Phineas woke up to a new day. He had to find out why Isabella cared about his destiny and act on it in the way that would make Isabella the most happy. "Ferb? Why does Isabella care about my destiny?" Phineas asked.

"Because you are her age," Ferb hinted.

"So are you!" Phineas responded.

"That isn't the point, you child!" Ferb bellowed. He left in a rage.

"I suppose you consider being mean cool," Phienas countered. Ferb was too far away to hear or respond, though. Phineas broke down into tears. He had lost Ferb and was frighteningly close to losing Isabella, too. After that, his best friend was Candace, and then his mom. But for some reason his relationship with Isabella seemed different than all of the others. He ran his head through the facts over and over again, but the why was hidden. Why did Isabella care about his destiny? He sat on his bed and informally meditated. Why did she care about not about just his future, but what his specific future was? He could feel the knobs moving around in his head. He became self conscious of his breathing and started breathing more unevenly. He started breathing deeply and quickly. His head started feeling really weird. He felt tingly, and he had to stop. &€©·^$€ $#€ \/\/·%7$ 2 &€ · ¶·®7 •÷ |7 Phineas got up. He thought he heard something. He thought he just had the answer. He thought once more. Now it was clear. "Because she wants to be a part of it," Phineas thought. "Why is hidden, but I have the answer!" Just then Isabella was crossing the street. Phineas opened the screen door just as Isabella walked through the gate. "Isabella, I know the answer to why you care about my destiny!" Phineas exclaimed.

"Why?" Isabella asked.

"Because you want to be a part of it," Phineas said appreciatively.

"You are going to have to be more specific than that," Isabella countered with ease. It was in these days that Phineas would show the true size of his obliviousness. Phineas forgot to close his mouth. It hung open like a frail cave.

"You didn't say that," Phineas prodded.

"It was a given," Isabella responded. "Just be glad you have a clue."

Phineas frowned and embraced her tightly. "I don't want to lose you, Isabella. Please, if I don't figure it out, would you still come over?"

"No!" Isabella denied. "I can't live with an ignorant Phineas much longer!"

"But you won't tell me," Phineas confronted. "I'm thinking of a word. I want you to figure it out in ten minutes, but I'm not going to tell you unless you guess it. No hints!"

"Hey! That isn't a fair juxtaposition!" Isabella retaliated.

Phineas looked at her with anxious eyes. "Isabella, this is really, really hard," Phineas pleaded. "I can't handle this! All I want to do is spend my summer with you, but I can't lose you! I can't!"

"Deal with it," Isabella responded. She was very bitter. The Fireside Girls were to blame. Isabella wasn't their leader anymore; Gretchen was.

"You know what confuses me?" Phineas started.

"What?" Isabella responded.

"You aren't acting like you want to be part of my destiny at all. Care to explain?" Phineas confronted.

"I only want to be a part of your destiny if you can find out why I want to be a part of your destiny by yourself," Isabella blurted.

"Wait! Say that again," Phineas prompted.

"I only want to be a part of your destiny if you can find out why I want to be a part of your destiny by yourself," Isabella repeated.

"I know why you want to be part of my destiny! You want me to find out why, and I just did. You want to find out why, and I found out that you wanted me to find out about finding out!" Phineas exclaimed.

"You're overthinking this!" Isabella warned.

"I needed to find out that I needed to find out, and I just did," Phineas rejoiced.

"What you need to find out is how to find out what you need to find out, which would be finding out about not just finding out, but finding out about something, and that something is not finding out specifically about finding out, but it is finding out about finding out that x is true, and x is not finding out!" Isabella explained.

"Oh," Phineas surrendered. "You said some version of "find out" eleven times in one sentence. I am a little confused."

"You need to find out about a certain something besides finding out," Isabella simplified. "There. Is two better than eleven?"

Phineas nodded his head. "So, you want me to find out why you want to be a part of my destiny, or you don't want to be part of my destiny, but that isn't all of it."

"Exactly," Isabella confirmed.

"Oh," Phineas surrendered. "What do you want to do?"

"Look at the clouds, again," Isabella suggested sarcastically.

"Okay, we can do that," Phineas supported, unaware of her sarcasm. But now Isabella wanted to, just because she was spending time with Phineas. So they layed down in the grass with their elbows touching. It wasn't overcast, but there were a significant amount of clouds in the sky.

"What do you think of that cloud?" Isabella wondered.

"I think it looks like a scar," Phineas responded.

"What about that one?" Isabella beckoned.

"A cracked egg?" Phineas suggested.

"No, not that one; that one," Isabella redirected.

"A broken heart, like in those cartoons," Phineas responded. This answer was like a blow to the chest for Isabella. That is where Phineas learned what a broken heart looks like? A cartoon? No wonder he was such a joke.

"That is what a broken heart reminds you of?!" Isabella fumed.

"Yeah, of course. It isn't like you would find a broken heart under any other context, right?" Phineas answered, completely unaware that he was hurting Isabella's feelings.

Isabella got up and stormed off, much to Phineas' confusion.

This is my favorite chapter yet. Phineas is truly oblivious. He knows every non-romantic part of Isabella's headache, in an effort to make her feel better and to save their friendship, but he doesn't know the simple fact that Isabella has a broken heart. Review whether you want Phineas to meet the deadline of the end of summer or not. It is going to be close, that is for sure. :-þ