We Love Each Other

by OneHorseShay

Sequel to Jade Likes Nice Guys. Freewill, not Fate, nearly tore them apart, but they came back stronger with 'I love you'. Now Jade and Freddie have to get through life's trials and tribulations before graduation without becoming casualties of Fate's unsuspecting even to themselves agents in trying to set things back to 'the way they were meant to be'.

36. Chapter 36: Robbie Sells Rex

Hello dear readers! Another hopefully fabulous chapter. A little warning, this is a fairly long chapter, but the next one will be relatively short. The most obvious thing would be to balance them out, but the story doesn't break apart that way. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it.

Let me cover a few reviews I haven't personally answered.

PD31: Well, unfortunately Freddie is quite taken and I don't see him leaving Jade or it suddenly becoming a threesome between them. Sorry buddy. It seems that Beck just can't help but do very stupid things to annoy Freddie, I don't even mean to really write him that way, it just happens. Most writers don't purposely invent Scrappy, but sometimes they just happen (I'm not saying Beck is one, just similar development).

Jeremy Shane: Thanks and I hope you enjoy this chapter.

darck ben: You're welcome. It's actually nice to have a ready made person to fill in for Mister Valentine when I need him, I just haven't had the need for him so far in any real capacity. When I can finally get back to iWould Have Pounded Him Silly this summer, I expect to use him since Freddie is spending a good portion of the summer with the Valentines. That's entirely up to you if you have Nicholas Brendon as Cat's father and if you need any suggestions, just PM.

Agent-M-0167: Thanks, I hope I meet your expectations in this chapter.

Challenge King: I guess we'll see how fortunate Dusty will be in the relationship department as he has struck out twice (by his own choice) so far in the last two stories. Mrs. West has been a second mother to him as I don't see many mothers doing that much for the boy her daughter loves. I hope you like this chapter.

Rating: T Language

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Chapter 36: Robbie Sells Rex

Black Box Theater
Hollywood Arts High School
Monday, May 14, 2012

Tori took her place behind a clear podium on the left side of the stage to the audience and spoke into a microphone to the gathered students including her friends minus Beck and Cat, "Good morning. Hey. Um, I'd like to introduce our guest lecturer. My friend... The head of Neutronium Records and the producer of the Platinum Music Awards! Mason Thornesmith!"

Mason walked towards the stage and his cell phone buzzed. He apologetically spoke to the brunette, "Oh, sorry darling, got to take this." He pulled out his cell phone and brought it to his ear. "Yeah, what is it?"

Tori nervously continued to the audience as he took the call, "Uh... Mason's gonna be teaching us about how much fun and how exciting the music business can be and hopefully he'll..."

He shouted loud enough to interrupt the brunette and draw everyone's attention, "What?! No, you tell him he better be in that recording session or I'll have his fat head on a fork! Where's... oh Max, it's you. Yes, guess what... You're fired, now run home and tell your pregnant wife."

Jade shook her head and whispered, "If I ever had any lingering doubt about not signing with him, they're gone."

Freddie leaned over and gave Jade a peck on the cheek then whispered, "Then he'd die trying to put your head on a fork."

His comment instantly brought one of her tight lipped smiles to the pale's girl face.

Freddie smirked and shouted to Tori, "Tori, you might want to take Quincy up on his offer and ditch Mason while you have the chance before he wants to put your head on a fork!"

Mason immediately directed a frown at the muscular teenager while putting away his cell phone.

The former Seattleite lost his smile and stared just as coldly in return to the president of Neutronium Records. They had a short staring contest that drew everyone's attention, but Mason soon broke it off and took a deep breath. He rested his hands on the sides of the podium for support and forced a happy tone as he began, "Hello, kids."

He received in return a course of polite hellos from the gathering.

Tori happily asked while motioning to her boss, "So Mason, what advice do you have for the students here at Hollywood Arts who are trying to break into the music business?"

He tilted his head slightly to the side in contemplation then answered with a cheerful start, "Well, I'd say, ya know um... If you work hard, stay focused..." He snorted out a breath and finished with a sad tone, "Eh, who are we kidding? Prepare for your dreams to be crushed."

Tori leaned against the podium with her forearms and embarrassingly asked, "Questions?"

A number of students raised their hands including Robbie which Tori immediately noticed. She called out, "Uh, hey, Robbie."

