"Fireside Diaries"
Story Written by Freedom Fighter

So, here's this season's moral-laden episode, spiced up with some fun side antics by a pair of familiar characters. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: The characters of 'Phineas and Ferb' belong to Disney.

A school bus on its way to Danville Elementary was filled with a few dozen kids, most of them in a talkative mood. They were some kids talking about the newest toy they had just gotten, others showing off a new article of clothing, and even a few were already thinking about what they were going to do after they got out of school that day.

Holly would normally find herself participating in one of those discussions. But today, she was doing some different. She was preparing for a spelling test that morning.

Entry #123 - Written by Holly

I know I should be used to having to take a spelling test pretty much every Friday during the school year. It's been that way since the second grade. Thankfully, this is only our second test so far, so I'm not stressin' out, trying to study at the last minute. I'm just doing a last-second review.

Indeed, Holly had a piece of paper with a list of words that her teacher might ask the class to spell in hand.

Surely nothing out of the ordinary will happen today. Right?

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Entry #123 [FSD205] - To Bust or Not to Bust (01.30.12)
-

"Alright, class! It's time for this week's spelling quiz! Please clear everything from your desk except for a pencil!"

Noise filled the room as the students complied with Miss Dunkirk's order. As Holly took everything off her desk, she shot a friendly glance over to her right, where Django was sitting.

"You ready?" she asked him.

To which Django replied, "C-h-e-s-t-n-u-t! Chestnut!"

"Show off!" Holly playfully stuck her tongue out at Django, having realized he just spelled one of the words on the test list.

Miss Dunkirk began passing out paper sheets to the class.

"Please put your name in the top right corner of the page! And I do mean YOUR name!"

She had stopped in front of Irving, and was staring at him.

"I don't care how much you like this 'Phineas,' he's not in this class! So if you don't want to get a zero this time..."

She handed a sheet to Irving, and then continued on to the next student. Once they were all passed out, Miss Dunkirk began the test.

"Number one. Month."

The way Miss Dunkirk's spelling tests go was that she'd say the word, then repeat it twice more. Simple enough.

Holly wrote down the first word without hesitation, even before her teacher had begun repeating it.

"Number two. Ghastly."

Holly had no trouble remembering the spelling of this one, either.

"Number three. Wrestling."

Again, easy.

"Number four. Chestnut."

Holly saw Django smile out of the corner of her eye. He sure called that one.

"Number five. Isthmus."

Finally, Miss Dunkirk had said a word that Holly had trouble recalling how to spell.

"Isthmus."

Holly wrote down the correct first two letters, but was stumped as to what came next. She randomly glanced to her left and one seat up, and suddenly saw something troublesome. There was a boy sitting in that seat, and Holly could see, just barely, words written in black marker on his left palm!

"No way!" Holly thought to herself. "Is he... he couldn't... what... what should I do?"

A miniature Isabella appeared on her left shoulder, dressed in an angelic white robe.

"I'm pretty sure he's got a good reason," she told Holly. "It's not like he's a chronic cheater... this is just his first offense!"

At that moment, a miniature Candace materialized on Holly's right shoulder, in a devilish red robe. She immediately began yelling...

"BUST HIM! BUST HIM, BUST HIM, BUST HIM, BUST HIM, BUST HIM!"

The two of them then disappeared. Holly then saw the boy cover his palm up, believing he was still in the clear...

As a member of the Fireside Girls, I knew what I had to do!

"Miss Dunkirk!" Holly shouted while raising her hand.

"Holly!" Miss Dunkirk said in response. "No talking during a test!"

"But..."

"Holly!"

Holly quickly clammed up, and she focused all her attention back on the test. In doing so, she failed to notice the cheater himself sneak a worried glance her way.

"Pencils down!" Miss Dunkirk exclaimed a couple minutes later. "Turn your papers face down and then pass them to the front of the room!"

As the students followed instructions, Holly glanced over at the cheater. Just in time, too, as she saw him stick his marked-up hand into his pants pocket.

"Holly?"

She looked towards the front, to where Miss Dunkirk was.

"Yes?"

"Did you have something to say?"

Holly gazed over at the boy, and for the first time, their eyes had met. She could see the frightened look in his eyes, while he saw that she had a 'I saw what you did' look on hers.

And then 'Angel' Isabella and 'Devil' Candace showed up again.

"Forgive him!" pleaded Isabella. "Look how scared he is!"

"Bust him, bust him, bust him, BUST HIMMMMMMMMMMMMM!" shouted Candace.

Holly made a decision.

"No, Miss Dunkirk. It was nothing."

