Hello, again! Here's the next part to this little story of mine. Once again, Gumball will be going through a rough time, but remember, I'm not against Gumball. I am merely setting up the story to where it will eventually lead.
Thank you for the reviews. I am very thankful and will do everything to make sure these chapters continue to please.
DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING of The Amazing World of Gumball, including characters, places, or any other references that will appear in this story; not a thing.
CHAPTER 2
From Bad to Worse
After three hours of classes that seemed to drag on like a fishhook in the arm, lunch finally came. Gumball sat by himself at a table across from Darwin who was with Rachel at the farther end of the cafeteria, and every time they noticed the blue cat looking towards them, they gave a firm, furious glare in return. The sight of it alone was enough for the food on Gumball's tray to turn bland.
Gumball rested his head on his palm, watching Mr. Small who was seated behind a portable desk near the lunch line. On the floor next to the smiling guidance counselor was a 10 gallon water bottle crammed to the top with dark black coffee beans. A large sign hung from the desk, reading,
GUESS THE NUMBER OF COFFEE BEANS AND WIN A PRIZE AT PEP FEST!
And directly beneath, a message in small print read,
(but remember, no matter what, we're all winners!)
Gumball scoffed. He certainly didn't feel like a winner.
Lifting his fork, Gumball cut a piece of his chocolate mint cake and let the moist dessert sit in his mouth, treating his tongue to whatever the sugar could bring. It was good, but not anywhere near as pleasant as he dreamt this morning.
A few tables away, Gumball saw Penny chatting with Masami and Molly. Smiling softly, Gumball closed his eyes, wishing that time would skip to the Pep Fest. All he wanted to do now was cheer for the girl he loved.
Within seconds, Penny enveloped every corner of his thoughts and for an instant he felt some peace, but it all vanished when a voice made itself known.
"Hey, Gumball." The voice sounded as gloomy as him.
Swallowing his piece of cake, he opened his eyes and responded, "Oh, hi, Carrie."
The ghost girl was holding a plate with the sweet dessert.
"I can see you're not in the mood, but…can you please help me eat this slice of cake?"
Gumball's downcast eyes moved to the chocolate covered slice with the emerald green layer. It was quite a large piece; much bigger than his own.
He took no time to think it over. "No, Carrie. I'm not doing that again." The unpleasant memories of that horrible week when the ghost girl used him as a puppet so she could eat were something he wished he could forget, much like this morning.
Carrie's saddened face went unnoticed to Gumball who turned the other away. "Gumball, please," she begged softly. "I've been —"
"Yeah, Carrie," he stressed with annoyance. "I know you're hungry and you want to eat like the rest of us, but that's something I don't want to be put through again."
"But," Carrie looked to her slice of cake, "Gumball…."
Irritated, he asked, "Why not have someone else do it for you?"
"Well…" Carrie blushed, "because you —"
"Forget it. As you noticed, I'm not in the mood." And without giving Carrie's expression even a glance, Gumball stood up, grabbed his unopened milk carton, and walked out of the cafeteria.
And Carrie, bowing her miserable face, took the fork, cut a piece from her cake and tried to bite it, but the delicious treat dropped straight through her mouth and onto the floor.
Gumball trudged down the empty hallway to his locker.
He muttered, "Stupid Carrie." This day was bad enough, he didn't need any ghost making a blimp out of him.
After the bell rang, Gumball watched his classmates walk on by and enter the library. At the entrance, he came face to face with a sign written in large black letters:
NO FOOD OR DRINK PERMITTED
Holding his sealed milk carton, Gumball opened the door. I'll be careful.
Everyone was busy going about study hall and Gumball began browsing for a thesaurus to help him with a writing assignment. Walking amongst the many tall bookshelves, he opened the tiny white carton and drank a quick sip when, all of a sudden, his foot slipped on a book lying on the floor.
Unable to catch himself, Gumball stumbled to the ground and his milk carton flew across to Bobert who was typing at a computer a few feet away. The milk carton splattered against the monitor, soaking it and a flash-drive in the white fluid. Bobert's one black eye grew massive in shock as the screen darkened and crackled with sparks. The monitor started to shake and a small explosion launched it into the air with tremendous force.
Teri, Molly, and Masami were seated at a nearby table when they heard the loud bang, distracting them from their art project: a long miniature model of the Great Wall of China. They saw Bobert's horrified digital expression fall towards them when — BANG — the monitor crashed onto the table, crushing their project. In horror of their ruined work, the three girls watched as the monitor continued to skid across the table. Leslie and Carmen, distracted from their history paper, watched the monitor zoom by, leaving behind a trail of sparks that ignited their paper in an orange flame. The two plants could do nothing but back away in terror as their project was eaten by the hot fire.
