Disclaimer: I do not own Jimmy Neutron or any related characters. I also do not own the Blink-182 song Feeling This, whose lyrics are in this chapter.

"3...2...1...Blast off!"

Jimmy fell out of his bed and rubbed his head. He looked around, expecting to see Cindy nearby. His face sunk as he realized that he was just in his room. He slammed his fist into his alarm clock, cracking the glass. He angrily grabbed a change of clothes and headed into the bathroom.

He let out a sigh of relief as he felt the warm drops of water flow onto his head in the shower. He smiled a little as his radio crackled to life on the counter. "And welcome back to AOJN, rolling those Monday blues away. Hope this next song will perk you up while you wait for your coffee."I gotta regret right now! I'm feelin' this!

The air is so cold and null! I'm feelin' this!

Let me go in her room! I'm feelin' this!

I wanna take off her clothes! I'm feelin' this!

Show me the way to bed! I'm feelin' this!

Show me the way you move! I'm feelin' this!

Jimmy groaned and briefly jumped out of the shower, just long enough to turn the radio off. Yeah. That's exactly what I need to hear right now.

So Jimmy went on with his morning routine. Dress, eat, brush, pack, run. He both cringed in fear and smiled in delight as he saw the blonde-haired girl walking towards him.

"Morning Cindy," Jimmy said as cheerfully as he could.

Cindy yawned and checked her watch. Ten minutes until the bus comes. Just perfect. "Just shut it, Neutron. I'm not in a mood right now."

Jimmy twitched his lip a little at Cindy's crude remark. Three years ago he would have come up with a snide comeback, but who had the energy anymore? He didn't even bother to keep his feelings a secret anymore. Except to the one person that mattered.

Jimmy sighed in defeat. He had known since he was eleven that he felt something for Cindy. If anything, he had expected them to grow closer as they got older. After all, they were supposed to be maturing, right?

But in fact it was just the opposite. As they grew older, Cindy seemed to resent Jimmy even more. Hormones, the desire to be the best, her mother, all of these things contributed to her hatred of Jimmy. I should have seen it coming. If she was that pissed all the time in fifth grade, I should have realized she'd be ten times worse when puberty kicked in.

"Hey guys!" Sheen shouted as he ran up to the group. Libby was holding his hand and skidded to a stop beside Sheen.

"Morning," Cindy and Jimmy both mumbled.

"Aw, what's the matter? Come on you crazy kids, perk up!" the sixteen-year old Sheen excitedly said.

Jimmy couldn't help but grin a little. He had thought Sheen was crazy before, but when he had started drinking coffee, well...

"Where's Carl?" Libby asked.

As if on cue, a thin, muscular, red-headed kid drove by in a cherry red convertible. His hair flew in the breeze, his right arm wrapped tighyly around a cheerleader's waist.

And once that guy drove by, Carl ran up to his friends. "Hey guys!" he shouted, gasping for breath.

Just then the bus drove up. Jimmy cringed as the onslaught of spitballs and wadded pieces of paper collided with his head. He turned his head away as he saw Cindy take a seat next to Nick.

"Hey Jimmy," Betty sweetly said as the boy genius walked by.

"Hey," Jimmy said in a monotone voice while continuing towards the back of the bus. Sheen took a seat in the front with his girlfriend. Only Carl sat by Jimmy's side.

"Something wrong?" Carl asked while taking a bite out of his granola bar.

Jimmy thought for a moment. "No, Carl. Nothing's wrong."

Carl followed Jimmy's gaze and noticed Cindy sitting a few rows ahead of him. He jerked towards her with his thumb. "Her again?"

Jimmy, in no mood to argue, simply nodded his head. Carl sympathetically patted his friend's shoulder. "Don't worry buddy, it'll be alright. Everything will work out."

Jimmy clenched his teeth and tossed Carl's hand off of his shoulder. "No. No it won't! I'm sick of everyone saying that! You, Sheen, Libby, even my damn parents! It's not going to be alright! For three years I've dreamed about her, wanted nothing more than to kiss her, stoke her cheek, run my hands through her golden hair. Do you know what it's like, Carl? To hope for the unattainable? To yearn for something you know you can never get?"

Carl shook his head, a little scared of how Jimmy was acting.

"No. Of course you don't. It's not going to be alright, Carl. And do you know who's fault it is? It's not her mom's for hating me. It's not hers for being mean to me. It's mine! We were so close, Carl. So close in fifth grade. We held hands, we were friends, I kissed her cheek for God's sake! And I never pursued it!"

"And now it's too late. We're barely friends. The only reason she even talks to me is she likes Libby, Libby likes Sheen, and we like Sheen."

Jimmy paused a moment and stared Carl angrily in the face. "So don't you dare tell me that everything is going to be alright! Don't you dare lie to me! I missed my chance with her. And now I'm going to regret it the rest of my life."

The fire in Jimmy's eyes was quenched by the single tear that rolled down his cheek.

"I screwed up, Carl. And there's no way I can fix it."