Author's Note: Hello everyone! I hope everyone had a nice week. My week was pretty good. I was able to get this one done early, so I thought I might as well get it up sooner. (Gives me the chance to finish up the next two chapters of iWant to Wake up.) I hope you enjoy this chapter. Don't be shy to review, I do answer the reviews.

Wow about Tori goes Platinum… anything I would say would be spoilers for some people, but wow with what happened with certain characters. I hope you as my dear readers won't think I'll be going OOC with characters if they don't match up what happened in that episode.

Oh, and please remember this is just a story and the views of characters are just views of the characters. It is just a story.

Chapter 25

Weight/Training Room
Hollywood Arts High School
9:52 A.M., Sunday, November 6, 2011

André asked with a partially disbelieving tone as he was spotting the tech-producer going through his weight training routine with his legs on the diagonal sled leg press, "She tried to frame you for shoplifting a display phone?"

Freddie blew out a harsh breath as he pushed with his legs against the weights. He smirked has he felt the familiar tightening sensation in his left knee that would soon pass. The taco truck may have broken his leg, but with the physical rehab and continued workout regiment, his left leg was probably stronger than his right leg even at those rare times his knee would tighten up. He answered once his legs pushed the weights to the top, "Yep."

"Why?" the songsmith laughed still a bit surprised.

He raised an eyebrow as he bent his legs to slowly lower the weights. "Other than just wanting to jank with me? Probably isn't one unless it's because she wanted me to stay."

"Why would she want you to stay? She hates you or… loves you?" André shook his head as the whole thing still confused him about a girl liking Freddie and hating him at the same time.

Freddie sucked in another breath and started pushing again. "She's with Brad, the one we thought she liked during the lock-in and the one they got to replace me as iCarly's Tech-Producer, so I think she got over her infatuation with me. Why would she want me to stay? Maybe for Carly? She wants me to stay and I wouldn't put it passed Sam to try something to help Carly, but keeping her out of it."

André nodded along with the possible explanation then asked, "Unless she was in on it?"

Freddie held the weights for a few moments as he answered, "I'm taking it on a little faith that Carly didn't learn to lie that well since I've been gone and that she really is trying."

"Okay, I can see that… How did Jade react when you told her? About what Sam tried?"

The browned haired teenager sucked in a breath as he slowly bent his knees to lower the weights then pushed again against the weights. Once he pushed the weights to the top he answered, "She yelled for about half an hour about Sam. I was afraid she was going to have a heart attack or a stroke right in front of me."

The songsmith snorted out a breath and shook his head. "That bad?"

As the weights reached the bottom, he laughed darkly, "Her face turned as red as Cat's hair."

André's mouth dropped and eyes nearly bugged out. "Wow… that must not have been pleasant."

The Seattle native pushed the weights to the top again then answered, "No… you don't want to see your girlfriend get that upset. It upsets you seeing her that upset."

"I'll take your word for it."

He followed up with a lighthearted tone, "Just think about how you feel when Tori gets upset; it's like that."

The songsmith's brow furled, but nodded along to avoid going off on a tangent about Tori. "Jade really hates Sam, doesn't she?"

Freddie blew out a tired breath, but not from the workout. "Yeah, she really does hate her. Whatever resentment she's ever held against Tori pales in comparison."

The L.A. native asked with a dark laugh, "Think those two will ever go at it again? You know mono-a-mono?"

Freddie pushed up one more time then instructed, "Lock it?"

André responded without a second thought and started locking the end of the machine before even answering, "Yeah."

He swung his legs out then stood up from the machine. He took one side and André the other as they unspoken agreed to take the weights off each side. As Freddie was setting one down, he put on a deep frown and responded, "There's not going to ever be a rematch between them."

As André was pulling off another weight he answered, "You might not have much a say in it."

Freddie pulled off his last weight and answered with a dark tone, "If I hit Sam in the head first with a baseball bat that will at least slow her down."

André sat his last weight in the proper place then asked, "Freddie? Don't you think that might be a little extreme, even after all the things…" He trailed off when he saw the determined look in his friend's eyes.

Freddie rested his forearm against the machine as he answered in a firm tone, "Sam has super-strength."

The songwriter asked with a little disbelief even if he knew for months Freddie was right, "Freddie?"

He laughed out darkly, "She can carry me over her shoulder without a problem. She can arm-wrestle me down without any effort. She can knock out grown men with one punch. The only time I haven't seen her use it when she really should have used it was when she was trying to pull Carly up from scaffold when they were dangling off the side of Bushwell Plaza during their little spat."

André took a deep breath then stated, "Jade seemed to do just fine on her own last time. Broke a couple of Sam's ribs remember?"

Freddie walked around the machine and started towards the bench where his and André's bags were resting. He had a seat by his bag and replied, "That's because she caught her off guard from behind and smacked her head on table before jumping on her and kicking her with steel toed boots. I'm afraid if they have another straight up fight that she could really hurt Jade, maybe even kill her. So if Sam ever tries anything, I'm going to put her down her anyway I can even if I have to run her over with my car then back up over her. I will not let her hurt Jade, I swear to you on that."

