"Thanks Lovehandel." Phineas said hanging up the phone. He had the band at last, which was the final thing he needed for his prom…well there was one more thing. "So everything went well with Vanessa?" Phineas asked his brother. Ferb nodded. "Great…now I just need to ask someone." Ferb opened his mouth, and then closed it. He was going to suggest his brother take Isabella, but decided she ought to do this on her own. Just at that moment, she came. Isabella opened the gate.

"What'cha doin'?" Isabella said as always "Wait…don't answer that, you're doing the prom today, right?"

"Yeah." Phineas said.

"Sorry, I just say that ought of habit." Isabella giggled and Phineas laughed as well. "Well, the proms at 6:00, you're coming right?"

"Yeah…" Isabella said hoping this was going somewhere.

"Great, it wouldn't be as much fun without you. Now I just gotta check up on Candace…" and as Phineas headed to his house Isabella said

"Wait!" Phineas stopped and turned around

"What is it?" Phineas asked.

"Have you asked someone to…have you asked someone to play at the prom?" Isabella asked her courage failing her.

"Yep, I booked Love Handel, pretty cool right?"
"Yeah…right." Isabella said as Phineas went upstairs to see Candace. Isabella sighed. She was now beginning to feel pretty nervous about asking Phineas. It wasn't anything like Candace's old fears of asking Jeremy, though. This was completely different. Isabella had known Phineas for too long and he was too much of a friend for her to believe, for even a split second, that Phineas would laugh at her or be rude about the idea of taking her. What scared Isabella was that if Phineas said no and it wasn't because another girl had already asked him out, it would mean he had no attraction to Isabella at all. Isabella had spent years trying to get Phineas to notice her and love her like she loved him. The mere idea of it all having been for nothing, that Phineas did not love her, that she had wasted her time on him, brought her on the verge of tears. She had just worked too hard and too long to be able to see it all blow up. Even if Phineas did say yes, though, it didn't necessarily mean he liked her. Isabella knew Phineas might just say yes to be nice. Rejection wasn't the only thing that worried her either, even if Phineas said yes, he might take Ferb again. Isabella loved Ferb too, but only as a friend and whenever he was around, it meant she couldn't have a romantic moment with Phineas. It wasn't Ferb's fault either; Isabella knew he didn't want to keep Phineas to himself. If anything, it was Phineas' fault Ferb was around all the time, he practically dragged him everywhere. Last year, he had taken Ferb on his supposed-to-be date with Isabella at the Night of the Falling Stars dance. It had, admitingly, been fun, but it wasn't all that romantic as Isabella hoped. She didn't want to try to exclude Ferb when she asked Phineas either. She didn't want to hurt Ferb's feelings and he and Phineas were great friends as well as brothers. If she tried to exclude Ferb, she might upset Phineas.

Just as Isabella decided she would ask Phineas anyway, Phineas appeared again. "Candace seems to be ready for the prom tonight; now all there left is—"

"Phineas, will you go to the prom with me?" Isabella blurted out and began to blush.

"Sure, that sounds like fun." Phineas said. "Ferb and I can meet you at your house and we can—"

"Actually I won't be able to make it." Ferb said, coming to Isabella's rescue. "I'll be busy picking up Vanessa."

"Oh…well that's too bad. I guess Isabella and I can walk over by ourselves then." Phineas said.

"Sure that sounds great!" Isabella said

"I'll meet you at 5:45 P.M. then." Phineas said heading to the house. Isabella followed him and whispered

"Thanks Ferb!" as she passed him.

"Now I just need to ask mom where Perry is." Phineas said.

Perry the Platypus snuck through the kitchen, putting on his Fedora as he went and turned a knob on the oven and climbed in. Just as he felt like he was going to burn, the floor turned over and he was in his base. Major Monogram appeared on the computer screen. "Hello, Agent P, sorry about the entrance in the oven…don't know whose brilliant idea that was…" Carl coughed in the background and Monogram continued. "Dr. Doofenshmirtz has been studying about lawn gnomes which can only lead to evil. Find out what he's up to and put a stop to it." Perry nodded and looked around for different tubes to leave, not wanting to end up back in the oven entrance.

