WARNING: Major Ferb dialogue commin' atcha!

So, yeah, enjoy chapter two!

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Engaging Nightmare

Chapter 2

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Ferb's POV

The rain beating against the window was more peaceful than it was last period. I was forced to stop the trip to my locker to stare out the glass and up at the dull, cloudy sky; it was almost possible to smell the rain as it flooded in though the open doors of our school; that clean and refreshing scent not many people could appreciate.

It hadn't started raining up until my last period class, which was my eighth. Surprising as it sounds, I was offered an eighth class and gladly accepted. That turn of events certainly provided a target for Phineas, also Candice when she found out.

At these zings, which were not intended to ever hurt my feelings and never did, I countered sarcastically back with how they should watch their tongues in front of the next millionaire of America.

They laughed, fully aware that it was nothing more than a joke.

Involuntarily, I reached to press my fingers onto the cold glass beside me. My fingertips singed under the layer of freezing mist. It was somewhere around thirty degrees outside, and I'd forgotten to put my jacket on that morning.

I sighed, wishing I hadn't left it in my car.

For a moment I focused only on tracing the pattern of a circle into the glass repeatedly, trying to figure out what all things needed to be retrieved from my chaotic locker.

The clock loudly struck the fourth hour, bursting my concentration.

Quickly I picked up my load of books that rested on the floor, which had been placed there what felt like hours ago rather than a few moments.

The only thing running through my mind as I jammed all the hefty books into my dark-red backpack, slammed my locker door shut and made my way out to the car was how I would at least pretend to be angry at Phineas if I caught him outside running track in the rain.

While in the safe capacity of my Toyota Camry, sheltered from the rainfall, I shook my head roughly. My upholstery was soon wet with drops of water that dove from my messy hair.

Before my brain could even process what was going on, my silver key was rammed into the ignition, awakening the roars of the motor, and I drove as hastily and carefully as I could to Danville's public school.

--

The school was so much smaller than mine. Its library was about the size of each of my classrooms. It was easily determined that not much money or time was spent on the construction. The bricks needed a coat of paint, and some of the letters had fallen off the directory boards, such as the one in front of the football field that read, "Go D--vi-le Co-ga--!"

I had to admit, it was quite pathetic.

For the second time, I stepped out into the pouring rain. A wave of slight relief swept over me when I saw that the track field was deserted. Hopefully, Phineas was inside, waiting in the same spot as always: the main lobby.

I sprinted to the doors so fast that dirty rain water splattered onto the heels of my khaki pants. It was going to be hell getting home without dripping water all over the place. It didn't take me long to reach the entrance of the school, seeing as I didn't need getting any more wet than I was. My hair had already begun to soak my back and shoulders; I was sure my pale skin was slightly showing through the white shirt.

As soon as I opened the heavy door (which was painted the same color as the school, an off-white) I could see Phineas sitting on the far end of the hall. He sat in a chair against the wall, face buried into what appeared to be a Biology book, and seemed totally oblivious to the sound of the door banging shut.

Casually, I strode over in his direction with my hands shoved deep within my pockets. My shoes squeaked annoyingly the entire way, yet he didn't so much as bat an eyelash.

Soon I was only a foot away from where he sat, dripping water all over the floor and staring blankly down at him.

There was no way he was that interested in Biology.

Growing a bit impatient and bored, I raised my right hand and thumped him slightly on his left temple. He jumped a good estimation of five inches out of his seat and spun his head in my direction so fast I though his long, red hair would slap him in the face.

"Good Lord! Where did you come from!?" he yelped.

"My car. Are you ready to go?" I wasn't in the mood for small talk. It felt as if my bones were dripping as well. I liked the rain, I just didn't like it on me.

Slowly he inspected me from head to toe. "Why are you all wet? Is it raining outside?"

"Oh, no. I just decided to go for a swim before picking you up." I chuckled.

He furrowed his bushy brow and shook his head. "If you say so."

"Are you ready to go?" I repeated, keeping my voice far away from the edge of annoyance.

"Yeah." With a swift motion, he bent down to pick up the mountain-like stack of books sitting next to his chair.

"Why do you have so many books?" I asked with a tilt of my head. As soon as he had a firm grip on all of them, I began to walk back towards the door. He was only inches behind me.

"Well, Coach said if I don't get my grades up I'll be kicked off the team, right?"

