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From time to time, I felt guilty about what happened. If I'd paid some more attention, maybe it wouldn't have happened. I could've saved her. But it was a waste of time to sigh regretfully. Should've, would've, could've. What was done was done.
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It was a few weeks after school ended. The summer heat was barely hitting Seattle and the days were longer. My mom had already stocked up on cloud block.
Carly was as beautiful as ever in her green sundress and black cowboy boots. Sam...well, she was happily swinging as she spat insults at me. Carly sat on the swing between us; caught between amusement, anger, and embarrassment at Sam's behavior. She didn't know what to do about Sam. Nobody did.
"Sam, can you just give it a rest?" I snapped, glaring at her. She smiled impishly and began whistling. I rolled my eyes and stood up. "Why are we here anyway?"
"Because we need to think of new ideas for iCarly and we all agreed the studio felt too stuffy," Carly responded.
"Right," I said. "Sam complaining about being bored means we're all bored." Sam turned towards me and glared.
"That's exactly what it means, nub, and don't you forget it," Then her face did this weird thing: it softened. She smiled a bit at me and then looked up at the sky. That smile left me in a weird daze. She started swinging higher. "It's a beautiful night, anyways. You should be glad you get to share it with me."
I snorted. "Cuz that's what I am. Lucky." Carly smiled and nodded.
"You are lucky. You get us as your best friends. And guess what I heard?" I shrugged as I sat down in the swing again. I looked at the fireflies that flew around us, blinking every so often. "Abigail likes you. She's having a pool party next week and she told me that you're especially invited."
I was happily surprised. Abigail was pretty; she had huge brown eyes, short hair that she dyed blonde, and freckles. She was petite, shorter than Sam in heels, and she was Carly perky. Sam stopped swinging and sucked her teeth.
"Abigail's a cheer slut. She's done it so many times, she has low expectations. That's the only reason she would go to this dork," Sam commented. Carly turned to her, glaring.
"Just because she's on the cheerleading squad doesn't mean she's a slut. And maybe if you were nicer to her, you would've gotten an invite too," Carly said. I raised my eyebrows, knowing how much Sam hated to be excluded. She had gone to yearbook club with me and Carly even though she hated everyone there and everything we did.
"I don't need an invite to her stupid party. You guys don't either. I can't believe I'm saying this but even nub is too good for her." My eyes widened. I smiled, kicking a rock.
"Thanks Sam. You know I could bring you to the party if you want. I know how much you love water and meat. That'll both be there," I said. Lately, we went back and forth between being friends and enemies. There was something in me that wanted to be nice to her all the time; she made it so hard sometimes.
She looked at me, smiling. I smiled back at her until Carly got up. I followed her with my eyes and I heard Sam grunt in disgust. Carly stretched and walked away to the slide.
"C'mon you guys, let's play bumper cars," Carly said, running. I got up to follow her but turned away to see Sam still on the swings. She looked down at the ground.
"You comin' Sam?" I asked. She looked up at me and shook her head.
"Always were a fan of the swings, huh?" She looked past me and hesitated before smiling. I turned around. There was a guy around our age who I had to look up to. He had a scar in his left cheek and a bruise near his lip. He had a little posse of three guys. One guy had on a blue beanie cap and was holding a skateboard. There was a little person with platinum blonde hair that was gelled into a faux-hawk. And the other guy was smoking a cigarette.
Carly stood by the slide, watching the whole thing. The guy who was smoking looked back at her and winked. She grimaced. I felt anger well up in me and I moved a little closer to her. The guy snickered at me and rolled his eyes.
Sam ran and hugged the tall guy. He hugged her back, burying his face in his hair. It was uncomfortable to watch. Not because it was too personal but I didn't like seeing Sam that happy because of him. If that makes sense.
"This is Luke," Sam said, when they stopped hugging. "He lives in my neighborhood." She stopped talking to us. "What are doing here? I thought you were in jail."
"Wait, actual jail? Not juvi?" I asked, getting scared. Luke nodded, talking to me while still looking at Sam in front of him.
"I turned 18 while I was still being tried. Luckily, Dan and Mark've been watching over my Sammie for me." He nodded towards the guy with the skateboard and the guy smoking. Sam rolled her eyes, chuckling and crossed her arms in front of her chest.
"I don't need watching over. You know that," Sam murmured.
"What were you in jail for?" Carly asked from her safe point by the slide. The guy smoking turned to her and walked a little closer.
