A/N: Hey! This fic came basically from no where....I was sitting, bored, and dying to write something. I knew I should have been working on another story that I've started (a Kim Possible one) but I wasn't in the mood. Then, before I even know what I was doing, I opened up a new document and began typing this short but sweet Jimmy and Cindy ficcy. I began to get into the idea, so I continued typing it and finished it, and here it is. Hope you like it! Please read and review!

BTW, this story takes place when the characters are 13, in 8th grade.

Disclaimer: *sighs* I don't own Jimmy Neutron, he belongs to Nickelodeon. I think you already knew that.

It's a Start

Jimmy Neutron boarded the bus, fuming. He stomped angrily down the isle, searching for a seat. He looked around - every seat seemed to be taken. He was late boarding the bus. And it's that dumb Vortex girl's fault, he thought angrily. He continued on towards the back, where there was one free seat, in front of where Carl and Sheen were sitting. Jimmy sat down on it, taking off his backpack and angrily slamming it down on the seat.

"Hey Jim." Carl called over the seat.

"Hi Carl." Jimmy said monotonusly, staring straight ahead.

"What did Mrs.Hartford do to you?" Sheen chimed in, leaning over the seat towards Jimmy.

Jimmy turned around. "Gave us detention for a WEEK starting tommorow." Jimmy turned back around, folding his arms. "I hate Cindy so much. It's all her fault!"

"Aw, come on, Jimmy, it's just detention." Sheen said. "I get detention all the time!"

"Yeah, but I don't." Jimmy said angrily.

"What happened, excactly?" Carl asked.

Jimmy sighed, and told them...

::FLASHBACK::

Mrs.Hartford, the science teacher, had assigned partners for her eigth period Science class. They wouldn't be permenant partners, just for the day, becuase it was an in-class assignment. Mrs.Hartford was the kind of teacher who wanted everybody to get along. She knew about Jimmy and Cindy's constant bickering, which is why she paired the two together.

"What? I can't work with her!" Jimmy yelled, pointing at Cindy, who yelled, "What? I can't work with him!" and pointed at Jimmy at the same time.

"Now, look, I want you two to try and get along. I'm sure if you put your differences aside, you could be great friends!" Mrs.Hartford said in a voice so cheery and optomistic it was actually scary.

Jimmy and Cindy glared at each other.

The project was to look up information about the ocean on the internet, discuss with your partner how you think it benefits the Earth, and share it with the class at the end of the period. This seemed like a simple enough project to do without getting in a fight. For normal people, maybe. But not Jimmy and Cindy.

The class had gone down into the computer lab. Each set of partners was sharing a computer. Cindy grabbed a seat in front of a computer before Jimmy could, so she could control the computer. Jimmy sat in the chair next to her and leaned towards the screen as Cindy opened up the Interenet.

"I know a really good science site." Jimmy said. He leaned over to type in the website's URL.

"Me too." Cindy said. She moved her hands to the keyboard. "Let's go with mine."

"Why yours?"

"Becuase it's better."

"How do you know?"

"Well, it's, like, the best science site out there."

"How would you know that?"

"Becuase it's called TheBestScienceSiteEver.com."

"Fine. Can't we try mine first, though?"

"Why do you have to go first?"

"Why do you have to make a big deal out of stupid stuff?"

The fight continued. It somehow morphed from who should get to show their site first, to personal insults. Jimmy didn't remember exactly how that happened.

"Just becuase your a genius and you have a grotesquely-large head dosn't mean you know everything!"

"Well, maybe if you weren't such a stuck-up brat you'd actually stop and listen to me!"

It went on and on, as it always did. They soon resorted to shouting. Then, before they knew it, they were standing up and hollering in each other's faces. Everyone in the class had stopped to stare, and a few kids from the hallways had even stopped to listen.

"WHY DO YOU HAVE TO ACT LIKE SUCH A FREAKIN' MORON?!"

"WHY DON'T YOU EVER SHUT YOUR FREAKIN' MOUTH?!"

"IF YOU DON'T SHUT UP, MY FIST WILL BE IN YOUR MOUTH!"

"ARE YOU THREATING ME, VORTEX?!"

"WHY, SCARED OF ME?"

