iMake Sam Explain
(picks up directly where iOMG ends, with Sam and Freddie still in the courtyard, Carly looking on from the classroom)
They stood there, letting the silence fill the space between them. Sam was looking down, fidgeting awkwardly, desperately thinking of how to get out of this mess. Freddie was staring at the blond with a stunned look, mouth slightly open and arms hanging slack at his sides.
"umm..." Freddie began, lost for anything to say. He'd been so eloquent with his rant just a few minutes earlier, telling her to express her feelings. Only, he'd meant for her to go find Brad and snog him, not to stop him midsentence with the second kiss the two friends had now shared.
Sam stole a quick glance at Freddie as his voice cut the silence. She held his gaze for a moment, seeing the confusion in his eyes. Then she swiftly turned and ran into the shadows, disappearing in the bushes and around the corner to a different part of the courtyard.
Back in the courtyard, Freddie sighs and shakes his head, looking down. A slight frown creases his face as he thinks about what to do. After a slight hesitation, he heads off after Sam, hands in his jean pockets and at a slower gait than her departure.
Sam runs clumsily through the courtyard towards the door at the far end. She tugs at the door, hoping its unlocked, and jerks back as it opens outwards, exposing a rectangle of complete blackness. Sam finds one light switch near the door and a few lights come on high on the ceiling. The gym was off bounds to students during the lock-in, as it was set up for an assembly tomorrow, with rows of chairs set out facing a platform adorned with flowers. Sam strolls inside, letting the door swing closed behind her. As she traipses up to the front platform, shoving chairs askew, tears begin to roll down her cheeks. When she reaches the platform, she rips a flower out of the closest bouquet and drops down onto the stage with a thunk. She starts to play with the flower in her hand, noting the irony of its being a daisy.
"He loves me," she plucks off a petal, "he loves me not", her voice chokes up as she forcefully rips off another. She leans over the flower, pulling her knees up and hugging them in her arms and she continues her game, becoming too overcome by tears to say the words out loud.
Freddie reaches the gym door and looks around. This is the only way she could have gotten into the school, unless she slipped in a window, or is just hiding behind a bush. Never one to underestimate Sam, Freddie scans the courtyard, seeing no open windows and hearing nothing but the rustle of the trees in the light breeze. Taking a calming breathe, as his stomach was full of butterflies, Freddie slowly opens the door and steps inside. The lights are very low, casting the large room in half shadows.
At the front of the room, he sees the small shape of Sam, huddled on the stage and crying. She mustn't of heard his quiet entrance from over there.
Trying to keep himself unheard, in an attempt to get closer to Sam before she runs again, Freddie coaxes the door closed and starts his way slowly and carefully to the front of the gym. He's not sure why he's decided to follow her, instead of finding Carly and letting her deal with the all the emotional stuff. Sam never let him see her cry and rarely let down her guard. Despite this, Freddie had grown to really care about her, especially the real her he so frequently glimpsed when she let her guard down: such as when they were working on iCarly late into the night and her fatigue made her so much sweeter.
Freddie stopped at the third row of chairs, within ten meters of where Sam sat on the stage. What was he going to say?
"Sam?" It was a question, his voice quiet to match the dark gym. Sam clenched her arms around her legs, dropping the daisy on the stage and looking up. As she focused on Freddie, standing back by the third row, her eyes hardened with pain.
"That's why I told you to go away," she spat, "but I guess you're happy now, now you can tease me whenever I tease you about Carly." She put her head back into her knees and squeezed her eyes shut, hoping to shut out the world and get over the ache in her heart.
"That's not the reason. You wouldn't be this upset about my having an advantage over teasing you, you know I need everything I get, you're so much better at it than me." He took some steps forward with each few words, reaching the front row of chairs. "And I don't like Carly anymore. That was just a silly crush, I know it won't work out, and I don't really want it to, she's just an awesome girl that its hard not to like, you know..." he trailed off, realizing that this wouldn't help the situation. Instead, he walked up to the stage and sat down, leaving a gap between them.
Sam shifted slightly but didn't attack him or make a move to run.
"Sam?" Freddie asked, "you didn't viciously deny that statement. So what is it?" His voice was soft and light, but his nerves came through in his voice. "Sam?" She didn't reply. Freddie sighed and scotched over towards her. "Sa-am," he said, more annoyed now: still nothing. He poked her arm, soliciting no response, and finally put an arm around her shoulder. "Ok, let's start with this, do you ... umm... you ..." his voice trailed over, unable to voice the fact.
"duh, Fredward, that's why I ..." Sam said, trailing off herself. She shifted uncomfortably again, but not pushing Freddie away.
"Ok..." Freddie said, "Good to know. Glad you're not into Brad. I'm so tired of you obsessing with other boys and always harassing me."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Sam put her head up and let out a chortle. "You've always been the only one for me, no one else takes the teasing like you do." She gabbed him in the ribs.
"Oww, Sam! Stop expressing yourself though violence!" Freddie grabbed her arms and deftly pulled them behind her back, forcing her to learn forward. She let out a laugh.
"Let me go! Frednub!" Sam squirmed around and freed he hands, not that Freddie was trying hard. They had a little struggle, Sam briefly pinning Freddie to the stage, before Freddie got the upper hand and trapped Sam under himself on the ground.
"So you are stronger than me ... sometimes at least." She looked up at his face, a few feet above her own.
"Well, I am a teenage boy. Which I think you have taken notice of." Freddie grinned widely. "So, you like me, we've got that out in the open. Now, can I just ask you why, if you like me, you tell me that you hate me constantly?"
Sam sighed and turned her head to the side. "Maybe, cuz I didn't want you to know..."
"Didn't want me to know so that you wouldn't be to me what I was to Carly?" Freddie sat back and pulled Sam up with him, so she was sitting with her legs bent right in front of him. "So, you've been teasing me all these years because you like me?" He asked sceptically, "Like Anne and Gilbert or something?"
This made Sam blush, and start crying again. "well, you didn't like me and then I thought you'd think I was weird if I said I liked you..."
"I didn't like you when I first met because boys that age don't like girls! And if they do, then they only think they do but don't actually know what sort of girl they like. Sam, Carly is awesome, as I said, but she's not for me, just a great friend. But you, besides the incessant teasing, I think we've gotten pretty close over the years, and we have lots in common. I love hanging out with you and ..." Freddie trailed off again. Sam had been glaring at her knee while he talked, visibly struggling to control her crying. "Sam, I think I like you too." Freddie almost whispered this last part, and watched Sam's reaction as she stifled a little gasp, but didn't turn her head. Freddie gently reached across and pulled her chin up with his hand, so that he could see her face. "Sam..." He was lost for words. Instead, he leaned in and kissed her, holding her cheek in one hand and wrapping the other around her waist. She hesitated for only a moment before wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him back.
This kiss definitely lasted longer than the other two, not that either of them were counting. But Carly, watching in shock from the back of the gym, had a smile on her face as she watched her two best friends finally share their true feelings.