I don't have very much writing experience at all, so you'll have to excuse me for the poor quality of this work. I'll explain some of the choices I've made in the notes at the end.
It was 10:28 a.m. and Milly had overslept. The sound of her buzzing phone jolted her awake, as her friends had already messaged her about meeting at Phineas and Ferb's house to kick off the first day of summer. Despite her initial grogginess, Milly immediately sprang into action and scrambled out of bed, frantically wiping the drool from her mouth.
As she hurried through her morning routine, brushing her teeth and attempting to tame her unruly curly hair, Milly made sure to measure herself against the doorframe of her bathroom. Disappointed yet again, she sighed as she failed to reach the 5-foot mark. Puberty had not been kind to the petite 16-year-old, unlike her friend Gretchen who had experienced a sudden growth spurt and now stood as the tallest in their group, second only to Ferb.
Milly's short stature and reserved demeanor often made her blend into the background of any group setting. She was accustomed to being overlooked and didn't mind it much, as she was usually lost in her own imagination. She preferred to keep to herself and the idea of drawing attention to her made her uncomfortable.
After a quick change out of her pajamas and into a simple red T-shirt and Bermuda shorts, Milly caught a brief glimpse of her freckled skin as she pulled on her shirt. Years of earning Fireside girls accomplishment patches and assisting Phineas and Ferb with their wild inventions had left her with a smattering of freckles across her body.
With a bowl of oatmeal hastily devoured, Milly raced out the door and up the avenue in the direction of Phineas and Ferb's house, eager to join her friends for the start of what promised to be an eventful summer. Before long, she had caught up to her fellow troop members en route to Phineas and Ferb's house.
"Hey guys! I made it!" greeted Milly, out of breath.
The first to greet her was Isabella, "Hey, Milly!"
Second was Ginger, who enthusiastically threw her arms into the air, "Yay, now we're all here!"
"Wait, what? I could've sworn she was already with u- OOF!" Adyson was interrupted by Gretchen's elbow being driven into her side.
The tall, red-haired girl smiled down at Milly, "Good morning, Milly. Sleep well?"
"I stayed up all night watching nature documentaries again…" Milly matched their pace as the group started down the sidewalk, "Did you know that a panda bear can eat up to 84 pounds of bamboo each day?"
"I didn't eat enough breakfast," replied Katie, her hand on her stomach, "So bamboo sounds pretty good right now."
"What'd you have for breakfast?" inquired a curious Holly.
"Just a steak and a couple of baked potatoes," Katie answered, "But that was before my morning run."
"Ah yes, your 8-mile morning run. You fitness freak." dug Adyson.
Katie smiled and rolled her eyes, "I'm just hoping Phineas and Ferb made something food-related."
The girls ambled up the driveway to Phineas and Ferb's house. As soon as they approached the fence gate, Isabella held up her palm to signal the girls to halt. She carefully dusted off her shirt with her hand and smoothed out her ponytail with the other. Then, with a deep breath, she opened the gate.
The backyard was strewn with various boxes and mechanical equipment. Buford and Baljeet stood near a workbench with some tools and parts on it, wrapped up in a conversation with Ferb who was standing on the other side.
"Hey, Phineas! Whatcha doin'?" said Isabella, lovestruck as ever.
Phineas was standing at a whiteboard, deep in thought, writing what looked to be some sort of complex engineering problem. As soon as he turned around and spotted Isabella and the Fireside girls, his pensive expression turned into a beaming smile, "Hi guys, glad you're here! Wanna help us test out our new platform shoes?"
Milly's ears perked up at the mention of "platform shoes."
"Platform shoes?" questioned Ginger.
Phineas opened the lid to a box containing dozens of high-tech, yet simple-looking sneakers and pulled out a pair.
"Yep. They use pressurized air to simulate an invisible platform underneath your feet!" explained Phineas as he slipped them on.
He pressed a little button on the back of the sole and the shoes whirred to life. He demonstrated by walking up and down a flight of invisible stairs.
"Can we eat them?" asked Katie.
"No, but edible footwear sounds like a good idea!" Phineas said as he glanced over to his stepbrother.
Ferb gave a silent thumbs up as he jotted it down in a notepad.
"Heyy, Baljeet," greeted Ginger. Her eyes had been captivated by the Indian boy since she first set foot in the backyard.
"Hello, Ginger. I was just assisting Phineas and Ferb with some of their calculations earlier," replied Bajleet, his cheeks turning slightly pink, "Would you like to hear a hilarious mathematical error I caught on their schematics?"
"Of course! That would be sooo interesting," answered Ginger.
Baljeet's eyes lit up in excitement, but then his expression quickly faded, "Oh, I understand. You are being sarcastic."
"Wha- No, wait! I was genuinely- I just- sigh," Ginger stammered as she watched Baljeet slink away.
"Boy problems?" asked Katie, sidling up to the defeated girl.
"Yeah… He keeps mistaking my sincerity for sarcasm," said Ginger, "I just wish I could convey tha- Hey, where'd you get that granola bar?"
"Oh, this?" Katie eyed the half-eaten granola bar in her grasp, "Buford gave it to me. I guess he noticed I was hungry. He's always been such a sweetheart."
Ginger was astounded, "Are you kidding? I've only ever seen Buford be sweet towards goldfish."
Their conversation was interrupted by Ferb handing each of them a pair of platform shoes.
Ferb approached Isabella with another pair and silently handed it to her.
"So how did you guys come up with this idea?" asked Isabella.
"Phineas ordered platform shoes and was upset when they didn't create platforms under his feet as he expected," Ferb said curtly.
Isabella sighed dreamily, "His naïveté is so charming."
"Though it seems to be working against you most of the time," muttered Ferb.
"What was that?"
