Chapter Text
The next morning, Spongebob woke up in his bed with his beloved Gary sleeping with him. Though normally the snail wasn't allowed on the bed, the sponge made an exception this time, since he was still feeling tense from what happened two days ago.
Everyone else that was there was staying at the hotel Y/n wanted to check into, since the pineapple was too small for them to stay at.
After getting dressed and having some kelp flakes, Squarepants heard the phone ring and went to answer it, "Hello?"
"Hey Spongebob!"
"Rocko! Hey buddy, what's going on?"
"Well, I was thinking that we should go to Goo Lagoon today!"
With an excited gasp, the yellow sponge ran to his closet and got out various beach items, including his towel, a floatie, his sand castle building tools, money for ice cream and food, and the most important item: sunscreen.
Rocko waited at the other end of the phone for an answer when Spongebob came back on, "Of course, I'd love to go!"
"Great!"
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At the beach of Goo Lagoon, Rocko got his spot ready, even making sure his beloved dog Spunky stayed there when someone kicked sand at his face.
"Hey! Who did that-" Another kick of sand revealed two female cows, talking to each other and not even noticing the kangaroo as they kicked another helping of sand in his face.
Filburt got his spot in a perfect area, close enough to the water to not get burn marks from the silky hot sand but far enough away not to get caught in the tide. The others got their spots, some to get a tan, others to swim in the water, and some to enjoy the hot day.
Mike Schmidt immediately dove into the water as soon as he got his stuff setup and applied his spray sunscreen on, "Ah......nothing like the feel of nice cold water." He swam around before noticing the fry cook getting a floatie on, then entering the water like it was a hazardous place.
"Spongebob, why did you do that?"
"Do what, Mike?"
"You entered the water like it was biohazardous."
"Well I...uh...." Spongebob moved carefully closer to the security guard, trying to avoid any spots where his feet couldn't touch.
Eventually, Squarepants reached the edge of the shallow end while many others were playing and having fun at the deep end, "The truth is Mike, I can't swim because I'm.......terrified of deep water."
Sighing, Mr. Schmidt knew what he had to do: teach Spongebob to conquer his fear of his deep so he wouldn't be left out.
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Heffer saw the ice cream stand roll by, serving two cones to Fizzarolli and Asmodeus, who walked together to a beach hut for "private time."
One look at those delicious treats made the cow pull out his wallet only to find nothing inside, and without money, he couldn't buy ice cream. Heffer then noticed several girls with ice cream cones, getting an idea: If he could talk to the girls, he could get their ice creams!
Meanwhile, Rocko kept getting his face pelted with sand. When he was about to have something to eat, he got sand kicked at him by a chicken digging for worms.
Next, Rocko got sand in his face from a deer running to catch a Frisbee thrown to throw back.
Then a crowd practically buried the wallaby in the sand, rushing to watch the surfing contest that was about to unfold. This caused Rocko to snap, scream and kick sand at a crowd member.
"HOW DO YOU LIKE HUH?! HUH?! YOU STUPID BLIND PERSON!!"
"What was that?!"
Rocko stopped to realize that he had kicked sand, and insulted a burly warthog, complete with biceps along with an anchor tattoo on his arm. He tried to run, only for the warthog to punch him into puddy.
Filburt and Bugs Bunny made a huge sand castle, complete with rooms, a working drawbridge and moat, and even functional weapons made of sand.
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With the sound of the airhorn, everyone got out of the water to see the contest.
Everyone, of course, except for Spongebob, who was learning to swim, Mike, who was teaching him, and Spunky, who managed to get loose and was swimming in the cool water.
Mike tried to get Mr Squarepants to swim but the poor guy was stuck to a rock, frozen in fear. He very hesitantly swam back, telling the sponge it was now or never.
Realizing he was stuck, Spongebob tried to get the little dog to help him get back, but there were many things that wouldn't work, like how Spunky was content in the water, and he wouldn't do it because the dog wasn't strong enough to pull someone.
"OK contestants, make your way to the stage!"
Spongebob knew the only way back now was to swim, something he was only starting to learn.
When he tried to move at first, the sponge could barely keep his head from going under the waves, which were starting to pick up, "Come on Sponge...d-don't be afraid, I need to get to the shore. If you don't you'll drown.......and lose everything you love!"
Using that as his bag of courage, Spongebob kept tempting to swim, "Ok.....kick....stroke.....kick....stroke...come on Spongebob you can do it!....Kick...Stroke...Kick..Stroke!"
His movements became more fluid as he managed to get to swallow water but kept going until he made it to the shore.
"I did it!"
With new-found skill and confidence, Spongebob went into the crowd to watch the contest.
It was a tense contest, but somehow, against all the talented players, Spunky won purely by being on the surfboard of a player that fell off.
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Spongebob slept on the car ride home, with excitement that he had finally learned how to swim.