Squidward stood near the edge of his parents beds. He inhaled sharply, he couldn't sleep, so he went to bug his parents. He reached out for the blanket draped over the two octopuses. His tentacle gripped as he tugged. "Mommy? Daddy?" He called softly and hesitantly. He knew well from experience that they hated being woken up. Which this day wasn't any different. "What!?" Snapped his mother. His father slightly stirred. His deep breath could be heard as he tried to remain calm with his son. "Now dear.." He reasoned with his wife as he reached out to gently pat her on the hip. In return she swatted his tentacle away and rolled over. "What your mother means son is it is highly impolite to wake someone." He began. "Is there an emergency? Is it life or death? Is the kitchen on fire? Is the bedroom on fire? Is the bathroom on fire?"

He questioned, to which Squidward gave a quick response, "No." "Then don't wake us. I know you're excited but please let us rest. Your mother worked very late last ni-" He lectured before being cut off by a very sharp "Shh!" Mr. Tentacles gave a light shake of the head, rolling over as well after a quick nod to his son towards the door. Young Squidward let out a huff as he quietly left. He stared down the dark hallway outside his parent's rooms. He tried to quiet his suction cupped feet as he went to his bedroom. As he arrived, he pulled out one of his craft drawers. He grabbed a pencil and come paper and began to doodle. Luckily he was very good at keeping himself entertained. He continued with this activity until 1 and a half hours later.

His mother knocked lightly on his door. "Squiddy? It's time to get ready.. Sorry about this morning." She said, offering a friendly smile to her son as she headed for the living room. She grabbed a poptart from the toaster, yawning lightly. Squidward followed close behind, grabbing the other one as he always did. He sat at the table, nibbling the pastry. Mrs. Tentacles grabbed her purse and jacket, seemingly in a hurry. "Where are you going Mommy?" He worriedly asked. "I told you Squid, I have to work early today." Squidward pouted at the words. "I didn't know you meant today.." He mumbled as she gave him a hug before leaving. "Good morning Squidward." His father called out as he entered the dining room. "Hi papa." He responded as he finished his food and got up. "Hurry son, you still need clothes." He instructed as he lead the way.

Squidward had always seen adults hurrying along to get somewhere, but he hadn't really done it himself. As such he walked slower than his father would like. "Come on now." His father demanded firmly. Squidward picked up the pace as he ran up to pull out his dresser's drawer. He pulled out his usual black shirt. "You want to look good for today." His father reminded as Squidward put the shirt back. "Try this one" He suggested, pulling out a brown shirt with a red tie, just like he wore. He always liked the idea of having a little "mini-me", the main reason he had children to begin with. Squidward put on the shirt with some help from his dad.

"Do you think there'll be painting?" Squidward asked his parent. "I'm not sure." Jeff answered. It had been many a year since he himself attended school for the first time. A few more questions shot from Squidward's mouth before he was finally ready. The adult octopus checked the time. He quickened his pace as he began to get ready too. He grabbed his briefcase before walking back to his son. "Have a good day." He said as he gave his son a hug. The two walked out to the driveway. Squidward waved goodbye to his dad with a frown. Only him now, to wait for this bus.. He sat down on the sidewalk and began to play with some pebbles. After some time, the bus had come. He boarded, so many emotions flowing through his mind.

He walked by, intrigued by the number of students onboard. So many new faces made him crack a smile. Excitement built as the time for the first day neared. He met the eyes of a few 3rd graders. One whispered to her friend beside her and the two scoffed. The young octopus didn't hear much, except for the word "weird". He became self conscious as he finally found a seat. The bus driver sped off, muttering about how late they were. "The first day and this happens." He mutters. The kid Squid sat next to seemed to avoid eye contact and scoot away. His past excitement lost and now replaced with sorrow. "What's your name?" He asked the kid beside him. "Justine.." She quietly answers. "Okay.. sorry." He responds, as she still seemed to not like him. "It's okay. I'm nervous." She replied. Squidward felt his mind eased a little. It seemed she was just shy rather than hating him. The two still stayed relatively quiet the rest of the ride.

They finally arrived at the school. Squidward exits the bus, greeted by many more kids. He noticed many of them were fish. He found that octopuses such as himself were rather rare in the folksy town. It was a small place, consisting mainly of farmers. The school had paint chipping everywhere, the playground was small, and much of the building seemed to be made of frail wood. Surely it was hard for such a small town to afford maintenance. Squidward stuck out for more than just his species. His body was oddly short, only emphasised by his unique physique. It seemed as though someone randomly slapped body parts together. His torso was rather small, while his tentacles long. He walked along the playground. Many of the kids already in groups, and Squidward too nervous to jump in. He walked around awkwardly, unsure what to do.

