I'm going back to my roots now, and getting away from my usuals a bit. Mostly because I'm lacking inspiration and fundamentals that came from the Jimmy Neutron world. I need it back, so for a while, I will avoid Feudal Japan and vacation in Retroville with a nice teen romance. So anyways, read if you are interested, and give criticism if you feel you have to.

This won't be big project though. Just a month or two of a childhood love in case you prefer my other works. But thank you for reading anyways.

The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron belong to Nickelodeon.

"Alright, everyone. Pair up or get into groups of three for this semester's project. Keep in mind that you cannot pair up with someone you've worked with before." Mr. Brown yelled out into the room as he finished passing out the handout. Then he walked slowly to the back where he went to sit at his computer, trusting the students to do as they were told. After all, they were Juniors now, and had been with that teacher for long enough to know that he wasn't lenient on the rules.

It was almost immediately then that everyone gave Jimmy a wide berth as they went to find their friends or acquaintances. This was still an accelerated Biology class and his partners always got an impressive grade, but early on, Jimmy learned to make deals with all his partners that some just couldn't handle. See, he wasn't stupid, but aside from Carl and Sheen, he was often paired with those who were. And if they weren't, then they were lazy enough to order Jimmy around. So any person he worked with that could not do their share would have to become a willing guinea pig in a future experiment. After all, Carl and Sheen could only be a test subject so many times before the effects became more permanent.

He sighed, looking over the project's instructions to decide which idea to go over with his next partner. After all, groups of three were not allowed until everyone in the room was in pairs.

On the other side of the room, Cindy was left without options. She had been slipping lately with her tests, and desperately needed an A on the project to keep over 90% in the class. Usually she would just do the project with Libby or Brittany, but when they pulled together, the best grade possible was in the B range. It just wasn't going to cut it. Fortunately, she had one last person she could go to.

"Got a partner yet, Neutron?" She asked, taking the open seat next to him.

"No, Vortex. So if you've come to discomfit me about this fact, then I ask that you turn back around and join your usual friends for the project." She hadn't been as callous to him since they entered high school. But if the situation called for it, a joke or prank was occasionally pulled at his expense.

"No, I'm here to be your partner."

"Oh." His crystal blue eyes looked down, a faint blush creeping up his cheeks.

"So," Cindy took the paper out from under his now still pen to read the notes he had written on the sidelines, "from the look of it, you want to do number two: The effects of artificial sweeteners on mitochondria. Mr. Brown has the supplies, but this one seems to take to most time and use more materials than the other experiments. Are you sure you want us to do this one?"

Nodding, he lifted his head enough to look at the paper with her, pushing his hair back from his eyes with his hand. Puberty had treated Jimmy well, allowing him to finally grow to more appropriate height and body mass for his age and head size, and deepening his voice to a mature timbre. With such an impressive physical change, his mind had to mature also and the first thing to go from his childhood was the swirl hairdo. Cindy still remembered the day he came in sporting a short, casual style; it was also the day he began a very brief relationship with Nissa.

"Well, I have all of the materials and equipment except for lima beans and the artificial sweeteners. In reality, this is the only one of the experiments that has outcomes I am unsure of."

"I can bring that stuff. We need three different sweeteners, right?" Jimmy nodded in her direction, only then looking up to meet her eyes, "Okay, so I'll get the more basic ones: Sweetie, Less Than, and Splendor. I have dance afterschool today and cheerleading practice on Thursday, but otherwise I'm free to do it sometime this week."

After getting down all the details about location and time, the boy genius traded cell phone numbers with his new lab partner just as the bell signaled the end of the period, and the school day in general.

Jimmy took more time packing up his stuff than Cindy, and admired her from a distance as she left to join Libby out. Time really had changed her. With all the distance that grew between them with age, his childish crush became something more. It might have been the new way she wore her hair, or the curves that had filled out to a lovely hourglass figure. But either way, his new feelings for her were strong enough that it hurt to watch her date Nick Dean, at the same time, he was glad she seemed happy with him. Besides, it was just a part of everyday routine to keep vigil on Cindy Vortex. It made the longing less painful in ways he wasn't quite sure he understood yet. Maybe working with her on this project would allow him to explore these confusing feelings.

After putting his last useless book away (He read them all the first week of school), he headed out the classroom to his locker. Seeing Carl putting his things away in the locker next to his own, he went back to routine and put away his school back pack, only bothering to take out the folder he had reserved for homework files. There wasn't even really a point in bringing experiments or gadgets that needed tuning to school since bullies continued to enjoy breaking them, or even more recently, using them inappropriately.

"Hey, Jimmy." Carl wheezed, pulling out his inhaler.

"Hey, Carl. Where's Sheen?"

"Over there," He jerked his thumb behind him and Jimmy caught sight of a black, spiky head of familiar hair coming in their direction. "He was being all lovey-dovey with Libby and I didn't want to lose my lunch."

"Right, well, he's heading towards us now, if I'm not mistaken. So I suppose Libby must have been too busy to engage him further in their make-out session."

"Hi, guys!" Sheen yelled out, not having heard what Jimmy said, and being too preoccupied high-fiving them to care. Instead of his traditional Ultra-Lord gear, Sheen had taken to wearing his jean jackets or school sports jerseys to class. Being involved in football and lacrosse helped control his excessive energy, but to a point, he was always in it for the pain and adrenaline that accompanied a fierce play. Not to mention the brownie points it earned him in his relationship with Libby.

"Are we gonna hang out at the lab today for a movie? Cause Libby kinda cancelled our date tonight." Sheen asked, leading the way out of the building.

