Chapter Eleven (Secret Motives Revealed)

I hope you all enjoyed the last chapter; but I'm making this one bigger and better PROMISE! Please read and review. I love reading them all.

Sam and Carly got out of the car first; followed by Freddie and Jennifer. As Spencer exited the car, you could see that he was a little hurt by Jennifer's dad's comments. He didn't retaliate, it wasn't in his nature. But Sam on the other hand, had no problem with it. In fact…she was so angry at the way Jennifer's dad was talking down to him, she was making plans for her butter sock.

Sam and Carly were startled, when Jennifer's dad came up from behind them.

"Ready to meet with Dingo?" He asked as he walked past and up the sidewalk towards the front entrance of the building. To Sam…it was like de-ja-voo. Only this time; they weren't going there to stop the stealing of their web show skits; but to talk to them about some idea they had that Jennifer's dad refused to tell them about.

"Jen…what's Dingo want; I'm sure your dad told you about it?" Freddie asked quietly while leaning in towards Jennifer.

"I don't know…he didn't tell me."

"C'mon…he had to have told you something…what was it?" He asked not totally convinced she was being completely truthful with him.

"I told you that I don't know; don't you think I would have told you if I did?" She asked kind of annoyed.

Freddie was silent for a few seconds.

"You think I would have told you right?" She asked again; still waiting on him to respond to her.

"Yeah…I believe you." He said plainly.

They all entered into the big building; you could see Dingo photos of the founder; ones that had to be as old as the company. There were people in suits and dresses walking back and forth. Some of them were getting on and off the elevator; some talking by an office door; and others that were sitting on the lobby furniture.

Jennifer's dad led them to the counter so they could pick up their visitors passes; so they could enter the secured area they would be going into. Sam; Freddie and Carly all looked at their passes. "V.I.P." Carly exclaimed.

"Calm your chiz Carl's…there just I.D.'s" Sam said shaking her head at how easily Carly got excited about the littlest things.

All of them slid the ID over their heads; and followed Jennifer's dad over to the elevator, and waited for the doors.

"So…here we are. I think you're going to like why you're here."

"Exactly why are we here?" Sam said still a little upset at him for being so snobby and looking down at Spencer.

"I told you; I can't tell you."

"Why not? Why does it have to be a big secret?" Sam asked getting tired of the game.

"Because…it does." He said.

Sam was just about to lay into him; but the elevator door opened, and people were getting off interrupting her. Sam just huffed and pushed past the people getting off; not caring that she was bumping into people on the way in. Freddie shook his head. He was amused at how Sam was never one to mince words; and was always to the point about what was on her mind. He knew he never had to guess.

Once on the elevator; Jennifer's dad pushed the number ten button and then stepped back. On the ride up; Jennifer was noticing how Freddie's face looked when he was looking at Sam. It was if there was a bond between them. Jennifer never said anything; but she did keep it in the back of her mind. As for Carly; she looked over at Spencer who by this time had forgot about what Jennifer's dad had said, and was actually looking excited to be there.

The elevator doors opened and immediately they were met with the aroma of the food table. They walked down a long hallway filled with more Dingo pictures of their characters, and various other photos of movies and TV shows they produced. As they came to the end of the hallway; Sam could smell the familiar scent straight ahead them. It was the aroma she had always wanted for perfume; but nobody sold; and that smell was ham.

Out of nowhere, a perky little red headed secretary rushed over to Jennifer's dad.

"Good morning Mr. Cooglan; I have everything ready just as you asked." She said carrying some blue folders with her and handing them to him as she stopped in front of him.

"Thank you Cindy; that's it for now" He said as he reached out and grabbed the blue folders from her

Jennifer's dad turned around to all of them; and noticed Sam was missing.

"Where did Sam go?" He asked with his eyebrows scrunched up.

Freddie looked at Sam who was now over at the food table devouring ham by the handfuls and smiled. "Same old Sam." He thought to himself.

"Over there…" Freddie said pointing to Sam standing at the ham side of the table.

"Well; I guess you weren't kidding when you said she could eat like that." Jennifer's dad said with a smile on his face.

Sam turned around after hearing her name in the conversation, and saw everyone staring at her.

"Whab? Bis foob wonb eab ip pelf." She said with her mouth still full of ham.

