"Fireside Diaries"
Story Written by Freedom Fighter
The good news? The final three episodes this season are part of the main story arc. The bad news? This week's episode is the requisite moral-laden one for the season.
In season one, Ginger learned not to steal. In season two, Holly had to contemplate whether or not to bust a cheater. In this season's episode, Katie tackles two important topics that often go hand-in-hand. And that's often not a good thing. Both are very relevant nowadays, as most readers might attest to. Come along and see what lessons Katie learns tonight!
Disclaimer: The characters of 'Phineas and Ferb' belong to Disney.
Prerequisites (i.e. read these first before reading this):
- Entries #411 & #415 ("Fireside Diaries," Episodes 308-309)
Entry #421 - Written by Katie
As of late, I've been finding it harder and harder to spend time with the other girls outside of school...
Gretchen and Holly were doing a social experiment together, Adyson was volunteering her time to pick up roadside trash, Isabella was taking a sword-wielding class, and Milly... she's been spending time with other people after we had our little tiff over our fantasy story.
Katie had been ushered into an Internet cafe by Ginger, who wanted to show her something. She turned the monitor slightly so that Katie could see what website she was on. And once she did, Katie became mesmerized by it.
Suddenly, I had my answer! When all my real-life friends were too busy to hang out, I could do what any normal kid does these days.
The site Ginger was on? Twatter.
Talk with my online friends.
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Entry #421 [FSD313] - The Big Cyber Mistake (02.25.03)
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CinnamonLuv: Isn't this the best?
Cute_Kat: It is!
Cute_Kat: How come I've never heard of this 'til now?
CinnamonLuv: It's the best kept secret on the 'Net!
Cute_Kat: I'll say.
Cute_Kat: It's just like talking to each other face-to-face.
CinnamonLuv: Only better!
CinnamonLuv: 'Sides, only uncool kids do that nowadays.
Zoom out to show that Ginger and Katie were sitting at computer terminals right next to each other.
Yes, I'm now into social networking! It's the best! My tag is Cute_Kat! Get it? Get it? Get... oh, never mind!
"A dozen tailers in your first hour? Someone's Miss Popular!"
"I wouldn't have gotten this far without you, Ginger!"
Suddenly, a new twatt appeared on Ginger's screen. It immediately got her attention.
BufordDaBully: Got a sighting for ya.
"Buford is on Twatter?"
"Even someone like him has to get with the times," explained Ginger. "Plus, it's the only way I can keep in touch with him after Mom took my phone for going over my text message limit."
CinnamonLuv: Where?
BufordDaBully: Outside Rocco's.
Ginger gasped. "That pizza place is the new hotspot for first dates!"
"And?"
"There's a rumor going around that Baljeet and Adyson are an item! Well, not on my watch! I'm gonna give her a piece of my brain... or however that goes!"
Ginger logged off and ran out of the cafe.
"Baljeet with Adyson?" Katie thought out loud. "Nahhhh..."
I quickly became obsessed with Twatter! It became the fifth-most important thing in my life, behind school, but ahead of homework.
Katie was sitting in her room, on the computer and on Twatter, instead of doing her homework, which was in a messy pile on her bed.
It didn't take long for me to amass a few dozen tailers, and to be tailing a few dozen myself. Including someone role-playing as strawberry shortcake! He makes great jokes about how to bake him!
Why am I suddenly hungry?
Anyway, there are also a few people I tail who I found out not only go to Danville Elementary, but are also in the same grade as me!
saladlover: I don't understand why we have to learn about history.
saladlover: It's the 21st Century. That stuff's history!
9stringpeas: Good l!
Cute_Kat: Yeah, that's funny!
MissFlawles: You know your stuff, Nina!
saladlover: No rn, MissFlawles!
saladlover: I'm saladlover!
We talk about a lot of stuff. School, clothes, boys... y'know, girl stuff that half of you don't want to be bothered with.
And then there's...
Cute_Kat: I'm tailing FabAmber now. She goes to our school too.
saladlover: Untail her.
saladlover: She's not like us.
Cute_Kat: Really?
saladlover: Just look at her PI.
'PI' meant photo icon, which Katie was looking at as she typed. She was a ten-year old too, like Katie and her new friends, though she was a little big-boned for her age. She was bigger than Baljeet, but not quite as hefty as Buford.
Cute_Kat: I don't get it.
saladlover: She's fat.
Cute_Kat: That's... fat?
Cute_Kat: I mean, I've seen fat people before, but...
saladlover: Trust me. Fat, fat, fatty fat!
FabAmber: I'm not dfat!
FabAmber: fat!
saladlover: Says the girl with fingers too fat she hits two keys at once.
FabAmber: Not fat!
