This might be the last chapter I'll be able to put up for awhile. I'm back in college now and I'll be very busy, but I will do my best to get chapter 5 up when I can.

Disclaimer: I don't own Jimmy Neutron.

Cindy

I could see Jimmy staring at me out of his window with that expressionless look on his face. I couldn't bear to look at him for much longer than a minute before scowling and looking away. My saddened expression said it all, and I think he knew that. I was also in too big of a hurry to get to the mall to even care about what he might have been thinking at the time.

I quickly threw on my shoes and went out the door, when to my surprise, Jimmy was heading out of his house at the same time as I was. Ironically enough though, he was headed toward his lab, so he didn't even really give me the time of day. As I was headed towards the mall, though, I knew something bad was going to happen to me that day that would be out of the ordinary. Only problem is, I didn't know that Neutron would be the cause of it.

I got to the mall a little after noon to find Libby sitting on a bench with loads of shopping bags in tow. She saw me and waved.

"Hey, girl! I couldn't wait—I had to start shopping without you."

I smiled. Libby can never resist a bargain, and everything would have been nearly sold out if she would have waited for me. It was definitely understandable, considering the circumstance of my oversleeping that morning.

"Hey, it's okay! I completely understand. What'd you get though? I must see!"

Libby goes through her bags and showed me everything she bought—2 sweaters for the price of one, a new pair of jeans, and a nice dress for the spring formal coming up at school later on. Why they call it that, I'll never know. We're in elementary school, not juniors in high school. I'd never get a date anyway, so there's really no point in me going.

"I can't wait for the spring formal—I think I know who I want to take with me."

"Surely you don't mean Ultra-Freak!" I laughed.

"And what's wrong with me taking Sheen?! You know I like him, hyperactive-ness and all!"

I rolled my eyes and shook my head. She's attracted to the strangest guys.

"Well, Cin, are you goin?" Libs questioned me.

"No, probably not, unless Nick asks me, I suppose."

I always get one of those skeptical from my friend every time I talk about someone other than Jimmy. She's well aware of how I feel about him, so it shouldn't surprise me, but sometimes I just wish that I was the only one that knew. She's also been the greatest voice of reason I've ever had in anyone. I can trust her with almost anything, which is a quality that is hard to find in most people nowadays.

"Nick? Why are you still pretending to like him?"

"Because maybe I do like him." I answered nonchalantly.

She wasn't buying that excuse from what I could tell. After what I went through yesterday though, Jimmy doesn't even really want to be with me anyway. He did say we never could be anything, didn't he?

"Girl, you can't be serious. Why don't you ask Jimmy?"

Here we go again.

"I wouldn't go with Nerd-tron if he were the last boy on this planet. It'll go with Nick, or not go at all, but I'm definitely not going with my worst enemy ever."

I heard my best friend start to groan out of frustration. She was trying to talk some sense into me, no doubt, but at the time I was too ignorant to listen, and didn't really care.

"Okay. I wasn't going to tell you this because I promised I wouldn't, but Jimmy and I had a very interesting conversation the other day about you."

Shaking my head in disbelief I replied, "Yeah, right. I'm sure he came up with a bunch of great stories to tell you about me. Oh, no! It's more than LIKELY some more cruel insults he didn't want to say to my face!"

"Cindy, it's nothing like that at all! Would you at least let me tell you what he said?"

As if I have a choice… I thought to myself. She wasn't about to let this go, and I had finally given up on trying to avoid this conversation. I knew it was coming someday anyway.

"Okay, fine. What did he say?"

"You're the one thing Jimmy's been thinking a lot about lately. Before we were stranded, he told me he wanted to ask you out on a date, but feared of being rejected. He thinks you really hate him, and he doesn't want to rush into anything serious if you don't."

"He just told me yesterday that we could never be together! Why would he tell you that he's interested in me, and then tell me something entirely different?" I questioned.

"Cindy, he's a boy. You know how slow they are when it comes to relationships! He just hasn't fully realized how much you really care for him."