"AS IF, I COULD KICK YOUR -"

"JIMMY! CINDY!"

Jimmy and Cindy froze. They whipped their heads around towards the enterence. Mrs.Hartford had returned from the bathroom.

"What is going on here?!" She demanded. She approached Jimmy and Cindy, who's faces were bright red from yelling. "I could hear you two from all the way down the hallway! Just what is going on?"

Jimmy and Cindy started yelling, blaming each other, at the same time.

"That's ENOUGH!" Mrs.Hartford yelled, holding her hand up. She rubbed her temples. She was sick of these two. "You two come to my room after school. We need to have a little talk. For now, you two go sit in the office until the bell rings. Then come back to my room, alright?"

Jimmy and Cindy glared at each other."Fine." They said. Mrs.Hartford wrote them a note to take to the office, and handed it to Jimmy. The two of them walked down to the office in silence. Jimmy handed the note to the secretary. The secretary scanned it, then said, "Alright, you two, go sit right there." and pointed to a bench. They sat down on the bench next to each other, not speaking, avoiding each others gaze. They couldn't speak to each other becuase the secretary was right there. They just sat, fuming. Cindy kicked Jimmy's foot in anger, and Jimmy stomped on hers in response. Cindy, who wasn't good at holding her anger in, pushed Jimmy, causing him to almost slide off the bench. Jimmy righted himself, shaking in anger. He gave her the meanest glare he could muster, and she grinned evilly, just to spite him. Unable to control his anger, he pushed her back, with so much force she really did fall off the bench. She got up, and by now she looked enraged. She grabbed his shoulders and attempted to wrestle him to the floor, but he grabbed hers, holding her back. They were groaning and struggling to push the other to the floor before the secretary noticed.

"Kids, cut it out!" She said fiercly.

"She started it!" Jimmy said.

"Did not!"

"Yes you did!"

"I said, cut it out!" The secretary looked exhausted. "Sit there quietly."

Jimmy and Cindy grumbled, but did so, not wanting to get into even more trouble.

::END FLASHBACK::

"Whoa, you guys sure fight a lot over dumb stuff." Carl said after Jimmy had finished telling him the story.

"She always starts it." Jimmy said. He was still angry with her. She had gotten him a week's worth of detentions! And she had made him late for the bus, so now he was stuck sitting by himself.

As if on cue, Cindy boarded the bus, the last one on. She started down the isle, a pout still on her face, looking for a seat near the back. She searched for Libby. She found her, but Libby was sitting next to Brittany, and the two were deep in discussion.

"What the heck, Libby?" Cindy asked, approaching her.

"Ooh, sorry, Cin." Libby said. "Brittany asked to sit with me, and you were late. I thought you must be getting a ride home or something. What took you so long?"

"Long story." Cindy grumbled. She searched, but every other seat had two people sitting in it. Except for one. The only seat left. And it was with Jimmy.

Cindy groaned, but didn't have a choice.

"Push in, Neutron."

Jimmy looked up at her. "No way! You are not sitting with me, Vortex."

"There's no other seat on the bus!"

"Then sit in the isle!"

"Stop being a brat and push in!"

Jimmy sighed. "Fine, you can sit here, but your sitting on the inside."

"Fine, whatever!" Cindy said, exasperated. Jimmy stood up to let her in. She slid into the seat and sat by the window, then Jimmy sat down next to her. He stared down the isle, not looking at her, not saying a word.

"That was some fight you and Jimmy got into today, Cindy." Sheen said, leaning over the seat. He was in their science class, so he had witnessed the fight.

"Shut up, loser." Cindy snapped, not in the mood.

"Don't call Sheen a loser!" Jimmy snapped back.

"I'll call him a loser if I want." Cindy snapped.

Jimmy put one hand over his blue eyes. "Y'know, why do you have to be so difficult? You make everything so difficult, what is your problem?"

"I don't have a problem."

Jimmy just glared at her. "You know what? I wish I never met you. Your such a brat, you make my life so difficult!" Jimmy shook his head, before turning his head away from her. "I hate you." he muttered.

Cindy stared at Jimmy for a minute, a little bit shocked. As much as they fighted, they had never once used a word as strong as "hate" before. When Jimmy said that, something triggered in Cindy. She quickly turned and stared out the window to avoid being seen. She watched the trees and houses flashing by. They soon became blurry, due to the tears that were forming in her eyes.

