, but it technically is a kid's show, Sheen. Which is how he came up with that statement. He's just a robot. Calm down."

Carl made eye contact with DJ, who was looking and acting like anything but a robot in that moment. The machine was different than the first time Jimmy showed it off, and that made Carl uneasy. Something that fake shouldn't feel so real. It was...eerie.

"You have no right to talk that way!" Sheen pointed at DJ accusingly.

"Hey man, I didn't mean to upset you. Everyone has their own thing," DJ replied with his hands up defensively.

Sheen looked to Jimmy with a raised brow. "He seems pretty legit, even if he's a little bit of an asshole. Good job Jim."

Jimmy shut the robot down and smiled. He was glad that he was able to fix DJ so that he was less robotic. He just hoped Cindy, Betty, and the rest of the party-goers would feel the same way his friends did.

-0-0-0-0-0-

Cindy awoke the day before the pool party by her dad shaking her arm annoyingly. If he was still home and not at work, that meant it was early. She lifted her head and looked at the clock. It was only seven.

"What's going on?" She asked tiredly.

"The damn neighbor boy is here asking for you. I told him you were asleep but he wouldn't leave."

"Neighbor boy?"

"Whatshisname. Neutron."

She furrowed her brow and curiosity was strong enough to get her out of bed. She didn't bother to fix her hair or make it look like she hadn't just woken up.

Jimmy was standing near the front door when she went downstairs. He smiled as he saw her. "Good morning."

"What the fuck are you doing here?"

"Swimming lessons."

She glared at him. "Come back in five hours and I'll consider it."

"Cindy," he started calmly. "The party is tomorrow. If you want to at least look like you know the basics of swimming by that time, we need to start now."

"I didn't even ask you to teach me!"

"Luckily for you I'm offering."

She picked up one of her stray flip-flops and hurled it at his head. He dodged it. She thought about picking up the other one but she felt a little better already so decided against it. She sighed.

"Fine. I'll go put a swimsuit on."

She pretended not to see his triumphant smile.

-00-

Cindy's parents left for work and she joined Jimmy in the backyard shortly after. The weather was still cool in the early morning, but the sun was out and strong, promising a warm, beautiful day. Jimmy was already seated at the edge of the pool with his feet dangling in the water. And he had his shirt off.

Cindy didn't think she'd ever seen him shirtless before. Since when did Jimmy Neutron have muscles?

Oh good god. She was ogling him. She needed some caffeine and a lobotomy ASAP.

She stopped next to him but didn't sit, didn't want to touch the water. It was bound to be cold. He looked up at her. "Want me to throw you in?" He asked jokingly.

"No!" She said too quickly. Not only did that sound awful, but she didn't want him to touch her. She could see his shirtless body from the front now, and she couldn't believe her eyes. Making robots and working in the lab had apparently done wonders for him.

"I wouldn't do that. Not yet anyway."

She knew he probably wasn't kidding. She gingerly sat down and dipped her toe in the water. Not too bad.

"I want to know how you're 17 years old and never learned how to swim."

"I took swimming lessons, but they didn't stick, I guess. And once I reached a certain age I just avoided deep bodies of water entirely."

"Most of it is instinctual anyway. I can teach you how to doggy paddle."

She scoffed. "No way, Neutron. If you're going to teach me, at least do it right."

He lifted her up and tossed her in the water easily. When she came back up sputtering and rubbing her eyes, he was laughing. "I can't believe you did that! I could've died!"

"Vortex, you're standing in four and a half feet of water."

So she was, but that didn't stop her from feeling angry. She splashed water at him - a decent amount that soaked his shorts and hair. She laughed at the shocked look on his face but that quickly turned into a scream as he jumped in the water, hell-bent in revenge. She half ran, half tried to swim away from him.

It was all fun and games until suddenly her toes couldn't touch the rough surface of the pool bottom and she panicked. At its deepest, her pool was over six feet deep. She was barely over five feet.

"It's okay," he assured her, pulling her back to the shallow end.

