Disclaimer: I still don't own JN! :( Stop taunting me! :C

Part III

The house did somehow manage to stay (at least partially) intact. As the party died down, most of the big trouble makers had passed out, and the band, feeling weary themselves, had begun to play softer and slower.

Cindy let at a large yawn from the couch where she, Jimmy, Libby, and Sheen sat. "Want to start cleaning up, Libs?"

"Nah, too tired. I think I'm just gonna kick the rest of these bums out and call it a night. It's getting pretty late," she said, snuggling up a little closer to the sleeping Sheen. "You should probably head home."

"Alright, call me tomorrow if you need some help," Cindy offered, getting up and stretching out her arms.

"I guess I should be going too," Jimmy agreed. He paused awkwardly for a moment. "Thanks Libby. And you know, good luck, with everything." Approaching her nervously, he "hugged" her, placing one arm around her shoulder and patting her back. "Yeah, so, good luck."

Cindy eyeballed him strangely. What had that been about? Surely Jimmy didn't have a thing for his best friend's girlfriend? He better not, Cindy thought violently but then reprimanded herself. After all, why should she care? She sighed, picking up her purse, she headed to the door.

"Cindy!" Jimmy called out, grabbing his jacket as he rushed to follow her. She paused, raised eyebrow. Jimmy blushed, "I just figured…we might as well walk home together…you know, since we're both heading the same direction."

"Yeah," Cindy nodded. "Might as well."

Libby's house was only a block or two away from their houses, so the walk was relatively short. The two walked in silence for most of the way, neither wanting to start up another fight. Finally, Jimmy couldn't stand the silence.

"So…Princeton? That's a great school. John Nash went there you know. Einstein spent many of his later years teaching there."

Cindy smiled; you could always count on Jimmy Neutron for useless facts. "Uh…yeah…but you know, Harvard's great too, especially when you're going there to teach."

Jimmy shrugged in attempt to be humble. "Well, you know, Relative Psychophysiology is really easy once you get a hang of it."

"Oh yeah," Cindy said sarcastically. "Certainly sounds simple."

Jimmy laughed a little. "Well, where's the challenge if I'm not competing against you?"

"Jimmy," she sighed, "I think it's pretty safe to say you've already beaten me. Nobel Prize at age 16? Kind of surpasses my winning the state science fair."

"I guess we both have our strengths. You've always been far superior to me in language arts…and martial arts," he winced, rubbing a large bruise on his leg from the last time Cindy and he had gotten into a physically fight.

She grinned widely, fondly remembering her last victory. "Sorry about that. Libby's right, we really are getting too old for all of this."

"Well, at least we've gotten a little bit better," Jimmy said optimistically, "I mean, we're having a civilized conversation, right? How many times could we say that when we were younger?"

"True," Cindy noted. She looked at Jimmy, who still had a small smile spread across his face. She bit her lip. "Look Jimmy, I'm really sorry for everything I've said and done over the past few years. As much as I say it…the truth is…I don't really hate you. I just…I just…" she breathed out. "I don't know. You know how I get."

He grinned. Yes, he did know how she gets. "Yes, well, likewise…You know, sometimes I think…if we weren't so busy trying to hate each other…we could be really good friends…"

Cindy considered this for a second. "Maybe we are good friends… After all, all friends have fights, right?"

"Well, not usually every time they see each other…but I guess we can over look that fact," he joked.

"Yeah." she said. "Friends, then?"

"Friends," he agreed.

She looked up at one of the orange street lights, rubbing her goose bumped shoulders. "We sure have great timing, don't we?"

Jimmy looked at her strangely and then feeling very daring, took off his jacket and wrapped it tightly over her shoulders, giving an extra squeeze. When she looked up in surprise, he smiled and then blushed. "Friends, right?"

"Right," she smiled as well.

"Well, I guess this is it," Cindy announced a short time later as the two approached their neighboring houses.

"Yeah," Jimmy looked sadly at the houses. "It's sure going to be strange not living right across the street."

Cindy nodded in agreement. "Not even in the same state…things are changing so much, so quickly," she whispered sadly. Soon they'd all be in different states, different colleges…different lives. They were facts she didn't want to think about. "But hey, there's still the rest of the summer for all of us to remain in normality," she added optimistically.

Jimmy let out an awkward laugh, itching the back of his neck nervously. "Uh…oh yeah, about that…"

Cindy's gaze hit sharply upon him. "About what?" she asked threateningly.

Jimmy silently wished he had brought Goddard along for the party, less he behold the wrath of the Vortex.

"I…uh…well…the other professor at Harvard are having a summer seminar and well…since I've never taught before…I, uh, I agreed to go…and I'm….well, I'm scheduled to leave tomorrow." Jimmy finished quickly and threw his hands over his face to protect himself.

"WHAT?" Cindy screeched. "YOU'RE LEAVING TOMORROW?! YOU'RE LEAVING TOMORROW AND YOU DIDN'T EVEN HAVE THE COMMON COURTESY TO TELL ME!? WHAT!? DID YOU THINK I WOULD JUST-"

"I thought you just wouldn't care…" Jimmy filled in sadly.

