Hey everyone! Welcome to The Competition! This might sound familiar to you, since it was my first fanfic on the Nick.com Jimmy Neutron boards (under Sunnstar)!! So, um, yeah...call me Rachel! I LOVE Jimmy Neutron! Why? Hm.... Well, I just do! It's the best show EVER! Anyhoo, this fanfic is dedicated to: 1. Mara, for, among MANY reasons, posting this and being an awesome friend! 2. Ally, for always being nice and an awesome bb/bud! WHOOO! So everyone, I have only one more thing to say. . . .

Let the game begin!



Chapter 1-How it Started:

   Everyone was in eighth grade and at school. This was their last year at Lindbergh. They had a new teacher named Mrs. Martine and new students named Amy, Josh, Tamar, Sara, Morgan, and Fred. Betty had left in sixth grade, much to Cindy’s delight. Nobody had really changed much. It was basically the same as fifth grade, except for, obviously, the Ms. Martine and the new kids. Same old Jimmy’s brain, same old dangerous, death-defying adventures, same old awkward Jimmy/Cindy “relationship,” same old boring classes. . . .
   But hey! Today was not nearly as boring as usual. (I’m sorry, but as nice as the teacher was, she was not the best at getting them excited about learning, although to give her some credit, better than Mrs. Fowl!) It was the farthest thing from boring. In fact, it was downright exciting, if not nerve-racking and attention-grabbing!
   Mrs. Martine announced that they will be doing a class project: she will divide them into pairs of two to compete against each other in nine contests to win the grand prize of a school-donated two hundred dollars, a free trip for four to Hawaii! This DEFINITELY got everyone’s attention!
   “Okay everyone, I want the boys to come here and pick their partners from a hat.”
They did so, and this is how it came out: Sheen and Brittney, Carl and Cindy, Jimmy and Libby, Nick and Morgan, Josh and Tamar, Alan and Natalie, Butch and Kate, and Fred and Sara.
   “All right. Now that everyone has a partner, I will tell you what the first is: to go to the rollerblading rink, and—“
   “Cool!”
   “You didn’t let me finish, Libby,” Mrs. Martine said, grinning. “You will have to skate around and pick up a piece of face down paper, which have points on it. When you get it, just come here and I’ll tell you your team’s score,” she said, then added, “But you only have forty-five seconds!” followed a squeak from Carl.
So they got on the bus, and everyone nervously but on their skates. The moment she started timing and said “go,” Carl became very flustered, fell over, and couldn’t stand until time was up. Luckily for him, Cindy got the highest amount of points (five hundred) so they didn’t lose.
This is how it ended up: Nick and Morgan lost, and thanks to Carl, he and Cindy came in second to last. The bus took them home, and Mrs. Martine told them to all come back tomorrow (except Nick and Morgan).

Then she had some more exciting news.
 “The next contest will be tomorrow… a boogie boarding contest!”
“Yay!” her students cried.
“But,” she said spookily, “there’s a catch.
Chapter 2-The Second Competition:

“But,” she said spookily, “there’s a catch.”
   Here were the rules: They had to go on the same boogie board as their partner, and balance a sponge on their head. When they reach the shore, Mrs. Martine would squeeze them out, and whoever had the most water, would be out.
   So, into the water went everyone, and out came a huge wave to them. Because of Carl’s body, he rolled right off the boogie board and was disqualified. Anyway, Mrs. Martine measured the cups of water (which were the squeezed-out sponges) and told them all some bad news:
“Hey guys, I’ve got some bad news. We have a tie!”
”What?” Cindy shrieked.
“Between who?” Libby asked nervously.
“Between Butch and Kate and Alan and Natalie!
“What’s the tie-breaker?” asked Kate in a high voice?
Mrs. Martine answered, “Well since this was such short notice, I guess you four will just have to do have a digging contest. In three minutes, whoever digs the deepest whole will win.”
That was met with a little cheering and much groaning from the four. Sheen asked, “Can we go in the water?” followed by a “yes” back from her. So everyone except Butch, Kate, Alan, and Natalie ran in the ocean for some real boogie-boarding, while the four worked a hard three minutes of digging. In the end, though, Butch and Kate won by several inches, sending Alan and Natalie “packing.” (This was due mainly to Butch’s strong fists that have been used many, many times before.)
At the end of the day, everyone went home pretty exhausted and relatively happy – except for the ones who lost – and got some rest for the next day and competition.

Chapter 3-After the Tie-Breaker:

In the end, though, Butch and Kate won, sending Alan and Natalie “packing.”
   As Alan and Natalie got on the bus, two girls got off behind them. “Who are you girls?” Mrs. Martine asked them. The first girl introduced herself as Betty Quinlan, and she had wonderful brown hair that went down to her shoulders, and when her name had been said, Jimmy gave a squeal of delight but Cindy gave a snarl of disgust. Quinlan’s back, she thought angrily and here to steal my life. Anyway, the other girl had blonde, long hair that went down to her waist, and said her name was Amy Spinner. Mrs. Martine was about to tell her that although a spot had been reserved for Betty (the school knew she would be a little late), there was no room for Amy in the game, when Brittney and Carl came up to her, looking sick, followed by Libby, looking nauseated.
“Um, these two just threw up in the ocean—they have to go home,” Libby explained.
   “Everybody, come here!” (Everybody ran up to the bus.) “Okay, we’ve got to re-group ourselves,” Mrs. Martine announced, “so Betty, you will go with Cindy and Amy go to Sheen.” “What?” Cindy cried. “I’m not working with little-miss-perfect!” But Mrs. Martine chose to ignore her.
   Amy went over to Sheen and they both introduced themselves as Ultra-Lord lovers. When Amy noticed it was four o’clock, time to watch Ultra-Lord, Sheen’s face transformed from happy to love struck. Much to their dismay, there was no place to watch it. So everybody chatted merrily (except Cindy, who was disgruntled about her new partner) while Mrs. Martine talked to the administration on her cell phone. Five minutes later, she hung up and got their attention.
“Who wants to know the next contest?”
Everyone shut up and listened to their teacher.
“Okay,” she said, “here’s what you’ll do: tree climbing!”

Chapter 4-Tree Climbing?:

“Okay,” she said, “here’s what you’ll do: tree climbing!”
   The tree climbing goes like this: there was a tree for each pair of partners, about a mile tall. The boys (and Cindy; she was the makeshift boy on her team) from each team would climb up their palm tree and get the ring on the top leaves. They would put it anywhere on their bodies (ie. around their neck, on their wrists, in their hands—the ring was not a ring that you put on your finger, rather a ring that’s like those glow stick things that people wear at parties) and get down by climbing or jumping, however they wanted, just without dropping it. (Jumping was faster but riskier in the sense on letting go by accident.) They would then pass the ring to the girls, who would put it anywhere on their bodies (ie. see above “ie”) and climb up and put it back on the top leaves, just without dropping it!  The girls would come down and run to hit their buzzer. If a boy (or Cindy) dropped the ring, they had to go down and start climbing all over again; same with the girls.
   “Are you ready?” Mrs. Martine bellowed. “Take your marks, get set, go!”
   The moment she said go, Cindy (with her astounding speed) got straight in the lead. As she was climbing, she looked around her and saw her competitors’ faces: They looked pretty nervous. Well, Cindy was used to this type of thing from her karate competitions and did one of the things she does best: A psych-out.
   “Hey, guys, get ready to win! You know, I’m just a measly girl, I can’t possible compete with you champs!” she mocked. “I guess I might as well give up now.”
   That last sentence seemed to work pretty well. Josh, Butch, and Fred fumbled and almost fell out. When Jimmy and Sheen didn’t seem to be effected, she tried a different psych-out. “You know you won’t win. I’m the best of the best tree climbers!” (She paused for a moment, letting them think.) “BOO!” she shrieked. That did the trick. Poor Jimmy and Sheen dropped their rings and had to start over, red-faced.
Cindy reached the top and punched the air triumphantly, jumped down (and gave a small cry of pain when her feet hit the floor), and passed it to Betty.
   “For someone who hates me, you did great!” Betty hissed it her ear before taking off. Cindy couldn’t help grinning in spite of herself. At that moment, Butch touched the ground, quickly followed by Josh and Fred, (reappearing from the bundle of leaves) who all preferred to climb down safely. Sheen had put his ring around his neck and then fallen backwards out of the tree. (“I’m okay!” he yelled, brushing himself off.) Jimmy just kind of climbed down half way and then jumped awkwardly from there. Betty was already three-quarters of the way up by the time Jimmy handed it to Libby. (She was not the happiest camper about this score.)
Betty and Kate both did smart things (time-wise)—they laid the rings tentatively on the top and then stuffed several leaves on top. This is the order of who won: Betty (of course; whether Cindy will admit it or not, they make a great team), Amy, Kate, Tamar, Libby, and Sara.
   “Congrats, girls! And you too, boys,” she told her sweaty students. “Now, I know that you will be very disappointed to hear this, but one of your classmates. . . cheated!”

Chapter 5- Who, Me? Now Who?

“Congrats, girls! And you too, boys,” she told her sweaty students. “Now, I know that you will be very disappointed to hear this, but one of your classmates. . . cheated!”
   Every kid gasped.
   “That’s how he managed to get back in the game after falling behind.” There Cindy blushed, knowing it was her that but put him behind, but the color was nothing compared to how Butch’s cheeks had turned.
   “Fortunately,” Mrs. Martine continued, mostly directed at Butch, “I’m giving you another chance. Pick two people to race against again.”
After a suspiciously short amount of time, he made his decision.
   “You. Neutron.”
   “And. . . ?” Mrs. Martine echoed every single kids’ thoughts.
   “Um, Sheen.”
So now poor Libby was waiting and waiting and waiting to see if she would be disqualified too. Amy wasn’t as much worried. The three boys sped up the tree at the speed of light, but unfortunately for Butch, Kate had buried the ring pretty well. Butch was digging around for a solid ten seconds while Jimmy and Sheen scrambled down. Jimmy slammed his buzzer a nano-second before Sheen (letting Libby emit a loud sigh of relief) and waited while Butch hit the ground.
   Mrs. Martine blew her whistle and leapt up, because finally Butch would leave. (She didn’t tolerate bullies much, so obviously Butch was not her favorite student.)
   “Oh, I’m sorry Butch and Kate! You guys are disqualified. The bus will pick you up over there by the bus-stop. The rest of you, you might want to hear this.”
   When they left, she called them together and she just said this: “All I’m going to tell you guys is that the next competition is a hard one, and although it won’t count for some reason—I didn’t make this up—you should eat brain food.”
   Which left the rest of the kids looking extremely confused.

