Chapter 1: The New Student
It was a rainy day in the town of Elmore City. It had been raining since early in the morning. In one household, the sound of an alarm clock broke the quietness of the day, followed by the sound of it being knocked into the floor by a tired paw smacking it from a lack of attention. A young turquoise blue kitten woke up tiredly from the blankets. His ears were drooping low while he forced himself up. He was lying on the bottom bunk of a bed, looking over to an orange goldfish with legs and arms standing in it, looking just as tired as he was. "Good morning, Gumball," he yawned, greeting his older brother. "Morning, Darwin…" he responded. They were Gumball and Darwin Watterson, two siblings that were well known for causing trouble throughout all of Elmore.
"Did you sleep well?" Darwin asked the teenage cat while viewing the room that was a mess, with clothes lying scattered in the floor along with various toys. The two had lacked taking care of their room and keeping it clean, which was nothing out of the ordinary for them. "Nah… I kept waking up like something was messing with my tail…" Gumball complained that he had kept being woken up by something tugging at his tail during the late hours of night. He looked out the window, seeing the rain splashing against it and sliding down drop after drop that was already an annoyance to him.
Gumball followed his brother downstairs. There they found their mother, a female cat in a white shirt and a grey skirt who was wearing a rainbow colored badge on her shirt that represented where she worked, and they found their younger sister sitting at the kitchen table already, a pink rabbit in an orange dress. "Oh, good morning, boys. Anything planned for today?" their mother, Nicole, questioned while taking a sip from a cup of coffee. It was a routine morning for the family so far, aside from a lack of their father which Gumball had noticed, but presumed he was sleeping in. "A few of the others said Mrs Simian has some big assignment planned that's going to be due Friday," he claimed. "It'll be like we get the week off from school!" Darwin exclaimed in a loud cheer, excited at the thought of not needing to go to school for a few days for a class project that wouldn't take any longer than a few hours to complete.
"I think it's a history assignment," the young rabbit chimed in. She wasn't in their class, but it had been hard not to hear about the news. They all began to dig into their usual breakfast. "Well if you need help with it, boys, just ask me," Nicole kindly reassured her sons to go to her for help whether it was needed. "Thanks, mom," Gumball and Darwin both said at one before looking at the time. The three siblings got up, knowing to catch the bus to continue the normal daily routine. The rain was heavily splashing the ground around them. Darwin didn't mind walking in it, but Gumball and Anais were sharing an umbrella to keep from getting wet. "Talk about a bad start to a good day…" Gumball mumbled while arriving to the bus stop, watching the bus come to a stop when they arrived.
They climbed on the bus, where most of their friends were on it. As usual, the Wattersons were the last stop for the bus. Darwin and Anais took their usual seats at the back of the bus. Gumball saw his spot taken. His rival, and practical bully, was there too. He could see the top of his blue hair that slowly transitioned to a red color on his body and continued to orange. He was wearing his signature headband as well that all members of his family wore. "Uh, hey Tobias? You're in my seat," Gumball said, hoping to get him to move so he could sit by his younger siblings like he normally did. "I'm not in the mood, Gumball. I kinda have to sit back here," Tobias pouted. Gumball knew it was pointless to argue with him on the bus, but he normally sat beside his sister. He was curious about what had forced him to the back of the bus, but didn't want to try barraging his head with more questions.
Gumball took a seat at was more near the center of the bus right beside Tobias's sister, a girl with blue skin and hair that faded from yellow to magenta in color. She had a headband on as well, just like most of their family, and she had a chartreuse skirt and a white coat on. "Hey, Rachel," Gumball greeted her, hoping she didn't mind him taking the seat since it was the only one left. He noticed her hair having gotten somewhat shorter in length now since he had last seen her. "Hey, Gumball," she greeted him back tiredly, clearly having spent a late night studying as well. "Did you do something with your hair?" he asked, trying to strike up a conversation while looking at the window, the rain pattering against it.
