The Newcomer
An Amazing Story of Gumball Story
By NeoNimbus
Chapter 36-The Visit: Part 1
It was a peaceful evening at the Paxton residence, a modest two story house in a rather nice neighborhood, neither big nor small, but just the right size. For Rhonda, it was still home and a good place for her and her father, Max Paxton.
Max Paxton, like his daughter, is a mouse with yellow fur, but had red hair, was quite fit for his age, had a square jaw and wore a light green shirt, blue jeans and brown boots. In addition, he also owned a store that sold sports equipments, selling high quality gears to his customers with a fair price, usually giving him enough money for the mortgage on the house him and his daughter was living in.
As father and daughter sat at the kitchen table happily eating takeout from Joyful Burger, Max decided to strike up a conversation with Rhonda, if only because he couldn't stand the silence in the room.
"So Rhonda, how was school today?"
"The same as usual, dad." Rhonda replied. "Just getting to my classes on time, staying active and avoid upsetting Principal Pauline all at once."
"I'm amazed that you were able to put up with that everyday." Max noted, relieved that his only daughter could take care of herself.
"You get use to the rigorous schedule. Say, is it alright if I bring a friend over here this weekend?"
"Sure hon. I don't mind at all." the older mouse replied. "Do you plan to bring Edie, Momo or Rose here?"
"Actually dad, this friend happens to be a boy."
The moment Rhonda gave her honest answer to her father; Max did a spit take of the soda he was drinking at the moment. After wiping off the remains with a napkin, he faced his daughter with an incredulous look.
"You're friend is a boy?! He wouldn't happen to be Ivan, would it?"
"What?!" Rhonda asked, aghast to hear that from her father. "I would never be friends with him! Also, before you ask, Scorch is having plans with his aunt and uncle this weekend."
"I see…" Max began, still feeling unease on his part. "If it isn't either of them, who is it?"
"His name is Brian O'Quinn and we've been hanging out for quite some time now. I was wondering if you're fine with that."
Max hesitated for a moment, as the older mouse pondered on what to say next. On one hand, Max was quite protective of Rhonda, considering that her mother passed away six years ago and didn't want to see anything bad happening to her. On the other hand,, this Brian kid seemed to be a trustworthy person and if Rhonda liked him, then there was no reason to doubt her.
His mind made up, Max took a deep breath, before he faced his daughter once more.
"Alright dear, he can come."
"That's great! Thank you so much dad!" Rhonda exclaimed, before she hugged her father.
"Don't mention it." Max said to Rhonda.
Even though the older mouse gave her his permission, privately, he couldn't help but be a bit worried. He didn't expect his daughter to have a male friend out of the blue and couldn't help but feel uncomfortable of the idea that Rhonda has been hanging out with a boy for quite some time.
The next day at Elmore Junior High, Brian was putting most of the material away in his locker, having already fulfilled their purpose for Miss Simian's class today. Before he could begin walking to join up with his friends at the cafeteria, Brian's cell phone suddenly rang, much to his curiosity, as he pulled it from his hoodie and proceeded to answer it.
"Hello?"
"Hey Brian." Rhonda greeted the purple fox, leaving Brian ecstatic with joy upon hearing the mouse's voice.
"Hey Rhonda, what's up?" Brian happily called back.
"Other than the usual routine at my school, nothing much is happening so far." Rhonda replied. "Anyway, are you busy this weekend?"
"I don't have anything planned yet, why?" asked Brian.
"I was wondering if you could drop by at my place this Saturday and hang out there instead."
The moment Rhonda said those words; Brian stood still in his spot, shocked and surprised to hear this from the mouse. It was the last thing he was expecting to hear from her.
"Brian, are you still there?"
"…Sorry about that Rhonda, it's just that I didn't expect to hear that." Brian replied, scratching his head sheepishly. "Plus, I'm really nervous about coming to your place, especially since I haven't met your dad."
"Don't worry about it; just relax and be yourself." Rhonda assured the nervous fox.
"You know, you're right. Anyway, I'll stop by at your place this Saturday." said Brian, feigning a smile.
