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“Hey Phineas! Whatcha doin’?”
“We’re building that anti-gravity bicycle course I told you about!” Phineas exclaimed from the top of an exceedingly loopy section of rotating track. “It’s gonna be awesome!”
Isabella winced. “Wow, that’s… cool.”
Phineas furrowed his brow as he was slowly flipped upside-down. “What’s wrong? Aren’t you excited?”
“Um… yeah!” Isabella gave a forced grin. “It’s just, um… my bike is in the shop.”
“Oh, no problem!” Phineas glanced across the track. “Hey Ferb! We’re gonna need to build Isabella a spare bike!”
Ferb’s thumb popped up.
“Oh…” Isabella pressed her knees together. “You really don’t have to do that, Phineas.”
“Nah, it’ll be easy!” he assured her. “Ferb and I can build a bike in our sleep.”
He brought the rotating track to a stop as he slipped his wrench back into his toolbelt and lowered himself to the ground. As he touched down on the grass, he noticed Isabella’s expression. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” she insisted. “I’m… uh… just not feeling well.”
Phineas furrowed his brow in concern. There was something familiar about the way Isabella was holding herself— weight shifted to one leg, arms folded across her stomach. Where did he remember that posture from?
Candace.
As if summoned by his realization, her voice sounded behind him. “Aha! A floating… loop-de-loop… thing! That is sooooooooooo bustable!”
“Actually,” said Phineas, “we’re gonna do something else.”
“You are?” Isabella exclaimed.
“We are?” asked Baljeet, looking up from the anti-gravity controls.
“Aw, come on!” Buford groaned.
“Take it down, Ferb,” Phineas called. “I know what we’re gonna do today instead!”
“Oh, okay.” Candace turned to walk back into the house. “Call me when you start building the other bustable thing.”
“Actually, we may need your help on this one. Buford?” Phineas turned and saw Buford standing next to him. “Take Isabella inside.”
“It’s okay!” she blurted. “I can stay! It’s not contagious!”
“We’ll come get you,” he reassured her. “You just rest for now.”
As Buford led Isabella away, Candace put her hands on her hips. “Okay, first of all, what could you possibly need my help for, and second, what makes you think I would ever give it to you?”
“Remember that movie we saw last week?”
“About the crazy weirdo with the candy factory?” Candace rolled her eyes. “Yeah. I remember. If you’re thinking of doing anything like that, you’re on a one-way train to Bustville, mister.”
“You know how Jeremy brings you chocolate sometimes when you're, um, not feeling well?”
“Yeah?” Candace wrinkled her nose. “Why?”
“We should do something like that for Isabella.”
“Why would we…” Candace abruptly glanced back at the house. Her scowl vanished. She crossed her arms as she turned back to Phineas. “Okay. I’m in. Here’s what we need to do.”