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Freddie's POV

My alarm awoke me with its incessant buzzing. I reached over from my bedside and hit the SNOOZE button hard. The early rays of morning crept through the blinds and hit my face, warming it as I moved out of my bed.

The occurrence from the night before still lingered in my brain. I could still feel a tingle where my fist connected with the jerk's face. I couldn't believe how openly he'd flirted with Sam. What else I couldn't believe was how angered I was by that. I was like a rabid dog with the madness he caused me; surprised I didn't start foaming at the mouth. I didn't even like Sam that way. But why did I do it?

I walked over to my closet and grabbed randomly from an endless sea of polos. The lucky one I got had blue-and-black stripes. Sam hates stripes. I whipped my bed shirt off and tugged the polo on, thinking about the girl. I still didn't understand why I'd beaten up "Finn" because of her. She'd probably kill me for ruining her chance, but she would've done that by now. Why hadn't she? She had actually comforted me as I, ashamed, sat alone in the rain. Heck, we shared a jacket. Almost like acquaintances. Or friends.

Or lovers.

I shook that away. No way was I truly in love with Sam. I only pretended for Andrea, because of the challenge. Thank goodness I had that reason to save me from painful questions. Sam kept prying to see if I was envious. I didn't want her to know, because then it'd be awkward for no reason. So I said it was an act. It was strange to say so—the words felt foreign on my tongue—and she mysteriously looked…hurt after I uttered them. But if she was hurt then that meant she really liked me, which was impossible.

Right?

I tugged my pants on after yanking my pajama shorts off. Then I put on my high tops and left for the kitchen. The aroma of bacon grease filled my nose. Mom was always up early to cook me breakfast (she said it was "the most important meal of the day for a growing boy! You don't want to be unhealthy, do you?"), a motherly nurturing I didn't protest to. Sometimes, though, the breakfast was Fiber-Nuts or soy milk with oats. But those were when she went on health kicks, usually after a doctor's visit. Most of the time she fed me good stuff: bacon, waffles, eggs—I liked them scrambled—French toast, sausages; the stuff you want to digest before school.

"Mornin'!" I said cheerily.

"Good morning, Freddie!" Mom said back with the same chipper voice. I went over to the couch where I normally deposited my backpack before bedtime but it wasn't there. I searched around the couch but I never saw the blue fabric of my backpack.

"Mom, where's my backpack?" I asked, going up behind her. She turned to me after flipping the bacon in the pan; she was giving me a weird look.

"In the closet." she said. She sounded perplexed, like I should know my backpack was there.

"Why'd you move it?" I asked, "I thought it didn't bug you." She lifted the pan away from the stove and brought it over to the table. I followed her steps.

"It doesn't." she said, "You aren't going to school today." I stopped moving and stared dumbly at her. No school? It wasn't the weekend, and it wasn't winter so no snow day. No holiday, and I knew I wasn't sick. My mom wasn't one to want her son skipping school for any reason; she was just as strict about my education as she was about my hygiene. Her saying there was no school with no reason was like saying I was allowed to walk in the middle of traffic.

"Huh?" I said as she put the bacon on two plates, "Why? A…family reunion or something? No one's sick, right?" She shook her head.

"No, and no." she said, "Actually, you're not attending school all week. Your principal has dismissed you from school, saying someone told him you, Carly, and Samantha were working on some sort of science project. He wasn't sure and said you could probably tell me." I was befuddled by what she meant at first, but in one seconf it all snapped into place: the challenge. This was the work of Andrea.

"Er, yeah, that's it." I said, moving toward my bedroom, "We're testing to see how not attending school affects different personas."

"Oh!" Mom exclaimed, "That's nice!" I ran into my room before she could say more. I grabbed my laptop from my desk and clicked on my mail. There were two new e-mails in my Inbox. Clicking it open quickly, I found one was from Andrea.

I clicked it open and read her message:

I talked with your principal to get you and the rest of iCarly out of school for the week. Don't worry, no one knows; I said it was a science project. It's all part of the challenge, mind you. If you propose to, marry, etc. Sam, you can't be in school, can you? Adults don't attend school, do they? Have fun.—Andrea

It was Andrea's doing! She got us out of school so we could realistically do the challenge! Ugh, she was intelligent. Why couldn't she be a stupid viewer?

I deleted the e-mail and went to the other to find it was peculiarly sent from…Principal Franklin?

I remembered my visit to his office the other day, and suddenly his e-mailing me wasn't so odd. He had offered to purchase Sam's wedding ring, not knowing we weren't really marrying and that we would do so Wednesday. I tried to convince him otherwise but he held firm. So I had to awkwardly explain that I needed it tomorrow. At first he was confused and a little worried, but I told him Sam and I "got permission from our parents and the state, so we're good to go". He didn't seem to like and/or understand still, but agreed to go ring shopping the next day. His e-mail was basically him telling me to meet him at Biel's Jewelry Shoppe.

I deleted that one too and set my laptop back on the desk. I decided there was no way of wiggling out of that, so I left my apartment for the jewelry shop. My mom started yelling at me for not eating, so I lied to her, saying I would eat at Carly's. She reluctantly allowed me to go, thank goodness.

I walked out to my car in the parking lot. It was a shiny blue, one of my favorite colors. As I entered it, Hanson's "Weird" blasted from my pants pocket. I yanked my cell phone out and saw Carly's number. I sighed in relief, for I thought I'd see a blonde's number instead.

"S'up?" I said, buckling up.

"Hey!" she said, "Where are you?"

"Going to…the ring shop." I muttered swiftly, half-hoping she didn't hear. But as a squeal echoed from the opposite side of the phone, I knew she'd heard.

"Cool!" she cried, "What kind are you getting? How big? How expensive? Freddie, answer!"

"Geez frickin' Louise, Carly!" I laughed, "I don't know, probably small, and definitely cheap. Happy?"

"No." I sighed; she wasn't going to be satisfied until she saw the ring with her own eyes.

"Well, you'll just have to calm the heck down for now, okay?" I said. There was a "humph" from the other end and I knew Carly was pouting. Smiling to myself, I said "Goodbye" and hung up. I saw that I had arrived at the ring shop after doing this. Principal Franklin was waiting outside, looking at the rings. I sighed in defeat, parked the car, and rushed to meet him.