"Fireside Diaries"
Story Written by Freedom Fighter
This week, you get a little bit of all the girls. This episode is also considered the midpoint of this season's arc. While there's some focus on the series' new love triangle, more traditional fans will undoubtedly be more excited about seeing some Phinbella here for the first time in a while.
It's also a long episode, so let me stop yapping and get you right into it!
Disclaimer: The characters of 'Phineas and Ferb' belong to Disney. As does a certain song...
Prerequisite (i.e. read these first before reading this):
- Entry #405-407 ("Fireside Diaries," Episodes 303-305)
Entry #411 - Written by the members of Troop 46231,
Transcribed by Isabella Garcia-Shapiro
Isabella Garcia-Shapiro here! Can you believe it? We're more than 400 entries into this online blog, and I can't believe how popular it's gotten! Honestly, from the bottom of all of our hearts, thank you for supporting us in our endeavor!
That being said, Gretchen has decided that we should open our blog up to fan requests! Oddly enough, the most common request from you guys is for us to describe the life of a Fireside Girl... during an ordinary school day.
I talked to all the girls, and we agreed to do it! Let me warn you, though... you'd be surprised to learn that being a Fireside Girl in school is not all "sunshine and rainbows" as you'd think.
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Entry #411 [FSD308] - A School Day in the Life of... (01.21.03)
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The sound of the warning bell being rung filled the air as the last few buses dropped off students in front of Danville Elementary School. Inside, on the second floor, the seven core members of Fireside Girl Troop 46231 were walking down the hall together, headed for their lockers. They were also all dressed in their hand-knit uniforms, which made them stand out amongst their peers.
On this particular day, we came to school dressed in our uniforms. On days in which we have Fireside Girls' duties to attend to immediately after school, we dress up first thing in the morning and wear our uniforms all day. Our school allows it because they know of our organization's pristine reputation. The fact that we're also all on the Honor Roll helps, too.
But my mind wasn't on the charity function we had volunteered for that day. It was on... Phineas.
"I will not rest until I get one minute alone with Phineas today!" declared Isabella. "Within the bounds of school rules, of course."
"But you already sit right behind him in class!" exclaimed Adyson.
"That doesn't mean I can TALK to him in it!"
"You can just pass notes back and forth, Chief," suggested Gretchen. "N-n-not like I've ever done that before. I just heard... other kids do that."
Gretchen then turned to look at Ginger, prompting the other girls to do the same. She huffed in protest.
"Hmph! It's not like they ever get to Baljeet anyway. Someone always intercepts them."
"Don't look at me!" barked Adyson.
Ginger had a confused look on her face. "Uh, I wasn't."
"Huh? Well, okay then."
Isabella motioned for Ginger to hand her pre-made notes over. The Asian girl complied, pulling out a paper-clipped stack of notes that, when taped together, would be enough to make up an entire sheet of notebook paper. Isabella promptly then deposited the notes into the nearest trash can.
"You'll thank me later," she said afterward.
At that point, it was time for Milly and Katie to break off.
"See you at lunch!" Milly said.
The older girls waved farewell as they continued towards the sixth-grade classrooms, leaving Milly and Katie to go to their lockers in the fifth-grade wing.
"Ready for that quiz today, Katie?"
"Test me! I'm ready!"
"Okay. Let's see. How 'bout... Massachusetts?"
Katie thought for a second. "Uh..."
"How about North Dakota?"
"Well..."
"Maybe Oklahoma? That's an easy one!"
Katie racked her brain, trying to come up with an answer. After a few seconds, though, it was obvious she did not have it.
"I was so confident when I went to bed last night!"
"Well, geography is the last subject of the day. You got a few hours to study up."
The girls finished putting their stuff in their lockers and headed off to class.
Meanwhile, Isabella and the other girls had just gotten to their classroom. To Isabella's delight, Phineas was already in his seat, having a small chat with Ferb, as well as the other kids that had seats around him. She let out a dreamy sigh as she took her assigned seat, right behind her crush.
