Well, I got married :) my husband is set to graduate college in two weeks! I have been practicing making cakes for his party and my latest one is an atom cake (cake that will be sculpted and frosted to look like an atom.) It didn't turn out so well, but I will get the hang of it!This is for my many reviewers these in particular: tsnell, jcforever19, and also to Spike's real lover. Sorry, this one may contain typos because I was switching computers constantly! May your day be brightened by this update and that's all I will say on the matter

PE class did not go the way she wanted it to. During the class game of soccer, she was the goalie and distracted, very distracted. Caught up in her own thoughts of a certain boy.

"What is Jimmy doing here?" She was standing in front of the goal and thinking of possible reasons that her Jimmy could be here in the high school during class periods.

"Maybe I should ask during lunch." She said to herself

The coach blew the whistle signaling another goal.

Cindy snapped out of her own world and realized she wasn't focusing on the game. With ten minutes left she swore she wouldn't let another ball past her. Her team was down by two goals with four minutes left on the clock now and she kept her promise to herself to not let another ball through the goal. Her team scored once more and tied the game.

Betty, the school's queen bee, was coming towards her. Cindy prepared herself to catch the ball that perfect Betty was running down the makeshift field in the gym of the school.

Betty's lips curved upward into a smile that spread across her face as she kicked the ball with great force. Cindy didn't think that little miss perfect would be such a great athlete, but Betty turned out to be quite the soccer player. With all the Tae Kwon Do training Cindy had, she should have been prepared for this type of quick motion. So when Betty kicked the ball towards her, her body should have been ready to react and catch the ball.

The last thing Cindy heard was the buzz of the clock, and the whistle of the coach.

She woke in the nurses' office a few moments later. Everything happened so quickly that Cindy could barely remember it all. Yet it seemed to pass in such slow motion that she did remember what happened.

"No, no, stay down." The nurse pushed her gently back down onto the cot as Cindy tried to sit herself up. "It is unfortunate that you passed out. You have a slight concussion dear. You should attempt to stay awake as much as possible today. If you can have a friend or companion keep you up that would be even better. I can give you some aspirin and a cold pack to ease the discomfort."

Cindy watched as the nurse turned and grabbed an ice pack.

"Here. Put this on the side of your head. Now try to sit up nice and slow."

As the nurse was saying this, Cindy did as directed.

"I feel like I have been hit by a meteor." Cindy managed to tell the nurse.

The nurse chuckled, "Well that soccer ball hit you pretty hard…" The nurse didn't finish her sentence.

"Nurse, do I have to stay at school today?" Cindy asked.

"Well, I suppose that you do not. Why? Are you wanting to go home?" the nurse was smiling at her so sweetly.

"Well, I don't feel so great right now and I would feel better in my home. Today is my mother's day off of work so she could watch over me. I have a perfect attendance record if you feel that that may be why I want to go home…" Cindy didn't get to finish her rambling. The nurse wrote her a note and was on the phone with Mrs. Vortex.

"You may collect your things and head to the office. Your mother is on her way to pick you up and take you back to your home." The nurse dismissed Cindy with a wave of her hand.

Cindy went to her locker. Looking around corners to make sure that no one was watching, she opened her locker and grabbed what she needed. As she closed the door, she noticed a note on the ground in front of her locker. She gingerly bent to pick it up. Her head screamed at the pain causing her to wince. Standing up, Cindy walked to the office and sat.

"Cynthia, darling are you okay! The nurse said you were knocked out! Oh dear I am so glad you thought to have her call me. Don't worry, we're going home."

Mrs. Vortex picked up Cindy's back pack, signed the sheet giving permissions to take her daughter home, and turned to leave the office.

Cindy thought she imagined the scene with her mother in the office. Never has her mother worried like that about her.

"Thank you for getting me, mom. I am so tired, but the nurse says I need to stay awake but take things easily." Cindy fought sleep the entire ride home. Her mother surprisingly quiet especially after the display she made in the office.

Grabbing her things once the car was in the drive, Cindy opened the door and headed to the front door.

"Just where do you think you are going Cynthia?" Her mother's harsh tone made Cindy turn around.

"I was going to go inside and to my bedroom and work on some of my homework."

"No. If you are fine enough to do your homework, you can start on your chores. Chop-chop!" Mrs. Vortex clapped her hands together as she shut her car door and walked to the house.

