Hey-o! Here's chapter three, the final chapter. Hope you like it.

Disclaimer: I do not own SpongeBob SquarePants or any of its characters

Gary the Busybody

~French Narrator~

"One fatal mistake later."

Well, there he was. Slithering down the road alongside the three carefree youngsters. Neptune knew how much fun this was going to be.

Gary had spent hours running around town with Pearl, Judy, and Orchid. He could've definitely said he had fun. Heck, it was the most fun he had in a long time; you know, other than playing pranks on people and messing with Patrick or as Gary liked to call him, 'tubby'.

The fun-loving four had taken time to go bowling, Gary making an excellent substitute for a bowling ball. They went to the mall where Judy made it her mission to teach the snail all about the 'beauty world', which, to be honest, he couldn't have cared less about. He had to grin and bear it though; at this point, he was still trying to lick the lipstick off his mouth that the young girl insisted testing on him at one of the cosmetic stores.

While doing various other activities, the snail had forgotten all about what his owner had warned him of. After all, he did tell him to go out and do something different or have an adventure, and he was doing it! Well, if you'd call being forced against your will to have fake eyelashes glued on, then yes, it was an adventure, a very unusual one.

The four were just minutes away from Deborah 'Clowns' house. Oh, the three teens were very much excited. But the snail? Oh, boy, he was ecstatic. A party with a bunch of random wild teens was just the kind of 'adventure' he would seek out. Sure, his yellow master wouldn't be very happy about it once he'd find out where he had been and just exactly what he'd been up to, but the snail could feel that whatever punishment he was going to receive couldn't be enough to ruin the thrill he was about to have.

"I'm so ready for this party! How about you guys?" asked Pearl excitedly.

"You bet, girl. It's gonna be like so totally worth it to see Debbie's crazy blue eyeshadow," said Judy, examining her fin as she walked.

"How do you know she's gonna be wearing blue?" asked Orchid.

Judy scoffed at her friend. "When does she ever not wear blue?"

"Meow? (you mean this Deborah person wears all that crazy makeup stuff?)" the snail asked, looking up at them.

"Oh, yeah. She piles it on," replied Pearl.

"Yeah, she's always a cake-face!" remarked Orchid.

"Seems to me like she's always trying to impress someone. You're gonna see why everybody calls her Debbie 'clown'," Judy allowed a smug grin to creep onto her face.

"I'm so confused. I thought 'clown' was just her last name, what's so bad about a last name?" asked Orchid, her cluelessness too much for the other two teens to handle.

"Oh, boy. We're not even at the party yet and they're already gossiping. This is gonna be good!" thought Gary. The devious little troublemaker grinned widely to himself, imagining all the juicy things he was going to overhear at this secretive little shindig.

A few moments later, they finally arrived at their destination. Before them was a large home that was shaped like a lighthouse, with magenta flowers painted over an olive-green background on all sides of the home. The front yard was surrounded by a brown picket fence.

"Meow (uh, why does she live in a lighthouse?)"

The bored and sarcastic Judy looked down at him. "Seriously? You've seen your own house, right?"

"Meow (once again, you have a point.)"

There were two large circular windows on the front of the house. It appeared that all the lights were on as loud, yet muffled music could be heard from the outside.

"Ooh, it looks like everybody's already having a great time! Hehe let's go in!" said Pearl, shaking with excitement.

The four made their way to the front door. Right as Pearl was about to pound her flipper against the door, it opened.

"Well, howdy Pearl! Oh, and friends!" the perky teenage fish with choppy brown hair greeted them. She wore a mid-length dark-purple dress with pink and yellow spots. Gary eyed her up and down. Yikes, they weren't kidding when they called her 'clown'. On her large lips was a shiny, bright-pink lip gloss, while her eyes were decorated with a bright purple eyeshadow topped with gold glitter. And let's not forget the huge swirls of rosy pink blush on her cheeks.

"Hi, Debbie. This looks like a great party! I hope you don't mind us bringing an extra friend," said Pearl.

"Why, sure! I don't mind at all. Y'know what them folks say, the more the merrier! Where's your friend?" jeepers, it was like she was the perky, clueless version of Sandy. You know, if Sandy was also a fish and not a squirrel.

Pearl stepped aside to reveal little Gary, who faked a cheerful smile at the teen. "Oh, ain't you just the CUTEST little bundle of joy! Your owner must love you to death," Debbie gushed.

"Meow (oh, he sure does! A little too much actually)"

Debbie let out a high-pitched, deafening giggle. Judy covered her ears. Orchid elbowed her. "See? She's not wearing blue this time," she said smugly, making Judy roll her eyes.

