Hey! I know I haven't updated in a really long time, but I'm going to start again since its summer! (: I know this is another pretty dull chapter, but keep reading- it will get better! Please review!
Carly's POV
The bus home on Friday afternoon was the loudest it had been all week. I sat near the front, listening to the surrounding chaos. It was end of our first week of school, and we'd already been loaded with homework for the past few days. Clearly, everyone was relived and excited that the weekend had finally arrived. Shouts and laughs were heard all around and plans for tomorrow were being made. I sat next to-the newly hot- Gibby, and I scanned my brain for things to talk about.
"Don't you think it's crazy how hard the teachers are being on us?," I said.
"Yea, it's ridiculous. I mean, it's only our first week!," Gibby answered in his new, deeper voice. We talked for about fifteen minutes, until he got off the bus to go home. He got more mature over the summer, but for the main part he still had the same personality- except for his obsession with taking off his shirt. Only now I wouldn't mind it if he did…
"Hey, Carls," greeted Sam, followed by Freddie, as I got off the bus. "You wouldn't believe the prank Dave Adams pulled on Mrs. Briggs this morning…" she said, launching into a story about a how a kid in her geometry class filled their universally hated teacher's hat with melted cheese. We laughed for a few minutes, exchanging meaningless banter and stupid jokes.
"Well on a less cheese-related note, we still have an empty eight minute time-slot on tonight's iCarly." Freddie pointed out.
"Everything can be related to cheese," said Sam simply. "I know! We'll combine celebrity pictures with pictures of cheese- just for the hell of it!" Freddie and I remained silent for a second or two, and then burst into laughter. My lighthearted giggles, however, stopped abruptly when we walked into my apartment to find Spencer sitting on the couch next to a female figure that I recognized immediately. I saw Sam and Freddie exchange questioning glances out of the corner of my eye. They'd been doing that a lot lately. Well, not always curious looks- just..looks. It was as if sometimes they were having a private conversation without any words.
"Hi guys," said Spencer, obviously trying to avoid eye contact with me. "We have leftover nacho salad in the fridge if you're hungry," he continued, clearly trying to keep the tone light.
"No, that's ok, Spencer. We're not really hungry," I answered quickly.
"Speak for yourself!," exclaimed Sam, making a bolt for our kitchen. Freddie laughed and shook his head, joining the constantly hungry blonde. After watching her eat for a while he could no longer resist Spencer's odd delicacy, and took a bite. This resulted in a viscous growl from Sam, followed by a punch in the chest. The woman sitting next to Spencer laughed, speaking for the first time since we'd arrived.
"Carly, your friends are adorable!," said the pretty blonde. "Why haven't I gotten to meet them sooner?"
"They've been busy," I answered shortly. "Come on, you two!," I called to Sam and Freddie, who were now throwing lettuce at each other. "We have a web show to plan! And yes, Sam, you can bring the food."
"Who was that?," asked Freddie the minute we plopped into our chairs upstairs.
"That was Spencer's girlfriend. Her name is Jackie," I replied, saying her name as though it was a deadly germ.
"You don't like her," said Sam, picking up on my feelings immediately. She didn't ask it as a question- it was a fact.
"You're right; I don't. I hate her actually," I said flatly. Usually I rambled on about, well, everything, but I didn't know what to say. I hadn't exactly figured out why I hate Jackie- I just do. I mean, she treats Spencer great, and she's really nice and everything, but still, whenever I see her with my brother I just feel like telling her to go away. I'd tried thinking of reasons for not liking her, ranging from "I bet she'll break his heart" to "She wears ugly shoes", but I still couldn't decide what exactly I hated about her. All I knew is that I hated her- a lot.
When I first came back from California I didn't think Spencer and his new girlfriend were a big deal, until I learned how long they'd been together. They started going out about a week after I'd left, and they'd been dating for almost three months now. Spencer has never been able to keep a girlfriend for more than two days, so this was pretty huge. Since then, I've made it very clear to Jackie that I don't like her, but she doesn't seem to get the hint at all. Spencer has noticed, but he just thinks I need to "warm up" to her.
"Why?," asked Sam, finally done with her salad. "She seems nice."
"And that's coming from Sam!," Freddie chimed in.
"I don't know. I just don't like her, okay? Now, let's focus. iCarly starts in an hour."
Sam's POV
I was pumped. iCarly went great, and we got the most viewers we'd had in a while. Now, as I sat across from Carly and Freddork, I was eating pork chops. They were good- very good.
"I'm going home," said Freddie, grabbing his jacket. "See you guys tomorrow."
"Why? Will your mommy ground you if you're not home by nine?," I teased.
"Actually, yes she will," he answered, sighing. I snorted, as the dork rushed out the door.
"Shouldn't you be going home too?," asked Carly. "It's getting kind of dark to walk."
