Chapter 2: Homecoming / Fill My Heart with Song
It was already the last week of the first month of high school. The photography club had grown to 6 members. Consisting of: Gumball, Darwin, Penny, Carrie, Bobert, and a junior named Nacho, a tortilla chip.
Gumball woke up and stretched his arms. He looked at the calendar, specifically at the box with a 25 in the top left corner. Under it read, 'HOMECOMING WEEK' in red pen. Gumball groaned, notifying his brother.
"What's wrong dude?" Darwin asked
"Today is the start of Homecoming week." Gumball tiredly complained.
"What's wrong with that?" Darwin asked enthusiastically, adding, "It's supposed to be a magical fun week for the whole school."
"We have to run around with a camera taking pictures of everything for the school paper." He sighed.
"Oh."
As the bus neared the school building, a complete jungle of toilet paper came into view. Every tree, bush, and tall object was covered in it. The sound of oohs and aahs took the place of conversations as the passengers observed the forest of tp. As the brothers got off the bus, Gumball ran towards a field near the school, quickly taking a picture of the paper-covered trees.
Gumball waved goodbye to Darwin as he went to his first class of the day. As Gumball turned onto the hallway to his first-period ELA class, he saw that the entire hallway was decorated.
"What the what?" He said to himself.
White and yellow star-shaped papers hung from the ceiling, the papers glowed as a small light was attached to all of them, a crescent Moon hung from the ceiling at the end of the hallway, and the lights in the hallway were also off to add to the starry universe theme. Gumball took out his camera, turned the flash off, and snapped a quick picture before heading over to his class. He knew it wouldn't be used.
Gumball zoned out on his computer screen, waiting for Penny or Darwin to respond to an Elmore Plus message. His teacher blabbed on about grammar rules in the background. Suddenly, he heard a bling from the computer. Finally being somewhat entertained, he found it came from his email. Mr. Corneille had emailed him that he needed to attend the homecoming football game and dance. He knew he had to so what was the point of confirmation?
After his boring ELA class had finished, Gumball headed off to his locker. On his way to his locker, he ran into Penny.
"Oh hey Gumball," Penny greeted the cat, "I was wondering if you could go to the mall after school tomorrow?"
"Sure!" Gumball immediately answered.
"Yeah, I need to get a dress for the dance this Saturday." Penny added, "Need you to tell me if they look good."
Gumball happily strutted through the hallway to his locker and his next class, noticing that the hallways were each differently decorated. The hallway he walked down had a wild west theme.
The cat and a fish stood at the front door of the school in complete silence, hoping that the person working the desk would check the doorbell camera and notice them. Gumball checked his phone, 6:30 AM. Eventually, someone did, "State why you are here," an older woman said.
"Uhh, we're here to take pictures of the hallways for the school newspaper," Gumball answered, showing his ID to the camera. Darwin doing the same.
The door unlocked with a click and they entered, Gumball sighing to himself as he dragged his feet over to the English hallway, camera in hand. They lined up the shot, waited for it to focus, Ka-Chick, next hallway, lined up the shot, waited for it to focus, Ka-Chick They repeated this process two more times, taking pictures of all the hallways the four grades had decorated. Gumball took the last picture and walked out of the hallway, going to the cafeteria to look at the pictures he took. He sat at a random table and waited for school to start. Darwin sitting next to him. Gumball notified his mom about his after-school plans and she wanted him home by 5:00.
"Why did I sign up for this," Gumball asked himself.
After a dragged-out school day ended, Gumball's mom dropped him off at the mall soon after. Gumball entered the mall, looking around the open space for her yellow glow. He spotted her and waved his arm high in the air while looking at her. She noticed and headed over to him, waving two $50s in her hand. Gumball's eyes widened at the amount Penny had.
The pair hit multiple different stores, Gumball constantly having a thin layer of sweat the entire time out of nervousness. Not much of what she picked appealed to him or her. Gumball did find a cheap black suit along the way, so he was set for Saturday night.
Penny took the cat to a small clothing store tucked into a barren hallway, racks on racks of different formal wear covered the store. Penny maneuvered through the aisles, trying to find something that appealed to her. Gumball wandered off for a bit and spotted a red-orange cocktail dress. He walked over to it, taking it off its rack, and examined at it.
"Think you might like this," Gumball stated from across the store, holding up the dress for her to see.
