| abstract | - “Looks great, Ferb!” Phineas looked up in admiration at the new thing they were building; a giant piano. It was great that there were so many kids there. They could play so many songs on it! As he thought about this, he realized they would need a ladder. Or an anti-gravity tube slide they could slide to the top! Or- beep, beep, beep, beep. The beeping coming from the sky was a bit random, but Phineas couldn’t help but think about how cool it was that a group of ten-year-old kids could do such amazing things like this. Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep. “Okay, what in the world is that-”THUMP! Ow! Phineas looked up at the ceiling. Great. I just fell out of bed. The beeping was coming from the alarm clock. Phineas had dreamed of that summer six years ago. But now he was a mature high-schooler. It was a week into the second term, and it was time to go back to Danville High School for another day. Oh, man! The next dance is in three days. Boy’s choice. Phineas had skipped every dance that year. Ever since they were young, Phineas had liked Isabella as a friend, but ever since High School started, it was different. He desperately wanted to ask Isabella to every dance, but he lacked guts. Let’s give this another try. I’ll ask her for sure this time!! Phineas walked down the hall at a quickened pace. It was already lunch and he hadn’t asked yet. Lunch is a good time to ask. I mean there’s so much going on that not too many people will notice, right? Phineas sat down with his friends at a circular table. Looking around, it was great to know that their friendships had lasted this long. His best friend (and stepbrother) Ferb, Baljeet, Django, Buford, and Irving occupied all the seats that Phineas wasn’t at the small table. Django took a bite of his pizza slice. “I asked Adyson Sweetwater to the dance on Friday,” he said triumphantly. Baljeet patted him on the back. “As you all know, Mishti moved to Danville last summer. She is going with me!” The conversation went on in this manner. Buford was going with a girl he had met a few months ago named Daisy Hillcrest, Ferb was going with a girl he remembered from England named Brigit Marks, and even helpless nerd (but still great guy, don’t get me wrong), Irving, was going with Ginger! All eyes turned to Phineas. Dang it. Irving stood up. “Are you not going again?” He said in disbelief. Phineas’ face was burning red. “No, Irving! I’m asking Isabella!!” “As in, you have yet to ask her?” Baljeet chimed in. Phineas shrank in his seat. “Yes.” “Well, lunch isn’t forever, dude. And I know that there are more than a couple others who want ask her.” Buford said. Ferb smiled from across the table at Phineas. Django held back a giggle. “Get a move on, Phineas!” he teased. Phineas stood up, his face still aflame. “I’ll ask her right now! Watch!” He said boldly. Buford leaned back and crossed his arms across his chest, smirking. Phineas looked around for a brief moment, looking for Isabella. He found her. She sat with her friends from the old Fireside Girls troop, along with many others. Many, many, others. Phineas gulped. He walked the first few feet and froze. I can’t do it! He looked over at his shoulder at Ferb, who gave an encouraging double thumbs-up. Ferb was such a great brother. Phineas took the last few steps to get to the table where she sat. “Hey, Phineas!” Isabella said with a sparkle in her eye. Phineas stood with shaky hands. It felt like his tongue had shriveled up in his mouth. He couldn’t say it! Isabella, being a girl, was able to read his nervousness. Of course, any one could. His face was so red it looked like he was choking, and he had sucked his lips into his face so far that he looked like a fish. His hands were vibrating by his sides. Could this be it? Is he going to ask me to the dance? Isabella thought. Maybe that was it! He was having a hard time. I’ll start him off. “Watcha doin’ Friday night?” she asked. Phineas stood there. Well, I hope I’m going to the dance with you! Will you? If only it was easier to say what was on his mind. “I- I- I’m…” Darn! Every single girl there was looking at him, waiting for him to say something. “I… think I’m just doing a puzzle at home.” The words flew out of his mouth like a jet. Oh, man!! “Oh.” Isabella said. She bit the tip of her tongue for a brief moment. “Okay. Have fun.” “Yeah.” Phineas said quietly. All the girls sighed as he walked back to his table. “What did she say?” Buford asked him with the same expression he had had when Phineas had left. “I- I didn’t ask!” Phineas said, now realizing how much he regretted not letting his thoughts be what he ultimately