CHAPTER 2
Gumball drove his Hybrid into the parking space underneath his apartment. There stood his fiancée, Carrie Krueger. The blue cat parked his car beside her and tightened his tie. He got off the car with a haughty smile.
He pulled his sunglasses down to the tip of his nose and the start of his whiskers, to see the beautiful ghost in front of him. She had the same worried look that she had when she saw Gumball be claimed by the underworld.
"What's the news?" she asked very silently but worriedly. "Did you get fired like last week?"
Gumball chuckled as he locked the car. He placed his hand on Carrie's shoulder.
"She said that I would be promoted to be the photographer at Europe," Gumball smiled. "Will it be alright if we move to Europe?"
"Wait, is it permanent?" Carrie asked Gumball, curiously.
Gumball's slight smile turned to a grin. He nodded, feeling Carrie's hands on his shoulders. They both gave each other a passionate kiss. They separated and smiled at each other. Carrie hugged Gumball tightly.
"Thank you, Gumball."
"Trois deux un," the cucumber said, while holding the camera. "Épatant!"
Penny, wearing a dress and a beret was doing a pose in a studio somewhere in the outskirts of Paris. It was for the new commercial by L'Oreal. After doing a bit more poses, the cameraman let her go. After a sloppy "Au revoir", the peanut walked towards the bus stop by the façade of the studio.
As she waited, a slice of pizza, a rather handsome one for his kind, stood beside her. Penny inched slowly away from the suspicious man, only to see him follow her. He was starting to creep Penny out. Looking at the man (who tried his best not looking at Penny), Penny remembered her love, Gumball. She thought of what he'd do. He would've ran away screaming.
Without thinking, Penny ran away screaming the French translation of stalker. The man waved his hands, kneeling on the ground, crying.
"Je t'aime, Mademoiselle Fitzgerald!" the pizza cried. "Je ne suis pas harceleur!"
Panting, Penny stopped by a corner, leaning on the façade of the old bricked house by her. Behind her was a voice - it sounded quite American. Penny dared to look where it came from. There floated a ghost, talking to someone on the phone. He seemed very familiar to Penny.
"So you're going with your fiancé to tour from Paris? Amazing!" he exclaimed, while smoking some tobacco. When he placed his pipe down, he saw Penny looking at him. He frowned. Penny hastily turned around and walked away. "Wait a sec."
"Hey, you!"
Penny paled. Now that was weird - shouting English at someone randomly walking on the pavement. Well, in Europe, people learn more than three languages so, it'd be an exception. Penny forced herself to turn around and face the man.
"M-m-me?"
"Yes, you!" he exclaimed, pulling on a grim face.
Penny reached for her leather wallet in her straw-like handbag, fearing that he'd steal it.
"W-what do you want from me?" Penny stammered.
"Why were you listening to my call?"
"I wasn't," Penny mumbled.
The ghost teleported in front of Penny, taking her by surprise. Penny could smell the scent of tobacco from his breath.
"Then why the hell were you standing by me?"
"You looked like someone that I know…" Penny stammered.
He was now poking her with the polished tobacco pipe he used.
"Here's one thing you might wanna know before you do your shitty thing - I'm not your freaking mother."
He teleported away from the girl as soon as he finished his statement. Penny was left there, frozen like ice. She never heard anybody speak to her in that manner. She imagined if Gumball was there, with her. He would've tried beating the ghost up with a stick or a rubbish bin's lid - with his overprotective personality.
Penny closed her eyes and held tight the golden necklace the Gumball gave her, a long time ago. She never knew why he gave her the necklace for her birthday. She never knew why Gumball offered so much.
Penny shed a tear, thinking of the dark past she endured, when she moved to Paris. She was sent to two boarding schools - both in which she suffered. There were many girls who picked on her - just because she was new and gullible. To encourage Penny's feelings, she remembered how she always looked at her class photo. And how it got ripped apart by some other students.
Penny placed sunglasses on and decided to go to the Louvre, to take a look at the quiet an beautiful paintings that former painters produced. She'd always go there every afternoon, after hours of posing.
On her way to the museum, she saw many couples together - walking, hugging or sitting. Penny predicted that she wasn't to end up anywhere there. She was far too formal to make new relationships. At least she thought so.
Looking up, she saw the marmalade sky - the same one she saw yesterday, when her father told her off. There, she would see planes and helicopters - every one of them she would research. She wanted to know if one of them came from Elmore or brought Gumball with it.
Penny stopped and decided to walk back home. She didn't want to be seen. She wanted to be anonymous and invisible in the prestigious city of love, for she was one of the persons without it.
