Hey everyone, I'm back, with an especially long chapter for you. Yesterday the beach was fun, even though it was hot and we had to walk to the parade site, and then march the whole way to the end in ninety degree weather. I mean, we got free food, and afterwards we went swimming, where I lost my suit in front of hot topless drunk guys! Okay, I lied. There were hot topless drunk guys there, but I made sure I did not lose my suit, 'cause I'm responsible like that. Really, the only reason I had this done today was because I got fillings at 9 this morning and I couldn't talk since my tongue, lower jaw, and cheeks were numb and swollen. I couldn't even eat or anything. It sucked royally, but after about 3 hours it wore off, thank God. In case you haven't noticed, I write these little spiels after finishing the chapter.

Anyways, onward to the goodness!


After a morning similar to the one previous, Jimmy stumbled out of his front door with only a can of Thin-Fast in his hands. Unfortunately, he wasn't early today as he was yesterday, so when he was walking to his bus stop, he saw the bus coming and had to run to make it on. He sat with Libby, who probably had shoved Sheen into a seat with Carl so Jimmy would be able to talk to her on the ride over to school.

"Do you just want to ditch today?" she asked just as Jimmy was settling in.

"No. I don't think that would be smart. They need all the schooling they can get," Jimmy replied, jerking a thumb at the seat occupied by Carl and Sheen.

"Well, how about just us two?" Libby tried again. "I can manage a day off, and you certainly can."

"I don't really want to arouse suspicion any more than I have to. If we try to go about our daily lives normally, then people will be more likely think that Cindy's home sick or something. We can start searching as soon as school lets out for the day. As of right now, I don't have a plan, but I have eight whole hours ahead of me to make one. I've already started," he finished, holding up the can.

"I don't get it."

"I'm trying to get into Cindy's head, trying to figure out how she thinks, so I can make a hypothesis on where she would head," Jimmy explained. "Criminal psychologists do it every day, and it works."

Before he could say more, the bus had arrived at the Academy. As the friends stepped out, Jimmy whispered to Libby, "Be careful today. Don't tell anyone we don't know where she is. Say she's sick, or on a vacation or something, and please refrain from telling Carl and Sheen too many details. I'll brief them when the time comes."

"You got it, dude," Libby said, giving him a thumbs-up.


School seemed to pass by normally, once Jimmy kept telling himself everything was okay, and that Cindy was just out sick. But even that didn't work for very long, because Cindy's attendance record was perfect. Jimmy briefly smiled when he remembered Cindy at school with the chicken pox, walking pneumonia, various colds and flues, and even pinkeye. But his smile turned to a frown when he remembered how many times he had caught whatever she had over the years and did stay home.

Classes passed, bells rang. Lunch came and went. By fourth period (second to last), he still had barely started his plan to find Cindy. Even trying to get in her head didn't work very well. That's because Cindy doesn't think like a normal person does. She never has, Jimmy thought. As he walked from the world languages building to the arts building (yeah, every subject has a building. It's like that at my school too, since it's so big) last period, he figured he would just abandon trying to think like her and just approach it logically. By the time he reached his locker for band, he had a vague idea of where he wanted to start.

By the time the last bell for the end of the day had rung, Jimmy was more than ready to get to work. He called Libby on his cell phone and had her meet him in the senior parking lot, behind the football field. She was there, waiting for him as he arrived.

"Please tell me your day was bad too," she complained as Jimmy walked up to her in the parking lot.

"Absolutely horrible," he replied. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Well if the fact that Cindy wasn't in school-- when she never missed school-- when I would turn to say something to her wasn't bad enough, everyone had to make it worse." Libby sighed. "I told them she was on vacation, and I know they meant well, but it still stung every time someone would ask."

"C'mon, Libby," Jimmy tried to reassure her, "I'm sure she's fine." He took a deep breath and toldher his plan. "Since I can't seem to think of any better way to do this, we're going to go at it logically. We'll start at her home and work our way outwards. If we find no sign of her, we work out of Retroville, but only to the surrounding cities, since we're working after school and are pretty pressed for time."