said. Baljeet reluctantly slapped a five dollar bill into Buford’s now open palm. Phineas threw his hands up in the air. “You made a bet on this!?” Baljeet rested his head on his fists. “Yes. I thought for sure you could do it!” Buford chuckled. “I will win next time!” Baljeet said with a pointed finger. Phineas had to ask Isabella to this dance. He had to! Friday evening at about 8:00, Perry sat in the cage, all tied up. He listened to Doofenshmirtz ramble on as he did almost every day. Perry had come to realize it was most polite to wait until Doofenshmirtz was finished introducing his “inator” to escape. “Behold! The Say-What’s-On-Your-Mind-Inator!!!” Doofenshmirtz shouted. He always shouted the name. “As you know very well, my brother, Roger Doofenshmirtz, is the mayor. I go to all of his stupid speeches, but it’s only because my mother wants me to support him, but I know when he sees me sitting there in the crowd he is thinking awful things about me. So I plan on shooting him with my inator, so my mother will finally see! Roger was always the favorite, but today, things will change!! But the effects only last about ten minutes, so I might have to shoot him two or three times per speech…” Perry thought a giggle. He knows this won’t work, right? Perry burst out of the trap with ease. “Perry the Platypus! How did you escape?” Doofenshmirtz pointed to the cage and rope pieces scattered on the floor. Perry did his classic ninja kick on the side of the inator, right on the self-destruct button. That thing made his job so much easier. The inator fired a vivid green laser off into the distance, and then exploded in a grand display of red and orange light. Perry rode the shockwave of the blast off the balcony, opened his parachute, and gently floated down to the ground. Doofenshmirtz’ next words echoed behind Perry. “Curse you, Perry the Platypus!!” It was now 8:30 on Friday, and the dance had started an hour ago. And where was Phineas? At home, looking through the puzzles since he had failed in asking Isabella to the dance. Again. He picked up a box with a picture of a starry sky and a snow-covered field. 500 pieces, and 400 of them where bound to be part of that sky. This one will do. He sat on the couch and stared at the box in his hands. Buford’s words from earlier today bounced around in his head. “I know there are more than a couple of others who want to ask her.” Who did she end up going with? Phineas thought. Hey, it’s obviously not me. Maybe… she said no to the next one to ask? There’s nothing wrong with going across the street and asking at the last minute, right? Phineas looked hopefully out the front window. The curtains were closed, but the lights were on in Isabella’s room. Could it be? She’s home still? Phineas dropped the puzzle on the coffee table and ran across the street. He got to the front door of the home of the Garcia-Shapiros. He cautiously rang the doorbell. Mrs. Garcia-Shapiro answered the door. “Hola, Phineas! Looking for Isabella, are you?” Phineas could do nothing but nod. “I will bring her to the door. No te muevas, Phineas.” Phineas stood in the doorway and waited. Suddenly, a flash of green light cut through the darkness and hit Phineas in the chest. What in the-?! “Phineas?” Isabella’s voice stopped the question he was asking himself short. Phineas’ face turned a brilliant crimson once again. “I wanted to know if you were going to the dance tonight.” Phineas blurted out. What on Earth? “You were?” Isabella smiled. “Yes, and I was thinking you weren’t… you know, just because you’re still home. Will you consider going with me?” What is going on?!? “Well, sure!” Isabella beamed. “Phineas, I had no idea you had it in you to ask!” “I didn’t either.” Phineas whispered to himself. Isabella said, “Well, I need to get ready… You might want to do the same.” Phineas looked down at his denim shorts and orange-striped shirt. “Yeah. I look really ridiculous. I should have gotten dressed in something nicer before I even asked.” Isabella giggled. “Okay, then. See you in about five minutes?” “Uh-huh.” Phineas said with wide eyes. He began to cross the street to return home to dress. “How is this happening?” he thought out loud. He entered the house and went upstairs into is bedroom. “What am I going to wear? I have never gone to a dance before! What do I even have that-” he opened the closet and was caught off-guard by what he saw. It was a tuxedo hanging neatly on a hanger, with a pink carnation sticking out of the front, and a perfect, white handkerchief poking out of the small pocket. Underneath it sat a pair of shining, black shoes and a pair of lint-free, black socks. With