A/N: We're back with the next chapter! I don't have too much to preface you with, so just enjoy Chapter 2.
Enjoy!
The next morning, Saturday, Cindy got up extra early to complete her chores before heading over to the Neutrons' to ask Jimmy to help her get her memories back. She grabbed the baking dish her mother wanted her to return and headed over. She knocked lightly on the front door of the house across the street and waited. Mrs. Neutron opened the door with a smile.
"Hello, Cindy! It's so nice to see you."
"Hi, Mrs. Neutron. It's nice to see you too. My mother said to return this and to tell you thanks."
"You're welcome, I'm always happy to share things with my neighbors."
"Um, is Jimmy around?" Cindy asked casually. She still wasn't completely convinced that the Neutrons' had a son, and this was the only way to find out.
"Working on your science project again? I think he's in his clubhouse. You can head on over," Mrs. Neutron replied.
"Thanks." Cindy just stood there. She didn't know where the clubhouse was.
"You're welcome, Cindy. Did you need something else?" Mrs. Neutron asked, confused.
"No, thank you," Cindy replied, turning around and walking down the walkway.
"Cindy," Mrs. Neutron called. "Weren't you going to go see Jimmy?"
"Oh yeah," Cindy answered. She turned to the left and eyed Mrs. Neutron to see if that was the right direction.
"It's in the backyard, dear," Mrs. Neutron offered. "Are you alright?"
"Oh, duh!" Cindy feigned. "You know, I was feeling a little off this morning. I must have some brain fog from a long week at school. Thanks, Mrs. Neutron!" Cindy quickly ran through the grass to get to the backyard. She could feel her face heating up from embarrassment.
Now that her awkward situation was over, Cindy slowed down as she reached a small clubhouse. Oh, this is where I was yesterday, Cindy thought. So Jimmy really was the Neutrons' son. "Why do I remember Mr. and Mrs. Neutron, but I can't remember this kid?" Cindy thought out loud.
She knocked on the door to the small clubhouse and waited. And waited and waited. She knocked one more time before saying, "Jimmy, I don't know if you're in there or if you can even hear me, but I need your help."
After waiting a few more seconds, Cindy turned to leave, feeling defeated, when she heard the door creak open. She turned around and saw Jimmy leaning against the doorframe.
"Now you want my help?" He said in a smug voice.
Cindy put up her defenses. "Look, I realized yesterday after I left that I do actually know you and apparently I've known you for a long time. There are huge chunks of my childhood that I have no memory of, and I would like to have them back."
"How am I supposed to help you get your memories back?"
"Didn't you say there was some device that I was messing around with? There must be a reverse button," Cindy rationalized.
"Well, yes there is, but you broke it. And I haven't been able to fix it," Jimmy explained with a touch of annoyance in his voice.
"Oh. Sorry. Well, could you maybe tell me about some of the things we did together? Maybe that will jog my memory."
"Why don't you ask one of your friends?" Jimmy suggested.
"I don't think a second hand account would help trigger any memories. They've got to come from the source."
"Fair point, but how do you know that I'll tell you the truth? I could make myself into a god in your eyes." Jimmy gave Cindy a mischievous smile.
Cindy tried to hide her nervous smile. "I guess I'd just have to trust you."
Jimmy's smile vanished. She was serious. She really did have no memories of him. If she did, she never would have uttered that last sentence.
Jimmy suddenly had a thought: How about Cindy? His dad had suggested for the awards banquet. As much as he was annoyed that his parents talked about his love life, they were right: he did like Cindy. A lot. He had liked her for a long time. Maybe this was his chance.
"Sure, I'll help you," Jimmy finally responded.
"Really?" Cindy's eyes lit up.
"For a price." Jimmy smiled mischievously again.
Cindy glared at him. "What do you want?"
"I have this awards banquet to go to at the end of this month, and I need a date. All you have to do in exchange for me helping you is come with me."
"What is this thing?" Cindy considered the offer.
"It's the National Innovations in Sciences Award. It's a formal dinner and I have to give a speech while we're there. You have to promise not to make fun of me. It's a big deal for me and I don't want people to laugh at me."
"Why would I make fun of you?"
"Wow, you really don't remember me do you?" Jimmy laughed.
Cindy just shrugged. "So are you going to help me or not?"
"Of course I will. But let's set some ground rules. One, we meet in my lab every day after school. Two, I get to decide what to tell you and how much information. Three, you are allotted three questions per memory. Finally, when you accompany me as my date to the awards banquet, you have to be polite and charming. You can't be rude or unpleasant—like you're being right now."
