Hello there again! Sorry it's taking so long between updates… school has started again in full swing and I am at the mercy of homework. Let's hope I start updating more regularily, huh? Oh, and I don't own Jimmy Neutron. So don't sue and enjoy the story!

To Cross the Rubicon

By: pottergal

Chapter Three: Almost Project Time…

One Month Later

Jimmy raced down the street leading to his school, his mind running the mental chant of the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland as well as cursing his short legs. It wasn't the first time he'd been forced to run to school, but this was different. It was the first time that he was two hours late for class.

He'd been up late the night before modifying the Virtua Chef, which needed to be perfect for the coming weekend as his parents were going on vacation and leaving him with Granny Neutron. The reason for the Virtua Chef was clear, as on top of driving him crazy with her stories, his grandmother couldn't cook to save her life. The last time she'd tried, she'd not only managed to set the kitchen on fire, but she'd also added all the wrong ingredients. Her beef burgundy had somehow been made with motor oil and her salad contained hard chunks that looked suspiciously like wood from the cutting board. Jimmy had reasoned that if her cooking was getting better over time, it was a miracle his father made it past childhood.

Jimmy had managed to salvage that particular evening by discreetly ordering pizza and had made it look as though he'd baked it. Granny hadn't realized that it would've been impossible, as the oven had mysteriously imploded, and the weekend had passed without further incident. Of course, his mother had promptly fainted upon seeing her kitchen, and the reconstruction crews had brought many curious neighbors, eager for some information. Oddly enough, Jimmy could still remember Cindy's face upon seeing the damage.

"I thought I heard an explosion last night," she'd said, as she'd wandered over and knocked on their door when another large truck had pulled up in front of Jimmy's house. "Those coming from your house are a common occurrence, but the truck that showed up this morning isn't. So here I am, snooping."

Jimmy had explained to her what had happened as they'd walked through the house to the kitchen, and also told her that the truck was for the workmen, who would be in and out for the next couple of weeks, remodeling their kitchen. It was then that Jimmy discovered that Cindy had thought they were moving.

"I thought the damage you'd done had finally been enough to get you kicked out of town. Plus my mom sent me over to check it out," Cindy had explained, kicking the melted oven absently. "I take it that this was your grandmother's doing?"

"Yeah, don't ask me what she did," Jimmy had said, sitting down on the remains of the breakfast nook. "Normal fires rarely cause that kind of damage, so I think they've lined up some kind of special team to look into it."

"Maybe she got hold of something from your lab," Cindy had suggested, making Jimmy blink. "I'm sure you've got plenty of stuff in there that could easily melt an oven."

"Thanks for the idea. I'll have Goddard run a scan in a few minutes," he'd said, wincing inwardly. If the team found any kind of strange chemicals, they'd want to know where they'd come from, and then Jimmy would have to tell them about his lab. He really didn't want to do that, which was why he supposed it was lucky that he normally tried to use materials that were easily accessible.

"No problem," Cindy had said, her eyes trailing over the burnt ceiling before landing on him. "I guess it's kind of funny. This isn't the first time that a massive amount of damage has been done to your house, but for once it's not you who's the culprit." She'd smiled a little as she spoke, making Jimmy blink a second time. "Anyway, I've got to get back. We were in the middle of breakfast." And with a small wave, she'd left.

Jimmy frowned as the ringing of a late bell broke him from his reverie. Why that particular event with Cindy had popped into his head was a mystery in itself, and he supposed that she was going to have a few choice things to say to him this morning. Especially about his appearance…

Staying up late really did have some rather unfortunate drawbacks. Not only was he dressed in the rumpled clothes from yesterday, but also he'd been in such a rush this morning that he hadn't taken the time to fix his hair. He'd barely had enough time to throw all of his school things together, let alone address how bad he looked. Last night he'd somehow managed to electrocute himself; it wasn't enough to kill him, thank heavens, but it was enough to singe his finger and send his hair into an electrostatic puffball. One look in the windows on the doors told him that it had subsided into a sort of shaggy mop, but he had no time to lose. He tore open the doors, raced down the hall, slid to a halt before his classroom, and nearly threw himself inside.

"A-a-a-a-h, Jimmy, there you are."

