Chapter 4: Winter / Felt Like Summer, to My December
WAFFiington City. Enjoy the word bomb. Thx for support.
4/11/24 This is the revised version of chapter 4. I really need to stop editing on both my Chromebook and PC, I think I lost some chapter 3 revisions because of that. fuck man. Anyways I added onto stuff and fixed stuff too. aaaa. I finished the revisions in an hour and a half I feel like god. Finished chapter 4 revisions before 3 lmao.
Christmas break had finally arrived. All the students were excited because there would be no school for a little over a week and of course, Christmas. But mostly the no-school part. The photography club had to take pictures of the snow-covered school for the paper's final issue of that year. The issue reflected on the 4 months the students had endured. They didn't need to do much since it was mostly old pictures from the past few months.
The closing bell neared as the minute handle was on the verge of 12 and the hour on 3. The bell rang with its usual tone, the principal on the PA was drowned out by the sounds of lockers and loud conversation in the halls. However, Gumball, Darwin, Carrie, and Penny saw the end as a golden opportunity to capture a fresh Christmas break in Elmore. The weather was surprisingly decent for the season, the sun wasn't shrouded in large gray clouds that day.
The Watterson brothers exited the building, wearing winter clothing as they expected to be out for an hour or two. They looked for a ghost and a glowing yellow girl amongst the plethora of students leaving outside the building. Carrie suddenly appeared by Darwin, startling him.
Gumball looked for Penny and couldn't find her outside. He decided to head back into the school to find her. Traveling through the nearly dead hallways and finding his way to her locker. He spotted it, the door wide open and Penny appearing to be searching for something.
"Whatcha lookin' for?" Gumball asked, catching her off guard.
"Stupid hat, could swear it was in here," Penny responded.
"Hold on," Gumball said, opening the velcro pocket of his winter coat and pulling out a red beanie that had been in there for who knows how long. He whacked the dead leaf crumbs off it and offered it to her. Penny happily accepted the hat and thanked Gumball before stuffing everything back into her locker and slamming it.
They met up with Carrie and Darwin out front. They heard about a snowball fight that was happening on the football field. They started their short trek to it, walking out in front of the school first to take a picture of the sign in front of the school that read, "HAPPY HOLIDAYS! HAVE A SAFE BREAK!"
After walking around the school, they spotted the football field. Darwin took off through the white field to get to the stadium, only to find out it's hard running in snow and falling flat on his face. He appeared to be miserable as anyone would when falling face-first into the snow. He wiped the snow off his face with his hat before shivering a bit and continuing forward.
They continued their walk, trying not to be spotted by someone and hit with a snowball. They walked around the stadium, heading for a spot Carrie had picked out prior, located in some evergreen bushes near the 50-yard line. Gumball found a decent-sized stick and took it with him, assuming the bush to be covered in snow. They traversed as far from the field and began to close in on their location, shouting and laughing grew closer. The fight was clearly on.
Gumball hit the bushes multiple times to knock most of the snow off so they could go in easier.
"Why did you pick this spot, Carrie?" Gumball asked, a little hesitant to sit in the green bush.
"Because they throw snowballs at anything that can breathe," Carrie answered, "also be quiet."
Gumball sighed, clearing a little way and crawling through the bush, trying to find a spot where he wouldn't be poked by a loose branch. He gave up trying to find one and began snapping some thin branches to clear a small area for him and the rest. Penny getting in soon after. Both set their bags on the ground, took their cameras out, and waited for the right moment, settling their hands on the now cold cameras.
They watched the giant snowball fight, students chucking them left right, and center. Penny captured Jamie's brutal rampage as she would sling a snowball at any sound without a second thought. She probably though she was the king of the world in the moment.
Gumball focused more on the trench fights happening in the red zone, watching students occasionally run onto no man's land and get pelted. It was brutal watching them try to crawl back as they were pelted.
Carrie captured the lowlifes who would load rocks and ice into their "snowballs" on the bleachers and would snipe students with them. The only thing temporarily stopping Jamie was an ice ball thrown at the back of her head. It agitated her beyond her limit, and everyone was a witness to an actual assault on some poor sophomore. Jamie had to be apprehended by a few upperclassmen and taken off the field. The kid was lucky to be left with just a bloody nose
After bearing witness and capturing a once-in-a-lifetime beating, they all mutually agreed to leave the premises, packing their things and heading off. A snowball hit the back of Darwin's head, catching the attention of the group. The fish turned around and narrowly avoided another one aimed at him. Spotting Tobias as the culprit of it, he was with couple of his friends too. A couple more were being thrown at them. They had been seen.
"Son of a bitch!" Carrie exclaimed. Darwin started running from the scene, yelling for the rest to follow him. Gumball picked up some snow as he ran and packed it into a ball before blindly throwing it behind him. Tobias and his friends had the aim of a sharpshooter as almost every snowball hit them. Penny led the group into the woods, where they thought they lost Tobias and his goons.
