Chapter 1

1 Week before 9th Grade

Phineas' POV

A small ray of light peeked through the window, landing upon my cheek. Being a light sleeper, that was enough to have me stirring to my consciousness. I smiled, using my finger to trace the warm spot on my cheek and lay it there.

Normally, I would have been up and out of bed by this point, especially seeing the few days of summer that Ferb and I had left before school in the Tri-State Area started back up. However, I wasn't feeling quite like myself today. I wasn't sure how to put it, really, but it just wasn't… me. Besides, Ferb had been "nagging" me to let him sleep in a couple days this summer before we had the set schedule that school brought.

I inwardly chuckled. Nagging… More so silently advising, perhaps. As I've said before, he's more of a man of act- well, I couldn't say that here, either.

I rolled over in bed in an attempt to hit the cool side of my pillow with my cheek. For some reason, I had never realized just how comfortable my bed was until this moment. I was suddenly grateful that my parents insisted on a Sleepie Kids mattress so many years ago, because the softness of it was really helping today.

Just as I was about to doze back off, I heard a faint clatter followed by Candace's signature scream. My eyes instantly opened as if on command, and I sat up in bed. Even though I was completely dazed, I wanted to know what was going on.

Slowly, as if not to stir my still-sleeping brother, I tiptoed out of the room, leaving Perry behind on my pillow. Candace was already out of her room, panting heavily. She giggled gaily and leaned against the wall, biting her lip and twirling a lock of loose hair. Needless to say, she looked like a madman.

"Uh, Candace?" I raised one eyebrow quizzically. "Did Jeremy call you?"

She bobbed her head side to side. "Hehe, no! I got my acceptance letter into Maryland U. A couple weeks from now, and you guys will be outta my hair!"

"Gee. That's great, Candace!" I exclaimed. "Full ride, I'm guessing?"

She shook her head, not letting her spirits down. "Nah, just undergrad courses. I can get my bachelor's, and maybe after that I'll look into law school. I told you, I wanna be an attorney of law."

"I thought you wanted to be a singer," I pointed. "I'll assume you changed your mind, then?"

"Yeah," she chuckled. "But it's for the better. Being a singer was blowing things wayyy out of proportion. It would be like saying that you were gonna become a fashion designer or something."

"Hey, don't say that. Remember when I made that fashion show back two summers ago?"

She groaned. "Never mind, Phineas… I'll just shut my mouth."

"Okay, big sis. So, when do you start again?"

"A few weeks from now. September 14th will be my first day. The only thing I'm not looking forward to is saying goodbye to Stacy and Jeremy. That will be the worst part about college." Her brows furrowed suddenly. "I don't know what I'm gonna do without Jeremy."

"Ah, it's okay," I consoled. "Just imagine what friends you'll make while you're away. It'll be great, Candace!"

She sighed, the corners of her lips twitching. "You're so happy-go-lucky, Phin."

I shot back an appreciative smile. As much as she seemed to complain all the time, I knew she really didn't mean anything. Candace loved Ferb and me, and as I've said before, she's the best sister someone could have.

Now that I was awake, I headed downstairs in my pajamas. Candace followed a few steps behind, her slippers making small scrape sounds across the hard wood floor. I took one extra-large leap down the last three steps and nonchalantly headed into the kitchen, where I could already smell Mom's eggs cooking.

Mmm, Mom's eggs…

An accidental creak on the floor gave it away that I was up and out of bed. My Mom turned around, apparently not surprised, and welcomed the two of us warmly with a, "Good morning." Naturally, we returned the greeting.

She was about to turn back around and go along her merry way, making us breakfast, when something caught her attention out of her peripheral vision. Gradually, she spun back, her eyes narrowing in the process. My red-headed mother tapped her pointy chin as she scanned me up and down. It felt almost as though she was judging me, though I doubt she would have ever done anything of the sort.

My cheeks flushed slightly, but not enough for anyone to see. Scratching my collarbone, I asked, "Everything dandy, Mom?"

She pursed her lips together and crossed her arms in a ladylike manner. "Phineas… does that shirt feel a little tight on you?"

Raising one eyebrow, I responded. "No, not tight. My shirts are a little loose, actually. They're just kinda… Kinda-"

"Short?" she interjected.

"Yeah, kinda short."

She chortled sincerely. "Is that why you've been wearing your pants up extra-high for these past few weeks?"

Wearing a stoic expression, I responded with, "Yeah," once again. Buford had asked the same thing the day before, and I had given the same response. My ordinary striped shirt was also getting rather short on me, but I chose not to say anything about it. Mom probably already assumed such anyways.

"Phineas, I'm not sure if this is the best time to mention it, but we may want to go out for clothes shopping this afternoon. Do you think that's okay, hun?"

I raised one eyebrow. "Clothes shopping? Wasn't I nine years old the last time we went for clothes?"

She nodded very matter-of-factly. "Yep. I wonder if you'll actually be able to fit in any of the clothes from Krazy Kids anymore. You may have to shop in the teen department. Oh, we'll have so much fun, Phin!"

As much as I adored having some quality time with my Mom, I couldn't help myself but feel out-of-place. I was really itching to go out and invent the new Interactive Tennis Court with Ferb today, but this would get in the way of creating anything. That would mean Isabella, Buford, and Baljeet wouldn't be able to come over this afternoon and enjoy an activity and a possible slice of pie afterwards. It would just be me, Mom, and Ferb, all shopping for new clothes. The awkward thing was, Ferb already got a couple sets of purple slacks and his school uniform, which meant the whole shopping thing was for me.

Ah, no worries, I told myself. Without any warning, I headed back upstairs to get dressed for the day. Opening the door to the bedroom Ferb and I shared, I headed straight for our shared dresser and pulled out my usual striped shirt. My arms slipped through the holes with ease. However, I soon ran into a hitch – my head.

I quickly realized that my head was not going to fit over the hole any more. As much as I struggling and forced the shirt over, I could not get the collar over my nose. In fact, even sliding the top over my eyes was a fight in itself.

It took me quite a while, but I just simply gave up. There was no way that the shirt was going to fit anymore, so I figured, Why should I bother? I grumpily threw the crumpled shirt to the side out of mild frustration. I'll just find one of Ferb's things.

I could hear very, very weak snickering from behind me. Naturally, I turned back around to see what was mocking me. Sure enough, my best friend brother was now awake. He was sitting upright, holding the quilt of his bed up to his nose, hiding an obvious smirk. The rarely-seen mischievous look in his eyes gave the laugh away completely.

"Ha-ha, very funny," I joked sarcastically. "Yeah, my head's too big for my shirt." I crossed my eyes and blew a raspberry.

He was still wearing that grin.