"Right, Ferb?" Jazmin spits out.

I flinch and nod with no emotion behind it.

Isabella

I wish I could send my emotions to Ferb in this moment, to take away his pain. The two of us dancing after, what felt like, an eternity, was everything to me. His eyes sparkled again, even if just for a moment. I loathe Jazmin for taking that away from Ferb. What a twist of fate she has turned out to be.

Prom continues around us. The small crowd that had gathered, silent.

Until, "I overheard a convo where Jazmin was mad at Ferb for a joke he made, she wouldn't even let him explain." Buford chimes in from the circle.

I look at him, he stands tall next to Gretchen. They're fighting for Ferb.

"She mentioned her least favorite kind of music was EDM so Ferb couldn't ever listen to it," Ginger starts. "Even though it is his favorite genre." Baljeet finishes.

"Ferb used to light up at the mention of his friends, but since Jazmin, he's stopped doing that." Irving, with Adyson nodding along.

"Ever since Ferb came into my life, there wasn't a day we didn't talk to each other. Now I never see him." Phineas says.

All our friends nod along, Millie, Katie, Holly, and Django having joined the circle at some point.

Phineas looks at me, waiting.

I look directly at Jazmin, "Ferb used to light up a room by smiling. Every dance people lined up to dance with him. He is the most confident person I know, you took that away from him. Jazmin, you take Ferb for granted."

She manages a scoff at my words

"I underestimated you, that won't be happening again. I know you aren't a saint, but you are an actress. Pushing people down won't get you where you want to go."

Jasmin rolls her eyes, "Oh please, spare me the theatrics. I don't care what you say, nor does Ferb. Right?" She looks at him.

Ferb looks directly at me, like he hasn't seen me before. He says nothing.

Jazmin grabs him and makes him face her, "Right Ferb?"

A tense moment washes over the crowd that steadily grows around us.

I want nothing more than to remove her hand gripping his arm.

Ferb looks up to Jazmin slowly, and speaks softly. "Let go of my arm."

"What?" Jazmin says with a bite.

"Let go of my arm," Ferb says louder, punctuating every word.

She drops it. Staring at him angrily.

"Jazmin," Ferb says, "you aren't a good person." This sends a ripple through her and the crowd gets restless.

"Excuse you. I am a go-" Jazmin starts.

'I wasn't done talking." Ferb states, narrowing his eyes at her.

Smartly, she shuts her mouth.

"I thought you were being friendly, at first. You started getting me to hang out with you all the time. To start going on dates all the time. You made it seem like you genuinely wanted all my attention but would criticize everything in my life. I stopped seeing my friends. You isolated me so much that I didn't know my brother and my best friend had broken up!"

There's a small gasp through the crowd, it seems other people missed the memo as well.

"You insisted, every day, that we were it for each other. I believed you."

He breathes, collecting himself.

"Even after the mistreatment they have suffered at your word, my friends have been fighting for me, for my happiness. Something I didn't realize I had lost. I see now that you were wrong about everything."

She stares at him, a glare set in her brows.

"So you know what, I've had enough of this. We are done." and Ferb walks away.

Or he tries to, but Jazmin grabs him again. "I will not stand for this."

She starts trying to pull him away.

Buford advances toward the two of them, but I hold a hand up, stopping him. He relents easily.

"I would think twice before you lay your hands on him again," I say, stepping in front of the two of them. The circle backs up, anticipating something happening.

"Oh yeah, and what are you going to do about it, bitch?" Jazmin takes the bait and lets go of Ferb. The crowd gasped at the name-calling.

"I'm not the bitch in this situation, Jazmin," I reply calmly.

"Puh-lease, everyone knows that you have always been jealous of Ferb and I's relationship. Pretty shallow coming from someone who was supposed to be in her fairytale relationship. You think I'm shallow or whatever, but I knew you were jealous the whole time. Your reaction to me being late to your stupid dress-buying hangout with a hickey from Ferb, and all this nonsense confirms it." She stands tall, smug.

I refuse to back down.

"Good thing that wasn't a real hickey, right?" Ferb speaks up, I look at him. "The two of us never did anything like that, not like she would have wanted anything marring her 'perfect skin' anyway." he finishes a bit smug, crossing his arms.

