Chapter 3: The Countdown

FRIDAY (March 20th)

The Watterson kids had another day of school, which thankfully landed on everyone's favorite day of the week. Before they left the house earlier that morning, their mother told them they had to inform their teachers about their upcoming family trip the week before so they would know what assignments and lessons they would have to catch up on to avoid falling behind. Right now, Gumball, Darwin, and Anais were sitting at the same table during lunch time, eating their food and discussing about what went on with each of their teachers.

"How did it go for you, Anais?" The blue cat questioned his younger sister.

"My instructor told me I would have to complete a test early before everyone else in my class since it will be held on the same day we leave. Not that I'm worried about it since I've studied for it early," she answered confidently. "What about you two?"

"Miss Simian told us we would have to do a visual presentation of our experience on the cruise to make up for the lessons we'll miss in class."

Darwin spoke up after Gumball finished. "This means we'll have to take lots of pictures and videos during our trip."

"Did I hear that correctly? You all are going on a cruise trip?" Tobias, one of Gumball and Darwin's classmates, questioned the three. He was just sitting nearby on the same table as them when he overheard their conversation about the upcoming vacation.

"That's right!" The eldest Watterson sibling answered happily. "We won a sweepstakes we saw on TV last week to get a free vacation."

"Psh, as if," the egotistical rainbow cloud brushed him off. "You'd have to be incredibly lucky to win something like that."

"Think again!" Gumball stated as he pulled up a picture of the Seven Seas winning tickets on his phone.

Their classmate was beyond shocked at what he saw. "No way! Are you serious?!"

"Oh, I'm serious alright! We just got them in the mail yesterday!"

"Everyone's got to see this!" At that moment, Tobias waved his hand to all the other kids in the lunchroom. "Hey, you guys, Gumball and his family just won a free cruise vacation that they'll be leaving for soon!"

In less than a second, a bunch of other middle schoolers gathered around the table the Watterson kids resided at, wanting to look at the photo of their cruise tickets.

"Wow! Congrats, you guys!" Masami praised them.

"I bet this vacation will be a breeze for you three!" Banana Joe joked.

"I hope you all will be safe during your trip," Penny, Gumball's girlfriend, told them.

"Congratulations on winning that free trip!" Rocky waved to them from behind the food counter.

"I have a feeling that nobody's going to leave us alone for all of next week," Darwin told Anais as they laid low on the table from the crowd of students.

The small pink rabbit nodded in agreement. "You and me both."

Meanwhile…

At the Rainbow Factory, Nicole was working away at her computer and answering as many phone calls as possible at her station. Earlier, she informed her boss, Mr. Yoshida, about her upcoming vacation from March 30th to April 3rd and asked if she could work overtime for 12 hours (7 a.m. to 7 p.m.) daily from Sunday to Saturday for all next week. She'd be lying of she said she wasn't both grateful and relieved at the same time when he granted her request, so she was going to earn as much money as possible for her family to enjoy their trip. Lunchtime was beginning to approach for all the office workers, so putting her computer to rest, the blue cat woman grabbed her brown paper bag and left out of her station to meet up with her childhood friend Yuki Yoshida, the manager's wife and new overseer of the Rainbow Factory. Ever since the two ladies made up with one another over their broken friendship, they've been hanging out with each other non-stop in and out of work. As they entered the break room with their fellow co-workers and chose a table to sit at, Yuki questioned Nicole on what was new, with the latter telling her the whole story on how her two sons entered a sweepstakes and won a free cruise vacation for the whole family.

"Nicole, that's amazing! A free cruise vacation? Nowadays, it's impossible to win something like that!"

"I know right? I knew Gumball and Darwin could be unpredictable at times, but for something like this? I never thought I'd see the day we'd have something this big to look forward to!"

The Watterson woman wasn't wrong either. Her family was so low on money for years, they couldn't afford to leave Elmore for anything. But now that they have the chance to go out of town for once, with new places to explore and new sights to see, the working mother had never been more excited for anything in her entire life!

"I sure wish my family and I could go on vacation someday," Yuki wished to herself. "But, since my husband is the head of this company, I don't think it would happen anytime soon. The Rainbow Factory would fall apart without him."

"Oh, I'm sure you all will think of something," Nicole reassured her friend. "I'll have to make sure I mentally prepare myself for next week. It won't be easy having to work 12 hours a day, but it'll all be worth it in the end."

The cloud woman smiled at her. "I sure am going to miss you, Nicole. Promise me you'll take as many videos and pictures as possible so I can see what you all did."

"I won't let you down on that. I'm going to make sure we have the best vacation ever!"

Later that night…

"Alright, everyone! Here's what we're all going to do."

The matriarch of the Watterson family had everyone gathered up on the living room couch as she stood in front of them. If they were going to enjoy this vacation, they had to prepare early so they won't have to worry about anything the day before their departure. They were all going to discuss their plans right here, right now!

"We have only one week to get ready for this cruise ship, so we have to make sure we pack up our luggage and clean the entire household before we leave. Starting tomorrow, we pull out our suitcases and throw in whatever we'll be wearing or bringing."

