Author's Note: So, this is the first chapter from Sam's perspective, so, I hope it turns out okay! I started it from Freddie's point of view, but I just didn't think it was working as well. So there we are.

Also, it wouldn't be fair if I didn't warn you: If you are in the mood for fluff today, don't read this chapter yet. Not a cheery one.

Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly.

Chapter Three: iFight

Monday afternoon, right after school, Sam got a text from Freddie. He was asking her to meet him at his apartment at four o clock. She didn't really know why he would want to meet her there, they were all going to Carly's for rehearsal later that night, and she thought whatever he wanted should be able to wait until then.

Her mind kept jumping to conclusions about what he could have to say. Her and Freddie had never been big on private conversations. She wasn't really his confidant, and he was not hers. So, unless Freddie had fallen in love with her over night or something (Ha! She thought, Likely!) then she didn't know what was going on.

The private meeting couldn't have anything to do with her putting hair dye in his shampoo bottle because he had already confronted her for that one. (She had been kind enough to use temporary dye, and now Freddie's hair was almost natural again, though in the right light it did still look a little purple.)

If she were going to be honest, even as she replied to his text with a 'maybe' she knew she would go. She was too curious not to. But because she didn't want to seem too eager, she decided to take her time getting there.

Sam finally showed up at his house a good hour after Freddie had asked her to, she pushed her way through his door holding a smoothie and a ham sandwich.

He raised his eyebrows at her.

"What?" She asked, giving him her best 'what's-the-problem' look, though she knew exactly what the problem was.

"You…Stopped for a smoothie and food?"

"Yeah?" She asked, like there was no reason that was strange. A small smirk appeared on her lips and she raised her eyebrows challengingly.

"Okay, then. Look, Sam, I've been wanting to talk to you about—"

"There's no hope for your nerdiness, Freddork. I'm sorry, it just can't be cured." She interrupted. She gave him a smug grin, stuffed the rest of her sandwich in her mouth, then pat him condescendingly on the cheek.

He sighed, "Sam, please, this is serious."

"What is it?" She asked, now feeling a twinge of concern. Had someone been hurt? Was he okay? Was Carly-?

"It's about Hutchins."

Sam stiffened. Of course, this was about him. Why hadn't she guessed that first? She folded her arms, and rolled her eyes. "You're going to tell me you don't like Jack, right? He's a bad influence and I should stay away from him, right?" She was sure she could predict every word of the speech.

"No! Well- I mean, a little, but—"

"Listen up, Freddifer, I don't need you to tell me who it's okay to be friends with."

"You think I don't know that?"

"Sometimes I wonder!"

Freddie took a deep breath, closing his eyes for a brief moment. Sam knew him well enough to be able to see the signs that he was fighting to remain calm.

"Please, just give me a chance to explain." He said, and she didn't stop him. She was actually curious about what he had to say about Jack. It wasn't exactly shocking to her that he didn't approve of the friendship. She knew for a fact that Carly didn't approve, but her friend had allowed it when she realized Sam was in no danger of falling for Jack.

Convincing Carly of this had cost Sam some of her pride. She'd been forced to tell Carly the name of the guy she really liked, which effectively convinced Carly there was no way Jack could win Sam's love. The conversation had ended with happy shock on Miss Shay's part though Sam had told her about five hundred times that she couldn't tell anyone.

"But Sam! You should tell him and—" Carly had begun, but Sam had stopped her.

"No. Not happening. And you won't be telling him either, hear me Shay?"

Carly released a loud sigh, "But- you two would be so, so—"

"No."

And now, the very subject of her and Carly's discussion was standing here, ready to give her a lecture on her choice of friends. Sam wanted to think he was jealous, but that idea was so farfetched it didn't last long.

The story Freddie told her about Jack and that new chick, Raylee, seemed to justify Freddie's dislike of him. In all honesty, the story disgusted Sam, and she planned to bring that up with Jack later. That wasn't how she played the game. There was a line you had to draw. She thought she could control Jack, though, assumed she could get him to better direct his meanness, given time. She hoped so anyway, because when he wasn't being even more of a jerk than she was, he was actually a fun friend to be around.

