Canderemy redux: Phinbella

An Apology

Phineas POV

I closed the gate to my backyard and began walking over to the Garcia-Shapiro's house, following the same path that Isabella had only a few moments before. Only we were traveling for completely different reasons. Everything I had told her was a huge lie, especially since I secretly liked her. I only said it because I was so fed up with the meaningless fight we had, I had to go and apologize to Isabella.

"Why was that insult so particularly striking to her, anyways?" I thought as I checked both ways before crossing the street. "Oh, it was probably nothing," I thought on instinct, but then stopped (in the middle of the street) and realized that maybe it did mean something. Could Isabella be so upset because I didn't like her? I thought for a moment, why would she want me to like her? And in the past few days she had been so much more affectionate to me... Could that possibly mean that she liked me?

I shook my head. Hopefully all these questions would be answered in the next few minutes. I arrived at the door, gaining my composure and taking in deep breaths. I was unsure of whether or not to knock, but that was made irrelevant when Mrs. Garcia-Shapiro opened the front door and greeted me.

"Buenas Tardes, Phineas!" she said to me in her flamboyant manner, "What are you doing here? Oh, look how tall you've grown! It's been so long since I last saw you!" (A/N: Aren't you proud of me, I used an advanced hello from my Spanish 1 class!)

Knowing from experience how to save time, I answered with a simple "Hi" and then cut straight to the point: "Do you know where Isabella is?"

"No, but I think I heard somebody running up the stairs a few minutes ago," she replied. "Well, I'm leaving to the mall to perform some free-form jazz with your mom and Mrs. Johnson, but feel free to come inside! There are almond cookies in the kitchen. Adios, Phineas!" And with that, Mrs. Garcia-Shapiro rushed to her car and took off down the street. As I watched her speed away, I was again reminded of where Isabella's determination came from.

I slowly stepped through the door that Mrs. Garcia-Shapiro had left open and entered the house I was so accustomed to. Only now, it felt more like an alien planet that I was a fugitive on than a second home. I cautiously stepped into the kitchen to see if Isabella was there, but it was empty, save several fresh batches of hot almond cookies. I grabbed one and took a bite, savoring the flavor but trying to make as little noise as possible. I thought about taking another but then realized that I came here to apologize to Isabella, not to eat cookies.

Disgusted at myself for eating even a single cookie, I backtracked to the staircase and quietly walked up the stairs. I stopped at Isabella's pink door to her room and listened hard. I could hear her sobbing into a pillow, and I instantly felt even more guilt for what I had done. I stood at the door for a minute, nervous beyond belief, trying to figure out what I was going to say. Maybe I should just leave?

No, I wasn't going to wimp out on this.I had to act now, even if I wasn't ready.

I raised my shaking fist to the door, and quietly knocked.

"Isabella?" I croaked, my voice cracking. The sobbing immediately ceased, replaced with silence. "Isabella," I repeated, "It's Phineas. Can I come in?" I didn't expect a response, and didn't get one, so I turned the doorknob and inched open the door to her room.

Just like last night, I was overwhelmed by the stunning amounts of pink in her room, but I was most shocked by what was on her bed. Isabella was collapsed on top of her bed, her hair and bow in ruffles as she hugged a fluffy pink pillow. Tears still streamed down her red face and had begun to dampen her pillow and bed. Isabella wasn't just sad, she was heartbroken. She stared at me through glistening eyes while grasping the pillow even tighter.

I fully stepped into the room so that she could get a full look at me.

"I, uh..." I started, unsure of how to continue. "I - I - I'm sorry, Isabella," I stuttered. "I - I shouldn't have said all those things." I felt more guilt and my expression became more pained. "I didn't mean t-to hurt you, I was just so angry. I'm so, so sorry, Isabella."

My voice cracked and I even felt a tear come down my cheek, which is very rare for me. Isabella continued to stare deeply at me, her face in a grimace. I swallowed hard, then continued. "Everything I said was a lie. Your Fireside girl's club isn't stupid, it's actually really awesome, especially with you as their amazing leader. You never lied like I said, it was me who was the horrible jerk. You're my best friend and I love to hang out with you, I can't wait for you to come through my gate everyday to say your catchphrase. You're not what I said you were, in fact you're the most brilliant, trustworthy, and - " I gulped " - beautiful girl I know. And I'm sorry for saying that nobody would like you, I'm sure there are millions of guys out there who would love to be with you. That and everything else were just huge lies."

I let out some air and leaned against the wall for support. I stared at Isabella with pleading eyes and she stared back with her lower lip stuck out, almost like a sad baby. "I don't want to lose you, Isabella, you're my best friend. I know I've done a horrible thing, and I am ... so sorry. So even though I don't deserve it, will you please forgive me, and we can just forget my huge mistake?"

I waited for a minute and gave her a timid smile, but she did not return it. Instead, Isabella continued staring at me, sniffling as tears continued to drip down her face. I felt devastated, she didn't accept my apology. I had gone too far. My eyes leaked one more tear before I shut them, then I slowly walked out of her room with my head down, closing the door behind me. I had destroyed our friendship.

Ferb POV

Baljeet, Buford and I watched as Phineas marched out of the backyard to go apologize to Isabella for what he had done. I would have told Phineas about the angry ray that hit him, but decided it might be better for their relationship if they had the guts to forgive each other first. If they successfully repaired their friendship and then found out it wasn't their fault anyway, it would hopefully strengthen their relationship to the point where they could get through anything together.

I watched Phineas until he disappeared from view, and then turned on Buford, whose smile instantly dropped to a look of fear.

"I didn't mean to!" he shouted, pale-faced as I advanced towards him. "I'm sorry, I'll do anything!" he shouted, trying to defend himself with his pudgy arms. I stepped right up to his face as Buford cowered down from me, which was highly ironic because he was the bully.

"Thank you," I told him quite simply, as confusion appeared on Buford's face. "You may have just advanced Phineas and Isabella's relationship to the next phase."

Buford straightened, still looking bewildered. "I thought I was going to get it," he replied, almost in a question.

Being the genius he was, Baljeet immediately understood my intentions, and decided to take advantage of Buford's uncertainty.

"Well, Buford" Baljeet started, "I guess you're going to have to do something to make it up to them - er - us. You'd better figure something out good!"

Buford's regular reaction to this would be to clobber Baljeet, but instead he stood in thought for a minute, thinking of what he could do. Suddenly, his eyes opened up and he exclaimed, "I've got it!"

Buford began to walk out of our backyard, being the third person to leave. As he left, Buford explained what he was going to do.

"I'm just going to ignore that relationship thing you were talking about, Ferb. I'll be back in a bit, just have to grab some stuff from my house! Don't go anywhere Baljeet, you hear me?" And with that Buford ran out, leaving just Baljeet and me. I got a highly risky and somewhat stupid idea, but then again, all of our ideas were dangerous.

I'm sure the others noticed that the side-effects I installed were not just emotions. In fact, there were so many different types of options available that perhaps we should have named the machine something more fitting, but I didn't really care. I wanted to test some of the more "interesting" things it could make people do.

"You know, I never actually got to use the emotion changer, let's give it another go" I said, wishing I could tell Baljeet this without actually speaking.

Baljeet looked a bit pale. "Are you sure?" he asked, worry creasing his face. "What if the same thing that happened to Phineas and Isabella happens to us?" I shrugged, and headed over to the emotions machine. These next few minutes with Baljeet were going to be FUN.