Chapter 3: October / Odd Octubree
The club sat at a picnic bench, playing games of 21 to kill time because they were not chasing cross-country runners through the Forest of Doom.
"Let us know when you see a runner Bobert!" Gumball shouted to the robot, who stood on the ground near the finish line.
"I am!" Bobert shouted back.
They resumed their game, Nacho dealing two cards to everyone.
"Nacho?" Penny asked, "Where were you on the night of the homecoming dance?"
"Caught up in Richwood," He responded. Slightly nervous about elaborating.
"Why on Earth were you in Richwood?" Gumball asked.
"Toilet papering their quarterback's house as a celebration," Nacho laughed. Causing the rest of the group to laugh. Carrie won the round with a nineteen, Nacho handing out another 2.
"Did they see you?" Gumball curiously asked.
"Nope!" Nacho enthusiastically responded.
"Why didn't you do it on the night we won though?" Gumball continued asking.
"Because they'd see me, duh. By the way, did I miss anything from the dance?"
"Tobias got knocked out by Ocho," Carrie revealed, "just some freshman drama."
"He did?" Penny jumped in. Accepting another card and adding up to twenty, "What for?"
"Masami," Carrie responded, "funny thing is she rejected Ocho and left the dance early."
"Why would she leave though?" Darwin asked.
"Probably got overwhelmed," Carrie shrugged.
"Freshman drama is so funny and stupid you know," Nacho stated, "Always some petty stuff."
"We know," Penny said, winning that round. Nacho handing out 2 cards again.
"I think I see one!" Bobert called out to the group. A distressed anthropomorphic leopard came into view from the finish line, covered in scratches and their shirt being torn in multiple places. A terrified look on his face as if he escaped death. The group left the 21 table to photograph the distressed first-place winner. Taking several pictures before heading back, taking their things with them onto the school bus. The runner was still standing mortified.
Gumball noticed flyers around the school promoting a haunted house at the school, happening the night before Halloween and Halloween night. He took a picture of it with his phone and sent it to their group chat. Understanding their future assignment, they discussed splitting into two groups. Gumball unfortunately had to spend Halloween night at the school due to other members having plans for that night. Nacho had a party he needed to go to, Carrie was attending a giant ghost party, and Darwin bailed out on trick-or-treating with Gumball to attend said ghost party. Infuriating Gumball because Darwin promised months prior.
So they had split into two groups: Carrie, Darwin, and Nacho attending the first night. Gumball, Bobert, and Penny attend on Halloween.
Gumball deeply sighed and glared at his brother before he exited the house. Opting to leave early so he could hit a few good candy houses along the way. Making his way down the streets; cherry-picking the houses with king-sized bars and neglected candy bowls, stuffing all his pockets with candy. Which made a noticeable sound as he walked.
Somehow, Gumball arrived earlier than Penny despite his detour. However, Bobert was already there when Gumball arrived. He tried to teach Bobert about Halloween but accidentally made him sad due to his inability to eat food. Penny was dropped off by her father after an awkward silence between Bobert and Gumball.
They all headed for the cafeteria and stood in a decent-sized line to enter the "haunted house". Bobert moved out of the line for a second to take a precise picture of the banner above the entrance. A wrapped chocolate bar fell out of Gumball's overcrowded front pocket, picking it up off the ground and putting it back in his pock-
"Hey, could I have it?" Penny asked.
"Sure!" Gumball answered, handing it to Penny. Penny ate it as the line slowly progressed.
A deflated Alan and a mortified Carman were spotted leaving, Gumball laughed and captured it with his camera.
After more and more slow progression, they reached the front of the line, showing their ID's to the person at the front. They all entered a hallway that was made to look abandoned, the only light being the overhead ones that would flicker for effect. An overhead panel purposely collapsed in front of them to startle the trio. Which worked because Gumball yelped. Penny poking fun at Gumball for it.
A locker suddenly swung open, a colorless Tobias falling out of it with a comedic slap. Bobert discreetly took a picture with his built-in camera. The gray cloud figure weakly lifted his head up and quietly pleaded, "Help me," the overhead lights began to strobe, a chainsaw revving up being heard behind the jock. A rush of adrenaline filled the cat, and he screamed. Dashing past a cackling chainsaw-wielding senior at a speed he'd never reached. Ditching Bobert and Penny in a selfish move made in the heat of the moment.
A loud metallic thud was heard as Bobert shut himself into lockdown mode. Penny ran far behind as Gumball tried to find wherever they needed to go. Tobias' screeching followed soon after, then coming to a halt. Gumball tugged on almost every door in the hallway, none of them gave way. His adrenaline rush came to a close and he had to catch his breath.
Gumball realized he lost Penny, the only sounds being his wheezing and a maniacal laugh from down the hallway. He frantically felt the handles of the lockers, trying to find one without a lock. After more feeling, he found one, opening, entering, and loosely closing as fast as possible. He didn't want to lock himself in it so he didn't shut it all the way. He held his breath for as long as he could, the lunatic loudly rambling about what he was going to do when he found him. The lunatic passed his locker, however, Gumball noticed a yellow glow coming from a locker down the hall. dammit, He thought.