FabAmber: I'm not! Not, not, not, not!
saladlover: Heh. That'll scare her off.
Cute_Kat: Wasn't that a little mean?
saladlover: Oh, she don't care.
saladlover: She's thick-skinned. And big-boned. It bounces right off her.
saladlover: Like cookie crumbs.
9stringpeas: Good l!
A little uncomfortable with what was going on, Katie decided to log off. As she did so, she missed seeing a Twatt from Amber.
FabAmber: People so mean. Want to cut self.
Despite what happened, a few days later I met with saladlover - whose real name is Nina - and her friends at lunch. Since the four of us and FabAmber haven't been on at the same time since then, I figured that they had made up and all was okay between them.
Nope!
As Katie chatted in person with Nina and her two friends at the table, suddenly a girl who resembled the one in FabAmber's PIT walked their way, as there were unclaimed seats nearby. Katie abruptly ended the conversation as she got up and approached the girl... and her friends did the same.
"Hello, Amber!"
Nina snatched Amber's chocolate milk carton off of her tray and held it in front of her face.
"I don't think you need the chocolate milk. If you grew anymore, you'd be too fat to fit in this school! HA HA HA HA!"
The other two girls joined Nina in laughing at Amber.
"Stop! I'm not fat!"
"Whatever you say, Fat Amber!"
"I'm not fat!"
The three girls kept making fun of Amber's weight. Katie continued to watch from her seat. She thought about stopping them, but she did not want to upset Nina, whom by this point, she considered a friend.
"Katie!"
Katie heard Nina call her name.
"On a scale of one to fat, how fat is she?"
'She,' of course, was Amber.
I didn't know how to answer! I know answering the question would hurt Amber's feelings, but not answering it would hurt Nina's! I had to figure out an answer that would be acceptable to the both of them.
But I couldn't think of one, so I stalled for time, hoping I'd get cut off by the bell signaling the end of lunch. But considering we were only ten minutes in, that wasn't feasible. Had to think of something else.
And then I just blurted out the first thing that came to mind.
"Whale!"
That HAD to be the day we had a quiz on marine animals in science.
Upon hearing Katie's answer, Amber started crying. She walked away with her tray of food, minus the milk carton, which was still in Nina's hands. Katie's first thought was to chase after Amber and apologize, but was stopped by Nina giving her a firm pat on the back.
"I knew you had it in you, Katie! Never thought of calling her animals! Thanks!"
"Yeah, heh heh... good one by me!"
She tried her best to sound appreciative for the compliment, but a part of her was not happy with herself. Meanwhile, Amber had found a spot where there was no one within at least four seats of her. Upon sitting, she started trying to stab her hand with the end of a straw.
I felt bad for Amber. I didn't mean to call her a whale, and even if I did, it was only as a joke! Surely she understood that!
Unfortunately, Nina and her posse latched onto my joke, and started milking it for all it was worth.
saladlover: FabAmber is as big as an elephant!
MissFlawles: What?
saladlover: An elephant.
MissFlawles: What?
saladlover: AN ELEPHANT!
FabAmber: Stop! I'm not!
saladlover: Elephant! Elephant!
Cute_Kat: Enough with the elephant.
saladlover: Sure! Now she's a whale!
saladlover: Whale! Whale!
FabAmber: I'm not a whale!
At first, I told them it was time to stop. When they didn't, I told them again. And then Nina started ignoring me, as did her girls. Unless I joined in the mockery. I didn't want to, but I had to! Nina was essentially the cool kid in our grade level, and were really the only people I could talk to the past few days 'cause Isabella and all the others were always too busy.
It was basically 'hang out' with her or no one at all.
But even I had my breaking point. As did Amber...
saladlover: Youre so fat that you use a shovel instead of a fork!
9stringpeas: good l!
MissFlawles: You tell that overwait ox!
FabAmber: Stop! I'm not fat!
saladlover: Fat fat fatty fat fat!
Cute_Kat: K, girls. That's enough.
saladlover: Just telling it like it is. And she's a cow!
MissFlawles: Yeah she is
9stringpeas: Yes.
Cute_Kat: But you're hurting her feelings.
FabAmber: It is enough.
FabAmber: I'm done.
saladlover: I'm not!
FabAmber: In 10 minutes, I will be.
Katie leaned away from the keyboard for a second, unsure of what Amber was hinting at. But before she could ask...
FabAmber: Jumping of the pier.
FabAmber: Off.
Katie gasped. She erased what she had been typing and replaced it with a more appropriate question.
Cute_Kat: Why?
MissFlawles: You're so not.
saladlover: Whatevs. No one cares.
Cute_Kat: Why would you say that?
saladlover: She's not gonna do it, Cute_Kat. Just watch.
saladlover: And even if she does.
saladlover: No one's gonna miss her.
