Hey guys. Just giving you a heads up that this chapter is sort of a dump chapter. I've got important stuff in the final chapter but this is all stuff I need to happen first. Its sort of a mess but I think after rereading it so many times i've made it presentable to the public.
I've got issues with writing Spencer. I think because in this story whenever he showed up I needed him to be responsible. It doesn't help that a lot of Spencer's personality comes from his body language which is sometimes difficult to put in writing without practice.
anyways enjoy this chapter, its not particularly exciting but some bits came out nicely.
iAm Not Okay
Chapter Twenty Nine
When Carly came around Spencer was sitting to her right, holding her hand and looking thoroughly exhausted but awake. He smiled at her and squeezed her hand reassuring her that she was fine. She turned her head slowly to take in the rest of the room. A TV mounted on the wall was on reruns of Girly Cow with the volume on low. A tray of food sat at the end of the bed. Despite the bad reputation hospital food got she was looking forward to eating it. Out the window she could see it was dark; probably one or two in the morning. Next to the window was an arm chair. Sam was curled up like a cat in the seat, her head rested on one arm and her feet on the other. Freddie was sitting on the floor, leaning back against the chair, also asleep. The moon light combined with the light from the TV cast an odd glow on the pair. Freddie's eye looked awfully purple and swollen, but both he and Sam looked perfectly content as the slept.
"They wanted me to wake them when you finally woke up." Spencer said. She turned back to him and smiled.
"Let them sleep a little longer," she replied. She wanted to tell him first, everything that had happened and why she was acting so weird lately. He had probably guessed some of it, or if he hadn't than Sam and Freddie had certainly informed him. "I'm sorry if I made you worry." Her mouth felt dry and Spencer quickly retrieved a cup of water.
"I'm always going to worry about you Carly."
"Fair enough," she sighed and pushed herself up higher on the pillows. "I was being stupid, staying with Brian for so long, reading those comments when Freddie warned me not too, stressing over my studying when Sam told me I shouldn't."
"All in the past now, the doctor thinks it will be a while before you get back into you're normal habits and were going to have to keep a close eye on you."
"I promise I'll try my best." She took his hand back because he still looked sort or nervous. "Did you tell granddad what happened?"
"Thought I would leave that up to you, you know he won't take it well."
"You're afraid he'll get mad at you aren't you?"
"You know how he gets and you are my responsibility." Spencer explained. Carly got the feeling he was worried about their granddad trying to make her move in with him again. That wasn't going to happen though. As it was Spencer was going to have a hard enough time trying to get her out of the apartment when she was old enough to leave. Maybe he'd get married and she could convince him to move out and let her keep the apartment. It was unlikely but a girl could dream.
Deciding she didn't want to see him mope any longer she tried to change the topic. "Tell me about the sculpture you've been working on."
"Which one?" His tone gave away that he knew she was trying to change the subject. It was a silent agreement to discuss the messy stuff later.
"The one that's been taking you like months to finish, the big one."
"You mean the colossal humongous jumbo sculpture made entirely of itty bitty pieces of recycled junk?" His over the top hand gestures and low voice followed by a high pitched one had her laughing louder than intended. She hushed quickly, glanced at Sam and Freddie to make sure she hadn't woken them and then nodded.
"That sounds like the one." She whispered.
"In that case I can't say anything."
"What, why not?"
"Because it's going to be a surprise, I actually just finished it when you were at school tod-yesterday." He glanced at the clock on the wall. She had under guessed; it was nearly four in the morning.
"Did you get any sleep yet?"
"I wanted to talk to you first and be sure you were feeling okay, you should probably get more sleep though kiddo, if the doctor's calculations were right you've got quite a few hours to make up for."
"I'll try to get more sleep, but only if you promise to try to sleep too or else I'm going to feel too guilty to sleep."
"No more negative emotions." He protested. "I'll get some sleep to, though I'm not sure where."
Sam started to stir in the chair drawing the attention of the siblings. Her eyes opened and it took her a minute to recognize her surroundings before she sat up. She shook Freddie's shoulder and proceeded to stumble still half asleep out of the chair and over to Carly's side.
"How you feeling?"
"Much better." She said reaching out for Sam's hand. "How are you, I'm mean aside from being sick, I know I've been distracted lately but I do notice when my best friend isn't acting right."
"I'm good now." Freddie had pulled himself off the floor now and was standing next to her. She glanced back at him before continuing, "I'll tell you everything later kay."
"Can you at least tell me one thing now?" Carly pleaded.
"Sure." She said through a yawn.
"Do you or do you not have a boyfriend I don't know about?" She asked in all seriousness.
Sam laughed. It was hard to tell in the dark room but she was sure her cheeks were flushed. "Um, at the moment no, but uh," she tried hard not to smile too much, "ask me again in a week."
The look Carly gave her screamed confusion but she shook it off and turned to Freddie. He was smiling also. He looked so deliriously happy that it distracted from the nasty bruise around his eye. "You okay?"
He couldn't be better. Carly was going to get better. She and Sam were acting like the best friends they were again. And now Sam was referring to a future boyfriend who he was pretty sure was him. "I'm good."