I nodded. Phineas hadn't always been the brightest one in the school, or even in the Flynn/Fletcher home. Easily, I recalled him storming into the house one afternoon after a practice, griping about how he didn't have the proper grade-point average to stay on the track team. This was only a couple days ago.

He continued. "Isabella promised to swing by this afternoon and help me out with some of the things we've been working on lately."

As I held the door open for him, I noticed an Algebra book; my mouth operated much faster than my brain could.

"She's helping you with Algebra?" He turned to look at me. "Isn't she…adequate in that class?"

Luckily, for me, he wasn't offended about me insulting his girlfriend's intelligence. A slight chuckle escaped him. "Actually, yeah, she's got a D in that class, so I was wondering if you could help me out in that department," The crooked grin on his face quickly swapped to a pleading beam.

"Alright." I stated. We walked to the end of the sidewalk, just under the canopy, to stare into the sheets of rain. "I'll help just as soon as I finish mine."

"What's yours?"

I paused a moment, mesmerized by the sound of the water hitting the pavement. "I have a narrative essay due for Creative Writing."

"Due when?"

"Monday. It's a weekend assignment."

There was a slow inhale, then a yawn. "So, what do you plan to write about? Any ideas?"

"Only one: a love story."

"Ah…Well, you're lucky! All you have to do is write a love story. I have to study all weekend."

"It wouldn't be so bad if you had studied a little each day."

"Yeah," he snorted. "I'm being lectured by 'Mr. Perfect!'" Playfully, he nudged me in the arm, which I rolled my eyes at.

There wasn't a thing about me that was perfect.

We stood and stared out into the rain for a few moments. I'm sure he was as aware as I that we both were just trying to put off running out there for as long as we could.

Finally, he pulled his electric blue jacket tight around his frame. "I guess we'd better hurry. It sure doesn't look like this rain'll let up."

I nodded a 'yes', and within seconds he had darted out from under the awning and was several yards in front of me.

I was caught off guard, yet stood in place.

When he was halfway to the car, I chuckled quietly to myself. He may have been ahead of me, but I had the keys.

--

Phineas' POV

It was only a ten or fifteen minute drive from my school back home. As Ferb guessed, Mom was angry about our being soaking wet. She proceeded into asking us questions: me why I didn't carry an umbrella, and Ferb if he just stood out in the rain before picking me up.

A sly look spread across his face after that particular question, and I guessed something like that had happened.

The two of us did the same as we always did after coming home from school, emptying out the load of books onto our beds and getting started on the mind-numbing homework.

Well, at least, for me they were mind-numbing. Ferb always managed to finish his homework before me, even if his stack of books were twice the size of mine.

It felt like only a minute Ferb and I were sitting on my bed, pencils in hand, nose inches away from a piece of paper, when my step-brother slammed a text book shut and grunted triumphantly.

"You're done!?" I could almost feel my eyes widen in disbelief as he stretched out his arms above his head.

"Yes. It was only Trigonometry." he said in a bored tone.

"Trigonometry?" I slid my hand through my red hair. "I can't even do basic Algebra."

For a moment I though, watching him stack his books. I slid my hand to my red and yellow Algebra book and picked it up casually. "Would you mind taking a crack at this?" I tempted as I waving the book slightly in my hands.

He stared at me a few seconds; his thick, green hair covered up his right eye, but I could tell by the look in his left that he wasn't going to go for it.

"You know that I can't do that."

"Aw, come on! I'll bet you'll be great at factors!" I teased, grinning ear to ear.

"Gah! No, I mean, that's outrageously dishonest!" He shook his head. "And besides, if I do all you're homework, how will you learn it and teach Isabella."

A confused look flashed across my face. "Help Isabella? What do you mean?"

Until a couple minutes, only to stretch again and lay down across my bed, did he answer. "Well, she offered to help you with all of you're classes. Do you not think it's only polite to help her raise her grade? You are her boyfriend."

His words flowed almost as if they had been planned. But, then again, everything he said seemed that way. My face grew hot as a blush spread across it. From the look in Ferb's eyes, I could tell he had meant for me to be embarrassed.

"Eh…Y-you're right," I stuttered. "It is only fair." Slowly I clutched the book to my chest, trying to control the amount of blood rushing to my head.

