A/N - I got this idea while talking about fanfiction with one of my friends (Miss-Beann - author of "The Captive" - a successful Twilight fanfic author, of works such as "The Captive" - you should check it out!). The idea skirted around Sam's frequently mentioned need for money but in the end I've decided to adapt this due to her mother's invented medical condition. As a result of this, some of them may appear to be OOC at some points. The flashbacks are happening around the time of "iOwe You" and any episodes after that particular episode haven't happened in my story, so it's also sort of AU. Review, comments and idea's are always appreciated (:

iChanged

I can still remember the first time I realised that I, Sam Puckett, was considerably less well off than people like the Bensons and the Shay's, medical bills ate up any cash earned by my sick mother, which given that she was a cleaner, earned us even less than I had at "Chilli My Bowl". As a result of our low income, mom's medical treatment was withdrawn, well that and the fact that the Cancer had spread.

It was a Tuesday when my constant "borrowing" of money was too much for Frednub and a slightly more understanding yet still exasperated Carly Shay, to both their credit, neither of them knew of our financial situation, and my constant facade of being hungry covered up where their money was really going. It took five minutes for to swipe the exaggerated sum of cash from Fredward's hand (he was right, it didn't cost $30 to get to school from home – even after stopping for a burrito), pay Chester (my regular ride since mom had decided to "loan" the car aka was too sick to drive) the $12.50 I owed, and pocket the rest of the change. I came back to hear Benson bitching about someone – fine, I admit, I knew it was me – always hitting on him and Carly for cash.

I knew in that second that they'd never understand.

When I found out about the total amount I owed my two friends my stomach dropped, there could be no way that I had "borrowed" $526! How would I earn enough to pay them back?
Fredward then prattled on about how much I'd "borrowed", the dates I'd borrowed it on, he had even estimated the exact timing of my requests. In case he hadn't proved just how geeky he really was, he'd produced a graph with a squiggly red line progressively rising which I assumed represented my "borrowing" increasing. The whole time they were standing there, I felt a certain expectation for me to just start crapping money. In retaliation, I slammed the lid of his poxy laptop crushing the "track-pad" finger and fished through my pockets in a futile manner, knowing the chances of me finding myself suddenly in possession of $526 were slim-to-none. Heck, $1 would have been a miracle. Impulsively that night, I had practically begged the viewers of iCarly to send me money, any sense of pride I'd had before had long since disappeared with my mom's declining medical attention, and finding myself, a fifteen year-old, in debt of $526.

I remember Fredweird coming up to me after one horrendously long morning of Algebra then English with a look of worry and frustration upon his plain face, his eyes were darting round, scanning the halls which stopped when he found me.

"Sam, Principal Franklin wants you - now!" Bugger.

"Oh man," suddenly, I had an idea, "Freddie, find Carly; tell her to meet me at Franklin's office in two minutes."

"What'd you do?"

"I dunno, but he always goes easier on me when Carly's around, reminds him I'm not all bad." Ergh, and reminds him that Carly's all good.
Don't get me wrong, I love Carlotta, but when's she gonna do something bad?

There are three things that I don't like to talk about with anyone because to do that would prove that I have some sort of emotional side.
Number one is my mom's death; her illness was private so why would her no longer being here change that? Even three years later, Carly, Fredweird and Spencer still don't know.
Number two is what happened to me after she died, why I left Ridgeway High and what happened to make me come back.
Number three is Freddie and how I realised that I'd fallen in love with him.

Sometimes I wonder if Carly had ever gotten the message because after ten minutes of waiting outside Ted's office, she never showed.
Maybe if she had, I'd have one less thing I don't like to talk about.

A/N To be continued...
Oh, and flashbacks are her remembering what happened after she realised that Carly and Freddie would never understand, and then when it stops being italics, she is talking about how she feels presently. She's currently 18.
Hope that was okay for a first chapter, please feel free to review (:

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