Cindy had her arms crossed and she had a sour look on her face. "These sound like rules that you benefit from and I get nothing from. You can forget it. I'll find someone else to help me." Cindy started to walk away.
"Cindy, wait!" Jimmy hollered after her, but she ignored him. Desperately, he yelled, "Come on, you were going to go with me before you lost your memory!" Why did I say that? Jimmy thought to himself.
Cindy turned around. Her face was scrunched up in fury and confusion. "What did you just say?"
Jimmy was at a loss for words so he just repeated what he said before, "I said that you were going to go with me before you lost your memory."
"And why would I do that?"
Before Jimmy could stop himself, he sputtered out, "Because you're my girlfriend."
"Really? Why didn't you say that before?" Cindy asked, still skeptical.
Jimmy didn't know what to do. He was already in too deep with this lie. "You were really upset and I didn't want to scare you." He finally managed to say.
"I guess that makes sense," Cindy said. "Don't think this means that I want to date you now. For all I know, I can't stand you. Got it?"
At this point Jimmy felt extremely guilty. He wasn't sure why he lied but now he was stuck. He knew that if/when she got her memories back fully, she would know that he lied. She would never forgive him. Jimmy nodded his head, understanding.
"Good. So, just so we're clear: I will attend this banquet with you at the end of the month. In exchange, you will help me try to get my memories back."
"Okay," Jimmy uttered, barely aware of what he was saying. He snapped out of his daze long enough to say one more thing. "Cindy, since we're working on getting your memories back, I don't want you to feel like you have to force yourself to like me. When you get your memories back, you'll know how you feel."
"I wasn't planning on it, but thanks for your concern." Cindy turned and marched out of the lab.
"What did I just get myself into?" Jimmy said to himself.
On Monday morning, Cindy headed over to the bus stop for school. Jimmy was already standing there.
"What, no hovercar today?" Cindy asked casually.
Jimmy looked at her, surprised. "Did your memories come back?"
"Oh. No. The other day I was looking at a text message from you when I was trying to figure out what happened. You mentioned your hovercar in the text. Do you really have a hovercar?"
Jimmy smiled. "Yeah, actually I do. I built it myself. I don't take it to school every day. Only on days when I'm running late. My mom doesn't like me to drive it," Jimmy explained.
Cindy nodded. "So are you like a super genius or something?"
"I guess you could say that. I just really like science and engineering. I try not to brag about it too much though. People usually make fun of me."
"People are jerks," Cindy offered.
Jimmy didn't mention that Cindy was the number one person to make fun of him. Instead, he changed the subject. "I was going to ask you, did you tell anyone about what happened on Friday?" Jimmy inquired. He was worried that she had told Libby about his lie.
"No, because I'm not entirely sure what actually did happen on Friday. I wouldn't even know how to begin to explain it to Libby."
Jimmy had to smile at the fact that Cindy had the same response that he did. "So how did you come to the realization that you were supposed to know who I was?" Jimmy had been wondering about it all weekend.
"Well, like I said, there were some gaps in my childhood," Cindy answered vaguely.
"But that doesn't make any sense. Everybody has gaps in their childhood. Our brains are still developing and not every memory is changed into long-term."
"Well, there were pictures in a photo album that I looked at, and I didn't remember all of the experiences."
"But that still doesn't make sense. Just because you have a picture of something from your childhood, doesn't mean you're going to remember it completely," Jimmy reasoned.
"Fine! I internet stalked you!" Cindy practically yelled. She covered her face in her hands.
Jimmy fell silent. Then he started to laugh. And he couldn't stop.
"It's not funny!" Cindy stated.
Jimmy finally caught his breath. "It really is though. What did you find out?"
"It's not like I Googled you or anything. I just looked at Instagram. I wasn't trying to learn information about you, I was trying to figure out how you knew me," Cindy explained. "By the way, you have some explaining to do."
"What do you mean?" Jimmy asked nervously.
"After we talked on Saturday I looked through yours and my Instagram profiles again. There is not a single picture of just the two of us. If we're really dating, then why isn't it documented?"
Jimmy panicked. His lie was already catching up with him. "We only started going out recently, and we kind of wanted to keep it private." Jimmy thought on the fly.
"Why?"
"We're the two smartest people in school, well, the town actually. People are really nosy and we didn't want people getting into our business." Jimmy hoped she would believe him.
