Author's Note: Hi everybody! What's up? ;)
I'm back again, with a longer story this time, which I hope you'll all enjoy… The idea actually came to me in a dream and a friend of mine encouraged me to make it into a fanfic! After some thinking, I came up with a pretty good plot, so I decided to try and write it all down…
I seem to choose destinations I don't know much about when I write, and I've managed to do that this time to… So I just have to say:
I've never been to Mauritius, so everything is imagination!
And because I'm lazy, I'll just make one huge disclaimer for the entire story here:
Disclaimer: I do not own the show "The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius" or any of its characters. I also don't own Mauritius (neither the name nor the island). And I don't own any of the songs I use… (If you would like to know the name of a song or which artist or group who sings it, just ask! I'll be happy to answer... :)
All characters that don't appear on the show are mine.
Names of places, buildings, and persons that don't get mentioned on the show (except Mauritius) are fictional. Any similarity to real names is unintentional.
I hope that was enough to not sue me… Ehe… Then let's start the story!
THE FORCES OF NATURE
by Tardecita
CHAPTER 1: Fear of What?
Have you ever hated someone without really knowing why?
Have you ever loved someone so secretly that you didn't even know about it yourself?
A young girl at the age of 15 is sitting on the wide sill of her window. The yellow, glowing numbers on her alarm clock shows 2:14 a.m., and considering that it's a school night she should be fast asleep in her bed. But right now it's something else that's more important to her. With her back leant against the left sill and her knees pulled up to her chest, she keeps gazing through the window. Her room, which used to be pink, is dark, but thanks to the dim light from the moon and the streetlights that filters through the window, you can barely see the now blue walls covered with posters and pictures. The girl sits very still in fear of being spotted, but as a soft summer breeze from the ajar window caresses her bare shoulders, she allows her left arm to hug her legs tighter. Her eyes are still aimed at the window of the only room with the light on, in the house on the opposite side of the street. Mixed feelings are ravaging inside her when a person moves about in that room. She sighs and lets the fingertips on her right hand slowly stroke the soft fabric of the cushion she is sitting on. Blonde strands of hair fall in front of her face as she lowers her gaze for a second. Her expression is indeterminable when she looks up again. A single tear finds its way down her left cheek, but she wipes it away quickly. It's obvious that she's unconfident about her feelings towards this person, but when it seems like his gaze freezes for a long moment as he looks in her direction; she can't help but to raise the right corner of her mouth just a little bit and to give a small wave, as if to check if things still are alright. Well, at least as alright as things between these two can be. Her smile becomes a little more evident when she sees that he smiles and waves back at her. She feels a warm sensation spread inside her when she slowly puts her feet down at the fluffy carpet. After one more look out the window to see that he has left his desk and turned off his light, she gets up and heads towards her bed. Moments after she's sound asleep, the soft smile still touching her lips.
A young boy at the age of 16 is on his way out of his lab. As he hits his bedroom floor hard, he silently scolds himself for the billionth time for not fixing the shortcut between the underground lab and his room. He gets up and frowns slightly as he places a hand on the lower part of his back. Several late nights in the lab and the fear of waking up his parents, has forced him to enter his room this way quite a few times lately. He sighs as he heads towards the bathroom to get ready for bed. When he comes back he sits down by his desk to turn of his computer. As he waits for the machine to shut down so he can push the screen's power button, his gaze happens to turn towards the window, and across the street. He realizes that he has done that a lot lately and turns his head away swiftly, which causes him to catch a sight of his alarm clock. 2:16 a.m. He comes to the conclusion that she can't possibly be up this late, so his head turns again and this time he looks straight at her window. Yes, he was right; there is no light on in her room. Delighted at first because he was right, he finds himself slightly disappointed after a very short while, and understands that his gaze had found its way to her window simply because he actually had hoped to catch a glimpse of her. But as he looks more closely, he can swear that he sees a person sitting on the window sill. He soon recognizes her shadow and knows she's sitting there, probably surveying the night sky while contemplating on things that bother her because she can't get any sleep. As he sits there, gazing towards her dark window, he finds himself, like so many other times before, strangely attracted to the figure on the other side of the glass. He groans silently in frustration, because he knows he shouldn't be, but is completely aware of that he has himself to thank. And when he notices that she rubs her cheek softly as if she wipes away a tear, he feels like he has a heavy lump in his stomach because he knows that he has something to do with it. But then suddenly he sees that she waves. Not a big, obvious wave, but a small one, like she knows he's there. Like she's saying that she refuses to fully believe that he meant what he said on Friday. And he knows he didn't. He returns the wave and smiles gratefully, telling her that he's sorry for the way he acted, before turning the computer screen off. He had waited for a chance to apologize in one way or another the whole weekend. When it seems that she smiles too, as if to say it's okay, he feels relieved as he gets up and walks over to his bed. Now he knows he's going to sleep well the few hours that's left before he has to face another boring day of school.
