iTravel The Country
A/N: This idea came to me in the middle of language arts class one day for absolutely no apparent reason… But I LOVE it, so there was no way I was gonna drop it! :D Plus, this story's gonna have more than 50 chapters! :D How awesome is that?
Also! I'm warning you now: This isn't beta'd, 'cause my beta reader's on hiatus XD
Disclaimer: I'm pretty sure that when a brilliant idea pops into Dan Schneider's head, he ISN'T in the middle of language arts class… XD
Chapter one: The Crazy Adventure Begins
(Freddie's POV)
"I call shotgun!" Spencer shouted, his voice full of glee. He's like a five-year-old boy stuck in a thirty-three-year-old man's body…
"Fine." I laughed. It felt like I was talking to a child, which is really awkward since I'm thirteen years younger than him.
"Will all this chiz even fit in your car?" Sam asked me as we stepped into the elevator.
"Yes, it will, don't worry." I assured her.
There was a short moment of silence as the elevator descended to the garage. Finally, the doors slid open, and the four of us left the elevator, heading for my car.
"This is so exciting!" Carly grinned widely for at least the eightieth time today.
Okay, let me explain what's happening here. It all started about two months ago.
Carly, Sam and I were sitting around in Spencer's living room, and Spencer was in the kitchen making spaghetti tacos. Carly was sitting in the chair by the computer, randomly surfing the web. I was sitting on the couch, Sam was leaning on my shoulder, and my arm was wrapped around her shoulders; my fingers intertwined with hers. The three of us were bored beyond belief.
Out of nowhere, Carly announced, "You know what I want for my birthday? I wanna go to every state in the country!"
At this, Sam and I fell onto the floor from the laughter that we had burst into due to our thinking that this was the most ridiculous idea ever.
Carly just frowned and said, "I'm serious! That'd be totally awesome!"
"That sounds fun!" Spencer ran into the living room with a huge smile on his face.
"Uh, Spencer?" Sam asked, pointing towards the kitchen.
"What?" He asked, turning around. The pot with spaghetti in it had begun to boil over. He sprinted back into the kitchen and pushed the pot to the back burner with his bare hands. "Ow! It's hot!" He shouted.
"No chiz!" Sam laughed.
"I don't know what Sasha sees in him." Carly rolled her eyes. Spencer and Sasha have been dating for a year or so now, and no one is quite sure how that happened.
"Hey! Why do you have to insult me for having a girlfriend? Sam and Freddie are dating!" Spencer shouted at Carly.
"I'm not insulting you, per say…" Carly mumbled.
"Yeah, you kinda are insulting him." I agreed with Spencer.
"See, Carly? Freddie agrees with me!" Spencer smiled.
"Whatever. I'm sorry, okay?" Carly laughed.
"Okay!" Spencer grinned.
"Are the spaghetti tacos done yet? I'm starving." Sam changed the subject abruptly.
"When aren't you starving?" I laughed.
Sam jabbed my side with her elbow, then said, "Shut it, Freddork. Just 'cause you're my boyfriend doesn't mean you can say stuff like that without consequences."
We've been dating for three years now. You'd think I'd learn. I don't.
I opened my mouth to retort to Sam's comment, but before I could say anything, Carly piped up, "Okay, I think the spaghetti tacos are done now!"
"Yay! Food!" Sam shouted, jumping up and running into the kitchen. I rolled my eyes as I followed her.
Once we were all eating, Carly brought up her birthday idea again.
"I think it'd be awesome to go on a giant road trip." She smiled.
"What gave you that idea?" Sam asked, her mouth full of food. No surprise there!
"Well, I was looking at some of Wendy's pictures on Splashface, and she has a bunch from when she and her brother went on this road trip all the way to Maine! That made me realize how little of our country I've actually seen. I've scarcely left Seattle for crying out loud! I think the only other state I've visited is Wisconsin, only 'cause of that crazy wedding that went wrong in five gazillion different ways! I guess California, too, 'cause we went to determine that my boyfriend was cheating on me… Whatever! You guys get the point!" Carly explained, waving her hands around randomly for emphasis as she spoke.
"So… Now you wanna see every single state in the US?" I asked.
"Yeah!" She grinned.
"I think it's a great idea!" Spencer chimed in.
"Well of course you agree with her! She's your sister!" Sam pointed out.
"Yeah, and she's your best friend." I smirked. This earned me another jab in the side from Sam's elbow.
After Sam and I argued for a while, Carly announced that she had to go back to her apartment and make sure her kitten hadn't torn apart the furniture. I have a feeling she just wanted to get away from the argument.
"I actually think Carly's idea sounds great." Spencer told us after Carly had left.
