Empire State of Sadness

Part 1: Isabella
I'm moving again. Away from Danville, from Phineas. To New York City. Mom says it's for the best, but I can't stand to see the look on Phineas's face when I tell him I'm leaving. But I'm going to have to do it sometime soon.

I go to his house, for what will be the very last time. He's there, with his teal platypus and Ferb calmly chatting away about the lymphatic system. A lump rises in my throat, as though it knows that the words should not come. But they will.

I approach them. Phineas greets me with a smile, but I can't return it, I'm too sad. I tell him I'm moving to New York, and his eyes widen to the size of dinner plates.

I knew I couldn't take it.

Part 2: Phineas
Isabella's moving. I can't take it. Life won't be the same anymore with the absence of her cheerfulness. I found the Fireside Girls, who needed to find a new leader.

They couldn't find anyone with the same enthusiasm or willingness.

Isabella leaves early Saturday morning. She hands me a scrapbook, which I know to be the one she cured my amnesia with. She hugs me and says, "Don't forget me." I promise her I won't, because I won't.

Part 3: Isabella
I left for New York today. The airport was the same as I remember when I first went, and my eyes fill with tears as I remember the first time I was here. I was with Phineas. I remember the crazy trip we had, complete with broken arms.

Pinky whimpers, as though he is being seperated from the ones he loves, too.

I board the airplane, which is slightly stuffy and filled with chattering people. People free of the sadness I'm feeling.

Part 4: Phineas
I'm lonely. Of course I have Ferb, Ferb and Perry, two out of my three best friends. But I'm missing a piece of the puzzle. Ferb is silent, too, but that is not much of a shock. He's always quiet. We sit around the backyard for remainder of summer, and when school comes and we get our schedules, I think of Isabella, and how we had all our classes together, her and Ferb and I. But she's gone.

And I doubt she'll come back.

Part 5: Isabella
I got off the airplane some time later, where it's early morning again in NYC. It's almost time for school, and I think about what I've heard, that the schools here are simply named P.S. and a number, P.S. for public school. I don't like being standardized.

I look around my new apartment, which is eerily clean and not lived in. I'm haunted by the ghost of my old house, that was nice and cheerful, friendly and settled in. But I don't think I'll settle in here.

Part 6: Phineas
The emptiness has been filled, but it's not like I like it. Sure, we have Isabelle, but she's rotten and mean, the last person I'd like to look at. She won't ever really replace Isabella.

But she acts like she has. She comes over to my house after school, and I wish she'd leave me alone so that I could have a chance to look through the scrapbook without being hounded.

Part 7: Isabella
I hate Melanie Meyers. It's against my way of life to hate people, but certainly, I can make an exception for Melanie. She's blonde and pretty, she is friends with everyone she likes, and she doesn't like me. And she's quite mean to those she dislikes.

Part 8: Phineas
I've escaped from the grip of Isabelle and managed to get a look through my scrapbook. Her mother was an avid photographer. I relive memories of my past, carnivals and school years and summers. I come to the last page and find a professional-looking photo of Isabella. She's quite pretty in the picture, serene, and I miss her. Terribly.

Part 9: Isabella
I can't stand it here in New York. Mom said it was for the better, but I've only gotten worse. I have rotten Melanie Meyers in every class, and she makes sure I don't find my homework, so I always get marked down, and she treats me like I'm an idiot when I get one question wrong.

I wish she'd leave me alone.

Part 10: Phineas
I've been emailing Isabella, and the stories that she tells me about her new school, they make me want to punch the people in the face. Everyone is horrible to her and she never gets honors, or high honors, or academic improvement. She's just caught in the middle.

I wish I could be there with her. I surf the internet, looking for the right thing to send to her, and when I find it, I send it as fast as possible, because this could possibly make it better.

Not to mention its irony.

Part 11: Isabella
I got an email from Phineas, with a link to a video in it. I clicked on the video, and a song started playing, and when I listened to the lyrics, I laughed and cried at the same time, because it was true and ironic.

The song was Hey There, Delilah by the Plain White T's.

Part 12: Phineas
Isabelle has gone too far. She has dyed her brown hair black, and her maroon dresses, bows, and sneakers pink. To taunt me? Or to show how good of a replacement she'd be for Isabella?

She could never replace her.

Part 13: Isabella
I'm moving! And oh, it's wonderful. Back to Danville, to Phineas! I haven't told Phineas yet, I want it to be a surprise.

I asked my mom why the sudden change of heart. She replied, "I didn't like it here."

I couldn't agree more.

Part 14: Phineas
It's Saturday, so I'm outside. But my incentive to build has pretty much evaporated. I hear a roar of trucks, and I flash back to when I was two years old, hearing the rush of moving trucks and meeting Isabella. I sink down in my place against the tree and try to ignore the roaring.

But my gate creaks open, and Isabella walks in, and it's too good to be true.

But it is true.

Part 15: Isabella Gets the Last Word
I'm back to Danville. Back to where I belong. Phineas told me about Isabelle, and when she came in through the gate and saw me, she actually fainted.

I smiled, and watched as Phineas unrolled blueprints for his next big idea.