- flashback to the Friday before this Sunday -
"Well, how do you think your grades are going to turn out this year, Vortex?" A brown-haired teenage boy leapt down the stairs leading down from the school entrance, making sure the blonde girl he was referring to saw his cocky expression as he passed her.
"Frankly, Neutron," retorted the girl in an annoyed tone of voice, copying his way of calling her by her last name, and kept her pace after giving him an indifferent look. "That's none of your business!"
The boy stopped for a split second and rolled his eyes, before he went to catch up to her again. "I thought you were interested in knowing if your report card would be better than mine this time?" he said, still with the smug attitude, as he walked next to her.
She opened her mouth to answer, but got interrupted when a familiar voice from behind them called their names. "Jimmy! Cindy! Aren't you gonna wait for Sheen and Libby?"
Both of the teenagers turned to look at the chubby, bespectacled redhead who was standing at the top of the stairs. He was surrounded by other students who were on their way home while chattering loudly with the ones they walked next to.
"Right, the lovebirds," said Jimmy with a smirk, while looking at the ground.
"Don't call them that!" Cindy raised an eyebrow at him. "You're just jealous!" Jimmy gave her a disgusted look, which Cindy ignored and turned towards Carl in front of the entrance. "Will it take long?"
"No," answered Carl and started to walk down the stairs. "Libby was just going to get something from her locker. They'll be here in a sec." And true enough, right after Carl had spoken, Libby and Sheen came laughing out of the entrance door.
"Oh, hi guys!" Libby said as she noticed their three friends waiting for them and dragged Sheen with her towards them. "Anybody wanna go to the movies with us later?"
"I can't," Cindy said, as they all were heading out of the school grounds. "I have some homework to catch up on."
"On a Friday?" Libby looked at her skeptically.
"The exams will soon be up now that the summer vacation's approaching," Cindy said smiling and shrugged. "But thanks, though."
"What about you, Carl?"
"It would have been very nice, but I can't either," he said. "I'm going away to visit some relatives this weekend."
"Jimmy?"
"Sorry, guys," Jimmy replied with an apologetic smile.
"Aw, can't any of you?" Libby said a little disappointed. "But it's so long ago since we did something together… The five of us!"
"Yeah, why are you busy tonight, Jim?" Sheen asked. "You're not gonna spend another night in your lab, are you?"
"Sure he's going to," Cindy put in before Jimmy got the chance to answer. "He has to fix all the things that went wrong last night."
"Don't start, Cindy," Jimmy said with tint of irritation in his voice. "You have no idea what you're talking about."
"No idea what I'm talking about?" Cindy exclaimed. "I think I've seen plenty of your little projects going wrong, Nerdtron!"
"Yeah sure, when I have you around to ruin them for me," Jimmy said angrily.
"Oh, right," Cindy said and widened her eyes in disbelief. "So it's suddenly my fault that all of your inventions always fail?"