"Can I just crash here tonight?"
"Sure. Is everything okay?"
"Yea, everything's fine," I lied. My mom probably would still be out, but I was getting sick of sleeping alone in the empty apartment that was starting to get cold at night because my mother was too cheap to pay the heating bill. Of course, even being alone was better than the alternative. When my mom wasn't out getting wasted and hooking up with random guys from the bar, she was at home. Usually she was either ridiculing me, or passed out on our couch, which reeked of vomit and God knows what else. Personally, I preferred the ladder.
This had been the way things were for as long as I could remember. My dad, whose face I've never seen, left my mom as soon as he learned she was pregnant, when they were both in their late teens. Now, he was in and out of jail for about a dozen different things. Even when he wasn't in prison he never visited. It wasn't that he didn't know where to find us- he didn't want to. The man that I had the displeasure of calling my father never cared enough to come back and probably didn't feel any guilt. My mother never really got over being abandoned, and as soon as I had learned to feed, bathe, and clothe myself, began go out to bars and clubs leaving me, at as young as age seven, home alone for days at a time. The longest she'd ever been gone was for three and a half weeks, in August when I was thirteen. I'd never admit-or forget- how terrified I was during that hot summer. Sometimes, my mom went go through periods where she brought a different guy home every night, and I watched as she woke up the next morning abandoned- just as always. On a few occasions she has had boyfriends, but she seems to have this ability to attract the scummiest, most awful people. My mother drinks to escape her problems, and there is no doubt in my mind that she is an alcoholic. I usually come home to find her drunk, unconscious on the floor, make-up smeared, hair matted.
But, hey- it could be worse.
"Sam! Helloo?," called Carly. "Are you alright?"
"Yea," I answered, shaken from my thoughts.
"Okay, I'm going to go change into my pajamas. You have extra clothes in my room, right?"
"Yep." I always kept clothes and a toothbrush at Carly's just for times like this. After I changed into my pajama pants and tee shirt I headed downstairs, to find Carly in blue pajamas with hearts on them, and fuzzy pink slippers. I wondered what it was like to live in Carly's mind. I had a feeling it was simple in there.
We spent the night watching cheesy romance movies. Well, actually Carly watched them, while I snickered at the corny lines. The scene in the last one had Carly sobbing, and me cringing.
"That was so cute!," exclaimed Carly at the end of the sappiest one.
"No, it was ridiculous," I retorted. "Aston Kutcher, however, was very entertaining."
"Yea, but his character was a total jerk."
"Who cares? He had his shirt off in every other scene. Those were the only good parts of the movie."
"The other guy was cute, too"
"You mean the surfer one? Nah, he was way too clean cut. Besides, I don't like guys who use more hair products than I do." Our pointless chatter resumed for another few minutes until Carly drifted off to sleep. Some time, around three-thirty, sleep found me, too.
On Saturday morning I was awoken by the sound of a sizzling stove and the delicious smell of Spencer's chocolate chip pancakes. Before I even opened my eyes I remembered I was in Carly's room, and not my shitty apartment. If I was at home I would most likely be woken up by the homeless guy that for some unfathomable reason, likes to sit outside my window yelling at innocent passer-byers. Pleasant, I know.
"Good morning," said Carly, who was already awake.
"Backatcha," I mumbled groggily. I was definitely not a morning person. We went downstairs expecting to see Spencer, only to be greeted by his girlfriend, Jackie. She stood at the table in plaid pajama pants, buttering a huge stack of chocolate chip pancakes.
"Hey, girls!," she said in a chipper voice.
"Where's Spencer?" asked Carly in a monotone, ignoring Jackie's friendliness completely.
"He just went around the corner to the deli. He'll be back in a few minutes," she replied in the same cheerful tone, not seeming to pick up on Carly's hostility toward her.
"Oh. So , you spent the night here?," inquired Carly, trying and failing to sound nonchalant.
"Yup," answered the oblivious woman. She took a seat at the table, motioning for us to do the same. She gave us each a plate of pancakes, and the three of us sat in silence.
I immediately dug into my breakfast- it was insanely good; I knew I liked this chick. Finally, I had to comment, partly because the awkward silence was driving me crazy.
"These are so good," I said, with me mouth half full. I could feel Carly's eyes glaring at me. Her pancakes were still untouched.
"Well, I'm glad to hear that," said Jackie laughing. After what seemed like forever, Spencer walked in.
"Good morning, sleepyheads," he said to us, sneaking up and startling Carly. Jackie and I laughed, but Carly was not quite as amused. The look on her face turned even more sour when Spencer kissed Jackie before joining us to eat.
A few hours later, Carly, Freddie, and I went to the movies.
"So, what should we see?," asked Freddie, as we stood just outside the movie theater.
"The new ' Chuckie' movie looks good…," I answered hopefully.