She walked over to him, taking the dress from his hand, and headed over to the changing room. Penny came out shortly after.
"What do you think Gumball?" She asked, "I really like it."
"Perfect." He said, completely astonished at how she looked.
"Great!" Penny enthusiastically responded, heading back into the room to change back into her normal clothes.
The two headed for the checkout. Penny holding the dress. Larry rang it up, and Penny handed them the two $50s and was left with $30. Gumball checked the time, 4:14 PM.
"There's still 45 minutes until I have to go," Gumball said.
"Wanna head over to the arcade and grab a bite after?" Penny asked.
"Sure!" Gumball answered.
"Well let's go," Penny happily said, grabbing the cat's wrist and running to the arcade.
The machine dispensed a load of quarters, Penny and Gumball both taking a handful and dropping it in their empty plastic cups. Gumball headed over for the fighting game, Penny following close behind. He crouched in front of the cabinet, sliding two quarters into both slots of the bright machine. They selected their characters and pressed start.
"Good luck," Penny said smugly, "I know all the combos."
"Well I know something better," Gumball responded.
The game started. "ROUND ONE BEGIN!" The voice announced from the speaker.
"And that is?" Penny said, looking at him.
"Button mashing!" Gumball exclaimed.
He started rapidly mashing the orange and the white buttons. Penny watched in awe as her character's health bar roughly emptied, she tried to respond in a futile attempt at damaging him. ROUND ONE OVER! The screen read. Gumball laughed. Penny sighed and waited for the second round to begin.
"ROUND TWO BEGIN!" The voice from the machine said.
Penny attempted the button-mashing technique the cat showed off. Turned out, it wasn't hard to learn mashing the same two buttons, both of their fighter's health bars quickly depleting as they mashed the buttons like drums. In a fast race to see who could press the buttons quicker, Penny won. She laughed as Gumball took a small sigh of defeat.
"FINAL ROUND BEGIN!" The voice announced.
Another race in button mashing began, both extremely focused on the bright screen. Their fighters rapidly hit each other, emptying their health bars. Hoping that one would die before the other. However, Gumball's hands were exhausted from the rapid movements, and he ended up losing some momentum. Causing Pe
"PLAYER TWO WINS!" The machine proclaimed.
Penny laughed as Gumball caught his breath. He started laughing too. Penny bragged about her win to Gumball, who smiled the entire time despite his defeat. They proceed to play more games in the arcade, either against or with each other.
School came around that Friday, near the end of the day, all the students were ushered into the gymnasium in a mandatory pep rally to get everyone hyped for the homecoming game against Richwood. A game everyone and their grandmothers were expecting the Ducks to lose. Of course, the club had to take pictures for the homecoming issue of the school paper. A majority of the club sat next to each other, the exception being Nacho, who had to sit on the other side of the gym with the rest of the juniors. It was an overall good time for them, mostly being amused and taking pictures of the events that were happening on the gym floor.
Eventually, the time had come, after eating dinner, Gumball and Darwin exited through the front door, waving their family goodbye. They waited for a minute or two before a red car pulled up. Nacho being the driver. Darwin opened the back passenger door and resided next to Bobert. Forcing Gumball to squeeze in and sit on the floor. The car drove off and headed to the parade. Gumball nervously groaned.
"Homecoming ain't that bad kid," Nacho said, "Worst that could happen is a brawl starts or something."
The car ride was mostly silent. Nacho pulled his car into the junior high parking lot and took an open spot when he saw the chance. Everyone exited the vehicle. Nacho sat on the top steps in front of the school, where a few other students also gathered.
"Why are we just, sitting here?" Carrie asked.
"Parade starts behind the school," Nacho answered.
"It doesn't start for another twenty minutes," Carrie responded.
"Plan is to follow the whole parade to the high school," Nacho said.
A crowd started to form, consisting of students, faculty, and other people who nobody recognized. Forcing the photography club members to stand up to see the parade that would soon happen.
A yellow sports car turned onto the street in front of the junior high school, then another, this one bright green. Immediately aware that the parade was going on, they all took out their cameras. More and more cars and floats spilled out from behind the school. The group took pictures until it passed them.
"Come on," Nacho said, starting to walk. He gestured for the rest of the club to follow him down the crowded sidewalk. However, he took a sharp right and exited the crowd.