After eating about half of the ham on the table; and about as many cheese and crackers she could muster; she was ready to get the talk over with.

"Sooo…John. Now that we're here…what's the secret?" Sam asked pointedly. Sam was not one to beat around the bush. She always fired straight from the hip; never really caring for small talk.

Jennifer's dad glanced quickly over at Sam; and then answered her question.

"What I have here is the answer. So why don't we go into the conference room over there and we can go over some things." He said heading towards the door.

"You said Dingo wanted to meet with us; where are they at?" Sam asked not moving; but instead, stood there with her hands on her hips.

"Yeah…where are the Dingo reps? We thought this was a meeting between them and us; not just you." Carly asked, while Freddie shook his head in agreement.

"Um…John. Being the guardian of Carly, I am going to have to ask that these kids get to do what you said was originally going to happen and that was to meet with Dingo. So far as I can see there isn't anyone here except you." Spencer pointed out; still not seeing any sign of anyone but John.

"Before everyone gets the wrong idea; they wanted me to go over part of why you're here, and then they will be here shortly after." He said looking frustrated.

"Sorry. No can do. No Dingo…No meeting." Sam said starting to feel that agreeing to the meeting was a bad idea.

"I'm in agreement with Sam. You said we were brought here to meet with Dingo. Not sit down in a room with their lawyer and discuss legality without even knowing why we're here first." Freddie said as he walked over to where Sam was standing; wrapping his arm around her shoulder in a show of protest.

Sam immediately shuttered at the feel of Freddie's arm wrapped around her. She could have stood there all day like that. Jennifer watched as Freddie wrapped his arm around her; not liking the idea very much, but trying to believe there was nothing to it.

"Why Sam? Carly was standing there as well? Why did Freddie choose Sam to put his arm around? Why did he have to put his arm around anyone for that matter?" Jennifer thought to herself and feeling uneasy about what she was seeing.

Just as her dad was going to try to explain one more time; the head of acquisitions walked in looking like a million bucks. He was wearing an Armani three piece suit and very expensive looking wingtip shoes, and a Rolex watch. He walked across the room over to Jennifer's dad; shook his hand, and patted him on the back.

"So…John. Have you told them why we wanted to see them here today?" He asked.

"I was in the process of doing that sir." He said looking a little nervous.

"We asked you here because we like what you do on your web show. You girls have a charisma about you that we would like to incorporate into the Dingo family. Would you be interested?" He asked walking over to them.

"Depends…what do you mean incorporate into the family?" Freddie asked. Just looking at the guy gave Freddie concerns about his intentions.

"I don't believe we caught your name." Sam said with her eyes squinted a little.

"Ted…my name is Ted. Shall we?" He asked pointing towards the conference room.

With a slight hesitance; they all agreed to sit down and discuss the proposal. As they entered the conference room; they were all in awe of the lavishness of the room. The big oval table made of black walnut, surrounded by tall back leather chairs; the giant flat screen TV hanging on the wall, and the highly polished marble floor that you could see yourself in. Freddie noticed the high tech conference equipment on the table. He was impressed with the quality of equipment they had at their disposal; his disposal if they agreed to join the family of programming. Sam walked around the table and over to a giant window that had a view overlooking the entire city. She looked down at the street and saw all the people that looked like ants; that were busily going about their day. Jennifer and Carly took notice of Sam and Freddie looking around the room like they were little kids in a candy store for the first time.

"Okay…should we get started? Just take a seat and we can get down to business." Ted said as he pulled out the chair at the end of the table.

Spencer sat down in one of the seats; and once again wiggled back and forth enjoying the sound of the squeaky noise being made from his movements. Jennifer's dad just rolled his eyes at the seemingly immature way Spencer acted; but didn't want to ruin the meeting by saying anything about it.

"Cindy? Can you bring in some water for everyone…and please no calls. Just take notes; I don't want to be interrupted during this meeting." He said holding down a button on a speaker box that was next to him on the table.

"Yes sir…right away." She said in a chipper and happy voice.

It wasn't even two minutes when Cindy came through the door with their bottled water; and began passing them out to everyone.

"Cindy…please pass these out to everyone." Ted said handing the stack of blue folders to her.

Cindy grabbed the folders from him and began passing them out; giving one to each of them.

