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Description

For this piece, I thought I'd make a change in my drawing style, so I'm gonna start using the Pokémon animation style from the anime... Like it?? I based the scenario on the song Last Christmas by Wham.

Now, who's Tabitha, you ask? Here's the story behind all this... And sorry if this summary is so long, but it was the only way I could think of to explain this piece...

During Jimmy's senior year, in October, he couldn't help but notice the new girl who'd just moved into town and become one of his fellow classmates in Lindbergh High School. Her name was Tabitha Burgess, and with her seemingly perfect auburn, shoulder-length flowing hair, perfect lapis lazuli eyes, perfect figure, and perfect make-up, she was a sight to behold. The moment she walked into his class, his jaw practically dropped at how gorgeous she was, even more so than Betty was the previous year, it seemed... He couldn't help but follow her every graceful move with his eyes, even as she took her seat right behind Cindy.

As she pulled out her advanced books for her upcoming classes of Trigonometry, AP History, AP Literature, Biochemistry, and Astrophysics, Jimmy realized that she must be a straight-A student, just as he was. Cindy took notice how much he was gawking at her, and it was really starting to get on her last nerve, so she lightly slapped his face and snapped firmly, "Snap out of it, Dork-tron!! We gotta get focused on our studies! You can get acquainted with the new girl later, no matter how drop-dead gorgeous you think she is! Now, PAY attention!!"

Taken aback at her retort, he snapped back to reality and barked at her, getting his own textbooks out, "Puking Pluto, Cindy!! Get a life, will ya?! And mind your own business!"

Even as the lesson progressed, Jimmy's gaze kept returning to Tabitha every now and then. He just couldn't deny how beautiful she really was in that navy blue and white anime-girl-inspired school uniform. A few minutes before the class ended, she finally took notice how he was glancing at her, so she looked over in his direction for a few moments and their eyes met, but he quickly turned away and blushed hard... She just giggled quietly the moment she saw him do so.

Cindy just glared at him while thinking, Boys, oh, PLEASE... Neutron can act like a total moron sometimes, even though he is pretty darn cute...

As October turned into November, then November into December, the same thing happened every single school day: Jimmy would keep periodically glancing in her direction in class, Tabitha would finally look over at him just before it ended, their eyes would lock for a few moments, and he would just quickly look the other way while she just giggled about it.

On December 17, the day before the school's Christmas dance, Cindy had finally had enough of their nonverbal nonsense, so she marched up to Jimmy as he was gathering his things at the end of the day and growled, highly annoyed with his recent actions, "Okay, that does it, Jimmy! Either get acquainted with Tabitha and ask her out to the school dance tomorrow, or just flat out ignore her... You glancing at her, then looking away and her giggling at your actions has finally gotten on my last nerve lately! So, either ask her out, or don't even acknowledge her existence!! It's that simple!! UGH!!!" With that, she marched away furiously before he even had time to form a retort to snap back at her with.

He looked over at Tabitha, who was also gathering her things several lockers down from his own, and told himself thoughtfully, As much as I hate to admit it, Cindy does have a point... I should probably do SOMETHING besides just gazing at her from afar... Heaving a big sigh of anticipation once he was finished and had shut his locker, he headed over in Tabitha's direction, though not without taking his time in the process, having a very real fear of being rejected...

She was already headed toward the front double doors of the school, preparing to head home for the day, when she caught a glimpse of Jimmy anxiously heading her way, his pace quickening as he got closer, so she paused and turned to face him. "May I help you?" she wanted to know in her angelic voice once he reached her.

"I, well, um... This is very awkward...," he stuttered, struggling to find the right words to say to her while nervously rubbing the back of his neck, "Uh, hi. My name is, um, uh... James Neutron... You, uh, look very... uh, pretty?? You see, there's this, heh-heh, um, dance tomorrow, and I, well, I just wanted to- uh.., jeez! This isn't coming out right...! I-...!"

