Hey, Nomad here with a new chapter. Sorry for not updating it soon, but I've been a bit busy lately. Once again, let me know what you think. If there is anything in my writing style that I could improve on let me know, also if I make any grammatical mistakes let me know as well.
Once again if you could let me know what you think I would appreciate it. Finally, I would like to thank my beta reader, who I accidently referred to as he in previous chapters (sorry about that!). She was a great help on this chapter, and I really appreciate her work. Without further ado, here is chapter 4.
The Outsider:
Chapter 4: The Imposter- Part One
The recess after lunchtime gave Jake time to think. The coyote was sitting in the schoolyard on the grimy, gritty asphalt, reminiscing about his days in Winslow. He fixed his collar slightly and tried to ignore the chilling breeze that rushed past his fur. The cold air seemed to make his lungs freeze every time he took a breath. The schoolyard was not a quiet place, but Jake enjoyed the wide open space rather than the confined conditions of the classroom. Jake hummed to himself as Gumball and Darwin conversed amongst themselves.
"This weather is cold; it's not what I'm used to," said Gumball, pulling the collar of his sweater around his nose and mouth, hoping to shield them from the cold.
"At least the fresh air is a welcome change. It's really stuffy in the classroom," said Darwin, drawing his knees closer to the rest of his body as a strong gust of wind passed by. "And look on the bright side! You have fur instead of scales, so that has to count for something."
"You're right, but it's mostly just for my stunning looks," said Gumball, full of himself. "It's hard to make a decision of whom I should date with all these girls chasing me."
"Dude, first of all, girls aren't chasing you because you're dating Penny, and second of all, I don't know where you get your delusions from," said Darwin, shaking his head.
"Jake agrees with me, though, I'm quite the ladykiller," said Gumball, suavely, which Jake responded to with a skeptical look. "See, he agrees!"
"Whatever you say, Gumball," said the coyote, rubbing his paws together to keep warm. "I'm just worrying about surviving Miss Simian's class for another day."
"Yeah, she really wants to trip us up! I mean, two pop quizzes in the course of three days? Talk about crazy," said Darwin.
"It's not that bad," said Jake, shrugging as he stretched his arms into the air. This got him looks from both Gumball and Darwin.
"Dude, you are seriously such a nerd," said the blue feline, holding back his laughter. "Do you fall asleep reading your textbook or something?"
"Very funny," said the coyote. "At least my mother doesn't have to tuck me in at night and read me bedtime stories."
"Good comeback, Jake," said Gumball, surprised by his friend's response. "Wait a second, here comes Bobert."
"Who?" asked Jake, not familiar with the name.
"You know, Bobert, the high-tech robot?" asked Darwin. "Come on Jake, you still don't know your classmates and it's your second week here."
Jake just grinned sheepishly and shrugged at this.
"Salutations," said the shiny white robot, tilting his large head to the side to inspect what they were doing. "What activities are you doing for today?"
"Just relaxing while we still can," answered Gumball. "Speaking of which Bobert, have you met Jake?"
"No, I have not. Greetings," responded Bobert, simply.
"Pleasure to meet you," said Jake reaching his paw out for a handshake. Bobert responded by closing his clamp-like hand on Jake's fingers. The coyote restrained himself from yelping in pain and closed his eyes, trying to shut the pain out. Jake then tried to yank his crushed fingers from the powerful vise grip of Bobert's hand.
"What is he trying to do?" asked Bobert, not understanding that he was causing the coyote intense pain. Jake struggled with all his might and leaning all the way back. Finally, he was able to release his fingers from the robot's grip and landed on the asphalt clumsily.
Both Gumball and Darwin were snickering amongst each other as Jake held his paw gingerly.
"Good grip," Jake commented dryly, moving his fingers to make sure that none of them were broken.
"Thank you for the compliment," said Bobert, his eye changing to a different shape, which appeared to indicate happiness.
"Anytime..." said Jake, a bit annoyed that the robot had made his fingers go numb.
The robot merely shrugged off Jake's behavior, not realizing his annoyance. "Can I join in whatever you're doing?"
"Well, sure Bobert," said Gumball, cautiously. Bobert immediately sat down with them, happily bobbing his head up and down which got a few chuckles from Gumball.
"Dude are you alright?" Darwin whispered to Jake, trying to avoid gaining Bobert's attention. "That looked painful."