"Hi. Robbie Shapiro, class treasurer, seafood lover…"

Dusty put a hand over his mouth to keep from laughing at wondering if anyone else saw the irony that they put the Robbie in charge of the senior class' money. If he could have trusted Robbie not to go nuts again on TheSlap other than his food commentary, he would have made him treasurer.

Robbie continued with a self-assured tone, "…here at school, I'm known as quite the guitar player."

Rex spoke up, "And quite the doof-bag."

"Anyway... Uh, my guitar instructor says that I'm excellent when it comes to picking..."

Rex laughed out in interruption, "Especially his nose! Heh heh."

"Rex!"

Mason hesitantly began, "Um, actually Robin..."

"Rob-bee."

Mason curtly responded, "Never correct me."

Freddie relaxed back in his chair next to Jade and shouted out, "His name is Robbie!"

The older gentleman frowned at the tech-producer while the Seattle native stared in return.

Mason turned his attention back to Robbie and finished, "Uh I would like to speak with you when we're all finished here."

Robbie asked in surprise, "Really?"

Jade breathed out just as much in surprise, "Really?"

The graying haired man nodded his head and confirmed, "Really."

André idly commented, "I never knew Robbie liked seafood."

Trina shouted as she stood up next to André and began scooting down the aisle to reach the walkway, "Mister Thornesmith..." She shoved Robbie aside to clear her path and he went face first into the floor.

"Ah! Ow!"

She held up a CD jewel case. "This is a collection of my music... It's uh, called 'Songs in the Key of Trina'."

André shouted and pointed to a teenager dressed in a red and blue jumpsuit rushed into the theater from Tori's right, "Hey, hey look out!"

Tori pointed at him and shouted, "It's the Flour Bomber!"

He stopped just in front of Trina and threw a small Tupperware bowl of flour into her face. Her face and chest was completely covered in flour. He shouted in cheer and ran past the flour drenched girl out the back of the theater while Jade turned in her seat and shouted, "Grab him!"

Trina shut her eyes tightly and trying her best not to start crying the started blowing out flour away from her face.

Black Box Theater

The bell rang signaling the end of the period and the students were filing out of the theater after the hour and a half Q&A session with Mason. Trina whined out as she continued to clean her face off while looking at herself in her pocket mirror, "Ugh, I can't believe that Flour Bomber! He ruined my chances to sing for Mason Thornesmith."

André curiously asked, "Um, Trina... Have you ever recorded yourself singing and played it back and ya know, listened to it?"

Trina snapped back, "I get it. I'm not the best singer, but Ginger Fox can't sing at all according to Freddie and look at her."

Freddie nodded along in agreement, "She can't."

The songwriter closed his mouth and looked away.

Jade rested her back against one of the support beams with her arms crossed under her chest, "I'm so sick of that Flour Bomber. I am gonna find out who he is and why he's flour bombing people."

Dusty sitting in a seat on the opposite side of André and Trina pointed out what he thought was obvious, "It's only been like three hours since he showed up. Is it really that big a deal for you? And what's that going to accomplish? There's like a thousand of us here. When you find out who it is, you're probably not going to know who it is or have any emotional satisfaction in finding out who and why."

The dark haired girl hissed out in annoyance, "I still want to know."

Dusty snorted out a laugh and shook his head.

Back on stage with Tori, Mason smiled at the ventriloquist as he stood with Tori on the stage. "So Robbie, let's say you uh swing by my office tomorrow, four o'clock. How does that sound?"

"Scrumptious."

Rex muttered out, "Oh my God, you're blowing it already."

Mason softly laughed while pointing to Rex, "I like this Rex. You bring him to the office tomorrow."

"Sure."

---

Cat ran into the theater and shouted to André, Trina and Freddie, "Is it true?! Did the Flour Bomber really strike again?!"

Trina snapped out with an annoyed tone, "What do you think?"

She innocent asked, "I dunno, what do I think?"

The older Vega sibling pointed to her face, "Look at me. Do you not see what's on my face?"

The redhead pointed to the girl's chin and asked, "The chin pimple?"

As Mason started on his way out and Robbie eagerly approached Cat, André and Trina, Freddie slipped up next to Tori and whispered, "I really think you should rethink about staying with him."

She blew out a breath and softly retorted, "I'm already under contract with him."

He smiled and answered with a reassuring tone, "Well, what I learned from Spencer and his seventy-two hours of law school is that in every contract, there is a loophole. It's how we got out of our Daka shoe endorsement deal."