Cindy reflected for a moment. "Yeah, okay. That makes sense. Even our friends don't know?"
I can't believe she bought that. Jimmy thought. "Right. Even our friends don't know. Which actually makes it easier. We don't need to act like we're dating or anything to keep up appearances. We can just act like normal."
"But I don't know what normal is for you and me," Cindy pointed out.
"We're friendly… enough," Jimmy said.
"What does that mean?"
"I'll be honest with you: we have the same friend group, but you and I aren't always friends. We tend to compete and try to outdo each other."
"And yet somehow you got me to date you?"
"It's all for appearances. We've been this way for a long time."
Cindy nodded. There were more students beginning to gather at the bus stop, so their conversation came to a natural end. Cindy began talking with a girl standing near her.
Carl came up to Jimmy. "Did you two make up?" He asked Jimmy quietly.
"Sort of," Jimmy answered.
At school, Cindy headed over to her locker to put her things away. She was deep in thought. Jimmy said that they were dating, but that they didn't get along publicly. She wasn't really sure why. And she wasn't sure why she trusted him. She had spent most of the weekend trying to retrieve some memory of Jimmy, but was unsuccessful. She just had to hope that Jimmy would tell her the truth. She was in such deep thought that she didn't notice Libby come up to her.
"Hello! Earth to Cindy!" Libby waved her hand in front of Cindy's face.
"What's up?"
"I asked how your weekend was. I couldn't seem to get a hold of you at all."
"I was busy," Cindy answered vaguely.
"Science project with Jimmy? Man, that thing's not due for two weeks. Tell him to get a life," Libby teased.
Cindy just laughed. "What about you? How's your science project going?"
Libby sighed. "Well, Nick is not my first choice for a partner. I love the guy, but he's not very motivated. I'm probably going to do most of it myself. Never thought that I would feel like Jimmy."
"What do you mean?"
Libby furrowed her brow in confusion. "You know, how he always does group projects on his own, but everyone in the group gets the credit? Wasn't that why you were annoyed with being partnered with him for science?"
Cindy's heart raced as she realized, yet again, that she had no clue what people were talking about. "Oh, yeah," she ended up saying for what felt like the hundredth time in the last three days.
The bell rang. Cindy waved goodbye to Libby and headed toward her first period class. When she reached the AP World History classroom, she found her desk and sat down. The day had only started, but she was already tired of being at school. She had to keep up appearances and it was exhausting.
Cindy heard the chair next to her scrape across the linoleum. She looked up and saw Jimmy sitting down. He smiled at her as he pulled out a notebook and pencil from his backpack.
"Have you always sat there?" Cindy whispered.
"Yes. Ms. Lanvers has assigned seats. And they don't change all semester. Or did you forget that too?" Jimmy teased.
"No, I know that," Cindy defended. "I just really can't believe that every part of my memory containing information about you is gone. It seems like science fiction."
"That's what I do," Jimmy boasted.
"What do you mean?" Cindy asked.
"Okay class, let's get started," Ms. Lanvers began class, and Cindy's question was left unanswered.
Jimmy tried his hardest during class to listen and take notes, but he couldn't help thinking about how he was going to get out of his web of lies with Cindy without casualties. It seemed impossible. No matter how he worded it in his head, he knew Cindy would be upset with him.
Ms. Lanvers gave the class some free-study time and Jimmy pulled his phone out of his backpack. He had heard it vibrate during class. He had a text message from Sheen.
Sheen: Carl said you and Cindy made up. Have you asked her out yet?
Jimmy rolled his eyes, but responded anyway:
Jimmy: It's way more complicated than that.
Sheen: What's complicated about "Cindy, I really like you. Would you want to go out with me sometime?" Time's ticking. I heard a rumor that Nick wants to ask her out.
Jimmy didn't know how to respond. Nick was his friend. And Jimmy didn't really have a reason to be upset that Nick wanted to go out with Cindy. Jimmy was never brave enough to ask her out, so he couldn't be mad. The problem was Jimmy's lies. If Nick asked Cindy out, he didn't know what Cindy would do. Would she tell him that she was dating Jimmy? If she did that, then all their friends would know eventually, and then the lie would be out, and Jimmy would have to come clean. Or would she "break up" with Jimmy because she doesn't have any memories of him? The result of either scenario would be Jimmy losing Cindy as a friend. He had put himself in a bad mood.
First period ended, and Cindy retained none of the information. The whole class period she was going through her childhood memories one year at a time trying to remember something, anything, about Jimmy Neutron, but she couldn't think of a single thing.
