..stress relievers

[slycooper]

Jimmy thought of this as a challenge. And the prize would be knowing Cindy's weakness. He was going to figure it out whether she liked it or not.

"Fine Vortex but I will figure it out you know that right?" Jimmy said.

a few years ago Jimmy would have said that everyone had a weakness except Cindy. But now he knew that she actually had one and the strangest thing was that she admitted it. And that was a very adultlike thing to do. 'hmmm maybe we are growing up' Jimmy thought.

"I'll just a.) create an invention to read your thoughts. or b.) ask Betty. It'll most likely be b. by the way."
Jimmy somwhat smirked.

"You know I'll figure it out Vortex after all I am a Genius" Jimmy said smiling.

[Cindy Vortex]

Cindy smirked, a doubtful eyebrow precariously perched as she glaced at him briefly. "Uh huh. Don't count on it, Neutron. I hope you are aware that I'll have to dispose of you if you ever do figure it out..." She paused for a moment, biting her bottom lip gently as her lips curled upward in a knowing smile. "Which you won't. I just hope your futile attempts won't prove too much of a, shall we say, distraction for you."

Alright, that had been quite uncalled for, but Cindy had been known to play dirty, whether physically or when it came to mind games. It did her good to recall a time when Jimmy had actually admitted that she was smart or smelled nice or, most amazingly of all distracted him sometimes. It was just lucky for him that she didn't bring up the moonlight incident. It didn't matter how long ago it was; it still amused her to a great extent.

"In the meantime," she continued, "I'll be looking for a dress for the Back-to-School homecoming dress, so I can go with Nick and piss Betty off. She's been pulling some pretty serious crap lately." The second part of this comment was quite a true statement, though the first part wasn't. She actually had no intention of going with Nick. But she did intend to get a dress.

A green dress.

She grinned at the ceiling, seemingly maliciously, brushing a stray curl from her eyes as she did so. Alright, so push come to shove, she may go with Nick, she thought, but not if there was the remote possibility otherwise.

Personally, Cindy thought Nick Dean to be a repulsive creature. Those who strutted about as if they were cool, or whatever the word they wanted to use, always disgusted her.

Then again... sometimes they did it with that pathetic, yet somehow uncannily attractive charm that always made said attempt fail.

Neutron comes to mind.

[Jimmy Neutron]

I'll bet you will, Jimmy thought to himself, unable to contain a surge of inexplicable rage at the thought of Cindy dancing with Nick. Nick! of all people! Even at her times of utmost stupidity, Nick didn't even come close to Cindy's level.

Why he suddenly cared, though, was anyone's wonder.

I don't, he told his thoughts firmly. I just ...don't want to see Betty mad, especially if I'm going to be the one trying to dance with her.

He realized he had been silent too long and, amazed at how long this conversation had gone on already, tried quickly to think of something to say that would not mar it. "Well, uh, good luck with that." Brilliant.

[Cindy Vortex]

Honestly! Cindy thought, placing her hands inconspiciously on her hips. Good luck with that... then again, she wondered why she even tried. Ever since she'd come to terms with the fact that she did indeed like Jimmy (it was honestly quite recent...), every attempt had been just as big a failure as the last.

She had considered just giving up, just surrendering to Betty Quinlan's superiority. Nothing was getting any better. But, Cindy supposed, she'd make the most of the moment.

"It's not like I'm going to get asked otherwise anyway." Cindy paused, silently sizing up the options she now had for speech and finally deciding on one. "I guess people are just... scared of me or something. I mean, not as if that's not necessarily a good thing at times..." She faultered again, narrowing her eyes and grinning maliciously his way as she ran her fingers again through her hair to rid it of more tangles. "But it can be a trial."

Cindy considered the boy in front of her for a moment. For a genius, he really was a dipstick. He didn't catch on to anything, which, she supposed, could be suspected out of a boy. Even through the... she grimaced, her thoughts once again traveling back to Mars. She still hadn't decided if distraction was a good thing. But nonetheless...

"I'll look good on his arm, anyway, I suppose, whether it shoots down my own pride or not."

A look of near horror nearly made its way to her face as she said this. Admittance... she'd just admitted that she didn't want to go with Nick to the dance. Crap.