André gave a cautious nod as he took a seat by his friend and grabbed his sports bottle to have a sip of water. "So how was the rest of your trip?"

He blew out another breath as he was reaching for his own water from his bag then answered, "Talked with Gibby… he got mad that I didn't want to be his friend anymore. I'm finally holding him responsible for his whole cheating on Tasha and moving in on Patrice after his fit about thinking Tasha cheated on him with me."

André took a quick sip from his bottle then started, "The European underwear model that sometimes forgets to wear the—"

"Yes that's the one." Freddie raised a corner of his mouth as he looked to André. "I did tell him that he didn't measure up with the rest of my friends."

André snorted out a breath and grinned at the tech-producer. "If you don't mind me asking, why give Carly another chance and not Gibby?"

Freddie wiped his brow with a towel he pulled from his bag then took another sip from his water. He brought the bottle away from his lips then blew out a breath through his nose and slightly shook his head. "I'm not giving Carly another chance. I'm just trying to forgive her the same as Gibby… just that I have a lot more to forgive from her. There's no guarantee that we can ever be friends again."

"That's my point: you've ruled out Gibby completely, but you're leaving the door open for Carly."

Freddie leaned forward and rested his forearms on his knees as he held his bottle between his knees with a guarded expression on his face, but André knew from the look in his eyes that he was deep in thought. He remained silent for a few moments then took a sip from his water.

André nodded with the lack of an answer then lightly elbowed his forearm. "Your turn to spot me on the bench press. I can't let you make me look all soft in comparison."

The Seattle native rolled his eyes then closed the mouthpiece down of the bottle before following his friend to one of the bench presses.

Hollywood Arts High School
Los Angeles, CA
Monday, November 7, 2011

Jade put away a book into her locker as Freddie rested his right forearm the support beam that cornered off the end of the lockers and the corner for the school entrance. She was making a quick switch out of books between just getting out of Sikowitz's class and heading to meet everyone at lunch at the Asphalt Café.

As the dark haired teenager was shutting her locker, a teasing voice called out from behind Freddie, "Wow, didn't you make a big surprise on iCarly?"

Freddie turned to see Dusty and Ava had approached from down the hall to come up behind the couple. He gave the Southern teenager a surprised expression. "You were watching?"

The pair stopped just in front of the couple and Dusty smirked as he pointed to himself. "I'm a fan remember? I still watch. I can't miss my Cam moments. I was wondering why you took off Friday."

Jade snorted out with a roll of her eyes. "You don't know how right you are about that."

TheSlap webmaster eyed her playfully and laughed out, "Oh don't ship-tease me West."

The shorter dark brunette (Ava had dyed her hair a darker shade of brown sometime before the 'Parade Parade') shook her head then asked with a bit of mischievousness in her voice, "How did my sister treat you?"

Freddie put on a soft smile as he answered Sinjin's girlfriend with a slightly relieved tone, "Didn't run into her. If I swung by Ridgeway for a visit then I couldn't have surprised Carly."

"True," she conceded with a smile.

Jade rolled her eyes and groaned out almost as a retching sound, "Twins."

Ava gave a small smile as she retorted, "I'm me and she's her and we are not the same contrary to what you think."

"Are you sure about that?" Jade challenged with a hint of annoyance in her voice.

Ava's smile grow bigger as she confidently answered, "Yes, I'm sure."

Dusty slightly shook his head then brought the conversation back around with a casually question, "So, surprise visit to iCarly?"

Freddie shook his head as he let out a chuckle. "I had to surprise Carly. It was the first time the Colonel was going to be home for his birthday in a while then something came up. I knew it would really hit her from him having to miss out again so… I had to do something to try to make it better."

Dusty spared a quick glance to see how Jade was reacting to Freddie's statement and saw she wore a guarded expression then commented, "Nice thing you did there… I guess her dad has to miss a lot of things, birthdays, Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc. You have to sacrifice a lot for what he does."

Freddie took Jade's hand and began to lead the quartet on their way to the exit leading to the Asphalt Café as he answered, "Yeah, he's gone most of the time. Special Forces and all that."

Dusty laughed, "Special Forces you say? Last minute cancellation of seeing his daughter and the Chancellor of Yerba supposedly killed last week by 'rebels' just before the broadcast? Little coincidental there?"

"I'm not asking," Freddie laughed in response.

"Good riddance and good for Uncle Steven if he did it himself," Jade commented with disgust with the Chancellor, but a soft sense of pride underlining her voice.

Ava asked curiously, "Uncle?"

Freddie began with a slightly awkward tone and expression on his face, "Long story—"

Jade spoke up in an instant, "My mom and Carly's dad have know each since they were children."

Freddie commented with an awkward smile and embarrassing tone, "Okay, not so long story."

The dark brunette commented with a soft laugh, "Isn't that a coincidence."

"Life is full of them," Freddie echoed the response he had given Lane as they reached the door and pushed it open for them to exit.

Dusty spoke up as he held the door for Ava to exit before him and for he to pull up the rear, "Experience has taught me there isn't any such thing as coincidences like that… like Ava going to this school and her sister going to your old one."