Sam stared at Freddie for a long moment, before finally saying, "Yeah, well, just because he does stupid things sometimes doesn't mean I won't hang out with him. I put up with you, don't I?"

It had been an unnecessary jab, but keeping Freddie at arm's length was her best option at the moment. Somewhere in the back of her mind she knew that he was probably giving her this speech because, at least, some part of him cared for her, but mostly, she just felt angry. She wanted to yell at him that unless he wanted to be her boyfriend, he had absolutely no say in the people she hung out with.

"Sam! He has fun hurting people! That's not just him making a mistake."

"Yeah, and so do I. So it should make sense to you that I'm friends with him!" That particular insult aimed at herself, and it had sort of come out by accident. It was scary to her that the words had slipped so easily, and so accidentally from her mouth.

"No, you don't. You're mean, sure, but you aren't cruel." Freddie's words could have been taken as a compliment or an insult. She knew, at least, he hadn't meant to be unkind. But at the moment she was in the mood to take everything the wrong way.

"Oh stop acting like you have some deep insight into my very being!" She spat, pushing back the guilt she felt on lashing out on him when he was so clearly just trying to help her.

He took a step closer to her, frustrated, "I know you, Sam!"

She gave a bitter laugh, and she saw confusion and hurt cloud his eyes. He knew nothing. He didn't know that every night she fell asleep wishing that someone would love her. That he would love her. He didn't know that when she pranked him it was because she desperately wanted to be on his mind, for even a second, even for something bad. He didn't know that every time she won a laugh from him while they did iCarly she smiled whenever she thought about it for at least week. He didn't know that her favorite color being brown had more to do with his eyes than with gravy. He didn't know. And he never would. All of this passed through her mind in barely a second, because she'd thought them many times before. She replied to him quickly.

"You don't know me near as well as you think you do."

"I'm just trying to help! Okay? Why are you so stubborn that you can't recognize when someone is worried about you?" He said, throwing his hands up in the air, frustration filled the sound of his voice.

"I don't want your help! I don't need it! I'm not some little damsel in distress who needs your worry or who needs you to ride in on a white horse to rescue her from the 'big bad meany Jack,'" She finished with the sentence about Jack in a ridiculous baby voice. The speech was more for her own benefit then for his. She wasn't some little princess that he so desperately wanted to save. She wasn't delicate. She wasn't a daffodil. She was just Sam. And he would never get that. He would never want that. Something she needed to convince herself of soon so she could escape the way her heart skipped when she saw him.

"I never said you were!" Freddie said, obviously getting angry now.

Good. She thought. Better if he's angry. Then she could justify her anger too.

"It might surprise you, that despite your constant assurances otherwise, I'm not an idiot! I'm not hiding in some little hole fooling myself about Sam Puckett and her personality! You aren't some princess waiting to be rescued and I never accused you of it! But I'm sick of you being too ridiculously proud to accept help!"

Sam refused to show the amount of hurt she felt at his statement. "I don't need help!" She shouted, "It's not 'helping' me for you to tell me who to be friends with! What do you think I am? Eight?"

Freddie clenched his fists, she knew she was throwing her words with perfect aim, she could see him getting angrier by the second, and she was glad.

"You sure act like you're eight!" He countered, glowering at her. "I mean, seriously, when will you grow up, Sam?"

"Oh yeah, and you're sooo mature that you're mommy has to cut up your dinner into itty bitty baby pieces for you!"

"It's no wonder me and Carly constantly have to babysit you!"

Sam's eyes narrowed and she lowered her voice dangerously, "Babysit me?"

By now, she had, apparently, made Freddie too angry to see the warning signs of Sam's rage and cool down or apologize for his statement.

"You heard me." He said.

Hurt hit her hard and quickly turned to rage. Was that all she was to him? Some dangerous girl that needed to constantly be watched or she'd ruin everything? Did he really think that? –But she couldn't dwell on that now.

