THE SMOOTHIE KISS

A glimmer of arctic ice shot through Carly's eyes. Her lips tightened and her entire face turned hard as stone. "So be it," she said softly. "Love the jerk," She threw Sam a glare. "But," she tossed her hair, "know what you're missing."

"Carly, can't we all just be friends?" I groaned. "I'd hate this to hijack iCarly."

"It's not going to ruin iCarly," Carly said, curling her lip. "But I don't want to be your friend. I've never wanted to be just your friend. And I wouldn't be Sam's friend if she was the last person on earth! But we can all act, right?" Carly wrinkled her nose as if Sam was the most futile, disgusting slug that had crawled up onto her black-and-white checkerboard Vans and then flounced off to where Jake Krandle was sitting. He looked surprised; they hadn't talked for ages. But one smile from Carly's glossed-up pout, he was spellbound. "Carly's my best friend. Wish she didn't fancy you," Sam sighed, raking a hand through her wheat-coloured ringlets. Her cornflower-blue eyes skimmed over Carly and Jake and she raised her eyebrows. "But sheesh, she's like a boy-magnet. Honestly!" I looked over at Jake and Carly, and already, they had obviously arranged a date and were looking into each-other's eyes.

I took Sam out into town after school; iCarly didn't start until two hours. "This is awesome!" Sam grinned. "We can go to Glitter Gloss and Build-A-Bra and-"

"Or we could just go to the Groovy Smoothie," I raised my eyebrows.

"Ugh, can't we ever go somewhere else? Hey, how about the cinemas? They have that new film, y'know, Breaking Dawn," Sam said, her eyes shining. I just couldn't say no. So, we held hands and made our way to Schneider's Cinema. We grabbed our tickets and the middle seats on the back row, so things were pretty blissful. "This is SOOO cool," Sam grinned. "The best date ever."

"Really?" I raised an eyebrow; Sam had had a dinner on a boat with one boy, and with Jonah she went to a water-park. "Yeah."

Breaking Dawn was cool. I guess. Sort of girly, though. I shifted uncomfortably in my seat as Edward uttered those unbelievably cheesy words about foreverness and all that jazz. I grappled Sam's hand and whispered, "Forever." We started spluttering with laughter and the cheesiness of it, and Sam's laughter danced up into the air like a promise, swerving around me and making me smile. Once Breaking Dawn was finished, we grabbed a milkshake each and headed off to Carly's apartment.

When we got in, Carly was there, her face pink as a grapefruit. "Oh my god!" she shrieked.

"What?" Sam wanted to know, raising an eyebrow.

"Don't you guys ever look at the time? iCarly started an hour ago! You guys were too busy caught up in your little love-fest to remember iCarly?"

I was stunned. "iCarly already started?" I asked.

"Yes, yes it did! I had to apologize because my dumb friends decided to bail!" yelled Carly. "Where've you been?"

"Schneider's Cinema," Sam bit her lip.

"Look, cool it, Carly - we can tweet that iCarly's about to start and we can do it anyway," I shrugged. Carly turned and crossed her arms.

"I'm sorry, I've got to go and write a blog about my thoughtless friends!" she said angrily, storming upstairs.

"C'mon, I'll walk you home," I sighed, holding onto Sam's wrist. Sam smiled at me and kissed me softly, and all the worries of Carly and iCarly and Creddie and Seddie dissolved, and my mind was filled with Sam, every inch of her angel's face, every strand of her sunrise-gold hair. But it was over too quickly, and we pulled back, blinking. "I'm going to find Carly. I've got to make her see."

Sam ran upstairs. I sat down, buried my face in my hands. Groans exploded from my lips like fireworks - only more black and more dull, but just as scary. I heard Sam and Carly chatting, softly, discussing. Carly started to raise her voice, and I wanted to run away, plug my ears, get out of this mess. I sucked in my breath, rose, and exhaled, before marching up those stairs and pushing the door open.

Carly and Sam were sat on the ice cream sandwich bench. "Hey," I rose my hand.

"Sup," Sam replied.

"Hey," Carly smiled thinly. She got up, shaking slightly and neared me, looking tearful and colour-drained. She reached out with a quivering hand and wrapped it round mine, before shaking it rapidly and then retrieving her hand again. "I will always like you," Carly said, her voice wobbling. "But I know that you don't like me that way. I - I guess I've been acting like a spoilt brat. I'm sorry."

"S'OK," I nodded. Carly smeared some of her make-up as she dragged her arm over her face.

"No. No, it's not, I've been behaving like a -" Carly used the words that she hates: "A skunk-bag. I'm sorry. But I do still like you. I think I deserve you. I know I do."

"And so, we've come up with an idea," Sam said regretfully, looking slightly edgy and angry. "We're gonna ask the iCarly fans who they think should date Freddie."

"That's unfair! I want to date Sam!" I said angrily, and Sam nodded pitifully.

"This is fair. They can vote. OK? It might just be one date, but they're gonna decide. It's a great idea," Carly disagreed.

"No! I love Sam!" I objected. Panic fluttered inside me a caged bird; what if they chose Carly? I would hate that. Her kisses, her love, her soft, glossed-up smile - they meant nothing to me.

"Freddie. Just let her," Sam sighed.

"Yo, yo, yo!" grinned Carly, bouncing onscreen, tossing her hair and smiling her shiny grin.

"Sup, sup, sup!" laughed Sam, grinning over the camera at me. I smiled anxiously.

"No, this isn't our normal iCarly time - but we have a poll for you!" Carly grinned. "K. A lot of people think that Sam and Freddie should go out - but some people like Creddie too. Well, I like Freddie."

"I love Freddie!" Sam piped up. "OK, so comment below on who you think should date Freddie. The largest amount of votes will happen! This is your chance to make Seddie happen!"

"Or Creddie," Carly glared at Sam, but then smiled and swung an arm round her shoulder.

"But don't worry! Sam and I will remain BFFs!"

On the reviews page, vote on who Freddie should date.