But before he could spit out what he wanted to tell her, she gently put a freshly manicured finger to his lips and silenced him, then sweetly replied, "Sssshhh, I think I know what you're trying to say. James, is it, you say??"

"Yeah...," Jimmy sheepishly responded, blushing hard, then questioned, a little surprised, "Uh, you do?!"

"Yeah, I think I do. And, to be honest, you look more like a 'Jimmy' to me!" Tabitha informed him with a laugh, "Anyway, I think what you're trying to do is ask me out. Is that the proper deduction?"

He was so flustered and lost for words, all he could do is look down at the floor and nod, still blushing hard.

"Hey, you don't need to be so nervous around me, Jimmy," she gently reminded him, lifting his chin up with her finger, "Why, I'd-!!" But she paused abruptly the moment Nick passed by the two, heading out the school's double-doors, and shot a pose at her that seemed to say, "Hey, I think you're hot!" as he exited. She just winked back at the eighteen-year-old with an attractive grin spread across her face.

It took a couple attempts on Jimmy's part to redirect Tabitha's attention back to him, with him clearing his throat and snapping his fingers a bit. "Tabitha, hello?? I'm over here!"

"Huh?! Oh, sorry, Jimmy! Got a little sidetracked there!" Tabitha replied hesitantly with a nervous laugh, trying to think, then added, "I'm just nervous about this holiday social convention tomorrow, I guess!"

"Wha-? Oh, you mean the Christmas dance tomorrow night," he reasoned, then a thought hit him. "Wait. That's an unusual way to act nervous, smile and wink flirtatiously...!!" he realized, becoming very puzzled.

She took a few moments to collect her thoughts, then took a deep breath to calm her nerves and said, "Nah, don't even give that a second thought, actually... And yes, I'd love to go with you tomorrow night!"

"Whoa-whoa-whoa-WHOA, wait just one nanosecond-!! How in Einstein's name-?! Wait, what-?!" Jimmy began sputtering, hardly believing what he'd just heard, "Did- did you just give me an affirmative response?!"

Tabitha just laughed flirtatiously and nodded in agreement, "Precisely! And by the way, would you like to study ahead for next semester together at your place??"

It only took him a second or two to realize how fortunate he became at that moment, then he jumped up in the air and pumped his fist a few times, exclaiming triumphantly, "ALRIGHT!!! YES, YES, YYYEEEESSS!!! My luck with females is FINALLY changing for the better!!" Once he'd gotten that out of his system, he calmed himself down and cleared his throat, then apologized, a little embarrassed, "Um, heh-heh, sorry about that, Tabitha... It's just that I've had no luck with girls throughout my ENTIRE existence!!"

Once she got over the initial shock of his little outburst, she just giggled and told him reassuringly, "Don't worry about it! So, would you like to study ahead with me, Jimmy??"

"You bet I would! Let's go, then!" Jimmy heartily agreed, and walked down to his place with her, their hands joined the entire time.

Once they arrived, the two took a seat on his living room couch, opened their books, and right away began their studies, sharing info about themselves every so often. They were so preoccupied with it, they didn't realize how late it got, and eventually fell asleep leaning against eachother around midnight, their books still laying open from studying so hard...

A couple hours later, Tabitha woke up from a nasty dream, breathing heavily, then realized she was okay. She carefully sat up, so as to not awaken her sleeping partner. The motion made Jimmy stir a bit and lay on his side opposite her, but still remain asleep. "Whew...," she quietly whispered to herself while she gathered her books silently and cautiously loaded them into her backpack, "I'd hate to wake him up accidentally; he told me he's a heavy sleeper and doesn't like to be disturbed... Hmmm... I wonder what that other cutie is up to...!" Once she was finished, she carefully got up and tiptoed to the front door, then quietly made her exit and shut the door behind her.

