Here's chapter 2!

Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 2

A Rumour

Sandy took a deep breath as she came to, her brow creased in disgust at the smell of sweat. She was too warm but somehow too comfy to want to move, her eyes felt dry and tired from her late night. She shifted briefly and snuggled closer to her warm, large pillow only to frown when she heard it had a heartbeat. The girl's eyes blinked open sluggishly and she was greeted by the sight of crumpled pink clothes and her large friend's relaxed face. Her pillow was Patrick, she smiled at the familiar sight. She then glanced up to see a shock of ginger curly hair on Patrick's other side, SpongeBob was also using their friend as a pillow. Sandy realised they were sleeping in a pile on the floor of the ginger's home, she dreaded getting up after lying on such a hard surface for so long.

"Meow!" Came a loud wail, Gary was hungry. He padded over to the pile and climbed up to sit on Patrick's stomach, he glared at the three as he yowled again.

"C'ming..." SpongeBob murmured breathily as he shuffled to lie on his back, his eyes still closed as he smacked his lips.

Gary's tail flicked in annoyance, the cat used his paw to smack SpongeBob in the face. The boy immediately shot up, gripping his forehead.

"Ouch! Gary!" He scolded as he checked his head for any sign of blood, Sandy buried her face into Patrick's side as she held her breath to stop the giggles.

The boy struggled to his feet and disappeared into the kitchen with the hangry naked cat.

Sandy adored Gary, he looked intimidating with his lack of fur and bright green eyes but SpongeBob totally ruined it by dressing the feline in a fluffy pink and purple striped jumper. He had put it on as a joke but the cat never allowed him to take it off, which is why SpongeBob was always covered in many bloody scratched when he tried to bath the cat.

Patrick yawned and groaned when he felt his jaw crack, Sandy winced at the horrible noise. She watched as the boy's brown eyes fluttered open and looked around the room in confusion, they met her own mahogany and a soft smile crept onto his face.

"Comfy?" He asked jokingly, "It's cool, I know I'm an awesome pillow."

"You definitely are." She agreed tiredly, neither made any attempt to move from their smelly, sticky slumber pile.

Suddenly, SpongeBob dashed passed them in a rush to get to the bathroom.

"I'm gonna be late!" He yelped, "I need to shower!"

"Relax buddy!" Patrick called, his voice still rough from sleep. "You'll be on time!"

"Which is practically late!" SpongeBob called through the drum of the shower. "Maybe I should skip breakfast?"

"No, you need to eat!" Sandy yawned,

"I'll be fine, I'll skip breakfast!" SpongeBob decided as he hurried through his shower.

"We should text-" Patrick began as he closed his eyes sleepily.

"On it." Sandy nodded as she texted Mr Krabs to let him know SpongeBob had skipped breakfast, the man simply sent a thumbs up back.

SpongeBob dashed down the stairs, grabbed his keys and wallet before running out the front door – leaving a waft of soap in his wake.

It was a much nicer smell than the two young adults lying on the floor were producing as they fell back asleep.

SpongeBob entered the restaurant 2 minutes early, Squidward was already there and helping Mr Krabs clean up from the night before. On one of the tables was two pancakes drenched in syrup and strawberries.

"Eat your breakfast." Mr Krabs called to him without looking, "How you think yer gonna get through a whole shift on only a few hours sleep and an empty belly is beyond me!"

SpongeBob huffed a laugh as he sat down and tucked in.

"Sorry sir!" He spoke through a mouthful.

"Yer lucky those friends of yours are lookin' out for you." The boss continued, "Or you'd be in a heap on the floor by lunchtime."

SpongeBob rolled his eyes good-naturedly as he listened to the lecture.

"Maybe I should skip breakfast, then I would get out of cleaning too." Squidward huffed moodily, still tired from the night before. Mr Krabs nudged him warningly, the man rolled his eyes as he collected the trash bags to take out.

The morning was quiet apart from old man Jenkins coming in to yell at everyone for their rudeness the day before, he ordered a Krabby meal and left a mess on his table to punish them.

It wasn't until after the lunch rush Sandy and Patrick entered the restaurant, they sat at a table with their milkshakes and waited for SpongeBob to take his break.

The ginger boy was cleaning a table nearby when Larry entered, heading straight for the only two customers.

"Hey Sandy!" He greeted, he only had eyes for her. "Did you hear the rumour going around town?"

"No, what rumour?" She asked curiously, gaining the attention of her four other friends. They all gathered around to hear the news.

"You're no longer the newest face!" Larry leaned in, loving all the eyes on him. "There's a new kid in town."

"Yay!" SpongeBob cheered happily, "Have you met them? When did they move in?"

"Just today, nobody's actually seen him yet." Larry confessed. "He lives on the other side of town, number 58 urchin road."

"Wow, that place has been empty for years." Mr Krabs mused. "Must've took a lot of cleaning."

"It's a dump, why would you wanna move there?" Squidward wrinkled his nose in disgust.

"What's his name?" SpongeBob asked, bouncing on his toes.

"I dunno, look – the most I know is there's someone new who moved into that gross old house." Larry summarised in frustration. "Way to ruin my news!"

"I wonder if he's cool..." Patrick belched out, "It would be good to meet a new face..."

"Yeah!" SpongeBob agreed giddily.

Larry left as the friends talked, he had more people to spread the news to.

"I think I'll head over and welcome him to town..." SpongeBob nodded thoughtfully, "I'll go after work, I'm sure he'd appreciate a friendly face on his first day."

"I thought we were watching a movie tonight?" Patrick pouted, glancing at Sandy for backup.

"He won't be long, we'll set everything up and we'll start when he gets back." The girl shrugged easily, "That ok with you?"

"Yeah, I doubt he'll want to hang out or anything on his first day in town." The boy shrugged, "He'll be super tired."

"Exhausted when he has to deal with you." Squidward muttered under his breath, he strolled off now bored of the conversation. Mr Krabs hurried to his office as his phone rang.

"You gonna be ok goin' over there on your own?" Sandy checked, giving her friend a stern look. "He might not be as friendly as us, we can always join ya?"

"Nah, it wouldn't be fair to crowd him on day one!" SpongeBob shook his head, "I'll be fine! I'm a big boy!"

He chuckled as he sauntered off to finish cleaning up so he could go on his break, the two friends returned to their milkshakes while they waited.

Sandy had to admit she was glad SpongeBob had decided to meet the newbie. She could remember how terrified she was when she moved into the little beachside town, it was completely different from Texas. There is something daunting about being alone in a new environment, surrounded by unknown faces and streets and being several miles from home. She had only been there a couple of days when Patrick and SpongeBob arrived at her door, grinning and inviting her out for a tour of their town. The three became thick as thieves after just one day.

She smiled at the memories, she was satisfied with her new family.

Please leave a review!