Chapter XII: Jimmy VS Cindy

It was a September morning when Cindy Vortex met Jimmy Neutron. That day, Cindy arrived at school early, as usual, and took her favorite seat: right at the front of the classroom, close enough to the teacher's desk to flatter her when possible, but far enough not to be considered a nerd, and of course, next to her best friend, Libby. Everything was going as usual; Miss Fowl was teaching math when Principal Willoughby entered the classroom.

"Good morning, Miss Fowl, good morning, children. I want to introduce you to our new student and your new classmate, young James Isaac Neutron."

"Aah!" squawked Miss Fowl. "Welcome, young man. Come in, don't be shy. You can sit back there in that empty seat," said the teacher, and little Jimmy went to sit in the second row.

"It's an honor for us to have him at this school, Miss Fowl," added the principal. "In his previous elementary school, he won national competitions, and we hope that at Lindbergh Elementary we can nurture his great talent. Well, I'll leave you to continue with your class. Have a good day," the principal said finally, and left.

"Alright, children, let's continue solving the divisions we just did. And no calculator this time, Sheen! Cindy, since you finished first, please come up and solve the first problem on the board."

Cindy went to the board and copied what she had written in her notebook.

"Very good, Cindy," said Miss Fowl without even looking at the result, as she was used to Cindy always getting the answers right. "You can sit down. Yes, young man? Do you have a question?" she asked Jimmy, who had his hand raised.

"No question, Miss Fowl, it's just that the answer is wrong."

Everyone in the class gasped, some even dropped their pencils.

Cindy was stunned for a moment but then calmly explained, "The result is correct. I think you didn't follow the method properly."

"I used every division method I know, and the result is still incorrect," said Jimmy, showing in his notebook a page full of the division solved by every possible method.

"Did you do all that just now?" asked Carl, amazed.

"Wow! Hey, Cindy, this kid's smarter than you," said Sheen, making everyone laugh.

Cindy was starting to get frustrated and urgently said to the teacher, "Excuse me, Miss Fowl, could you please tell everyone that the result is, in fact, CORRECT?"

Miss Fowl took out her calculator, and after punching in the numbers for the division and adjusting her glasses to see the result clearly, she exclaimed, "Ahh! Cindy, I'm sorry, but I'm afraid your division is wrooong!"

Once again, the entire classroom filled with gasps and murmurs, and Cindy, just as surprised as the others, exclaimed, "WHAT?! I mean, what do you mean it's wrong?"

She started urgently reviewing her notebook when a hand interrupted her view, pointing to a number with a finger.

"It's right here, see?" said Jimmy, as if explaining to a small child. "You forgot the decimal point. But don't worry, it happens to anyone. Look, he did the same thing," he said, pointing to Sheen's notebook, who was sitting in front of him.

The entire classroom burst into laughter. Jimmy's intentions hadn't been malicious, but when he compared the blonde to Sheen, Cindy squeezed her pencil so tightly that it snapped in two. She was red with rage and embarrassment, and Miss Fowl tried to calm the storm with an action that wasn't very effective for Cindy.

"Alright, children, settle down. Jimmy, may I call you that?"

"Of course, Miss Fowl," the boy replied.

"Would you like to come up and solve the division on the board?" the teacher asked.

"With pleasure, Miss Fowl," said Jimmy in a sweet tone, and taking the eraser, he wiped out Cindy's curvy numbers from the board and wrote his results over them.

For any other boy or girl, such a thing wouldn't have meant much, but it broke Cindy's heart, as one of the things she enjoyed most about going up to the board was that everyone could see how neat and well-done her numbers and letters were.

"Very good, Jimmy," Miss Fowl told him, and then, turning to Cindy, she said, "Next time, compare your results with Jimmy, Cindy. Look at his notebook! He already knows all the division methods we're going to cover this week!"

Jimmy smiled, took his seat, and then said, "Miss Fowl, would you be so kind as to move me to another seat? I can't see the board very well from here, and I wouldn't want to miss out on your class."

Cindy was left speechless, and looking at Libby, she began to mimic his words in a low, mocking tone.

"Ah! Of course, Jimmy," said Miss Fowl. "Sheen, switch places with Jimmy and let him sit at the front."

"Sure thing!" Sheen said, getting up from his seat, but then he tripped over Jimmy's backpack and fell to the floor.

"Oh! Sorry, are you okay?" Jimmy asked.

"Yes, it's just that your backpack is huge, buddy," Sheen replied.

"Oh, it's not just any backpack, it's my Jet Pack!" Jimmy said excitedly, and expressions of astonishment filled the room as they turned to see what he was talking about.

"A Jet Pack? What's that, Jimmy?" asked Miss Fowl.

Cindy, in a fit of desperation, raised her hand and without waiting to be called on, said, "Excuse me, Miss Fowl, don't you think we've wasted enough time? There are still divisions to solve…"

"Look, Cindy!" said the teacher. "Jimmy's backpack has rockets!"