"Well, Y'all can't just stand here all night. Come on in! Join the fun. My folks are away on a little campin' trip for the week. This is the third party I've had this week since they've been gone!"

"Wow! My dad would never let me have a party; let alone three!" Pearl said in amazement, looking around at the dozens of teens dancing their tailfins off to music.

"Well, I guess we can't really say my folks let me, aha. But it's all good. I'm pretty quick at cleanin' up a mess, I don't think they'll ever know," she smiled crookedly.

"Well, if you ever need help cleaning up spilled food, Gary's your guy! Or snail," said Orchid, chuckling.

The snail grinned shyly at her response. He took in his surroundings. All the teens dancing, talking and having fun. A long, rectangular table all fixed up with Neptune knows what kind of snacks. Heck, Papa-Bob never let him eat regular fish food; only the same old 'snail' gunk, yuck. Well, he did say to try new things, and that plate of cookies sure looked 'new' & appetizing to the snail!

Just then, two teenage girls casually passed by the group. "Did you hear Shelly's coming out with her own clothing line?" asked the blond fish.

The fish with black hair gasped. "You mean Shelly Whiskers?! The girl with the hideous chin hair? How could she afford it?!"

"I hear it's because her dad 'won' the lottery. But rumor has it that he actually robbed that 'Bank of Bikini Bottom Bank' because he's broke!"

Oh, dear Neptune and all that was good! The party was just getting started and already the snail could feel the inside of his shell tingling with excitement. He stuck his tongue out like a pet worm, drooling as his eyes glistened.

"Uh, is he okay?" asked Debbie, pointing at the mesmerized little creature.

Pearl shrugged. "Maybe he's never seen fruit punch before?"

"French Narrator~

"Meanwhile."

"Hmm-hmm, hmm-hmm," the hardworking SpongeBob hummed to himself as he scrubbed the Krusty Krab grill with a toothbrush.

The always-annoyed octopus neighbor of his stuck his large head through the kitchen window. "SPONGEBOB! Will you please stop that humming?! It's very annoy-wha-what are you doing?" he questioned.

The sponge looked up at him. "Oh, hi Squidward! There's some burnt cheese stuck to the grill, so I'm just trying to scrub it off." He smiled and continued to work at it.

Squidward was even more confused than usual at this. "Okay. But why are you using a toothbrush?"

"Because we were all out of those special rags, silly!" he chuckled.

Squidward stared blankly at him. "Uh… yeah. Ya know, you are a sponge; you could've just laid on your back on top of the grill and scrubbed it that way," he smiled slyly.

"Oh, but that could burn me because the grill is hot. It takes an awfully long time to cool off," replied SpongeBob, looking up innocently at his coworker.

"I know." Said Squidward. Man, he sure wasn't good at hiding his daggers for the sponge.

Just then, Mr. Krabs entered the kitchen. "Ahoy, SpongeBob! Mister Squidward. Ye almost done scrubbin' the cheese off that grill?" he asked.

"Yes sir, Cap'n!" SpongeBob saluted him with the toothbrush.

"I suggested he just use his back to scrub it instead of that worthless little toothbrush. It'd get the job done a lot faster," Squidward spoke deceitfully.

Mr. Krabs stared blankly at him for a moment before he smiled. "That's a great idea Mister Squidward! Perhaps, later on, ye would like to lend yer head to one the toilets; it would make a great pumice stone,"

Squidward mumbled an insult under his breath before turning away from the window. "So, how's everything at home lad? Yer snail, uh, Berry- "

"Gary," SpongeBob corrected.

"Eh, right. How's he doin'?" asked Mr. Krabs.

The sponge sighed as he continued to scrub away the grease. "Oh, the little guy's bored at home, nothing to do and all alone while I get to have all the fun," he said, shaking his head.

Only SpongeBob would consider scrubbing a dirty grill with a toothbrush 'fun'. His boss cocked a brow. "Bored, eh? Well, why doesn't he go out and find somethin' special to do? I'm sure there's lots of things for little fellers like him to get into,"

"That's what I'm hoping he did today. I told him he needed to go out and find something adventurous to do! Except… oh…" the sponge became discouraged suddenly.

"Except what, boy-O?"

"Except I'm afraid he'll just get himself into trouble with town gossip. He's been obsessed with talk shows and magazines, getting involved in the pettiness of it all. I just didn't raise him that way, Mr. Krabs,"

"Arg arg arg arg! Oh, lad. I'm sure yer little bundle of joy just wants to be havin' himself a wingding of a time. You've got to allow him to go out and just do whatever floats his boat. But whatever it is he's doin', I'm sure the feller is probably just as bored right now as he is at home," the crustacean smiled.