"That's great, Brian! Just be there in the afternoon tomorrow. Anyway, I have to go now. Bye!"
Once Rhonda hung up, the smile from Brian's face disappeared, replaced by nervousness and uncertainty, as the purple fox slowly made his way to the cafeteria, thinking of what to do next.
Gumball and Darwin were at their usual spot with their lunches, waiting for Brian to show up. It's been a few minutes since they last saw their friend in the hallway and for some strange reason, the purple fox hadn't shown up yet, something that left Gumball clearly irritated.
'What's taking him so long? He should have been here by now.'
As Gumball pondered about this, on cue, Brian finally showed up, as the purple fox made his way to his friends. Just as Gumball was about to say something, both him and Darwin noticed their friend's expression of gloominess written all over his face, much to their curiosity.
"Hey Brian, what's with the long face?" asked Gumball.
"Yeah, you were in a good mood not so long ago." Darwin pointed out, prompting the purple fox to take a deep breath, before offering an explanation to them.
"Guys, Rhonda wants me to visit her place this Saturday and I told her I would come."
"Oh, that is a surprise…" Darwin began. "But if you accepted her offer so eagerly, why are you so down about it?"
"The thing is, I'm quite nervous about it." Brian replied. "The last thing I wanted to do is to make a bad impression. Not to mention I'll be seeing her dad for the first time."
"Now that makes a lot of sense." said Gumball.
"Tell me about it…" Brian began. "Its times like this I wish I had someone who could give me some pointers."
"Don't worry about it, Brian. We'll help you out." Gumball proclaimed, with Darwin nodding his head in agreement. Brian, on the other hand, was hardly impressed by their declaration, much to the duo's confusion.
"Let me rephrase that: its times like this I wish I had someone who could give me professional help in my situation."
Both Gumball and Darwin tried to refute the purple fox's statement, hoping to convince their friend otherwise. But after a minute or so of thinking, both the blue feline and the two-legged fish lowered their heads in defeat, unable to come up with anything.
Just as Gumball and Darwin looked down at the floor with disappointment, a certain young pink rabbit showed up to greet the trio.
"Hey guys." Anais greeted them.
"Hey Anais." Brian and the Watterson brothers greeted back, before an idea came to the purple fox.
"Say Anais, are you doing anything this afternoon?"
"I don't think so, Brian. Why-"
Before Anais could finish her sentence, the purple fox suddenly confronted her right out of the blue, much to the child prodigy's curiosity.
"I've got no time to explain, but it's very serious and I need to talk to you right away."
With that, Brian grabbed Anais' wrist and whisked her away from the cafeteria, leaving only the Watterson brothers still sitting at their table. Though perplexed by their friend's action, the duo decided to shrug it off and focused on another unrelated subject instead.
"So Darwin, are you ready to set a new world record?"
"You know I'm always ready, Gumball."
Normally for Rhonda, a typical day at Elmore Academy would always consisted of her getting to class on time, practicing her athletic skills and not provoking Principal Pauline. But today turned out far different than the mouse could imagined, especially when she discussed her weekend plans with her group of friends.
"Are you serious, girl?!" The green parrot asked incredulous. "You're going to invite that townie in your own home tomorrow?"
"First off, his name is Brian, Edie…" Rhonda corrected the parrot, annoyed by her friend's reaction. "Second, I don't see what the big deal is. Rose and Momo don't seem bothered by the fact that I became friends him."
"The big deal is that townie might try to mess things up the moment he steps inside your house." Edie retorted.
"Edie, that's enough." the tall rose in the elegant plant pot spoke. "It doesn't matter whom Rhonda becomes friends with. As long as this Brian fellow got her trust, then everything is cool."
"Rose got a point…" the peach meekly began. "From what she has told us about him, he seems like a nice guy."
"Whatever you say…" Edie flippantly spoke. "Besides, if he's going to warm up to you this Saturday, then I suggest you should make a few changes of your own."
"What do you mean by that?" Rhonda questioned the parrot.
Before Edie could say anything, Rose suddenly spoke up, cutting the parrot off.