"Oh, right." She sneered, searching her mind for the most hurtful words she could bring forward. But nothing came.

Freddie frowned, he retreated half a step backwards, lifting his hands in a sign of surrender, before taking two careful steps back toward her. "Look, I didn't meant what I said, let's just-"

"Oh, be quiet!" She said, pushing away a hand that he had lifted to rest on her shoulder.

"Sam, please, I'm sorry I just—"

"You just what, Benson? You just want me to stop hanging out with Jack and be a good little girl and eat my vegetables and take my naps just when the babysitter says?" She said, her voice mocking and full of contempt.

"I just don't want to see him hurt you!" Freddie pleaded.

You already did that for him. She thought.

She smirked, "Ohhhh. You're jealous?" She mocked.

Sam saw his face harden, his defenses went up, and the anger started to come back. "Don't be ridiculous! Like I would—" He stopped himself, but Sam had already gotten the message loud and clear.

She had known it before, but it was another thing entirely to hear it from his own mouth. She felt like she had been stabbed. Why had she even asked?

"Phew." Came the sound of fake relief, her voice became casual even though her words were harsh, "It would be really annoying to be followed around by a dork like you. I don't know how Carly dealt with it for so long."

"You know, a lot of girls really like me!"

Sam snorted, "Oh yeah? Who wants to be your girlfriend?" Me.

"You know, when I asked you to come here, I was trying to do something nice for you. I'm always trying to do something nice for you. While you are constantly knocking me down. What's your problem, anyway? Does it make you feel better to bash on other people? Do you have such lousy self-esteem that's built up on making my life miserable?"

He really hit the nail on the head with that one, Sam visibly winced, she knew he saw too because his face softened and a look of regret passed his face. He opened his mouth to speak but she spoke over him.

"Oh, boohoo. Poor Freddie Benson, the mean Sam Puckett makes his life so hard I don't even know how he bears it!" She rolled her eyes, "You know, it's really too bad we didn't have this conversation sooner." She said, in a tone of forced calm, "I can't stand you… You can't stand me… Think how much both of us could have been spared!"

"Sam, I—"

"No, no! Don't worry, I'm glad!"

Sam knew she needed to get out of there, and fast. She didn't trust herself near Freddie for much longer before she might not be able to keep at bay the tears stinging in her eyes. She turned and stalked toward the door, ripping it violently open.

"Sam! Come on! This is about Hutchins!" Freddie said, stepping toward her and reaching out as if to stop her.

She turned to face him again, "This stopped being about him a long time ago and you know it."

"Sam…" He stepped in front of her.

"Let's just both do each other a favor and stay out of each other's lives." She told him, pushing him out of the way so she could slam the door shut behind her.

As soon as the door was closed her eyes blurred with tears, she fought them as much as she could, furiously wiping at them to stop the tears falling. She knew if she ran down to the lobby and tried to get a bus, that Freddie would be able to chase her down. So, she held his door shut until she managed to stop her tears, and then pushed open the door to Carly's apartment, locking the deadbolt and the chain behind her.

"Sam?" Carly's voice sounded distant and blurred in a strange way. "Samareyouokay?"

"I feel sick…" Sam mumbled, which wasn't entirely untrue. She clenched her hand over her stomach so that it looked like she was ready to throw up. She felt an arm around her.

"You poor thing! Lay down on the couch right now. You sleep here tonight. I'll get you a pillow and blanket." Carly said, forcing her to sit on the couch before hurrying away.

Sam sighed and lay down on the couch and burying her face in the pillow, trying to think of something, anything but Freddie.

But every word he had said was echoing in her mind. Her brain had become a broken record player, and she could hear Freddie's voice tormenting her until she fell asleep late that night.

Author's note: So, you probably won't believe me after I put you all through that argument, but I love you guys! Thanks for reading! Sorry for this completely miserable chapter. I did categorize this as drama though, so…

Please be sure to let me know what you thought, and any constructive criticism you have would be greatly appreciated! I want to learn. :D Please do review! Thanks!

God Bless :D