Right! So this chapter is pretty long for you guys, and I hope you like it. Please give me a heads up if you think I'm not being true to the characters - that's my biggest pet peeve. That and grammatical errors.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

Cindy groaned and reached over to press the snooze button on her alarm. Eyes still closed, she idly wondered what time it was before sleep captured her again.

"BARK!"

Cindy woke with a start and rolled over to see Humphrey waiting at the foot of her bed, whining anxiously. She frowned, wondering what the problem was, until she looked at her clock.

7:01. She had less than twenty minutes to get to school!

Cindy cursed and rolled out of bed quite literally. She hit the floor with a thud, cursed again, and hauled herself to her feet. The next few minutes were filled with more swear words that her mother would have crucified her for saying and a flurry of activity, trying desperately to get ready as fast as she could.

Cindy had been planning to get to her first day of school back home a little early, to avoid the teachers making a big deal of her arrival in Retroville after five years. The problem was that she was still incredibly jet-lagged—being on a plane ride for fifteen hours from a place that was six hours ahead could do that to a person. Still, five years away from home had not diminished her sense of discipline or perfectionism, and she was not about to be late on her first day back. What kind of first impression would that give?

Then again, she had also learned that the elementary school had been converted into a high school, mostly because a majority of the kids in Retroville were the same age, and the small building they had been using before was too small to hold all of them. And most of the teachers were still there. Cindy didn't have her schedule memorized yet, but she was sure that Miss Fowl would be one of her new/old teachers. After all, the woman was practically immortal, and it was unlikely that the birdlike woman would have perished during Cindy's brief stay in Sweden.

Cindy paused in the middle of throwing on a green, long-sleeved t-shirt. She was getting distracted. It was now 7:03. There was no way she could walk to school now, which is what she had been planning originally.

A minute later, fully dressed and stuffing school supplies into her backpack, Cindy dialed Libby's phone number. The phone rang twice before her best friend picked up.

"Hey, Cindy."

"Libby! Listen, can you pick me up? I slept past my alarm and it's—" Cindy glanced at her clock. "—7:06. What time does school start again?"

"7:15 is the warning bell. Don't worry, girl, I've got you covered. Sheen and I can swing by and drive you to school."

Cindy hesitated. Sheen?

Driving?!

Exactly three more minutes later, Cindy shut the door to her house and locked it behind her right as a gray, rusty car appeared on the street. It parked in her driveway, and sure enough, Sheen was at the wheel.

While Cindy doubted Sheen's compulsive nature had changed much in the past five years, his sense of clothing style sure had. Gone was the Ultralord t-shirt that Sheen had worn obsessively. Instead, he wore a gray, almost silver shirt with green jeans and a blue beanie over his mess of black hair. He appeared to have grown the most since the last time she'd seen him, and if he had been standing and not behind the wheel of a car (which, by the way, was terrifying), Cindy knew that he would be at least six inches taller than her. Considering that she was tall for a girl, about five feet and eight inches, that was quite a height.

"Hi, Cindy!" Sheen said in that brash voice of his. His voice had grown deeper, too, though not as deep as Jimmy's.

"Hi," Cindy said briskly, checking her watch anxiously. 7:10. She threw caution to the wind and jumped in the backseat of Sheen's car—which was covered in old wrappers and smelled suspiciously like candy. "Can you get me to the school before the late bell?"

"Can I?" Sheen asked, that wild look in his eyes.

"He can," Libby assured Cindy, turning around in the passenger seat to give her a reassuring look.

Cindy wasn't so sure. "How did you get your license, Sheen?" She knew that the hyperactive boy had been held back twice, which meant that he was certainly old enough to qualify for a license. But how on earth had he managed to pass his driver's test?

"Oh, it's easy!" Sheen replied as he pulled out of the driveway. The car swerved for a moment before he pulled it onto the street and started to drive. "It's not that different from driving the hovercar!"

Cindy didn't find much comfort in that. "Didn't you crash the hovercar?"

Sheen frowned and turned around to look at her, narrowly avoiding crashing into a trashcan as he did. "Uh…which time?"

Libby smacked Sheen's arm. "Keep your eyes on the road!"

