W00t! You guys are amazing and I love you all. This chapter is dedicated to everyone who guessed the question at the end of last chapter correctly, specifically: jimlover54, countegor, Stay-Away, Masta-Of-Light, sk84nate, Latios-Dragonrider, Emerald-sama (you deserve it), and harryswifey. (If anyone guessed in between me writing this A/N to the time of upload I'm sorry. And if I just plain forgot anyone I'm probably sorry)

Ohhh man! I'm so happy right now. Ok ok ok ok so what now? Oh yeah. The chapter. Sweet. Last one and it's ridiculously long so grab the popcorn.

I really hate the ending of this story, but I hope you enjoy it.

"C'mon girl! Join the party!" Libby danced her way over to Cindy, who was standing on the side of the pool, staring into space. She had something in her hand and she was rolling it over and over nervously, but Libby couldn't quite see what it was, and when she tried to get a closer look, Cindy thrust it back in her pocket innocently.

"Is he here yet?" she asked, apparently not caring how desperate it made her seem.

Libby rolled her eyes and shrugged. "I'm loving your hair down. What's with the change, girl?"

"Oh," Cindy gave a small giggle, "I've heard some people like it..."

"You mean Jimmy? Speaking of Big-brain, have you told him you love him yet?"

Cindy was on the defensive immediately, "Love him? Where did you- no, I, look, Libby- oh! He's here!" Cindy didn't move, she just sighed contentedly and watched Jimmy walk into the party with a small wrapped box.

He looked better than she remembered. He had somehow completely changed in her eyes, yet he was dressed as he always was, and she could tell he was still tired from their little space adventure. She couldn't really blame him. According to Libby, the entire time she was out cold, he was next to her. He probably hadn't had a good sleep in 3 days.

Finally, after about 20 seconds, Cindy couldn't master the urge to talk to him anymore, so she sauntered over to him as slowly as she could manage in her current state of exhilaration.

The night was building up to something; she could tell. She just wasn't sure what.

His face instantly lit up at the sight of her. Or was she imagining it? She hoped not.

Jimmy set his gift at the base of the giant pile of presents as Cindy approached him. Her bangs were parted to the side, per usual, with the small curl at the end, but the rest of her hair was draped down to her shoulders, and Jimmy noted it had a slight wave to it. It moved slightly in the breeze as she walked toward him, and he caught himself staring at her again. He searched for something to say.

"Happy birthday, Cindy. Cool party." Jimmy noticed it still felt weird to pay Cindy a compliment; he was so used to putting her down all the time.

"Thanks," Cindy looked around her backyard, "and it isn't officially my birthday for... three more hours. I talked my parents into letting everyone stay until midnight, so they'll actually be here the start of my birthday."

"That's great! So I'll be able to give you your present at exactly midnight, maybe," Jimmy smiled nervously. That would be beyond perfect.

Libby had a DJ booth set up on one side of the pool and all the party guests were either dancing around the edges or swimming, or in Carl's case, standing scared at the edge of the pool wearing ugly swimming trunks, a nose plug, and every sort of flotation device known to man, (but yet he was still completely dry, and it looked as if he would remain this way for some time.)

There was also a large projection screen, where Cindy said there would be a horror movie playing later.

"You wanna..." Jimmy gestured to the impromptu dance floor.

"Dance?" Cindy beamed, "Sure."

Libby looked up from her spinning discs and watched Cindy and Jimmy dancing to one of her favorite classic songs from Mix Master P. She soon noticed she wasn't the only one watching this new development with interest. She smiled to herself and made a mental note to put a slow song on next.

"So you brought me a present?" Cindy asked over the music.

"I guess you could say that,"

"What is it?"

Jimmy just smiled, "I'm not telling you, but I think you'll like it,"

When the slow song came on, they both froze. There was a small tense moment, but it was broken when Jimmy bravely held out his hand as an invitation, and she accepted it, of course. (A/N: I think I did this in Hands Down too. But I wrote this one first so don't think I'm copying or anything.)

If there had been people watching them during the fast dance, it was nothing compared to the amount of people watching them now. All other activity had stopped for the most part, and one kid was watching, frozen in a springboard position, balanced precariously on the edge of the diving board, but neither of the dancers noticed.