"It's more of a plan than I had," Libby commented. "Let's make it happen, Cap'n."

Twenty minutes later Jimmy and Libby arrived at the Vortex's front door, a pen and paper in Libby's hand.

"You sure you know what you're doing?" Libby asked Jimmy uncertainly.

"I'm not sure of anything right now," he confessed, "but there has to be some answer here."

Mrs. Vortex answered the door when Jimmy rang the bell. She looked horrible, like she had been up all night crying. She was even still in her pajamas, a rarity for any member of the Vortex family at this hour.

"Hi, Mrs. V.," Libby ventured. "May we come in, please?"

As Jimmy and Libby stepped into the living room, Sasha Vortex broke down.

"My baby!" she sobbed plaintively. "Do you have any idea where she could be?"

"That's why we're here," Jimmy said, placing a comforting hand on Mrs. Vortex's shoulder. "We were going to question you lightly, but I can see you know as much about her absence as we do. So we'll start at the next place. Do you mind if we go up to check Cindy's room?"

"Anything to bring my baby back." Mrs. Vortex had composed herself, but was still visibly struggling to control her emotions.

Jimmy and Libby walked cautiously up the stairs, not knowing what to expect.

Cindy's room looked much the same as the last time he'd been there, Jimmy thought wryly, knowing full well the last time he was there the gang except for Sheen were all ten. She still had the pink theme, but her bed was bigger and her Jimmy-shaped punching bag was gone. What a relief.

"All right," Jimmy commanded. "Search for anything suspicious: clothes missing, notes, too much stuff out of place, et cetera. I'll be searching her computer to see if there was any planning involved."

Ten minutes had passed before either one of them spoke again. Libby was the one to break the silence. "I found something!" she exclaimed.

"What is it?" Jimmy swiveled in Cindy's computer chair to face Libby on the bed, an open book in her lap. "A journal?"

"It's probably got a crap load of information!"

"Libby, I don't think you should read it," he cautioned.

"Why not?"

"Because," Jimmy reasoned, "it's where she keeps all her personal thoughts."

"So?"

"So, it would be wrong to encroach on her privacy like that."

"Well, we're in her room, looking through her stuff, and on her computer, all without her permission. That pretty much qualifies as 'encroaching' to me," Libby argued.

"Whatever." Jimmy sighed. "I just don't want to be responsible if she finds out. How about you read it to yourself, and if something of importance comes up, let me know so I can read it. Somehow deliberately trying her trust like that doesn't sit well with me."

"Whatever melts your butter." She casually flipped through Cindy's journal, skimming the pages for anything that could help them find Cindy. Suddenly her face lit up and she called Jimmy over. "I think you might want to read this."

He took the book from her and his eyes widened in realization as he read the entry, one of the last ones in her journal.

I have a hard time letting go sometimes. Especially any ties to him. I don't know. I figured just shutting him out of my life would make my feelings go away eventually. Hmph. It only made things worse. All I can think about is him, day and night. He slips so easily under my skin, like bacteria. I'm going crazy. Seriously. I have never felt like this. Never. And I'm scared.