"Eh, it might be fun." Sam shrugged.
"If all four of us went I think it would be." I nodded.
Spencer got up from the table and walked over to the computer, then typed in something.
Sam got up and walked over to see what he was looking for, and I followed her.
"We should do this, but not tell Carly until her birthday, that way it can be a surprise." Sam suggested once she saw that Spencer was searching for hotels and routes for a giant US road trip.
"But if we were to leave on her birthday, how would she pack her suitcase in enough time?" I asked.
"You always have to find the flaws in my plans, don't you?" Sam glared at me.
"Wait, couldn't we just pack it for her?" Spencer asked.
"Well, yeah, but wouldn't she notice stuff missing from her closet?" I asked.
"Benson! It'll work! Stop pointing out negatives!" Sam shouted.
"Fine." I huffed, crossing my arms over my chest.
"Myeah!" Sam responded.
Spencer just rolled his eyes at our bickering; he was used to this.
"So, you guys wanna do this or what?" He asked.
"Sure." Sam shrugged.
"Sounds like it could be fun." I agreed.
After that, Spencer reserved a bunch of different hotels. We kept the plan a secret from Carly, and life went on pretty normally.
The night before Carly's birthday, Spencer took Carly out to dinner. He told her it was for an early-birthday treat, which I guess was technically partially true, but it was really so that Sam and I could pack suitcases for Carly.
When we were standing in front of Carly's apartment, Sam asked me, "Okay, Dork, why don't you open the door?"
"I thought Spencer gave you the key." I responded.
"I thought he gave it to you." She crossed her arms.
"He forgot, didn't he?" I laughed.
"I'll pick the lock." Sam rolled her eyes, then pulled a bobby pin out of her hair and stuck it into the lock and twisted it around until we heard a clicking noise. She stepped back triumphantly and smiled, "We're in!"
I laughed as we walked into the apartment. Carly's kitten ran up to us and started meowing. Sam reached down and scratched behind his ears.
She grinned, "He looks kinda like Frothy did when he was a kitten. Well, besides the fact that Frothy has only three legs..."
"Your cat is so weird." I rolled my eyes.
"At least he doesn't have rabies anymore!" She defended.
"What is Carly's cat's name anyway?" I asked, changing the subject away from Frothy.
"Dusty, 'cause he's grey." Sam told me.
Dusty walked over to me and started rubbing his head against my leg.
"Why is he doing this?" I asked Sam, figuring she'd know from having a cat.
"I think it means he likes you." She laughed, then picked him up and smirked, "Don't be gettin' any ideas about that, he's mine."
"You seriously think I'd cheat on you with Carly's cat?" I rolled my eyes.
"So you'd cheat on me with my cat?" Sam asked sarcastically as she set Dusty back on the ground.
"Sam, I wouldn't cheat on you with anyone." I promised. Then, for extra emphasis, I wrapped my arms around her waist and kissed her passionately. She instantly kissed back, wrapping her arms around my neck as she did so.
Before either of us knew what was going on, we were having a full blown make-out session in the middle of Carly's living room.
After who-knows-how-long, Sam abruptly pulled back.
"What?" I asked her, slightly annoyed.
"Spencer said they'd probably be back at seven thirty." She answered.
"So?"
"That's in ten minutes." She explained, pointing at the clock.
"Oh chiz."
"Yeah… We might wanna pack Carly's stuff now…" She stared at the ground.
After standing completely still and silent for a few seconds, we simultaneously bolted towards Carly's room.
"I'm gonna call Spencer and see if he can stall for an extra twenty minutes." I told Sam once we were in Carly's room.
"Okay." Sam shrugged as she pulled a suitcase out from under Carly's bed.
I pulled my phone out of my pocket and dialed Spencer's number.
"Hey-yo, Freddo!" He answered happily.
"Hey, Spence, can you do me a favor?"
"Sure, what do you need?"
"Can you stall for an extra twenty minutes?"
"What did you do?" He asked, and I could just hear the smirk in his voice.
"Uh… Nothing." I lied.
"Uh huh, I'm sure that's why you and Sam wasted twenty minutes." He laughed.
"Whatever, just stall for us, okay?"
"Fine." He said, still laughing lightly.
"See ya." I rolled my eyes.
"Sayōnara!" He shouted.
I hung up the phone and walked over to Sam.
"How long is this trip gonna be again?" She asked me.
"About two months." I answered simply.
"Okay." She said before walking back to Carly's closet and pulling out another shirt, then putting it in the suitcase.
"What do you want me to do?" I asked, finding it odd that she was actually doing work instead of being lazy.
"I dunno, make sure Dusty isn't eating the couch?" She shrugged.