Jimmy never awakened from her exit, but Goddard, on the other hand, with his ultra-sensitive hearing built into him, did hear Tabitha leave; he saw her do so, as well, since he had access to the various security cameras placed throughout the house. But being the considerate robotic canine companion he was, he didn't wake his master for it; he just accessed her FaceBook page and kept himself alert to any suspicious updates she made. He'd just alert his master about it once he'd officially awakened the following morning. However, he did creep downstairs and use his tractor beam to transport Jimmy back upstairs and put him in his bed without waking him up, using his robotic arms to gently pull the covers over him as he slept. Goddard then returned to his nightly post and powered down, still keeping a background check on Tabitha's FaceBook activity throughout the night despite that.

The following morning, Jimmy awakened and got himself ready for school, as usual. The bus ride there was rather uneventful, but once he arrived and headed inside to his locker, he noticed something very peculiar... Tabitha never came to greet him there like she'd said she would the previous afternoon. He just shrugged it off, figuring she likely caught a cold or was doing some last-minute studying, one of the two.

Sheen had witnessed the two of them at the end of the school day the previous afternoon, and spread the word like wildfire throughout the school, and it wasn't long before Carl, Libby, and Cindy, especially, knew about their relationship...

Just before class started and exams began, and after nearly everyone was seated, Cindy leaned over to Jimmy and questioned, "Um, Jimmy? Shouldn't you be with Tabitha, since you two are a couple now? Where is she, anyway??"

"Wha-?! How'd you know about that, Cindy?!" he nearly sputtered out of confusion, "And how should I know?? She left my place while I slept in the middle of the night, I suppose... Haven't seen her since last night."

Upon hearing about his friend's previous night, Sheen's eyes grew huge, then he got a horny look on his face and snickered, "'Last night'?! Ooooo!!!" He then proceeded to rest on his forearm on his desk as he leaned forward a bit and complimented him, or so he thought, whistling about the whole matter, "Whoa, dude!! You lucky dog, you, Jimmy!!"

Libby happened to notice her boyfriend's immature behavior, so she scolded him, "Sheen!! Shut it, or I'll do it for ya!!"

"Sorry, babe!" he admitted, cowering a bit.

"Yeah, Sheen, knock it off, will ya?! That never happened, okay?! We were just studying!!" Jimmy additionally snapped at him.

That was Tabitha showed up to class, followed almost right away by Nick. The moment she saw Jimmy, she hurried to the rear of the classroom; he couldn't help but notice how disheveled she looked with her hair roughed up and her clothes a bit out of place. Nick had a similar appearance to hers, as well, and he, too, rushed to the rear of the classroom when he saw Jimmy. The genius couldn't help but wonder if the two of them were trying to hide something from him...

Throughout that morning, every time he attempted to approach or talk to Nick or Tabitha, they either ignored him or ran a short distance away from him, acting very nervous the whole time.

At lunch, the two sat at the entirely opposite end of the cafeteria than Jimmy and his friends did, only serving to increase his suspicions... His friends observed the exact same thing, and were equally suspicious... After a few minutes of silence, Libby was the first to speak up, saying, "Man, somethin' really fishy is goin' on with Tabitha and Nick... Why do they keep ignorin' ya, Neutron?!"

"Got me, Libby! But I have a very strong suspicion they're trying to hide something from me...," he noted cautiously.

"What do you think it could be, Jim?" Carl asked him, concerned for his best friend's emotional well-being.

Jimmy was about to respond, but an alert on his watch grabbed his attention. "Hold that thought, Carl. Goddard's sending me a message...," he informed him, entering some data into his watch. Once he was finished, however, what he saw utterly shocked him to the core: raunchy images on Tabitha's FaceBook page of her and Nick from the previous night! He went through only a few images to realize the full extent of what he was seeing and what had went on between them, then excused himself from the table for the rest of the lunch period.

When the final exam came around a little while later, and just before it began, Cindy looked over at him and saw he had tears in his eyes, then wanted to know, "Jimmy, is everything alright? What's wrong??"

Jimmy just held up his hand to silence her and continued to look down at his desk, even as the exams were passed out.