"But mother! I am not supposed to be doing things!" Cindy began to argue but knew it was pointless.

"Then you should have stayed in school today, Cynthia. Honestly, I don't see what the fuss is all about over a silly bump on the head from a ball." Mrs. Vortex's smile was smug.

Cindy groaned at her massive headache, at the pain her mother was being, and for the pain that was to come from doing her chores.

Cindy placed her belongings beside the door and took off her shoes careful not to move too quickly and upset her body's healing.

As soon as her shoes were off, Cindy walked to the closet and took out the vacuum cleaner. "Mom, do you want me to start upstairs or here first?" She asked.

"Cynthia, do I have to tell you everything? Start with the upstairs and work your way down. Do not forget to get the stairs on your way down. And do not disturb me again. Please."

Cindy walked up the stairs and plugged the vacuum in.

"Better get started." Cindy mumbled to herself.

It was nearly noon when Cindy finished the vacuuming and her mother poked her head out of the kitchen.

"I made you some sandwiches, dear. Why not come have some?"

"Thanks, mom. The nurse said that I shouldn't sleep, but I am so tired." Cindy's eyes were drooping.

"There there dear. Eat up you will feel better. I got you some Gatorade too. You did a good job on the carpets. I really wanted you to dust, take out the trash and do the dishes, but I can see you are feeling the day getting to you already. Why don't you take out the trash, then sit on the couch, put your feet up and I'll run and rent some movies for you?" Mrs. Vortex saw the tiredness in her daughter's eyes and couldn't allow her to do one more thing of work.

"Really? That sounds great, mom." Cindy gave her mother a big hug and sat at the table to eat her sandwich.

Libby was concerned. She had seen neither hide nor hair of her best friend and it was lunch time. She heard through the grapevine that Jimmy was going to spend time in the chemistry classes here at Retroville High to get his degree. Since lunch and passing periods were the only times students were allowed to have phones, Libby decided to text Cindy.

"Where are you?"

Cindy was sitting on the couch watching "Princess" when her phone went off. She paused the movie and slowly got up to walk over to her purse which she had set down by the door when she came in earlier that morning.

"Home. I will explain later" she texted back to Libby.

"Explain AFTER I tell you the juiciest bit of gossip you could ever imagine!" Libby's response made Cindy smile

Cindy made her way back to the couch and pressed play on her movie.

"Okay Libbs, tell me your story" Cindy texted.

Libby smiled and bit into her greasy school hamburger.

"Jimmy is actually going to teach some chemistry classes here!"

Cindy had to re read that sentence three times before it hit her.

Her heart leaped into her chest and she felt a small pang of guilt for not being in class today, and also a small bit of jealousy.

"Jimmy is supposed to be my tutor" she thought to herself. Quickly she picked up her phone and text Libby.

"ya sure?" she asked

"Positive" Libby responded.

Cindy didn't know what to think about this.

"Libbs, im super tired, I need to lay down. Talk to you when I get up?"

"Sure thing girlfriend. Be safe"

"You too, libby" Cindy closed her phone and focused on her movie.

Libby smiled. Cindy was at least okay. Homecoming was on the horizon and Jimmy was in town. She needed to get the two together ASAP without it being totally obvious about what was going on.

Even though he knew a lot of the students already, he printed off the seating chart and roster for each class. Jimmy looked around class for the blonde haired student. He checked his roster again, sure that he had seen her name listed for this hour. Sure enough there it was. Cynthia Vortex. The bell rang and there was no sign of his blonde haired beauty.

"Class, I am sure that you all remember Mr. Neutron as a student. Well, today he comes to us as a teacher. He is going to take over for me for a few weeks and I would expect that you treat him the same you would me."

A snort came from the middle of the room. Jimmy didn't have to look up to see that it was Betty. He recognized her snort anywhere.

Jimmy began by taking roll. To his dismay, only one person was not in class, Cynthia Vortex.

"I will begin with a little review. I will write an equation on the board and I want you to copy it down and begin working on fixing it." Jimmy turned his back on the class to begin writing on the chalk board.

After he turned back around, he instructed the class to begin. They had fifteen minutes to complete the problem and turn it in for a small grade. Most of the class groaned.

Jimmy's thoughts wondered to Cindy. They spent hours last night doing this and he hoped she would get it again tonight when he went to visit her, after sending an email to his instructor on his day's work. Along with a list of hours he would be teaching in a class room and the schedule for tutoring.