I dreamt about him last night. I was at a party, and I was talking to a friend in the food line. She asked me how I felt about him, if I still hated him or anything. I was like, I don't hate him. On the contrary, I like him very much. And then my friend pointed behind me and he had been there, listening to me the whole time. Somehow his features seemed crisper in my dreams, his eyes bluer than ever. I couldn't seem to look away from them; they looked so full of emotion, so sad and guilty and apologetic. Even as I write this 16 hours later it's all the same in my mind as if I were in the dream now. He looked at me, and my heart skipped a beat, and he said, "If only you had told me earlier. Now I'm leaving, I don't know when I'll be back, but I should let you know I felt the same way." He looked so sincere and morose I started crying, in my dream, and as I reminisce now, I think I would have cried had this taken place in real life. I remember thinking, should I kiss him now or just cry into his shoulder? I decided on neither, just to turn away and try to forget it and forget him, as I have been trying to do for the last month (in real life). I even, in my dream, decided to dance with other guys just so I could forget about him. But everything came back to him. His touch is so much more gentle than this guy's, or He would have inserted an aerial or wild spin here, or this guy is so out of time. He would never be out of time. That's him, my pillar, always a reference point for when I get out of time. Unfortunately, I don't know how he reacted; only that he saw me with other guys and started to walk over, because my mom decided to try to wake me up for breakfast. But my dreams have been going in sequence as of late, almost always connecting to the dream of the night prior. I can wait till tonight.

This has been nagging at me for as long as I can remember, and I don't know what to do with myself. Sometimes I feel like I will never see him again, and I never was properly able to tell him how I feel, and now I never will. Writing out my fears kind of helps me but not as much as I hoped it would. I know he suspects already, but somehow hearing it straight from me would seem more.. I don't know, right. Maybe it would be for me more than for him. Because if I don't do something with myself now, I don't know what will become of me. I was so happy with my life before I was graced by his bewitching charm. And yet, when I was an addict, I was miserable but in indescribable bliss at the same time. Just seeing him in passing from class to class or in class itself made my day. I search everywhere I go in public, hoping to catch even a glimpse of him, and yet I'm scared to death of what may happen if I do see him. I know my dream is accurate in my mental depiction of him, but I fear the reaction his actual face before mine would induce. It's a horrible feeling, this. My mind and my heart contradict each other and themselves, and I don't know what to feel. Right now I'm just feeling everything, and it's draining me. I know I will be thinking of this in bed tonight as I try to fall asleep, and I will consequently dream of him again. It's a vicious cycle, and it's killing me. I know it's not possible to really love someone unless they can love you back, but I love him. My mouth has longed to utter those words for what seems like eons now, and now my fingers have won the race. I love him. I would do anything for him, even give my life. Just because he probably doesn't feel the same way doesn't mean he doesn't have the capacity. I love him. If feels so good to be able to say that. I don't even mean love like platonic love, or the loosely-used luv, but the real deal, the whole nine yards. I love him, with every ounce of my being, with every breath and every beat of my heart. And he'll never know.

"Is this…?" Jimmy didn't know how to respond to what he just read. "Am I him?"
Libby smiled knowingly. "I told you so," she said, taking the diary back.

"Okay, I think we've found this place clean of anything incriminating," Jimmy declared, clearly uncomfortable.

"Where's the next stop, Chief?" Libby asked.

Jimmy thought for a second before answering. "The park," he finally answered. "There are plenty of places to hide there, and Cindy has been known to go there before, on the other occasions she's run away. Also, that's the direction she ran in yesterday."

As the two walked down the stairs of the Vortex dwelling, they found Cindy's mom curled up on the living room couch, not far from where they left her. Jimmy walked over and sat down next to her, motioning Libby over as well.

"Mrs. Vortex," he started, "we didn't encounter anything to indicate where Cindy has gone in her room, but that does not mean we will terminate the search. I care about your daughter very much and I will do everything in my power to bring her back to you. I know I may have not been the best friend to Cindy lately, but I am the best for the job, because I know better how she thinks than anyone else you could call in."

"We're off to the park now, Mrs. V.," Libby added. "If you have anything helpful, you know my cell number."

"Thank you, kids," Sasha managed. "I appreciate this. And if anyone can bring my Cynthia back, it's you."

"Oh, and Mrs. Vortex?" Jimmy added. "It would behoove you to call the authorities to send in a missing persons. Keep your hopes up; she may just walk in the door tonight."

"Are we really going to the park?" Libby asked Jimmy as they walked south through downtown Retroville.

