Sam was laying in the hotel bed after what transpired with the tournament. The things that she said earlier, about Freddie, were still resounding in her mind. She wears a blank expression but her mind cluttered with thoughts. The cold, callous, words that echoed out of her mouth, were words that she never would have uttered out to anyone to be honest, but it didn't mean she was apologetic. She meant every single word she said, and despite how evil it sounded, that is what she really thought of Fredward Benson.
To her he was her pawn… and she loved it. Everything, from: her making fun of his "love" for Carly, to the total number of jokes and embarrasing assaults in front of all of Ridgeway. It's what made her years at Ridgeway fun. She reveled in it, she was proud of what she could do to people mentally. To be honest, after the fiasco at the All-American Game that forced her to take the Volleyball Scholarship after she received no offers for basketball, she felt, especially, miserable. And like the saying goes; 'Misery Loves Company.'
She was still deep in the depths of her mind when Carly opened the door and closed it behind her. That shook her out of her thoughts. A sudden tense draft overwhelmed the entire room.
"Hello." Carly said with a deadly tone staring straight at Sam.
"Hey, Mrs. Gibson…" Sam said, still staring up at the ceiling, "… how was hanging with Mr. Gibson?"
"Fine," Carly's face turned a light shade of red, "I had a VERY interesting conversation with Gibby."
"Uh, Really?"
"Yes, Really! Why would you do that to Freddie!"
"Well it's true what I said about Fredwina he is, to sum it up, a hundred and forty-five pounds of pure fail!"
Carly, then, dropped her jaw, "Sam! I was talking about poisoning that player to force Freddie to have to play an-" Then she thought more about what Sam just said. "Sam… what else did you say… and to whom?"
"Well," Sam dragged. "I may have said some words to Jonah about the nub."
"What words?"
"Are you serious!" Carly was shocked at the things Sam was saying. She never would have believed it, coming from any other mouth, the things Sam Puckett have said about Freddie. No matter what she has done to him she would think she was messing around, but to hear what she said about Freddie was stunning her.
"I am not apologizing, at all, for what I said, Carly. You and, especially, me know how much of a loser Fredweird is!"
"Look, ok, so: Freddie is really smart, and he has a huge Galaxy Wars collection, and is our Tech Producer, and President of the A/V Club. It doesn't always mean he's a loser! Remember Shane?"
"Well," Sam says a little taken aback. She was sort or surprised at first and then she thought, Its Carly, she would find the nice in Hobos even, "Look Carlotta, Shane," She puts her left hand up, "Way hot! while Fredward…" her right hand touches past the bed and nearing the floor. "Just plain... NOT!"
"Look, I know you Sam. You CAN'T mean the things you said to Jonah. You obviously forgot he was the only one to believe you about that chizzbag Missy at the time?"
"Well," Sam said defiantly "I was very," Sam, then, puts her balled up fist up near her chin and added a sly smirk. "Persuasive."
If, by persuasive, you mean, begging Freddie at a huge time of need, during the worst time of her life… then yeah, she was very persuasive. It was impressive, even for her, the act she was putting on for Carly. To be exact, she was grateful beyond belief, and was glad of what he pulled off to truly put Missy away. But her defiant denial doesn't want that to be known... by anyone…
Ever.
"Well, Sam, you have to know that he is more than that as he, SAVED MY LIFE!"
"Pssh! Puh-lease! It was a simple taco truck, you could have took it head on."
Carly, still standing, put her hand to her head in frustration, "Sam, you can't be serious..."
"Look, you know that in the end those short bouts of super-human strength was what it was… short! Now, if you want to join the wagon of Benilevers go, right on, ahead..."
"C'mon Sam, 'Benilevers'?"
"What? making new words makes me sound smarter." she gave her statemnt a quick thought, "I mean, just, looks good smart not 'nerdy' smart."
"Yea, whatever Sam." Carly sits on the bed, beside a laying down Sam, and stares straight at her. "I just hope nobody close to Freddie, heard what you said," Carly pauses for emphasis, more than anything else, "or Freddie himself for that matter."
"Well, if they did so what, maybe he will gain some cartilage, and proves me wrong." Sam finally sits up and just leers into Carly's soul. "And until that happens, I will always believe that Fredward Benson is nothing but a: weak, nerdy, foolish, dork!" Sam sat back with a confident smirk on her face, "Carls I think today has shown how Fredwina Benson REALLY is, and this bet" She puts her hands behind her head, "Is mine to lose..."
But what she couldn't shake out of her mind was: What if someone heard and told Freddie? What would happen? But that thought was light in the back of her mind, as she was visualizing Freddie in that infamous Steven Q. Urkel outfit in front of the University of Washington crowd, and a large smirk played across her face.
Late July - The practice court of The Hec Edmundson Pavilion
Jerome and Rudy decided to get In a game of one on one before tryouts started.
