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“I think that’s it!” Candace announced, plopping down on her bed. “Phew! Seriously, I never knew I had so much stuff!”
It had been the final out of three days working through her things as she packed for college. For the next two days, she was set to wear only the clothes she didn’t like enough to take, but that was a reasonable enough price to pay for having everything clean.
Stacy collapsed on the nearest bean bag. “You should consider some decluttering. Maybe your brothers can make some machine that can make everything spotless in one click. You know, you don’t take nearly enough advantage of having geniuses around the house. If Ginger could make machines that fixed my entire life, you wouldn’t even recognize me.”
The thought of having Phineas and Ferb as her little brains-for-hire made her laugh. “Well, they do make me stuff when they feel like it.”
“They are sweet kids,” Stacy mused. “Though, I guess they’re teenagers now. That’s just strange. Who do you think will start dating first, Phineas or Ferb?”
Candace just scrunched her nose, not that eager to think about her brothers dating. She did give it some thought as she sorted through her books one more time. “Ferb, probably. Unless Phineas gets his crap together and asks Isabella out before that. Not that that’s happening before their junior year at high school.”
“Eh, I believe in the little guy. I think he’ll realize he likes her around freshman year.”
“ Phineas ? Inventor of Obliviousness? There’s no way, he’ll need a few more years.”
Stacy just shrugged. “At this point, we know Isabella won’t be the one to confess. His feelings are getting more and more obvious–”
“Not necessarily–”
“Candace, you’ve seen how he looks at her whenever she’s talking, right? She can do anything and his face says ‘marry me’. He’s not going to take three more years,” Stacy said emphatically. Candace hadn’t seen this kind of argumentative passion since they were arguing about which Stumbleberry Finkblat movie was the best. “I’m willing to put money on this.”
And that was how the betting pool started. It only spiraled from there.
Stacy bet on 9th grade, Candace bet on both 11th and 12th. They both told Jeremy about it in passing, and he laughed and took up 10th. Ferb overheard the conversation and put down the summer before junior year. Once Baljeet caught wind of it, he put together a spreadsheet. Buford saw the spreadsheet and immediately wanted in. Stacy told Ginger about it, and Ginger joined with the rest of the Fireside Girls. No one knew how Irving got involved, but he helped Baljeet run the spreadsheet.
“Okay, this is how this is gonna work,” Gretchen said, setting down her legal notepad and writing down “ Phinabella Betting Pool Rules ”
The whole group was gathered in the Flynn-Fletcher backyard while Isabella and Phineas were at the Girl’s Choice Night of The Falling Stars Dance committee meeting. Baljeet had his computer out and was organizing each person’s bet while Ginger wrote down the same information on paper so it could be signed.
“We need a list of regulations so no one will cheat,” Gretchen explained, “Rule number one: None of us are to interfere! This bet only counts if they figure this out on their own!”
No arguments there, except for Buford’s reluctantly compliant mumbling.
“We need to define what counts as interfering,” Katie pointed out. The rest agreed with her. Various definitions got thrown around until they decided that they needed to separate their usual meddling and interfering with the bet.
“So we could still try to set them up by leaving them alone together?” Holly asked.
“We should take a vote,” Greatchen said, diplomatic as always.
The vote was a unanimous “yes”. Gretchen wrote down “ Anything bar telling them directly about this is allowed. ”
Three other rules were added:
- To win the money, two out of the three categories must have been guessed correctly
- No inventions are allowed at any point
- No new bets can be made after Phineas gets his head out of his ass becomes aware of his feelings.
The meeting went on like this until the two major documents of the Phinabella Betting Pool (The bet tracker and the rule sheet, both of which required the signature of all participants) were finished. The bets looked like this:
Stacy: Phineas realizes he likes Isabella during Freshman Year, He confesses first, They become a couple in the same year.
Candace and Holly: Phineas realizes he likes Isabella during Junior Year, He confesses first, They become a couple in Junior Year.
Candace and Milly: Phineas realizes he likes Isabella during Senior Year, He confesses first, They become a couple in Senior Year.
Millie and Buford: Phineas realizes he likes Isabella during Sophomore Year, He confesses first, They become a couple in Junior Year.
Ferb: Phineas realizes he likes Isabella the summer before Junior Year, He confesses first, They get together the same year.
Jeremy and Baljeet: Phineas realizes he likes Isabella during Sophomore Year, He confesses first, They become a couple the same year.
Buford: Phineas realizes he likes Isabella during Sophomore Year, He confesses first, They become a couple the summer before college.
(“ College? You’re insane”
“Have you met them? This is a possibility.”)
Katie, Adyson, and Ginger: Phineas realizes he likes Isabella during the summer after freshman year, She confesses first, They become a couple the same year.
Irving: Isabella confesses, Phineas realizes his feelings when she does
Milly frowned. “Wait, we’re allowed to only make two bets?”
Irving just shrugged and looked at Gretchen, who didn’t seem to have a problem with it.
“It decreases your chances of winning, but if you’re cool with that, sure.”
Stacy had to stifle her laughter at how seriously everyone was taking this, but she was nevertheless all the more confident that in a year or so, she would be the one taking home those 220 dollars. Or more, if more people joined in.
“Don’t look so smug already,” Candace told her. “You’re not going to win. I’m willing to bet on that .”
Stacy laughed. “Oh, you’re gonna regret saying that.”
And she was right.