3

I felt embarrassed. I didn't think she could steer me wrong. Everything that made me "me" went out the window. I thought she would do a repeat of what happened last time. She ate all that food and went on a massive food-spree. She ate everything in sight. I mean, wow. I never thought someone could eat so much that they'd literally morph themselves into a fat ball of meat. Worse, it wasn't even his choice. I knew Gumball, and I made him do this. I opened my mouth and said he'd be happy to help you, Carrie. No problemo.

She just stared at her tray while Gumball enjoyed that burger of his. Me, I couldn't even look at it without wanting to throw up. I felt like an anorexic. You could make jokes about it, but it always rings true to the message. I just can't piece it together. I feel like a total jerk. No better than Tobias.

I misjudged her. I'll tell you that. I saw Carrie staring away from the tray and over to the counter. I looked over and saw two people just come up, grab their bag and leave. I had to ask myself, like some pretentious, phony philosopher and ask myself if she was hungry for what was inside that bag. Anything, really. Even if it was just ketchup packets, she'd probably want it. But could I blame her? She doesn't eat and do much of anything.

Carrie usually sat out during recess breaks and do nothing. I sometimes look back and see her just sitting under the tree, like she was just watching nothing. Maybe she wanted to be like us. The thought occurred to me, multiple times before what happened with Tina, and I wondered if she ever thought about being like one of us. Now, I'm not saying like a boy, more along the lines of having a friend; the same I have with Gumball.

She looked bored, so I decided to make conversation. "Have you ever seen Alligators on a Train?"

"What?" It surprised her like an alien coming to our time and place.

"The movie. Alligators on a Train. Seen it?"

"Oh. No, I don't watch a lot of movies."

"You should see it," said Gumball, chowing down another bite. "It's like a classic B-movie thriller. Alligators get on a train, and the passengers have to find a way out of it. Of course, it's cheesy because of the romance."

"What's so cheesy about romance?" she asked.

"Well, I'm not saying romance is cheesy, I'm just saying the whole typical damsel in distress."

"Oh, like the whole 'Save me, Mister Macho Man! Save me from danger!' and all that crap?"

He smiled. "Yeah, like that. And that whole Macho Man saves the day, with some very funny, corny dialogue. You know: 'Hold me, baby. Hold me tight!' Though the camera was high up and it looked like he was grabbing something. It's funny in all the right ways."

"Really?" she said. "I suppose the women there didn't have any lines there, but all they did was scream."

"No," I said. "There was also 'Ah! An alligator. Ah! A crocodile!'"

"A crocodile?" she said.

"Well, it was a movie in the 50s. Women didn't have brains."

"Ooh, sounds a bit sexist coming off from a boy who doesn't have a brain."

A joke. A friend joke. I took it. "Ouch. If I wasn't any stupider, I may mistake you for someone who thinks she has one compared to my orange, shallow head."

Lame joke, but it was in the moment. We all laughed. Gumball choked a bit on his burger, but he managed through it. I even smacked his back to help the food slide down easier. I looked over and saw Carrie smiling. I hate to admit it, but it made me feel... cheesy. I don't know. It felt nice to see that I made her smile and we laughed like good old friends.

Maybe that's not right way to phrase this. We are good old friends. This is just the first time we really came together.

After we ate, Darwin and I decided we should walk her home. The sun hadn't completely gone down, so we offered to take her home.

"Oh, no, please it's okay."

"Nonsense, we'd be happy to. Right, Darwin?"

"Yeah," he said, smiling. "No trouble."

"I don't know. It's pretty far."

"Come on. It's okay. It's the least we could do."

"No, you've done enough. I mean, you walked me over to Joyful Burger and let me use your body. You shouldn't resort to walking me home. I'll be fine."

"It's okay, Carrie," said Darwin. "Days like these don't happen a lot. You can't waste them like they're dollars. Treat it like it's a Benjamin and ride it out for as long as you please."

She smiled, maybe even a chuckle let out. She turned around for a while and said, "All right. But after this, we're square."

"I thought you were 3-D," Darwin said.

Carried just stood there, then laughed like crazy. "You're a funny guy, Darwin."

"I try to be."

And just like that, we were walking.

It felt kind of nice knowing they were walking me home. I guess it could always be summed up that a laddie-da girl like me got walked by two boys that she could call suitors and lived happily ever after. But that already seems corny. Just like that movie we were talking about. Maybe I'll watch it someday. Who knows, maybe I could watch it with them. Anything can happen. I'm not saying it should happen, but odds are I'm going to a video store anytime soon.

Gumball asked me if I was cold.

"Considering my blood pleasure, I think I'm warm."

He smiled and tried to give me a oat, but quickly remember who he was dealing with and put his hand away. The thought that he would do that was kind of comforting, like he considered me one of then guys. You know, the three musketeers and all that. I'm... well, I'm not really familiar with it but let's keep it like the three musketeers.

We passed by this couple, but I couldn't see who they were so I just ignored them. Until:

"Hey Alan!" Darwin screamed. They turned around, and sure enough it was Alan and Carmen. These two lovebirds still go on strong, even for a blue balloon and a green cactus. She could just pop him any second and he would be deflated worse than a defected rubber.

"How you guys doing?" Gumball asked.

"Good," Carmen said. "Alan and I were just going out for a walk."

"Yeah," he said. "It looked like such a nice day, so I thought about asking my green gumdrops of sugar if she wanted to come with me."

She blushed. "And I couldn't refuse my blue ray of sunshine."

It looked like they were going to kiss, which was something I wanted to see since it'd funny to watch something pop just about now. But they didn't They just giggled like they were on laughing gas.