shaky hands, Phineas reached into the closet and pulled out the fine clothing. A yellow sticky note stuck to the top button. The note read: Phineas opened up the jacket. “Oh, no. There’s a cummerbund.” Phineas said quietly. He slipped on the tuxedo and went downstairs. Just before he went through the front door, he looked at himself in the mirror in the hall. His red hair was sticking up in six directions. It grew that way, it would be impossible to fix it. He looked at the silky black cummerbund around his waist. “They’re all wearing one. All of them are wearing one.” He assured himself. He took one final breath of air from inside the safety of his home, and stepped outside into the night. He ventured once again across the street. He rang the doorbell and tugged with one finger at the collar of the fancy shirt. Isabella’s mother opened the door again. “Phineas, you look so… handsome.” She said after briefly looking him over. “Personally, I think I look a bit silly.” Phineas said, looking and the cummerbund again. “Come in, Phineas. Isabella should be down shortly.” Phineas stepped inside and smoothed down the sides of the tuxedo jacket, even though Ferb had left them as smooth as they could have possibly been for him. “Isa! Phineas is here!” Mrs. Garcia-Shapiro called up the stairs. “Coming, Mom!” Isabella began walking down, each step creaking briefly as she did. Phineas leaned to his left and stood on the toes of one foot to see her coming down. She was wearing a simple pink dress with a glittering, silvery ribbon across the middle. Her shoes and hairband sparkled in the same manner as this decoration. THUMP! Phineas landed on his shoulder. “Ow! Darn! I need to stop falling down!” He said as he got up. “Are you okay?” Isabella asked. “Yeah. But, I mean, you look absolutely stunning.” Phineas said. Isabella’s cheeks turned a little pink. “Thank you.” “You’re so lucky you don’t blush as intensely as I do.” Why was he suddenly saying everything he thought? “Oh, I’m going to now!” Isabella teased as she covered her cheeks with her hands. “We should get going. The dance ends in about an hour.” Phineas said. Isabella nodded. The two went out the front door and began to walk down the street towards the High School, which was, fortunately, close to their homes. Phineas and Isabella walked into the Gymnasium, where the dance was taking place. Phineas looked around and noticed that, just like Ferb had written, every boy there was wearing a cummerbund. Phew! Isabella listened to the music for a moment. “I know this song!” “Would you like to dance?” Phineas said with a grin and an outstretched hand. Isabella smiled and turned pink again. The two danced, with a serious lack of grace, side to side (you know that neither of them had really danced before). As the song ended, Phineas looked slightly to his right and saw Baljeet, Buford, and Ferb (with their dates) sitting at a table close to where Django and Irving were dancing with their partners. Ferb smiled and pointed to Phineas. Baljeet and Buford looked at him and sat a moment with their mouths agape. Ferb held out both of his hands palms up to either side. Baljeet and Buford both put Ferb’s winnings into the hand closest to them. Ferb held up two five dollar bills triumphantly and smiled knowingly at Phineas. Phineas chuckled. The rest of the evening went by wonderfully. Phineas and Isabella laughed whenever Ferb and Brigit danced near them, because not only were Phineas and Isabella not very good, but Brigit and Ferb were both amazing dancers. The punch had “miniature cucumbers” in it, and Phineas’ and Isabella’s group of friends joked that they were just pickle slices, all rinsed off and put into sprite. The dance wrapped itself up at 9:00, and the teens in the friend group went back to Phineas and Ferb’s house and did Phineas’ ridiculous puzzle, laughing all the while since all 400 of the starry pieces looked the same, and all 100 of the snowy pieces looked the same. Around 9:45, people started leaving to get home. Phineas walked Isabella to her house across the street. “Thanks, Phineas. That was great.” Isabella said. “You’re welcome. Thank you for saying yes!” Phineas replied. Isabella gave Phineas a light peck on the cheek. “See you at school on Monday.” Phineas nodded. “Uh-huh.” Isabella closed the door behind her. Phineas smiled and turned around to go down the steps leading to the porch. But, of course, he fell. Sideways. Right into the grass of Isabella’s front lawn. Ow. He stood and brushed himself off. What a great night! I’ll ask her next time for sure! MORE STORIES COMING SOON!
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