I love that some of you are predicting what's going to happen. No one's got it spot on though which is good, otherwise I'd feel that I failed as a writer by giving everything away so easily. I'm very happy you guys are enjoying and thanks so much for the support. Oh, and in case you can't tell, the italics are a flashback.

Jimmy's POV

It's been about six weeks since Cindy and I set up our arrangement. I have to admit, it's going quite well. We don't meet every day, only about three or four times a week. We usually meet in the lab, since it's the most private place we've got. My parents are used to me being down here a lot so it's not much of a concern, unlike Cindy's case. I suppose she tells her parents she's hanging out with Libby or staying late after school to talk to teachers. I don't know. I've never asked.

We've kept our word about keeping this between the two of us. This turned out to be pretty easy seeing as we are spending most of our time with each other.

In a completely strange turn of events, straight out of the Twilight Zone, this whole friends with benefits thing has ended up turning us into actual...friends. I can tell, even though we've never outwardly said it. We've been more friendly, less argumentative. We've even started calling each other by our first names regularly.

It pretty much started right before she left the lab one day.

"Ohhh..." She moaned as I nibbled on her neck, an act I quickly learned she enjoyed very much. She tangled her fingers in my hair, both playing with it and signaling me to kiss her. As I did so, she opened her mouth slightly and we kissed with an eagerness that I noticed happened often. With my hand on her waist, she wrapped her arms around me, hugging me closer.

This was more or less how it's been going for the past three weeks.

Sometimes I'm on top, peppering her collarbone with kisses and sliding my hands up and down her body. Sometimes she's on top, knees on either side of me and sucking my earlobe. Usually we're lying on the couch in the lab, and I finally realize how much I've outgrown it. When we're really impatient, we're up against the wall, although that doesn't last long due to how uncomfortable it gets. Only once have we gone up to my bedroom. It was about a week ago, when both my parents happened to be out.

In terms of the popular and varying term, bases, that's the farthest we've gone, the very first time at Britney's house notwithstanding. While she lay on my bed, I undid the first few buttons of her blouse and kissed the tops of her breasts and even went as far as taking one of them in my mouth over her bra. When she let out a pleasurable moan unlike any she had produced with me, she wrapped her legs around my waist and rocked into me once. It was enough to make it noticeable for me and for her to realize that that's where we should stop.

And that's similar to what's happening in the present. A few minutes later, she pulled away and we both understood the unspoken gesture that we were done for the day. As she fixed her hair, preparing to leave, she spoke.

"Oh, I wanted to ask you this before I left. Do you at all understand how Mr. Ward was explaining yesterday's lesson? I was trying to do the homework last night..." She trailed off and reached down into her bag and pulled out the AP chemistry textbook we use for class. Cindy flipped the page to where I noticed she had it bookmarked and scooted closer to me.

"So maybe it's just me but I cannot understand this." Passing me the book, I noticed it was open to the middle of the chapter on this week's lesson. Cindy didn't turn to look at me probably because of what she had done. She wasn't asking for help, as we both knew she would never use those words, but she was definitely insinuating that we should take a look at it.

I'm not going to lie, it was nice.

We were sitting here talking about school, working together civilly. No fighting, no arguing. Just a nod of understanding or a confused brow furrow here and there. I was helping her, an act she would deny if you said it to her. She wasn't yelling, telling me I was wrong or calling me names at how much information I knew about the topic.

Something had happened between us. A new development in our relationship. And if I was right in identifying it, which I usually was, then our friends with benefits thing was now actually making sense by definition.

I had no plans in asking her why she had asked for my assistance or even making a comment on it. But as she was packing up her things to leave, I really couldn't hold it back.

"So what was up with that?"

"What?" She said as she zipped up her backpack.

"The not understanding the chemistry lesson. Usually you would never let me find out if you couldn't grasp something related to school."

She shrugged as if it was really no big deal. "I was having trouble and I know you know. Given how close we are lately, I figured it would be okay if I asked for your..." She stopped herself before she could say the word. "advice." And that was as close as I was going to get.

"Well, I hope my advice worked." She smiled, noticing what I was doing.

"It did. Thank you."

"You're welcome. I suppose we can expect more of that now that we're friends."

"Friends?" She turned to face me, speaking as if she had never heard of the word before.

"Yeah, friends." I said to test her, knowing that she was just playing around.

"We're friends?" This time she asked as if she truly wasn't aware of it. I chose my next words very carefully.

"I like to think so, yes. And now I guess we're study partners as well."

"Huh. Friends." She said, still caught up on it, like she was trying it out for the first time ever. "I suppose we are friends now, aren't we?" I nodded.

"Friends who like to do this." I kissed her unexpectedly and she quickly returned it.

Fifteen minutes later, with her hair disarrayed yet again and my hair not doing much better, we sat up, and she prepared to leave for real this time.

"So we're study partners now too, huh? Don't think I didn't hear what else you said." She asked as she was standing up to go.