It was 5:30 now and Phineas Flynn was just finishing putting on his suit. It was the same white suit he had worn when he made Chez Platypus. Ferb was already gone; he had to pick up Vanessa early since she lived farther away than Isabella. Phineas left his room and headed downstairs where Candace was already waiting. Just as he reached the bottom, Jeremy knocked on the door and entered. "Jeremy!" Candace cried in delight "You ready to go?" Candace asked
"Yep, and you look beautiful in that dress." Candace giggled a little at this.

"Thanks, Jeremy." And the two headed off to the prom.

"Guess I oughta pick Isabella up." Phineas said.

"Hang on; let me get your picture!" Linda said moving over with a camera. Phineas sighed but smiled for the camera as Linda snapped pictures. "Alright, have fun, Phineas!" Linda said waving. Phineas smiled and waved back and headed across the street to Isabella's. Phineas rang the doorbell and Isabella's mom, Vivian, opened the door.

"Ah hello, Phineas." Vivian said.

"Hey, Mrs. Garcia-Shapiro. Is Isabella ready?"
"I think so, let me call her…ISA!"
"What is it?" Isabella asked from wherever she was.

"Phineas is here to pick you up!"

"Oh, OK!" Isabella said heading downstairs. She was in the same dress she was wearing when Doofenshmirtz shot her with the ballgown-inator.

"Have fun, you two!" Vivian said.

OK, mom." Isabella said and closed the door. She and Phineas began walking together to the prom.

"You look very pretty tonight." Phineas said.

"Oh-oh, thank you." Isabella said her heart now racing. "You look nice too!"

"Thanks." Phineas said. There was silence for a few moments as they walked, then suddenly Isabella held on to Phineas' hand. Phineas didn't object and they continued.

Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated

There was a sudden crash as Perry knocked down Doofenshmirtz's door.

"Ahh, Perry the Platypus…as usual you're timing is unpredictable and by unpredictable I mean seriously, you took six hours to get here! What's with you today? Oh well…" Doofenshmirtz shrugged and pressed a button. There was a sudden beam of light shot at Perry who was now appeared to be a lawn gnome. "You see, Perry the Platypus, out of all my horrific life-scarring back stories, the one of me being my family's lawn gnome is the worst of all. I've already told it to you more than once but it's been a year so I'll give you a recap: My lawn gnome got taken away, my parents made me (not Roger, of course) be the lawn gnome and stand completely still day and night. It was boring and I had to watch all the children have fun while I stood still. Anyway, I've been thinking about my previous plan, the one where I stole all the gnomes. I now see that wouldn't work even if you had not stopped. I've been thinking and I realized I was the only kid standing outside his parent's house as gnome. So I was wondering why I was the only one standing outside…and then it hit me. It's not the government's fault I had to stand outside as a gnome,no…it's my parents fault! I thought to myself "Would I make Vanessa stand outside all day as a lawn gnome?" well the answer is no! No I would not! And I'm evil! So how could I expect the other parents to do this to their children?" The lawn gnome encased Perry wobbled a bit. "OK, OK, my monologue is taking forever, I get it." Doofenshmirtz said "Well to wrap this up, I can't get the parents to make their children suffer like I did, so I will have to do it myself…behold…the lawngnome-encaser-inator!" Doofenshmirtz cried gesturing to the laser he shot Perry with. "With this I will shoot all the kids attending that summer prom and they shall be encased in lawn gnomes. Soon all kids in the entire TRI-STATE AREA will be encased in a lawn gnome and will be forced to go through my pain! …Yeah, usually I say the "tri-state" area thing last, don't I?"

Meanwhile, Phineas and Isabella had just arrived at the prom. Love Handel was already singing their song. "Look there's Baljeet and Buford!" Isabella said waving. Baljeet had brought along Ginger. Buford, however, seemed to be alone. The three of them headed over to Phineas and Isabella.

