Modeled on the Hey Arnold! episode, Helga on the Couch.
This would take place during the episode where Jimmy goes to college. I just rewatched it today for the first time in years!
I've actually written a one-shot about Jimmy seeing a therapist before, although I think that piece had a very different tone than what I hope to achieve here. I named Jimmy's therapist Debi as a little shoutout to his voice actor, so it seemed only fitting that Cindy's therapist would be named Dr. Lawrence, after Carolyn Lawrence :)
I might write a follow up to this, but I'm not sure if I will yet.
"You're probably wondering why you're here." Principal Willoughby looked at the shrewd blonde-haired girl in front of him, studying the ever-present scowl on her face.
She nodded, confused. "Yeah, why am I here?"
She'd never been called to the principal's office before. She figured hyperactive crazies like Sheen or juvenile delinquents like Butch had more experience with that kind of thing.
"Miss Vortex, did you deliberately let Jimmy Neutron's unstable molecule-thingies loose in the classroom?"
"Well yes, but—"
"Even after having been warned by him that they were dangerous and posed a threat?"
"Well, he shouldn't have brought them in to show off in the first place!" She protested.
"We aren't talking about him, young lady. Now, why would you do something like that?"
She balled up her fists in frustration. "Because I was tired of Neutron being a big-headed jerk and always trying to brag about his gigantic brain."
Willoughby sighed. "Look, I really didn't want to have to do this but after observing your behavior for the past couple of months, I am going to recommend that you visit the school psychologist."
"You want me to see a shrink? You have to be kidding me!" Cindy crossed her arms over her chest. "Send Geektron instead, there's tons wrong with him."
Willoughby sighed, wishing this interaction could end so that he could do jazzercise in his office in peace.
"You're going and that's final. You start next week."
Thankfully Neutron was not there when Cindy got back from the Principal's office or she would have pummeled him to a pulp for getting her in trouble.
"Where's King Cranium?" Cindy glowered at Carl as she stomped into Miss Fowl's classroom.
"He went home for the rest of the afternoon."
"Oh, Neutron is so special now he doesn't even have to finish the whole school day like the rest of us plebeians?"
Carl shrugged.
"Why were you called down to see Willoughby, girl?" Libby looked a bit concerned.
"It was a mix-up." Cindy lied through her teeth. No way she was telling anyone the truth.
Libby looked skeptical but knew her best friend well enough not to push it. "If you say so."
After all the macaroni sculpture and long division her brain could take in one day, the bell finally rung, signaling that it was time to go home.
Cindy dreaded it—she just knew that she was going to get yelled at by her mother for once again, letting that "idiot neighbor boy" get to her.
The minute she crossed the threshold into her house, her hypothesis proved to be correct.
"So it wasn't enough for you to be humiliated and shown up by Neutron academically, but now they're sending you to a shrink because of him? Dear God, Cynthia, what's wrong with you?"
Cindy's remained silent. She had learned not to say anything back to her mother, or things would only get exponentially worse.
"Vortexes do not go to therapy." Sasha shook her head in disappointment. "When I was a school-girl, I never gave my mother cause for concern."
Yeah, well look how you turned out. Divorced, bitter, and extremely demanding.
"Well, what do you have to say for yourself?"
"It wasn't my fault." She gritted her teeth. "He was being insufferable."
"I don't care if he jumped on a rocket and flew to the moon, this is unacceptable. If you absolutely must go, you better not blab about anything. Play dumb. Shouldn't be too hard, since you are only second best at Lindbergh."
Sasha's haughty words felt like the emotional equivalent of nails on a chalkboard.
After a torturous weekend at home, Cindy was almost glad to be back in school on Monday.
As she slid back into her usual seat, she noticed that Neutron wasn't there.
Her stomach did a funny turn. "Where's Nerd-bomb, Libs?"
Carl jumped in to answer her question, looking dejected. "Jimmy went to college."
"What?" She spat. "Seriously?"
Sheen looked at her from a few seats over, as if trying to figure out why she cared. "He moved in this Saturday. Apparently he's having the time of his life."
