It was lunchtime at school and Anais was at the cafeteria to get her lunch.

She was waiting in line, slowly moving forwards, when something caught her eye.

She saw Gumball looking down, almost in tears, quietly exit the cafeteria and go outside without getting any lunch.

Her ears lowered slightly and she frowned.

It's not like him to skip lunch...and he was almost in tears too...

Why was he so upset? Had somebody done something to upset him!?

She felt herself getting angry at the thought of someone upsetting her brother that badly.

She looked at her empty tray as her stomach rumbled, then looked outside thinking about Gumball.

She hesitated then left the line and put her tray back, deciding to go and check on him instead.

She went outside and scanned the playground for him.

He has to be here somewhere...

Eventually, she spotted him sitting alone on a bench at the back of the playground.

She began to walk over and as she got closer she heard him crying quietly.

Concerned, she sat down next to him.

"Gumball? What's wrong?" She asked quietly.

He quickly looked away, not wanting her to see him crying. "Nothing. I'm fine " He said bluntly.

"That's obviously not true. I saw you crying, you skipped lunch. There's clearly something upsetting you."

"I'm fine, honestly. You don't need to worry."

She hesitated, before carefully taking his paw into her own and looking up at him

"You can tell me. Whatever it is, you know you can tell me."

He slowly turned back around again and saw her giving him a reassuring smile.

He looked down and sniffed, still hesitant.

"Promise...promise you won't laugh..."

"Of course I won't. You know I'd never do that."

He hesitated then looked back up, beginning to tear up.

"Ms Simian gave us our math test results. I...I did terribly. Way worse than I expected. Even...even with all our study sessions (Read 'The Exam') and me really trying to focus, I still somehow failed. I got an F."

She was taken aback by this. An F!? Sure, he struggled a lot with math, but even without their study sessions he still shouldn't have done that badly!

"What!? That...that doesn't sound right. Are you sure?"

He nodded slowly, beginning to cry, unable to stop himself. "and that's...that's not the worst part. When...when Ms Simian gave me my test back, she mocked me, in front of the whole class, said that I got the lowest score out of everyone, that I...that I should be ashamed of myself, how could anyone be that stupid, she'd never seen such a bad score in all her years of teaching, I must be the dumbest student she's ever taught, that my Mom must be so disappointed in me..."

His ears lowered, falling flat on his head, and he let a whimper as he began to cry even harder, tears streaming down his face.

Anais' felt her ears lowering, feeling horrible at seeing him in such a state.

"I felt so stupid...like such a complete imbecile. A dumb, stupid, worthless moron, a-a-and hearing all my friends laugh at me, mock me for my stupidity, it hurt...it hurt so much to be made fun of like that, by the people I call my friends..."

He slowly looked down. "I just wanted to run away...I just wanted to curl up in a ball and cry!"

He began to sob into his paws. "I'm so stupid, I'm such an idiot!"

Anais' heart hurt seeing her brother in such turmoil. Her ears lowered even further as she began to frown. She hated seeing him like this.

She slowly wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tightly as he cried over her shoulder.

She stroked him and began to speak softly. "Hey, don't listen to her. You aren't stupid, you aren't an idiot..."

He raised his voice slightly, feeling angry at himself and his incompetence.

"Yes, I am! You know I am! All I ever do is annoy you with my stupid questions and remarks! I can't do the simplest of things right! I just screw everything up because I'm just such an incompetent idiot! I'm such a moron, I'm such a screw-up! I'm so sorry you have to suffer through my stupidity and incompetence, I'm so sorry you have to put up with me! You probably can't stand me!"

He continued to sob, hating himself for being so stupid.

Suddenly, he felt Anais squeeze his paw. He looked up and saw her smiling at him.

"That's not true, not at all! I love hanging out with you! You always make me laugh, make me feel included, you go out of your way to make me happy and protect me and you have no idea how much I appreciate that."

She hesitated before giving a light chuckle. "and your remarks and questions really don't annoy me as much as I make out. In fact, I find them more entertaining than anything."