The song wound to a close and Jimmy spun Cindy around into him one final time, perfectly timed with the ending notes.

A faster song had started, and Cindy politely excused herself, explaining that she was neglecting her other guests, and observing her closely, Libby could tell all the time she was fighting the urge to just stay by his side all night.

Still slightly elated, Jimmy went to go see Carl, who was now poking his toe in the pool.

"Oh, hey Jim. I saw you dancing with Cindy." Carl's toe touched the water and he jumped back a foot, "You liiiiiike her, don't you?" he teased in a singsong voice.

Jimmy replied in the form of a mysterious smile, a head shake, and a small push, and there was a splash as Carl plunged into shallow end of the pool.

"Aaaaaaah, I'm drowning!" Carl screamed, "Tell Jimmy's mom I love-"

"Shhhhhhh," came the reply from the crowd; the movie was starting. (A/N: Time moves quickly at this party. Don't want you to get bored.) Jimmy sat down in one of the many chairs around the pool to watch. He tensed as he was joined by none other than Betty Quinlan.

"Hi, Jimmy." She smiled and tossed her sleek black hair.

"What is she doing?" Cindy was staring daggers at Betty,"She said she'd lay off." She felt the jealousy start to rise up inside her. She set down her punch and walked across the yard to sit in the seat on Jimmy's other side.

He turned his attention to her and smiled, and Cindy saw Betty's eyes flash with... ...was it jealousy? ...Anger? Cindy wasn't quite sure. Either way, it made her happy. When Jimmy looked away, she gave Betty a small glare that said, "You said I could have him, remember?" and Betty got up and left, leaving her there with Jimmy.

The horror movie lived up to its name. Carl even had to leave, as he had an embarrassing accident in his bathing suit.

"If only I had stayed in the pool!" he cried as he ran home, leaving them all to ponder that horrifying thought.

The movie scared Cindy. She would readily admit it. Actually, it didn't really scare her as much as it startled her. Each time the music would crescendo and something would jump out of the dark, she jumped on the pool chair she was sharing with Jimmy and her heart started to beat abnormally fast. - Normal horror movie stuff. She didn't like being so caught off guard.

Jimmy was amazing though, and by the 3rd sequence, he had figured out, using some crazy math thing, when startling things were about to happen, so when one was coming up, he would grab her hand to let her know.

Cindy admired him for being so... there were no words. Every time he touched her hand to warn her, she felt an excited shiver run up her spine.

Needless to say, Jimmy was pretty proud of himself. This was the perfect way to interact with Cindy during the film, to touch her hand with a purpose in mind to explain it. "Sure, I can stop meteors from hitting the Earth, and save the town from crazy psycho tanks, but I can't move my hand 2 inches to the left and grab Cindy's hand."

After the movie, Cindy gave his hand a quick squeeze in thanks as she got up to take control of her party again.

The party people decided it was time to play games, and soon there was a diving contest, Marco Polo, a volleyball match, and a game of spin-the-bottle, all going on in the backyard.

Betty waved to Jimmy from the latter, and he suddenly had a small urge to join her in spin-the-bottle, but with a sidelong glance to Cindy, he resolved instead to play Marco Polo.

Libby couldn't help but laugh as she watched Jimmy and Cindy shamelessly flirting in the pool. Here they were, the two most competitive people she knew, losing on purpose and acting like fools.

She watched Jimmy, hands out, feeling around in the water, grab Cindy around the shoulders and Cindy giggle flirtatiously. Libby shook her head exasperatedly. They were such idiots. "Idiots in love," Libby thought, rolling her eyes as Jimmy snuck out of the water, prompting Cindy to yell, "fish out of water," and give chase up on dry land, which ended with her tackling Jimmy on the grass.

She rolled off of him, and they both laughed until their sides hurt, and the Marco Polo game resumed without them. They were kind of ruining it for everyone else anyway, so no one minded much.

Cindy sighed as she stared up at the starry sky, "I'm sorta glad you came,"

"I'm sorta glad to be here." He smiled, Cindy shut her eyes, savoring the moment and feeling once again the sense that something big was to happen before the night ended.

"So what did you get me for a present?" she asked again. The burning curiosity was eating a hole in her.

