No Such Thing As Just An Ordinary Day

Isabella kept going over daily. Sometimes on weekends her mother came along and spent the day with Linda, playing music or just talking.

Phineas and Ferb's sister, Candace, was home from college for the summer, but wasn't around much; she had a summer job doing filing and secretarial work for a therapist that she hoped to work with when she got her degree. She was in a long-distance relationship with a boy named Jeremy, who had an internship with a record company in Los Angeles. On weekends, she sometimes tried to show her mother the things that Phineas and Ferb had built, but it was a half-hearted effort, and occasionally she'd just shrug and ignore what happened.

Isabella felt a bit like a third wheel sometimes, paired up with Phineas as the only single people in the group, but then he'd smile at her, and it all felt right.

She found herself idly wondering if maybe she should try to start a relationship with him. The very idea was ludicrous, of course, so she banished those thoughts as soon as they came up. He was Adyson's ex. She didn't need to prove anything by taking Adyson's unwanted leftovers.

And then he'd smile at her again, and the idle thoughts returned. And she'd find herself smiling back.

Phineas wandered downstairs. He didn't hear the faint *glingleglingle* that indicated Ferb was alone with Gretchen, so he knew he wouldn't be interrupting anything. Perry sat in front of the door to Ferb's room, so Phineas picked up the platypus and rubbed his head before knocking on the door.

Inside Ferb's room, he heard Gretchen squeak as Ferb said, breathlessly, "Just a minute!"

Phineas chuckled as silence came from the room, then Ferb said, "Okay, come in."

"Sorry, didn't mean to disturb you," Phineas said. "I think Perry threw off your alarm."

"What alarm?" Ferb asked nervously.

"Seriously?" Phineas asked. "It's either an alarm for when someone comes downstairs while you two are down here together, or you've trapped the Glingleglingle Fairy."

Gretchen blushed as Ferb chuckled. "Okay. What's up?" Ferb asked.

"Can we do it tomorrow, Ferb?"

Ferb raised an eyebrow. "Do what?"

Not looking at Gretchen, Phineas said, "That thing we talked about. The surprise." He'd been talking to Ferb about a romantic tunnel of love ride, which he could ride through with Isabella as Ferb rode through with Gretchen.

Ferb nodded in understanding. "Unlikely. Tomorrow evening is the Falling Stars Dance, and Gretchen's visiting her grandmother in the morning."

Phineas sighed. "Oh, right, right. Gretchen asked you to the dance. Afternoon?"

Ferb said, "She wants to spend the time getting ready, right?" Gretchen nodded. "And Buford, Baljeet and I have plans, remember?" he added.

Phineas sighed. "Day after, then?"

Ferb shook his head as he looked up at Phineas. "It's that important to you?"

"Yes. Yes, it is."

"Then, yes, we can build it the day after tomorrow."

"Thanks, Ferb. You're the best. You two get back to what you were doing." Phineas backed out, closed the door behind him, and carried Perry up the stairs.

"What'cha doin'?" Isabella asked as she came into the back yard the next morning. Phineas sat against the tree alone.

"Nothing much," he said. "The girls are all off getting ready for the dance tonight, so the guys are off having a 'bachelor day', as Buford put it."

"What dance?"

"The Falling Stars Girls' Choice Dance. It started a few years back, when there was a comet over the summer, but they've continued it since."

"Huh. I must have missed it."

"Yeah, I've never been. Candace loved it when she was younger, but she doesn't want to go without Jeremy. Ferb's really looking forward to it."

Isabella thought for a second. She really liked the idea of going with Phineas, but didn't want to push too hard. But...nothing ventured, nothing gained.

"Want to go?" she asked. "Just as friends?"

Phineas's eyes got wide and a smile crept across his face. "Sure!"

Phineas led Isabella into the town hall, where the dance was being held.

"Thank you for inviting me, Isabella," he said. "I didn't get to come last year because Adyson and I weren't dating yet."

"I never realized this was happening."

They got to the dance floor, and Phineas shifted from one foot to another nervously. Isabella grinned at him, and asked, "Shall we dance?"

"Sure!" he said enthusiastically, then with forced casualness added, "I mean, if you want."

They danced a couple fast dances before Isabella felt an urge. "I need to go hit the ladies' room," she said. "I'll be right back."

He nodded as he took a seat off to one side, and she quickly found the restrooms and took care of her business.

As she was touching up her makeup in the mirror, Alex came in to the bathroom. "Was that Phineas I saw you dancing with, Isabella?" Alex asked.

"Yeah. Why?"

"Seriously? Adyson's ex-boyfriend? Do you want to spend the rest of your life chasing after her?"