"Yeah, well, I DON'T!" Cindy rebutted angrily. "I could care less when you left!"

"Yeah….I know…" Jimmy admitted, "That's precisely what I was afraid of…"

"What do you mean?" Cindy snapped, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I mean…" Jimmy started. How should he put this? How could he phrase this? Darn his inferior speaking ability! "I mean…I didn't want the last thing you said to me to be that you were glad I was finally leaving…or something along those lines. I wanted to end on a positive note, even if that meant not telling you that I was going. After all, a negative integer plus a negative integer only equals a larger negative."

As usual, Cindy could do little to argue with his logic. "Yeah…well…you should have told me…" she growled, trying to off play the tears running down her cheeks. She sat down on the sidewalk, feeling defeated.

"I did," Jimmy said, sitting down next to her. He idly wondered if he should try placing his arm around her to comfort her.

"You should have told me sooner," she bit back.

"Cindy, I told you. I-"

"You know Neutron, for a genius, you really are a moron!" She yelled. There was a tiny, bitter laugh mixed into her angry voice.

"Hey! I-" Jimmy started in self defensive, but once again, was cut off.

"I mean, look, we've known each other for how long now? And you really still believe I fight with you because I hate you? Come on Neutron, put two and two together!"

She watched as the gears in Jimmy's mind began to turn. "Cindy…I don't…what do you…?"

He looked confused, distraught. She was obviously not getting through to him. "UGH!" she yelled, frustrated that he was still so oblivious. "THIS is what I mean!"

Then, without any further hesitation, she grabbed James Isaac Neutron roughly on both sides of the face, and kissed him.

"Uh…" he said, dazed and blushing. "Good thing Carl's not here…he'd get some sort of…reality complex..."

Cindy might have found the joke funny in normal situations, but she wasn't much in the mood for laughing now. She had just confessed the secret she had been desperately trying to hide for more then half her life and the boy she had told it to, was leaving tomorrow.

"So…you don't hate me?" Jimmy asked.

"Now there's a brilliant observation," she scowled.

"You should have said something," he said quietly, shaking his head as he gazed down at the ground.

"Yeah! Well, it wouldn't have mattered, would it?!" Cindy yelled. "I mean, what difference does it make? You're leaving tomorrow for Boston!"

Jimmy looked up in surprise. "I think it matters. I mean, sure, we're both leaving for different states…but hey, I'm a genius right? We could find a way…we could make it work…"

"Make it work?" Cindy echoed. "You mean…you want to give it a try?"

"Well, yeah, Cindy…I don't hate you either…In fact, I've always felt almost the exact opposite of the way I acted towards you…" he laughed a little. "Sorry about that."

"No problem," she smiled. "So, what do we do now?"

"Well," Jimmy thought. "You know, in scientific experiments, its standard to repeat processes multiple times in order to validate the data."

Cindy eyed him curiously. "And…?"

"Uh," Jimmy blushed. "Well…" He leaned forward nervously and kissed her gently on the lips.

"HEY JIMBO!!" The oblivious Hugh interrupted from across the street. "THE DISCOVERY CHANNELS HAD A DUCK MARATHON ON ALL NIGHT! COME ON IN! IT'S QUACK-TASTIC!"

Jimmy, now blushing harder, shook his head at his somewhat deranged father. "ALRIGHT DAD! I'LL BE IN IN A MINUTE!" He sighed slightly, opening his mouth to apologize to Cindy, when he was interrupted again.

"OKAY BUT YOU BETTER HURRY! THE GREEN HEADED DUCKBILL FEEDING HABITS ARE COMING UP RIGHT AFTER THESE MESSAGES!!"

"ALRIGHT DAD! QUIET DOWN! YOU'LL WAKE UP THE NEIGHBORS!" Jimmy hissed, attempting to yell 'quietly' across the street. Jimmy knew they were safe when Hugh gave a big thumbs up and then went back inside.

"I guess I should get going…don't want the neighbors to coming out to beat us with sticks," Jimmy said, dusting off and getting up from the ground.

Cindy graciously took the hand offered to her and pulled herself up. "Well, call before you leave tomorrow, alright?"

"Sure thing," he smiled.

She fidgeted awkwardly before stepping forward and kissing him on the cheek. Blushing, she huffed a "Goodbye" and then turned to leave.

"Uh, Cindy?" Jimmy said, causing the girl to stop in her tracks. "You wouldn't want to come in would you? After all, 'the green headed duckbill feeding habits' sound…really exciting…"

She looked surprised, but then gave a light smile. "Sure, I'd love to," she said and ignoring the possible consequences (she could almost hear her mother 'YOU WERE TOLD TO BE HOME AT 12, YOUNG LADY!'), she took his hand in her own, and walked blissfully towards the house. It was another fast paced change, another path taking her away from what she knew, but with her lips still tingling from their kiss, she was beginning to think change wasn't so bad after all.

Fin.

That's it everyone! :D Hope you liked it! Reviews and constructive criticism are greatly appreciated but flames are just nice, so please none of those :) Happy summer all!

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Best wishes and warmest regards,

Soragirl