Per request of DA AWE-SOME 1 , I'm going to write some of this chapter is 1st person, namely Phineas and Isabella. I won't start with it right away, but I'll get into it. And please bear with me, because writing first person with someone else's character isn't easy. I hope you still like it!

Isabella sat eating her lunch, surrounded by her friends, but to her disappointment, not Phineas. He was sitting with Olivia, talking about who knows what. The older girl had been sticking to him like glue the whole day, and it was driving Isabella crazy. While she ate, her friends kept telling her to just go over there and get herself into the conversation, but she was still unsure about it. Phineas couldn't be that oblivious, could he? After all, he now knew how she felt, so he should at least be more open to less than subtle hints, even from a different girl. It was almost starting to get her annoyed with Phineas, but she managed to keep her cool. Freaking out would not help her case in the slightest.

At the moment, Olivia and Phineas were sharing a laugh at a joke Isabella hadn't heard. The older girl noticed Isabella watching them, so she smiled wider and continued talking. Phineas glanced briefly to Isabella, looking only slightly anxious, but he didn't come over just yet. He was too nice to cut someone off like that. Olivia chatted away, acting as if she didn't realize that Phineas wanted to go over to Isabella, which successfully stalled him for half the lunch time. Finally though, Phineas waited until Olivia was done one of her particular stories, before excusing himself, and walking over to Isabella.

"Hey Isabella," he said. "Can I talk to you for a minute? Unless of course you girls are busy."

"Not at all!" exclaimed Gretchen.

"Yeah, she's all yours!" said Adyson, all four girls shoving their troop leader towards Phineas enthusiastically. The two of them blushed slightly at the girl's reactions, and went aside to talk. Isabella just couldn't resist throwing a smile at Olivia, who watched them go, not looking the least bit worried. That certainly didn't help to calm her nerves, but Phineas' arm around her most definitely did the trick.

Phineas' POV

I pulled Isabella aside to the other side of the yard from where everyone was eating their lunches, perched on various pieces of machinery. The project was mostly done, needing the rest of the sand laid down, and then the nets put up, along with the scoreboard, and we'd be ready for a game.

I hadn't talked to her much since that morning when we decided what to do. Olivia had been hanging out with me a lot, very enthusiastic about everything, and jumping at every chance she got to help. I have to say I admired her for that. Unlike many other kids when we first met them, she seemed totally cool with everything. I remember when we first became friends with Baljeet. He fainted when he saw our bungee jump canyon. I smiled faintly at the memory and turned to Isabella.

"Whatcha been doing this whole time?" I asked her, still smiling. I noticed that she had been looking worried earlier, and decided that I needed to come and talk to her. I felt bad leaving Olivia, but I'm sure she understood.

"The girls and I were just hanging around, helping where we could. They're really excited for the tournament. Ginger has a wicked left-handed serve. You'd better watch out for it."

"Thanks for the warning," I said, laughing. "So how've you been?"

I noticed that Isabella took a second longer than she usually would before answering.

"I'm fine."

She didn't at all sound sure of herself. Normally Isabella would be totally confident about everything, to the point where she was sure that nothing in the entire world could sway her.

"Isabella, I think I know you well enough to know when something is up," I said to her gently. She hesitated for a second longer, and then shook her head.

"I'm fine, really," she insisted, and so I just shrugged. I wasn't going to pry. If she wanted to tell me, then she would. She always did.

"If you say so," I conceded, trying to be convinced. Neither of us said anything for a moment, and then I remembered something that I had wanted to ask her earlier.

"Isabella, what do you think of Olivia?"

Isabella's POV

The question startled me. He was seriously talking about her now? In our time together, alone, without that girl bugging us? Gosh, I love him, but sometimes he can be so- ugh!

"She seems nice enough," I said nervously, not wanting to voice my true opinions, but also not wanting to make Olivia seem like she was all that. Phineas didn't seem to notice my cover up, nodding to himself.

"Yeah, she certainly seemed confident on the concrete truck," he agreed. "Kind of reminds me of how you were when you first helped us!"

I smiled wide when he said that. Not that I liked being compared to Olivia, but the compliment was great otherwise.

"I think the two of you would get along great," said Phineas, making my smile fade a bit. I shrugged, keeping my expression neutral as to not show how I felt about that.

"It's possible," I said. Phineas took that answer, and then we dropped the subject of Olivia, and he started talking about the volleyball game instead.

"So, I was thinking about how the teams would work. There are thirteen of us, now that Irving and Django showed up, and Candace decided to join, so that makes one person to be the referee and the other twelve of us can split into two teams."

I found it rather funny that Candace had decided to join in the game, but I suspected it was only because her mom wouldn't come home to see the volleyball court. Candace often did this, resigning to being involved in the action whenever busting her brothers failed. I listened as Phineas continued talking.

"The volleyballs aren't the normal kind either; they can be launched over 200 feet, meaning everyone will need to be spread out to cover the whole area. There'll be a bouncy membrane over the whole yard, to keep the ball from going too high, and everyone will get a pair of shoes that let you jump 50 feet, so that it's possible to get to the ball in time."

As Phineas talked on and on about the game, I watched him, my thoughts flickering through my head like lightning. Part of me was glad to have this time with him, while the other part was still worried about Olivia. I had barely seen Phineas for the whole day so far, and who's to say the rest of it would be any different? We would be back to work soon, and I'd have to leave to do something for half a minute, and then Olivia would step in.

At least I have right now, I thought, trying to be happy. Phineas had stopped talking, and was reaching to take my hand. I was about to take it when I heard the sound of a machine being started behind me. I whipped my head around to see that the concrete truck had somehow started up and was about to start rolling towards the house. I saw Phineas about to run for it to try to shut it off, but before the two of us got there we saw Olivia leap into the controls and safely turn it off, causing everyone to applause, even Phineas.

"Great job, Olivia," he congratulated her. She simply nodded, a smile playing on her face. I felt the anger boiling up inside of me. Machines don't just start on their own. Olivia had obviously started it herself and then pretended to get all heroic to impress Phineas. Well, it had worked. Phineas nodded to himself again, checked his watch, and then walked over to everyone.

"Alright guys, I think it's about time to get back to work," he told them. I sighed in dismay and made my way back to my friends, not feeling very confident anymore.

Back to 3rd person

Isabella was right; Olivia had indeed started the concrete truck herself. She had been observing the two talking, and had seen Phineas about to take her hand, so she knew she had to intervene. The concrete truck had been sitting right there, so she carefully started it up, waited a few seconds, and then jumped into it to "save the day." Everyone had looked very impressed, including Phineas, with the exception of Isabella, who just looked furious. The older girl, however, was confident that Isabella would remain quiet about everything. She had taken Olivia's advice seriously, and was worried about losing Phineas too much to risk losing him by telling him what Olivia had told her. Instead, the young girl hoped to simply keep Phineas to herself until Olivia left.

Well, if Isabella thought that she could do something like that, then she had another thing coming.

Well, that was kind of a pain to write! I don't like 1st person, because it's even harder to remain in character. I probably won't do it again, unless it's requested. The next chapter will again be a continuation of this day. Yeah, that's it for now! Let me know what you thought!