Chapter 6-What’s Next?

   “All I’m going to tell you guys is that the next competition is a hard one, and although it won’t count for some reason—I didn’t make this up—you should eat brain food.”
   Which left the rest of the kids looking extremely confused.
Here’s how the next contest worked: everyone has a few of the same objects and a thick three yard long, string. The objects were: forty gears, twenty pipe-cleaners, a pair of scissors, and a big, fat bouncy ball.
 Then, they had to put all of them together, and make it so that someone could climb it.     Mrs. Martine used a latter to hang them from the gym ceiling, and tested them all herself and decided which was the most comfortable.
As they started building and constructing, Amy put her finger to her lips and pointed, indicating to watch for a minute. They looked at Jimmy, who was acting like it was a piece of cake, and Libby, who was following his orders. They looked at Fred and Sara, who were in a heated discussion about where to put what. They looked at Josh and Tamar, who were working quite well as a team. Heaving a huge sigh, Amy told her partner they’d better get to work.
In the end, Jimmy and Libby won, closely followed by Tamar and Josh, but sadly, the losers were… Fred and Sara. Mrs. Martine let them stay for some reason, though.
Then everyone just got to go home because the next competition wasn’t until next week, but Cindy, Libby, and Amy went to the candy bar instead and played a big, juicy game of truth or dare.
“Wait!” Mrs. Martine cried. “I have another announcement. There will be a non-formal dance on Friday. Bring dates everyone!”
Uh oh. . . Cindy thought. This is going to be trouble.

Chapter 7-Girls at the Candy Bar is a Whole Lot of Fun

Uh oh. . . Cindy thought. This is going to be trouble.
   “So, Amy, Libby, you guys want to play a little game of truth-or-dare?” Cindy asked when they got there.
   “Sure!” they both answered
   “All right, I’ll go first. Amy, truth or dare?
   “Um… truth!”
   “Okay, who do you like so far?” Cindy asked with an evil grin.
   “Well, I’m not sure. It’s kind of a secret.”
   “Come on, girl, you picked truth!” Libby urged her.
   “All, right, all right,” Amy said. “I like. . . . Sheen.”
   “Oh. My. Gosh!” Libby muttered faintly. Cindy looked surprised, to say the least.
   “What? What happened?” Amy asked.
Cindy answered, glancing at Libby, “Never mind.”
   “Okay, my turn! Hmm, Libby truth or dare?” Amy asked her.
   “Truth!”
   “All right, who do you like?”
   “Um, I can’t tell you.”
   “Come on, Libby,” Cindy reasoned. “I already know, and Amy’s our new best friend, so she has to know too!”
   “All right, I like Sheen.”
Amy turned very pink but decided it not to say anything, so Libby started.
   “Okay, Cindy, truth or dare?”
   “Well,” she said sarcastically, “I guess I know which question’s coming if I say truth, so… dare!
   “I dare you to… ask Jimmy to go to the dance with you next Friday!”
   “Ooh, girl, you did not just say what I think you said!” Cindy exclaimed.
   “Yes she did!”
   “Well, I don’t know…” Cindy tried to back out.
   “Come on, you know you like him!”
   “Well…”
   “Yes?!” asked Libby and Amy at the same time.
   “Fine, I’ll do it, even though I don’t like him!” She and Libby both knew what a lie that was.

Chapter 8-The Boys in Jimmy’s Lab:

   “Fine, I’ll do it, even though I don’t like him!” She and Libby both knew what a lie that was.
   Meanwhile, the boys were in Jimmy’s lab, and they were drinking a ton of purple flurp. (Carl came over his house, even though he was disqualified, and Sheen told him about the dance.)
“Hey, Jimmy I’m bored. And hungry. Ooh, ooh, can I make cheese?” Sheen begged.
He was pointing to Jimmy’s cheese ray.
“Sorry, Sheen, we’ll have to use something else to take our minds off things.”
“Oh, Jimmy we can play truth or dare!” Sheen suggested.
“Okay, Sheen, you go first.”
“No! Guys! I don’t want to play truth or dare!” Carl whined.
Sheen and Jimmy both give him the “look” and finally gave in.
“Okay, Carl, you go first, truth or dare,” Sheen said with an evil grin, which Carl noticed, and said, “Truth.”
“I pass. Jimmy?”
“Carl, what is you’re deepest, darkest secret?” Jimmy asked with the same evil grin that Sheen had.
“Uh, does my obsessive love for llamas count?”
“NO!” they both yelled at the same time.
“All right, all right, I’ll tell you.”
He took a deep breath, and then once again spoke.
“It’s that… I have a where Ultra-Lord underwear!
Sheen almost fainted when he heard that, but tripped on the cheese ray and got back up.
“Sheen, truth or dare?” Carl asked.
“Dare!”
“Uh, okay. I dare you to do it again and pick truth!”
“Wha—? That is so stupid! But fine, I pick truth.”
“Sheen, what kind of underwear do YOU wear?”
“Llamas,” he said in a small voice, and Jimmy looked at them back and forth, back and forth, thinking that they switched minds.
“Jimmy, truth or dare?” Sheen asked him.
“Dare!”
“Okay, I dare you to ask Cindy to go to the dance next Friday!” Sheen exclaimed.
“Yea, Jimmy, yea!” Carl shouted, and then used his inhaler.
“Oh, come on guys,” Jimmy pleaded. “Why Dorktext? Why not Betty?”
“Come on Jimmy, we know you like her!”
“You do?” Carl asked.
“Fine, Carl, I’ll do it, even thought I DON’T  like her. “So… fine, it’s a deal.”
“Good,” Sheen and Carl said at the same time with insane smiles, and all shook hands.

Chapter 9- Shall We Dance?:

“Good,” Sheen and Carl said at the same time with insane smiles, and all shook hands.
   “All right everyone,” Mrs. Martine announced, “as you all know, there is a dance next Friday, and it is not optional. I’m not saying you have to dance, I’m just saying you have to go. Since there are five boys and six girls, one girl will help me with the music. Boys can still ask her, though! Any volunteers?”
Four hands shot up (Cindy, Libby, Kate, and Amy) and Mrs. Martine said she could only pick one. All the girls looked really hopeful, but Cindy got the job, much to the pleasure of Jimmy.
“Ha!” he whispered to Sheen. “Now I can’t ask her!”
“Oh, yes you can,” Sheen replied with a sly grin. “Didn’t you hear her? She said, ‘Even though Cindy is doing the music, the boys can still ask her!’”
Jimmy looked worried. He HAD heard that, but he wasn’t really paying attention, so he didn’t know if she really said that, or if his ears had been playing tricks on him.

So now he really had to ask her to the dance!


  The next day was off school, so Jimmy decided to go to Cindy’s house to ask her, and vice versa.
Fortunately for them, they bumped into each other on the way.
   “What are you doing?” Cindy asked him, surprised.
   “What are you doing?” he asked at the same time.
   “Were you going to ask me to the dance?” Cindy guessed suspiciously.
   “Were you?” he replied.
They looked at each other again.
   “Only for a dare,” they announced hurriedly at the same time.
Then they both looked down at the ground, slightly pink. Finally Jimmy spoke.
   “So. . . do you want to go?”
   “Sure! Um, I mean, yeah, okay, sure. Pick me up on Friday at eight!”
She ran off, not just pink, but beet red. Jimmy stood there happy, nervous, surprised, and quite frankly, slightly confused.
   “Yes!” he whispered to himself. Whatever he said to Sheen and Carl to the contrary, he was quite glad that he had been dared to do this.

Chapter 10-The Dance:

   “Yes!” he whispered to himself. Whatever he said to Sheen and Carl to the contrary, he was quite glad that he had been dared to do this.
   So they all went to the dance, not in fancy clothes, but the boys wore their only clean shirts and pants, and the girls wore pretty (but not TOO fancy) jewelry and sparkling pants and stuff. Mrs. Martine wanted to play mostly slow songs, but Cindy pushed her into only fast songs. So Cindy stayed up there for the first two songs, just humming along, but the third song was her favorite song—but not slow—so she hopped off the stage and asked Jimmy, “Want to dance?” and he nodded silently, so they danced and danced and danced for what seemed like ever, and then another song came on and they danced to that too, and then another and song and another on. Cindy wouldn’t let him out of her sight, in fear of Betty asking him to dance. (Once she actually starting making her way over to them, but Cindy saw her and gave her an evil glare. Betty got the message and turned around before Jimmy spotted her.) After that, there was a song that was a little slower—but not enough to be ‘gushy’— and they were an amazing time.
   Maybe that was why when Mrs. Martine announced “All right everyone, time to go home,” Jimmy actually started to groan, until Cindy and Libby and Sheen and everyone else in the school gym looked like him like he was out of his mind, so he stopped, blushing like a maniac.
   Cindy and Jimmy went home, and since they lived on the same street, they had a chance to “talk.”
Cindy started out with, “Hey Jimmy, I really had fun tonight. Thanks for dancing with me.” She grinned at him.
   “You’re welcome.” He couldn’t think of anything else to say, but he knew what would happen if he didn’t, and he wasn’t ready for that. He started to panic but then remembered something he saw on TV. He pretended to look at his (bare) wrist and exclaimed, “Oh no! My mom’s going to kill me if I don’t come home in, like, a minute. Thanks for everything! Bye!” and ran in his door, panting like a maniac.

Chapter 11-She’ll Only Tell Them Half:

He pretended to look at his (bare) wrist and exclaimed, “Oh no! My mom’s going to kill me if I don’t come home in, like, a minute. Thanks for everything! Bye!” and ran in his door, panting like a maniac.
   The next day was the fifth competition. With memories of the first four contests, they were all murmuring with excitement suggesting what it could and might be, waiting for Mrs. Martine to clear her throat. Finally, they heard the familiar noise and she said, “Okay, kids, listen up. I’m going to start this contest at 3:30 pm because the trucks might take some time to get here.” She took a dramatic pause, and continued, “The only thing I’m going to tell you is that it’s an eating contest. I’m not going to tell you what to eat, though, because I want to surprise you. It might just be a piece of toast, or it might be a big, juicy, fat steak, so you can chow down all you want. So my advice is bring your appetite, because trust me, you don’t want to get full during this. Or maybe that’s what I want you to think! Nobody knows, that is, until it’s too late!”
   Boy, Sara thought. That was creepy!