With a deep breath, he walked over to the sand to play. Sadly, the bull run loudly before he could. Children began pouring into the building. Squidward recalled him and his parents finding his classroom a week before school started. He confidently made his way to room 13. "Please find a seat on the rug" The teacher instructs. Soon there were 11 out of the 13 students. The teacher sighed as he looked at his clipboard. "Seems not everyone's here, but we'll need to start class anyway." he explained, calling out student's names one by one. "Alright that's everyone I suppose. Let's begin. My name is Mr. Fynnz. I bet all of you have names too. Let's go in a circle and tell everyone your name and a fact about you. My fact is I took my wife's last name. Usually it's the other way around." He said, turning his gaze to the first student to his right. "Oh me? Well My name is Pete. I have a pet scallop. Her name is Lin-Lin. My mom is from the Chinese seas." More students followed suit. Many of their facts were quite uninteresting.

Squidward was thinking of his fact as the other students spoke. He stuck with saying his favorite show was The Magic Boatmobile. Perhaps it would impress his new teacher. Before he knew it, his turn was up. "My name is Squidward. My favorite show is The Magic Boatmobile." "Cool. Me too." Came another student. This made Squidward give the small crowd a bright smile as his teacher returned the smile. "Awesome. A science lover?" Squidward didn't respond. He didn't exactly love science, the show was just entertaining. His parents mainly made him watch educational shows. Squidward only half listened to the other students as he fidgeted with his tentacles. Though one thing caught his attention. "My name is Roger. My favorite song is the Musical Doodle." Squidward met the other kid's eyes. He knew he needed friends in class, and perhaps he was the one.

"Awesome. Now that that's over everyone find a table and prepare for your first assignment." After everyone was seated Mr. Fynnz passed out a slip of paper to them all. "Just a simple word search to start. Take all the time you need." Squidward cracks a smile as he grabs his paper. He used to do word searches with his dad. He looks over the paper. It clearly wasn't the adult ones he did with Jeff. He shrugs and begins to draw lines between the jumbled mess anyway. Finishing second, he looked over the other paper in the turn in box. It was filled out rather well. He felt proud to have finished so quickly, even if another was faster. He then returned to his seat and grew bored waiting for the next activity. He eventually began to doodle again.

"Alright everyone's done. My first lesson will be on something you all should be familiar with. Art. Can anyone tell me the color of water?" "Blue." Squidward answered. "Yes" The teacher responded. "Now what about the color of a rose?" "Red" Came Squidward again. "Right again, but please raise your hand next time." The teacher responded. "What do you get when mixing these two colors?" Hesitantly a few students raised their hands, including Squid. "Haha, seems someone loves art. Go ahead, Squidward." "Purple." This time around Squidward noticed some kids staring at him. A few seemed annoyed. He answered one more question before staying quiet.

"I guess I was right. You all are very smart when it comes to art. Let's relax and learn about our fellow students. Roger, what do you do for fun?" "Uh, I like to color.. Or watch TV. Or swing" The kindergartener answered. "Lucky! My mom makes me milk the manatees." Chimed another student. Squidward was glad Roger said he liked to color. They had a lot in common! The teacher went around in a circle asking her new students the same thing. No other answers really stood out to the young octopus. Soon it was his turn. He paused to think over the question momentarily. "I like to spend time with my mom and dad. I like crafts and other artsy stuff." He seemed a bit shy as he spoke. Two more students answered before they moved on. "Alright! I hope you've learned something interesting about your classmates. It's almost time for break and then we will have anot-" A loud bell cuts Mr. Fynnz off and he smirks. "Have fun!" He calls out as he strolls over to his desk and collects the youth's assignments. Squidward follows the other kids outside.

As he scans the small play yard his eyes rest on Roger. He walks over to him and a group of his friends playing in the sand. He sits beside him and remains quiet for a moment. "My name is Squidward" He mumbles awkwardly. Roger didn't reply, causing Squid to shy away. He hugged his tentacles to his chest and stared at the tools scooping up the sand. The kids around him engaged in their own conversation. One kid seemed to be leading them telling them what to build and where. "You like coloring?" He asks his potential friend once again. "Yeah." He replied and turned to the "leader" and engaged in conversation with him. Squidward huffed as it became clear his classmate refused to pay him any attention. He stood and brushed off the sand that had collected on him. He began to inspect the area once more. A pout formed on his face as he became lost without Roger.

