I take the freaking LONGEST time to update. Oh my goodness. I'm mad at myself for taking so long.

Anyway, thanks for all the wonderful reviews! And I hope I didn't chase any of my readers away because of the long wait. I hope you're all still here to read chapter three. Hope you all enjoy!

Chapter Three

The first thing I saw the next morning was Phineas on the floor by his bed, still completely asleep. He was in a white T-shirt with a few stains here and there and his blue plaid boxers. His red hair was very messy and tangled up, but I guessed that mine was that way, too. Thinking about what my hair looked like was what got me out of my bed. I didn't try to be quiet as I walked over to the door, though the sleeping Phineas didn't seem to notice at all. I chuckled to myself before turning the knob and walking out of the room.

"Ferb, you're up early," Dad greeted me in the hallway. He was walking around in his long blue robe and brown slippers.

"It's only six thirty," I responded. He laughed under his breath.

"Normal teens would sleep in on a Sunday morning, since it's their last day of the weekend."

"Dad, since when have I ever been a normal teenager?" I noticed the look of thought on his face as he looked up to the ceiling, and then he gave up and looked at me again.

"Touché," he said. We both smiled, and then walked past each other. I walked quietly to the bathroom at the end of the hall while he walked back to his and mom's bedroom.

I flipped the light on and surprised myself when I looked in the mirror. My hair actually wasn't that tangled or messy. I took my comb and made my hair look good, in the exact same way it looked every day. When I was satisfied with my hair, I put the comb away, flipped the light switch down, and exited the bathroom. When I was walking back to my bedroom to get my laptop, an idea sprouted in my head. I knew Phineas would hate me but…what could he do?

I crept back through the door and over to the far side of my bed. I knelt down and silently unlocked the grey case lying on the ground. I pieced together the instrument, then stood back up and tiptoed over to Phineas' bed where he was still fast asleep. I smiled to myself before aiming the horn right at my brother's head and placed the cold metal mouthpiece to my lips. I took a huge breath, and then blew into the trumpet as hard as I could.

"OH MY GOD!" Phineas screamed, falling off of his bed on the opposite side that I was standing. The screeching noise died as I broke into laughter. Phineas poked his head above the bed and glared over at me. The glare merely made me laugh harder.

"What the hell was that for?!" he yelled at me. I shrugged my shaking shoulders.

"F-fun," I stuttered though my chuckles. Phineas was probably about to pounce over the bed and tackle me to the bed when both of our parents burst into the room.

"What was that?" Mom asked. Then she eyed the trumpet in my hands and Phineas on the floor by his bed. I knew she was piecing it together, and then her eyes widened.

"Ferb Fletcher, you didn't," she said to me.

"I just thought I'd have a little fun," I told her in an innocent voice.

"Well, this isn't the kind of little fun you should be having," Dad told me. "Perhaps going to the mall or the library would be more…appropriate."

"Much more appropriate," I heard Phineas mutter. I smiled again.

"Don't kill my joy," I told him, turning my head in his direction.

"Why shouldn't I? You kill mine all the time."

"Name one time."

"I can't right at this moment but I'm sure if you gave me the time-"

"You know what?" Mom said. Phineas and I both looked over at her. "You're father was right. I'm banning both of you from the house today. You can go to the mall or the library like he said. I really don't care. But you aren't allowed back in this house until five thirty tonight when dinner will be ready."

"That is so not fair!" Phineas yelled. "I was gonna' work on my robot today!" I rolled my eyes.

"You can take your robot and work on it at the park or something," Mom said. "But not here."

"I can't work on it outside," Phineas said in disgust. "And don't even think about suggesting the mall."

"Well, it looks like you'll have to work on it tomorrow. Now, both of you, get dressed and get out of here."

Mom turned and exited the room while Dad stayed where he was. He smiled and chuckled quietly.

"Not the best thing to do, get your mother mad at six forty-five in the morning," he stated. Then he, too, turned and waked out of the room. I grinned once again and looked back at Phineas. I immediately regretted it when I saw the scowl on his face. I turned and waked back over to my trumpet's case to put the instrument away.

"Nice going," Phineas hissed at me. I closed the case and clicked the locks shut.

"If you woke up this early, saw that I was still asleep, and had a trumpet, you would have done the exact same thing," I responded, turning to look at him again. "And don't even try to say that you wouldn't have." He opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. I nodded my head once at him. "Exactly. And I hope you know that you're not the only one who got your plans ruined today. I was going to stay home and work on my story."

