I didn't sleep for more than five minutes that night. I was dreading my talk with Betty and I couldn't stop thinking about my kiss with Cindy. I still had the image of her pressed into the grass, her eyes closed and lips parted. I couldn't believe that Betty had lied to me so long ago when Cindy's house had repeatedly been egged and toilet-papered. When I had left just hours ago, Cindy hadn't found out about the mess in her front yard, and I had made sure to be gone before she did. A little cowardly of me, but I knew I couldn't deal with anymore drama tonight. I resolved to talk to Cindy sometime tomorrow (or would it be today?).

It felt like I had just closed my eyes when my phone started buzzing again. I sighed and pried my eyes open, "Hello?"

"Jimmy. I'm on your porch."

Goddamn. I craned my head to look at the clock. Eight in the fucking morning. "Okay, hold on." And then I hung up. You could say that I wasn't in the best of moods.

I bounded down the stairs and opened my door, moving aside so Betty could walk past me. I looked behind her shoulder towards Cindy's house. Her front yard looked good as new again, as if it had never happened…

Which had probably been Betty's plan all along.

"Where do you want to go?"

I could tell by Betty's stance that she was pissed. She hadn't looked at me for more than a second this entire time and she was focusing on her nails. I took a deep breath and swung the door shut, letting it slam harshly. "Why leave? My parents are shopping, they won't be back for awhile. Make yourself at home."

She glared at me and sat down on the couch, her back straight as an arrow. "We really need to talk about last night and why you were at the party."

"I think we also need to talk about why you egged Cindy's house last night." I sat down on the other edge of the couch.

Her head snapped up to me and her eyes are wide and shocked, almost scared. But it passes quickly and her gaze cools. "What do you mean?"

"When I was leaving her house, her yard was trashed. You can't tell me what wasn't you. You lied to me."

"You lied to me too!" She shrieks, pointing a finger at me.

"Betty, you lied first. And it doesn't even matter. I lied about going to one of my friend's parties and you lied about trashing that same friend's house."

She crossed her arms indignantly. "You promised not to talk to her anymore."

"And I never really understood that. She was my friend before we dated."

"She's a horrible person! I don't know why you would associate with her anyway." My house feels like it's shrinking and yet her voice is echoing throughout it; almost like the whole neighborhood can hear our conversation. I wince a little.

"Funny. She says the same about you."

"This is Cindy Vortex we're talking about here. She's not even that nice to you. Why are you defending her over your girlfriend?"

I can't take it anymore. I stand and run my hand through my hair, trying to resist the urge to pace. "You need to listen to me. You can't control what I do or who I talk to. Cindy's my friend, and she's more important than anyone else." At this point, I know that I have no control over what I'm saying and that everything that's coming out of my mouth is what has been boiling inside of me for the past 12 hours. Or perhaps for the past few months. "I don't know why I liked you so much. You've kept me from all my friends the entire time we've been dating and I can't stand it. Do you get off on trying to control other peoples lives? And to trash her house repeatedly - and then to lie to me about it - is just seriously the last straw. This just isn't work- "

Betty, who has been sitting quietly during my whole speech, stood abruptly and put her hands on her hips. "You cannot break up with me. You're delusional with this whole thing. Who have you been talking to?"

"Uh…myself?"

She doesn't seem to know what to say to that.

"But…Jimmy…I thought we had something good here. Prom is nearly a month away! We can't end this so soon. I'm willing to forgive you for this, I really am."

"Forgive me for what?" I am incredulous. This girl is insane. How could I have not seen it before? "Oh, I am so sorry for lying to you and hanging out with my friends. Heaven forbid if I have my own life."

"I don't like your sarcastic attitude." She narrows her eyes at me.

"Well I don't like you. Not anymore."

She gasps, as if she's been slapped. I honestly hadn't meant to be so mean about it - but she's just not getting it. She's worse than Sheen on a Monday morning.

"How dare you!"

I roll my eyes. That line is a little overused now.

"No one just breaks up with me. It's not that easy."

Suddenly, I don't like the vengeful, evil look in her eyes. I swallow. "What do you mean?"

"You'll regret this."

