7

You know, it occurred to me that I forgot to mention what class I had last period. For the sake of continuity, I'll tell you what it is, even if you don't care, I'm the narrator so it's my story and I say what I say, even if you can assume it was drama and whatnot. It doesn't even have to be true. As long as you're being entertained, I could make up a story about a spaghetti monster and it'll fly like nonfiction. It was drama, by the way.

Walking to math wasn't much of a pain, with the exception of people staring at me. I saw Tobias looking scared, Idaho stunned like someone just shocked his potatoes, Anton went pale, despite being toasted, and puns along the way. I don't know whether they're scared of me for punching Masami in the face (or with a book, if you want to get technical), pitied me for being there when...I forgot her name—Lucy? That's what I'm going with—died in a tragic way (or maybe scared, thinking I pushed her, forgetting my inconsistent ghost logic), or scared, again, that I punched... Masami #2, which is what I'll call her, seeing as though she has no personality outside this story.

Anyway, I got into class when my teacher—shit! I forgot to tell you my drama teacher's name...Oh fuck it, you won't remember him anyway—Mrs. Smith, who I will not give you a description about her as she is literally just a cat. Yep, a blue cat, wearing a dress that reminds me of a female Gumball... Or just Gumball.

"Okay class, take your seats," she began, as she passed out each of us an assignment, even if she was pregnant. After she was finished, she wrote on the board with a red marker and—Oh, you know what's coming.

"Before we take our pop quiz, I'd like to take a moment and talk about," pausing to write, "love."

The class groaned, except for Teri, who was busy writing in her notebook. I don't know about what, but being a cynic doesn't mean I should care about what she writes. Or does it? I don't know.

"I wanted to take a moment and write about something we sometimes take for granted."

"What do you mean?" Penny said, and I forget to mention she has the same class as I do for math. So does Masami, Sarah, the other Sarah (the pink cat, or the yellow ice cream cone, I don't know), Tobias, and Darwin. No Gumball, but it could be worse. I've survived more chapters without him.

"Well, I'm glad you asked," she said. "Love has been used in so many mediums and art forms, and why shouldn't it. Love is the most common emotion we have, and it can be such a joy when you have it. It can be love for another person, a passion towards a hobby, a longing for paradise, hope for something better. Love is limitless.

"Now, does anyone have a special someone waiting for them on Valentine's Day?"

"Wouldn't that be against the rules to ask students about their personal lives?" I asked.

Masami laughed and said, "She just doesn't want people to know she has the hots for Gumball."

That just pissed me off. "How about you just shut up before I freeze your butt and smash it with a sledgehammer?"

"Oooh, violent, huh?" Tobias snickered.

I turned over and said, "You too, you limp-dicked pervert. You probably want to know who hasn't got someone an arm around their waist so you can find an easy target to score."

Everyone stood silent. Looking back at all these people and you see how far they've gone to all of this, and you realize how far they're going to shit.

"Carrie," Mrs. Smith said, "just shut up already. I heard about what happened to you, and I'm not going to give you once of sympathy for your dumbass. You have to be such a brute that it never comes across that maybe you should at least do something worthwhile. I mean, come on, just quit it. You never have a good thought, huh? Never thought about just having a smile? You think you know pain? Huh? You think I like having you be this mean-spirited and can't just have a single nice thought? Just one?"

I thought about it, trying to find one nice thought. All it came down to was... "No."

"No?" she said. She waited for a moment, avoiding eye contact with me. I felt embarrassed now. This... was out of focus. This just got to me like a badly dubbed anime. There I go again, making references that can catch the eye, but at what cause? I mean, this was never my intention. The way I first saw this was me just diving through life with both the fun and bore of it coming down on me. So far it left me in a state of being a downright bitch. That's not who I am. I complain yeah, but I have reason. No. No, not even that helps me out here. I got filled with so much hate that it's not even funny anymore. In the time of a few hours, this seems unreasonable, but so what? I had friends... maybe not, but hell I knew I had some people who were willing to back me up...

