Oh my gosh! It took me freakin' forever to write this chapter. But I hope you enjoy anyway. Love, Katie

This takes place the night of LSTN.

Experiment

Feeling jelly kneed and lightheaded, Jimmy nearly collapsed into his large computer chair.

He'd kissed her! He'd actually kissed Cindy Vortex on the lips! Not only that but after he walked her home he just left her without an explanation. He knew that she would hound him until she got it. What was he going to tell her? That he'd just been curious?

Oh, gas planets, she would murder him!

In his defense he hadn't intended to actually do it. All of his curiosity was purely hypothetical until that moment in the alleyway a mere ten minutes ago. One minute he was watching the way the moonlight danced in her hair and noticing that she smelled like lavender. The next minute he was kissing her. His head was spinning and his heart was pounding and he couldn't really remember where he was.

It was exhilarating. He absentmindedly licked his lips. Strawberry! A small smile started to cross his lips as he imagined her kiss, her smell, her soft hair….

Wait just a minute! He had kissed Cindy purely out of scientific curiosity. Not that she ever needed to know that. He didn't like girls! Well, except for Betty Quinlan of course. There was no comparison between the two girls. When Betty had kissed him it was really nice. When Cindy kissed him it was magical. Wait, WHAT? He liked Betty Quilan! He wanted to go to the movies with her. He wanted to hold her hand. But if that was the case why on earth did he keep seeing Cindy in his head? He shot up from his relaxed position in his chair. Why did he keep hearing her laugh? Why did he imagine her brushing his hand as they both reached for the popcorn?

What the heck was going on? Did she implant some sort of strange mind altering drug into his brain without him knowing?

"Jimmy! You need to go to bed now!" His mother called.

"Ok mom, I'll be up shortly," he replied.

He got ready for bed, unable to stop glancing over at the house across the street. Angrily he threw himself down on his bed. He groaned loudly.

"Jimmy honey! Are you okay?" His mother inquired from around the corner. "I thought I heard you fall!"

"I'm fine mom. Well, I guess I am sort of confused about something," he sighed.

"Well, you can talk to Dr. Mom," she teased. "Now what is going on honey?"

"It's about a girl."

"Honey, are you sure you wouldn't rather talk to your father?"

"I'm confused enough as it is."

"Right, so tell me what you are confused about."

"There's this girl and we've always fought. I mean, there were some very rare times when she was nice to me. But tonight, tonight I can't seem to stop thinking about her in some very strange ways."

"Like what ways?"

"That she kind of distracts me sometimes. That's she's kind of pretty and smart."

"You like her!"

"What? Why do you say that?"

"Well, let's think about this logically. You spend a lot of time with her; you said that you are thinking about her in positive ways. You flirt with her, don't you?"

"MOM!"

"What?"

There was an awkward silence.

"It was just an experiment."

"Oh my boy, you are a genius, but you don't understand everything. You need to trust me on this."

He sighed. "I can't like her! She's her and I'm me!"

"You like her honey, and that's okay," she noted with a light chuckle. "You should ask her to a movie or something. I bet she'd like that."

"She'd laugh at me."

His mom leaned forward and kissed him on the forehead.

"She likes you too."

"How do you know?"

"A woman just knows," she replied moving to the doorway.

"Thanks mom."

"You're welcome honey."

"Good night."

"Good night sweetie. Oh! Remember to tell Cindy I say hello tomorrow," she sent him a wink. Jimmy's eyes widened and he flushed but before he could protest his mother had shut the door. He rolled his eyes but chuckled to himself. Tomorrow he was going to ask Cindy out on a date.

Maybe this experiment hadn't been such a bad idea after all.

-x-