iSmile For the Cameras
Sam's been acting strange lately, and Freddie is determined to find out what's up. However, what happens when he learns that Sam's actually a model? And what other talents has she been hiding from him and Carly? Review Please!
Rating: T (Cause I'm really not sure where this will go)
Disclaimer: [insert witty disclaimer here]
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Freddie Benson had seen Carly Shay in plenty of different moods: happy, sad, worried, surprised, everything. She was the type of girl who you could read like a book; she didn't hide anything. However, even though Freddie had seen her even in her worst moments, he had never seen her really mad in a long time…until now.
"Where is she!" Carly growled as she paced the iCarly studio. Her hands were balled into tight fists and her eyes were narrowed to the size of slits.
"I don't know," Freddie answered her same question again for what felt like the millionth time. He found that when Carly was angry, it was best to let her rant, and to stay out of her way. Carly groaned angrily under her breath and whirled around to face Freddie.
"This is the third time this week that she's canceled rehearsal, you know!" She nearly yelled. Freddie resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Of course he knew, he had been the one Sam had told when she couldn't make the first rehearsal on Tuesday. She bailed on Wednesday too, and on Thursday she didn't even tell them why she couldn't make it. Now, here they were, Friday and very much without the blonde headed demon.
"She didn't even tell me why she couldn't make it," Carly thought aloud, her anger beginning to subside, "Did she tell you?" She nearly attacked Freddie.
"Nope," He answered, shaking his head. Carly sighed and sank into one of the three bean bag chairs. She looked so defeated, but admittedly less angry, so Freddie presumed that it would be safe to finally contribute. "But she wasn't in sixth or seventh period,"
Carly's gaze immediately went to him, "She wasn't?" She asked, "How do you know?"
"Well we have World Lit together seventh period, and Wendy said that she wasn't in their Drama class in sixth,"
"Weird," Carly murmured. They grew silent for a minute, both lost in their own thoughts. "Freddie," Carly broke the silence, "Do you think Sam has been acting a little…strange lately?"
Freddie's brow furrowed in thought. Sam had been acting sort of weird lately, "Yeah, she's seemed kinda evasive almost,"
"I hope nothing's wrong," Carly muttered. Freddie jumped. Something couldn't seriously be…wrong with Sam, could it? Immediately he was filled with worry. He knew that if Sam was in some kind of trouble, she would never tell him or Carly. And the thought that she could be out there all alone and scared tortured Freddie, thought he didn't really know why he cared so much.
"Yeah…" He replied in a worried tone, "Me too,"
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Sam slammed her locker shut with a loud, ringing clatter that echoed around the hall and caused a group of little Freshmen girl's to jump. They looked reproachfully at Sam as the scurried away, and Sam sneered back before throwing her backpack on the ground and sliding down next to it, leaning again her locker. She was exhausted. She rested her forehead on her bent knees and knotted her fingers into her wild golden curls, but her headache didn't surrender. She could practically still see the bright flashes exploding all around her mind.
"Sam?" A voice came from above her. Sam looked up to see Wendy staring down at her with big, concerned eyes. The gossip guru cocked her head slightly to the side while she examined the tired girl. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine," Sam grumbled.
"Are you su-"
"Wendy!" Sam spat. A warning. Wendy jumped and mumbled an apology before scampering away to join two other girls. As they passed Freddie and Carly, one of the girls hastily asked Wendy, "What's wrong with Sam?"
Freddie and Carly looked at each other with equal concern as they headed towards the lockers. Sam had gone back to her previous position of her head against her knees, and her arms wrapped around her legs in turn.
"Sam?" Freddie started timidly. Sam's head jerked up, her eyes flashing with obvious annoyance.
"What, nub!" She spat. Freddie and Carly jumped.
"Are you okay?" Carly asked cautiously. Sam rolled her eyes.
"Why do people keep asking that? First Gibby, then Wendy, now you too?"
"Maybe cause you look like you just ran a marathon?" It was now Carly's turn to roll her eyes. "And you've been acting kinda weird lately," Freddie added, earning a half annoyed, half grateful look from Carly.
"Have not," Sam disagreed, standing up grudgingly as the bell overhead rang. The warning bell.
"Then why have you missed the past three rehearsal's and were gone yesterday for the past two periods?" Carly asked, putting her arms meaningfully on her hips.
"How did you know that?" Sam asked incredulously, and when Carly glanced at Freddie, Sam glared at him.
"So where were you?" Freddie pressed.
"I've just been too busy with stuff to come to rehearsal, it's not a big deal, besides, I don't see how it's any of your business, Freddifer," Sam answered, looking at her nails with her practiced indifference. The façade was all too familiar to Freddie, and he didn't buy it for one minute.
"Then why were you out of school early yesterday?"
"Come on, Freddork, you've known me long enough to accept that if skipping school was an Olympic Sport, I'd be the gold medalist," The second warning bell rang and Sam grabbed her backpack. "Well, as much fun as this interrogation has been, I have Miss Briggs next, and she keeps threatening to get me expelled if I'm late again to her class," Sam then snorted indignantly to herself, "She should be thankful I show up at all. Later," She turned to leave, but Carly grabbed her arms and stopped her. Sam turned around and Carly walked towards the shorter girl, examining her with an air of expert observation. Her eyes narrowed.
"Why do you have glitter in your hair?" She asked, plucking one of the many sparkles from her blonde curls. Sam's cheeks turned slightly red, but she kept on the I-Couldn't-Care-Less expression.
"How should I know," She scoffed, "Let's just do rehearsal tonight," She told them, and before either Freddie of Carly could stop her, she was gone.
"I don't believe her," Carly muttered.