"Yes ma'am!" Richard and the kids responded.

"Also, I'm assigning roles to each of you on what part you'll be playing while we're there."

Nicole began to point her finger at each of her family members as she said their names, starting with her youngest child.

"Anais, you'll serve as the researcher to see which places will be located on each deck of the Seven Seas."

"On it!"

"Darwin, you'll be in charge of taking videos and pictures of every place we explore."

"Roger that!"

"Gumball, you'll serve as our critic, saying what you like and don't like about the cruise."

"I won't let you down!"

"Richard, you'll be the food critic, trying out everything they have at the buffet and dinner."

"Yes! I got the best one!"

"As for me, I'll be in charge of keeping track of the money and tickets."

Now that everything was set in place, the main head of the household was confident things would go smoothly for them.

"Oh yeah, I just remembered something!" Gumball spoke up. "After Darwin and I registered for the sweepstakes, a message said that if we were to win, we would have our documents sent to my email, which include our cabin number and a code to enter into the Seven Seas Hub so we can track the countdown and access the app's content once we're actually on the ship. And the app is free to download too."

"Thanks for that, Gumball," Nicole smiled at her eldest son. "Make sure you and your brother have the documents printed out first thing in the morning so I can put them together with both the schedule and the tickets. Let's also make sure we download the cruise app onto all our phones before we go to sleep tonight to put in the code at breakfast.

"Since that's out the way, we're going to get up bright and early tomorrow morning to make sure we get done what we need to get done. Got that, everyone?"

Determination drove into every single Watterson member as they answered her once again. "Yes, ma'am!"

"Alright, let's get some rest. We've got a busy week ahead of us."

SATURDAY (March 21st)

"These are all the papers, right?" Anais asked her brothers as she went through each page of the newly printed documentation for the cruise trip.

"They sure are!" Darwin replied confidently.

"Now we can show these to Mom and type in the code to access the countdown on our Hub apps," Gumball smiled.

Before the siblings could head out the door though, something caught the youngest one's eyes on one of the pages.

"Hey, you guys?" Anais caught her brothers' attention. "Why does it say here that you two will be in the Tropical T while I'll be in the Kids Kove? I thought we were going to the same kids' area."

"About that," Gumball put a hand behind his head while looking off to the side. "There are three clubs for different age groups on the ship, and the Tropical T is for older kids while the Kids Kove is for younger kids."

A look of shock crossed the pink rabbit's face. "What?! You mean we won't be hanging out together?!"

Darwin stepped in to put their sister's mind at ease.

"Well, look at it this way. You'll be able to get another chance to branch out to those around your age."

"But I've already tried to make friends multiple times before!" Anais responded, her ears drooping down in shame. "And you guys remember how those situations ended."

The two brothers looked at each other in concern as the 4-year old's eyes were cast to the ground, recalling her past failed attempts at befriending other kids. Except…there was that one time where their sister was successful at making a friend.

"Hey, Anais," Gumball spoke up first, catching the youngest sibling's attention. "Remember that time we tried to help you befriend that monster who we thought was your imaginary friend?* And despite all the awkwardness at first, you two managed to hit it off?"

Anais pondered over the memory once it came back to her.

"Now that you mention it…I did succeed in becoming friends with him."

"Exactly!" Darwin beamed at her. "If you were able to stay friends with him, who's to say you won't do the same with the other kids on the ship?"

Encouraged by her brothers' pep talk, a smile appeared on the small rabbit's face, doubt no longer clouding her mind.

"You know what, you're right. If I did it before, I can do it again!"

"That's the spirit!" The eldest sibling rooted for her. "Now let's go downstairs and show the documents to Mom. I can already smell the breakfast she made!"

Before she could follow her two brothers out the door, Anais turned her head to the bedroom window, thinking about the toy hybrid she befriended long ago.

'I wonder how he's doing right now. I hope he's alright.'

SUNDAY (March 22nd)

"So according to this web page, there won't be any free Wi-Fi on the ship unless we pay for the Internet Program."

"I see."

After Nicole finished her day at work, she and Anais were currently looking over what was or wasn't free on the Seven Seas website showing on the young rabbit's laptop to make sure they wouldn't be charged extra while on vacation. Better safe than sorry after all.

"Thankfully, we were able to download the Seven Seas Hub app onto all our phones ahead of time to access the ship's Wi-Fi once we get onboard," The 4-year old continued. "Otherwise, we would've had to bring walkie-talkies to communicate with each other."

"Right," the mother responded.

Anais continued to scroll down on the web page.

"Also, as we already know, all the food and beverages in the buffet will be free, except for the soft drinks of course. You'll need the Seven Seas Unlimited Soda Program to get those."

"Got it. Anything else?"

"We have to make sure we take pictures of each of our suitcases in case one of them gets lost or delayed before boarding the ship."

"Alright then. We got all the information we need."

Nicole went over the entire list she wrote down on her note pad. She then turned back to her daughter.

"Were you able to order the sunscreen, medication, and first aid kit?"

"Yep."

"And that camera case you researched about for Darwin to take vlogs with? It was called the PhoneCam**, right?"

