Runaway Hit

by Lara Bergen

  Copyright © 2010 Disney Enterprises, Inc.

  All rights reserved. Published by Disney Press, an imprint of Disney Book Group. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher. For information address Disney Press, 114 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10011-5690.

  Printed in the United States of America

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  Library of Congress Catalog Card Number on file.

  ISBN: 978-1-4231-4159-4

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  If you purchased this book without a cover, you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the publisher, and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this “stripped” book.

  Table of Contents

  Part One

  Part One Chapter 1

  Part One Chapter 2

  Part One Chapter 3

  Part One Chapter 4

  Part One Chapter 5

  Part One Chapter 6

  Part Two

  Part Two Chapter 1

  Part Two Chapter 2

  Part Two Chapter 3

  Part Two Chapter 4

  Part Two Chapter 5

  Part Two Chapter 6

  Wild Surprise Preview

  Part One

  Chapter 1

  It was the start of another potentially boring summer day in the lives of Phineas and Ferb. As they ate their breakfast, a painfully bad Super American Pop Teen Idol Star contestant was croaking out a song on the kitchen TV. Phineas and Ferb listened as they dug into their second bowls of Sugar POWs and their mom, Linda, helped herself to her fourth cup of coffee. Phineas’s sister (and Ferb’s stepsister), Candace, was searching in the refrigerator.

  “I . . . met my love in a—” the boy on the show belted out at the top of his lungs, sounding a lot like a human bagpipe, only worse.

  As the boys watched, a big boxing glove shot out of nowhere and—BOOM!—whacked the contestant off the stage.

  “Oh, boy!” cried the announcer. “Did that kid stink or what? Ha!” He laughed and shook his head, then grinned and pointed at the camera. “But maybe you’ve got what it takes to be . . .” as he spoke, the words flashed onto the screen: “. . . the next . . . Super . . . American . . . Pop . . . Teen . . . Idol . . . Star!! Auditions open today at the Googolplex Mall in beautiful downtown Danville!”

  Candace immediately gave up her search for a raspberry yogurt and ran to the television. “Auditions! Today!” Her heart was pounding in her chest. Was it possible? Was her favorite show really having auditions at the local mall?

  “Yes!” said the announcer cheerfully. “Today! At two o’clock sharp!”

  “Yes!” Candace lifted the TV off the counter and planted a big wet kiss in the middle of the screen. “Mwaahh! I’ve got to tell Stacy!” She dashed off to her room to call her best friend right away. After all, opportunities like this didn’t just up and land in a girl’s very own hometown every day!

  Unfortunately, Candace forgot that she was still holding the television set. And it was still plugged into the wall. . . .

  “Oh!” she cried, as her arms flew back and —THONK!—her rear end hit the floor.

  Phineas and Ferb glanced at Candace from their seats at the kitchen table to see what all the noise was about. Then they went back to eating their cereal.

  “That pop-star stuff might be fun at first,” said Phineas between spoonfuls. “But then you’d be stuck in a dead-end job. Too bad you can’t just do it once and move on.”

  “Well, what you’re talking about,” said Linda, taking another sip of coffee, “is a one-hit wonder.” She walked over to the counter and stood next to the TV.

  “A one-hit wonder?” said Phineas, looking up. “What’s that?”

  “Well . . .” Linda began. She put her finger to her chin as her eyes drifted dreamily to the ceiling. “. . . A musical act goes to the top of the charts with a catchy tune and meaningless lyrics.”

  Then her smile was quickly replaced with a frown. “Then they throw a big diva tantrum,” Linda went on grimly, “lose their label, and fade to obscurity. Before you know it, their song ends up as elevator music. Years later, they have a reunion concert . . .” She sighed and seemed to drift further away. “And after that they never sing again . . . and no one remembers them.”

  Linda’s eyes snapped back into focus. She smiled and touched her chest. “Ha! Not that I would know anything about that!”

  Then, humming a little song, she walked out of the room.