"Well, you can take your laptop anywhere you go. My robot has to stay home."

"I don't get why it is has to stay home. Why can't you take it to the mall or somewhere else indoor and work on it?"

"Because it's a home robot. You should know that."

"Oh, well, excuse me."

"Pbf," he blew through his lips. He got to his feet and walked over to the cabinet that as his closet while I walked to the cabinet that was mine. I picked out a pair of white skinny jeans that Mom had bought me when I wasn't with her. They were actually the only pair of pants I had that were clean at the moment, so I threw them onto my bed. I picked through my shirts and chose a plain yellow T-shirt and a solid black zip-up jacket. I pulled the jeans onto my legs and surprisingly they were extremely comfortable. This was the first time I had ever worn them, even though Mom had been bugging me for the longest time. I pulled the gray shirt I had worn to bed last night off and put the yellow T-shirt on.

"You look like a prep," Phineas said. I looked over to see him in loose blue jeans and a red T-shirt with black squares all over it, making it look like a checker board. A black hat was on his head, making his red hair stick out.

"And what are you supposed to be?" I asked him. "A gangster?"

"How do you know what a gangster is?" Phineas asked. "I'm surprised you even know the word."

"I know people that think they're cool enough to be one," I said, pushing my arms through the sleeves of my jacket. I zipped it up halfway so my yellow shirt was still mostly visible from underneath.

"Like who?"

"You." A low growl came from within his chest, and I chuckled. "Relax. Though I wasn't kidding, you're not who I learned it from. There's that Richie kid that lives down the street."

"Don't mock Rich!" Phineas yelled. "He's my best friend."

"Is he who you learned from? I've noticed that ever since you started hanging out with him you started…this," I said, looking over his outfit again, noticing the untied tennis shoes poking out from underneath the jeans.

"Well, there's him, and Brian, and Sam."

"Ah, Sam," I mused. "Good guy."

"Where'd you meet him?" Phineas asked skeptically. I pulled a pair of white socks out of one of the drawers in the cabinet and sat down on the end of my bed.

"You've only invited him over a million times," I said.

"But when have you and him ever mingled?"

"Never very much. But I have when you've gone off to the bathroom or something. We've gotten to know a little about each other. So I know that you haven't learned this from him."

"Pbf, whatever," Phineas said.

"And I'm guessing the hat is there to hide the messy hair you're not taking the time to straighten out?" I asked, standing up and walking back over to the cabinet.

"I didn't have time!" he argued. I grabbed the pair of white and black sneakers from my cabinet, and walked back over to my bed, closing the cabinet door behind me.

"You have perfectly enough time," I told him, untying the laces on the right shoe and pulling it onto my foot. "I had time, so that means so did you."

"Your hair's combed out?"

I scowled to myself, and I felt the smile he flashed in my direction, though I couldn't see it. I finished putting my shoes on and grabbed my wallet and keys from the table by my bed.

"Ha, ha, so funny," I muttered, walking by him to exit the room. I walked down the hall and heard him walking behind me.

"Oh, wait, I forgot my cell phone," I said. "Go wait by the car, I'll be right down."

I turned around and headed back to our room, while Phineas continued towards the stairs at the end of the hallway. I walked into our room once again and grabbed the silver phone on the table right beside the door. On my way back down the hall I quickly swung into the bathroom to see if my hair was still in good shape. Pulling my night shirt off and my T-shirt on had ruffled it up a bit, but I quickly took the comb and smoothed it out again. When I was happy, I left the bathroom to see Phineas leaning against the wall by the top of the stairs. He smiled at me.

"Psyched you out, didn't I?" he said, and then turned and started to descend the stairs. I scowled to myself before following after him.

It was seven thirty when we pulled into the mall parking lot. I undid my seatbelt and twisted around to reach into my backseat.

"What are you doing?" Phineas asked.

"Looking for my book," I answered, still searching around my backseat.

"Why?"

"The mall doesn't open until eight," I told him. I heard him groan, and I turned back around when I couldn't find my book.

"Damn," I muttered under my breath. "I must have left it at home."

"Maybe we should go back and get it," Phineas said.

"Two reasons why we shouldn't do that. One is that we're locked out of the house. Two is by the time we go home and come back the mall will be open and there wouldn't be any reason to have it."

"But it'll give us something to do while we wait for the mall to open."

"Get over it. And get comfortable. Well be here for another twenty-five minutes."