All the children were surprised, and standing up from their seats and crowding around Jimmy, they started to talk excitedly about it. They pushed each other to see the novelty, causing Cindy to get bumped more than once.

"Ouch! Hey!" Cindy protested uselessly as her pigtails got mussed by her classmates' jostling.

"Ahh! Go back to your seats, everyone! Why don't you come up front and explain to us what your backpack does, Jimmy?"

"Of course, Miss Fowl!" the boy said, moving to the front of the room.

"This has to be a joke…" Cindy said as she watched the spectacle of Jimmy showing off what she considered to be a toy to the amazement of all her classmates and teacher.

"Where did you buy it, Jimmy?" Carl asked, excited.

"Oh, well, I didn't buy it," Jimmy replied timidly.

"Did you steal it?" inquired a young Nick, with a lollipop in hand.

"No, actually… I invented it," the boy answered, leaving everyone in the room speechless.

As Jimmy began to explain that his backpack could fly, the children, once again excited, ran toward Jimmy, begging him to let them use his rocket. Sheen, who had been the winner and was trying on Jimmy's backpack, raised his voice over the noise and, addressing Cindy, exclaimed in a challenging tone, "Hey, Cindy! And what have you invented, huh?"

Cindy, who was still sitting in her seat, unable to believe what she was seeing, clenched her fists.

"Wait a minute!" she said, standing up and pushing people aside to get a better look at the inventor. "Neutron, right? Tell me, do you expect us to believe that you, an eight-year-old boy, invented a personal transportation device and built a rocket yourself?" she finished, crossing her arms.

The children fell silent, doubting Jimmy, and waited for the boy genius' response: "Well, actually, I had been thinking about the project since I was six, but just last year, I…"

Cindy let out an ear-piercing laugh and said, "Sure! And I invented French fries when I was three."

Cindy's comment made all her classmates burst into laughter. Feeling secure again, she flashed a satisfied smile.

"But it's true!" Jimmy protested. "I have the sketches and the blue prints, well, they're drawn with crayons, but…"

"I won't believe it until I see it," Cindy interrupted, taking a step forward and approaching Jimmy in a challenging manner.

"Well, I don't need to prove anything to you," Jimmy said confidently, also taking a step forward.

"Then you're a liar."

"I don't need you to believe my words! I have many other inventions that speak for themselves."

"Do you have more inventions, Jimmy?" Miss Fowl asked curiously, almost ignoring the kids' discussion.

"That's right!" Jimmy replied, satisfied. "And if you allow me, I can bring one each class to show you a bit of what I do in my lab."

"You have a lab? That's ultra-cool!" Sheen shouted.

"Ahh! That would be very interesting, Jimmy," admitted the teacher.

"But Miss Fowl! We can't dedicate part of the class just for something as silly as that!" Cindy protested.

"It's not silly, Cindy. It's a very good idea! In fact, starting tomorrow, we'll begin a new section at the start of the class where you all can bring a project of your own and present it to the class."

"But we haven't invented anything!" Libby protested.

"Oh! It doesn't matter, any research on a topic that interests you, or something that's important to you. This will teach you how to speak in public and we can also see Jimmy's fascinaaating projects!"

"Did you hear that, girl? I'm bringing all my CDs and telling the history of each of my favorite bands!" said Libby.

All the kids cheered, except for Cindy. She was too angry. How could a kid she had never met suddenly take away all the attention she used to get? What had she done wrong? Had she stopped trying hard enough? And how could there be a boy like that in Retroville?

"Libby, please tell me I'm not the only one who thinks something's really off about all this..." Cindy said to her friend as they headed out for recess.

"Well, Cindy, Jimmy is a really smart kid, what's wrong with that?"

"He's not smart! He's just showing off! It's unbelievable that everyone believed his lies."

Cindy saw Jimmy from a distance in the playground, surrounded by all her friends, who were asking him questions and laughing with him. Cindy started to feel something she had never felt in her life: jealousy, an overwhelming jealousy of the attention he was getting and the things he was doing, especially since she had always been the smartest and had never been treated like that. Libby noticed it.

"Girl, please don't tell me you're jealous!"

"Jealous?! Me?! About what? His short height or his huge head?"

Libby burst out laughing, which surprised the blonde. She was just venting, but she had made her friend laugh.

"That's exactly what I mean!" Libby said, holding her stomach. "Actually, I think you're jealous of his ridiculous pants."

Cindy started laughing too. "No, it's those grandpa shoes he's wearing."

"And his shirt!"

"And his haircut!"

Both couldn't stop laughing, and Libby, wiping away tears, wanted to conclude, "Let's face it, girl, that boy's a nerd. You can't be jealous of that."

"Yeah, that's true. James Isaac Nerdtron."

"Nerdtron?! Girl, you definitely have a gift for this..." Libby said and left Cindy with a big smile on her face, because that's when she knew that if Jimmy Neutron was going to try and take her place in the group, she had everything she needed to take it back.