Wahhh! I'm so sorry, everyone! I can't believe how long it has taken me to update… mostly it's because of Finals Week and the start of a new quarter here at school. I've been running around like a chicken without a head, and consequently, haven't had much time to devote to writing. Anyway, enough of my excuses, right? Go enjoy the next chapter!

Standard disclaimer still applies! I own nothing related to JN and am simply a poor, humble student with no money whatsoever. Don't sue!

To Cross the Rubicon
By: pottergal

Chapter Eight: At Long Last… the Cause?

His day had gotten worse, Jimmy decided, as he slumped into his seat. He was beginning to think that a torture chamber might be a better place to be than his classroom, as the past half hour had been complete murder.

Miss Fowl had assigned a short research project, which would be due in a few weeks, and when the moment came to decide the groups, Cindy had automatically leapt to his side. Libby had been close behind her, saying that whenever Jimmy's handiwork wore off, she'd be needed to keep Cindy from killing him. Jimmy had looked desperately from Carl to Sheen, who'd shared a nervous look.

"It'll be all right, Jimmy," Sheen had said at last, placing his hand over his heart. "For the goodness of humanity, I volunteer-"

"Wait just one llama-picking minute!" Carl had exclaimed and everyone had looked at him. "The last time Sheen said that, I wound up volunteering. And therefore, I volunteer Sh-"

"Good man, Carl," Sheen had said, interrupting him, and Carl had blinked in confusion. "I was going to be the one to offer myself, but since you're so set on being in Jimmy's group, I'll go find someone else to pair with." At that, he'd shaken Carl's rubbery hand and got up to find someone else's group.

So the group had been formed, and Miss Fowl had let them have until lunch to start working on it. They'd moved four desks into a square, with Jimmy trying to get the desk furthest from Cindy, but he'd failed and had wound up sitting across from her. As far as he was concerned, he'd handled her nearly continuous giggles and flirtatious looks quite well, no matter how distracting they were.

So now he sat sullenly across from Cindy, throwing wary glances her way probably more than was strictly necessary, but at the moment he felt incredibly jumpy. He blamed it on the fact that she was batting her lashes at him every chance she got, but thankfully since Libby had yelled at her the last time she'd done it, she'd stopped for the most part.

"Since this research project has to be about someone who has made a great contribution to America, I say we do it on Men Pretending To Be Boys," Libby announced, trace amounts of annoyance present in her voice. "Since we've sat here for the past half hour doing absolutely NOTHING, and since no one else has any other ideas, we're doing mine."

"Now wait just one Neutronic minute," Jimmy said, taking his eyes off Cindy to frown at Libby. "Who said we didn't have anything to contribute?"

"How about the fact that you've spent more time trying to ignore Cindy than trying to figure out a topic for our project?" Libby snapped, glaring at him, and he gave her a look. "Besides, whatever you think up is going to be based on science."

"Precisely," he said, nodding his head a little. "I was going to suggest we focus on Robert Hutchings Goddard, without whom we would not have liquid-fueled rockets, thus rendering space travel an impossibility."

"Isn't Goddard your dog, Jimmy?" Carl asked, blinking at him, and he nodded.

"Yeah, but I named him for the physicist, as he's an idol of mine," he said and Carl blinked again before nodding slightly.

"I don't care if he's your idol or even your father, but we're not going to do this on some dumb old rocket scientist," Libby argued, turning her glare on Carl as well as Jimmy. "I have one word for you, and that's 'boring'! There's a reason people fall asleep during your presentations, Jimmy!"

"It's not my fault they don't appreciate science!" he shot back and Libby rolled her eyes.

"Well, it's not your job to try and make them!" she said before looking at Cindy. "Come on, back me up on this! We should do the pop sensation, Men Pretending To Be Boys, right?"

"Well…" Cindy said, biting her lip.

"Oh, never mind! I shouldn't have asked you for help, you're just going to agree with Jimmy!" Libby exclaimed, throwing up her hands in frustration.

