Freddie was sitting on the staircase in the Bushwell building, thinking over what he had told the girls. He wanted them to know that he was in love with Sam, but he didn't know if what he had told them had worked or not. A sudden voice startled him.
"What are you doing out here Mr Benson?" Matilda the old lady that lives 8f asked Freddie.
"You can call me Freddie. And I'm out here because I'm hiding." Freddie replied.
"And who would you be hiding from, don't mind me asking." Matilda wondered.
"No it's fine. Okay, I'm hiding because I gave my friends a very obvious hint about who I like and she happened to be in the room at the time." Freddie replied.
"This girl wouldn't happen to be Sam Puckett would it?" Matilda asked as she carefully sat down next to Freddie.
"How did you guess?" Freddie asked.
"Call it woman's intuition. May I ask you something?" Matilda asked.
"Sure. What is it?" Freddie asked.
"Why are you hiding from the girl that you're in love with? It could be awkward if she doesn't love you back, but if she is a friend of yours like you say, she would get over it and learn to deal with it. Carly did." Matilda said.
"I honestly never loved Carly. I only thought I did. She was just a silly crush of mine, but Sam, I actually love her. She might be able to deal with being my friend and getting past the awkward phase, but I don't think I ever could.' Freddie said, looking at his hands.
"That might be the case, but hiding away will not prove anything any faster than you hanging out with her." Matilda said.
"I don't want her to feel pressured though . I want to give her some space so she can work out what she feels." Freddie explained.
"Ah. Young love. Always so crazy. Follow me young Fredward. I want to show you something." Matilda said standing up. Freddie followed her as she walked to her apartment and entered it, gesturing g him to follow which he did.
"See this picture here? This is of my daughter as a child. She was a lot like you, sweet, wonderful, innocent and gorgeous. One day, she and her best friend were hanging out and she told him, the same way that you told Sam, that she liked him. She did pretty much everything the same, except she didn't hide in the dark and wait for the answers to come to her. She went in search of them. she waited for 3 years for him to finally say I love you to her and to date him, but it happened. What I'm saying is that, instead of sulking in the shadows, be brave and put yourself out there. That way, when your older and have children, and they have this problem, you can tell them to do what you did. You'll never know what will happen if you don't try." Matilda said.
"I guess. But what if she never really loves me back?" Freddie asked.
"Well, then you be the strong one and you show her that no matter how much it hurts, that you will pull through and be her friend when she needs you. That is what a sacrifice is. Knowing that no matter how much you love someone, that doesn't mean that they'll love you back and the sacrifice part is when you accept that and just be her friend. Do you understand?" Matilda asked, her hands on Freddie's cheeks.
"Yes. I do. When did you become such an awesome person?" Freddie asked her. Matilda just laughed a throaty laugh.
"Now, go back to that apartment and be strong. Don't hide away. Come and report to me tonight about how your day went okay?" Matilda asked.
"Okay. I'll see you Mrs Waltzes." Freddie said as he left the apartment.
"You may call me Matilda. I'll see you later." Matilda said.
"Okay. Goodbye Matilda." Freddie said as he left the apartment and walked up the hall to 8c. Matilda waited until he was inside to close her door and go back to her tea.
"Hey guys. How's it going?" Freddie Sam and Carly who were sitting on the couch talking.
"Hey. I thought you went to go and get a smoothie." Carly wondered, getting up.
"I was going to, but then I got into a conversation with Matilda." Freddie said.
"Who's Matilda?" Sam Carly asked.
"Mrs Waltzes. She is a really nice lady. I'm going to be having a cup of tea with her this afternoon actually." Freddie said as he walked over to the counter and started eating cashews.
"Uh, Freddie, we want to talk to you about something. Before, when you were telling us who you were in love with… it sounded like you meant…" Carly began, only to be cut off.
"Sam? That's because I did. Surprise." Freddie said with a smile, feeling really brave after his talk with Matilda.
"Wait, what? You mean, you're actually in love with me?" Sam asked, getting off the couch and going over to him.
"Yes. I was embarrassed at first, but then I was told that it's better to put yourself out there than hide in the corner. So that's exactly what I'm doing. I'm putting myself out there, just waiting patiently. Anyway, onto something else, do you want to practice that ICarly piece that needs practice?" Freddie asked the girls.
"Uh s-sure. I- I guess. C-come on Sam. Let's go." Carly said, completely stunned by how Freddie was acting.
The three teens then went upstairs and practised the ICarly bits that needed practising. Sam and Carly noticed that something was really different with Freddie. He was acting like a completely different person, a much more self-confident, braver, less scared person. Sam noticed something else, but she couldn't put her finger on it. She was still in shock over him saying outright that he was in love with her.
Sam preferred the new Freddie to the old one. Even though the new one was still the pretty much the exact same, he was stronger and braver then the old one Sam just hoped that it would last.