"Well, Carl and I did plan to watch the new science-fiction film that my mom purchased yesterday. But what happened with Libby, Sheen? I was under the impression that you only cared to go on a double date with Cindy and Nick to lose them on the "Tunnel of Love" ride." Hearing about what happened on dates between Libby and Sheen didn't matter much to Jimmy, but hearing about how Nick treated Cindy was far more interesting on a personal basis. Sheen just happened to be an inadvertent conveyor of information by way of his girlfriend.

They reached the hovercar in the parking lot by then, and each sitting in their usual seats: Jimmy driving, Sheen with shotgun and Carl in the back. Jimmy had changed the entire design to look and feel more like a typical automobile to keep up with the trends and probability of vandalism in school. Though, having a car that flew above the rest made his vehicle far better than any other boys' in school. At least that's what his ex Nissa had said.

"Nick broke up with Cindy in the hallway after class, and she just kicked him in the nads and walked away. I asked Libby if we could go without them to Retroland, and then she said, 'No, Sheen. Cindy is my girl and she needs me right now.' So I think we're gonna go next week instead. What movie are we gonna watch? Cause the best Ultra-Lord rerun—"

At that point, Jimmy just tuned them out, his mind going back to thoughts of Cindy out of its own volition. Pretty much since freshman year, Cindy and Nick had been the popular couple: she the head cheerleader, and him being the constantly injured quarterback. And now that they weren't 'an item' as Libby referred to them, then maybe he had a chance to…

"Hey Jimmy, where's the movie?" Carl's face overtook his line of sight, and the slight shock at having tuned out for the entire way home was a little unsettling.

"Huh? Oh, right. Just a second."

"I swear, Libs. I'm fine."

"Sure that's what you say now, but next thing I know, you're calling me at four in the morning crying your eyes out, saying, 'Oh, Libs, what will I do without him?'" She mocked from the bed, admiring the lovely designs on her nails.

Cindy turned around from her desk chair, hoping that maybe enough chatting would make Libby leave. "No, seriously. I'm not mad that we broke up, because he was a pretty bad boyfriend. Remember the time Brittany caught him cheating on me with Betty?"

"Okay, sure. But then why did you stay with him, girl?"

"Honestly? I knew dating a good football player would give me just enough star quality to get Homecoming Queen. Now I'm just mad cause he had to be a dick and break up with me before Prom."

Libby was expecting some sort of excuse like that. But what was a little scary was the fact that she wasn't lying. There was no hair-twirling , lip-biting, or finger-wringing, that always followed a fib. And now she just sat there calmly. It was almost like the public humiliation didn't happen at all.

"Alright, Cin. I believe you. But now what are you gonna do for Prom? It's in a month."

"I have no idea. But maybe it's just better to not go, you know? I mean it's not the end of the world; it's just Junior Prom."

Every single fiber of her being was telling her that this was wrong. She and Jimmy had decided to meet afterschool, not at four in the morning! And yet, there she was, sneaking across the street in her pajamas to the neat little clubhouse behind the Neutron residence (they really should have installed a fence at some point). There was just a small part of her brain that refused to let her fall asleep and almost insisted on going over there. It was almost like her subconscious was pulling her towards him and thought that he would be there.

"Name?"

Too late to turn back now, even if he wasn't there, Vox would definitely record her visit.

"Cindy Vortex."

"One Moment."

Instead of dumping her in a trashcan like she expected, Vox remained quiet for 30 seconds until the welcome mat slid out from under her and she slid down the plastic tubing of her memories. Her slight trip ended abruptly with a mattress under her bottom. Better than the hard floor she remembered at least.

When she looked up, he was on the other side of the room, wearing only red flannel pajama bottoms and rubbing his eyes against the dim light in the room.

"What are you doing here, Cindy? You know that these are not customary hours to receive company."

"I know what time it is. I just… I don't know, I didn't think you'd let me in. Or that you'd even be here…" Cindy got up slowly, hoping that maybe he would let her in to the lab.

He walked ahead of her into the hallway leading to what she remembered to be the lab, and since he didn't yell at her yet to go away, she followed.

"Even if I didn't spend so much time here, I always know when someone approaches. Vox now has a wireless attachment point in my bedroom so I can keep watch on suspicious activity." With that said, the doors at the end of the hall opened and Cindy was left amazed again at the splendor that was Neutron's lab.

He had expanded it again, adding several clearly defined areas divided by glass walls and doors. The entire plot of what she could tell was an enormous room was in the dark with sporadic lights flickering in different spaces. And to her left, in the only lit space, was a makeshift room with bed, couch, and modest television in fair conditions. He even had a poster hanging on the wall nearby, and though it was hard to tell, she could make out some sort of motorcycle with a girl in a bikini lying on top in a provocative position.

"I would apologize for the fashion that you caught me in, but as I didn't get an admonition of your visit and this is my lab…" He left the sentence hanging, knowing that she would catch his drift, but to be clear, he gestured to his bare torso.

"No, no. It's alright," As if she needed more of an excuse to ogle his defined chest, "Just one question though: What's with the poster? I thought you had more taste than that." She sat down on one end of the couch as he sat on his bed across from her to keep eye contact going.

"It's not mine. Sheen hung it up with a particularly strong adhesive I made, and demanded that I keep 'her' for… decoration." The last word came out strangled, and Cindy could tell that he had almost said something else, clearly not something for polite company.

"Now my turn, Vortex. You talked to me politely the other day and asked me to be your partner for the first time in years, and now you are here before dawn to talk to me instead of your best friend... What do you want?" Jimmy raised an eyebrow, his skepticism dimming the glow of his blue eyes quite a bit.

What's this? A cliffhanger? Yup. I need practice. :) My plans for this story are very simple, nothing more than five chapters about this length, so stick around if you are so inclined.

Anyways, thanks for reading. Please review.