"Uh huh. All the stuff will be here in about three days."

"Good." The Watterson matriarch was satisfied that there was one less assignment to worry about.

THURSDAY (March 26th)

(Gumball and Darwin's Room)

"Okay, Darwin, tell me if we have everything we need. Comic books?"

"Check!"

"Game consoles?"

"Check!"

"Fancy suits to wear at dinner?"

"Check!"

"Water blasters?"

"Check!"

"Swim trunks, swimming caps, and goggles?"

"Check, check, and check!"

The 12-year old cat beamed with pride as they were all packed and ready to go.

(Anais' Room)

The 4-year old rabbit was going over her check list as she went through her neatly packed suitcase, happy with the fact she finished ahead of schedule.

"Dress, check. Swimsuit, check. Sunscreen, check. Daisy the Donkey?"

A warm smile appeared on her face as she brought her doll up to her frontal view, hugging the stuffed animal tightly afterwards.

"Check."

(Richard and Nicole's Room)

With his wife away at work, the ginormous pink rabbit had all the time to pack up his suitcase on his own. However, instead of swimwear and other important things he might need, there was a large assortment of every single snack he could find from the kitchen pantry taking up the entire bag!

"Now let's see. Potato chips, check. Chocolate pudding, check. Graham crackers, check. Cheese sauce, check. Yep, I got everything I need!"

Closing his luggage, he never felt prouder of himself at putting in the week's work.

SUNDAY (March 29th)

"Richard, you are NOT bringing all of THIS to the trip!"

"But Nicole, how am I supposed to keep my energy up on the way there tomorrow?"

The Watterson matriarch had completed her daunting task of working 12 hours a day for the whole entire week. While she managed to earn $1,029*** for the family (thank goodness!), it didn't mean she wasn't exhausted to no end. It also didn't help with the fact she was currently frustrated with what she found inside her husband's suitcase, taking out every single snack he stuffed in there and putting them all in a plastic bag to take them back to the kitchen. He was clearly upset and whined about it as well, but she wasn't going to leave any room for arguments.

"Because one, you're not allowed to eat on the shuttle bus. Two, it'll only take us two hours to get to the port. And three, there will be plenty of food on the ship for us to eat!"

After she finished, she took a deep breath. "I promise we'll eat breakfast in the morning before the bus arrives at 11 a.m. tomorrow."

She proceeded to put his swim trunks and other vacation stuff into his suitcase before zipping it up and walking out their bedroom door with the bag of snacks, setting them down on the counter when she entered the kitchen.

"Is everything alright back there, Nicole?" Granny Jojo called out to her daughter-in-law as she sat on the couch alongside her husband Louie, watching TV.

"Everything is fine," Nicole answered back. She was grateful Richard managed to call his mom and stepdad about their trip earlier this week while she called her own parents, Daniel and Mary Senicourt, who she was still making up with. The elderly Watterson couple was kind enough to watch over the whole household while she, her husband, and kids were away.

Today, she was going through the process of elimination with every single member of the house, with her kids as the next ones on her list. She was glad she herself packed up her own suitcase in between the hours she was at home last week, otherwise it would mean extra work for her. As she headed upstairs, she checked up on Anais first to see if she needed any help, only to realize the young prodigy handled everything herself. This meant her two sons, Gumball and Darwin, were the only ones left.

"You don't need to bring so many comic books and video games. Just four of each is good enough. That way, you'll still have room for all the things you might buy on the ship," Nicole told her sons as she took out the large piles of items from their suitcases, laying them out on the lower bunk bed. "Here. Look through these and see which ones you would like to bring to the trip."

Gumball shrugged his shoulders. "Okay."

Meanwhile, Darwin was happily experimenting with his new PhoneCam case, which Anais bought for him online.

"Still playing around with the PhoneCam, honey?" The working mother warmly smiled at her second son.

"Yep! I made sure to practice with it multiple times before I have to use it on the ship. The pictures and videos look exactly like the ones you would take from a professional camera."

Heading back downstairs, Nicole beamed with confidence now that everything was finished. Luggage, money, clean household, you name it! She approached the calendar hanging on the refrigerator as she entered the kitchen, taking out the red marker sticking above it. She marked an X on the day of March 29th, with all the previous days marked along with it. As she eyed the day of March 30th, the words "Vacation Day" written on it, a wide smile of excitement appeared on her face.

"Seven Seas, here we come."

Next will be the big moment where everyone boards the Seven Seas cruise, including some very special guests on board with them!

Author's Note:

* As to who the monster Anais had befriended, he is the toy hybrid from the episode The Friend, which is one of my favorite episodes

** Darwin's PhoneCam case is based off the ZYTLUS case in real life. If you are confused by what it looks like, here's the link right here: ( /products/lite-series-camera-kit-for-iphone-6s)

*** I did some research on the average salary for office workers, which is $12.25 per hour, and multiplied it by 12 hrs./week (84 hours in total), equating to $1,029

I do not own any of these characters. They respectfully belong to Ben Bocquelet, Cartoon Network, and Disney.