Cindy

"Jimmy I…" I didn't want to disappoint him but this was just something I couldn't deal with right now. Besides, I don't want to mess with the Yolkians I mean they almost killed everyone on the entire planet. When we first started our war with them they didn't seem that harmful but we were completely wrong. They had more intelligence than we ever could've imagined. They were just taking it easy on us at first but now they'll show no mercy. If they attack again I guarantee we're doomed.

"Cindy please," Jimmy interrupted, "I never ask you for anything."

"Yeah but Jimmy it's not like you're asking me if you can borrow some money or something, I mean this could be really dangerous."

"I know that Cindy but I can't beat them alone," Jimmy replied. I was so confused. Jimmy had never needed help before with any of his missions and if he did he could easily ask Sheen and Carl and the problem would be solved. So why was this time so different? Jimmy was silent for a moment so I spoke.

"What are you saying Jimmy?" I wanted to know why it was so important that I help him and not Sheen or Carl. He stared at the table in silence. I was just about to say something but he beat me to it.

"Cindy…They…The Yolkians…They said that they were gonna destroy you before they destroyed anyone else." I froze! I could feel a cold chill run down my spine! Why would they want to destroy me? What have I done to them to make me their main target? So many things were running through my mind and I couldn't think straight! I was so scared! I looked at Jimmy and his face was filled with fear and sadness. It looked like he was about to cry and I knew I was about ready to shed some tears. "Cindy I want you to help me because I know that if you're with me they can't hurt you."

"Why do they want to kill me?" I questioned, my voice was really shaky. I felt my heart start to beat faster as I awaited his response. He just sat their, silent.

"Jimmy!" I shrieked. I wanted to know why and I wanted to know now!

"I don't know Cindy," He uttered quickly. I could hear his voice crack like he was trying to hold back his tears. Jimmy never cried, even if he was on the edge of a breakdown he would never cry. I could sense that he knew the reason. "Cindy please…I'm begging you. Help me destroy the Yolkians." I couldn't believe it. Jimmy was acting as though he would die if I didn't help him. I guess… I guess I should help him. He can protect me I know he can and I'm not going to take any chances at being killed.

"Jimmy I'll help you but you have to promise me one thing." His eyes lit up with joy as the words spilled from my mouth.

"Anything you name it," He replied eagerly.

"You have to promise me that no matter what happens…you won't let them kill you." He looked shocked by my words.

"Cindy I can't promise-"

"Promise me Jimmy!" I demanded.

"Ok I promise!" He said as though I was about to kill him. What have I gotten myself into? I was so scared of what was going to happen. So many questions were running through my mind. When are they gonna attack? Where are they gonna attack? Why do they wanna kill me first? I had just remembered that.

"Jimmy, why do the Yolkians want to kill me first?" I spoke in a firm tone so he would know that I wasn't accepting anything other than the truth. He just stared at me with the weirdest expression on his face like he was scared and embarrassed at the same time.

"I already said I don't know Cindy."

"Bullshit!" I shot back. His face went from whatever expression that was to angry in a millisecond. He didn't like it when I raised my voice to him. I swear he acts like I'm his daughter or something. Except he would probably treat me 100 times better than my own father does. "You know why and you're not telling me!" He shot up out of his seat and slammed his hands against the table, staring straight into my eyes with flames of anger in his. I hate it when he gets angry, which is actually quite frequently. Jimmy has anger problems. Why? I don't know but he always gets mad about the stupidest stuff and this is one of them considering he has no right to be mad at me. I want to know the truth and he's not telling me!

"Look if you know what's good for you you'll just forget I even said that! I've already put you in enough danger by telling you their plan and I'll be putting you at an even higher risk if I tell you why so just don't worry about it!" He barked like a mad dog. Don't worry about it? THEIR TRYING TO FUCKING KILL ME!

"THEY ARE THREATENING TO KILL ME SPECIFICALLY AND YOU'RE TELLING ME NOT TO WORRY ABOUT IT?" I yelled as loud as I could. The room suddenly became silent. Oh no! I thought as the awkward stares of the citizens all fell upon me. Thankfully Jimmy came up with a lie quick enough so they wouldn't actually think he was lying.