And just like that, she leaves. The room is cold, and I can't help but wonder if Betty Quinlan is actually the devil.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

A couple hours and three cups of coffee later, I call Sheen with shaking hands. I know that by his hoarse voice that he's hung over.

"Dude, why are you calling? It's early. My head hurts. What?" He's almost incoherent.

"Sheen! Wake up! I broke up with Betty!"

"Woah, woah, woah. You did not."

"I did. I think she might kill me now."

"Wouldn't surprise me. But, uh…why did you break up with her?"

I almost can't answer because I'm too shocked. "Why are you even asking me that question? I thought this is what you wanted."

"Well no shit! She's a bitch! But why the sudden change in heart?"

"I'm not an idiot, I know she was the one who toilet-papered Cindy's house. I guess that was just the start of it all. Among other things." I didn't want to mention the kiss between Cindy and I.

"Good for you, dude. I got another question for you: why are you calling to tell me this?"

"…what do you mean?" I don't like where this conversation is heading.

"I mean, you've kinda been ignoring me and Carl for weeks now and now you two are done everything is back to normal? That's just stupid. Like how am I supposed to know you won't get back together with her and it happens again?"

"Come on, Sheen. I'm sorry. I didn't really mean to -"

"Sure you didn't. But you've been doing this to Libby and Cindy, too. You should've seen her last night after you left…I don't know what happened between you two, but she was like almost crying and it wasn't pretty."

Leave it up to Sheen to suddenly go all deep on me and make me feel like shit. But I knew I deserved it.

"I need to talk to her too."

"Well, you do that. Call me again when I'm sober."

And with that, he hung up.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Sleep deprived and going out of my mind, I set across the street towards Cindy's house. I was high on caffeine and had a million thoughts whirring in my head. I knew Cindy would be angry with me, but what if she didn't even give me the time of day? Shut the door in my face? Punched me in the face? Ran me over with a steamroller?

I knocked on the door loudly and rapidly for almost ten whole seconds before the door was ripped open.

Cindy glared at me, using a hand to shield her eyes from the sunlight. "What do you want, Neutron?"

Angry. Just as I thought. "We need to talk."

Here's the thing: I've had my fair share of sleepless nights. As a genius, I often spend my nights working in my lab. Sleep just seems like a waste of time for me, but I try not to spend too many nights in a row running on three hours of sleep. I start to go a little crazy, to put it lightly. I tend to talk with my hands a lot, I start quoting Star Trek…it's not fun for anyone.

Cindy just rolled her eyes and then grimaced, I assumed that she had a hangover. Peeking into the interior of her home, her house looked immaculate - like nothing had ever happened.

"I'm not really in the mood. So…how about no?" She started to close the door, but stuck my foot in the way to stop it. She sighed loudly. "Leave me alone. I don't want to talk to you."

"Well, that's too damn bad! We are going to talk. You and I. Are going to talk. A very much needed talk. Then you won't be mad anymore." I could literally feel myself rambling out of control.

"Newflash, Jimmy, I'm beyond mad! I'm pissed! So I'm going to do the easy thing for both of us: I'm going to close this door. Because if I don't I might hurt you. Goodbye."

She slammed the door with more force this time, and I was wise enough to move my foot. It was then that I realized that I wasn't wearing any shoes.

I tried knocking on the door again, and then ringing the doorbell, but nothing happened. After ten long minutes, I went home. I had dug myself a pretty deep hole and I had no idea of how to get out. But I had some pretty good ideas. I wouldn't be able to count on Sheen or Carl or Libby, because I knew without even seeing them that they were angry with me also. Nope, I was on my own for this one. But hey, they don't call me a genius for nothing.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Kind of a lame ending, I know! This was more of a filler, I guess you could say. I have major plans for the upcoming chapter(s). Writing sleep deprived Jimmy is so fun. Considering I'm pretty sleep deprived myself…

God, I had no idea almost two months had passed since I updated. I've had three separate volleyball camps that sucked all my energy and time and of course, a social life. I apologize for the wait. Be sure to check my profile; I have a new poll up, song recommendations for this story, and an important update. Thank you and remember to review!