"What Edie meant to say is that you should try to be more presentable. No offense Rhonda, but you need to mellow your tomboyish nature. I think you also could use a change of wardrobe."
"What's wrong with the way I act and dress?"
"Most of the time, you tend to get a bit rough in certain situation." Momo explained. "Also, we never have you seen wore a dress or something nice."
"What exactly are you three trying to say?"
"Look girl, if you're going to have this Brian boy to like you enough, then Rose, Momo and I will teach you everything we know." Edie replied.
"Are you sure that's-" was all Rhonda could say, before the first bell rang, prompting the four girls to quickly made their way to the next class before they were late.
Several hours later…
After Brian told his situation to Anais, the child prodigy, despite being rather hesitant on her part, agreed to help the purple fox out as best as she could and informed him to meet with her at her place after school. As such, Brian honored that promise and made his way to the Watterson residence after school, just in time to see Anais in front of the house.
"Alright, I'm here Anais." said Brian, as the purple fox tried to catch his breath. "Now, are you sure you have some ideas on how I should present myself when I visit Rhonda's place tomorrow?"
"Don't worry Brian; I think I have enough ideas to help you out." Anais assured her friend. "In fact, I think we should begin the first lesson in my room."
"Alright then, let's do this." Brian said to the child prodigy, happy to know that he had found someone who can help him act like a professional.
"This is going to be great!"
"This is pretty stupid!" Brian shouted in dismay, especially when he found out how the first lesson would be laid out.
Apparently, Brian learned that the first lesson would have him involve learning proper etiquette and though the purple fox didn't mind it, it never occurred to him that it would involved him playing with dolls and tea sets with Anais.
"C'mon Brian, this is only way if you want to show Rhonda that you're a gentleman." Anais insisted.
"Are you sure that you didn't bring me up so I can play with you?" Brian questioned the child prodigy, arching an eyebrow with curiosity.
"…Maybe." Anais responded, her eyes darting away from Brian's.
Brian continued to look at the child prodigy, uncertain whether she was being honest with him or not. Regardless of her reasons, the purple fox decided not to argue any further, waiting to see where this lesson will go.
"Alright Anais, if you say so."
"Thank you so much, Brian. Anyway, here's how it goes…"
While the child prodigy began to discuss with the purple fox about how to act in the right manner, Brian couldn't help but think of what Rhonda was up to now, especially since he'll be seeing her tomorrow afternoon.
'I'm betting she doesn't have to go through this.'
When Edie, Rose and Momo told Rhonda what they had in mind for today, the yellow mouse didn't expect all of them to show up at her house, let alone dropping by in her room. It didn't take her too long to realize what they were planning for today.
"Are you sure you three wanted to do this?" Rhonda asked with a tone of discomfort.
"Don't worry about it Rhonda; we know exactly what we're doing." Edie assured the mouse.
"That's what I'm afraid of." Rhonda muttered under her breath. Thankfully for her, none of her friends seemed to have heard her response.
"Alright then, let's get on with it." said Rose, as the flower made her way to the closet. "First off, you'll need to present yourself to Brian in more appropriate attire."
"What do you mean? I like the clothes I wear."
In response, Rose opened the left side of the closet, which contained nothing but shirts, sweaters and pants, leaving Rhonda curious to wonder what the flower's point was.
"You dress up more like a boy whenever we go out, including the weekends. What I'm trying to say is that you need to show your feminine side every now and then, especially with some of these clothes you barely wear."
Just as Rhonda was about to say a single word, Rose made her way to the right side of the closet, opened it in the process, which revealed an assortments of dresses, which left the mouse rather uncomfortable upon looking at them.
"Do I really have to wear one of those for tomorrow?" Rhonda asked her friends.
"At least do it for Brian. After all, he is your friend." Momo insisted.
Rhonda continued to look at her friends, still having doubts about their help. As the mouse sighed about her situation, she couldn't help but wonder what Brian was up to for the moment.
'At least he doesn't have to go through this.'
