"OK, the pizza should be ready for pickup by four o'clock." Mike announced on the day of the home project. "Then, we'll really have a party."
"YAY! PIZZA!" cheered Patrick, who chanted along with SpongeBob. "Pizza, pizza, pizza, pizza, pizza!"
At the same time, Dr. Doppler was saying to me. "Look, Nathan, don't be so glum about this. Almost everyone you know has gone through middle school. I've gone through middle school, Jim's gone through middle school, even your parents have gone through middle school."
"Hey, Doc, don't overpressure him, will ya?" said Jim. "He's been through a lot yesterday."
"I'm just trying to raise a point, Jim." Doppler replied, heading outside while putting in his hard hat. "Next year's gonna be a big one, you know."
Jim turned to me, saying. "It's alright, Nate. You'll be fine. Come on."
We went outside to the backyard, where we heard a voice say. "Ah, 'tis a grand day to do some yard work, eh, lads?"
Mr. Krabs frowned upon seeing Silver. "Who told you about all this? Was it that jiggle-headed mischievous blob of yours?"
Morph chuckled nervously, then hid inside Silver's hat while he said. "Oh, you cut me to the quick, Krabs. But when it comes to projects like this, I thought I'd lend a...helping hand, eh?"
As he said this, Silver turned his cyborg hand into one tool after another.
"Hello, folks! How are you today?"
At the sound of Junie B.'s voice, we looked out the fence to see her get out of Jane's mother, Wendy's car, saying. "I am fine and ready for work!"
Out from the car stepped, Lucille, Grace, Mowgli, Shanti, Ranjan and Jane, who sighed. "The things we have to do for extra credit."
"Don't be silly, Jane." said Wendy, who handed out a covered plate to her daughter. "I think it's really sweet that…"
"Oh, boy! Cookies!" Junie B. interrupted upon seeing what was inside the plastic wrap. "I love cookies very much. Plus also, I love cake and ice cream."
"Cookies?!" Mr. Keabs said with surprise. "But we have all these Krabby Patties made."
"And we have pizza coming at four." added Patrick.
"True, but you'll need something extra to keep your strength up." Wendy said with a wink.
"Oh, how can we refuse such deliciousness?" SpongeBob said, taking the cookie plate to the backyard, in which we went, while calling out. "Thanks, Mrs. Darling!"
"Have fun, dears!" Wendy called back. "I'll be back around five to pick you up."
While watching her car drive away from my house, Toto spotted Eliza and Darwin sneaking out of Silver's pickup truck, when he went towards, asking. "So, how'd it go?"
"Well, it wasn't that hard finding Spirit, actually." said Eliza.
"But it won't be easy next time if the Omegas catch us again." added Darwin.
"Aye, 'tis true." said Toto. "Guess we'll have to formulate a plan to free him with neither of them being the wiser."
"Of course, you do realize Spirit can just free himself with his teeth, don't you?" asked Darwin, whom Eliza and Toto looked at.
"What?"
Inside my backyard, while Ranjan and Boo played, the rest of us looked from the pile of broken wood to the scanned copy of my drawing.
"Well, this certainly doesn't leave much to work with, does it?" asked Junie B.
"Normally not the one to side with Junie B. on this." said Jane. "But she does have a point."
"So, the drawing isn't going to help us out?" I asked.
"Yeah, pretty much." replied Mowgli. "Unless we find something more…more…"
"Convenient?" guessed Patrick, whom SpongeBob overheard while watching Boo and Ranjan go down the slide, then, turned to…
"Patrick, say that again!"
"That again." said Patrick.
"No, the other thing." said SpongeBob.
"No, the other thing." repeated Patrick.
"No, what you said before when you..."
"No, what you said before when you..."
"Never mind!" SpongeBob said finally. "I've got an idea."
"Never mind! I've got an idea." Patrick repeated, much to the annoyance of his yellow square friend, who asked. "Nathan, do you remember that PlayPlace inside the McDonalds at Belmont?"
"Yes?" I said.