"Hi, Phineas!" she greeted. "Whatcha doin'?"
"Just remembering the day we opened up that roadside truck stop atop that RV our parents rented for the road trip we went on."
"Hearing about the three-headed toad we had there is everyone's favorite part," added Ferb.
Before Phineas could pick up where he left off, the late bell rang. Mr. Worth entered the room from outside, closing the door behind him. He immediately went to the chalkboard and started knocking on it with his right fist, quickly quieting the room and drawing all the attention to him.
"Okay, class, I've got good news!" the teacher said to his students. "I've decided to give everyone new assigned seats!"
Most of the class groaned in dismay. Isabella, obviously, was the most worried about their teacher's decision.
"Just stay calm, Isabella," she told herself. "What's the worst thing that could happen? Like Mr. Worth would put me on the exact opposite side of the room from Phineas."
15 minutes later, Phineas was sitting at the desk right next to the door. Isabella, meanwhile, had been reassigned to the complete opposite side of the room, at the farthest desk away possible.
"Of course," she deadpanned.
Meanwhile, Ginger had ended up in the seat directly behind Phineas. And she was not happy with her arrangement, either... but for a different reason.
"Why is she lucky enough to get a seat next to him?" she whined.
Ginger was looking at Adyson, who had moved from sitting in front of Baljeet to being in the seat directly to his right, with both of them at the head of their respective rows.
"Why are you worried about her?" questioned Holly, who was now in the seat to Ginger's left. "The two've only spent one 'date' together."
"That's still one more date than I've had with him!"
Ginger's eyes narrowed as she watched Adyson innocently take out her science book, in preparation for the first subject of the day.
"I'm watching you."
Holly coughed to remind Ginger of her presence. "You realize you just said that out loud, right?"
"So? It's a free country!"
Holly had no idea how to respond to that.
"See? Free country."
Elsewhere in the classroom, Gretchen was just getting comfortable in her new seat, which was not anywhere close to any of the other Fireside Girls. Still, at least she knew some of her new desk neighbors from past escapades.
"Psst..."
Gretchen felt the person behind her tap her on the shoulder. It was Wendy Stinglehopper, asking her for a quick favor.
"I forgot all my pencils at home! Do you have one I can borrow for the day?"
Gretchen pulled out a pencil-holding case. It had room for four pencils, including the one that Gretchen already had in hand.
"Here you go!" Gretchen said, handing a pencil to Wendy.
"Thanks! I'll give it back, promise!"
Gretchen smiled. She knew she could trust Wendy. But her act of kindness quickly became an act of weakness, as the girls directly to her left and right also asked her to borrow a pencil from her.
"Sure," she agreed, thinking nothing of it.
Once she had handed her spares over, Gretchen found herself staring down at an empty case.
"It's okay. I'm sure I can survive one day without any reserves."
She then turned her attention to the front of the class as Mr. Worth started writing notes on the board for all of the students to copy.
Usually, we're pretty good about paying attention in class. Unfortunately for Milly, this was a day in which she was rather... distracted.
In the fifth-grade class that Milly and Katie were in, they were in the midst of Reading. One kid was standing up at his seat, reading aloud while everyone else was expected to follow along. Milly was reading, but not the story. She had a letter that had been sent by her pen pal that was she was looking at, hidden from view because she had it resting on her lap.
"'I liked the last letter about your adventures as Class President, Milly. My sis tells me that Fireside Girls are good at singing and dancing...'"
She continued reading on, but her eyes widened when her pen pal got to his point.
"He wants me... he wants me... he wants me to..."
"Milly!"
Milly suddenly snapped to attention, hearing the teacher call her name.
"Yes, Mrs. McCalister!" she exclaimed, jumping out of her seat.
"Next three paragraphs."