Freddie decided to remain silent as he really didn't have a comeback or see a reason to argue the point. He wasn't in the philosophical mood before lunch.

As the quartet got in line for the Grub Truck, Ava commented innocently, "We heard about what happened at the Pear Store in Seattle."

Freddie snapped his head around to look at the shorter girl with a shocked expression. "What?" He glanced to Jade and they exchanged slightly shocked expressions on who could have told them.

The mystery was quickly solved as Dusty answered, "Dude, it's not like you could keep it secret. You beat the crap out of one of the employees… you nearly took his dick off—" He glanced between Jade and Ava with an embarrassing smile. "Sorry ladies for using the vernacular in your presence."

Jade suppressed a chuckle with a slight bow of her head at seeing that he could look genuinely embarrassed for using such language in front of ladies.

Ava spoke up, "What he's trying to say is: it made the news as in the television news and not just the internet."

Freddie chuckled with a hint of disgust, "Oh, that's just nice… well he started it."

The Southern teenager laughed, "It's not like either one of us is going to be judging you. If he wanted to start a fight, just make sure you finish it."

"Thanks."

Ava asked curiously, "Why were you there in the first place?"

The Seattle native shrugged a shoulder, "Well, my phon—"

Jade looked over her shoulder to look at the pair and interrupted with an abrupt tone, "Sam broke his phone and Carly was buying him a new one."

Freddie glanced at Jade with a sharp look more out of shock than anger. The raven haired girl ignored his stare.

The leaner male raised an eyebrow and asked hesitantly, "Ah… why?"

"She's just that much of a bitch and likes breaking his stuff," Jade answered as if it was as obvious as commenting that the sky was blue.

Dusty glanced to Ava to see a look of surprise that he guessed he was wearing on his own face then looked back to Freddie and cautiously commented, "I thought she broke props to be funny on the show, not your actually stuff."

Jade snarked out, "Well the bitch didn't, she'd steal his stuff to break it."

"Jade," Freddie whispered in a hushed tone.

She turned her head sharply to meet her boyfriend's brown eyes and asked with a short tone, "What?"

Dusty answered for Freddie with a calm voice hoping to diffuse the situation, "West, you are obviously pissed with Sam for very good reason, but he's obviously not comfortable going into details with us… so I guess you could drop it since it's really none of our business why."

The couple turned to look at each other. Jade broke eye contact first then whispered out in almost a mumble, "Sorry."

"It's okay," he whispered then gave her a quick kiss to her right cheek.

They quartet waited a few more moments to get their food then Jade and Freddie led the other two towards their usual table with Ava departing with a smile to find Sinjin. Dusty decided to sit with them until the rest of the HA gang arrived and his own friends at another table.

Dusty sat across from the pair in Beck's usual seat and asked, "So, what kind of phone did you get?"

Freddie reached into his pocket and produced his phone to hand to Dusty.

Dusty took the blue pear shape phone and examined it for an unnecessary second since the phone could only be one model. He looked up and gave Freddie a questioning look as he asked, "You bought another piece of crap GX?"

"Piece of crap?" Freddie nearly shouted in surprise.

He handed the phone back to Freddie and continued, "The GXs suck. You could sneeze on the blasted things and they'll break. The things are so flimsy are you sure Sam did it on purpose?"

"Ohhhh, yes quite sure," she answered looking directly into Dusty eyes challenging him to disagree with her.

He leaned forward and retorted with an edge to his own voice, "Hey, don't turn your evil eye on me West. Remember? You don't intimidate me."

The pale actress frowned and let out a soft growl in frustration then looked down and rested her forehead against the side of her hand.

Dusty rolled his eyes then reached into his black jacket pocket and pulled out a black rectangular PearPhone with a matching black heavy-duty case. "Now this is a phone."

Freddie accepted the phone and glanced over it quickly. "An old G5?"

He answered proudly with a big grin, "Yep, nearly identical functions to GX, since the major upgrade was simply the inferior construction and it looked pretty, they're nearly indestructible and that's without a protective case, plus it doesn't look like you're carrying a silly piece of fruit. How do you fit those in your pockets being all oddly round like that?"

The tech-producer nodded his head as he was force to agree on one part from remembering something a few years ago, "My old principal was real excited when he first got one a few years ago. I threw it right on the floor and he laughed. He picked it up to slam it against a locker to show how tough it was, so you are right about that."

Dusty shifted his eyes back and forth for a moment then asked with a raised eyebrow, "Why did you through your principal's phone on the floor?"

He shrugged a shoulder and smiled as he answered, "I was trying to get detention so I could film our fiftieth webshow extravaganza."

Dusty started chuckling, "I remember that; it was funny. That Howard guy seems like a real jackass though."

The more muscular teen snorted out a breath, "Oh, you don't know the half of it…"

He glanced past Freddie and Jade to see the rest of the HA gang start approaching. He looked back to the couple and finished, "Yeah, well, you got the last laugh and the greatest revenge."

"Revenge?"

"Yeah," he started as he stood up, "The greatest revenge is living well."

Freddie blinked and looked to him with a slightly stunned expression.

He grinned warmly as he parted, "See you two lovebirds later."

