Under the Waterfall


"Come on Sheen, we're going to be late!" shouted Jimmy as the gang raced toward the airport entrance, dragging their suitcases behind them.
"I am hurrying!" Sheen replied annoyingly.Libby rolled her eyes, an amazing feat for someone who was dragging three full suitcases behind her. "Just shut up and pick up the pace."
Sheen, of course, shut up and obediently followed behind. Soon after, the gang reached their gate and clambered onto the plane.
"Welcome to your flight. We will be taking off shortly, so I advise finding your seats soon. Thank you and don't hesitate to ask one of our flight attendences if you need assistance."
Libby settled into her seat, which was an aisle seat, the aisle to her left and Sheen and Carl to the right. Unfortunately, Cindy and Jimmy happened to be sharing window seats. Cindy was right beside the window, and Jimmy was next to her, the aisle to his right.
"Why am I stuck next to her?" complained Jimmy audibly, seeing as the gang were the only ones on the flight, not counting the captain or the flight attendents.
"Because Carl's asleep and you know you can't move a Wheezer out of a chair after they fall asleep!" explained Libby.
Sheen interrupted, not once looking up from the Ultralord action figure he was holding. "And I'm never leaving the side of my queen."
Smiling, Libby rubbed his shoulder before glaring at Jimmy. "Stop complaining, Jimmy. No one's switching seats with you."
"Well, I could just move to one of the many unoccupied seats on the plane," he scoffed, motioning to all of the other seats on the plane. As he began to get up,
one of the flight attendents approached him.
"I'm sorry, sir. But you can only sit in the seat you're assigned."
"But the-"
"I'm sorry, sir. Rules are rules."
"Look at all the empt-"
"Sir, please don't make me turn this plane around, because I can."
Grumbling in defeat, Jimmy sank down into his seat. The flight attendent gave a bittersweet smile before turning around to join the other flight attendents in conversation.
"Geez, Nerdtron, can't you act civil for once in your life?" asked Cindy, not bothering to look up from her book.
Jimmy glared at her, and replied loudly. "I am civil. I prefer to think of myself as the most civil person on this plane.I mean, who wants to sit next to something as
disgusting as you?"
Her face turning a deep shade of magenta, she snapped back quickly. "Why are you talking about yourself?"
Both scowling, they turned away from each other and flipped open either books or magazines.
Libby sighed and wondered, Are they going to be like this the whole week?


As Cindy was unpacking, she heard someone come in through the door of the hotel room she and Libby were sharing.
"Libs, is that you?" "Yeah, it's me. I just wanted to talk to you about something."
Cindy kept on unpacking, laying her clothes out carefully before placing them in the drawers. Libby came and sat on the bed opposite Cindy's.
"What did you want to talk about?"
"Well... It's that problem you have."
"What problem?"
"You know... The problem with Jimmy."
At the sound of Jimmy's name, Cindy's face turned red.
"W-What problem?" she repeated.
Libby sighed and sprawled out onto the bed. "The way you guys fight over everything.
And it's not even in the joking sense..."
"Yes it is."
"No. It isn't.".
Cindy sighed before zipping up her now empty suitcase.
"Look. I'm sorry, Libs, if our squabbling gets in the way of you and the others from having fun... I'll talk to Jimmy about it tonight during dinner."
Libby smiled slightly before launching into a huge conversation concerning Sheen, her long time love.
"Did you see me and Sheen before we went off to our rooms?"
"No. Personally, I prefer not looking at the two of you together."
"You're just jealous because the guy I like, likes me back."
"Who says I like anybody?"
"Girl, even a blind man would be able to see that you've got the hots for Jimmy!"
"Do not," snapped Cindy, her face flaming up in an instant.
"Then why you blushing?"
"Am not."
"Girl, you actin' like a five year old. Get over yourself and ask Jimmy out!"
"Well... Hypothetically, let's say I did like him. What if he says no?"
"Well, hypothetically, he'd be crazy to say no. I mean, since he's been in love with you since you guys first met."
Her heartbeat pounding in her ears, Cindy sank lower onto her bed. Just as Libby opened her mouth to say more, they were interrupted by a loud pounding at the door.
"Libby, Cindy, time for dinner! We'll be down in the lobby!" came the unmistakeable voice of Sheen, the ever hyper Mexican jumping bean.
"Okay, Sheen! We'll be down in a minute!" replied Libby. Then she turned to Cindy.