"We are not seeing that!," said Carly quickly. She had an annoying opposition to any movie involving blood.
"What about the one with Megan Fox?," asked Freddie, raising his eyebrows suggestively.
"That's not playing until seven," pointed out Carly. "500 Love Letters starts in twenty minutes. We should see that!"
"No!," exclaimed Freddie and me in unison. Although Freddie and I didn't always have the same taste, we knew we wouldn't want to sit through a movie of Carly's choice.
"Why not! Zac Efron's in it! And it looks really good! The critics gave it really good reviews, and my cousin told me it-" Carly was interrupted by a sickeningly high pitched voice.
"Are you talking about 500 Love Letters? I've been dying to see that! I have an idea! We should all go together!," exclaimed a tall brunette that looked vaguely familiar. Carly, Freddie, and I stared at her for a second, wondering how the hell to respond to that.
"Uh..who are you?," I asked, somewhat rudely, breaking the silence.
"Maya!," she answered, obviously expecting me to recognize her once I heard the name. I continued to stare blankly.
"I'm in your Spanish class," she said.
"Oh, I knew that.." How did she expect me to remember her? I barely remembered my teacher's name. Freddie and Carly looked at me confusedly, and I shrugged. We soon learned Maya's motives, as she walked past me, and up to Freddie.
"Hi, Freddie," she said in an even higher voice than usual, if that was possible.
"Hey," he answered, slowly. "How do you know me? We don't have any classes together, right?"
"I know you from iCarly, silly! You totally make the show!"
"Well, thanks," he replied, still slightly confused, but enjoying the attention, nonetheless.
"Anyway," continued Maya, "I think we should see 500 Love Letters. I heard its totally romantic."
"I agree with Maya!," said Freddie quickly.
"Yay!," exclaimed Carly. "Let's get our tickets."
"I'll buy the tickets," said Freddie, trying to show off how "gentleman-ly" he was to his new admirer. Carly giggled at Freddie's desperation as he walked up to the window, not taking his eyes off Maya. I, however, was extremely annoyed.
"I'm going to kill him! Now we're stuck watching this stupid movie!"
"It's not stu-"
"Just five minutes ago, he didn't want to see it either, and then she comes along and makes him all crazy!"
"Who cares? At least he's paying."
"True. What does she see in him, anyway?" His sense of humor, his smile, his hair, answered my mind. I chose to ignore that.
"So as I was saying," said Maya to Freddie as we settled into our seats. "I hate that you never get as much screen time as other people during iCarly. The show would be so much better if you got more of the spotlight!"
Bitch, I thought to myself, angrily. Carly and I exchanged shocked glances, and then looked at Freddie, anticipating his response.
"Well, I'm more of a behind-the-scenes kind of person…," said Freddie uncomfortably.
"With your looks, iCarly would get so many more views if you were the star of it," she answered. My response was some kind of cross between a gasp and a snort. I couldn't decide whether to be annoyed that Maya was being so obnoxious about iCarly, or laugh at her obvious desperation. Freddie continued to insist that he was happier behind the camera, but he was clearly loving Maya's compliments.
The movie was torturous, just as I'd guessed; And the shallow plotline and terrible acting wasn't even the worst part. I spent two hours sandwiched in between Carly, who wouldn't shut up about Zac Efron's abs the whole time, and Freddie, whose pathetic plays at Maya were actually working. Honestly, the whole thing was entirely sickening. Not even twenty minutes into the movie, I was so annoyed with Freddie's stupid jokes and Maya's annoying giggles that I actually started watching it. Of course, it sucked, just as I presumed.
"I'm gonna go pee," I announced a little while later, as if someone actually cared. I returned almost half an hour later with the excuse that the line was really long. It wasn't as if anything had changed anyway. Later, when Maya went to get more popcorn, I "accidently" spilled some soda in her designer bag, when Carly and Freddie weren't looking. I was sure she'd just love the surprise of opening her expensive Coach bag to that when she got home. Hey, it was pretty ugly anyway.
"We should text sometime, Freddie," said Maya as we walked out of the theater after the movie ended. The two exchanged numbers, and then we finally shook her.
"She was so hot!," exclaimed Freddie as he, Carly, and I began home. "She was all over me, too! Did you guys see that?"
"Yes," Carly answered. "We could see that very blatantly."
"It was awesome!," he replied grinning. "She was so hot!," he repeated. I really wished he'd stop saying that, and I really wished that it wasn't true. Maya, with glossy brown hair and perfect tanned skin, was the epitome of every guy's dream girl. She was insanely tall, standing at 5''8 at least, and incredibly thin. This, of course, made Freddie pretty much wrapped around her finger. The huge boobs probably helped, too.
Part of me was aggravated with Freddie for showing interest in a girl like her, but a bigger part was mad at myself for even caring.