As all things end, Summer did, and now Bubba finds himself back at the worst boarding school ever, but maybe the mysterious new kid, Marshall Lee, can make the year at least a bit better. Earth AU! with paranormal stuffs in it UwU

Enjoy!

It had possibly been the longest car ride in Bubba Gumball's life. His mother had packed him up, drove him to his least-favorite place in the world, and dumped him there with his bags. Bubba wasn't a boy of complaints, but when it came to Cresthill's Boarding School for Boys, he hated everyone and everything. The meals were terrible, the curfew was nine oclock, every boy there was a mindless jock, and he really didn't want to spend another year in the freezing dormitories all by himself.

His mother shipped him off to this so-called hell every year, making him bid farewell to his friends back in his hometown and wait all semester to see them again. He knew what dorm he'd land in every year; the single bed one at the end of the hall. It was left decorated from last summer, because it was his designated room and he didn't bother taking things down if he knew he'd return.

The little city of Cresthill had a scare this summer, while he was back at home. A young boy, around his age had been taken from his family and found dead days later in the bushes. Those bushes, the ones that, when Bubba peeked out the window he could see from across the field. This was chilling somewhat, the feeling that something un-explainable went down in those bushes on a hot June night only months ago. Yet Bubba's mother still sent him here.

He had to meet up with the new boys he'd be spending the year with in the commonroom, where they shared pizza and old friends greeted eachother after being away for not-so-long. He sat at his table, the same one he'd sat at for years. The boy with pink hair was gone un-noticed by the entire year twelve class as he returned to his room early.

Bubba stretched, locking the door and pulling his shirt up over his head. He went to smoothing over posters that had curled up on the walls over the two months he'd been away. He then added new polaroids of his best friends back at home, a big 'Ed Sheeran' poster and strung new Christmas lights around the ceiling. He then flopped down onto his bed, sighing peacefully.

A figure leaned in the (closed? he swore it was closed) doorway, looking over the stacks of cd's in the corner. "Two Door Cinema Club? You're such a hipster." The boy snickered, picking at his fingernails. "I'm your, um, neighbor. Well. sort-of."

Bubba jumped, sitting up alert and looking over at the dark haired teenager. "Wha- How'd you even get in here?!" The boy grinned. "I know my way around. I've been here all summer. I'm Marshall Lee." He sat on the floor criss-cross, picking up a book from one of the still-packed boxes.

This boy was like nobody Bubba had ever met before. His voice was smooth and sly, like a character from an action film. He had dark hair and thick bags under his eyes. He wore a loose black tee-shirt and gray ripped jeans, and he had a hand over his neck most of the time. "I'm Bubba. Bubba Gumball. Don't even talk about the name, I've heard every joke in the book. Aren't you supposed to be in the commonroom?"

Marshall smirked, looking up at him from the second page of 'Little Blue Envelopes'. He shook his head. "Well, aren't you?" Bubba sighed. "Fair enough. You know, I just can't stand the boys out there. All they want is to be loud and kick balls around. Not my cup of tea." Marshall nodded, though he wasn't paying attention as he went over to the box of cd's, flipping through them. "Well, what is your cup of tea? And, seriously, man, who even listens to cd's anymore? Don't you have an I-phone?"

Bubba nodded. "I do. They're more of a collection, I don't actually play them." He sat on the floor in front of Marshall, pulling the box closer. "My cup of tea is art, like baking, and sculpting and painting. I like photography and music too."

"So you're an artsy kid. My friend Alice used to be like that. Haven't seen her in forever, though." Marshall shrugged. "I play guitar, but my guitar's at home. So pissed that I forgot it. I guess I sing sometimes too but I really don't do a whole lot. Year eleven, huh?" Bubba took an over dramatic huff, rolling his eyes. "Yeah. So excited." He replied sarcastically, chuckling after.

There was nothing on the agenda for the first night, so Marshall spent it in Bubba's room, making dumb jokes and playing playlists from eachother's phones to see if they knew eachother's songs. This would, hopefully, be a new kind of year for the teenager, one where he finally had someone to spend it with. One thing he'd noticed on Marshall was a thick bite scar on his throat, that most of the time was covered by his palm. He wanted to ask, but didn't bother.

In the morning the black haired teenager was gone, and Bubba finished unpacking. He didn't remember falling asleep on the floor, but it happened. He later saw his new friend Marshall out the window in the fields, near the bushes. The two teens re-joined in the commonroom for breakfast, when Marshall didn't eat breakfast, Bubba tilted his head. "You didn't eat pizza last night either, you're sure you're not hungry?" He shrugged. "Don't have to eat often, I guess."

The new friends weren't seen without eachother for the whole day, running through the library laughing and singing loudly in the halls. It was unlike Bubba to act so hyper, but Marshall brought a loud side out of him. There were, again, no classes tonight.

When they finally returned to Bubba's room at ten, Bubba shut the door behind him and jumped onto his bed. "Who would've thought you could even have this much fun in a dump like this?!" Marshall sat in front of him, grinning. "Heh. Yeah. I'm wiped."

"So where um, where you this morning? I saw you for a few seconds in the field but that's it." Marshall sighed. "It was nothing, just checking out what outside was like." Bubba nodded. "Oh. Yeah. You do know what happened out there, right?"

Marshall flopped back, his shirt riding up to reveal scared hips. "Yep. It's old news. A boy gets kidnapped by some freak, has chunks of skin ripped out of his neck and his legs -almost- cut off while he's still alive, then dies an hour later after bleeding out in the woods alone." He replied casually, holding his hands up away from his face in the air to look at his fingernails. "How do you know that much?" Marshall shrugged. "Dad's a cop, He worked on the case. It's an interesting subject to me, I guess." He sat up again, looking at Bubba through a moment of quiet as he thought of a subject-changer. "You mentioned your mother sending you here. What does she do?"

Bubba picked at a thread on his pink skinny jeans. "She's a biologist. I don't really listen when she talks about her job, though." The conversation fell awkward again. "You should sing. I want to hear it." Bubba looked up hopefully at Marshall, grinning.

"Nah. Maybe tomorrow. I'm going to bed." The red eyed boy got up and went to the door, waving back at the shorter teen and taking his leave.
Bubba lay back and sighed. Today was the most fun he'd had at this school since he enrolled. He smiled to himself, flicking off his light and rolling over. He'd finally succeeded in making a friend, even if it wasn't the kind he'd expected. Yet he felt as if there was alot more to this Marshall boy. A lot.