"Libs, it's not that I think you have a bad idea," Cindy said, peering up at her friend sheepishly. "It's just that I think it'd be easier to do the project on something that's not quite so much a stretch as focusing on a pop group is."

"Love makes traitors of the best of friends," Jimmy heard Libby mutter as she slumped in her seat and Cindy sighed. "Carl, what's your vote? It seems you're going to be the deciding factor."

"Well…" he began, glancing from Libby to Jimmy. "As much as I hate turmoil, I was kind of hoping we could do the project on William Randolph Hearst, who had an estate populated with llamas."

Libby was silent for a moment before sitting up and looking straight at Jimmy. "You heard of this guy?" she asked and he frowned in thought before shaking his head. "That means chances are he's not a crazy scientist…"

"He was a famous journalist from the early twentieth century," Cindy said promptly, and everyone stared at her. "He's the guy who came up with the idea of sensationalizing news stories to make them sell better."

"Wow, really?" Carl said with wide eyes and Cindy nodded a few times. Libby glanced at everyone in turn before slapping her hands on the desk.

"All right, then it's settled," she said, her tone firm. "We're going to do this Hurts guy, since no one seems to like my idea or Jimmy's. I'll go tell Miss Fowl what we're doing and then we can head over to the library."

They did just that, and after plundering the book shelves, the four of them took up residence at one of the many round tables present. Jimmy once again tried to avoid sitting beside Cindy, and once again failed, his body tensing as she scooted closer. He kept glancing at her from the corner of his eye, swearing that she was just trying to look innocent as she sat there reading a biography. He had the worst feeling she was planning something, something horrible and diabolical and-

"AH!"

Heads shot up as Jimmy leapt from his chair; something had brushed against his leg. He glared at Cindy, who was blinking in confusion, and from the corner of his eye, he could see Carl taking several liberal doses from his inhaler.

Libby, however, simply raised an eyebrow. "What's up, Jimmy?" she asked calmly and Jimmy thrust an accusing finger at Cindy, who merely blinked at it.

"She's trying to play that stupid foot game with me!" he exclaimed and everyone stared at him.

"You mean 'footsie'?" Libby asked, though she sounded extremely annoyed, and he nodded a few times. "Were you, Cindy?"

"I'm sorry, I thought it was the table leg," she said and Libby gave Jimmy a look. "I would've apologized sooner if I'd known it was you." She looked up at him remorsefully, but he glared.

"She's lying!" he said and Libby sighed in frustration.

"What do you want us to do? Make her move?"

"Yeah!"

"Well, too bad," Libby snapped and Jimmy stared at her. "This group needs the both of you and we're not going to get anything done if you sit at other tables. So sit down, shut up, and work!"

Jimmy plopped into his seat meekly after being faced with Libby's anger, and opened the book he'd been attempting to read. He hadn't made much progress in it at all, being that he'd been trying to keep an eye on Cindy. It didn't help that it was possibly one of the most boring books he'd ever read; it had nothing scientific in it at all. It was all about this stupid publisher and his earth moving ideas. Where was the fun in that?

Just as he was starting to get into a reading groove, he felt Cindy's leg brush his again. He nearly bolted from his chair, but the thought of a thoroughly enraged Libby was just enough to keep him silent and stiff in his seat. He snuck a glance at Cindy to find her absorbed in her reading; she was tapping her pencil against her cheek lightly until she found something worthwhile and jotted it down in her notebook.

So maybe that was an accident too? He mentally rolled his eyes and began glaring into space when her ankle began lightly tapping against his. There's no way she's doing this unconsciously. And with that, he took his seat and scooted a few inches away from her.

Libby glanced up at him with a suspicious look on her face, but when he went right back to his reading, she silently went back to hers. Jimmy breathed a soft sigh of relief, thinking that he'd managed to get out of range, but naturally he was wrong. Frustration welled within him as Cindy scooted right after him, her ankle once again tapping against his.