"Neither do I," Freddie replied, a strange expression on his face, "Not for one second,"
The bell rang, signaling the start of first period. They were late.
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That night, Freddie laid in his bed in total darkness, staring straight up at the ceiling. Dim, autumn moonlight fell through his window and spilt onto his bed and down to the floor. Freddie sighed again, for what seemed like the millionth time, and turned his head slowly to look at his digital clock. 2:35 in the morning. Ugh, but Freddie couldn't relax. He was too preoccupied with his thoughts.
What was Sam hiding. He hated the thought of her keeping secrets from him. Even though it seemed otherwise, Sam was truly his best friend. He knew that he could trust her with his life, even though she was sometimes the cause of almost ending his life. The question was, why couldn't she trust him? Or Carly? The two had been best friends for years. The whole situation just seemed so…odd.
Gosh, Freddie, snap out of it, Freddie thought brutally to himself, this is Sam we're talking about here. It's not like you actually care about her.
Well…Freddie argued with himself, You've been best friends, whether she'll admit it or not, for a long time. It's totally natural for you to care about her.
Yeah, but you care for her in a completely different way than you care for Carly. With Sam, it's like you're obsessed with making sure she's not going to get hurt. It's like you're in love with her or something.
Freddie sat straight up at the mere thought. There was no way that he, Freddie Benson, could ever, ever, ever, like Samantha Puckett. None. Zero. Zilch. Freddie turned to lay on his side, staring intensely around his room. His eyes rested on the two pictures that rested on his nightstand. He reached over and picked them both up. The first was one that had been taken at Webicon. It was of Sam with her arms around both him and Carly. They all still had mud and dirt on their clothes, hair and face, but they were beaming happily. A ghost of a smile traced across Freddie's face and he put the picture down to look at the second one.
The minute that he looked at the picture, his stomach swooped and his blood began to pump even faster. The picture was of him and Sam one night when they were filming Wake Up Spencer. It had been taken only three months ago, so the two still looked the same. It had been a particularly good segment and the two had been feeling rather victorious when Freddie had taken out his camera and snapped a picture of them both for 'memories sake'. Sam had been in such a good mood that she hadn't even cared. You could see their torsos only, and the Shay's living room in the background. Freddie was wearing a grey t-shirt, and Sam was wearing a tight fitting garnet coloured tank top. Freddie's hair was messier than it usually was, and his chocolate eyes were alive with happiness. As Freddie looked again at Sam, his breath caught in his throat. Her skin was practically glowing, and her light, turquoise eyes were sparkling. She was smiling, a genuinely happy Sam Puckett smile, and her golden curls were wild, yet beautiful. The picture perfectly translated Sam's wild, feisty personality, a personality that Freddie hadn't seen for the past few weeks. Freddie set the picture back down with shaking hands and sank back into his bed, flipping over as to escape the pictures captivating trance. As Freddie fell into sleep's gently grasp, the single most terrifying realization came over Freddie, a realization that in the morning he would brush off as pure exhaustion. He was falling for Sam Puckett, and there was nothing he could do about it. He had to figure out what was wrong with her. He just had to.
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"Carly! Are you in there!" Freddie knocked rapidly on the Shay's door. If he didn't talk to Carly quickly, he was going to be late for his first class for the second time in a week. When no one answered, he knocked again, more loudly, "CARLY!"
"COME IN, FREDDIE!" He heard Carly yell back. Freddie opened the door in time to see Carly running down the stairs while she put her dark hair into a ponytail. "What's up?"
"So, you know how Sam's been acting all freaky lately?"
"Unfortunately, yes," Carly groaned.
"Who's been acting all freaky?" Spencer asked as he entered the room.
"Sam," Freddie replied. Spencer looked at Carly.
"Oh yeah, Carly told me,"
"What about her?" Carly continued.
"Well, she keeps disappearing to some random place, and when we see her after that, she's always really tired," Freddie explained to Carly and Spencer, who were both nodding, "And I bet that whatever she's doing there is the reason she's been all vague lately."
"Yeah, so what's your point," Carly asked with a sly gleam in her eyes.
"Well," Freddie started, "I'm going to follow her one day after school and see where she goes. Do you think it's a good idea? I just wanna make sure that she's not getting hurt,"
"Yeah, I think it's a great idea," Carly was smiling widely, for reasons unknown to Freddie.
"What?" He asked in a scared voice.
"You care about Sam," She and Spencer smiled knowingly at each other.
"Of course I do, she's my friend,"
"And you want to help her," Spencer added.
"Yes," Freddie stressed again, "Because she's my friend,"
"Only your friend?" Carly and Spencer asked rhetorically at the same time.
"Yes!" Freddie yelled, frustrated. "Sam and I are best friends and I just want to make sure that she doesn't get hurt.
"Well," Carly rolled her eyes incredulously, "If you're sure,"
"Of course I'm sure," He turned to leave, "We're best friends and that's all,"
When the door slammed shut behind him, Carly squealed in delight, clapping her hands together in excitement.
"Why are you so happy?" Spencer asked, grabbing the carton of juice from the refrigerator. "Freddie still refuses to admit that he's head over heels in love with Sam. We're not making any progress in the Get-Sam-And-Freddie-Together department.
"Nope," Carly told Spencer, "We just made excellent progress right there,"
"How?"
"Freddie just admitted that he and Sam are best friends," She grinned at the door through which Freddie had just departed, "And if that's not progress, I don't know what is. "
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Awful? Terrible? Okay? Please review and let me know what you thought. I'm not sure if I should continue this or not, but if you like the idea, I would love to hear your critiques and ideas!
Thank yew oh so very much!
P.S. The Harry Potter premier. I can only say one thing: Neville Longbottom is a BOSS.