Please pass up your partner slips from the other's parents." Ms. Simian's voice cackled and the slow collection process began.

"Oh shit dude… I forgot to go Masami's house…" Darwin cursed.

"It's okay, I got you covered." Masami said behind him and passed a signed slip up for him.

"Uh… Thanks Masami…" Darwin said a little suspicious. Gumball kept trying to make eye contact with Carrie, but she refused to look up from her desk.

"Now the next part in this project will be—" Gumball tuned her out and looked back to Carrie again. She looked up and their gazes met for a second before they both looked away.

"Dude, are you eye flirting with Carrie?"

"What the fuck is eye flirting?"

"You know, you look at her, she looks at you, they in that one moment you both see each other you look away like nothing happened."

"No!" He whispered as loud as he could without giving himself away.

"You so were…"

"Why are you doing this to me.."

"Are you paying attention?" Ms. Simian's voice screeched and they both stiffened their backs. Only to see she was hovering over Carrie's desk. "Because if you're not I can keep you here for the next—"

"Behold! I am the great Ms. Simian!" Gumball called standing on her desk. "I've been a teacher for six hundred years and yet still I'm a complete and total bitch to children! Why? Because fuck you that's why,"

"Mr. Watterson, I imagine you think you're very funny, but you're not and now you will be here with me until five, have a seat." And Gumball casually took his seat without a bead of sweat dropping.

"If that was to get Ms. Simian away from Carrie, then you can't blame me for saying you like her."

"Sure I can, I just don't have a very big case against it" Gumball said inspecting his paws. "I think this hand is bigger than the other one…"

"You have a very impressive level of denial." Darwin mumbled and looked back to the front of the class. Though to be honest, he had no idea what Ms. Simian was talking about either.

"Remember to report back tomorrow with whatever you have accomplished," She said before the end of class bell sounded. Gumball saw Carrie casually float and he quickly followed and Darwin followed Gumball. It was difficult to track her in the crowd of people but he kept his eye on her until he ran into an open locker.

"Ow…" He said rubbing his head and Darwin pulled him up.

"Do you even know what you're going to say to her?"

"I don't know, I can help her if I just talk to her!" Gumball said in a panic and began to look for her again. He saw her just before she entered the cafeteria and then he was stopped by a familiar peanut.

"Hi Gumball," Penny said and Gumball halted his steps. He tried to look around Penny but couldn't see anything and sighed in defeat.

"Hey Penny," He unmotivatedly said.

"So, I know you don't really like Carrie and I don't care much for Tobias, so do you think we could… Do our partner activity together?"

"What? What activity?" He said still trying to get a bead on Carrie.

"You know, you have to do something recreational with your partner, for the project?"

"Uh huh…" Gumball had completely lost focus at this point.

"And I thought you could dress up like a clown and blast off to the moon." Penny said slightly annoyed.

"Yeah, okay." He answered.

"Gumball!" Penny snapped and his attention went to her. "What are you looking for?" She asked turning around.

"Uh… nothing, what were you saying?" He said with a fake smile.

"Never mind…" Penny said discouraged.

"Okay!" Gumball happily called. "Talk to you later," he said as if nothing happened and ran into the Cafeteria. "There she is," He said to Darwin and sped off towards her.

"He can't possibly be that ignorant of his feelings, could he? I mean, I'm pretty daft and if I see it…" Darwin said to himself and walked to get his lunch.

"Carrie!" Gumball said and slid into the seat next to her.

"Well… That was smooth," She said without much expression.

"Wait… You're talking to me again?"

"I could not talk if that's preferable, what did you want?"

"To talk," He said simply.

"Right, and I'm alive."

"I'm serious, I like talking with you."

"What did you want to talk about?"

"I… Uh… I didn't think I'd get this far actually," He said scratching his head.

"Did you get the next part of the project?" She said monotone.

"I don't give to shits about the project anymore, it's a nice way that forces you to interact with me, but I think I'd rather hang out with you on your terms."

"If I had that then I'd have no one hang out with me…"

"Why?"

"I… I can't tell you…" She said looking away from him.

"Why not?" He asked again almost pleading at this point.

