The beginning of this one may look like a Creddie, but it actually turns out to be Seddie, so bear with me.

Everybody's Fool

Beautiful. Sweet. Intelligent. Perfect. Carly Shay had everyone believing she was perfect, even me. It seemed like it was all the time that I wanted her, no, needed her by my side. She was flawless, unreal. It was as if her very nature was perfect, almost self-indulged, actually, though everything about her was calling my name. But I know the truth now. The Carly that I knew was nothing more than a lie pitched to me for her own personal gain, and I'll never fall for her horrible greedy lies again.

"Freddie!" She called my name, triggering my instinct to move, to follow the voice of the girl I thought of as my own. I allowed my legs to carry me to the door of my apartment, which I opened to reveal the glorious face of my sweet Carly.

"What's up?" I asked, giving her a quizzical look. "Is there something wrong? You weren't supposed to meet me here for another couple of hours."

Carly smiled, placing her hand on my shoulder. "No, Freddie," she said in her angelic voice. "Nothing's wrong. I just came to tell you something."

"Tell me what?" I questioned, relaxing a bit as I pulled her into my home and sat on the couch, inviting Carly to take her place next to me. I handed her my unopened bottle of water from the end table next to the couch and said, "It's not my mom, is it? She's not driving you away or something, because if she is, I could just–"

"Freddie, relax," Carly said, cutting me off. "It doesn't have anything to do with your mom. Actually, it's just kind of something to do with my plans…" She took a drink of the water I had handed her before continuing. "I can't go to see that movie with you tonight. Spencer had other plans, and I didn't know about them until today. I'm so sorry, Freddie."

I stared at her, thankful that I had the ability to successfully hide horror and disappointment from my face. "It's cool," I said casually, as if what I had just said were true. "I'll just take Sam instead or something. I need to put aside my differences with her and become friends someday, huh?"

"Yeah, you probably should," was Carly's reply. She kissed my nose and smiled sweetly at me. "I'm glad you understand, though," she said gently. "Dating you was definitely one of my better decisions." She glanced at the clock. "Well, I have to go. Spencer and I are leaving in about an hour, and I need to get ready."

I raised myself from the couch, pulling her up with me. "Alright then." I kissed her half-heartedly before saying good-bye and sending her out the door.

"Okay, dork, why are you calling me?" Ah, Sam. She always did have a way with words. I knew she didn't hate me, though. We had a pretty decent friendship going on. Now that I was dating Carly, she was going a little easier on me, and we actually did become very good friends.

"I wanted to see if you wanted to go to a movie with me tonight," I said, just imagining what her face must have looked like. I knew Sam had a huge crush on me, and to tell you the truth, I didn't really care. It was better than being hated by her by far. "And after that I'd probably take you to dinner. You know, just as friends."

"I'd love to go, Freddie," Sam said softly, probably counting all her accounts of good luck in the last five minutes. "But what about Carly? I thought you were taking her out tonight?"

"Not anymore," I said, not bothering to hide my disappointment with Sam. "She said that Spencer had plans for tonight and he didn't tell her until earlier today, so it looks like my plans with her have been ruined." I took a slightly quivering breath before asking Sam the question that had been on my mind. "Hey, Sam?"

"Yeah, what is it, Freddie?"

"Carly and I seem to be drifting apart lately. It has been two years since we started dating, and we're sixteen now, so things are really starting to change." I sighed, not wanting to ask, but knowing that I had to. "Do you think her love for me is fading, that I'm just not good enough for her anymore, or is it my mom that's pushing her away? Because I feel like Carly doesn't really care anymore, and maybe she's just making up excuses to stay away from me."

"I don't think Carly would do that to you," Sam said gently. "But I don't know for sure. You're my best friend, though, and I'll see what I can do to prove or disprove your theory. When are you coming to pick me up?"

"Five," I told her, slightly confused. "Why?"

"I just needed to know if I had enough time to put my plan into action, and three hours is definitely long enough, with time to spare to get ready."

"Alright. And you'll tell me everything you find out over dinner?" I questioned, wondering what her plan could be and how it would possibly work.

"Sounds like a deal, Freddie," Sam said, laughing a bit. "I'll see you in a few hours, most likely with all the information you'll need."

"Ok, bye then. And thanks."

"No problem." With that said, she hung up, leaving me with three painful hours of wondering exactly how my life was about to change.