Thinking that all he needed to do was get far enough away, Jimmy began scooting again, with Cindy shortly behind. Growling in aggravation, he kept at it, and after the furious scraping of legs on floor had faded, Jimmy found himself sandwiched between Carl and Cindy.

"Um, hi Jimmy," Carl said, looking at him in confusion, and Jimmy glanced up, his anger and extreme irritation present on his face.

"Hi Carl," he said, his tone flat and annoyed, and Libby stood up suddenly.

"Okay, that does it!" she shouted, slamming her book closed. "I really hate to act like your mother, but when you decide to act like a bunch of children, you give me no other choice! Jimmy, get your things and move over there!"

"But-"

"Aht! I don't want to hear it! Just move!" she continued, pointing roughly at a table nearly hidden by bookshelves. "And Cindy, you move over there! I want the two of you as far apart as possible until the lunch bell rings! I'll come by a little before hand to see how much you've managed to accomplish!"

Feeling slightly better, as Cindy had gotten the same treatment as him, Jimmy moved to his new spot silently. He could hear the librarian chiding Libby quietly for her yelling, but she didn't seem too upset, as apparently she'd been watching him and Cindy disturb everyone.

I guess she was just about to kick us out when Libby yelled at us, he thought as he took his seat and reopened his book. Maybe now he could actually get some work done…

As promised, Libby popped up about ten minutes before the lunch bell, and Jimmy showed her the notes he'd taken. She looked them over critically, her posture telling him that she was still angry, and he peered over at Cindy's table cautiously, trying to be absolutely sure she was still in her place. She was, and was absently twirling her pencil as she read.

"Hey, Libby, can I ask you something?" he began, keeping his voice low but above a whisper, which attracted attention. "And please keep your voice down and don't look at Cindy at all."

"Why not?" she asked, frowning at him, and his eyes darted from her to the blond girl.

"I wanted to ask if you know of Cindy eating anything strange last night," he said quietly and watched Libby blink. "I'm thinking that an adverse reaction occurred when a chemical in something she consumed mixed with the elements in the incense, causing this severe lapse of good judgment we're witnessing."

"Cindy didn't say anything about strange foods," Libby said, her gaze turning reflective as she thought. "But… I do feel like there's something I'm forgetting; it's been nagging at the back of my mind all day."

"Does it have to do with Cindy and the dance you guys did yesterday?" he asked, trying to help jog her memory, and she nodded. "And do you think it might explain why Cindy is acting so weird?"

"Yeah, I think so," Libby said, a light frown crossing her face. "I'm pretty sure it was something Natesa said right before we went on…"

"So you were changing, right? Was it about strange marks on Cindy's skin, similar to something you'd see in an allergic reaction?"

"Cindy isn't allergic to anything," Libby said with a roll of her eyes. "But yeah, I think we were changing. We went in, talked about our costumes, changed, talked about and put on our makeup and jewelry… that's it!" she exclaimed excitedly and Jimmy hissed at her, shooting worried looks at the librarian.

"I remember now," Libby continued, her voice back down to its low volume. "Cindy was wearing this really pretty necklace, but when Natesa saw her in it, she just about flipped. Apparently her mother had said something about a curse being placed on the necklace, and thus had never let anyone wear it."

"Then how was Cindy able to borrow it?" Jimmy asked, staring at Libby with a mixture of disbelief and annoyance. "This is dumb, Libby. A simple necklace wouldn't cause this kind of havoc." She gave him a look at that, forcing a sigh from him. "All right, so maybe it can. But there are no such things as curses; they're supernatural, and those kinds of things are impossible."

"That's what you said about the Phantom, remember?" she said and Jimmy grimaced slightly.

"Fine, I'll go check it out," he said at last, tearing a piece of paper from his notebook and handing it and his pencil to Libby. "Write down the address and I'll go over there at lunch. But I'm telling you, I'm not going to come up with anything."

