Disclaimer: I don't own Jimmy Neutron.

The next morning, Cindy awoke with a jolt to a rather loud, obnoxious hip-hop song on the radio. Her hair was a tangled mess as she stumbled out of bed.

"Ugh, why am I wearing this?" she grumbled eyeballing her dress she left on from the night before.

This had only brought her to the realization of the events that had taken place, and the last person in the world she'd want to run into at school today.

"Neutron," she sighed, grabbing some clothes as she headed towards the shower.

For the boy across the street, he barely gave the night before a second thought as he quickly dressed for school. He had felt extremely guilty the night before—the whole reason why he had decided to come see her while she was sleeping. But he couldn't dwell on the past. This was a new day for him, and if he could fix any of his inventions, a broken heart should be a piece of cake—especially considering it was Cindy Vortex…a girl that could easily be broken with a single kiss on the lips and a little bit of charm.

Jimmy decided upon wearing something a little different. A hypothesis that proved to be at least 90 true to the genius could simply be described as follows: A way to a girl's heart can solely depend on how you look. The better looking guys always get the girl they desire…

Or so he thought.

Cindy quickly threw her school clothes on and loosely pulled her hair into a ponytail. Appearance meant little or nothing to her anymore. It would now only be about her education and nothing more. She knew after her 5th grade year that she could always transfer to another school if she wished—her mother had put great pressure on her to do so after she found out she was dating Jimmy Neutron. After all the emotional trauma he had put her through, nothing mattered.

Without grabbing anything to eat, Cindy grabbed the box with her soon-to-be ex-boyfriend's things and trudged out of her house at about half past ­seven, a full half hour before Jimmy normally left for school. She knew that she needed to talk to someone, but she would deal with that much, much later. She just wanted to be alone more than anything.

Her best friend Libby eagerly raced out the door for school in a particularly better mood than usual. Although she didn't have Jimmy, Sheen and Carl to hang around anymore, because of the 'it's too dangerous' rule Jimmy recently made up, she still had a great deal to be thankful for. She was extremely happy to see that Jimmy and Cindy had set aside their differences and taken the next big step in their relationship. However, she had very little knowledge as to the couple's problems, especially from Cindy's perspective. She had a history of pretending things were fine, even if they sometimes weren't. It was easier for Cindy to conceal her depression since she had been dating than it was before 'Jimmy and Cindy' existed. Libby used to be able to read her like a book whenever she had a problem because it usually dealt with the overachieving efforts Cindy made to please her mother, or the fact that she was secretly in love with the boy genius she publicly mocked. After the two finally 'hooked up' though, it had become much harder for Libby to figure out if anything was ever wrong or it all was cool, especially in Cindy's love life.

Unfortunately, once she saw Cindy coming up the walk in tears, she knew something was seriously up.

"Cindy!" she called, running up to her with a worried expression on her face. Cindy began to pick up speed when she noticed her best friend following her.

"Cindy, wait! What's wrong? I want to talk to you!"

The dark-skinned brunette finally caught up with her outside the doors of Lindbergh Elementary where she grabbed her arm and spun her around.

"Cindy, what's going on? Why are you crying?"

Quickly wiping her tears, the blonde replied dispassionately, "Nothing, I just want to go in."

Pushing her friend aside, Cindy entered the school building and headed for her locker.

"Cindy, I'm not leaving your side until you tell me what's up. You've not exactly been yourself the last couple of days." Libby advised as she continued to trail behind her.

The girl continued to ignore her as she grabbed a few books out of her locker, including the box she was carrying, and headed towards Miss Fowl's classroom.

"It's gotta be about two things, your mom, or Jimmy."

Scowling, she turned to face Libby, speaking to her in a low voice, "It's no one. Go away,"

It wasn't like Cindy to tell her best friend to go away, and it was finally the last straw. She grabbed Cindy's arm and led her to the other side of the hallway. The frustrated girl next to her protested, trying to squirm her way out of Libby's grasp, but to no avail.

"We are going to talk about this and we're going to talk about it now. What is going on with you!" she asked as they sat down on the cold concrete floor below their feet.