"I'll go do that, then." I told her as I walked out of Carly's room.
When I got into the living room, Dusty was staring at the TV as though he expected it to turn on.
"Here, you wanna watch TV?" I asked, turning it on. Wow, I'm talking to a cat… I must be going insane.
I don't know what Carly had been watching last, but what was on now was some kind of super cheesy romance movie. I quickly changed it to Girly Cow, figuring that no one in the apartment would want to watch that movie.
"Frednub! How come I gotta do all the work while you just watch TV?" Sam complained from Carly's room when she heard the voices coming from the TV.
"You told me to take care of Dusty." I said innocently.
"How does watching TV help that?" She whined, walking into the living room.
"Dusty wanted to watch TV." I shrugged.
"How do you know what a cat wants?" Sam asked me, completely befuddled.
"He was staring expectantly at it." I explained.
"You're such a nub." She rolled her eyes.
"How does that make me a nub?" I challenged.
"I dunno, it just does." She smirked.
"Why?" I asked, hoping to bug her.
"'Cause I said so." She laughed.
"Why'd you say so?" I continued to annoy her.
"Benson, if you annoy me any more, you may not be able to see outta one of your eyes for the next week." She threatened.
"You wouldn't really wanna give me a black eye." I smirked, knowing she'd never go that far.
"You wanna bet?" She asked.
I opened my mouth to retort but Dusty suddenly pounced on my leg, making me fall over.
"What the chiz?" I yelled.
Sam was laughing uncontrollably as she said, "You're so weak that a kitten can push you onto the floor!"
"He didn't push me onto the floor… I fell 'cause I wasn't expecting him to jump on me like that!" I defended myself.
"Which proves your nubness." She continued to laugh.
"Whatever." I rolled my eyes.
"Help me pack." She pouted, her expression abruptly changing.
"Fine." I sighed.
We walked back into Carly's room and Sam flopped down on the bed.
"You've gotta help, too." I told her.
"But I'm so lazy." She sighed, mock-drama dripping from her voice.
"Too bad." I laughed, picking her up off of the bed and setting her down next to Carly's suitcase.
"Ugh." She groaned.
"Just help." I rolled my eyes.
"Fine." She gave up the argument.
We packed Carly's stuff quickly, then took the three suitcases to Spencer's apartment so that he could bring them with him in the morning.
After that, we went to my apartment. Sam was spending the night since she still lived at her mom's house and it would be easier to just go down two floors than drive twenty miles. That and the fact that she'd much rather be with me than at her mom's house, alone.
After putting on a pair of sweatpants and an old t-shirt, I sat down on the couch and turned the TV on. Once Sam had put her pajamas on, she walked over to the couch and curled up next to me, using my stomach as a pillow.
After an hour or so of no talking but that of the people on TV, I felt Sam's breathing even out and figured she must've fallen asleep. Looking at her made me realize that I was tired, too. I yawned as I pulled my phone out of my pocket and set an alarm so that we would wake up in time to get to Carly's. We had planned to meet Spencer there at seven, and being late was probably not a good idea if we wanted to leave on time to get to everything that we had planned to do on time.
I set my phone on the coffee table, turned the TV off with the remote, and then lay down on the couch, wrapping my arms around Sam's waist. Before I knew it, I was asleep, too.
What felt like not much later, I heard my alarm going off. I opened my eyes and looked at Sam.
"Wake up, Princess Puckett." I whispered.
"Nyeah… Too early…" She mumbled.
"I'll make bacon for you." I offered.
"I'm up!" She shouted as she suddenly bolted off the couch.
I laughed as I, too, got off the couch and followed her towards the kitchen.
While I made breakfast, Sam turned the TV on. After a few minutes of channel surfing, she turned the TV off and asked, "Is the bacon done yet?"
"Not quite." I laughed.
"Darn." She pouted.
"Just a wait a few more minutes." I told her.
"Fine." She grumbled, sitting down at the table.
"You're so impatient." I rolled my eyes.
"It's not my fault! How the chiz do you expect me to wait for the bacon to cook when I can smell it?" She whined.
I heard the timer that I had set go off, so I told Sam, "Well, it's done now, so you don't have to wait anymore."
"Yay!" She shouted as she jumped out of her chair ran over to the stove.
I put the bacon on a plate, and before I could blink, Sam had grabbed at least six pieces, probably more.
To most people, watching Sam eat is probably pretty low on their list of things they wanna do, but I actually think it's kind of cute.
"Have I ever told you how cute you are when you eat?" I smiled at her.
She rolled her eyes as she said through a mouthful of bacon, "You're such a dork."