"Yeah, never better," remarked Jake, still gingerly rubbing his paw.
"Hey, at least you're meeting new people." Darwin grinned, trying to reassure Jake.
"I have an inquiry," said Bobert, moving his attention over to the playground. "Can we try the monkey bars?"
"That sounds fun actually," said Gumball. "Up for the challenge Darwin, Jake?"
"You bet!" said Jake, eagerly as he hopped up from the ground. "I could use the exercise; I'm freezing."
Jake grabbed the freezing cold monkey bars tightly in his paws as he swung himself forward from one bar to the next. The cold steel of the bar against the pads of his paw came off as annoying, but he came accustomed to it. Jake swung off the bars and landed steadily, bowing for Gumball, Darwin, and Bobert.
"Show off," said Gumball, shaking his head at Jake's showmanship. "They call me the master of the monkey bars for a good reason."
"This should be interesting," mused Jake as Gumball got on the monkey bars. The blue feline made it about halfway across the bars before slipping and landing down on the ground, wincing as he hit the asphalt. Gumball was, fortunately, alright as he gave them a thumbs up.
"Boy, that felt good," Gumball said shakily, slightly jarred from the experience.
"Everything okay?" asked Jake, patting him on the back.
"Yeah, just dandy. Don't worry, I can take a lot of pain, believe me," said Gumball, leaning against Jake for support, before pushing off of him.
Bobert was already traversing the monkey bars, in a happy mood. He looked completely carefree with his one eye closed. The metal robot slipped without warning and landed headfirst onto the asphalt.
"Bobert?" said Darwin, waiting for a response from the robot, but none came.
"C'mon," said Jake, heaving the solid robot up and propping him up against the base of the monkey bars with some help from Gumball. "Bobert, is anything broken?"
The shiny white robot responded by opening a small hatch on his head and spewing oil all over Gumball's and Jake's faces. Their faces were now dripping with the black, gooey substance, blocking their vision.
"Darwin, do you mind helping us out here?" asked Gumball, persistently trying to rub of the thick oil slick that was now caked to his fur.
"Sure thing," said Darwin. "Shouldn't there be a power button here somewhere? There it is! Okay, and Bobert is back on."
Bobert snapped back on at this. "Downloading personal file," said Bobert, ignoring Gumball, who was waving his hand in front of his face.
"You okay Bobert?" asked Jake. "That looked quite painful."
"I'm perfectly fine, but what's with this Bobert person?" asked the robot, getting to his feet.
"He means you, the walking pile of steel and bolts," said Gumball dryly, as if Bobert was playing around.
"I'm not a pile of steel, and my name is Jake, Jake Wiley," responded the robot, oblivious to the bewildered looks he was receiving. Jake carefully examined the robot to see what was amiss and noticed a minor dent in the robot's head.
"No Bobert, I'm Jake Wiley," said Jake, pointing at himself.
"Well, you're clearly delusional in that case. You might want to take some time to remember who you are, after all, you are dressing and acting like me," said Bobert, giving an almost critiquing look at Jake.
"That's because I'm the real Jake Wiley," said Jake, slightly flustered at this fact.
"Wait, Jake, do you know what kind of opportunity you are passing up?" asked Gumball, grinning mischievously at what he had in mind.
"I can only assume you've come up with a plan to exploit Bobert while he is in this state?" asked Jake, glaring at the other 'Jake'.
"Think about it, he can do anything for you now! Chores? He's got them covered, homework as well! Tests, quizzes- you wouldn't have to work another day," said Gumball, daydreaming at the idea.
"I think it's a bad idea. Remember what happened last time when Bobert tried to become you?" asked Darwin, trying to convince Gumball otherwise.
"Ah, memories," Gumball said with a grin. "Seriously, it's like having your own personal servant."
"I don't want to talk about it," said Jake, heatedly, as he looked over at Bobert. "We have to get him fixed. Any suggestions?"
"The nurse's office," said Darwin, confidently.
"Right, you want to help me grab him?" said Jake, looking at Gumball and Darwin.
They both looked at him helplessly as if they didn't want to carry the heavy metal robot.
"Fine," said Jake, slinging Bobert's arm over his shoulder. "Can you at least accompany me?"
"Sure, we can do that Jake," said Darwin, following Jake as he strained to support Bobert.