"I'm still not telling you."

"Give me a hint."

Jimmy seemed to search his mind for a good clue, because it took him a moment to answer, "It's metaphorical,"

She lay there in silence, thinking about what it could possibly be.

By now, the air had cooled off a little, and she went to go put on Jimmy's sweatshirt, maybe to give it back, because he had said he might have had to leave soon.

On her way back from retrieving the sweatshirt, she walked by the present pile.

She looked for the present Jimmy had brought her, but she couldn't find it anywhere. She really wanted to know what it was. He looked over to the pool, where she saw Jimmy still sitting in the pool chair, staring at the water.

Everyone else appeared to be busy playing games. Where was Libby? She decided that she would worry about her later.

Cindy looked back to Jimmy, and she noticed he had her present in his hand. She walked over and sat facing him in the chair, with her legs crossed.

"Taking it back?" she joked.

"Oh, um, I wanted to give it to you before I left." Jimmy handed her the gift and rotated so he was sitting Indian style too, (A/N: Not politically correct, but whatevs) mirroring her in the chair.

She took it carefully and looked into his eyes for a brief second before starting to unwrap it. The look she saw in them she couldn't quite comprehend. It looked like a combination of apprehension, nervousness, and another emotion she had seen in them before, but was impossible to identify.

She scooted a little closer to him; close enough that their knees were touching. Jimmy pretended not to notice the action, but the truth was that he did and it made him even more nervous.

A small box slid out of the paper and onto her lap. She took a deep breath and opened up the box. Her heart, which had been beating at a frighteningly fast rate a moment ago, now seemed to stop beating.

And at that moment, she knew. He loved her too. He had to.

She could remember all the times she had caught herself staring at him as he was thinking, while thinking herself how much she liked him. All the little moments they'd had in the past... nothing anyone had ever done for her was sweeter than this. It was comparable to the 137 oysters but somehow on a different level. Everything she had dreamed about was coming true in this moment.

Jimmy noticed that her hands were shaking as she took the necklace out of the small box.

There, on a white gold chain, hung a flower. She immediately recognized it as the same type she'd had with her, behind her ear when they were stranded on the island. In fact... it looked like the same flower, but smaller- the perfect size to be on the necklace. Cindy tapped it lightly; it was rigid, like glass or diamond.

Jimmy watched her admiring his work. He flashed back to a few months previously, when they were back on the island. Their friends had just arrived, and Jimmy had sent them off on errands to get him the ingredients for fuel so they could return home. He had sent them off so he could spend a few more minutes with Cindy before they had to leave. He had turned around to see her walk dejectedly off the beach. He saw the flower fall from her hands, and he could tell that inside, she was feeling the same way he was: Glad to be rescued, but crushed... because things were just starting to get good.

He had gone and picked up the flower, taken it back to his lab, and shrunken it slightly with his shrink ray and preserved it to make it unbreakable, waiting for the perfect time to give it to her.

She ran her hands over the tiny flower, still completely speechless, and noticed that in the middle, there were three prongs, looking as if they were designed to hold something small and spherical.

With a jolt, she realized what this must be. She glanced at Jimmy, who was now eyeing her with what was unmistakably extreme anxiety.

The intelligent look that always inhabited his cerulean eyes had vacated them for the moment, showing what was unmistakably pure, unadulterated fear.

"Does she still have it? Did she care enough to keep it?" Jimmy had been repeating this in his head over and over for the last minute, but now, his mind and body froze as he watched for what she would do next.

Cindy's hands were trembling as she reached into the pocket of her capri pants.

Slowly, she pulled out the pearl that he had given her on their last night on the island and he felt himself relax for the first time in ages. She had kept the pearl... That was all that mattered to him. She was even carrying it around with her. She shakily held it up to the small silvery prongs, which glowed slightly for a second, conformed to the shape of the pearl, and then faded, attaching it to the flower.

Cindy held it up silently, and the blue light from the pool reflected on the shining petals of the flower and its pearl.

He carefully took it out of her hands and placed it around her neck, fastening it in the back.

She looked beautiful. Seeing her with the necklace on made the hours he had worked on it more than worthwhile. He realized he still had his arms around her neck and he took them away and knotted them nervously in his lap, all the time watching her face warily. It was her move now. As Calamitous would say, "the ball was in her court."