Once Brian was finished learning how to have some proper etiquette from Anais, the child prodigy led the purple fox to the backyard for the next lesson. Thankfully for Brian, there were no dolls and tea sets around, much to his relief; it was the last thing he wanted to do after finishing up the first lesson.
"So, what do you have in mind for the next lesson?"
"That's simple, Brian…" Anais began. "Since you and Rhonda played basketball so often, the next lesson will basically going to test your flexibility."
"What does that have to do with me visiting Rhonda's place?"
Anais didn't respond right away and instead picked up a random object and immediately threw it right at Brian, hitting him in the head, much to his surprise.
"OW! What was that for?" Brian demanded, as he rubbed his head.
"Isn't it obvious? The lesson had already just begun." Anais replied.
Before Brian knew what happened next, the child prodigy began to pick up one random object and kept hurling them at Brian, forcing the startled purple fox to block one object after another, all the while trying to figure out what's going on with the Anais' mind.
'Oh man! Maybe turning to Anais' help wasn't such a good plan after all! She's behaving like Gumball!'
It took a long time for Edie, Rose and Momo to choose the right outfit for Rhonda, but eventually, the three girls were able to find what they were looking for and at their insistence, the mouse reluctantly tried them on: which consisted of a green dress with floral patterns and white sandals. Although her friends were impressed by her new attire, Rhonda was hardly happy about it.
"I look pretty stupid in this dress."
"Nonsense Rhonda, you look very fine to us." Edie said to the disgruntled mouse.
"Besides, you should wear such clothes more often." Rose insisted.
"Yeah, I have to agree with them on this." said Momo.
"Anyway, what else do you three have in mind?" Rhonda asked her friends.
Edie, Rose and Momo pondered for a moment, trying to figure what they should do next to help their friend out. After a long while, the three eventually realized what they have in stored for the mouse.
"Are you two thinking what I'm thinking?" Edie asked Rose and Momo.
As if they have already figured out the answer, both girls pulled a makeup kit from behind their backs. Likewise, Edie herself pulled out a makeup kit of her own. The moment Rhonda saw her friends pulling out their makeup kits, the mouse began to feel very unease by what they planned to do with them.
"You're not serious about this, are you?"
"Don't worry Rhonda; we'll just apply one look after the other until we know for sure which one suits you the most." Edie replied.
Rhonda, however, became increasingly uncomfortable by this, as she wasn't thrilled with putting makeup on her face. Even so, her friends insisted that she should at least try them on for Brian. After all, it was just going to be one day, so she might as well get this over with it.
With that in mind, Rhonda took a deep breath and sighed, before she turned her attention to her friends, ready to give them her answer.
"Alright then, I'll give it a shot."
As soon as Rhonda gave them her response, Edie, Rose and Momo smiled, opening up their makeup kit, as the mouse closed her eyes, just wanting for this nightmare to end as quickly as possible.
Brian couldn't believe how today was turning out for him. After getting through a barrage of objects that Anais threw at him, the child prodigy began showing him a few more lessons, none of which proved to be normal for him.
First, Anais thought he was slouching too much and at her insistence; Brian straightened himself up as best as he can. Needless to say, this wasn't such a good idea and he ended up as stiff as a statue. Thankfully, the child prodigy was able to help him regain his composure after several minutes.
After Brian managed to regain total control of his body, Anais was convinced that the purple fox wasn't lean enough, so she had him run on a treadmill. Unfortunately for Brian, it came with a twist: she had somehow got her hands on a ravenous dog that she put on the treadmill with him, so he was forced to run for dear life to stay ahead of him.
Finally, once Brian was able to survive that nightmare, Anais suggested relaxing his body, so he wouldn't mess himself up when he visited Rhonda's place. At first, this sounded like a good idea and for a while, the purple fox positioned himself in a relaxing manner. But after just a few minutes, the purple fox's eye popped wide open, as he felt several sharp pains all over his body; apparently, Anais thought that adding acupuncture needles would help improved his relaxation and secretly stuck them on the unsuspecting purple fox.
'I don't know how much I could take more of this.' Brian thought, as he removed one of many several needles out of his body. 'I need to come up with a good excuse and fast.'