"I'm sorry," I said, and she looked at me, this time with pure shock. I'm not going to act like I haven't been like this before, but I don't really apologized for things. Not a lot, but a few times I've said it. And I meant it, really. "I'll just shut up, or just quiet down."

I paused, and I didn't look around. I already felt the pressure of people staring at me, I didn't need more of it.

"Thank you," she said. "Now, as I was saying—"

She started to ramble on about what love and whatnot. I zoned out for her speech because it would indicate that I learned something about this. I didn't. But hell, I'll just improve. I know it's the same thing, but it's different words, so give me that.

Someone passed me a note, and it read: "I hate to be where you're at."

I wrote back: "Physically or metaphorically?"

I passed it back. Nobody gave me the note back.

After her speech, and the assignment that had nothing to do with what she said, Mrs. Smith gave us some free time. I just sat in my seat, considering the fact that after what happened, I needed some space as much as others needed time away from me. That wasn't the case.

Darwin pulled up a seat next to me and asked if I was okay.

I choked up on my spit, which I don't know how that's possible, but do you even care at this point?

"I'm all right, thank you."

"Okay," he said, again smiling. "I asked because I wanted to know if you were all right."

"I am all right, it's just that I have been having a rough day, as you should know."

"Yeah, with what happened with Lexy. Actually, you remind me of someone I knew. Her name was Candice. She's a fun, trustworthy, and mature girl. You being down this whole time reminds me of her when she had this big crush on Leslie."

"Really?"

"Yeah, she's actually Gumball's sister. Ours, really. She helped make us one big, happy family."

"Wow," I said, impressed (why?...). "How come I haven't heard of her?"

"She died," he said.

"What?"

"Yeah. Slit her wrists and drown in her own blood."

That... I don't know. That's just messed up. "Ain't that a little dark? I mean, you said it like nothing. And, Jesus, that's horrible."

"Yeah, it was. Apparently some people thought of her as a nuisance, so they kept saying bad things about her, here and there, and at age eleven... we cremated her, and we have her urn in our living room."

"Damn," I said. "I'm very sorry. How come I haven't heard of her."

"We keep things in private."

"But that doesn't make an awful lot of sense."

"I don't know. Gumball knows how to explain this better than I do. So much for not getting peopled killed here and there."

"Yeah—Wait, what?"

"Huh?" he said, just before Mrs. Smith was handing us out some candy. Mine was "Candy" candy. What a weird name for something.

"Anyway, I just remembered," Darwin started as he opened his small box of Jerks, "there's this new kid moving in here."

"Really? Who would want to come live in Elmore?"

"I don't now. But quite frankly I'm really excited."

"Sure, just don't make him feel like a newcomer. Make him feel like one of us."

"Like family?" he said.

He didn't get the joke. "Eh, whatever you like to call it."

"Yeah," he said. "Still, are the rumors true?"

I knew there was a catch. "No, I'm not going out with Gumball. We don't even like each other, that way. The mere idea of the two of us is sick. Heck, I wouldn't even be able to please him and—"

Darwin cut me off to say, "No, I meant about you and Lexy. Did you push her?"

"Good God, no, I didn't. I didn't even touch her. I was walking her back to school and she seemed upset and all and then was all high on daisies and crap and then she let herself get hit. That's all. Plus, I can't even touch people."

"Because you're a ghost?"

"Yes, but that doesn't stop people from assuming the worst."

"I believe you," he said.

"Thanks a lot," I said.

"Oh yeah," he said, taking something out, "somebody asked me to give you this. I don't know who but they expressed you needed to read this." He held out a slip of paper with my name on it.

I grabbed it and read it:

"I hope you'll give me an answer for the dance. I really do like you."

Fucking bullocks.

"Darwin, can I ask you something."

"Why? Was is it?"

"Nobody has mentioned so far anything about the dance."

"Yeah, so? Everyone has been bummed out because of Lexy."

"Did anyone know her?"

"Not exactly, but you can't rule her out. Plus, I heard they're making the dance free in light of the events. They're even dedicating it to her."

"How nice. I just hope these rumors about me die out."

"I think they will, Carrie. And if they don't, at least you got a friend who cares about you." He smiled when he said that.

The bell rang and we had to get going.