"BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!" I hit my head on the bottom of the top bunk, and fall out of bed. The alarm clock continues to beep annoyingly, and I get up, still holding my head. I get so pissed off, that I quickly smash the clock by bringing my fist down hard on it, trying to hit the snooze button. Darwin, my fish brother, awoke with a smile. He's always been that way. "Morning, Gumball!" he cheers. He then frowns. "Dude, you broke the alarm. What's wrong?" I sigh, clenching my fists. "2 things, man. One, I woke up by bumping my head on the other bed. Two, I'm too broke to buy a gift for Penny." "Well, at least it's Friday," he says.

It's our anniversary of when we confessed to each other and kissed for the first time. To be honest, I don't even want to buy a gift. As we got older, Penny hasn't been able to control her emotions, and now listens to her father more. And her father wants me to be the "perfect boyfriend". She keeps telling me what to do, when to do it, and threatens to break up with me if I don't do it. I thought it was love, but now I just feel like I'm bound to her because I did so much for her. Not to mention, I feel like there is some sort of audience that expects us to be together. I think Darwin feels that there is an audience that expects him and Carrie to be together, except that he doesn't mind. In fact, he is continuing to say cute stuff to her and is clinging to her all the time. It makes me sick. She's a person, not property, or a new puppy for that matter. She's just Carrie. But, I can't say anything, because he's my brother.

Soon, my younger, yet smarter, sister Anais walks into the room. "Gumball, I think you just need a healthy breakfast, and if you don't get detention today, we'll go hang out at the movies tomorrow!" I smiled at that. I always enjoy going to the movies, since I always wished I could be a television star, or even a movie critic, or something of that sort. I nod and help Darwin out of his tank, then walk over to my dresser to change for school.

In case you were wondering, I am a blue cat, and I'm 17 years old. Darwin is 15, my adopted younger brother, and is a mutant goldfish. Anais is a pink bunny and is nine. I know, crazy right? She was just born a genius. Here, let me clue you into the other people in my life. My mom's name is Nicole Watterson, a blue cat, and she is 43. My dad's name is Richard, who is a pink bunny, and he is also 43. Penny Fitzgerald, a golden fairy spirit, and Carrie Krueger, a ghost that is able to touch people, are both 17, like me. However, Darwin will be turning 16 soon. Anyhow, let's get back to the story.

I finally reach downstairs, where Anais has made us breakfast. After plenty of convincing, she is finally allowed to teach our high school and is in a chipper mood this morning. She is going to be teaching us science and mathematics and is usually the sub for Mrs. Brown, aka, Lucy Brown. Lucy Simian and Nigel Brown had finally gotten married but were still teaching high school.

After breakfast, we walked outside to reach the school bus stop, where I see Carrie turning around, with a grin on her face. I walk next to her, and she playfully punches my shoulder. "Hey there, Gumball. Nice art project the other day," she says, snickering. I roll my eyes, chuckling with her. The other day, I had accidentally slipped and run into Coach Russo. She was carrying paint for Rocky to repaint the gymnasium, she threw the paint cans in the air, coloring Mr. Smalls' white skin. He was fine with it, but I also accidentally got paint on Mr. Brown's fur, and he immediately sent me to detention. "Mr. Smalls seemed to like it at least. He said he needed more "color" in his life. That's why I only got detention for a day."

She nods her head, and suddenly, we hear a loud yell. "CARRIE!" Carrie sighs. "Not again…" I look at her skeptically. "What's wrong, Carrie? I would think you'd be excited to see your boyfriend." She looks at me, annoyed. "Just watch." Suddenly, Darwin runs up to Carrie. He then leans down to her and kisses her cheek. "Hey there, Care Bear! How's my little Ghostie-Pie?" I feel like I'm about to throw up. As Darwin hugs her, she looks at me and mouths, "See what I mean?" She nods at me, also very sickly. I'm not about to fare much better, as soon as I hear a high-pitched voice screaming at me. "GUMBALL!" I turn and watch as Penny runs up to me, who has turned into a medusa. Crap, what've I done this time?

"Gumball Watterson! Why didn't you call me last night?" I sighed. "Penny, please. Can't I have one morning without you yelling at me?" "When you clean up your act, then you can? Don't you want us to work out? Maybe we should just break up!" I sigh. "I'm sorry, babe. I'll make it up to you tonight at dinner." She kisses my cheek and smiles brightly. "Good! Now walk me to the bus." I sigh again and loop my arm through hers. As the bus pulls up, Carrie and I both go to our separate bus seats, with her being disgusted by Darwin' antics, and I having to suffer through all of Penny's gossip.

