Chapter One: September

Carly

The first day of school was on its way, and I had a plan.

It had been a year since Freddie saved my life. We agreed to wait until the whole him being a hero thing wore off, and if I still liked him, we would give dating another go. Well, I still liked Freddie. I was going to ask him to be my boyfriend.

Sam walked in and said, "Yo, Carls. How goes it?" She headed straight to the kitchen.

"I'm going to ask Freddie to be my boyfriend," I told her.

She stopped suddenly and turned. "Why?"

"Because I like him. Duh."

"Are you sure about this?"

"Very sure."

"OK." She sat down next to me on the couch. "Just promise me you won't be all lovey-dovey around me. Or ignore me. Or make me an awkward third wheel. You can't spend all your time with that nub, either. We still need to have our girl time. Well, your girl time, and me tolerating it time."

I laughed. "Of course, Sam. I won't let things change much."

"Good."

"We got a new ham if you want one."

"I'm not hungry."

I should've known something was wrong when she said that. But I was too caught up in myself to care.

Sam

As I walked home, I fought back tears. I couldn't believe Carly wanted to be with Freddie. I was going to tell Carly how I felt about him the next day.

Everything changed for me the moment Carly told me she kissed Freddie, I got this horrible feeling in my gut. I didn't eat for the rest of the day. I didn't realize until after their whole little relationship was over that I got that feeling because I like Freddie. Hell, I love the dork. I was slowly going crazy since I came to that realization.

I walked into my house and saw the brown haired young woman sitting on my couch.

"Becky!" I squealed.

She jumped up. "Sammie!" She ran over and hugged me.

"What're you doing here?" Becky is my favorite cousin. She's twenty-two. She's like a big sister to me. She's even like a big sister to Melanie.

"I'm taking a year off from work to visit family. And when I say family, I mean you. Screw my parents. I see them all the time."

Becky is one of those people who travels all over the world and stays at fancy hotels. then rates them. Her employers pay for her plane tickets, and hotel rooms. It's a pretty sweet deal.

"They're letting you do that?" I asked.

"Yup. I was able to charm my way into it."

"Did you perform sexual favors?"

"No!" She punched my arm. "So. Tell me how your life's been since I last saw you?"

I told her everything, but my love for Freddie.

Freddie

Carly had called me over. We sat on her couch. She looked really nervous.

"So why am I here?" I asked.

"I have something I wanna ask you," she said.

"What?"

"Do you wanna be my boyfriend?"

"Huh?"

"My boyfriend. I want us to date again. I like you, Freddie."

My heart pounded and I smiled. "I'd love to."

She leaned in and kissed me. While it was nice, I didn't feel sparks at all. At the time, I believed it was because I was in shock.

Sam

We were walking to lunch. School had started and I was already tired of it.

Freddie and Carly were holding hands as I told them about Becky spending the year in Seattle.

"That's so awesome!" Carly "Becky's so cool. She should sit in on an episode of iCarly."

"She would love that." Becky had been watching iCarly since the first episode. No matter where in the world she was, she'd watch it.

We got our food and sat down. Carly gave me a weird look. "That's all you're having?" She asked, referring to my can of Pepsi and an apple.

I shrugged. "I'm not that hungry." I barely ate since Carly and Freddie started dating. I hadn't even had any ham! I knew Carly would start to think I had an eating disorder. Bitch worries too much.

"Pssh. Sam Puckett not hungry?" Freddie said. "That's not possible."

I took a bite of my apple and spit the piece at him. "Shut your mouth, Fredifer. I could be on a diet."

His face sobered. "You don't need to lose weight. You look perfectly fine."

My heart fluttered at the compliment.

"Freddie's right," Carly said. "You're one of the skinniest girls in the school."

I laughed. "I was just using that as an example. No need to go all crazy with worry."

Becky sat in on an episode of iCarly the next week.

"And before we go," Carly began.

"We'd like to introduce you to my awesome cousin Becky," I finished.

Becky jumped into the shot. "Hi, people!" she said with a wave.

"Tell them something about yourself," Carly said.

"Um... I freaking love bacon."

"Oh yeah. She's definitely related to Sam," Freddie said from behind the camera.

"No one wants to hear what you have to say, Fredweed," I said.

"OK. We'll see you next week!" Carly said before a fight could begin.

"And we're clear," Freddie said. "I want some Wahoo punch."

"I'll go with you," Carly said. "You guys coming?"

"In a minute," I told her.

They left. Freddie's arm was around Carly.

Becky turned to me. "You need to tell them."

"What?" I asked.

"That you love Freddie."

I couldn't breathe for a second. "Um... No I don't."

"Please, Sam. It's obvious to anyone who watches the show. It's become even more clear to me now that I saw how you act around him in person."

I sighed. "OK. I'm crazy about the nub. I dream about him every night. Love songs I hear make me think about him. But he loves Carly. He'll never be with me. It makes me so angry. I've been beating up nerds more often and more violently these days."

"And you can't eat."

"I know! It's terrible. I miss food so much, but my stomach refuses it."

"You need to tell them, Sam."

"No. It'll ruin everything. Carly's Freddie's dream girl. And she's happy with him. I can't destroy their happiness."

"But you're cool with making yourself miserable?"

"For my best friend and the guy I love, yeah."

"You're a mess, girl."

I laughed. "I know. Let's go downstairs."

Carly

I had gone back to get my cell phone from the studio. Since the door wasn't closed, I heard Sam and Becky's entire conversation.

When they began to leave the studio, I ran to the end of the hall. I made it look like I had just gotten up there.

"What you back up here for?" Sam asked.

"My phone. I'll see you guys downstairs."

I walked into the studio and took three deep breaths.

I couldn't believe Sam loved Freddie. She didn't seem to be acting differently. Well, besides the barely eating thing. But I figured her body was making up for years of eating tons of food. It's not like Sam was an eating disorder type of girl.

I felt so bad. Sam was torturing herself so Freddie and I could be happy.

Sam was right when she said I was happy being with Freddie. I didn't want to break up with him. And I knew I couldn't confront Sam about what I just heard. She would get all pissy and defensive.

I decided not to take any action until Sam told me how she felt. I hoped it's be soon.

So that was chapter one. I hope it wasn't too terrible. Reviews will be accepted. :D