Disclaimer: I don't own Jimmy Neutron.
Chapter 6: The Persuasion
"OK," Cindy said, rubbing her hands together. "Dial Cynthia's number for me. I need to talk to her."
James nodded and pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. He flipped it open and said "Libby home" into the mouthpiece. She looked at him oddly. "Voice activation," he explained. She nodded. When it started dialing, he handed it to Cindy, who in turn held it up to her ear.
"Hello?" someone greeted her on the other end. She could tell immediately by the voice that it was Libby.
"This is Cindy," she responded. "Can I talk to Cynthia?"
"Sure," Libby agreed. "Hold on for a sec."
Cindy heard the phone fumble around for a moment, and then, "Hey, Cindy. What's up?"
"Look, Cynthia, I just got done talking to James," Cindy began to say, "and I—"
"Did you get him to admit it?" Cynthia interrupted. James shook his head, apparently overhearing her.
"Cynthia, I really think you need to listen to what he has to say for himself," Cindy replied. Cindy could hear that Cynthia was about to protest, so she quickly went on. "Now, before you say anything, just listen to me. He told me about how you ended up together, and it's obvious that he's still head over heels for you. You never gave him a chance to explain himself when Betty made up that garbage, and I think you need to at least hear him out."
Cynthia sighed on the other end. "Are you done?" she asked impatiently.
"Yes, I am," Cindy confirmed, afraid that what she had just finished saying hadn't gotten her anywhere.
"Look, I know all that I need to know," Cynthia told her. "I don't need James making up lies and acting all romantic to persuade me to come back. All I want is an apology, or he can forget about me."
James became furious, and he looked as if he was about to argue back, but Cindy placed her hand on his mouth to prevent him from speaking. "Cynthia, come on," she pleaded. "All I'm asking for is one hour to hear him out. One hour."
There was a silence as Cynthia thought about this for a moment, and then she finally gave in. "All right, Cindy, you win. But if it turns out to be longer than that, I'm leaving. I want you to tell him that I'm not doing this for him; I'm doing it because you want me to. Understand?"
"Did you hear that?" Cindy mouthed to James. He nodded, so she continued to Cynthia, "Here's the plan. James is going to have dinner waiting for you here tomorrow at six. You can come over, eat, and talk about what happened. At seven you're free to go, but you can't leave a minute before then. And you have to listen to what he has to say; you can't just take over and argue the entire time. Are we good?"
Cynthia sighed, not too happy with the conditions. Nevertheless, she complied. "We're good," she told Cindy. "Tell him I'll see him tomorrow."
"Thank you!" Cindy exclaimed. All they needed was a chance, and now they were finally going to get it. She would make completely sure that nothing at all could go wrong.
"Oh, and Cindy?" Cynthia added.
"Yes?" Cindy responded, still ecstatic that Cynthia had actually agreed to her idea.
"Will you be spending the night over here at Libby's, or are you just going to stay with James?" Cynthia asked.
Cindy shot a glance at James, who shrugged. "Um, I think I'll be staying right where I am, but thanks for the offer," she answered.
"OK, I'll let Libby know," Cynthia replied. "Talk to you later."
"Bye." Cindy hung up, and then looked up at James excitedly. "She's going to do it!" she squealed happily. "Can you believe that?"
"Cindy, how did you do that?" he asked her, a big smile on his face.
"I guess you were right," Cindy mused. "She did listen to herself!" They both laughed, and before she realized it, Cindy was being pulled into one of James' killer hugs again.
"A 20-year-old flirting with an 11-year-old? Talk about sickening!"
Cindy yanked herself from James' arms and turned around to find Jimmy standing behind them, his arms crossed and a smug smile on his face. "Oh, shut up, Neutron!" she exclaimed, exasperated. "You know that he's not flirting! Besides, we have good news!"
Jimmy rolled his eyes. "You don't really think I was serious, do you?" he scoffed. "I was only making fun of what you said about Cynthia earlier. It works both ways, you know." He glared at her triumphantly over the comeback.
"So, are you interested in the good news or not?" Cindy snapped at him, choosing to ignore his explanation for the remark.
"Shoot," Jimmy replied, trying to act uninterested.
Cindy took a deep breath. "I talked to Cynthia on the phone, and she's going to come hear James out tomorrow over dinner at six. She sounded skeptical, but at least she's willing to listen to him. Now all we have to do is work on how we're going to convince her." Cindy paused and bit her lip. "I thought at first that she would believe him automatically if she would only hear his side of the story, but now I'm thinking we might have to jazz things up a bit. You know, show her that he really cares about her?"