"Yeah, we are. If that's okay with you."

"Of course. With how difficult these classes are going to get, we'll need it. So is there any way I can return the favor you so graciously gave me today?"

I thought for a second.

"Well, I'm not entirely too fond of our good friend Shakespeare at the moment."

"You don't like Macbeth?" She sounded extremely surprised.

"You can't like something you don't understand, Cindy."

"Oh my God..." She shook her head jokingly. "Alright. Tomorrow I'm going to come over, same time as usual, and we'll go over the entire play, what we've read so far, step by step. Or I guess in this case, it's scene by scene and act by act."

I smiled gratefully. "Sounds awesome."

She confirmed with a nod. "I'll see you tomorrow." Those were her final words before she slung her backpack over her shoulder and left.

True to our word, we've been meeting up ever since then and doing more than fulfilling our hormonal satisfaction.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not complaining about the development in our relationship. It's just a strange experience. And it's even weirder, I'm sure, to see it.

Unlike our arrangement, we're not hiding the fact that we've become friends. We sure haven't made a spectacle about it, but we're aware that people are noticing. With us laughing and talking about school or what our weekend plans are, it would be impossible for others, primarily Sheen, Carl, and Libby, to not notice.

I've seen the looks they throw our way or to each other, silently asking if the other knows what's going on. Cindy has too. But, for some reason, none of them have ever posed questions. We both take this to mean that while confused of its origin and development, they were, at the very least, accepting of our friendship.

Which is why I was surprised when I saw Libby standing under the threshold of my film class, one of the two that I don't have with Cindy, right as everyone left and I was the last person remaining in the room. I rarely ever see Libby without Cindy or even Libby without Sheen, but even though there's nothing uncomfortable about seeing her alone, I didn't really understand why.

"Libby. Hey." She smiled politely at me. "Um, Cindy's not in this class and I don't have any with Sheen-."

"I know, I know." She held up her hand showing that she was understanding. "I'm here to talk to you actually."

Oh?

"Um sure." I said awkwardly, not really knowing where she was going with this. "So what's up?"

"I'm just going to keep this short and jump straight to the point: What's going on between you and Cindy?"

And that would explain how our friends were taking our new development.

"What do you mean?" I replied, pretending I really had no idea what she was talking about.

"You know what I mean." She gave me a look. "You two have been very... friendly, nice even, to each other lately. It's... a little off, to be totally honest. You don't fight or argue anymore. It's kind of creeping us out a little bit."

"You, Sheen, and Carl?"

"Yeah. So what's up with that?"

I shrugged, not really knowing what to say. I certainly wasn't going to tell her about the arrangement Cindy and I had, only that we had become friends. But it didn't seem like she would believe that.

"We're just friends now. Don't see why that's so weird."

"Because it's the two of you. You've known each for years. You have had all this time to become friends. So why now? What caused it?"

"We're growing up, I guess. Time to let go of our childish past and move on." I thought on the spot, but quickly realized how plausible that actually sounded. It didn't seem to be good enough for her though, since she gave me a look that said that that wasn't the answer she was hoping for.

"Look, I don't want to pressure you into telling me anything you're not comfortable with, but would this have anything to do with what happened at Britney's party?" She asked somewhat hesitant. Libby's a good person. I've never had a problem with her of any kind and being my best friend's girlfriend means I have some sort of a bond with her too. So even though I know she means well, I have to be honest in saying that she needs to mind her own business.

"No offense, Libby, but I'd rather not talk to you about that." I started to walk towards the door which only resulted in her standing in front of it to prevent me from leaving.

"I figured that. But after talking to Sheen and Carl about it, we decided that it would be best if I talked to you. They wouldn't get anything out of you because you'll just shrug it off and think nothing of it and they'll just accept that. So we thought that maybe if I talked to you, you'd be more open about what's going on with you two. Same with Cindy. Carl and Sheen are on their way to talk to her right now."

"That's going to go well." I replied sarcastically.

"We're just concerned. You're finally getting along and we're happy about that. But as your friends, I think even you can agree that we have some sort of right to know how." She explained.

"Well, sorry to disappoint you but there's not much to it. It doesn't take some miracle for two people to become friends."

"It does for the two of you."

The last thing I wanted to do was get into an unnecessary argument with Libby over this, even though a small part of me knew she was right.

"It's funny." I started, hoping this statement would be the end of this conversation. "You're one of the people who wanted me and Cindy to be friends more than anything. And now that it's happened, you're questioning it? Doesn't that seem a little off to you?" She looked dejected and I knew that she had given up. Without another word, I walked past her and out into the hallway.

Cindy's POV

If I thought I was the slightest bit crazy back when I agreed to Neutron's plan, it's nothing compared to how I feel now that we've been at it for six weeks.

