She leads me inside, swiftly walking through the courtyard and to my favorite class: Physics.

What is she up to?

She knocks on the door; on the other side someone stirs. There are several footsteps, then the door is unlocked. I glance at Isabella, trying to catch her eye. Gretchen is standing in the doorway.

"Come in, you two," she says with a smile. My brows knit together out of confusion. Isabella smiles reassuringly up at me. I step in first, seeing nothing in the darkness of the room.

What's going on?

I hear the door close behind me and I turn around to face Isabella, who is closer than I thought. She takes a deep breath, snapping her fingers. A slow song starts from nowhere (Why I Love You- Major), and the room lights up slowly. I'm startled by it. Isabella wraps her arms around my neck, leaning in deep. My arms give up on the directions from my brain, slowly holding her waist and swaying her back and forth to the music. She is blushing deeply as we dance. Near the end of the song, she lifts her head to meet my gaze.

"I have something to tell you," she says slowly. I wait patiently, totally oblivious.

She hesitates, taking another breath. "I like you, Phineas." I smile, not fully understanding the concept of the situation.

"I like you, too, Isabella," I say. She lights up.

"Really?"

"Yeah," I say, "as best friends, right?" Her entire disposition changes. Her mouth is open, but no words come out.

"I..." she says dropping her head, "y-yeah. Best friends. That's it. Just friends." She turns and exits the room, leaving me stunned.

"Good morning, class," Mr. Wilson calls cheerfully. "And happy last-day-of-school to you all." We're in first period math. And instead of doing math-related things, he lets us do what we want, so long as we don't get too out of hand. Isabella and I are sitting side-by-side in the desk. I notice she isn't as talkative as usual. She hasn't so much as cast a glance in my direction.

Strange.

"Hey," I say trying to break the silence between us. "What's wrong?" I nudge her arm. She doesn't reply.

Doubly strange.

For the rest of the period, Isabella just sits there doodling on a sheet of notebook paper. The period bell rings, and we collect our things to leave. I'm distracted for the next few periods. Finally, at lunch everyone sits at our usual lunch table. Isabella hasn't shown up yet. We exchange our greetings and begin to eat.

"Hey, Gretchen," I say. She turns her attention from her phone to me. "Where's Isabella?"

She shrugs. "I haven't seen her since this morning."

On instinct, I reach for my phone, speedily typing a quick text to my best friend.

Phineas: Hey. Where are you?

I finish my lunch and wait for the response. The end-of-lunch bell rings. Our table disperses; Gretchen is the only one that remained.

"Where is she?" I wonder aloud. Gretchen shrugs again.

"She seemed pretty upset this morning," she comments. I don't reply right away.

"Yeah," I say. "She said she had something to tell me, this morning."

"What was it?"

"She said, 'I like you,'" I say, still not grasping the hidden message, "I said that I liked her back, you know, as best friends, of course."

Gretchen was stunned. "You said that?"

"Yeah," I say, "that's what she meant, right?"

"Oh, no," she whispered, barely loud enough for me to hear. "Izzy..."

"What?" I stop in the hallway, turning to fully face her. "What did I do?"

She fumbles with her hands for a moment while trying to find the right words.

"Phineas," she begins slowly, "what Isabella really meant was that she like-likes you, a lot."