"Because you might try and fix the situation, but it's working fine…"

"Not for you, I know you can only feel pain, but you haven't been the same Carrie since whatever this is started, the one that took me on ridiculous junk food sprees and sacrificed herself to the undead so Darwin and I could reach our bodies on Halloween, call me delusional, but I thought I saw you smile a few times, that doesn't come from pain."

"Stop trying to fix me…" Carrie said lowly, but her words were tipped with anger.

"I'd never try to fix you, you're far from broken, I just think you need to be pointed in the right direction, I think I can help… Whatever is going on, but you have to be the one to fix it." Carrie was silent after that; it was rare to see her actually think on his words, especially since she had significantly higher grades than he did.

Across the lunch room, Penny sat with the other cheer leaders and eyed Gumball and Carrie's conversation. Carmen took noticed and poked Penny in the arm. "What's wrong?"

"It's Gumball…" She trailed off.

"Say no more, Alan," She called and the happy balloon floated towards her. "Can you get Darwin for me?" Alan nodded and floated off. He returned with Darwin a few moments later. "Darwin, what is Gumball doing?"

"He's…" Darwin looked around. "Talking to Carrie?"

"Now… Why is he doing that?" Darwin went wide eyed, silent, and only offered a shrug. "Come on, you don't expect me to think you don't know everything about Gumball."

"Well… They're partners for that project?" He tried.

"Ah," Carmen said with a nod. "See Penny, it's nothing to concern yourself with, Gumball just wants a good grade."

"Maybe…" Penny said lowly.

"Gumball… I…" Carrie finally spoke again. "It's not as easy as you'd like it to be… My family doesn't have any way to make money and I need to take care of Grandma."

"See that sounds like something that could be solved with a ridiculously overcomplicated plan." He said with a grin and Carrie gave a small laugh. "My family could offer financial aid," He offered. "And if not them then I sure as hell can, I don't really use any of the money I earn…"

"Then why did you earn it?" She asked.

"… To take Penny on dates…" He half said have mumbled.

"Aw… That's so cute, why didn't you then?"

"She was always busy the first semester of school and now that she's not… I just don't really want to… I think Penny's losing influence over me."

"I'll mark this day on my calendar." She said dryly, yet smiling. "Okay Gumball, I'll think about what you said, but for now… Could I hire you to fix my car?"

"Uh… Sure why not, what's wrong with it?"

"What isn't wrong with it… It's simply not in the shape it used to be."

"Okay, just, drive it by the junkyard whenever you get the chance and I'll take it from there."

"The junkyard? Are you going to scrap my car?" She skeptically asked.

"What? No, no, that's where I… Work… Kind of…"

"I'm not going to ask what you mean by that," she joked and they shared a small laugh again. "Thank you, for talking to me,"

"Sure, that's what friends are for, we are just friends right?" He asked but regretted it. "I mean, not like more than friends… Not that there would be anything wrong with being more, I just wanted clarification because… I mean I could be—"

"Gumball, I'm proud to call myself your friend," Carrie cut him off as the bell for lunch to end went off and she stood up, her tail back in the form of legs. She turned to walk away but something felt off and quickly looked back to Gumball without turning her body. "Gumball," She said with a playful smirk and he looked up at her. "You were staring at my ass…"

"No I wasn't!" He quickly spat out. "I was… Admiring your… legs?" She giggled at him and rolled her eyes.

"Bye Gumball." She called and left the lunch room.

"Bye…" He said after she'd already gone and headed off for his own class. Gumball and Darwin walked towards the exit at the end of the day, chatting about their day and planning on spending the rest of the day at his junkyard shed, it'd been too long since they had a bro date, and you're never too old for Dodge of Dare.

"I think the shy should be purple, I mean, who the hell likes seeing blue all day." Gumball expressed his opinion on their discussion.

"But if the sky was green than everything would be going green and then global warming would stop!" Darwin debated back.

"I don't think that's how global warming works…" Gumball said as they reached the door.

"Gumball," They both stopped and turned back to see Penny standing with other cheerleaders. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure, what's up?" He said with his warm smile.

"Well… What's going on with you and Carrie?" She asked uncomfortably.

"Hm…? Oh, nothing we're just friends."