   Jimmy was just sitting there, doing nothing, when Betty came over. He thought he was going to faint, but then he remembered Cindy. Anyway, Betty looked angry.
“Why did you ask Cindy to the dance instead of me?”
Jimmy was so taken aback by this question that he fell off of his chair, but managed to get back up.
“Why do you care?” he asked in his mom’s best you’re-in-trouble-young-man voice.
“Because I thought you liked me!”
“Well, I don’t anymore, so too bad, Quinlan!”
Betty was really surprised at what he had said, but not even close to how surprised Jimmy was. He couldn’t believe that he had actually called her “Quinlan”! It was like he was switching his treatment between Cindy and Betty around!
Cindy better not call me ‘Neutron’ or ‘Nerdtron’ anymore, or I’m in trouble, he thought.
   Betty looked at him looking angry, and he sat back in his chair again—only to be tipped over again by Betty who stomped off with steam coming from her ears.

Chapter 12- The Fifth Competition:

Betty looked at him looking angry, and he sat back in his chair again—only to be tipped over again by Betty who stomped off with steam coming from her ears.
   “Okay, everyone gather around the table and put on your aprons!” Mrs. Martine joked. She also announced that from now on, there would be no more partners, and they would be on their own. But instead of being eliminated, they would get points (which Mrs. Martine would keep track of, and at the end of nine more contests (which would be fifteen challenges in all), the one with the highest amount of points would win the grand prize.
   At this announcement, everyone sighed with relief
   So all ten of them were put around the table, sitting before huge, round things that looked suspiciously like… “Let the pizza eating contest… begin!”
Everyone dug into their six pieces of pizzas, talking a little during this.
   “You full yet?” Sheen asked Jimmy.
   “Not even close,” he replied, ripping off a huge bite with his teeth.
   “How about you?” Sheen turned to his the boy on left, Josh.
   “A little,” Josh admitted.
   “Fred?” Fred was on Jimmy’s other side.
   “You wish, dude!” Fred grinned through his cheese.

After ten more minutes, a girl screamed out to Mrs. Martine.
   “I’m done!” she cried.
   “Awesome job, Amy,” Mrs. Martine said. “You will get one hundred points!”
The rest of them finished in this order (after Amy): Fred, Tamar, Sara, Cindy, Sheen, Jimmy, Libby, Betty, and Josh. And the points went down by tens.
   After Mrs. Martine congratulated them all, she told them all to go home and prepare for their next challenge. She didn’t say what, just that a dictionary MIGHT come in handy.

Chapter 13-Using the Dictionary:

She didn’t say what, just that a dictionary MIGHT come in handy.
   It turned out that the next bee would be a spelling bee, so that’s what she meant about the dictionary.
   Unfortunately, Libby, Sara, and Josh didn’t catch her drift, so they didn’t study. (Sara and Josh were good spellers—Libby wasn’t.) So this is how the spelling bee worked:
   Each person, in alphabetical order—by first name, not last names—would stand in the front and get a word. Depending on their level (she was their English teacher, you know), she would decide which word to give them. This is what they got:

Amy- wonderfulness, Betty- wordlessly, Cindy- stonemasonries, (“Yes!” she murmured when she got it right), Fred- winegrower, Jimmy- antidisestablishmentarianism (this is a real word, people), Josh- whomsoever, Libby- whirlpool (she beamed when she spelled it right), Sara- figuratively, Sheen- fiend (she figured he would know at least that, watching Ultra-Lord and Robo-Fiend), and Tamar- legalistically. Everyone except Sara spelled it right (she forgot the “e”), so they got thirty points, while Sara got fifteen points.

What they didn’t know was that the next contest would be much… much… harder, and that was a fact.

Chapter 14-The Obstacle Course?!:

But what they didn’t know was that the next contest would be much… much… harder, and that was a fact.
   Like I said, the next contest would be much harder. It was an obstacle course! This is what they had to do: (They all had their own track that was six feet long and ten feet apart from the other ones. The divisors were made of glass so they could see each other.) From the starting line, they had to run fifty feet, and then jump through ten tires without falling down (if they fell they had to start over).  Then crawl through a tunnel twenty-five feet long, then when they came out, swing across the monkey bars that were over a swimming pool. When they got to the other side, they had to jump through a single hanging tire and then slide down a slide (there was one obstacle for everyone except for the slide; there was only one of this) that was thirty feet long and that went around in spins and turns—all kinds of stuff, but it was also pitch black. When they came out of this, they just run a forty more feet and slam their buzzer from the tree climbing contest.
   Sounds pretty hard, huh? Well it WAS. By the end of it, everyone was sweating and panting and had their hands on their knees.
   “That—was so—hard!” Betty exclaimed.
   “You’re tellin’ me!” Libby answered, totally out of breath.
   “I may never run again,” Fred announced.
The order came out like this: Cindy, Josh, Fred, Libby, Sara, Tamar, Amy, Sheen, Betty, and Jimmy. (His big head got in the way with a lot of things.) The points went: one-thousand, nine-hundred, eight-hundred, seven-hundred, six hundred, etc.

Chapter 15- The Big Break:

The points went: one-thousand, nine-hundred, eight-hundred, seven-hundred, etc.

During this big break, Cindy and Libby’s family each decided to take a big trip together to Pennsylvania. So, on the plane they went, not knowing what big surprise they had in store for them.
   When they got there, they realized that they were staring at the same hotel, and their rooms were right next door to each other. But oh, no, that wasn’t even close to the surprise they were going to get. That was just a… say… coincidence?


* * *

   “Hey girl!” Libby screeched.
   “Hey Libby!” Cindy screamed back. “Let’s go tell my mom that you’re here!”
When they went next door to Cindy’s mom, they discovered her mom talking to Libby’s mom.
   “Yes, Cynthia, I already saw Liberty’s mom. Isn’t this exciting?”
   “Totally!” Cindy said. Like, DUH, she thought.
   “Hey girls!” Libby’s mom saved the day.

Chapter 16- On the Trip:

   “Hey girls!” Libby’s mom saved the day. “It would be fun for you two to go to a movie and then for ice cream! What do you think?” Cindy and Libby eagerly said yes, and then hurried out the door on their bikes.
“So Cindy, what happened when you asked Jimmy to the dance?” Libby asked, grinning.
“Yea, whatever.”
“Hey… spill! What happened?”
“Ugh fine,” Cindy replied. “We bumped into each other on our street and said everything at the exact same time. It turned out that Carl and Sheen dared him to ask me too!”
“And… is that a good thing?” she asked grinning again.
“I don’t know!” Cindy answered in a loud, high voice.
“WhatEVER.”   
Soon they arrived at the movie “A Cinderella Story”. They got really good seats right around the middle-middle, and soon enough the previews ended and the movie began.

After the movie . . .

“Oh, that was such a good movie!” said Cindy, sniffling.
“You know what reminds me of?” asked Libby, also sniffling.
“What?”
“You and Jimmy. One of you is popular, the other one’s a geek, and you both secretly like each other,” Libby said, her face no longer sad, but devilish.
“Oh, shut up, Libby,” Cindy commanded angrily. “He—wait, how do you know he likes me ‘secretly’?” Cindy asked, her face turning pink.
“Hey, Sheen spills ANYTHING when you pay for ice cream,” Libby replied, shrugging.
They both decided to get their ice cream to go, and then they were on their silent way home. They were both greeted by their moms.
   “What took so long?” both moms asked in their separate rooms. Cindy and Libby rolled their eyes and went in bed.

Chapter 17-Baskin Robins:

   “What took so long?” both moms asked in their separate rooms. Cindy and Libby rolled their eyes and went in bed.

The two girls walked over to Baskin Robins again, as it was only three minutes away from the hotel. Cindy, who still remembered yesterday’s conversation, wasn’t eager to start talking again but they were there soon enough.
   “I would like a double scoop of chocolate chip cookie dough with rainbow sprinkles on the side and blueberries and hot fudge on top in a cup,” ordered Cindy.
   “And I want a double scoop of chocolate mint with chocolate sprinkles on the side, please. Way to be specific,” Libby added to Cindy as they went to sit at the table next to the door; Libby grabbed the seat facing the door. They started talking about the competition; what they thought would be the next challenge and who would win it.
“I am so going to win the next one, Libby,” started Cindy.
“No, I so am.”
“No, I am.”
“No, I will.”
“No, me!”
“Me!”
“Me!”
“Fine, whoever wins gets ten bucks!”
“Fine!”
So it was settled. Cindy couldn’t think of anything else to say, so she started stuffing her face with ice cream.
   “Uh, oh,” Libby whispered, staring at the doorway. “Don’t look now, but there’s Nick and Betty!
   “What?!” Cindy shrieked. “But I was going out with Nick! And why is HE here, anyway?”
   “Beats me,” Libby whispered. “Uh oh, here they come!”

Chapter 18- What Are You Doing Here?!:

   “Beats me,” Libby whispered. “Uh oh, here they come!”
Cindy immediately spins around, and Libby sighs. “So much for not looking.” She looked hopefully at Cindy’s half-eaten ice cream hopefully. “You gunna finish that?” she
   “What are you doing here?” Cindy accused them.
   “We’re getting ice cream,” Nick informed her like it was the most obvious thing on the planet.
   “I know that,” said Cindy impatiently, “but with HER?”
   “FYI, Nick and I are dating,” Betty said smugly.
Cindy looked as if she could have smacked them. She didn’t even bother asking why they were in Pennsylvania.
   “Oh, my daddy got me two plane tickets two anywhere in the world I wanted to go,” Betty announced, as though she could read Cindy’s mind. “And since you two were here, why not just make it a party?” she laughed at the indignant look on Cindy’s face. Libby wasn’t looking two happy either.
   “Excuse me, Mister-Coolness,” she said, “but I thought that you liked me!” Nick chuckled and spoke.
   “Vortex, we are so over. As of now, I’m breaking up with you,” Nick announced in his cool-but-not-really-caring-at-all voice.
At this, Betty’s expression took over total ecstasy, and the other two were expression-less except for a slight little grin.
   “You know, I was just thinking that Cindy should be the one dumping you,” Libby told Betty and Nick.
   “Well, too bad. I dumped her!” Nick said.
   “Actually, I dumped you. Here, let’s make it official!” Cindy took her half-finished ice cream with fudge and blueberries and sprinkles in it and slapped in on Nick’s head. Yes, she actually picked it up and poured it on him, leaving the cup on his head and making him look pretty stupid with the “hat.” Libby grinned at Betty and they both walked out of the store.