"Right!"

Cindy searched frantically for a second seatbelt, maybe even a third, but eventually settled for gripping the backseat handle as tightly as she could.

It probably would have been safer to hitch a sled to the back of my airplane to get back home, Cindy thought. If I get out of this alive, I'm riding the bus from now on.

"Jimmy," Carl said, scratching his head. "Why are you carrying an extra bag?"

"Because," Jimmy grunted, dragging the second backpack up the steps to Lindbergh High School. "I—it's—for—" He nearly collapsed as he reached the top of the steps. "I'll tell you later."

It would be rather hard to explain his thinking if he couldn't even get air in his lungs. He should have taken his mother's advice and signed up for a gym class that semester.

He would have asked Carl to help him carry the bag, but the youngest of the Wheezers was famous for his lack of ability to carry anything over two pounds. The extra bag that Jimmy was carrying was at least twenty. Even though Jimmy had grown taller in the past few months, and he no longer had the stick arms of a fourteen-year-old, he was struggling. A lot.

It's worth it, he reminded himself. Jimmy tried to remind himself why as Carl opened the door for him and he dragged both his backpacks into the school.

After Electron had appeared at the party, Jimmy had worked himself into an anxious frenzy and hadn't been able to sleep for the entire weekend. This morning, he had barely managed to come up with a temporary plan to deal with it, though his brain was still aching from doing so.

"Seriously, Jim, what's in the bag?" Carl asked.

Jimmy put his hands on his knees to catch his breath as they came to a stop by his locker. He spoke as he entered his combination, struggling to remember it for a moment. "I'll tell you later, Carl. We're almost late for first period."

Indeed, it was 7:17, and the warning bell had already rung. Miss Fowl's class was all the way on the other side of the school, and the last time he had been late, he'd had detention for lunch and after school. Old age had not mellowed Miss Fowl's temperament any.

Jimmy's locker swung open with a creak, and he stuffed one of his backpacks inside as fast as he could. "Come on, Carl!"

The two of them rushed off after Jimmy shut his locker, able to move significantly faster now that he was only carrying one backpack. Unfortunately, neither of them were very fast runners, and they reached Miss Fowl's classroom just as the bell rang.

"Mr. Neutron!" Miss Fowl exclaimed as he and Carl stepped into the classroom. Her exclamation was followed by a bird-like sound that all of her students had long since grown used to.

"Sorry, Miss Fowl!" Jimmy said, dragging Carl into the classroom behind him. The poor, overweight boy was whimpering miserably. He couldn't stand conflict. "It won't happen again."

"It had better not, young man," the old teacher said. "Now, Carl, take a seat next to Sheen, and Jimmy, take a seat next to Miss Vortex."

Jimmy's heart slammed on the brakes. Oh, pluto.

He gulped as he realized the truth. Cindy Vortex was sitting in the seat right next to his, just like when they were kids. Miss Fowl must have been feeling nostalgic.

If Jimmy had been unsure what to say before, he was struck dumb now. He knew that she'd seen him at the party when Electron had shown up, not doing anything. What the hell was he supposed to say?

Jimmy avoided her eyes, though he knew they were on him, as he walked to his seat. If this was how it was bound to be, he might as well move in with Sheen's cousin and change his last name.

"All right, class!" Miss Fowl said, with another squawk. In any other instance, Jimmy would have been among the other students struggling to contain their chuckles. He was too busy finding the strength not to run out of the room as fast as his legs could carry him to notice his teacher's odd behavior.

"Today we will be discussing the effect of Shakespeare's work on the modern world," Miss Fowl droned.

Jimmy tried his best to pay attention, he really did. But it was already hard to pay attention to English in the first place, especially with Miss Fowl's…stimulating voice. And now, with Cindy Vortex sitting next to him? It was like trying to shove Carl through the eye of a needle.

He snuck subtle looks at her from the corner of his eye. She, of course, was listening in apt attention, but seemed unaware that a lock of her hair had escaped from her ponytail. Jimmy beat down the urge to reach over and brush it out of the way with aggressive stubbornness, just like he had when they were younger.