Miss Fowl's croaking voice greeted him upon entry, but he remained silent as he walked up to her desk and handed her a note that his mother had graciously taken the time to write. It explained that Jimmy had overslept due to a power failure the night before that had knocked out all of their clocks. He hoped that the reason for the power failure wasn't mentioned, and knowing his mother, she'd probably be able to quickly deduce that it had been him.

"A-a-a-a-awrk, it se-e-e-e-ms that everything is in order," Miss Fowl said as Jimmy struggled to regain his breath. He supposed that he could've asked his mother for a ride, but he'd thought that he'd be able to use his hover car. Unfortunately, it was undergoing a set of needed overhauls, leaving him with no other option than to run.

"You can take your se-e-e-e-eat now, Jimmy."

"Thanks," he said as he turned and blinked when he saw that Cindy's desk was empty. She never missed class…

"Hey, Jim," Carl whispered to him as he collapsed into his chair, setting his backpack beside him. "What happened? Why are you so late?"

"I overslept," Jimmy explained in hushed tones as he ran his fingers through his hair, trying to work out some of the knots that had formed. "I caused a nasty power surge last night that not only electrocuted me, but it also blew some fuses in our house. Therefore, none of the alarm clocks went off this morning because they'd all been reset to twelve AM."

"Oh," Carl said, blinking a little as he mulled over what Jimmy had told him. "So all your clocks were flashing twelve-o-clock over and over?"

"Exactly," Jimmy said, rummaging through his backpack for some paper and his pencil. "Because that's what happens when the power comes back on. Vox was shut down when I woke up and I had to do some rewiring before I could reboot the system and figure out what time it was. Plus I can't easily get out of the lab if Vox is turned off."

"Oh," Carl said again, and the loud banging of the classroom door made everyone jump in surprise.

"I'm here!"

Jimmy couldn't help raise his eyebrows at the sight of a rather winded Cindy Vortex, who looked just about as bad as he did. Her hair was up in a rather messy bun, and her eyes were wide with adrenaline. Her clothes were wrinkled, and not only did she have her backpack, but she also had at least five oversized shopping bags with her.

"I'm so sorry that I'm late, Miss Fowl," Cindy said hastily as she hurried over to their teacher's desk. "My mom wrote me a note; just let me find it. The power was out last night so none of our alarms went off. It didn't help that I needed to get up early to put the finishing touches on our project…" Cindy said in rapid succession as she dropped everything and began to tear through her backpack, tossing her notebooks aside and her pencils rolling away.

"Here, lemme help," Libby said, her voice containing a soothing note that she normally used when Cindy was as flustered as she was at the moment. Jimmy stopped a couple of Cindy's pencils with his foot as Libby began to calmly search through the things Cindy had lugged with her.

"Tha-a-a-a-at's all right, you two-o-o-o," Miss Fowl said, waving her hands a little in dismissal. "Cindy, just put your things in the co-o-o-orner and take your se-e-e-eat. Jimmy also just arrived, and since you two li-i-i-i-i-ive close to each other, I assume it was the same thing that ha-a-a-a-a-ppened."

"Oh," Cindy said and began to throw things back into her backpack while Libby began to cart the shopping bags into the back corner. Mildly curious, Jimmy turned to see a rather large amount of bags piled there, and he frowned. Was all that for their project?

"Neutron, you're standing on my pencils." Cindy's snap made him jerk a little in surprise and he turned to see her glaring at him.

"Sorry," he said, now frowning inwardly. What in the good name of Albert Einstein had they been planning? He'd tried asking Libby earlier in the month when National Geographic had called them back for another set of interviews, but she'd remained oddly quiet on the subject, leaving Jimmy to assume that Cindy's wrath was more than enough to keep her silent.

Though I'm sure the pact she made with me didn't last long, he thought somewhat bitterly as he lifted his foot and returned the pencils to Cindy. Girls sure do have some funny ideas about loyalty...

"When will we be presenting our project, Miss Fowl?" Cindy asked over her shoulder as she took the pencils from Jimmy and claimed her seat. "Will it be after lunch?"

"Yes, Cindy," Miss Fowl said as she stood, opening one of her books and taking a piece of chalk from the tray. Jimmy could see the relief that appeared on Cindy's face at her answer; she seemed to slump against her chair as her tension abated.

"Why so worried?" he whispered to her, lifting an eyebrow in question. "Afraid your little project won't beat mine?" Her eyes sparked at that and she gave him a look of unmistakable contemptuous pity.