Gumball leaped out of the locker, yelling and diverting the lunatic's attention. Running away from him and yelling for Penny to get out of the locker. Gumball ran down the hall with Penny trailing behind, transforming into a rabbit out of fear. Penny caught up to the fleeing cat due to her speed. They passed by Bobert, Gumball picking up the locked-down robot and hauling him down the hallway, Gumball struggling but managing to carry him. They found a hallway that was blocked with loads of caution tape, Penny lifting the bottom to create a small gap. Gumball rolled himself and Bobert under it and Penny followed after. They had entered a vacant hallway, with no decorations, no theme, just a dead, plain hallway. They decided to enter an empty classroom to process what had happened. Bobert's metal armor retracted as he exited lockdown mode.
"I don't think we're supposed to be in here, Gumball," Penny stated. Noticing the emptiness of the room. Gumball didn't respond. Penny took a peek outside the window of the door. She turned the handle, only for it to be locked shut from the inside. Strange, She thought. The projector turned on, illuminating the room and projecting a blank white image onto the chalkboard.
"What the what?" Gumball said, walking over to the projector to investigate. The cart the projector was situated on thrust at Gumball, hitting his stomach. Penny chuckled as he tried to make sense of what was happening. Out of nowhere, all the lights turned on, blaring brighter than the sun, only to explode, blasting shrapnel all over the room. Gumball taking cover under a desk and wailing. Penny taking cover under a different desk. Bobert casually took a picture of the chaos unfolding before him. A shelf of old textbooks collapsed in an instant, and carts containing school supplies rolled across the room before tipping over and spilling their contents. Gumball and Penny in a state of shock, confusion, and panic.
The projector screen slowly rolled down. Loud classical music blasted from the speaker situated on the teacher's desk. The music built up to a climax, Gumball freaking the hell out as it lowered, Penny joining him. As the projector screen got closer and closer to its end the music got louder and louder. Louder than any stadium in the county could ever produce, yet they somehow managed to keep their hearing.
The screen reached the bottom and. It just ended, silence filling the petrified room. A loud laugh was heard from behind the projector screen, Carrie phasing through the screen, a ghost of Darwin following through with a smirk on his face that he quickly wiped. *I'm sorry* Ghost Darwin mouthed to his shell-shocked brother.
"DUDE!" Gumball yelled, "NOT COOL MAN!" Carrie continued laughing. A pissed-off look took residence on Penny's face, "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?" Penny shouted. Carrie's laugh continued. Penny grabbed Gumball's hand and ordered Bobert to come along, exiting the classroom and slamming the door behind her. Only then did they realize an exit was right down the hall.
"Did you see the look on their faces!?" Carrie laughed. Darwin cracked up a little despite his effort to feel bad for his brother.
"I can't believe they would do that," Penny ranted.
"I can't believe my brother agreed to it," Gumball said.
They headed for the exit, Gumball checking the time on his phone, 8:04 PM. Gumball checked his pocket for any candy, only to discover that he ended up dropping all of it during Carrie's "prank"
"I'm walking home," Penny stated, irritated.
"Can I come with?" Gumball asked.
"Sure,"
They walked to Penny's home, attempting to make small talk along the way. The two chatted about Halloween for a bit, then wondered what their futures were going to be for some reason. They then shifted to rating the costumes of the trick-or-treaters out at the moment. Their nice conversation slowly ends because Penny's house comes into view. Falling into silence as they walked up the steps onto the wooden patio.
"Guess I'll see you tomorrow?" Gumball said.
"Yeah," Penny responded, smiling. Placing a kiss on his forehead, causing the cat to straighten and his eyes to widen, a red hue replacing the blue on his head. Penny rang the doorbell afterward. Her father answered it, looking less than pleased due to the blue cat on his front patio. Welcoming his daughter home and slamming the door as soon as she entered. Leaving a frozen Gumball in front of his house.
He snapped himself out of it and started his trek home, finding an unattended candy bowl and grabbing a handful, stuffing it into his pocket. Slightly glad he at least got some candy out of his wild night.
The cat knocked on the door, his mother asked how his night went and of course, Gumball told her about the whole incident in the classroom. The cat heading in, making a late-night dinner of instant noodles with a side of peanut butter cups, sat at the kitchen table and decided to watch his dad cycle through all the negative emotions over the horror movie he decided to watch. Gumball sluggishly headed to bed soon after finishing his meal, wanting to melt into his mattress. He plopped down and began his rest.
The door creaked open, an orange fish gently shook his sleeping brother.
"What do you want?" Gumball said irritatedly.
"I want to formally apologize," Darwin started, "Yes I agreed but I didn't know she would take it that far."
"Well, then why didn't you say something?"
"Because I didn't have the courage,"
Gumball sighed and turned in the other direction. Darwin accepted defeat and climbed into his bowl. Halloween night came to a close as the neighborhood's porch lights turned off one by one.
chapter three finished, sorry if this is shorter i wanted to get this done lol, next one idk when, already have it structured :shrug:, feel free to leave a review (pls be nice), check out my twitter xxcmdon8 for updates and other stuff ig.