Cindy eventually realized she was defeated as she looked into Libby's brown eyes full of concern. As much as she wanted to deny her problems, she consciously knew it wasn't right to keep anything concealed. It wasn't healthy, but then again neither was Cindy's mental state, which was, at present, becoming worse by the minute.

Silence overcame the two girls for several minutes as Cindy tried to figure out the right way to word what she wanted to say, but no matter how many times she tried to phrase one of the most complicated situations she's ever faced in her life, nothing could come out of her mouth.

"What's in that box you keep carrying around anyway?" Libby finally asked as she took the ring and the picture of Cindy and her boyfriend out of it.

"Okay, Cin, spill. What's up with you and Jimmy? Is he the reason why you're so upset?"

The pressure was too much to take as tears flooded Cindy's cheeks.

"I—I don't think he loves me anymore…" she wept, as Libby pulled her into her arms.

The distraught girl continued, "He's missed three dates with me in the past two and a half weeks, he never calls anymore…he's always in that stupid lab of his… Yesterday…yesterday he…he asked me to give him another chance. He was so convincing!"

Libby sighed sadly, as she stared into her hurt-filled eyes. Grabbing a tissue from her purse, she wiped the blonde's tears as she persuaded her to continue.

"I felt like a girl out of one of those fairytale storybooks. He gave me this ring that said, 'J+C Forever' on it…a symbol of 'the strong feelings he has for me'. Jimmy then set up this perfect date…a stargazing at Lookout Point. He gave me the perfect kiss, telling me how important I am to him. I can't believe I fell for his lies! Why would Neutron do this to me? I loved him so much…and he completely blew me off. Libs, he's broken my heart….he's made me cry more times than my mother with his irresponsibility."

"Oh, Cindy…"

She went on to explain the vision she had of Jimmy in her room, causing her to tear up even more.

"It was so real…I thought he was there…"

Libby paused long enough to take in everything Cindy had told her. For her, she had only been on several dates with Sheen—nothing was too serious between them, especially now when she was completely out of the loop with Jimmy and his friends anyway. But deep down she knew that Cindy and Jimmy both had an obligation to each other, only Cindy was more devoted than Jimmy apparently wanted to be.

"I think you guys need a break. Jimmy just might not be the one for you…"

"But, I love him…"

"How does love have anything to do with the fact that he's makin' you cry?" You came in here ready to break up with him—all you have to do is just give him this stuff back and tell him you need some time to think. If he decides later on that he really does love you, he'll come back. But if you keep blaming yourself and accepting Jimmy's apologies, you're not going to like yourself."

Jimmy came into the school building with a brand new outfit and a more casual hairstyle. Knowing what his first order of business was, he grabbed some books out of his locker and searched the halls for Cindy. He knew she always socialized with Libby before each and every school day about the usual gossip around school, so it wouldn't be too hard to find her; however, he was going to have quite a hard time trying to explain to the disheartened girl what was keeping him from seeing her for the third time in a row.

He reached the location where Cindy normally was, not able to find her. Scratching his head, he decided to trudge on, hoping he'd even be able to just get a glimpse of her.

Jimmy never really took the time to ask himself why he was being so thoughtless towards the one person he ever had any real feelings for. He didn't even seem to realize how much he was hurting her with his careless attitude. Cindy was only an afterthought to him—a convenience only when he wasn't busy working on anything else he deemed to be considerably more important. Her feelings were easy to manipulate, considering all the times he was able to back out of engagements at the last possible minute.

He never once had a worry in the world about them breaking up…he did still love her, in a way…she was very pretty. And whenever he had the desire to hold her and make her feel special, he made sure to make Cindy feel like the only other person in his life that meant something other than science.

He came across a curvy blonde girl in tears, slowly making her way towards class with a comforting Libby beside her. As he started to approach the two friends, Libby immediately flashed him a 'stay away from my best friend' glare.

He still had a few tricks up his sleeve that would have Cindy crawling back to him…all he needed was the right moment…

And the instant class had begun to start, he found the perfect opportunity.