"If he starts singing Daisy Bell then I'm done," said Jake, still hauling the heavy robot.
"Cheer up Jake, we're almost there," said Darwin, swinging the door open for Jake. Jake stepped inside the nurse's office, before releasing Bobert, letting the robot clatter to the floor.
"My spine," said Jake, rubbing his back. "Thank goodness. Anyways, you guys should go ahead to class. I'll catch up with you."
"You sure about that?" asked Darwin, looking around for the nurse. "We can always stick around."
"There's nothing else you can do for now, and I don't think this will take me too long. I'll be back at Miss Simian's room in no time at all," said Jake, high-fiving them both and holding the door open for them.
"What seems to be the matter with him?" asked the nurse, looking down at the robot that slumped against the table.
"Well, it's kind of a long story," said Jake, hesitant to explain.
"You're the new student," said the nurse, switching the subject.
"That's right. I was hanging out with my friends Gumball and Darwin," said Jake, sheepishly starting to recount the tale of how the events transpired. All the while, the nurse tried her best to fix up the robot, as her task got increasingly more frustrating.
"No, I can't fix him," said the band-aid nurse, slightly frustrated at Jake's persistence.
"You have to! I can't have him acting like me for the whole day, think of how much trouble we'll both be in," said Jake, desperately. "I need your help, please?"
"Look, I'll try to talk to Principal Brown about this so you can avoid getting in trouble, but it's the most I can do. I'm a nurse, not a mechanic after all," said the school nurse sympathetically, as Jake quietly nodded in defeat.
"I best be off to class," muttered the coyote to himself. "Otherwise, I'm going to get it."
Jake and Bobert exited the nurse's office. Bobert was in a particularly good mood, whistling to himself, as Jake reluctantly trudged to Miss Simian's class.
"So what was all that nonsense about? I feel perfectly fine," stated Bobert, happily heel clicking, leaving major dents in the floor as he landed.
"First of all, you don't look like Jake and you don't sound like Jake," said the now disgruntled coyote, crossing his arms.
"I can fix that, I just have to clear my throat," Bobert let out a horrid sound as he tried to correct his voice, nearly shattering Jake's eardrums. "See, how about that?"
Jake was startled upon hearing Bobert's 'new' voice as it was exactly the same as his, in its overall sound. The coyote shook his head and walked past Bobert to Miss Simian's class, frustrated. He reluctantly opened the door and silently walked through, hoping his late entry into the class would go unnoticed. The dead silence of classroom was not a good sign and was a warning for the young coyote as he scanned the room for Miss Simian.
"What have we here?" asked Miss Simian, waiting to the side of the doorway as Jake checked his left side. "Care to explain where you've been?"
"It's complicated, Miss Simian," said Jake, looking down at his feet, trying to avoid her cold gaze.
"Spare me your excuses," said Miss Simian, bringing her face right in front of his, close enough for the coyote to smell the coffee on her breath. "Do you only make excuses for yourself? Do you have any responsibility?"
"I do," said Jake, lifting his head up to make eye contact with Miss Simian. "If she's going to keep belittling me, I should at least stand on my own two feet," Jake thought to himself.
"Well, not from what I've seen," she snarled back through her gritted teeth. "Now get to your seat, unless you want to end up in detention."
Jake strolled to his seat, not at all scared of Miss Simian's threat. He placed his backpack on the floor and took his seat. He quickly unpacked and brushed the leftover eraser shavings from his desk.
"You're here," whispered Gumball out the corner of his mouth, to avoid notice by Miss Simian. "What kept you?"
"It's Bobert. He's still acting like me or trying to act like me," said Jake as Bobert stopped right in between them.
"Sorry if this sounds rude, but you're in my chair," said Bobert, still believing to be the coyote.
"Do you see what I mean?" asked Jake, motioning towards the robot. "He won't leave me alone."
"Maybe you need some help to get him to remember who he is," said Darwin, suddenly getting an idea. "Anais could help us."
"Well, it's worth a shot to stop this walking tin can from impersonating me every step of the way," said Jake, looking up at the board to scribble down the notes.
Next thing Jake knew, he was face first on the floor, as he was grabbed by Bobert and spun around before crashing into the desk in front of him, which happened to be Carmen's desk. The coyote pulled himself off of the ground and yanked the prickly pins of the cactus from his face with a calm demeanor. Though he received a backward glance from Carmen who was missing a multitude of pins from her left arm now.