Sometimes, I think things would've been better if I dated someone else. Then Carrie and I could actually do things that friends do, instead of having to work our way around our relationships' schedules. "Gumball! Are you even listening to me?" Penny asks, annoyed with me again. "Yes. Continue on, love…" "Good. So anyway, then Masami told Sussi that…" I lost track, and I start looking over at Carrie for help. She looks at me and pushes away Darwin, who kept trying to kiss her.

Finally, Carrie pushes Darwin on the ground. "UGH! JUST STOP!" Darwin looks at her teary-eyed, and all eyes are on her. "Um…just…I need some time away from you." As the bus slows to a stop, she quickly rushes out the door, long white hair floating in the breeze, until she's gone. "Ugh, that's a bad relationship. Luckily, we're not like that. Right, Gummy-Puss?" What Carrie did inspires me to make my own path. I need to get away from Penny for a while. "Penny, we need to take a break." She turns to me, shocked. "W-what do you mean?" "I mean let's not date for a while. I'm canceling dinner plans. I just need to figure things out." She turns red in anger. "You can't do this to me! If you do, I'm breaking up with you forever!" I sigh and walk out the bus doors.

I hear Penny screaming at me behind me. "GUMBALL TRISTOPHER WATTERSON YOU GET BACK HERE THIS INSTANT!" I also hear Rocky say, "Sorry, Penny. But you all need to get off the bus and go to school." I run inside, not willing to deal with anyone. Surprisingly, I run into Carrie. She turns to me. "Hey Gumball." "Hey, Carrie. So, Darwin and you not a thing anymore?" She looks down. "I don't know. He's really sweet and kind, but he just seems to control me, y'know?" I nod. "I know exactly what you mean. I also think it's obvious I'm being controlled by Penny. That's why we're taking a break for a while." She laughs and replies, "So technically, we're both single, huh?" I laugh with her. "Yeah."

"Hello everyone! This unit, we will be talking about different Monohybrid crosses, and how to do a dihybrid cross. Before we begin, can anyone tell me the answer to this: Let's say that a boy's father is colorblind, but neither the mom nor the boy is colorblind? Why is that?" Carrie raises her hand. "Because the boy didn't inherit it." Anais looks at her, and says, "Well, yes, but WHAT did the boy not inherit?" Bobert raises his hand. "Because the boy didn't inherit his father's X." Anais smiles. "EXACTLY! Thank you Bobert! This is where we will talk about Sex-Linked Traits!" She turns to the board and starts writing something down. "Bobert is a brainiac," I say. Carrie giggles at my little comment.

The school was finally ending, after a day of just hanging out with Carrie, and ignoring Penny's antics. Darwin walked up to Carrie, and said, "Carrie, I've been doing some thinking, and I have decided to apologize. I just really wanted to show affection towards you, but I got really carried away, and I'm sorry. How about I make it up to you by having you over for a home-cooked meal at my place! I'll even let you use my body to eat!"

Carrie was flustered, and replied, "I don't know Darwin, I've only ever used Gumball to eat, and I've practiced maintaining control with him…I don't want to lose control with you…" I put my hand on her shoulder. "Well, how about you use my body to eat," I suggest. She looks at me. "Are you sure?" I do a little bow for humor and say, "Please, I insist." She laughs again and nods her head in agreement. Darwin grabs her hand with his fin and starts walking with her in front of me to our house.

They start talking again, and Carrie seems happy. Carrie has always seemed happy with Darwin, due to his innocence and all-around cuteness. However, I did catch him kissing Rachel Wilson, Tobias's sister, once. He said it would never happen again, and it was a one-time thing, but I don't think that's necessarily true. In fact, a couple of times I catch him sneaking out at night. I always ask, "Out to see Carrie?" and he always responds, "R-right, Carrie, yeah. Don't tell Mrs. Mom."

I didn't tell Mom, I told Dad, and he said that he knows about cheating, and how his Dad did the same thing to him when he was younger. I think he has a flashback because he voiced his younger voice and his Dad's. "Going out for milk, Daddy?" "What? O-oh yeah…milk." He then told me, "The funny thing is, son, that he never returned home with milk. He did return with less clothing though."

I realized a time that Darwin was missing a sock one night when he came home. Now, you can always assume that he was startled by me catching him sneaking out, but I do know for a fact that Carrie has told him several times that she wasn't ready for…*ahem* y'know. Darwin says he respects that, but I don't know. So, I have a feeling Darwin is cheating. Just like I had the feeling Penny was cheating with Tobias all this time. I don't know why, though. Maybe because he's rich? I don't really have many facts about my relationship, just a feeling.

We finally reach my house, to where we find Mom preparing dinner. "Hello, kids! Oh, you've brought a guest! Nice to see you again, Carrie." "You too, Mrs. Watterson." "Please, have a seat!" she exclaims, cheerfully. She immediately turns the tides, however, when she sees Dad about to stick his fingers in a bowl of cookie dough. "RICHARD GET YOUR HANDS AWAY FROM THERE!" He immediately takes his hands away, and groans sadly. Mom laughs and takes out a spoon from the batter. She gives him the spoon, and he quickly runs out of the kitchen like a kid with a new toy.