Tori looked over her shoulder to see that Mason had left the theater. She looked back to Freddie and leaned over close to whisper, "I'll think about it."

Her answer brought smile to his face as he answered, "Good."

Vega Residence
Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Mister Vega was sitting at the kitchen table sipping on a cup of coffee while reading today's headlines on a PearPad. He looked up from his reading and smiled as he heard his youngest daughter trot down the stairs and approach the kitchen.

"Hi sweetheart," he called out as she made her way to a cabinet to grab some cereal and a bowl.

"Morning dad," she answered as she placed the box and bowl on the table then headed to the refrigerator to grab something to drink. She poured herself some orange juice then had a seat cattycorner to her dad at the end of the table to start on her cereal.

He pushed over his plate in case she wanted any of his gourmet eggs that his wife had prepared for him before heading out for the day. He had noticed recently that she had been doing a lot of little things for him, which made him curious as their anniversary wasn't anytime soon or either of their birthdays.

She smiled to him and quickly started on her cereal and taking from his plate.

The police detective cautiously asked, "Tori, could I ask you something sweetie?"

She swallowed the spoonful of cereal then teased her father, "I guess it depends… are you asking what color I want for a car?"

He knotted his brow in confusion about why she was questioning him about a car.

She softly laughed, "You still owe me a car for taking Trina to Yerba with me. I think it is about time to pay up since graduation is in a month."

He took a deep breath and remembered that he did promise his daughter that he would get her a car if she did take Trina. He slightly bowed his head and put on a small smile. He let out a laugh and answered, "Alright, I'll take you car shopping on Memorial Day Weekend, okay?"

"Great, but you're not going to wiggle out by getting some beat up bucket unless you get it restored. Did you see the before and after of Freddie's car?"

"No, I didn't get a chance, but she is a beauty, but… you're the one about to become a mega-music star; maybe I should ask you to get me a new car next year?" He let out a soft laugh then took a sip of coffee.

She got up from her seat and stood behind her father to rest her arms on his shoulders and wrapped them over his chest. She whispered sincerely, "Don't worry dad. After I get my millions, I'll make sure everyone is taken care of. I'll get you any car you want and I'll get you and mom a new house," then gave him a kiss on the cheek.

He let out a soft laugh and patted one of her forearms across his chest. "That's sweet."

Tori released him and retook her seat and started back on her breakfast. "So what did you want to ask me?"

He licked his lips then tried to ask in a conversational tone, "I was wondering how old is Jade."

She took a few moments to chew her morsel of food then casually answered, "She's seventeen, why?"

He put on an even expression then commented before taking a sip of his coffee, "And Freddie just had a birthday a few months back… his eighteenth wasn't it?"

The brunette swallowed down nervously then softly questioned with a strained voice, "Why?"

He shrugged a shoulder and answered with a surprisingly calm voice honed over year of being a police detective, "Oh, I was just curious."

The youngest daughter again questioned but with a more blatantly nervous voice, "Why?"

He slightly frowned and regretfully answered, "Just something Beck brought up before you came down on Saturday."

Tori's eyes shot open wide and quickly asked, "What did he say?"

He paused in answering and that just gave the teenager all the more reason to ask again, but in a sterner voice, "What did Beck say?"

Mister Vega's mild questioning of his daughter apparently just turned on a dime into an interrogation of him. She continued to look at him in demanding an answer that quickly turned into a glare.

He finally relented, "He suggested that I shouldn't be concerned about him with you because he's not like Freddie: sleeping with a girl he knew for about three weeks."

Tori's eyes shot open wide and from seeing the look in his daughter's eyes, he realized in an instant that she knew the veracity of Beck's statement. However, he was taken aback a moment later by the look of anger in her eyes from his normally sweet daughter.

The brunette took several calming breaths then answered in a flat tone, but heard a faint hint of anger under her voice, "Whatever you are thinking dad, drop it."

He attempted to gently point out, "Tori, Freddie could get into serious trouble—"

"They're not and don't ask me anything else and betray the trust of a friend. Just accept that answer and let it go."

He was about to ask how she could know that for sure, but seeing the look in his daughter's eyes told him he wasn't going to get it out of her and he certainly couldn't threaten her in anyway. Besides, his wife would just overrule any kind of threat or punishment and make him sleep on the couch just for the aggravation.

He put on a tight smile and nodded his head.

The rest of the breakfast was in silence as Mister Vega watched his daughter practically fume as she finished her meal.

