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Perfectly Not
~O~X~O~
Lunch time was supposed to be a fun time, but for Gumball, it felt more depressing. He sat at a table alone, eating his sandwich while watching everyone else talk and laugh and just have fun overall.
Gumball had friends. A lot in fact, but after he just got into high school, no one really wanted to be with him anymore. He was always so cold, depressing and just downright angry. Of course, Gumball would never admit that to anyone. No matter how wrong his words would be.
He saw Carmen and Alan eating their food together. Carmen was holding Alan's string as they both giggled as they snuggled close to each other. Carmen had hit puberty early and soon, her prickles had gotten much longer. Harming much more than her love interest.
She would later find the joys of shaving.
Gumball belched, ignoring the two now kissing. He looked over to his right. He could see Bobert simply sitting by a power outlet, motionless. His robotic arms carried a lunch tray as an attempt to be more 'normal' and to 'fit in' with the rest of the school.
'Loser...'
Gumball took a bite of his sandwich, looking forward again. In front of Alan and Carmen were Tina and Jamie strangling another student for lunch money. Just looking at it made Gumball finish all of his food completely before they got the idea to go up to him.
He turned to his left and saw Darwin and Anais approaching him with their food. 'Great, I gotta deal with them again.' Gumball looked down at the table, trying his best to not pay any attention to his younger siblings. Darwin and Anais sat down at the table next to him. With Darwin in the middle of the two, he blinked at Gumball.
"Yo...uh, what's up?"
'Your face being knocked into the ceiling if you don't leave me the hell alone..'
"Nothing," said Gumball.
"Gumball, you could talk more." Anais lowered her eyebrows at her brother.
"Why should I? No one likes me anyway."
"Okay, that is not true," said Darwin.
"Oh great, another lie to the pile." Gumball turned and faced his siblings. "Name one person who actually likes me and would spend time with me."
Darwin starred at his brother, motionless. His mouth opened slightly, but nothing came out.
"I knew it." Gumball got up from the table, about to leave.
"Hey! You didn't let me finish!" Darwin exclaimed.
"You've done enough. Both of you." Gumball shot them an angry look. "I want to be left alone..."
"Okay, you know what?" Anais rose from her seat. "I am seriously just sick of the way you've been acting! It's always angry with this, angry with that, seriously, Gumball!" She gritted her teeth as she walked up to her older brother, starring at the ceiling.
"...I don't care, Anais."
This angered her even more. She pulled her arm back, ready to sock him in the face.
"Whoa! Wait a second!" Darwin grabbed Anais and pulled her away from Gumball. "No one's gonna hit anyone!"
"Darwin! Let me go!" Anais struggled to break free. "You know how he's been acting! I'm tired of it!"
"Anais, calm down." Darwin rubbed her forehead. "You have to tell mom. If you hit Gumball, she'll chew you out just as much as him."
"...Ha... Ha ha ha!" laughed Gumball.
"What's so funny?" asked Anais.
"Come on, we both know that would be impossible." Gumball walked up and patted Darwin on the cheek. "Mom couldn't."
"Oh. She would totally kick your butt right back to Tuesday!" exclaimed Anais, trying to claw at Gumball.
"Now, who said anything about my butt?" Darwin and Anais raised an eyebrow. "I mean, mom would never yell at you, Anais. Let alone hit you on the butt."
"What are you getting at?" Anais didn't like the sound of Gumball's voice.
"Oh, come on. You're six and in high school. Are you really that stupid?" Gumball chuckled, facing away from the two. His laughing stopped as his head went a bit lower than usual.
"Mom wouldn't yell at you..."
"Gumball, mom yells at all of us," pointed out Darwin.
"Yeah, I guess she yells at you two every blue moon." Gumball rolled his eyes before closing them. "... But mom...
"...you two."
"..." Darwin stepped closer, still holding onto Anais. "Mom what?"
"...Ugh! Screw it, I'm outta here!" Gumball turned and ran off out of the cafeteria. Darwin shouted at him several times, but was ignored.
