Chapter 1: Grandpa Garcia

The date was August 24th, just 12 days before summer vacation was over, and Isabella was about to receive some sad news from her parents. She had just returned home from Phineas and Ferb's house after an amazing day of inventing, hanging out, storytelling and slipping into Phineas-Land, so she had a little spring in her step as she walked through the door. "Hey mom, it's me" she said gleefully whilst shutting the door. Vivian was sat in the living room with a tissue in her hand whilst letting out little sniffles and sobs; she hadn't heard Isabella come in. Isabella heard the faint sounds of her mother's sadness and ran immediately to her aid; "my parental comforting patch will surely help in this situation" she thought to herself. "Mom, what's the matter?" Isabella said in an almost whisper, "are you hurt?" Vivian looked up suddenly to see her daughter stood beside her with a concerned look on her face, so she wiped her eyes quickly whilst pulling herself together as best she could. "Oh, Isa" Vivian began, "I didn't know you were here, Mija". She sniffled again slightly and hid her tissue inside of her sleeve; Isabella knelt down in front of her whilst taking her hand. "Mom, what's happened? Please tell me" said Isabella endearingly. She rubbed her mother's hand whilst trying to force a smile in order to get Vivian to explain everything; she hated to see her mother so upset. "Cariño (sweetie), your father's had some bad news today" said Vivian in a shaky voice; "it's Grandpa Garcia". Isabella pretty much knew what was coming next even though her mother hadn't finished her explanation yet; she sat up straight, took a deep breath, and braced herself for the news. "Grandpa passed away this afternoon" explained Vivian; "he collapsed at the market and fell into cardiac arrest".

Isabella's Grandpa Garcia lived in Mexico and was her father's father; she hadn't seen him for a long time due to living so far away from him, but the news did shock and hurt her as it was so unexpected. She took a second to compose herself despite forming little tears in the sides of her eyes, but she needed to be strong for her mom. "Oh mom, I'm so sorry" she began; "where's Papá? Is he okay?" Vivian took hold of her daughter's dainty hands and squeezed them tightly; "Papá's had to go away, Isa" said Vivian tearfully; "he left abruptly this afternoon on the first flight he could catch". Isabella didn't quite understand what she meant; why did her father have to leave Danville so quickly? "What do you mean, mom?" Isabella asked; "where has he gone?" "Mija, he's had to go to Santa Fe (Mexico City) to sort out a lot of paperwork for Grandpa" Vivian explained. Isabella had never experienced a death in the family as Grandpa Shapiro and Grandma Garcia passed away before she was born, so she didn't have a clue why her father had to suddenly pack up and do paperwork in Santa Fe. She sat and thought for a moment before realising what Vivian meant; her father was Grandpa's only living relative, so he had to go away to sort out funeral arrangements and other important issues. "Oh" Isabella said finally, "when will he be coming back do you think?" Vivian looked at her daughter blankly; she honestly didn't know how to explain this whole mess to her at such a young age. "Isa, he won't be coming back" Vivian finally managed to say; "we will be going to him". "Oh, you mean for the funeral?" asked Isabella innocently. Vivian shook her head whilst tears streamed down her face. "Grandpa will already be buried, Mija" she explained; "he's being buried tonight next to your Bubbe (Grandmother)". Isabella did not understand any of this; she knew that a lot of Jewish people got buried on the same day of their passing out of respect for the body, but she also knew that they make exceptions sometimes to allow family members to attend the funeral and pay their own respects. "I don't know what you mean" said Isabella in a shaky yet frustrated tone; "why isn't Papá coming back to Danville?" Vivian hated this entire situation as she knew how hurt her daughter was going to be after the conversation, but she took a deep breath and let it out. "We have to move back to Santa Fe, Isa" she eventually blurted out; "your Grandpa's house is in such a bad way, there's no one left to take over his business, and your father simply wants to be back in Mexico for sentimental reasons".

Isabella had never been so shocked in her entire life, but that shock soon turned to sadness and an internal rage. "W-we have to leave Danville? L-leave the country?" Isabella stuttered. Vivian saw the light leaving her daughter's beautiful blue eyes as she uttered those words, and her heart broke to see her in such a bad way. She knew how much Danville meant to Isabella, and she knew how badly she was going to miss her friends and the entire neighbourhood. She moved a strand of hair from Isabella's face and held her cheeks in her hands lovingly. "Mi niña hermosa (my beautiful girl) I am so sorry" said Vivian quietly; "Papá is determined to run Grandpa's business and mend his home to make up for not visiting him often enough". Isabella could understand her father's motives to an extent, but to move away from the life they'd built for themselves in Danville only to throw it all away again over a guilt trip didn't sit right with her. She was always a very loving and empathetic person, but her love of Danville had become too strong for her to bring kindness anywhere near this situation. "W-what?!" Isabella nearly shouted; "move back to Santa Fe? But I haven't lived there since I was a baby!" Vivian saw that Isabella was panicking and tried to calm her down, but she couldn't be restrained or reasoned with due to how shocked she was. "I can't leave Danville!" shouted Isabella; "What about school? And the Fireside Girls? And my friends? And what about Ph-". She ceased her shouting suddenly as she realised she wouldn't only be leaving her school, troop and friends behind, but she'd be leaving Phineas too. Vivian had always known about Isabella's affection towards Phineas, and she watched achingly as Isabella's eyes welled up with tears. She attempted to comfort Isabella but was too late as she'd already sprinted her way upstairs to her bedroom; she felt like the worst mother ever. Not only was she asking her daughter to move away to other country with a new school, friends and climate, but she was asking her to leave behind the most important person in her life.

Isabella was heartbroken; she was curled up in her pastel pink sheets which were now laced with tears and angry words. Phineas was her best friend without a doubt, but he was also the only person to ever give her butterflies and make her happy beyond belief. Despite being able to make her ridiculously happy, Phineas also caused Isabella immense pain. Even though she'd been given numerous patches and awards for her bravery and confidence, she could never pluck up the courage to tell Phineas how she truly felt about him as she worried what it might do to their incredible friendship. What if Phineas didn't feel the same way? How would their friendship manage to carry on after her confession? What if he never wanted to see her again due to the awkwardness between them? These thoughts raced around in Isabella's mind whenever she's tried to tell Phineas how she really feels. She didn't consider herself to be a pessimist whatsoever, but whenever it came to that sweet little triangular boy she always jumped to the worst conclusions! She had no idea when she had to leave Danville, but what she did know was that she needed to tell Phineas everything before she left forever. She tried to rationalise everything in her head whilst she wept, but she wasn't in the right frame of mind to do so. She couldn't even think of a good way to tell Buford and Baljeet that she was moving away, let alone Phineas. "Get it together, Fireside Girl" she whispered to herself; "a stupid crush shouldn't stop you from moving away with your family". The problem was it wasn't just a stupid crush, it was far from it. Stupid crushes were when you simply wanted to be around a certain person 24/7 to make them fall for you in dumb ways, but Isabella wanted more than that. She obviously loved to spend time with Phineas, and she definitely wanted him to fall for her, but she never wanted to manipulate him into doing so. All she wanted was for him to be happy, and spending time with the gang doing ridiculous things all summer seemed to make him happy, so that's what she did. Isabella let out a saddened sigh before she stepped out of bed to change into her pyjamas. She lay awake in bed as her anxieties were getting the better of her; how was she going to explain all of this to her friends?