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This is a story about Patrick the duckling. Patrick was a very sad duckling. He did not have many friends because he felt nobody would ever like him. His parents tried to support him and often told him how much he loved him and how special he was to them, but he didn't believe them.
One day, while Patrick was sitting by the smaller pond, another ducking waddled up from behind, very quietly, so Patrick didn't hear him.
"Hi there!!" the duckling said chipperly.
Patrick screamed and fell into the pond. A few moments later he reorginized himself so that he could see who his startler was. As he swam closer to the bank, he saw that the duckling was trying to look concerned yet trying his hardest not to laugh at the same time.
"Who are you?" the ducking inquired, giggling slightly, "I'm Pete, I hope I didn't scare you to badly!"
Patrick slowly blinked at him trying to understand why Pete was talking to him.
"I-I'm Patrick" he stuttered, still staring at Pete quizically, "and no it's ok, I'm fine, thank you though."
"Well if you're fine, don't just swim there, come on out and let's chat!"
"Why would you want to talk to me?"
"I don't know... You seem pretty cool and plus I've seen you around and you need a friend. Common, I'll introduce you to my friends, you'll love them!"
Patrick hesitantly got out of the pond. Pete grabbed his wing and started walking towards the bigger pond where everyone lived. Once Patrick could see the small group of ducks talking a few feet away, he started to pull back on Pete's wing, his shyness kicking in. Pete noticed the slight retraction and stopped walking.
"Common Patrick, they're not going to bite. Here, I'll go get them, you stay right here."
As Pete waddled away, Patrick was frozen in fear. He hates talking to people, more or less a group of people. He sees Pete walking back with two other ducklings and starts panicking. He starts backing away slowly, trying to escape, but Pete rushes ahead of his friends so he can get a firm grip on Patrick.
"Hey don't leave just yet, you haven't met my friends yet!" Pete gestures to the others, one whos eyes seem very heavy lidded and he has a smug smile on his face, and the other very wide eyes and is smiling slightly. "This is Joe," Pete says pointing to the first one, "and this is Andy."
Joe extends a wing and says, "Hey dude how's it going? Haven't seen you around a lot, new here?"
Patrick slowly reaches out and Joe slaps his wing and he gasps at the sudden movement, "Ah!... umm no I just uh don't hang around people often... I don't have many friends..." Patrick looks down suddenly feeling very ashamed of himself.
Andy puts a wing on Patrick's shoulder and he looks up into those wide eyes. "Hey we all started out with no friends at one point in our life, you just need to find the right people!"
Patrick smiled at this and everyone's face brightened at the sudden happiness from the shy duckling. Pete squealed and jumped on Patrick's back.
"YAY A NEW FRIEND!!!!" he shouted to nobody in particular.
Patrick was startled by the sudden weight on his back but soon started giggling along with everyone else.
"Yea I guess you guys aren't too bad, maybe having friends won't be so bad."
Over the next few years, Patrick met more of Pete, Andy, and Joe's friends. There was Gerard, his brother Mikey, Frank, and Ray who lived on the far side of the lake, there was Brendon, Dallon, Spencer, and Kenny who lived in the barn, Hayley, Taylor and Jeremy who lived by the cattails, and Tyler and Josh who moved from place to place. Over time they all became great friends, and made more acquaintances then one ever needed. Patrick became happier each day and started to enjoy life. His friends supported him in everything he chose to do and loved him like family. All in all, he lived a pretty good life.