"Sorry about that Carmen, I sort of fell," he said hastily, as he turned to see Bobert reclining back in his desk. "Care to explain?"
Bobert didn't respond to this instead of choosing to ignore him altogether. The coyote sighed and headed towards the back of the classroom. On the way, he reached for his bag before having his arm caught in Bobert's clamp.
"Hey, Bobert, let me go right now," demanded Jake, trying not to struggle.
"Don't even think about it, thief!" snarled Bobert in a simulated version of Jake's voice.
"Well now, that's ironic. I'm not the one who happens to be stealing another person's identity," growled Jake, before wrenching his arm out of Bobert's grip and storming to the back of the room and sitting next to Tina Rex, of all people.
"Having trouble with the walking spark plug?" said Tina, letting out a horrid laugh that only made Jake more unsettled at being at the back of the room.
With none of his possessions, Jake tried to listen as best as he could, though, with half of the bullies in Elmore Junior High nearby, it would be safe to say that anyone who was in the back of the room had a death wish. Jake kept silent for the rest of the class, hoping to himself that he wasn't going to become a personal punching bag and hoping they'd leave him alone.
This was not the least of Jake's worries, however, as Miss Simian walked from seat to seat distributing a thick packet of work and a pencil. She stopped at Jake's desk for a moment and let out a cringeworthy grin before dropping the papers into the rickety old desk.
"Listen up! This test is meant to test your knowledge of this year's curriculum so far. You have fifteen minutes to complete it, starting now!" The elderly baboon cackled as she took a large slurp of her coffee.
Jake got right to work, looking through the packet to find the easy problems to solve. The packet was filed with deceiving questions and long open response questions that boggled his brain. The coyote monitored his progress by glancing up at the clock occasionally. Jake's sweaty palms did not help him as he had to bear down on the pencil more, as its tip was ground down to a flat nub.
"Five minutes," said Miss Simian gleefully as the students in her classroom started to panic, frantic to get their answers down.
Jake was cool under pressure and scribbled down the last of his open response question. He double checked his answers and closed the packet, for the most part, satisfied with his work.
"Time's up," said the elderly baboon, walking by each desk and snatching their tests and pencils from their grip. When she reached Bobert's desk and collected his test she looked at Jake, casting him a dirty look. She maintained this grumpy demeanor as she returned to her desk and slouched, looking over several of the tests.
The bell rang at this note and Jake rushed out of the classroom, hoping to retrieve his things from Bobert. "Where could he be?" said Jake, scanning from side to side.
"Hey Jake," said Gumball, greeting the coyote. "Trouble?"
"It's just Bobert, he made off with my stuff. Any idea where he went?" asked Jake, peering around Gumball and checking the area around him for Bobert.
"Ah, do you mean this stuff?" said Gumball, pulling Jake's backpack out from behind his back.
"How'd you get it from Bobert?" asked Jake, taking his backpack and slinging it over his shoulder.
"I have my ways," Gumball said with a smirk. "Anyways, you should get going, 'Jake' won't take kindly to losing his stuff."
"Thanks, Gumball, how can I ever repay you?" said the coyote, beaming happily at the blue feline.
"That's two you owe me, saving your stuff and your hide from Tina Rex in the dodgeball game," said Gumball, proudly tapping his chest.
"Yeah, but you and Darwin owe me one for saving you both from Mr. Robinson," said Jake, pointing at Gumball.
"Well, Darwin is getting Anais. She'll be able to help us get Bobert back to normal, no problem," said Gumball, reassuring Jake.
"I hope so," said Jake to himself, before facepalming.
"What is it?" asked Gumball, not understanding Jake's frustrations.
"Bobert, where is he now?" said Jake.
"You're right, last I checked he was either heading to the gym or the library, muttering about how he is the real Jake Wiley," said Gumball. "Maybe we should split up, we can cover more ground that way."
"Sounds like if you find anything suspicious in your investigation let me know; we have to stop Bobert before he starts making matters worse for me," said Jake. He was about to set off but then turned back around. "You sure this will work Gumball? It seems like a wild goose chase to me."
"Hey, Jake, you forget- it's me. I can't get into trouble because of my roguish charm," said Gumball, taking off down the hallway.
"Okay then, I'll just go this way I guess," said Jake as he snuck down the hallway. "Where could he be?"