She had packed up her belongings and headed towards her next class. It wasn't until she was about halfway there did she realize that someone was following her. She turned around and saw Jimmy walking a few strides behind her.
"What, are you following me now? Stalker," Cindy joked.
"We have Honors English together too, brainiac." Jimmy brushed past Cindy and continued on his way to class.
"Wait! Let me get this straight: we have world history, and English together. I know we have biology together because apparently we're partners for our project. Do we have any other classes together?"
"We're going to be late for class," Jimmy dismissed Cindy's question and continued down the hallway.
Cindy quickened her pace to catch up. "What's with the attitude? You were fine during first period."
"None of your business."
"Fine, jerk." Cindy blazed past Jimmy and turned into her English class. She sat down and immediately frowned as Jimmy placed his backpack on the desk right next to hers. "Seriously?"
Jimmy simply shrugged, then turned the other direction to talk to Carl. "Is Nick really going to ask Cindy out?" Jimmy whispered.
"I don't know. Libby heard about it from somebody and she told me and Sheen," Carl replied.
"Great."
"Why does it matter? It's not like you're going to ask her out, are you?"
Jimmy said nothing and turned to face the front of the room. This day needed to be over.
Libby walked in and sat on the other side of Cindy. "I have some juicy news for you!"
"What?"
"Nick wants to ask you out!" Libby squealed.
Cindy froze. Unsure of what to say. After several seconds she went with, "Really?"
Libby furrowed her brow. "Aren't you excited? You've only been wanting him to ask you out for, like, ever."
Cindy wasn't sure what to do. She knew that she wanted to go out with Nick, but if what Jimmy told her was true, then she shouldn't go out with him. But if no one knew she and Jimmy were dating, then she didn't really have an excuse. "Nick always says he's going to do things and then he never follows through. How do I know that he's serious?"
"Well, don't tell him I told you, but he was asking about you in first period. Then I overheard him talking to his friends about it. So, are you gonna go for it?" Libby asked excitedly.
Cindy glanced over at Jimmy who had his head down on his desk. She turned back to Libby and smiled. "Absolutely!"
Later that day at lunch, Jimmy was sitting in his usual spot waiting for his friends. He was feeling a little better, but still wasn't in a great mood. A mood made slightly worse when he saw Cindy approaching the table and scowling when she saw him sitting there.
"I really just can't seem to catch a break, can I?" She said as she sat down.
"Don't be mad at me. You're the one who broke my thing." He left out the part where he had yelled at her.
"Look, I'm sorry, okay. You're not the one with some weird amnesia. I'd undo whatever I did if I could, okay?"
Jimmy softened. "Sorry, I'm just in a bad mood today."
"Yeah, I got that. Hey, so I know you overheard Libby in English. I wanted to ask what you thought about it."
"Do whatever you want. It's your life." Jimmy was secretly hoping that she wouldn't go out with Nick, but he couldn't tell her that.
"Well I just wanted to check because of what you told me earlier. I mean, I only have your word to go on that we're together and since no one else knows I can't really ask anyone if it's true."
"If you want to date Nick, then date Nick. Date the entire football team for all I care." Jimmy's eyes widened as he realized what he had just implied. "Cindy, I'm sorry. I didn't mean—"
"Screw you!" Cindy got up and stormed out of the cafeteria. She made her way toward her locker.
"Hey, Cindy!" Nick called after her.
Cindy stopped and turned around. She felt her face flush. "Hi, Nick," she said with a soft smile.
"I've been looking for you. I wanted to ask you something." Cindy held her breath. "Would you want to go out sometime? Like on a date?" Nick smiled.
Cindy felt her stomach flip. This is what she had waited for since middle school. "I would love to."
"Sweet! How about this Friday? We can grab some dinner and go to the arcade or something."
"That sounds amazing."
"Right on. I'll pick you up at seven on Friday." Nick winked and turned to walk away.
Cindy sighed with relief. She couldn't believe that Nick asked her out! Who cares what Jimmy Neutron thought?
A/N:I hope you liked this one! The next section of this is written, but needs some revamping, because I don't love it. I'm still trying to post every other week or so. Leave a review! I always like to know what my readers think.
You should go check out my other stories! If you haven't checked my profile, I have another story, Obsessed, that I'm also posting for, alternating between this one and that one. That one is rated M, and is extremely different than this one, but I'm loving that one a lot. So if dark, unnerving, and creepy are also your vibes, check it out!