Chapter 3: One of the guys
Back at the Flynn Fletcher's, Baljeet and Buford were making slight modifications to their hydraulic converter, but Phineas was stood longingly with a hammer in hand whilst glancing over the street. "Phineas!" shouted Baljeet, "do you not want the fate of the world to be changed today?" Phineas didn't hear Baljeet at all; he was worried about what was going on at Isabella's. Buford and Baljeet looked at each other in confusion; what was up with him? Buford violently nudged Baljeet over to where Phineas was standing, and he then started waving his hand in front of Phineas' face to grab his attention. "Huh, what?" said Phineas in confusion as he snapped back to reality. "You were daydreamin, bro" said Buford who was screwing in a nail at the bottom of the converter. "Yes, you are never this distracted" said Baljeet in agreement. "Huh, I guess I'm just a bit worried about Isabella" said Phineas as he glanced over the fence again; "I hope she's okay and, you know, not having girly problems". Baljeet and Buford caught each other's knowing looks, and they nodded at each other to go ahead with what they were both thinking. "So, Phineas" Baljeet began; "Isabella's a nice girl, huh?" At this point Phineas was physically on his tiptoes peering over the fence in anticipation; again, he hadn't really heard what Baljeet had said for a while. "What?" Phineas said as he returned to the present; "of course she's a nice girl, she's Isabella". Baljeet gave Buford a glance and an eye roll to signal him to come over. "Yeah but, she's real nice, huh?" said Buford in an elongated way. Baljeet face-palmed in desperation. "Uh, yeah. She's really nice" Phineas agreed; "she's amazing, in fact". The boys nodded at each other and fist bumped secretively before going in further. "I wonder why she always wants to hang out with us boys" Baljeet interjected whilst caressing his chin sarcastically. "Yeah, we're just a bunch of nerds, plus me!" Buford pointed out; "what could she want with us?" "Well, she's our friend, isn't she?" Phineas said whilst stepping away from the fence; "she hangs out with us because she likes us, right?". "I dunno" Buford began; "there must be something or someone majorly specific which makes her want to hang out with us every single day of the week. Possibly something or someone that resembles a certain three sided shape..." Phineas looked blankly at his two friends; they were awaiting his realisation. "Nah" said Phineas whilst laughing slightly; "she likes us all, we're her best friends". Baljeet and Buford stared at the ignorant boy vacantly before backing away slowly and conspicuously.
Over on the other side of Maple Drive, Isabella and Ferb had pretty much finished their little heart-to-heart chat. "So, you really think that I should get Phineas over here for a talk?" Isabella asked Ferb. Ferb nodded to answer Isabella's question, and Isabella let out a large but shaky breath. Ferb took her hand to comfort and ease her; she turned to smile at her good friend in order to thank him for his help. Ferb stood up from the sofa and made his way back across the street. He'd been gone for just over an hour, so Phineas was getting pretty worried about the whole situation. Ferb opened the backyard gate and wandered into the yard where the boys were stood admiring their converter; Phineas turned to see his stepbrother walking towards them. "Bro, what happened?" said Phineas with concern; "you were gone for over an hour!" "Did she gross you out with mushy girly talk?" asked Buford with a squeamish face. Ferb shrugged his shoulders in answer to the question. "Is Isabella okay?" asked Phineas; "she's not really having girl problems, is she?" Even though Phineas was well educated with matters of human biology, it still made him slightly uncomfortable to think about those kinds of things. Isabella was a minority in their friendship group with being the only female, so the boys never really spoke about girly things as they considered her to be an honorary guy. Ferb still hadn't answered his stepbrother's question, so Phineas prompted him with raised eyebrows and crossed arms. "She's not feeling very well" said Ferb finally. "Urgh, I knew it!" cried Buford whilst holding his face in his hands; "I can't deal with her anymore, she's turning into a woman!" "Buford, she has always been a woman" explained Baljeet. "Nah, she's always been one of the guys, nitwit!" Buford retaliated; "if I've gotta deal with emotions, mood swings, feminine hygiene, cramps or any of that nonsense then I'm outta here!" "Well that's not very fair" Phineas began; "imagine how Isabella feels with all those bodily changes? She must be so confused". "I agree" said Baljeet with a raised finger; "we cannot simply leave her alone to get through all of this by herself!" "Yeah, it may not be the most ideal way to end our summer, but the least we can do is try to make Isabella feel better" said Phineas encouragingly. "Come on, let's head over there right now to make her some dinner" Phineas said as he began to walk towards the gate. "Actually, she wanted to have a little talk with you" said Ferb as he pointed in Phineas' direction. "Me?" asked Phineas; "well, okay then. I'll be back later, guys". Buford and Baljeet nudged each other with excitement whilst letting out little squeals. "You say you can't handle girly talk and yet this is your reaction to the current situation?" Ferb asked Buford. Buford stood blankly for a moment; "don't tell me you haven't been waiting for this sort of heartfelt moment since the very first episode" said Buford with crossed arms.