The car pulled up in front of the school. This particular car hadn't been seen in Retroville since summer started and the Vortexes left for a vacation. A girl jumped out from the backseat. She was excited to be home and was already planning on what to do after school. She was going to go to the Candy Bar with her best friend Libby Folfax. Speaking of which, Cindy saw Libby heading towards The front door. Cindy caught up to her best friend and started to talk. "Libby, it feels great to be back. I hope I'm in the same class as Nerdtron this year. I am going to keep him at second best till the end of the year." Cindy went on about this never noticing the haunted look in Libby's eyes. "Cindy."
"What's up Libby."
"While you were gone," Libby hesitated before continuing, "There was an accident with one of Jimmy's inventions."
"What else is new? What did brain boy do this time."
"Stop it! Just stop it Cindy!"
Cindy stopped talking in shock of what she just heard, her best friend Libby had yelled at her.
"Jimmy was a nice guy. He didn't deserve the way we treated him."
Cindy began to pale as revelation struck. "Libby, where's Jimmy?"
"The accident, h-he d-didn't make it."
"He's dead?" Cindy asked in a monotone. .
Libby nodded her head. Cindy's face began to turn a pale shade of green. She rushed towards the bathroom. People passing the door could hear a retching sound coming from within. Cindy came out of the bathroom and asked, "What happened?"
Libby started to talk. "We don't know. He was in his lab all day. When his mom went to call him for dinner he never came. Mrs. Neutron sent Goddard to get him. When Goddard came back he had a video of Jimmy slumped over one of his experiments. They went down to check on him and-and..." Libby stopped talking.
Cindy went through the rest of the day in a daze. Her rival, her friend, her l-, He was dead. She skipped the bus and walked home. She felt that she needed to be alone. Her walk ended in front of her house and right across from Jimmy's house. Cindy went across the street and knocked on the Neutrons' door. The door slowly opened. Mrs. Neutron opened the door. She looked like she hadn't bathed in weeks.
"Hi Mrs. Neutron. I-I just heard about Jimmy." Cindy hesitated before asking. "W-would you tell me where I could... Would you tell me where he's buried." Sobbingly Mrs, Neutron told Cindy where Jimmy was buried.
Cindy started to walk away. "Cindy, wait here for a second would you." Mrs. Neutron walked away from the door and came back a moment later. "Here, Jimmy left a video of what he wanted if anything happened to him. He wanted you to have Goddard." The mechanical canine stood there in the door and slowly moved towards Cindy.
"I'll take care of him. I promise." Cindy's eyes began to water. Everything she had done to him and he trusted her to care for Goddard. Cindy slowly walked down the steps and looked up at the room she knew had been Jimmy's. Goddard followed closely behind her as she walked up the street and headed towards the cemetary.
The entrance to the cemetary was a rather nice piece of marbel. On this day however it seemed forbidding. Cindy steeled herself and headed down the paths that Mrs. Neutron had told her about. Cindy finally arrived in the area where Jimmy was buried. She looked over the area and saw a grave that hadn't yet grown a thick covering of grass. She walked towards the grave and sure enough the grave said,
James Isaac Neutron, 1994-2005, Beloved son and friend.
Underneath the inscription was a picture of Jimmy. Cindy's eyes started to water as thoughts of Jimmy and all they had been through together flashed through her head. The yolkian invasion. Intergalactic Showdown. The adventure of the Jade Egg. The asterubies and the superpowers. Tears leaked down her face openly as she sunk to her knees. Goddard flipped open a panel revealing a small screen. (He loved you.) Cindy dried her eyes as she read what Goddard had said.
"What do you mean?"
(He loved you, That's why he was always bringing his inventions to school. He was trying to impress you.) Tears sprung once again to Cindy's eyes as she thought of all the times she had insulted the one person she ever truly loved,
FIN