She looked at him for a few more moments in deep concern for him, then, realizing that Tabitha had something to do with his emotional state, looked back at her in the back row and gave her a "death glare". She just cringed slightly in response, then began her exam shortly after most everyone else did, except for Jimmy, oddly. He didn't start his until five minutes later, due to his emotional grief, yet he managed to finish before anyone else, being the genius he was, of course.

This gave him twenty full minutes to silently grieve while everyone else finished theirs, resting his elbows on his desk and covering his face with his hands.

Cindy finished hers second, then turned to him again and once more asked what was wrong, with him yet again giving her the cold shoulder. This really puzzled her. Just WHAT could be causing Jimmy so much emotional trauma?! she wondered, Man, if Tabitha has anything to do with how grief-stricken he is, I am SO gonna let her have it!! He doesn't deserve this!

She and his other friends continued to ask him what was the matter and why he was so depressed throughout the rest of the afternoon after school let out, but he kept giving them the cold shoulder every time. Most of them finally gave up after a few tries, but not Cindy. She kept a close watch on him with her binoculars for quite some time, a few hours, at least...

Before she knew it, the big dance was just an hour away, so she got herself ready for the big night, even though she wasn't going with anyone. She drove there thirty minutes later, not really expecting much drama, though she did remember in the back of her mind how depressed Jimmy had been the whole afternoon, and felt that might play a part in something big that evening. She just didn't know what.

Upon entering the decked out gymnasium, Cindy couldn't help but notice that he was already there, sitting on the opposite side of the gym, hunched over with his face in his hands again, and it looked to her like he was sobbing. She then made a mad dash over there and took a seat next to him on the provided padded benches. The moment she reached over to comfortingly pat him on the back, she was taken aback when he immediately hugged her tightly, tears still streaming down his cheeks. Once they let go of eachother after a few moments, she tried one more time to ask what was troubling him so much, and right then, Jimmy finally relented and told her everything, not leaving out a single detail.

Description

For this piece, I thought I'd make a change in my drawing style, so I'm gonna start using the Pokémon animation style from the anime... Like it?? I based the scenario on the song Last Christmas by Wham.

Now, who's Tabitha, you ask? Here's the story behind all this... And sorry if this summary is so long, but it was the only way I could think of to explain this piece...

During Jimmy's senior year, in October, he couldn't help but notice the new girl who'd just moved into town and become one of his fellow classmates in Lindbergh High School. Her name was Tabitha Burgess, and with her seemingly perfect auburn, shoulder-length flowing hair, perfect lapis lazuli eyes, perfect figure, and perfect make-up, she was a sight to behold. The moment she walked into his class, his jaw practically dropped at how gorgeous she was, even more so than Betty was the previous year, it seemed... He couldn't help but follow her every graceful move with his eyes, even as she took her seat right behind Cindy.

As she pulled out her advanced books for her upcoming classes of Trigonometry, AP History, AP Literature, Biochemistry, and Astrophysics, Jimmy realized that she must be a straight-A student, just as he was. Cindy took notice how much he was gawking at her, and it was really starting to get on her last nerve, so she lightly slapped his face and snapped firmly, "Snap out of it, Dork-tron!! We gotta get focused on our studies! You can get acquainted with the new girl later, no matter how drop-dead gorgeous you think she is! Now, PAY attention!!"

Taken aback at her retort, he snapped back to reality and barked at her, getting his own textbooks out, "Puking Pluto, Cindy!! Get a life, will ya?! And mind your own business!"

Even as the lesson progressed, Jimmy's gaze kept returning to Tabitha every now and then. He just couldn't deny how beautiful she really was in that navy blue and white anime-girl-inspired school uniform. A few minutes before the class ended, she finally took notice how he was glancing at her, so she looked over in his direction for a few moments and their eyes met, but he quickly turned away and blushed hard... She just giggled quietly the moment she saw him do so.

