Disclaimer: I don't own Jimmy Neutron

Cindy

Jimmy was able to get us back as quick as he possibly could—thank goodness for his turbo speed function on the hovercar. However, he had become a bit annoyed with me for not telling him exactly when I was supposed to be home.

"Cindy, I really wish you would have told me you had to be back by 9:30. The only reason I was out so late is because my mom knew we had a date and had decided to let me stay out a little longer than usual."

I felt ashamed, and at the same time, troubled over what my fate would be once I got home.

"Jimmy…I'm sorry! I really lost track of the time!"

He frowned at me as he continued navigating us towards Libby's. "I just don't want you to be in any trouble, that's all."

"Neutron, even if I am, it will have been well worth it."

He sighed, exasperated. "I'm starting to wonder if there's the slightest possibility that going out with you was well worth any punishment you might receive at home—maybe we shouldn't even be going out at all."

"You're the one that wanted some time to be alone with me. I didn't have to say yes!" I shot back defensively.

"Well, I didn't have to ask, Vortex! Besides, you were the one that convinced me that we needed to spend time together—I didn't think it was right! And it's not like I was waving the invitation around to have you join me!" he argued.

"Oh, really Neutron? You were the one that left that note in my locker explicitly telling me so! At least I wasn't the one that suddenly decided to fall in love!"

"Excuse me! I never ever said I loved you! I can barely even stand the sight of being seen with you!"

"Like I'd ever want to fall in love with an egotistical, show-offy jerk like you!" I yelled, glaring at him vehemently.

"Oh, so that's what you think?"

"Yeah!"

"And to think I actually kissed the one person I'm supposed to hate tonight! You were right—we're not ready to even become a couple, much less friends!"

Tears came to my eyes as my lower lip began to tremble. If it was one thing Jimmy had been experienced at, it was hurting my feelings.

"Why did you kiss me then?" I asked him softly.

He raised an eyebrow without responding to my question.

Everything that night had been nearly perfect until this… why was it that every time something bad happened, we had to fight? I was guilty enough for not telling Jimmy when I had to be home, but he never asked, so I never thought to tell him. I suppose he was probably just frustrated because he knew that the last thing he ever wanted was for anything to happen to me because of him. I made the choice to go out with him of my own free will, and even though the possibility of us losing track of time existed, that really didn't bother me. My happiness was more important to me, especially when my home life was truly unhappy.

I'd never ever cried this much in my life like I had that night. First I cried at Libby's, then with Jimmy on three occasions, fight included. I had a mixture of emotions racing through my mind. I was depressed because I hated what my life had turned into. I was sick and tired of always having to impress my mother by practicing for this and that, and staying up half the night trying to memorize everything under the sun for school. I was smart enough—I didn't need the extra stress, but I had it just the same. I was afraid because I didn't want to lose the people that meant so much to me, especially Jimmy. Ever since our confession, we had been a lot closer. I would never, ever trade that for anything. There wasn't anyone else in the world other than Libby that I wanted to spend my time with than Jimmy, and if anything ever happened to that tight bond that we had, I'd never forgive myself.

A few minutes after the last retort was made, Jimmy turned to me with guilt written all over. He pulled me into an apologetic hug as I continued to sob quietly.

"I hate it when we fight…" he whispered looking into my tear-filled eyes. I rested my head on his shoulder as he tenderly wiped away my tears and ran his fingers through my hair. We both remained quiet the rest of the way home.

When we finally reached Libby's house, we both climbed out of the hovercar and stared at each other.

I gazed up at him with a look full of disappointment. I didn't want to go home and have to possibly face punishment, and then another long week full of school and pointless activities.

He wrapped his arms around me and held me tight for a long time. I put my arms around him and stared into his eyes. I didn't want to leave, and I think he knew that. Eventually, though, we both had to.

"Well...I guess this is good night," he said, leaning closer.

"Yeah..." I replied as his lips magnetized towards mine. We both closed our eyes as he gave me a good night kiss that seemed to last a lot longer than the 15 quick seconds it happened. We then pulled away from each other.

"I guess we'll see each other in school tomorrow." Jimmy said softly as he looked at the ground.

"Yeah..." I whispered back, turning to leave.

"Good night, Cindy."

"Night..."

We both retreated off in our separate directions. My lips still pleasantly tingled from the kiss Jimmy had just given me…it definitely had taken my mind off of the silly fight we had, the curfew, school—everything. As I was walking, I felt so light-headed and carefree. If this was what it was like to be in love, I hoped it would last forever. This was a feeling I most definitely would not tire of.

I floated into the house, closing the door behind me. I then looked around to see if my mother would be anywhere around. I'd only come home late from an event possibly once or twice in my life—I was, for the most part, punctual. But those two times, she had practically given me the third degree, asking me all sorts of uncomfortable questions. Surprisingly, she was absolutely nowhere to be found. Sighing, thinking that I had gotten off the hook I headed upstairs towards my room, still expecting her to call out my full name instead of just "Cynthia". Still nothing.

After waiting a few more minutes for anything signifying my mother's presence, I had eventually come to the realization that nothing was going to happen to me at all the rest of the night. I walked into my room, shut the door and headed for my bedroom shower, happily thinking about the events of the night and how excited I'd be to tell Libby everything that happened.

I enjoyed being eleven, in elementary school, and in love all at the same time for once. We still had our differences to work out though. There had to be a way we could overcome the desire to argue about pure nonsense.