"It's ok she was just practicing for an audition," He said as smoothly as possible, "Continue with whatever you were doing." Everyone just sat there for a second and then just shrugged it off and continued with their meals. Jimmy just gave me an evil look and dragged me outside. "Ouch! You're hurting my arm!"

"What are you thinking Cindy? You can't do that ok, the more people that find out about it the more danger they're in," Jimmy glared at me with his eyebrows narrowed and his eyes locked on mine.

"Well the Yolkians already threatened to destroy the world so it's not like they can get in anymore danger." I shot back

"Well as long as I still have a chance to stop them I want to keep them away from the Earth as long as possible and telling people their plan isn't exactly gonna help with that!"

"Whatever fine! Just tell me what I need to do to stop these stupid aliens."

"Cindy it's not that simple," he started, "We have to build two magnetic poles that will sit right outside of Earth's atmosphere. One North of the Earth and one South. Once that's done we have to turn them on which will take about 1 day for each one to completely charge. When they're charged they'll form a force field around the entire planet which will block out any lifeforms that are not from Earth."

"Well it seems like you've pretty much got it all figured out so what do you need my help for?" He just rolled his eyes.

"God can't you just help me with this? Why do you have to have an explanation for everything?" He complained. I was getting really annoyed.

"Because Jimmy, unlike you who's probably known about this for a while-

"3 days," he cut me off.

"Whatever, you've had time to think everything through and I'm just now finding out about all of this so excuse me for being a little skeptical." I know I was probably overreacting especially considering he was trying to save my life but I'm not the kind of person to just do anything at anytime without any reason.

He just stared at me like I was getting on his last nerve. I didn't care though because I'm sure that he was getting on my nerves 10x's worse than I was getting on his.

"Look it takes a while just to build one of the poles. I figure if I have you build one while I build the other we'll have it done in no time." Finally he gives me a reason. Well I guess that makes sense so at least now I know why I'm helping him even if I don't want to.

"Ok, well when are we gonna start building these things?" I asked curiously. He smiled and grabbed my hand.

"Right now." BOOM! All of a sudden his jets in his backpack went full speed and we were flying over the city to his lab, which scared the shit out of me.

"YOU KNOW WE COULD HAVE WALKED!" I screamed at the top of my lungs so he could hear me. He just laughed.

"THAT'S NO FUN! YOU'D LIKE THAT!" I just gave him a dirty look and he jerked the jetpack to the left as hard as he could just to make me jump. Asshole!

"VERY FUNNY NEUTRON!"

Jimmy

I brought Cindy over to my lab so we could work on the magnetic poles. At first I though it was going to be miserable because everyone knows how Cindy gets when she's put in a situation she doesn't like. But it was actually… fun. We were laughing and joking as we built the machines and she would tell me things about her and Libby that made me see a totally different side of her, a more fun and careless side instead of the usual stressed out, uptight, has a pole shoved up her ass Cindy. And the most shocking part was that we didn't fight at all! Not once! I even questioned myself on whether I was awake or not because it was so unreal. It was so strange seeing her act like a normal person because I know better than anybody that Cindy is not a normal person. And even though it was totally surreal, I liked it. I liked seeing her laugh and seeing her loosen up and not be so worried about everything. I guess you can say I actually liked hanging out with her. No Jimmy don't think like that! You don't like her YOU DON'T LIKE HER! I have to stop doing this! What is wrong with me? We're not supposed to have fun together we're supposed to work together, as partners not as friends. Ugh, but she's so beautiful and her smile is amazing and her voice is the sweetest voice I've ever heard… when she's not screaming at me, but still. As much as I hate to admit and no matter how much I try to deny it I have to face the truth. I have a crush on Cindy.

"Oh my God Jimmy never think like that again!" I said to myself gripping my hair with my hands. How can I have a crush on my rival? Damn, these stupid hormones! If she wasn't so beautiful and funny and smart and sweet and- Oh God just stop! I thought and that would probably be the best thing to do is just stop thinking about her. But how can I not think about her? She's the only thing that I can think about, if I'm not thinking about her then I have nothing to think about. Ugh, I need something to get her out of my head!