Miss Dunkirk shrugged, then began collecting the tests.

"Boo-yah!" exclaimed Isabella.

Candace crossed her arms over her chest and huffed in displeasure. As for the boy, he seemed relieved that he had not been busted after all.

I could've left it like that. But...

"You know, if you keep stirring that pea mush, it'll be... I dunno, something worse!"

Holly snapped back to reality, and noticed that Milly had been staring at her. They were in the cafeteria, eating lunch. Well, Milly had been, while Holly was just messing with the food on her tray.

"You really shouldn't do that to your peas," Milly continued. "This is the first time they haven't been stale since the first day of school!"

"Sorry," apologized Holly. "I'm... distracted."

"Spelling test day? I thought you always aced those! The first few every year, anyway..."

Holly suddenly got up out of her seat and she started walking away, leaving her tray behind.

"Um, Holly? Don't leave without dumping your tray!"

"Later..."

But dumping her tray was not on Holly's mind. It was the cheater that actually was. And she was going over to where he was sitting, all by his lonesome self.

"YES!" Candace shouted as she reappeared on Holly's shoulder. "Busting time, busting time, tra la la, la la la!"

Holly tapped the boy lightly on the shoulder, and he turned around to see who it was.

"Hi, Mike! Mind if we chat?"

The boy in question, Mike, was coming to the realization that Holly had seen him cheat after all. He could decline her request, but that likely would not deter her from asking again. He could try to run, but that could get him into even more trouble. That left him with only one option.

"Yeah, sure."

He had said the words uneasily, but it was the only way he could try to explain himself. Holly sat down in the seat across from him, so that they were facing each other. She put one hand on his lunch tray and pushed it to the side, so Mike could not eat while they were talking.

"So, you want to start? Or should I just come right out with it?"

Mike hesitated, then responded. "I have no idea what you're talking about..."

Holly shook her head. "You're going that route, aren't you?"

On her shoulder, Candace started yelling into Holly's ear.

"GET HIM, GET HIM! BUST HIM, BUST HIM!"

"Mike, I saw you cheat on the test."

Holly had revealed what she had seen. Mike rebutted.

"I did no such thing."

"I saw you! Don't deny it!"

"I didn't cheat!"

"Either you tell her or I will!"

"But I didn't!"

Yet I knew he did, and there was proof!

"Show me your hand!"

"What? No!"

"Show me!"

Holly reached over the table for Mike's left hand. She got a hold of it, but he had it closed in the fist, attempting to cover up the evidence. Holly used her other hand to try and pry his fingers loose.

"Go, go!" Candace shouted. "Get that evidence!"

"HEY!" howled Isabella, as she appeared on Holly's other shoulder. "No fair! I go to the little girls' room for five minutes and now CHAOS?"

"Ya snooze, you lose!"

"Holly! Let go of that boy this instant!"

Hearing Isabella's plea, Holly stopped. That gave Mike just the break he needed, as he pulled himself out of Holly's grip, got up from the table, and walked off.

"NO! IT WAS RIGHT THERE! I WAS WINNING!"

"This isn't about winning, Candace! I thought we agreed that Holly was going to let him go!"

"You agreed! I didn't! And neither did Holly! 'Til you popped back in!"

Holly, tired of the arguing on her shoulders, reached up to grab them. But doing so only made the pair turn into clouds, which gradually faded away... for now. Holly needed time to think about her next move, if any.

I probably should've turned Mike in once we got back to class, but since Miss Dunkirk wanted to get right into the day's English lesson, I decided to hold off.

"Okay, class! Today, we're gonna learn about homophones! Who wants to guess what a homophone is?"

Holly saw a girl raise her hand. But she was not paying attention to what she was saying. She was still stuck about what to do about Mike.

Before I knew it, we had moved onto Math...

Django was at the blackboard, writing down the solution to the problem 76 divided by 7 and showing his work in the process. He was not alone, as three other students had also been given similar problems to work out for the entire class to see.

"Django, please explain your answer," commanded Miss Dunkirk.

"Okay. So, to divide 76 into 7, the first thing you do is take the tens digit, which is 7, and see if its divisible by the number out here, which is also 7..."

Again, Holly's mind was elsewhere, ignoring what was transpiring in class and only focusing on Mike and his apparent act to continue on like nothing had ever happened...

...and at some point, we had reached the end of the day.

The end-of-school bell had just rang, and everyone began to file out of the room to go to their lockers. Holly was heading for the door, too, when suddenly she changed direction and instead went towards Miss Dunkirk's desk.

"Miss Dunkirk?"

I finally realized that if Mike wasn't gonna turn himself in, I had to.

