Chapter 9: Revelations and Reparations

"Let's see…" Spongebob began. "Whoopee a flashback!" Patrick exclaimed.

"It began about a week ago before you little 'holiday.'" Spongebob said.

---

Spongebob was walking down the street with the same cheery look on his face, humming a little tune on the way.

He happily waved to everyone who happened to pass by him. "Hi there!" He said, while waving. They just smiled a really big smile and waved back. Spongebob gave them a winning smile before continuing on. But as he left, the fish people sighed and gave him an annoyed look. "Look at him." One whispered. "What a weirdo." A lady whispered back.

"And a dweeb." A male said. Spongebob stopped in his tracks. Did he hear them right? He looked back. But the fish folk went back to big smiles. "Hmm." He thought, and went on his way.

--

One of the fish from that very day laughed nervously. "Oh." He said. "You heard that?"

"Yes." Spongebob said. "Though the reason didn't become apparent until later that day."

"Yay another flashback!" Patrick said. Squidward rolled his eyes.

---

Spongebob relaxed at his house, wondering what was going on. How come people were talking behind his back.

Gary slithered by. "Hey Gary." Spongebob said. Gary gave a short meow and went on his way.

"Gary?" Spongebob asked. Gary muttered something to himself. "What do you mean 'Just ignore him it'll be over in a week'?" Spongebob asked. Gary ignored him. " A week." Spongebob said to himself. "Hmm."

He went to his calendar hanging on the wall. "Let's see here." He said. Spongebob went a week ahead over that date with his finger. "Huh what do you know?" Spongebob said. "National No Spongebob day."

He smiled. "A whole day inspired by me." He said. He sighed with content. "Though last year they were gone for weeks instead of a day." He said. Spongebob's smile started to fade. "Sometimes I wonder." He said.

Spongebob sighed. He looked out his window. "I'm not that bad am I?" He asked himself.

He shook his head. "Nah, get those thoughts out of your head, they're your friends." Spongebob went back to smiling.

"How about some nice TV?" Spongebob got his remote and turned the television on.

He flicked channels until the news came on.

"Hmm." He said. "In other news," the anchorman said. "Citizens across Bikini Bottom are preparing for National No Spongebob Day." He said. "Is it that big a deal?" Spongebob asked. "It sure is a big deal for us isn't it?" the anchorwoman asked. "Yes indeed." her partner said.

"What?" Spongebob said. "Let's go to Perch Perkins downtown." The anchorman said. "Perch?"

"Thanks guys." Perch said. "Perch Perkins here, and I'm in downtown Bikini Bottom getting the scoop from the citizenry."

He began looking for interviewees. Spongebob felt a "fireball" rise in his throat.

"Yeah Spongebob is nice." an interviewee said. "But he's so annoying too. Some time away is nice."

"That's not so bad." Spongebob thought, trying to stay happy. But they were going to get worse.

"I can't stand him." Another one said. "I swear he stares at me all the time."

Spongebob started sinking in his chair.

"I just saw him this morning." A woman said. "He's such a weirdo."

Spongebob was shocked. The interviews kept coming in. Each pierced his heart like a sword. Such reckless words they

were. "They did say that." Spongebob thought, remembering that morning. "But surely Patrick wouldn't say anything like

that." As if on cue, Patrick soon came on, a scowl on his face. "Heh, just what I thought." Spongebob said. "He doesn't

like all this nonsense." He sighed with relief . His relief was premature though.

"You." Perch asked the sea star. "You're Spongebob's best friend. What is your opinion of the upcoming holiday?"

"It's great." He said. He was still wearing his scowl, so Spongebob assumed it was sarcasm. Uncharacteristic, but not unusual. "But you look pretty angry to say that it's great." Perch said. "Is there a problem?"

Nope." Patrick said. "I just wanted to see if my face would get stuck this way." "Did it?" Perch asked, chuckling.