"Later," Freddie bid farewell to the web-master while Jade forced a smile, but her eyes told him that her frustration wasn't directed at him and she was also bidding him a pleasant farewell.

As he passed Cat, the redhead smiled brightly at him. "Hey Soapy."

The taller teenager chuckled and replied with a warm tone, "Hi Sweetheart." He gave her a brief kiss on the forehead then headed off to his own table.

The childlike teen giggled and brought a hand to cover her mouth while Robbie put on a frown and narrowed his eyes on the passing L.A. immigrant. Rex just laughed at his handler's foul mood, "Country boy makes it look easy." Robbie stared at the puppet and Rex stared back as usual since he obviously didn't have any facial muscles to move.

The curly haired teenager rolled his eyes then took his usual seat as Cat had already settled in her own seat. A few moments later Tori and André took seats beside one another. A moment or so later after them, Trina walked around and had a seat across from Freddie and Jade. He immediately noticed that that older Vega sister appeared to be in a sour mood.

They all glanced at him expectantly as if one of them was hoping he'd be the first one to speak. André looked casual since he already knew the story, but Tori looked a little apprehensive. He obliged them by starting, "I'm just going to go ahead and say this: except for what Sam pulled, which I'm sure you already know, the trip was great. Carly and I are getting on better terms and we are working on the whole forgiveness thing."

Tori glanced to Jade to see her reaction, but didn't see any sign of acknowledging Freddie's statement, so she smiled as she commented, "That's great to hear."

"Thanks."

The group started on their respective lunches, but Freddie couldn't help but notice how down Trina looked as opposed to her normal cheerful self. He spoke up to Trina while giving her a concerned expression, "What's wrong Trina?"

Trina blew out a breath and spared a glance to André and Robbie before looking to Freddie to answer, "You were right."

Freddie raised an eyebrow. "I was right? About what?"

Trina rolled her eyes and nodded her head to the side. "About Beck. Wednesday night Beck… came over to have dinner with me… or so I thought." She motioned her head to André then continued, "André showed up then Beck and they started fighting about which one should date me then Robbie showed up wanting to be with me too. They got into what I thought was a real fight, but really they were just acting to show me what it was like to see boys really fight over me. When I went to get dad to break them up, they all acted like they were performing a puppet show and that I was nuts. Beck wanted to teach me a lesson."

The former Seattleite frowned. He repeated to make sure he had heard the older Vega sister correctly, "Beck led you on then pretended to get in a fight with André and Robbie to 'teach you a lesson'?"

She groaned out as she gave an evil eye towards Robbie, "Learn my lesson about telling lies."

Freddie closed his eyes and shook his head in disgust. He glanced to André then to Robbie and made sure he looked in each of their eyes for part of his comment, "Both of you should be ashamed of yourselves."

The two boys blinked as Freddie got up from his seat, leaving his food and book bag without a word. Trina looked just as surprised seeing him come to her defense despite witnessing him doing it before in the float before the parade. As he turned to walk away, Jade called out without hiding a bit of her concern on her face or in her voice, "Where are you going?"

"To find Beck," he called out as he headed to the entrance he had exited from a few minutes ago.

Beck turned the corner across for the drink machines and janitor's closet as he made his way down the hall to catch up with the rest for lunch. His stride had taken him in front of the main stairwell when Freddie met him halfway. He smiled to Freddie and greeted him, "Hey."

Freddie frowned at him and with an even tone stated, "Beck, we need to talk… now."

A number of students turned their attention from hearing the tone in Freddie's voice.

"Hey, we can talk after lunch; I'm starving," he laughed off casually as he attempted to walk around Freddie.

Freddie sidestepped and got in Beck's way. He looked at him with an even expression. "No, we need to talk right now."

The taller teenager slightly frowned and looked to Freddie with some concern. "What?"

Freddie answered with an edge to his voice, "About what happened Wednesday night at Trina's house."

Beck slightly bowed his head and frowned as he felt a little annoyed that Freddie was getting involved with his business, especially when apparently he was already taking Trina's side. Beck retorted with an even expression, "I don't think we have anything to discuss on that."

Freddie tilted the side of his head and whispered, "Yes we do. You want to have this conversation in front of everyone or in private? We are having it one way or the other, 'cause I'm not letting you put it off."

Beck glanced around to see that a number of students were looking at them and quite interesting about what could happen in the next few moments between the boys that shared one thing in common. He looked to Freddie and saw that he wasn't bothered if people were looking at them.

The taller teenager blew out a breath and answered, "Fine, let's talk." He turned and headed back down the hallway with Freddie right behind him.

A few moments later they were back in Sikowitz's empty classroom they had all left a few minutes ago. Freddie shut the door behind them and Beck immediately turned, "Okay, you wanted to talk."

Freddie cracked a smile, but it wasn't a friendly one, but more of a sarcastic one. "Yeah, what you did was wrong."

Beck snapped back defensively with a furled brow, "She went around telling people I asked her out."

Freddie responded a little bit flabbergasted, "I know, but it's still wrong."

The leaner teenager raised a surprised eyebrow as he asked in a disbelieving tone, "You're agreeing with her?"