He sniffed and smiled weakly at this remark

"Y'know you're actually really intelligent. More so than you think. You just show that intelligence differently. You come up with elaborate and crazy plans on the fly, come up with all sorts of witty, sarcastic comments, and have tons of out-of-the-box ideas, and it's that kind of thinking that's gotten us out of many, many situations before."

He began to smile more, tearing up.

"Your intelligence comes through most though when you put your mind to something, focus on it and give it your all. That's when you really shine. That's when you show how smart you really are, and, I know it may not seem like it, but no matter what silly, reckless thing you do, I'm really proud of you, and nothing will ever change that."

He felt tears falling down his face again, but this time out of happiness.

"Do you...do you really mean all that?" He sniffed.

"Of course I do. You need to give yourself more credit, you're a lot smarter than you think you are."

A huge smile grew on his face and he suddenly lent forwards and pulled her into an embrace, hugging her tightly.

"Thank you so much! That really means a lot, especially coming from you."

She smiled and hugged him back lovingly. "You're welcome..."

They continued to hug for a little while, both of them enjoying the embrace.

Once they were content they let go of each other and Gumball wiped his eyes.

They sat in silence for a couple of seconds until Gumball let out a sigh.

"I still don't understand how I could have done so poorly on the test though. It just doesn't make any sense!"

"Hmm...let me have a look at it." Anais asked as she began to doubt the validity of his results.

He opened his bag and handed the test to her. "Here, check it yourself if you want. Maybe Ms Simian made a mistake somehow."

She began to go through his answers, and her face slowly turned into one of confusion, as many correct answers had been marked as wrong.

"What?! This isn't right at all! A bunch of these are incorrectly marked! This should be worth at least a C minus, C plus even!"

"Really? Did she really mark that many questions wrong?"

"Yeah, I don't understand how she could have done it to so many of them. I mean, surely there's no way it could have been an accident. It's almost as if-"

She suddenly gasped, her eyes narrowing and filling with rage as she realised what Ms Simian had done. She clenched her fist, creasing the paper slightly.

"Sis.. ? What's wrong...? It's almost as if what...?" Gumball asked confused.

He lent back in surprise as she began to shout.

"She deliberately marked them wrong, she made you fail on purpose! "

"What?! Why?!"

"Because she could! Because she hates you and wanted to get you in trouble with Mom and makes you feel stupid! She even made sure to rub it in your face, humiliate you, mock you in front of everyone, just because she could!"

Gumball gasped, his eyes widening.

"Oh my god, I forgot I have to show Mom! Oh, she's gonna be so mad! She's gonna blame it on me, say that I didn't study hard enough, that I should have paid more attention in class, she's gonna ground me and not let me play any games or watch TV or do anything except study..."

He let out a whimper and began crying again. "I'm in so much trouble! I'm screwed!"

Anais quietly hugged Gumball and began stroking him again.

As she listened to him cry, hurt and upset at what Ms Simian had done to him, she frowned, her fist shaking as she filled with rage.

How dare she?! How dare she do something like this to her brother!? How dare she humiliate and hurt him?! How dare she abuse her power and falsely fail him on purpose!? Who does she think she is?! No one hurts her brothers like that, no one!

She continued to think and came up with an idea.

"Hey, don't worry, you won't get in trouble with Mom. Not if I can help it..."

He sniffed and looked at her confused.

"What do you mean? What are you gonna do?"

"Don't worry, I promise, you won't get into trouble, just leave it to me."

A couple of minutes later Anais stormed into Ms Simians' classroom, slamming the door open.

She slammed Gumball's test down on the table.

"How DARE you!? How DARE you humiliate my brother and fail him on purpose! What is wrong with you?!"

Ms Simian put down her coffee and looked down. at Anais, who was glaring at her, her eyes burning with fury.

"Oh, it's you. The annoying little runt of the Wattersons. What do you want?"

Anais scowled at her insult.

"You heard me! You deliberately marked Gumball's test wrong! You falsely failed him on purpose! YOU HUMILIATED HIM!"