"You're a good help anyway," Jimmy mumbled in a sarcastic voice.
The group had now reached the area where Jimmy's, Cindy's and Carl's houses are, and Cindy was the first one who stopped before turning to Jimmy and putting her hands on her hips.
"Well, I actually have some good news," Cindy said and narrowed her eyes at him. "I'm going away for three weeks when the vacation starts."
"What?" Jimmy suddenly dropped the angry glare and seemed mildly surprised instead. "You're away on your birthday?"
"Yes," Cindy said smugly. "My parents are taking me to Mauritius."
"Good for you, then," Jimmy scoffed, and the annoyed look had reappeared on his face.
"For you too," Cindy stated and crossed her arms over her chest. "Cause you'll get the chance to see that even if I'm gone, the number of inventions going wrong is not gonna decrease."
"Would you just stop?"
"You should be happy I can't mock you about your height, head size or hairdo anymore!"
"Wow, was that actually a compliment?" Jimmy said sarcastically while raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah, in your dreams!" Cindy's high ponytail swayed as she shook her head and rolled her eyes.
"No, you wouldn't do that in my dreams, because you're not in them!" Jimmy shouted the last words at her.
"And I am glad; because I'm sure they're full of Betty Quinlan!" Cindy shouted back and added a childish mocking tone to the name, while curling her hands into fists along her sides.
"You know what?" Jimmy stepped closer to the fuming blonde and looked her straight in the eye. "I'm so sick of you always being around to make fun of me and the things I like. I'm sick of you always pointing out my mistakes and then rub it in. And I'm so sick of. . .you!"
Cindy heaved a deep breath through her nose while observing the index finger Jimmy now pointed at her. "Well, I'm sorry for being alive!" she sneered in a sarcastic tone.
"Well, you should be!"
The three teens that had followed the fight like it was a tennis match, letting their gazes pass from the one to the other when they criticized each other, gasped. Libby placed a hand in front of her mouth and shook her head slowly, as if she couldn't believe that either one of them could go this far.
Cindy, on the other hand, did not give any hint to change her expression, and kept stubbornly her eye contact with the boy who had just said that he wished she didn't exist. Her lower lip trembled a little when she heaved another deep breath, and her green eyes, which had begun to burn with tears, continued to search for any traces of remorse in his blue ones. But there was nothing; he too had an unreadable look on his face and just carried on glaring down at her. All of a sudden her right hand was three inches from his left cheek, finger stretched out as if she was going to slap him hard in his face. That was her intention, until he had lifted his arm to catch her by the wrist, preventing her from hitting him in the last minute.
"Get out of my face, Neutron!" she managed to snarl through clenched teeth, while her hand automatically curled up into a fist.
"With pleasure, Vortex!" he replied in the same kind of voice she had used, and let go of her hand in a swift and harsh gesture before turning around and walking away. She turned her head irritably to the side as he left, feeling that her eyes started to water and made her sight blurry.
Sheen, Carl and Libby exchanged worried looks, before silently deciding that Libby stayed with Cindy while the boys followed Jimmy.
The teen genius was already halfway through his garden, on his way to his lab, when his best friends caught up with him.
"Don't you think that was a bit harsh, Jim?" Carl asked, struggling to keep up with Jimmy's intense pace.
"Yeah, I mean," Sheen started on the other side of him. "We all know that Cindy can be a pain in the ass sometimes, but saying that you think she shouldn't have been born was maybe a little..." He stopped and looked up in the sky, trying to find the correct word. "Untrue?"
"What?" Jimmy yelled as he stopped outside his clubhouse. He turned slowly towards the Hispanic boy who was now approaching him. "What do you know about that, anyway? Nothing, I'll tell you!"
"O-kaaay," Sheen said in a knowing voice, looked upwards again, folded his arms over his chest and pointed with one of his index fingers in different directions when he continued talking. "So you're saying you're not interested in Cindy anymore. . .at all?"
