Not Quite Ready to Let Go
The hallways of Ridgeway High School weren't as clean as they should have been. Sure, the tiles had been shiny and white when Sam had started her freshman year but, over time, they faded into a slight gray, scuff marks and shoe imprints scattered all over the floor. The blue walls, once smooth and unflawed, now had various dents and scratches, as well as the occasional trace of sharpie pen; thick black squiggles that either declared love for so-and-so or stated that what's-her-name was a fugly bitch. Sam knew that the building was long due for a renovation- it was starting to look more like a Harlem school than a Seattle one- but Principal Franklin had shrugged it off, saying that it still had a few more good years ahead. Besides, he was retiring at the end of June; the new principal could deal with it.
Standing in the middle of the hallway she once roamed, Sam couldn't help but feel a bit nostalgic. Her graduation gown was starting to feel warm (damn them for not leaving the air conditioner on in the building), and her cap made her curls stick to her forehead, but she didn't care. She was leaving for college the very next day, and she felt obligated to come and see the school one last time. A "goodbye" of some sort. All she could hear was the sound of her own feet as she made her way up the school stairs, sitting down when she reached the small landing. She sighed and looked around.
There was the water fountain where Tommy Fielder, mistaking her for another one of those freshman nubs, pushed her head down in to the water while she was getting a drink. Sam remembered how she had flipped him over in a split second, smashing Tommy's face against the cold metal as water drenched his entire face. After a small exchange of words ("No one messes with momma, Fielder- no one." was the exact phrase), she released him from her grip and watched as he scampered away, leaving a trail of water in his wake. That was the day she had claimed her position as 'Toughest Freshman of Ridgeway', which, a couple weeks into the school year, changed into 'Toughest Girl of Ridgeway', and later 'Toughest Person of Ridgeway'.
To the right of the fountain was her, Carly's, and Freddie's old lockers. Even though she knew that all three of them were bare now (they had taken all their belongings out days ago), she could still recall how each locker looked…
Carly, the tidiest of them all, had carefully arranged all her textbooks from tallest to shortest, and, if some books were the same height, alphabetically. She had a mini file folder located at the bottom cabinet, where she kept all her important papers and notes in color-coded pockets. Perfume, emergency makeup, and other feminine needs were stored at the very top of the locker, and small pictures of the brunette, her family, and her friends were attached to the locker door with flower magnets.
Freddie's locker was also tidy, his books and binders lined up in a perfect row. Extra school supplies, such as spare calculators and protractors, were piled up above, ready to grab at a moment's notice. But his locker wasn't as clean as Carly's; he was a guy, after all. A couple of loose pieces of paper stuck out at odd angles, trapped between notebooks and gym clothes. Broken pencils and pens lay on the bottom of the locker, dropped and forgotten. Traces of food and Peppy-Cola also littered the space, evidence of Sam's frequent breaking-and-entering. His locker door was mostly bare, aside from a copy of his class schedule, an iCarly logo sticker, and the word 'NUB' scrawled across the metal in permanent marker- again, the blonde's doing.
Sam's own locker had never been filed with books. The closest thing to school supplies that she kept in there was her red and black checkered backpack that was filled with, at most, two note books, a broken pencil, and a dozen Fat Cakes. Over the years she had kept many unusual kitchen appliances in the school storage space (blenders, mini-grills, crock pots, toasters, etc.) many of which she had stolen or got from Rip-off Rodney. Various weapons were also stashed inside- slingshots, paintball guns, rubber bands, and, on one special occasion, nun chucks. Sam remembered how she had used the martial arts weapon on Greg Slayton, wrapping it painfully tight around his legs after he had called Freddie a faggot in 10th grade. Once Greg had hopped away, Sam denied sticking up for the techie, brushing it off and saying that she "Needed someone to try her new nun chucks on and besides, no one messes with the nub but me". Looking back on it now, Sam smiled, realizing how stupid she must have sounded. She had thought she was fooling everyone, when in actuality, they already knew about her real feelings.
