Author's Note: Wow, my first ever story for something other than FOP! I was watching iCarly when I got home from school today at about 2:30, and I got a great story idea (at least I think it's pretty good). Oh yes, and I would like to point out before I officially begin my first iCarly story that I am a total Seddie shipper. Seddie rocks!
Summary: When the new girl, Claire Thomas, starts school at Ridgeway, she is introduced to Carly, Sam, Freddie, Gibby, and the rest of the gang. Before long, she and Sam have become good friends. Is Carly getting…replaced?
Disclaimer: I do not own iCarly. I wish I did, though. I do own Claire Thomas…she is mine. ALL MINE! Mwahahaha.
Chapter 1: Meet Claire
"So what other cool stuff should we do on iCarly tonight?" Carly Shay was saying as she and her best friends Sam Puckett and Freddie Benson stood at her and Sam's lockers.
"Well, we could-" Sam glanced at Freddie before leaning over and whispering in Carly's ear. Carly rolled her eyes and glared at Sam.
"For the last time, we are not feeding Freddie to the lions!"
"Hey!" Freddie protested in annoyance. Sam slammed her locker shut and ran after her friends, who were starting to walk away from the lockers, towards their next class.
"Aw come on!" Sam insisted, turning to Carly. "We wouldn't actually feed him to the lions, we'd just, you know, have him run around in there for a while. It'd be fun!"
"For who?" Freddie questioned, and Sam grinned, already planning out how they could sneak into the zoo after it had closed. Carly, recognizing that smile, grabbed Sam by her blonde hair and pulled her towards the science room, Sam yelling and groaning all the way.
But before the three of them could reach their next class, they were stopped by one of their least favorite teachers, Mr. Howard. He had his usual scowl on his face. "Congratulations," he greeted them sarcastically. "Sam Puckett, you have been chosen to be the 'helper buddy' for our new student, Claire Thompson."
"Actually sir, it's Claire Thomas," an annoyed voice replied. From behind the teacher came a girl with long light brown hair that was curled at the ends. Her bangs hung in her face, almost completely covering one eye, and they were dyed dark blue. She had on a white and orange tie-dyed tank top overtop an orange t-shirt, dark blue cuffed jeans with rips in the knees, and mud-stained white sneakers. Several multi-colored bracelets occupied her left arm, and she had on a cracked silver heart locket around her neck. A few freckles were splayed across her nose, and she glared up at Mr. Howard.
"I don't care," he answered. "I hate children." On that pleasant note, he walked away, only stopping to scream at a few other students to get to class.
Claire gave a half smile at Sam and the others. "Hi," she said. "Um, I'm Claire, but I guess you already know that. It's my first day here at Ridgeway and…oh, I guess you know that too."
Sam rolled her eyes, but Freddie and Carly smiled at the new girl, who was hopping anxiously from foot to foot. "Hey there," Carly greeted her. "I'm Carly, this is Freddie, and that's Sam. Nice to meet you."
"Uh guys, sorry to break this up, but we have to get to class," Freddie interrupted, glancing nervously at his watch. Freddie hated being late to class. Carly and Freddie sped off for their next class, and Sam watched them go before turning back to Claire. She didn't speak.
After a slight hesitation, Claire finally spoke. "Hey…Sam, right? Do you know what Mr. Howard's car looks like?"
Sam gave her the once-over. "Why do you care?"
Claire, after glancing around cautiously, pulled a small paintball gun from her pocket. "Oh, no reason," she answered innocently. "I just have to teach him a little lesson for messing up my name. And hating kids," she added with a smirk.
Sam stopped herself from gaping in shock just in time. A girl who actually liked paintball guns and getting revenge on teachers? Carly would never in a million years even think about doing something like that. Neither would Freddie. Sam had never known another girl who shared the same hobbies that she herself did. "He just bought a new car," she told Claire. "It's the shiny silver one out front. Come on, I'll show you."
"Wait, you mean we're gonna cut class?" Claire asked in disbelief. She and Sam glanced at each other before bursting out laughing, running for the doors leading to the parking lot just as the late bell rang. Eh, it wasn't like Sam was missing anything. It was only math, after all.
Claire and Sam flung open the doors back into the school at the end of the day, each of them sipping a smoothie. "Where have you been?" Carly cried, running up to them. "I've been looking for you all day! Hi Claire," she finally addressed the new girl.
"We went to the Groovy Smoothie," Sam replied casually.
"Yeah," Claire agreed. "After we totally wrecked Mr. Howard's new car." She and Sam shared a grin before bursting into laugher-again. Carly blinked in surprise.
"You skipped school? To go get smoothies?"
"And to trash a car!" Sam reminded her, knocking shoulders with Claire, who laughed again and took a sip of smoothie. Carly felt a little hurt. Usually Sam came running to Carly, asking her to ditch school to go get smoothies or cause destruction. Of course, being the "good girl" that she is, Carly always said no, but still…it felt a little weird being on the outside for once.
Shaking her head, Carly cleared that thought from her mind. She tried to be happy for Sam. She had never had a friend who liked to do the same kind of things she liked to do. At least there was still iCarly that night. Just Carly, Sam, and Freddie. Three best friends.
"Oh yeah!" Sam grabbed Carly's arm to stop her from leaving. "I forgot to tell you. Claire's going to come watch iCarly tonight. Turns out she's a big fan! Isn't that great?"
"Yeah…great," Carly muttered. Sam gave her a weird look, but luckily, Freddie came rushing up to them with his laptop tucked under his arm.
"Who's ready to rehearse iCarly?" he asked.
"Fine, fine, get going Fredwart," Sam muttered, shoving him towards the door. "C'mon Claire, c'mon Carly." The three girls followed Freddie out of the school, and they started walking towards Carly and Freddie's apartment building. When they arrived in Carly's apartment, Claire gaped, looking at all of the artistic sculptors and paintings.
"Wow," she breathed. "Carly, this apartment is so cool." She wandered around, admiring the colorful furniture. Sam headed straight for the fridge (as usual), and Freddie went up to the iCarly studio to download some new software for the show.
"Well, yeah," Carly said. She couldn't help but beam at the compliment. Maybe this girl Claire wasn't so bad after all. Wait…of course she was bad. She had just completely ruined a teacher's car with Sam. But Carly and Sam had been best friends for over five years. They had accepted Freddie into their "group" (or at least Carly had), and the least Carly could do was be nice to Claire. At least until the new girl made some new friends…
Author's Note: So, what do ya think? Things are about to get pretty awkward in the next chapter…the battle between Claire Thomas and Carly Shay is on! And if you're lucky and review, maybe I'll toss in a few Seddie moments. So review, for the Seddie love!