I look back at Jazmin, "Maybe you have it twisted. I wasn't jealous of the relationship you two had. I missed my best friend. I never liked the way you treated him."

"Oh come on princess, you wish you could be me." Jazmin mocks, getting angrier.

"I am a better person than you could ever imagine being, and you know it, Jazmin," I say smoothly, confident in myself.

Jazmin fully takes the bait this time. She goes to punch me.

I catch the punch, flipping her to the floor and pinning her arm behind her in one fluid motion. Self-defense patch for the win.

"What the fuck, crazy bitch! Get off of me!" Jazmin screams, furious.

"Not until you take a breath and calm down." She continues to struggle underneath my hold.

Ferb appears by my side, "you okay, Bella?" Concern clear in his eyes.

"You haven't called me Bella in months." I smile, relaxing at the thought.

Jazmin, unfortunately, notices this and takes the opportunity to throw me off of her. She turns on me and tries to tackle me, but I let her. Her hands thankfully go for mine and I'm able to grab them while hooking a leg to flip us. It also helps that I am extremely mobile in my dress where she is very restricted, unless she wants to flash the school.

"Could you stop?" I ask, pinning her to the ground.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" She spits in my face.

"You may think you're better than everyone at everything and that you scare me. But let me make one thing clear." I lean closer to her face, "You should be scared of me. I am one of the most highly decorated Fireside Girls known to history." Jazmin scoffs, "Don't you dare scoff at that. I have a self-defense patch, resilience patch, hand-to-hand patch, archery patch, laser tag sharpshooter patch, and wrestling patch which Buford helped me get no less. More than the patches, I have something you could never have."

She glares at me.

"I have true friends. And if all of that isn't enough, I need to help everyone. This means I have helped everyone here at this dance with something at least once, including the teachers I am sure are on their way soon." finishing my piece, I lean back. Putting distance between our faces.

"As if something as stupid as helping people makes any difference."

A hand drops to my shoulder, I look at it quickly, not letting Jazmin get the upper hand again. It's Ferb.

He looks to me silently saying 'Come on Bella, she's not worth it'. I take his offered hand and stand up. Our hands stay connected as we watch Jazmin scramble to stand up.

"The two of you deserve each other, a bunch of losers. It'll be perfect, the try-hard girl and the quiet boy." Jazmin seethes.

"That is quite enough, young lady." Our principal. I had forgotten she would be chaperoning.

"Principal!" Jazmin looks around panicking, "It's Isabella, she attacked me. I mean look at me!"

To her credit, she looked a mess, hair everywhere and dress askew. While I looked like nothing happened to me.

"Oh, Isabella attacked you? The same girl who spearheaded our anti-bullying campaign here? I find that very hard to believe."

Jazmin freezes, finally at a complete loss for words. "I-"

"Spare me whatever excuse you decide to come up with. Plenty of students saw what happened and knew she only acted in self-defense and did nothing that would hurt you. Please escort her from the premises." She says to the security guards nearby.

A cheer rings through the crowd.

"Isabella," the principal says sternly, "we will need to talk about your actions today regardless." She glances at me.

"I know ma'am. Protocol and such." We laugh together, knowing it is truly a formality, though I will insist I at least get a detention. I still flipped a student to the ground and held them down.

The crowd is quick to disembark now that the true drama is over. The friend group stays behind, checking in on Ferb and I. Quick words are exchanged between us all, and our friend group is whole again. Phineas and Gretchen start ushering everyone away shooting a look over their shoulders.

"Of course, they are forcing us to be alone," laughing slightly.

Ferb joins in, laughing softly. He offers me a hand. I take it.

We dance together slowly, simply. It fills me with a warmth I've missed.

"I wanted to say thank you, Bella." A small smile finds itself on Ferb's face.

"What for exactly?" I reply, slightly teasing.

"For helping me believe in myself again." he pulls me into a hug.

I wasn't expecting that answer. "Oh, still full of surprises I see."

We remain embracing for a moment longer, and the song shifts. We pull apart looking at each other.

He offers his hand again, eyes twinkling.

The song I requested for Ferb and I is playing again. "The DJ is living for the drama."

"Or he's upset our moment was cut short earlier." Ferb's hand is still extended to me.

I smile at him and accept it. He quickly takes the lead. Both of us laugh as we dance.