Tori finished her breakfast (and practically clearing his plate) just as the doorbell rang. She got up from her seat and headed to the door. She opened the door to reveal Beck's smiling face, but she looked coldly in return. He quickly lost the smile then cleared his throat and cautiously asked, "What's wrong?"

She answered him in a detached voice, "I'll get a ride with Trina."

Beck's face fell in confusion and was about to ask why, but she continued with a detached voice, "I'll see you at school," then shut the door in his face.

In Route to Hollywood Arts

Trina rolled her eyes as she asked her sister sitting in the passenger seat of her car with a tired voice, "Okay, so why are you riding with me again?"

Tori rested the back of her head against the headrest then answered with a tired breath, "I don't want to ride with Beck today."

She huffed out a breath, "What did he do now?"

The younger sister blew out a breath through her nose and looked out the passenger window.

Trina softly whined, "Come on Tori."

Tori snapped her head towards her sister and answered with an impatient tone, "When he was picking me up from prom, he said something to dad."

"Wha'd he say?"

She clamped up again, but Trina pushed on, "Tori."

"Okay, he was trying to keep dad from worrying about him, so he tried to make himself look good by telling him that Freddie and Jade have slept together and wouldn't be like that with me."

Trina remained silent for an entire minute, which was quite long in comparison as it was only a five minute drive and it was Trina being quiet after all. However, as they were reaching the school, she finally spoke up in a tone that suggested that she already knew the answer, "Jade is seventeen, right?"

"Yeah."

The older sister hissed out, "Damn…"

"Not exactly how I would phrase it, but yeah…"

The older brunette passed the quickest of glances to her sister and curiously questioned, "What's dad going to do?"

Tori braced her elbow against the passenger door and palm against the side of her head as she muttered in a tired tone, "I told him to drop it."

"You think he will?"

"I don't know."

"We got to tell mom. She'll tell dad to drop it."

Tori nodded her head in agreement with her sister's idea.

Trina shook her head in disgust as she muttered, "I can't believe… actually yes I can believe that gank would pull that."

Tori narrowed her eyes on her sister and snapped, "Where did that come from? You use to be interested in him."

"Yeah, until I saw how he really was like. I can't believe it took Jade that long to break up with him. She really lucked out with Freddie…" Trina started smiling and daydreaming while she pulled the car into a parking spot.

Tori looked out of the passenger window as she couldn't disagree with her sister, but didn't want Trina to see her expression of how much she agreed with her.

Hollywood Arts High School
Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Tori had quickly gathered herself and her bag in the car then stepped out to find the odd couple, leaving Trina behind without a second thought. She wasn't in her mind being rude to her sister, but she felt the urgent need to find Jade and Freddie and let them know what had transpired. Fortunately someone up there was watching out for her as she approached the entrance, she caught sight of the couple walking hand-in-hand as they entered the school.

She quickly caught up with them just after they entered and were about to turn right to stop by Jade's locker when she called out, "Freddie, Jade?"

The pair stopped just around the right corner to the door and Freddie smiled to the lovely brunette. "What's up Tori?"

She blew out a quick breath the hurriedly asked, "Could I talk to you two, alone?"

The former Seattleite knotted his brow and passed a glance to Jade to meet an equally confused expression. "Okay?"

She grabbed each one by a wrist and started dragging them towards the janitor's closet.

As soon as the three entered, Tori closed the door behind them and flipped on the light switch.

Jade asked with a slightly annoyed tone, "What's this about?"

This time around Tori wasn't hesitant in her answer, "Beck told my dad that you two have, ah…" but her throat suddenly felt constricted in trying to complete such an answer.

Jade slightly turned her head and demanded, "What?"

She flicked her brow up and embarrassingly commented, "You know... been… intimate with one another. Really intimate."

Freddie's face hardened and jaw clenching tightly as he realized the implications.

Jade shouted with a knotted brow, "He what?!"

The passersby outside turned to look at the closet, but the tone of Jade's voice convinced them to continue walking.

The darker brunette quickly followed up, "What is your dad going to do?"

"I—I…"

The pale teenager took a step forward and outright glared at Tori before hissing out, "Damn it Tori, what will he do?"

Tori lifted her hands and started playing with her fingertips as she nervously answered, "I don't know, but I told him to drop it."

Freddie spoke up with a calmer voice, "Will he?"

"I don't know."

Jade looked away and palmed her forehead. She took several calming breaths then asked the lighter brunette, "What did you tell him?"