Milly was in trouble. She did not know where they were in the story. Thankfully, her eyes only had to dart slightly to her right. Katie was pointing at where the last kid had left off. Milly was relieved that they were still on the same page she was on... barely.
"'So, just like that, Jerome got down on all fours and got a good whiff of that pie...'"
Relieved to have saved her friend from embarrassment, Katie revealed that she, too, had a sheet of paper sitting on her lap. It was a list of the state capitals, and she was going back to try and memorize them all once more.
Before we knew it, it was lunch time. And even though I was no longer seated next to Phineas in class, I knew there would also be a guaranteed spot by him at lunch!
Isabella and Gretchen emerged from the lunch line, each holding a tray of food.
"You okay, Chief?" Gretchen asked.
Isabella nodded. "I guess. It's just... I finally got my dream of ending up in the seat directly behind Phineas, only to have it taken away less than a month into the school year!"
"At least you still have lunch to look forward to! Look!"
Gretchen pointed out that there was no one sitting either to Phineas' left or his right. But there were several kids in that aisle, and all of them were heading in his direction. Isabella had to act fast.
Leaving her friend behind, Isabella hustled into the aisle. A human obstacle course blocked her way, forcing her to duck and weave through traffic, both of the moving and of the stationary kind. At one point she even had to throw her tray over a larger kid, slide in between his legs, and get to the other side, stand up, and catch her lunch without so much as spilling a drop. His response to that.
"Can you teach me to do that?"
Isabella did not hear his request, as all of her focus was on the open seats by Phineas. Or, rather, open seat, as in singular. Buford, for some reason, had decided to park himself next to Phineas, on the left side. With her window closing, Isabella quickly made a beeline for the other seat. There was just one problem.
The seat there was missing. Isabella could not believe her eyes.
"I feel the same way, girl," said Irving, who was sitting on the other side of the table, opposite the missing seat.
Isabella had no choice. She had to ask Buford to give up his seat. But before she could...
"First!" he exclaimed.
"What?"
"I called first. No take-backsies!"
"Buford Van Stomm, you very well know that one of the seats next to Phineas is mine, as seeing as you're in the only actual seat, I have to ask you to kindly vacate the premises."
"You heard me call it! Everyone did! Whatcha gonna do about it?"
I intended to do something about it. Unfortunately, Mr. Worth, the lunch teacher monitor for that day of the week, happened to be passing by at that very moment.
"There are plenty of seats to go around, Miss Shapiro."
"But..."
Mr. Worth glared at her. "Oh, I'm sure a Fireside Girl knows better than to talk back to an adult."
Isabella had no choice. She walked away from Phineas and the others, forced to find the first available seat at the table... which was six seats away, and conveniently, next to where Gretchen had decided to sit down.
"Of all of the days he had to remember..." huffed Isabella.
"Well, Chief... you ARE in uniform."
She grumbled in response. "Don't remind me."
Elsewhere in the cafeteria, Ginger had more luck in scoring a seat next to her crush. In fact, she was sharing her lunch with him. Or, to be more precise, was giving most of it to him.
"I do not know what I would do without you," he said. "If not for your generosity, I am sure that I would starve."
Ginger giggled as Baljeet ate a forkful of the spaghetti and meatballs she had bought with her money.
"Oh, Baljeet! You're so cute when you're hungry!"
Suddenly, Adyson sat down at the table, in the seat on the other side of Baljeet. The brunette was about to dig into her own lunch when she saw, out of the corner of her eye, Ginger was glaring at her.
"Isn't there somewhere else you can sit?" she pondered aloud.
"Not really," Adyson calmly replied. "Why else do you think I'm here?"
Ginger tried to think of a comeback. But all she could come up with was...
"So? It's a free country!"
Adyson was confused. "Uh, what?"
Ginger leaned over, temporarily blocking Baljeet from the tray, so she could give Adyson a warning.
"I'm watching you."
With that, Ginger picked up her tray and walked away from the table. That left Baljeet without lunch once more, save for the spaghetti twirled around his plastic fork.