Chapter 19- The Splash Lagoon:

 
Libby grinned at Betty and they both walked out of the store.
   Three days later it was 80 degrees outside, so Cindy and Libby went to an indoor water park called Splash Lagoon. First they had to get their rafts, and then they went straight towards the slides. On the way to the line, they bumped into a girl with dark brown hair and clear blue eyes. She looked about twelve years old.
   “Hi, I’m Shannon!” she introduced.
   “I’m Cindy, and this is my friend Libby,” Cindy said.
   “Hi.” Libby waved.
   “Hey, you guys want to have a contest?” Shannon asked. She sure knew how to make friends fast.
   “Okay!” the other girls cried together.
   “Okay, so we’ll all pick a slide to go on first, and race to the bottom. Then, as soon as we get down, we go back up to the lines and go on the slide on our left. Go down, and take the last slide. The first two people down will be partners and go grab a double raft, and choose a slide together. Oh, trust me, I’ve been here before, it’s awesome,” she added.
   “Sure, sounds like fun!” Libby commented. “But this is only our first time here, so we don’t know what to do on the slides.”
   “Oh, okay. Well, you both brought your rafts, and I didn’t. I’ll go on Hurricane Hole first, because that one is without a raft, and you two will choose between The Big Kahuna and the Cyclone. When we get up there, you’ll quickly choose,” Shannon explained.
The line moved fast, and then they were at the top.
   “I call Cyclone!” Cindy shouted.
   “Okay, Cindy on the Cyclone, Libby on The Big Kahuna, me on the Hurricane Hole. Then Cindy on The Big Kahuna, Libby on the Hurricane Hole, and me on the Cyclone. Then me on The Big Kahuna, Cindy on the Hurricane Hole, and Libby on the Cyclone. Then partners choose and so does the last one.” Shannon said hurriedly. “Good luck! And. . . . Go!”
So they went down, and for the two Retroville-ers, it was quite an experience. Down and around, left and right, it was a blast. Shannon got down first, as her slide was a fast one, and then Libby, and finally Cindy. On the next slide, they had an even better time then the first. It was Cindy who got there first, then Libby and Shannon. The third one was awesome. Each girl was sitting (or in Cindy’s case, lying down) nervously and wondering who would be paired, and knowing that they would find out in seconds.

Chapter 20- And the Winner Is . . . ?:

Each girl was sitting (or in Cindy’s case, lying down) nervously and wondering who would be paired, and knowing that they would find out in seconds.
   Suddenly, someone dropped out with a thud. She sat with her eyes closed, then opened them. It was. . . Cindy! She immediately headed for the rafts. Then someone else spotted her, ran over, and tapped her shoulder.
   “Cindy!” said Shannon. They high fived.
Libby came out seconds later and saw with her heart sinking that Shannon and Cindy had already started upstairs.

Meanwhile, upstairs. . .

   “Well,” said Shannon, “since we’re going together, we have to eliminate the Hurricane Hole.”
They looked at each other for a moment, and shouted together “Cyclone!” and went in to twirls and slide. Libby chose the Hurricane Hole.
“Wow, that was fantastic!” exclaimed Cindy after they met up again.
“Yea, it was, only I wish I could have had a partner at the end.”
“Hey Libby, I brought a friend with me! We could do the contest again, except with partners each time!” Shannon suggested.
“Sure!” she exclaimed. She’d been feeling a little lonely for the last few minutes.
“Okay, I’ll be right back.” Shannon disappeared for a minute and returned with a shorter girl with gold hair with natural blonde highlights and brown eyes.
“Hi! I’m Rachel!” she said.
“Nice to meet you!” Libby and Cindy said together.
“I was just telling them about the game, and we decided to change the rules a bit,” Shannon began. “Okay, Libby, who do you want to be with?”
“Cindy,” she said immediately.
“Cindy?”
“Libby,” Cindy said.
“Rachel?”
“You!” Rachel said.
“Well, this works out nicely!” Shannon commented and laughed.
“Come on!” Rachel shrieked impatiently. “On your marks, get set, go!”

Chapter 21- Another Winner:

   “Come on!” Rachel shrieked. “On your marks, get set, go!”
They grabbed their double rafts, and ran up the stairs. Shannon and Rachel went on the Cyclone, with Rachel in the front, and Cindy and Libby went on the HH (Hurricane Hole), with Libby first. This one was really good, because they had partners—well, Cindy and Libby were separated, but still together. Then Cindy and Libby went on TBK, with Cindy in front, Shannon and Rachel went on the HH, with Shannon before Rachel. Lastly, Cindy and Libby went on the Cyclone, with Cindy in the front, and Shannon and Rachel went on TBK with Rachel in the front. After about a minute or so, they all came out. The first pair (and winners) were Cindy and Libby! Rachel and Shannon came out several seconds later.
   “Congrats!” Shannon congratulated.
   “You guys have passed the test!” Rachel said happily.
   “Test?” Cindy and Libby asked together, confused.
   “The test that decides whether or not you two are qualified to be our new best friends, dumbie!” Rachel explained impatiently.
   “It wasn’t my idea,” Shannon muttered under her breath, and rolling her eyes. “She can get a little. . . weird sometimes.”
Libby laughed.
   “Yea, only one problem!” Cindy reminded them. “We’re leaving in two days! We’ll never see each other again!”
   “Oh, I have a feeling you’re wrong about that last part,” Shannon said with a smirk.
Just at that moment, both of their parents came in, calling, “Cynthia! Liberty! Where are you?”
   “Cynthia and Liberty? That’s just wrong,” Shannon said with an evil grin.
   “Well, we have to go before anyone realizes we’re us—come on, Libby!”
   “See you!” Libby called over her shoulder as Cindy pulled her away by her wrist.

Chapter 22-Sick in Bed:

The next day both Cindy and Libby came down with fevers.
“I want you to stay in bed the whole day!” their moms had lectured them in serious voices before leaving to go on a spa day together.
Well, since they couldn’t really talk to each other, they both thought of the next best thing: IM-ing.

Cindy grabbed her lap top and sighed with relief as she read PoPDiVaMuzicQueeN is online.
Libby grabbed her lap top and sighed with relief as she read PoPuLaRQueenCINDY is online.
PoPDiVaMuzicQueeN: Hey Cin, u there?

PoPuLaRQueenCINDY: Yeah, Libbs.

PoPDiVaMuzicQueeN: Hey, when Shannon said that, do u think she meant that she’ll be seeing us l8r?

PoPuLaRQueenCINDY: Well, when u say l8r, do u mean like “Retroville” l8r?

PoPDiVaMuzicQueeN: I don’t know. . . .

PoPuLaRQueenCINDY: So, are you totally bored rite now?

PoPDiVaMuzicQueeN: Yeah, I wish there was something good on TV. . . I’ve been flipping thru the channels forever!

PoPuLaRQueenCINDY: I know, me too. OMG! Go to channel 3 for a sec!

PoPDiVaMuzicQueeN: OK, I’m there. . .

PoPuLaRQueenCINDY: Are you listening? “All of us important people from. . . blah blah blah. . . are very pleased to say that our new prince is Sheen Juarerra Estevez!”

PoPDiVaMuzicQueeN: OMG!! It can’t be!

PoPuLaRQueenCINDY: Libbs, looks like in a few yrs, you’ll be the new queen! Should I start calling you Your Majesty?

PoPDiVaMuzicQueeN: Oh, come on, Sheen is a little weird, don’t you think? He can’t like me THAT much.

PoPuLaRQueenCINDY: *sigh* Sometimes you are so clueless, Libby! Practically the whole town knows that except you!

PoPDiVaMuzicQueeN: Your right, I didn’t know. . . I wonder how much other stuff I don’t know about!

PoPuLaRQueenCINDY: . . . . .
Chapter 23-AIM Continued:

PoPDiVaMuzicQueeN: Well?

PoPuLaRQueenCINDY: I can’t think of anything right now.

PoPDiVaMuzicQueeN: Anyways, how old is Sheen?

PoPuLaRQueenCINDY: Let’s think. . . How old are you?

PoPDiVaMuzicQueeN: 13. . .

PoPuLaRQueenCINDY: How many years older is Sheen than us?

PoPDiVaMuzicQueeN: Two . . .

PoPuLaRQueenCINDY: Now what’s 13+2?

PoPDiVaMuzicQueeN: Uh. . . 16? I don’t know, math isn’t my strong point.

PoPuLaRQueenCINDY: What IS your strong point? Ha ha, just kidding. Anyway, he’s 15.

PoPDiVaMuzicQueeN: Oh. . . . .

PoPuLaRQueenCINDY: I wish Shannon and Rachel hadn’t come such good friends of ours, since we wont see them again.

PoPDiVaMuzicQueeN: ’Member what Shannon said?

PoPuLaRQueenCINDY: Yeah. . . that still confuses me. . . . .

PoPDiVaMuzicQueeN: I’m bored. Hang on, let me put on some music. . . Ahhhhh, When There Was Me and You  by in High School Musical. . . that’s good music.

PoPuLaRQueenCINDY: *laughs*

PoPDiVaMuzicQueeN: *laughs*

PoPuLaRQueenCINDY: So what do you think the boys are doing rite now?

PoPDiVaMuzicQueeN: Carl’s thinking of llamas, as usual, and Jimmy’s watching a new experiment fail and is about to chuck it in the trash.

PoPuLaRQueenCINDY: *sigh* at least your not TOTALLY clueless, Libbs . . . . . 

Chapter 24-AIM Again:

PoPDiVaMuzicQueeN: Whatever.

PoPuLaRQueenCINDY: Hey, member that Zoey 101 episode with the giant teddy bear?

PoPDiVaMuzicQueeN: Yeah, that was hilarious!

PoPuLaRQueenCINDY: OMG. . . that gave me a great idea!

PoPDiVaMuzicQueeN: What, use it 2 spy on the boys?

PoPuLaRQueenCINDY: You read my mind.

PoPDiVaMuzicQueeN: I love that! But what can we catch them doing?

PoPuLaRQueenCINDY: Hmm, good point. Maybe we see Jimmy’s latest failure invention to try to get back at me! Then we’ll be prepared for it and maybe switch it around to him!

PoPDiVaMuzicQueeN: Great idea! But um, we’re like 2000 miles apart! We’d have to do it when we get back.

PoPuLaRQueenCINDY: OK, I’m leaving now. Bye!

