Chapter 2

"Freddie!" Sam yells as she reaches the top of the stairwell of the floor that Freddie and Carly live on at Bushwell Plaza.

Sam knew that Freddie would probably be walking rather slowly to his home after getting dished by her at Groovie Smoothies, and she knew she could catch him even with his head start despite the fact he had a short distance from Groovie Smoothies to his apartment complex. And she was right. She entered the hallway and saw Freddie at the end of the hallway getting ready to go left around the corner to get to his door.

She's a little out of breath when she yells, "Freddie!" yet again. But she wants to talk to him before he enters his house so she doesn't have to deal with Mrs. Benson.

Freddie has almost reached his door when he hears his name being called. He stops in front of the door and waits for he was hoping was Carly to turn the corner, but sees Sam instead.

The smile that was starting to form on his face when he was anticipating Carly turned into a frown as Sam came up to meet him. "What do you want, Sam?" He asks disappointedly.

"Hey, I wasn't through talking to…" Sam tried to reply before she was interrupted by a voice coming from inside the apartment.

"Freddie, is that you?"

Sam, who really didn't want to see or deal with Freddie's mother, grabbed Freddie's arm and quickly yanked him away from the door, and dragged him back around the corner of the hallway.

Freddie, who wasn't expecting to be yanked, nearly lost his footing at first and nearly fell. "Sam!" he gasped. Then straightened his feet up and quickly followed her around the corner.

Just when the two were out of view from that wing of the hallway, the door to the Benson's residence opened, and out popped Mrs. Benson. Her eyes were wide, much like they always were, and she was gazing up and down the hallway. She could have sworn she heard her Fredward's voice. "Freddie! Freddie!" she shrilled.

Sam gently pushed Freddie against the wall with her right hand, and held him there. Next, she put her left hand over his mouth just as gently, so he wouldn't speak. Then she peered around the corner at Mrs. Benson.

Freddie, with his mouth being covered and not being able to move, just relaxed in his spot. There's no use shouting or struggling. He thought. It wasn't that he couldn't fight Sam off of him, but he realized that Sam wasn't hurting him just now, so he waited patiently for Sam to let him go.

Sam was getting a joy out of the way Mrs. Benson was scoping the hallway looking for his son. No wonder he's such a nerd, she thought.

Finally, Mrs. Benson gave up, and went back inside.

When Sam heard the door to Freddie's apartment click shut, she roughly released Freddie and said, "Anyway, I told you there was another thing I needed to tell you earlier."

Freddie straightened himself up after Sam released him from the wall. He knew he didn't want to hear what Sam had to say, because he had an idea of what it was. But he looked at her and nodded slowly.

"Carly Shay…you know, your friend, and my friend…" Sam started somewhat sympathetically as she softly laid her right hand on Freddie's chin to help support it, "…will NEVER love you."

For as nice as Sam was being about this, Freddie was growing hot from anger. "It WILL happen." Freddie stated stubbornly.

"Oh Freddie," Sam quipped with a sad smirk as she put her hand back down, "What is it going to take for you to realize this?"

Before Freddie could reply, the elevator at the end of the hallway opened, and Carly made her way out of the elevator and was slowly approaching them.

They both turned to see Carly coming toward them, Sam then turned back to Freddie. "Okay dude," she said quickly, "If you don't want to believe it, fine. You obviously know what you feel, 'cause I don't even want to imagine what goes on in your geekish mind."

Freddie turned to give Sam a look of scorn before turning back to face Carly who has finally reached them.

"Are you two being civil to each other?" asked Carly worriedly. She'd seen them conversing as she was walking up, and was relieved to see no physical fighting or hearing verbal arguing.

"We were having a nice discussion, and behaving, weren't we Freddie?" Sam asked looking over at Freddie with her eyebrows raised up and an expression on her face that read "you better tell the truth or…"

"Yeah, we were just finishing our conversation from earlier," Freddie answered somewhat nervously, noting he better have the right answer.

"Oh, okay," replied Carly looking at them. "Well, I guess Sam and I better get inside. Did you want to come over Freddie?" She asked sweetly.