"Well, I was thinking," SpongeBob said, leading us back inside the house. "We could make an extension from the play structure outside through the arch window in the living room to the balcony next to your room. Not only could we walk through it, we can also make a slide out of it. Huh? Huh?"
"What do you guys think?" I asked.
"Honestly, this sounds risky." said Shanti. "Especially when it comes to your parents."
"Risky or not, I say we give it a go." Mowgli said, before we all heard SpongeBob playing his ukulele, saying. "Thought we could use some music* while we work."
"Well, this project isn't gonna complete itself, is it?" Jane asked as we followed SpongeBob outside, where, after the official blueprints were drawn out, we went straight to work.
"Easy…easy…" said SpongeBob as he and Patrick held his pineapple house, which they tossed onto the clubhouse.
"YEAH! WHOOO!" they both cheered.
Meanwhile, Silver brought inside a long tube to serve as a water slide, saying. "May I present…your canvas. Paint away, laddies."
As they painted the tube, Junie B. bumped into Shanti, who bumped into Jane, accidentally leaving a streak of paint on her sweater.
While Ranjan and Boo laughed at this, Junie B. did a gulp upon seeing Jane and Shanti's glaring faces, then ran towards the snack table, bumping it as she went under.
"Hey!" said Jim.
"What the..." said Squidward, who looked down to see Junie B. burst out from the cover, with Jane and Shanti chasing after her until they were tripped by Mowgli, falling into a kiddie pool that Silver had brought in as well.
Later, at the end of the day, we all gathered in the kitchen, eating pizza and drinking soda, while Mowgli told us the story of how he and the kindergartners defeated Shere Khan**.
"Then, just like that," he said. "The log broke loose, sending Ol' Stripes down to the water."
"What a world! What a world!" Morph cried, flapping in his Shere Khan form.
As everyone laughed, Jane and Shanti looked at Dorothy's hair and shoes, then at each other, exchanging their secret smiles while Dr. Doppler took a picture.
On Monday, while watching the rest of the class painting backdrops for our Christmas play***, Mr. Beckwith smiled as Jane, Mowgli and Shanti and I talked about the next part of the home project, which was using bikes to hoist up the painted tube.
The following Saturday, we met again in my backyard, where Silver gave Squidward, SpongeBob, and I the thumbs up once he checked that the tube was tightly secured.
We pedaled with all our might, hoisting the tube next to the arch window, where B.E.N. hammered it down.
"YEOUCH!" Patrick yelped, for B.E.N. had accidentally hammered a nail into his butt.
Jim was watching from inside the house when he heard Dorothy ask. "What do you think?"
Jim turned to see her hair down with a bow on top.
"We call this one 'automatically curly.'" Junie B. said as she stood with Lucille, Grace, Jane and Shanti.
"Whoa!" Jim exclaimed before hearing the tube land with a loud THUD from outside the house.
As he hurried out to the backyard, Lucille said to Dorothy. "I think he likes it."
"And the ruby slippers are a nice touch too." added Grace.
Dorothy blushed at those words.
On Sunday morning, I walked from the balcony outside the double bedroom through the wood that was used as a bridge to the arch window, where I rode the water slide through SpongeBob's house, landing on the kiddie pool.
"We did it, guys." I said to my friends. "We actually did it."
As everyone cheered, Sandy said to Mike. "If that ain't a success, I don't know what is."
"Gather 'round, everybody." said Dr. Doppler. "A moment like this must be photographed."
"Let me take this one, Doc." Silver said, extending his arm holding up the camera in front of us while getting in the shot as well.
"Say 'Imaginary!" he exclaimed.
"IMAGINARY!" we all shouted as Silver took the picture.
Author's Note:
*The music SpongeBob was playing was actually the song "Work With Me" from "Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return."
**That was what actually happen during the climactic chapter 9 of "Junie B. Jones and the Jungle Boy," which, again, shows the events that happened before "Nathan Rosenberg: 5th Grader."
***The 5th Grade Christmas play, at the time, was "The Polar Express," in which I was casted as the Conductor.