Cindy grew pale at the sight in front of her.

No way. There is absolutely no way.

In front of her stood everything she had loved and despised all together. A pool of blue eyes meet her green ones as she took in the sight. A surprisingly tall man stood before her; and he would look just like any other man to anyone.

But not to her.

His chocolate brown hair was lazily flung flopped over in the front of his face; making him look sophisticated and relaxed all at the same time. He had a broad jawline as well as a slight four o'clock shadow. He wore a black striped dress shirt with a black tie and his sleeves were cuffed at the elbows. His dress pants plain black along with his shoes.

But Cindy was not fooled.

At the end of his tie; there was an embroidered yellow atom icon.

His icon.

She opened her mouth at him and clenched her hands tightly. She felt like she was going down.

Fast.

Non Other than James Isaac Neutron stood before her with his mouth hanging open at the her. He slowly approached her with curious eyes.

Cindy felt sick as she slowly slid down to her chair to rest. Zoe looked at her with a hint of worry and confusion but made no attempt to ask at the moment.

Her once childhood friend finally reached her table and took a good look at her. As if he was taking in some new data and comparing it to the old. He said nothing for a few seconds and then cleared his throat, "It's um nice to see you again, Miss Vortex…"

Cindy went scarlet in the face.

Miss Vortex?

Realizing that there were other students in the room, she caught the hint.

The last thing she needed was to make a scene.

"Err, good to see you too, Mr. Neutron."

This is too weird.

"Well, hehe, I believe that is everyone on the attendance list." Jimmy said laughing awkwardly while trying to recover from the shock.

The students whispered among themselves as they stared at Cindy and Jimmy.

Cindy could hear them from all around her as she shrunk in her seat; girls texting on their phones, guys looking at their friends with raised eyebrows, and the giggles that emerged from these conversations.

Jimmy, who seemed to regain his strength back, cleared his throat loudly and the class seemed to quiet down at the noise. He gave a slight smirk when the madness stopped.

"Ok, since it is the first class, I am not going to be too demanding or keep you in for too long. Well, not yet anyway." he said giving a devilish smile, "Since I think syllabuses are a waste of paper and time, I am just going to tell you what I expect from you guys. 50% of your grade will be based on how well you can analyze poetry and the other on the various tests and quizzes. I can not express how much that knowing the material is crucial for doing well in this class; so I suggest you pay attention. Now for your first homework assignment," at these words the whole class flinched, "I want you to find me a short poem and bring it into class next week. We'll discuss it and interpret it into everyday life. So until then, class dismissed!"

As if on cue, the entire class quickly jammed their stuff into their bags and fled from the class. Cindy sighed a breath of relief; she left like if she stayed any longer she would burst.

Zoe turned over to Cindy with an eyebrow raised and gave her a I-want-answers-now face.

Cindy looked over at Jimmy who was picking up some paperwork off his desk; as if nothing had happened. Her stomach twisted inside and she felt her hands shake a bit; but she was not going to let that stop her. Turning to Zoe, she said, "Hey I'll meet you in the apartment in an hour. There's something I got to do."

Zoe shrugged at her friend, grabbed her bag, gave one last look at Cindy, and headed out the room.

That left only her and her professor in the room.

Her professor.

Gathering her small amount of courage, Cindy finally got up from her seat to walk over to Jimmy; which would have been cooler if she didn't trip on her chair and fall face down.

Alarmed, Jimmy came over to her quickly and offered a hand to help her up. "Are you ok, Cindy?"

Whoa

It has been a long time since she heard his voice say her name. She looked up to his face where he was bent down and a genuine look of concern.

Was she ok?

Cindy took his hand and was lifted off the ground with her old friend's help. She looked up to Jimmy tried to read his voice. Over the years, he was now so much taller than her and super healthy.

She felt herself growing gradually angry. Sheen and Carl have been trying so hard to contact him and now here he is on a silver platter without a care in the world. How can anyone be so distant? Especially to your best friends?

She scowled at him and and took her hand away from him. Without any warning, she blurted out, "How come you never called or emailed Sheen and Carl? Do you know how long the tried to keep in contact with you until they gave up? Why would anyone do that to their own best friends?"

There was a long silence after that between the two. Jimmy sighed heavily after a minute and ran his hands through his hair with his eyes closed. Cindy stood waiting with her arms crossed for an explanation.

Jimmy looked at her and said, "When my parents told me that we were moving away for college, I was both thrilled and heart broken. I knew that moving away would mean that I would have to either keep contact with you guys or stop completely; it's obvious now that I chose the second. It was hard; but I had to do it because I did not want you guys to still be tied down by me. I hoped that you guys would live your life without having to worry about what their friend blew up today or how he almost got killed by aliens."

Cindy blinked in surprise and gave him a suspicious look.

How many times did he almost get killed?

"How are Carl and Sheen though?" Jimmy asked casually with a hint of worry in his voice.

Cindy looked at him hard and then sighed, "Carl got sent off to Australia by some corporation to study llamas or something. Sheen somehow got discovered by a modeling agency that freak out everytime he changes his socks I guess."

Jimmy chuckled and murmured, "Makes sense."

Cindy looked down to the ground; she didn't know what to say next. She was the fierce Cindy Vortex who was not supposed to be nervous about anything-or anyone. But now as she looks up at the person she expected last to see, she couldn't find the words for anything.

When Neutron left her life, she thought he left for good.

Not to come crashing back as her professor.