"God damnit…" He said lowly and began walking the bike back to the junkyard. "Stupid Carrie, I was just trying to be nice… 'I was born in a grave,' what the fuck does that tell me… I miss the old Carrie… The one who took us to a Halloween party and Darwin kissed, what the hell happened to her, not like her puppy died, she could just bring it back as a ghost!" Gumball continued to swear to himself as he walked and stored his bike back in the shed, then headed back home.

He pushed open the door, still quietly grumbling to himself, all the way to the dinner table and sat himself down with his already seated family. "Hello Gumball," His mother greeted.

"Hi," Gumball pleasantly said and returned to his sour mood; continuing in his grumbling. His whole family watched in confusion as he angrily cut his piece of meat and stuffed it in his mouth. "Please pass the salt," He said once again in a pleasant tone.

"Something wrong Gumball?" Anais said with her arms folded.

"What? No, why would you think that." Gumball replied and reached for the salt himself.

"You just seem a little, distracted…" His mother tried.

"Huh…." Gumball sighed, "It's just Carrie and this stupid project, it's not like a chose to be her partner… She could be a little nicer to me."

"I thought Carrie was your friend?" His father asked.

"She used to be… Then she just started to cut people out of her life… I don't know." And his mother nodded in understanding,

"I think Carrie needs a friend, now more than ever," Nicole spoke with such wisdom, it seemed she know exactly what Gumball was talking about. He was quiet for a time and considered her words.

"Maybe…" Was all he said, the rest of dinner continued with light conversation, but Gumball didn't contribute, he never put much thought into Carrie since she stopped talking to him, no one did, he supposed. Come to think of it, he only knew the basic information she'd given him, Carrie never really talked about herself, she used to hide behind her smile never revealing too much about herself. When dinner ended, Gumball made his way to his room and sat on his bed thought his eyes weren't heavy yet.

Darwin came later and sat himself down in his fishbowl when he noticed his brother's contemplative expression and poked his head out once again. "Are you okay?" He asked.

"Yeah, yeah," He said without really looking at his brother. "It's just… When Carrie talked to us, what did we know about her?"

"Well…" Darwin rubbed his chin. "She was emo, and nice, and she couldn't eat, and she was born a ghost, and…" He stopped and grew a concerned look. "And… That's about all I can think of…"

"Maybe she does just need a friend," Gumball said lowly.

"Could we focus on the issue of me, somehow ending up with Masami again…"

"How did you manage that?" He asked with a slight chuckle.

"I don't know!" Darwin cried out. "She just was there all of a sudden, saying 'Darwin, you're my partner' and I thought, eh, it's probably only like a research project not like I have to kiss her again, but this is so much worse than kissing her!"

"Sucks for you dude,"

"Thanks… I'll remember this…" Darwin snidely said and went back into his bowl. Gumball chuckled to himself a laid down on his bed. He mindlessly starred at the bunk above him, simply not wanting to sleep. His mind was too busy, too many thoughts, how well did he know Carrie?

Gumball's alarm went off and sent him off his bed with a thud as he scrambled on the floor to find it. Eventually his paw landed on the noise maker and he pounded it as hard as he could in attempts to silence it until the noise ceased. He dragged himself to the shower, half asleep and impatient. Reaching the shower, only to be behind Anais in line to use the shower next.

"Who's in there now?" He asked his little sister.

"Dad," she replied with a grim expression.

"Craaaap," Gumball groaned and slid his hand down his face. Eventually their mother joined them in line, then Darwin, still no sign of their father exiting the shower anytime soon. Anais began sleeping on the wall, Gumball was impatiently tapping his foot and it didn't look good to get to school on time. Eventually, Gumball had enough. "I'm done with this!" He shouted and kicked the door in to reveal their sleeping father with the water running over him. "Dad!" And the pink rabbit stirred.

"Huh? Oh, hi son, how's it going?" His father said cheerily.

"Not great… I'm going to be late for school,"

"Why's that?" Gumball didn't give any response, but simply growled lowly. "Oh… Right, sorry about that, I'll just… Go back to my room and get dressed."