"Yes, I did, I had great pleasure in doing so."

"PLEASURE?! Have you any idea how much you hurt him?! How upset he was?!"

"Of course I do, I love to see him suffer! Seeing him look so humiliated, on the verge of tears as the entire class mocked and teased him..."

She sighed delightedly as she recollected it, almost smiling. "It honestly made my day..."

Anais growled. How can she get enjoyment out of her brother's humiliation?! What was wrong with her?!

"Re-mark his test correctly, give him the grade he deserves, right now!"

"Oh? And what will you do if I don't, hmm? Run away and cry to your loser mother or your overweight, pathetic excuse of a father?"

"No, I'll go and inform Principal Brown about what you did! I'm sure he'd be very interested to hear about you incorrectly failing a student on purpose. In fact, I should imagine he'd have some very stern words for you, ones that will end with you being fired!"

Ms Simian looked at her for a couple of seconds before bursting out laughing.

Through her tears of laughter, she managed to say "You seriously expect him to take the word of a four-year-old?! How precious! Why don't you just hop along and go and play with your dolls like a good little girl and stop sticking your fat little nose into things that don't concern you!'

Anais gave her a smug grin. "Oh, don't worry, he won't have to take my word for it. You'll tell him yourself."

Ms Simian stopped laughing, confused. "What on earth do you mean? I shall do no such thing!"

"Oh really?"

Anais took Gumball's phone out of her pocket and stopped a voice recording she had begun just before she'd stormed into the room.

She played it back from the beginning and Ms Simians' eyes widened as she heard herself confessing to failing Gumball on purpose, humiliating him over it and finding it hilarious.

Anais crossed her arms and raised her eyebrow, leaning forward.

"So, what will it be, hmm? Re-mark Gumball's test correctly or let Principal Brown hear you confess to what you did?"

Ms Simian scowled at her. "You wouldn't dare!"

Anais narrowed her eyes at her, which were glowing with rage and slowly began to walk forwards."Oh, I would! You upset and completely humiliated my brother! You made him cry, you HURT him! You made him feel like a complete IDIOT and made him doubt his own intelligence! NO ONE, especially not a GRUMPY, BITTER OLD HAG LIKE YOU DOES THAT TO HIM! NOT IF I HAVE ANYTHING TO SAY ABOUT IT!"

She promptly turned around and left the room.

Ms Simian, horrified, quickly ran out of the classroom and followed her.

"No wait, I'll do it, I'LL DO IT! Just don't tell Nigel, please! I'm already on a thin line as it is, and I need this job!"

Anais stopped and turned around grinning. "I knew you'd come around eventually."

Gumball sat on the bench holding back more tears, worried about having to confront his mother about his test results after school. He really hoped whatever Anais had planned would work.

He heard someone calling his name and looked up to see Anais running over excitedly.

She sat down next to him and grinned, handing him a new copy of his test. "Here you go, problem solved!"

He began to look through it, his face slowly lighting up as he realised it had been re-marked.

"You got her to re-mark it?!"

She nodded. "Yep! Now with the grade you actually deserve."

He looked at the front and saw that he had received a C plus.

"A C plus?! That's awesome!'

"Well done, I'm proud of you. You earned it, fair and square."

He looked up from the test, crying tears of happiness, as a huge grin formed on his face.

Suddenly he leapt forward and picked her up, hugging her tightly and spinning her around.

"Oh, Ani, thank you, thank you, thank you! You're the best sister ever!"

She giggled and hugged him back. "I love you too! Oh, and you're very welcome!"

They continued hugging for a bit before Gumball released her.

He smiled. "God, I really owe you one, you really saved my bacon."

"Nah, it's alright, don't worry about it. I did this because I wanted to. Because I wanted to teach that old hag a lesson about messing with my brother!"

He laughed. "Yep, that's my sister alright!"

She began to laugh with him and they high-fived.

As they laughed Anais' stomach rumbled and she realised neither of them had eaten lunch.

She thought for a moment and smiled. "If you really wanna pay me back though, how about after school we get some pizza and watch a movie together, with Darwin of course, and we'll call it even?

