Gumball, Darwin and Lexy waited inside the mall by one of the benches on the second floor. Lexy was observing all the different people walking around in the mall as they went about their daily lives. Darwin rested his head on his right arm with an expression of absolute boredom on his face. Gumball on the other hand was waiting anxiously, since Zoey informed him that Penny would be joining them today.
The blue cat had his doubts, along with a bit of fear of the very girl that was trying to help him. Sure he was happy for the help, but it seemed that she could be a handful and there was certainly no backing out now.
Darwin let out an exaggerated sigh. "What's taking them so long?"
"Why are you in such a hurry?" Lexy asked still looking at all the people walking around.
"It's just we've been waiting for 20mins already." Darwin said lifting up his head and sitting upright.
"Technically they're only 10mins late since we arrived 10mins early." Lexy informed him.
"I think I see them." Gumball pointed at the bottom of the escalator.
Zoey and Penny walked side by side and then went up the escalator, with the former holding what looked like a present wrapped in light blue. When they got to the top Zoey waved at them, but Penny on the other hand seemed a little surprised.
"Hey guys! Sorry I took so long. Here you go Darwin." She handed the present to him.
Darwin looked confused. "Uh… thanks." He took the present.
"Told you I'd get you a reward."
"Uhmm… I didn't know we'd be meeting up with you guys." Penny said awkwardly.
"I did say let's go hang out at the mall with some friends." Zoey stated.
"No, you said you wanted to buy a new T-shirt and asked if I could show you some shops at the mall." Penny corrected and gave her an accusing look.
Zoey just shrugged. "Same thing."
"Hey where's Keith?" Lexy asked noticing his absence.
"I told him what we were gonna do today and then he said something about 'choosing life'." She said making air quotes with her fingers at the last part.
While that conversation went on Darwin had opened his present and saw that it was a black helmet with a red strip in the middle. "Oh, uh… thanks?"
"A helmet?" Gumball asked.
"A reward that doesn't prepare you for a future challenge is a pointless reward." Zoey reasoned. "Besides, we're no B-team so we've got to be ready for anything."
Darwin seemed very concerned with this and gave his brother a pleading look. Gumball just shrugged awkwardly in response. Lexy was starting to get uncomfortable with all the awkward feelings and decided that it was time to get on with things.
"So, you said you wanted to buy a new T-shirt, Zoey." Lexy said to get things going.
"Actually, could we get lunch first?" Gumball asked. "I'm kind of hungry."
"Yeah, I could eat." Penny agreed.
The group went down to the first floor and entered one of the fast food restaurants. The smell of burgers and fries got some hungry stomachs growling. They took a table that could seat all of them, Gumball and Penny making sure not to sit next to each other. Things we're still a little awkward between the two. Things only got worse from here as no one really knew what to say and they seemed to rely on clichés such as "Nice weather we're having?"
Zoey leaned closer to Darwin sitting next to her and whispered. "This is going downhill fast. We need to get those two to interact more."
"How do you propose we do that?" He asked and took a bite out of his burger.
"After lunch we hit the bowling alley, a little competitive sport to help relieve some tension." She told him and drank some of her soda.
"Yeah, I think it's starting to get to Lexy." Darwin pointed out.
Lexy sat next to Gumball and directly opposite Penny. All see could do was put on a fake smile and hope no one noticed the drops of sweat on her forehead. Penny and Gumball did attempt to talk, but none of them could even finish a sentence before running out of things to say. They'd turn to her with a pleading looks to help them finish their sentences and all she did was smile and nod.
After lunch, which Lexy described as being mentally exhausting, they went over to the bowling alley. The teams were made out of three, with Keith having been dragged into this thing. Lexy was relieved to with his arrival as she could now talk to him instead of Penny and Gumball. This happiness was sort lived when they split into teams. Penny, Gumball and a grumpy looking Lexy was in Blue team while Zeoy, Darwin and Keith were in Red team.
Darwin took precaution and put on his helmet. He then took a bowling ball and took a deep breath before stepping forward and releasing it. The ball rolled towards the pins while everyone leaned forward slightly, in anticipation for what would happen next. A loud crashing sound was heard as the ball made contact with the pins, knocking over all except one.
"Whoohoo !" Darwim shouted and lifted both arms into the air.
"Nice one Darwin!" Keith cheered and gave him a thumb up.