Cindy soundlessly examined the necklace that now hung around her neck. The two pieces were in perfect proportion to each other, and the necklace itself was just the right size.

She decided right then that it was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. It wasn't just the necklace itself, but what it represented that meant so much to her. The flower was the perfect representation of all the time on the island, and the pearl was her most treasured possession. She could still remember the moment he'd given it to her; it was one of her favorite memories.

She threw her arms around his neck quickly and hugged him.

"Thank you so much!" Cindy said quietly, before letting go.

Jimmy beamed and she saw him flush, "So cute," she thought.

Cindy looked back down at the necklace. "It's metaphorical," Jimmy had said. It certainly was. The fact that he had made the flower, cared enough to do so, and the fact that she had kept the pearl, symbolized the… feelings… that they felt for each other, but not in words.

She decided that maybe... this was the time for those words.

Lately she had noticed how much influence the boy genius had on her everyday life. He was always next to her in class, coming up with correct answers at the speed of light, showing his perpetual intelligence that always filled her with a mixture of infuriation and infatuation. Right now, however, it was all infatuation.

He was always there, wherever she looked, even when she was asleep, he was often in her dreams. He... he had no equal. He was the only one good enough for her, the only one she would ever love, as far as she was concerned.

These were all the things she needed to say... but never would.

With one more look down to the necklace, she looked into Jimmy's eyes; they showed his uneasiness, but there was some hope in them as well.

"Do you like it?" he asked tentatively, though he hoped he already knew the answer.

"I love it." she replied weakly, laughing inwardly at the thought that he even had to ask the question. Her response was the understatement of the century, she decided. She closed her eyes briefly and made up her mind for what she was going to say.

Jimmy watched her quietly for a moment, aware of the mental battle she was fighting with herself, having fought it himself countless times.

Cindy chose her words carefully, picking a knot in the fence and fixing her eyes upon it determinedly, "It's so hard to hate you... when you're like this."

Jimmy laughed and responded after a moment, "Is that such a bad thing? Do we always have to hate each other?" After he said it, he felt a sense of foreboding. Something big was about to happen. He could sense it; it was palpable in the air. (A.N. Too much foreshadowing? I think so too.)

"I guess..." Cindy started, "I don't really hate you, anyways..."

"Yeah," Jimmy rubbed the back of his neck, a nervous habit of his, "I... don't really hate you either."

Cindy nodded sadly, "Yeah, I kinda figured," she fingered her new necklace nervously as she spoke.

"If we don't hate each other... how do we feel?" He said aloud.

The urge to tell Cindy the truth about everything he had ever felt about her was overpowering him, and he couldn't fight it much longer. And he had no idea why.

"How do we feel?" she repeated slowly, delaying her answer and looking up, scared, into his eyes. It was uncharted territory for them.

He could feel his heart beating in his throat. He met her gaze and saw her face and its frightened look. He could tell she was on the verge of revealing some forbidden information.

Her eyes were pleading with him not to make her answer, so he started talking before he could stop himself, "You amaze me, you know. You're the only one who's ever even come close to competing with me. It drives me insane. You drive me insane," he stopped, trying to comprehend the words that had just come out of his mouth. He sounded much angrier than he intended. He bit his tongue and buried his face in his hands to prevent any more words from escaping his mouth, "I mean, one time you almost beat me on a test and I studied so hard for the next one I didn't even sleep the night before. But, as insane as you drive me...I live for the competition you give me. I live every day for...for...you. I guess. And...it scares me a little how much you...matter to me. Well, it scares me a lot."

Little did he know, Cindy was feeling the same way. Shaking her head to rid herself of the odd sensation, she turned to reply to him. In her normal state, she might have given him an angry retort, but psychologically, she thought the necklace had affected her somehow.

Despite all this, she kept her face expressionless. Every word he was saying rang true for her as well. She bit her lip again, and looked at Jimmy. His eyes were roaming around, as he reasoned the situation out to himself out loud. Cindy couldn't believe this was happening after all this time; maybe she would keep her mouth shut and he would just say everything for her...