Five o'clock came sooner than I had expected, and I was soon on my way to Sam's house in the new car I had actually persuaded my mom to buy me for my sixteenth birthday with my Evanescence CD playing on nearly max volume. I had no idea how I had recently gotten into the band, but their music seemed to relax me no matter what the negative emotion I'd be feeling at the time would happen to be. At the moment, that emotion happened to be anxiety, yet at the same time, I was feeling strangely excited to be taking Sam out. But I didn't really feel like thinking, so I lost myself in the music until I finally arrived at Sam's place.

When I pulled into Sam's driveway, I was surprised to see her waiting outside with a look of sheer horror on her face. I jumped out of my car and ran over to her. "What is it? You look horrified by something, and I need to know what's going on!"

"I think we're going to need to skip the movie tonight, Freddie," Sam said very quietly, wrapping her arms around my neck. "There's just too much to tell you, so very much that Carly has been keeping from you, and me, these whole two years that you've been together."

"Maybe we should do dinner another night, too…" I said, my voice equally soft. "How about we just go inside and you tell me what you did to get Carly to tell you everything."

"That will work," Sam murmured, taking my hand to guide me into her house. "No one's home right now, so we can talk in any room you'd like."

"If you wouldn't mind, I'd like to keep this in the family room," I said, keeping it to a request rather than a command. "I just don't really feel comfortable talking about Carly anywhere else in your house. I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry," Sam said sweetly as she sat down. "Carly is the one that's going to be sorry."

"Tell me everything."

"You created a new MSN account, added Carly, posed as some guy from school and said to her, 'So who are you really going out with? I've heard rumors of both Freddie and Jake,' and she said that she was going out with both of us, but she loved Jake more?" My confusion and anger had risen greatly from the point it was at before Sam told me everything, and I was close to my breaking point. "And then you asked her what her plans for tonight were, and she said she was going out with Jake. She's betrayed me…"

"Yeah, that's the way it was. I'm so sorry it had to be this way, Freddie," Sam said, tears in her eyes, most likely from my anger, even though I had not once lashed out on her. "I had no idea Carly was doing this, because you know if I did, you would have known before now."

"No, don't be sorry," I murmured, taking Sam into my arms. "I find it impossible to love her anymore, anyway. Why would I love somebody who was going out with another guy behind my back?" I gazed into her sensitive blue eyes for what seemed like an eternity before saying, "Besides, I think there might be someone else that cares about me too much to let me find another bad girlfriend. In fact, I think I might know someone who would be willing to be faithful."

Sam's gaze shifted from mine to the ground. "Oh, I hope you two get along well."

I chuckled at her misunderstanding. "No, Sam," I laughed. "You're that girl. I know that you care about me more than anything else, and I think that I have always felt the same way. Maybe the only reason I ever liked Carly…was because I actually liked you so much." I kissed her forehead, causing her to fling her arms around me and lean into my chest.

"I really do care about you, Freddie," Sam said, her tears soaking through my shirt. "And I wouldn't want anything like Carly to happen to you ever again." Her eyes turned to stone as she looked up at me. "You need to break it off with Carly yourself, though. And in person. It's more powerful that way. Then, maybe she'll see what she's doing to people."

"I know," I agreed. "I'll make sure to do that later. Wait… Did she by chance tell you where she and Jake would be going tonight?"

"Yeah, wh– Freddie, you have such a devious brain," Sam said, smirking at the idea she could tell was forming in my mind. "I can't wait to see how this works out."

The restaurant was exceedingly crowded by the time Sam and I arrived, which only worked more to the benefit of the plan that Sam claimed to be one of the most devious things I've ever come up with in my life so far. "This is perfect," I said to Sam, grinning in a dark way that I didn't even think was possible for someone like me. "And how did you manage to find such a striking dress? I didn't think you owned anything that dressy."

"My mom made me wear it to homecoming last year, remember? You commented on its beauty then, too." She grinned widely at what she too as a compliment and began walking to an open table, taking my hand as she went.

The table Sam had chosen, though there weren't really that many to choose from to begin with, happened to be one with a good view of Carly and Jake's table, though they were blind of us. We took our seats and waited for someone to come take our order. Despite the numerous other guests in the restaurant, a waiter (Gibby?!) immediately came to our service, and after we ordered our drinks and had a short discussion with Gibby about when, why, and how he got his waiting job, we began speaking again.

"I can't believe she's doing this to me," I breathed, only refraining from slamming my fist against the table as to not draw unwanted attention to myself. "It's even harder to see this after all I've been through with her, and everything I've done for her. And Jake. I'm sure he doesn't know about this, either."