PoPDiVaMuzicQueeN: Bye!

PoPuLaRQueenCINDY: PoPuLaRQueenCINDY signing off. . .

PoPDiVaMuzicQueeN: PoPDiVaMuzicQueeN signing off. . .

PoPuLaRQueenCINDY: LOL!

PoPDiVaMuzicQueeN: LOL! Okay, bye!

Chapter 25-The Amusement Park:

By the next day, Cindy and Libby’s temperatures had gone back to normal. But that was the day that they had to go back to Retroville. Libby was gloomily packing her stuff, when she heard a knock on her. She opened it, and saw Cindy, Shannon, and Rachel standing there.
   “I finished packing,” Cindy said and flopped down on Libby’s bed before she could open her mouth.
   “Me too. So, I guess this is good-bye,” Libby added to the other girls as she closed her suitcase. They exchanged raised eyebrows.
   “Oh no, not necessarily,” Rachel said, who looked like she was trying to restrain herself from laughing with extreme difficulty.
   “What do you mean?” Cindy pressed them.
   “You’ll see,” Shannon said, and she also looked as though she were trying not to laugh. Cindy sighed.
   “I guess I’ll just be wasting my breath asking you then?”
   “Yup,” they said together.
   “So anyway, Cindy, what do you think the next contest will be once we’re back home?” Libby asked.
   “Contest? What contest?” Shannon asked curiously.
   “The eighth graders are having this competition where we have to compete for two hundred dollars and a free trip for four to Hawaii!” Cindy explained excitedly.
   “Wow!” Rachel commented. “It would be worth going to Retroville just for that.”
   “I know,” Shannon said.
   “Well, since you two are done packing, why don’t we go to the amusement park?” Rachel suggested.
   “Yea!” all three of them agreed.
   “Well, c’mon! Rachel and I know this great one that’s about six blocks from here. We can ride our bikes there!”

* * *

   “Okay, you guys, where should we go first?” Rachel asked.
Cindy snorted. “You’re asking us?”
   “Well, okay, let’s go on one of my favorites,” Rachel said.
   “Rachel is a big fan of roller coasters,” Shannon whispered as Rachel started walking away. “And so am I.”
   “So what’s this ride called?” Cindy asked.
   “Splash Mountain,” Rachel and Shannon said together happily.
Finally, after a HUGE line, they got to Splash Mountain and got on.
Left, Right, Left, Left, Down—(“That was nothing,” said Rachel.”), Right, Right, Left, Right, until finally they went up.
   “Ready? Here’s the big drop!” Rachel whispered excitedly. “Seven. . . six. . . five. . . remember, you guys have to have your hands up and you eyes open and scream like crazy for the picture!
   “Picture?” Cindy and Libby screeched together immediately, their eyes wide open with fear. “What p–? Aaaaahhhhh!!!!!!!!!!”
   “Too late,” Shannon said at the bottom, grinning.
   “I’ll get our picture.” Rachel disappeared for a minute and then came back with four photos. “Look at you, Libby!”
   “What time is it, Shannon?” Cindy asked, trying to distract them from how weird she looked. Shannon was the only one with a watch, which was not good for Cindy.
   “It’s midnight,” she said sarcastically.
   “Okay, we have to leave in an hour and a half.” Cindy joked. Shannon rolled her eyes.
   “Earth to Cindy! Come in, Cindy! It’s 1:15 now!
   “Oh my gosh!” she cried. “Let’s go!

Chapter 26- Welcome Back!:


After an amazing day and a boring plane ride, they finally arrived in Retro-ville.
   “We’re here!” Libby cried, finally taking off her earphones and getting out of the car.
   “Hello, sweet Retro-ville!” Cindy said excitedly but tiredly, also turning off her game-boy.
   “Well, we’re back!” Cindy’s mom said. “Listen, girls, school starts again tomorrow at the regular time, and you have to save up a lot of energy for the competition, so make sure you get a good night’s rest. Cindy looked at her watch. It read 1:24 pm. Cindy stared back at her mother.
   “Mom!” she groaned. “It’s only one thirty! I don’t know about you, Libbs—“ she turned to face Libby— “but I’m going to home and play Dance Dance Revolution all day.”
   “Right behind you!” She and Libby ran inside as their moms protested. “Hey, I call going first!” Libby announced.
   “Noo!” Cindy protested.
   “Too bad, I called it!” Libby told her.
   “Fine, but you’re score keeper!” Cindy challenged.
   “Fine.”
They ran more quickly up Cindy’s stairs and opened the door to her room. Their jaws dropped at what they saw.
   “Y-you! What are you doing here?!” Cindy pointed a shaking finger at the people before her.

Chapter 27- The Surprises Never Stop:

   “Y-you! What are you doing here?!” Cindy pointed a shaking finger at the people before her.
   “Yup! It’s us!” For standing right in front of them, were two of their favorite people: Rachel and Shannon!
   “How on earth are you here?” Libby asked weakly, looking as though she were about to faint, and waving her hand in front of them as though checking to see whether or not they were holograms.
   “Remember all the times we gave you hints that you were trying to ask us about?” Shannon replied, grinning, while Rachel doubled up with laughter at Libby’s reaction.
Cindy just stared. Then she remembered something. “Rachel even said it would be worth coming to Retro-ville to compete in the competition!”
   “Yea, Shannon was going to kill me,” Rachel remarked, who had finally stopped laughing. “She thought I had given myself away.”
   “Guys, Libby and I were going to play Dance Dance Revolution. Wanna come join us?”
   “Yea!” they screeched at the same time. “Let’s just get a quick snack first.” Rachel led the way into the kitchen.
   “SURPRISE!!” shrieked about twenty-five people. Standing right there, in Libby’s own house were Brittney, Betty, Elke, Jimmy, Carl, Sheen, Nick, Bolbi, Amy, Butch, Kate, Josh, Tamar, Fred, Sara, Alan, Natalie, Nick, Morgan and the rest of Mrs. Martine’s class.
   “Um, what is this about?” asked Libby, who had not yet fully recovered from Rachel and Shannon’s arrival.
   “You see,” began Betty, “when these two—“ she pointed at Rachel and Shannon—   “came and told us that you were coming back, a few of us decided to make a ‘welcome back’ party. However, the two people organized the party are both here, Sheen is the only one who wants to be recognized. By the way, Nick and I are here only because we get extra credit in social studies.”
   “And this is a belated birthday party for Libby,” Brittney added.
   “You guys remembered my birthday?”
   “Well, Sheen was the one who remembered the date.” Brittney rolled her eyes; Sheen puffed out his chest and looked proudly at Libby.
Cindy and Libby were staring at them with their mouths slightly open.
   “Now that we’re all clear, let’s get this party STARTED!”  Brittney yelled.

Chapter 28- A New Student Or Two. . . Or a Few:

The next day was a school day. That meant more work, more arguments, and more stupid arguments with Nerdtron. . . . But it also meant more contests, more friends, and more. . . new students?”
Yes. New Students.
   “Class, may I have your attention please?” Mrs. Martine begged us one morning; the class settled down. “Thank you. Well, we have a couple of new students today. Ah, here they come now!”
The class turned their heads and saw that she was right: Principal Willoughby was leading three girls to the classroom.
“Well, here are your new students, Mrs. Martine,” he said and left.
“Welcome, girls,” she said. “You are just in time, because we were going to start changing seats today. But first, would you like to introduce yourselves?” (They nodded.)
   “Well, um, hi. My name is Rachel Pink, and I am thirteen years old and I love to
talk, shop, talk, rollerblade, talk, swim, and talk,” Rachel said.
“Hey! My name is Shannon Red, and I am also thirteen years old and I love boys, music, boys, boys, the mall, and swimming. Oh yea, did I mention boys?” Shannon said.
After Shannon, another girl came in. She had long, blonde straight hair, was wearing a pink tank top, a lavender mini-skirt, and purple uggs. She was gorgeous. “Hey. I’m Jamie Duff. I will be thirteen next week, and I love every kind of music, jewelry, clothes, mall, and accessory there is. I kind of like boys, too.” Jamie sounded very nice and confident.
Brittney’s jaw dropped. “Jamie Duff?! You mean Duff as in Hilary Duff, as in Hilary Duff’s daughter?!”
Jamie smiled. “The one and only!” Then she whispered to Rachel, “I get that a lot.”
The rest of the girls laughed.
   “Well, now that we all know you, let’s change seats!” Mrs. Martine ordered, clapping her hands. The rest of the class murmured among themselves and stood up.
   “All, right. In the first row is Libby, Jamie, Cindy, Rachel, and Shannon. The next row is Sheen, Nick, Jimmy, Carl, and Bolbi. Then in the third row. . . .”

Chapter 29- The Ninth Contest—Finally!:

   “Tomorrow, we will continue our competition!” Mrs. Martine announced to a happy class.
   “But there’s an odd number of people, how will we do it?” Rachel asked nervously. She DEFINITELY did not want to have to leave, not after everything Cindy had said about it.
   “We have gone into the second stage, where there are no partners and no elimination, just points.”
   “Oh.” Rachel looked relieved.
   “But since Rachel, Shannon, and I missed some competitions, how many points will we get?” Jamie asked.
    “Well, we’ll average up the points from the every one without partners and each of you will get that much for each different one, so you’ll have a different number for each.” Mrs. Martine checked on her calculator for a couple minutes.
“All right. For the first one, you each have 55 points. For the second you have 29 points. And the third, 550. Fair enough?”
“Yea,” they all said.
“So, anyway, we’re starting our next competition. We’re going to take a trip to public swimming pool, which they have reserved for us, and play a little game. I have thirteen pool toys—” she held up several different colored rods and rings— “and each of them are worth a different number of points. You don’t know which color means which amount of points, but I do.” She held up a little piece of paper for moment. “Well, I trust that your parents all told you to bring bathing suits! Kapish? Good. Okay, let’s go!”