Cindy just glared at him while thinking, Boys, oh, PLEASE... Neutron can act like a total moron sometimes, even though he is pretty darn cute...

As October turned into November, then November into December, the same thing happened every single school day: Jimmy would keep periodically glancing in her direction in class, Tabitha would finally look over at him just before it ended, their eyes would lock for a few moments, and he would just quickly look the other way while she just giggled about it.

On December 17, the day before the school's Christmas dance, Cindy had finally had enough of their nonverbal nonsense, so she marched up to Jimmy as he was gathering his things at the end of the day and growled, highly annoyed with his recent actions, "Okay, that does it, Jimmy! Either get acquainted with Tabitha and ask her out to the school dance tomorrow, or just flat out ignore her... You glancing at her, then looking away and her giggling at your actions has finally gotten on my last nerve lately! So, either ask her out, or don't even acknowledge her existence!! It's that simple!! UGH!!!" With that, she marched away furiously before he even had time to form a retort to snap back at her with.

He looked over at Tabitha, who was also gathering her things several lockers down from his own, and told himself thoughtfully, As much as I hate to admit it, Cindy does have a point... I should probably do SOMETHING besides just gazing at her from afar... Heaving a big sigh of anticipation once he was finished and had shut his locker, he headed over in Tabitha's direction, though not without taking his time in the process, having a very real fear of being rejected...

She was already headed toward the front double doors of the school, preparing to head home for the day, when she caught a glimpse of Jimmy anxiously heading her way, his pace quickening as he got closer, so she paused and turned to face him. "May I help you?" she wanted to know in her angelic voice once he reached her.

"I, well, um... This is very awkward...," he stuttered, struggling to find the right words to say to her while nervously rubbing the back of his neck, "Uh, hi. My name is, um, uh... James Neutron... You, uh, look very... uh, pretty?? You see, there's this, heh-heh, um, dance tomorrow, and I, well, I just wanted to- uh.., jeez! This isn't coming out right...! I-...!"

But before he could spit out what he wanted to tell her, she gently put a freshly manicured finger to his lips and silenced him, then sweetly replied, "Sssshhh, I think I know what you're trying to say. James, is it, you say??"

"Yeah...," Jimmy sheepishly responded, blushing hard, then questioned, a little surprised, "Uh, you do?!"

"Yeah, I think I do. And, to be honest, you look more like a 'Jimmy' to me!" Tabitha informed him with a laugh, "Anyway, I think what you're trying to do is ask me out. Is that the proper deduction?"

He was so flustered and lost for words, all he could do is look down at the floor and nod, still blushing hard.

"Hey, you don't need to be so nervous around me, Jimmy," she gently reminded him, lifting his chin up with her finger, "Why, I'd-!!" But she paused abruptly the moment Nick passed by the two, heading out the school's double-doors, and shot a pose at her that seemed to say, "Hey, I think you're hot!" as he exited. She just winked back at the eighteen-year-old with an attractive grin spread across her face.

It took a couple attempts on Jimmy's part to redirect Tabitha's attention back to him, with him clearing his throat and snapping his fingers a bit. "Tabitha, hello?? I'm over here!"

"Huh?! Oh, sorry, Jimmy! Got a little sidetracked there!" Tabitha replied hesitantly with a nervous laugh, trying to think, then added, "I'm just nervous about this holiday social convention tomorrow, I guess!"

"Wha-? Oh, you mean the Christmas dance tomorrow night," he reasoned, then a thought hit him. "Wait. That's an unusual way to act nervous, smile and wink flirtatiously...!!" he realized, becoming very puzzled.

She took a few moments to collect her thoughts, then took a deep breath to calm her nerves and said, "Nah, don't even give that a second thought, actually... And yes, I'd love to go with you tomorrow night!"

"Whoa-whoa-whoa-WHOA, wait just one nanosecond-!! How in Einstein's name-?! Wait, what-?!" Jimmy began sputtering, hardly believing what he'd just heard, "Did- did you just give me an affirmative response?!"