"Good idea," Gumball said with anger practically burning off his head.

"Dude, chill out, it's just school, we're usually a little late," Darwin tried to ease his brother.

"Yeah… I just wanna get this stupid project thing over…" He muttered a response.

"What project?" Their mother asked from behind them.

"School's doing this stupid thing to teach us how to act around the opposite gender and prevent teen pregnancies." Gumball said and entered the shower ahead of his sister.

"That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard of, and I listened to Darwin's theory of faster than light travel, that will probably cause more pregnancies!" Anais cried.

"That's what I said!" Darwin agreed. "Hey, supersonic bird sleds are going to happen and when they do, I'll be there to say I told you so," Anais rolled her eyes at him. "Wait, wasn't Gumball behind you?"

"Dang it Gumball!" Anais pounded the bathroom door.

Despite all odds, the Watterson children made it school with seconds to spare, Gumball and Darwin tiredly took their seats. The room was alive with gossip, rumors and other activities the students had involved themselves in until Ms. Simian took the center of the room. "Welcome back, are you all prepared to share your partner's information?" Gumball silently thanked God, a sharing day would be easy to sleep through. So it began, mindless idiots running through rehearsed lines of their partner, some were bad, others were worse, Gumball found Darwin's the most amusing though.

"…And that is why, my partner, Masami, is bestest, nicest, coolest, prettiest and sweetest girl out there." He recited, his eyes looked to be on the verge of popping out of his skull.

"Thank you Darwin," Masami said. "And this is my partner, Darwin, he's a fish." And left it open for more, but nothing came. They both sat down after their introductions, Darwin inhaling heavily.

"Dude, aren't you breathing oxygen right now?" Gumball asked him.

"I don't give a shit about physics right now!" Darwin quickly said back and continued his breathing.

"Gumball and Carrie, you're next." Carrie floated up and waited for Gumball, they stood side by side, Carrie retaining her expressionless face and Gumball appearing to not care in the slightest.

"This is my new friend Gumball," Carrie began without changing her expression. "He's a fifteen year old cat, with the most positive outlook on life one could imagine, he finds creative solutions to simple problems, cares for his family, has a giant crush on Penny Fitzgerald, and I'd feel bad saying that if the whole school didn't already know. I could tell you his hobbies, but they change too often to keep track of, the only thing that stays the same is his friendship with his Fish Brother, and I am pleased to call him my friend." Carrie finished with a confident smirk that wordlessly told Gumball to 'beat that' and he stared for a second, before quickly thinking of something to top her statement.

"This is Carrie Booregard," He started off and thought for a quick second before continuing. "She's a thoughtful, intelligent and has an insult for every occasion, sure her outlook on life could be better, but hey, when the only feeling available is sadness, it's hard to not see things in a different light, she doesn't like to talk about herself because she prefers to let others talk as she blends into the background. Once you get her talking though, you discover she's the most selfless person on the planet and enjoys literary arts and eating." Gumball finished with defiant grin and looked back at Carrie.

"Not bad…" She said and they took their seats again. Ms. Simian seemed surprised by their knowledge of each other, and had no words.

"You must have been up all night texting Carrie!" Darwin chimed.

"Actually, I made it all up… I think… That's just who she seems to be is all…" Gumball said quietly and nestled his head back into his arms to sleep in class.

"Then… How did Carrie know all that stuff about you?" Darwin asked.

"Maybe I'm that awesome," He said without opening an eye.

"Or maybe she cares for you more than you know, maybe she likes you,"

"Don't be ridiculous dude, she doesn't want me, she like smart guys or… Emo guys, I don't know, Carrie does not want a blue idiot for a boyfriend."

"If you say so…" Darwin softly said. Gumball slept through the rest of the presentations, he guessed they were awful, his mind wouldn't leave what Darwin said alone. What if Carrie did care for him? The counter argument would have been, she cut him out of her life, so she probably doesn't, but her knowledge of Gumball was surprising. The bell woke Gumball up, time for lunch. The Watterson brothers walked out of the class room, Darwin smiling behind him and Gumball still stuck in his thoughts.