"Gumball! Wait! Mom what!?"
Gumball passed the doors, shutting them behind him.
"Ugh... Dang it, Gumball." Darwin let go of Anais. "Sorry about that."
"Oh, I'm not mad at you... Just Gumball." Anais pinched in between her eyes. "He's gonna stick like that forever..."
"But, people can change, right?" asked Darwin.
"Oh, Darwin. People can change." Anais placed a hand on his shoulder. "Just not Gumball."
Darwin sighed, sitting back at the table with Anais. He opened up his lunch bag, but stopped at noticing something.
"You okay?" asked Anais, pulling out a sandwich.
"It's... Gumball."
"Wait, what? Where?"
"He's standing by the door, over there." Darwin pointed at the door Gumball left at. He was now back again, but he stood by the doors with wide eyes. He wasn't starring at his siblings, though.
"What's he looking at?"
The two looked around the cafeteria, not finding anything of significance.
"Is he insane now?"
"...Oh my gosh..." Anais' mouth dropped down. "Darwin... Look."
Darwin turned around, starring at the other set of doors at the other side of the cafeteria. He finally caught a good view at what Gumball was starring at. At that moment, like Anais, it hit him in the face.
"...Holy crud..."
'...She's here... She's actually here,' thought Gumball.
His feet slowly started to move his body forward. His mind was now completely off of everything else that existed and moved towards his goal. He could feel the sweat falling off his forehead as he kept on moving. His heart pounded faster with every passing step he made. Soon, he was so close that he caught what his mind was solely focused on in it's full beauty.
She sat there. She wore wristbands that were the color black. Her shoes were black and had white stripes on the sides. Topping it all were two small black bows tied on her anthers. Other than those few things, her look was exactly the same way Gumball remembered her from two years ago.
In what felt like years, Gumball was standing behind her, undetected as she continued to eat her food. His mouth was open, but he couldn't choke out a single word to her. He thought this was all some kind of sick-twisted dream where he would wake up any minute now.
With shaky hands on his chest, he choked out one name.
"P-Penny?"
The girl stopped moving. Gumball had a heart attack at that moment.
'Crap, crap, crap, crap!'
She turned around slowly, looking up at Gumball. His mind was blown apart as her face came into view.
Her eyes, her mouth, her face, exactly the way he remembered them. But it didn't bear a smile. Only a look of depression.
"...Um, can I help you?" She raised an eyebrow at Gumball.
"D-Do you r-remember me?" asked Gumball, his voice nearly cracking at the end.
"...I, think I do, but..."
"I-I'm Gumball..."
"...Oh..." The memories hit Penny like a fright-train. "It's you..."
Gumball frowned. He thought she would have forgotten about it by now.
"I remember you... Two years ago. We went together at Junior High..."
"Yeah," said Gumball, trying to calm himself down.
"Yeah... you never really did say 'it' to me..."
"Y-Yeah."
Two years ago, Gumball had the biggest crush on his classmate, Penny. She had the same feelings for him, but neither could express it fully. It went on for about as long as Gumball could remember.
For years, Penny had worn a shell to protect her true identity. Not much was know about it until Gumball convinced her to come out. At that point, the two started dating more often. Spending as much time together as they could.
Nearly a month before Gumball left to high school, in the middle of the cafeteria, an argument broke out between the two. Penny had noticed some girls were becoming more closer to Gumball. When she asked him about it, he said, "I have no idea."
On that day, something changed in Penny. She didn't believe it, and accused Gumball of cheating on her. Gumball denied it, but she went on about how he had looked and talked to the other girls. Gumball still denied it, but Penny was convinced. She told him if he didn't come out with it, she would leave him.
Anger got to Gumball and he started yelling at Penny. The entire school was sitting around them watching in shock as the couple fought each other in plain sight. At the end of it all, when the yells could be heard down the halls, when they were both about to cry,
Penny slapped Gumball in the face and walked away.