Chapter 30- The Pool and the Points:

   About a half an hour later, the class found themselves in bathing suits next to the pool and getting ready to dive.
   “On your marks, get set, TWEET!” She blew on her whistle.
They dove.
The pool was VERY big, and the toys were really hard to see. Jamie was the only one that found one almost right away. It was a dark purple one. After a few moments, she came above the water and screeched, “Found one!”
“Good job, Jamie,” Mrs. Martine said. “Come on out, and we’ll find out how many points yours is.”
Soon, other people starting finding them. Cindy found a red-ish colored one; Josh found a brown one; Rachel found a blue one; Libby found a yellow one. Then Fred came up with an orange one and Sara came up with a green one. Shannon, a black one, Sheen, a white one, Betty and Amy with gold and silver, Tamar with a magenta, and last but not least, Jimmy with bronze.
“Okay, everyone come line up over here. I will call out a name and you will shout the color you have. ’Kay? Good. Now let’s see. . .” she looked at her list.
 “Cindy?”
“Red.”
   “Okay, that’s 600 points. Tamar?”
“Magenta.”
   “That’s 1,300 points. Shannon and Fred?”
“Black and orange.”
   “That is 1,100 points for Shannon and 100 for Fred. Jimmy?”
“Bronze.”
   “That’s. . . 1,200 points. Amy and Libby?”
“Silver.” “Yellow.”
   “That’s 700 for Amy and 800 for Libby. Rachel?”
“Blue, Mrs. Martine.”
   “That’s. . . that’s 1,000 points. Jamie?”
“Dark purple.”
   “900 points. Sara?”
“Green!”
   “Sara got 300. Betty has gold right?”
“Yeah,” Betty answered.
   “That’s 200. Sorry Betty and Fred. Sheen and Josh?”
“White.” “Brown.”
   “500 for Sheen and. . . 400 for you, Josh.”
She paused here and everybody started talking. A few seconds later, she spoke again.
“Okay, congratulations everybody! You guys go dry off and get changed, and then I’ll take you back home.”

Chapter 31- The Tenth Competition:

   “Okay, everybody,” began Mrs. Martine, “today is Friday, and also the tenth competition. This isn’t really a contest of skill, or intelligence, but a contest of creativity! Each of you will get a piece of paper and all these little objects.”
She held up several pieces of paper and then a box with markers, pens, crayons, pencils, and paper in it.
   “You have to use those materials to draw the most creative thing you can,” she continued. “I will go around and judge each person’s drawing. The minimum amount of points is 2,000 and the maximum is 5,000. Also, two people can have the same amount of points. Okay, everybody, do you have any questions before we start?”
Josh raised his hand. “How long will we have to do this?” he asked.
   “You’ll have about eight minutes to do it,” she answered. “That seems fair enough. Any more questions?
Nobody raised their hands. Cindy had already started thinking about what she was going to do.
    “Okay, good. Remember that we only have three more competitions after this, so today would be a good chance to get back ahead, so try to draw something nice. Okay? Okay. So. . . here— I have the papers and materials.” She passed out the paper, and put the other things in the middle desk.
“Okay, all set? Good. Now—on your marks, get set, go!
As they started, people started talking.
“Hey Fred, what are you doing, exactly?” Libby asked. Fred ignored her.
“Cindy, what are you DRAWING?” Betty exclaimed.
“Betty, what are you drawing?” Sara came to Cindy’s rescue. Betty stopped talking.
“Tamar, nice picture!” Josh told her.
“Jimmy, what the HECK is that?” Sheen asked him. “Actually, never mind.” Betty laughed.

Chapter 32- Nasty Conversation:

“Time’s up, everyone, I’ll be coming around to judge them now.”
Mrs. Martine started walking between the tables and awarding points.
”Wow, Sheen, what a—uh—creative drawing!” Sheen had drawn none other a scene from Ultra-Lord #436, Ultra-Lord vs. Robo-Fiend.
She went around, looking at everyone’s drawings. Then she came to Betty.
“Oh, Betty, that’s amazing! Okay, everyone, I’m going to announce the points now. Cindy, I give you 1,130 points. Jimmy, I’ll give you 1,580. Libby, I’m giving you 1,190. Tamar, you get 950 points. Sheen has 2,120 points. Sara has 2,015 points. Fred gets 1,720. Jamie, 1,145 points. Shannon, with 1,090, Rachel with 1,125 points, Josh gets 1,210 points, and Amy gets 1,190. And Betty, who wins first prize, gets 3,010! Congrats to everyone, you can go home now.
Everyone starting talking excitedly as they walked home.
“Hey, did you guys see my awesome picture of Ultra-Lord? Wasn’t it so cool?” Sheen babbled.
“Yea, it was pretty good, but I think that my picture of Albert Einstein and the molecular composition of an atom was the best,” Jimmy bragged.
“Oh, please! You don’t seriously think that YOUR pathetic pictures could possibly compete with my beautiful drawing of a girl doing karate, or Libby’s excellent picture of music, do you?” Cindy and Libby had suddenly decided to sneak up on them.
“Oh, yeah?” Jimmy challenged, grinning. “So why did both of us get more points than you?”
“Because, Nerdtron, she was just giving the points from highest to lowest. Ultra Freak’s one was so bad that he was in the 2,000’s!” Libby answered, and she and Cindy started cracking up and walked away, still laughing.
“Oh, I’ll get that Cindy Vortex,” Jimmy muttered angrily.
“Um, actually, Jim, Libby was the one who said that last thing,” Sheen pointed out cautiously, in case Jimmy exploded.
“Whatever, Sheen, I’m going home.” And with that, Sheen watched the boy genius stomp off angrily.

Chapter 33- A. . . Date?:

Jimmy woke up early on Saturday morning to a loud, high-pitched whistle, and rolled off the bed.
“Dad, what was that for?” he asked, rubbing his eyes and looking at his clock. “It’s only 7:30!” he cried indignantly.
“Your mom and I are going to see ‘Ducks, the Musical’ and I just wanted to let you know that you’re staying home alone. Bye!” Hugh answered cheerfully.
“UGH! Whoever planned that show to be at 7:30 must be out of their mind,” Jimmy muttered to himself as he turned over and tried to go back to sleep.


* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


“Hi Jimmy, want to go to the movies with me?” Sheen said excitedly as Jimmy left the house.
“Okay, sure,” Jimmy answered. “What are we seeing?”
“Ultra-Lord #436, Ultra-Lord vs. Robo-fiend!”
“Ugh, Sheen, haven’t we seen that approximately 1,347 times already?” Jimmy asked, annoyed.
“Yeah, I guess. . .” Sheen said slowly. “Last one there is a rotten egg!”
“I’m going home,” Jimmy said, and walked back in the opposite direction, with his head down.
Maybe I should go home and work on my cheese ray, Jimmy thought dully. Well, for a Saturday, it sure is boring!
Just then he bumped into something very solid. He looked up.
Uh, oh. He had thought too soon.
“Move it, Nerdtron,” said none other than Cindy Vortex.
Jimmy was about to continue walking and ignore her, when he suddenly snapped around.
”Vortex, why are you always so mean to me?” he cried angrily. “Because you can quit it any time you like, you know! I thought we had fun at the dance!”
Cindy’s expression immediately softened. “I’m sorry, Jimmy. And we did. Just. . . I have a reputation! Bye,” she said softly, and continued walking with a red face.
Jimmy was thinking furiously. Not angrily, but his mind was working very fast. Then suddenly something clunked right into place.
“Cindy! Hey, CINDY!”
She turned around, surprised, and Jimmy ran as fast as he could go.
“Hey, Cindy, do you—do you—” he gasp for breath. “Do you want to go to the movies with me tomorrow?”
Cindy’s face went, if possible, even redder. “You mean like a—a date?” she asked. Jimmy nodded, blushing.
“Ooh, yes!” she cried.
“Great!” Jimmy said, surprised that she actually said yes. “I’ll pick you up tomorrow at six, then!” and ran off to his house.
“Why do you look so happy?” Sheen asked him. It looked like he had been waiting in front of Jimmy’s house for the past five minutes.
“Oh, um, Ultra-Lord is on in two minutes,” Jimmy lied quickly to cover up his huge smile, but regretted it almost immediately.
“Oh, right! How could I forget?! Come on, we’ll miss it!” Sheen shrieked, his face suddenly looking bright.

Chapter 34- Going Out:

The next afternoon, Cindy and Jimmy were both nervous wrecks. Cindy kept biting her nails, and Jimmy kept pulling on the top of hair. But it was still only 4:30. They still had an hour and a half to kill. So they decided to get their outfits ready. And let me tell you, that was not easy.
In the end of the hour and a half, Cindy had chosen a pink tank top, with white pants. Jimmy had chosen a plain white shirt, with blue jeans. (Since it was their first date, they wanted to look casual.)
Jimmy looked at the clock. It read 5:59. Well, it’s time, he thought to himself. He took a deep breath and walked over next door to Cindy’s house. He looked at his watch again. It was five seconds to six.
”Three, two, one,” he muttered. Then he rang the doorbell.
“Way to be on time,” she said, rolling her eyes but grinning.
“Well, shall we go now?” Jimmy asked nervously.
“Ok, let’s go!”

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

“Wow, I really had a good time tonight, Jimmy,” Cindy said softly. “Thanks for taking me.”
”Me, too. And your welcome,” Jimmy replied. They moved closer. They were about to kiss, when—
“Jimmy! Honey, it’s time to come in!” Judy called.
“Oh, dang it,” Jimmy whispered. “Well, bye Cindy.”
And he ran inside, leaving Cindy standing there, looking upset. As she was about to turn around and leave, Jimmy ran back outside, gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, and ran back inside. Cindy felt her cheek and grinned.

Chapter 35- The Eleventh Competition:

“Oh, for the love of Ultra-Lord, tell us what the next contest is!” Sheen exclaimed impatiently.
“All right, all right, I’ll tell you,” Mrs. Martine said, smiling. (She had refused to tell them what it would be; she said they had to guess.)
“Well?” the whole class said together. Mrs. Martine laughed.
“Okay, I’ll tell. The next competition is. . . a basketball tournament!” She looked around the class happily. They stared for a second. Then—
“YAY!” they all shrieked. Except Jimmy; he slid further down into his seat so that all you could see was the top of his hair. Basketball was not his best sport, because he was so short. Anyway, once he was almost at on the floor, Cindy and Libby came over to him.

“Aw, little Nerdtron can’t play ball ‘cause he’s so short?” Cindy teased him. Once again, she couldn’t act nice to him at school. When Jimmy looked in her eye, though, she winked a tiny little wink. Jimmy smiled.
“Oh, don’t worry Jimmy, I’m sure Mrs. Martine will let you stand on someone’s shoulders!” Libby said loudly. She and Cindy high-fived and walked away laughing. Jimmy’s smile disappeared.
“Okay, everyone, we’re going to play a little six on seven game today! Whoever wins ges three hundred points, and whoever loses gets one hundred. When we get outside, we’ll pick teams. Okay? Let’s g—” Mrs. Martine began, but was practically stampeded out the door.