"And that's a bad thing?" I asked sarcastically.
"Not necessarily." She smirked.
"You make no sense." I laughed.
"No one ever made a law that said I had to." She shrugged, grabbing another piece of bacon off the plate.
"You'd probably break it if they did." I teased.
"Nyeah!" She shouted, playfully shoving me.
I rolled my eyes and took a piece of bacon off the plate before Sam could eat all of it.
After we finished eating, we both got ready to head over to Carly's apartment. Sam insisted on bringing an air horn to wake Carly up with. I hoped that wouldn't make Carly kill us…
"Sam, do you really need that air horn?" I asked her.
"Yes! I told you, it was either this or the party horns, and this seemed so much more effective!" She grinned wildly.
"You're insane." I rolled my eyes.
"And you love me for that." She laughed, kissing my cheek. It was true.
I laughed as we headed out the door and towards the elevator; Sam carrying only the air horn, me carrying both my suitcases and Sam's.
"Why do I have to carry all of our stuff?" I complained.
"'Cause! I told you to!" Sam grinned. I decided not to argue with that logic.
When we got to Carly's apartment, Spencer was already there, waiting for us. He unlocked the door and we all silently walked inside. Dusty was curled up on the couch, so we didn't have to worry about him coming over and delaying us. The three of us tiptoed into Carly's room.
Spencer was about to tap Carly on the shoulder and whisper to her to wake her up, when Sam pulled the air horn out of her sweatshirt pocket and pressed the button.
Carly jumped up, whacking her head into Spencer's.
"Ouch!" They both yelled.
"Sorry," Sam laughed, despite the fact that she had just annoyed her friend.
"Happy birthday, kiddo!" Spencer grinned, still rubbing his head where Carly had hit it.
"Thanks." She smiled, getting out of bed.
"Happy b-day, C Shay!" Sam shouted, giving Carly a hug.
"Thanks, Sam. And thanks so much for the air-horn-wake-up-call." Carly laughed.
"I had no idea she had an air horn…" Spencer said for no real reason.
"I told her not to bring it!" I defended, then added, "Anyway, happy birthday!"
"Thanks." Carly grinned.
After a minute or so of silence, Carly asked, "Why are you guys in my apartment at seven in the morning?"
"We've got a surprise for you!" Spencer said, a wide grin plastered on his face.
"What is it?" Carly asked, her eyes growing wide with anticipation.
"We're goin' on a road trip!" Sam shouted happily.
"We are? That's awesome!" Carly shouted as she jumped up and down.
"Carly, you're twenty years old, and you're jumping up and down like a little five-year-old!" Sam laughed at her.
Carly stopped jumping and pouted, "No need to be rude…"
"You know I love you." Sam laughed in return.
We all laughed at this for a moment before Spencer said, "Hey we should probably head out soon…"
"Okay, lemme get dressed and stuff." Carly said, shoving the three of us out of her room.
When we were in the living room, Sam looked down at Dusty, who was standing at our feet.
"Who's gonna take care of him for two months?" She asked.
"You know… I never thought about that…" I replied.
"I got it." Spencer said, pulling out his phone.
"Yes, because whoever he calls should be trustworthy!" Sam whisper-laughed, only being quiet so Spencer wouldn't hear.
"Sam…" I sighed.
We turned to Spencer just as he was saying, "He's gonna get along with your goldfish right? I mean, sure he's a cat… But that shouldn't be a problem, should it?"
"Who are you talking to?" Sam laughed.
"'Kay, later, Socks!" Spencer said into his phone before hanging it up. He then answered Sam's question, "Socko! He says he'll take care of Dusty!"
"Great. The only thirty-three-year-old guy more immature than Spencer's gonna be taking care of Carly's kitten for two months!" Sam rolled her eyes.
"Socko's not immature!" Spencer defended his friend.
"He makes glowing socks for a living!" I pointed out.
"Awesome glowing socks!" Spencer shouted, putting his foot up on the arm of Carly's couch to reveal an orange sock with glowing green smiley faces on it.
"See what I mean?" Sam laughed.
"Well what about this one?" Spencer argued, putting his other foot on the couch to show off a red sock with glowing blue unicorns on it. The thing was – he had forgotten that his other foot was already on the couch, so as soon as he did this, he fell flat on his back and muttered, "Ow…"
"And you have a girlfriend because…?" Sam was laughing her head off as she said this.
"Hey! Didn't I already establish that there's no need to insult the fact that I have a girlfriend?" Spencer defended himself.
Just then Carly walked out of her room, dressed for the day but with her hair still wrapped a towel.
"What's going on out here?" She rolled her eyes.