"Gumball," Carrie said in front of him. "I'm guessing you were asleep when Ms. Simian assigned us the next part of this thing correct?"

"Wait there's more to this stupid thing?" He shot out of his head.

"Afraid so, I will be at you house for the parent signatures at nine, I don't need to actually talk to your parents, just get them to sign this piece of paper." Carrie said quickly.

"Wait… What's going on?" Gumball asked becoming fully awake.

"We were assigned to meet our partner's family, now you don't want to meet my family and I have already met yours, so—"

"I want to meet your family," He said interrupting her.

"Excuse me?" She asked in disbelief.

"I want; follow me so far? To meet, your family." Gumball restated.

"Why on Earth would you want that?" She said. "I thought you hated this thing as much as I do,"

"I do, but, maybe it'd be good for our friendship." He said with a sincere smile.

"You don't want to be friends with me," She said dryly. "No, I won't let you meet them." Carrie turned her head away.

"Then I won't let mine, sign your slip, and then you'll fail the project and have to do it all over again, maybe with someone you can't figure out in two seconds." He playfully threatened. Carrie silently weighed her options until she wrote something on a piece of paper.

"Here's my address, you show up one second before, or after seven and I swear I'll bring you down with me." She said menacingly and flew away.

"Dude, what the hell is wrong with you, Carrie's going to kill you, you don't even show up to dessert on time!" Darwin warned his brother but Gumball's eyes tracked Carrie through the hall. "Gumball?"

"Huh? Oh, sorry, I'll be fine, come on, let's get food." Gumball led Darwin to the relatively empty Cafeteria. Most students went off campus for lunch, but the lack of a vehicle shackled Gumball and Darwin to stay. They took their seats without a word and began eating their slop.

"Are you okay?" Darwin asked looking into Gumball's eyes for signs of sickness.

"Yeah, it's just… Do you think Carrie knew that stuff about me?"

"Why?"

"Because, no one has said that about me… I mean, I don't ask a lot of people what they think of me, and it was probably just garbage for the project, but, no one has called me creative, stupid; sure, but never creative…" Gumball trailed off.

"You're not okay, maybe we should see the nurse," Darwin called and began unsuccessfully pulling Gumball's tail out of where he sat. The rest of the day proceeded as normal, dull classes, uneventful teachers, homework that Gumball could finish in class; he was more like Anais than he let on. By the time school was out, all Gumball was thinking of the question of Carrie. He and Darwin agreed to take the rest of the day off at Gumball's shed, it was time for him to clear his head.

Gumball shoved the broken door open and approached his broken down bike. Darwin took a seat on the couch and turned on the old game console that somehow managed to still function. The shed was quiet for some time, the only noises being the turning ratchet in Gumball's hand or the laser fire from Darwin's game. "Are you still thinking about what Carrie said?" Darwin asked, pausing his game.

"No!" Gumball instantly called back. "Yes…" Came a later response.

"Do you… Do you like Carrie?"

"Like, I like her or I like her?" Gumball asked.

"Like, you like her but you like, like her like her."

"No, no, no, I think, what was your question?"

"Are you attracted to Carrie!?" Darwin snapped.

"Oh, no, I just want to understand her, it's completely different. Remember me? Gumball, the guy who is head over heels for Penny?" Gumball said and the sound of heavy piece of metal breaking went off. "Fuck…" Was all he said in response.

"Okay… Well be careful tonight okay?"

"I'll be fine, now come help me clean up this oil leak."

Darwin opened and shut the door to his house. Mr. Dad was on the couch asleep, per usual. Anais and Mrs. Mom were in the kitchen working on homework when Mrs. Mom looked up to him. "Welcome home for the weekend Darwin." She smiled. "Where's Gumball?"

"He's uh… Completing part of that project, we have to introduce our partners to our family's…" Darwin uncomfortably began. "So um… Mrs. Mom, Mr. Dad, Anais, this is Masami." The little cloud showed herself.

"Hello there," Nicole said pleasantly.