"We're just here as friends. We're not dating."

"I don't know that that's much of an improvement. Major step down from Dave, if you ask me."

"I didn't ask you," Isabella said, and left the bathroom. She spotted Phineas across the room; Adyson was talking to him animatedly.

Phineas watched Isabella walking away. She'd asked him to come to this as a friend, but maybe...just maybe...they'd part tonight as more than just friends. He had high hopes for a goodnight kiss, or maybe even one during a slow dance later. If he was reading her reactions right, she wouldn't mind at all.

"Phineas?" he heard a familiar voice ask. He looked up to see Adyson approaching, a disdainful look on her face.

"What?" he asked.

"Isabella asked you here?"

He nodded.

"Seriously? And you're going along with her weak little power trip?" Adyson asked, annoyed.

"What power trip?"

"Oh, please. It's obvious. She's trying to use you to get back at me over all the Fireside Girls fights we had, and you're going along with it to get back at me over the break-up."

"No, she's been hanging around all summer." Phineas's head reeled. Was she right? Was he really just interested to get back at Adyson? He didn't think so, but he wasn't sure he could trust his judgement.

"What'cha doin?" Isabella asked as she approached them.

"Just talking a bit," Adyson said. She glared at Isabella for a moment, then headed off to find her date again.

They'd dropped the girls off at their houses, and now Ferb and Phineas sat together in the back of their mother's minivan.

Phineas sighed. He had decided not to try for the kiss after all, after his talk with Adyson, and looking at Isabella's behavior the rest of the night, he suspected she preferred it that way.

Adyson's right. Maybe I can be friends with Isabella, but romance would just be a stupid attempt at revenge. Isabella deserves better than that.

"Ferb?" he asked quietly, and saw his brother nod his head. "Cancel the tunnel of love for tomorrow. We'll think of something else to do."

Ferb paused a moment, and nodded his head again in response.

Isabella woke up the next morning, and made a decision.

I don't have to spend the whole summer with Phineas. I've got lots of other friends. I...just haven't seen them all summer.

It was clearly time to fix that. After her shower, she sent a quick text to Melanie to see if she was interested in getting together.

The reply came back a few minutes later:

Sorry, boyfriend is taking me to the lake today. Some other time!

Well, one isn't a problem. Another text got sent to Louisa, but there didn't seem to be a reply.

She flipped through her phone. Maybe I should try someone who went to Archer High?

Shawna had been third-in-command, and close to her and Alex. Maybe that could work? She sent the message.

Sure, Emilio and I were going to hang out at the Zillionplex Mall. Wanna meet us there?

With a smile, she sent a quick reply: See you there!

Phineas stared at the giant projection screen blankly. They'd built a massive circle-vision movie theater, then used a time viewer to get images of cool things they'd done in the past. But while the movie had been great, and everyone had loved it, Phineas couldn't help feeling like something was missing.

Isabella, popped into his head.

"No," he muttered to himself. "Not going there. She's off...doing other things today. And so am I."

It didn't help how many of the things he'd seen had involved Adyson. He'd tried to focus on this summer, just to shift her out...which meant that Isabella showed up more prominently.

He walked out of the theater, which got hit by a blue beam as he exited, folded in on itself, and vanished. He looked back, spotting Perry just behind where it had been. "Oh, there you are, Perry," he said dejectedly.

He'd swear the platypus looked concerned, but that was silly. He's just a platypus. They don't do much.

Isabella hadn't met Shawna's boyfriend before, but Shawna gave her a big hug and introduced her to Emilio. Shawna had met him on the first day of high school; he'd stood up for her when someone had tried to bully her, and they'd started dating three days later.

Isabella watched the two of them as they walked through the mall together, Shawna's chocolate-brown skin and Emilio's lighter cinnamon coloring matching nicely as they held hands.

I see the way they look at each other. I still want that. But...where do I find someone?

An image of a red-haired boy came to mind, but she shook it off.

"Shawna?" she asked.

"Mm?"

"How long should you wait to try for somebody else's ex-boyfriend?"

"Depends on the somebody else. Is she someone you like?"

"It's Adyson."

Shawna stopped walking and stared at Isabella. "So, that's a 'no'. Is it that funky inventor dude she hung out with?"

Isabella nodded, and Emilio laughed.

"What Adyson did doesn't matter. Do what you want for you. What do you think of him?" Shawna asked.

"That's...what I'm trying to figure out."

"Ignore Adyson. If you like him, go for it."

"Thanks, Shawna."

