Chapter 2: Whatcha doin?
August 25th followed the next morning. Isabella hadn't slept and was curled up in the foetal position, and Vivian had also slept badly due to her mind racing on what needs to be done before the move. Vivian got up early and made Isabella a hot cup of tea to try and perk her up; she figured Isabella wouldn't have slept the night before. "Mija" she said whilst opening Isabella's bedroom door, "I've made you some tea with honey". Isabella hadn't moved; it was like she was stuck in a pit of glue. Vivian simply stood in the doorway awaiting her daughter's reply, but no words came from Isabella's mouth; all she did was bring her knees closer to her chest for comfort. Vivian didn't really know what to say to her; she knew deep down that any words of comfort wouldn't help Isabella feel better, so she put her mug of tea down on her bedside table and left the room. Isabella had stopped crying sometime during the night, but not because she felt any better about the situation. She'd stopped crying because there physically weren't any tears left for her to cry out! She lay awake all night with red eyes, a blotchy face, messy hair and clenched fists, and this was the first time in years that she didn't want to get up and head over to the Flynn Fletcher's house in the early morning. Her overalls and t-shirt had been cast aside lazily the night before and were now creased, but she really didn't care how she looked anymore. She was moving away; there wasn't any point in her looking her best for Phineas anymore. She lay in her bed a little while longer before the scent of the honey-filled tea made its way to her nostrils. It cleared her sinuses to simply smell the tea's scent, so she finally sat up and sipped her drink slowly in order to savour its sweet taste. After finishing her beverage, Isabella trudged out of bed to get ready for the day. She showered, washed her messy hair, cleaned her blotchy face, dressed herself, and made her way downstairs. By the time she had reached the kitchen her mother had already left for the day; Isabella guessed she'd gone out with Linda Flynn to do some awesome mom stuff and talk about the move. She made herself some toast with jam which tasted so sweet after such an awful night's sleep, and she then went back upstairs to brush her teeth.
Across the street, Phineas, Ferb, Baljeet and Buford were already in the backyard with inventive ideas in their heads. Isabella looked over at them all through her bedroom window, and she began to contemplate how she was going to bring up the subject of her moving away. She took a deep breath and let out a deep sigh before leaving the house. She usually ran or skipped her way across the street to see Phineas and the gang, but she was instead walking rather sluggishly in order to buy herself some more thinking time. "So according to Baljeet's calculations, it should be up and running as soon as the motivator's engine hits 150 knots" said a familiar voice from the other side of the wooden gate. "150.75 knots" said Baljeet knowingly; "if you want to be exact about it". "I'm exact about the fact that I'm gonna punch you in the face right now if you don't stop explaining junk by using decimal points!" said an angry Buford in Baljeet's direction. Isabella giggled to herself from behind the gate, but her laughter had an awful sadness about it. Her hand slowly and tentatively reached for the gate's handle, but she stopped in her tracks in order to reprocess what she wanted to say to everyone. She finally pushed the gate open and walked into the backyard in an unsettled sort of manner. She tried her hardest to muster up a "whatcha doin?", but her mind didn't seem to want her to say it. The boys were already hard at work with whatever they were doing, and all Isabella could say was "h-hi guys". The four of them turned to Isabella with concerned looks on their faces, even Ferb. Where was her "whatcha doin?" they all wondered; they knew immediately that something was astray. Isabella stood in front of the boys with a vacant expression, and her fingers were anxiously intertwining with each other. "Um, Hi Isabella" Phineas began in a concerned tone; "everything okay?" Her mind had suddenly gone blank after Phineas spoke; everything she'd planned on saying to them had completely slipped her mind. "Huh? Um, yeah. E-everything's fine" Isabella muttered. The boys weren't convinced, and they all took a few steps closer to her in order to figure out what was up. Baljeet took out his magnifying glass from his pocket and began to inspect Isabella's face. "Uh, Baljeet" said Isabella squeamishly; "what are you doing?" "Hmm, just as I suspected" said Baljeet as he put his glass away; "sleep deprivation". Isabella's eyes suddenly widened; she knew she hadn't slept, but she was trying so hard to cover it up. "Huh, what? No! I'm fine" said Isabella quickly. "Nah Isabella, you've got some major punchin bags underneath your eyes" said Buford as he pointed towards Isabella's tired eyes. Isabella anxiously ran her index finger beneath her left eye to see if the boys were telling the truth, and they were right. Being a kid meant that she had no access to makeup or any form of concealer, so it was pretty difficult for her to hide her eye bags that morning. "Um... It's okay. I-I'm fine" Isabella stuttered; "I just had a bit of a rough night". Buford and Baljeet shrugged and made their way back over to the huge invention, but Phineas stood there with the same look of confusion he'd been wearing for the last few minutes. He walked up to Isabella and placed his hand on her shoulder; this made her feel so warm and fuzzy on the inside. "Are you sure you're okay?" said Phineas with concern; "cause if not we can skip the whole hydraulic energy convertor thing and have a movie day instead". Isabella was touched by Phineas' kind words, but she still didn't know what to say. "I-it's okay, Phineas" Isabella began; "I'm fine. I don't want you to miss out on this incredib-". She suddenly stopped talking so she could let out a little yawn, and Phineas crossed his arms whilst giving her a smug look. "Isabella, you're tired" said Phineas; "you're not safe to work on this sort of thing when you're not well". Isabella looked at the ground in disappointment; she didn't want the boys to miss out on their awesome new machine. "If I let you work on this with us and you ended up getting hurt then I'd never forgive myself" said Phineas whilst gesturing towards the machine. Isabella lifted her head up to meet Phineas' eyes; did he really care about her like that? "R-really" she whispered with tears forming yet again. "Of course!" said Phineas; "you're my best friend, Isabella". This made her tear up causing Phineas to look even more concerned. "Hey, what's the matter, Isabella?" he said in a worried tone. Isabella couldn't bring herself to answer, so she simply ran back across the street and into her own house.
