Author's Note: I do not know when Jimmy's birthday is, but to keep the story moving, let's say it's sometime in August.
Disclaimer: I do not own Jimmy Neutron or any related characters.
"Come on Jimbo, blow out the candles," Mr. Neutron urged his son.
"Alright, just calm down, dad," Jimmy said as he thought about his wish for a moment. I wish that the five of us will always stay together; he thought as he took a deep breath and blew out the candles. Everybody cheered.
Suddenly Jimmy stood up on his chair. "Attention everyone. ATTENTION!" he shouted. Everyone shut their mouths. "Thank you. Today I turn eighteen. Can you believe it? I'm eighteen! I'm an adult!" he happily shouted.
Everyone started clapping, but Jimmy urged them to keep quiet. "I'd just like to thank you all for being here. This is the best gift that I could ask for, my family and friends to be with me as I celebrate this huge occasion. I look around this room and see so much love," he said as he took a look around the room. His parents hugging, Sheen and Libby holding hands, Cindy staring at him and smiling, and Carl, um, eating cake.
"Anyway, thanks again for sharing this great day with me. I love you all so much," he finished. Everyone clapped.
"Well, we're going to leave you adults alone. Come on Hugh, let's go out for dinner tonight," Mrs. Neutron said as she grabbed her husband's hand and led him out the door.
Carl, Sheen, Libby, Cindy, and Jimmy sat down in their living room in silence for a moment. Jimmy broke the tension. "God, can you believe all of the memories that we've shared here? All the adventures that have started in this house, this living room?" he asked while reminiscing.
The group nodded their heads. "Nine years, Jimmy. Nine years you've lived here. Nine years of laughter and tears and sorrow and joy. This is the living room where we held that party in fifth grade. This is the living room where you asked Cindy to be your girlfriend. This is the living room where you found out you might be moving in fifth grade. This is the living room where it all happened, Jimmy. This is the place where the five of us met every day to talk and cry and laugh and share. This is where, where, we were born," Sheen solemnly said, trying to hold back tears.
Everyone stared at him. Never had Sheen been so serious. "It's alright, Sheen," Libby said as she hugged her boyfriend.
"No, no! It's not alright! For eight years the five of us have been the best of friends. For eight years we've always had each other. Never did we have to worry that we'd be alone in the world. We always had each other. Always. No matter how bad things got, we could always turn to one another for help. And now things are changing," he sadly told them.
Cindy was startled to see a tear fall from her cheek. She hadn't cried in years. "Sheen, nothing can ever change the fact that we'll always be friends. Nothing in the world could ever change that. You can't just forget the eight years that we spent together. Nobody could. We'll always be friends."
"Sheen's right," Carl said. Everyone looked at him. "We can't deny it anymore! He's right! I'm the dumb one and even I can see it! Jimmy and Cindy are going to Harvard, Sheen and Libby are going off to some school in Montana, and I'm staying here! There's thousands of miles between us! When will we ever see each other? Holidays? I can't see you guys for just two weeks a year! You're all going off to bigger and better things. You'll get married and have kids. We'll never see each other! All we'll be to each other is some distant memory, an E-mail address in the back of a notebook, some picture in a yearbook. It's not the same."
Everyone sat in complete silence. For the first time, they allowed the truth of the situation to get in. They realized that things would change. They had to. They were growing up.
"I'll never forget you guys," Jimmy told them, barely whispering. Everyone turned their heads towards him. "I know that we may not see each other every day. But there is no way that I could ever forget you. No way that I could ever forget the adventures we've shared, the times we've cried on each other's shoulders, the days we just hung out. You were too big a part of my life for me to forget. God, I love you guys. I love all of you," he said as he threw his glass behind his shoulder into a wall. He buried his head in his hands and started to cry.
"I'll never forget!" Cindy shouted as she also threw her glass and hugged Jimmy.
"I'll never forget!" Carl shouted as he tossed his glass and embraced his two crying friends.
"I'll never forget!" Libby shouted as she threw her glass as hard as she could at the wall and joined in the hug.
"I will never forget," Sheen quietly said as he lightly tossed his glass. He was sobbing uncontrollably as he joined in the hug.
The five friends lay there, wrapping their arms around each other. For eight years they had been a big part of each other's lives. No, they had been each other's lives. And now they would be moving. They were growing up. As the minutes flew by they continued to sit there, afraid to break the hug.
"You know, we do have to clean up those glasses," Sheen said as he sadly laughed through the tears. Everybody slowly moved away. Cindy, Sheen, Libby, and Sheen started to pick up the glass. Carl strolled over to the window.
"Hey guys, did you invite anyone else to this party?" Carl asked.
"No, why?" Jimmy questioned as he threw the shards of glass into a trashcan.
"Well, John's walking over here. He looks kind of pissed," Carl told them.
"John? John Duncans is coming here?" Jimmy nervously asked as he and Cindy froze.
"Yeah," Carl told them.
Cindy and Jimmy stared at each other for a moment. "Uh, we'll be right back. Stay here," Cindy told them as she and Jimmy ran upstairs to his room.
Jimmy slid into his room and hit several spots on his wall. A rack of weapons came through a hidden hole in the wall. Jimmy put a knife and in his pocket. He grabbed a metal tube from the rack and pressed a button on it. It expanded into a six foot long bo. He pressed the button again and it retracted back into the small tube.
Cindy put a knife in her pocket. In her other side pocket she put several shurikens. She grabbed nunchaku from the rack and held it in her hands.
"Ready?" Jimmy asked his girlfriend.
"Yeah," she said as they spun around. They were shocked to see Libby standing there. She also held a look of shock on her face.
"Um, what the hell is all of this?" she incredulously asked as she stared at the rack of weapons on Jimmy's wall.
"No time to explain. Just take this," Cindy said as she was grabbed a switchblade off of the rack. She was about to toss it to Libby when Jimmy grabbed her arm.
"He said to only trust you," Jimmy whispered as he took the switchblade from Cindy and put it in his back pocket. "I can't explain this right now. Just go hide," he instructed Libby. She still stood in the doorframe, frozen. "NOW!" he yelled. She nodded and ran downstairs.
"Let's do it," Cindy said as she ran downstairs.
Jimmy paused a moment before doing the same. This is it. It all comes down to this.