Chapter 1: The Flu
It was a normal day in Elmore City. Inside one school was a lot of whispers and quiet gossip going through the hall. Everyone was worried, but one cat had no idea was going on. He was Gumball Watterson, a thirteen year old blue cat, and he was wondering why everyone was acting presumably weird. That was until he saw someone approach him. It was a goldfish with legs and arms. "Hey, Gumball," he greeted him. He was his eleven year old brother. The two were known for causing trouble with their many antics usually involving their friends.
"Oh hey, Darwin. What's up with everybody?" Gumball asked still wondering about it. "Haven't you heard? Nearly a hundred students have gotten sick in two days. Something's going around and everyone's paranoid of each other," Darwin explained. There was a severe disease going around and making people sick. It was spreading through something fast, but it was no more threatening than a bad flu in terms of illness. It spread so far that even some of their teachers and substitute teachers were starting to get sick. "Jamie didn't even hit me earlier. She's alone now," Darwin added, referring to a bully that normally was in a group of bullies, but all of them were getting sick as well.
Gumball couldn't believe it. This was getting ridiculous at this point. Suddenly they heard a loud static noise over the speakers. "Attention, students. Attention. Due to a lot of teachers and substitute teachers falling sick along with most of the students, we are being shut down until the school is rid from this disease by a professional team of cleaners. Today, school ends early," they could hear the principal of the school announce to every student around here. This made some of the students cheer and leave, but a lot weren't too happy about it. Most of them at least had one friend who had fallen sick because of this illness.
Gumball followed Darwin out of the school. "Dude, I dunno about you, but this is getting ridiculous," Gumball said while they were entering the sunny streets of Elmore City. It was certainly an odd day for him. Darwin was worried about it too. Nothing was normal with nearly half of their friends off sick. They began making their way home. When they got there and headed inside, they noticed their dad missing from the living room. Normally he would laze about and watch television, but today, he wasn't home for a strange reason. They didn't put any thought into it as to why that happened.
They walked past their living room, an average living room which had a long couch and a coffee table in front of it, with the television not too far ahead of it. When they got to the kitchen they noticed a lack of greeting from their mother. She wasn't at home either. It was odd to them, but they knew that she could just be working overtime at her job at the Rainbow Factory.
Gumball and Darwin spent their moments of peace by sitting at the table in the kitchen and doing their homework. "Where is everybody anyway?" Darwin wondered aloud. Gumball shrugged not entirely sure himself before hearing the phone start ringing. "Probably at the store or something," Gumball responded before going to the phone and picking it up. "Hello?" he answered. "Hey, Gumball," a female voice rang out, and it sounded upset as well. This made Gumball worry as since he recognized the voice of the girl. "Oh hey, Penny. What's up?" Gumball reluctantly asked. He knew her as Penny Fitzgerald, a cheerleader at their school. He had a crush on her for a fairly long time, but he never really got around to telling her. Penny shared similar feelings for him as well, but he didn't know himself.
"My dad's making me go to another school until this horrible illness is gone," Penny explained. Gumball's eyes widened from hearing this, but he knew her father as well, not only because he greatly hated the poor kitten, but he was also overprotective to his daughter. "I'm really sorry to hear that, Penny," Gumball responded. She was probably upset at the thought of not seeing any of her friends, and he himself just suspected to be called as a friend to be let known of this sad news. "Everyone's going to new schools, so maybe I'll get lucky and see them again. I'll keep in touch. Bye," Penny claimed before hanging up.
Gumball put the phone back on the receiver and sighed. "Who was it?" Darwin asked curiously while putting their backpacks away. "It was Penny. She's winding up at another school," Gumball explained, but frankly he wasn't so saddened by it. He had her cellphone number and she had his too, so they could contact one another with ease. Furthermore it wasn't like she was moving permanently. Before anything else was said by the brothers, a young pink rabbit entered the house. She sported an orange dress and white shoes. At the age of five, Anais was the young sister of Gumball and Darwin, but she was known for being smarter than them as well. By the looks of her face, she wasn't very happy either. "Hey, Anais. Do you know where mom and dad are?" Gumball asked her.
"They're at the hospital. Mom got sick and dad took her there," Anais claimed, but in one blink of an eye, she noticed Gumball and Darwin gone in an instant. They were worried for their mother, and also worried about what could become of them, and what they would do, since after all they couldn't go to their school for an unverifiable long time.
End of Chapter 1