Then, he swiveled to Carl and threw his hands in the air dramatically. "Fifteen—err, TEN whole years to go until we can join him at wild college parties, Carl. That's longer than it took me to watch all of Ultralord seven whole times! "
Cindy wasn't sure how to receive the news that Jimmy had matriculated. On the one hand, her rival being gone meant she could once again claim her rightful place as the smartest kid in the town. On the other hand, she couldn't quite ignore the sinking feeling in her stomach. She'd gotten used to sitting next to him in class, antagonizing him, sometimes tagging along on his little adventures. Things were sure going to be different without him around.
"Claaaasss. Settle down." Miss Fowl ambled in, ready to start their lessons for the day. Cindy sighed. It was going to be a long childhood.
Even though Cindy knew Neutron was a college student now, it was still jarring to come to class every day and not see him in his customary seat in the front row, being a butt-brained braggart.
Loathe as she was to admit it, the joy of hers being the only hand constantly in the air was not nearly as satisfying as when there was no one to challenge her answers.
She even sort of missed that dork's stupid inventions.
By the time a whole week had passed without him, she had almost forgotten about her appointment with the psychologist.
Alas, Principal Willoughby would not let her off the hook. After everyone else went home on Friday, Cindy was escorted by the man to an office she hadn't even known about.
"Now, you go in and chat with Dr. Lawrence and I'll be off to the school tanning salon. Oh wait, silly me, that doesn't exist! That darn Sheen getting my hopes up." He turned on his heel and left Cindy at the door. She took a deep breath. You've kicked butt at karate competitions and shown insane aliens who's boss. You can handle an hour of talking to some old lady.
She pushed the door open and was surprised to find that the psychologist was not some old crone at all. In fact, she was tall and fairly decent-looking, with red glasses and a blonde bob.
"Hello. I take it you're Cynthia?" The woman sat down in a comfortable looking armchair.
"I prefer Cindy." She crossed her arms over her chest, refusing to sit down.
"Nice to meet you, Cindy. I'm Dr. Lawrence. How have you been?"
"Just great." She grumbled. "I should be at my piano lesson."
"Oh, you enjoy music?"
"Yeah," she rubbed her hands together deviously. "I've been practicing smashing break-boards while simultaneously playing Rachmaninoff's Prelude in G Minor, Op. 23 for weeks now so that I win the end of year talent show. Let's see Neutron top that."
"Wow, that sounds very impressive. Especially considering you're only a fifth grader."
Cindy scoffed. "Impressive? Not when you're competing with a boy who builds nuclear reactors in his spare time, just for fun."
"Ah yes, Principal Willoughby did tell me the reason you would be coming in would be to discuss your anger towards Jimmy Neutron?"
"You'd be mad too if you walked into class every day to be upstaged by a fudge-headed dork who had memorized the periodic table on the way out of the womb, Doc."
"I'm hearing a lot of resentment. Any particular reason you're so fixated on Jimmy?"
"What do you care? I bet if you met him, you'd worship him too like every other adult who's ever witnessed our resident boy wonder."
"No need to be hostile, Cindy. I just asked a question. Can you explain to me what happened the other day with the..." she looked at her notes, "the molecules?"
Cindy huffed and sat down on the couch. "Jimmy decided that he would bring his unstable molecules in for show and tell and then get this—asked Mrs. Fowl why we were skipping the omniverse chapter in the textbook. Who questions teachers when they decide not to assign as much work? Even if I did read it already."
"You read it?"
"Of course I did, how else am I supposed to keep up with Spewtron?"
"I notice you have a lot of names for him. And you're quite concerned with matching his pace. That's a lot of energy to invest in someone."
"So I spend my nights poring over my science textbooks. Big deal. It's only because otherwise I come home to my mom berating me every day for not being born a prodigy like Count Dorkula."
Dr. Lawrence raised an eyebrow. "Your mom expects you to be as good as Jimmy in your math and science classes?"
"Try all my classes."
"Cindy, your mother has been made aware that he is a...genius, correct?"
"Obviously, she knows. She doesn't care. All that matters to her is that I beat him at everything. But anyways, getting back to last week. I just got so mad at Neutron and his stupid molecules that I grabbed the jar at the same time as him. The lid came undone and sent all of them flying. And for some reason, I'm the one who gets sent to the shrink and not the kid who unleashed his latest dangerous invention."
