Thanks to every one that has left a review or viewed my story so far. I really appreciate all of you. In my mind, this story takes place within the pre-established canon. I work within what we already know, but there are some gaps that I have filled in my head in a certain way. In order to successfully tell my story, I feel that I have to fill those gaps, so the next 2-3 chapters will be expositional. I hope that this will still keep you entertained.

Disclaimer: I do not own Phineas and Ferb

" It all started during a lunch period in March of our sophomore year. As usual, I was eating lunch with Buford, Ferb, and Baljeet, who was on break from his college courses. The conversation eventual turned towards a topic every one at the table wanted to keep from me, but Buford…"

"Hey I couldn't resist. I thought that it was funny that after all those years you still didn't realize what you could have, but I don't think I handled it properly."

" Come on guys," Django began, " can we try being a little more straightforward with our storytelling for once."

"Fine, hey just because I am telling you this story doesn't mean that I still do not want you packing my stuff." Django continued where he had left off, but Buford began to protest, "hey why should I help you Phineas? You're not paying me."

"You owe me Buford. I've been doing 'favors' for you the entire school year."

Buford blushed a deep crimson and then silently began to pack alongside Django.

"Okay, where was I…"

March 28th, 2018

12:15 pm

"Hey did you hear that Devon asked out Isabella after their soccer game last night?"

Ferb gave Buford a death glare; they had just had a conversation about this before Phineas arrived at the table. Ferb thought that it would be a good idea if Phineas did not know about Isabella's possible interest in someone else. Baljeet had agreed and Buford had 'agreed' as well.

"Why the hell would he say that?" Ferb thought to himself, " we were having an engaging conversation about aglets and he just decided to drop that bomb on my poor brother; even after I told him not to do it."

Baljeet and Ferb shared a glance. They knew that the conversation was about to go down a road that they didn't like.

Phineas had the same wide-eyed astonishment that he had shown after the twist to last summer's Space Adventure IX (The droid was the dark lord, who saw that coming?). "Devon Garcia? That's the guy on the soccer team that Isabella won't stop talking about." All four of them sat there quietly for a while exploring their own thoughts.

Phineas was uncharacteristically distraught. For reasons unknown to him at the time, Phineas did not like the idea of Isabella dating Devon. Lately, he had not been able to stop staring at Isabella in the classes they shared. Instead of listening to the lecture on Pythagorean Theorem in Geometry, he was busy trying to successful draw Isabella's head in his notebook. When they were told to brainstorm for a paper in English, the only thoughts that passed through Phineas' head were ways to make Isabella happy. He had asked Ferb and his friends what this all meant, but they told him that this was something that he had to figure out on his own.

In reality, they all wanted to tell Phineas the truth; Isabella used to have a huge crush on him during their childhoods and his feelings were finally catching up with hers, but that is exactly what Isabella had told them all not to do last winter.

February 17th, 2017

11:30 am

In her living room, Isabella had gathered Ferb, Buford, Baljeet, the former Fireside Girls, and Irving to express her wishes.

"I'm over Phineas; I can't sit around and wait the rest of my life for him to lose his obliviousness, so I want everyone here to make a pact to never tell Phineas about my former little crush on him."

"Little is a subjective term," Ginger whispered to the rest of the troop. This made all the girls begin to chuckle.

"Hey, I heard that"

"Sorry Isabella," Gretchen began, "but it's hard to take this seriously because it feels like we've had this conversation multiple times over the years. You gather us all together to say that you are over Phineas, but in the end we convince you to continue to persevere." Everyone else in the gathered group except Buford and Irving nodded their heads in agreement.

" I guess I'll go first then," Adyson began, "Isabella…"

"I'll just stop you right there Adyson. Guys there is no going back this time; Valentine's Day just proved that.

Buford and Irving knew exactly what see was referring to and grimaced.

"Wait what happened on Valentine's Day?, " Holly inquired.

Isabella sighed and bowed her head in defeat. Irving noticed, "I can tell the story if Isabella doesn't mind."

"Go ahead Irving."

February 14th, 2017

4:30 pm

"This is a nice card Isabella!"

Isabella had walked to Phineas' locker to hand him a Valentine's Day card that had "Be Mine" written in huge red letters surrounded by at least a couple dozen hearts.

Buford and Irving were at their own lockers looking at the events that were unfolding.

"There is no way that he can miss that completely unsubtle hint," Irving whispered to Buford.

"Don't be so sure nerd; he's missed clues that were more obvious than this one."

Phineas looked at the card and then back at Isabella multiple times; eventually, a light bulb seemed to go off and he knew exactly what to say. "Don't worry Isabella; I'll be your friend for the rest of our lives."

Irving was stunned, but Buford had seen it coming. "Wow, poor Isabella just got friendzoned," he whispered to Irving.

Isabella silently nodded and feigned a smile. "Well, I'll see you tomorrow," with that Phineas walked down the hallway. When he turned the corner, Isabella sat in front of the lockers with her knees curled up to her chest and began to cry. Buford and Irving sat on opposite sides of her and placed their hands on her shoulders.

"It's going to be alright Isabella; one day Phineas will…"

"No, Irving he won't; he will never see me as anything, but his friend. You two heard him. I'm done with Phineas; I will no longer pine for his affections. I'm done!"

