That morning, Freddie, Carly, and I decided to walk to school together, which meant that I didn't get to sleep in and have my mom bring me halfway through the day. According to Carly, "it was a bad habit that needed to be canned", which is how we ended up at Skybucks before school.
"If you expect me to function like a normal person this early, then I need caffeine and lots of it." I said, taking another sip of my espresso, which sent a jolt of "WAKE UP DANG IT" through my veins.
"But you're going to have to take that with you on the road if you want to get to school on time," Carly said, standing up from the table we had been sitting at for maybe five or six minutes.
"Carly, relax, it's only like… seven forty-five." I said, taking another sip. "Assembly doesn't start until what…?" I turned to Freddie.
"Eight-thirty." He replied.
"Well don't you guys want to catch up with people?" she said. "You guys have barely seen anyone all summer except for each other and me."
"We'll be there in a little bit, okay?" Freddie said. "Give us a few minutes. We'll be along."
"Fine." She said. "But if you two are late, I'm not covering up for you!"
And with that, she hoisted her bag up higher and then walked out of Skybucks toward the direction of the school.
"Excited?" he asked when she had left.
"Excited?" I repeated with a chuckle. "For school? Are you sure you know me?"
"I'm pretty positive we've met once or twice." He said, kissing my temple. "But it's your senior year, Sam! You graduate high school in nine months!"
"Yeah, nine long, drawling, terrible, school-filled months." I said, taking another sip. "I'm lucky I even passed junior year. Forget graduating."
"You can do it. And now you have me to help you." He still tried.
"Whatever you say." I said. "Okay, now I have caffeine in my veins, and I need to walk it off. Let's go."
"Alright then." He said, standing up with me and grabbing our bags. "Here," he added, handing my trusty black and red plaid to me.
"Thanks." I said, throwing it over my shoulder with my spare hand. "Okay," I chugged the last bit of my espresso and then threw the cup away in the trash. "Let's go."
When we got to the infamous Ridgeway, students milled around out front, talking and texting and such as we walked up the walkway towards the doors.
"Hey Sam; Freddie." Some kids called.
"Sup?" I said back.
Did they even notice that Freddie and I were holding hands? That we were in extreme proximity to each other without mauling each other? We just continued to walk inside to the building, which still smelled like school; the smell the homework, teachers, and wedgies.
"Wow…" I said, looking around at the building with the typical posters reading not-so-catchy phrases like "Reading Is Cool To Stay In School!" and other ones like, "Be Kind And Use Your Mind!" and my personal favorite, "We Love Food A Bunch, But Save It For Lunch!"
"Didn't miss it too much?" he asked.
"Not one bit." I said.
"Sam!" Wendy said, coming over to us. "Dude, I haven't seen you all summer! How ya been?"
"Hey Wendy," I said simply. "I've been good."
"Cool," she said, and then looked down at me and Freddie's hands and then up to me and then to Freddie and then back to me. "Are you two…?"
"Yeah," I said with a shrug. "We are."
"Since WHEN?" she said in surprise.
"July 6th." Freddie replied with a smile.
She nodded. "Well I got to get going. I'll see you around."
And then she was off.
"Sam, quit staring at Freddie." Carly nudged me.
"What? I'm not staring at him." I said quickly.
"You so are." Carly said with another nudge.
"Shut up. Principal Franklin's talking." I said just to get off the topic of the conversation.
"Good morning, students." Principal Franklin said. "As many of you know, I am Principal Franklin. This year is going to be a great year for Ridgeway. Now, all of you should have gotten your schedules in the mail, and your homerooms and locker numbers are listed on that, so you can all be adjourned to your respective classrooms. Have a great day and cheers to the new school year!"
As he stepped down off the podium, teens got up from their seats and pushed their way around to the door.
"So we were called in here for that?" I asked to Carly as a few kids pushed past us.
"Guess so." She said with a shrug. "You do have your schedule, though, right?"
I zipped open my backpack and dug around threw its mess.
"Ah, here it… nope, never mind that's an old test from a year ago… that's a pencil, a drawing… here it is!" I finally said, pulling out a crinkled and torn piece of paper.
Carly rolled her eyes. "Where's your homeroom?"
I squinted and tried to re-arrange the tearing paper together. "I can't tell if this says room 11 or room 17."
"Sam, senior homerooms are upstairs… in the forties. Is that your freshman schedule?" she said, trying to piece stuff together.
"Oops." I said, looking at the school year at the top. "Yep… 2008-2009."
"Augh, Sam! Go to the school office and get a new one." She said. "I have to get to homeroom. Run or you'll be late!"
She shoved me along and I pushed past the other groups of high schoolers until I got out of the gym and went towards the school office. Oh the times I've had in this place.
The receptionist looked up at me. "Puckett? Already?"
"Relax, relax. I need my schedule. My rabid cat ate mine." I explained.
What? It wasn't totally a lie. Frothy eats a lot of non-edible items, of which a schedule could be one of them.
She rolled her eyes and then went through her computer a little bit before pulling up my schedule and printing it out. She handed it to me with narrowed eyes.
"Thanks." I said snatching up the schedule and looking over it quickly. I was in room 42 for homeroom.
I walked out of the office and then upstairs to the second floor where doors were just about to shut. I passed a few rooms… 45, 44, 43… and then came to 42 right as the door was about to shut.
"I'm here, I'm here." I said, slipping in before it shut.
"Have a seat, Miss Puckett." The teacher that I had never seen before said. She must've been new.
I took the only empty seat in the front by the window and set my bag down as the teacher droned on about classes and what to expect and all that stuff. I didn't even think I caught her name. She didn't write it on the board or anything so if I forget; it's her fault, not mine.
I looked around the room, filled with a bunch of kids in my grade that I didn't even know. No Carly, Freddie, Gibby, Wendy, Brad… no one. However when homeroom ended, it seemed that everyone knew me.
"Hey," a random guy said, coming up to me. "You're that blond chick on iCarly, right?"
"Uh yeah." I said. "But I have a name. It's Sam."
"Yeah, sure. Is the brunette dating anyone?" he asked.
I looked him up and down a little. Sandy hair, tan skin, tight polo shirt…
"Her name's Carly." I finally said. "And she'd hate you."
Then, when I walked downstairs for my first class, a group of giggly freshman girls were gawking from their lockers.
"Oh… my… God, guys that's Sam! That's Sam from iCarly! We go to school with the iCarly crew!"
I stopped and chuckled a little. "You guys want an autograph? It'll last longer than staring."
I was being sarcastic, but then a girl held out her arm with a sharpie.
"Can you sign my arm? It's Emily Franklin. E-M-I-L-Y." she said as I took the sharpie.
"Hey didn't we say happy birthday to you once with your dad on our show?" I asked as I signed her arm.
"Oh my gosh, you remember?" she gushed.
"Uh yeah. I guess." I said, handing her sharpie back. "Anyways, get to class or whatever."
"Okay!" she kept gushing as I walked away, and then I heard her add, "You guys here that? Sam Puckett remembers me! Sam Puckett knows my name!"