"You know people can drown in an inch of water! I'm surrounded by way more than that!"

"You're not going to drown," he said with a chuckle.

She ripped herself away from his grip and headed towards the pool stairs angrily. "This is a waste of time, Neutron."

"Wow, the big and bad Cindy Vortex giving up so easily? Sad."

She turned to look at him. He was giving her a disappointed look, and he had her. And he knew it. She couldn't handle his type of goading. She also didn't usually give up on anything.

Swimming was different. She could probably go the rest of her life without fully learning and be fine, but it was the principle of the matter. It came from a deep seated need to make her parents proud - which was nearly unachievable - and to be able to say she could do it. And swimming was so simple. There was no reason not to learn.

She gazed at the deep side of the pool uneasily.

"Hey." She looked back at the genius in her pool.

"What?"

"We will start off slow. I won't let you drown. Okay?" He held out his hand to her.

She nodded, and let go of the ladder and placed her hand in his.

-00-

There was a lot of...energy involved with swimming. It truly involved the whole body and every muscle group possible. Cindy was an active person but she hoped she wasn't sore tomorrow for the party. She found that physical energy wasn't the only type she was exerting. If she wasn't mistaken, there was some sexual tension between her and her long-term neighbor.

She could be mistaken, she hoped she was. It could have just been the close proximity or their state of near undress. Maybe it was the combination of hot sun and cool water.

Maybe she was having a heat stroke and she needed medical attention.

Either way, she was going crazy. He kept touching her, and she didn't feel as if it were necessary for him to do so. She liked it a little too much.

She would just need to do her best with her task and focus on it instead of how hard his biceps felt. Easy stuff, right?

He taught her a few different ways to swim, including the breast stroke, free style, butterfly, and the ever ridiculous doggy paddle. She did all of these in shallow water, never having to worry about not touching the bottom.

After a awhile he asked her if she was ready to move to the deep end. She decided some fake confidence would take her a long way.

"Sure," She said, ready dive into the deep end - literally.

He caught her with one arm around the waist before she could get too far. "Not so fast. You go into it like that you'll freak yourself out."

"Okay, Dr. Phil. What do you suggest I do?"

"Do you know how to float?"

Floating was nice. She could easily do it all day; the sun was warming her but the water below her kept her temperature even. Her ears were submerged and it was like being in a comforting bubble. She didn't know how long she floated for but she jumped when she felt Jimmy's hands pushing her gently, one hand on her back and the other near her knee. She lifted her head out of the water slightly.

"You were getting too close to the edge so I'm just moving you."

"Thanks."

"I take it you like floating," he said, clearly amused. She just put her head back down so she could re-balance herself and submerge her ears again. She thought she could hear him laughing but with her eyes closed, she couldn't tell.

-00-

With Cindy happily floating on her back like she was born to live in the water, he slipped out of the pool unnoticed and sat down in a nearby chair. His skin was starting to feel shriveled up from the water and honestly, he needed distance from the blonde. The close quarters was getting to him.

She had no idea he had pushed her into the deep end. The idea was to get her used to the feeling so she could get over her fear.

He kept an eye on her for awhile, but he started to feel drowsy after awhile and his eyes slipped close unbidden.

He didn't have a chance to fully fall asleep. The sound of water splashing violently disturbed him. Cindy had probably tried to touch the bottom and didn't realize she was six feet of water. He jumped in the water and next thing he knew, she was hitting him with a pool noodle that was previously lying near the edge.

"Ouch - Cindy, stop! You're fine!"

"You said you wouldn't let me drown! You were sleeping on the job while I was dying!" She emphasized her words with a well-placed jab with the huge piece of Styrofoam.

"I was paying attention! You're still alive, aren't you?"

He grabbed the noodle from her and threw it away from them. That was when he realized they were still in the deep end.

"Cindy, you're staying afloat," he said, and she stopped trying to splash him.

She grabbed the edge with one hand and clung onto it for dear life. "Was I really?"

"Yes! You know how to swim, c'mon."

