"Ferb, I know what we're going to do today!" Phineas exclaimed.

They were all sixteen now.

"We can make a giant bouncy ball!" Ferb rolled his eyes.

Phineas was really getting too old for things like bouncy balls.

"I am sure the rest of the gang doesn't want to play with bouncy balls," Ferb stated.

"Wait! You actually used your daily line now? Okay, if it is really that big of a deal, then we could make a giant sock puppet!" Phineas exclaimed.

Ferb sighed and shook his head. "Okay, then, how about we make plush stuffed animals?" Phineas suggested.

Ferb just walked away.

Isabella was just coming through the gate.

"Hi, Phineas, what you doing? I mean, whatcha' doin'?" Isabella corrected.

"I'm just trying to find something to do today," Phineas replied.

"I know! We could make wading pools that auto-swivel!"

"Uh, okay?" Isabella hesitated.

"What's wrong?" Phineas asked.

"It is just that, well, aren't we a little too old to be walking through wading pools?" Isabella stated.

Phineas frowned and looked down at the ground.

"I guess," Phineas answered.

"Candace, what should I do today?" Phineas asked.

"Nothing! I am going on a picnic with Jeremy, so don't build anything! You hear me? Don't build anything!" she yelled.

Phineas shed a single tear.

Then he shook his head violently.

Now was not a time to cry, it was the first day of summer, after all.

Then he sat on the stairs.

Then he let his tears flow freely.

Everyone said he was too old for this and too old for that.

It broke his heart.

Little did he know, Candace felt the same way about Ducky Momo.

"Where's Perry?" Phineas muttered.

"Oh, he is right here, where he always is these days, Phineas," Linda responded.

Perry's health went downhill, so he no longer worked for the agency.

The shriveled brick rolled over in his platybed.

Phineas gently scooped Perry up and held him in his lap.

Perry understood Phineas, even if Phineas felt no one else did.

Then Phineas broke into tears once more.

"I don't know what to do, Perry," he shuddered.

"No one likes my ideas. Isabella seems more distant than ever. I am starting to really worry about our friendship. What if she stops coming over? What if I never see her again?" Phineas worried.

Perry just made his noise in response.

It was as if Perry had just given a Ferb speech.

No matter what happened, Perry would always be the fun, lady platypus that he and Ferb had both grown to love, Phineas thought.

Phineas embraced Perry tightly.

"Nothing says mother's love like a good ol' platypus butt," Phineas remarked.

That was a deja vu moment for him.

Then he rested Perry back in his bed.

He stood up.

Then he went out and made a giant balloon.

It was a smiley face with a yellow head and black features.

He needed a quarter-ton anvil to keep it from floating away.

He was glad that he had pre-tied it.

"Oh, there you are, Phin-" Isabella started. "What is that?"

Ferb appeared.

Then Buford and Baljeet arrived.

"Ha! Ha! Look at that stupid looking balloon! 'Jeet, scissors!" Buford bellowed.

"Yes, Buford," Baljeet sighed.

Baljeet handed Buford a pair of scissors.

Buford ran towards the string that the balloon was tied to.

"No!" Phineas thought.

He tried to scream it, but no sound came out.

His larynx was locked up.

Buford cut the string and the giant balloon floated away.

Then he cackled mischievously.

He didn't realize how much he had hurt the poor boy, however.

Ferb, Isabella, and Baljeet just blinked.

"What do you have to say to that, you big fat baby?" Buford asked.

Now he was just being mean.

Ferb, Isabella, and Baljeet all could have said something.

But they didn't.

"Hit me with your best shot, pacifier man," Buford dared.

Phineas turned and ran away.

He was on the verge of tears. Ferb, Isabella, and Baljeet did nothing.

They just didn't respect Phineas anymore.

They thought that he needed to grow up.

The Isabella from three months ago would have stood up for him.

But now when she thought of Phineas, she thought of how much he had broken her heart.

It was her own fault, really.

If she had told him how she felt about him, he would have felt the same way.

But now she told herself that she didn't have a crush on Phineas anymore, that it had faded.

She could believe it as long as she wasn't staring into his eyes.

Now that she thought about it, she wondered why she even came to his house anymore.

"Just for the rest of the summer," she promised herself. "Just for the rest of the summer."

Meanwhile, Phineas was sobbing alone in his room with his head buried in his pillow.

He felt so betrayed.

He was a victim of a society that said you had to "Grow Up!"

His brother, Ferb, refused to stand up for him, the uncool kid.

His neighbor and best friend, Isabella, refused to stand up for him, the uncool kid.

Baljeet, being bullied often himself, had developed a callous, so it wouldn't have seemed logical to him to stand up for Phineas, the uncool kid.

Buford bullied Phineas.

His only comfort was Perry.

He fell asleep embracing the platypus.

I don't usually write from experience, but I did when writing this. I remember I was bullied in kindergarten. It taught me what suffering was like. It taught me how to make my top vulnerability lower. It didn't make me any harder on the outside, it just made me learn to accept putdowns and move on with life. I was somewhat like Phineas then in character... But I'm not anymore. Please review!