Ferb just shrugged in response.
"All you need to do is press this button here to activate it," explained Phineas to the group, now all wearing a pair of high-tech kicks.
Everyone followed Phineas's instructions and pressed the button to turn on their shoes. Soon enough, they were all walking on the air above the backyard, having a blast.
"Hey, can these puppies make it up to the clouds?" asked Buford.
"Only one way to find out!" said Phineas, "Come on, everyone!"
The whole group began ascending on invisible stairs. All except for Milly. She was still fiddling with the button on her pair, but they seemed to sputter and then die out every time she tried to turn them on. Eventually, she gave up once she saw that all her friends were faint specks in the distance.
"Yeah, you guys go have fun up there, I'll stay here and uh, hold down the fort I guess," declared Milly to nobody.
Milly sighed and looked around. Not a soul remained in the backyard, and the only sound that filled the air was a faint humming noise emanating from the house. This had happened a few dozen times over the years, so Milly knew just what she had to do.
Milly walked over and started doodling on the empty corners of the whiteboard that Phineas was using. If she couldn't walk on the clouds using high-tech pressurized air shoes with her friends, then she would just have to make her own fun.
First, she drew a little Perry the platypus in one corner. Then, she drew a little teddy bear in another corner. Then, a transparent cube in another. Then, a coiled rattlesnake in the other. Then, Milly ran out of corners.
The curly-haired loner stepped back from the whiteboard for a moment, marker in hand, thinking of what to do next. Suddenly, an idea formed in her mind, and her lips curled into a small smile that intensified the dimple under her left eye. She sat down on the grass and began scribbling on the tips of her fingers.
"Hmm, yes. I am Reginald Fingerbottom," said Milly's mustachioed thumb in a faux British accent.
"Hello there Reginald, it's me, your brother Frederick," said her index finger, "And I have something to confess. It was I who ate the last chocolate chip cookie."
Reginald gasped, "How dare you!"
Milly giggled at her simple finger puppet soap opera. She thought of herself as somewhat of a genius. As the story progressed, Milly had all ten of her digits cast.
"Frederick, I'm leaving you!" cried Milly's left pinky.
"How come?!" Frederick cried back.
"That's because I'm actu- uh.. uh- muh.." sputtered Milly as she saw a triangular shadow grow over her.
"Whatcha doin'?" inquired Phineas.
Milly yelped and spun around to see the red-haired boy leaning over her, an innocent smile on his face and his eyes gleaming with curiosity.
Milly's heart nearly leaped out of her chest,
"Phineas! W-why are y- How long have you been-"
"I just came back to grab a jar to see if we could catch clouds in them," said Phineas, "Who's Frederick?"
Milly was just about to die from embarrassment, "Reginald's bro- I mean, my left index fin- I mean, nobody!"
"What's that on your fingers?"
"I was just… doing a little, uh… soap opera. With um, finger puppets," Milly finally conceded as she held up her open palms to. She was fully prepared to be laughed at, maybe even mocked.
"Wow, cool!" exclaimed Phineas, "Can I join you?"
This unexpected response only served to make Milly even more flustered, "W-why- what- don't you have to go back up there to catch clouds in jars?"
"I think I've done enough cloud walking for one day," replied Phineas, "Besides, you're seizing the day down here all by yourself, and I feel obligated to join you."
This was a first for Milly. Usually, people didn't even notice whatever she was doing by herself, let alone try to join her. This was out of her comfort zone, like she was sailing into uncharted territory, but she knew for one thing that she liked it.
Milly handed the dry-erase marker to Phineas and started filling him in on the story so far. Phineas's genuine interest in Milly's little finger puppet theater gave her a few stray butterflies in her stomach. Especially when Phineas held her palm to admire her work.
The pair sat down across from each other and Phineas introduced several new characters to the show. Most prominently Reginald's love interest, Amanda Pennyprints, was played by Phineas's left thumb.
After a while, the finger puppet soap opera had reached its climax.
"Reginald, can't you see that I'm in love with you?!" shouted Amanda.
"If you truly love me, then prove it," replied Milly's thumb.
"That I shall!"
The ends of Phineas and Milly's thumbs met in a passionate 'kiss', and the two made smooching sound effects with their mouths in between their shared giggles.
Then, Phineas and Milly's eyes met. Their laughter faded and their cheeks began to burn. Suddenly conscious as to what they were doing, their eyes darted back down to their hands. That's when they realized that their fingers had somehow wrapped around each other's, and their cheeks burned even harder. For a good while, time seemed to stop, and the silence grew deafening.
Milly was the first to break away, jerking her whole arm backward, "U-um, that was fun, but I think we should stop now!"
Phineas stood up as fast as his legs would let him, "I'm a little thirsty! It's uh, hot out here, isn't it? I'll go get some lemonade!"
Milly barely even registered what he said. Her brain was fried far beyond repair. A million questions ran through her head at once. What just happened? How did it happen? Why did it happen? Did that count as a kiss? If so, was that her first kiss? What would Isabella think about this?
But one question seemed to take up the most space in her head: What was the strange feeling that was bubbling up in her chest?
Thanks so much for reading. As I said at the beginning, I'd like to explain some of the character choices I've made for some of the Fireside girls. I decided to make Milly a sort of background-type character for a few reasons. Firstly, I feel like she has very few lines in the show, even for a fireside girl. For instance, in "Act Your Age" she only had a single, three-word line. Speaking of "Act Your Age", she had somehow become the shortest member of the group, and at different parts of the episode especially the end, she seemed to disappear. But enough about Milly. I decided to make Katie a gym rat because she beat that guy in an arm wrestle in "Ferb TV". Also, I named it Philly Cheesesteak because Phineas + Milly = Philly and it's kind of a cheesy story.