Chapter 8

Cindy sat, bored out of her wits, in her AP Bio class, doodling on the margins of her spiral-bound notebook.

"Miss Vortex? Would you kindly decide to rejoin us and enlighten us with the topic of interest?" asked Mrs. Howerth. Cindy glanced up and noticed the snickers of her classmates, not including Jimmy. He was looking out the window, casually scribbling in his notebook occasionally.

Cindy faced the front of the class. "Umm.. What's the topic of interest?"

The classroom was filled with more snickers, and Cindy noticed Jimmy move his head slightly her way.

Mrs. Howerth smiled almost kindly, but it changed to a frown immediately. "We're talking about the ice worm, Miss Vortex."

God, the first day of school and we're already hitting the books, thought Cindy. She cleared her throat and flipped through the pages of her textbook.

"Ummm... Well... Uh..."

"Ice worms usually survive only in freezing temperature, hence the name ice worms. Their species name, solifugus, means sun-avoiding. Also, they tend to dissolve into goo when heated."

Everyone turned around and looked at where the voice was coming from. It came from Jimmy. He shrugged and went back to looking out the window.

"Well, since Mr. Neutron here has explained somewhat everything we've gone over, you are free to do as you wish until the bell," said Mrs. Howerth. She held her head high and sauntered over to her desk.

Since this was an AP class, Libby or Sheen, or Carl were not in it. But Cindy had made some other friends when she had started High School.

"Hey, what's up, Cindy?" asked Jessica, the first girl Cindy had befriended in her AP classes. They had three classes together.

"Umm.. Nothing."

Jessica shrugged and began doodling on Cindy's notebook. "Huh, what's this?"

She held up the notebook and pointed to the picture of two people laying on a hill under the stars. Cindy snatched it away and closed the notebook withsnap.

"It's.. Uhh... Nothing."

Jessica smiled and tried to take the notebook back. "You're not acting like it's nothing! Come on, lemme see it!"

Cindy's face grew pink and she struggled to hold onto her notebook. "I'll show you later, just stop it!"

Jessica let go of the notebook and Cindy went sprawling. She lay on the ground, noticing laughter coming from everyone in the classroom. Everyone but Jimmy.

The bell rang and everyone hurried toward the door, some even stepping over Cindy.

"Want some help?"

Cindy looked up and saw Jimmy with his hand extended to her.

"Umm.. Thanks," she muttered quietly.

She grasped his hand and he lifted her off the ground with ease.

Jimmy grabbed his backpack off of one of the nearby tables and he walked slowly toward the door. "Coming?"

"Oh, uh... Yeah! Hold on, can you wait while I get my stuff?" She hurried to push her books into her backpack and straightened up.

Jimmy stood, the light streaming in from the windows making his eyes shine brightly, making the golden flecks in his eyes come out. His blue plaid button up shirt was buttoned with only one button, and underneath, he was wearing a plain black t-shirt.

"So you ready?" he asked. Cindy nodded, barely able to say anything. "Y-Yeah." The butterflies in her stomach raging around, she pulled on the hem of her pink t-shirt.

"Let's go to lunch, then," Jimmy said cooly.

As Cindy walked into the cafeteria, she felt as if the world had stopped. She felt like all eyes were trained on her and Jimmy coming in through the doors.

But it was merely a trick of her mind, the trick that she wished was coming true. She wanted everyone to know she was standing next to Jimmy Neutron, the boy she had loved, and still loved for 4 years.

Jimmy nodded at Sheen and Carl before walking to the lunch line. "You coming?"

Although Cindy had a lunch packed into her backpack, she nodded, silently praying for enough money to get a lunch.

As they stood there, in the lunch line, they said nothing except for the occasional yes and no to the lunch servers.

"So, what's up, Jimmy?" An awkward silence hung in the air, or at least as silent as it could get with a thousand or more people screaming in the background.

Jimmy glanced at her, the blond bombshell he had asked on a date two years ago. "Nothing. Oh, no corn, please."

They made their way to the end of the line, and Jimmy reached into his back pocket for his wallet. "How much would that be for these two?"

Cindy looked at him, and she placed her hand on his arm. Oooh, he has such rock hard biceps, she thought. "You don't have to do that!"

Jimmy looked at her. "What? It's my treat. My treat to eat disgusting cafeteria food and die a slow and painful death while sitting on the john for the rest of the day."

Cindy laughed and took an apple off of the tray next to the cash register. "Well, now that you put it that way."

They both laughed and carried their trays outside to the quad. "So how have you been, Cindy?"

She shrugged and took a bite of her pizza. Showing a look of disgust, she set it down and picked up her apple. "I've been doing good, I guess. I mean, this is the first day of school. There's not much to get worried about or anything."

"Yeah, I guess," replied Jimmy, shrugging as he took a bite of his burger.

They sat in silence, eating their lunches. Cindy looked up occasionally, studying the face of the guy she was so madly, and deeply in love with. She imagined him throwing down his burger and picking her up, kissing her passionately...

"Cindy?" came a voice outside of her mind. She looked up from her lunch tray. "Cindy?" the voice repeated. Jimmy was waving a hand in front of her face, making sure if she was still with him.

"Huh? What?"

"Nothing... You just... You kind of zoned out there."

"Oh, yeah... Sorry."

"No need to apologize."

Jimmy smiled and took a book out of his backpack. Cindy peered curiously at the blank cover. "What is that?"

He looked up and raised his eyebrows. "Oh, this?" He pointed to the book. "It's a book called Timeline. I picked it up in the library this morning. I'm already halfway done though."

Jimmy smiled again and lowered his eyes to the book. Cindy took a deep breath. "Jimmy?" He looked up again.

"You know that camping trip?" she asked quietly. Jimmy's smile disappeared. "I... I was wondering if we could talk about that."

"Talk about what? The camping wasn't anything. You know that, right?"

"Well... I actually wanted to talk about... About what happened two years ago."

A loud silence screamed in the air.

"What happened two years ago, Cindy? Refresh my memory, please," Jimmy said coldly.

Cindy sat, tears beginning to spill over her heavily made up eyelashes.

"So you wanted to talk to me about how you somehow tripped and landed on James Levy's face? Is that what you wanted to talk about?"

"N-No. I... Maybe you should tell me about how you and Betty were 'sucking face' the night before our date?"

"Well, you were such a-- What?"

"I said, maybe you should tell me about how you and 'Miss New Booty' were 'sucking face' the night. BEFORE. OUR. DATE?"

"What the hell are you talking about?"

Cindy sighed angrily and threw her apple core onto the tray. "God, Neutron, you're such an asshole all the time! Why can't you be more like James? He's so nice! He didn't even get mad when you BROKE HIS NOSE. You are so selfish, Neutron. You only think about yourself and then you pretend you don't even know what I'm talking about when I bring out your little 'secret' with Betty."

She grabbed her backpack and slung it over her shoulders. "Bye, Neutron."

Jimmy sat in his chair, unable to think, unable to breathe at what had just happened before him.

"What the hell was she talking about?" he whispered.