Ferb chuckled in that musical voice of his, just causing me to look in a different direction as my face grew hotter.

I opened the book and began to look over the section we had studied in class, as he continued to lay in a position that looked like he was napping.

We both remained silent, listening only to the sounds of the rain pounding against the window to the left of us.

Before breaking the silence, I cleared my throat. "Hey, could I ask you something?"

He tilted his head in my direction, making the bedspread sigh, though kept his eyes closed.

"That all depends upon what it is."

"What type of cologne do you wear?"

In a heartbeat, he bolted upright. His eyes were wide open now, staring at me as if I had just sprouted another head.

"Alright, I do believe I will move into Candace's old room!" I had to grasp his wrist before he managed to flee from the room.

"No! Wait a minute!" It took everything I had to keep from laughing, but I failed miserably. "I was only asking for this girl in my school!"

Directly after the words left my mouth, he stopped tugging at my hand around his arm and slumped back down on the bed. He groaned, "What..?"

"There's this one girl in my Biology class who wanted me to ask you that. I think her name was Rebecca…"

"Rebecca who?"

I had to think for a moment. "Rebecca Nelms?"

At first I didn't think he heard me, seeing as he only stared at me with an annoyed expression. Then, he sighed deeply and buried his hands in his face.

"What's wrong?"

He didn't answer, so I thumped him in the temple the way he had done to me earlier.

When he took his hands from his face, I repeated the question.

"Rebecca Nelms is the younger sister of Andréa Nelms?" he asked.

"I…think so," I didn't really pay attention when the girls in my class talked. That may have been why my grades were so low.

He pinched the bridge of his long, slim nose. "She's the same girl who shoved that note into my locker last week."

I couldn't contain the chuckle this time. Ferb glared at me as soon as he heard it.

"Note? And what exactly did it say, Oh Popular One?"

Instead of answering, he yanked his Chemistry folder (which was sitting at the bottom of the stack) out and took a folded piece of paper from somewhere inside of it.

He unfolded it and handed it to me.

"Ugh! It reeks of perfume!" I scowled in disgust and held it a few feet from my face with my index finger and thumb.

"I know…If you think that's gross, read it."

The handwriting was some of the most beautiful I had ever seen; it closely resembled the style on the Declaration of Independence in my history book.

I read it to myself, still holding my nose though it made my eyes water:

Dear Ferb,

I, like, love you so much! Youre so hot and you have the cutest acent Iv ever heard in my life! Plus youre totally the smartest boy and best looking in school!

I was wonderin if you would go out with me! Wed make such a cute couple, the way we dress the same every day!

I had to stop at this point, realizing that my laughing wasn't mental and fully audible to Ferb.

"Did she write that you two 'dress the same every day?' Does she realize that everyone in that school has uniforms?"

He rolled his eyes. "Yes. Amazing she made it to the twelfth grade, eh?"

"I'd say it's amazing she made it to high school!" The spelling errors were all too obvious.

This comment made him chuckle. "And that isn't even the worse part," he told me. "Keep reading."

Again, I raised the paper and picked up where I left off, reading aloud this time.

"…I really would love having you as a boyfriend! I'm sure you'd like me as you're hunny-bun!" I chuckled again. "If everything works out, we can grow up and get married and live out in the country all by ourselves! Wouldn't that be romantic!?"

By this time, Ferb was back to lying on the bed; his hands covered his entire face in shame and humiliation.

"…Love, yours always, Andréa Nelms."

I folded the note back up and placed it atop his books. The stench of her perfume still lingered on my hands. I scrubbed them against the quilts as best I could to rid of the smell.

It went away, though not completely.

"Creepy, isn't it?" he asked in a muffled voice. It wascreepy. Just the fact that this girl went so far as to add a fragrance to her letter was disturbing enough. But when I read the words "hunny-bun, married, and romantic," it just made me want to laugh even harder.

"Sounds to me like you've got a stalker." I teased.

He scoffed, removing his hands from his face. "The worst part is, I've never even met that girl in person."

"That does suck." I flipped my math book back open to the correct page, having it been shut whist I was reading the 'love letter.' "So are you going to answer my question?"

He sighed tiredly. "What question?"

"Rebecca's question: what cologne do you wear? You can't expect me to show up Monday without an answer and not get mauled by her, do you?"