"So, how's the prom guys?" Phineas asked.

"This is the best prom I have ever been to!" Baljeet said "Although…I'm only in eighth grade so I haven't been to a prom before…and I've never been asked to dance with a girl either." Baljeet added.

"Where's your date, Buford?" Phineas asked.

"Buford aint going to no dance with no girlie." Buford said.

"Alright…hey, have any of you seen Candace?" Phineas asked.

"There she is!" Isabella said. Candace was dancing with Jeremy and seemed to be having the time of her life.

"She sure looks like she's having fun…hey, Isabella, wanna dance?" Phineas asked.

"DO I?" Isbaella practically screamed. "Err…I mean, yeah, that sounds fun."

"Cool, let's go!" Phineas said leading her to the dance floor.

At Doofenshmirtz's evil lair, the scientist was now aiming the lawngnome-encase-inator at out the balcony and searching for the prom. "Ahh…there it is. Soon they will all be encased as lawn gnomes!" Doofenshmirtz cried. Perry continued wobbling and finally fell forward, breaking the glass. Perry crawled out and jumped at Doofenshmirtz who fell to the floor with a groan. "Argh…take that, Perry the Platypus, and that!" Doofenshmirtz cried, getting up and pointing the inator and Perry again. Perry dodged both blasts and kicked Doofenshmirtz in the face.

Back at the prom, Phineas and Isabella were dancing and having a great time as Love Handel sang their song.

If you're feeling lost down in your soul,
If you need a little something to make you feel whole,
Just remember who you were when you were in control;
Just get together with some friends, and play some Rock and Roll!

Music makes us better,
Brings us together,
And it helps me get back that spirit they stole!

Music makes us better,
Brings us together,
And I owe my life to Rock and Roll!

Suddenly, Phineas surprised Isabella by grabbed her hands and swinging her around the room, her feet leaving the floor. The two laughed and continued dancing when Isabella said "Look, there's Ferb!" Phineas turned and saw that he could not have been hard to notice. Everyone was staring at him as he danced to the best of his ability (which was very good) clearly trying to impress Vanessa and his plan seemed to be working. Phineas and Isabella waved at Ferb who winked and they continued watching him for a bit.

Back at the evil lab, Doofenshmirtz had finally hit Perry a second time. "Ha! Try to escape your trap twice in one day!" Doofenshmirtz said placing the encased Perry on the ground so he would fall and break himself again. "And now…" Doofenshmirtz pointed the inator at the prom again "I shall encase all the children in the Tri—wait…I can't do this. Urgh! I completely forgot Vanessa was down there too! And I can't take her home because she would never forgive me! So…I guess I have no evil scheme today…talk about anti-climactic." Doofenshmirtz said and stared at the encased Perry and snapped his fingers. "Perry, I know what I'm going to do today! New evil scheme!" Doofenshmirtz cried and picked up Perry and carried him to the balcony. "And it comes with a new backstory too: There's a certain platypus that I hate and now I'm going to throw him off the cliff!" Doofensmirtz cried and chucked Perry. Doofenshmirtz watched as Perry fell and the trap broke with Perry unharmed. "What? How did you survive that? Did the trap cushion your fall or something? That makes no sense! Curse you, Perry the Platypus!" Doofenshmirtz cried as Perry took off on his jetpack. "Urgh…I guess I can just keep this next the shrink-inator." Doofenshmirtz said pulling his inator way. "Great…another inator I'll forget to unplug."

At the prom, everyone was cheering as Love Handel finished their song. Part of it was for Love Handel, but people were also cheering for Ferb as well. Phineas made a move to the refreshment table, but Isabella held him where he was. A slower song was beginning. Isabella placed her hand on Phineas' shoulder and took his other. She smiled at him and Phineas smiled back and placed his free hand on her waist.

