The Exam

Chapter 5: Exam Day

After Anais wished him and Darwin good luck, they entered the classroom and sat down as Ms Simian took attendance.

Once she finished she began to drone on at the front about the rules of the exam.

"If I see any phones or electronics out they will be immediately confiscated and you will automatically receive an F, so I'd advise you to either turn them off or put them on silent now."

Most of the class, including Gumball, did so as she continued.

"You will have an hour to complete the exam. You will not say a word to each other during this time. If I hear so much as a whisper you will receive a detention. Am I understood?"

"Yes, Ms Simian" The class droned.

Ugh, just get on with it already. He could already feel himself getting more and more anxious and he hadn't even begun the test. He wanted nothing more than to just get this over with.

"Good. I hope you all studied because this exam counts as 60% of your grade this term."

Great, as if he didn't already have enough pressure on him, now he learnt the outcome of this exam would affect his overall grade for this subject as well? Juuuust great.

Just take deep breaths and stay calm. You've got this. You've revised for this exam harder than any other you've done before. There's no way you could do badly...right?

"Does anyone have questions?"

A few students raised their hands.

"Tough. You may begin."

Welp here goes nothing...

Gumball took one more deep breath before he opened his paper and began the test.

It started well enough, with Gumball answering the questions pretty confidently, but as the test progressed he started doubting his answers.

Maybe he should go back and check them? No, they had to be right, he needed to focus on finishing the rest of the test first.

He focused as hard as he could on the test, trying to ignore any outside distractions like the sound of Tobias chewing gum and Susie's breathing.

Time progressed and Gumball got further into the exam and he was doubting himself more and more, completely losing any confidence he had and beginning to panic slightly.

I'm sure I got Question 11 wrong, I'm certain. I should go back and check...no, I can't, I need to finish the test!

But what if is wrong...

These thoughts began to build up, making him lose focus.

He put down his pen, closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Just calm down. Stop worrying and finish the test, then I can go back and check as I much as a like.

He took a few more deep breaths before returning to the test with a clear mind once again.

Time continued to dwindle down and with only 5 minutes left Gumball was now going back through his test constantly, doubting various answers and going back to check them only to find they were definitely right...or maybe they weren't.

They have to be right, they have to. I can't afford to fail this test, I just can't!

A few minutes later and...

"Time's up! Anyone still writing gets detention!"

The 45 minutes were gone and that was it. It was over. The exam hadn't gone as well as he hoped it would, with him seriously struggling with some questions, and doubting himself throughout but overall he thought he'd done pretty well. He wouldn't find out for sure though until after the weekend.

Everyone got up and exited the classroom to go to lunch.

As he walked Gumball got more and more paranoid about how he'd done, continuing to doubt himself.

Had he gotten the calculation on Question 9 right? Had he remembered correctly the layout of a plant cell? Was it red or white blood cells that carried the blood? Was Helium He or just H? Had he-

"Hey Gumball, how did you find the exam?"

He was stopped dead in his thoughts as the voice of an angel suddenly broke through them like paper.

"Oh uhh, h-hey Penny. Uh, it was...it was alright I guess."

"I got stuck on a few questions, especially Question 23 but I think I managed to do pretty well. What about you?"

"Uh, y-yeah I think I did...I think I did pretty good as well." I hope

"Well, that's good! So...do you...maybe want to have lunch with me?"

She started nervously moving one of her legs back and forth as she smiled at him, which gave him butterflies.

"Uhhhhh... y-y-yeah sure, I'd love to-LIKE to, y-yeah." He blushed and began rubbing the back of his head.

"Really? Great, let's go!" She smiled and took his paw.

They walked to the cafeteria and had their lunch together, chatting and laughing about various topics, and Gumball, for the first time in what seemed like years to him, completely forgot about the exam and any worries he had, and finally relaxed for a little while, just glad to be spending some time with Penny and be happy for a while.