-Chapter 4-

Isabella's Musings

(In Isabella's house)

Oh Phineas, I wish I could figure out what's going on in that triangular head of yours. Thought Isabella. He's been so sweet and kind and caring this past year, but he's always been that way. Yet lately, it's seemed different. He's been acting differently towards me, in multiple ways. Like on the first day of school…

(The first day of 8th grade)

Isabella's POV

It was the first day of school. Honestly, I had mixed feelings about it. I mean, it's always great to learn new things. I do pretty well in my classes, there are some great extra-curricular activities, and my classes would provide plenty of challenges to overcome. But on the other hand, in so many ways, school has nothing on summer. Spending most of the day in a building instead of outside, having extra work to do even after being done at school for the day, and most of all, not having nearly as many amazing inventions from a certain redhead boy, my triangular savant, Phineas, were some of the reasons why. Still, on the plus side of that, if he's less occupied with his inventions, maybe I'll get to spend more time with him.

I was just organizing my locker and putting a couple of things away after classes were done for the day. Then I happened to turn and look at Phineas, two lockers down from mine. I noticed that Phineas was looking right at me, and I think his cheeks were just a little red. Is Phineas… staring at me? Could Mr. Oblivious actually be noticing me? Hmmm. I could be overreacting. I'm gonna try something and gauge his reaction.

"Hey, Phineas. Whatcha doin'?" His face turned redder. Oh my gosh, he's actually blushing!

"Umm, j-just thinking," he replied.

"Hmm," I said, thinking. I'm not entirely sure I buy that. He sounds a bit nervous, and that's not like him. I wonder… "Whatcha thinkin'?" I said, smiling. His face turned even redder. Wow, he's acting really unusual! Could he have been thinking about me?

"I was thinking about how great it is having you as a best friend, Izzie!" He replied, smiling.

I felt my heart drop a bit in disappointment. There he goes again, referring to me as just his best friend. I really shouldn't be sad about that, I should be happy to have such a sweet and loyal friend as him, even if he doesn't get my feelings for him."Aww, thanks Phineas! That's so sweet!" I said, smiling again. Still, that doesn't seem like something worth getting so embarrassed about. I can tell he's hiding something. Could he possibly be starting to like me as more than a friend, or even best friend? It almost seems too good to be true. I've come to expect that he wouldn't return my feelings for another couple of years at least! I promised myself that I would give him until the end of our freshman year in high school. If he doesn't tell me by then that he has feelings for me, then I'll tell him about my feelings for him by the end of the following summer. Still, that promise doesn't prevent me from trying to find out if he likes me…I narrowed my eyes a bit. "Is that all you were thinking about?" I asked in my best innocent voice.

His face turned red again. "Umm, y-yeah, why?" He said, scratching his ear.

Ah-ha! He's scratching his ear. He only does that when he's hiding something. He's so cute when he's nervous! I walked a few steps closer to him and crossed my arms, smirking. "Phineas Flynn, I have known you for how many years, and you think I can't tell when you're lying or hiding something? Spit it out, what's on your mind?" I said. I was calm on the outside, but inside I was so anxious to know what's got Phineas so nervous.

"Well, I-I, um," he began, then stopped and shifted his focus to something behind me. I was too preoccupied to really take note of this though.

Come on, what is it? "You what?" I said, and then yelped in surprise as my locker door slammed shut noisily behind me. Yikes! What the heck was that?! I turned to see a boy standing at my locker, grinning smugly. Short brown hair, athletic build, arrogant attitude. Looks like a textbook stereotype jock. But what the heck was up with slamming my door like that? Talk about rude! Right away, this guy rubbed me the wrong way. I decided to do my best not to be rude to him. I try not to be rude to people in general, but it's not a good idea to get on my bad side, and this guy was off to a bad start.

The jock spoke up. "Hey Izzie, how's about you and me go out and do something together, just the two of us, get this school year started right?" he said, still grinning smugly.

Wait, what?! Did this jerk seriously just ask me on a date? Right after scaring the living daylights out of me? I don't even know him! And he called me Izzie. Only my best friends get to call me that! Okay, calm down a little, remember that Phineas is here, so don't get too mad and don't say anything to give away how you feel about him. Okay, you can do this Izzie. I spoke up, knowing that my irritation was showing but unable to do anything more about it. "First of all, only my best friends can call me Izzie, and I don't even know you. Second of all, how about not? Like I said, I don't even know you, so I'm certainly not going to go out with you! On top of that, I can already tell that you're so not my type. So the answer is no!" Okay, so that was probably a little rude. Ugh, this guy is getting on my nerves though!

The jock spoke up again. "C'mon, I insist. It'll be a good time. I'm not gonna just take no for an answer." Excuse me?! This guy's being a pain as it is, but now he's actually got the nerve to press the matter after I said no? Just how full of himself is this guy? If Phineas weren't here, I'd have told him right off the bat that I'm taken, and left it at that. I mean, we may not be a couple, but in effect, I am taken, because no other guy is going to win my heart. I'm so ticked at this guy now though, and I'm about to tell him that, regardless of the fact that Phineas is here. I don't know what else to do.