Gumball rushed down the hallway, darting through the crowds of people, looking around for Bobert.
"Gumball?" said Anais, capturing the young blue cat's attention.
"Hey sis, you have a plan to get Bobert back to his boring normal self, right?" said Gumball, facing his sister and brother.
"Don't worry, Anais has a plan," said Darwin. "I'm sure it will work."
"From what Darwin has told me, Bobert's memory banks have taken damage and he believes himself to be Jake," said Anais, before getting interrupted.
"Like a case of amnesia, we know that much," said Gumball.
"Will you just shut up and listen?" demanded Anais. "There's a certain way to reboot Bobert, but the key is to sneak up on him. We'll have to power him down and take him apart and reorganize his data banks."
"Sounds simple enough," said Gumball hastily.
"There's more, we've got to careful when tampering with Bobert, anything we might do to him could have a long-lasting result," said Anais. "We can't just throw caution to the wind."
"Don't worry Anais, we can pull this off no problem," said Darwin confidently as he followed his brother.
"I don't think that will be the case this time," sighed Anais as she followed her brothers down the hallway. "Can you slow down for a second? First of all, where's Jake?"
"We split up in order to look for Bobert. I'm sure he'll let us know if he found anything suspicious," said Gumball.
"Where is he now?" asked Anais. "We need to talk to him as well."
"I think he was heading towards the library," said Gumball, stroking his chin as he thought.
"Come on, let's find him," said Anais, turning around and urging her brothers to follow her.
Jake silently moved down the vacant hallways, finding no sign of Bobert.
The coyote rounded the corner to find several familiar faces.
"Oops," snarled Tina Rex as Jake came into view.
"Oh crap!" said Jake nervously, backing up only to see Jamie and Anton behind him. "Alright, I'm cornered. Not to worry; I just have to think of something."
The coyote backed up before running into the water fountain. "That's it!" he thought, quickly devising a plan to get away.
"Alright coyote, you've become a nuisance and you need a lesson in respect," said Tina, clearly annoyed by the dodgeball game.
"Well, go ahead, I'm not scared, not in the slightest," said Jake, with confidence.
"What?" asked Jamie, incredulously.
"Go on, get it over with," said Jake, ready for Tina to try to hit him.
Tina swung her tail at the small coyote. He ducked and the tail hit the water fountain, removing it from the wall and sending water blasting all over Tina's gang. Jake let out a relieved laugh as the t-rex and her friends floundered around, trying to get up from the floor. Jake had remained relatively dry, his clothes only being slightly damp and his fur speckled with water.
"What have we here?" said a familiar voice, making the hairs on the back of Jake's neck stand up. "Mr. Wiley, care to explain what is going on?"
Jake turned around to see Miss Simian, once again glaring at him. He remained silent at this, not wanting to make matters worse than they already were.
"Well, I'm sure you can explain in the principal's office," the elderly baboon grabbing the reluctant coyote by the forearm.
"You have to explain your actions of late, Mr. Wiley," said Miss Simian, taking pleasure from Jake's puzzled reaction. "Don't know what I mean? Well, there's enough evidence to get you into detention for the next week or two."
"I highly doubt that Miss Simian," said Jake.
"Don't be so sure, want to explain why your name is scrawled over two tests? Are you purposely trying to confuse me, and now tampering with school property. Those are some capital offenses," said Miss Simian, taking joy in Jake's frightened expression. "Perhaps I should inform your parents, the looks on their faces when they realize their son is nothing but a no good hoodlum."
"What have I gotten myself into this time?" Jake thought to himself as he was led into the principal's office.
Thanks for reading the newest chapter. Anyways, what did you think about it and is there anything I should improve on? Also what characters would you like to see in my story? Thanks and as always stay tuned for the next chapter!
Next Chapter: The Imposter- Part Two
Will Jake be able to convince Principal Brown to let him off the hook? It seems very unlikely when Miss Simian starts pushing for the young coyote to get detention for the rest of the week, starting that day. Anais, Gumball, and Darwin might have an ace up their sleeves, though.
Author's Notes:
-Daisy Bell is the song Hal 9000 sings as he is deactivated in 2001: A Space Odyssey
-I've been brainstorming several new characters for this story, and they might appear in several chapters.
-As for the twists and turns, they'll show up in some of the later chapters.