The Trick

'AUTHOR'S NOTE': For your convenience, I've listed the counterparts for Troop 46321: Gretchen = Gwen Katie = Kayla Milly = Maddie Ginger = Gail Holly = Helena Adyson = Ariel

I am sitting in Phineas's backyard. He's sitting, working intently on some mechanism that makes plants grow twice as fast as before&mdash; I think he's building it for his mother. I keep quiet like he asks me to, but when Isabelle Garcio-Shapira skips into the backyard, I shudder quietly. "Can I talk to Isabella?" she asks Ferb, who looks at me. I nod slowly and follow her into the Flynn-Fletcher living room. "Look," she says. "I know we've had a&mdash; rough&mdash; past, but can we please be friends?" Who are you and what have you done with Isabelle Garcio-Shapira? "Um, sure." "Great," she says. "My Fireside Girls troop and I are meeting at my house tonight&mdash; would you want to come? We're working on our Inter-Troop Relationship patch." "You're the leader of a Fireside Girls troop?" I ask. "And how do you know that I'm the leader of a troop, too?" Is she a stalker or something? "I have my ways." She grabs me by the wrist and leads me out of the house. "Come on, I want you to meet them." She leads me down Maple Drive and to a large powder-blue house. Taking me into the basement, I see that there's six other girls in the basement. "This is Gwen, Kayla, Maddie, Gail, Helena, and Ariel," she rattles off, pointing at each of the girls in turn. "Girls, this is Isabella Garcia-Shapiro. She's the leader of troop 46231." "Hi!" the girls chorus. "Hi," I say uncertainly. "Well," says Isabelle, "the way we start off these meetings is with a good game of hide-and-seek." Hide-and-seek? This sounds odd, but all the other girls nod in agreement. Isabelle covers her eyes, and I resign myself to finding a spot in the closet. I hear Isabelle stop counting, but it doesn't sound like she's the only one moving around. I hear a click, which is not good. They've locked me in the closet. "Oh, where is Isabella?" says Isabelle's voice mockingly, muffled by the door. "She seems to have gone missing." The other girls laugh coldly. I slide into a sitting position, feeling a tear roll down my cheek. Isabelle never wanted to be my friend. I was stupid to trust her. It takes me a few minutes to realize it, but I have my phone with me. I take it out and text Phineas. Please help me, I write. Isabelle tricked me. I send the message and his reply is almost instantaneous. I'll be right there, it reads. Sure enough, I hear the basement door open and the room falls silent. "Hi, Phineas," says Isabelle's sickly-sweet voice. "Have you come to visit little old me?" The other girls giggle. They obviously know that Isabelle still likes Phineas. "I'm looking for Isabella." He sounds almost scary. "O-okay," Isabelle stammers. Nobody messes with him, I think. I hear a click and a burst of light hits me in the face. Phineas is standing there, his hair windswept, wearing a leather jacket. Since when does he have a leather jacket? He offers me his hand and I take it, brushing away the tear that had fallen. On the way out, Phineas doesn't talk to Isabelle. All he does is throw a cold glare in her direction. Once we're outside, he asks, "Are you okay?" "I think so," I say. "I was stupid to trust her." "There's gullible written on the ceiling," he says, and instinctively, I look up; remembering we're outside, I punch him lightly in the shoulder. "Jerk," I say, smiling like an idiot. We walk towards his house in silence. Reaching my house, I go to say goodbye, but he swings me around and kisses me. Releasing me, I ask, "Um, Phineas?" "Yes?" he says. "Since when do you own a leather jacket?"