Cindy stared at her test that she had been given back and smirked at her A+ that she had been given. She was always a top student, even with all the sports things she did and was proud that she was able to keep her grades up even with distractions.

"What grade did you get on the test, Jimmy?" Cindy asked absentmindedly.

"An A." he said, sliding his paper away from Cindy's view.

Cindy made a face and looked over Jimmy's bag that was blocking her view.

"What kind of an A, Jimmy?"

"A regular one; the English one with two slanted lines and a vertical one in the middle!" he said, holding his test up in the air as she tried to get it.

"Neutron, I'm still taller than you when I stand!" she growled, standing up and snatching the paper away from him.

Jimmy shrugged, knowing she'd freak out about it.

Cindy slung the paper back at him and crossed her arms, turning away from him.

"I hate you."

"I know." He said with a smile.

"How can you get an AA++? I mean, how is that even possible."

"I'm not sure. I just answered the questions just like everyone else did."

"Well you must have done something… I don't know why I even missed you."

"Because I'm good competition."

"You're not competition, Jimmy, you're pretty much a rival. You take your smarts as nothing but electricity going between synapse to make yourself smart but it's harder for others, ya know."

"Well, it's not hard for you."

Cindy made a face at him as he looked at her innocently.

"What do you mean by that? I bust my ass trying to get all these questions correct."

Jimmy smiled. "Cindy Vortex, I'm ashamed of you."

"What do you mean?"

"You must have been dating Nick too long."

The bell rang and Jimmy got up, slinging his backpack over his shoulder. Cindy scoffed, grabbing her purse and stuff and running after him.

"Nerdtron, wait up!" she yelled.

He stopped in the middle of the hallway and waited for her, which seemed to be the usual routine since he got back.

"You mind explaining what you mean?"

"All I'm saying is that the Cindy I remember wouldn't lower herself to that of her other classmates and ever admit that she studied. I know you and your brain too well, Vortex, and I know that you don't study just me. You're smart but you don't want to be too smart or your boyfriend won't be able to understand you. Don't think I haven't seen you dumb yourself around him."

"And what are you going to do about it Jimmy? Are you hoping I dump Nick and come crawling back to you because of your superior intellect?"

"No… I'm just saying that you shouldn't make yourself seem less smart than you are just because some jock can't even spell his own name."

"You have room to talk about relationships, James Neutron." Cindy said venomously, walking away.

Jimmy watched her walk away and smiled. It was so great to be back in a place where being smart was considered a commodity as well as a privilege. Of course, Jimmy knew now not to lord his smarts over everyone but High Tech City was full of smart people just like him, some even smarter. He was so used to being the smartest kid in town (literally) that having an actually scientific conversation with someone and not having to put it into Laymen's terms every five minutes had at first, been a blessing. But after a while, he realized that the smarter they were, the more stupid they were.

Jimmy came to the conclusion that smart people are dumb.

"Jimmy!" He turned as Carl ran up to him. "I just got a text from Sheen. He said that his meds are kicking in great and will be able to come to school next week."

"Awesome… It will be odd seeing him. Tell me, how is he when he's… sedated or whatever?"

"Well, it depends on which medicine he's on. Some of the meds make him really sleepy, some of them make him cranky… Sheen said this one seemed to make him sometimes space out but he likes this one better than the others. He can still have a normal conversation with people and not get narcolepsy or randomly yell at people. He said the spacing is easily controlled and has to do with eye movement something."

"Hmm… the speed of the eye and blinking motions, maybe being too fast, could cause an seizure-esque type reaction, which would explain the spacing out." Jimmy said, putting his hand on his chin. "Interesting…"

"I'm not really sure what that means but I'm just glad Sheen is going to be back! It'll be just like old times… Speaking of, when can we come over? I haven't seen the new place since you got here."

"Oh, well, if you want I can show you my new lab. It's not a secret anymore but it still needs a DNA coder to get in… Just don't touch anything."

"I know that." Carl said, holding his hand up. "Scout's honor."