I should've known
From how I felt
When we were together
And even more when we were apart
You tiptoed in
And you got under my skin
You snuck your way right into my heart

I put up barriers
To shield my emotions
A wall that you could never break apart
But like a ninja of love
Rappelling down from above
You snuck your way right into my heart
Oh yeah

You would have thought Isabella was having the best time in her life…and she was. But there was a raging battle going on in her head as well as she slow danced with Phineas and stared dreamily into his eyes. She was debating between herself whether she should tell him her feelings now or not. It was the best time to do so…yet, if it didn't work out, the prom night would be ruined for both of them. If it DID work, tonight would be the best night of her life. Still…she had worked for Phineas' love and attention for years…what if she failed? Of course…she had to tell him at some point didn't she? Why not tonight? Tonight was her best opportunity. But again, if he didn't like her…all of her hopes, dreams, and efforts were for nothing. Still…if she never told him, she was working for nothing. Isabella sighed, she had decided. She was going to tell him tonight…this was it. "Are you OK, Isabella?" Phineas asked hearing her sigh.

"Oh, I'm fine Phineas." Isabella said. They continued dancing and Isabella's heart was pounding out of the nervousness she felt at the idea of telling Phineas, the excitement that it would all be over soon and she would finally know Phineas' feelings, and the love she felt for Phineas as she danced with him.

"Are you sure?" Phineas asked five minutes later "Your heart…I can feel it beating pretty fast." Isabella blushed and mumbled

"It's nothing." the two continued dancing silently to Love Handel's song. Eventually Phineas began resting his head beneath Isabella's whose heart was racing faster than ever at this.

Finally the song ended and Phineas and Isabella went over to the punch bowl where Ferb was getting a drink for him and Vanessa. "So how's the prom going?" Phineas asked. Ferb gave him a thumbs up and a wink.
"That's great, Ferb!" Isabella said "I hope things work out for you two." Ferb nodded and Isabella understood this was his way of saying "You too."

"Oh, Isabella, I need to tell you something." Phineas said. Isabella's heart stopped. Did this mean HE was going to tell HER?

"Oh-oh s-sure…let's go outside." Isabella said.

"OK…" Phineas said following her outside.

"Sooo…what do you want to tell me?" Isabella asked, her cheeks getting redder and her excitement mounting.

"Well it's about tonight, the prom and all of that." Phineas said.

"Yeeeaah…" Isabella said wondering if perhaps he was going to tell her how he fell in love with her tonight and how they would run away together and get married and have children and live happily ever after.

"—A little early at 9:00." Phineas said, Isabella hadn't been paying attention to the beginning part at all.

"Sorry Phineas, um, I wasn't paying proper attention. Can you repeat that?" Isabella asked.

"Sure. I said I had a great time with you tonight…" He's getting there… "and that there's something you need to know…" This is it… "My mom wants me home by 9:30 so we're going to have to leave a little early at 9:00."

Isabella was speechless; her mind had gone blank and numb. She couldn't believe this was what Phineas had to tell her…THIS was all he could say after that romantic dance and everything. Out of all the times Phineas and disappointed her, this could easily be placed as the most disappointing thing ever, only competed with their time in Paris France. "So yeah, sorry we have to go early. Still I had a great time and I hope you did too. C'mon let's go meet Ferb and the oth—Isabella are you OK?"

"I'm fine, Phineas." Isabella said, but she did not sound fine.

"Are you sure?"

"I'm fine." Isabella said.

"Oh, OK then. Let's go see our friends!" Phineas said heading back inside. Isabella didn't even know if she wanted to tell him anymore, it felt hopeless…yet part of her now wanted him to know just so he could see how hopelessly clueless he was. And no matter how angry she was, she still loved him and wanted him to finally realize her feelings so maybe…maybe they could be together.

"Phineas…wait." Isabella said. Phineas turned around.

"What is it, Isabella?"

"I—I…I…I had a good time tonight and I wish we could stay longer."

"Yeah…me too." Phineas said with a sigh and turned around again and began to head inside.

"PHINEAS!" Phineas faced Isabella again.

"I LOVE YOU!" Isabella screamed it, but she didn't care. She finally said it. Phineas however said nothing. There wasn't even a slight change on his expression. "Phineas?"
"What is it?" Phineas asked. He didn't seem happy, shocked, angry, upset or even awkward. Isabella was beginning to get scared.

