Chapter 1: A Simple School Day?

During a simple morning in Elmore City, the sun was rising inside one room of a house that had clothes lying around the floor of the room and not having been cleaned up in a while. A young feline was sleeping in a bunk bed with his fish brother sleeping in a fish bowl that looked slightly too small, but he didn't mind that at all. They both heard an alarm clock going off, waking them both up. They both groaned as the young fish boy stood up in his bowl and saw his feline brother sit on the edge of his bed, in greyish jeans and a long sleeved shirt.

"Morning Darwin," the feline greeted his aquatic brother. "Morning, Gumball," he responded in his usual happy mood. However, they heard a groan coming from downstairs. They looked at each other in confusion before heading downstairs to see what the noise was. When they got downstairs, they went to the living room that had a coffee table a television and a big couch with a large pink rabbit lying on it and groaning in pain. He had a red nose and bags under his eyes. "Dad?" Gumball approached him confusedly. The big rabbit was their father. He was called Richard, and he was an overweight rabbit who had unfortunately gotten sick somehow recently.

"Hey, Gumball… Hey, Darwin…" Richard greeted them before he sneezed into a tissue. Darwin was looking around confusedly, not seeing their mother anywhere. "Did mom already leave for work?" he questioned but Richard shook his head. "No, she left for the airport early this morning. She had some workers convention to get to. She'll be back tomorrow," their father explained, though Gumball just cringed after seeing him blowing his nose. "Yeah, we'll just grab some cereal and go," he said and just went to the kitchen with his aquatic brother to get breakfast before they had to go to school.

When they got to the kitchen, they found their younger sister sitting at the table with a bowl of her own cereal. She too was a younger pink rabbit, and she was wearing an orange dress. She was the youngest of the three siblings, but she was smarter than the other two. "Hey, Anais," Gumball greeted her and sat down at the table to pour himself some cereal. "Morning," she answered continuing to eat her food nonchalantly. The three continued to eat, knowing that their father was incapacitated and their mother was gone. They expected it to be normal and relaxing now that their father was unable to do much while sick.

It didn't take long for them to hear someone honking their horn outside. It was the bus, so the three of them got up, sped out of the house and climbing aboard the bus to their junior high school. They saw a lot of their friends in the bus. Anais took a seat by a robotic friend of theirs named Bobert, a sleek white robot that had clamps for hands, a speaker for a mouth that glowed green when he talked, and had a large blue eye in the middle of his eye.

Darwin and Gumball went and took their usual seats at the back of the bus, since because they were one of the last pickups for the bus all of the seats were usually taken. "So what classes ya got today?" Darwin questioned since he was curious. Gumball let out a sigh of annoyance. "Math, Science and History… You?" Gumball answered his aquatic brother. "I've got Science, English and Gym class," he claimed while they were riding in the bus.

After a while of riding, Gumball saw the girl of his dreams. Her name was Penny Fitzgerald, and she was an anthropomorphic peanut with antlers coming out from the peanut shell she had. She was a cheerleader, and he had been trying to date her for the past few months, although they had only become good friends, and Gumball's efforts had been seen as nothing more than kind gifts and such. He had been considering giving up on her since he was having no luck, though before he realized it, he had been daydreaming for the entire bus ride and everyone was climbing out of the bus. He went into their junior high school to get the school day over with.

Gumball arrived to his usual math class. He found his teacher, Miss Simian, finishing up on setting up various things such as paperwork, all while the class was taking their seats. He just sighed and felt like he was in a rut while he began working on his assignment which Miss Simian gave to the students. Math was the only class in which he really paid attention, mainly because if he didn't and tried to secretly sleep through, Miss Simian would go ape on him and send him to detention, even if he usually wound up there on his own anyway.

After a while, lunchtime had arrived and Darwin was sitting at a table alone since he was one of the first people to come to the cafeteria. He was eating his lunch until he heard someone call for him. "Uh, hey Darwin," he looked over and saw a girl with blue colored skin and her long hair which faded from yellow to magenta. She wore a headband in her hair and was wearing a white t-shirt and a chartreuse colored skirt. "Oh, hi Rachel," Darwin happily greeted her. She was a close friend of his. So far, they were the only few people so far in the cafeteria.

"Listen, I need to talk to you," Rachel claimed. Darwin nodded back at her. She already had his attention since he was more polite than the others. "What about?" he asked her. She sighed and took a seat beside him. "So, my father has gotten sick, and I think it's because of something we found. No one will listen to me about it," Rachel started already confusing him. He wondered what they could have found to make her father sick, but understood that her friends were ignoring her once she brought up her father, in case it was family troubles.

"Alright, well, what does this have to do with me?" Darwin politely asked how he could help. "Can you come over tonight to help me with it?" she asked but he suddenly looked disappointed and sighed. "Sorry, I can't Rachel. My dad's sick too and mom's not home. Someone has to take care of him," he apologized and explained why he couldn't help. She felt disappointed and he didn't want to abandon her completely since she was a good friend of his.

Darwin saw Gumball enter the cafeteria and smiled. "I know someone who would help you though," he claimed pointing behind her. Rachel saw Gumball, but she sighed. She didn't like him too much. She used to despise her younger peers but had been lightening up on them ever since she became friends with Darwin. "I don't know…" she responded not sure if he would be helpful, but she had never really hung out with him. She sighed again and nodded, and went to approach him.

"Hey, Gumball," Rachel greeted him while still saddened. "Oh hi, Rachel, what's up?" Gumball asked while he was setting his tray of food on the table. "Nothing, really… can I ask you for a favor?" she responded. He nodded and proclaimed that she could ask him anything. "I need some help and none of my friends will listen to me. My dad got sick we found something crashed in a field just outside of town, just when we were coming home from visiting my aunt! Would you come help me with it?" Rachel pleaded with him, but Gumball was surprised since his dad Richard was sick as well. All he had experienced and heard so far puzzled him greatly.

Gumball was distracted by his thoughts for a little while before he answered. Rachel decided to offer him something to try and guarantee his help. "If you do, I'll set up a blind date for you and Penny," she offered. Gumball's eyes widened and he nodded. "I-I would have helped either way, but thanks sooooo much!" Gumball exclaimed happily. It was like a dream of his come true. Rachel nodded back at Gumball. "Alright, we will go tonight. Meet me at my house," Rachel claimed before going back to eat lunch, leaving the feline boy confused about this.

End of Chapter 1