First SpongeBob fanfic, so be nice.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

WARNINGS: BULLYING

Slowly fading away. You're lost and so afraid. Where is the hope in a world so cold? -"Not Alone" by Red

Chapter title: Fix My Broken Heart: Restore My Hope

For the first time in his entire life, SpongeBob SquarePants was losing his hope.

SpongeBob had been a hopeful, sunny, cheerful, look-on-the-bright-side-of-everything kid for as long as he could remember, but recently, life had taken him and beaten him down hard.

Bullies. SpongeBob certainly didn't like them. People took one look at SpongeBob and his happy-almost too happy- attitude and got annoyed by his constant laugher and cheerfulness very quickly, but most of them were kind enough to accept SpongeBob for who he was. That's just who the people in Bikini Bottom were. Kind. Caring. Accepting. They loved their fellow citizens for who they were.

Except for one.

A new student had arrived in Boating School, someone by the name of Claire Codson. She was pretty with magenta colored scales and orange hair, and she looked kind at first glance; she was popular within seconds of entering the classroom and had boys fawning over her and girls wanting to be her and to be friends with her, so they might get the same treatment as this beautiful, popular student.

For some reason, Claire took an immediate dislike to SpongeBob. She didn't like him. Maybe because he was the only boy that was only friendly to her and wasn't waiting on her hand and foot. Maybe it was because he didn't let her cheat off of him on a test, like all of the other students. Maybe he was just annoying. SpongeBob didn't know the exact reason. He'll probably never know.

SpongeBob could feel himself drifting further and further away from who he used to be. He used to be so happy and fun loving and go lucky; now, he was sad, lonely… almost numb.

SpongeBob didn't like this feeling at all, and he didn't know what to do. When he tried to tell people, they brushed it off, saying when a girl teases you, it just means she likes you. SpongeBob wished that were the case in this situation. Patrick laughed at him, saying boys don't get bullied by girls and SpongeBob was overreacting. SpongeBob wished that were true, too; actually, scratch that. He wished there were no bullies in the world at all.

SpongeBob was afraid. Afraid of the sadness that was creeping into him, chasing out the laughter and happiness and innocence SpongeBob was practically made of. He felt like he was drifting alone in the middle of no where with no help in sight.

SpongeBob used to be so hopeful, but that was before he discovered how cold the world could truly be.

Squidward almost didn't want to admit it, but he was a little worried about SpongeBob. The first few days without that annoying laughter piercing his ears was a relief, but after a week, he started to get concerned. He thought SpongeBob was just sad about something simple and would get over it in a few days, but after a week, that assumption was becoming less and less likely.

"Have you noticed SpongeBob acting strange lately?" Squidward asked Mr. Krabs.

"What do you mean by strange?" Mr. Krabs asked as he counted his money. "He seems perfectly fine to me."

"Listen," Squidward ordered, and Mr. Krabs perked his ears, frowning when all he heard was silence.

"I don't hear anything," he answered in confusion.

Squidward raised an eyebrow. "Exactly."

Mr. Krabs's eyes widened as he realized that Squidward was right. SpongeBob was usually laughing or humming or talking to his spatula or something, but it was completely silent.

SpongeBob exited the kitchen with a tray of food, and they stared at the frown and dejected expression on his face.

"Order for Table 13!" he called.

"Hello, SpongeBob," the girl sitting at table thirteen said with a smirk, and SpongeBob nearly dropped the tray.

"Cl-Claire," he stammered.

She accepted the tray and whispered something to SpongeBob, and he nodded, quickly, before returning to Squidward's side.

"Boy-o, where's the money?" Mr. Krabs asked.

SpongeBob handed Mr. Krabs the money from his own wallet, and his boss frowned.

"You're paying for her meal?" the crab asked.

SpongeBob nodded. "I need the rest of the day off," he said before walking out the door without waiting for a reply.

"There's definitely something wrong," Mr. Krabs muttered to Squidward.

"Gather his friends and ambush him?" Squidward suggested, and Mr. Krabs nodded in agreement.

The plan was for Patrick, Squidward, Sandy, and Mr. Krabs to be waiting outside the door to the boating school while the students exited the classroom after the bell rang. Once the other students had left, Mrs. Puff would be waiting for the others to enter, having asked for SpongeBob to stay behind.

The plan didn't go exactly as they thought it would.

All of the students left, and Mrs. Puff stepped outside.

"There's a girl talking to SpongeBob. We'll wait for her to leave," she whispered before they overheard the conversation between SpongeBob and the mysterious Claire.

"Claire, I really need to get home," SpongeBob was saying, and he sounded even more frazzled than he had in the Krusty Krab.