And with that Isabella began to sob uncontrollably again. Buford felt pity for her; no crush was worth this amount of pain, "Maybe it's for the best Bella. If he hasn't seen it by now, it's not worth it. You're better than this Isabella."

Isabella smiled with tears still in her eyes, " Thanks Buford. You're right it's time to end this silly pining for Phineas."

February 17th, 2017

11:45 am

The rest of the group was stunned by what they had just heard.

"Isabella, I'm sorry; I don't know what else to say," Gretchen said with clear embarrassment on her face.

"It's okay Gretch you didn't know."

Ferb stood up, " On behalf of my stupid brother, I am sorry. Buford is right it's time for you to move on with your life. If anyone has any objections to Isabella's request, speak now." The entire group just sat still without speaking a word, " Okay then, its decided; none of us will every mention Isabella's former crush on Phineas."

"Don't worry Isabella," Milly said," it'll be like it never happened."

March 28th, 2018

12:25 pm

After thinking through the group's long silence, Phineas was finally able to speak again,

"Buford, what did she tell Devon?"

Buford immediately seemed to regret opening his mouth in the first place, but he had to tell Phineas the truth now, " Isabella said she wasn't sure; she said that she would be able to let him know after school today."

"Buford," Baljeet asked, " how do you know all this information?"

"Oh come on nerd! If there's one thing I am always in the loop on, it's gossip."

Phineas looked like he was in deep contemplation. Ferb was growing increasingly concerned for his step brother, "Phineas, are you okay?"

After a long pause, he finally spoke up, "No, no I'm not." He didn't want to let his friends know about the internal debate he was having about his feelings for Isabella, so he decided to lie, so he could leave and find a quiet place to think. " I just remembered; I promised Dr. D that I would meet with him to talk about possibly tutoring a student. I guess I'll catch you guys later."

As Phineas was standing up, Baljeet was having his own back and forth, "Should I tell Phineas the truth about Isabella's crush on him?" After a few more seconds of thought, he concluded that it would be the right thing to do. "Phineas wait…"

"Yes Baljeet."

"Phineas, I have to tell you something that I should have told you a long time ago." Baljeet glanced at the two boys that were still sitting at the table. Buford was mouthing, "Go on tell him", but then he looked at the individual that he respected more,Ferb. He saw Ferb simply shake his head 'No'. One day Baljeet was going to let Phineas know about Isabella's former crush on him, but today was not that day. " I got accepted for that summer internship at Harvard. I'm super excited about it."

Phineas forced a weak smile, " That's great Baljeet. We'll have to celebrate some time this weekend. Bye guys!" The three boys waved at Phineas as he turned around and left the cafeteria.

When he was sure Phineas was out of earshot, Buford turned over to Baljeet and let him have it, "Oh come on Baljeet, why did you chicken out?"

"Ferb let me know that it wasn't the right time."

Buford glanced at Ferb who just shrugged his shoulders and continued eating his ham and cheese sandwich.

"When will it be the right time then Ferb? It's almost the end of sophomore year; if we wait too much longer, it will be too late for them."

Ferb swallowed his sandwich and spoke, "Look Buford, I want to help my brother out, but I also want to respect Isabella's wishes. It saddens me that we can't tell Phineas, but if we tell him about the former crush, Isabella is going to unleash that judo patch on us."

Baljeet thought and then spoke when an idea finally popped into his head, " How about this? If Isabella and Phineas are still single before college and they still haven't figured their relationship out, we'll tell Phineas the truth."

"Oh, Buford likes this. What would be our deadline?"

"How about… the day one of them is leaving for college. If they haven't figured it out by then, one of us will… no I will tell Phineas the truth. What do you think Ferb?"

"Plausible deniability," with that Ferb got up from the table and left the cafeteria.

"Oh, ignore him Baljeet, so how would you tell him."

"I would bring up the conversation by telling him the college that Isabella is going to; if he really has feelings for Isabella at that point, that simple statement would get the ball rolling."

"Wow that's brilliant Baljeet."

"That's why I'm in college and you're stuck in sophomore classes." Baljeet started chucking, but then he saw that Buford had crossed his arms and had a scowl on his face. "Oh no, I didn't mean it. Don't give me a wedgie when I am wearing this underwear; I just got them last week. Ahh!" Baljeet got up and ran out of the cafeteria like a prey avoiding its predator. Buford simply grinned, " Some things will never change."

May 21st, 2021

1:45 pm

"I'm still surprised that the plot that Buford and Baljeet concocted in that cafeteria is what finally got me and Isabella together."

"Yeah, but honestly you were too dense to figure it out by yourself."

"Hey, come on Buford. I did figure out my feelings for Isabella that very afternoon."

" Yeah, are we actually going to get to that," an obviously annoyed Django began, "Phineas this is nowhere close to the straightforward storytelling that I told you to adhere to."

"It's not that bad Django."

"Phineas, at one point there was a flashback within a flashback within a flashback. I don't know how well your English teacher taught you how to craft a story, but that is not straightforward storytelling."

Phineas glanced at Buford, "the man has a point Phineas; did your story really require all those sidetracks."

"Those sidetracks helped build the narrative, but I will try to stay more on point now. Alright, here we go Django this is the story of how I realized that I was in love with Isabella. "

Please let me know what you thought.