Slowly, the two of them started to drift apart from each other. Penny didn't want to talk to Gumball, and Gumball was starting to hate being talked to overall. It was something no one in Elmore Juinor High had expected to happen. One of the biggest couples in school had fallen apart slowly. Because one couldn't say something to the other.
When Gumball moved on to High school, he had lost touch with Penny completely. He never tried to call, visit, or even email once. Penny did the same as well. But when he turned fourteen, Gumball tried connecting with her in many ways, but she never got back to him. He assumed he was forgotten completely, and soon, he tried forgetting about her as well. All up until now.
"...So, you... transferred or something?" asked Gumball, looking at the ground.
"Yes, I did. First day here."
"Okay..." Gumball had no idea what to say to her.
"...Did you want something?" asked Penny, eying Gumball.
"Oh... no, I just... didn't think I would see you..."
"Gumball, you know I'm still mad at you."
"..." With that, Gumball walked away from Penny. She continued to eat her food, not giving him a second thought. Gumball sat down next to his siblings again. He wasn't aware they were giving him a strange look.
"...Yo, dude?"
Gumball didn't respond.
"Did you talk to Penny just now?" asked Darwin.
"...Yeah..."
"Well... what did she tell you?" asked Anais.
"...Like you two would give a crap."
Anais slammed her fist on the table. "Would you stop swearing?"
"Would you stop asking me so many stupid questions in one freaking day?"
Anais snapped. "That's it. I'm telling mom about your attitude. I've had it, Gumball."
"You think I'm scarred of mom?" Gumball got up from his seat, starring down at Anais. "The worst she can do is ground me again, and you think I'm scarred?"
Darwin and Anais stood up in front of Gumball. Darwin said, "Gumball, you should be. Mom is seriously about to lose her lid with you."
"Ha ha!" laughed Gumball. "So you do think that, huh?"
"Yes, Gumball." Anais gave him a death stare. Darwin looked upset at him.
"Oh, god, well then. I guess since mom is going to destroy me..." Gumball walked closer to them. "Ya know, since she's gonna ground me anyway..."
"What the heck are you doing?" asked Darwin, not amused by his brother. Slowly, Gumball took another step forward. Then another, and another. Soon, he had his brother and sister backing up towards the wall. Both could hear their hearts beating wildly as Gumball backed them up against the wall completely. His hands were now fist and he started to slowly rise one up.
"G-Gumball, knock it off!" exclaimed Anais, trying not to look scarred. Gumball rose up another hand in front of himself.
"Gumball, stop it, please." Darwin started sweating. He'd never thought his own brother would do something like this.
"Time to knock some sense into you..." With one arm back, Gumball aimed to punch Darwin in the face. He closed one eye, and put as much force into his punch as he could,
Until someone stopped him.
'...What the...'
Gumball turned around quickly. He saw Penny holding back his arm with both of her hands. Her apperance looked normal, but her eyes were red and fangs slowly slid out of her mouth.
"Gumball, back off." Penny's arms yanked back with amazing force. Gumball jerked back and landed on his knees, right in front of Penny.
"...B-But you-"
"Gumball, you leave your little brother and sister alone." Penny's voice was cold and harsh. Gumball could tell she meant every word.
He stood up and pulled his arm back. Looking back at Darwin and Anais, still up against the wall, he ran right out of the cafeteria, not looking back once. Penny sighed and helped Anais back on her feet. She looked at Darwin.
"Are you two okay?"
"Y-yeah... just a bit freaked out." Darwin rubbed the back of his head. "Thank you, Penny."
"If he does it again, let me know, okay?" Penny looked at the doors that Gumball ran out of. "He's changed a lot..."
"He's been like that every day for practically forever." Anais dusted her dress off, starring up at Penny. "I'm going to tell mom about this later..."
"I better go now, I got a class starting up soon." Penny turned around and walked away. She looked back at the two and smiled. "We should talk again sometime."
"Oh yeah, sure, we can," said Darwin, smiling.
"Bye guys. Nice seeing you two." With that, Penny ran off. Darwin watched her until she was out of sight completely.