"Okay, so… Would you be open to see a movie with me tonight?"

"Oh… Uh, sorry Penny, Darwin and I had plans tonight—"

"Are you gay with Darwin?" She asked in terror.

"What? No, god no, he's my brother!" He cried out. "We just haven't gotten to do anything for awhile and—"

"Don't worry about it dude, we can reschedule." Darwin said and gave him a thumbs up. Gumball silently cursed his brother's kindness and looked back to Penny.

"Why not, let's go," He said with a shrug and the cheer leading squad behind Penny cheered for her. Gumball exited the school and found his bike to ride to the theatre with Penny behind him.

"You have a motorcycle?" She asked as he hopped on.

"Yup," He answered without much thought.

"Is it safe?"

"Probably not," He joked but Penny just back away out of concern. "That was a joke, it's very safe."

"Do you have a helmet?" She asked again.

"Uh… No?"

"Then we're taking my car," She asserted and walked to the parking lot.

"Aw…" Gumball said and patted his bike. "I'll be back girl, don't you worry…" He said and followed after Penny. She was already in her car and Gumball sat himself in the passenger seat with a bored expression.

"I think this will be a safer option," She said as they got onto the road.

"Yeah…" He muttered. "So… How's school treating you?" He tried to make conversation. Her car was new and smelled like mints, everything was clean and the seats were soft, but Gumball still felt uncomfortable. Like something was missing.

"Fine, this whole project thing is crap, I'm pretty sure someone is going to get pregnant from it it's not teaching us anything we don't know."

"Yeah, I wonder who was dumb enough to get knocked up and make us take this stupid course…"

"Don't say that, they probably have it really rough."

"Uh… Sorry? I wasn't entirely serious…" He said a looked out the window.

"You shouldn't say things you don't mean, it gives people the wrong impression of you."

"Penny, it was a joke, to make you laugh," He impatiently explained.

"If it was joke it would've been funny, I know you Gumball; you have a more mature sense of humor than that."

"Right…" He muttered and remained silent the rest of the drive to the movie theater. The car pulled into the theater parking lot and they both exited the car. "Alright, what did you want to see…?" He asked looking over the movies. "Oh! Zombies vs. Vampires three is out, that could be awesome!" He cheered.

"Um… I was thinking more in the romantic department,"

"Zombies vs. Vampires two had a love story, I think?" He tried. "Fine… What did you want to see?"

"Oh, I don't care." She said oblivious to Gumball's irked expression.

"Penny… Why are we doing this?" He asked rubbing his temple.

"Doing what?"

"This movie thing, we haven't really talked in Christmas break and people don't usually catch up over a movie, lunch maybe, but not a movie, so why in the world are we here?"

"I thought it'd be a good first date," She said with a shrug.

"Whoa, wait, what? I never agreed to a date, I agreed to see a movie with you,"

"That's pretty much like agreeing to a date." Her voice rising.

"No, it's like wanting to do something fun with your friend!" He shouted at her.

"I thought you wanted to be more than that."

"I did too! But then I…" He trailed off realizing what he was about to say. "…Then Carrie started talking to me…"

"I knew it, you like her don't you." She said cruelly.

"No!" He quickly answered. "She just helped me realize how boring you are, I'm going, see you tomorrow," He said and started walking the way they came.

"Fine, you're being a total dick anyway." Penny cursed as he pulled his hood over his head. "And tell you're ghost whore I said hi!" She practically screamed and Gumball quickly came back.

"Don't you ever say that," He said right in her face. "You can insult me all you want, but don't you dare talk about Carrie like that, she's been through a hell neither one of us can imagine nor has done nothing to you."

"She took you away from me!" Penny cried. "Are you even the same Gumball? She might have… Put a spell on you or something!"

"Oh, yeah a spell, because that's a thing. Just leave Carrie alone, she has to deal with enough."

"Why are you defending her? What has she done that's so great for you?"

"She's the most selfless person I know, you try cutting everyone you love out of your life to protect them, I don't agree with her means, but her motives were of the purest intentions, all she wants for others to be happy, even if she has to suffer, someone should stand up for her and it sure as hell won't be you."