"Luke likes to live on the wild side and on that side, some bad stuff happens. That's all you need to know, sweetie. I'm Mark, by the way," he said. I moved between him and the slide. "Who is this, your boyfriend?"
I looked back at Carly who was visibly shaking, she was so scared. She nodded, gripping the metal bars by the slide. Mark scoffed and pushed me to the side. I fell down onto the grass.
"Hey! Leave 'em alone Mark," Sam said. Luke walked away from her and smacked him on his head.
"Why are you such a douchebag Mark?" Mark smiled and shrugged. Luke chuckled as he helped me up. "Sorry about him. When he sees a pretty face, it's hard to get him to go away." I nodded, not really listening to what he had to say. I felt a chill up my spine being around him. He was not a good guy.
"Luke, why are you here? How'd you get here?" Sam asked, taking the attention off of me and Carly.
"What, you're not happy I'm here? I'm not surprised, seeing as you only visited me twice while I was away," he answered, his voice getting louder and more forceful.
"My life doesn't revolve around you Luke. And you should be happy that I got to see you those two times. My mom hates you," she said.
"Cuz you listen to your mom on a regular basis. Cut the crap, you're only kinda happy I'm out. The rest of you is nervous about me being here because of what happened last time," he started whispering and moving closer to her. Sam showed something she never did: fear. Her initial response to this Luke guy was a hoax. She really didn't want him here. "Sammie, I thought what we had was special."
"I was 14, Luke. I thought that this was what I wanted but it's not," she said softly, looking away from him and at me. I wanted to walk up to her, hug her in my arms, and tell her everything was going to be alright. "Things have been different for a while now." Luke followed her eyes to me and he became furious.
"What, this guy? Your friend's boyfriend?"
Mark chuckled beside me, glancing at me. "Ooh, scandal," he whispered. Sam shook her head, stopping him as he began walking towards me.
"No, Luke. God, please, like I'd ever be with a freak like him," she said. I glared at her, not knowing if she was saying that for my benefit or because she really thought I was a freak. To think I was going to bring her to Abigail's party.
Luke bent down and kissed her. She pushed him away, stepping back. "No. Luke." He kissed her again and she punched him. He slapped her across the face with so much strength, she fell down.
"Hey!" I yelled, moving towards her before I realized what I was doing. Luke and his posse looked at me. Sam looked at me, holding the side of her face. She shook her head, mouthing for me to go. I stared at her, caught between helping her and making a run for it.
"Kid, don't start with me. You got nothing to do with his so just go home and take your girlfriend with you," Luke said. Sam nodded, agreeing with him. I shook my head.
"No. She said to stop. That means she doesn't want you," I replied. Sam managed to be menacing even with the whole side of her face starting to bruise. Luke straightened up, scrutinizing me. Mark started moving closer to me. I readied myself for whatever they might do. I had been going to some boxing and MMA classes for a year now.
The little person who still had no name started laughing. Dan joined him until all four of them were laughing. I wasn't sure what was so funny but I had a feeling it was me.
"Luke, don't do anything to him, please. Leave them alone," Sam whimpered from the ground. He smiled at her and sat down next to her.
"I'm not gonna hurt anyone, baby," he said, leaning his forehead against hers. "I've been dreaming about this moment for a long time, 2 years in fact. I'm not gonna ruin it with blood on my hands. I'm sorry about your cheek." He kissed her cheek, putting his hand on her thigh. She winced, wanting to move away from him. "Dan, Mark, and Geoff, well, I'm not really in charge of them, am I?" He winked in my direction.
The next thing I felt was a set of arms try to put me in a headlock. I flipped the person over my shoulder, noticing it was the guy in the beanie-Dan. I heard Carly scream behind me. I turned around to see Mark, throw his cigarette to the ground as he ran after her.
"Freddie!" she yelled, running away. I tried to move that way but I felt a pair of hands grab my foot. Dan got hold of me and lifted my foot off the ground, making me fall backwards. Geoff pounced on me, choking me. Dan got up to help Mark and I heard Luke laugh in the background. I picked Geoff up (who was surprisingly light) and threw him to the side.
I hopped up, chasing after them. Dan hadn't made it to Mark yet, who had Carly pinned to the ground. She continued to scream, now crying and twisting her body, trying to get away from him. I grabbed Dan by the neck and slammed him headfirst to the ground. I kicked him a few times in his gut, hoping that would be enough to immobilize him while I helped Carly.