"Oh, yeah…" He slowly sat up. Those loose strands of hair hung in his face; he brushed them behind his right ear. "Fine. I'll tell you. But you have to promise not to laugh!"

This somewhat caught me off guard. "Why?"

"Just promise, okay?"

I shrugged. "Okay, okay. I promise."

Before answering, he coughed into his hand. "Axe."

He said it so quietly, I struggled to hear the words. "Pardon?"
"Axe." he repeatedly a bit louder.

I blinked. The irony of what he said was slowly building up inside, making me want to burst out in hysterics. Instead, I huffed and said, "That's awfully coincidental."

"Why?"

"You've seen the commercials for it, haven't you? That may be why you're getting all those date proposes." I explained to him while grabbing a clean sheet of paper from my folder.

"Ugh…Let us not go into detail about that…" He cringed. He flopped back down on the bed and closed his eyes.

I chuckled vaguely. "Sounds good." My pencil moved rapidly as I began to work out a difficult math problem, involving multiple letters and exponents. My brain began hurting just seconds after I began.

A long time ago, I realized that there were two types of people in the world: there were people like Ferb, who focused mainly on their intellectual side and didn't worry much about physical activity, and people like me, who would most likely be going to college on some sports scholarship.

We were both the opposite in that way, both crafted entirely different. Ferb was ridiculously slim, incredibly limber, and even faster than I was.

However, I was muscular with a medium built frame, stiff, and somewhat on the short side. He wasn't anywhere as strong as I; if I wanted to, I could probably lift him a couple feet into the air with ease, and he'd only throw out his back if he tried to do that with me.

It wasn't until my mind was actually focusing on the Algebra work again that I noticed I had drawn multiple pictures all over my notes page. Quickly I crumpled it up, threw it over my shoulder and retrieved another.

I was almost halfway through the problem when our bedroom door opened, and Isabella's head poked in through the crack.

"Hey, guys!" she chirped in her high pitched voice. She was covered nearly head to toe in rain droplets, though she was wearing a pale-pink coat with her hood up that shielded her ebony hair.

I was startled again by Ferb, who shot up and slid off the bed in a record time of three seconds. It terrified me; I had honestly thought he had fallen asleep.

"I think I'll go start on my essay now."

"You seem to be in a hurry." I mussed, resting my chin in my hand as a curious frown etched into my expression.

He smoothed the wrinkles from his silk shirt, undid his black tie, and slung it onto his bed across the room. "I wouldn't want to be a third wheel."

Before I even had a chance to say otherwise, he was walking past Isabella, who had begun to take off her coat.

She quickly turned to face him as soon as she was stripped of her wet garment. "Oh, hello Ferb!" she gushed.

He turned his head to face her. "Isabella." he chimed sweetly, beaming.

I could see a color of salmon-pink splash across her face. "You certainly look nice today…" She trailed off into a hushed voice, suddenly finding the buttons on her blue shirt interesting.

Ferb stared at her for a moment with a confuses look. Just before he left the room, he grinned awkwardly, moving at a much faster pace than usual to the stairs.

Isabella chuckled again, then pranced over and sat on the bed; the exact same spot my step-brother was sitting maybe thirty seconds ago.

"Umm…" I began uneasily as she directed her attention to me. "Were you just hitting on my brother?"

She blushed again, but in a much brighter tone. "Of course not!" she squeaked and quickly looked away. "I only said he looked nice."

I rolled my eyes. "You don't have to lie. I'm sure he knows, too." My comment only made her scoff.

"Besides, you've got all the man you need right here!" I raised my left arm and pulled back the sleeve, revealing a small bulge of muscle. "Now, how could you possibly want to stare at him more than me?"

Shaking her head, she giggled. "You're an idiot."

"And you're the one who has to tutor me!" I smirked and took her hand that lied upon the bed in mine.

"Now, do you think you could help me out with this Biology?"

--TO BE CONTINUED-----

Yes, fictionally, Danville's school mascot is a cougar. Just adding a little spice to the soup.

I'm hoping you've all noticed how Ferb is a bit chattier than when he was ten, eh? After reading the first chapter, I noticed how unconditionally boring his life was while in school. This should have added a little more interest rather than him just explaining everything he fells. And we got to step into Phineas' shoes! -woo!-

It's late; about twelve thirty. I think I'll hit the hay.

Please review, and I'll give you hugs!=)