  If you say so, thought Phineas, exchanging a baffled look with Ferb. For a mom, she sure seemed to know a lot about it.

  Phineas shrugged. As Linda was giving her description, he’d made a list of all the things needed in order to be a one-hit wonder. Now he read back over what he’d written down.

  “A one-hit wonder . . .” he said. “Ferb!” he said excitedly. “I know what we’re gonna do today!”

  But Ferb was always a beat ahead of his stepbrother. He’d already strapped on an electric guitar and was ready to go!

  Chapter 2

  Later that morning, in Candace’s room, Stacy watched calmly as her best friend freaked out. This was the opportunity Candace had been waiting for her whole life! What better way to get out from under her unbearable brothers’ unbearable shadow once and for all? There was no question that she had as much talent as any other Super American Pop Teen Idol Star . . . if she did say so herself. Singing and acting were her thing. (Not Phineas and Ferb’s!) Now she finally had a way to get all the fame and fortune she so totally deserved.

  But first she had to ace the auditions.

  “Stacy,” Candace wailed as she thumbed through her CDs for the umpteenth time, “what am I going to sing?”

  “Hel-lo?” said Stacy, whose mind was, as usual, on the most important matters at hand. “What are you going to wear?”

  Hmm, thought Candace. Good question.

  Quickly, she moved to her closet.

  “What do you think?” she asked, slipping into a long blue gown.

  “Too much,” Stacy replied.

  So Candace tried on a bathing suit.

  “Too little,” Stacy said.

  She tried on a pinafore.

  “Ugh,” Stacy groaned. That was way too clean.

  She changed into torn cords and a hippie T-shirt.

  “Too dirty,” Stacy said, scrunching up her nose.

  Stacy sat up and eagerly examined Candace’s next outfit. It was an ’80s pop-star getup, complete with white boots, pink leg warmers, miniskirt, and acid-washed jacket. “Hey!” she said, pointing. “Where’d you get that?”

  “In my mom’s closet. You like it?” Candace asked, turning from side to side.

  Stacy reconsidered. “Nah,” she said, “Too retro.”

  So Candace kept on trying—throwing on everything from a police uniform to a gorilla suit—until at last Stacy stopped her with a decisive “Perfect!”

  “Nice, huh?” said Candace, smiling. She was wearing the exact same red top and white skirt she wore almost every day.

  “Yeah,” said Stacy. “You should have tried that on first.”

  Eagerly, Candace handed Stacy her purse. “Let’s go!” she cried.

  Candace was so focused on getting to the mall in time for the Super American Pop Teen Idol Star auditions, she didn’t even notice Phineas and Ferb in their room as she ran past.

  The boys were both hard at work. Ferb was at the computer, and Phineas was on the floor with a pencil and
a notebook. A rhyming dictionary was close by.

  Phineas nodded his head. “Meaningless lyrics done!” he exclaimed. Then he looked at Ferb. “How’s the catchy tune coming along?”

  Ferb hit a key, and a solid A-flat sounded.

  “Excellent!” said Phineas. “We’ll be done by lunch!”

  Then he looked around the room. “Hey, where’d Perry go?” The mild-mannered platypus, Phineas’s reliable pet, had been lounging by Ferb’s bed just a moment earlier. . . .

  Little did Phineas, Ferb, or anyone else in their family know that their pet, Perry, wasn’t just any old platypus. Oh, no. When he wasn’t lying around and making weird chirping noises in front of the boys, he was off defending the world from his archnemesis, Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz, evil genius (to use the term loosely) extraordinaire.

  And that’s exactly where he was headed that day.

  Out in the hall, with a quick glance over his shoulder to make sure nobody was watching, Perry popped up on two legs and ducked into the nearest bathroom.

  The door closed—SLAM!—and with a flush, Perry was gone. He was whisked down through the plumbing to his secret hideout under Phineas and Ferb’s house.