[Jimmy Neutron]

Jimmy would have thought Cindy's slip would have given him a feeling of vindiction, satisfaction at the very least, but instead of a triumphant smile he felt spreading across his face, it was a deep and furious scowl.

She had completly lost it. Cindy Vortex had finally gone off the deep end, abandoning all sense of self-worth and morals. And for what? A stupid dance! He couldn't beleive popularity and ticking of "The Misstress of Perfection" ment more to her than the tough, self-assured reputation she had strove to build up her whole life. He felt sick.

"What did you do to the real Cindy?" he asked, unable to keep the contempt out of his voice. "It doesn't take a genius to know that Cindy wouldn't do something as stupid and degrading as that. 'Look good on his arm...' Hah!"

He turned and the spot, calling back as he walked away, "If you do see my Cindy, though, tell her I'd be more than happy to escort her to the dance and save her the humiliation of going with that pin-head."

[Cindy Vortex]

It was entirely true. Cindy had gone off the deep end long ago. She truly liked to blame it on Neutron, even though this accusation would have been completely false. She had changed much. Over the years, she had tried and failed to impress him, to catch his attention, but he had stayed the same, pursuing Betty Quinlan and acting completely indifferent toward her.

Therefore, something had occured to her a while back: Perhaps if she acted more like Betty Quinlan, she could effectively catch the blissfully ignorant boy genius. Obviously, according to him at this moment, she had failed. The facts supporting the hypothesis had been completely solid... how could she have failed so horrendously?

Cindy was horrified to find tears forming in her eyes as she watched him begin to walk away. She had turned this into a challenge. She was foolish, absolutely stupid for thinking that anything was going to change if she downgraded herself. Her high standards were gone. In a brief attempt to console herself, she thought perhaps that if the "Mistress of Perfection" didn't hold Cindy's heart in the palm of her hand that she wouldn't be this way. But she was. What had she been thinking?

Slinking down the the floor, she sat down, knees clasped to her chest as she buried her face in her hands, barely stifling the sobs of a lost cause... and a lost attitude. She was barely Cindy Vortex anymore, she realized, and what she was doing was certainly not helping her along in any way.

If she hadn't totally just thrown away dignity beforehand, perhaps she wouldn't have had the decrease in pride to call him back. But it was all she could do. "Jimmy, wait." It was more a whimper than anything.

Though she still couldn't bring herself to admit that once again, he'd been right.

{ o o c : Hey, thanks for cluing me in... I'm getting a little carried away, aren't I? Well, end Plastic Cindy. Her poor plan failed. *shrugs* But hey. It was an idea. ^.^ Not sure how I got so off character, seeing as I'm normally very on character in my stories. Sorry! *feels stupid* Having an off week... writer's block... *gags* }

[Jimmy Neutron]

Jimmy hardly heard his named called out softly behind him over the rushing blood in his ears. He seriously considered continuing out the door, but something clenched at his stomach and forced him to turn around.

"What?" he snapped, feeling a quite remorseful when he saw Cindy curled against the wall, her emerald eyes glistening with unshed tears.

Gas planets! Jimmy thought in exasperation. Sure, he had called her out, but he'd never intended to make her cry! I just can't do anything right, can I?

{o.o.c. I thought it would be something Cindy would do eventually, and then I thought that would be how Jimmy reacts to it. I'm surprised I was able to get that out, though; if your week's been off, mine has gone just as insane as Cindy. My most recent update is -- unfortunately living -- proof.}

[Cindy Vortex]

For what seemed to be only a flickering moment in time, Cindy Vortex had ceased to be Cindy Vortex and had become Betty Vortex. Using her own self as a subject, she had created a monster, something she'd never wanted to be. And now... now she was slowly, somehow, beginning to realize what she was truly doing and what she had been doing for the past year. It was absolutely ludicrous. Slowly, yet surely, she was turning back into Cindy, the one who would be more likely to chug whiskey than sip margaritas when she came of drinking age, the one who skipped manipulation and headed straight for the punch (literally), and the one she'd been before she'd decided to change. It was an odd change, second by second, but somehow she'd been awakened again. This wasn't who she wanted to be. This had never been who she wanted to be.