This is Cindy, he told himself. Get it together, Neutron! Somehow, this strategy seemed less effective now. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that he wasn't a genius anymore. Or the fact that he hadn't seen her in five years.

It took Jimmy about twenty minutes to realize that he was supposed to be taking notes. Especially because this was English, he could use all the help he could get when he was doing homework.

Jimmy waited for Miss Fowl to look away during her lecture, then leaned over and unzipped his backpack. And then he cursed. He'd put away the wrong backpack! In their hurry to get to first period, he must not have realized the difference between his two sacks.

He hesitated for a moment, then raised his hand in defeat. It took Miss Fowl a minute to realize that someone was actually awake during her class, and then she started when she realized that it was Jimmy. "Yes, Jimmy?"

Jimmy shifted uncomfortably in his seat as the attention of the class shifted to him. Especially that of one blonde, Sweden-returned girl. "Um, Miss Fowl…can I go to my locker? I think I left my notebook there." And my pencil. And basically everything else.

Miss Fowl raised an eyebrow behind her giant spectacles. "What's in your bag now?"

Jimmy swallowed. He couldn't very well tell the truth, now could he? He'd get a month of detentions for sure, plus no end of suspicion cast upon him.

"I…um, put…gym socks in there?"

A chuckle broke out in the back of the classroom—probably Butch—and the rest of the kids in the class soon joined in. Jimmy felt his face turn red and he sank down in his seat, boiling in a stew of embarrassment. Of all things, why had he said that?

To make it all worse, he fully expected some sort of wisecrack from Cindy to make things worse and increase the amount of laughter in the room. For a moment, nothing happened, and he braced for an insult that had been building for five years.

When nothing happened after another moment, and the laughter died down, Jimmy realized that there wasn't going to be a snarky comment. When he sneaked another look at her, she saw that she was looking at him with…sympathy?

No. Cindy Vortex looking at Jimmy Neutron with sympathy? No, that would break the universe. She must have had something in her eye instead.

Miss Fowl rolled her beady black eyes when the laughter faded. "Yes, Jimmy, you may go to your locker. But make it snappy! I won't have anyone skipping class on my watch!"

"Thanks, Miss Fowl!" Jimmy said, scooping up his backpack and dashing out of the room before his embarrassment could deepen.

The hallway was empty, like usual this early in the morning. Most class-skippers waited until right before and right after lunch to make their move. It meant that Jimmy had plenty of privacy to think.

He rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand, feeling his exhaustion more than ever. He'd spent far too long worrying about Electron the past nights.

At the reminder of the interloper at Cindy's party, Jimmy felt anxiety flash through him. How could another villain have appeared now, after several years of relative silence in that department?

It had to have something to do with Cindy—which made sense, since Electron had been demanding for her to go with him. But why did he want her? And what was so important that Electron would destroy the whole town over her?

In times like these, Jimmy desperately missed his genius. He would have been able to figure out the answer in far less than a day, and who would have solved the problem with some sort of high-tech gizmo by dinner. Unfortunately, Jimmy had no such access to that intellect, or the gizmos that came with it, anymore. But he would not allow Cindy to be harmed by some metal-plated freak.

Jimmy reached his locker, and resolved to himself that despite his lack of former genius status, he would do everything in his power to stop Electron.

Hopefully he wouldn't get himself killed in the process.

"Oh, this is so much more appetizing than snow-slop," Cindy said, as a slightly squishy sandwich was plopped onto her tray.

"Girl, you must be out of your mind," Libby said, staring at her own sandwich with disgust.

Cindy rolled her eyes. "You should have seen what they served at SACK."

"Was it sacks?" Libby asked, sarcasm dripping from her voice.

Cindy couldn't even laugh. "Only on Tuesdays, thankfully."

Libby thought about that for a moment, then shuddered. "Maybe a sandwich is okay after all."

Cindy grabbed some chocolate milk and paid the lunch lady at the cashier, noting that the woman hadn't grown any less…er, grotesque in five years.

"So where are we sitting?" Cindy asked, turning around to follow Libby. The tables in the school's cafeteria had been given an upgrade to fit the high schoolers' older bodies, but other than that, the school looked pretty much the same as it had when she was ten.