He was not going to mention that it was for Cindy. Just tutoring in general, which wouldn't be a lie because where Cindy was, there was Libby. Where Libby was, Sheen was shortly behind. And then there was Carl. Carl never needed too much help in school, he certainly was smart, and he didn't need Jimmy's help, he just needed to be around the group to have friends. In middle school, they all decided that it was for the best that they stick together no matter what.

The buzzer rang announcing the end of the fifteen minutes. Jimmy looked around the class to see the teacher sleeping in his chair and the students huddled together or texting. He cleared his throat and announced that he would like the papers to be passed to the front of the room and they would begin the lecture on balancing equations.

As he collected the papers he hoped that the students wouldn't mind that he was only half paying attention. Meaning he was on their level of intelligence, which they probably would like for a change.

Jimmy started by placing another equation on the board. He started them off with a simple math one and felt that as they progressed he could get more difficult.

As the day continued, Jimmy counted the minutes that were left in class. He put the homework problems on the board and then the bell rang.

The teacher shot up and thanked an almost empty class room for behaving for the day.

Jimmy rolled his eyes.

He wanted to send an email as quickly as possible so he could get the scoop on Cindy as soon as possible.

Libby was walking to her locker when she spotted Jimmy.

"Yo, Jimmy. I should tell you that Carl told me to meet in front of your lab tomorrow night at 6. Also that Cindy is home miserable I think something bad happened in first hour that she wont tell me yet."

Jimmy smiled. Good ole Carl. "Yes, please meet me for discussion at 6. We will be no doubt be incorporating your plan into discussion and implementing it into action."

Libby looked shocked. "Sheen."

"Yup." Was all that Jimmy said as he walked away.

He needed to get home to Cindy, and fast. It occurred to Jimmy once he was out the door that he walked to the school and that it had gotten hotter throughout the day.

"Right behind ya genius. Hop in."

Jimmy saw Libby behind him flagging him down.

"Thank you Libby. I needed to do some things that are really important to my own grade." Jimmy spoke as they headed to Libby's car.

"Sure thing boy genius. I bet you have some important things to attend to." Libby unlocked the doors and got in and turned on the engine.

"Libby, it's no secret that I like her, at least not between me and the guys, but I cant get that last day out of my head. It was hard enough to leave everything behind, and she made it sound so easy."

"Jimmy, let me give ya a clue. Girls don't always mean what they say."

They rode in silence until they reached Jimmy's house.

"Thank you, Libby."

"No problem, Jimmy. See you tomorrow evening."

Libby pulled out of the drive way and left the neighborhood.

Jimmy walked up to his door, unlocked it and stepped inside. His mother had been baking from the delicious smell wafting in the air as he entered.

"Jimbo! We missed you last night."

"Its good to see you dad."

"Jimmy, how is college treating you?" His mother gave him a kiss on the forehead.

"Not terrible. I am going to be teaching for a little bit at R High, and then I graduate in December."

"I am so proud of you, Jimmy!" his mother took him into his arms and hugged him tightly.

"Hey that's pretty good, Jimbo!"

"Thanks guys. I'm going to be in the lab, I have things I need to send to my instructor before I forget that I did them. I may be working late now, so don't wait up for me."

"Sure thing, sweetie. Just make sure to eat something okay?" Jimmy smiled. He always enjoyed his parents. He hoped to someday be like them with his own children.

"Hold up Neutron, why would you want to have children now?" He shook the thoughts away and went to his lab.

Gone was the chute that lead to the basement, in its place was a stairwell.

"Goddard, I am back but I will be leaving again shortly. I need you to send these files to the email printed on the top here, and include that I am doing six, fifty minute classes a day. Thank you very much boy. Also, I picked this up for you just a bit ago." Jimmy tossed Goddard a few spare parts he had in his pocket from the school's computer.

"Bark." Goddard flew towards Jimmy.

"Goddard, when that is done, come get me at Cindy's. Maybe she'll want to see you too."

Goddard smiled and went to work. Jimmy turned and began his ascent out of the club house.

Cindy was replaying "Princess" for the second time. She couldn't get enough of that movie. She loved it. Her mom had yet to return from renting movies, and she didn't want to move too much.

There was a knock on the door.

Cindy pressed pause and slowly got up to see who it was.