I clenched my fists and opened my mouth to reply, but to my great surprise, Phineas stepped in! "She already said no. And I'm pretty sure she meant it, so you should just leave her be," he said. Oh. My. Gosh. Phineas Flynn is standing up for me! Standing up to a guy way bigger than him, at that! Phineas actually sounded… I don't know, angry? Upset? Hostile? I couldn't tell for sure, I had almost never heard any negative emotion in Phineas' voice before. Only a couple times, and only when he was under a great deal of pressure. For a moment, I was just taken totally by surprise, but then I couldn't stop a huge smile from breaking out on my face as I looked over at him, practically overjoyed that he was defending me. If this weren't a serious situation, I think I'd faint.

The jock looked surprised too, then sneered at Phineas. "Stay outta this, shrimp. Nobody asked your opinion." Oh no he didn't! He just called my Phineas a shrimp! Okay, stay calm, you can do this without losing your cool.

I glared at the jock, and then turned to Phineas and smiled at him sweetly. "Oh Phineas, would you please share with us your opinion on this matter? I said.

He replied, sounding amused at first, but then becoming serious. "Well Isabella, now that someone has asked my opinion on this, I think that since you have already clearly refused his request, he should respect your answer and leave well enough alone," he said, sounding almost cheerful at first, but his tone quickly grew serious as he directed his words to the other boy, making it clear that the answer to my question was directed at him.

The boy glared at Phineas. "Look, I'm warning you, stay outta this, or I'll soon fix your wagon!" Oh, that does it! Being rude was bad enough, but nobody threatens Phineas and gets away with it!

I was getting really mad and might've said something I'd regret later, but before anything else could happen, I heard Buford's voice behind me. "You try to fix his wagon, and I'll break yours," Buford said. Wow, now Buford's stepping in, too? This surprised me even more (But pleased me less) than Phineas standing up for me.

That doesn't even make sense!" the other boy retorted.

"It doesn't have to, I've got a monster truck!" Buford replied, grinning evilly. I noticed that the boy was starting to look a little nervous, and for the first time since he got here, he didn't look totally arrogant. Finally! About time something threw him off!

"And the advantage of numbers," added Ferb's deceptively calm voice. I don't know Ferb as well as Phineas does of course, but I knew him well enough to sense the subtle threat in his voice, and see the slight glare in his eyes. He was none too happy with the person threatening his brother. The other boy didn't know Ferb, but like everyone else at school, he had probably heard of Ferb. Despite not being familiar with Ferb's manner of communication, the threatening undercurrent of Ferb's voice communicated itself perfectly well. I could see that the other boy was more worried by Ferb than Buford. Smart of him. Ferb is someone you most certainly don't want to mess with. And you really don't want to mess with his brother.

"W-Whatever, you're not worth my time anyway, girl. I'm outta here," the boy said, turning and leaving hastily. Okay, even if he's just being a jerk, that still stings a little. Ugh, that guy is such a creep!

I clenched my fists and opened my mouth to make an angry retort, but I stopped as I felt Phineas' hand on my shoulder. "Isabella, forget about him. He's the one who's not worth your time." He said. I sighed. He's so sweet. I'm starting to feel better already. Still…

"I know, Phineas, it's just, that whole thing was so frustrating, and then he goes and makes a remark like that. Even if he was just being a jerk, it still hurts a little, y'know?" I said.

"Yeah, I know." He replied. "But don't let it get you down. Just keep moving on and Carpe Diem!" He said, pumping a fist in the air. I giggled in reply. I get the feeling he did that just to make me laugh. He always knows how to cheer me up, and he's so cute when he gets all enthusiastic.

"Thanks Phineas, I needed that." I smiled a little shyly and was now blushing a little, thinking of what I'm about to do. "Thanks for standing up for me, Phineas. It was really sweet of you." I said, then hugged him. I sighed again. I get such a warm, happy feeling whenever I'm in contact with Phineas. After a few seconds, I started to pull away, but then I realized he was still holding on to me tightly. This was surprising, but I certainly wasn't going to complain about getting to hug Phineas a little longer. Is he doing this just to comfort me, or because he likes me? Comforting me is just the kind of thing he'd do, but I think I can feel his heart beating, and it feels faster than normal. I heard Buford mutter something, and heard Ferb reply, but I didn't pay it much attention. We pulled apart, a little reluctantly, and I noticed that Phineas was blushing! Maybe he was hugging me because he likes me? But if that's the case, I wonder if he even realizes it? If not, that might explain some things.

He thanked Buford and Ferb for helping him out, then suddenly perked up."Okay, let's get home and get to havin' fun before dinnertime! Not a minute to waste!" He shouted, and took off running. I giggled at his unique antics. There he goes again, right back to his usual enthusiastic, cheerful, adorable self! I called out after him and took off running. I heard our friends do the same behind us, and we all ran off, towards another adventure! I sighed once more. I'd been doing that a lot today. Phineas is about the best friend you could ask for. Life's certainly never dull around him. And hopefully, one day, he'll be more than just a best friend. I really hope so.

(Present Time)

(In Isabella's house)

Isabella sighed. He was so sweet and protective that day, but I just don't know if it's him being a good friend like he always has, or if he finally likes me as more than just a friend, even more than as a best friend. After that day, he seems to have started acting different around me on a regular basis. Maybe he really does like me? I just don't know. But I'm going to try and figure it out. I really want to find out tonight… Before I turn 14 tomorrow. I want to know, if I can, how Phineas really feels about me before I hit that milestone.

A/N: Here's a second chapter for today, because the last one was so short. I suppose it was probably obvious, but this chapter is basically the same event as the flashback in chapter 1, but from Isabella's side. Not all of the story will be like this, but I believe there will be 2 or 3 more pairs of chapters like this, and this story will be about 16 chapters.