Chapter 21

Freddie's body ached when he woke up early the next morning, but he knew he'd be seeing his girl at school, so he jumped out of bed, and quickly got ready.

He and Sam spent several hours at Marina Park. They ate, played video games, hit the dance studio, and went down the slides. At about 5pm, Freddie's mom had called, wanting to know where he and Sam were. Mrs. Benson offered to come pick them up, so they wouldn't have to take another cab. Mrs. Benson dropped Sam off at her place before heading home.

He hurried and ate breakfast; then went across the hall to Carly's. Spencer offered to give the teens a ride to school. On the ride there, Freddie was getting drilled by Carly about what happened on their first day together as boyfriend and girlfriend, so he told Carly what he and Sam did.

When they reached the main hallway of the school, Freddie asked Carly where Danny had been all weekend. She replied to him that Danny had followed his parents to San Francisco to spend time with his older sister who lived and worked in the Bay area.

They reached Freddie's locker first, and Freddie put away his jacket, and emptied his book bag. He snatched his history stuff, and shut the locker door. He followed Carly to her's and Sam's locker where the love of his life was busy getting ready to go to class.

"Hey beautiful," he smiled as he stood next to her, watching her shut her locker door.

"Hey yourself," she smiled back and reached over to give him a quick kiss.

"I'm so happy for you guys, but don't make me have to tell you to get a room," Carly sighed as she got into her locker to get her history homework. She was about to shut her locker door, when she saw Danny approaching her. "Hi, sweetie, I missed you," she smiled as she put her arms around Danny.

"Hey, I missed you too," he answered not quite as excitedly. He released himself from Carly's hug. "Sorry I didn't call much, but we were all over the San Francisco area this weekend. And our flight didn't get back until late last night," he continued.

"Oh, that's okay," Carly continued to smile, "I'm just glad you returned home safely."

"Thanks," he said. He looked over her shoulder to see Sam. "Oh Sam, I called David last night, and he said your date didn't go well Saturday night. He told me that he tried to call you yesterday, and that you didn't return his call." It was at that moment, that he noticed that Sam was holding Freddie's hand. "Well," he said a little snottishly, "I guess I can see why you didn't return his call. I see it's because you're kinda two-timing my best friend, huh?"

Freddie's temper began to flare up and he clenched his fists. He stepped forward, "You got a problem with my girlfriend…"

Freddie was stopped in his tracks by Sam. She put her arm across the front of his chest, and held him back. "Thanks Freddie," she said firmly but nicely, "but I'll take care of this." She began to glare at Danny.

Carly was shocked. She had never seen Danny like this in the two and a half months that they've been seeing each other.

"Do you have a short track memory, or are you just a doof?" Sam asked Danny angrily, "Because if my memory serves me right, and I think it does, your little 'best friend' was busy 'two-timing' me at Marina Park last Sunday when I needed him the most."

"Whoa," Danny said defensively, "David wasn't seeing anyone behind your back at Marina Park."

"And what do you call the aggressive flirting he was doing with a whole bunch of girls, while his girlfriend was injured, and in need of help?" Sam snarled, "He ought to be lucky I even wanted to see his sorry face the other night to try to work a relationship out. We weren't meant to be; that's all there is to it."

"Guys," Carly gasped, trying to give this conversation a rest, "we've got to get to class, the bell rings in two minutes."

"I'm not worried about class right now," Freddie told Carly as he continued to stand patiently at Sam's side.

"Danny," Carly called, reaching for her boyfriend's arm.

"No, hang on Carly," Danny said, ignoring Carly's hand and turning back to face Sam, "So you're going to just blow David off without properly calling and telling him so?"

"He's not my husband or fiancée'," Sam retorted, "I don't owe him anything. When he realizes I'm not returning his calls; I think he'll be smart enough to realize that I don't want to see him again."

Danny shook his head, "But you're his girlfriend, it's not like you were dating, you've been seeing him for over a month and a half now."

"Was," Sam pointed out as she moved forward and made a hand gesture to indicate this, "I was his girlfriend. He messed things up the previous weekend, and yet I was nice enough to go on a date with him and his folks on Saturday, to see if he and I still had a relationship, and we found out that we didn't."

