Chapter Seven.

Carly Shay woke up very late the next morning, feeling horrid. She didn't want to open her eyes, but she knew that she should probably get up, anyway. She got up with a sigh, grabbing her phone from its usual place and shoving it into the pocket in her pajama pants. Her headache had gotten much worse, and she was almost sure she had a fever. "Spencer!" she called out as she groggily padded down the stairs, her comforter wrapped around her. He emerged from the kitchen after a second or two.

"Hey, kiddo," he said, smiling at her gently. "Are you feeling any better?"

Carly rubbed her eyes and shook her head, walking a few feet and then collapsing on the couch. "I feel like I got hit by a train." She rolled over and buried her face in a pillow, and Spencer came over and rubbed her back lightly, pulling the comforter up on her shoulder. "Well, you can sleep if you want," he said, and his voice seemed to be coming to her through jell-o. In two seconds she was fast asleep on the couch.

Then came the fever dreams.

She was telling Freddie he was a hero. "You are one…to me." She leaned in to kiss him, her heart pounding. But this time he pulled away, forcing himself back into the pillows. "I wish I'd never done it." He said, looking at her seriously. "I wish you didn't feel this way." She pulled back, her head spinning, and everything blurred until she was suddenly standing somewhere else.

She was in a hallway. Looking for…something. Someone. Oh, Freddie! Of course she was looking for Freddie. She turned and looked out of a window, and her jaw dropped at what she saw. Freddie was kissing Sam. Carly felt her stomach drop and her feet stuck to the floor. Her eyes went wide, and she couldn't fight the tears that sprang to her eyes and the heat that crept up her neck when Freddie unexpectedly turned and saw her. Was he smiling at her? Didn't he know how much this hurt? Somehow, she heard him speaking, even though they were far apart. "This is what I want. I never wanted you." His voice echoed in her ears until the world again shifted and she was standing somewhere else.

The iCarly studio materialized around her and she looked up, getting her bearings. Freddie was looking at her. "You're jealous." His voice floated to her, and though his words were soft and slow, they might as well have been a sword, for how they stabbed her. "You don't have a right to be jealous. I'm happy. I'm happier without you. I deserve to be happy." She felt tears rolling down her face, and then her world went dark, spinning with dizzying speed and streaks of bright light.

The spinning stopped and suddenly everything went into focus. All of the guys she had dated – a rather large number, actually – standing in a line. They were all speaking to her at the same time, but she couldn't hear any of it. Their faces were angry and accusing. She turned and ran with all her might, then tripped and fell to her knees at the end, her hair covering her face. Letting out a sob, she stayed there on her hands and knees, hoping she was far away from them. Then she heard a voice.

"You just can't get it right, can you?"

She heard the accusation in the voice. The anger. The annoyance. The sick amusement at her pain.

Carly looked up, her hair falling back out of her tear-streaked face. It was Freddie. All of the other guys were gone. She opened her mouth to speak, not sure what she would say, but he interrupted her.

"I don't love you." The next words were like a blow, and the wind was knocked out of her. "I hate you." She choked on a sob as he turned and slowly walked away from her, into the shadows. He left her crying alone, lying on the floor in the darkness.

"Carly?" A voice came from far away. "Carly!" She felt a hand on her shoulder and jolted awake, still choking and sputtering on her sobs. Before she had time to think, she wrapped her arms around her brother and latched onto him, crying into his chest. His arms enveloped her and he gently stroked her hair. "It's okay, it was just a nightmare," the brown-eyed boy said in a whisper. It took her a moment to realize that it wasn't Spencer who was speaking at all, but someone else. Then she froze.