"Nope." He said. The angry look melted away. It was replaced by a look of almost visceral glee.

"So do you enjoy the National No Spongebob Day festivities?" Perch asked. "Oh yeah." Patrick said. "It's a lot of fun."

Oh no…" Spongebob said. "It can't be." Sure enough, it was.

"What about you miss?" Perch asked. "Sandy?" Spongebob said.

Sandy was the next interviewee. "Some time away is nice." She said. "I mean, he can get on peoples nerves, including mine sometimes." Perch nodded. "But I'm not trying to…" Sandy said before being interrupted by Perkins. "Back to you Bob." He said. That proved to be the shell that broke the seahorse's back. Spongebob turned the TV off. His eyes were full of tears. He started sniffling. He got off his chair and sulked to hi room, crying in agony.

---

"You people broke my heart." Spongebob said. Kelly looked at the crowd and shook her head in disappointment.

"What happened to me last Christmas was bad." She said. "But this took the cake."

"How did you get involved?" Sandy asked.

"I was just getting there." He said. "It was a little later that same day, and I was crying my eyes out…"

"Another flashback!" Patrick exclaimed. "Yay!" "Will you cut it out!?" Squidward shouted.

---

Spongebob sniffled as he cried his eyes out. Literally.

He couldn't believe it. Everyone had betrayed him. "Oh!" Spongebob shouted at the ceiling. "Isn't there someone who can see past my mistakes!?" There was silence. He sighed. He then noticed a book on the floor, A note stuck out from it's pages. He pulled it out and opened it up.

"Dear Spongebob," He read.

"I want to thank you for helping me out for when I was down."

"Kelly…" Spongebob said. He managed to smile as he read the letter.

"Bikini Bottom is lucky to have a guy like you." He read along.

"Thanks." He said. "It doesn't feel like it though." He then came across something else she wrote.

"If you ever need help with anything, let me know." Spongebob read. He flipped the note over to see where Sandy wrote Kelly's email address.

He then got an idea.

He went downstairs to the computer he recently bought. He powered it up and waited for it to boot up. "I hope Kelly can help me." Spongebob thought.. When the computer was up and running, he loaded the web browser and went straight to his e-mail.

---

"Spongebob told me everything." Kelly said. Everyone began murmuring. "I can't believe y'all would come up with such a meaningless holiday." She added. "So you two came up with this whole shenanigan?" Mr. Krabs asked.

"Yep." Kelly said. "Because there should be no holiday that isolates someone like that."

"So we came up with the whole "Red" thing." Spongebob said. "To see if you would learn a lesson in this." Kelly said.

Sandy smiled and went to them. She hugged Spongebob tightly, but it wasn't enough to hurt him. Patrick joined in the hug. He was so happy to have his best friend back. Kelly smiled at them. But then she noticed the others weren't smiling. "Uh-oh." She thought. "My business has gone down the drain thanks to you two!" Mr. Krabs shouted.

"I was just about to get fired thanks to your absence young man!" said Mrs. Puff. The enormous shoal of Bikini Bottomites gathered around the little group of friends, muttering in anger. "Uh-oh." Patrick said. "Backfire." said Sandy. Spongebob gulped. "Big fish to Zipporah." He said to Kelly. "We have a situation."

Kelly was a step ahead. She bared her sharp teeth and growled. She took a deep breath. "WAIT!" She screamed to the crowd. It was so loud it could be heard in Atlantis.

"Nigel did you hear something?" The Lord Royal Highness asked. "No." Nigel said.

"Man! Does no one ever listen in this town!?" Kelly shouted.

Everyone fell silent when they saw this. "Wow." Sandy thought. "I've never seen her that angry."

"Listen to what!?" a fish asked. Kelly sighed. "How would you like it if there was a holiday that pointed out how you get on other people's nerves?" She asked. "Well there is a No Patrick Day." Patrick pointed out. "And when everyone left," Kelly said. "how did it make you feel?" "Um..." He thought. "Well, it kind of hurt me." Patrick said. "I was all alone."

