Sam glided the eye pencil across her waterline and smudged it with her fist. The reflection in the mirror smirked at her. The makeup made her look like a rock musician or an underage prostitute. She pulled out a pack of Marlboro cigarettes from her drawer and stuck one between her painted red lips. She paced the room as she smoked the stick of carcinogens in her hand. Sam picked up the handgun lying on her bedside table and ran her fingers against the cold metal. She stuck the gun in her backpack and walked to school.
As she opened her locker, a familiar voice greeted her.
"Hey baby," Freddie attempted to kiss her on the cheek but Sam dodged his lips, "Is everything okay?"
"Everything's fine," said Sam, avoiding his eye contact. She slammed her locker door shut and walked away from him.
Sam put her earphones on to drown out the noise of the classroom and the teacher's lecture. Even though her iPod was at maximum volume, she didn't hear the music it was playing. All she could hear were the sounds from the night before. The sound of a girls voice, not hers, yelling "I love you Freddie Benson!" kept reverberating in her head. If that was not enough, the vision of a beautiful but disheveled-looking brunette girl leaving her boyfriends apartment, wearing nothing but his baggy shirt, was all Sam could see whenever she closed her eyes.
Abruptly, her phone vibrated in her pocket. When Sam turned it on, she discovered somebody had sent her photos. They were photos of Freddie and the girl she saw the night before leaving his apartment. The photos were filthy, racy, and proved her suspicions about her boyfriend's unfaithfulness true. She shoved the phone back in her pocket and raised her hand.
"What is it?" Asked the teacher.
"Can I go to the can?"
"I suppose."
Sam threw her backpack over her shoulder and walked out of the class.
As she was walking in the hallway, Sam bumped into Carly.
"Hey, skipping class again?" Carly joked.
Sam hugged Carly and cried on her shoulder.
"What's wrong?"
"Freddie cheated on me."
"What? Are you sure? I know he wouldn't do that to you."
"Carls, I saw it with my own eyes."
"I'm so sorry, Sam. You want me to yell at him for you?"
"No I got a better plan," Sam took out her gun.
"What is that?" Asked Carly, frightened.
"Revenge."
Sam kicked the door of the Advanced Placement Algebra classroom door open and scanned her eyes across the room to identify the location of her target. She pointed her gun in his direction.
Freddie began to breath heavily, "Sam, what are you doing?" he asked, nervously.
"Giving you what you deserve."
"What do you mean?" Freddie hesitantly asked.
"I know you cheated on me with some hussy last night. I saw her leaving your apartment!"
"Baby, I can explain."
As Sam was about to pull the trigger, a brunette girl tackled her. The gun slid across the floor.
"Get off me!" Yelled Sam while repeatedly smacking the other girl's face.
"Sam, it's me, Carly!"
Sam stopped and looked at Carly. They both got up off the floor. Carly ran towards the gun and picked it up.
Freddie ran over to Sam, "Are you okay?"
"Don't talk to me!" Shouted Sam.
"Yeah you don't deserve her after what you did," said Carly, defending her best friend.
"What did I do?
"You cheated on her!" Yelled Carly.
"No I didn't!"
Sam took out her phone from her pocket and showed Freddie the photos.
Freddie buried his forehead in his palm, "This is all my mom's fault."
"Your mom's fault?" Said Carly and Sam, simultaneously.
"She tricked me into going on a date with this girl and after, the girl wanted to go back to my apartment. I told her she couldn't but she did anyways. My mom left us alone and that's when the girl started hitting on me and taking these pictures. I finally told her I had a girlfriend but she didn't care."
"That's a great explanation," said Sam sarcastically, "except your mom would never leave you alone with a girl."
"She would if she wants me to break up with the girl I love, and that's you, Sam."
"Then why was the girl wearing your shirt and looked all messy like somebody would after making out?"
"She tried to make out with me but I pushed her off me and as payback for that, she stole my shirt from my drawer."
"Wow what a freak," said Sam.
"You're the one who brought the gun to school," Carly joked.
Sam and Freddie both glared at her.
"Oh too soon?" Inquired Carly.
"Can I have my gun back?"
"Do you promise not to shoot Freddie?"
"Carly! Do not give her back the gun!"
"Do you not trust me?" Sam asked Freddie.
"You didn't trust me! You thought that I cheated on you even though I would never do that!"
"Look I'm sorry that I didn't trust you but I promise I'll never do it again. Our relationship obviously needs some work and no relationship can work without trust. So I'm asking you to trust me now and I promise I'll return the favour."
Freddie sighed, "Carly, hand her back the gun."
Carly extended her hand towards Sam and Sam grabbed the gun and put it back in her backpack.
"Thanks for trusting me," said Sam.
"You're welcome."
"So knowing you, you'll probably want to do the right thing and call the cops on me."
"I'll let it slide. You're just lucky there wasn't a teacher in our classroom when you were pointing that gun at me."
"Where was the teacher?" Asked Carly.
"Well she said she was on her coffee break but our class suspects that she went to make out with the PE teacher under the bleachers."
The three of them all shuddered in disgust.
"Well I gotta go back to class," said Carly and she walked off.
Sam and Freddie stared at each other.
"Freddie, I think I have a serious problem."
"No you don't, you just overreacted."
"Baby I'm messed up, and you on the other hand, you're all perfect. I don't deserve you."
"I'm not perfect."
"Yes you are. You're smart, you're nice, you have a great family."
Freddie scoffed, "A great family? A great mom maybe."
"What ever happened to your dad?"
"He left her to pursue some dream only a year after they got married."
"What was his dream?"
"He wanted to be the next Steve Jobs and felt that his family was tying him down financially."
"Ah computer geek, makes sense."
"Well what doesn't make sense is why a man would leave his wife and child for his own selfish reasons."
"You're telling me. My dad left my mom for another girl as soon as he found out that she was pregnant."
"I thought you didn't know who your dad was."
"I don't, I just know he was a liar, a drunk, and a cheater."
"A cheater? Now I understand, you're afraid the same thing that happened to your mom will happen to you."
"Thanks, Doctor Phil."
They both laughed.
"So you wanna skip class with me?" Asked Sam.
Freddie grabbed Sam's hand, "you know, you really are a bad influence," he smiled.
Holding hands, they walked out of the school hallways and into the school parking lot.
Sam stared at her surroundings as the wind blew her hair into her face, "Hey baby, you wanna steal a car?"
"Sam," Freddie warned.
She smiled, "I'm just kidding! You know, you really are a good influence."