I sighed. I wasn't ready to try to get through to him anymore than I already tried to. Neutron was stressing me out to no end!

It was at that moment that Libby saw Jimmy entering the mall. What would he be doing here?

"Cindy, look! There he is now!"

I looked all around me, until I saw him. "Neutron?! What's he doing here?"

"I don't know, Cindy, but maybe this is your chance to try to get through to him again!"

"Get through to him? I just tried to do that yesterday, and he wouldn't listen!"

"Just change your approach—you won't know unless you keep trying."

Jimmy

I had another busy day ahead of me. Of all the places I had to go, the mall was one of them, and of all the people I had to run into, Cindy had to be that person.

"Neutron, wait up! We need to talk!"

You're probably going to ask me what I would be doing at a place mostly girls go to for their amusement. I'll be up front about it. I wanted to do something different for a change besides just working on my usual projects in the lab. I was burned out with working all the time, and to be honest, I never got out enough. Youth comes once in your life and you have to have fun once in awhile, which for me is different than the kinds of fun that other normal typical kids usually have. I wanted to make a quick trip to the bookstore for some more autobiographies to read in my spare time, which would hopefully cure my overworked state so that I could get back to finishing my work.

The one thing that was keeping me from getting to where I wanted to be was Cindy. The thought had never crossed my mind that I would run into her here, but after all it is the mall. I was mentally kicking myself as she kept running towards me.

"Jimmy!" she called out to me again.

I started to walk faster, hoping I'd lose her in the crowd, but she started to practically sprint after me. Sighing, I already knew I couldn't even lose her if I tried.

She suddenly stopped and grabbed my arm and twisted me around. I could see the longing in her eyes.

"Cindy, we've been through this."

"I know we have! But, I still care about you, and I'm willing to make things work—I'm willing to make sacrifices!"

"I'm in a hurry…I just came here to get some books and go home." I said in a rushed tone.

Tears started flowing down her cheeks. I couldn't bear to watch her like that. It was a side of her I had never seen before. She wanted to say more, but for some reason couldn't find the words. I was still well aware that Cindy was very much in love with me, probably as much as I was in love with her. I just wasn't ready to make that kind of commitment yet. Not now.

After a few moments of silence, Cindy spoke again. "Please give me a chance. It's not often that you have an opportunity like this. If you think that Betty or any other girl would ever even care about you as much as I do, you're wrong. Have any of them ever helped you get through your toughest adventures? Have they ever been there for you when you really needed them to be?"

She made some valid points there. She has been there for me through everything. I've never ever felt more close to any girl like I did with Cindy. Fear and pride however, were getting the best of me. I still wasn't ready to admit my feelings.

I couldn't find the exact way to tell her. This whole situation was too confusing, and it was beginning to take its toll on my stress levels. I couldn't control my emotions.

"Cindy, why are you doing this? I don't want to be with you! Do you understand me?!"

She started to turn away, but for some reason I had a lot more to say to her—things I'd probably regret saying later on, but never really thought about at the time.

"I don't ever want to see you or speak to you again Cindy—EVER. Don't come over to my house, don't call me and I would suggest you not even try to contact me in school either. You're nothing but a nuisance and a pest!"

She glanced back at me with that river full of tears continuing to fall down her cheeks.

"Libby was wrong about you and so was I!" she cried. She then quickly turned and bolted out of the mall with Libby calling after her.

I don't even know what made me even say those things to Cindy—they just came out like a natural reaction I usually get whenever I'm around her. I was just so scared of her! Being teased and tormented for the last two years by this girl has taken its toll on me greatly. I never know when she wants to be nice to me, or when she wants to spit out another insult or joke directed towards me.

You know what? I should have stayed in my lab that day.

A/N: This chapter took a pretty long time for me to write. It really is hard trying to write in two different points of view! This might not be one of my best chapters, but I did give it my best shot. Click on the blue review button and let me know how this was.