"After the class sees what we've cooked up, Nerdtron…" she began, laughing a little and shaking her head. "Your little pseudo action movie about our harrowing escape from that tomb will seem like some distant dream. National Geographic won't save you now, Neutron; my project's cool factor will easily outweigh any points you may have gained through national attention and that state of the art surround sound system."

"You wish, Vortex," he said, rolling his eyes, and she glared at him.

"You haven't seen it yet," she said testily, her gaze narrowing steadily. "And I guarantee that it will knock that smug little smirk right off your face. Don't go thinking you've won."

"I do not smirk! I smile, or grin."

"I don't know what your definition of those two terms is, but what I call your 'grin' is definitely more of an egotistical little smirk!"

"And I certainly am NOT egotistical! Where on this carbon based planet did you get that idea?!" he shot back, leaping to his feet in anger.

"Oh, I don't know…" she began, looking down at her nails and feigning indifference. "Maybe from the years that I've known you?!"

"Name ONE incident!"

"How about I name each and every single time you've shown off in class?!"

"Oh, and YOU aren't guilty of that either?! Shall I remind you of each time you've tried to outdo me?! That makes you just as self-important, if not MORE SO than me!"

"Ha! Dream on!"

"Well, if I'm egotistical, then YOU are the vainest person on the planet! But you haven't got a clue about true beauty, because you're the most badly dressed girl in school!"

"Do I look vain right now? I'm a mess!" she snapped, gesturing to her clothes. "And you aren't much better, with your shaggy hair and rumpled clothes. What happened? Did you forget how to make that ridiculous hairstyle of yours?"

"Children!" Miss Fowl's bark made both of them jump and they turned to her somewhat sheepishly. "If the two-o-o-o-o of you are through heaping insults on each other, awrk, I'd like to sta-a-a-a-a-art this lesson!"

"Yes, Miss Fowl," the two of them said in unison, and after sending each other twin glares, they took their seats.

"Now as you know, tomorrow is Friday, which is our usual spelling test day," Miss Fowl said, turning her back on the class to write several new spelling words on the chalkboard. As he copied them down, he could see Cindy and Libby discreetly passing notes back and forth, and either Miss Fowl was letting it slide today, or she really just hadn't noticed. Jimmy rolled his eyes a little when Cindy glanced at him and giggled, telling him that they were engaged in one of their favorite past times: insulting him.

"Hey Neutron," Cindy hissed and he looked at her darkly.

"And what do you want?"

"Libby says that you should keep your hair like this because it makes your head look smaller," she said with another giggle, but this time she was joined by Libby. Jimmy glared at both of them, which only made their giggling grow worse, and he turned back to the spelling lesson.

"Hey, Jimmy," Carl whispered and he looked to his right. "If it helps, I like your old hairstyle better. It reminds me of a very rare llama because it has hair just like yours," Carl continued, swooning blissfully at the thought of said llama. Jimmy stared at his best friend for a moment before giving him a weak smile.

"Thanks, I think," he whispered and felt Sheen poke him from behind.

"Don't listen to that sooth-ful she-hellion," he said as he reached out and tugged on a lock of Jimmy's hair. "I want your old hairstyle back too. It hides me from Miss Fowl's ever scrolling eye, which searches the class for helpless students for her to call on and torture."

"SHEEN!"

Both Jimmy and Sheen winced at Miss Fowl's shout and the two boys shared a knowing look.

"See?" Sheen said before turning his attention to their teacher. "Yes, Miss Fowl, oh great and luxurious giver of learning?"

"That's lustrous, not luxurious!" Jimmy hissed to him, and Sheen shrugged, too oblivious to be embarrassed.

"Unless you two ha-a-a-a-ave something to share with the class, a-a-a-awrk, please pay attention!" Miss Fowl said, ignoring Sheen's comment, and the two of them looked away before falling silent. Jimmy sighed as he glanced up at the clock; it was only ten thirty, which meant that there was a good hour before their lunch break.

And it couldn't come soon enough…

And there you have it, another chapter. I know, I know, this is mostly filler, but I hope it's fun filler. I wanted to do some stuff with Jimmy before Cindy's project, to prove that he's hopefully not as out of character as I think. Oh well… Stay tuned for the next chapter!