Disclaimer: I don't own JN anymore then I owned it five minutes ago ;D

Part II

"Hey girl!" Libby exclaimed from the front door, looking up and down her friend with nod of approval. "You look great! Those shoes!"

Cindy smiled. Her high, stringy black stilettos were "the thing" but were also, very hard to walk in. "You too, Libby," Cindy admitted. Her black friend wore a tiny purple dress with silver trim, complete with the most up and coming, shoes, purse, and jewelry. Her hair was a delicate array of braids, a large section swirled and pinned up with a sparkling purple barrette and the rest falling down to frame her face. The tour de force, however, was her intricate, shimmering makeup, that imitated the style of late Egyptian queens. They gave each other a small smile, both perhaps a tad over dressed for the occasion, but assured that their last impression on their classmates would be a good one.

"Well, come on in!" Libby laughed. "The party's already started!" Cindy followed her awkwardly inside, trying to retain balance on her small, unsteady heels. The music of the band blared loudly and those attempting conversation had to scream to be heard. Sheen stood on a table, playing the air guitar and bopping his head wildly.

"SHEEN! OFF THE TABLE!" Libby yelled. Automatically, the "hard rocker" froze and rubbing his head slightly, jumped down from the table. "Well, make yourself at home," Libby yelled over the music. "Everyone else has!" Cindy nodded and watched Libby run to beat off a classmate that had decided to relieve himself on one of the potted plants.

"Yo, Cind," Nick Dean said, somehow keeping his cool, laid-back voice heard even over the roaring tempo. "Liked your speech."

"Uh, thanks Nick," Cindy blushed. Nick was older now, but as handsome as ever. He ran a hand through his well-groomed black hair and shrugged on his matching leather jacket.

"Yeah, so you're probably headed to college at one of those- smart schools, right?" he asked, leaning casually on the door frame, as to loom "seductively" over Cindy.

"Uh, yeah," she laughed. "Princeton, actually…How about you?"

"Oh, well, I'm not really going to college," he admitted. "…you know, I figure I'll go to one of those…whatever you call it…you know…the ones were you…do stuff?"

"…A vocational school?" Cindy suggested weakly.

"Yeah! That's it! A vocational school. I wanna be a plumber," Nick said proudly, running his hand threw his hair once again.

"Oh," Cindy said, frowning slightly. "Well, that's good Nick. You know, following your dream. I hope that works well for you."

He nodded and Cindy noticed uncomfortably that he was gazing a little too intently at her chest. She shifted in order to obstruct his view. "So, like…Princeton?" he said. "Where is that anyway? Is it around here…cause maybe we could, you know, hang out."

"Well, it's in New Jersey so-" she started, but was interrupted by a familiar voice.

"Vortex," Jimmy started, before noticing Nick hovering above. "Oh, sorry, didn't know I was interrupting anything….I'll just-"

"NO!" Cindy exclaimed, grabbing Jimmy by the wrist. "I mean, ha, uh, no, you weren't interrupting anything. I'll see you later Nick, good luck with vocational school!"

Before Nick could respond, Cindy had dragged Jimmy away. "What was that for?" Jimmy asked grumpily, rubbing his wrist.

"Sorry," Cindy said insincerely, looking around the corner to make sure that Nick hadn't followed them. "Just wanted to get away from Nick."

Jimmy raised a suspicious eyebrow. "Oh really? I thought you liked him."

"Yeah, well, emotions can change- can't they Neutron?" She bit back. As soon as the comment was out, she regretted it. She had come to the party last night with the intention of treating Jimmy like a decent human being.

"Look, I just wanted to know if you'd seen Libby, I figure if I can find her, I can find Sheen," Jimmy said. He too, didn't feel like fighting anymore.

"Last I saw of them, Libby was trying to pull Tommy off the fireplace mantel…but I can help you look, I need to talk to Libby anyway," Cindy offered.

"Yeah," Jimmy said, slightly surprised by the kind suggestion. "Yeah, alright."

So the two began scouring the house, where no signs of Libby or Sheen could be found. Of course, wandering around in circles while blasting music played didn't make the most accommodating search conditions. "MAYBE WE SHOULD CHECK OUTSIDE?" Cindy suggested lamely.

Jimmy nodded enthusiastically, fingers plugging his ears. "YEAH! LET'S GO!" he yelled, and the two quickly rushed out of the house.

"Phew," Cindy breathed in relief, once they were far enough that they could finally hear again. "I don't think the halls of hell are quiet as loud."

"No," Jimmy agreed. "I can't believe the neighbors haven't called the police yet."