He begins to walk somberly towards the swings when a girl runs up to him. "Hey! You like the Magic Boatmobile?" She asked with a toothy grin. "Yeah, I guess." She grabbed his tentacle and attempted to pull him towards the slide. "Come on let's play!" Squidward began to follow as she dragged him over. "Do you remember the one with.. With, where they went into space? That one's my favorite." She awaited his reply with the same smile from earlier. "Yeah. Mine is where they go back in time to see the painters." He visually recalled when they met Fin Gogh. "Who's your favorite?" He asked. The girl took no time to reply. "Aaron. He's funny and he likes snails." She climbed up the ladder and slid down the large plastic slide. She turned and began to climb back up it. "You like snails, right?" She asked him peering out the top of the slide before going back down. "Yeah they're cool." He replied unenthusiastically. He had no real opinion on pets having never had one of his own. He'd do whatever to seem like a good friend.

The bell rang once more and the girl let out a soft groan before sprinting back to the classroom. He entered Mr. Fynnz class and sat down with everyone else at the colorful tables. He passes out a sheet covered in greyscale cookie clip art. The students reach out and grab them. "Mary has 2 cookies. She eats 2. How many does she have left?" "Okay so for this one just color in the amount of cookies that the students have left. If anyone needs help please do ask, it's what I'm here for!" The teacher instructs. Squidward used a rainbow of colors while most students just used one. He adds polka dots and stripes. He turns his in 6th. He had no real skills with math and was more concerned making his coloring job look appealing. The last student turns his in and the teacher looks up. "You all can have playtime to unwind." He said with a gesture towards the toy bins in the back. "Help yourselves." Squid approaches the lincoln logs and begins to build.

Time continues to go by as minutes feel like hours. No one came to play with him. He finished constructing his cabin before knocking it down in frustration. He felt confused and frustrated. The other kids seemed to be socializing amongst themselves, yet he was left out. He noted the kid from earlier who shared his love of the Magic Boatmobile. She seemed engrossed in play with a new friend. The two girls obviously having a great bonding time. Squidward threw a toy car in annoyance. "Don't throw things please" The teacher reminded. The young octopus felt tears welling up in his eyes. He shook his head and awkwardly made his way over to the two girls. He sat there awkwardly waiting for them to notice him. "No way!" The boat mobile kid said, pushing away the other girl's fin. "Penny would never dress in ugly clothes!" She continued, grabbing the dress from her new friends hand and tossing it aside. The other girl began screamed and began to cry. To which Squidward took the hint to get out of the way.

Everyone was so grouchy. He grabbed a toy boat and halfheartedly began to play for the last 5 minutes. A bell's ring echoed through the halls as the classes took a break for lunch. The kids filed into lines to grab their lunch boxes before tearing down the halls towards the cafeteria. Squidward entered the lunchroom and noticed Roger sitting alone. He gave a hopeful smile and ran over to him. Placing his lunchbox down across the table. He pulled out the enchiladas his mom had packed. "What are those?" a kid asked before sitting down at the same table beside Roger. "Enchiladas. My mom made them." He answered. His mom hardly had any skills in the kitchen but that never stopped her from cooking. He wished he could have that kind of patience.

The kid nodded and then turned back towards Roger as the two talked about their favorite TV shows. "I like Magic Boatmobile" Squidward repeated in a futile effort to be included "Cool." One of the kids said. No one else spoke to him during all of lunch. Soon lunch was over and he had hardly touched his. When will this day be over, he pondered. "Everyone grab your backpacks and form a single file line before the door." The teacher instructed and the class followed through. Squidward quietly trailed behind towards the end of the line. The group entered the library and he felt his spirits lift. The room was decorated with shelves stuffed to the brim with not only books, but stuffed animals and paper mache art. Posters littered the walls and bean bags decorated the floor.

He grew a smirk as he ran to a shelf and pulled out each book to see if it interested him. Sadly none here did so he kept going down each shelf until he seemed to come across the art section. He collected a pile of books almost too tall for him to carry. "Woah now. How about I help you?" Asked a librarian with a smile and she grabbed them from him and placed them on the counter to be checked out. Afterwards he plopped down on a beanbag and flipped through all the pictures, attempting to read what he could. Before long the class had returned to their room.

"Anyone up for a game?" The teacher asked with a smile, to which the class responded with loud cheers. "Martha, Lewis, Claire, Squidward come on up." He shouted with glee and the appropriate students came to the front of the room. "Heads down everyone!" It seems a game of Heads Up 7 Up began. The 4 students began to tap fingers. Squidward choosing Roger's. "M-martha?" Roger questioned to which the answer was no. The players reset and Squidward chose once more. He tapped James' fin and ran back to the front. "Squidward." James guessed and Squidward took a seat with a grin. Finally someone had noticed him! Though the fact that his suction cups made it easy to tell who was walking by was never brought up to him. Sadly the rest of the game went by with ol' Squiddy being chosen only once more and not guessing who it was.

The bell had rung for the last time that day and Squidward grabbed his bag and ran outside. The same bus from earlier stood waiting at the gate. He entered and sat beside Justine once more. The two shared a somewhat pleasant conversation as the bus took them home after a long day..