Chapter two: A Saturday Like No Other.
It was the weekend and usually Sam puckett would wake up feeling slightly refreshing and free knowing she could spend two full days locked up in her bedroom away from Freddie Benson and his many minions. She would always start off her saturday morning with a large helping of bacon and eggs only to return to her room for a day of listening to music and watching movies that would help her get out of her head and forget about her awful life. That wouldn't last forever though because first thing on a Monday morning Sam would have to return to school where she would face a brand new week of recieving many war wounds. This current Saturday didn't go to plan like usual though. Since her mother was so set on re-building her friendship with Mrs Benson, Sam had been dragged round to the Benson's apartment again.
Freddie Benson wasn't home, thank God but after two hours of hearing her mother and Mrs. Benson re-telling old stories about their past, Sam had truly reached her limit. She even offered to do Mrs Benson's dishes from lunch so she could get some time to herself. Crazy right, Sam Puckett never cleans but here she is scrubbing away in the kitchen whilst hearing the laughter of the two women who were in the other room.
"Hey" greeted a voice causing Sam to tense up as soon as she heard it. Great, he was home. "If I knew you were coming over I would have stayed in" Freddie told her causing her to frown as she watched him jump up to sit on top of the kitchen counter. "So, my Mom's got you cleaning her house then" he commented.
"I offered" Sam told him.
"That bored without me here huh" Freddie smirked only earning himself a death glare shot at him from Sam. "So were not at the joking stage of our friendship" he commented.
"We will never get to the joking stage because we will never be friends" Sam told him straight.
"We used to be friends" Freddie replied.
"That was then, this is now" she told him and he could feel the pain in her voice. So Freddie didn't say anything else, he just picked up the dish towel and helped her clean. Sam washed and he dried, it was a silent arrangement and they finished the dishes together. Sam tried to pretend that Freddie wasn't there but she could see him staring at her intently and she found it disrupting.
"Sam, Freddie" Mrs Puckett called. "Get in here we have something to show you" she told them.
"What is it?" Sam asked as they entered the room.
"Look what we found" Mrs Benson smiled as she pressed play on the DVD player.
It was a video of the two of them from when they were very young. They must of been about five years old, Sam had her tap shoes on and Freddie had his camera in his hands. They were smiling, playing and laughing. Sam couldn't remember the last time she laughed or even smiled. She looked happy in the video as she danced away whilst Freddie snapped pictures of her.
"What are you kids doing?" Mrs Benson asked as she interrupted their playing time.
"Were pretending we've grown up" Sam told her as she continued to tap dance away.
"When we grow up Sam's going to be a famous dancer" Freddie told his Mom. "And I'm going to be a famous camera man who will take photo's of Sam everywhere she goes" he added as he continued to take photo's of his friend.
"It looks like you two are having fun" Mrs Benson smiled.
"Yes, Sam and I are going to be best friends forever" Freddie smiled as he gave his best friend the tightest and most warmest hug.
Guilt suddenly ran through Freddie's chest even more, he couldn't begin to imagine how Sam was feeling, he could see the pain and misery in her eyes though and that hurt him enough.
"I can't watch this" Sam said but only Freddie heard. "Mom, I have a dance rehearsal in twenty minutes. We need to leave now, it's the last rehearsal before my big recital on Wednesday" she reminded her mother.
"Oh your recital, you two should come along on Wednesday and she how amazing Sam's dancing is now" Mrs Puckett beamed as she invited Freddie and Mrs Benson to come.
"Mom can we leave now please" Sam begged already dreading the thought of Freddie watching her dance.
"I'll drive you" Freddie insisted.
"What a lovely idea, thank you Freddie" Mrs Puckett smiled.
"Fine" Sam muttered as she grabbed her bag and headed out of the door.
The car ride started off silent and awkward. Sam kept her head turned staring out of her window as she tried to erase the memory of the video she just watched and Freddie he was concentrating on the road ahead of him.
"So you still dance then" Freddie started, trying to break the silence between them.
"Yes. I guess you've found something you weren't able to destroy and take away from me" Sam snapped.
"Have you thought anymore about going to prom?" Freddie asked, ignoring what she had just said.
"No there's nothing to think about, I never go, I'm not changing tradition now" she told him.
"If it's because your expected to wear a dress you can go with your friends if you want to instead of me and mine and I'll make sure nothing happens to you. I promise" he replied.
"Did you not hear me when I told you yesterday? I don't have any friends and your the reason why. You took everyone away from me when you decided to hate me and everyone who tried to become my friend you befriended them first and made them hate me!" Sam yelled at him.
"I'm really sorry" Freddie apologised once more but this was one of the situations where an apology was no where near good enough. "Your Mom forgave my Mom and now their friends again. Is there any chance you can forgive me so we can be friends again?" he begged as he pulled up outside Sam's dance school.
"No! There's no chance at all!" she yelled once more as she picked up her dance bag.
"There's a girl waving at you over there. I thought you didn't have any friends" he suddenly questioned.
"That's my cousin" Sam snapped as she got out of the car and slammed the door shut hard.
Sam didn't tell him what time she needed picking up. So he didn't leave, he stayed sat in his car outside the dance school waiting for her to finish. He waited for the whole two hours until she finally came out.
"How did you know what time I'd be finished?" Sam questioned.
"I didn't, I waited for you" Freddie replied, taking Sam by surprise.
"Well, why did you do that? It's not like I wanted you to pick me up" she responded.
"Because I'm going to do what ever it takes to make it up to you and plus it's not safe to walk around this part of town at night" Freddie explained. "Especially in just that leotard your now wearing" he added awkwardly causing Sam to turn her head away embarrassed.
"Can you drive me home?" Sam asked.
"Sure, but your Mom's still at my apartment" Freddie told her. "Where do you live?" he questioned.
"Actually just go back to your apartment. My Mom's going to know something's up if I don't go back" she told him.
"Why doesn't your Mom know about the way I've treated you?" Freddie asked.
"I just never got round to telling her" Sam sighed.
"Sam-" Freddie started.
"please don't" she cut him off.
Those were the last words Sam and Freddie exchanged with one another that day, once getting back to Freddie's apartment Sam got out of her dance wear and soon after her mother was finally ready to leave. For now their mothers couldn't see what was going on between them, Mrs Puckett didn't seem to know how badly Freddie had been treating her daughter and Freddie understood why Sam hated him so much and knew that she had an acceptable reason to. He didn't want her to hate him though, he wanted to be her friend again and most of all wanted her to be happy but for that to happen he knew he had to work a whole lot harder.
A/N: Thank you all for all your reviews, glad you enjoyed the first chapter. Happy New Year everyone! I hope you enjoyed this chapter too, please review, thank you, Nadene!