Sam reached across the table and grabbed my hand. "You don't need to worry about it anymore, Freddie. You've got this plan, and you've got me. Besides, you've unmasked Carly and found out who she really is. Now, she has nowhere to hide."

I gave a short, humorless laugh. "Why would she need to hide? I think she's so lost in this lie she's got going on, she can't even find herself." My opinion had been stated, and it was at that moment that I realized I was not only out for revenge against Carly, but she truly needed help. "Maybe if our plan succeeds, she'll be able to see what she's doing after awhile. It's a long shot, but it just might work."

Sam nodded and opened her mouth to speak, but at that moment, Gibby returned with our drinks. He quickly took our orders, made a bit of small talk, and left us alone once again. "How did we manage to get Gibby as a waiter?" Sam asked, glancing over at the boy as he stopped by another table and began talking to the people sitting there.

"Guess that's just our luck," I replied, looking once again at Carly and Jake, who seemed to be having more fun together than Carly and I had ever had in a single date. "But I think I should get this over with before they leave. They look like they're almost done with their dinners." I raised myself out of my chair and took a long glance into Sam's beautiful eyes. "I'll be back in a few minutes," I said softly. "You can watch from over the ledge, here."

I steadily made my way to the table that seated Carly and Jake, thankful that their table was in the direction of the bathroom, for it would probably be needed in my false explanation for noticing them. I saw many people from school around the place, and wondered why this seemed to be the only place people ever came for dinner. Thankfully, though, none of them seemed to be paying any attention to me.

Shortly after, I approached the dreaded table and smiled at Carly and Jake. "Hey guys," I said, nonchalantly, waiting for a reaction from Carly. "I was just heading toward the restroom and I noticed you guys sitting over here, so I thought I'd stop by and talk for a few minutes. Is that ok?"

"No problem at all," Jake replied, motioning for me to take the empty chair next to him. "What brings you here tonight, Freddie?" he asked as Carly looked at me nervously.

"Oh, just out with Sam. Need to get together with friends sometimes, I suppose," I said, darkly eyeing Carly. "You and Carly must be here as friends, right? Because she was supposed to come here with me tonight."

Carly looked at me with a look of horror on her face. "What are you talking about?" she asked, her voice quavering far too much for it to be an honest question.

"Save it, Carly. I know the truth now." I gazed into her eyes, successfully breaking down her will to hide this from Jake. "I know who you are, Carly Shay, and I don't love you anymore."

"Freddie, what's going on?" Jake asked, a look of nervous confusion on his face.

"That's not the question, Jake," Carly said, her voice almost inaudible. "How did you find out, Freddie? How did you know that I was going out with Jake?"

I motioned for Sam to stand, which caused Carly and Jake to look over in her direction. She shot Carly a dark glare and sat back down. "She's been helping me," I told Carly. "You said you had unknown plans with Spencer tonight, but I know that he wouldn't just pop something on anyone like that. So I had Sam look into it."

"That's who the person I was talking to on MSN today was…" Carly said in realization. "You tricked me!"

Jake slowly shook his head. "Carly, I think you're the one who tricked all of us," he said, disappointment clearly showing on his face. "And I also think that your relationships with Freddie and I never really were."

"And they never will be," I added, nearly feeling the wave of pain that I knew was flowing through Carly. "And you won't find anyone until you stop playing everyone around you." With that, I got up from my seat next to Jake. "I'm sorry, man," I said, placing my hand on his shoulder before turning to leave.

"No, Freddie," I heard Jake say as I began to walk away. "Carly is the one who should be sorry, because she's the one who will be paying tonight."

I smiled grimly as I returned to the table where Sam sat, and said to her, "Looks like everything's been taken care of."

"It also looks like Carly's going to have a little less cash, too," Sam added, gesturing toward the table where Carly now sat alone. "You think we should help her out? It'll still be about ten minutes or so before our food gets here."

"We probably should," I sighed, once again rising from my seat. "We are still her friends, no matter what happens."

"You're too nice, Freddie."

"Yeah, I know."

So I didn't exactly ditch her, but what was I going to do? I wanted to help her, because I didn't want to lose a friendship I'd had for so long. You might think I was just giving into another demand, but I just see what I did as doing the right thing. Any time I can help, I guess I just do. But I guess that's how things go, right? I am now going out with Sam, who I love more than anything, I'm still friends with Carly and I made a new friend in Jake. At least for right now, everything's perfect.

So Freddie breaks up with Calry and immediately hooks up with Sam, whom he now knows that he's actually loved for his entire life, and he even gets to keep Carly as a friend for an added bonus. That's all for this chapter, hope you guys enjoyed it.