"AAAAAH!" I could hear someone screaming as they went down the entrance tube followed by a loud crash! Sheen and Carl came tumbling down into my lab. How ironic. They both got up slowly and started rubbing their heads.

"Jimmy I think it's time you get a new entrance," Sheen smirked, "Something like I don't know maybe a DOOR!" He shouted in my face and I just shoved him away.

"Ouch my scapula," Carl complained. I swear if he doesn't stop complaining about his damn scapula I'm gonna rip it out myself! They both came over and observed me like I was a lab rat as I worked on my machine.

"Uh, you guys need something?" I asked confused. They just looked at me like they were trying to figure something out. What if they know? Shit, they can't know! I started to get nervous until Sheen finally spoke.

"Jimmy, why did you carve a picture of Cindy into your machine?" Sheen asked.

"Huh?" What was he talking about? Then he pointed down at the machine. Oh my God, I really did carve a picture of her on it and I didn't even know it! I'm driving myself insane with all of this I need to get her out of my head.

"Jimmy? Hello, anybody home?" Carl snapped his fingers in front of my face trying to get my attention.

"Uh, sorry I just gazed off."

"So what's with the picture Jim?" Sheen asked with a mouthful of potato chips. Why can't they ever bring their own food? Why do they always have to steal mine?

"It's funny, I don't even remember drawing it," I replied which was actually the truth. They just stared at me like I was crazy, which they might be on to something. I gulped hoping that they didn't think I lied to them. I didn't want them thinking I liked Cindy. I'd never live it down. All my life Cindy and I have been mortal enemies and if they thought I liked her it wouldn't be natural to them and they'd freak out. After staring at me for what seemed like forever they finally spoke.

"You were probably just sleepwalking and put it on there," Carl suggested. Sometimes I worry about him.

"I remember this one time I was sleepwalking and I woke up the next morning in the front yard with nothing but my underwear and my ultralord mask on," Sheen started, "Then I looked down and saw a whole bunch of mud on me and I distinctly remember the sound of squealing pigs." I stared at him without any though in my brain. He definitely topped the charts of biggest idiots on Earth.

"So… You were chasing pigs, in your sleep, with nothing on except your underwear and your ultralord mask?" I asked just to make sure.

"YUPP!" He replied proudly. "Oh wait that wasn't when I was sleep walking, I meant to say I locked myself in the closet when I was sleep walking. I guess I got my stories mixed up." He laughed and Carl and I stood silent waiting for him to make sense.

"Sheen… Have you ever considered therapy?"

"I hear they have really comfortable chairs," Carl added as he rubbed his back, hinting that my tube was no sufficient enough for them. I just rolled my eyes.

"Fine I'll get a new entrance geez," I griped and then I continued working on my machine. Sheen and Carl stood behind me and watched as I worked.

"Jimmy what's going on?" Carl asked. I could hear fear in his voice. I shuddered at his words, hoping that he was only asking out of curiosity and not because he had already gotten information. I stopped and turned around.

"What do you mean?" I asked. They moved a little closer.

"You've been acting different lately," Sheen stated, "Only 4 days ago you were fine and now you're hardly talking and you're spending all your spare time in your lab."

"How come you don't hang out with us anymore Jim?" Carl asked. That one hurt. Now I really felt bad, I hadn't even realized I had been neglecting my friends. But I couldn't tell them the truth, it would put their lives in danger. The only reason I told Cindy is because they specifically mentioned her and I had to protect her, plus she's the only one, besides me, with the intelligence to build a machine like this. Ugh this was so stressful.

"I'm sorry guys, I've just been kinda out of it lately," I assured them, "I promise I'll be back to normal soon."

"You say that like you know exactly when you're gonna get back to normal," Sheen said firmly. He wasn't buying it, Carl was though. Carl believes anything.

"Look I've just been a little out of it ok, I promise I'm not gonna stay this way." They just stared at me for a minute but then I saw Sheen smile. He bought it.

"Ok man just try and get back to normal and stop being such an ass," He joked as they left.

"Yeah go screw a squealing pig Sheen," I laughed as he flicked me off. Once they were gone I continued working but as soon as I saw the engraving of Cindy again I freaked out and dropped my screwdriver. "Ugh, Cindy what are you doing to me?"