"This oughta be good," Candace stated, as she popped up once more on Holly's shoulders, with a tub of popcorn in hand.

"Yes, Holly?" Miss Dunkirk asked. "What is it, Holly?"

"Miss Dunkirk! I have something to tell you!"

Holly sighed, then opened her mouth to begin the bust, as Candace leaned in with anticipation...

"Yes? YES!"

...and then...

"Miss Dunkirk!"

Mike had jumped in, intending to stop Holly from spilling the beans. Candace reacted, appropriately...

"No, no, NOOOOO!"

"Mike, you know it's rude to interrupt others," Miss Dunkirk said, in a scolding tone. "Holly was here first."

"But," Mike pleaded, "I have something important to tell you! VERY important!"

Miss Dunkirk was having none of it, but Holly said in response...

"Actually, Miss Dunkirk, I think if it's important, Mike SHOULD go first!"

"Hmmm..." the teacher thought aloud. "Well, if you insist. Mike?"

"Watch," Holly whispered to Candace. "He's about to bust himself."

Upon hearing that, Candace became happy again and looked on with baited breath.

"Miss Dunkirk, I just wanted to wish you a good weekend!"

Holly's jaw dropped, and so did Candace's.

"Why, that's very nice of you to say, Mike. Thank you!"

Mike nodded, then headed for the door.

"Now, Holly... you were saying?"

Holly waited for Mike to exit the room before finally answering, "Nothing. It's nothing."

Miss Dunkirk seemed suspicious of Holly's reply.

"You sure? It's the second time today you had something important to say, and then you say it's nothing. Are you okay?"

Holly thought about it.

"Yes. I'm good."

"Well, Holly. You know you can talk to me about any problems you may be having. Alright?"

Holly nodded.

"I'd better go. Don't want to miss the bus!"

With that, Holly exited.

"What are you doing?" screamed Candace. "BUST THE BOY!"

Holly went into the hall and found Mike at his locker. She quickly confronted him before he could get away.

"Mike! You know what you did was wrong! Now, fess up, or I'm going to tell Miss Dunkirk! For real this time!"

Mike sighed, then turned around to face Holly. Meanwhile, Isabella showed up next to Candace on Holly's shoulder, late once again.

"Again? Why always when I'm you-know-where?"

"Dunno. Which reminds me... isn't that the fifth time today?"

"Breakfast really, REALLY didn't agree with me."

"Told you not to eat that bagel that was actually a day-old donut."

"But you're the one in red! I thought you were lying!"

"Why would I lie about something already evil to begin with?"

"WILL YOU TWO KNOCK IT OFF?" Holly suddenly yelled.

Mike raised an eyebrow, confused, as he did not know whom Holly was talking to.

"Um?"

Holly quickly refocused, going back to pressing Mike for an answer.

"Well, Mike?"

"Holly, please! Please don't turn me in!"

"You need to give me a very good reason not to. Cheating is wrong! So wrong!"

"I have one!"

"And it is?"

"Look, I only cheated because I forgot to study! I was out all afternoon, biking with my friends! I was so tired afterwards that I forgot about the test until this morning! My folks are really hard on me when I get bad grades, so I did what I had to do! It was just this one time! I've never done it before, and I'll never do it again! Please don't turn me in, Holly!"

Holly looked into Mike's eyes, trying to determine how sincere he was. But her 'helpers' had already decided.

"He's pleading for forgiveness!" begged Isabella. "You can let it slide this one time, Holly!"

"CHEATING IS WRONG!" yelled Candace. "You gotta bust him! It's in your blood!"

"'It's in your blood?' Really?"

"Don't question me, Miss Make-an-Exception!"

Holly sighed not once, but twice, before coming to a decision.

"I won't tell Miss Dunkirk."

Candace freaked out. "WHAT?"

"Ha!" Isabella said with a smirk. "Niceness triumphs once more!"

"But..." Holly added, "you have to promise to NEVER cheat ever again. Got it?"

Mike nodded several times. "Yes, yes! I promise! Thank you, Holly! Thank you!"

With that, Mike pulled out his bookbag, closed his locker, and then joined the mass exodus of students heading for the school's front door. Holly smiled, having reached a satisfactory conclusion to her dilemma.

I was actually willing to let it end there. Unfortunately, my conscience had other ideas...

"Has not being a Fireside Girl taught you anything?" Candace, on one shoulder, asked Holly. "You see somebody doing something wrong, then you have to bust them!"

"But he genuinely pleaded for mercy!" argued Isabella, over on Holly's shoulder. "You saw it in his eyes! He's truly sorry, and I believe he will never, ever cheat on a test again!"