Jerome took the ball at the top of the key. He maintains a steady dribble as he looks Rudy in his eye. He feigns a move to his left but Rudy isn't fooled. Jerome resets himself and calculates his next move. Rudy reaches to steal the ball. Jerome spins and charges to the basket. Thanks to his long stride, Rudy is able to recover. Jerome finds himself in front of the power forward. He lets his instinct take over and he switches hands. He backs up as if he's going to reset. Rudy takes the bait and eases up. Jerome takes his opportunity to try to blow by his opponent. Rudy is taken off guard by the action but quickly springs towards the basket. Jerome stops and lifts to shoot rather than drive to the basket. Rudy leaps and gets a finger on the ball just before it flies out of his reach. The ball hangs in the air.
A lot of good can be, and has been, said about Jerome, but one thing he couldn't do was out rebound Rudy. Rudy comes down with the ball and takes it back outside of the three point line. "You're gonna have to do better than that Rome." He would say with a smirk. "Especially if we're gonna make a splash in the tournament this year." Rudy drives to the basket.
Jerome backpedals to stay in defensive position. "What do you mean if?" Jerome would say as he took a halfhearted swipe at the ball. "This is the Pac 10. Our only competition is UCLA." He moves to press Rudy, to try and force a mistake.
Rudy backs off, "I'm well aware of the competition, but don't sleep on Cal. They're returning a lot of players and plus they have the guy from San Jose, James Abernathy." Rudy starts to back Jerome towards the basket.
Jerome extends a hand to keep Rudy from getting too close. "Yeah I'm well aware of him… but he could turn out to be a wash." While Jerome is talking, Rudy spins to his left and Jerome manages to knock the ball away.
It goes out of bounds and Jerome goes to retrieve it. Rudy heads to the three point line. "It's possible, but let's be real about it. There's very little chance of that actually being the case. He received scholarship offers from Kentucky, Florida, UConn, and the rest of the Pac 10." Rudy says as Jerome passes him the ball. He waits for Jerome to get reset, "The only difference between you and him is that he's in Cal while you're at Washington." They check the ball and resume their game.
"Man, whateva, I saw him play. I'd run him up and down the court." Jerome remarked, as Rudy backed him towards the basket.
Rudy releases a chuckle, "I'm sure he says the same thing." Rudy fakes a spin to the right, then pivots on his left foot to spin to his left. He rises and releases the ball. Jerome doesn't have a chance to block it. He watches the ball sail into the basket.
Rudy pumps his fist and goes to retrieve the ball. "Please. I'll mop the floor with 'im." Jerome says as he takes his place at the top of the key. "By the time I finish with him…" Rudy passes him the ball and they check, "…He'll be calling me the janitor." Rudy stares at Jerome with a blank look on his face. Jerome takes his opening to shoot the ball.
Jerome releases a chuckle as he runs past Rudy to retrieve the ball. As Rudy catches the ball he continues to stare at Jerome. Finally he forces his mouth to move, "You are so lame." Rudy remembers the original topic of conversation, "Anyway, I hear Oregon is slated to make a comeback." Rudy backs down Jerome once again. This time he spins to right and rushes towards the basket. Before Jerome can recover, Rudy is already in the air sailing towards the basket with ball in hand. He throws down a slam dunk and hangs on the rim for good measure.
Jerome walks to the three point line, "You only hear that because of Oregon's newest gimmick." Jerome catches Rudy's pass, "How're you gonna try to psyche out another team with floorboards? It looks cool and all, but come on man, let's get serious."
Rudy checks and surprises Jerome with a long shot of his own, sprinting to the basket after he lands from his jump shot. As he predicted, his shot doesn't go down. Jerome snatches the rebound before Rudy gets to the ball.
"Yea, but the main focus is about the team that we play for..." Rudy says as he went in defensive stance ready to take anything from Jerome.
"Well I like the Gibson guy, high energy, now if he would only keep his shirt on..." Jerome eyes Rudy and goes to a stance that has him ready for his next move, ball gripped two hand solid and away from player.
"Yea, I know. But we have some alright players her already Coach Lo' knows what he is doing for the most part." Rudy decides to rush in and attempts to make the steal.
"I know man, and we have a Strong Backcourt Seward and I scoring like mad men, but I trust that this season things can happen..." But Jerome takes advantage and with a burst of speed slides past him, and instead of a layup he would stop form up and make that patented quick release. Ball goes in all net.
"I don't know about that, we are pretty young overall, but we will see." Rudy just shakes his head on how quick witted Jerome is, He has learned from his cousin well, he thought.
"Well at least your girl troubles hasn't gotten to your game," Rudy turns around after saying the first parts and mumbles "Yet,"
"Henderson?" Jerome turns quickly and meets Rudy eye to eye, " I heard that..."
As Jerome was gonna deny that he has any, the practice gym door opens, and nervous looking Fredward Benson comes walking in with an eager looking Gibby next to him.