"Spencer thinks that socks with glowing unicorns on them are 'mature' enough for a thirty-three-year-old dude." Sam laughed, using air quotes as she said mature.
"They're amazing unicorns!" Spencer shouted.
"You're nuts!" Sam laughed at him.
"Am not!" He argued.
"Guys! Stop acting like five-year-olds!" Carly laughed.
"Fine. But for the record, Spencer started it!" Sam smirked, sitting down on the couch.
"Okay, now that that's settled, we should probably get going…" I sighed.
"Yeah… But what about my suitcases?" Carly asked.
"Already packed!" Spencer grinned, pointing at Carly's suitcases that were by the door.
"Sam and Freddie came last night when you took me to dinner?" Carly laughed, probably not surprised to find out that we had had snuck into her apartment.
"Maybe…" Sam said sheepishly.
"And Spencer 'randomly' decided to take me mini-golfing because you guys wasted twenty minutes making out?" Carly accused.
"Umm… Maybe…" Sam and I said simultaneously, both of us blushing furiously.
Carly just laughed at this, unwrapping the towel from her hair and grabbing her hairbrush off of the coffee table.
After Carly finished brushing her hair, and after Spencer explained that Socko was coming in an hour to take care of Dusty, we left the apartment. I made Sam carry her stuff this time, because I really didn't feel like hauling five suitcases around again.
We started walking down the hallway towards the elevator.
"I call shotgun!" Spencer shouted, his voice full of glee.
Oh wait; you've heard that part already, haven't you? So now we're all on the same page.
Anyway, once we had gotten to my car, we started trying to put the suitcases inside. Spencer and I both had two suitcases, while Carly and Sam each had three… Why girls need to bring so much stuff on a vacation, the world may never know.
We had managed to fit six of the suitcases into the car, and there wasn't much room left.
"I vote we leave Spencer and Freddie's stuff here!" Sam shouted, throwing her hand in the air, as if she were raising her hand in a classroom.
"Sam! Nobody's leaving stuff here!" I yelled in return.
"Nub," she mumbled.
I just rolled my eyes, readjusting the positioning of the suitcases that were already in my car to make more room. After about ten minutes, all of our suitcases were crammed in the car.
"Why do we have to go in your car again?" Sam whined.
"'Cause Spencer's sports utility vehicle is being repaired!" I shouted in return.
"Why don't you just say SUV?" Sam laughed.
"'Cause I didn't feel like it!" I shouted.
"What did you do to it?" Carly rolled her eyes, turning to Spencer and ignoring my argument with Sam.
"The door burst into flames… 'Cause you know, I kinda have a little knack for spontaneous combustion…" Spencer answered sheepishly.
"You're insane." Carly laughed.
"Whatever! Let's go already!" Spencer shouted, running to the passenger seat and jumping inside.
We all laughed as we got into my car. I drove out of the garage and onto the street.
And our crazy adventure has only just begun.
A/N: CHIZ! That is five million times longer than I thought it would be, and it took SO FREAKIN' LONG to write! DX Oh well, I'm pleased with it :) Yeah, I started this what… March second? XD And now it's May ninth… ONE MONTH AFTER iOMG! I'm still freaking out about that XD How awesome was that? Now we just have to wait 'till the next episode to find out what happens! :D *coughweallknowit'sgonnabeSeddiecough* That cliffhanger is almost as bad as the one at the end of The Lost Hero… Sorry! Big PJO fan here! XD
By the way, the date of this A/N are probably gonna be way off when I actually post this, 'CAUSE MY STUPID INTERNET'S NOT WORKING TODAY! Grrr… XD
Anyway, how about I get to the part of the A/N that's actually relevant to the story? XD This is NOT gonna be mainly focused on Carly's birthday, it's gonna be more centered around Seddie, I just needed a reason for them to be going on a road trip. ALSO! I need some ideas of what they can do in different states! I have ideas out the wazzoo for Michigan (duh, I live here XD) and for D.C., 'cause the eighth graders at my school just went on a trip there, and we crammed two weeks wortha chiz into one weekend XD I have a small supply of ideas for things they can do in Florida (Haha, it's Disney World stuff XD), and then I've got this HUGE thing planned for Hawaii… Which is gonna be the last place they go, by the way. And I won't tell you what it is 'till I write that part. 'Cause you know, I kinda have a little knack for being evil. ;) So this means I'll need ideas from you guys! The first state they're gonna go to is Oregon, so if you've got ideas for that, I need them ASAP! But ideas for other states will be really helpful, too :)
And now that my annoyingly long A/N is nearly over, please review! I didn't work on this for two months for nothing! XD
This has been a 357-word A/N… Thanks for reading XD