"I had to cut it a bit. Tobias accidently burnt some of it off," she simply explained. Gumballs thought about it quieted, guessing that she was probably furious with him about it. He just patted her back, trying to reassure her. "It looks better this way, if you ask me," Gumball told her. A small smirk came across her face as result. "Thanks. So did you hear anything about that new student?" Rachel seemed happier now while she continued the conversation. "Wuh…? New student…? I didn't even know we were getting one," he admitted with his ears perked in confusion. This was the first he had heard anything about it before. "Yeah, they should be coming today. …anyway, how have you been?" Rachel asked, thinking it was only fair to talk with him since he had cheered her up.
"Not so great. I've been trying to ask Penny out, but whenever I try, something happens… mainly Tobias," Gumball rubbed his head, giving a glance towards the back of the bus. Friend or foe, Tobias was causing a lot of problems for him when trying to ask penny out. They both had a crush on the same person, and had been competing for her love for the past few months. It was becoming tiresome for him by now. Rachel felt bad for him, but she had no real advice to offer. The bus came to a stop, and every student began to exit to enter inside the school.
Inside the school, the students weren't wasting any time, getting into their classes. Gumball however was at his locker, rummaging through it trying to get everything he needed for his first class. "Excuse me?" he heard, turning around to notice a girl with orange hair and a few freckles. Her skin was slightly pale, and she was wearing a green shirt with blue pants.
"Oh hey. Are you the new student?" Gumball asked since he had not seen her around her before. "Yeah… my family moved, so I had to transfer here. I kind of just got out of the hospital," she said embarrassedly. Gumball thought that she must have been inside it a lot to have lost some of her skin color. "I was looking for Miss Simian's class. Do you know where it is?" the new girl shyly asked. "Oh, uh… yeah, sure, that's where I was just heading for. I'll lead you there," Gumball offered. She didn't seem to mind the offer, following him down the quickly emptying hallways. "So what's your name?" Gumball asked for her name to write down in his mind. "I'm Alaura," she introduced herself. "Nice name… I'm G-" Gumball was cut off. "Gumball Watterson?" Alaura's question was like a future prediction. Gumball's ears lowered in confusion.
"Yeah… how'd you know that?" Gumball wondered aloud. It was somewhat creepy to see that she knew his name already. They were arriving to Miss Simian's class as they spoke. "I overheard one of the cheerleaders talk about you on the bus," Alaura admitted. As much havoc as Gumball had caused with his friends and family, it wasn't much surprise if he was easily recognizable around Elmore. "Thanks again for showing me around," she said while heading to a desk near the back of the classroom. Gumball just went and took his seat beside his brother, knowing he was nearly late because of the chat that held him for a short moment.
The class saw their teacher, an old baboon with dark grey fur in a red dress, a rather skinny primate who didn't hesitate to explain the assignment. "Alright, students. I'm sure you all have heard about an important assignment that is going to involve history," Miss Simian with a grin, knowing that most of the class had studied history more for this. "It's a history about your families. I figured this was the perfect time to let everyone find out their family trees. Bring me your reports by next Monday of your ancestors and your heritages. It can be mother or father's side or both, though you are going to be paired up in groups of twos," Miss Simian explained to the class. Everyone was either confused or shocked from studying for regular history, only for it to turn out to be a waste of time, some even laughing it off, since it was normally easy to find out their family's heritage.
Miss Simian pulled out a list and coughed, preparing to read off a list. "Ahem! Alright… Darwin, you're with Alan… Carmen with Penny… Teri, you'll work with Masami…" Miss Simian announced one pair after the other. Before the list reached its end, a problem presented itself. "We appear to have an odd amount of students. Well then… Gumball, you and Rachel are with Alaura," she said. Gumball glanced at the new girl herself who just smirked, giving a small wave to him. Gumball looked at Rachel who didn't look angry. He just hoped not to mess it up for the three of them.
From there on, Gumball just tried to get through the school day like normal, but he would have to study one of his parents' histories, and something he had been curious about for a while was the fact that he knew nothing about his mother or her parents. He figured it to be more interesting to look into it.
End of Chapter 1