"Over here," Libby said.

Cindy followed her to a table at the far end of the cafeteria, one already populated by two people.

She rolled her eyes. "You can't be serious."

Sheen Estevez and Carl Wheezer were waiting at the table that Libby was guiding her toward, already waving.

"Hi, Libby and Cindy," they said.

Cindy sighed and swallowed her pride as Libby sat next to Sheen and she was forced to sit next to Carl. She had to admit, she didn't find the thought of sitting with the two boys quite as repugnant as she did when she was a child.

Carl Wheezer was the only one who looked like he hadn't changed a whit since she had left for SACK. He still wore that striped orange shirt and green pants with suspenders, and his shoes still squeaked rather loudly. His red hair was still short yet strange in a way that she wasn't sure how to describe, a lot like Carl himself. And he still wore wooden glasses.

Cindy actually found it comforting that someone hadn't changed in appearance around town. It further proved her theory that not a lot could change in five years.

And she really wanted that theory to be true. Especially after what happened at her party on Saturday…

Cindy cleared her throat to clear her thoughts and took a bite of her sandwich. It was a bit soggy, but still better than what she was used to in Sweden.

"What's new with you?" Sheen asked, putting an arm around his girlfriend. Libby rolled her eyes and ignored him as she took a bite of her own sandwich and gagged.

"Well, my scapula—" Carl started, his voice just as…well, wheezy as five years before.

"Carl, what have we told you about talking about your injured body parts?" Libby said, making a face.

"Sorry." Carl scarfed down his sandwich in one bite, and Cindy was grateful that she was far enough away that the crumbs wouldn't reach her. "How was your first day back, Cindy?"

Cindy thought about that for a moment. One of her teachers that she didn't know, a man named Mr. Navis, had given her two textbooks and a chemistry set for his science class. All of her other teachers had given her similar supplies. To anyone else, their bag would have weighed a ton. To Cindy, whose teachers for the past five years had insisted on at least three textbooks per class, her backpack was as light as a feather.

"It was okay," she said, leaning her head on her hand. "Other than almost being killed this morning!" She shot a not-so-subtle glare at Sheen, who was too busy making a mashed potato volcano to notice.

"Oh, it was fine, Cindy!" Libby said, patting Sheen's hand. "Compared to other days, Sheen's driving was excellent this morning."

Cindy stared at her, jaw open. Why on earth would Libby keep riding with Sheen in the morning, even if he was her boyfriend? She must have been insanely boy-crazy.

Cindy shook her head. Hormones.

"Hey, where's Jimmy?" Carl asked, licking his fingers clean as he finished his lunch.

"Oh, I know, I know!" Sheen exclaimed, raising his hand like they were in the middle of a class. He put a finger on his chin as he said, "Jimmy asked us not to say anything when he didn't show up at lunch, because—there he is!" Sheen cut himself off suddenly and pointed at a trash can behind the table.

Cindy and Carl turned in their seat to look at the trash bin in question. A moment later, a sigh came from behind it.

"Thanks for that, Sheen," Jimmy said, standing from behind the trash can. He rubbed his left arm awkwardly and avoided eye contact with Cindy.

Today, Neutron was wearing a dark gray hoodie zipped up halfway over a red shirt, with blue jeans and sneakers. It was strange to see him actually change outfits everyday. Strange in a bad way. Not strange in a way that set her heart racing…

Cindy cleared her throat as Neutron sat down next to Sheen and directly across from her, still avoiding eye contact.

"Hi, guys," Neutron said, smiling awkwardly.

"Hi, Jimmy," Carl and Sheen said at the same time.

The lunch table grew silent as Libby, Carl, and Sheen waited for someone to say something. And Cindy knew that they were, because Libby sent her a knowing look at made her want to punch a wall.

Cindy took Neutron's strategy and looked anywhere but at him. She wasn't sure why it was so awkward, but she found it especially hard to say something, considering what had happened at the party two days previous.

Instead, she focused on the backpack next to Neutron's feet. The second backpack at Neutron's feet.

