III - The Laser
It was once again lecture time in Miss Simian's seventh grade biology class. They were learning about cell structure and function – and this time, Gumball would be able to tell you this, having returned to his regularly scheduled alternation between extreme boredom and note taking.
There was a notable absence of anything in the far corner – there was no need for the box to remain there once the posters had been put up.
"...and the job of the mitochondria is to produce energy for the cell to use, in the form of a compound called ATP. Now, the rest of the organelles within a cell also have specialised functions… in order to illustrate this better, I've prepared a diagram."
Miss Simian paused to pull down the projection sheet from the ceiling, except it wasn't for projections. Instead, attached to it was a simplified scientific diagram of a mammal cell, suitable for the understanding of seventh graders.
Normally, Miss Simian preferred to use her trusty wooden pointer for diagrams like this, but she had unfortunately lost it two days ago and hadn't yet found a replacement. Now, Nigel was always telling her that she needed to update her teaching methods – indeed, her classroom was the only one in the school that still didn't have a built in projector – but Miss Simian knew she was stubborn about these things.
However, she had decided to take the temporary loss of her pointer as a sign from the universe, and had instead brought a more modern teaching tool for her students today. Certainly not anywhere near the level perhaps expected of a school these days, but it was a step forward.
Miss Simian brought out her new pointing tool; a shiny, metal cylinder. A laser pointer.
At the front of the class, Gumball's eyes widened as he took notice of it. His hand stilled from where it had been half-heartedly beginning to draw a copy of the diagram. He… he had encountered this before.
"Oh no," he whispered.
Miss Simian, none the wiser, boredly pressed down on the button to begin motioning around the diagram. A little red dot appeared against the picture, and Gumball hadn't thought to close his eyes or turn away.
He blinked, and his eyes became stilted and pointed at the edges. His pupils narrowed into slits – typical of a regular cat.
Next to him, Darwin noticed that Gumball had stopped writing, and glanced over in brief concern. It was unusual for Gumball to have stopped writing without his face being against the desk in boredom. He frowned in confusion when he noticed that his brother was at rapt attention, his ears standing up on his head, and his eyes…
What was with his eyes?
"So, here we have the nucleus, which contains all the DNA in a cell…"
Miss Simian, oblivious to the trouble brewing in her front row, waved the laser pointer around on the diagram.
Gumball stood up from his chair, his tail sticking up, and pounced.
"...In the body contain some of your DNA, which – WHOA!"
There was a shout of surprise from the teacher and gasps from around the classroom as suddenly a blue blur collided with her diagram, yowling like a cat. More shocked than mad, Miss Simian didn't let go of the laser as she flung her arms out of the way, and the little red dot followed, landing on the door to the classroom. Gumball quickly caught on, and with another yowl, scrambled over to catch it.
"What the – WATTERSON!" Screeched Miss Simian, still mostly shocked.
Gumball took no notice, nothing registering for him other than that evil red dot. He had to catch it –
Unthinkingly, Miss Simian moved the dot out of the way rather than turning it off. Gumball once again followed, leaping to smother it with his paws.
"Dude…" whispered Darwin, wincing at his brother. He was all for occasionally laughing when Gumball made a fool of himself, but being carted around the room by their teacher felt a bit too warped and mean.
"WATTER – Wait," Miss Simian began. She paused for a second, before a cold smirk took root and grew on her face. Having caught on, she darted the laser away again, and the smirk turned into a twisted grin as Gumball once again frantically followed, no regard for the students or the classroom.
"Heh," snorted Miss Simian, beginning to wave the laser around the room. Gumball had surrendered to his instincts and had no choice but to follow. The other students let out shouts and shrieks as Miss Simian unapologetically darted the laser, and thus Gumball over their desks, toppling some of them. Gumball came crashing to the back of the room where several science beakers were promptly smashed, and over the walls, where the new posters were torn down with a yowl and some sharp claws.
"G-Gumball!" Exclaimed Darwin in panic, ducking as shards of glass flew over his head and smashed on the opposite wall.
"Hey, stop!" Shouted Penny, looking much more worried than angry. She turned to Miss Simian, her arms covering her head as a few pencils flew by. "He can't help it, stop!"
"Yeah, this is insane!" Shouted Carrie, who had floated up to the top of the classroom. Being intangible, she wasn't trying to protect herself, but seeing her friend be mocked like this by their teacher was awful.
Miss Simian wasn't paying attention, fixated on guiding Gumball through her classroom, laughing maniacally as she darted the laser pen around.
"Oh, come on," she said, now weaving the light around the desks, watching with glee as Gumball frantically followed. "It's fun!"
"It's mean!" Yelled Darwin, flinching away when Gumball rammed into the leg of his chair.
Miss Simian shrugged nonchalantly, causing the laser pen to flip backwards in her fist and shine the red dot onto the chalkboard behind her.
"Oh no –" began Carrie, but she was abruptly drowned out by a sudden, shrieking noise, as Gumball jumped up and attempted to capture the dot by scratching the chalkboard.
"AAAAH-" yelled Miss Simian, finally wising up and turning off the laser pen before anyone's ears started to bleed.
The chalkboard noise came to an abrupt halt, and there was a beat of silence. Gumball wordlessly retracted his claws from where he had been hanging, and landed on the floor with a thump.
Now, Gumball was a prideful person, and he had a marvellous lack of stage fright when it came to doing things in public or in front of other people – or perhaps he was just too oblivious to be embarrassed – but either way, this felt different. In front of his class, in front of his teacher, for something he had no real control over.
Gumball felt his cheeks redden, and he screwed his eyes shut. He didn't want to look at the classroom, or his classmates.
"...Well, Watterson," Said Miss Simian after a few more seconds of silence. Gumball winced, accepting his fate prematurely and hoping his mum wouldn't be too mad at whatever it was. "That's detention; for property damage, and class disruption. We'll discuss this further, in principal Brown's office after class. Now, get back to your seat-"
"HEY!" Came a mad exclamation from the back of the room. Gumball flinched at the sudden noise, before his eyes snapped open. He knew that voice –
"That wasn't his fault! Sometimes I shapeshift in class and might accidentally break a chair – you don't punish me for that!"
His eyes widening, Gumball swivelled around and immediately zeroed in on the enraged form of Penny. Indeed, it looked as if she was close to shapeshifting that very moment, as she angrily faced down Miss Simian.
"Well, that's-" began the teacher in question, before another interruption stopped her.
"Yeah, and sometimes I melt everywhere if it's really hot and damage things! I don't get punished for that!"
Surprised, Gumball's gaze snapped to Sarah, who was scowling at Miss Simian. Miss Simian also seemed surprised, and faltered slightly as she attempted to rebut.
"Yes, but-"
"I sometimes need to sit in the sunlight, which can disrupt the class!" This time it was Leslie, looking uncharacteristically angry.
"I often damage school property by accident with my unknowable robot strength-" Bobert.
"Sometimes I rain all over the furniture, which clearly isn't good for it-" Masami.
Awed, Gumball watched on as his classmates came to his defence one at a time. He might have made a complete fool of himself in front of the class, but…
His eyes roamed, finally locking onto Darwin's. His brother gave him a big grin, and motioned his fin in what Gumball knew was supposed to be a thumbs up.
Gumball might not be friends with or on the best terms with all of his classmates, but they could all come together against the unfair tyranny of Miss Simian.
Due to the combined efforts of his classmates, Gumball didn't end up getting in trouble – to his immense relief. That afternoon, he dropped by the store on the way home and bought Miss Simian a replacement pointer himself.