"No, I'm just using this energy to walk to the entrance and turn around and go home right before entering," Jimmy replied sarcastically.

"Dude, you too sarcastic for my taste. I don't know what Cindy sees in you."

Jimmy scowled at her, even though inside he was grinning wildly. What she sees in me. I like the sound of that. Instead of replying out loud, he retorted with another sarcastic remark.

"Yeah, maybe she doesn't like me for my enormous IQ or intellectual capacity. Maybe she just wants me for my outrageously stop-traffic looks." In truth, the only things he actually liked about himself were his height, which broke six feet freshman year, his eyes and his build. Saving the world on a monthly basis after all these years puts one in great shape.

"All right, egoisto," Libby said as they walked through the park. "What now?"

"Scour it?" Jimmy guessed. "I had kind of expected to find the answers in her room."

"I guess I'd better get this party started then," Libby quipped as she pulled out her cell phone and pushed a few buttons. "Sheen? It's Libby…. Well, I'm happy you're alive too. I need your help… good, at least someone's willing to get something done. Jimmy and—… yes, I'm at the park with Jimmy… Neutron, you dipstick!... No we didn't do anything. He tried to get me to make out with him, but I just gave him the ol' one-two, just like you said." She stifled a giggle as Jimmy looked at her curiously. "Yeah. So anyways, get Carl and meet us here at the park… why would you need to bring protection? We're not going to do anything, not here at least. So just get Carl and get here, pronto... Uh huh... I love you too. Just don't get killed on your way over."

She sighed exasperatedly as she snapped her phone shut. "He can be so wack sometimes."

Jimmy grinned. "I don't know what you see in him."

Libby glared at him in response.

"Hey," he protested, "I call a spade a spade. Don't blame me."

"I give them ten minutes. If they aren't here at four sharp, I'm starting this on my own."

Fortunately for Carl and Sheen, they met Libby and Jimmy at 3:59. By this time, Jimmy had formulated enough of a plan to get them through the search of the park in less than an hour.

"Okay, here's the game plan," he said as everyone crowded close. "We each have our own corner of the park. Libby, take the far corner, the one containing the lake. Carl, take the corner with the playground and please don't stop to play with anyone or anything, or eat anything either. Sheen, take the more wooded corner, and don't get lost. I'll take the shop/food corner and ask workers if they've seen her. Everyone all set?"

Everyone nodded their heads and went their own ways. Jimmy was interviewing a souvenir shop worker, Skeet, when his phone started to buzz. He looked down and saw it was Libby. "Sorry, Skeet, I have to take this call. Please excuse me for a second."

"No problemo, dude," Skeet replied.

Jimmy turned away and spoke softly but urgently into his phone. "Talk to me."

"I found something," she whispered, almost panicky. "You need to get here, ASAP. I'm at a bench at the lake's shore; you can't miss me. I've already called Carl and Sheen, and they're on their way."

"You got it." Jimmy shut his phone and turned back to Skeet, who had been flagrantly picking his nose and examining its contents while waiting for Jimmy to be done. "Well, Skeet, it was nice talking to you, but I gotta run."

"Okay, dude," Skeet said, sticking out the hand he was just picking his nose with for Jimmy to shake.

"No thanks," Jimmy replied, "I already had lunch."


Another little side note, Retroville Academy is modeled after my Academy, which is huge and has different buildings for every subject. I get about a mile a day in walking just from class to class during the school year.

Also, Cindy's journal entry is actually one of my most recent, and I thought it was really convenient 'cause the guy in my dream had blue eyes. It worked out perfectly. Of course, I changed a few things, but essentially it's the same entry.

Review as you want others to review you. If you don't want bad feedback, don't give it! Annnnnnnnnd, I'm adding my rule from my other story to this one. I want to make sure I'm not just doing this for a couple people. I need at least five reviews for this chapter before I post the next one, which should be awesome, if sort of short.