Mark was laughing at Carly's feeble attempts to fight him. He was holding her down with one hand and unbuttoning his pants with his other. I punched him, knocking him off Carly. He growled at me, leaping over her. I moved to the side, kicking him to the ground. He got back up and pulled a switchblade out of his pocket. I froze.
He smiled at me. "Not so tough now, huh, Freddie?" I saw Sam in the distance, running after us. Luke was strolling behind her, Geoff beside him.
"Luke, make him stop!" Sam yelled at him. "Luke, please!" I could hear the tears in her voice and it fueled anger inside me. I charged Mark, forgetting about his knife until it was too late. He stabbed me somewhere around where my stomach was. I yelped in pain but gathered enough of my strength to pull it out from his hold and my body and stab him back. I aimed for his heart but changed course, realizing that I could kill him. Instead, I stabbed his right arm. Mark yelled, stumbling backwards. I fell down as the blood started to pour out. I put my hands over it, trying to hold in as much as I could.
Mark pulled out the knife from his arm and began to bend down. He fell to his side, a little away from me. Sam bent down in front of me, crying.
"Freddie, are you okay?" she asked. I lifted one of my hands and touched her bruised cheek. I unintentionally got some blood on her cheek. She cried even more.
"Are you?" I asked. She laughed in between her sobs.
"I don't matter right now. You're bleeding, you idiot," she said as Carly came to kneel by my head. I looked up at her and she was crying too. Sam got out her phone and dialed 911. "I need an ambulance at Kings Park. There's a boy here who's been stabbed and he's bleeding badly." Luke walked up to her and snatched the phone away. He threw it so far away, there was only a faint thud that showed he had thrown it at all.
"What the fuck are you doing Sam? The police are probably gonna come as well," he yelled. She looked up at him, glaring.
"And that's my problem how?" He gritted his teeth, picking her up by her hair. She shut her eyes in pain. He grabbed her by the chin and forced her to look at him.
"Because this won't look good on my record and you don't want me to go away again do you?" Sam didn't answer. "DO YOU?" He threw her down and she landed next to me. She looked at me with the saddest eyes I'd ever seen.
"I'm so sorry," she whispered. I tried to shake my head. I was getting a little dizzy and my eyes were closing by themselves. My vision was getting blurry. She looked down, prompting me to look down as well. I was laying down in a pool of my own blood. I was probably losing too much. I tried not to hyperventilate as I got nervous. There was no way I was gonna die.
She started crying again when Luke pulled her up by her arm. There were ambulance and police sirens going off in the near distance.
Mark had torn off a piece of his shirt to wrap around his arm. He tried to get Carly but I grunted, trying to sit up. Mark kicked me in the head. I heard the bone of my nose crack. It was surely broken. Carly screamed.
"Mark. C'mon," Luke yelled from behind him. Geoff and Dan were following him as he dragged Sam away.
"But, I want her," Mark whined.
"MARK! LET"S GO!" Mark turned away, running towards Luke and them.
Before they were out of our vision, I saw Sam look back at us. Her face was bloody and bruised, her eyes were stained with red because of her crying, but she was beautiful. That was what I remembered thinking before passing out.
···
I woke up to bright fluorescent lights. I looked at the ceiling for a few seconds, listening to the EKG machine beep.
"Freddie, are you okay?" I heard Carly whisper next to my ear. She put her hand in mine and squeezed it lightly. "Does it hurt so much that you can't talk? Do you want me to get your mom? She's nearby." I turned my head slowly to look at her. She had on a different set of clothes- a blue tanktop and dark jean bermuda shorts. Her hair was in a ponytail and she looked like she was ready to cry.
"Freddie, please say something, anything. I need to hear your voice right now," she started crying.
I blinked a few times before I spoke. "Where's Sam, Carls?" I asked softly. My voice was raspy and I tried to clear it. Carly stared at me before bursting into tears. Her cries were loud and hysterical.
"She's gone! She never came home! Luke kidnapped her!" she yelled, falling down. She curled into a ball. I looked away as the tears started to fall.
"Fuck," I growled, imagining Luke's smug face, my hands turning to fists. "Fuck. Shit. Fuck. Fuck!" I banged my fists against the bed and kept doing that until a bunch of nurses and my mother rushed into the room. I cried, swinging my fists around. Fuck.
A/N: So I know I have other stories I should be updating but I promise it'll happen as soon as possible. With this four day weekend, I've had some time, energy, and inspiration to write. If I'm lucky enough, I should have other stuff updated by the end of this week, including this. This is my first time writing like this so I hope you liked it! Please review. XP