A/N: I'm so sad. Sniffles The Epilogue is finally done!!! So is this story!!! IT GREW UP SO FAST!!! Uncontrollable crying
I don't own Jimmy Neutron. I don't even own the first line of this chapter!!! acosta perez jose ramiro the Famous has put them on loan to me.
The City of Retroville.
The Witty of Retroville.
The Pretty of Retroville.
The Flighty of Retroville.
The Ultra-Lady of Retroville. (Or Sheen)
The Stupidity of Retroville.
The five friends were gathered around a half-moon table in the Candy Bar two days after the Telepathic Reader 5000 ordeal. Jimmy's bruises and cuts were no longer visible thanks to the Neutronic Ulramatic Hospitaloid. He still had that mangled look of one just emerging barely alive from a horrible tragedy, but he was emotionally fine.
"Five, four, three, two, one… The clock counted down Jimmy's life and I could do nothing to prevent it. The clock hit two seconds to go and the lab was plunged into complete darkness. I swear you couldn't see Ultra-Dork's Glow-In-The-Dark shoes in this black!" Cindy raved, Jimmy smiled; every time she told the story it got a bit more dramatic and wild.
"Girl, I was wonderin' what you were doin' down there! I was startin' to get worried!" Libby said. "And with you actin' like Jimmy! I was beginning to wonder if he zapped you or something with some kind of "Crazy Ray" that made you lose your mind. But, if he didn't, then I have a question."
"Shoot," Cindy replied.
"If Jimmy didn't zap you, then why have you been acting like him recently?" Libby furrowed her brow.
This question hit Cindy like a truck. The truth was that there was no truth. Cindy had no idea why she had been acting like Jimmy lately. She had been pondering the same question herself.
"I don't know. It must have been some kind of phase," Cindy said.
"Phase?! Cool! I wanna be phased!" Sheen released in his chalkboard/nails voice.
"Sheen, you don't want to be phased! My Uncle Joey was phased and he was never the same again," Carl said with sorrow.
"How was your Uncle phased?" Sheen asked.
"He went to a gay bar I think. Either that or jail," Carl replied. A few moments of thought later, Carl spoke again; "Jimmy, what's 'Gay'?"
Jimmy stopped eating his double-fudge brownie sundae with a deer-in-the-headlights expression.
"A gay person is full of light-heartedness and merriment," Jimmy replied, taking the high road.
"Oh," Carl said. "Like me!"
"I knew there was something special about him," Cindy said to Libby under her breath. Libby giggled quietly.
"Cindy, it most likely was a phase. According to the New England Book of Medicine, in times of need when the leader of a group of people is sick, gone, or out-of-commission, then the next person down takes command. It's not a law really, more like your instincts telling you to," Jimmy said before he plowed his spoon into the half-finished sundae.
"'Next person down'?" Cindy said with irritation etched in her voice.
"Cool it Cind, I'm sure he didn't mean it that way," Libby said quietly. "Can I talk to you over there?" Libby said, indicating another table on the far side of the Candy Bar.
"Sure," Cindy said. They walked over silently until; "What do you want to talk about?"
"Not right here, I think Sheen can still hear us, girl," Libby replied. They were a few feet from their original table. Neither spoke again until they were situated on the other side.
"Cindy, remember right after Jimmy was taken and you were attacked and you went into your back pack to find the Telepathic Reader?" Libby started.
"Yeah," Cindy eased with a questioning look on her face.
"Well, you reached into your back pack and some papers came out. There was one in particular that you didn't want anyone to see. The one that was crumpled up into a ball. Well, what did it say?" Libby asked.
Cindy knew exactly what crumpled up piece of paper Libby was speaking of. She knew exactly what it said and exactly why she didn't want anyone reading it. The day she doodled that piece of paper came into her mind.
It was a Wednesday and Cindy was sitting at her desk listening to Miss Fowl talk about why dirt is brown. It was horribly dull and Cindy's mind had begun to wander.
She was leaning her head against her left palm and was doodling on a piece of paper that she was supposed to be taking notes on with her right. Her eyes wandered around the classroom and rested on the equally as bored boy on her right. Her eyes traced his every outline with ease. They caressed his face and studied its contours.
Her hand still wandered around her paper during this. After Miss Fowl handed the sermon to Jimmy was when Cindy finally took a gander at what she had been writing/doodling.
Mrs. Cindy Neutron, hmm, that sounds nice Cindy thought as she looked at the heart on the paper. A boy's name had been scrawled out in curly lettering within it. Cindy glanced over at Jimmy again. He looked at her with equally as uninterested eyes and smiled slyly. Cindy smiled back and let her head fall off her hand onto the paper.
When she lifted it back up, she noticed Jimmy looking at her desk in wonder. Cindy was sure that he hadn't seen the paper, but she also couldn't be too careful. One swift movement and the paper was crushed within Cindy's palm. She dropped it in her backpack, hoping that no one would ever rest their eyes upon it again.
"Oh, that paper," Cindy said uneasily. She wracked her brain for a good lie. "That was my math homework from a few months ago. It's useless now."