"Think about it during dinner, Cindy," she said before snatching her purse and strolling out of the door.


Dinner was good. No, wait, let's rephrase that. It was awesome. Cindy and Jimmy hardly fought at all during the dinner, Sheen wasn't as stupid as they thought, and
Carl just ate, no questions asked. Okay, well, Jimmy and Cindy did fight, just not as much as before.
"That's a decoration, Nerdtron, you're not supposed to eat it!"
"I knew that, I was checking... What it smelled like!"
"Pssh, sure."
"I was!"
Libby interrupted before things could get too out of hand. "Guys, Sheen and I are going to take an early night off, don't expect us to come back down. At least, not
until tomorrow." She finished her sentence with a wink before Sheen grabbed her hand excitedly.
Jimmy made a face before grumbling, "How loathesome. I can't bear to think of what their offspring looks like."
Cindy shook her head and pushed the food on her plate around with her fork. "For once, Neutron, I agree with you. I mean, what does she see in him?"
"Hey, Sheen's a good friend, so shut your mouth, Vortex!"
"You know what? I'm tired of this, come walk with me, Neutron."
Cindy threw down her napkin before grabbing Jimmy's forearm and dragging him along.
"W-What are you doing, Vortex? Have you finally gone crazy?"
"No. I just really need to talk to you."
"Talk about what?"
"Us."
"There is no us!"
"I know."
"Okay, so what's to talk about?"
Cindy stopped and sat on a large boulder obscuring their path.
"Libby mentioned something to me at the hotel room when I was unpacking. She said we fight too much."
Jimmy stood next to her in his swim trunks and hawaiian print shirt, unsure of what to think of this 'confrontation' with Cindy.
"Okay, I admit, we do fight somewhat a lot of the time, but that doesn't mean it...Well, I guess it kind of does."
He sighed and sat down next to her on the boulder. And Cindy continued.
"Libby also said it gets on her nerves sometimes, you know?"
Jimmy sighed again and ran a hand through his thick brown hair; which was no longer in its whippy-do form.
"Yeah, I know, I know. Carl reminds me how annoying it gets ever five seconds."
"Then maybe, do you think, we should stop?"
"Old habits die hard, Vortex."
"And you're telling me this because...?"
Jimmy hastily stood up, sighing once again to show his frustration.
"Look, Vortex, if you wanted to talk, talk already!"
Cindy threw her hands into the air and rolled her eyes. "Okay, okay! Just don't get your panties in a bunch!"
Jimmy glared at her before leaning on a palm tree off to the side of the path. "Shut up," he muttered.
He looked far off into the distance, closing his eyes as a gentle breeze brushed his cheek.
"Why can't you be more civil?" whispered Jimmy. He opened his eyesto reveal a teary-eyed Cindy, clutching her t-shirt so hard so that her knuckles had turned
white.
Her face was flushed, her lips red where she had been biting them, she looked up and saw Jimmy approach her.
"What do you want, Neutron? You always make my life miserable, so just go away and never come back!"
Jimmy looked at her, a mixture of surprise and anger in his eyes. He finally spoke, his face expressionless.
"Well, bad news for you; I wanted this to be the vacation where I told you I loved you, but I guess it wouldn't really matter, would it?"
But that wasn't what he said, this was what he really said;
"Wish granted, Vortex. I'm moving to New York in the beginning of the school year
and I'm never coming back."
With that, he was up and running, running to a place he knew nothing of.
A waterfall.


Cindy had followed, followed long enough to see Jimmy sink down to the ground, his hands covering his face.She hid behind a large, leafy plant and watched Jimmy as he hurled stones into the still water.
"I-" A stone hurled. "-don't-" Another stone. "-deserve-" Yet another one. "-this!"
He was screaming it now, stone after stone hurled into the water. The stones were making the water foam, a whirlpool of its own.
Cindy decided enough was enough. She stepped out from behind the leafy plant, making only a slight noise as she approached the sobbing genius.
He whirled around, stone in hand in case she had been some wild animal.
"Oh, it's you," he said bitterly. He dropped the stone onto the ground; it made a small thunk as it landed. "What do you want? I thought you hated my guts..."
Cindy swallowed to make the odd lump in her throat disappear. No such luck.
"I-I don't hate your guts, Jimmy... I was just..."
"Just what?"
"Don't get mad at me, Neutron! I came here to apologize, so I think you should shut the hell up for once in your life!"