To her surprise, Jimmy was standing there on her doorstep.

"Jimmy!" Cindy was so surprised that his name was all she could say.

"Can I join you?"

"Bark!"

"Sorry, may we join you?" Jimmy asked.

Cindy smiled seeing the robot puppy dog, and nodded her head.

She ushered them into the living room.

It had been so long since Jimmy had been in her house that he forgot the splendor of it.

Jimmy noted the screen of the television was on and paused.

"Watching a movie?" he asked.

"Yup. My favorite, its called, "Princess."" Cindy replied. "If you go get my bag from in front of the door, we can work on some chemistry, like we did last night."

"Nah. I dont think you missed too much today anyways." Jimmy lied.

"Ill have to text my mother to let her know you are here." Cindy sat on the couch and grabbed her cell phone.

"jimmy here to help on homework. We're in front room."

her phone chimed at her shortly after the message was sent.

"Be good."

Cindy smiled and put the phone back on the coffee table. "I told her we were doing homework, so we better at least have some books out or something for when she comes home."

Jimmy agreed with her statement and jumped up off the floor and went to get her bag. They settled on having the book open to the chapter review, a few papers of Jimmy's own notes strewn about the coffee table, calculators and a pencil.

"There. Now it looks like we're just taking a rest." Jimmy said triumphantly. "What do you like about this movie, Cindy?"

Cindy blushed. "Well I like that its kind of a modern day fairy tale. There's a princess, a magical land, a man who doesn't know who he is, and things go horribly wrong. In the end though things get settled down. It belongs to Libby but I have been borrowing it so much that I feel like it is mine. I could probably quote it backwards!"

The two friends sat on the couch and laughed at Cindy's last statement.

Jimmy was content to sit and be around Cindy. He really did love her. "Cindy, what happened today? I have been worried about you. All of our group has been really."

Cindy wasn't prepared to answer that. Not just yet. "I reacted too slowly as goalie and Betty kicks really hard." It wasn't a lie, just not the whole truth either.

"That would explain the smug look on her face as roll was called." Jimmy let out.

Cindy turned and faced him. "Jimmy, what were you doing at school anyways?"

Jimmy knew that he would have to answer this question eventually. "Well I am supposed to do some teaching. So I am starting to take over my content areas at Retroville High." Not a lie, but not the truth, and he knew that. He just wasn't ready to admit his feelings about her, to her.

Mrs. Vortex walked into the house at that moment. Seeing Cindy and Jimmy sitting on the couch and not studying made her upset.

"Cynthia, I thought you were studying?" She walked over and kissed her daughter's forehead.

"We were, Mrs. Vortex. We are taking a little bit of a break because of Cindy's headache." Jimmy jumped in to save Cindy.

"You have a headache?" Mrs. Vortex asked.

"Yea, a little one." It wasn't a lie, Cindy did have a headache, and she was obscenely tired.

"Goddard, body vitals for Cindy, please." It wasn't a command, but a request. Jimmy was worried about Cindy so to everyone else it may have sounded like a command.

"Bark!" Goddard began scanning Cindy's body with his rays of different colours."

"Cindy, did the nurse tell you that you have a concussion?" Jimmy asked.

"Yeah. She said to stay awake though." Cindy answered Jimmy's question. "She also said that I had been passed out when they took me to the nurse."

Jimmy shook his head. "Mrs. Vortex, can you bring Cindy a very large glass of water and a pitcher of ice water out here? Along with an aspirin. I think its time we packed up the homework for now and let you rest."

As Mrs. Vortex did as she was told, Jimmy packed up his papers, and put Cindy's things back in her bag.

Mrs. Vortex came back into the living room with all the materials she was instructed to bring back.

"Thank you. Also, do you have a cloth or ice pack?" Jimmy asked her.

"Yes, I can go get that too." Mrs. Vortex turned and began walking away but stopped, turned back around and asked, "Do I need to get the doctor here?"

"No mom. Please, no doctors. I just want to rest." Cindy responded before Jimmy had the chance to open his mouth.

Jimmy dimmed the lights of the room.

"That's a lot better, Jimmy." Cindy said.

Mrs. Vortex came back into the room with a cloth and the ice pack.

"Cindy, do you recall where the ball hit you?" Jimmy asked quietly.

"Well, we were playing soccer. I crouched down to make it easier to maneuver and catch the ball. And the nurse told me to hold the ice pack here when I was in her office." Cindy placed her hand on the side of her head behind her ear and almost on her neck.

