So I was the one walking backwards in the hall, shouting at Ethan to hide the duck statue in my locker. So what. She was the one staring at her feet as though all the answers to her schedule mishaps were in her laces. She bumped into me.
Books and loose leaf exploded in every direction. Normally I live for that kind of stuff—school chaos that I can mentally replay in slow motion. But for once I just stood there while laughter rose around me. "Way to go, Puckett!" "Nice one, Sam." I looked at the freshman whose eyes never left her squeaky clean sneakers. Two bright red Raggedy Anne circles appeared on her cheeks. I sighed and decided, what the hell, I was late for Geometry anyway.
The first book she dumbly accepted. Then she started to follow my movements in a slow, jerky marionette fashion. I got most of her things scooped up and shoved them into her arms. It should have felt nice to help out a poor schlep. But mostly I was up to my eyeballs with annoyance.
"Here ya go, that's that. Now you watch where you're going." I saluted and was one step away before the girl squeaked.
"Y-you're—"
I freed another sigh and turned around. I was kind of surprised at myself for not expecting this sooner.
"You're Sam from iCarly!" she said in breathless wonder. "Ohmygod, I loved loved loved your webshow!"
I pursed my lips. If I'm silent, they tend to mumble something in embarrassment and stop talking. Then I can continue on with my life.
"Why did you guys stop? You, Carly, and Freddie I mean."
"You didn't watch the last webshow?" I tsked. "I thought you were a fan."
"I am. I mean—I just wanted to know if there was any other reason than the one you guys gave."
"Nope. Sorry. It was just time to move on. Speaking of which." I gave a little bow and walked on, feeling the freshman's eyes on me until I turned the corner.
_
Ethan came up behind me during lunch and gave my hair a quick tug. "Another rabid iCarly fan?" he smirked.
I swatted his hand away. "Maybe I should get a pixie cut. Maybe you guys should start calling me Samantha."
"What, do away with your luscious Rapunzel locks? Don't you dare." Aimee pointed her cheese stick at me, letting it wag up and down. "I'll give you five, no, ten lashings with my violin bow."
"Yeah, listen to Aimee," said Ethan. Even though there was no space, he sat down between me and Kate, forcing Kate to move to the very edge. She glared at him as he slung an arm around my shoulder. "And who's this Samantha chick? She sounds hot."
A paper plane flew and landed near our table. I looked up. There he was, across the cafeteria. He must've been watching the plane too because our eyes locked. For a second we just stared at each other. Then I cracked a small grin. And he grinned too, barely, but I could see it from where I was sitting.
"What are you smiling at?" asked Aimee.
My head jerked back. "Rosario Flores. She's using a spaghetti noodle to floss her nose." I turned to Ethan, who had finished most of my fries. "So are we going through with operation duck statue?"
For the rest of the lunch period, my friends and I gabbed aimlessly.
By the time I got up to throw away my lunch tray, he was gone.