"So, anyway, sorry about that whole fight," he said.

"Ah, it's nothing. Just a case of a mistaken identity."

"I don't think it was really that," Carmen pointed out. "More like you were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Either way, I hope those bruises on your faces heal soon."

"Well," Darwin said, "we had a good friend having our back."

Hearing that made me smile.

"True," Alan said. "That was a good thing you did for them, Carrie."

"Pssh, it was nothing."

"No, come on," Gumball spoke out. "Without you, I'd be beaten to a pulp faster than you could churn butter."

"Nice reference there," Carmen said.

"Thank you."

"Well, you better hurry," Darwin said, "it's getting late."

"Of course," Alan said. "Come! Come my green rose bush!" Alan floated away as she grabbed on to his string and ran with him, saying, "Only for you, my blue hot air balloon!"

They left, leaving the three of us on our own.

"Was Alligators on a Train as cheesy as they were?" I asked.

"That movie wishes they were compared to Romeo and Juliet over there," he said.

We all laughed and continued on our way.

As we walked Carrie home, I started to think a little more about her. She's like this iconic image from a movie you just can't get out of your head. It's easy to see why either of us wanted to spend time with her... Maybe not. Regardless, I still felt happy that we were with Carrie. We were these three kids that seem to rule the world and only us.

Childish, yes, but purely infinite. I can't remember another time I was like this. It's hypnotic, like out of a horror movie.

Carrie asked me, "It was very nice of you to take me home."

I said, "My pleasure."

I was a coward today. I never felt so low in my life. I walked home by myself. I needed some time to think.

While I did so, I passed by Tobias, and like a bug he stuck around.

"Hey Penny, how's it going?"

"Fine. What's new?"

"Nothing much," he said with a cocky grin. "I was just wondering about something."

"Oh. Like what?"

"Well," he looked away for a moment, unimpressed, "I just got these movie tickets and I got an extra one. So I asked myself: What am I going to do with another movie ticket? I mean, I can't just give it away. I wanted to make it worth my time. So—"

"You'd thought you'd ask me if I wanted to go watch a movie with you, thus making it a date and a reason to have your hands go all loopy on me?"

He stopped, and so did I. I wanted to see what he would say.

He chuckled a bit. "Well, if you weren't busy, then, you know."

"Jeez, don't have other things to do? Like that the whole working out thing?"

"Oh, I see you noticed my guns," he said raising his two scrawny arms up. "I call him 'Big' and the one of my left 'Boys'. Together, they're Big Boys."

"So funny, I forgot to laugh."

He didn't understand the sarcastic comment, and said, "Well, it's not too late to."

"Tobias," I began.

"Yes," he said, leaning in closer.

"This, what you're trying to do, isn't going to work. I don't like you like that. I don't even see you as a good friend. I see you bully some of the girls into liking you, only for it to backfire and for them to point out how weak you are. And that's another thing, why don't put your muscle boys up to the task instead of spitting out a whole bunch of crap. I'm done with this. I feel like crap today. One of my friends, one you so obviously bully, was nearly killed by a ten-foot dinosaur and her hunchback of Notre-who-gives-a-damn. I've had it! I feel like a tool. I just left him to suffer. I didn't do anything and he was getting beaten up like crazy. I could have done something, but I didn't. I just froze like a fool!"

He stood there, taking every word I said. He laid his hand on my back, and I wanted to push it away, until:

"It's not your fault."

"What?"

"It's not your fault."

"Tobias, don't—"

"Hey," he said. "It's not your fault. Believe me, Tina is a nut job, and Jamie is no exception. They get mad over the littlest things."

"Yeah, a bucket of paint landing on your head is a little thing."

"What about that time she wanted to fight Gumball and we just cheered on like nothing? Nobody knew why she wanted to fight him, and next thing you know POOF! Tina and Gumball are living side by side in harmony, in their own way. I'm not act like I'm perfect, but we all make mistakes. I know this. We take these risks because no matter the outcome, we always come back in hopes of achieving."

"Achieving what?"

"What were aiming for."

I felt like slapping him across the face, but he had me. He knew what he was talking about, and it wasn't in his stupid ego, either.

"Come here," he said, leaning in closer. For a moment I thought he was going to kiss me. At last, I thought, this weirdo was trying to make the moves on me.

I pushed him aside, but he stopped. "You need a hug. I know I'm not the guy who should give you one, but I know this will help."

He hugged me, and for a moment, I hugged him back.

We stood there for a while, until I let go. And he did so as well, without hesitation.

"That help?"

I smiled. "Yeah. It did."

"I'm not always a jerk. I care, too. But, if any chance there is, could I steal a kiss?" He gave me his hokey google-eyes.

I slightly tapped his cheek and said, smiling.

"Well," he said, "can't blame a guy for trying."

"I'll give you that."

"But seriously," he said, "I got these two movie tickets and I don't know what to do with them."

"Use them as bookmarks," I said.

He laughed. "No, I mean, I could just give them to you and you could watch with Gumball, if you want." He took out from his sweatband, which ironically had no sweat, and showed me the tickets.

"Oh, no, I couldn't take them."

"It's okay, go for it."

I grabbed them, and looked at them. "Still, it would be useless to ask Gumball."

"Why's that?"

"I can't find him. And the movie says it starts around 6:30."

"Why don't you call home and ask where he's at."

"True," I said, "but you did offer me a movie ticket. So why not?"

He started to snicker. "Please, don't play with a man's heart."

"I'm not asking you out, I'm just saying let's go as friends."

He stood there silent. "That could work, too."

"But seriously: Just as friends."

"Don't worry, I hear you the first time."