Author's Note: This started out as drabble oneshot, but I think it'll probably be a little longer than that... haha

Disclaimer: iCarly and all its characters copyrighted to Schneider's Bakery, Viacom, and Nickelodeon.


Thursday

Noon

Most of the lights in the school had been turned off. It was the middle of summer, no students roamed the hallways. Summer school already been finished with, the new year starting in less than a month. Although Autumn was near, it still felt like the middle of June.

Sam walked down the hallways, her sneakers squeaking slightly as they scraped the clean tile. She held a large sketch pad under one arm, with her backpack over her shoulder. Sam entered a dark room, flipping the lights on. Sam navigated through the now illuminated room, walking past the rows of easels to a lone cabinet, where rows of art supplies lay on its shelves.

Acrylic? Nah. Oil? … No. Watercolor? Boring. Sam rummaged through the cabinet, looking for a suitable media. Sam had taken up art in the previous school year, a class that she did very well in. She painted various art pieces that were hung on the walls of Ridgeway High School, her teachers seeing great promise in the young artist. Sam would often draw or paint when she was bored, never once considering it could be harnessed for something good- like an easy A on her report card.

At least, Sam thought it would be an easy A. She was assigned a summer project and Sam found herself stumped. While she was good at drawing animals, an example being the majestic painting of a bulldog which hung in Ridgeway's main hall. Sam thought of it as a nice way to make a quick buck, Principal Franklin offering her $50 to do said painting. But the assigned summer project was on human anatomy.

"Sorry, Sam. I'm swamped with AP classes this summer- I need to get a head start before senior year." Sam thought back to earlier that week, when she had asked her best friend to be a model. Carly was unavailable- Likewise with Spencer, for he was apparently busy with his sculpture-making.

Sam slammed the cabinet doors shut, blowing a strand of hair away from her face. "So irritating." Sam mumbled, leaning her head against the cabinet's cold metal frame. Suddenly, a loud rattling noise came from outside the room. Sam rushed into the hallways, her line of sight directing towards a small group of rowdy boys.

"Hey! What are you punks doing?" Sam hollered, noticing the boys were beating up on a nerd. Bullies. The boys stopped their beating, turning around to face the angry girl. Sam looked past the boys and saw that the nerd they were beating up was none other than Freddie Benson. "You guys are beating up Benson?"

The boys just laughed as Freddie cowered in fear. Sam looked at the idiotic bullies in disgust, pushing them aside. She held out her hand towards Freddie, but one of the boys stood between the two friends. He shook his head, his goonies backing him up.

"Nuh-uh. I don't think so, Sam. This nerd just insulted us. We aren't letting him get away unscathed." The boy said, crossing his arms.

Sam looked up at the boy with disbelief. Partly because no one ever stood up to Sam Puckett and partly because she didn't think this idiot could pronounce the word "unscathed", let alone use it correctly in a sentence.

Freddie just stayed silent, his gaze locked on the brave girl. He was sure Sam could beat up any one of these bullies, but he was unsure how she would fare against three of them at once.

"Look. I really don't want to make a scene. I'm already busy enough as it is and I don't want to deal with you nubs. So just let go of my nerd and be about your merry way." Sam said, shifting her balance to one side, crossing her arms.

The lead bully looked between his two buddies and grinned. "Make a scene? There isn't anyone here, Sam. In fact, anything we do will pretty much go without consequence," The leader of the group grinned back at his friends. "Wouldn't you say so, boys?"

Anger boiled within Sam, her hand balling up into a fist. She threw the first punch, but it was easily caught by the boy. No matter how freakishly strong Sam was, she was still a girl. As the years progressed, the boys at the school grew into men; Their strength was much more than it was when they were all in middle school.

"So boys, what're we gonna do with the great Sam Puckett?" The boy grabbed Sam by her wrist, forcing her up against the lockers. The other boys just laughed along with their leader, a menacing look in their eyes. Sam struggled, kicking the boy in his jewels, hard. The boy tumbled over onto the floor, clutching his package.

As soon as Sam was free from the boy's grip, she walked over to the other boys and punched them each in the gut. The two toppled over, clutching their stomachs. Sam turned back to the leader, who was just getting back to his feet. He seemingly recovered from the last blow, but was a little uneasy.

"Get out of my sight." Sam barked, ready to strike again if necessary.

The leader dashed towards the door, but not before running into and pushing Sam once again into the lockers. The other boys followed right behind, afraid for their lives.

Freddie scrambled to his feet, tending to Sam. Sam just looked up and glared at Freddie, pushing him away.

"Don't touch me, Frednub." Sam rubbed the tender spot on the back of her head. "What the heck did you do to get those fudgebags angry at you, anyway?"

"They wanted me to be a tech producer for their own web series. They wanted to be popular like iCarly." Freddie started explaining. "They got angry when I refused."

Sam started walking back to the art room, Freddie following right behind. She quickly took up her sketchpad and backpack, turning to Freddie before leaving. "Go away, Fredbag. I have enough trouble looking after you as it is." Sam turned heel to leave, but Freddie quickly placed his hand on her shoulder, stopping her.

"Wait. I just wanted to say 'thanks'. You saved me from those thugs." Freddie said sheepishly. "I owe you one, Sam."

A thought flashed in Sam's devious mind. Freddie was now indebted to her, seeing as how she saved his life and all. "You owe me one?" she said with a slight smirk.

"Totally- If you ever need me for anything, I'm your nub," joked Freddie.

Sam put her hands firmly on Freddie's shoulders, almost hurting him, a devious smile creeping onto her face. "Model for me."


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