"...She's so nice..." The thoughts of Gumball came back quickly. "You wanna call mom now?"
"Yeah... better now than later..." Anais and Darwin left the cafeteria to find a phone. Their lunch forgotten.
~O~X~O~
'No...NO!'
Gumball slammed his fist on his locker. He kicked it multiple times and banged his head on it. He had completely screwed himself over this time.
'The hell am I gonna do!? They're gonna tell mom, she's gonna freaking kill me! And Penny... Penny...'
Gumball could feel a stray tear on his cheek. He wiped it away quickly before anyone could see him or it.
'No! No! It's not fair! Why the hell are those two like that?!'
He kicked his locker again, and bashed his head against it.
'It's always them! Always trying to get me in some way! They ruined my chance with Penny! Freaking ruined it! They ruin everything!'
Gumball punched his locker once more. Now the pain had hit him. He clenched his fist and did his best not to break down in the hall. He took a deep breath and held in his tears. He slowly opened his locker and pulled out another book and slammed it shut. Gumball stomped down the halls to his math class. If there was anything good about it, it was that Darwin and Anais also weren't in this class. He would have some peace of mind for a bit. He aced math anyway.
He slowly walked up to the door, turning the know and stepping inside. Some students were already studying and writing while others were on their phones or laptops or just talking to each other. Gumball walked to the second row from the front and took his seat. He sighed, resting his head on his desk.
'God... kill me, please...'
The bell rang, and the teacher, a giant calculator walked in. Some other students ran in the room and sat at their desk as the teacher closed the door. He cleared his throat, speaking in a bit-like voice.
"Good morning, class."
"Good morning, Mr. Num."
"Now then, class, you may or may not have noticed, but we have someone new here with us today."
'...No...' thought Gumball.
"Now, would everyone please,"
'No!'
"Give a very warm welcome to,"
'NOOOO!'
"Watterson!"
Gumball shot his head up starring at the teacher. Everyone in the class giggled quietly.
"Would you please stay awake for a moment and say hello to Penny Fitzgerald?"
The teacher motioned for Gumball to turn to his left. Gumball moved his head and right next to him was Penny. She had a blank expression on her face. Gumball knew if he looked at her in any way, the whole class would question him about it.
"...We've met before," said Gumball.
"Oh, you have?" asked Mr. Num.
"We went to Junior High together," said Penny, turning away from Gumball.
"Oh, I see. Hm, must be nice seeing each other again." Mr. Num turned to his desk and pulled out a stack of paper. "Alright, class, I've graded your test from last week."
He started to hand out the papers, one by one to every student. When Gumball got his, he pried it open and checked his results.
A-
'...It's not too bad...' thought Gumball.
The rest of the class could be heard sighing.
"Alright, class, lets get started with today's lesson."
Mr. Num started drawing out math problems on the black board as nearly half the class fell asleep. Gumball was writing down everything he said and wrote, but it took every ounce of will in his body to not look at Penny. He had no idea if she was giving him an odd look or even looking at him overall. His brain kept going back and forth between 'Look at her' and 'Don't look at her.'
After ten minutes of self-argument, Gumball slowly turned his head at Penny. She was writing in her textbook and didn't notice him starring at her. He let out a quiet 'sigh' before going back to writing again.
'...She's still pretty...'
Gumball opened up his textbook and flipped through the pages. He found the one with the short poem he started earlier this morning.
"Your heart is broken,"
'...and...' Gumball chewed on his pencil for the next line. He dug his brain out, but found nothing. He closed his eyes, trying to clear it out completely. Something hit him. He turned and saw Penny still writing in her notepad. For a moment, Gumball's mind wandered off. He thought of one short line and wrote it down.
"You forgot how to defend."
Another one popped up,
"I can pull you out of the darkness,"
One last line,
"Your soul, I can mend."
'...How did I do that?'
Gumball looked at Penny once more. She was focused soely on her schoolwork. As far as they went, this was as far as Gumball got with any poem. Yet something felt missing. There wasn't enough for this one. He looked down at his writing and scribbled down another line.
