Phineas Flynn
London, England
June 8
Today was everyone's first community service project, and honestly, anyone passing probably would've thought they were all from Juvy, because they were given those sticks to pick up trash and all given a section of the field they were in to clean. The only thing that might have created doubt was the fact that none of them were wearing jumpsuits.
As usual, everyone was staying far away from "the outcasts"-an exclusive group that now included Ferb.
It turned out Ferb wasn't very well liked either. When Phineas asked him about it, he said that it was pretty much for the same reason that Phineas had-he was just viewed as a weird kid with a weird habit; and the fact that he had green hair and didn't talk much did not help matters.
At one point during the morning, Gretchen Gueler had come over to the edge of her area, and gotten the trash no one else wanted to-because it was near the three of them. She had looked very annoyed while doing it. At one point Phineas had sworn he had heard her say "Hi." very quickly and stiffly, but when he and Isabella glanced over, she was extremely focused on the trash, so they let her be.
Then came lunchtime. Phineas, Ferb, and Isabella all sat underneath the only tree in the area. The two teachers seemed baffled that no one else was going over there when it was practically a hundred degrees out (of course they got to sit in their air conditioned car).
Or, actually-
"Hey, you guys use celsius." Phineas said to Ferb. "So what would the temperature be for you?"
"Uh…" Ferb pulled out his phone and switched it on. "It's 37 degrees right now." Ferb said. "Honestly, that confuses me. You guys know most of the world uses celsius, right? Why does America still use fahrenheit?"
Isabella shrugged. "I don't know. Americans are stubborn." she said. "We probably wanted to have our own 'special' way of doing things or som-"
She was interrupted by Gretchen Gueler plopping down slightly to their groups right, inside the shade of the tree. She stared out towards everyone else and took another bite of her sandwich.
They all stared at her for a second. Phineas exchanged a glance with Isabella. "Uh…can we help you?" Isabella asked.
Gretchen shot a glare at them. "No." she snapped. "I just think it's stupid to sit in the sweltering, hundred degree heat when there's plenty of room under the tree." she turned back to her lunch.
Phineas, Ferb, and Isabella all turned back to each other. After a second, Phineas shrugged. Then he reached for his bag. "Okay, so I brought along my sketchbook." he pulled it out. "And honestly, all this heat is getting me thinking. What if there's a way to get it to snow in the summertime? You know, just to cool off a bit without having to go to the pool and pay to get in?"
"You could use some kind of see-through capsule that could cut off the outside world." said Ferb. "And then adjust the temperature inside to whatever you pleased. Oh, and artificial snow is the easiest thing in the world. You can do it with a slightly altered snow cone machine."
"So you guys are going to make winter in summer?" Isabella asked, raising an eyebrow. "That's ridiculous."
They both glanced at her curiously, and she rolled her eyes.
"Well, you can't do it in a tiny capsule. You have to find a way to spread it over a larger area. That way someone could go sledding, build a snowman, or ski. That design needs some adjustments."
Phineas laughed. "You wanna make a giant artificial winter?" he paused. Well, he supposed if they had a big enough area… He glanced at Ferb. "Do you have a backyard?" he asked.
Ferb shook his head.
"Hmm…" Phineas muttered. "Are there any laws against doing that kind of thing in a park?"
Ferb paused, then shook his head again. "Although that could be because no one ever thought someone would try to do that."
"Well!" Phineas called, rubbing his hands together. "I love a good loophole. When do you guys wanna do it?"
"Well, we'll have to order some parts first." Ferb pointed out. "We can do it on the day they arrive."
"Sounds good to me." Phineas said with a grin. "You in, Isabella?"
"I am 100% in." Isabella said. She turned her head to look behind her. "Gretchen, how about you?"
Gretchen quickly glared away from where she had been staring at them. Isabella gave a small smirk to Ferb, and Ferb chuckled.