"Now where are we going?" Carrie annoyingly asked.
"Friend of mine showed me this spot," Nacho answered.
His pace kicked up as they had to keep up with the chip. He turned right again and took the group down a completely different road. They ended up in a partially abandoned residential-commercial zone. He stopped at a clearly open gas station on the corner where the parade would pass.
"Nacho, what the what are we doing here?" Gumball raised his voice.
"Trust me kid, this is a great nest," Nacho answered.
"What does that even mean?" Gumball asked himself.
The chip went up a ladder onto the roof, which was slightly above all the other buildings in the surrounding area. A parade nowhere to be seen. One by one, the group climbed up the ladder.
"Now what?" Gumball asked, irritated beyond belief.
"We wait," Nacho said, facing the road.
And so, they waited, and waited, and waited. After about ten minutes, the parade came into view. Nacho being absolutely right about the spot. They sat atop the gas station for about 20 minutes, capturing the marching band, senior wagon, sports teams, and, cheerleaders from a near-perfect distance, hight, and angle. Afterwards, they went through what they had taken.
"What are you kids doing up here!?" A disgruntled Larry shouted.
"Shit!" Nacho cussed. The chip ran and jumped off the roof, ditching the group. Carrie zapped herself away to the football game. Gumball grabbed his brother's arm, completely ignoring the height and jumped off the roof. Awfully twisting his ankle, but the current situation made him completely ignore the pain.
Gumball bolted away from the gas station as Larry's shouting continued, dragging Darwin behind him. Gumball headed for the parade crowd to blend in. Gumball caught his breath and the pain from his ankle caught up with him. Causing him to go to the ground, Darwin tried to comfort his hurting brother.
Gumball's phone buzzed. It was a text from the photography club group chat. Bobert told them to meet at Banana Joe's house right down the road. Gumball took a deep sigh before mounting his brother to take him down the sidewalk.
The fish pounded on the door and was let in by Banana Barbra. Gumball asked for an ice pack and was given it. Nacho and Carrie were nowhere to be seen. Gumball received an Advil and downed an entire bottle of water with it.
Gumball was forced to rest on top of his brother again to make it to the game. The mood and morale of the group being completely ruined because of Nacho's stunt at the gas station. They continued heading towards the high school football field, complaining about the missing tortilla chip the entire time. After more and more walking, the group finally made it, collapsing onto a nearby open field. Darwin headed for the concessions and vanished for the rest of the evening.
Penny got up. Gumball lifted his head.
"We're going to the stadium," Penny notified. Gumball loudly groaned. He got up, his ankle only being a slight annoyance.
Heading into the stadium, they went over to the usual spot and sat.
Before the game started, the powderpuff game occurred, and the club needed to take pictures of it because it's something the media doesn't capture. The freshmen team managed to win against both the sophomores and the seniors, causing a small minority of the crowd to cheer.
The football game followed soon after. The Ducks scored an early touchdown. Gumball and Penny saw themselves as crowd members instead of photographers for once. Being a part of a large crowd they hadn't seen before. Ducks scored again, and the crowd erupted.
The game neared halftime and Gumball set out to the concessions with Penny. Where he found Bobert and Nacho sitting on a wooden picnic table.
"Sorry bout your ankle dude" Nacho half-heartedly apologised.
Gumball didn't respond.
"Also where is the ghost and fish?"
"Don't know. Vanished after we were caught by Larry." Penny answered.
The group chatted for a bit before having to head back as to not miss anything. The school band came out and performed a few songs. The two took some upfront pictures of it. The game resumed, Elmore once again scoring, causing the crowd to erupt into cheers again.
"Can't believe we're beating Richwood right now," Penny said, taking a picture of the scoreboard. 3:34 left in the 3rd. 21-0.
"Yeah but why is this different to the one game we won two weeks ago?" Gumball pointed out.
"Because Richwood is the best team, duh."
They focused back on the game. Richwood scored a futile field goal in the 4th. The Ducks had beaten the Pigs 21-3. The crisp atmosphere of the game accompanied by the loud applause of a large audience allowed for an amazing experience.
The two exited the stadium and parted ways with an awkward hug. Gumball set out to find his brother who vanished before the game. He found him in the parking lot waving goodbye to a familiar ghost who vanished after the incident at the gas station.
"How was your evening dude!" Darwin excitedly asked.