Freddie looked over at Sam who was rolling her eyes at the sweet way that Carly invited him over. "No thanks," he said politely, "I probably ought to go home before my mom starts to worry."

Sam started smiling when Freddie brought up his mom, remembering seeing his mom looking around frantically for him just a few moments ago. "Okay Freddo, we'll see you later." She said still smiling.

"Yeah Freddie, Come by in a few hours so we can study together." Carly said smiling at him as well, though her smile was more polite.

Freddie smiled back at Carly, "Okay, I'll see you then." And with that, he opened the door to his apartment, entered quickly, and shut the door quickly so that the girls wouldn't have to listen to his frantic mother yelling at him for being late.

XxXxXxXxXxXx

Later, in his bedroom, Freddie laid down on his bed with his head resting on his hands. He stared up at the ceiling and started thinking about what had happened that day.

He needed the peace and quiet. His mom really got on him for being late, and the trauma she was put through when she could have swore she heard his voice outside the door minutes before he came in, and when she looked out in the hallway to find nobody. He had kinda just edged his way from the main room to his bedroom while listening to his mom ramble on. Then he finally got inside his room, and quickly shut the door and locked it.

I don't know who's worse, he thought. My mom or Sam.

Sam! Indeed she was the one he was thinking about, which kinda scared him. Why does she have to treat me the way she does? I try to go out of way to be nice to her (most of the time). And I hate it when she tells me to give up on Carly.

Freddie closed his eyes, and happily started dreaming about the day that Carly would tell him that she loves him back, and that she wants them to be together forever. The day that Carly accepts his wedding proposal, and their wedding day when she officially says, "I do."

Freddie opened his eyes with a start. "I'll show Sam," he said quietly to himself, "I'll ask Carly tonight during our study date."

Then Freddie happily reclosed his eyes, and continued his dream.

XxXxXxXxXxXx

"What's up Spence?" Sam asked Carly's big brother as she and Carly entered Spencer's apartment.

"The Sky!" Spencer replied laughing out loud heartily. But when he saw that the girls didn't think the joke was that particularly funny, he quickly formed a straight face, and quietly answered, "Uh, nothing."

"Cool." Carly naturally replied. "We're gonna go up to the studio Spencer."

"O-ba-Kay-bee." Spencer quickly replied. "I'll holler down when supper's ready." Spencer then started looking around the room. "Where's Freddo?"

"He's not coming by tonight!" shouted Sam through the refrigerator, as she was looking through it for something to eat.

"But I'll probably have him come by later so that we can study." Carly said as she stood at the bottom stair waiting for her friend.

"Oh, okay then. So there'll be three of us for dinner." Spencer stated as he headed for the kitchen nearly bumping into Sam, who found a plate of leftover ham, and was about to take it upstairs with her.

"You better probably have enough food for four." Sam told Spencer as she and Carly were heading upstairs. "Because I'm hungry tonight."

At the top of the stairs, Carly stopped her friend. "So are you gonna try to be nicer to Freddie from now on?" She asked painfully.

"Gonna? No. Try? Maybe." Sam replied just as plainly.

Carly rolled her eyes. "Oh Sam, Sam, Sam." She shook her head.

"Aw come on, you know he likes it when I pick on him," Sam said playfully, "It builds his character, it makes him tougher."

"Yeah, but there's a difference between picking on him and being cruel." Carly replied sternly but softly.

"I'm not that cruel to him, I'm his friend," Sam answered defensively. "I'm the tough friend, and you're the nice and sweet friend."

Carly replied, "But do you have to get in his head like you do?"

Sam narrowed her gaze but said simply, "You are the one that is in his head, cupcake."

Carly rolled her eyes and replied, "I wish he wouldn't think of me that way. I like him a lot as a friend, but nothing more." Carly sighed. Then she walked into the studio, "I wish he could just accept that."

Me too. Sam thought as she followed Carly into the studio.

Author's Note: This is my first story ever for FanFic. I will say that I have this story completed, and I will try to download a chapter daily. This story is 26 chapters long, and I should have it all entered in by the end of the month. I'm starting a new story now that I hope to have uploaded in the coming weeks. Thanks to all who have read and reviewed so far.