"I said I love you…more than a friend…more like…Candace loves Jeremy…maybe even more than that." Isabella said.

"I know." Phineas said.

"You know I said that?"
"No, I know you love me."

"You do?"

"Yep."
"How?" Isabella asked.

"Well…you make it pretty obvious, don't you?" Phineas said. "I thought you, y'know, wanted to get married with me and have a family or something."
"I…do." Isabella said. She was very confused, what was going on? And there was something else she wanted to know… "Do you love me?"

"Of course I do."

"As a friend or…a girl friend?" Isabella went redder.

"Both." Phineas said. Isabella had wanted him to say he loved her for so long…yet she wasn't satisfied with this at all.

"Then…why aren't we, well…boyfriend and girlfriend? Why aren't we in a relationship…other than friends?" Isabella asked.

"We aren't? I always thought we were." Phineas said.

"You did?" Isabella asked.

"Yep, I always thought you knew." This didn't cheer Isabella up at all. On the contrary, she felt angrier than ever. WHY had Phineas ignored her? Isabella, however, kept her voice as calm as she could

"Then why do you ignore me? You act is if you don't care about me at all…." Isabella said.

"I act like I don't care about you? What are you talking about? I've dedicated some of my summer days to you." Phineas said. "Remember the F games? I made those because you wanted to prove girls were just as good as boys."

"Well…yeah I suppo—"

"I also built that haunted house just so I could help you get rid of the hiccups…although I guess it did fail."

"Well you tried, that's what's important…anyway, yeah I suppose you did—"

"And the rainbow-inator."

"It was sweet of you, but you didn't pay much atten—" Isabella started, but Phineas interrupted her again.

"I helped you save the star-nosed mole…I helped you get that rodeo clown patch."

"OK, maybe I was exaggerating. I guess you didn't completely ignore—"

"I also helped you make the giant cupcake and sand castle…and when I was "The Beak" it always felt horrible to lie to you most of all, Isabella." Phineas said. Isabella went red at this.

"OK…Sorry for saying you didn't care about me…it's just that you never made it seem like you liked me at all." Isabella said.

"Me act like I don't like you?" Phineas asked. "You're the only person I trust as much as Ferb. Didn't I tell you, you were cute?" Isabella giggled, this was true and Phineas had a way of cheering her up no matter how mad she was.

"Yeah…you did."
"If I didn't think that, I wouldn't have taken you to the Night of the Falling Stars dance or the prom, would I?" Phineas said "And remember Paris?" Saying this was a mistake, however.

"See, that's what I'm talking about!" Isabella said "You took Ferb on what was supposed to be a romantic date for the two of us! …You tried to do it again when you I asked you out today too."

"Well, I know you wanted to go alone but…"

"But?"

"Ferb's my friend and my brother…I couldn't just leave him at home all alone while we went to the dance, that would have been terrible for him."

"Well…I guess you're right, I didn't really think about that." Isabella said. "And I guess I wouldn't want Ferb to be lonely or anything…he's my friend too…but Phineas…"

"Yeah…"

"What did you mean about Paris?" Isabella knew what he meant, that Paris was supposed to be romantic, but she wanted to know how on earth even Phineas could call their adventure there a romantic trip.

"Well remember when we traveled around the world?"
"Yeah…"
"Well when Ferb and I were planning it out, I decided we should go to Paris to fill up on fuel for the ship. I knew you would like to go there with me."

"How did you know I was coming?" Isabella asked.

"Isabella, you're my best friend, I knew you would come with us. You're always there for me when I do something fun for summer."

"Well…whenever I can be…" Isabella said modestly, but then she remembered the actual trip to Paris and asked "What was it about Paris that was romantic?"

"Well, when we got there, I had Ferb go with Vanessa, Candace look for Jeremy, and you go with me…this way we could all have a romantic time." Phineas said. If Isabella didn't know Phineas better, she would have thought he was avoiding the actual time they had spent together in Paris, that he was avoiding the fact their trip had been far from romantic. Truth be told, he was.