They walked to lunch.

That afternoon, Jimmy and Carl walked toward his house.

"So do you still have Goddard?"

"Yeah, I do. I upgraded him though."

"Didn't you try to do that and he turned evil?"

"No, that was Timmy Turner's fault for being an idiot." Jimmy said with a growl. "Has that dummy crossed into our dimension any since I left Retroville?"

"I haven't noticed him if he did. It was kind of cool he had fairy godparents though, right?"

"Carl, they were not godparents. They were holographic computer fairies."

"If you say so, Jimmy…"

As they walk up to Jimmy's new house, Carl's eyes get big and he looks at the large home.

"Wow, you weren't kidding about those stones."

"Nope. I knew I'd create isomething/i that wasn't stupid to use all the time…"

He got out his house key and opened the door.

"Mom, I'm home. Carl's with me; I'm gonna show him the lab!"

They were about to walk past the living room when Judy came out of the kitchen. Carl's eyes lit up as she smiled at him.

"Why Carl, it's been a long time since I've seen you. You've gotten so much taller."

"Hey, Mrs. Neutron. You're looking exceptionally ravishing today."

Judy giggled. "Thank you, Carl. Now, Jimmy-"

"I know, I know, don't have anyone touch anything. I got it. I trust Carl…"

Judy smiled. "Alright then, play nice."

He walked toward the back of the house and opened Jimmy's door. Goddard sat up and wagged his tail, barking at the two.

"Hey, Goddard; you remember Carl, right?"

Goddard barked again and went up to Carl, sniffing him and then sitting in front of him.

"I thought you said you upgraded him?"

"I upgraded his mainframe so it will be nothing you can see on the outside."

"So… where's your lab?"

Jimmy walked over to the closet and opened it up, pushing his clothes back. There was a scanner attached to the wall and he pulled out one of his hairs. The scanner scanned it and the door opened. They both went in and then went down a chute. Once they were on the ground, Jimmy yelled out 'Illuminate' and the place glowed with light. Carl's eyes widened and his jaw dropped as Jimmy held out his hands.

"Welcome to my lab!"

Cindy finished her lap and stopped, leaning on her knees and breathing hard. She liked a good run to refresh her mind and keep her body strong. She still took karate and did river dancing but they were only once a week and so she needed to have a strong body to keep up her strength. She was also usually the top of the pyramid as a cheerleader so she needed to keep her balance intact.

Cindy grabbed some water and drank a good amount before wiping the sweat from her brow and looking around a little. She was the only one there at the track, for once, and was happy that she was. She didn't like having to share the track when she was in a mood because it meant she had to keep everything in. And right now, she was thoroughly pissed off.

"Stupid Jimmy and his stupid grades… GO BACK TO HIGH TECH CITY WHERE YOU BELONG!" she yelled out. She growled to herself and sat on the bleachers, taking a good breather. "I mean, who the hell gets an AA++? That's not a possible grade! Grrr! I knew I should have just not cared when he came and kept to my own business but of course, I get myself involved with him…" She sighed and looked up. "Oh, who am I kidding? I'm getting myself involved with him because I missed him so much… He just left… Whatever, I have Nick now and things are going great. That jerk needs to understand that and stop making me feel like crap about myself. Yeah!" She got up, giving herself a power thrust with her hands. "Look out world, Cindy Vortex is no quitter! I'll beat you, Jimmy Neutron… just wait and see."

She laughed out loud to herself and began to run around the track some more, feeling free of emotions that were tying her down as well as having a new vigor for life. She could get through this and deal with Jimmy's return without consequence…

Right?

so that thing with sheen is something that actually happens to me. i don't know if there are actually things that make it happen but i know it happens. it's like where you look and everything and nothing all at the same time but it looks like you're staring at one thing to other people. you're totally aware of it the whole time and it lasts maybe 30 seconds. i've heard that it's actually considered a seizure of sorts but... yeah... so don't quote me on the eye movement thing, i just thought that could be a good explanation for it *shrug*