They all packed one snowball with ice in the center just in case they followed, completely unsure if they were being watched. The circumstances justified the use of ice. The only sounds were their footsteps, stopping occasionally if they heard even a branch snap.
Tobias jumped out from behind a tree as a surprise attack. Gumball threw the snowball at Tobias with all his might in a panic. The snowball nailed Tobias directly in the eye, causing him to fall to the ground in pain. Bracing at his eye in pain.
"Holy shit!" Gumball exclaimed.
His goons came to his aid as they scolded Gumball. Carrie took it as an opportunity to get a picture of a weak Tobias. The rest took this as the chance to get out of the forest as fast as they could.
"You won't get away with this Watterson!" Tobias shouted in the middle of his cry.
The club made it to the edge of the school grounds and stopped to catch their breath.
"Nice throw dude!" Darwin complimented.
"Thanks bro," Gumball panted.
"I got a picture of him!" Carrie announced. The group huddled around Carrie and looked at the screen of her camera. Sure enough, a picture of Tobias on the ground in pain with snow in his eye was there. The group burst into laughter upon viewing. Carrie promised to send it to all of them once she was able to.
Christmas Eve came around a few days later. Darwin left late in the morning to the mall so he could screw with shoppers as ghosts with Carrie. He lied to his Mom saying it was a "late shopping trip." Which left Gumball alone for the majority of the day. He forced himself into writing Christmas cards for his grandparents for tomorrow. So he sat at his desk completely clueless on what he should write.
A pound was heard at his window, he looked to his window which had a fresh snowball splattered on it. Gumball went to his window and lookied out of it. Penny was outside, rolling another snowball without noticing the cat had seen it. Gumball opening the window to announce his presence and got hit with a snowball. Penny covered a gasp and a chuckle as Gumball processed what had happened. He shook it off as Penny laughed on the front lawn.
He rushed downstairs and asked his Mom if he could run outside to hang out with Penny. She allowed as long as he was back before dinner. Gumball rushed to put on his winter gear.
Gumball exited the house, almost slipping down the porch stairs. He greeted Penny and asked what they were going to do, Penny explained they were going to the park to capture the scenery. Gumball went along with it. The park wasn't too long of a walk from his house so they didn't suffer too much along the way. Besides, Penny brought hand warmers.
The pair arrived at the park gate, a wreath coated in snow sat atop it. Entering through, they noticed a handful of people there, mostly small children with their friends and a parent. Penny took a picture of the bare but decorated trees that lined the entrance of the park. They began their walk, the thin snow that covered the path making soft crunches as they walked. Gumball looking at the tall, barren trees as Penny took in the cold atmosphere and glanced around. The two discussed their Christmas plans.
They came across the pond the park contained. Gumball found a large rock and tossed it at the frozen-over pond. The rock only cracked the surface of the ice and slid a few inches before stopping.
"The ice is pretty thick," Gumball stated, "I'm going out there." He headed for the pond, taking small baby steps onto the ice and got on all fours. Slowly bringing himself up to stand and balancing himself. Penny watched the cat try to slide himself across the ice to little avail, she giggled at his efforts.
Penny looked around before putting her camera in her bag and heading out onto the ice. The two slid on the ice in different ways, trying to outdo each other. Gumball constantly leaving small cracks in the ice by doing hard baseball slides through the thin snow layer.
Gumball came up with the smart idea of trying to break the ice using rocks. Throwing rocks as hard as he could at the thick ice, leaving only mild skid marks. Penny joined him in the futile effort to break a hole in the only platform separating them from liquid hypothermia. Although, after 5 minutes, they gave up. Penny slid to the shore and climbed back onto the path. Gumball followed after slinging one last rock at the ice.
They continued their journey throughout the park. Penny led the way to a large, steep hill buried in the trail. Gumball found a plastic sled that was obviously too small for the both of them but they were going on it anyway. They climbed the hill, Gumball managing to break a sweat in 19-degree weather. They had to take a break near the end because Penny was nearly out of breath.
After their short break, they had finally reached the top of the hill. Both took pride in their accomplishment. Yelling random things off the top and hearing them echo through a dead forest. Gumball took a deep breath before mounting the small sled. Penny had to crouch and hold onto him due to how little room there was. Gumball scooted the sled to the edge of the hill before the drop.
"Alright, on three," Gumball shouted, "One! Two! Three!"
He propelled the sled using his arms, the sled began to drop, cutting through the white layer of snow as it got faster and faster, and both had to close their eyes to prevent the cold air from hurting their eyes any further. Penny's grip on him tightened as the sled continued speeding up on its way down.
