Cindy Vortex was grabbing her belongings from her locker as the last day of school before winter break began to wind down. Her friend Amber walked up to her as she shut her locker door.

"Hey, Cin. Can I ask some boy advice?" the bespectacled girl asked

Cindy nodded. "Sure, Amber"

Amber rocked back and forth on the balls of her feet. "Say a guy you like is stubborn. Is it possible to get past that?"

Cindy smiled and nodded. "Yes, I can say that with 100 percent certainty. It just takes time"

Amber pondered that for a moment. "What if the guy you like is rich and powerful and heroic and dreamy?"

Cindy blushed. "Well, the heroic and dreamy part, I relate to."

Amber sighed. "Well, Liam's all four. I try to talk to him, but I get tongue-tied."

Cindy put a hand on Amber's shoulder. "What I used to do it lull myself into a false sense of confidence, that way I would at least pretend I'd have nothing to worry about. The truth was I couldn't look J... uh... someone... in their eyes without getting lost."

Cindy didn't want to hide her blooming relationship with her former rival, Jimmy Neutron, but it was still too new.

Amber pressed on. "Well, Liam's eyes are different. It's like they have this magical ability to make me melt. Besides, you heard what he said on the field trip when Sagebrush Sally tried to hit on him. I quote "I have sworn on the cross that I will not fall in love." And when Jimmy asked him why he made such a "ludicrous oath", Liam got this sad look in his eyes and said, 'I refuse to suffer as Father did.'"

Cindy pondered that last statement. "I wonder what that means."

Amber shrugged. "Beats me."

—Later, in a lab across town—

Jimmy Neutron was pouring over articles he had pulled from Irish news sources. "O' Seagh... I've seen that name somewhere before. In international news, I'm sure of it."

Ever since that morning, when Liam O' Seagh walked into Miss Fowl's classroom, something about the Irish exchange student nagged at the back of the boy genius's mind.

"Jimmy, you in there?" the voice of Sheen Estevez, one of Jimmy's best friends ripped him out of his studies.

Jimmy groaned. "Ah, gas planet! Sure, Sheen. Come on in." As he let Sheen in, his computer pulled up an article that read "Diplomat involved in messy divorce! Wife claims infidelity!"

Sheen looked his friend over. "Jimmy, what's going on? You rushed out of school so quick Carl and I couldn't keep up. Mostly just Carl."

Jimmy sighed apologetically. "Sorry. It was just... I know I've heard Liam's last name somewhere."

"Well, his dad's a ...diploma-Matt, right? Maybe he's famous." Sheen guessed.

Jimmy shook his head. "Diplomat, Sheen," It was then that Jimmy noticed the article. As he read it, his jaw dropped. "Pukin' Pluto!"

"What? Did he do something illegal? Was he framed? No, don't tell me! They outlawed Ultra Lord in Ireland! The humanity!" Sheen screamed.

"No, Sheen. Liam's mother filed for divorce on pretenses. She claimed Mr. O' Seagh cheated on her when he didn't. She was just upset that he wanted to give most of his salary to charity." Jimmy revealed.

Sheen made a disgusted face. "So not cool. No wonder Liam is so romantically detached."

Jimmy nodded. "Yeah. It's kinda sad. I've noticed that Amber seems to like him."

Sheen put his hand to his cheek in thought. "What are we gonna do? We can't let them suffer in their silence. Their heart will explode, just like me after Abuela Estevez's cooking."

Jimmy pulled out his phone. "The only thing we can do. Pass the information to Cindy. This kind of thing is her department." He quickly texted a picture of the article and a text explaining the situation to Cindy.

Cindy's phone dinged. "Oop I just got a text," She read what Jimmy had sent, then gasped."Oh, no." She quickly forwarded the information to Amber.

Amber read the article as soon as she had received it. When she was done, she put her phone to her heart. "Oh, poor Liam... and his dad. They didn't deserve that. Aw, now I just wanna give Liam a big hug."

The next day, Amber strolled to the Candy Bar to meet up with her friends. As she walked through the front door, she spotted Liam over by the jukebox. He slipped a quarter in and picked a song. As Amber sat in a booth beside Cindy, Libby, and Brittany, he began to sing along.

"I am a question to the world

Not an answer to be heard

Or a moment that's held in your arms

And what do you think you'd ever say?

I won't listen anyway, you don't know me

And I'll never be what you want me to be

And what do you think you'd understand?

I'm a boy, no, I'm a man

You can't take me and throw me away

And how can you learn what's never shown?

Yeah, you stand here on your own

They don't know me 'cause I'm not here

And I want a moment to be real

Wanna touch things I don't feel

Wanna hold on and feel I belong

And how can the world want me to change?

They're the ones that stay the same

They don't know me 'cause I'm not here

Amber frowned. "The poor guy…"

"Well, go on, girl. Now's the best time to talk to him." Libby encouraged.

Amber took a deep breath. "You're right. He needs support."

"You got this, Amber." Brittany smiled.

Amber walked over to where Liam stood. "Um… hi, Liam."

Liam turned to face her. "Oh. Hello. Amber, right? We have class together."

Amber nodded. "Yeah, that's me." Steeling her nerves, she wrapped her arms around him.

"Wha, what the..?" Liam exclaimed.

"I read about what happened between your mom and your dad. I'm so sorry. You didn't deserve that." Amber began to blush.

Feeling a little awkward himself, Liam gently pulled away. "Amber… look, you're nice. But… I promised that I wouldn't get into any relationships while my father is out of town. And as a diplomat, he's out of town a lot."

Amber put her hands on her hips. "And on what grounds have you made such a promise?"

Liam reached into his pocket and pulled out a rosary made of olive beads. "I swore it on this cross. It belonged to my grandfather. When an O' Shea makes a promise on this crucifix, that promise is kept."

Amber sighed. "Look, Liam, I understand you and your dad must be hurting. What happened to you was a tragedy. But that doesn't mean you should cut yourselves off from people who want to care about you." She reached out to take Liam's hand, but he backed away.

"I'm sorry, Amber. But I can't chance getting hurt again. Do yourself a favor and forget about me."

As he walked out the door, Amber made a promise herself. "Someday, Liam, I'll prove myself to you."