Kelly nodded at him. "And how do you think I felt when everyone left me alone?" Spongebob asked.

"Well can you blame us?" Mr. Krabs asked.

"Actually, yes I can." Kelly said. "You betrayed your best worker." Kelly scoffed. "Everyone betrayed the biggest heart in this whole town." She said. "Whatever Spongebob did in the past doesn't even compare to what you chuckleheads did!"

Sandy and Patrick felt so ashamed of themselves. "At least some people can sometimes get over my blunders." Spongebob said to Patrick and Sandy. They smiled.

"Don't any of you remember the golden rule?" Kelly asked. "Did you say gold?" Mr. Krabs asked with excitement in his voice. "Gimee gimee gimee!" Kelly giggled. "Not that kind of gold." She said. "The golden rule says to treat others the way you want to be treated." "Like how everyone rips on gossip columnists for publishing bologna about celebrities?" Someone asked. "Eh, yeah, kind of." Kelly said. "Do you guys see now?" Spongebob asked. "I always treated everyone hear as my friend, even if I didn't know them. And it really hurt my feelings when you all abandoned me, to celebrate a holiday that reminds you all of the mistakes I make."

"You're right you guys." Sandy said to Spongebob and Kelly. "There shouldn't be any holiday like that at all."

Kelly smiled. The crowd murmured amongst themselves. The small group in front of them was nervous that they would be angry again. To their surprise, the murmuring didn't sound angry. Kelly smiled. It would seem that what they had said reached their hearts. Mr. Krabs spoke. "Eh, I suppose if we didn't treat you that way," He said, rubbing the back of his neck. "you wouldn't have had to come up with that act of yours."

Kelly smirked. "Still, you didn't have to pretend you were dead." Krabs said. "What are you talking about?" Spongebob asked, confused. "We saw your pants hanging on a branch by the cliff." said Patrick. "Oh that!" Spongebob said laughing. "I was camping out here during the whole "Red" thing. A strong wind blew a couple of my clothes away. Come on, I wouldn't stoop that low. Though it did add a interesting touch."

Sandy snickered. "There is still one more thing." Kelly said. "Something that starts with an 'A' and ends with 'Pology.'"

"Pology?" Patrick asked. "Is that a new letter?"

"No, an apology." Sandy said. Kelly nodded. "I'm sorry Spongebob." Patrick said. He squeezed Spongebob in a big sea bear hug. " "Thanks." Spongebob squeaked. "I need to breathe." "Oops." Patrick said letting go. "Sorry buddy."

Yeah, I'm sorry too lad." Mr. Krabs said.

Sandy put her hand on the corner of his head. "I'm sorry too buddy." She said. "We all are. Right Squidward?"

Squidward looked at them all. He wasn't sure what to say. "Uh, I just want my clarinet playing to be better." He said.

"Come on Squidward." Kelly said. "You know you're sorry."

He sighed. No use hiding it. "Yeah, I'm sorry too." He said. He hung his head, a little ashamed at his weakness.

Kelly chuckled. "That took guts." She said. "Can you ever forgive us?" Sandy asked. Spongebob looked at them, and smiled widely. "Oh, of course I do." He said. "How can I not forgive you?" Sandy felt joy rising in her heart. It was almost like her dream. Without even thinking, she enveloped Spongebob in a hug. Spongebob smiled and returned the favor. Both felt joy and warmth in their hearts. Kelly and Patrick joined them, making in a group hug.

The others couldn't resist. They soon found themselves in a group hug as well.

Moments later they were all walking back home. "You know," Mr. Krabs said. "Since we're not going to do the National no Spongebob…" "Or Patrick!" Patrick said. "Or Patrick…" said Krabs. "Should there be a better holiday to replace it?"

Everyone thought for a moment. "Hmm." Spongebob said. He smiled and snapped his fingers. "I've got an idea!" He said.