He urged her to let go of the side and what do you know, Cindy wasn't drowning. She didn't seem secure within her surroundings but she smiled at him brightly anyway.

Her demeanor had flip-flopped quick enough to give him whiplash but he understood why. She was just afraid. And he thought she wasn't afraid of anything.

She didn't swim around for long before she started drifting towards the sides again. He supposed that it would take more than a day for her to feel comfortable.

But hey, he'd done as he promised. Now he could go home and finish working on his idea for the party tomorrow-

"Are you hungry?" She asked curiously, cutting into his thoughts.

He was. And then when she offered to make lunch, he was too shocked to say no.

-00-

Jimmy didn't spend a lot of time with Cindy one-on-one. He saw her every day - in class, at their usual hang-outs with their usual friend group, on the weekends, and she lived right across him for God's sake. She was everywhere. But as he sat at her kitchen island, soaking up the blessed air conditioning and watching her make them lunch, he realized that they never spent time together alone.

He supposed there was a good reason for that. It's not like they had a reason to do so. They barely got along most of the time, even now that they were older.

"What is this?" He asked as she slid a plate in front of him.

"Peanut butter and jelly, duh."

"Yeah but why is there so much bread?"

"It's a double decker," she said simply as she smeared peanut butter on another slice.

She was no gourmet chef but he really had no room to talk. His cooking skills started and ended with macaroni and cheese and cereal.

"Creative. Wait - what is that?"

She looked up at him, holding the knife up. "Marshmallow fluff."

"Are you five years old?"

She just laughed. "You want some?" She didn't wait for his answer. She shoved the knife into his already made sandwich, leaving a hole in the middle and a mess of marshmallow all over. "Looks delicious."

He ate the entire thing.

While he ate he couldn't help but admire this rare, less angry side of her. Her hair was still dripping wet spots all over the kitchen floor and she hadn't bothered to cover up even though she was probably cold in just her bikini. Her skin had started to take in a bronze glow, and freckles were sprouting across her cheeks randomly.

It was a familiar sight. He'd been watching those freckles develop and disappear every year as the seasons changed. If he were truly being honest, Cindy herself was familiar. With all of her rage issues, infuriating sarcastic comments, and never ending energy, she was there. Always.

Goddamnit. Sheen was right. He was blind.

He got up and helped her clean up a little, and this was done in a companionable silence. He figured he would go home after lunch, but she headed for the back door and raised a brow at him when he didn't follow right away. And that was enough invitation for him to stay the rest of the afternoon.

-0-0-0-0-0-

It was near dinner time when he finally went home from Cindy's feeling warm and tired from a long day spent in the sun. Sheen and Carl were at his house when he walked through the door.

"Where have you been all day? I called you like five times!" Sheen yelled.

"Calm down. I was at Cindy's."

"What? Why?"

Jimmy didn't miss the look his two friends gave each other and he immediately felt defensive. "We were just talking about the party. No big deal."

"For eight hours straight?"

"There was a lot to discuss."

"Why are you wearing your swimming trunks?"

He didn't exactly know why he was being grilled so intensely but he had a feeling the conversation they'd had the day before about Betty vs. Cindy had something to do with it.

"We went swimming."

"You two just hung out then," Carl said, nodding his understanding. Sheen waggled his eyebrows.

"I'm glad you took our advice, son."

"I was teaching her how to swim, okay?!" Jimmy exclaimed, tired of the teasing. "In exchange for using DJ at the party, she wanted to learn."

"Hard to believe she doesn't know how to swim, but okay. Maybe she wanted to spend time with you."

Jimmy sighed and swiveled his chair around so he wasn't looking at them anymore. Arguing was useless, and he was fighting a losing battle.

He felt a little guilty he had let Cindy's secret slip and he hoped Sheen wouldn't say anything to anyone. Surely with his attention span, he would forget all about it by tomorrow.

Now the idea was in his head, intrusive thoughts of Cindy in her bikini were creeping into his mind, along with the idea that maybe she did know how to swim and had tricked him into spending the day with her. She wasn't above trickery.

Something to think about.

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