"What did you do to ruffle her feathers?" questioned Baljeet.
"I dunno. Weird."
Adyson then nonchalantly handed her milk carton to him, which he accepted without hesitation.
"Summer belongs to you, ooh ooh! Summer belongs to you, yeah yeah!"
Suddenly, the two turned towards the stage in the multi-purpose room, as did everyone else there. Milly was up there, singing and dancing her heart out.
"Summer belongs to everyone, so have some fun, there's nothing better to do! Summer belongs to you!"
At one of the tables, Holly just had to ask...
"What's she doin'?"
Katie looked up from her state capital study sheet, which she had brought with her to lunch, and handed Holly the letter Milly had been reading in class.
"Her pen pal dared her to?" she questioned after reading it. "Wait, when did Milly get a pen pal?"
Milly kept up her act even as Mr. Worth reached the stage and motioned for her to get down.
"Summer belongs to you, ooh yeah! Summer belongs to you, yeah ooh! Just remember that you can do it and when you're through, it'll change your point of view! Summer belongs to you... dadadada dada dada-dada-duhduhda dada da da da da, BA BUM!"
Having finished her act, Milly finally realized how much trouble she was in. She got a few cheers from the other students as she jumped off the stage, handed the wireless microphone to Mr. Worth, and headed out, in the direction of the principal's office.
Oh, Milly! The funny thing about it, though, is that her pen pal only "dared" her because he thought she wouldn't actually do it! Guess he thought wrong on that one!
Having missed an opportunity to sit by Phineas at lunch, I'd have to wait until the bus ride home to get another chance. But that doesn't mean the other girls' didn't have an eventful afternoon.
The students in Mr. Worth's class were in the middle of a Math lesson. He was in the midst of a lecture regarding improper fractions when the door suddenly opened. Holly came in, with a wooden hall pass in hand. She had just returned from the restroom. Mr. Worth continued on without interruption as Holly placed the pass down on his desk, and then walked back to hers.
As she made her way over to her seat, a few of the kids started snickering. She had no idea that there was a small piece of toilet paper sticking out of the top of the back of her skirt. None the wiser, she took a seat.
"Psst..." murmured Ginger. "Holly!"
Holly heard Ginger, but not before Mr. Worth did.
"Miss Hirano!"
"But..."
"But?"
Mr. Worth walked over, interested in what excuse Ginger was going to pass off as good enough for him to accept. She made the wise choice by not saying another word.
"That's what I thought."
Ginger slumped down in her seat in shame. More snickering commenced as a couple of other kids slowly spotted what was coming out of Holly's skirt. It was not long before Holly realized all of it was directed at her. She did not know why, but she was determined to find out.
"What's going on?" she asked, spinning around to face the student sitting behind her.
He was about to tell her, but...
"THAT'S IT! POP QUIZ!" yelled Mr. Worth.
"Awww..." groaned the rest of the class.
"YES!" shouted Baljeet.
Buford, sitting behind him, gave Baljeet a slap in the back of the head.
"I mean no, NO!"
Buford smirked. "That's better."
"And you have the Fireside Girls to thank for it!" their teacher declared.
"I OBJECT!" bellowed Adyson, jumping out of her seat.
Mr. Worth, now at his wit's end, turned his anger on her. Seeing she had made a grave error, she tried to explain her reasoning.
"I mean, Mr. Worth, with all due respect... I feel that, not only as a Fireside Girl but also as Class President, that you had kinda rushed to judgment. Thus, I request you should pardon us from the quiz."
Mr. Worth nodded, apparently seeing Adyson's point.
"I see."
Mr. Worth closed the door...
"This is SO not what I meant," grumbled Adyson.
...leaving Adyson standing out in the hall, as well as Isabella, Holly, and Ginger.
"I've never gotten a ZERO on a quiz before!" screamed Ginger, in a panic.