His sharp voice only caused her currently timid self to shrink back further, pushing itself deeper and deeper into the hole of guilt she'd created for herself when she'd first saw that look in his eyes just a few moments before. "I'm sorry." she squeaked, her voice nearly intelligable as she gazed at him from between the gaps in her fingers. "C-Cindy says she'll be... much obliged to... a-accept your g-gracious invitation." Minute sobs and sniffs broke up her words, though she tried desperately to hide this, along with her tears.

"I'm sorry." she repeated softly. "You have reason to be disappointed in me... perfect reason..." Honestly, it wasn't a guilt trip, but Cindy was opening up for once in her life, apologizing inconspiciously for what she lacked and attempting vainly to make up for it, although she knew she never could.



{ o o c : Nah, never! ^^ I haven't had the chance to read through it thoroughly (simply skimmed), but I will, and I will CERTAINLY leave you a review this time, though I've been slacking lately. Sorry about that! By the way, the Space Bandits are awesome! }

[Jimmy Neutron]

Jimmy jumped when Cindy relayed back an acception of his invitation; he had clean forgotten in fourteen seconds flat that he had asked her out to the dance, (even if not in so many words,) such was the power to turn him into a wallowing pile of redemptional mush Cindy's tears and sobs had.

He didn't know which he disliked more: broken-down, sobbing Cindy or the shell-like Betty/Cindy, stripping herself of all pride and standards. But while the latter infuriated him to no end, the former was making his stomach twist itself into knots out of sheer guilt. He felt horrible -- as he was certain Cindy must be to let herself fall apart while he was still in her company -- and had a strong sense of responsibility to set her straight again.

He had no idea what to say to her, though; he stood, watching her forlornly, a look of utmost sorrow on his face. How was he supposed to express in words what he felt? What could be said to explain the reason behind his harsh repremandation? What words could be used to describe his want to stop her tears and make sure they never found their way back to her?

Quite suddenly, Jimmy found himself kneeling in front of Cindy. He had no control whatsoever of his motions, yet he saw his hands reaching out and gently pulling Cindy's away from her tear-stained face. And then, to his greatest surprise yet, he found himself leaning forward and kissing her soundly.

{o.o.c. So finally I'm able to give something longer than a few sentences. (Sorry about my previous posts; it'll come to me, I'll hit my stride!) And I'm sorry if you felt this was too...I don't know, soon or whatever to bring out the true affection, but it just flowed for me, and I want some good fluff right now, dang it! And GO SPACE BANDITS! }

[Cindy Vortex]

To say that Cindy was surprised would be a terrible understatement. Surprise was when someone jumped out from behind something at you. Surprise was when your mother decided she was going to take you on a trip at the last minute. Jimmy kissing her was not surprise. It was... it was... she couldn't even find the words to think to explain it. But he was here kissing her. What had come over him, she had to wonder?

Obviously nothing sane.

It took her a few precious seconds to react to what he had just done, her immediate shock finally wearing off enough for her to move at all. Carefully, her tear-stained hands moved to the back of his shoulders and she clutched herself to him desperately, kissing him back with equal or possibly more furvor. There was no place she would have rather been at that moment, yet there were a thousand. She was so scared of him, somehow. But there were so many emotions that welled up within her at this moment, too many to even control. This is what she'd wanted all along, even if he hadn't known it, since years ago.

A small sound from the back of the room tore her from Jimmy's lips and Cindy looked up into the disapproving eyes of her dance teacher. Giving a watery giggle, she sniffed and looked back at Jimmy, her mouth opening, then closing again as she tried and failed to find the words to say to him, until finally...

"What was that?"

The question was delivered not defensively, but timidly, her voice quiet and shy, as was very uncharacteristic of her. Not that one could blame her after what had just happened. She was still smiling at him and her hands were still positioned gently on the backs of his shoulders, her eyes slowly traveling his face.



{ o o c : Yes, YAY SPACE BANDITS! And YAYERNESS MORE FOR FLUFF! I am the sappiest person alive; totally okay with the need for fluff. I've been needing it, too, actually. That's why I'm writing my mini-fic on FF.net! ^^ Bring on the fluffiness! }

[Jimmy Neutron]

Jimmy had felt her grab his shoulders. He had heard the noise behind him. He had felt -- to his grave disappointment -- Cindy pull away from him, but after that his senses were occupied with something else: the enormity of what he had just done hitting him full on like a brick wall. He had just kissed her! Just walked right over...