Holly sighed as she lied on her bed, her legs dangling over the end.

"You're gonna take a boy for his word? The only surefire way to make sure he never does it again is to bust him!"

"For someone five years my senior, you sure have a limited vocabulary. You've said the word 'bust,' like, how many times?"

"What can I say? It's my thing!"

"Anyway, Holly. It's over. There are other, more important things to worry about."

"What? It's not over 'til I say it's over!"

"NO!" Holly barked, sitting up. "Enough! I'll decide when it's over!"

Holly suddenly got an idea.

"Or, maybe..."

"Hi, Holly! Whatcha doin'?"

Holly had gone over to Isabella's - yes, the real Isabella - house to ask for advice. Candace was not happy.

"Now you're consulting with real-life Isabella? Unfair!"

"I think it's a sound decision!" 'Angel' Isabella stated proudly.

The two conscience 'sprites' sat patiently as Holly told Isabella of her dilemma. The troop leader thought about it for a minute after being told all the facts, and she told Holly what she had decided.

"If I were you, Holly, the right thing to do would be to turn in Mike to Miss Dunkirk."

The Isabella sprite disagreed with her living counterpart.

"WHAT?"

The Candace sprite, on the other hand, was dancing in celebration.

"HA! She agrees with me! Candace Sprite 1, you... LO-SER!"

But the real-life Isabella was not done yet...

"But... it's not wrong to believe in Mike. After all, he did swear that he'd never cheat again."

This time, the sprites switched reactions.

"You can't flip-flop! You flip-flopper!"

"I knew there was some good in me! I mean, Isabella!"

"In the end," Isabella told Holly, "the decision on whether to turn Mike in or make an exception this one time for him is up to you. Not me, or those little sprites on your shoulders!"

Holly did a double-take. "Wait... you can SEE them?"

"And hear them!"

"Whew! For a second there, I thought I was going crazy."

"No worries! They're easily disposed of."

Isabella pulled out a can of Sprite-B-Gone, and used it on the duo. They cried out in anguish as they liquefied into goo.

"How could you? I'm youuuuuuuuu..."

"When I find a way to become solid again, YOU'RE SO BUSTEDDDDDDDDDD!"

All that was left of them on Holly's shoulders were two small puddles of water.

"Don't worry. It's self-drying. As for Mike..."

Holly put up a hand up to stop Isabella.

"I've made my decision."

The next day, at school, Holly entered the classroom. But she stopped upon seeing Mike already in the midst of confessing his gaffe to Miss Dunkirk. Holly could not make out their conversation because of it being overshadowed by the noise of others talking and taking their seats filling the room, but she could read lips well enough to know Mike was doing the right thing.

And for that, Holly smiled in relief.

Later on, at lunch, Holly was busy multitasking. One moment she was eating, the next she was chatting with Milly, and then she was examining a new list of spelling words that Miss Dunkirk had given them for their next test at the end of the week. Suddenly, she was interrupted by someone tapping on her shoulder. She turned around and saw that it was Mike.

"I saw what you did today," Holly said aloud.

"You did, huh?"

Holly nodded. "So, what happened?"

"I had to take a zero. Still, she waived detention because I told her what I did. And I feel much better now without this thing hanging over my head!"

"I see."

"You're right. I shouldn't have done it. I'll know better now to make sure I never cheat again. And I have you to thank, Holly! So, thanks!"

"You're welcome!"

Mike waved farewell, then walked off with his tray to find a place to sit. Holly smiled.

I guess what they say is true. Cheaters never prosper. But the truth will set you free. I'm pretty confident Mike has learned his lesson, and I'm glad I helped him see the light.

Holly went back to eating, or rather, she was, until she saw the odd grin on Milly's face.

"What?"

Milly continued to grin. Holly gasped, recognizing the look.

"That's your 'you think I'm in love' face, isn't it?"

"EEEEEE!" squealed Milly. "So you are admitting it! So how long have you had feelings for him? Who made the first move? What's his favorite color? Have you held hands yet?"

Milly continued to ramble off random questions as Holly groaned and buried her face in her hands.

Now that I've taught Mike that cheating is wrong, next time I suppose that Milly's constant assumptions of a boy and girl randomly beginning to interact with each other as a sign that they're in love will have to be proven wrong.

Don't expect an entry on that. It might take a few weeks.

End Entry

Author's Notes:
To bust or not to bust a cheater? That is the question. Holly had trouble deciding. What would you do, given the same situation? I'm interested to hear your response!

Looking ahead to next week, another Fireside Girl will have an important decision of her own to make. Come back then to see what that is!