I'd be a liar for saying I wasn't enjoying it, because what other reason would I have for going down to the lab nearly four times a week? I suppose there is the whole now we're study buddies thing, but that didn't start until three weeks later. In general though, and I'll deny it if he ever found out I think this, this might be one of his better ideas.

After the events of Britney's party, I didn't really know what to think. I had never been in a situation like that before, let alone with Neutron. Libby, knowing when to back off, didn't prod me about the actual details of it anymore than the morning after but being my best friend, I knew she was the one I wanted to talk to the most. Talk about what though, I don't exactly know.

I suppose there is a reason why I winded up half naked in bed with Jimmy of all people, and it wasn't only because I was dared to kiss him. Looking back on it, I do have a slight fear of what would have happened had Libby not interrupted us. What I don't like to think about is the consequences of that.

Apart from the day we set our friends with benefits boundaries, we haven't talked about that night. It's almost as if it didn't happen even though it was the whole basis for us starting this arrangement in the first place.

But it did happen. I'll never forget it.

The good thing that came out of it, I would say, is this newfound friendship with Jimmy. I mean, we wouldn't exactly be friends with benefits if we weren't really friends, would we? But I suppose it is about time we put our differences aside and spend our time doing something progressive to our relationship.

I was a little surprised when he mentioned it three weeks ago, but I was genuinely happy that he did. And if I'm being honest, this studying and doing schoolwork together thing is helping tremendously. Even though it does seem to be freaking out our friends.

Sure, we haven't made a big proclamation about Jimmy and mine's friendship, but I know people can tell. Libby, Sheen, and Carl, the friends closest to us, are surely the most curious. I can tell by the looks they give each other and they've no doubt talked about it when Jimmy and I aren't around. But since they haven't asked anything, Jimmy and I felt no need to offer an explanation.

And that seemed to be the way it was going to be until I opened the gym doors as I was leaving class and saw Sheen and Carl leaning against the wall.

"What do you two doing here?" I asked as I approached them. "I don't think Libby would be happy that you're trying to peep into the girls' locker room, Sheen. And Carl, I know you have somewhat of a reputation, but I expected better from you."

"We're here to talk to you, Cindy." Carl ignored me and said.

"And just what is so important that it couldn't wait until I've had a shower?"

"We'll keep this short." Sheen spoke this time. "What's up with you and Jimmy?" I was immediately confused and I'm sure my face showed it.

"What makes you think anything's up with me and Jimmy?"

"That! That right there!" Sheen jumped and point at me as if I had said something wrong.

"What?" I said, annoyed.

"You called him by his name." Carl explained calmly.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I wasn't aware I need written consent from him to do that. Shall I go get him?" I took a step away to which they crossed their arms and stood in my way. "What do you think? That by cornering me you're going to get an answer? Move."

"Not until you tell us why you and Jimmy have been getting along so well lately."

"Same reason you do. We're friends."

"But why? How? What happened?" Carl pressured.

"Well, I guess after a while, we didn't mind seeing each other all the damn time. That work for you?"

"Not really." Sheen said.

"It's just a little strange, Cindy." Carl continued. "One day, you two can barely stand being in the same room and the next, you're laughing like old friends with a big secret." I perked up at him using the word 'secret', with a sliver of fear running through me. "So as your friends, we have a right to know what's going on. If it at all has something to do with what happened at Britney's party-." He did not get to finish that sentence.

"Look," I said, starting to get angry. "that's not something you mention out loud. Ever. If Jimmy told you what happened, that's because he trusts you two and he wouldn't want you to speak a word of it to anyone. Even to me. Now, I'll admit that I have the tiniest bit of appreciation for your concern but you really need to mind your own business. Jimmy and I are friends now, no explanation needed. You know, for two people who've wanted him and I to stop fighting for years, you don't seem all that pleased that it's finally happened." I looked at the two of them and I could tell that they done trying to get something out of me. "Are we good?"

I noticed the two of them nod their heads and they stepped to the side, allowing me to walk through. I did just that without looking back at them.

Kind of a lengthy author's note, so bare with me. Or skip to the last paragraph where I have an important message.

So it's not that I don't care about Jimmy and Cindy's educations, but I really don't want to go into the details of what they learn in their AP classes, mainly because I have no idea what they would learn in the majority of them. And believe it or not, searching online for information is really not as easy as it may seem. So forgive me if I casually and not-so-cleverly glaze over that with only brief mentions and especially if I sound ignorant at any point.

Secondly: I know. Friends with benefits do not hang out for purposes apart from getting the job done. Nor is it meant to make them closer. But the relationship between these two goes far beyond that, we know it does. It will never be 'just' something with them. There's always something more.

So I also have an announcement. Earlier this week, I started the spring semester. So since I'll be busy with school, I'm sorry to say that updates will be less frequent. To be honest, I am really surprised that I got out this many chapters in this short amount of time. Thank you guys for understanding and hopefully you don't forget about me! Hoped you enjoyed this chapter and please review!