What sounded like a torrent of water was rushing through his ears, but it felt like it had continued on to pound through out his body, giving him a numb, sort of tingly feeling. It was when Cindy had broken their connection, (which he was shocked he had felt so upset about,) that a sense of sanity returned to him. He'd be lucky to escape with any teeth!

He looked down at Cindy, though, and was shocked to see her smiling up at him. After registering that was a good thing, it took him a few more seconds to realized her question of "What was that?" had been directed at him.

Well, of course it was, dummy, you just kissed her for no apparent reason!

Jimmy fell back wards, not realizing Cindy had maintained her hold on his shoulders. He had not broken eye contact, though, and sitting put him at exact eye level with her. His stomach clenched oddly again. "Something nearly a decade in the making."

[Cindy Vortex]

For some odd reason beyond her contemplation, Cindy felt a strange urge to laugh. Therefore, she did, though not loudly, and her eyes darted from his face to the floor and back to his face again fleetingly. "Dummy," she giggled, referring to his fall. She held one hand over her mouth to stifle the laughing as she stood up, placing her hands on her hips as she smirked down at him.

Slowly, she recovered, not quite looking him in the eyes for a moment. Finally, she completed her thought, still grinning broadly. "We are so stupid!" she exclaimed, leaning back against and wall for a moment before standing straight up again. "You'd probably be shocked to find out that I'm in the same boat."

Her words oozed their familiar, yet sincere sarcasm (or is that an oxymoron, she thought). She would have kneeled down and kissed him again had it not been for her teacher's presence in the room. And still, she couldn't wipe that grin off her face.

Extending her hand to help him up, she smiled genuinely at him, a smile of honest assurance.

[Jimmy Neutron]

It took a few seconds for his sluggish thoughts to process what Cindy had said to him. ...in the same boat.

"You mean to tell me," he started angrily, taking the proffered hand and pulling himself up, "I've wasted more than half my life trying to make sense of something and keep it from you, when all along you've been doing the exact same thing?!"

He was furious, both with himself and Cindy. So she'd been stupidly planning to play the pawn of "arm-candy" to Nick just to get a rise out of him. (Well, it worked, he thought.) He was still sure it had something to do with Betty, like she said ...but would Cindy really try to get her so mad just because she was pretending to like him? Yes. It's Cindy.

"Y'know," he muttered, motioning towards the door, "my life is beginning to make a whole lot more sense...and I'm not entirely enjoying the ride..."

{o.o.c. They really are stupid, aren't they? Buy what else are we to expect from the smartest people in their school, huh? }

[Cindy Vortex]

Cindy raised an eyebrow precariously, nearly smirking, though with a slightly doubtful look still shadowing her features. "God, Neutron, don't blow a fuse." she said, rolling her eyes and bending over, shuffling through her bag to grab her clothes. She then proceeded to pull them over her leotard, succeeding in even further messing up her hair.

She stuck her tongue out defiantly in the mirror as she tried in vain to make some astray whisps of hair to sit down, she turned back toward him, frowning, and continued. "So we've had feelings for each other for years... and years." The end of her sentance, to her dismay, sounded a bit pathetic, but still she went on. "It's not as if either of us would have fessed up. Think about it, Nerd-tron. We "hated" each other, remember?"

Slinging her bag over her shoulder, she began making her way toward the door at his "invitation", smirking maliciously back at him with that all-so-familiar smug look in her eye.

[Jimmy Neutron]

Jimmy bristled in- and externally at the smug look of superiority she shot back at him. He charged after her, stumbling and nearly falling over his own foot.

"Yes," he shouted after her, flushing in both anger and embarrassment, "and yet you continue to give me abject reason to remain rutted in the same state of mind against you! What is it with you, Vortex!"

He sought around in his mind for a good follow-up to his furious out-burst, but it was to his dismay that he could not find a single insulting thing to say to the young lady in front of him...until he stumbled upon a memory of some years previous, which he promptly seized to redeem some face, in his anger not stopping to think that it would sound completely ludicrous to Cindy, who was not able to see his thoughts. It was this fury that made him size her up and smugly say, "You're not such a nice-smelling distraction now."

{o.o.c. Yay for idiots in love! ;D}