Why do I have to be so mean to him? She thought. It's all my stupid fault. He never did anything to me. I've always been so mean to him...what's my problem? And now he hates me. And he wishes he never met me. If only he knew....I should have told him when we were younger and didn't fight as much...now it's too late, he'll never know, and I'll never get to tell him...becuase he hates me....he hates me...

Cindy felt one of the tears escape and roll down her cheek. She quickly wiped it away, and sniffed more loudly then she intended to. She felt like a baby, crying the way she was, but she couldn't help it. The boy that she loved hated her. And no wonder. She treated him so badly. It's becuase she hated him. She did hate him. She hated him so badly, she wanted to push him off a cliff, or beat him up, or do something to prove he was always wrong, and that he was a show-off and that he didn't always know everything. She wanted to punch him.

But with the same amount of passion, if not more, she loved him.

But of course, no one knew this. She had never told anybody. So whenever she was putting him down, she felt satisfaction and sadness at the same time.

But nobody can ever know that, she thought. Oh, boy, I've really screwed up this time. He is never going to forgive me. Why am I so stupid? He hates me..

Cindy felt a few more tears trickling down her cheeks. She stared out the window. Then suddenly, a voice right by her ear startled her.

"Hey Cindy, are you crying?" It belonged to Sheen, who was sitting next to the window in the seat behind her.

"N-No!" Cindy yelled, trying to sound menacing, but she knew her voice had a quiver in it. She quickly wiped the tears away from her cheeks.

"Yes you are!" Sheen said. He shook Jimmy's shoulder. "Hey Jimmy, Cindy's crying!"

Jimmy arched an eyebrow. "How come?" He asked Sheen, pretending not to care.

"I don't know." He turned to Cindy. "Hey Cindy, why are you crying?"

"I'm not!" Cindy snapped, keeping her head turned towards the window. Jimmy could tell by the slight quiver in her voice that she had been, however, and he wondered why.

But he didn't say that. He pretended not to care. He just said, "Fine, whatever."

When he made sure nobody was looking, he glanced back over at her. She did appear to be crying - he could see half of her face, and her nose and eyes appeared to be red, and he saw her wiping her eyes.

I wonder why she's crying? He thought. He had the sudden urge to bring her into his arms, but he shook it off.

He studied her. Oh my gosh, she is so beautiful. I wish she wasn't - it would be so much easier to hate her if she wasn't so gorgeous. He had to admit it - Cindy was beautiful. He had always thought she was. Her slender body, her long, blonde hair, her green eyes, her pink lips.....

Jimmy shook his head. He had to stop thinking of her like that. But it was hard not to. Even though she was so mean.

Cindy sniffed loudly. Jimmy could clearly see she was crying now. He suddenly felt bad for her.

Even though she's usually an Ice Queen, I know she's got good deep in there. Jimmy thought. Which proubably explains why I love her..WAIT! I did NOT just think that. Oh my gosh, I did not just think that....I did not just think that....

But no matter how many times he thought that, there was really no denying it. He was in the exact same predicament as Cindy. He hated her so much, but loved her so much. It confused him. If he really loved her, then why did he tease her? And if he really hated her, then why did he get nervous whenever they were close?

He couldn't help himself. She looked so sad. He waited until Carl and Sheen's stops had arrived, and they had left the bus, before he turned to her.

"Hey, Cindy?"

"What?"

"Why are you crying?"

"Why do you care?"

"I was just wondering."

"Well, it's none of your buisness."

Jimmy was about to make a snappy comeback...but changed his mind. "Well, sorry, I was just wondering." He said, and there was nothing mean about the tone in his voice.

Cindy wiped her eyes and turned to look at him. "Oh." She said quietly. She felt like a baby now, Jimmy had seen her crying! But he sounded almost concerned about her...Ha, I wish. Cindy thought bitterly. He could never care about me. This brought more tears to her eyes. She was the kind of girl who hardly ever cryed, but when she did, she couldn't stop. Jimmy was studying her now, watching her. It made her nervous.

"Jimmy, uh, the seat behind us is empty now, you can move there if you want." Cindy said.