Tabitha just laughed flirtatiously and nodded in agreement, "Precisely! And by the way, would you like to study ahead for next semester together at your place??"

It only took him a second or two to realize how fortunate he became at that moment, then he jumped up in the air and pumped his fist a few times, exclaiming triumphantly, "ALRIGHT!!! YES, YES, YYYEEEESSS!!! My luck with females is FINALLY changing for the better!!" Once he'd gotten that out of his system, he calmed himself down and cleared his throat, then apologized, a little embarrassed, "Um, heh-heh, sorry about that, Tabitha... It's just that I've had no luck with girls throughout my ENTIRE existence!!"

Once she got over the initial shock of his little outburst, she just giggled and told him reassuringly, "Don't worry about it! So, would you like to study ahead with me, Jimmy??"

"You bet I would! Let's go, then!" Jimmy heartily agreed, and walked down to his place with her, their hands joined the entire time.

Once they arrived, the two took a seat on his living room couch, opened their books, and right away began their studies, sharing info about themselves every so often. They were so preoccupied with it, they didn't realize how late it got, and eventually fell asleep leaning against eachother around midnight, their books still laying open from studying so hard...

A couple hours later, Tabitha woke up from a nasty dream, breathing heavily, then realized she was okay. She carefully sat up, so as to not awaken her sleeping partner. The motion made Jimmy stir a bit and lay on his side opposite her, but still remain asleep. "Whew...," she quietly whispered to herself while she gathered her books silently and cautiously loaded them into her backpack, "I'd hate to wake him up accidentally; he told me he's a heavy sleeper and doesn't like to be disturbed... Hmmm... I wonder what that other cutie is up to...!" Once she was finished, she carefully got up and tiptoed to the front door, then quietly made her exit and shut the door behind her.

Jimmy never awakened from her exit, but Goddard, on the other hand, with his ultra-sensitive hearing built into him, did hear Tabitha leave; he saw her do so, as well, since he had access to the various security cameras placed throughout the house. But being the considerate robotic canine companion he was, he didn't wake his master for it; he just accessed her FaceBook page and kept himself alert to any suspicious updates she made. He'd just alert his master about it once he'd officially awakened the following morning. However, he did creep downstairs and use his tractor beam to transport Jimmy back upstairs and put him in his bed without waking him up, using his robotic arms to gently pull the covers over him as he slept. Goddard then returned to his nightly post and powered down, still keeping a background check on Tabitha's FaceBook activity throughout the night despite that.

The following morning, Jimmy awakened and got himself ready for school, as usual. The bus ride there was rather uneventful, but once he arrived and headed inside to his locker, he noticed something very peculiar... Tabitha never came to greet him there like she'd said she would the previous afternoon. He just shrugged it off, figuring she likely caught a cold or was doing some last-minute studying, one of the two.

Sheen had witnessed the two of them at the end of the school day the previous afternoon, and spread the word like wildfire throughout the school, and it wasn't long before Carl, Libby, and Cindy, especially, knew about their relationship...

Just before class started and exams began, and after nearly everyone was seated, Cindy leaned over to Jimmy and questioned, "Um, Jimmy? Shouldn't you be with Tabitha, since you two are a couple now? Where is she, anyway??"

"Wha-?! How'd you know about that, Cindy?!" he nearly sputtered out of confusion, "And how should I know?? She left my place while I slept in the middle of the night, I suppose... Haven't seen her since last night."

Upon hearing about his friend's previous night, Sheen's eyes grew huge, then he got a horny look on his face and snickered, "'Last night'?! Ooooo!!!" He then proceeded to rest on his forearm on his desk as he leaned forward a bit and complimented him, or so he thought, whistling about the whole matter, "Whoa, dude!! You lucky dog, you, Jimmy!!"

Libby happened to notice her boyfriend's immature behavior, so she scolded him, "Sheen!! Shut it, or I'll do it for ya!!"