Phineas turned back to Gretchen. "Do you want to come sit over here?"
"No, you weirdo!" Gretchen snapped. "I'm not going to talk to-you and your weirdo friends who are talking about weird impossible things!"
Phineas raised an eyebrow.
"What kind of stupid thing are you doing anyway?" Gretchen snapped, turning her back to them and tossing another glare over her shoulder. "I'm sure it's the dumbest thing I've ever heard of."
Phineas glanced at Ferb and Isabella. "We're making S'Winter."
"You're calling it S'Winter?" Isabella asked, raising an eyebrow. She paused, "Well, I guess 'Wummer' sounds stupid."
Phineas smiled. "Alright, so it's settled!" he said happily. "S'Winter it is!" He gave a little smile and turned back to Gretchen. "We can let you know when we're doing it if you want."
Gretchen glared away, but her gaze drifted back towards them. "Uh, I'd like that." she muttered finally.
Phineas grinned.
The teacher's then spoke up, telling everyone lunch was over and it was time to get back to the reason they were all there.
Ferb Fletcher
London, England
June 8
They all walked back over towards the rest of the group, who were all gathered in a circle as the teachers were walking back over to the car-probably to grab something to read or an umbrella to sit under. Teachers were one thing that weren't different in America.
As they made it over, Ginger-Isabella and Phineas had explained the names and personalities of all of their lovely companions to Ferb when he had asked about them-ran over and pulled Gretchen away. "What are you doing associating with them?!" she snapped.
"I wasn't!" Gretchen protested. "I just didn't want to sit in the sweltering heat when I could sit under the tree. I was still away from them."
"You were talking to them." Millie pointed out.
Phineas turned to the Fireside Girl group. "Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot that our dangerous ways are contagious."
Ferb inwardly smirked. But then Buford whirled around to face them, taking a moment to pause from giving the kid behind him a wedgie while the teachers weren't looking. "You've got some nerve, Screwball." he snapped to Phineas. "Your ways are dangerous, and you know that."
Phineas' reaction was immediate and surprising. He seemed to almost fold in on himself, and he stopped talking-which was even more surprising, given how much of a chatter Ferb had come to expect from the teenager.
Isabella's reaction was also immediate, but not nearly as surprising. She turned on Buford. "Oh, you're one to talk!" she almost screamed at him. "You get into fist fights on at least a weekly basis, and you smoke about a pack a day!"
"Shut up!" Buford yelled back. "You have no right to be talking to me that way! You're just as bad, you hang around with him!"
"Please!" complained a voice Ferb had not heard before from the back. It was Baljeet, who was a Hindu boy that Phineas said was Buford's 'Nerd,' which apparently meant Buford was the only one who got to bully him. "Can you two get along for one second? The teachers are returning, and you are both just going to get us all in trouble."
"What's wrong with trouble?" asked Archie, who was another tour guide-he was in fact Buford's and Baljeet's, if Ferb recalled correctly.
Ferb rolled his eyes. "You'll get in just as much trouble as they will, Archie," he pointed out.
"Shut it, Toolbox." Archie snapped. And he was about to say something else, when one of the teachers called out: "Alright, everyone come get a shovel and a seed packet!"
Archie grumbled about not getting to finish his insult and walked over to the pile of shovels and seed packets the teachers had put out. Buford followed, dragging Baljeet along with him.
Everyone else followed at their own various pace, with Gretchen shooting one last nervous glance at the three of them before marching off.
Ferb turned to Phineas, who was still staring at the ground. "Are you alright?" he asked.
Isabella, who had still been steaming a second ago, adopted the same concern as Ferb and turned back to Phineas.
"Yeah." Phineas mumbled. "I'm fine. I'll…go get us some shovels." He shoved his hands in his pockets and walked off, a far cry different from the boy who had been excitedly talking about S'Winter not ten minutes ago.