"You're still not mad about what happened just now, are you?" Anais cautiously asked the purple fox.
"I'm just irritated that you didn't give me a heads up." Brian responded. "Otherwise, I'm just glad there were no permanent damage."
"That's…good to hear, I guess." said the child prodigy. "Now, I think I have a few more-"
"Actually, I think that's all I need for today." Brian suddenly spoke, cutting off the child prodigy. "In fact, um, I think I need to go now to finish something very important. Yeah, that's it."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, I'm positive." the purple fox frantically responded. "Anyway, I have to get going now and thanks for the help."
With that, both Brian and Anais waved each other a goodbye, before the purple fox dashed out of the Watterson residence, just wanting to head back home and get some rest for the day ahead of him.
Rhonda didn't know how long this was going to take. Putting on a dress and some makeup on was bad enough, now she had to put up with a few more bizarre lessons that her friends had just came up.
After Edie, Rose and Momo agreed on the appropriate look for the mouse, the trio began to explain to her on what she should do next for the afternoon tomorrow, ranging from table manners, postures and personality. Needless to say, Rhonda wasn't enjoying this in the slightest and she doesn't how much more she was going to tolerate this.
'This is becoming very boring. I need to think of something to end these so-called lessons.'
While Rhonda continued to ponder on her next move, Edie, Rose and Momo discussed with one another on how much progress they have made helping the mouse out.
"So girls, do you think we done the best we can for our friend?" asked Edie.
"I don't know about that, Edie…" Rose began. "Why don't we talk to Rhonda and hear what she had to say?"
"Rose is right; we should ask her and hear what she had to say." Momo softly spoke.
Agreeing with both the rose and the peach, Edie and her friends turned to Rhonda, ready to ask the mouse her opinion.
"So Rhonda…" Edie began. "Is there anything you want to-?"
"Oh, look at the time." Rhonda suddenly said, before she got up and led her friends out of her room. "I have to, um, catch up on a few assignments for Mr. Dull's class. Yeah, that sounds about right."
"Are you sure you want to call it a day?" asked Rose.
"Oh absolutely, it was nice and all, but I'll see you three next week at school."
"Alright then, if you say so." said Momo, before she, Edie and Rose find themselves out in the front yard, while Rhonda quickly closed the front door.
"Man, what a day." the mouse muttered under her breath, as she wiped off most of the makeup on her face, before she went upstairs, before making her way to her bedroom.
As soon as she opened the door to her bedroom, Rhonda noticed her cell phone ringing on her bed, prompting the mouse to pick it up and answered it, curious to see who was calling her at this hour.
"Hello?"
"Hey Rhonda." the voice responded. It didn't take Rhonda too long to know who it was at the end of the receiver.
"Hey Brian, its good hear from you." said Rhonda, relieved that something good actually happened today.
"Yeah, it's good to hear from you too." Brian said to the mouse, as he lied downon the couch. "So how was your day?"
"Not as good as I had imagined. How was your day so far?"
"…It got complicated and to be honest, it was one I was glad to get out of."
"That's good to hear, Brian. Anyway, I'm looking forward to your visit tomorrow."
"Same here."
With that, both Brian and Rhonda hung up their cell phone before becoming anxious about tomorrow afternoon, uncertain as to how the day will turn out.
Next time on The Newcomer
Chapter 37-The Visit: Part 2
Brian's visit to Rhonda's house doesn't go out as planned for either of them.
Tidbits
-For Max, the father of Rhonda, I envisioned Clancy Brown (best remembered for voicing Lex Luthor, among other roles) doing his voice.
-I finally have the chance to introduce Edie, Rose and Momo, Rhonda's friends from Elmore Academy, although they appeared way earlier in chapter 12 of this story (at the time, the three weren't given names).
-For Edie, I imagined Kali Troy (whose voice role includes Trixie from American Dragon: Jake Long & Rocket from Young Justice); for Rose, I had Tara Strong in mind; for Momo, I imagined Andrea Libman (who happens to be the voice of Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie).
I hope everyone enjoyed this and I'll be seeing ya next chapter!