Cute_Kat: I will!
Cute_Kat: FabAmber, don't do it!
Katie was no longer in front of the computer, as she had left to find Amber.
Amber slowly trudged to the end of the pier, wearing a backpack. Along the way, she passed a man and his son heading in after having done a little fishing; they were unaware of what the 10-year old was about to do. Once at the edge, she stopped. She stood there quietly, staring out towards the sea as thoughts raced through her mind about whether or not to go through with this.
"STOP!"
Katie ran onto the pier from the land-connected end, trying to get Amber's attention before it was too late.
"STOP! AMBER!"
Amber slowly spun around. Katie stopped about 20 feet away from her. She held up one finger to signal she needed time to catch her breath. But once she had, Katie knew she had a tough task ahead of her.
"Amber, don't jump!"
"Why not? So I can live with everyone calling me fat over and over again?"
"No one's calling you fat."
That was a lie, and Amber knew it. She took one step backwards, leaving the heel of her right foot positioned just over the edge of the pier. Realizing her mistake, Katie corrected herself.
"Not everyone is... calling you fat?"
"But pretty much everyone is! Even you were!"
"I... I didn't call you fat."
Amber frowned. She took a step back with her left foot. Now both of her heels were at the edge.
"AAH! Okay, okay, I did call you fat, but I didn't mean it!"
"You didn't?"
"No! I just had to say something, and that was the first thing I could think of! I was joking! I thought the other girls were, too!"
"Well, they weren't! Those girls have making fun of me and my weight since the first day of school! Girls like them are the reason my family moved away from my last school! I thought things would be different here! But they weren't!"
"I don't know what happened where you lived before, Amber, but Danville's different! Most of the people here are friendly and always willing to lend a hand to those in need!"
As if Katie had planned it, a number of people were starting to gather at the start of the pier, mostly out of curiosity. But she had not, and the sudden increase in the number of witnesses seemed to be making Amber nervous.
"That's what my parents told me. But then I met you!"
Amber pointed a finger angrily at Katie.
"M-m-me?"
"There wasn't a Fireside Girls troop in my old town, but I'd heard stories about how you're all righteous and spunky, and... and good-hearted! But when you started mocking me just like the others, that broke my heart!"
"I... I'm sorry! I had a lapse in judgment! I fooled myself into believing that I wasn't hurting anybody. But I realize that I was wrong! I should've not joined in to begin with! In fact, I should've stopped it before it got this far! I've besmirched the good name of the Fireside Girls for what I've done, but I'll never forgive myself if this ends with you jumping!"
Amber listened intently as Katie pleaded for her to not take her own life.
"I know I've committed the bigger wrong here, Amber, but listen to me! If you think everyone will be happier when you're gone, then you're wrong! Think about your parents! Your neighbors! Your teachers! Your classmates! Your... friends."
Amber seemed genuinely worried about all of those people... until Katie got to 'friends,' that is."
"What friends? I don't have any friends!"
"You have one. Well, that is... if you'll forgive her for what she did."
"You... you mean..."
Katie nodded.
"I wanna do the right thing. I'll stand up for you, both in school and online. No one should have to endure being made fun of every waking moment of their lives. But I can't do that unless... you step away from that ledge, friend."
Katie reached out her arm, hoping she had convinced Amber to not jump. At first, Amber did not move, as apparently she was still debating whether to believe her or not.
And then...
Amber smiled. This, in turn, made Katie sigh with relief.
"Whew! That was close."
Amber started to take off her backpack, which was when Katie first realized that she had put something heavy in it to weigh her down. Unfortunately, Amber had forgotten how close she was to the edge of the pier, and once she had slid the pack off of her left shoulder, the sudden shift of weight to the right was enough to pull her off-balance...
...and cause her to fall sideways off the pier.
"AAAAAHHHHH!"
"AMBER!"
Katie reached the end of the pier just in time to see Amber's body hit the water awkwardly, in somewhat of a belly flop. With no time to waste, Katie dived off of the pier as is, hoping to get to Amber before it was too late.
Once underwater, Katie swam as fast as she could to the rapidly-sinking Amber, who was fighting to get her backpack to slide off of her other arm. She hit bottom before she could get free, eight or nine feet under the surface at that point. But even then, Amber started to flail her arms and legs around in a panic.
As I got to Amber, I had come to a frightening realization.
She didn't know how to swim.
Katie reached Amber and forced her to put her arm around her. The blonde-haired girl then fought to swim upwards, towards the surface.
That was going to be a problem.
Already, Amber was struggling to breathe, as she put her free hand over her mouth to keep in what little air she had left to use in. And given the amount of energy Katie was exerting to try to swim them both upwards, her air supply was quickly dwindling as well.