"Me either…we really should find Libby and Sheen, maybe they've been locked up somewhere and forgotten about…" Cindy suggested nervously.

"Even if they are, I doubt they'd mind much," Jimmy smirked.

Cindy grimaced, putting her hands over her eyes. "Ugh, why'd you have to say that? Horrible mental image."

Jimmy smiled, silent for a second. He hardly realized how far they had walked threw Libby's grassy yard. "It is strange, isn't? Libby and Sheen a couple...Who would have thought?"

Cindy shrugged, moving along a rock on the ground as they walked. Her feet were bare. She had been forced to take her shoes off as walking outside with those heels was lost cause. "I guess love works in unexpected ways…Besides, it's not so strange…not anymore at least. They really do care about each other."

"Yeah…Sheen'll really be upset when Libby gets arrested for disturbance of the peace," Jimmy joked. Cindy smiled.

The two were silent again as they continued walking to the back of the house "looking for Libby and Sheen." Jimmy glanced over at Cindy, stiletto heels in hand, peaces of unruly hair falling from her bun, green dress still shimmering.

Jimmy gathered up his courage and said something he hadn't intended to say. "You look really nice tonight, Cindy."

Cindy was equally surprised by this comment, and glad that it was dark enough out to hide her blush. "Thanks."

Continuing silently on their pursuit of Sheen and Libby, they heard noises coming from the shed.

"That better not be them," Cindy groaned.

Jimmy moved sideways, wincing, towards the shed. "Sheen? Libby? Are you in there?"

No response. "Libby Folfax, if that's you, get out here right now!" Cindy cried out desperately. Still no response.

"I'm entering the shed!" Jimmy announced, shielding his eyes as he opened the door. "Sheen?" he asked weakly. When no one answered, he opened his eyes. "I think its all clear."

Cindy stepped lightly into the shed, just to make sure. "I wonder what was making that noise?" She said, looking around the room. She closed the door, to see if a small woodland creature might be hiding behind it.

"Ugh!" Cindy yelled, as a giant mutant-looking rat AN: Not the cuddly kind of rats you find in TODAY'S sewers!! ;) scampered across her shoeless foot. She moved quickly and fell forward, bringing Jimmy down with her and hitting the ground with a loud "thump!"

"Hey! Who's in there?! If you think you can just come to my house and-" Libby started furiously, shoving open the door.

"CINDY?!? JIMMY!??!" Libby screeched, staring, jaw-dropped at her best friend, lying on the floor of her shed, on top of Jimmy Neutron.

"It's not what it looks like!" Cindy exclaimed, blushing wildly as she struggled to get up.

"We were just-" Jimmy started desperately but it was no use.

"SHEEN!" Libby squealed. "SHEEN! GET IN HERE!! Jimmy and Cindy they were-"

"Wo!" Sheen said, surveying the scene in front of him. "It's just like you said all along Libby! They really did secretly love each other!" He shook his head sadly, "Man, now I owe Carl 20 bucks."

"Secretly WHAT?" Cindy asked, appalled that anyone, even someone as slow as Sheen, would think such a thing. "Look, we just came into see what was making noise, I just fell."

"Sure you did," Sheen said, offering a large, smiling wink.

Cindy rolled her eyes and admitted a low growl. "Come on! You've got to be kidding me! Me and Neutron?! I wouldn't go out with him if he was the last man on earth!"

"The feelings mutual Vortex," Jimmy added. He rubbed his back. "I think your weight crushed my vertebrae."

"Yeah, well, it's not like falling on you was a pleasure either! I was nearly impaled by your stupid pointy head!"

"At least I own a pair of pants that actually fit!"

"At least I never put a chip in my pants that caused them to try and take over the whole town!"

"Only because you weren't smart enough!"

"Like you are! Look how well all your inventions turn out!"

"Bimbo!"

"NERD!"

"COTTON-CANDY HEAD!"

"DIPPY CONE HEAD!"

"YOU BIG-"

"ENOUGH!" Libby screamed. She let out a frustrated sigh as her two bickering friends went silent. "Look at yourselves. You're acting no better than a bunch of two year olds."

She paused for a second to allow them to fully grasp how childish they were being.

"I don't know who you two think you're fooling, but it's not me. You can pretend you hate each other all you want, but I'm not going to buy it for a second. So why don't you both just chill out, give it a break, and be decent to each other at least till the night's over. Okay?"

Like two sullen siblings being disciplined by their mother, they waited for each others reaction.

"Okay," they finally agreed.

"Good," Libby smiled. "I didn't want to have to slap you. Now let's all head back to the party before some one burns the house down."