"He started to say that Freddie could get into trouble, but I cut him off and I told him you two weren't. I told him not to ask me anymore questions because I wasn't going to betray your trust. He dropped it then I left with Trina for school."

Freddie knotted his brow and asked while looking to his girlfriend. "How could she betray you?"

Jade slightly bowed her head and answered, "When we were at Nozu when Sikowitz was making us go out on a 'date', Tori was curious about some things and misguided on some others. I just straightened out a few things that she might have been thinking… girl talk."

The brown eye boy nodded his head in acceptance then looked back to Tori.

The pale girl continued with an irritated filled voice, "Why would he tell him that? Why now of all times? He's known since the first day from Carly."

"He was picking me up for prom and since my dad was being all protective of me, I guess Beck felt he needed to reassure him." She licked her lips and commented regretfully to Freddie, "So he decided to compare himself to you… saying he was the better guy than you since he wouldn't sleep with a girl he only knew for three weeks."

Freddie clenched his jaw tightly and outright growled as he felt the figurative knife go in him. His mind instantly went back to that night they had shared and started debating whether or not he had made the right decision that night. He would always cherish that night with her and never regret the act itself, but his mind really started questioning the timing of when they shared that experience even though more than half a year ago he was alright with the timing.

Jade shouted at Tori, "He is not the better man!" She turned her head slightly to glimpse Freddie in order to compliment him, but she caught a look in Freddie's eyes and a chill immediately ran through her as she saw that Freddie was debating such a thing.

He commented in a regretful tone, "Maybe a better man would have found the words that night to expression how he felt about you…"

She took a breath while maintaining a look straight in his then retorted in a tone as if she was taking a solemn vow, "Maybe, but I could have been a better woman and found the words too for you."

The couple shared a look, one in which Freddie was denying that such a thing was possible with Jade, but quickly got the message of what she meant which caused a smile to start tugging at the corner of his mouth.

Tori looked down at her feet at the sudden feeling of intruding on something intimate between the couple.

Freddie took a quick breath then turned his attention back to the lighter brunette. He commented with a resigned tone, "I guess we'll just have to wait and see… if I get my butt hauled off to jail."

Jade crossed her arms under her chest and frowned at such a prospect.

Tori started fiddling with her fingers again as she bashfully commented, "I'm sorry."

He gave her a reassuring smile and spoke in a gentle tone, "Not your fault…"

The bell rang out side to signal that the students should be heading to their first period class. Tori looked over her shoulder from the sound then back to the couple. She gave them a bashful smile then turned to leave in order to give them a moment of privacy.

As soon as the closet door shut, the pair looked to one another and Freddie softly swore, "Damn."

West Residence

Mrs. West was pulling on her blazer jacket and grabbing her purse and keys as she was trying to make her way out the door for a mid-morning meeting at the office to help negotiate another round of talks with Heather Fox's representatives. Once again she was questioning her boss Dan's intelligence as somehow he thought that having her negotiate (one stepped removed) with a girl that looked identical to her daughter gave them an advantage against Fox's representatives.

She didn't contemplate that much further as she gathered the last of her things and was about to head for the garage when the doorbell rang. She snorted out an irritated breath and rolled her eyes while heading for the door. She took a quick peak through the peephole and saw a fairly, ruggedly handsome Hispanic gentleman with a gold police badge clipped to his belt.

Ruby called out from behind the door, "What do you want? Do you have a warrant?"

Mister Vega knotted his brow and answered with a disarming tone, "No ma'am, I'm not here as a police officer. I'm here as one parent to another. I'm Mister Vega, Tori and Trina's father."

Ruby opened the door and gave him a guarded expression. She motioned towards the banister behind him while she took a seat on her porch swing. "Okay so, what's with the visit? One of you finally wants to bring up the rivalry between our daughters?"

He leaned against the banister and laced his fingers for his hands to rest in his lap. He curiously looked at her while cautiously answering, "I wasn't much aware there was one."

Ruby raised an eyebrow, somewhat shocked by the lack of involvement the man apparently had in his child's life to be ignorant of such a basic thing about his daughter. "Okay, if it's not that, then what do you want to talk to me about?"

"I was a little concerned with some news in regards to your daughter that Beck implied on Saturday night just before he left to prom with my daughter."

She snorted out dismissively, "I'm sorry, but I'm not up for listening to the boy that broke my daughter's heart."

