The Pinky

Chapter 3 - The Honesty

On the Elmore Expressway...

A yellow family station wagon was among the many vehicles occupying the road.

As all attempts to remove Gumball from the classroom had failed, even after the bell rang at the end of the day, the school had no choice but to contact Nicole and ask her to pick him up.

Nicole wasn't happy that her work at the Rainbow Factory had to be interrupted, but the call sounded serious; it mentioned something about Gumball "crying in the corner of the room repeatedly whimpering about his fur being blue".

During the drive home, Nicole looked at her son, whose arms were wrapped around his knees and was in tears, still mumbling under his own breath "My fur is blue. My fur is blue. My fur is blue". The dread and uncertainty looked most definitely genuine in his eyes, so Nicole thought that something troubling was on his mind. She tried to plaster a cheerful smile on her face and asked "So, how was school today?".

"It was really really bad" replied Gumball, pausing his whimpering to respond to his mother. He then truthfully said "I tried to lie about the colour of my fur, but I couldn't for no reason", but it was muffled as he was covering his mouth, thinking his mother would never believe his story.

Nicole was now confused at Gumball's response. So, she just answered with a "Okay........". They then sat silently until she heard her son speak again.

"Mom?"

Her mother instincts took over, so she looked at him again to show she was listening. "Yes?".

"Have you ever felt like you couldn't lie before?" he asked.

"Well, if I could remember..." began Nicole. "...there were many times where I would get in big trouble for lying when I was your age, such as-"

"And that you felt like you were cursed to never lie?" interrupted Gumball. "And that you suffer headaches and stomach cramps each time you try!? And you feel like you will always be honest for the rest your life!?". Gumball could tell from Nicole's raised eyebrow that his mother wasn't sure if what he was saying was true. So he pretended to laugh, which came out as wheezes because of this honesty curse. "That wasn't a joke" he said through his bitten lip, meaning to say the opposite.

"Hahaha right" Nicole nervously chuckled, now a little bit creeped out from Gumball's odd behaviour.

The remainder of the journey home was silent.

And once it was finished...

"Come on! Show yourselves, batteries!" was the thought on Richard's mind as he searched relentlessly for the batteries of the remote. His search had taken him to the lamp on the ceiling, where he had little chance of getting down.

When Gumball and Nicole entered the house, the latter sighed and patted Gumball on the head. "Let me handle this" she said calmly, and she dashed to the spot just underneath the lamp. "Richard, what are you doing up there!?"

"The batteries for the remote disappeared and I have to find them!" declared Richard 'heroically'.

"Richard, I have them-" said Nicole, before being interrupted by her husband.

"They must've been cursed by a poltergeist and hid somewhere! Now because of them, I'm trapped up here!" he panicked.

"Richard, calm down! Just let me-"

As the argument and ruckus took place, Anais and Darwin made their way down stairs. "Hey, dude. Did you have a fun ride home from detention?" asked the latter.

"It wasn't detention" said Gumball truthfully, intending to sarcastically say yes. "I tried to lie but some curse took hold of me and now I can tell nothing but the truth"