Gumball opened his eyes, squinting at the rays of sunlight coming in from the open blinds.
He yawned.
Another day, another adventure in the world of Gumball.
The wonders of living in Elmore was that you never knew what was going to happen next. It had been twelve years now since Gumball had been brought into the Watterson household by way of his mother, Nicole, and his father Richard, and every day something new awaited him. He didn't think about it much due to being a much simpler person then his intellectual sister Anais, but life was entertaining. It was also relaxing. As crazy as things could be sometimes and things could get bad, for sure, things always managed to work themselves out in the end. It didn't matter what had happened, when the sun rose again it was a new day, free of the consequences of yesterday.
"Gumball, hurry and eat breakfast, I have a meeting I need to be to so I can't make sure you go to the bus on time. Don't miss it." his mom shouted from the bottom of the staircase."
"alright mom." he answered.
Moving to the closet, he grabbed his favorite sweater and pulled it over his head and taking a quick look at himself from the mirror in the bathroom. Nothing embarrassing or dweebish as far as he could tell. Seeing that he was looking presentable he headed down the stairs.
Arriving at the landing, he walked towards the kitchen, his brother Darwin and sister Anais already seated at the table, eating what looked to be cereal.
"Morning Gumball." Darwin said, trying desperately to hide a smile.
"Uh..morning." Gumball said with a raised eyebrow.
Gumball poured his cereal, ate it quickly, grabbed his bag, and made his way to the bus stop with Darwin in tow.
A large smile spread across his face as he walked behind Gumball.
"Dude, what's your deal?"
"Oh nothing. Just the fact that-"
Darwin was cut off though by a shout from the bus stop,
"Look everyone, it's Gumball!" someone in the crowd of kids shouted.
Gumball stopped in his tracks.
Everyone was staring at him in the same manner as Darwin.
Something weird was going on.
"For real, I heard they're an item now." the gossiping cloud girl known as Masami stated to the group of kids who listened with attentiveness.
"Gumball? Really?" Tobias said half in dismay and curiosity.
"What's everyone being so weird about?" Gumball said.
Just then, the bus pulled up and all the kids filed into it, conversing all the while.
Gumball moved past the rows of seats, looking for a suitable for Darwin and him to sit.
"Hmm, looks like most of the seats are taken, Darwin."
and that's when it happened.
"Gumball, you can sit next to me?" a voice called out.
He knew that voice.
He turned to see a yellow figure with antlers staring at him, almost as if it was made up of some kind of orange jello. Hmm, it wasn't someone he knew after all, but the voice was so familiar.
"Uhhhh, no thanks, Darwin and I sit together, new girl."
Suddenly, the bus got silent.
All the people watching with excitement, curiosity, etc. didn't make a sound, they were dumbfounded by the situation.
Darwin's eyes widened and he tried to get Gumball's attention. Tried being the key word for Gumball was unable to see what Darwin was doing due to the rapid progression of his conversation with the jello creature.
"New girl?" The voice said somewhat sadly.
"uh yeah, trust me, I've been going to this school for a while now. I can tell when I see a new face. I have expert level memory." Gumball said with emphasis on expert.
"Gumball, how could you forget yesterday?"
"Yesterday? I'm sorry new girl but I would know if I did something yesterday. Like I said, expert level memory."
Darwin pulled at his face in shock, watching the situation get worse and worse around him.
"Gumball. It's me Penny."
"Penny?"
"Your Girlfriend, remember?" she said in a concerned tone.
Girlfriend?
The words sunk in and Gumball's eyes widened.
Images flashed through his mind rapidly.
School play.
Headbutt.
Cracked shell.
The true Penny.
It all made sense.
The orange jello like creature talking to him and offering a seat next to her wasn't some new girl. It was Penny Fitzgerald, the object of his love.
Wait, did she say girlfriend?
Gumball let out a high pitched squeal and went stiff as a board.
The last thing he remembered before blacking out was a concerned Penny reaching out towards him as the bus erupted in laughter.