"Sorry, babe!" he admitted, cowering a bit.

"Yeah, Sheen, knock it off, will ya?! That never happened, okay?! We were just studying!!" Jimmy additionally snapped at him.

That was Tabitha showed up to class, followed almost right away by Nick. The moment she saw Jimmy, she hurried to the rear of the classroom; he couldn't help but notice how disheveled she looked with her hair roughed up and her clothes a bit out of place. Nick had a similar appearance to hers, as well, and he, too, rushed to the rear of the classroom when he saw Jimmy. The genius couldn't help but wonder if the two of them were trying to hide something from him...

Throughout that morning, every time he attempted to approach or talk to Nick or Tabitha, they either ignored him or ran a short distance away from him, acting very nervous the whole time.

At lunch, the two sat at the entirely opposite end of the cafeteria than Jimmy and his friends did, only serving to increase his suspicions... His friends observed the exact same thing, and were equally suspicious... After a few minutes of silence, Libby was the first to speak up, saying, "Man, somethin' really fishy is goin' on with Tabitha and Nick... Why do they keep ignorin' ya, Neutron?!"

"Got me, Libby! But I have a very strong suspicion they're trying to hide something from me...," he noted cautiously.

"What do you think it could be, Jim?" Carl asked him, concerned for his best friend's emotional well-being.

Jimmy was about to respond, but an alert on his watch grabbed his attention. "Hold that thought, Carl. Goddard's sending me a message...," he informed him, entering some data into his watch. Once he was finished, however, what he saw utterly shocked him to the core: raunchy images on Tabitha's FaceBook page of her and Nick from the previous night! He went through only a few images to realize the full extent of what he was seeing and what had went on between them, then excused himself from the table for the rest of the lunch period.

When the final exam came around a little while later, and just before it began, Cindy looked over at him and saw he had tears in his eyes, then wanted to know, "Jimmy, is everything alright? What's wrong??"

Jimmy just held up his hand to silence her and continued to look down at his desk, even as the exams were passed out.

She looked at him for a few more moments in deep concern for him, then, realizing that Tabitha had something to do with his emotional state, looked back at her in the back row and gave her a "death glare". She just cringed slightly in response, then began her exam shortly after most everyone else did, except for Jimmy, oddly. He didn't start his until five minutes later, due to his emotional grief, yet he managed to finish before anyone else, being the genius he was, of course.

This gave him twenty full minutes to silently grieve while everyone else finished theirs, resting his elbows on his desk and covering his face with his hands.

Cindy finished hers second, then turned to him again and once more asked what was wrong, with him yet again giving her the cold shoulder. This really puzzled her. Just WHAT could be causing Jimmy so much emotional trauma?! she wondered, Man, if Tabitha has anything to do with how grief-stricken he is, I am SO gonna let her have it!! He doesn't deserve this!

She and his other friends continued to ask him what was the matter and why he was so depressed throughout the rest of the afternoon after school let out, but he kept giving them the cold shoulder every time. Most of them finally gave up after a few tries, but not Cindy. She kept a close watch on him with her binoculars for quite some time, a few hours, at least...

Before she knew it, the big dance was just an hour away, so she got herself ready for the big night, even though she wasn't going with anyone. She drove there thirty minutes later, not really expecting much drama, though she did remember in the back of her mind how depressed Jimmy had been the whole afternoon, and felt that might play a part in something big that evening. She just didn't know what.

Upon entering the decked out gymnasium, Cindy couldn't help but notice that he was already there, sitting on the opposite side of the gym, hunched over with his face in his hands again, and it looked to her like he was sobbing. She then made a mad dash over there and took a seat next to him on the provided padded benches. The moment she reached over to comfortingly pat him on the back, she was taken aback when he immediately hugged her tightly, tears still streaming down his cheeks. Once they let go of eachother after a few moments, she tried one more time to ask what was troubling him so much, and right then, Jimmy finally relented and told her everything, not leaving out a single detail.