The next morning, I stumbled out of bed as I heard my alarm go off. I hated Monday mornings, especially when you have to get up at 7 a.m. for a long school day. If I wasn't going to be seeing my friends, there'd be no point in going. It was nearing the end of the year, and summer was almost upon us. I couldn't wait to break out and enjoy a few moments of freedom, all the while continuing my tai chi and piano lessons at the same time. I knew my mother would find more ways to keep me busy, but I was determined to have some fun every chance that I could, especially with Jimmy and Libby. I remember Jimmy's promise of going on some type of intergalactic trip with him, and even though I had to recently turn him down because I wasn't allowed, there was always the possibility that I could find a loophole, wasn't there?

The events of the previous evening had become a complete blur to me—I still couldn't believe I had just gone out with Jimmy Neutron. Everything felt so weird to me that morning. I couldn't think straight much less be able to rationalize any thought. I quickly threw on my school clothes and ran a brush through my hair. I grabbed my ponytail holder, stuck it up in my usual ponytail high on top of my head, then picked up my schoolbooks and cell phone and headed down the stairs to grab an apple before heading off to school. When I reached the kitchen, I saw my mother sitting at the table drinking coffee.

"Cynthia, I was thinking…you have been doing so well in your piano lessons that I decided to put you in a more advanced class. You'll be able to start after school on Wednesday."

I secretively made a face behind her back as I picked through the fruit basket.

"I also enrolled you in an academic program over the summer at that particular camp you always wanted to go to," she said.

"Oh…" I replied, trying to hide my disappointment. Just what I wanted—to be far away from my friends and miles from anyplace fun. There went my summer vacation.

"And don't forget your two-hour tai chi lesson after school. I decided to increase your individual practice time so you could perfect your skills."

Two hours? It used to be only one hour of practice and that was excruciating enough. I was starting to wonder what was going on—surely my mother must have known I was over an hour late last night. I knew I didn't even want to ask why she was getting me even more involved than I already was. Rule number one in my house was to never reject anything my mother said. The consequences were very serious if I were to go against anything I was forced to do.

I looked up at the clock and realized that I had to get going. I was too tired to even think about conversing with my mother and I just wanted to get out of the house. I quickly headed out the back door and nodded to her "be home no later than six and don't go anywhere else" demand. At least she didn't punish me for being out so late last night—if I had to be stuck in the house every afternoon after school, I would absolutely go nuts. I couldn't stay cooped up in this house with her all day long—I'd be doing nothing but homework and chores and nothing else.

I could only hope she didn't find out who I was with that night. I thought about taking the bus this morning, but decided against it. Libby and I had been so used to walking to school that we didn't need to rely on any form of transportation to get to school. Not only were we getting some exercise, but we were outside, which was much better for us anyway. She quickly caught up with me as I walked past her house and started engaging in a deep conversation about the previous evening.

She asked me about everything that had gone on between Jimmy and I last night on our date as we were heading to school. I gave her the skinny, including how stressed I had become and even told her of the fears and worried I experienced. Libby knew me all too well, and she had always recognized that I had my weaknesses, especially when it came to boys. How I acted around Jimmy when we were alone was totally different than how I acted around him when we hated each other. He made me feel happy, nervous, frightened, and emotional all at the same time.

"Don't get so worked up, Cindy. He definitely likes you if he's willing to work things out regardless of your faults, and from what you have told me, I think Jimmy is far from perfect himself. You guys will fix things, I just know it."

"I know, Libs…but after we kissed, we got into this huge fight—"

"Wait a minute, he kissed you!" she exclaimed excitedly.

My face turned bright red as I started playing with one of the covers of my textbooks.

"Three times…" I replied, barely audible.

"Three times? Oh, girl, he's definitely into you!"

I pondered that thought with a bit of uncertainty. I believed Jimmy liked me somewhat, but I wasn't exactly sure if he was that serious. We still had a ways to go in our relationship before I'd know exactly how he felt.

"Yeah…twice in the middle of the date and a good night kiss. No big deal."

I didn't want to come off sounding like his kissing me was the best thing that ever happened to me. I had to stay strong and keep my options open.

"I knew it! That lip gloss most definitely did the trick! How did he react after he kissed you?"

I really wanted to get off that subject and onto the fight Jimmy and I had. The only person who would be able to explain what it all meant was my best friend, and if I didn't tell her at that point, it would be bothering me all day.

"He was surprised in a good way, I suppose. I think we both liked it…but there's something important I have to tell you," I responded in a much serious tone of voice.

Libby knew that when I started talking about pressing issues that all teasing and silliness had to be put aside.

"I'm sorry," she apologized guiltily. "What's up?"

I bit my lip as I often did when I was uncomfortable about sharing my problems.

"Jimmy and I had a fight," I explained going as slowly as possible so I could remember everything that was said between us.

"I was already a half-hour late after I checked to see what time it was, and he got a little angry because I didn't tell him what time I had to be home. Then we started arguing about our relationship, how he felt we weren't ready and all—completely contradictory from what he had told me before we kissed. It's always just like him to change his mind like that. Then I…well, I actually had the nerve to say that he decided one day that he loved me, even though he's never told me that face to face, and you know what he said?"

"What did he say?"

"He told me that he never ever loved me and he couldn't even stand the thought of even been seen with me."

Her eyes widened in shock the same way mine had the night before when I realized I was late. "The nerve! What else happened?"

"Well…then he told me that we never should have kissed, and that we weren't even ready to become a couple, or even friends, which caused me to cry again for the millionth time that night."

"He must not have meant any of it if he still gave you a good night kiss," she reminded me as we finally headed into the school building.

"True. He apologized for upsetting me a few minutes later, but what's really troubling me is we're still arguing. If this relationship is going to work at all, we can't continue to fight all the time. I'm not as strong as I used to be when we used to quarrel, and it's taking its toll on me emotionally. If there was just some way that I could convince him that I don't just like him, like someone that becomes infatuated in a potential love interest just for their looks, or their brains, or just one particular thing about them. I like him a lot more than that. I just wish I could prove it to him."