After returning to Carly's room and finding her still asleep Freddie unwillingly agreed to see a doctor just to please his mother and get her to return to work. The doctor confirmed that his nose was not broken, the blood from earlier had been from biting his lip. The bruises on his abdomen, while painful to the touch, were superficial. No lasting damage was done. Freddie would have to thank Gibby and T-Bo for intervening, if Ronan kept on he probably would have cracked his ribs.
The group chatted for a while about things that didn't really matter. Carly tried to get Freddie to tell her who he got into a fight with but Spencer insisted she could wait till morning to be told. Carly ate what little of the hospital food was left on the tray that Spencer and Sam had not eaten first and then drifted back to sleep.
Later that morning when Mrs. Benson's shift ended she took Freddie and Sam back to Bushwell. Sam tried to tell them that she would be fine taking the bus but Freddie wouldn't let her. Mrs. Benson gave her something of an apology on the way home. She said she shouldn't have gotten so worked up and she hadn't meant to yell. It didn't sound so much like she didn't believe what she said was true but that perhaps that had not been the right time to say it.
Sam knew that was as good an apology as she was going to get.
Sam and Freddie waited out Carly's return at the Shay's apartment. Sam's fever had gone down quite a bit but she had nothing against continuing to sit on the couch with her bowl of chicken noodle soup. Freddie sat next to her with an ice pack to his eye for a while. They watched movies and tried with much difficulty not to sit too close to each other. Many times Freddie had to stop himself from reaching out to take her hand. She had a similar problem with not using his shoulder as a pillow.
It was easier when Gibby joined them. He had stayed behind last night to inform the iCarly viewers that the show was canceled for the night due to unforeseen circumstances. Out of curiosity Sam and Freddie went to watch the announcement which, it turned out, Gibby had turned into a one-man comedy show. With the use of various wigs he attempted to play the roles of everyone. Freddie found the whole thing kind of amusing but Sam was not so impressed with Gibby's attempt at keeping the show going as normal. Freddie finally got an opportunity to hold Sam in his arms but as she spent the whole time trying to escape and pounce on Gibby for an impression of her she wasn't exactly a fan of it wasn't as pleasant an experience and he would have hoped.
It was at this time that Spencer and Carly walked through the door. The situation in the living room was dropped and they all rushed forward to welcome Carly home. Spencer let the group gather around the couch and went to the kitchen to see what he could find for them to eat. The ingredients from the spaghetti tacos he had been preparing had been haphazardly shoved into the refrigerator.
After reheating them they sat around the table to eat. Carly decided she wanted to go change clothes. She had to put on the ones she wore yesterday because she didn't have any others available at the hospital. She tapped Sam on the shoulder, indicating that she should follow.
"Are you going to tell me what I've been missing out on now?" Carly asked once they entered her room.
Sam had been prepared to tell Carly what had happened over the last couple months but hesitated again at the last second. "Are you sure you're not going to stress out again?"
"I'll stress out worse if you don't tell me."
Sam took a seat on the little sofa. "You remember that video that got posted awhile back, the one that was taken in the locker rooms?"
"Of course, did you figure out who took it?"
"You remember Ronan Morris right?" Sam twitched a little at the thought of him. She reminded herself that he was no longer a problem and that despite not giving out the punishment herself he was going to get what was coming for him.
"That guy in your weight training class, he took the video, I knew he was a jerk but wow, who does something like that?"
"Someone who wants to get in your pants apparently."
"I'm sorry what?"
"Don't freak out; you're not so innocent best friend is still far more innocent than a lot of people we know."
"Well you need to explain in more detail." Carly abandoned her task of changing her clothes to sit down with Sam. Sam proceeded to explain that Ronan used the video to blackmail her and because she didn't want the video to get posted on the internet and have an effect on iCarly she agreed to make-out with him. She explained that it didn't really bother her until she found out Ronan had a girlfriend and at that time she ended up telling Freddie what was going on without giving him a name. Eventually Ronan wanted more out of their arrangement and before she could say no she was sent home for being sick.
"So what happened, why are you telling me now if you didn't before?" Carly asked.
"Because it's not a problem anymore, Freddie overheard Ronan talking to Joey about it in the guy's locker room and turned them in." Sam smiled; she couldn't wait to find out what kind of punishment they'd receive.
"This all happened yesterday?"
"According to Freddie yeah." Carly had fallen into some sort of thoughtful trance. Sam was just starting to worry about her when she spoke again.
"So Freddie busted Ronan and his friend for something that's going to get them in a lot of trouble and then showed up at here with a black eye and limping," the appraising look she received along with this statement had Sam squirming.
"He may have gotten into a fight with Ronan after school."
"Uh huh," Carly poked her friend's shoulder and she squirmed more. "Anything else you want to add?"
"He may have gotten into a fight with Ronan because of me." Carly crossed her arms. She was now the one smiling, only her smile was more knowing.
"You want to tell me more about that."
Sam's stomach growled. Saved by her hunger; she stood to go back down stairs. "Sorry Sam is unable to answer that question at the moment as she is leaving for lunch."
"Sam."
"Please ask again in a week."
One more chapter left. It should be a good one. Ronan is making one last appearance.
Thanks for all the awesome reviews last time you guys are amazing.
