The Summer had come to an end. Phineas and Ferb had made their last big invention the day before. It was Phineas's idea of course, and Ferb had done most of the building. They had gone back to Hawaii with jets, which they had built specifically for the journey.
Using the volcano as heat, the boys roasted two giant marshmallows. They gave one to the people in Hawaii and the other they chopped up and gave to everyone in Danville. Phineas had saved a couple extra pieces to make smores with the gang.
The next morning was the first day of eighth grade. Phineas and Ferb were sad that the summer was over, but expected that school year to be pretty good. They planned to make small inventions whenever they could. But today they hadn't done anything. Since it was the first day, they had to get the feel of the average school day. They noted how much time they had at lunch and in the mornings before their classes began. Right now, Phineas, Ferb, Baljeet, and Buford were in their Algebra class.
Phineas was currently rubbing his cast and listening to the teacher talk about what to expect that year.
All of his friends had signed their names on the hard red canvas. All except for one. She hadn't talked to him since the day he had broken his arm... the day he had kissed her.
"Don't forget tomorrow there will be a quiz." The class gasped and started chattering to one another.
"WHAT? But we just got here!" Buford yelled.
The teacher looked him in the eye. "No yelling."
Buford stared at her. "You might as well get used to it. 'Cuz I'm not stoppin'." He crossed his arms.
"Then I'm sure we will become great friends." The teacher, who looked like she was in her early thirties, stood in the front center of the class with her hands behind her back.
Buford widened his eyes. "No... no I'm perfectly fine with this student-teacher relationship."
She smiled. "Then consider shutting your mouth."
"Trust me... that's never going to work."
The whole class was listening in at this point.
"Then I am going to look forward to seeing you after school every time it happens." She continued on just as confidently as she had started.
"Me too." Buford smiled and winked, making her frown. The class laughed.
Phineas smiled. He knew Buford was just messing with the teacher. He found it quite funny.
"Anyway..." She turned around to face the projection screen. The class watched her flip through a slide show about herself, classroom rules, and what she would be teaching that semester.
Baljeet took notes. He was seated beside Buford.
The bully scowled at him, but Baljeet was too busy writing down the teacher's birthday to notice.
Phineas sighed again and looked down at his cast.
Why hadn't she talked to him? Every time he had seen her today she had looked at him with this... face... and then walked away.
Ferb was sitting a few tables away, since the teacher had seated them. If they had gotten to pick where they sat then they would be next to each other.
The green-headed teenager knew very well that there was something wrong with his stepbrother. Every few minutes Ferb would turn his head to make sure that he was alright.
"Okay everyone. That's what there is you need to know for now. The bell should ring any second now. Uh... I guess you can talk QUIETLY amongst yourselves. Note that I said quietly."
Baljeet jotted down something.
"I will be at my desk if you need me." She clapped her hands together, seeming pleased with herself. The class immediately started talking to one another.
"Nerd! You didn't have to write down her whole life story." Buford elbowed Baljeet in the side.
"Ouch! What was that for? I wrote it down because I might need it in the future!"
"For what?"
"Well, for instance, I could give her a birthday gift. Or perhaps congratulate her on her wedding anniversary."
Buford scowled. "Her wedding was in the Summer, dork!"
Baljeet smiled mockingly. "You will be regretting you said that later on this year when I wish her a happy anniversary and get extra credit."
Buford frowned. "Whatever!"
Around them, girls gathered in groups and some boys messed with them and others stayed off to the side. Phineas was still seated at his desk, studying his cast. His brother had been watching him from his desk. Ferb got up and walked over to the worried boy. He sat in the empty desk next to Phineas.
"Why the sad face?"
Phineas looked up at Ferb.
"I'm not really sad, I'm just... confused."
Ferb listened closely. He had always been a good listener. Even when he didn't want to hear what they were saying.
"Is it about Issabella?"
Phineas looked at him with worry in his eyes.
"She hasn't even tried to look at me. Is there something wrong? Is it something I did? Did I kiss her... wrong or something? What did I do?"
Ferb smiled and gave him a pat on the back.
"I'm sure its just the first kiss jitters. You will be over it in no time."
Phineas managed to put a small smile on his face. He blushed a bit. "Yeah. First kiss jitters." The bell rang, triggering a stampede out in the hallway. The other teenagers in their class headed out the door.
Buford and Baljeet walked up to the inventors and the four headed into the hallway.
They waited by the library for Issabella. The number of students in the hall went from over four hundred to about twenty, not counting the four boys. Phineas searched around frantically for Issabella. He spun around in different directions, turning his head left and right.
Buford leaned over to speak to Ferb. "Is he alright?"
Ferb stared worryingly at Phineas. "He's fine."
"Is he hallucinating?" Baljeet wondered.
Ferb frowned. "No. He's worried about Issabella."
"Oh yeah I forgot." Buford stood up straight. The three watched Phineas. He checked everyone.
"Nope, no, no, uh-uh, nope, nope. No way! No, no, oh hi Gretchen." She looked at him sadly.
"Phineas? If your looking for Issabella, she took the bus." Phineas's mouth hung open. "Why?"
She pushed up her glasses. "Um... she didn't say. She looked sad all day today but she wouldn't tell me what it was." Gretchen pulled her backpack up more on her shoulders.
Phineas looked over the girl's head to the back doors where the buses departed.
"Has she left yet? I need to talk to her." He stood up on his tip-toes to see through the glass doors.
"Yeah the buses left a few minutes ago. But... why do you need to talk to her? Did you do something bad?"
Phineas looked her in the eye. "Well... If you consider kissing her a bad thing then yeah... I really screwed up."
Gretchen's eyes grew twice as large as before. "YOU DID WHAT NOW?" She squealed. "Finally! Oh my God I thought it would take you an eternity to get the gist!" She jumped around. Phineas stared.
"Oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh! This is worth putting in the yearbook. Everyone is going to be so amazed! Front page: Phineas Finally Gets the Picture!" She waved her arm in the air, imitating the front page line. Phineas raised an eyebrow.
"Ok so, yeah... but, why is she not talking to me?"
Gretchen's excitement died. "Right. Forgot that part. Um... I have an idea, but I think you need to talk to her about it. My input isn't going to help if you don't even know if its true."
"How do talk to her?"
"Have you tried calling her?" Baljeet jumped in on the conversation.
"That's the first thing I did. I called her almost ten times this week and she hasn't answered. Then I tried going over to her house,"
"Desperate." Buford interrupted. Phineas glared at him and then continued. "But then her mom always answers the door and says that she's busy. She never came over after the Ferbtastic Fuzz Machine. She didn't even come to see the last big invention. And everytime I've passed her in the hallway today she just ignores me."
Gretchen shook her head and covered her mouth. "That's not like her. She loves seeing you, Phineas. There's never been a day when she didn't want to see you. Something must be really wrong." Phineas looked at her worryingly.
Then his face lit up. "Hey! I know what we're gonna do on the way home!"
Ferb smiled. His brother was... somewhat back.