"Well Phineas…um, I don't mean to be rude but…that trip wasn't romantic at all. I felt like you didn't even try." Isabella noticed that Phineas was scratching his ear. He had done that in front of her only twice before. Once was when he was hiding the fact he was the beak, it meant he was concealing something from her. Isabella didn't point this out though; instead Phineas did the most shocking thing of all.

"I'm sorry…that trip wasn't what you wanted was it?" Phineas said.

"What?" Isabella said.

"I meant to have a romantic time but…" Phineas didn't say anything for awhile so Isabella asked

"But what?"

"I didn't want to give up my summer. I made that bet with Buford and I was afraid that if I lost…I wouldn't be able to have a fun summer anymore and make yours fun either…so I ignored you. We were behind schedule and I was afraid I wouldn't be able to have a fun summer with you." Phineas paused and added "Still, I thought that dance we had at the end was fun and worth it."

"It was…" Isabella said hugging him. Phineas smiled, he seemed to have satisfied her at last. However, Isabella wasn't done. "I still want to know…why haven't we ever dated?"

"Oh! I actually planned to do that awhile ago."

"You did?"

"Yeah, back when I made that ship for Baljeet and Mishti."

"Why didn't you?" Isabella asked.

"Well you said I didn't know anything about romance and I figured you wouldn't enjoy it, so I used it for Candace instead."

"Oh…I'm sorry I said that." Isabella said.

"It's OK."

"Phineas?"

"Hmm?"

"I have one last question…"

"What is it?" Phineas asked.

"Why haven't we…well…held hands more…or hugged each other more…or…" Isabella paused before saying the last word. "kissed?" Phineas said nothing. And Isabella was wondering if now was the time to do it.

"Aren't we a little young to be kissing?" Phineas asked. Isabella pondered the question for a moment before saying

"Nope!" and pulled Phineas to her and started kissing him. Phineas made to push Isabella off, but his arms quickly became limp as he stopped fighting and began enjoying the feel of pressure and movement from Isabella's lips on his own. They kissed for twenty seconds before it was over.

"Wow…" the two of them said at the same time.

"Um…that was fun." Phineas said.

"Yeah…you're a good kisser." Isabella said going red.

"Thanks…but I didn't really do anything, you caught me off guard."

"Sorry."

"It's OK."

"Wanna do it again now that you're ready?" Isabella asked.

"Er…sure." Phineas said. The two of them slowly moved towards each other and began to kiss once more. This was even more enjoyable than the last. Phineas was now much more involved as he moved his lips with Isabella's and placed one of his hands on the back of her head and felt her soft, sweet smelling hair and the other on her back and pressed her as close as possible to him. They kissed for five minutes this time before stopping. The two were now blushing and as Isabella moved, she stumbled and nearly fell, but Phineas caught her. Isabella felt very light headed as though she would faint.

"I think we should go home…" Phineas said.

"Yeah…" Isabella agreed. The two held hands and Phineas helped support Isabella as they walked back. To be safe, Phineas helped her in her own home.
"Good bye." Phineas said.

"Bye." Isabella said and hastily checked to see if her mother was watching before kissing Phineas on the cheek. Phineas smiled and walked back to his own home. Candace wasn't there yet, Linda allowed her to go without a specific curfew as long as she didn't abuse it. Phineas went upstairs and changed into his pajamas. Just as he finished, Ferb walked in. He seemed to have had a good time too. He had a very goof expression on his face that didn't match the more serious Ferb that Phineas was used to.

"How did it go with Vanessa?" Phineas asked.

"Quite well…how about Isabella?" Ferb asked.

"She kissed me." Phineas said.

"I see…"

"Yeah, but that wasn't the weird part. The strange thing was, she told me she loved me and seemed to thing I had no clue like I was oblivious to it all or something." Phineas said with a laugh. Ferb made no comment but rolled his eyes a little when Phineas wasn't looking. "Oh, there you are, Perry!" Phineas said as the platypus walked in.