Phineas groaned again, but leaned back against the passenger seat and closed his eyes. I also leaned back and shut my eyes, but only one minute later my car was full of blasting music. I opened my eyes to see Phineas looking through the radio stations. My eyes flickered over to the ignition to see that I had left the keys in, and Phineas must have turned them to turn the car on. I sighed and closed my eyes again.

"I love this song," Phineas said, and I recognized the song as Proposal by Love Handel. "Just go down on one knee and show that girl the ring," Phineas sang along. I forced myself to drown out the music, and before I knew it I heard Phineas' door creak open. I opened my eyes and looked at my car's digital clock. It read eight o' five.

"Phineas!" I called, but he slammed his door shut. I yanked the keys out of the ignition and pushed my door open. By the time I was out of my car and had the doors locked Phineas was already at the doors of the mall. I ran across the now-loaded parking lot and caught up to him before he had gotten very far.

"What are you doing?" I asked him hardly.

"Um, going to the mall," he answered. "I texted Richie, Brian, and Sam and told them to meet me here. So you can go off to the book store or something."

"But-"

I cut myself short when I saw one girl walk by us. She was in a jean mini skirt that cut off in the middle of her hips and her knees. A pink T-shirt with ruffled sleeves covered the upper part of her body and pink flip flops were on her feet. Her perfect brunette hair waved down her back like a waterfall, and shined beautifully with the lights of the mall. I couldn't help but stare after her as she entered the school supplies store.

Apparently Phineas noticed me staring at her, so he smiled and patted me on the back. I was instantly thrown out of my trance.

"Go follow her, dude," Phineas told me. "Go, now. Before you lose her."

I nodded at him, then began walking towards the school supplies store. I felt my hands begin to get sweaty as I entered the store, and I held my breath and bit my lip when I saw her in the notebook section. I didn't let go of my breath as I walked over to the colored pencil section, which was on the exact opposite side of the rack that she was on. I could see the top of her head over the rack, and I really hoped she didn't notice me looking down at her. But hoping doesn't always work.

"Ferb? Ferb Fletcher, is that you?"

Her big green eyes looked up and met my brown ones. I had no idea that Sara Cline even knew my name, let alone me. She walked around the end of the rack and over to where I was standing, and I noticed a purple notebook with flowers covering the whole bottom left corner. I let out the breath that I was still holding.

"H-hi Sara," I said. She smiled. "What're you doing here?"

"I had to get another notebook for school," she said, holding up the notebook in her hand. "I accidentally dropped my other one in a puddle and it got completely ruined. What about you?"

"Um…same thing. Except with colored pencils." I immediately threw my arm out to the side, grabbed the first thing my hand touched, and brought it back to hold in front of my chest. Sara raised an eyebrow as she looked at the item in my hand.

"Those are crayons," she told me, smiling again. I looked down at the twenty-four pack of crayons, and felt my face begin to warm up.

"Oh yeah…" I said. Sara giggled. I slowly put the crayons back and grabbed a pack of colored pencils instead.

"Well, I gotta' go," she said. "Some of my girlfriends are waiting for me at another store. It was nice to see you."

"Yeah, pleasure to see you, too," I said. She leaned up and pecked me on my cheek before walking past me and towards the front counter. My face burned as I lifted my hand to touch the cheek she had kissed. I turned around and looked at her she paid for her notebook. Absentmindedly I began walking towards her again, even when she grabbed her bagged notebook and exited the store. I continued to follow her, but was snapped out of my trance by a loud alarm. That's when I realized I still had the colored pencils in my hand while I was out in the hall.

"Sorry!" I called over the alarm, hurrying back into the store. "I'm so sorry. I forgot I still had them in my hand."

"It's fine, man," the worker at the counter said, turning the alarm off. "Are you gonna' buy them?"

"Oh, uh, no. I'll just go put them back…"

I turned away from the counter and walked back down the aisle to where the colored pencils were. I placed the pack on the shelf and then walked back towards the front of the store.

"Sorry, again," I said to the worker as I exited the store once again. I was hoping to see Sara in the hall, but she was no where to be seen, so I turned and headed towards the book store.

Wow, I read through this chapter again and saw how much the mall scene was alike the mall scene in "Engaging Nightmare". Well…sorta'. I'm really sorry angelic'O'wings if that scene is too close to yours.

I hope this chapter was satisfactory and a little more informative. I am truly sorry about the long wait, and I swear the next update won't take so long.

Please review! Anonymous reviews are now accepted! XD

~Taylor