My worst fear was about to be realized. Not only did I drive a fellow classmate to end her own life, but in trying to stop her, I may have just cost myself mine as well.
And then...
Katie faintly heard several people enter the water, all within the span of a second. It turned out to be Isabella, as well as Gretchen, Holly, and Adyson, coming to their rescue. They separated Katie from Amber, who allowed Isabella and Adyson to take her. Gretchen and Holly then followed, pulling Katie to the surface.
Ten minutes later, Katie and Amber were being checked out by paramedics as they sat on the beach, each with a towel wrapped around them. The one doing the examination walked away for a minute, giving the two girls a chance to chat.
"Thanks for saving me," Amber said in gratitude.
"You shouldn't be thanking me. You were in this situation because of me! You should be thanking them."
Katie was referring to Isabella and the others, who were in the midst of drying themselves off with towels as well. Suddenly, Isabella walked over to them.
"I'm Isabella, leader of Troop 46231. I hear you've got a bully problem. We'd like to help!"
Katie then added, albeit cautiously.
"That is... if you'll let us."
Amber wrapped her arms around Katie and hugged her.
"I will! Thanks... friend!"
Katie smiled.
Two days later, in the cafeteria...
Amber was walking towards an empty seat, and once more, her path took her past Nina and her friends.
"I told you she wasn't gonna go through with it!" Nina loudly boasted.
She got up out of her seat to block Amber's path, and her friends did the same. Nina grabbed the chicken sandwich off of Amber's tray and held it up in front of her face.
"Chicken? How appropriate... for a chicken! HA HA HA HA!"
The other two girls also laughed.
"Put that chicken down!"
Nina looked left and saw Katie walking up.
"You're on her side, Kat? Ugh, whatevs... like I'm gonna listen to you!"
Nina then felt someone poke her on the back. She spun around and saw Isabella standing there, along with Adyson, Gretchen, and Holly. Outnumbered by a ratio of two-to-one, Nina had no choice but to put the sandwich back down on the tray.
"Looks like Amber got protection!"
"Not protection," clarified Katie. "Friends!"
Nina rolled her eyes. "Whatevs."
Nina picked up her tray and walked off, abandoning the seat where she had been sitting. Her two flunkies did the same, without hesitation.
"Come on," Katie told Amber. "You can sit with us!"
The group walked off to their regular table, with their new friend Amber in tow.
Nina and her posse never bothered Amber ever again after that. I made sure of it.
That afternoon, at home, Katie was seen un-tailing Nina and her girls on Twatter. She then started up a chat with Amber, as well as some other classmates and friends, who were all a lot nicer.
I've learned a valuable lesson over the past week. Just because you're online doesn't give you the right to make fun of people. You're still chatting with other people. Just because you can't see their reactions to what you type doesn't mean that they're not hurt by them. There's no true for-sure way to tell if someone's joking or being sarcastic or something like that. You may think what you're typing is funny, but someone else might take it as a hurtful insult. Which could lead to some terrible things.
An hour later, Katie was now outside, throwing around a frisbee with Amber at Danville Park.
As for Amber, her parents have sought out help. She's started seeing a therapist so they can learn where she got the idea for committing suicide and why she had to resort to that. I'm confident that she'll get things figured out and that she's going to be okay.
'Sides... as her friend, I'll do whatever I have to in order to make sure she never goes down that road again.
Katie tried to grab the frisbee in midair, but it slipped through her hands, hit her in the head, and then fell to the ground. Amber laughed at Katie's failed attempt, and Katie did as well.
Because that's what friends do.
End Entry
Author's Notes:
So, as you can see, the issues are two very important ones in this day and age: cyberbullying and suicide. Naturally, there's only so much that can be said on these subjects in an 11-page episode, but Katie basically pushes what I wanted to pass along in this. One, always think about what you say online, because you may mean one thing, but another person might think it means something else. And sometimes that 'else' may result in the latter person doing something that may cause him or herself harm. This brings me to point two, that suicide is not the way out of getting cyberbullied. It only brings pain to yourself, but also to your family, your friends, and everyone else you know! If you have a tendency to purposely cause bodily harm to yourself or know someone who is, seek help immediately! I've heard way too many stories over the past couple of years about people, particularly teenagers, who have committed suicide because of rampant online bullying, and it's time to put a stop to it! Get informed! There are tons of resources about cyberbullying and suicide prevention that you can read, both online and in your local library! Don't be a part of the problem; be part of the solution!
Whew! Now that the serious stuff is out of the way...
Next week, Isabella learns that the music program is about to get cut at Danville Elementary. To save it, she and the girls might have to "get the band back together." Meanwhile, Ginger makes a shocking discovery that might turn the Fireside Girls upside down, in this season's penultimate episode!