J/C week! This falls under the day of FIRST meeting. I tried to make it original but its hard when I've written it so many times. Anyway, enjoy. Love, Katie

P.S. In One of Us, Jimmy says something that made me think HE was in Retroville before Cindy. So I wrote this…..

First Impressions

"Hugh, Jimmy!" His mother screamed from the kitchen. "Supper is ready!"

Jimmy stopped tinkering on his shrink ray with a sigh. He'd never been able to perfect it. The last time he turned Goddard was turned into the size of a two story building. He'd also been secretly making designs to build a rocket. His mother would DIE if she knew. But to be honest, that was kind of the fun part. Carl and Sheen were almost always willing to help him. Although they tended to do more harm than good especially Sheen who liked to press buttons. He smiled to himself as he wiped the grease on his hands on a nearby towel.

"Jimbo!" His father called.

"Coming dad!" He responded.

When he got outside he saw a strange figure standing in front of house across the street. Was this some new boy he could befriend? But, as the shape moved he saw to his great horror that it was a girl.

Her blonde hair was pulled into two ponytails on the sides of her head. Her shirt was a light pink, and she was wearing the MOST ridiculous pants he had ever seen. Her eyebrows seemed to be knit together in a deep scowl. Just then she looked up from what she was doing and he made eye contact with a pair of bright green eyes that made his head feel a little funny.

"Excuse me? What exactly are you staring at?" The voice was shrill, annoying and cold. When he didn't respond, the girl growled. "Hey! You with the abnormally large head! I asked you what you were staring at!"

Why was she yelling? It was making him feel clammy. The next words out of his mouth were strangely hollow.

"You are my next door neighbor?"

She actually snorted. "Well, duh! You're a smart one aren't you?"

His heart beat escalated. No girl had ever spoken like this to him before! Sure, they'd annoyed him and gotten in his way, but no girl had made him ever feel stupid before. But for some unfathomable reason he still couldn't break eye contact with her.

"I am a genius for your information!" He argued quickly.

"Yeah, and I'm a two headed duck!"

"For your information, I have an IQ higher twice what yours is."

"According to who?"

"Don't you mean according to WHOM?"

"So you admit that you're making it up?"

"What? NO! I bet you don't know half the things I do!"

"Just so you know, whoever you are, I was the smartest in my class! I always get the best grades, and I am the best!"

"You WERE the best."

There was a very tense moment of silence.

"I hope you're not in my class."

"Ditto," he replied.

"If you'll excuse me, I have some unpacking to do," she said as she grabbed a box from inside the vehicle parked in the driveway.

"Sure."

Without another word, she disappeared into the house.

Jimmy stood there on the sidewalk for a few moments. His heart beat was quick, his head felt fuzzy, and his mouth was strangely dry.

"Hello, dear. Whatever are you doing out here?" His mother asked as she joined him on the sidewalk.

"I just met the neighbor girl."

"Oh yes! Her mother told me her name is Cindy. She's your age you know. I think she'll be in your class when you get to school."

Cindy.

Even though he despised her guts he couldn't help but thinking that it was a nice name.

-x-