We sit down on the couch, watching TV. Darwin tries to keep himself distant from Carrie like she requested, and Carrie and I mainly talk about today's drama. "Well, Ocho kept glaring at me for losing the game for us. And we both know how much he hates to lose." "Yeah, he's pretty intense, isn't he?" she says, with me nodding my head. "Yeah, my day wasn't as great either. Penny decided to bombard me with questions and insults today." "Wait, really?" I asked. "Yeah. She said that I influenced you to break things off with her. It's funny actually." I snicker at that. Of course, Penny would do that. "She probably thinks I have a crush on you or something." Darwin turns his head and looks at me with skepticism.

"You don't, right?" Carrie looks at him with shock. "Darwin? You're not jealous, are you?" "Yes, I am, in fact. You guys have a close friendship, and I don't want it to become anything more. Friends only, and I won't allow anything more. Gumball, if you get a crush on Carrie, then I can't allow you guys to be friends anymore." I am appalled. How could Darwin say that? "Well, Darwin. I'm leaving. It's nice seeing you Gumball, but I can't stand being near fish legs here." Carrie says, getting off the couch. "I'll go with you. Even though APPARENTLY I shouldn't because your boyfriend doesn't want me to." I add, following her. I open the door for Carrie, and she turns around to say one last thing. "Yeah, don't talk to us for a while. You need to learn to not be so possessive." "And how!" I add, slamming the door behind me.

I feel really bad about leaving. Not because of Darwin, but because of Mom. She made dinner extra special for Carrie, and we just left. Oh well, the rest of the scraps can go to Dad. "I can't believe he'd do that to us!" Carrie spouts angrily. "Yeah. We're best friends. You don't try and separate that." She nods in agreement as we keep walking. I decide to spout my thoughts. I usually write them down, but my journal is back at home, and I need to be with Carrie.

"Sometimes it's hard to believe Darwin and I are best friends at all. We had the best of times when we were younger, but when we started dating, it kind of just…ended." She looks at me curiously, taking in my every word. "Now, I'm best friends with you, and things are complicated. I mean, so what if I liked you? Should that change anything? No! And he certainly doesn't deserve someone like you." She smiles at me, but I don't notice. I'm still fuming. "I mean c'mon! After treating you like a possession rather than a person, calling you stupid names, making me sick to my stomach. C'mon Carrie, "Care Bear"? Really?" She laughs. "And to think, he found the perfect girl and is going out every Saturday night to…" I choke back my words. I realize I just revealed something I shouldn't have. I look at her fearfully, and she looks at me with curiosity.

"Saturday night? Why is he going out every Saturday night?" I look away from her and finish. "I…shouldn't have said this…or maybe I should have told you sooner. However, either way, you need to hear this. Do you remember when Darwin cheated on you that one time?" She nods her head. "Rachel Wilson, yeah. He said it was on a dare." I shake my head no. "It wasn't. He said he wanted to try something new, and he liked it. But he told me it was a one-time thing. Y'know?" She nods her head again and is now paler than usual. "Gumball…what are you trying to say?" I look at her. There's a pain in her usual sparkling eyes. By telling her this, I risk our friendship and my relationship with my brother. "I think Darwin is still cheating on you. With Rachel Wilson." She looks at me for a moment and then lets out a noise.

"Pfft!" Then she starts laughing. Laughing? "Why are you laughing?" "It's funny! It's a joke right?" she asks, still smiling. Then she gets a glimpse of my serious expression. "Gumball, tell me you're joking." "Carrie…" I walk towards her, and she pushes me back. "TELL ME YOU'RE JOKING! GUMBALL THIS ISN'T FUNNY ANYMORE!" "Carrie, please." "STOP LYING! MAYBE YOU ARE JUST LIKE DARWIN, WANTING ME ALL TO YOURSELF! YOU JUST WANT TO LIE SO THAT I CAN RUN INTO YOUR ARMS! I WON'T DO IT!" I look at her. "Carrie, just listen-" Smack.

The massive pain was spreading throughout my cheek, and pressure had turned my face to the side. I hold my face, and turn to look at her. Carrie has her arm raised, tears flowing down her cheeks, angry, upset. Carrie puts her hands to her mouth and looks at me. "Carrie, I know you're hurting…" "SHUT UP!" "Carrie, just…" "NO, I REFUSE TO BELIEVE IT! JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!" She runs off, leaving me dumbfounded, and hurt. I may have just lost my best friend. She won't believe me. I know that I need to prove it to her.