With that everyone took a turn and really things started. Each time someone bowled their team would cheer them on and complement them on the attempt afterwards. Even when Gumball managed to knocked down most of the pins in the wrong lane.
"Huh, this is actually working. They're talking to each other." Darwin noted.
"I told you we just needed to ease things up." Zoey said.
"Says the most competitive one here." Keith said with a smirk.
"Hey, it's my nature." She said in defense. "Besides, everyone's still having fun."
"What do you mean I obsess over irrelevant little things!?" They heard Gumball shout at Penny.
"I'm just saying you always tend to make a small issue into a big problem, because you just won't let certain things go." Penny stated.
"So what's plan C?" Keith asked.
"Argh, can't anything be simple?" She face palmed. "Alright, we're gonna need something to take their minds off the argument and give them a chance to cool down. So I'm going to need one of you to take a hit for the team."
Darwin crossed his arms. "Well I did it last time."
"Fair enough. So Keith will you…" Zoey looked over to where Keith was sitting and saw that he wasn't there. She turned around and saw that he was jogging towards the boys toilets. "I'm going to hurt that guy." She muttered annoyed.
"Well I'm still not doing anything. Your methods are unnecessarily aggressive." Darwin said and crossed his arms.
Penny stood up. "You know what? I'm starting to wonder why we lasted as long as we did."
Gumball gasped. "What are you talking about? We made a great couple."
"Come on Darwin, we're running out of time!" Zoey begged.
"No! I have a better idea. " Darwin stood up and walked over to Penny and Gumball. "Enough you two!"
Both Penny and Gumball stopped and starred at Darwin. Lexy who had been sitting next to the two finally released a breath she didn't know she was holding and whipped the sweat off of her forehead. This was way out of her comfort zone.
"Listen, the only reason you two ever broke up was because of a simple miss understanding. Gumball does not have a thing for Carrie or anyone other than you for that matter. His had a crush on you for as long as I can remember." Darwin said fed up with all of this.
"And you Penny." He pointed at her. "You have stayed with Gumball despite all his many, many flaws."
"Hey!" Gumball protested.
"And I'd like to think it's because you feel the same way about him. You knew what you were getting yourself into with him. If you two aren't willing to compromise and can't deal with what you have been dealing with while dating than maybe neither of you are ready for a serious relationship."
There was a moment of silence.
"Wow. I-I've never thought of it like that." Penny said looking to the ground.
"Yeah. Look Penny, maybe you're right. I can go overboard with things sometimes and I guess I can try to scale it down just a little." Gumball said rubbing the back of his neck.
"And I guess I should have trusted you more. If you're willing, we can probably give this another shot." Penny said hopefully.
"I'd like that." Gumball smiled softly.
"Would you look at that, confronting them worked better than taking the long way around." Zoey noted.
"And that brings me to you-" Darwin pointed at her.
"I'm going to stop you right there." Zoey interrupted. "My methods may be 'aggressive' as you put it, but they tend to get results. I was raised to be tough and get the job done even if it means breaking a few bones." She explained.
"Just try to look for a less aggressive option next time." Darwin sighed.
"I promise nothing, but at least that helmet should protect that pretty little head of yours." She said pointing at the helmet on Darwin's head.
"Thanks Darwin." Lexy said now standing next to them. "I thought I was going to explode."
"Yeah nice one." Keith said popping out from nowhere.
"You coward." Zoey said and gave him the stink eye.
"Last time you tried to help a friend you pushed me off of a roof to help him learn how to fly." He said in his defense.
Both Lexy and Darwin was shocked by this.
"I thought he'd get the needed motivation and fly down to catch you. I mean you only broke one arm." Zoey reasoned.
"Hey guys. Gumball interrupted. "Sorry about that thing between me and Penny and thanks for the help."
"Yeah, we kinda needed a reminder of how we feel about each other." Penny added.
"Anytime." Darwin said happily.
"Now come on, we still got a few rounds left of bowling." Zoey said.
Note: Well done Darwin.
Hello everyone!
I do apologize for not having updated in over a month. So much for my schedule... Gumball and Penny seem to be back together again. Hopefully the next chapter wont take as long, though my exams are coming up soon so I promise nothing.
Anyway, I do hope you all enjoyed this chapter. If you did feel free to fav and/or follow. Let me know your comments and criticism in the reviews, or pm me. Have a great day/night!