She sat and waited for the clock to chime.
Carly twirled the straw in her drink absentmindedly. She couldn't believe she was almost sixteen. She was thinking about leaving school at the end of the year. She had her fame from iCarly and her talent to get her places, so she didn't need any more education. Spencer left school at sixteen, and look at him now! Oh, wait, she couldn't use that excuse…
The latter had been letting her stay up till midnight on her birthday eve in the last few years, while she'd been staying with him. Their father had been killed in a submarine bombing two years ago, and their mother died years and years ago. Spencer and Carly only had each other. Carly swept her long, dark hair behind her shoulder and sipped on her lemonade.
Her eyes darted nervously to the door, and she wondered if her sight would burn through it into the apartment opposite hers; into Freddie's room. Maybe he was just as confused as she was. You're not supposed to fall for the person who's been crushing on you for eons. Carly's heart tugged at his thousand-watt smile, her stomach flipped every time he touched her, and when she kissed him on the cheek she wished he'd turn his face at the right moment and….
One minute. Fifty-nine, fifty-eight. Carly ran her mind back over the past year, when iCarly won another award, when Spencer's incredible model of a UFO was put up in Seattle Gallery, when these strange feelings for Freddie rose up out of the blue. When Sam started going out with Gibby, when Jake Crandall made a move on her and she said no, for some really weird reason. This had been such a tumultuous year, full of surprises.
The second hand counted down; ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one…
DING! Sixteen. DING! Years. DING! Old. DING! She felt no older. DING! But something inside her shifted. DING! At once, she knew what she felt. DING! Clatter. DING! A letter fell through the door. DING! She opened it, and began to read. DING! She read it again. DING! And she smiled. DING!
Tomorrow, she would not hug Freddie, she would kiss him.
The DING!s are a bit annoying, but I hope this is what people were asking for ages ago. Review, and Happy New Year!