"I mean...this is kind of like wasted potential." she heard him say, more to himself than to her, "because, what's keeping us apart? If," she cringed at the emphasis he put on the word 'if', "we have any feelings for each other, what is keeping us from... telling each other or acting on said feelings... whatever they may be?"

He paused as if waiting for her to answer, and when she didn't, he continued, "It's other people - their opinions. But...I can't help but think... maybe, it wouldn't matter to me, because..."

"because, we would be together..." she finally found her voice and finished for him.

Jimmy eyed her shyly and cautiously, as if gauging her expression. He smiled when he saw Cindy was as well, "Hypothetically, of course," he finished lamely. She rolled her eyes a bit at the fact that he was still going through the Scientific Process.

Cindy continued, "I could stand it, all the insults, all the people that made fun... because the thing that they would be making fun of would make me happy enough for all else of it to seem... obsolete. So that brings us back to where we just were. If some feelings exist, we've got to say something or... or...this is all it'll ever be."

Jimmy nodded silently, scared out of his mind. This was it. He had to say it now, or she did. Someone had to make a move. They were face to face in the chair... and she knew: everything was at stake, hanging in the balance.

She finally looked up, into his eyes. She glanced down at the necklace around her neck. Its petals were the same deep blue as his eyes. When she looked at the petals and thought of how much his gift had meant to her, She felt loved. And when she looked into his eyes... she saw love. He loved her. She just had to get him to say it.

Cindy's POV

I guess you could compare our relationship to a chess game. We have pawns in our little game, like Betty Quinlan and Nick Dean; we use them to make the other jealous.

We endlessly attack each other, losing pieces left and right, never stopping to think about what we're doing.

Eventually, one of us will lose, and the loser will end up being the one who finally breaks the silence.

I'm great at chess. I can beat everyone I know... except for one person. And that one person was currently conveniently seated across from me in the very same pool chair in which I was sitting. But, as in chess, a single false move on his part can lead to a checkmate for me.

And that's exactly what I was pushing for. Someone had to put everything on the line.

And I had a plan.

The power I had over Jimmy I was about to be used to its fullest potential.

Jimmy's POV

We were at a deadlock. A stalemate. Two equally strong (or equally weak) forces pitted up against each other.

"But what about Betty?" I heard her say. I looked up, slightly relieved that it was going somewhere.

I shrugged, "What about her?"

She glared, and out of habit, I glared back. "And April..." she leaned into me.

"...showed more compassion in the three days I knew her than you did in three years."

"Like Timmy, who showed more that he cared in one day than you did in 10 years,"

I balled my fists in anger at the mention of Timmy Turner (A/N: Pretend it's Pre-JTPH3), and then continued, practically shouting, "But what about Eustace? And hey, what about Nick?"

"What?" Nick's head turned in my direction; he had obviously heard me.

"Nothing." I waved him off and shook my head exasperatedly.

"Whatever, dude." He went back to the volleyball game.

Cindy called my attention back to her by starting to rise to leave. No! Everything was going wrong, this wasn't how it was supposed to end! I checked my watch... 3 minutes before midnight.

In spite of myself, I grabbed her hands to prevent her from leaving.

Cindy's POV

I looked down to his hands, and then into his eyes. He could have let go now and I still wouldn't be able to move, because now his eyes were keeping me rooted to the spot.

I sat back down, lightly, and Jimmy relaxed his grip on my hands a little.

In a deadly quiet whisper I leaned in, "Neutron," he let go of my hands immediately at the use of his surname, "Give me one reason why I shouldn't smack you and walk away right now."

Jimmy's POV

There she was. The old Cindy I knew. I had to give her the reason. But what could I say?

And then it hit me. There was only one thing to say.

The truth.

"You want a reason?" I muttered, just as quietly, half-nervous, half-angry at her for forcing me into this position.

She nodded and I closed my eyes for a moment, before raising my head and opening them to look straight into hers. I opened my mouth and in an instant I saw her eyes transform from the vindictive, cruel stare, to one of longing and ...compassion.