Finally, the monitor crashed hard into a bookshelf, causing it to tip. Gumball, having witnessed the whole calamity unfold, looked on in dread as the shelf created a domino effect, knocking over every shelf in its path, toppling a hundred books to the floor.
Tobias, Banana Joe, Juke, and Tina stood behind the last shelf, perplexed and wondering what the sound was and why it was getting louder. Their confused expressions turned to shock and screams as the shelf beside them tipped and fell atop them.
The whole library stood still. Gumball, still lying on the floor from when he tripped, winced at the many furious looks directed towards him.
In his smallest voice, he managed to say, "Sorry."
The next thing Gumball knew he was thrown into Principal Brown's office with some of his classmates.
"Well, Mr. Watterson," said Principal Brown, his brow furrowed, "I don't suppose you have anything to say for yourself?"
Gumball, biting down on his lip, nervously shook his head.
"You destroyed a school computer, scratched and burned one of the library tables, knocked over 13 bookshelves, spilt over 900 books, and sent FOUR students to the nurse's office!" Principal Brown pounded his fist on the last.
"Not to mention the art project you DESTORYED!" Masami thundered, darkening with rage. Molly and Teri, equally angry, slammed the crushed remains of their Great Wall to Gumball's feet.
"And the history paper me and Leslie spent FIVE WEEKS making!" Carmen screamed, shaking her thin arms. Leslie looked so mad that Gumball swore he was starting to grow thorns.
"And the highly complex theoretical algorithm I've been working on since the day I was MANUFACTURED!" Bobert yelled. Even with a digital voice Gumball winched at the anger.
Gumball tried to speak, but nothing would come out but small gasps. It was as though the nightmarish atmosphere that surrounded him on this day was choking him.
Then, Principal Brown pulled something out from behind his desk and Gumball's eyes widened at the sight of it.
It was the empty milk carton.
"The library strictly prohibits food and drinks. The sign outside the door states that clearly! Because of your irresponsibility, you have cost this school money and caused trouble and pain for your classmates!
"I'll ask you again, Mr. Watterson," he said the name like it was something dreadful to acknowledge. "Do you have ANYTHING to say for yourself?"
For a couple of moments the blue cat sat in a very uncomfortable silence, racking his brain for anything that would help him form an explanation. But no thought whatsoever could emerge with the stress he was under, and any excuse he had probably wouldn't convince the principal. The idea of trying to blame the whole incident on a book that was lying on the library floor sounded ludicrous and embarrassing, even to Gumball.
With nothing to say, all he could do was look at the floor in shame.
"I see…," said Principal Brown. "I think detention until the end of the year will suffice."
"WHAT?" Gumball shrieked. "Until the end of the year?"
"And we'll start today during the Pep Fest."
Gumball's face twisted with horror and his chest felt like it had just been stabbed. "But-but I promised Penny I would be there to cheer her on!"
Unmoved by the cat's desperation, Brown replied "Well, it looks like she's going to have to do without."
"Principal Brown, please! Just this one time, every day afterwards, I'll do whatever you —"
"Enough, Mr. Watterson!" he shouted. "You're lucky I don't expel you for all that's happened! Come STRAIGHT here when the classes go to the gymnasium or I promise this WILL be your last day in school."
Gumball's heart couldn't have ached any harder. The Pep Fest was the chance to see Penny perform her cheer routine: the one last thing he had that kept this day from becoming the worst of all time. And now that too was taken from him. He had to use all his might to keep himself from crying.
With a broken spirit, Gumball returned to class to finish up the rest of the day. He was far too miserable to pay attention to anything Miss Simian said, nor did he care about it in the least. And adding to it, he was uncomfortable. Being up front in the classroom didn't keep him from feeling the vicious glares of his classmates, aimed at him like sniper rifles.
Gumball didn't dare look at Penny, not wishing to be reminded of the promise he was soon going to break. The only person he turned to was Darwin, who he hoped by now would've eased up. But no; his frown remained as sour as it did this morning.
Recess was lonely. With everyone angry for what happened in the library, all Gumball had to pass the time was sit on a bench, listening to the sounds of traffic pass by in intervals.
The minutes dragged on like a busted knee, and when the time for Pep Fest finally came Gumball walked glumly to the Principal's office. Inside, Principal Brown was waiting.
"Nice to see you didn't forget, Mr. Watterson."
The furry principal stood up and pointed his finger to a corner of the office.
"Sit in that chair until I come back. Touch anything or leave and I'll drop you back to the first grade."