Gumball smiled. "That sounds like an amazing idea."

They sat in silence for a while, thinking amongst themselves.

Gumball suddenly grinned, thinking of a way to tease her.

"Hey, so, how about a horror movie?" He asked.

She hesitated, gulping. "Uhh...y-yeah, that'd be...that'd be great, haha!"

"Are you sure you won't get scared?"

She crossed her arms indignantly. "No, of course I won't! I'm not a baby, I don't get scared of stuff like that anymore!" She said proudly.

He smiled. "Really? Because it sure didn't seem like that last time..."

"Pfft, I was just, uhh, not expecting some of the jump scares, they caught me off guard, that's all! l wasn't scared, like, at all, of course I wasn't! I don't get scared of stuff like that! I really enjoyed the movie, I had a great time!"

He grinned and leaned in slightly. "Are you suuuuuure? That's not how I remember it going..."

She blushed lightly and looked down. "Please don't..."

He smirked. "If I remember correctly, you begged us to let you watch the movie with us. We warned you it would be really scary and you wouldn't like it but you insisted that you wouldn't get scared and you'd be fine. Eventually, we gave in and what ended up happening...?"

He leaned in even closer, grinning, but she stayed silent, blushing slightly harder and looking away.

"You hugged me the majority of the film and buried your face in my sweater cowering during all the scary scenes as you were so frightened."

She turned back around, blushing even harder.

"N-no I was just, err...cold! I was hugging you to warm myself up, I wasn't scared!"

He raised his eyebrow.

"I wasn't!"

He held back laughter. "Is that so? Huh, I could've sworn that you woke up in the middle of the night after you'd had a nightmare, and came crying to me too scared to go back to sleep on your own, and ended up sleeping with me for the rest of the night. Would that be true, by any chance?"

She turned deep red and looked down.

He giggled and pinched her cheek, speaking to her like a baby. "Aww, is wittle Anais embawwassed that she needed a cuddle from her big bwover because the big bad movie was too scawy?"

She grinned, letting out a giggle and punched him in the arm playfully. "Shut up!"

He burst out laughing.

She tried to hide her grin as she pretended to be annoyed. "It's not funny!"

He laughed even harder and she pouted.

Through his tears of laughter, he managed to say "Awwwww, I...I love when you get all...flustered and embarrassed! It's so...funny and adorable!"

He continued to laugh and she crossed her arms and looked away with a 'hmph!'

He wiped his eyes. "Aww, hey, I'm only teasing you!"

She turned back around smiling and chuckled. "I know you are..."

He rubbed her head. "and don't worry, I won't actually pick a horror movie, I was just winding you up. Besides, we don't want you getting nightmares again, do we?"

She blushed lightly and rolled her eyes, making him chuckle.

He sighed. "So, how did you get Ms Simian to re-mark my test anyway?"

"Oh, I can be...pretty persuasive..."

She got out his phone and played the recording again.

He began to grin as he listened to it. "A secret voice recording, classic!"

She began to laugh. "You should have seen her face! She was horrified!"

He laughed. "Oh, I wish I could have seen it! It must have been amazing!"

She laughed harder. "Oh, it was! She was terrified!"

They both began laughing together until the bell rang and lunch ended.

She sighed. "God, this was great! We should hang out like this more often, just the two of us!"

"Absolutely! I had a great time."

She handed him his phone and stood up.

"Well, I should get to class! See you after school, we'll pick what movie to watch then! Oh, and if I were you, I'd keep that recording. Might come in handy in the future."

She winked and began to walk away.

"Will do! Thanks again for everything, I really appreciate it!" He chuckled.

"You're welcome!" She waved.

"Oh, and if you get scared, come and find me for a hug!" He yelled to her across the playground as he held back laughter.

"Shut up!" She yelled back as they both began to laugh.

He sighed as he watched her go inside, before getting up and heading in himself, paws in his pockets. As he walked he smiled, thinking about what an awesome sister he had, and how lucky he was to have her.

He really didn't deserve her...

The End