  Unlike Phineas and Ferb’s modest suburban home, Perry’s headquarters were outfitted in high-tech equipment and surveillance devices. There were jet packs and space suits and a closet full of clever disguises, plus an entire wall of high-speed computers and satellite feeds.

  “Hello . . . hello? Anybody there?” A giant, white-mustached face stared out from an enormous high-def screen at the center of Agent P’s cave. It was Perry’s superior officer and mission-assigner, Major Monogram, looking lonely and a little confused.

  “Oh!” he said, relieved, as Perry landed with a SPLASH! in front of him. “Good morning, Agent P! We’ve just received word that Dr. Doofenshmirtz has been buying up construction toys at an alarming rate. We need you to find out what he’s up to and . . . put a stop to it!”

  Perry raised his front paw in an “aye-aye” salute and was on it in a flash.

  He hurried over to his fleet of spy vehicles—he had everything from a jet-powered skateboard to a nuclear submarine—and chose a sleek-looking motor scooter. He leaped on and gunned the engine as a hydraulic lift in the floor began to raise him to the street. When he reached the surface, the road flipped to let him through. And with a deep BRRUMMM! he was off.

  Of course, even supersecret agents on urgent missions have to stop at red lights. (It’s the law, after all.) The last thing he expected, however, was for Phineas and Ferb’s mom to pull up right beside him on her way to the mall with Candace and Stacy. He turned and—gulp!—saw Linda turn his way.

  Good thing he had a fake mustache, nose, and glasses handy! Perry slipped them on and disguised himself just as Linda did a double take, mouth agape and eyes wide.

  Huh? thought Linda, taking a closer look at the scooter rider alongside her car. He looked oddly familiar. Could it possibly be . . .

  But the next thing Linda knew, the light had turned green and the mysterious character was gone.

  Chapter 3

  Later, at the Googolplex Mall, Candace and Stacy were ready to win!

  “We’ll meet back at the entrance in an hour,” Linda told them.

  “Come on, Stacy,” Candace urged her friend, practically dragging her past the keychain booths and sunglasses stalls. “We gotta hurry so we can get a spot in li—”

  Candace’s jaw dropped to the floor as they stepped up to join a line that seemed to go on and on for miles. Her eyes followed the line as it wound its way to the spotlighted stage.

  All of a sudden she felt . . . nervous! Nervous was not something Candace was used to feeling. “I’ve never sung in front of so many people!” she gasped.

  Stacy tapped her on the shoulder. “Uh . . . Candace?” She motioned over her shoulder to the even larger crowd of spectators standing on the other side.

  “Ugh!” Candace’s nervousness quickly turned to panic. “I can’t do this!” she squealed.

  “Oh, yes, you can!” said Stacy. She took Candace by the shoulders and looked her in the eye. “You’re not a quitter, you’re a fighter!”

  “I am?” said Candace meekly.

  “Sure you are,” said Stacy. “You’re a lean, mean, singing machine.”

  The pep talk worked. Candace squared her jaw and made fists with both hands. Then she attacked Stacy’s purse as if it were a punching bag and she were the heavyweight champion of the world.

  “Grrrr!” she growled, working herself into a frenzy.

  “That’s it!” Stacy encouraged her. “Yeah! Now you’re looking like a winner.”

  Candace threw one more round of punches. Then she doubled over, exhausted. She was dripping with sweat, her hair was a mess, and she was panting like a dog that hadn’t had a drink for days.

  “Hey, Candace.” She froze. No! It couldn’t be . . . she thought.

  She looked over her shoulder. Yikes! It was!

  Jeremy. The object of her biggest, most ginormous, crush ever! She hurriedly smoothed her hair and tucked her blouse back into her skirt.

  “And that is what a gorilla looks like when you try to take away his food,” she said brightly to Stacy. She laughed and turned around. “Oh! Hi, Jeremy!” She hoped she looked convincingly casual and surprised. “Are you auditioning, too?”