Neutron seemed to notice Cindy's gaze and cleared his own throat before taking the backpack—which was incredibly heavy, judging by how his arms quaked—and placing it on the table. The top was unzipped, and a small handle (almost like for a sword) popped out and rolled over to Cindy.

She looked up curiously at him, and was surprised to find that his clear blue eyes were meeting hers. He opened his mouth to speak, but Sheen cut him off.

"Woah, Jimmy, is that stuff from your lab?"

"Keep your voice down!" Jimmy said, clapping a hand over Sheen's mouth as kids from other tables started to look over. Neutron smiled at them, and they looked away. Then, in a low voice, "Yes, Sheen, it's stuff from my lab."

Cindy wasn't sure why the others looked so surprised at Neutron's confession. Surely he brought inventions from his little shed all the time? She didn't have time to ask any questions before Jimmy was piling some of the gizmos in his bag on the table, making sure that no one else in the cafeteria was paying attention.

She felt her eyes widen. There was a hypo-ray, a scream cannon, even a .250 caliber molecular blaster the size of her hand. The sword hilt—which she now recognized as a laser sword—was one of three. Neutron paused in the middle of pulling out weapons, which under normal circumstances would have gotten anyone else expelled. Then again, this was Retroville, and this was also Jimmy Neutron.

"I-I brought a few things for you," Neutron said, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly as he gestured to the devices on the table. Next to him, the others looked shell-shocked. Cindy felt immeasurably confused, both by their actions and that of the big-headed boy across from her.

Jimmy started yammering rapid-fire, listing off the inventions as if she had never seen them before, pausing every once in a while for an unknown reason. With each word, Cindy only grew more and more confused.

"Neutron," she eventually interrupted, "what's all this stuff for?"

The big-skulled fifteen-year-old slowed to a stop, his words dropping off into nothingness. "What do you think they're for, Cindy? To protect yourself from Electron."

Cindy liked to think that she had become a calmer person over the past years. But for some reason (maybe just because it was Jimmy Neutron), she felt indignation flash in her core. Neutron was telling her to protect herself, after she had single handedly gotten rid of Electron with no assistance from any fancy gadgets while Neutron cowered behind a trash can? The very idea of that loosened her tongue and ignited her rage.

"In case you didn't notice, King Cranium," she said, crossing her arms and sitting back in her seat, "I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself."

She saw something flash in Jimmy's eyes that looked a lotnlike anger. "In case you didn't notice, Vortex," he said, his voice rising in volume, "Karate moves won't defend you from an energy blast!"

The other three at the table rolled their eyes in unison as Cindy and Jimmy started to argue again, though none of them rolled their eyes as hard as Libby.

Not for the first time, she thought, Why don't those two just get a lab? Although, she figured that a lab would be the last thing that Jimmy wanted. He had made it painfully clear that talking about his scientific past was painful. Yet here he was, with a bag full of devices that no one at the table really understood. That he had voluntarily gone into his lab for. Jimmy hadn't been near his shed for…well two years, at least, according to Sheen.

A new villain in town. Jimmy Neutron back in his lab. Cindy Vortex had arrived. Libby could almost believe that they were all ten-years old again. Cindy and Jimmy were even arguing like it. Probably for the same reasons, too.

Libby forced herself to listen in again as the yelling reached a fever pitch. The others in the cafeteria weren't even paying attention, already used to it. Though, Libby supposed that living in Retroville gave everyone a "Jimmy-and-Cindy-arguing" resistance.

Jimmy and Cindy had both stood from their seats and were both leaning over the table, their faces not too far apart. Libby resisted the desire to roll her eyes once more. This had happened a lot when they were children, and every time Libby had to resist the urge to get the hard work done for the pair and just shove their faces together to get it over with.

"Well, maybe if you're so worried about me putting myself in danger," Cindy shouted, "maybe next time you should use that genius brain of yours and actually help!"

Libby, Carl, and Sheen immediately knew that a line had been crossed. Jimmy had already been sensitive about his lost intelligence; hearing about it from Cindy was probably like shoving a red-hot cow prod into the wound.

Jimmy's eyes flashed dangerously, and he opened his mouth to say something that they would all probably regret.