"Don't you get it, SquarePants? Nobody wants you," Clair sneered, and SpongeBob's friends gasped in shock as they watched it play out from the doorway.

"Why don't you do everyone a favor and walk off a cliff?" she growled.

"Why don't you do me a favor and leave me alone?" SpongeBob asked.

Claire raised her eyebrows. "Ooh, it grew a backbone."

"Don't call me it," SpongeBob replied.

"Does that bother it?" Claire asked.

"Stop it!" SpongeBob yelled, sounding on the verge of tears.

Claire picked up a heavy textbook and slapped SpongeBob so hard across the face with it, one of his teeth fell out and clattered to the wooden floor.

"I hold the cards here, SquarePants," she snarled. "Don't even think otherwise."

"You don't hold any cards, Claire," Mrs. Puff said, flatly, as she stepped fully into the room. "I do, and you are coming with me to the Principal's office."

Mrs. Puff dragged a sputtering Claire out of the room while the others walked inside and stared at SpongeBob, who was nursing his sore jaw.

"Are you okay?" Squidward asked.

SpongeBob nodded. "Thanks, guys."

"I'm sorry we didn't believe you when you said a girl was bullying you," Sandy said.

"When a girl bullies you, it doesn't always mean she likes you, and we should've known that," Mr. Krabs told his employee.

"I should've known better, too," Patrick told her best friend. "Boys can and do get bullied by girls, and that's nothing for the boys to be ashamed of. No one should be ashamed of being bullied. Being bullied doesn't mean they're weak or cowardly; it just makes the bully mean and pathetic enough to hurt someone to feel better about themselves. I should've been there for you." (I know Patrick sounds smarter than he is on the show, but I had to get that speech in somehow.)

"Patrick, it's fine," SpongeBob said.

"No, it's not," Mr. Krabs told him. "We all should've been there for you. You're our friend, and you're like my son, Boy-o. We all should've been here for you."

"But you made up for it," SpongeBob said with a small smile. "I have a feeling Claire isn't going to bother me again."

"We'll make sure of it," Sandy told him.

"SpongeBob," Squidward told his at-the-end-of-the-day-friend, "you're never alone, okay? We're always going to be here for you, even me. At the end of the day, you're my friend, even if you do annoy me sometimes. So if anyone messes with you again, you come to us, and we'll be there to help."

"Thanks, guys," SpongeBob said before the friends embraced, so grateful to have each other in their lives. What would they do without each other?

And SpongeBob finally felt hope filling his heart once again.

SpongeBob remembered the first insult Claire hurled at him, the way it chased out his happiness, and the more she bullied him, the less hope he had that it would ever end. He thought he would feel this pain forever.

When you're in such a dark spot in life, you don't see a light at the end of the tunnel. All you see is darkness pressing in on you on all sides, and all you can do is curl into yourself and hope you survive the night.

But that doesn't help much when you don't have any hope, now does it?

SpongeBob had learned a valuable lesson today. He had friends-no, a family- that cared about him and wanted to see him happy and hopeful. They loved him, and he loved them.

These friends… they couldn't get rid of the darkness overnight, but they were his nightlight and with each passing day, they would chase a little more darkness out of SpongeBob's life until he could see the sun shine again.

He wasn't alone. He never was and never would be. That darkness wouldn't dare to come back into his life when his family was there to keep it away. SpongeBob felt protected. SpongeBob felt happy. SpongeBob felt hopeful, which was something he hadn't felt in a long time.

SpongeBob found himself hoping for a better tomorrow, and he knew his hope would come true. That saying isn't true: hope doesn't breed eternal misery. If you have hope, you may get disappointed from time to time, but a life without hope is a life SpongeBob doesn't want to live. Because without hope… where is the light that will rescue you from the darkness and chill that life can bring? Exactly. There isn't any light without hope.

SpongeBob now knows that his friends- his family- will always be there for him. After this situation with Claire, SpongeBob would have a hard time getting back on his feet, but his friends will be there by his side during every shaky step and will hold his hand to keep him from falling back down.

He'll be okay. He knows it. His friends have the power to fix his broken heart. His friends have the power to restore his hope.

And SpongeBob could not be more grateful to have these wonderful people in his life. Without them, SpongeBob SquarePants would surely have a shattered heart on his hands.

I know SpongeBob is out of character, but bullying can affect even the happiest of people.

Also, boys can get bullied by girls, and a girls can get bullied by boys. When a girl gives a boy a hard time, it's not always because that girl likes them, and it's the same when a boy gives a girl a hard time.

Thanks for reading!