"No I'm not and I told her that I didn't before you pulled your stunt. I did something you should have done from the start: talk to her instead of playing some stupid prank on her. What exactly where you hoping to accomplish?"

Beck put on a look of annoyance as he answered, "I asked her why and she gave me that stupid reason to get guys to fight over to ask her out. She was a manic about it and there really isn't anything to discuss with her thinking such a thing, so the 'prank' was to get her to realize that she shouldn't be telling lies about me."

The brown eyed teenager blinked at the response then came back with annoyance and disbelief in his voice, "So you really didn't try to have a conversation about it with her? You thought attempting to lead her on then make her feel like she was crazy was a better solution?" Freddie shook his head and blew out a breath in disgust. He looked up to stare Beck straight in the eyes then continued, "You know I thought this behavior of yours was just with Jade and you just screwed up on how to be a good boyfriend, now it looks like it's just a character flaw that you have of talking down to girls as if they are children, like you have some right to 'discipline' them if they are doing something you don't agree with. You're not their father."

Beck took a step forward and pointed at Freddie's chest. He nearly shouted, "Hey, I didn't ask for your help or opinion on the matter, so it really doesn't concern you."

Freddie took a step forward to meet his challenging gaze. "When you just played my friend, yes it does concern me. It is wrong what you did and you should know better. I know if you pulled that stunt with Cat, talking down to her or really treating her as a child—"

"She is a child and you know it," he snapped back as if annoyed that he was pointing out the obvious.

He reluctantly nodded along with the taller teenager. "I'm willing to agree with you that she can be very childlike at times, but… if you ever treat her like one like you just did with Trina or I've seen and heard how you were with Jade, Dusty is going to go looking for you and he's not going to try to be as nice about it as I'm trying to be."

Beck slightly frowned with confusion. "Dusty? One of Cat's exes?"

"Yeah, one that obviously still cares about her and quite willing to hurt you."

The actor shook his head and squinted his eyes for a moment. "He doesn't know me."

Freddie lifted a corner of his mouth and laughed off, "He's said the same thing. That's why he doesn't have an opinion one way or another about liking you, but he doesn't respect you from what he's seen how you treated Jade on your old Slap videos." He lost the lighthearted tone as he finished, "I think it insults his Southern sense of morality, so you should watch your step or you'll have to deal with him and he doesn't strike me as having my patience."

"I'm not concerned about him."

Freddie lifted his hands and put on a patient smile. He dropped his hands and replied, "Maybe not, but you need to be concerned that he proves I'm not the only one that sees your behavior… and it needs to stop…" Freddie frowned as he finished with a dark tone meant to dig at the taller teenager, "It already cost you Jade. What more is it going to cost you?"

Beck clenched his jaw tight and blew out a hard breath through his nose. He held his stare on the shorter teenager and Freddie matched it. They both started visually sizing the other one up to see if their conversation would go further than just words.

Freddie finally looked down for a moment with a tired smile forming on his face then looked back up to meet the longer haired teenager's eyes. "I have a suggestion… as your friend of course: man up and go apologize to Trina. Simple as that, so you can look yourself in the mirror in the morning… so I can look at you without being disgusted."

Freddie stared at him hard with a deep frown for a few more moments then turned and headed out of the classroom.

Beck stood there with his jaw clenched and staring hard at the closed door.

A few minutes later, Freddie retook his seat with an even expression on his face and started back on his lunch. Everyone glanced at one another then to him waiting for him to say something. He looked up from his food and quickly spoke, "I've said my piece to Beck; it's up to him to be a man now." He started back on his lunch without another word, but a supportive glance towards Trina.

The older Vega sister smiled and understood his gesture of support.

Jade blew out a breath through her nose and started on her own lunch as she wasn't surprised by his actions. Freddie was just being Freddie in her eyes and even if Beck was on the other side of the argument, she really didn't want Freddie to be any other way… her nice guy… even if it was for Trina.

Asphalt Café
Hollywood Arts High School
Los Angeles, CA
Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Freddie didn't see Beck for the rest of Tuesday afternoon and apparently neither did Jade as she didn't mention seeing him. He hadn't heard anything about whether the actor had took his advice, but he was fine that he had made his position clear for Beck and the rest of the group. Jade had made no comment at all about him speaking with Beck that afternoon or night. Apparently she didn't want to get involved and Freddie was fine with it since it didn't concern them as a couple and didn't see the need for any undue conflict between her and Beck (and maybe there was a tiny piece of him that was concerned that she would take Beck's side).

The students were getting a short break between first and second periods for some reason that the school wasn't telling them, but no one was complaining as everyone was either roaming the halls or at the Asphalt Café. That was where Freddie, Jade, Ava and Dusty were hanging out at one of the blue tables as they waited for the next class period to start.

Sinjin came running up behind Dusty and Ava and spoke excitedly, "The First Lady was on iCarly last night." He gave Ava a peck on the cheek then had a seat next to his girlfriend.

"I couldn't turn the video off fast enough," Dusty spat out in disgust and rolled his eyes.

"What?" Freddie asked with a confused expression.