Carly didn't want to be late for class, so she sprinted past the three, and entered the history room just seconds before the bell rang. The others were too busy in their confrontation to notice her leaving, or the bell ringing.

Danny sighed, "So what am I suppose to tell David when he calls me tonight?" He asked dryly.

"Tell your friend that he can go out with one of the girls he likes to flirt with, because I'm not seeing him again." Sam said plainly, giving David a look.

David lifted up his arms and dropped them, "So, you won't give him another chance, huh?"

Sam shook her head like she thought that Danny was nuts, "No," she nearly moaned, "What part can't you…"

"Why is it so important that Sam has to be with David?" Freddie interrupted, "you seem to be a little obsessed with this." Sam had turned to Freddie when he spoke, and wanted him to be quiet. But when she heard the question her boyfriend asked, she grinned and turned back to Danny with her arms crossed.

For the first time, Danny backed off. He felt that he was outnumbered, and he was. He was also out of answers, and he didn't like the way the conversation was going. He looked around. The hallway was empty now except for the three of them. He stole a glance at his watch; then snarled at the pair that was in front of him in defeat, and took off for class.

Sam turned back around to face Freddie, and wrapped her arms around him and kissed his cheek. "Thanks for staying here with me, and letting me handle that creep," she said contently.

He held her back, and kissed the top of her forehead, "He is a creep, isn't he?" He asked.

"Ever since I've known him," she answered. She took Freddie's hand and walked towards the history classroom. The door was shut since class had begun. "I really don't want to go in there, and cause a scene," she whispered as she looked through the small window into the classroom.

"Well, we're going to get detention if we go in late," Freddie whispered back. Then he began to smile, "We would also get detention if we didn't show at all." He looked to Sam.

Sam gave him a puzzled look at first; then she beamed at him, "Are you implying what I think you are, my little nerd boyfriend?" She smiled broadly.

Freddie grabbed his girlfriend's hand, and they walked very briskly through the hallway to the front door of the school. "I'll race you to the park, my little love bug," he grinned.

"You'll have to catch me first, Techboy!" She hollered as she cheated; for she was already running to the park.

XxXxXxXxXx

It's a good thing they had dressed warmly, because in their excitement to ditch class, they forgot to grab their jackets. Luckily, it wasn't windy out, and the temps weren't that low on this Monday morning as the month of December was beginning.

They found a tree in the park that was facing the school, and Freddie had a seat underneath it. He braced his back against the trunk, and put his legs straight forward. Sam lay down on his lap, and listened as Freddie opened his history textbook, and began reading the next lesson to her.

For the most part, she listened with her eyes closed. At times, though, she stole a look at Freddie reading away. He was unaware that she was smiling at him while he was reading. She felt so alive and happy when she spent time with him. She knew she was in love, and she hoped the feeling wouldn't ever go away.

She wished they could sit here all day. But after thirty minutes had passed, the alarm she had set on her phone so they wouldn't be late for second period went off. She sighed, and got up from Freddie.

He closed his textbook, and stood up to follow his girlfriend back to the school. Freddie didn't want to go back either, but he knew they had to. His back was hurting from leaning it against the tree, and he needed to get moving anyway, as parts of his body were falling to sleep. The walk back to the school fixed all that.

They walked back into the school a few minutes before the bell rang that would release the students from first period. They stopped at Sam's locker first, to get her algebra stuff. And just when the bell rang, they reached Freddie's locker to get his stuff.

The classrooms were emptying out while Sam and Freddie were trying to get into the algebra classroom. Finally, they made it in.

"First ones' here," Freddie announced as he and Sam made their way to their seats.

"You're such a dork," Sam rolled her eyes at him, but she couldn't help smiling at him either. That's the big thing Freddie's good for, and that was making her smile.

The rest of today will be cake, she thought.

Author's Note: So we are finally seeing a dark side to Danny now. It seems this cute young man might have a thing about wanting things to happen the way he sees fit. And how about the fact that Freddie decides to ditch class today. So un-Freddie like. I hope you continue to enjoy the story as it winds down. Let me know what you think.