The Pinky

Chapter 1 - The Lying

Friday evening in Elmore, California...

The Gumball, Darwin, and Anais were scrolling through the channels on the television. From EBS to Channel 5, comedy to drama block, anywhere where the programming looked interesting.

The front door opened and Nicole entered the house. Having a long and hard day at work, she was eager for a rest. Her aching head and wobbling legs were killing her and her eyes were barely able to stay open. So she could only tiredly greet her kids with "Hey kids, sorry I'm late, I ran into a traffic jam on my home, I hope you had a good day at school, you're all gonna finish your homework, right?".

"Already finished" replied Anais.

"Just taking a quick break, Mrs. Mom" said Darwin.

"Um, don't worry, mom. I'll get it done after dinner" said Gumball.

"Thank you" said Nicole. "Now, I'm just gonna rest before I get dinner ready". And with that, she opened the door to her and Richard's room and cashed onto the bed.

Anais looked at Gumball, his hesitation to respond to their mother grabbing her attention. "Gumball, are you really going to finish your homework?".

"Of course I will" replied Gumball.

Anais raised and eyebrow. "But you were clearly showing hesitation".

"Hesitation? What hesitation? I don't see any hesitation" said Gumball, making a nervous grin.

"Okay?". Anais just minded her own business. She really wasn't getting anywhere with her big brother.

Later, after dinner...

The door to the kids' room opened and Anais entered the room, her brothers having finished dinner early. Upon entry, her eyes widened. "Gumball?".

"EEK!" shrieked her startled big brother, who was on the chair at the desk with an Elmore Plus private messaging wall on the computer screen. "Knock next time!".

"Sorry" said Anais. "Didn't mean to startle you. But anyway, I thought you were supposed to be doing your homework right now".

"Um, what are you talking about? I am" replied Gumball, nervously smiling and sweating.

"Hmm" pondered Anais, placing her paw on her chin as she examined the scene before her. "Really? I didn't know you could do homework on an Elmore Plus chat with Penny".

"You can actually do your homework on a private messaging chat?" asked Darwin, pausing his studying while finishing his homework.

Anais facepalmed. "No. Gumball was slacking off from his homework".

"I thought he said he would do it online" said Darwin.

"I am" said Gumball, fidgeting nervously. "I was just asking Penny online, um, if she had any answers yeah".

"And you couldn't ask me?" asked Darwin.

"Or me? Or Mom? Or Dad?" added Anais.

"I could've asked you?" Gumball pretended to ask. "How stupid of me". Looking at the glares his siblings were giving him, Gumball sweated and fidgeted with his paws some more. Nervously whimpering and biting his lip, he tried desperately to avoid spilling the beans like his conscience demanded him to. He tried and tried....."OKAY! I'M SLACKING OFF BECAUSE I CAN'T ANSWER ANY OF THE QUESTIONS! 'YOU HAPPY NOW!?"

"What's going on up there?" shouted Nicole's voice from downstairs, joined by loud footsteps.

Gumball, this time lucky enough to receive a warning, closed the window on the screen and shut of the computer just when his mother entered.