Forlorn and silent, Gumball complied and sat down in a chair far too small for someone his age. He watched Principal Brown pick up a cardboard box from behind his desk and then walk out the door, hearing a loud clack as it closed.
All alone in the dim office, Gumball's thoughts returned to this morning: back when he believed everything would go fine, and how everything went terribly wrong.
He felt a stomach-aching mix of sadness, bafflement, anger, and disappointment, and though he tried and tried, nothing in his mind could make sense of any of it. What frustrated him the most was that he didn't mean for any of it. He never meant to break his mother's good plate, he never meant to hurt his dad's feelings, he never meant for Anais to be mad at him or forget to include Darwin's name on their report. Or be stupid in class. Or trip in the library…. All of it just happened. There was no way of predicting it.
So why did a fraction of himself feel the opposite? Why?
The dead silence of the office added to the deep emptiness Gumball felt in his gut. As the minutes rolled by, he could hear faint cheering coming from the gymnasium and wondered how Penny was doing. Would she even notice that he wasn't there? If she did would it effect her routine? He prayed that neither would be true, but there was a problem. He told Penny face to face that he would cheer for her. He promised her. Knowing that caused Gumball to groan, letting his face fall into his hands with nothing more to think of.
It felt like 12 hours instead of only one when the last bell of the day rang. Gumball brought his sight up from his hands and anxiously waited for Principal Brown to return. His foot tapped vigorously at the racket of hurried feet and lockers opening and slamming. The day was over and Gumball couldn't have been more thankful.
The instant the door opened and the principal walked in, Gumball jumped off the chair and shouted, "Can I go?"
"Yes, yes, Mr. Watterson," he said. "I expect to see you in here tomorrow at recess."
"Okay, thanks!" Gumball rushed out of the office and passed the students heading for the buses. At that moment, Gumball didn't care whether or not he lost his recess privileges for the entire year. All that mattered was the girl waiting in the gym.
When Gumball reached the gymnasium doors, he pushed them open and let out a gasp from running so hard. His eyes darted around the wide inactive area and found Penny sitting alone on the lower bleachers.
Slowly, Gumball walked up to her. She was hanging her head, her white pompoms by her side. Nervously, Gumball spoke, "H-Hi, Penny."
The antlered peanut looked up from the floor and her sad eyes met Gumball's guilt-ridden face. The blue cat opened his mouth to speak but Penny beat him to the punch. "I see you finally showed up."
In all sincerity, Gumball said, "I'm so sorry, Penny. I didn't mean —"
"To break your promise?"
"Well…" Gumball lowered his head, "yeah."
"I can't believe you would do that," Penny frowned and stood up. "When I didn't see you here I lost all the spirit I had. I had to fake my whole way through the Pep Fest."
"Penny, I'm sorry! I thought about being here all day. There was nothing else I wanted to do but cheer you on! Everything just…" Gumball paused, lowered his head in guilt, and sighed, "Everything…just went wrong…."
Penny let out a sigh of her own, and flatly said, "I understand."
Gumball could tell she was lying. "Penny," his eyes trembled, "I would never —"
"Look," she stopped him, "I have to go join Carmen, Molly, and Teri. The game will be starting in a few hours and we have to prepare."
She then walked past him, her face filled with disappointment. "I'll see you tomorrow." She opened the door and walked away without looking back, leaving Gumball alone as the gymnasium lights started to dim.
Approaching the school's exit, Gumball wiped away a tear that managed to break free. Outside, shock filled his system him as he saw the bus begin to drive off.
"Hey!" Gumball ran through the school parking lot. He could see his brother and sister through the bus' back window.
"Darwin! Anais!" he screamed. "Stop the bus!"
Panting, he saw his siblings turn and look down at him. He waved to them, "Stop the bus!" But they only frowned and turned away. Within seconds, Gumball was far behind and stopped moving as the bus drove on and out of sight.
He stood looking where the bus disappeared, his chest hurting from more than just the strain he put it through.
His own brother and sister…they ditched him….
Gumball moved down the sidewalk, finding no joy in anything he saw.
The sky was blue with feathery transparent clouds, the sunshine was just right; the weather was perfect for the game tonight, but for Gumball it could've been raining candy and it wouldn't change his mood in the slightest.
When he reached the front door of his house, Gumball planned on watching some TV to drown away his misery, regardless of what his mom said this morning. Upon entering, he found Darwin and Anais already sitting on the couch.
Timidly, he walked up to them and, with all the pleasantness he could show, said, "Hey, guys. Can I join?"
Darwin and Anais both grumbled, not taking their irritated looks away from the TV. Needing no other answer than that, Gumball decided to head upstairs. He would spend the rest of the afternoon alone in his room until it was time for dinner.
