"Hollywood!"
Sam was jolted awake by the sound of the driver's voice and the sudden braking of the bus. Wow, had it been 18 hours already? She was so exhausted that she had slept through most of the drive. She hadn't been getting much sleep lately... It had been one week since Carly and Freddie left for college. Over the course of that one week, not including the 18 hours she'd just slept on the bus, Sam had gotten about five collective hours of sleep. Her nights were being spent crying over old episodes of iCarly, and trying to hide the fact from her mother (if Mama Puckett saw her crying she'd probably be ridiculed and told to suck it up).
But after a week of all this crying and moping around, Sam was beginning to ridicule herself too. Pucketts don't cry! Especially not over something as common as losing friends to long distances. People move in and out of each other's lives all the time, it's just something that you have to get used to. And so, Sam decided to take matters into her own hands. She was 18, which meant that she was legally allowed to move out and live on her own. She wanted to get out of Seattle; to get away from everything old and to discover everything new. And what better place to do that than Hollywood?
Sam got up and let out a long yawn as she stretched, loosening up her muscles after the long ride. Grabbing her bag from the overhead compartment, she stepped off the bus and into the hot July heat.
Well, now what?
Sam's ability to plan in the haste of her decision to leave had been somewhat poor. She did, however, manage to get some money before she left. Originally Sam had planned to ride her motorcycle all the way to Hollywood, but when she was offered $2,000 for it by some tough, burly looking dude standing outside of Groovy Smoothie, she decided to sell it. And so here she was! All alone in Hollywood.
Well I guess I should start by finding a place to stay. Maybe a hotel or apartment? Ugh and then I have to find a job. God I hate working, I'm not even good at any-
Her thoughts were cut off by the extremely loud gurgling of her stomach.
Or I guess I should start by getting something to eat.
There was a taco truck parked right across the street. Sam picked up her bag and slung it over her shoulder, walking towards it.
"Hey I'll take a beef taco."
The man working the truck creepily looked her up and down. "Sure thing hun", he gave her a wink.
Sam was about to punch the wink right out of his eye when she was nearly run over by some girl riding a pink bike.
"Hey watch it!" she shouted after the punk.
"Sorry!" the girl yelled back.
Sam took a moment to stare at the girl's hair; the contrast of its bright redness against the city's pale sidewalk caught her by surprise.
"You okay there, sweety?" There was that creepy wink again.
Sam grabbed him by the collar, choking him a bit. "Wink at me one more time and I will literally gauge out your eye with a taco"
"Th-that's not possible", the man was struggling to breathe
Sam leaned in closer and squinted her eyes "Wanna bet?"
The taco man enthusiastically shook his head, prompting Sam to release him. "That's what I thought".
Sam turned around to lean against the truck while her taco was being made. It was a good thing she was a tough girl, there was no way she'd be able to survive in a city like Hollywood if she weren't so street smart.
"H-here you go ma'am", the guy was still a bit shaken up. Good.
"That'll be $4.00"
She grabbed the taco, "I'm taking it for free"
"But-"
"I'm taking it for free"
"O-ok then"
Suddenly there was a scream from across the street.
"What the-", Sam turned to look at a trash truck hoisting up the bike of the girl who had run her over.
"No my bike! That's my bike! Stop!" her voice sounded an octave too high for her age, which Sam assumed was close to her own.
Huh. Well at least I have some entertainment while I eat my taco.
But then the girl jumped into the trash truck after her bike. "Don't worry, I'll get you!"
"Is she crazy?!" Sam said to herself. She looked anxiously across the street at the truck, and stared hungrily at her taco, and back again.
Oh goddamit.
Sam put her taco back on the counter of the taco truck and chucked her bag at the man. "Guard these with your life", she told him.
Sam dashed across the street and dived into the truck. Once she was inside she looked around to see a pair of kicking legs sticking up out of the trash.
"Here here, I gotchya", Sam pulled the girl up.
"Oh- oh my god", the girl was breathing pretty heavily.
"Are you okay?" Sam asked.
"Me? Oh I'm fine! But my bike! Oh my beautiful pink little bike, I can't find it." The girl looked as if she were about to cry.
"Forget about your bike! If we don't get out of here we're gonna be crushed!"
"No no I need my bike! Please help me find it." The look on her face was that of a puppy begging to pet.
"Ugh fine! But we need to hurry." Sam scanned the dark area of the trash truck and spotted the bike. "There!" she crawled over to it.
"Oh here, let me help you-" the girl attempted to help Sam lift her bike out but she had beaten her to it.
"Wow you're strong", the girl said, awestruck.
"Yeah yeah come on, we have to get out!" Sam lifted herself, and then the girl out of the truck. It wasn't difficult; the girl's petite body barely weighed anything.
"There, now don't go diving into trash trucks again!"
"Oh thank you thank you thank you so much!" the girl jumped on Sam, giving her a hug.
"Hey hey what do you think you're doing?! Get off!"
"I'm Cat", the girl said, releasing her.
"Hi Cat..." Sam said, brushing the trash off of her shirt.
"What's your name?" Cat asked in that high pitched voice of hers.
"Sam-"
"Sam!"
"Agh! What? Stop yelling!"
"Oh! Sorry", Cat whispered. "Do you wanna come to my house to clean off?"
"What? No, that's ok, I need to get going-"
"Come on!" Cat grabbed her hand and started walking towards her bike.
"Wait! Hey-"
"Please, it's the least I can do", Cat had that look on her face again. The one that was like a sad puppy.
"Oh whatever. Fine."
"Yay! Here, you can ride on the back of my bike."
"Let me get my stuff first", Sam ran back to the taco truck to get her bag and taco.
"Hey so, who's your friend there?" the man was giving that creepy look to Cat now. "The one with the red hair- OW!"
Sam cracked the knuckles in her right hand. "Ah that felt nice".
Walking back across the street Sam said, "Alright, let's go."
"Wait, why did you punch that man?"
"Don't worry about it."
Cat giggled, "Hehe ok."