Ferb turned to Isabella. "What was that about?" he asked. "I mean, I've dealt with bullies before, but nothing on that level. He seemed really upset."
Isabella sighed. "It's…not my place to tell you. It was something that happened a long time ago…. But if you want to know, you need to ask Phineas, not me. Sorry, Ferb."
Ferb sighed. "No, it's alright. I can respect that. I just wish I knew what was wrong."
When they got home, Phineas went up to his room, which seemed neither to surprise nor please Isabella. She went upstairs, got her handbag, and went over to the couch to read a book.
Ferb, feeling like he should do something productive, called his usual Superstore, who knew him by name and number.
"Why, hello Ferb." said a familiar voice when he answered.
Ferb smiled, even though Rebecca could not see it, but he was still not in the best of moods. "Hi Rebecca. Can I get some parts?"
"You don't even have to ask. What do you need?"
Ferb listed off the things they would need to make S'Winter, including some weather resistant supplies to make the dome that would block off the summer heat, a snow cone machine, plus some supplies to alter it, and plenty of winter supplies for whoever would happen to be at the park at the time-such as sleds, coats, earmuffs, boots, ice skates, gloves, and skis.
"Well then." said Rebecca. "Have you got something special planned?"
"Yes." Ferb replied. "It was actually Phineas' idea. He's staying in England for the summer." Ferb decided not to mention his current mood, and the fact that he wasn't entirely sure they would actually be doing the project anymore.
"Oh, that's lovely." said Rebecca. "Well, I hope you two have fun. The supplies should be there in a couple of days."
"Thank you." replied Ferb. And because he needed to get his mind off of Phineas, he said: "I hope Daisy got over her fever."
"She did," Rebecca responded, "and within minutes was splashing around in puddles."
Ferb chuckled. "That's sounds just like her." he noticed Isabella staring at him, and moved to end the conversation. "Well, it was nice to talk to you. Have a good day."
"You too! Hope those parts get there soon and you guys have fun!"
Ferb hung up.
Isabella chuckled. "You're on first-name basis with the Superstore?"
"Yes." Ferb replied, walking over to the couch and sitting down. "I order parts from there at least weekly. They all memorized my number ages ago. Are you guys that close with the delivery people back in Danville?"
"Nah." came Phineas' voice. Ferb glanced over to the staircase, where Phineas was standing, looking a million times better. "Most of what I do is designing, remember? I don't order things from them enough that they would know me. Although I do prefer Hightail-that's our delivery system. They have a 7-minute delivery."
Ferb nodded approvingly. "I can see how that would be beneficial. Are you feeling better?"
"Yeah." Phineas said. "Sorry about this afternoon."
"That's alright." Isabella said. "I get it. Are we still planning to do S'Winter?"
"Why wouldn't we be?" Phineas asked, coming over and sitting on the other side of Isabella. "When are the parts supposed to get here?"
"In a few days, according to Rebecca." Ferb said. "And there's a park nearby we can use for the actual area."
There came a crash from the kitchen. "Oh, dear." came the voice of Ferb's father. "Ferb, can you come help me?"
Isabella leaped up. "I've got it!" she called, running off before Phineas or Ferb could protest.
Ferb shook his head. "She did that on purpose."
"Of course she did. She's Izzy." said Phineas, rolling his eyes with a smile. Then his smile faded.
"Phineas," Ferb said slowly. "What happened back there?"
"I…don't know if I'm ready to talk about it." Phineas mumbled, reverting partly back into the scared boy Ferb had seen earlier.
Ferb didn't like this side of him. "You just…Buford said one thing, and you…basically shut down. I don't think I've ever seen another person do that before, much less a happy-go-lucky one like you."
"It's not a big deal." Phineas said firmly.
"Are you sure? Because it seemed like a pretty big deal."
"It's…whatever. It doesn't matter. I really don't want to talk about it." Phineas said. And it looked like he wasn't going to, because just then Ferb's father called the two of them for dinner.
