Carly and Freddie stood there, silent, as the watched Sam continued to pack her bag. Carly felt as though Sam had just hurled an enormous weight at her and Freddie thought his legs were about to give out from under him.

"Sam," he said weakly. "Sam, you-you can't leave again."

"Watch me," Sam said, narrowing her eyes.

"But you-"

"In L.A., I didn't have to worry about people keeping things like this from me," Sam snapped. "Cat never lied to me about this kind of stuff!"

"Sam, we're sorry!" Freddie said. "We know it was wrong. It was a mistake, a huge one!"

"Sorry doesn't change the fact that you hid this from me for over a year!" Sam said harshly.

"Yeah, and neither will running away again!" Freddie exclaimed before he could stop himself.

Sam glared at him as she zipped up her bag. "I'm not running away."

"Yes you are!" Freddie said. "You're running back to L.A. because you don't want to stay here and deal with something that you don't want to! Well you know what, Sam? I was stupid enough to let you do that once but I'm not gonna make the same mistake twice."

"Sam, please," Carly said. "Let's just talk about this. You don't need to leave and-"

"It's too late to talk!" Sam said angrily.

"Sam, no it's not, we can still fix this!" Freddie said desperately. "I-I love you."

For a moment, Freddie thought he saw Sam's face soften, but the next second her scowl had returned. She picked up her bag. "Yeah, you love me alright," she said, her voice dripping in sarcasm. "Now get out of my way."

"Sam, it-you can't leave!" Freddie said again as Sam stormed past him.

Carly and Freddie followed her at once as she headed out of the house and down to the curb where her bike was parked.

"Sam, it-it's about to pour!" Carly said, looking up at the dark sky. "You can't leave; you'll get caught in the middle of the storm."

"Well then that will work out perfectly for you two," Sam said happily. "You'll be able to kiss in peace!"

"For the tenth time, it wasn't like that!" Freddie said loudly as Sam grabbed her helmet. "And you're not leaving, Sam! I'm not losing you again!"

"Try and stop me," Sam snapped as she hopped onto the bike.

Freddie took a deep breath, feeling braver and more determined than he ever had in his whole life.

"Fine," he said, taking out his keys. "If that's how you want to be…"

And before she could stop him Freddie slashed the front tire of her bike, the air spurting free.

Carly gasped.

Sam looked livid.

Even Freddie was surprised by his own daring.

"What did you do?" Sam cried, stepping off the bike to inspect the bike. "You-You just slashed my tire!"

"I'll pay for the replacement," Freddie said. "But Sam, we need to fix this."

"The only thing you need to do is shell out two hundred bucks for my tire!"

"After we talk!"

"Fine!" Sam said. "Fine! We'll talk! Let's talk about how you and Carly kissed and then how you hid it from me! Where you never going to tell me? All those things you said to me about us being such a strong couple…those were lies! What kind of strong couple lies about something like this?"

"You're right, but-"

"And you," Sam said, turning to Carly. "You're supposed to be my best friend, yet you couldn't even tell me you kissed Freddie? Even after all that stuff you threw at me! You found I kissed Freddie when we were only fourteen and you threw a fit! And then you go and do the same thing, only this time after I've dated him, and you think it's just fine?"

"I know, it's-" Carly started.

Sam turned back to Freddie. "There. We talked. Now give me the money for my bike so I can get out of here."

"You're not running off to L.A.!" Freddie said once again.

"You can't tell me what to do!"

"Sam, you-you can't make such a rash decision like this!" Freddie exclaimed. "Have-Have you even told Cat you're coming?"

"She'll find out when I get there!" Sam replied.

"And what about school? Are you just not gonna graduate?" Freddie continued, crossing his arms. "They're not gonna let you go back to online school, Sam. Not with your record from last time."

"There's schools in L.A.!"

"What about your mom?"

"What about her?" Sam retorted. "I left her a note!"

"What about money?" Freddie went on. "For food during your trip and gas and emergencies? I watched you pack, Sam, you left your phone charger, wallet and ID in your room. What if something happens to you?"

"Listen," Sam said, her voice scary quiet. "You have ten seconds to give me my money before I rearrange your face!"
"Sam, you're angry," Freddie said calmly. "And-And you have every right to be. But just because you're angry or-or hurt doesn't mean you should just move away without even addressing the issue."
"He's right," Carly said. "Sam, if it were me right now…I'd probably be acting the same exact way. But don't you see, if you run away nothing's going to get fixed! You're just gonna sit down in L.A. festering in all these emotions and-and it's not gonna be good for you! At least hear us out, please."

"I don't want to-"

"So that's it? You want to just give all this up?" Freddie said. "You want to give up everything you have here because of this? You want to just leave Spencer and Gibby and your mom? You want to leave Ridgeway? You want to leave your whole life behind? You want to leave your best friend who you've been missing for over a year behind? You want to leave us behind?"
Sam said nothing.
"If you do," Freddie said, reaching into his wallet and pulling out a few bills. "Fine. Here's your money. But if you want to at least try and see if what we have to say can make you feel any different, then-then you need to do that. But just know, Sam, running away from your problems isn't the answer. You saw what actually talking about these things could do once before. So it's up to you."

Sam continued to stare at the two for several moments as Carly and Freddie waited anxiously for her response.

Finally, after nearly five minutes, Sam took off her helmet.

"We'll talk," she said, her voice still poisonous. "You guys have ten minutes."