"When you've ruled out everything else, all that remains is the truth, right?" Libby said as she wrote down the street and house number and he blinked at her. "That's what my grandma used to say, and it seems like it fits pretty well with this situation."

"Sherlock Holmes also said something similar," he said as he took the paper and studied it for a moment. "I should be back with time to spare, since they live so close. One last thing though; if I don't make it back before the final bell, and if Cindy for some reason isn't there either, I want you to tell the class something."

Libby raised an eyebrow curiously. "And what might that be?"

"Something that might help Cindy in the long run."

Jimmy bolted from the library the moment the bell rang, hoping to beat out all the other students and get to his hovercraft before the rush really got going. He raced over the school grounds and dodged opening doors, sliding a little over the wet tiles at the end of the hall. He had a feeling that Cindy was right behind him, but he hoped that if he got out early enough, she would be caught in the traffic and he would be long gone before she could catch him.

Ha! He grinned as he entered the parking lot, whipping a remote from his backpack and disarming the security system on his hover car. After throwing his things in, he hoisted himself up and hopped into the driver's seat.

Atomic batteries to power...

He tapped his heel against the metal floor impatiently as he ran through his start up procedure; he punched several buttons, making lights flash as programs ran several safety diagnostics, and listened to the machinery slowly bring themselves into gear. If he didn't hurry, Cindy would be free to follow him…

Turbines to speed...

"And just where do you think you're going?"

Jimmy froze at the voice from behind him and he turned slowly to see Cindy sitting in her customary seat, her arms folded over her chest and her face set in a displeased expression. Her books sat beside her and her cheeks were flushed from running.

"How'd you get here so fast?" he asked, his mouth hanging open slightly in shock. No more than two minutes could've passed since he'd left the library…

"I saw you and Libby plotting something, though I wasn't absolutely sure until I saw you run out at the bell. Naturally I ran right after you," she said, her eyes narrowing slightly, and Jimmy let out a slightly nervous laugh. "I want to know what's going on, and I want to know right now." Her voice was no more than a low growl and he grimaced.

"Libby seems to think that the reason you're acting so strange is because of a curse," he said and Cindy raised a single eyebrow in disbelief. "I know, I think it sounds like absolute bunk too, but I promised her I'd go over to Natesa's house during lunch and check things out with her mom."

"If you're talking about the supposed curse on that necklace…"

"The very same," he said and turned back to his controls, taking note of several flashing lights demanding his attention. "So if you'll excuse me…"

"I'm coming," she said, a note of steel in her voice, and Jimmy frowned but knew better not to argue. He wasn't strong enough to push her out of the car, and besides: it would probably be better to have her with him. She knew Natesa's mother and he didn't, which gave him a better chance of getting in to talk with her.

Plus in the rare event that there is something to this whole stupid curse thing, I'll be able to figure out a way to fix things on the spot.

"Fine," he said, trying to make his tone sound as unhappy as possible as he finished up the necessary preparations. "Just don't glom onto me or try to play that stupid footsie game or try to kiss me again, and things will be fine."

"You have my solemn oath," Cindy said, her tone dead serious, and when he glanced at her briefly, he found that she'd placed a hand over her heart.

"Hang on, we're leaving," he said and then punched a large green button beside the steering column, feeling the familiar hum around him as the large fan began spinning rapidly. After a moment, he tugged upwards on the steering wheel, and the craft rose smoothly into the air.

And... liftoff.

Yes, yes, I know. Too short, right? Well, I'm sorry, but I thought this was a good place to stop. I'm aiming for ten chapters, and right now it looks like I'm going to make it. (crosses fingers for luck) Anyway, so how are you guys enjoying the story? I hope this chapter was funny mental-image wise, as my strong suit is not in comedy, but romance. I'm a hopeless romantic at heart, what can I say? So let me know what you think and what do you think is going to happen? Will he discover that there's an actual curse on the necklace? Or is it something else that's causing Cindy's behavior? Review and I'll love you forever.