"Gosh" Phineas began; "Isabella's very unpredictable this morning". "Yeah" agreed Buford; "the gal's never this over-emotional". "Well" said Baljeet, "young girls do reach a certain point where their hormones become too much for them to handle due to changes in their reproduc-" His biological explanation was put to a stop when Buford inadvertently punched him in the face; he didn't like where the conversation was heading. "Urgh" groaned Baljeet as he lifted his head off of the grass; "I thought you said you were going to punch me if I explained things by using decimal points!" "Yeah, but I just hate all that hormone stuff" replied Buford; "Buford doesn't like". "You don't think it is something along those lines, do you?" Phineas asked Baljeet. "Well, it happens to every female eventually" said Baljeet who was now upright and dusting himself off; "and we are approaching the age where things start to change". Phineas put his hand towards his chin to think; "well, I better go and see what's up" he said as he made his way to the gate. Ferb then appeared in front of his stepbrother with his arms stretched out to the sides; he didn't want Phineas to go over there. "Huh, what gives Ferb?" Phineas asked. Ferb then pointed to himself to signify that it would be better if he went over to Isabella's instead; he was a great listener after all. "Huh, you wanna go over?" asked Phineas; Ferb gave a little nod in agreement. "Well, okay" said Phineas; "just go and see if she's alright".
Ferb made his way over to the other side of Maple Drive and towards Isabella's front door. He knocked on the door loudly but gently and waited for an answer. Isabella peaked through her curtains to find the green haired Brit standing on the doorstep, so she immediately went over to answer his call. "Hey Ferb" she said whilst wiping some tears away; "come on in". Ferb scuttled his way indoors, wiping his feet in the process. Isabella lead them to the living room where she signalled him to sit down. Ferb leant over and handed Isabella a handkerchief to blow her nose with; she took it willingly and gave him a smile. "I'm sorry about earlier, Ferb" Isabella began; "it's been a rough 12 hours". She blew her nose slightly on the handkerchief whilst Ferb put his hand on her shoulder for comfort; he wanted her to explain what's really been going on. "I didn't know how to tell you all" said Isabella with a stuffed nose, "but, I have to move away". She could barely get the sentence out of her mouth without bursting into tears all over again. She blew her nose again and took a deep breath. "I'm so sorry Ferb. I've been trying to figure out how to tell you all, but there's just no easy way to say it" Isabella said tearfully. Ferb, ever the emotionless one, actually let out a tiny tear from his left eye; he was truly upset. Isabella was an amazing friend, and he was deeply saddened at her news. "It was hard enough trying to work out how to tell you, Baljeet and Buford" Isabella began again, "but I've no idea what I'm supposed to tell Phineas". She began to cry rather deeply to herself as her heart was genuinely breaking, but then Ferb pulled her into a hug which was so unlike him. He patted her back whilst fighting back his own tears, and she then returned the hug after the initial shock of spontaneous affection from Ferb. "All you need to tell Phineas is how you really feel about him" said Ferb finally. Isabella looked shocked; she'd sort of guessed that Ferb knew how she felt about his stepbrother, but she never thought he'd actually verbalise it. "Y-you really think I should tell Phineas how I feel?" said Isabella. Ferb gave a nod in agreement. "But, don't you think that it's a bit pointless to tell him now?" asked Isabella; "I mean, I've had so many years and so many chances to tell him everything, but I choke every time I get close to him! Even if he does feel the same way, I'm not going to be here to make it work!"