"The First Lady of the United States was on iCarly last night," Sinjin reiterated with a grin plastered on his face.

Jade narrowed her eyes and asked for another confirmation to see if she heard correctly from Sinjin, "Wait Michelle Obama was on iCarly last night? On Tuesday?"

Ava spoke up, "It was obviously a special one with her on it if they are having one on Tuesday instead of Friday."

Freddie took a few moments to process how she could have possibly been on the show. He looked to TheSlap's web-master with a raised eyebrow. "Why did you turn it off?"

Dusty leaned forward and spoke with an annoyed tone, "Because I don't like listening to people lie to my face and think I'm too stupid not to realize it or those that think they can run my life better than I can."

Freddie blinked and shook his head for a moment. "What are you talking about?"

The leaner teenager groaned out a little annoyed from the question then answered with a hint of sarcasm, "I'm talking about her bullshit about supporting the military when she and her husband don't give a damn about them."

The Seattle native put on a look of surprise as he asked, "Dude?"

Dusty narrowed his eyes on the tech-producer. "What? Her husband didn't want to pay them back in April. He called it 'a distraction' during his and the Republicans' little pissing contest with one another. I'm not buying that nonsense that she or him actually caring about them after that. I wonder if Carly was too star struck to realize that her dad wouldn't have been paid six months ago if the President went through with his game of chicken or she's just that good an actress and had to swallow her disgust. Does her brother make enough on his art to pay the rent or would they have missed a rent payment? From what you guys showed on the show over the years, it looks like a pretty nice apartment."

The other four teenagers looked at him with a little bit of shock at seeing how passionate he had gotten over the issue.

The Southern teenager snorted out a breath then continued, "What? I have family in the military. We keep up with this stuff as in 'How am I going to pay my bills if they don't pay me this month?'" He motioned to presumably his phone in his pocket as he finished, "Oh, I can back up what I'm saying if I need to show you the PDF file, so I'm not making it up."

He shook his head as he finished putting his last two cents in, "I know if I had the chance to speak with her, I'd thank her, I'd thank her for forcing the school to start serving that shit in the cafeteria that we don't eat but just dump in the trashcan when they give it to us. Thank her for thinking she knows better than us or our parents about what we should eat."

The other teenagers looked to one another and nonverbally agreed with him on that point. All L.A. county schools had switched to a new menu at the start of the new school year due to the First Lady's push for healthier food standards in school would get the students to eat healthier, but a lot of them thought the food tasted horrible and threw it away. There was talk already among the county school officials of trying to get back at least some of the edible menu. Most of them thanked whatever deity they believed in that they had the Grub Truck (even with its questionable health standards) as opposed to eating the mess served in the cafeteria.

Freddie tried to reason with his friend with a calm suggestion, "Don't you see that's still a little harsh?"

Dusty snorted out, "It's the truth. It's none of her damn business what I eat if I pay for it with my own money. I can run my own life without her input, thank you very much. Have you ever had people in your life that thought they knew better on how to run it than you did then use force to get you to do what they wanted when you disagreed with them? That's exactly what she's doing. That's nothing but bullying us to live the way she thinks we should live, plain and simple."

Freddie deeply frowned as he looked to the other teenager.

Dusty leaned backwards and put on an expression of realization and a hint of a smirk. "So, you have had people that thought they knew better than you then tried to make you do what they wanted?" He glanced down to look at the table and commented with a hint of sarcasm, "It doesn't take a genius to figure out who those people are."

The tech-producer frowned as he looked to the table to break eye contact.

Dusty caught sight of Jade's hard glare directed at him. He wasn't frightened of it, but knew that he should drop it because she was inadvertently clearly signaling that he was right. He looked to Freddie and spoke with a firm voice, "Everyone, including me, has their theories why you left Seattle, but I won't say anything behind your back that I'm not willing to say to your face." He turned to have a sip from his soft drink that he had brought from home since one couldn't buy them from school until after lunch.

Jade didn't look to happy that he had made a further comment, but Freddie gave him a nod in understanding that anybody (which was everyone outside the group and the trio along with Spencer, Mrs. West and Colonel Shay) that didn't know what had happened had talked for months their theories on why he left, but Dusty wasn't willing to join in the rumor and gossip mill.

Before there was any further discussion, Lane quickly ran up behind Ava, Sinjin and Dusty out of breath.

Freddie looked to him with concern as the guidance counselor was catching his breath. He cleared his throat and nervously spoke, "Ah Freddie, someone would like to see you."

Freddie raised a curious eyebrow. "Okay?"

The guidance counselor stressed his answer, "It's someone really important."

Lane's tone told him that he shouldn't take his time, so he quickly got up from his seat with Jade following suit. Lane quickly led the couple back to the school with them bidding a quick farewell to their friends.

A minute or so later, Lane opened the door to the principal's office and let the couple inside. They were expecting to see Helen, but instead they were greeted by several Secret Service Agents standing around the surprise visitor: First Lady Michelle Obama. She was eagerly chatting with Helen then turned to greet the couple with a warm smile, "Hello Freddie."

He blinked then looked to Jade who was equally shocked and did nothing to hide her feelings from her face.