No sooner did he reach his bed he heard a voice that shook the house.
"GUMBAAAAAAAAAALL!" His mother's voice sent fear directly into his heart.
With hesitation, terror in every breath, Gumball walked down to the living room and found his whole family grouped together. For a moment, no one said anything as Gumball nervously looked from one angry face to the next.
Finally, his mother spoke, "Gumball," her voice was like a knife, "when I was at work today, Principal Brown gave me a call."
At those words, Gumball's heart felt like it received a very hard pinch.
"He told me that you were given detention for the rest of the year." Her sharp teeth were bared, "Why, may I ask, would he do that?"
Gumball was terrified. He could barely breathe let alone talk.
"ANSWER ME!" she roared, her fists clenched.
Wincing, Gumball shook with fear, "I…I kinda…wreaked some things in the library."
"WREAKED?" she screamed. Gumball fell backwards onto the floor, terror building in his stomach. "You call $1200 in school damage 'wreaked'? You're lucky you weren't expelled for what you did!"
Standing up, Gumball said weakly, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean for that to —"
"Don't bother!" she snapped. "NOTHING excuses you for what you did, and if you don't face responsibility I swear detention will be the least of your troubles! UNDERSTAND?"
Nicole breathed in and out like a beast, scaring Gumball even more.
"DO YOU UNDERSTAND!"
Raising his hands, he cringed, "Yes! Yes!"
"Now get upstairs! No supper tonight."
"What?" Gumball didn't think his mother would go that far. Gaining back a little pride, he remarked, "What, you're gonna starve me?"
"NOOOOOOOW!" Nicole roared, scaring even those behind her. Her face had lost most of its blue color and was now red like fire.
Gumball ran with all his might up to his room, pushing the door closed behind him. Breathing hard, he looked around his bedroom. It was dim except for the afternoon sunlight progressing to evening. Facing the light, Gumball's mind reeled through everything since this morning.
The Plate. The Tie. The Bus. The Grade. The Question. The Library. The Pep Fest. Penny. The Bus again. Home again. All of it fell on top of each other.
Gumball sank to his knees, tears soaking his cheeks. And with that, he fell to the floor and sobbed into the carpet.
The sunlight faded into night and Gumball noticed nothing of the change. He was still face down on the floor, barely breathing. His tortured mind refused to let him rest.
Unexpectedly, the door to his room opened. It was Anais.
Looking up, Gumball wiped his wet, burning eyes. "Yes?"
"Here," Anais held out a paper plate with a small sandwich. "Mom changed her mind, she doesn't want you to go hungry."
Accepting the plate, Gumball looked to his little sister, almost confused at this act of kindness. "You've been up here for five hours. Everyone is tired and going to bed."
Gumball, too hungry to be surprised about the time, stood up and took a large bite from the sandwich. It wasn't amazing, but it did fill the empty space in his stomach that was quick in rearing its ugly head.
"Thanks."
"Yeah, whatever," Anais rolled her eyes. "This doesn't change anything, though. I'm still mad at you."
Gumball could only sigh. Then his mind went off subject. "Did our school's team win?"
Before Anais could speak, Darwin appeared in the doorway. In anger, he responded, "They lost."
"Lost?" Gumball asked. "How could they lose? Weren't they were on a winning streak?"
"Yeah," his brother frowned, "but the cheerleaders didn't do so well. The announcer said they were 'lacking spirit'." Darwin crossed his arms, "Any ideas why?"
Gumball was stunned. The cheerleaders were still upset from what happened at the library? Penny was still upset? And the team lost as a result?
"I hope you're happy," Darwin scolded.
The tears came back along with all the sorrow. Throwing the empty paper plate to the ground, Gumball shouted, "Just leave me alone!" Rushing out into the hall, he stopped and turned around, facing his siblings. "I didn't ask for any of this!"
In the bathroom, Gumball carelessly brushed his teeth, not bothering to floss. Once out, he passed Anais' bedroom, unaware that his little sister was watching him through the crack of her door.
Discarding his sweater and pants, Gumball dressed into his nightshirt and climbed up to his bed, searching for comfort on the cool blankets. But it was useless. Nothing about today was comforting, not even as it was ending. Closing his eyes, Gumball's tears were still leaking through.
He just wanted it to be over. He wanted to be over. He was sick of everything; everything about himself.
Slowly, his senses drifted off. He never saw his mother peek in and look at his grief-stricken face. He never saw her gently close the door or heard her sigh.
And that's that for Chapter 2. Chapter 3 should, hopefully, not take too long. The REAL story starts next.
Once again, please review. Any advice is welcome, whatever it may be.
Thank you for reading and have a nice day!