A tear slid down Jimmy's cheek, and he wiped it away absentmindedly.
Cindy stopped herself as she prepared a barrage of insults to throw at him.
"Look. I really did come here to apologize for being such a bitch back there, and I really don't wish you would leave and never come back."
She took a shallow breath before continuing.
"In fact, I wanted to tell you something really important, but I haven't really gotten around to it..."
Cindy slid down to the ground, looking off to the side as she began.
"Neutron... Jimmy. We've been across-the-street neighbors for a long time, and ever since I met you, I felt so... So strange. It was as if someone was holding onto my heart, squeezing it every so often to remind me how I felt. I felt so attracted to you, Jimmy. I'm sorry that I was so cruel to you, but it was the only way to hide
the truth... And you always knew how I was competitve, competitive against you. Against you in every academic competition, but always being second. That was one of the reasons why I couldn't tell you how I really felt! Because I was... Against you, against you in, like, everything! And if what you said is true, I think there's no
reason to be against you anymore... I think that because..."I love you, Jimmy, more than I love my mother, thought Cindy. She tried to urge the words out of her mouth, but her brain hesitated, producing a sound that sounded not that much unlike the sound her dog, Humphrey, would make when he was having
digestive problems.
Cindy sniffed, a lone tear straying away from the rest and sliding down her cheek and dripping off her chin. She heard soft footsteps padding toward her, and she
looked up.
Jimmy looked down at her, a pained exression clear on his face.
"Cindy," he sighed, sitting down Indian style next to her. "Do you really feel that way? Or is it your mind speaking for you?"
She looked up in disgust, and scoffed, "You really don't think I mean it, do you?"
"Of course I do. I was just checking." He looked off into the distance, not unlike when he was doing so as he was when he was leaning against the palm tree. "So."
Cindy almost retorted, "So what?", but decided against it in the last second.
"I guess... I guess we're on the same wavelengths here." He laid down in the dirt, his hands wrapped behind his head, his legs sprawled out in the other direction.
Cindy copied him, relaxing as soon as she was in contact with the ground. "What do you mean, Neutron?"
A silence hung in the air as if there were a rolling fog, but Jimmy broke soon after.
"Do you still have to call me Neutron?" Cindy giggled as Jimmy sighed. "Anyway, what I mean is that... Well... I feel the same way you do, except way less poetic
sounding. I was kind of bad in English, mind you."
Cindy giggled again and she closed her eyes, the stars still twinkling brightly enough so that she could see them through her eyelids.
"Jimmy," she breathed, as if his name was of a god's. "Are you really moving to New York?"
There was a mixture of movement and noise as Jimmy hastened to sit up. He sat, silent.
Alarmed by his behavior, Cindy sat up quickly.
"You really are moving to New York, aren't you?" she whispered, the tears she held back threatening to resurface.
Jimmy nodded grimly, but he wasn't going to give up easily.
"I'll come back every time I can, I'll write, I'll call, I'll do anything to keep in touch. We're going down swinging, Cindy."
Then he faced her, tears apparent on his pale face. "But yeah, I'm moving to New York like I said... And there's nothing I can do about it."
Cindy sighed sadly, her eyes drooping by the second.
"Cindy, don't be like that, I never told you the good part."
She looked up, a glimmer of hope shining in her eyes. "Please tell me something really, really good."
"Well... It's not the most incedible piece of news, but it's better than nothing."
Cindy sucked in a breath and held it as Jimmy continued. "I'm going to New York to work in a lab, so I'm going to be able to come back frequently to visit you guys... So please, please don't be like this. It hurts me just to see you like this."
Cindy smiled slightly, the tears drying as she picked herself up off of the dirt ground.
"Jimmy?" she asked quietly. "Do you love me?"
Shock filled the air as the unforseen question took its toll.
"Cindy," Silence hung in the air as he prepared himself for what he was about to say. "Yes, I love you. I love you with every fiber of my being, and I always have."
Cindy managed to crack a smile and she reached forward to hug Jimmy. They stayed like that, clutching each other, as the night rolled on, uncaring at the two
individuals that had just become one.
Then Jimmy pulled away, staring into Cindy's eyes sensually, knowing fully well that this was the only time they would be alone together.
So he kissed her. He kissed her fully on the mouth, slowly pulling her more tightly against his chest, where his heart was beating like crazy against his rib cage.
They pulled away, Jimmy with a look of sadness, and Cindy with a look that showed opportunity. Opportunity to become something great.