Gumball began screaming in fear, putting his arm into the snow in an attempt to slow it down and nearly losing his glove. The move only slightly slowed it down, the sled regained its speed again. The ride continued for another couple of seconds, which felt like forever. The sled slowed down as it reached the bottom. The ride abruptly ended because the sled hit a log, Gumball took the blow and Penny being pushed forward into the cat. She hadn't let go of him.
After a moment of silence, Penny began laughing and fell over into the snow, taking Gumball with her. A laugh started from Gumball too, Penny pointing out how Gumball was screaming like a little girl the entire ride, which made him laugh harder.
They calmed down, Penny turned to face the cat, gazing into his eyes, and carresed his cheek in her cold glove. Gumball shivered and gazed back in response.
Her face neared his, her eyes closed. The setting around them collapsed, unveiling the cosmos. Gumball closed his eyes and made an effort to lean in, he began to sweat. Their cold lips pressed against each other, a warm, euphoric feeling washed over them in the snow. Their bodies heated up as Gumball and Penny embraced one another. They remained in liplock for a couple of seconds before Gumball slowly released himself. A pleasant smile grew on her face.
"Now what do we do?" Gumball whispered.
"Anything," Penny responded, getting up. She helped Gumball up. They walked through the forest, Penny asked her Mom if she could hang out with a friend for an hour or so. They discussed what they should do when they get back to Gumball's house. Tossing around ideas before mutually agreeing on a Christmas movie under a blanket.
They arrived at his house, Nicole answering the door. They greeted her and headed in. Penny laid down on the couch and flipped through the channels as Gumball grabbed a blanket from his room. She settled on Frosty the Snowman because it was her childhood favorite. Gumball came back downstairs, dragging a fluffy green blanket.
"Some upperclassmen are setting off fireworks not too far from the school for New Year," Penny told him, "I think we should go."
Gumball thought about it, realized it sounded awesome, and said he would go. He laid the blanket on top of her and climbed in from behind. Penny played the film.
Christmas came the next day, Gumball jumped out of bed and woke up his siblings. Only to find out their parents hadn't woken up yet and they had to cope with a pile of presents they couldn't open. After what felt like an eternity, Nicole had woken up. The three begged their Mom to let them open just one. She had been through this many times and the answer was always when she was fully conscious.
After loads of unwrapping, Gumball and Darwin both fished two boxes that were exactly the same size from behind the tree. Ripping off the festive wrapping paper, it revealed a new and better camera than the ones they used for the last four months. Thanking Santa for it and testing it out by taking pictures throughout the morning.
It was a peaceful New Year's Eve night in the Watterson's house, Everyone was asleep and let the New Year pass in their sleep, except for Gumball and Darwin, who anxiously awaited for their partners to signal their arrival. They paced around their room as the clock inched closer to midnight.
Penny waved her hands to get their attention. Gumball opened the window and climbed out with his brother. They jumped onto the pile of snow below. They greeted their partners and made their way to an empty lot about a block from the high school. All huddled close together since the temperature was almost below freezing.
Arriving at the lot, the only things visible were a large bonfire and lawn chairs. Both were brightened by the street lights scattered around the lot. They sat near the fire to keep warm like others and awaited the fireworks show. Darwin took a picture of the fire. They spotted Nacho from across the lot but he was with his other friends. The smell of pot and alcohol soon filled the cold air as more people showed up. The crowd grew to about a hundred people before midnight, both tired and excited conversations accompanied the sound of the fire's crackling.
11:59. Multiple older students wielding a multitude of different lighters approached a setup of both legal and illegal fireworks. One stared at his watch. "Now!" He shouts. They flick them on, hastily trying to light as many as possible and running away, hoping a chain reaction would occur. A sea of sparks erupts the pile, some shooting into the sky and popping, others exploding in the air. The smell of gunpowder filled the air as the pile explodes .
"Happy New Year," Gumball said to Penny, taking pictures of the fireworks exploding before them. Darwin is completely immersed in the sparks showering before him and others. The illegal ones could be seen from blocks away, filling the sky above them with assortments of colors.
A police siren is heard mere seconds away, completely spoiling the moment. It's flashing light intruded on the fireworks colors. The upperclassmen booked it out of the lot, cursing and hurling insults at the cop as they dashed away. The club swiftly escaped, but not before capturing both the fireworks and police in the same image. The blasts of fireworks overshadow the sound of the police demanded the culprits return.
They all arrive at the front steps of the blue house the brothers lived in. Carrie said goodbye and teleported herself back home. Penny wishes a Happy New Year to both and heads home. Gumball and Darwin snuck in and quietly crept up the stairs and into their room, heading to bed after an amazing night. Drifting away as a harsh snowstorm begins, which would leave more snow on the ground.
holy shit chapter 4 finished. next one idk when. feel free to leave a review (pls be nice). xxcmdon8 on twitter for fanfic updates n other stuf. also thanks for 420 views