The Exam

Chapter 2: The Idea

Half an hour later Gumball lay on his bed, still thinking about how he could prove everyone wrong.

Agh, there had to be something he could do, but what? Why couldn't he think of anything? Was it because he'd never actually done anything to make her proud before? No, surely he had to have done so at some point, right?

He thought for a while trying to think of something, anything he'd done that his mother was proud of, hell, even something he was proud of, but ultimately he came up with nothing.

Am...am I really that much of a disappointment?

His eyes began to well up as he tried to hold back tears.

He tried so hard to make his Mom proud, make her happy, but it seemed no matter what he tried, no matter what he did, he always screwed it up. Even something simple like looking after Anais turned into the house being flooded. Was he such an incompetent idiot that he couldn't even do something as simple as looking after his little sister?

He felt tears beginning to fall.

She must have been so annoyed having to put up with everything he and Darwin put her through. They had been such complete overprotective idiots to her, to the point where they almost got her killed.

He felt a pit in his stomach form, as the tears now began to pour again as he thought about what could have happened because of his stupidity that day.

She could have drowned...I could have lost my little sister, and...and it would have been all my fault. How could I have been so stupid? Mom should never have trusted me...

But even after all of that however, she was still willing to take the blame for them, even though she didn't deserve to. It should have been him that stepped up and took responsibility for his stupidity, and he would have done so had he not completely chickened out of it and blamed Darwin instead...

He was such a stupid coward he couldn't even take the blame for something correctly...

He was brought out of his thoughts as he heard someone coming toward the room so he quickly wiped his eyes.

The door opened and Darwin walked in.

"Hey Gumball, what're you up to?"

"Oh hey, bud! Uh, not much just...thinking."

"About what?" He asked as he sat at the computer table.

"Not much, just about, y'know...stuff..."

"Stuff...?"

"Yeah. Stuff."

"Alright then...? Anyway, have you studied for the exam on Friday?"

"Exam? What exam?"

"The science exam, about everything we've learnt this term? Don't tell me you forgot?" He asked as he began to print out his homework.

"Uhhhhhhh, no...I just...thought we'd...already done it...?" He unconvincingly came up with an excuse.

"Why are you saying that as if it were a question?"

"Beeecaaause...uhhhhhhhh..."

"You forgot didn't you." He sighed and crossed his arms.

He looked away twitching his thumbs. "Yeah..."

Darwin rolled his eyes and gave a light chuckle. "Why am I not surprised? Well, I'd start studying if I were you. We only have a few days left. Actually, why am I even telling you this? We both know you won't."

He walked over to the dresser and put his homework away.

"Yeah, I will!" Gumball protested.

"Pfft, no you won't! You'll just stay up all night playing video games."

"I will not!" He crossed his arms.

"Sure, sure..."

"Oh, whatever dude!" He snapped slightly, looking away annoyed.

"Aww, hey, I didn't mean to upset you."

"Well, you did a terrible job there!"

Darwin felt a knot in his stomach as he began to feel guilty. "I'm sorry..."

"Look, just...leave me alone, okay? I'm really not in a good mood right now."

"Oh no? Do you wanna talk about it?" He sat down and placed his fin on Gumball's shoulder.

"Not particularly, no."

"You sure? You know I'm willing to listen."

"Yes, I'm sure. Just leave me alone."

"It's okay, you can tell me anything-"

"I said I don't want to talk, alright! Just leave me alone!" Gumball snapped and shouted at him.

They remained silent for a moment until Gumball spoke up again.

"...Sorry I...didn't mean to shout at you, or lash out at you, I just...I need some time by myself, alright?

"Apology accepted. Just let me know if you want to talk about it, alright? I'm always here."

"I will. Thanks, buddy, love you."

"I love you too."

They gave each other a loving hug before Darwin left the room leaving Gumball alone again.

He sighed and laid back down.

Great, just what he needed. Another exam to worry about, another failure to present to his mother. Unless...

He suddenly shot back up beginning to smile.

That's it! That's how he could prove everyone wrong! He would study for this exam as much as he could, pull all-nighters if he had to, and then, when he got an A, everyone would see that he wasn't a complete and total failure! It was perfect!

Gumball grinned and raced downstairs, grabbing a bunch of Anais' science books from her bag before running back to his room again and dumping them on the desk.

He sat down, took a book from the pile and started reading it. Not even a few minutes later and he was already beginning to feel bored.

Oh boy, this was gonna be a looooong night...