Cindy's POV

He took a deep breath and looked straight at me, "Well, look at us. We used to not be able to stand the sight of each other, now, whether you like it or not: it's gotten complicated. And so, here we are. We've hit some bumps in the road, but deep down, I always knew that you were the girl for me. Sure, there was you and Nick, and Timmy, and sometimes Eustace... but ... I don't think they cared about you. Eustace used you to get to me, Timmy just needed a date, and Nick... just didn't care. You don't deserve that. You deserve someone who realizes how amazing it would be to have you... so they'd appreciate every moment spent with you. And yeah, sure, was Betty, and April, but those girls never mattered to me as much as you matter to me. And I hope you would say the same about those guys. It was always you for me. I was always trying to impress you, outdo you, beat you. So we fight, but deep down inside, it's not hatred that makes me do everything that I do. And I know... that in the end, we'll end up together. Like this," He stopped, seemingly having reached a conclusion, "Strange, isn't it? How love supersedes everything that goes wrong?"

I listened intently, my mouth open slightly, hearing only his last few words. "You said love. You love me?" I smiled and tilted my head to the side playfully. I had been waiting for those words from him for... too long. I was more than prepared to say them back.

"Yeah, Cindy, I guess I do: I love you," he looked down at his knees, and I could tell he was waiting with bated breath for my reaction.

I wanted to jump around and shout and dance and sing, but I didn't, because that would have disrupted this perfect, silent, and so-far private exchange. Instead, I just smiled so hard my face hurt, but I couldn't help it, and said, "I love you too, Jimmy,"

"You do." It was more of an affirmation than a question.

He grabbed my hands happily, suddenly full of exhilaration. I closed my eyes as he started to lean in closer, and so did I; our faces were probably an inch apart when suddenly Beep beep beep! Beep beep beep!

I pulled back and Jimmy let go of my hands and pressed a button on his watch, and the alarm stopped.

"What was that for?" I asked angrily, slightly embarrassed, adding a fourth mark to the tally in my head of interrupted almost-kisses with Jimmy.

To my surprise, Jimmy just smiled, and pressed another button on his watch and the display opened. It read: 12:00 AM Tuesday, June 5th.

He grabbed my right hand with his left, and with his free hand, he brushed my hair from in front of my eyes and then put his hand on the back of my neck, pulling me close again before saying, "Happy Birthday," and finally, pulling my lips to his.

My lips tingled and I felt an excited shiver run down my whole body.

Jimmy's POV

After a second or two, I noticed a total lack of noise in my surroundings. I pulled away a little from Cindy and opened my eyes.

She had a look of pure bliss on her face, and I suppose I did too, but that wasn't what had made me stop kissing her. I looked fearfully to my right, across the pool, and there, of course, was at least 30 kids staring our way, jaws dropped, whispering amongst themselves.

"Let's get out of here." I laughed a little and whispered to Cindy, who was eyeing the shell-shocked faces of our friends and classmates with mild amusement.

But then I noticed something odd. No one was laughing. It was like... they had known the whole time. They had known that we loved each other, even though we hadn't... and I found this pretty strange.

Cindy called my attention back to the present, "There's no way we'll ever live this down. Might as well just stay and enjoy the rest of the party."

"Oh," I was amazed at the ease with which she handled the situation, "In that case..."

I grabbed her hand and drew her back towards me; she smiled and closed her eyes, and I kissed her lightly again, not caring what anyone else thought. I was in heaven, and I didn't think I could ever come back down.

Cindy's POV

I was happy, truly happy. For the first time I could remember since I met the boy, I finally had what I wanted, and there was no place else I would rather be, and no one else I'd rather be with. My whole world was right here, with me, and I wouldn't let go, not for anything.

Aww sappy ending. Who am I kidding? Sappy endings rule! Who would have thought that all of that could have come from such a cynical girl as me? I did have one author's note, marked by the , and it was that this part was strikingly similar to one of my other fics, "Honestly." I actually did that a lot: borrowing stuff from this fic (because I didn't think I would ever post it) and elaborating it to be put in other fics. Oh well. I think I've become a MUCH better writer since this one was written. I hope you think so too. Of course, you'd have to read my other fics to find out...

PLEASE comment and let me know if you liked it! It's just cruel not to. I would review your fic. grumble. Well that's all for now guys. I have no other fics written right now so you probably won't see me for a long time, but I'll still stop by to R&R every once in a while.

I love you all, mean reviews or not.

Thanks for reading,

Kle