The attempt
Gumball started to confess inside the school bus the following morning.
"Happy to see you're fine. I'm so sorry for what happened last Sunday…"
"I know…. I know!" Penny said interrupting him.
"You didn't mean to hurt mean. I guess I can't blame you for lying to me! You knew that I could turn jealous if I came to know about your trip in the museum with Nancy, and you know how I can be easily offended! But it was useless…."
"You followed me that day?" Gumball asked.
"Exactly!"
"I knew it! In fact, I felt that someone was spying me inside the museum. I guessed it was you. I guessed you were that deer but…"
Penny interrupted him again.
"I wasn't the deer. I knew there was something strange when you talked about your visit to your grandma Jojo. I know you hate her. So I pretended to believing in you and when you closed the door, I came back. I turned into a chameleon and I saw Nancy taking you from home with her bicycle. I followed you inside the museum. I was near the Trilobites and up to the deer's head statue when you reached the big dinosaur skeleton. I followed you inside the astral pavilion until you were back home! You couldn't see me because I was camouflaged with the environment!" she explained.
"I'm sorry…. I knew you were jealous of her. I saw that green light around your body." Gumball said.
"Yes, I was so jealous of her. It was foolish of you to take me to the infirmary. You knew that I could….send her to the Sun?" Penny asked.
"Yes, but I was sure that you wouldn't do that!" Gumball answered.
"Why?"
"Because when you turned into a monster in the backyard you fell to the ground and you broke an antler!"
"So?" Penny said.
"You turned into your default form as soon you lost your antler. I guessed you weren't able to change your appearance if one of your antlers was missing. So I bought you to the infirmary!"
Penny remembered when she failed to change her appearance when she was in the infirmary last day. She touched her head; her antler was still missing.
"Nancy said it will grow back again!" Penny said.
Gumball went on his confession;
"I had to go to the museum with her! She had…."
"I know this…." Penny said.
Penny told him about the conversation between her and Nancy in the infirmary omitting the part where Nancy said that she could turn into beautiful creatures.
"Happy to hear you're friends now!" Gumball said.
Meanwhile the school bus arrived at school.
Nancy arrived with her bike. She greeted all the kids and she talked to Penny.
"How are you, today?" she asked.
"I'm fine. Thanks!" Penny answered smiling.
Nancy kissed her cheek.
"Have a nice day!" she said to her.
The bell rang.
Penny never felt jealous of Nancy. Even when she saw her kissing her boyfriend in the cheeks at school entrance, she didn't feel annoyed. Penny didn't consider Nancy her rival anymore. She started to consider the nurse her older sister. Days passed peacefully at Elmore Junior High and so it was until Nancy went back to Maine. She was hired as new nurse at the Maine's General Hospital. At least, that was written in the postcard that she sent to the school the day after her departure.
"We'll probably miss her!" the Principal Brown said.
Meanwhile the old nurse replaced Nancy in the infirmary.
One day, during playtime, Gumball and Penny were sitting on the swings. They kept quiet for a while watching the Sun. Then the blue cat talked.
"I think I'll miss her!" he said.
Penny was quiet.
"Yes, I have to admit, I love Nancy but it wasn't that kind of love which I prove for you!" Gumball said.
"I know, I know! You were just addicted by her prettiness…" Penny answered after a while. Maybe even she was a bit sorry for Nancy's departure.
"….which I think it's normal. I guess everyone do love pretty (and nice) creatures. It's ordinary. Everyone loved Nancy's appearance. I was jealous of her for that, since she's beautiful and I'm a freak!"
"What are you saying, Penny? You're extraordinary!" Gumball said.
"I appreciate your efforts, Gumball!"
Penny stopped staring at the Sun.
"But "you're extraordinary" doesn't mean "you're beautiful". I have to accept the truth. Nancy is beautiful and I'm not. That's the truth, I can't deny that. I must quit living in a world of illusions! Maybe we should quit to being a couple!"
"Why?" Gumball asked a bit confused and frightened.
"What happened in these last days made me think a lot. You fell in love with that nurse despite you were already engaged with me. I was jealous for that. A disaster could happen, you know how unstable and dangerous I am, but thankfully, that didn't happen! So, I think we should quit to being a couple because you can easily fall in love with pretty girls and I can be very dangerous when jealous!" Penny explained.
"How can you say that? It won't happen again!" Gumball said.
"Gumball…." Penny said. She was staring the ground.
"What…what is it?"
"Remember when you asked to marry me and I answered we were too young?"
"So? What's the point?"
"Well, what happened in these past few days made me realize that we were not only too young to marry, but we are also too young to be engaged!"
"Why?"
"Because we are twelve. We are too young and immature to grasp what love is!"
"What do you mean? Why are you so serious?" Gumball asked.
Penny took some time to answer.
"Gumball….is not me! It's love! Love is serious! We are too young to manage it. Love is something for mature people. Not for kids. Love is not kid stuff!"
"So, do you want to go through?"
The antlered creature stopped watching the ground.
"Maybe…."
She turned her head and looked her boyfriend in his eyes.
"…or maybe we can forget everything…"
"….and start all over again!" the blue cat said finishing the sentence.
The bell rang: playtime was over.
Miss Simian gave a lot of work to her students.
"We are a bit backward with the program, we must accelerate!"
Both Gumball and Penny didn't have time to do (or think) anything.
One day, during geometry class, Penny had to go to the toilet.
"Can I go to the toilet Miss Simian?" she asked.
"All right but be quick!" Miss Simian answered.
"Yes!" Penny said leaving the class.
She went to the toilet.
Once finished, Penny washed her orange tentacles in the sink.
She looked herself in the mirror. She gave a look to her appearance. Suddenly she remembered what Nancy said to her. Penny looked at her antler: it perfectly grew up again. She slowly closed her eyes and concentrated herself. She tried to think to something happy; her first kiss with Gumball.
A strong glare surrounded her body. Her antlers, her eyes and her wings started to become bigger. Her upper tentacles became arms with hands. A pair of paw-like feet appeared in her lower tentacles. A pair of pointy ears were appearing on her head. A little fluffy tail was appearing on her back. Her body was turning was turning into a pretty one and…..
Penny fainted.
When she woke up, she couldn't know how much time she spent sleeping. She gave a look at her in the mirror; her appearance was still of a lightbulb with wings, antlers and tentacles with no hands and feet.
The transformation failed.
"Perhaps I'm still not ready for that!" she thought.
"Maybe next time" she said leaving the bathroom.
In fact, one day, Penny tried again…..but that's another story.
END
