I was asked today if Squidward was my favorite character...(I'd just posted chapter 2)...I was torn at the answer. So for anyone else who wants to know...

Squidward is ONE of my favorite characters. I think that he's grossly misunderstood and unappreciated. Can I get a "me too"? Anyone? No? Okay, fine. Hmmph! Here's your stupid chapter 4.

Chapter 4: "Friday"

The weekend was so close. Meg tossed a wadded up piece of paper at her trashcan. It hit the side and bounced out, landing on the floor.

She stared impatiently at the clock. 6:42. Boredom ate at her mind like a bad virus. She needed something to do! The CD player droned on repetitively. Meg twiddled her thumbs and looked at the clock again: 6:43.

"Come on!" she growled. Her pet snail, Carly, came into the room and sat by her owner's feet. She was bored, too.

"Hey Good Carly., wanna go for a walk?"

Carly perked up, and meowed.

--

Spongebob strolled down the road, Gary on a leash, humming to himself. Work today had been quiet, and strangely enough, had left Spongebob in a rather quiet mood. The sun was quietly setting over the west horizon, casting a brilliant glow over Bikini Bottom.

The thought occurred to Spongebob that he hadn't yet found a snail-sitter for Gary. Who would take care of him while Spongebob was in Texas? Not Squidward, Gary had made a point about Squidward's last snail-sitting fiasco, and made sure Spongebob knew not to let it happen again.

His next thought was Patrick. Then again...maybe not Patrick. Spongebob hadn't seen much of his pink friend in the past few days, and wondered if he might be sick. Well if he was, there was no sense in burdening his friend, or endangering Gary's health.

Sandy was clearly out of the question, she would be gone, and Mr. Krabs had a pet worm. Spongebob trusted Mr. Krabs, but Cash...not so much.

That left one more option. Dare he ask of her?

--

Squidward opened his window, and took a deep breath of fresh Bikini Bottom air. Rain clouds hovered, ominously, over the city, leaving the atmosphere damp, but fresh.

He set his music stand up by the open window. Clarinet in hand, he flipped through pages of music, until he found a song that sounded nice. The clock read 7:30.

Thirty minutes, his mind told him. He couldn't help but be slightly nervous. He didn't understand why, though. It was like it was a date, just a social event.

Granted, he didn't dislike Meg in that fashion. In fact, he almost liked her. Almost. But years of experience told Squidward that Meg's future held something much bigger and brither than him.

As Squidward was about to play, a familiar high-pitched voice came through the window.

"Hey, Squidward!"

Squidward leaned outside, and looked down into the smiling face of Spongebob. Feeling too peaceful to be rude, Squidward lent a friendly wave, before beginning practice on his clarinet, which he was, surprisingly enough, improving on. He couldn't help but feel like his difficulty in learning led back to a family curse. But of course, that was ridiculous.

--

Silence. Peaceful silence.

Sandy sat quietly in her bedroom, alone with her thoughts, a lit candle being the only source of light, and filling the air with a soft cinnamon fragrance. Even time seemed to stand still, as Sandy worried to herself.

Her ma had never been sick before, not like this, and Sandy had never felt so scared. What would happen? She took a deep breath, wrestling the tears that had been threatening to overtake her for days. She couldn't wait for Monday. It seemed so distant...too far.

Even Spongebob understood the seriousness of this matter. That scared Sandy more than the situation itself. He was a merry little fellow, not one to fail finding an upside to things. And yet, he hadn't said anything positive to her Wednesday. What could that mean?

--

I thought you might be interested to know the story behind where I got the name for Mr. Krab's worm, Cash.

I thought about naming him "Kash" (You know, Krusty Krab, Krusty Krew, Eugene Krabs...that stuff) but I didn't actually take the name "Cash" from Mr. K's obsession with money. My mom always tells me a story about high school...her and her friends has a rabbit that they passed around...a little pygmy rabbit, didn't get very big. He practically lived in everyone's jackets (she says) and this rabbit's name? Cash. So...there's my little story for you. Haha! Hope you're enjoying the story so far!