Proper Etiquette

Chapter 8

After Gumball had left his homeroom, he had dropped into his next class, turned in all of the work for the day, asked the teacher about their restrictions, and he was able to leave the classroom and do whatever until his next class.

He was now sitting under a tree near the football field, and was absentmindedly listening to the music playing from his headphones.

Gumball waited for his hour class to end before he popped into his next one and did the same thing. He had decided to head back to the tree, seeing that it was fairly comfortable.

Gumball was walking back to it when he noticed that Mr. Ricardio was sitting on the bleachers. Gumball waved to him, and almost immediately Mr. Ricardio had waved back.

'Odd that he was already looking my direction.' Gumball thought.

Gumball plopped his backpack on the ground near the tree. He dug in his backpack, pulling out his phone and his pair of pink headphones.

He put the jack into his phone and put the earbuds into his ears before opening his phone anf scrolling through the music options. Gumball chose a cover of "The Scientist" by Vitamin String Quartet. He leaned back against the trunk and closed his eyes, getting lost in the sounds.

A few songs had played when someone had kicked his foot. He opened his eyes and saw a jock standing above him. He took out one of his earbuds to make sure that he was listening to the guy.

"Can I help you with something?" Gumball asked.

"You can kiss my ass, you fucking faggot." the jock sneered.

Gumball absolutely despised that terms, but he wasn't going to let it get too far under his skin.

"Could you please leave me alone?" Gumball asked politely.

"You can't tell me what to do." the jock said.

"Fine. Then I will leave, and you can stay." Gumball said, picking up his backpack and stowing away his other earbud in his pocket along with his phone. He stood up and started walking away.

"Oh, no you don't." the jock said, grabbing onto Gumball's jacket and yanking him back.

Gumball fell onto the ground, letting out a small noise because of the impact. Without a second's hesitation, the jock kicked Gumball in the stomach, causing Gumball to start coughing and wheeze as he curled up and held his now injured stomach.

Gumball heard the jock walk along the grass before stopping somewhere close to Gumball's face. Gumball opened his eyes to see the jock, now squatting, reach out and grab a fistful of Gumball's hair. The jock yanked his head with the pink strands of hair, and spit in his face.

"Learn your place, faggot." the jock said, lacing venom in the slur. He slammed Gumball's head into the ground before standing up and walking away.

Gumball didn't do anything. He stayed on the ground in complete silence. He listened to the wind blowing, and he watched as a tiny lock of his hair in his vision quiver ever so slightly. Back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. He lay there on his side, on the grass, thinking.

"Did this really happen again?" Gumball asked himself. He let his mind wander as he sat up. He leaned back against the tree, and let himself replay the past.

_Flashback_

It was 8th grade, and Gumball was on the floor of his school's hallway scrambling as fast as he can to pick up any salvageable papers. Behind him, he heard a rip of papers, and a crumpling of papers. He felt something drop onto his head, and Gumball looked up to see a friend turned enemy giving him a malicious grin before nudging him against the wall, making him land on his said. He got up quickly and went to pick up the rest of the papers.