"Loneliness, you sit in,"
'in... in... in...'
"As the days pass by."
"In space, you drift on,"
"On earth, I ask why."
Gumball sighed and closed his pad. He would work on his little poem later. He looked up at the clock and the hour struck. The bell rang and everyone began to leave the classroom slowly. Gumball shoved his things inside his backpack, carefully watching Penny as she floated out of the room with her things in her hands.
"Dammit..." muttered Gumball under his breath. He walked out of the classroom and down the halls back to his locker. He opened it up and shoved some books in and pulled out another bag. He only had Gym and Science left before school ended for the day.
He made his way to the Gym when he saw Darwin and Anais standing by a phone on the wall. He tried to ignore them as best as he could, but something didn't feel right. As if they needed to talk to him. Gumball turned and faced the two. They both had frowns on their faces and their arms were crossed.
"Pfft... what?" asked Gumball as he shrugged.
"Oh, nothing." Darwin picked up his bag. "Just you know, mom wants to talk to you when you get home."
Gumball rolled his eyes.
"Alone."
"...Say that again?" asked Gumball.
"She wants to talk to you alone when you get home, Gumball."
Usually, a talk consisted of his mother yelling at him, his father standing in the corner and his siblings standing next to their mother with a disgusted look on their faces and Gumball would simply stand there, not allowed to say anything. The very thought that for once, his mother wanted to talk to him alone, just didn't sound right to him. At all.
"S-so what?"
"You're scarred, aren't you?" Anais had a smile on her face.
"I'm not scarred of anything!" lied Gumball
"Okay, you can tell that to mom later," said Anais as she walked away, still smiling. Gumball looked at Darwin. He sighed.
"Dude... I don't want to say this, but she's on the right side..."
"N-now hang on a second! I never hit any of you two!"
"It doesn't matter, Gumball. Mom's still mad at you," said Darwin.
"I said I didn't hit anyone!"
"...You don't get it, dude." Darwin walked away, leaving Gumball alone by the phone. He walked up to it and saw some change in the coin slot. He took out the two dimes and looked at them. His hand was shaking. He closed his hand and walked to the Gym.
His mind was now on the run. His mom was about ready to blow up at any given second with him. Gumball felt a very bad feeling in his stomach at the thought of going home later. He thought he could just hang out somewhere else, but his siblings were bound to tell their mother if he wasn't on the bus with them.
He walked in the gym where some other kids were already getting ready. He walked passed everyone and went over to another set of doors to a hallway, leading to the showers and lockers. He went up to his own and unlocked it. He pulled out some gym shorts and a t-shirt, both white, and sat down on the bench behind him. He yanked off his sweater and pants, slipping on the loose gym wear.
He shoved his clothes inside his locker along with his gym bag. He didn't trust anyone when he left it out. He left to the gym and found everyone all ready and lined up. At the very end of the long line was Darwin. He didn't look too happy at all. Gumball ignored it and stepped in line with the others.
Their gym coach slowly walked in the room. He was a giant red brick and wore a big white headband on top. He turned and faced the kids standing before him and blew his whistle.
"Alright then... Today isn't going to be hard, like the last few times."
Everyone in the room sighed.
"Instead, it'll be much harder... and MUCH longer..."
Everyone in the room sighed again.
"Oh, don't worry. I'm sure you'll all do juuuust fine."
~O~X~O~
Gumball was lying on the floor flat on his face. His muscles ached and his head was throbbing. His breaths were heavy and he could hear his heart pounding against the ground. He looked up and saw everyone else wasn't holding up any better either. He tried standing on his feet slowly, the pain trying to pull him down but he managed to stand up completely, facing his coach. He blew a whistle and cleared his throat.
"Alright, class, hit the showers and get to your last class!"
Everyone dragged, limped or crawled into the showers. Gumball did his best to keep on moving and not fall on his face again. He managed to squeeze past everyone piling up at the door and get to his locker. He opened it up and pulled out his gym bag. He slipped off his gym clothes and his boxers, shoving them in his bag and closing the locker. Gumball quickly walked over to the showers and turned it on full blast. The warm water hitting his body felt so relaxing to him.