She remembered lacing her hands through Freddie's hair as they made out in the school auditorium. They had snuck in through the door beside their lockers, camouflaged by their fellow juniors going to the pep rally. His hands had felt warm on her lower back, and she kissed him, soft lips of rough ones, with as much passion as she could muster. The school band wailed through an unrecognizable tune in the gym, easily covering up the moans and whimpers that fell from both of their lips. After the rally ended, she and Freddie slipped out to join the student body once again, slipping into the crowd just as easily as they had slipped out of it. Their hair was a little messy, and both were panting as if they had just run a marathon, but no one questioned it. They were Sam and Freddie after all. She had probably just beaten him up behind the bleachers. Sam could still see the looks on their faces when she and the dork had walked into school one day, hands interlocked. She was sure that Gibby was going to faint and the expression on Valerie's face? Priceless.
"Good times, good times…" Sam thought to herself, smiling fondly as each memory crossed her mind. She looked at her watch and groaned; she had been sitting there for half an hour. Spencer was gonna take them the beach for one last day of Seattle weather, before they headed to UCLA. They had gotten the news roughly two weeks prior to graduation. Sam looked over at the old wooden bench beside the water fountain and remembered that amazing day. They had been brainstorming new ideas for their next iCarly webisode when Spencer had come running toward them, followed by an older man in a suit. The man was Kevin McDylan, a dean at UCLA. A huge fan of iCarly, he told them how he would hate it if she, Carly, and Freddie would have to discontinue the webshow due to going to different colleges, so he had talked to the school board and was able to convince them to give all three of them full scholarships. Apparently, 'webshow production and hosting' was a new major being taught there. Kevin promised them a full college ride, and even said that they could live in a separate dorm building, just for the iCarlies. Spencer could also move in (he gladly accepted – according to him, UCLA had a great art program), and they could use the second floor as the iCarly studio. They were all ecstatic, and even Carly jumped up on the bench to let out a cheer. The last week had been spent packing and planning, along with a quick iCarly video telling fans not to worry; they'd still be doing the show. Sam had been thrilled at the opportunity to leave Seattle. California promised to be the complete opposite of Washington, and she'd been impatient to go.
Sitting there, in the old familiar hallway of Ridgeway High, though, had suddenly made her stop and think. She had spent her entire life here in Seattle, the roads she traveled daily engrained in her memory. Now, the thought of moving to a new city, a new state, a new life made her anxious. Nervous even.
A loud voice from the doorway yanked her from her thoughts. "Sam?"
Seconds later, Sam's best friends appeared in front of her. They had already taken off their graduation gowns, Freddie in a striped blue shirt and khakis, Carly in a simple white sundress. She looked up at them and smiled softly. "Hey…"
"What are you doing here?" Carly asked, walking over and sitting beside her. Freddie followed suit and sat on the other side. "Yeah," he chimed in. "We've been looking everywhere for you…"
Sam ignored both of their questions. "…It's really happening, isn't it?" she asked softly. "We're growing up."
The two brunettes looked at each other, then at her. Freddie slipped his hand into hers, and Carly patter her back. "Yeah," he murmured, rubbing small circles on her skin with his thumb. "We're growing up."
"It seems just like yesterday that Freddie filmed us at the talent show," Sam chuckled, the other two smiling fondly at the memory. She cleared her throat and looked at them. "Are you guys scared?"
Wordlessly, Carly and Freddie both nodded. "Me too… But we shouldn't be," she continued. "Cuz I know that we'll always be there for each other no matter what."
"Amen," Freddie answered, grinning. Sam and Carly laughed, before the petite blonde stood up and grabber her friends' arms. "C'mon," she said, tugging lightly. "Spencer's waiting to take us to the beach."
Walking out of Ridgeway High with her best friend and her boyfriend right beside her comforted Sam. The fear she had felt earlier had disappeared and was replaced by excitement. She was ending her childhood. And starting her life.