"So assuming the ball was kicked at human strength, and followed a direct path…Cindy, did you move at all or stay stationary?" Jimmy was going through quick calculations in his head.

"I don't remember." Cindy was near tears.

"No, no. sssssh. Don't stress about this. We'll place the ice pack where the nurse told you earlier." Jimmy was up on the couch next to her comforting her as she was trying to remember things from the morning. He grabbed the ice water and instructed her to drink. "That's better, now, this is going to be cold."

Jimmy took the cloth and poured water onto it. He placed it over her eyes and tilted her head back so that it rested on the back of the couch in just the right angle to support the ice pack.

"If that is all, I am going to go start some light food." Mrs Vortex got up to leave the room.

Jimmy followed her into the kitchen. "Mrs. Vortex, I am concerned for Cindy. May I stay and monitor her until later tonight? If she doesn't get any better by tomorrow morning, take her into the doctor, it could be worse than we know. I have not updated Goddard in sometime, and his scans were only minor ones."

"Oh my. What can I do to help?"

"Well, we both need to make sure she drinks plenty of fluids and stays awake today is the most important thing. Then gets a full nights sleep." Jimmy walked out of the kitchen and sat down on the couch next to Cindy.

"So this movie, Im going to watch it with you and you're going to have to explain some things to me if I do not get them, okay?" Jimmy asked Cindy.

"Sure. But I cant see the movie." Cindy was heartbroken when Jimmy suggested that he watch the movie with her and she couldn't even watch it.

"This is annoying!" she thought.

"Here." Jimmy took Cindy lightly into his arms and repositioned himself so he was at an angle and she was laying down on the arm of the couch.

Both hearts skipped a beat at the intimacy that was this position. Jimmy took the ice pack off and the cold cloth and pressed play with the remote.

"Jimmy, thank you for taking care of me, and for helping me out. You are a good friend." Cindy immediately yelled at herself for that comment. "FOOL he is more than a friend! You love him!"

"No problem, Cin. You just get better." Jimmy's heart broke into millions of pieces. Cindy said he was a friend. He wanted to be so much more to her.

They paused the movie only once to eat the small sandwiches that Mrs. Vortex had made.

As the evening went by, Jimmy found himself not only taking the icepack on and off every twenty minutes, but stroking Cindy's hair.

Cindy enjoyed Jimmy's feather light touch in her hair.

The movie ended and Jimmy changed the channel to the cartoon station.

The two sat on the couch laughing at the cartoons and discussing the movie they had just finished watching.

Jimmy could tell why Cindy loved the movie so much. She always dreamed of being a princess.

"Goddard, can you bring a blanket?" Cindy asked.

"Are you cold, Cin?" Jimmy looked down at the almost sleeping Cindy.

"Just a little." She replied.

Jimmy looked at the clock. It was almost nine. He had spent the entire evening with Cindy making sure she was awake and not injured further.

"I have a better idea." Jimmy slid out from under Cindy and stood before her. Bending over, he picked her up, bridal style.

"Jimmy, what are you doing?" Cindy giggled.

"Taking you to bed." Both teenagers blushed at that statement. Whether Jimmy thought that sentence through or not, neither cared.

Jimmy ascended the stairs and opened the door to Cindy's room. "Take what you need, and go ahead and get ready for bed, I will stay in the hall. Open the door or holler at me when you are ready." Jimmy left the blond in her room and closed the door.

Cindy rushed to find some pjs only to find that she was moving much more sluggishly than she anticipated. When she found the purple pjs that she just bought with Libby, she walked over to the door and opened it to find Jimmy pacing.

Jimmy heard the door open and stopped mid stride. He saw Cindy in her silk pjs and his breath caught in his throat.

"Jimmy, its safe for me to sleep now, right?" Cindy asked with concern in her eyes and voice.

"Yes, it is." Jimmy helped Cindy under her covers and kissed the top of her forehead. "Just dream of your prince rescuing you from a tower."

He turned away from her, tears beginning to well up in his eyes, turned out her light and closed her door.

As Jimmy left the Vortex home for his clubhouse, he dug for his phone.

"Libby I really love her." His text was sent, but he collapsed on one of the clubhouse's chairs and began to cry himself to sleep over the heartbreak he was experiencing, before he could see the response.