"Gah, I never been!" Jimmy exclaimed angrily. "And if you don't know me better than that, you can just leave me alone."
"Actually, I'm going to the movies with my Ultra Girl," Sheen said and pointed his thumb towards the front yard. "So I'll just talk to you when you've calmed down, okay?" He dashed in the direction of the street without waiting for a reply, while shouting a bye to his friends.
Jimmy took a strand of hair from his head and held it in front of the DNA-scanner.
"Err," Carl said, feeling a little uncertain of whether or not he should go away. "You sure you don't wanna talk about what's bothering you?"
"No, Carl," Jimmy answered, not quite so annoyed anymore. "There's nothing bothering me. I just have something I need to finish in my lab."
"Oh, okay," Carl smiled, feeling relieved because he didn't get yelled at like Sheen. "I'll talk to later then?"
"Sure," Jimmy responded and returned Carl's wave half-heartedly, as he saw him disappear into his own garden, before walking into the clubhouse.
Meanwhile, in front of Cindy's pink house, she and Libby was discussing the fight and how it ended.
"Are you okay, girlfriend?" Libby went to put a hand on her best friends shoulder.
"No," Cindy mumbled and tried to blink back the tears that burned in her eyes, while avoiding eye contact with the African American teenage girl. "To be totally honest with you, Libs, I'm not!"
"Listen, Cin," Libby tried to comfort the sad blonde. "I'm sure he didn't mean what he said-"
"Why?" Cindy suddenly exclaimed and finally looked Libby in the eyes. "Why shouldn't he mean it? He has good reasons to be sick of me, right?"
"Girl, don't say that!"
"But don't you see?" Cindy threw her arms up in frustration. "It's all my fault!"
"But you two've been practicing modest flirting for like the last 4 years-"
"Except the last six months, yeah," Cindy said despondently and looked down at the ground. "I guess he got sick of waiting. And I have myself to thank, because I'm such a wuss."
Libby bit her lower lip and didn't really know what to say, but it didn't seem to bother Cindy.
"Are you coming, Libs?"
Libby turned around at the sound of her boyfriend's voice and saw him waiting for her at the other side of the street. She turned back to Cindy, almost as if asking her permission to go.
"Just go, girl!" Cindy gave her dim smile. "I think at least one of us deserves a successful love life! And I've got that homework, remember?" she added when she saw that Libby was about to protest.
"So, you're sure you're gonna be alright?"
"Yes!" Cindy rolled her eyes and couldn't help but to smile warmly at her friend's concern. "You're talking about Cindy Vortex here! Now go!"
"Okay, okay," Libby was also smiling now and started to walk over to Sheen. "But promise me that you'll call my cell if you need to talk, 'aight?"
"Yah, just go! Have fun at the movies, okay?" Cindy chuckled and shook her head. "And I'll see you tomorrow!"
She gave her friends a wave as they both called good bye before heading in the direction of the entrance of her house. The minute she got inside, her smile disappeared, and she leant her back towards the door she had just closed, and let herself slowly sink to the floor.
There's obviously been a change, Cindy thought as she sat there with her eyes closed. We haven't had any. . .moments at all the last six months! We've just argued… Really argued! Like we did when we were nine… And five… And it's all because of one stupid ting that happened years ago…
Is there any good reason for these two teenagers' behavior and the way they treat each other? Fear, maybe. Fear of what? Fear of how people around them would react? Fear of being rejected? Fear of what their parents would do?
This goes way back in time, long before James Isaac Neutron and Cynthia Aurora Vortex saw the light of day.
Author's Note: Okay, so I know that the first chapter is a little boring, but it gets better (hopefully)… ;) The main plot will start in the next chapter since this was just sorta an introduction…
Please review if you liked it! And if you didn't like it, why not try to write me some constructive criticism, huh? But sure, if you have to flame, then go ahead… ;p All is welcome!