SpongeBob smiled back, giving the words of his boss some thought. "Maybe you're right Mr. K. Hahaha, my little Gary's probably just laying out on his little blanket at the park with his favorite sunglasses on. Not a care in the world, not a soul to be seen or spoken to… "

At the party…

"Go long!" a male teenage fish shouted, preparing to throw a football towards his friend.

CRASH!

The two teenage boys had broken a vase. "Hey! I told y'all no roughhousin'!" warned Debbie.

Meanwhile, on the living room couch sat four teenage girls, three of them comforting the one towards the middle.

"It's okay, Maggie. You don't need him; there's plenty of other fish in the sea," said a girl.

The young lady cried, tracks of black mascara running down her face. "That's what you don't seem to be getting, Sarah. James was a crab, not a fish,"

"So?"

"SO, I DON'T LIKE FISH!" she cried obnoxiously, blowing her nose.

"But Maggie, you're a fish yourself…"

"DON'T REMIND ME!"

As this was occurring, Gary was pressed up against the back of the couch, listening in to the private conversation of the girls. So far, the snail had picked up on at least thirty different conversations that were either unfiltered, emotional teen breakdowns or just pure town gossip. While he enjoyed hearing both, he much preferred the plain juiciness of the gossip; it filled his little mind with tantalizing thoughts.

"Hey, have you guys seen Gary?" asked Pearl as she walked up to her friends.

Judy and Orchid glanced at each other, both shaking their heads. "I haven't seen him for a few hours," said Orchid.

"That's because you were too busy stuffing your face with those barnacle chips," said Judy, rolling her eyes.

"I think I've seen him! He's been kinda quiet, just sorta hangin' around other folks but not really talkin' to em'," said Debbie.

"Hmm… hey you guys, you think Gary is a gossip?" asked Pearl, placing her flipper under her chin.

"Ha! A snail liking gossip? That's a first," said Judy.

"Yeah! That sponge guy wouldn't be too happy to hear about that if it turned out to be true," said Orchid, sipping on her punch.

Pearl giggled. "Haha, yeah. You're probably right. Although I do still do wonder about that little guy sometimes…"

Just then, a rather mature but very good-looking man passed by Judy, not paying any attention to her. He certainly caught her attention though. "Hold my punch, it's time to do a little fishing," she said, handing Orchid her glass.

Orchid gasped as she watched her walk away. "Cannibal!" she shouted. Pearl slapped her flipper against her forehead at her remark.

Judy approached the male fish from behind. "Hey there, businessman. What's your name?" she smiled. The fish turned around to face her and smiled, showing his bright white teeth. This guy seemed a little old for high school… and certainly too handsome to be among the teens with barnacles all over their faces.

"Well, hello. I don't believe we've met before. And my name is Ray, it's a pleasure to meet you," he said.

Judy chuckled. "Ooh, so sophisticated. What are you doing at this lame-o party?"

"Ooh, Judy's hanging around that fancy looking guy over there. I wonder what they're talking about…" Gary bit his lip, very tempted to throw himself into more fun, some very devious fun.

He slithered his way over and hid behind a lamp to listen in. The conversation was nothing too out of the ordinary. Well, except for maybe how the guy mentioned his expensive 'vehicle'. He was supposedly a high schooler; how could he afford such a thing? More importantly, how could his parents even allow such a thing? Did he even have parents?

The snail became bored after a while and nearly slithered away until a woman approached Judy and Ray. "Well, hello Ray. Would you mind telling me who you're talking to?" the woman asked, giving Judy a dirty look.

"Hello, Samantha. It's nothing, really. I just had nobody to talk to- "

"And just what are you supposed to be? His mother?" asked Judy, her attitude poking through.

The woman scoffed. "Oh, as if I'm the one who looks old…" her remark caught everyone's attention, making the people in the room gasp.

"Meow! (oh, snap!)" the snail was very intrigued at this point. "Well, you definitely don't look like you belong in my grade. After all, we youngsters aren't prone to getting those ugly creases around our eyes," Judy said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"You'd better take that back missy," the woman warned, furrowing her brows.

"Missy?! HA! What are you gonna do? Hit me with your cane?" right as she spoke those words, she made a gesture with her fin, accidentally smacking the woman on the arm. The two locked eyes.

"CATFIGHT!" a young man yelled.

The woman attacked Judy before anything else could be said. Grunting and shouting could be heard as a large cloud of sand formed, covering up the two as they fought.