"You honestly believe all that crap? What if she made it all up?"

"I trust my friends, Penny, I'm done with this, Carrie is twice the person you'll ever be," Gumball spat and walked away again, refusing to look back. He walked back towards school, even as the sun began to set; he walked until the red brick building came into view. His head had cooled as he walked, but he still didn't even want to think about Penny. He'd always idolized her as the perfect girl… Was he blind to her imperfections before or did she change that much? He thought as he approached his bike.

"Come on girl…" He said lowly to his bike. Even though he was mad, losing a friend wasn't a pleasant experience and Penny was one of his oldest. It was a burden on his conscious, one he'd rather be rid of. He drove to his shed, he saw Carrie's car waiting for him out in front of it. "Huh… Well, let's get started then…" He said with a grin.

"Carrie," Charon's voice came from the doorway and Carrie looked to her Grandmother, who nodded. "Where the hell did you put our car?"

"Why? Going somewhere?" She asked without moving from where she sat.

"Yeah, you know damn well I go to the bar on Mondays."

"I took it to a mechanic." She called again and Charon angrily came back into the living room.

"And… How much is that going to cost me?" He said in her face. "Perhaps you and I will have to find an alternate form of keeping me entertained." And he ran a grotesque hand down her face.

"Don't touch me," She said and smacked his hand off her.

"Your hair is over your eye again… How revolting…"

"Well, I like it like this." She said defiantly.

"You're being very rebellious tonight," He took a large inhale with his nose. "I love it… Tonight I'll make a woman out of you,"

"You can go fuck yourself." She said and materialized her foot. She sent it so hard into his groin that he keeled over.

"That's a bad Carrie, keep it up and I may cut your funding." He said from the ground.

"Good, do it, because I can't take one more day with your putrid life style, I've had it with your drinking and you're parties and the girls you bring home, and you should get the hell out of my house before I call the cops!"

"Oh but sweet Carrie, how will you keep the house without my money?" Charon said confidently.

"I'll manage," She said coldly, pure hate radiating from her.

"You… You…" He was grabbing for words. "I'll destroy you for this… I'll haunt your loved ones and make you suffer!" He said from the floor.

"I don't have any loved ones! You made sure of that, and you already made me suffer, for three goddamned years, and I'm done with it, and I'm done with you!" Carrie hissed, floating over Charon who was practically trembling at this point and fled out the door. "I'm burning all your stuff!" She called after him.

"Carrie, you realize what this means don't you?" Her Grandmother asked.

"Yes… and I don't need you to approve, but I couldn't deal with him for another second…" She said tiredly.

"But I approve, I've never been so proud of you my girl. I hope your mechanic is cheap, we only have a swear jar to last us until we get some form of funding."

"I could get a job." Carrie offered.

"It would be a start; you know, strippers make a lot of cash,"

"Grandma!"

Gumball hadn't shown up at the Watterson house all night, it was three in the morning and Darwin was getting worried. He looked at his phone for any messages from his brother, still nothing, he checked the clock again. The rest of the family had gone to bed, allowing Darwin to wait up until their oldest had arrived home. He reached for his phone once more and dialed Gumball's number.

Gumball was underneath Carrie's car when he heard his phone go off and slid out from under the car. He lazily picked up the phone and answered it. "Hello?" He said half asleep.

"Where the fuck are you, are you okay?" Darwin yelled.

"Huh…? Oh, yeah I'm fine, I got a late job, wanted to finish it before I head home,"

"Do you know what time it is?"

"Ten? I think…"

"Dude, it's three, Mom was about to have a heart attack before she went to bed."

"Aw shit… I'm sorry, I'll spend the night here and see you at school tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay… How did things with Penny go?"

"…" Gumball didn't answer at first, "Not well…" He said after the pause.

"Oh, sorry, I'll let you get to sleep."

"Yeah… Darwin?"

"Yeah?"

"Let's say I think I might, possibly think I maybe falling for Carrie a little… Would that entitle you to say 'I told you so'?"

"You're damn right it would."

"… Crap… Well, good night buddy." He quickly said and hung up.

"Called it…" Darwin said to himself and fell tucked himself inside his bowl to sleep.