"Now…before we begin, I want to tell you how happy I am that all of you agreed to come here today; I think this will be the start of a great opportunity for all of us." He said with his hands folded and elbows resting on the table.

Jennifer and her dad sat back smiling; enjoying what they thought was going to be a great change for everyone. But the looks of Freddie, Sam, Carly and Spencer's face, they didn't seem to be sharing the same optimistic view of the meeting.

Ted sat up in his chair and opened the blue folder that was sitting in front of him.

"Okay, first off…I would like to thank you all for being here. What we wanted to meet with you about is buying you're web site…before you say anything hear me through." Sam had heard enough, and wasn't about to listen to any more on a takeover of their web show.

"Listen Teeeed. You might as well save your breathe. There is no way we are going to sell our show to you." She said standing up and getting ready to walk out.

"Wait a minute Sam! You haven't heard the proposal yet." Jennifer yelled.

Freddie looked over at Jennifer in shock. To him it seemed that she did know what was going to be said at the meeting, despite her telling him earlier she didn't. Sam didn't listen or respond to Jennifer and walked out of the room.

"Sam! Wait up!" Carly yelled as she got up and followed behind her.

"I better go. I need to talk to Carly." Spencer said as he got up himself.

Freddie got up and walked over to Jennifer with fire in his eyes.

"You said you didn't know anything. Sounds pretty much like you did!" He said with anger in his voice; with his arms folded across his chest.

"Freddie; you don't understand. It was a surprise; I thought you guys would like it; you know seeing your show on TV." She said pleading to Freddie and trying to explain why she lied to him.

"Sorry Jen…but hiding something you know that is this important to us is unacceptable." He said in a low raspy voice.

"But Freddie I…" Freddie cut her off.

"No Jennifer…I thought I knew you better than this. And I thought you knew me too. Apparently I was wrong. Oh…and John; we won't need a ride back." He said as he walked away.

"Don't talk to my daughter like that!" Her dad said indignantly.

Freddie stopped and then looked back over his shoulder.

"I just did. Oh…and by the way; Jennifer we're through." He said as he turned around and continued out of the conference room.

As Freddie walked out into the hallway, he saw Sam and Carly along with Spencer over by the food table, trying to calm Sam down. Freddie knew she had a right to be mad; they all did. He made his way over to them and noticed Sam look up and over at him. He saw something; something he admired. Something he has always admired. Sam's strength and conviction.

"Good job Freddie; great girlfriend you have there…hope you're happy?" Sam yelled as she looked away from him. Sam knew there was more to her than she seemed; and now she knows why.

"Why did he have to go out with someone like her? Can't the nub see past the end of his nose? Why can't he see me? Doesn't he know how much I care?" Sam thought to herself feeling angry inside.

Freddie noticed something about Sam…something he had seen before. It was a look she had when he was around. He had noticed it before, but never thought much of it. When he would walk into a room and Carly and Sam hadn't noticed him; she acted different; kind of normal. But when she saw him, she changed slightly; and he was noticing that very change when he entered the hallway and walked over to them.

"She's not my girlfriend anymore." He said in a low voice; and with no emotion.

Sam felt a surge of energy rise up in her. She felt she had been given a second chance; one she wasn't going to waste.

"It's okay nub. You can do better than her anyway." Sam said; meaning herself; but trying not to show it.

"Oh…we'll have to find a ride home. I kind of told them we weren't going back with them." He said hoping he wouldn't get pummeled by Sam.

"No worries. Socko's got a cousin of his "Rider" I'm sure we can get a ride from him. I'll call Socko right now." Spencer said as he pulled his phone out of his pocket and began to dial.

Sam pushed the button on the elevator and it opened almost immediately. They all entered and rode down to the lobby; not even waiting on Jennifer, or her dad. Sam was feeling almost bad about her comment she had made to Freddie, and slid over to him.

"I'm sorry about you and Jennifer." She said while looking at the elevator floor.

"Thanks…" Freddie said looking at her; seeing a different Sam. If he didn't know any better; a caring Sam.

The elevator doors opened at the lobby and they all got out and headed out of the building; each one throwing their VIP passes in the trash as they left.

Sorry I took so long to update; but life's been busy lately. Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did writing it. Please let me know what you thought of it by reviewing or PM me with thoughts and ideas about how to continue the story. And once again thanks for reading, I love all the reviews. Keepem coming