Disclaimer: I wrote this at school because I was bored.

BSD

"Deborah!"

Deborah jumped at having her name shouted at her. She took off her headphones and turned around to see Captain Barnacles standing next to her. She hadn't even heard him come in.

"Now that I have your attention," said the captain, "Shellington and I are going out to explore the reef nearby. Do you want to join us?"

"Oh," said Deborah, putting a hoof over her heart. "Yes, I do." She put her pens and headphones down and followed Captain Barnacles to the launch bay.

BSD

Out in the waters, Captain Barnacles, Shellington, and Deborah exited the GUP to circle the reef.

"That's a very pretty shade of pink," said Deborah, pointing to a patch of coral. "It's punch pink."

Just then, a bubble burst on her back. She whirled around to see a small group of dolphins chuckling at her.

"Whatwazzat?!" Deborah squawked. Captain Barnacles swam over to her, laughing.

"Bubble rings," he explained. "Dolphins blow them."

Calm now, Deborah extended a hoof to pet the first dolphin's head. The dolphin allowed her to stroke him. "So what are you guys doing here?"

"We're the Octonauts," said Captain Barnacles. "We're exploring this reef to find anything to add to our databases."

"Like this shell?" Shellington swam up to them, holding a pretty, purple shell.

"Exactly like that shell," said Captain Barnacles, taking a photo with his Octo-Compass to send to Dashi. Shellington also showed it to Deborah, who fawned over it.

"You're very good at finding things," cooed Deborah. Shellington chuckled shyly.

"Do you like her?" One of the dolphins asked in a teasing tone.

Shellington tensed up a bit. "I guess so," he responded awkwardly.

"You love her?" The dolphins were all struggling to contain their laughter.

Shellington pursed his lips, but after seeing Deborah's prying eyes, he nodded. "Yes, I do."

"You wanna marry her?" The dolphins were bursting into giggles.

"Well, I think that's jumping the gun a little," said Shellington, trying to deescalate the situation. "I mean, we're both so young, and we've only known each other for a year."

"Well, if we ever do get married," said Deborah, swimming to Shellington's side, "promise that we won't let my dad find out."

Shellington took her hoof. "Cross my heart."

BSD

"Wow, that's a good one."

Deborah was showing Sarabi the picture of the shell from the reef. Sarabi looked up at Deborah and smirked. "You found a keeper."

"He's so sweet," blushed Deborah. "I just know he's going to marry me someday."

BSD

Hopefully I can get back into the groove of writing JO, because I've been falling behind quite a bit since March.