Serious

Repercussions

"Hey girls!" Isabella strode into the Fireside Girls Lodge. The rest of the girl scouts were all there.

"Isabella!" Gretchen said sounding surprised. "You're early!"

"I didn't see any reason to stay at Phineas's house," their leader replied confidently. A ripple of 'oohs' filled the room. "What's on our agenda for today?"

"Well, Millie and Holly need to earn their cooking patch since they weren't here when we made cupcakes and then we all need to earn out lizard feeding patch.... Ginger?"

"Stacy is looking after Coltrane's gecko this week and she said we could feed it so she doesn't have to."

"Perfect," Isabella paused. "Is that it?"

"Well," the girls looked at each other. "Yeah. Usually we wouldn't have the entire day since you'd be with Phineas and Ferb."

"Yeah well," Isabella sighed. "That won't be a problem anymore." She reached into her pocket and slapped the emotional bravery patch onto her sash.

"You did it?" Katie asked, sounding surprised.

"I did," their leader agreed.

"And?"

"And I don't think I'm going to be going over as much anymore."

"Oh Isabella!" The girls surrounded her a supportive hug.

"It's fine, girls," she reassured them. "It felt good to get it off my chest, y'know?"

"We're here for you, chief," Gretchen said and the rest of the group nodded.

"Enough about me, girls. Let's get started then I guess we have the day off!"

The Fireside Girls left the lodge and made their way across town to the Fireside Cupcake Factory.

"Welcome back," the manager of the factory, Marvin, greeted them at the door. "What brings you here?"

"Millie and Holly are here to help out in the kitchens today," Isabella explained. "The rest of us are up for earning out cupcake delivery patches."

"Brilliant," Marvin nodded enthusiastically. "Right this way."

After distributing the logs filled with cupcakes among the remaining five girls and they split into groups. Isabella ended up pairing with Ginger and they headed towards the museum. It didn't take too long before they were sold out: Fireside cupcakes were renowned for their deliciousness. The two girls wandered around Danville for a bit, before coming to a stop at the docks.

"If you're not hanging out with Phineas anymore, does that mean I can't see Baljeet?" Ginger asked eventually.

From where they were leaning on the railings looking out to sea, Isabella glanced sideways at her. "Of course not," she laughed. "What you do is your business. I just don't think I can face him right now."

"What happened back there, Isabella?"

"It's like I was blinded. Like I always have been. I've liked him for a few years now and I always found the way he took care of me... cute, I guess. Sweet. But this morning it's like I had a realisation. He looked after me because he thinks I'm a kid that needs to be taken care of. He's a smart guy, Ginger, just look at what he and Ferb have achieved this summer. He's pretty mature, but he thinks he's the only one who can be mature. I thought it was just me he took care of but it was everyone, y'know? He made me feel like I was special when in truth he made everyone feel like that. I was just too blinded to see it."

"You don't have to continue if you don't want to."

"No, it's ok. I've never said any of this before, it's... liberating?"