Oh, boy. This was far better than any gossip the snail could get from TV! He watched from a distance as the two females practically destroyed each other. It was just some random guy they were fighting over; was it really worth it? Oh well, no matter. At least Gary finally got the excitement he'd been waiting for.

As the two fought, they tumbled closer towards Gary, causing him to slither backward and bump into a male fish.

He turned around. "Hey, watch where you're going slimeball!" he spat, flinging around his hippie hairstyle.

Gary hissed at him. "Meow (who are you calling slimeball, mop head?)"

The fish clenched his fins. "Oh, you've done it now man. You insult the hair, YOU INSULT ME!"

"MEOW! (BRING IT ON!)"

Tearing and shredding noises could be heard as Gary bit down and tore the boys' clothing.

As all of this went down, Pearl and Orchid stood on the sidelines videotaping it all with their shell-phones. "Boy, you don't see this kind of excitement at the Krusty Krab!" said Pearl, watching the sand clouds move around the room.

"I'll say! Your dad has got to hire some wrestlers or something for entertainment; he'd so get way more customers that way," said Orchid.

"ALRIGHT, BREAK IT UP!" Ray had suddenly gotten himself in the middle of the room, demanding that this ridiculousness be stopped. The four froze, the sand clouds dissipating.

Just then, Debbie's parents came through the door, camping gear and all. "Mama, daddy?! What are you guys doing here?!" Debbie was frantic at the sight of her parents.

Her mother placed her fins on her hips. "Huh! Well, well, well. It looks like that's the last time we'll be trustin' you!" the young female was now in deep trouble for sure. Well, so much for a 'secret' shindig.

Ray pulled Samantha up from the ground. "Samantha, I've had just about enough of your jealousy! And as for the rest of you, you're coming with me." He said.

What in Neptune's name was this? "Meow? (what do you mean?)"

Ray opened his coat, revealing the shininess of something that no one at that party was expecting.

~French Narrator~

"A few hours later."

It was now dark outside as SpongeBob hummed his way home from work. Ah, after a long day on his feet, he couldn't wait to just sit down to relax and spend some time with his favorite pet in the whole world. Or, his only pet actually.

"I wonder what kind of little adventure Gary had today. Pfft, then again, maybe Mr. Krabs was right. Maybe he just went out somewhere and was even more bored than usual. Dahahaha! Gary, bored, ha!" he shook his head in amusement as he opened the door to the empty pineapple.

"Gary, I'm home!" he sang.

Silence.

"Gare?" he called. "Hm, guess he's still out."

Suddenly, Patrick came out from the kitchen eating a carton of ice cream. The sponge's ice cream, apparently.

"Hey, SpongeBob," greeted Patrick, his mouth full of frozen vanilla.

"Oh, hey Patrick. Have you seen Gary?" asked SpongeBob.

The starfish swallowed the large scoop in his mouth. "No, I don't believe I have seen Garret at all today. Perhaps he went outside to tinkle."

SpongeBob chuckled. "Why would he do that? He has a litter box,"

"I have a toilet," said Patrick.

"So?"

"Just because I have it doesn't mean I use it."

An awkward silence filled the air for a few moments before SpongeBob shook everything off and sat down in the red living room chair. "Well, wherever Gary is, I just hope he's having a good time," he smiled.

Just then, the purple shell-phone next to the chair bounced with rings.

"SquarePants residence," SpongeBob answered.

"Meow (hey, Papa-Bob…)"

The sponges' eyes flew open and he nearly fell out of his chair. "Gary?! Is that you?"

"Meow (Uh-huh)"

"Well, I'm glad you called. I was a bit worried about you buddy. So, are you having any fun?" he asked with a smile.

Gary bit his lip. "Meow (sure, if you call handcuffs around your eyes fun)"

SpongeBob cocked a brow. "Handcuffs? Gary, where are you?"

"Meow… (it's kind of hard to explain, but…)" the snail looked behind him at the long line of prisoners waiting to use the phone. In that line were also Pearl, Judy, Orchid and the hippie man from the party.

Pearl sighed. "Who knew videotaping a fight could get you in so much trouble?"

"This is the LAST time I hang out with you guys on a Friday night!" Judy spoke bitterly.

"Hey, you're the one who approached the dude in the first place!" said Orchid, jangling the handcuffs around her fins.

"How was I supposed to know he was an undercover po-po?!" Judy argued.

"Meow (Papa-Bob, I have a question)"

"Sure, Gare. What is it?"

"Meow? (you wouldn't happen to have $1,500 worth of bail money, would you?)"

A/N: Well, that's the end! Lol. I hope this ending wasn't too weird or anything. See you.