Instantly, Carl and Sheen were on the move. Sheen clamped a hand over Jimmy's mouth while Carl grabbed his arms and dragged him away, and Libby did the same to Cindy.

"Libby!" Cindy barked, once Jimmy was safely out of view. "What did you do that for?"

"Cin, shut up and listen," Libby said, crossing her arms. She ignored the indignant look that Cindy sent her way and started to speak. "Two years ago, Jimmy was diagnosed with a brain condition by some doctor that I don't remember the name of."

She watched all of Cindy's angry energy dissipate. "Wh-what?"

As much as Cindy was her friend, Libby thoroughly enjoyed watching the…well, big-mouthed (for lack of a better word) girl struck speechless. Libby decided to continue, channelling all her powers of speech that had been cultivated over five years.

"The doctor said that Jimmy had a rare brain condition that increased intelligence at a young age but took it away later." Libby gave an awkward smile that felt misplaced. She and the others had had a long time to cope with Jimmy's…condition. Granted, Jimmy was still coping, but it was just as hard for his friends. And for someone who had Cindy's strange, bizarre relationship with him…

"Jimmy isn't a genius anymore?" Cindy asked softly.

Libby noted the use of Jimmy's first name but didn't say anything about it. "Yeah. That's why he didn't do anything when Electron came—he couldn't do anything, Cin."

Cindy put a single hand over her face. "I'm an idiot, Libs."

"I can't disagree."

Cindy fidgeted nervously as she waited for the three boys of the lunch table to return. She felt like such an idiot!

No wonder Neutron was so awkward and nervous around her—he must have thought that she would think less of him because he wasn't as smart as he used to be. He couldn't be further from the truth.

Cindy had some experience with people thinking less of her because she couldn't do something. Most notable was her own mother. From a young age, her mother had expected Cindy to be great, enrolling her in intense programs and activities that she usually wanted no part in. The only parts of it that she liked were her karate training and the training of Humphrey. Everything else was hell—especially because she wasn't any good at any of it. She was terrible at piano. She couldn't stand irish dancing. She'd once tried violin and had intentionally broken the instrument in order to quit it. It had never mattered to her mother, who had insisted that Cindy be the best in everything. Everything.

So, yes. She understood Jimmy Neutron a bit more than she would ever care to admit. It wasn't the same thing, but she understood.

And she fault awful about how she had just treated him. If someone had pointed out one of her inadequacies and deep insecurities—which certain kids in Sweden had been prone to do—she would have felt awful, and horribly angry.

Neutron and his two friends reappeared a few minutes later, from the direction of the bathroom. Jimmy looked significantly calmer, though he did seem to be fairly embarrassed, almost as badly (if not more so) as he had been that morning.

Cindy decided to just say it before her pride could get her to back out of it. "I'm sorry, Neut—Jimmy."

His eyes widened as he sat down. Of all the time together, Cindy could honestly say that she couldn't remember ever apologizing to Neutron. She could understand his surprise, too. Lord, she was understanding him a lot better than she wanted to.

Cindy forced herself to continue speaking, lest she lose her nerve. "I shouldn't have said that."

"It's all right. Cindy." Jimmy spoke hesitantly, as if he wasn't sure what to make of her or her apology.

She needed to keep talking. At least, that's what she told herself, because she felt tremendously awkward just sitting there while everyone else at the table watched. Besides, it would help clear the air.

"I…I don't think less of you."

Now it looked like Neutron's eyes would fall out of his head. Clearly, he hadn't been expecting that to come out of her mouth. "You—don't?"

Cindy shook her head, but could say no more. Partially because she was embarrassed, but also because her arrogance and pride would allow her to go no further.

She smiled a crooked little smile, however. "It was fun to argue again, wasn't it?"

Jimmy smirked, and she thought the sight of it would send her tumbling backward onto the floor simply because it looked so unexpectedly good on his face. "Yeah. It was."

"Tell you what," Cindy said, nodding to herself. She picked up the hilt of the laser sword that had bounced out of Jimmy's bag. "I'll carry one of these around with me. Just in case. But I think this Electron guy was just a fluke."

Oh, if only that were the case.

Please shoot me a review! *shoots finger guns awkwardly*