"Well, Cindy, it seems to me you were mad at the boy simply for sharing his work. True, there should probably be limits set on what he is allowed to show in class, but it doesn't sound like he provoked you."
"Don't you get it?" She let out an exasperated huff of breath. "His mere existence provokes me."
"Cindy, it sounds like there's a lot of pressure on you to perform at home. And Jimmy's name constantly gets brought up to rile you up. And then you take your anger out on him."
"What about it? It's not like he isn't aggravating on his own whether or not my mom expects me to be him."
"Well, it just seems like maybe there is more to all this rage towards him then you let on. If you feel like getting something off your chest, now would be a good time to do that."
"And have it get back to my mom that I love—err, loathe, LOATHE Neutron? Never."
"Everything we talk about in here is strictly between you and I." Dr. Lawrence offered Cindy a warm smile.
Cindy considered this for a minute and then turned to face the psychologist, resigned. "Okay, so maybe I don't hate him as much as I say I do, maybe I don't even hate him at all, but how does that matter? He's still a jerk."
"It makes all the difference."
"Life would just be so much easier if...if I were like him."
"You don't need to be him, Cindy. You came in here and told me you can do karate while you play piano. And you read ahead in your classes just so you stay on par with him. That's incredible. Your mom may not recognize your talent but it takes a great amount of skill to compete with a prodigy."
"Well, doesn't matter anymore anyways, since he's gone."
"Gone?" Dr. Lawrence looked back at Cindy, confused. "What do you mean?"
"His two nitwit friends told me he left for college. Pomona SAP came begging to the Neutrons' house, apparently."
"And how do you feel about this?"
"I say good for the rest of us now that he's not always stealing the limelight away. We can do things the way they were meant to be done in peace." She frowned.
"But?" Dr. Lawrence coaxed, intuiting there was more to Cindy's feelings.
"You're sworn not to tell anyone what I say?"
"It's my professional code."
Cindy closed her eyes and then opened them again after taking a deep exhale.
"I miss him. I miss Jimmy. There, I said it. I miss having someone around who actually knows stuff. I miss his comebacks. I miss the way he would go invent something just to prove me wrong. I miss the scientific mumbo jumbo and even going on hover car rides with him and the others. And now," Her voice cracked, in a manner that was uncharacteristic of the usually immovable Cindy Vortex. "And now he's gone to be a physics genius at Pomona and he probably won't come back. But he's the only interesting thing about this dinky little town even if he is constantly endangering everyone in it."
"So, you like Jimmy?"
"No! I just—appreciate his intellect." Her cheeks went red as she denied it.
"Have you ever considered that maybe you pick fights with Jimmy just because you're too afraid to confront your deeper feelings for him?"
"Now you sound like Libby."
"She sounds very wise." Dr. Lawrence laughed.
"Even though...Jimmy can be a total dolt," She paused after calling him by his first name for the first time in forty minutes. "He's the only one who sees me, who actually thinks that I'm smart and talented. Or he wouldn't bother competing with me at all. And sometimes he can be really sweet. He once searched through a 137 oysters to find me a pearl." Her whole demeanor transformed at the dreamy memory of their time on the island.
"Cindy, I understand why you are so frustrated with Jimmy, but the next time you see him, maybe think about what you've just told me. And remember, he's just a kid like you are too. I doubt it's easy being smarter than everyone you know. And it sure sounds like you don't go easy on him, which is a good thing. He probably needs someone to keep him on his toes otherwise he'd get bored."
"Huh. I never really thought of it that way."
"I'm not saying you need to be his best friend, but I definitely don't think picking on him all the time is helping anyone. And besides," Dr. Lawrence said, "You'll never know how he actually feels about you if you don't stop sniping at each other all the time."
"It's too late, now. He's already left." Cindy fought off the tears pricking the corner of her eyes.
"It's never too late. We have to end the session for today, but feel free to drop by anytime. I trust you won't be letting any more molecules loose?"
Cindy shook her head no. "Well, not for the foreseeable future."
"Don't lose hope, Cindy. Anything could happen."
"Yeah, and Sheen's magically going to skip a grade." She let out a snort. "But thanks, I guess."