Jimmy held up his hands. "Whoa, stop. Last thing I heard, you were on Cynthia's side. Now you've switched all of a sudden?"
"James puts up a really good argument," Cindy laughed, punching him lightly on the arm.
Jimmy bristled, feeling a pang of jealousy. "Oh, really?" he asked, raising an eyebrow in suspicion.
James shrugged. "All I did was tell her the story of how we fell in love," he explained. "She pretty much believed me from then on."
"Yeah, and I also asked him a few questions," Cindy added, recalling the conversation. "But, I mean, you were right. It's obvious that James really loves Cynthia. He totally didn't deserve for Betty to do this to him. Why, if I could just get my hands on her—" Cindy stopped, clenching both her fists and her teeth. Why did Betty have to be such a good-for-nothing jerk? She'd always known that girl was trouble, and it now looked like she was right in her thinking.
James placed a hand on her shoulder. "I know. Believe me, I've felt the same way. But revenge isn't the way to fix things."
"When did you turn into such a goody-goody?" Cindy asked him, a smile playing on her lips.
James grinned back. "You learn things over the years, Cindy. It really is true that you get wiser as you age."
"Oh, is that so?" Cindy replied, still smiling. "And here I thought that the amazing Jimmy Neutron knew everything there was to know at the age of eleven." James laughed while Jimmy frowned.
"Just tell me what you want me to do," Jimmy sighed in exasperation.
"All right," Cindy agreed. "We need to set everything up so it's all romantic. We're going to need a really nice dinner, and use all the good silverware. I'm also thinking about candlelight and flowers. What about you guys?"
"That's great, Cindy," James began, "except for one little thing."
"What's that?" she asked curiously. She thought she'd covered all the bases, but maybe there was something she'd missed. Dinner, silverware, candles, and flowers…what else could spice things up? Oh, of course! "And you'll have to dress nicely," she added.
"No, that's not what I was talking about. Everything's great. It's just that…I can't cook," James admitted sheepishly.
"Oh, then we'll just have spaghetti!" Cindy exclaimed, relieved that it was nothing major. "You do know how to make that, don't you?"
"Sure," James nodded. "No problem."
"OK, then," Cindy sighed. "We have a lot to do tomorrow. Absolutely nothing can go wrong. But for now, what room am I staying in?" she inquired. Surely any room in this huge house could beat staying in Libby's small apartment.
"You can stay in any room you like," James told her.
"Really?" Cindy asked excitedly. "Any room? Any room at all?"
James banged on the door in front of him. "Cindy, come on. When I said 'any room,' I didn't mean mine!"
He was standing outside of his bedroom, Jimmy next to him. He had taken both of the kids up to the second floor and told them to pick a room. Unfortunately for him, Cindy immediately fell in love with the master bedroom and had locked herself inside of it.
"Well, you should've told me that before I got all settled in!" Cindy yelled back to him. "I like this one!"
"Yeah? How do you think I feel?" James sighed and shook his head.
"You might as well give up," Jimmy advised. "I don't think she's planning on coming out anytime soon."
A/N: As with Strange Memories, I'm putting all of my updates down here from now on.
XxDoCxX: Wow, I'm glad that you think so! I'm happy you enjoyed it, and I hope you liked this one just as much. Thanks again for your coaching. You're always the first one to review!
acosta perez jose ramiro: Thank you; I'm glad you liked them! Yes, someone else told me they liked how Cynthia and Libby interact with Jimmy and Cindy, so I must be doing something right! I'm glad you didn't think that the James/Cindy discussion was too boring. I was trying to make it as interesting as possible. I'm even been thinking for a long time now of making a story based on James' story of how he and Cynthia hooked up. If you don't mind, maybe you could give me your opinion on that as well. Thanks for reviewing!
jimlover54: Thank you! I sure will try to!
okmeamithinknow: Well, here it is! Hope you liked it!
Sonomi-chan: Thank you! I'm glad you're enjoying the story! I'm definitely going to try my hardest to finish this one, and I hope you liked Chapter 6!
rohe2geth4evr: Yes, Cindy does seem more open to the future than Jimmy does—that's for sure! I'm glad that you like that, and I'm pleased at your "addiction!" :) Thanks for reviewing!
WAYAMY27NARF: Why, thank you! As you've seen from this chapter, that's not exactly how things are going to work, but I hope you will continue to enjoy the way the story plays out anyway.
Andre.ar: I'm glad you've had some extra time to read it, too! I can't believe all of the compliments you've given me, and that I've actually inspired you to start writing! As an author, that is one of the most honoring things I could ever hear from someone. Thank you for all of the encouragement, and I hope you will continue to read my stories in the future! Thanks for reviewing!