"Ginger, none of us have," Isabella told her.
"Yeah, but your Mom's not gonna ground you 'til high school when she finds out!"
"It's okay. If we're quiet, maybe Mr. Worth will have a change of heart and let us take a make-up or something. Oh, and Holly?"
Isabella whispered in Holly's ear, having figured out why everyone was snickering. Holly blushed immediately upon hearing it.
"For Jiminy Cricket's sake!" she groaned.
Speaking of quizzes, Milly and Katie were in the midst of their scheduled one on state capitals. And to make matters worse, it was an oral quiz. Their teacher had written all 50 states on the board. One at a time, a student would be called up. That kid would choose two and give their capitals. The quiz was pass-fail, so if you could not identify two correctly, you failed. And after each student went, the two states they attempted were erased from the board.
Milly, having long returned from her visit to the principal's office for her stunt at lunch, had passed on her attempt earlier in the quiz.
"Katie!"
Katie gulped as she got out of her seat and made her way up to the front of the room. She was called up pretty late in the going, as her turn came up with only 12 states left on the chalkboard. Mrs. McCalister had a gradebook at the ready, waiting for Katie to make her two picks.
"Okay... Minnesota. That's Saint Paul."
Her teacher nodded. Katie had no reason to be elated, though, because that was the only one she knew for sure out of those left. She quickly scanned the board for her second pick. She ran the options in her head.
"North Dakota? Don't remember. Iowa? Can't recall. New Jersey? No one cares. Texas? Argh, I don't know either!"
Before she could finish her run-through, Mrs. McCalister got impatient and picked one for her.
"Oklahoma."
"Oklahoma? Okay, Oklahoma. The capital of Oklahoma is... is..."
Everyone waited to see if Katie could come up with the right answer. She did not know what it was, so she took a guess.
"Oklahoma City?"
Mrs. McCalister waited for a second before responding.
"Correct."
Katie breathed a sigh of relief. She strutted back to her seat as the teacher erased Minnesota and Oklahoma from the board. Once seated again, she gave Milly a thumbs up. And Milly gave her one in return.
The final bell rang as students filed out of Danville Elementary, on their way to their buses.
"Thanks for convincing Mr. Worth to let us take the quiz after all," Isabella told Gretchen in gratitude, "even if we had to do it over recess."
"No problem, Chief."
"Can we just agree NOT to EVER wear our uniforms to school again?" suggested Holly.
"Second!" Adyson agreed, before even being prompted to.
"Motion carried," Isabella said. "We stick out too much."
"I'll say," Katie said as she handed Milly back her pen pal's letter.
They started heading for the bus, but Gretchen was stopped when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around, and as she did, Wendy handed back her pencil.
"Told you!"
Wendy then ran off for her bus, waving goodbye as she did. Gretchen pulled out her pencil case and opened it, showing that only the pencil she had used today was in it. And now the one she had lent to Wendy could join.
"At least someone's honest."
What a wild day at school. Hopefully, we'll never live through something like that again.
Isabella led the squad onto the bus.
Still, there's one thing that'll put a positive spin on a terrible day.
She raced to where Phineas was sitting, claiming the seat before anyone else could get it. It helped that Ferb decided to break 'assignment' by sitting across the aisle instead of alongside his stepbrother, as he usually did.
"Need a seat buddy?" she cooed.
"Sure!" Phineas replied.
Isabella let out a sigh, finally getting some alone time with Phineas. So to speak. Soon after, all the buses roared to life, and they started heading off towards their destinations.
So, there you go! A day in the life of a Fireside Girl at school! Hope you enjoyed it, 'cause we're sure not doing this again.
Ever.
End Entry
Author's Notes:
Again, long episode, so just gonna jump right into the preview...
Next week, an episode you thought you'd never get to see a sequel to... gets a sequel! It kicks off a month of fantasy-themed episodes, and all I can tell you about this first entry is... magical creatures.