He grabbed a bar of soap and scrubbed under his arms. They always reeked after gym and he sometimes forgot to scrub there in the mornings. He got all over his body as the water continued to beat down on his fur, now sagging down more.
He got behind his ears before stopping completely. He could feel something odd, but didn't know exactly what it was. He checked his hands but they looked fine. He starred past them and sadly, found something 'standing' out above everything else. His face turned red and with one hand down, continued to scrub his body.
Gumball prayed no other guy would see him like this. He had been caught hard before in the showers and the situation wasn't the best. They insisted that he played their 'games' which always made Gumball run out and leave. He felt uncomfortable in the showers every day. With other kids looking at his body exposed.
He didn't like his body. Not one bit. Gumball shut off the water and grabbed a towel hanging on a wall and ran back to his locker. He saw some other boys getting dressed and tried to ignore them. He yanked open his locker and pulled out his gym bag. He opened it up and pulled out his sweater, pants and a pair of briefs. His legs and hips would get sweaty frequently.
He closed his locker and looked behind himself. No one was focusing on him when he dropped his towel and slipped on his briefs. He felt a bit more relaxed when he grabbed his sweater and pulled it over his head and pulled it down, slipping his arms in the sleeves.
"Yo, nice ass."
Gumball froze completely. He slowly turned his head to see whoever spoke. He saw a red box kid starring down at him. Two other kids, a bear and a tall tiger were also starring at Gumball. His hands shaked nervously.
"Y-you talking to m-me?"
"Uh, yeah, dude. Yo butt looks good," said the bear kid, chuckling.
Gumball pulled his sweater down lower as he grabbed his pants.
"Yo, wanna stick around for a bit?" asked the tiger.
"N-no." Gumball did his best to not sound scarred. The three boys stood up and started walking towards Gumball. Quickly, he zipped up his fly, grabbed his gym bag and ran out of the showers, past the gym and into the school halls. He stopped by a locker to catch his breath and looked back to see if they followed him.
'Oh god...'
He sighed deeply. It was way to close for him. Gumball dragged himself over to his locker and tossed his gym bag inside and pulled out his books. The ordeal in the showers however stayed in his mind. He would have to be much more careful next time around.
He closed his locker and dragged himself to Science. It was his final class for the day. Sadly the thought of going back home later hit his mind like a car. He thought about if he should tell his mother what happened. What they almost did to Gumball and how scarred he was at the time.
The previous times, Gumball never told his parents about anything. He didn't think it mattered because the kids never really did anything to him. Only approached him. Gumball remembered the only time someone did touch him in the showers. And after that, they gave him three harsh words:
"Yo, not tight."
Gumball never knew what they meant by that. His best guess was that he didn't like the way Gumball looked. Gumball didn't think he looked ugly, strange, fat or hideous. Half of the school was nearly the same, but was there some kind of system to looks? Did it split between species?
Was he ugly?
Gumball looked down at the floor. He could somewhat see his reflection and he didn't think he looked ugly in any way. Even if he was ugly, those kids wouldn't want to pick on the ugly person or try to do anything to them whatsoever...
Gumball quickly abandoned that thought.
'I'm... ugly?'
He kept asking himself the same question multiple times as he slowly walked to his next class. But soon, he wouldn't be asking a question anymore. He looked at the ground and instead told himself something.
"...I'm not ugly..." lied Gumball. At least, that's what he thought was a lie. He continued walking to his next class as he kept his head hung low. Starring at his reflection on the clean floors of the hallway, not caring if he would bump into someone or hit a wall at some point.
A stray tear fell from his cheek. He rubbed his eyes before another could fall again. Gumball did his best to hold everything in till he would get home. He couldn't cry in front of everyone in school. He would only be tortured with it later on. Gumball sighed and walked to his class as he tried hiding his emotions from everyone.
Including himself, too.
End of Chapter 2