"I don't know man," Gumball exhaustedly responded.
Saturday came and Gumball was excited because it was the day of the dance. He spent most of the day talking to himself in the mirror, practicing stupid pickup lines and compliments he wouldn't use. His fish brother also asked to go that day and was able to, even though he didn't have a date.
The time finally rolled around and the brothers got into the family car with his father. Who spoke about how their sons grew up so fast but somehow made it sound dumb. He parked the car on the side of the school Gumball had asked him to and Richard waved them goodbye with tears in his eyes. Gumball leaned on a wall outside the building where he and Penny agreed to meet that night. Darwin stood. Gumball went through some old pictures on his camera to keep himself occupied.
Penny arrived soon after, wearing the red-orange dress Gumball had picked out for her three days earlier. He opened the door and held it open for his date and brother. They both walked down the hallway and into the gymnasium, which was heavily decorated with tables, balloons and a banner that read 'ELMORE HIGH HOMECOMING DANCE' Gumball took a picture of the banner before Penny would lead him to the dance floor. Dancing to the beat of whatever song was playing. Leaving a slightly confused Darwin behind.
After a little over a half hour, the two sat down on the only row of bleachers with a single hotdog to share. Gumball split it in half and handed it to Penny, they talked with each other for a little while before heading over to a photo stand near the corner. Both of them tried to appear as formal as possible but couldn't resist smirking and bursting out into a laugh. After two attempts, they got a half-decent picture. They went to the cafeteria to meet up with the other club member who attended. Sitting at a table with Carrie and Darwin.
"Where's Nacho?" Darwin asked.
"Dunno." Gumball shrugged.
The four talked with each other for a while, conversing about whatever happened during their week. The four of them headed back to the gym after the cafeteria became little too crowded.
A beautiful chord began, echoing in the gym. The four went back to the dance floor, hand in hand, Gumball noticed but didn't say anything about it. His face was pretty much beet-red.
"Just go along with whatever I do," Penny told Gumball.
'S-sure" He nervously responded.
Fly me to the moon, and let me play among the stars
Moving in near sync with each other, Gumball's thoughts ran wild for a bit as he followed her movements suspiciously perfect. He glanced at his brother over her shoulder, Darwin appearing to have the time of his life.
"Penny, are we like, a thing?" Gumball asked quietly. Penny looked him in the eyes.
"I don't know Gumball," She responded.
"What do you mean by that?"
"Like, we met only 4 weeks ago. Which isn't that long ago when you think about it."
"And?"
"I just think its going to fast,"
"Oh,"
They picked up their movement. Gumball appeared to be a little sad. He knew that Penny was right. They had only met about four weeks ago and it was indeed going a little too fast. But even then, it was Penny who asked him to the dance so it was kinda her fault.
Fill my heart with song
And let me sing forevermore
You are all I long for
All I worship and adore
In other words,
Please be true
In other words,
I love you
"Well then what does that make us?" Gumball asked.
Penny didn't respond for a moment. "Best friends?" Gumball half cringed at the word.
"How about.. not ready for something serious friends?"
Penny chuckled a little. "Alright."
Their movements continued, both feeling as if they were amongst the cosmos. A genuine warm smile grew on Penny's face. Melting the boy who followed her movements. The song came to a close.
The homecoming king and queen were announced and presented. Both took pictures of them on stage. The principal gave some final statements, and that was the end of it. They left the way they came.
"See you on Monday I guess?" Gumball nervously said.
"Yea.." Penny responded.
The black car pulled to the side of the road, Penny got in the passenger side door, and she smiled at Gumball before the car drove off. His brother showed up soon after Penny left, pupils the size of dinner plates.
"What happened to you dude?" Gumball asked.
"I finally get it," Darwin quietly responded.
"Get what?"
"Love."
Gumball sighed. Richard honked the horn of the car to grab his sons attention. Gumball and Darwin entered and watched the school vanish as the car turned a corner.
"So," Richard prompted, "how was the dance?"
"Awesome!" Darwin exclaimed.
"Yeah it was great," Gumball responded.
Gumball didn't sleep much that night.
Song is the Fly Me To The Moon Evangelion Version
Second chapter finished. Next one idk when, might take a short break. Trying to get better at writing. Feel free to leave a review (pls be nice lol). check my twitter xxcmdon8 for updates and other stuff.