He nodded his head and gave her a respectful expression about such a delicate matter. "I can understand that, but I felt that I should let you know. When I was giving him the old father speech about his behavior towards my daughter during prom night, he compared himself with Freddie and suggested that Freddie and your daughter… may have had… relations in the past and maybe still do. I don't know what rules you set up in your home having him live here with your daughter and it's none of my business as a parent—"

The lovely pale woman took a breath and interrupted him with a curt tone, "It certainly is not."

He took a calming breath then continued, "However, as a police officer, I would like to inform you that if it is going on, Freddie being eighteen and your daughter being seventeen… he could get into serious legal trouble if they are having sex. He could be charged with rape and if there was any way to prove that they had sex when they were both seventeen, they could both be charged."

Ruby snorted out on a laugh and softly questioned, "If I may ask you something?"

He politely nodded as he answered, "Of course ma'am."

She asked in a carefree voice, "How often do your daughters have sex with one another?"

Mister Vega took a sharp breath and quickly gave her a cold stare.

Her lips formed a hint of a smirk and she continued in a casual voice, "It so easy to make baseless accusations… especially from a boy who broke up with my daughter then she found someone far better than him a few weeks later."

The police detective could not argue the points, especially that latter one of the quality of man which he found Freddie.

She continued before he could respond, "See what he's doing? He's still bitter after all this time that my daughter could move on and be happy without him. Just imagine for a moment what he'll do after your daughter realizes what a loser she's dating and dumps him."

She raised another point that he could see and agree with her. He slightly bowed his head then continued with what he hoped was a disarming tone, "Ma'am, I think very highly of Freddie. He did save my daughters from Yerba aft—"

The raven beauty was quick to interrupt, "My Steven got your daughters out of that Hellhole and I wouldn't be surprised if he was the one that personally sent that bastard that did that to your daughters straight to Hell."

The name Steven pricked at him from the memory of his daughter's last boyfriend that had seemed like a good guy, but turned out to be a complete loser. He was hoping that she wouldn't make the same mistake with Beck. He continued with a submissive tone, "Yes… and Freddie's been there for my daughters since then, so I'm only here as a courtesy to make sure that he doesn't get into any kind of trouble. I wouldn't want that to happen to him."

"I can appreciate that and thank you for the concern, but…" Her voice dropped to one that dared him to challenge her words, "…if you or your police friends approach my underage daughter and try to question her without me being present, I will file a complaint against you and the department for trying to violate my daughter's rights then I will personally sue you and the department and trust me, I can get some very good lawyers… just ask my ex-husband."

She got up from her seat and stated in a business like tone, "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a meeting to get to."

"Yes ma'am," he answered while she turned back to her door and entered the house.

He slightly shook his head and wondered how Freddie lived with the pair.

Asphalt Café
Hollywood Arts High School

Dusty laughed out after taking a sip from is drink, "I heard Vega number two dragged both of you into the janitor's closet… so she decided that she wanted in on the relationship? Solving the whole Jedi versus Teddie versus Jori fight by just all getting together?"

Jade narrowed her eyes on the former webmaster as she and Freddie sat across the lunch table from him. The tech-producer coughed for several seconds as he was mid-sip with his drink while Ava sitting next to Dusty shook her head in disbelief.

At the neighboring table, Tori and Beck were sitting across from one another at their usual lunch table with André, Cat and Robbie looking back and forth at the on-the-outs couple. Apparently Beck still didn't know why Tori was mad at him and it was becoming quite frustrating for him as she refused to tell him. However he figured it had something to do with his ex-girlfriend and thorn-in-his-side sitting at another table today.

The former Carolinian softly chuckled, "I'm just messing with you. It's starting to become a bigger fight than the whole Creddie and Seddie fight. I guess having several hundred million people seeing you will do that to you and all the media surrounding it before and after." He raised an eyebrow while playfully commenting, "You have fan-sites dedicated to you."

"Here we go again…" The brown eye boy shook his head then continued with an exasperated voice, "We were in the closet because Tori had to tell us that Beck told Mister Vega about… us."

The former webmaster raised an eyebrow. "As in…"

"As in we've been together—together."

Dusty's eyes shot open and Ava surprised them by letting out, "Shit…"

The three looked to the longer, lighter brunette with curious expressions then she embarrassingly commented, "Sorry… this is bad."

Freddie muttered, "It could be."

Dusty blew out a tired breath as he looked like he had run out of patience. "What are you going to do to that piece of crap now?"