************

“Okay, raise your hand if you want to be captain,” the teacher announced. Practically everyone raised their hands.
“Oh, how do I choose?” she asked, rolling her eyes. “Okay, I’ll pick. . . .”

Chapter 36- Team Captains and a Little Problem for Cindy:

“. . . .I’ll pick Tamar and. . . Fred,” she finished. The rest of the class groaned; she ignored them.
“Heads or tails, you two?” Mrs. Martine asked. Fred chose tails, and he won.
Mrs. Martine said, “The rest of you, get in a line facing them so they can pick. Fred, go first.”

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Here’s how the teams looked at the end:

Tamar   |     Fred
———       ——
Amy     |    Josh
Jamie    |   Sara
Sheen   |   Betty
Rachel   |   Shannon      
Jimmy   |   Libby


“Cindy, I’ll let you decide which team you want to be on, okay?” Mrs. Martine said.
Uh, oh. How could she decide? Libby, Shannon, Rachel, and Jamie all looked at her expectantly. She knew that she was the best at sports in the class and that was a little of the reason they wanted her, but that didn’t make it any easier for her; she just couldn’t choose.
“Oh, no,” she muttered to herself.
Her friends were still looking at her as if to say, If you don’t choose my team I won’t like you anymore. She felt as if they were playing a mental tug-of-wore game. And she was the rope.
“Oh, no,” she repeated. “How can I decide between my friends?”

Chapter 37- A Difficult Decision and a Big Game:

She was still looking between them, when she thought of something. Of course, she might get all of her friends mad at her, but of course, then none might get mad at her. It was a difficult decision, but she had to make it.
“Um, Mrs. Martine, instead of being on either team, can I be a sub for both teams, for when one of the players gets tired or hurt?”
Mrs. Martine shot her a surprised look.
“You could do that, I suppose, but you would only two hundred and eighty points, okay?”
“Hey, it’s better then one hundred, if my team loses,” Cindy replied in a falsely cheery voice.
“Come on, Cindy! You know you’ll win! And if you join my team, I will personally make sure of it!” Libby called out.
Cindy shot her a dirty look with her eyes that said quite plainly, “Shut up.”
Libby closed her mouth.
“All right,” their teacher agreed. “Go over to the bench and we’ll start the game!” She blew her whistle.
Fifteen minutes later, the score was 18-16, Fred’s team, and Betty fell over and skinned her knee. “Cindy, you’re up!” Mrs. Martine shouted.
Cindy went in the game to Fred’s team and slapped him five.
Thirty-five minutes after that, the score was 25-24, still with Fred’s team in the lead; Rachel said she was dying of thirst. Betty went back in the game, Rachel sat down, and Cindy switched teams. Before the game continued though, Rachel gave Cindy a look that said, “Why didn’t you pick my team?” Cindy read it, shrugged, and mouthed, “Sorry!” (It was a slightly sarcastic apology.)
Ten minutes later, the game was done! Yes, it was actually an hour. Hey, no one said this competition would be easy!
“If my calculations are correct, which they are,” Mrs. Martine said to her exhausted teams, (duh, of course they were correct—the scoreboard was right there!) “then the winning team is Tamar’s team!”
That team cheered.
Mrs. Martine wrote down the points in her notebook.

Chapter 38- The Twelfth Competition

“Okay, you guys. This contest will be a little different from the other ones, because there will be three different parts, and you’ll be wearing a harness and goggles the whole time,” Mrs. Martine announced to the class. “The first part will be for you to jump into a big pool of slime and swim across to a twenty-two foot wall and climb up with a rope that’s attached to the top. Then you keep running and there will be a row of fifteen tires to go through. Then you swing down from a metal swing and jump onto a target. Fastest time gets the most points.”
“Is that all?” Cindy asked.
“Nope, that’s only the first part,” Mrs. Martine said with a smile. “The next part is to jump down on a trampoline really hard from the target and then jump on sand without stopping between jumps. The farthest length for that part wins.” She paused, and then went on.
“Then run over to a Velcro wall and jump up and take off five baseballs, and five only, and put them in a bag. When you stop jumping, don’t take off the harness, but keep on running over to the end. There’s a really big rock that’s color-coded into thirteen sections that you have to climb. As you’re climbing, slime will unexpectedly shoot out of geysers and you’ll have to use your baseballs to plug them up. Anyone that has one not plugged will lose points. And the first one to reach the top and push the button wins. Any questions?” she finished.
“Why is the rock color-coded?” Amy asked.
“So that everyone knows where to climb, and no one steps over to someone else’s path, which reminds me: anyone who does that will be disqualified. Also, you’ll be wearing protection-suits the same color as your section of the wall,” Mrs. Martine answered. “So, let’s go to the auditorium!”
Five minutes later, the auditorium was unrecognizable, and they kids were lined up at the front of the pool, all wearing different colored harnesses and goggles and ready to dive.
“On your marks,” began Mrs. Martine, “get set,” she took a deep breath a shouted, “GO!”
And they were off, with Josh in the lead and Cindy close behind. Pretty soon, they got to the end, and starting climbing up the wall, out of breath, with Rachel in the lead and Sheen close behind, and jumped through the tires. Then almost at the same time, jumped onto the target. Fred and Rachel tied and got 150 points. Everyone else got 100 points.
Then Betty ran ahead, closely followed by Jimmy and Jamie and everyone else, and jumped down onto the trampoline and into the sand. Cindy, of course, jumped the farthest (eighteen feet), and got 1,000 points. Rachel jumped 17 feet, 10 inches, and, Josh Jimmy, Fred, Libby, Amy, Sheen, Sara, Shannon, Tamar, Jamie, and Betty jumped 17 feet and 7 inches, 17 feet and 6 inches, 17 feet and 2 inches, 17 feet straight, 16 feet and 9 inches, 16 feet and 7 inches, 16 feet and 4 inches, 16 feet and 1 inch, 15 feet and 10 inches, 15 feet and 8 inches, and 15 feet and 5 inches. The points went 990, 980, 970, 960, etc., etc.
Then they all ran over to the Velcro wall and jumped up. Rachel was the first to get the baseballs, so she had a head start, but Betty had a hard time keeping her balance, so she came last.
Everyone was frantically trying to reach the top, but the slime kept shooting out at them. By the time Betty started climbing up, slime had already gotten Josh, Libby, Fred, and Sara.
“You’ll never beat me, Nerdtron!” Cindy shouted to Jimmy, who’s path was unfortunately next to hers.
“Says who, Dorktex?” he shot back.
Cindy rolled her eyes through her goggles.
But actually, Cindy did beat him. In fact, she was the first one to reach the top, and Jimmy was second. She got 100,000 points, and Jimmy got 95,000. Rachel got 90,000, Fred got 85,000, Shannon got 80,000, Josh got 75,000, Libby got 70,000, Sheen got 65,000, Amy got 60,000, Tamar got 55,000, Jamie got 50,000, Sara got 45,000, and last and least, Betty got 40,000 points.
“Very good, Cindy!” Mrs. Martine congratulated her. “Fanastic, all of you! Remember, we only have one more competition left, so these points are crucial because that’s the order you’ll start the contest tomorrow, and a head start might just win you the prize.”
Everyone looked at Cindy. She was grinning her butt off.
“Well, everyone, you can go now! And give me your harnesses!” Mrs. Martine finished.
Everyone took of their slimy harnesses and goggles and gave them to Mrs. Martine as they left the auditorium.
“Congrats, girl!” Libby said.
“Thanks, Libby, I can’t wait for tomorrow when I can kick Neutron’s butt,” Cindy told her.
But little did Cindy know, tomorrow was going to be BIG trouble—and we’re not talking about the competition.

Chapter 39- Directions and Trouble for Three

The next day had come. Mrs. Martine was repeating what she’d said the day before.
“Are you serious?” asked Sara in dismay. She wasn’t happy that Cindy got a head start.
“Yup,” said Mrs. Martine.
“Great!” Jimmy exclaimed happily.
“But that means I start last!” cried Betty.
“Tough luck, princess,” Cindy told her.
Just then Sheen walked in late.
“What in the name of Ultra-Lord is going on?” he asked them. “I heard you all the way from . . . from . . . all the way from the other side of the room!”
“Mrs. Martine was telling us that the next competition is a maze and that we’ll go in according to our points,” Jimmy informed him.
“Which means I go first!” Cindy said excitedly.
“Oh no,” said Jamie, putting her head in her hands.
“Hey, can we get going already?” Rachel asked irritably.
“Okay, everybody, listen up!” Mrs. Martine quieted them. “Thank you. Now, when I blow my whistle, Cindy runs in the maze. Then, when I blow it again, Jimmy goes in. I’ll keep blowing the whistle and calling names, until everyone is in. ’Kay? ’Kay. On your marks, get set, Cindy!” she blew her whistle.
Everyone else went in the maze in this order: Jimmy, Rachel, Fred, Shannon, Josh, Libby, Sheen, Amy, Tamar, Jamie, Sara, and Betty, with a ten second difference in between.
All of a sudden, as Cindy, Jimmy, and Libby were getting towards the middle, all three of them fell through a hole.
“HHHHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLPPPPPPP!!”

Chapter 40- The Evil Eight:

“OW!” Libby cried after they fell inside a cage—hard.
“Does the ground have to be so hard?” Cindy asked angrily. “My butt did not appreciate that!”
“Be quiet!” hissed Jimmy. “I’m trying to figure out where we are!”
Suddenly there was a noise behind them.
“You won’t have to look long, Jimmy Neutron,” said a voice. “You are in outer space, of course!” As if to confirm that, Poultra screeched from a distance.
“Wait a minute. . .” began Cindy. “Something isn’t right!
“Of course there isn’t!” cried Jimmy in exasperation. “Professor Calamitous, Beautiful Gorgeous, the Junkman, Eustace Strych, the Bandits, Baby Eddie, and Grandma Taters are all in Goobot’s ship!”
“That’s King Goobot to you, Neutron,” King Goobot spat. “And for your information, these seven failure villains are working for me now!”
“Hey, what makes you so special? You failed too, you know,” Beautiful Gorgeous pointed out.
“Be quiet! And never insult the king!” ordered Ooblar, who had just come out of a shadow petting Roxy with his mechanical arms.
“Yes, now let’s go enjoy some evil coffee and donuts while these kids suffer awhile, shall we?” suggested Eustace Strych.
“Ooh, goody, evil pastries,” exclaimed Professor Calamitous happily.
“I won! I won!” Sheen shrieked happily. “Hey! Where are Jimmy, Cindy, and Libby?” he asked loudly.
“Hmmmmmmm, good question,” Mrs. Martine said. She thought deeply for a minute, and then said apologetically, “Well, sorry, Sheen, but I can’t give you the prize unless all the contestants have competed.”
“Why must the good lose so fast?!” he cried.