He gave her a respectful nod of his head as he answered, "Ah… hello Madam First Lady."

She looked to Jade for an expected introduction.

Freddie was happy to oblige with a glance to blue streaked hair girlfriend, "This is my girlfriend, Jade West."

"Hello Jade."

The raven haired girl cleared her throat and answered trying to keep the nervousness out of her voice, "Hello Miss First Lady."

She wore a big smile as she continued, "Freddie, I was passing through L.A. and I wanted to thank you for what you did for Carly. I know it meant a lot to her and all the other military families watching, even if you're not on the show anymore."

He nodded along. He answered as if his answer was the most obvious answer in the world, "What else could I have done ma'am? She… it's complicated between us, but she's important and I have a lot of respect for her father."

The First Lady let out a soft laugh. "I suppose there isn't… my girls are sorry that you left the show. I know it is probably personal, but I'd be remiss if I didn't ask for my girls. I know they'd be upset if I didn't at least ask."

Freddie cleared his throat and met her eyes. "I understand ma'am. A part of me is too, but it was the necessary thing to do; I left the show and Seattle for deeply personal reasons and I hope your daughters can understand and respect my privacy on the matter." He turned his head and looked Jade right in the eyes and gave her the most genuine smile he thought possible and whispered loud enough for everyone in the room, "I'm quite happy where I'm at."

Jade slightly bowed her head to break eye contact and hide her smile.

Mrs. Obama gave him an understanding nod as a smile played on her own face.

A heavy-set agent whispered into her ear and if Freddie or Jade had watched the program last night, they would have realized he was the same one that told her that she couldn't talk about the secret robot she was construction.

The First Lady smiled softly then looked to Freddie. "I'm sorry my stop is so short, but…"

Freddie picked up, "I understand Miss First Lady. You are quite a busy person and I'm humbled that you'd take the time to see me."

"Take care Freddie."

He gave her a respectful smile and answered, "You too ma'am."

The next moment the Secret Service Agents ushered her out the door leaving the couple, Lane and Helen in the office.

Freddie blew out a breath and gave Jade a nervous smile.

She let out a soft laugh, "That was interesting."

Lane blew out his own breath and agreed, "Tell me about it," drawing everyone's attention.

Music Room

Hollywood Arts High School
Los Angeles, CA
Wednesday, November 9, 2011

André laughed out as he sat across Freddie helping him practice his chords as each had a guitar in their respective hands, "Wow, the First Lady personally stopped by to see you? That's why the held up classes this morning?"

Freddie shrugged a shoulder as he kept his attention on the chords he was trying to play. "Yep, she said she was passing through L.A. and wanted to thank me for what I did for Carly. Show my support for the troops and all."

"That must have been some surprise."

The brown eyed teenager sounded to André's ears that he was irritated having to reply, "It wasn't exactly on my list of things that I thought would happen today."

André turned back to his guitar and played another section of music for Freddie to try. The tech-producer mimicked the selection without much problem or any audible mistakes.

The songsmith asked as the near blank expression on Freddie's face finally started to bother him, "Freddie's what up?"

"Nothing," he casually responded as he played over what André just showed him.

"Then why is it I'm having to pull conversation out of you? The First Lady shows up to personally thank you and you don't want to talk about it? You look like you'd rather not be here," he finished a bit annoyed.

Freddie blew out a soft breath from his nose as he answered with a slightly flippant tone, "I really don't have much to say to you at the moment and small talk isn't really required for you to teach me to play."

"Still upset about what we did to Trina?"

He replied with a little sarcasm in his voice, "Since I haven't heard any of you really apologize to her, yeah I am still bothered by it."

André laughed out nervously, "Freddie, look… I'm not seeing what the big deal is. Trina started and we helped Beck teach her a lesson. You know, it's Trina."

Freddie looked up from his guitar and stared at the other teenager for a split second before snapping out, "And he's Freddie and she's Sam and they're just like that so it gives us a license not to give a damn about what bad stuff happens to him. Heck, we can do bad stuff to him too, who cares? He's only Freddie. It happens."

André swallowed down nervously as he met Freddie's eyes.

He continued with a firm voice, "I've lived that nonsense and I didn't appreciate it and I know Trina didn't appreciate it even if she didn't handle her feelings with Beck in the best way. She may not be your 'bestest' friend, but she's a human being that deserves some respect. She really hasn't done anything to deserve not getting at least that much from the rest of you. Okay, you find her annoying, but that doesn't give you a right to do that to her."

The songsmith looked a little nervous as he answered, "Hey, I was just backing my friend."

Freddie snorted out, "So was Carly, didn't make it right what she allowed to happen to me." He sat the guitar down beside to lean against the chair and turned to focus on André. "Does loyalty to a friend cover up the fact that he's doing something wrong? What if the next time he decides that it's Tori that needs to learn some lesson? Are you going to join in or take Tori's side?"

André set his jaw tight for a moment as realized his answer in an instance.

Freddie gave a knowing grin as he stated, "Thought so."

André looked down the floor and apparently looked as if he was thinking over what Freddie had said.