"I don't mind sitting here." Jimmy said, giving her the tiniest hint of a smile ever.

Cindy looked surprised, but didn't say anything, just shrugged, and turned back to look out the window.

After a while, Jimmy and Cindy's stop had finally come up. The two got up and left the bus, heading towards their houses, parting ways. When the bus left, Jimmy, after considering the consequences, called out.

"Cindy, wait."

Cindy turned around on her doorstop, surprised.

"Yeah?"

He walked over to her.

"Um, well..." He wasn't exactly sure what he wanted to say. Cindy arched an eyebrow, looking at him expecditly.

"Well, I just wanna say....I'm sorry." Jimmy finally said, looking down at his shoes, nervous about her reaction.

Cindy looked surprised. "For what?"

"For being so mean to you. You don't deserve it."

Cindy sighed, slumping down on the steps, resting her chin in her hands, her elbows on her knees. "Yes, I do. And you don't have to be sorry. I - I should be the one apologizing."

Jimmy didn't say anything, just stood there. Cindy continued.

"You never did anything but try to be nice to me, and I always had to blow you off." She finally looked up at him, her wet, green eyes boring into his. "I'm really sorry. You don't deserve it, and....I'm only mean to you becuase..." Cindy caught herself before she let out too much information.

Jimmy furrowed his eyebrows with curiousity. "Why?"

"I..." Cindy started. "Well, it dosn't really matter. I'm just...sorry, alright? And, incase it counts for anything, a lot of the time...I feel guilty after I diss you."

"You do?" Jimmy asked, surprised at hearing words like this coming out of Cindy Vortex's mouth.

"Yeah." She sighed. She looked up at him.

"Well, a lot of the time...I feel guilty, too. Y'know, after we fight and stuff." Jimmy said, somewhat nervous. He returned her gaze.

Cindy smiled slightly, looking off to the side, not staring him in the eyes, afraid she would blush if she did. Suddenly, she started giggling.

"What's so funny?"

"We are so dumb." She said finally. "We fight all the time and we both feel guilty afterwords. We shouldn't even be fighting."

Jimmy was surprised to here this. "Whoa, who are you and what have you done with Cindy?!"

Cindy laughed, and Jimmy grinned. "You know what, Nerdtron? You really arn't such a nerd after all."

"And you really arn't such a stuck-up brat after all, either, Vortex." Jimmy said, returning her grin.

Cindy smiled.

"Well, not 24/7, anyway." Jimmy replied, joking.

Cindy pretended to be offended, and tried to kick him playfully. Jimmy moved out of the way. "Geez, fiesty."

"You know it." Cindy replied, smirking.

Jimmy smiled. This was the Cindy Vortex he liked.

"You know what, Cindy?" Jimmy started. "I - I think that we should be friends. I really don't like being rivals with you."

Cindy's eyes widened, taken aback, but happy. "I don't really like being rivals with you either. I mean, it's fun, but it gets old." Cindy said, half joking.

Jimmy grinned. "Yeah. So...what do you say? I mean, we don't have to be, like, best friends, but maybe..we could try to at least get along better?"

Cindy grinned back. "Alright." She said looking up at him, staring into his eyes, getting lost in the deep blue...

Jimmy mustered up all the courage he had, and suddenly found himself leaning foward and wrapping his arms around her in an embrace, praying to God she wouldn't pull away or get offended.

Cindy's eyes widended in surprise, but a large smile spread over her face. To Jimmy's surprise, and relief, she didn't pull away, but wrapped her arms around him in response, hugging him back, pulling him even closer to her. She rested her chin on his shoulder, leaning her head against his ever so slightly.

After a few seconds, Jimmy reluctantly pulled away. "Well, I guess I'll see ya later then, Vortex?"

"You know it, Nerdtron."

Jimmy gave her one last smile, which she returned, before turning around and heading towards his own house. Once Jimmy had dissapeared inside his house, Cindy darted into hers, ran upstairs into her room, grabbed her pillow, and squealed loudly into it.

She fell backwards onto her bed, smiling, still feeling Jimmy's warm embrace. She felt giggles escaping her lips from the excitment and the happiness she was feeling.

Okay, so we're not dating yet. She thought. But hey, it's a start.

The End