Chapter 41- The Crew of Two

“I hope help will come soon. . .” whined Cindy.
“Me too. . .” Libby agreed.
“Oh, will you girls stop whining already?!” asked Jimmy irritably. “I’ve signaled Retroville, and they said that people are out looking for us.”
“They’d better be. . .” Cindy mumbled.

All of a sudden. . .

CCRAAASHHHHH! Two people fell from the ceiling and hit the ground loudly.
“Oh, my aching back!” complained Carl. (He was signaled, too.)
“Jimmy!” Sheen exclaimed. “I have come here with my partner, Carlito, to save you using my ingenious plan!”
“What plan?” asked Cindy dubiously.
“Oh, right. . . .”
“Um, hello! You humans are trapped, remember?” Kind Goobat reminded them.
“And now the fat and the thin sidekicks are trapped as well! Oh boy, this should be fun!” added Beautiful Gorgeous.
“Oooooh, she’s here!” said Sheen happily while Libby tensed up.

The villains rolled their eyes and left the room.
“Well, this is great,” Libby said sarcastically. “We’re trapped here with these evil villains and now the lame crew of two has joined us. What a wonderful day!”
“What? How is this wonderful? I’m allergic to being trapped!” Carl said.
“She was being sarcastic!” Cindy answered, annoyed.
“Everyone, be quiet!” Jimmy shushed them angrily. “We need to get out of here. And I think I have just the plan—”
“Uh-uh, no way Neutron!” Cindy interrupted him. “I’m not letting you be the one in charge! You’ll just mess this up.”
“Everyone who wants Jimmy to lead, say I.” Sheen, Carl, and Libby did so.
“Fine, fine. You’d better not mess up though!” Cindy shouted.
Jimmy continued. “Well, anyway, I think I have a pretty good plan. Come here. . .”
They huddled up to listen to him.

Chapter 42- Pretty Good Plans:

“Okay, everybody, here’s the plan,” Jimmy told Cindy, Libby, Sheen, and Carl. “Right now, that steel door is closed and locked so we can’t get out, but when Goobat comes in to get food for Poultra—”
“That smells disgusting, by the way,” Cindy interrupted.
“The door will open,” he continued, ignoring her. “Sheen, did you bring the N-Men packets I asked for?
“Yup!” he answered.
“Good. But we can only drink a little bit so we aren’t stuck with the powers for too long. Once I become super strong, I’ll be able to lift the bars off the cage. Libby will sneak up to the door, invisible, and take the key off the hook. Then Sheen run super fast to Goobat and push him into the cage after all of us are out, obviously, and I’ll drop the bars so he can’t get out. Then we’ll go to the exit where the other villains should be and Carl will burp so they’ll be out our way. By then our powers should start to wear off. But Cindy will take another sip and we’ll hold onto her so she can fly us out to the rocket that Sheen and Carl brought to rescue us. I’ll fly us back to Retroville and we’ll all be safe!”
“Sounds like a pretty good plan to me!” Libby announced after the silence.
“I don’t know,” Cindy said uneasily. “There’s got to be something wrong. I mean, how am I supposed to carry all four of you? And if I don’t, how will the ones who are left get to the rocket?”
“Don’t worry, you’ll be strong enough—you have super strength,” Jimmy assured her. “But just in case, you can have some of my packet so you’ll be extra strong. Is that all right?”
“Ugh, fine.”
So Jimmy, Carl, Libby, and Cindy sat around while Sheen tried to find the N-Men packets, Cindy still doubtful about what she had to do. And hoping that for once, Jimmy wouldn’t mess up!

Chapter 43- A Successful Scheme or More Mayhem?

Jimmy, Cindy, Libby, Sheen, and Carl had been sitting for around for fifteen minutes doing nothing except being bored. But suddenly they heard a noise. It was Goobat!
“Ready?” Jimmy whispered. The rest of them nodded.
Slowly, the door creaked open.
“One. . .”
It went a little further.
“Two. . .”
It was almost wide enough now.
“And —— drink!” They all took little sips of their packets as King Goobat held the door open to glide through.
Immediately, they went into action. Jimmy lifted up the bars and Cindy, Libby, Sheen, and Carl ran under and Libby turned invisible to lock the door. Sheen pushed Goobat to where Jimmy was and he dropped the bars on top of him. But then he started screaming and the other villains ran in to help him. (Ooblar had a key, too.)
“Carl! Burp — now!” Sheen yelled.
Carl burped and Ooblar, Professor Calamitous, Beautiful Gorgeous, the Junkman, Roxy, Eustace Strych, the Bandits, Baby Eddie, and Grandma Taters were blasted out of the ship. (It was a good thing he had brought a bottle of Purple Flurp, because the Junkman had put on a few pounds with the “evil pastries” and was very heavy.)
“Hey, what’s happening?” Libby asked. “Only my legs are invisible!”
“Our powers are wearing off. Cindy, drink more of your packet and some of mine!” Jimmy said.
Cindy caught his packet and drank a microscopic part of it and then a bigger part of hers.
“Everybody, up!” she commanded. They jumped onto her back and they flew to the rocket.
“Okay, Neutron, do your thing and get us OUT of HERE!” Libby ordered.
Jimmy put the rocket on auto-pilot and turned around to talk and they headed back to earth —— or not!
“AHHH! WHAT’S HAPPENING?!” Cindy and Libby shrieked.

Chapter 44- An Easy Win:

King Goobot and Ooblar were floating in mid-air right in front of them.
The rocket stopped!
“Hey, what gives?!” Jimmy asked angrily.
“I stopped and jammed your auto-pilot button, so in a matter of time you won’t be able to breathe and die!” Ooblar explained and laughed.
“Hey, why didn’t I think of that?” asked Goobot moodily.
Jimmy yawned and blasted them with his laser watch and shattered the glass box they were in.
“Uh-oh. . .”
They began to fall.
“I’ll get you, Jimmy Neutron!” were King Goobot’s last words.

“Uh, Jimmy? I don’t feel so good.” Carl started turning green and threw up. “Can we get out of here?”
They heard a splat and two screams. Apparently Carl had thrown up right on them! Well, serves them right, Jimmy thought happily. Now if only we could get out of here, this wouldn’t be so bad!
Jimmy pushed some buttons spoke into his watch, and soon the rocket was flying on auto-pilot.
“Hey, you’re back already!” Rachel exclaimed.
“Yeah, we are,” they said happily.
“Well, are you ready to start over the last competition?” Mrs. Martine asked.
Jimmy, Cindy, Libby, and Sheen looked at Carl. He was already wandering back to the bus, eating a burrito from who-knows-where. Then they looked back at the other kids.
“We’re ready!” they declared.
“Hey, if it weren’t for the stupid villains capturing you guys, I would be rich and in Hawaii by now,” Sheen mumbled sadly.
“Yeah, with the three of us!” Libby added.
“Yeah. . . . Hey, what makes you think I would take you? I can choose any three people I want,” Sheen said.
“Well, who were you going to pick?” Cindy asked, her arms folded.
“Good point. . .”
“Hey, kids, stop fighting already so we can start the maze again!” Mrs. Martine said.
They stopped talking.
“So, on your marks, get set, and. . . CINDY!”
Cindy ran in immediately.

Chapter 45- And the Rich One is. . .

Twenty minutes later, someone started screaming. Not out of fear from the many spiders on the ground like Carl would have done — out of joy, because James Isaac Neutron saw, in the middle of the maze, a trophy with a check for two hundred dollars and four tickets to Hawaii!
“I WWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNN!”
“Bye Mom! Bye Dad!” Jimmy, Cindy, Sheen, Libby, Carl, Betty, Brittany, Amy, Butch, Kate, Josh, Tamar, Fred, Sara, Alan, Natalie, Nick, Morgan, Jamie, Rachel, and Shannon found themselves shouting three days later. The cruise was pulling away from the dock.
Why, do you ask, did all twenty-one competitors get to go to Hawaii? Well, Jimmy decided to use his one thousand dollars to get the other seventeen kids tickets as well. Pretty nice of him, huh? Of course, he still had about, oh, $800 left! (Hey, the tickets were pretty cheap, especially when he bought seventeen of them!)
“Hey Jimmy, this view is amazing!” Betty told him. She was still trying to get them back together. Mostly to get Cindy jealous.
“Pfff, in your dreams!” Jimmy replied. Betty stalked off to Nick.
The other eighteen guests were talking in a huddle. Cindy was leading it. All of a sudden, there was a burst of a loud cheer.
“TWO! FOUR! SIX! EIGHT! WHO DO WE APPRECIATE? JIMMY! JIMMY! YAAAAAAAAY, JIMMY! WHOOOOOOO!!!”
That night, Jimmy grinned and smiled more and harder than he had ever done in his life.

Chapter 46- Love at Last Sight:

It was dinner time two days later, and everyone was at the table except Cindy and Jimmy, who were just putting the finishing touches on their clothes. Jimmy was about to walk out his door and go down to the third floor (where the dining room was) when he stopped at his doorway.
Cindy walked into Jimmy’s room, looking embarrassed.
“Hey,” she whispered.
“Hi,” said Jimmy, surprised, when he saw her.
“Um, I just wanted to say thanks for inviting me on this trip, I’ve really enjoyed it so far.”
When Jimmy didn’t say anything, she started turning pink.
“Oh, thanks for the cheer you did for me,” Jimmy said.
“How’d you know it was me?” Cindy looked surprised.
“Cindy, please. I’m a boy with a genius IQ!”
“Well, yeah, that was my idea,” Cindy admitted.
They both laughed. Then there was a very awkward silence.

“So. . . .” Cindy said.
“So. . . .” Jimmy said.

“Well, I guess I’d better get to dinner now,” Cindy mumbled, heading out the door.
“Wait, stop,” Jimmy said.
Cindy turned around with a little smile on her face.
“Yes?” she asked him?
“Uh, want to go to dinner together?” He held out his arm and waited for a response.
“Sure!” Cindy exclaimed. “I mean, sure,” she added, trying not to sound too eager. She leaned in and kissed him on the cheek.

And they headed out the door, smiling at each other.