Freddie shook his head and let out a tired breath, "Look André… all this time I've known you, you've been this steady rock. The one everyone can count on for trying to do the right thing… including me even with the whole love song to Jade…"

André couldn't help but think about what he had told Tori about the promise that he made with his grandmother before she lost her mind: 'I'd never be a bad person'.

"…and I'm having trouble squaring with what you helped Beck do with how I think of you. That's not the André I know…"

The songsmith sat in silence for a moment as he processed what the tech-producer thought of him and what it meant to him.

Freddie unexpectedly stood up and picked up his guitar. "You know what? I'm just not feeling it today. Let's just pick this up next week." He walked over the stand for the school's guitars and put his away without waiting for André to respond. "I'll see you tomorrow André, later," he called out as he scooped up his book bag and headed out the door.

Freddie walked out the door and left the musician sitting in silence.

Library/Media Center
Hollywood Arts High School

The Hollywood Arts' library was not surprisingly the quietest place in the school even with a number of students busy working on various things. The school was always busy with afternoon activities and the library was no different with students doing research or using library space to work on something for some project (even if there were plenty of empty classrooms to use).

Jade had monopolized a table as she always did on Wednesday afternoon and the other students were not inclined to bother the pale actress of sharing her table. She glanced over another question in her open textbook resting on the table as she scribbled her answer on her paper, but suddenly felt someone slide up beside her to her left and plant a soft kiss on her left cheek.

She frowned and turned her head ready to slap whoever had the nerve to kiss her, but blinked in surprise when she saw Freddie's warm smile.

"Hey," he whispered.

"Hey," she answered surprisingly as she focused on his eyes. She glanced at her phone as she wondered if she really had lost track of time getting so involved with her homework. She looked back up to meet his eyes with a slight frown on her lips. "It's barely after three-thirty."

He shrugged his shoulders and gave her a weak smile. "I'm just not accomplishing anything today. I guess I'm not in the mood, so I called it quits a little early."

Her eyes narrowed on her handsome boyfriend and slowly asked, "And André's cool with that?"

Freddie raised a corner of his mouth as he answered with a hint of sarcasm, "You know… I didn't ask."

The raven haired girl slightly frowned, but refrained from commenting as she studied her boyfriend's eyes.

He wore a smile as if nothing was wrong and asked, "So, ah… do you want to head home now or do you want to finish up what you're doing? I can wait."

She shook her head and her dark locks softly bounced on her shoulders. "Just let me wrap up this last problem and we can go."

He smiled in return as if nothing was wrong and answered, "Okay."

She nodded in response and blew out a soft breath through her nose, but the look in her eyes showed her concern of Freddie apparently ditching André for the afternoon.

West Residence
Los Angeles, CA
Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Freddie finished washing and rinsing that last dish and placing it in the dish drainer after dinner. He could have left the dishes to the dishwasher, but he found the need to immerse himself into something monotonous and not have to think about anything after the last two days.

After rinsing and drying his hands, he turned and headed up the stairs. He passed Jade's room and caught sight of her inside, her sitting and typing way at her laptop in her lap. He took a moment to rest against the doorframe to watch her concentrate on whatever she was working on. She looked up from the laptop, apparently sensing his presence at the doorway and smiled towards the brown haired teenager.

"Hey," she whispered with a welcoming tone.

"Hey," he replied as he let out a soft breath. "Just passing by, but I saw you and… I didn't mean to disturb you."

"No, it's fine… I'm just getting some thoughts down about a new screenplay, brainstorming a little bit."

"Oh, ah… need a sounding board I'd be happy, but…"

Her brow furled with curiosity at his attempt to offer to help her.

He thumbed over his shoulder towards his room and admitted with a hesitant voice, "I was heading to my room… I was going to make a phone call."

She gave a small smile and a nod of her head as she realized from his tone and expression he probably wasn't going to call his mother. She sat her laptop on the floor for a moment then walked over to him for a brief kiss on his cheek. She took a deep breath and put on the most supportive expression she could muster and suppress her own feelings for the brunette. "Talk as long as you have to."

He nodded his thanks then pushed away from the doorframe so she could close her bedroom door and give him some privacy.

The tech-producer started back down the hallway then shut his bedroom door behind him after entering his room. He blew out a breath then reached for his new phone sitting on his desk. He dialed his intended number and held the pear shaped phone to his ear waiting for the other person to pick up. He started as soon as he heard the other person pick up, "Hey Carly—I'm doing alright. How are you doing? Guess who I saw today?"

Author's Note: I hope you enjoyed this chapter… I almost want to call it a housekeeping/setup before the next couple of ones are really plot moving. I have Thanksgiving to cover (with Freddie finally meeting Mr. West) then 'A Christmas Tori' then… well I think you really want to come back for the chapter after that which covers around their New Year's.

In case you're wondering, what Dusty said was true about L.A. county school lunches during this school year. Look up the story on-line, it's pretty funny about the kids throwing away their food and started up a black-market of junk food and sodas so they can get through the day (even some teachers go in on the act). They announced in January that they were going to revise their menus again.

Special Guest Appearance by Michelle Obama as Herself

Guest Appearance by Dan Schneider as Secret Service Agent