"But why'd you crush it instead of throwing it away?"
"Because it was taking up too much space in my backpack and I wasn't near a trashcan," Cindy replied almost too quickly.
"Whatever, girl," Libby said as she stepped out of her seat and began to make her way back to the boys with Cindy at her side.
She digs Jimmy. I just wish she'd tell me! Libby thought. I'm her best friend. She didn't think I'd notice her doodling his name on random papers in class, or her practically turning into him, or her being so worried when Beautiful Gorgeous took him, or all those compliments she was paying him! She has some nerve, but I'll leave them alone. Literally.
By the time Libby stopped thinking she was at her destination. She smiled with her great pearly whites at Sheen.
"Sheen, do you want to go to Retroland with me? I have an extra ticket for today," Libby offered,
'Would I?!" Sheen screamed as he jumped over the table and landed next to Libby in anticipation.
"See you later guys," Libby said as she and Sheen left the Candy Bar hand-in-hand.
"I feel very uncomfortable," Carl said after a few moments of silence.
"You're uncomfortable? How do you think we feel?" Jimmy said indicating himself and Cindy. Carl took a gander at his watch.
"Oh my, the Llama Love Society has a new TV Show on Animal World! I'd hate to miss it!" Carl said as he began to stand.
"Carl, doesn't that show start until four," Jimmy said.
"Yeah, so?"
"Yeah, it's eleven in the morning," Cindy piped in.
"Well, I have to get everything ready, make some snacks, get my parents to free the TV, all that stuff," Carl said. "So I'll see you later, bye!"
"Wow, I had no idea he could move so fast," Cindy said as she watched Carl's departing figure.
"He surprises even me sometimes," Jimmy said. Cindy looked over at him and smiled.
"Well, we can't stay here all day. Would you do me the honor of walking me home?" Cindy asked.
"I'd be delighted," Jimmy said as he stepped out of the booth and offered Cindy his hand. She looked at his devilishly charming smile and softly gave him her hand in return.
They walked from the Candy Bar hand-in-hand just as Libby and Sheen had done, only they got a few stares from their classmates. A few even clapped. Cindy just shot them quick dirty looks and they quieted down faster than you could say "Jimmy and Cindy" in a questioning tone.
Once outside Jimmy turned to Cindy and released her hand.
"Uh, Cindy, why did you help me?" he questioned.
Cindy froze. She knew exactly why she had helped him; because she had feelings for him, but she couldn't tell him that.
"I don't know. My maternal instincts maybe," Cindy lied. Jimmy's face fell.
"Why?" she asked.
"N-no reason, just wondering," Jimmy replied. "How did you get me to my lab from Beautiful's cave? I mean, I know you used the Shrink Ray, but how did you transport me without shrinking me?"
"A few hours of tinkering with it and I got it working. It wasn't too hard to figure out," Cindy replied.
"Interesting… That thumbtack that I shrunk; that was the Telepathic Reader, wasn't it?"
"Yeah."
"You were just gonna show and tell that. I really, sort of did this to myself," Jimmy said dreamily.
"I guess, when you put it that way," Cindy said. They were almost to their homes.
"Ok, you've asked your fair share of questions, my turn," Cindy said. "Who was it that you were thinking about in that cave?"
"What?" Jimmy did a double take.
"Remember, you said that you had a lot of questions and thoughts running through your mind while you were in that cave. You mentioned that you were thinking about one particular person. Someone that meant the world to you; who?"
"Uh, no one, it's not important," Jimmy replied as they stopped on Cindy's front lawn.
"I have a question for you now," Jimmy said.
"I'll answer this if you answer mine," Cindy said.
"Deal," Jimmy replied.
"Then ask away."
"Why did you help me?" Jimmy asked with a puzzled look on his face.
"Who were you thinking about?"
"I asked you first!"
"No! I asked you first," Cindy countered. Jimmy thought a moment.
"Damn, you did. Ok, the person I was thinking about was so important because it was the last person I would expect to think about; you," Jimmy said looking deeply into Cindy's emeralds. She blushed a little.
"Your turn."
"I helped you because I couldn't bear the thought of you hurt or dying. I guess I put the Telepathic Reader 5000 on you trying to find out if you like me or not. I helped because I kinda, sort of, like you," Cindy said.
"Really?" Jimmy said as a smile crept onto his face.
"Really," Cindy looked down at her feet. Jimmy cupped his hand around her chin and lifted her face up so her gaze could meet his.
"Thanks," Jimmy said. He landed a soft peck on her lips. Cindy was too dazed to do anything. It didn't matter anyways, because Jimmy had begun to walk away by the time she was back.
"Jimmy?" she called.
"Yeah?" he stopped in his tracks and turned around in the middle of the street.
"Thanks."
"For what?"
"For reminding me that hatred isn't everything." With that Cindy blew Jimmy a kiss and entered her house.
"You're welcome, my queen," Jimmy said under his breath as he made his way over to the lab.
A/N: Well, tha-tha-tha-th-that's all folks! Review and make slinky proud!!!!
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