  “Nah.” He held up the small white music player he was holding in his hand. “I came to see this hot new band called P.F.T. I downloaded their song this morning. It’s tight! The hundredth contestant gets to sing onstage with the band!”

  “Really?” said Candace. She checked the line to see how close she was to getting to the auditions. She and Stacy had moved pretty far along; there were just a few more people between her and the entrance turnstile. She sighed and kept smiling back at Jeremy as she followed the line in front of her. Funny that she’d never heard of this awesome new band before, she thought, as she finally passed through the contestant turnstile.

  Ding-ding-ding-ding-ding!

  All of sudden, a bell had started ringing, and a giant sign reading 100TH CONTESTANT began to flash on and off.

  “Hey,” said Jeremy, “looks like that’s you!”

  And sure enough, up stepped the Super American Pop Teen Idol Star announcer to grab Candace by the arm and whisk her away.

  “Congratulations!” the announcer declared as he pulled her toward the stage. “You’re the one-hundredth contestant!”

  The next thing Candace knew, she was standing in front of a microphone, facing an enormous crowd. She couldn’t believe it—she was about to live her dream!

  “Ladies and gentlemen . . .” the announcer’s voice boomed, “. . . this young lady has the honor of singing onstage with P.F.T. So now . . . the band you’ve been waiting for . . . Phineas and the Ferb-Tones!”

  At first, Candace was thrilled. But a moment later her mouth dropped open as the eager crowd erupted into screams and she realized what the announcer had said. She turned, and, sure enough, Phineas and Ferb emerged like rock stars from a thick, dramatic fog. This was no dream, she quickly realized. This was a nightmare!

  “Phineas?!” she cried.

  “Candace?” Phineas walked toward her across the stage, carrying an electric guitar. “You’re the hundredth contestant? How serendipitous!” He grinned and pointed back and forth between the two of them. “This’ll be like a brother-sister thing! Now,” he went on, pulling a sheet of music out of his pocket, “I’m assuming you’ve heard our single. I mean, who hasn’t? Right?” He shrugged. “It’s a big hit.” He handed her the paper. “So here are the words, but don’t worry if you get lost. The lyrics are meaningless anyway.” He winked as he strode back across the stage toward Ferb. “I’ll point when it’s your turn.”

  Candace watched him, speechless, as he took his place next to Ferb, who stood ready at a keyboard. Beside them, like backup singers, smoothly swaying to the beat, stood their friend Isabella and three of her fe
llow Fireside Girls. Isabella was never far from the members of her scout group.

  “Ladies and gentlemen,” said Phineas, gesturing to Isabella and the girls, “the Ferbettes!”

  The air was filled once more with cheers.

  “I’m Phineas,” he went on, “and this is Ferb, and we’re going to sing a song.” He began to sing and strum his guitar.

  The Ferbettes sang too. With each new lyric, they moved together.

  Candace turned from her brother to the audience. The crowd was singing along with every word and doing all the moves the band did. Honestly, it was almost as if they were in some sort of Ferbette trance or something!

  Bouncing and singing, Phineas made his way over to his sister. Then he stopped and pointed to her. “Candace!”

  Candace stood there in the spotlight as the whole mall waited for her to sing. She looked down at the lyrics sheet. Then she looked over at Phineas. Slowly, her eyes narrowed and she ground her teeth.

  “Wait a minute!!!” she shouted. The sheet music went flying, and she balled her hands into tight fists. “What are you doing?”

  “I’m cueing you,” Phineas answered, still pointing and poised to go on.

  “How did you get a hit single?” Candace hollered.

  “Well, it wasn’t easy,” said Phineas with a matter-of-fact nod. “It took most of the morning and half a dozen phone calls, but if you’re willing to put in the work—”

  Candace felt as if she might explode—right then and there. Talk about not fair! Phineas and Ferb weren’t even musical! And here they were, landing in the spotlight, just the same as always!

  “That’s it!” she fumed, throwing her arms into the air. Then she glared at Phineas and pointed. “I’m going to tell Mom!”