She'd left Shawna and Emilio at the mall, with promises to get together again soon. They'd moved on to different lives now, but that didn't mean they couldn't keep in touch.

Tomorrow, she'd go back to the Flynn-Fletcher back yard and see what was up with Phineas. And maybe, with a bit of time, she could decide what she wanted to do about the boy.

Isabella wandered around Danville Park with her mother, enjoying the big end-of-summer festival that happened every Labor Day. School started tomorrow, but today she could just hang out at the festival.

"Hey, fancy meeting you here," Phineas said behind her. She turned around to see him, dressed in jeans and wearing an unzipped fleece jacket. She'd just left him a few hours before; the boys had built another roller coaster to finish off the summer, this time using teleporter portals to randomize the ride.

She smiled at him. "Why are you wearing a jacket?" she asked. "It's nice out." She'd worn a short-sleeved blouse and knee-length skirt to enjoy the warm weather.

"I got into the habit a while back. It may come in handy," he said.

"Mama, I'm going to hang out with Phineas for a bit, okay?" she asked her mother.

"That's fine, Isa. Meet me at the car after the fireworks, okay?" her mother said with a knowing smile.

"Gracias, Mama," Isabella said, taking Phineas's hand and leading him away.

They rode on the carnival rides, and he tried to win her a stuffed animal by throwing rings onto bottletops.

"Ferb could do this, I bet," Phineas muttered.

Isabella shook her head. "Here, let me try." She took his last ring, weighed it in her hand, and gently tossed it toward a red-topped bottle. It bounced off, flipped up, and clattered off to one side.

"Ah, well," Isabella said. "It was a nice effort."

"You sure? I'll try again," Phineas said.

She shook her head. "No, that's okay. Let's go see what else they've got here."

Phineas had enjoyed spending the afternoon with Isabella. The more time he spent with her, the more fascinating she became.

He saw Ferb and Gretchen off in the distance a couple times, carrying around one of the giant stuffed animals from the ring-toss booth. Ginger and Baljeet were helping at Baljeet's Uncle Kamal's Indian food booth. Baljeet made sure they had generous servings of curry with samosas on the side for dinner.

He'd spotted Adyson and Steve over at the classic car displays, and had guided Isabella away, but not before Adyson had looked up and seen them. He really didn't want to deal with Adyson right now, though.

The shadows lengthened and then went away, and the wind picked up as darkness settled over the park. Isabella shivered a bit, rubbing her bare arms.

"Here," he said, handing her his jacket.

"You'll freeze," she said, taking the jacket from him.

"Nah, I'll be fine. I got in the habit of wearing an extra jacket when I was dating Adyson."

Isabella laughed. "Of course. Because she's allergic to sleeves or something."

"Pretty much," Phineas agreed. "So I just took it upon myself to make sure she stayed warm."

She looked up at him and smiled, wrapping the jacket around herself. "Thank you."

He was trying to decide whether or not to lean in for a kiss when the first fireworks started going off overhead. He looked up, startled. Brilliantly colored explosions filled the sky. He looked back at Isabella, who was staring at the sky raptly. He took her hand and watched the fireworks with her.

He'd walked her back to the car, where her mother waited.

"See, I told you to bring a jacket, Isa," her mother said with a smile from the driver's seat.

"It's okay," Phineas said.

"Thank you," Isabella said, taking off the jacket reluctantly and handing it back.

"I'll see you at school tomorrow?" Phineas said.

Isabella nodded eagerly. "Hasta mañana." She climbed into the car, and watched Phineas waving from behind them as her mother drove them home.

Phineas knocked on Ferb's door. "Come in," Ferb said.

"Hey...you busy?" Phineas asked as he opened the door. Ferb was sitting at his computer, planning out his schedule for the next day. He shook his head as he turned toward Phineas.

Phineas sat on the bed. He took a deep breath and asked, "What do I do about Isabella?"

"Do you like her?"

"Of course I like her. What's not to like? She's funny, she's smart, she's brave, she's a born leader who happens to be absolutely gorgeous..."

"So ask her out."

"But Adyson and Isabella were practically at war for years. How do I go out with Isabella without thinking I'm doing it to spite Adyson?"

"Nothing you said about why you liked Isabella had anything to do with Adyson."

"Huh?"

"You gave a list of what you liked about Isabella. Nothing on that list involved Adyson."

Phineas stared off into space. "You're right. It didn't. But what do I do if Adyson asks about it?"

"Tell her it's none of her business."

"But..."

"Look, if it hadn't been for Adyson sticking that stupid idea in your head at the summer dance, you two would have been dating since then. Just ask her out already."

"Okay, okay. Sheesh."