The pale girl gave him a curious expression and he quickly pointed out, "When he starts pulling stuff that could land your boyfriend in prison or maybe even you, it's pretty bad and something needs to be done."

The Seattle native uttered with mild disgust, "I haven't decided."

Jade gave him a concerned expression, but didn't really know what to say. She had her own simmering anger towards Beck that she had to control for the moment instead of immediately trying to figure out a way to make him sorry for a very long time. The idea that this was what it was like between her mother and father troubled the girl since it was apparently so easy for love to turn into anger and resentment. Also, scratching in the back of her mind was a ghost of a memory of watching another couple's love turning into resentment and that began to trouble her further, especially since she really couldn't recall the memory.

The leaner teenager continued, "Well, in the meantime, deny everything. The fifth amendment is your best friend."

Freddie politely nodded his head and answered, "I will remember that… but turning to a more pleasant topic so our lunch isn't entirely spoiled… have you talked to Heather since prom or was that just a one time thing?"

Dusty softly smirked and took a sip from his drink then idly commented, "A gentleman does not kiss and tell."

Ava raised her brow and let out a soft laugh, "So you two have kissed?"

"I admit nothing."

Freddie snorted out a laugh as his mood slightly improved seeing that his friend looked amused rather particularly guarded on the subject. "I'm not asking you about kissing her, just if prom was a one time thing for you two."

Dusty looked across the three for a moment seeing that their curiosity. He realized if he was going to talk about this, these were the three people he would share such knowledge, so he cleared his throat then hesitantly answered, "Well if you must know, I called her Sunday—she gave me her phone number as I was dropping her off at home—to see when I should call her back. I wasn't exactly sure when she said 'call me' meant, so I had to find out… which she found quite amusing. I obviously asked her to pass along a Happy Mother's Day wish to her mother—which landed me an invite to spend Sunday afternoon over at her house for dinner after she learned that my mother wasn't here for the day."

He shrugged a shoulder and took a sip from his drink before continuing, "At first I wasn't going to go. I had no interest in going from a 'we feel sorry for you' invite, but… my dad made the point quite clear: 'You want to turn down a dinner invitation from a supermodel? Are you nuts?' So I went. I had a nice time."

Jade and Freddie were taken aback, each wondering if their assumptions were true about Dusty's maternity, did she see her son on Sunday? However, the pale dark brunette put that aside and spoke up, "Your father seems to have a way with words."

Dusty grinned. "Dad is very straightforward."

Ava teasingly asked, "So are you two going out?"

He softly smiled to her. "We're… talking to one another."

"Talking? You're talking?" she asked grinning ear-to-ear.

"Yes, we're talking."

"Does that mean I can tell my sister not to try?"

He glanced to Freddie and Jade with the pale girl giving him an unsettled expression as if the news bothered her. He brushed it off then looked back to Ava and answered nonchalantly, "That would be the… prudent thing to do."

One of the other students at the café suddenly shouted, "It's the Flour Bomber!"

Everyone turned their attention to the red and blue dressed mystery man running from the café's parking lot and dashed away from their seats to get out of his line of fire—flour. He stopped just feet behind Dusty and Ava. The Los Angeles based twin attempted to scoot out of her seat while Jade attempted to jump up out of her seat in a vain effort to climb on the table and tackle him, but Freddie leaned over to shield his girlfriend and held her in place.

The Flour Bomber pulled his arm back, ready to dump the flour on Dusty, but stopped when the Southern teenager calmly stated without looking away from his food, "I came from Northridge High School, I'm white and I was no one's bitch. I want you to think about that for a moment."

Dusty sipped his drink without a care as FB lowered his arm and started taking a few steps backwards. He turned and ran away in the direction he came.

Practically the entire café turned their attention to the former webmaster while Jade was fuming that she missed her shot at him.

The lean teenager smirked as he jovially commented, "I guess we know he's a high school student or a recent graduate."

Neutronium Records
Los Angeles, CA
Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Robbie and Cat arrived at the office at about four in the afternoon. The ventriloquist straightened his hair, wore a tight fitting T-shirt and a pair of tight black jeans.

A lovely young blonde assistant escorted the pair into the office and spoke, "Okay, you guys just have a seat and Mason'll be here in a minute."

Cat turned and asked the assistant waiting at the door, "Um, have you heard of Bibble?"

"Sure, the British snack."

Robbie slowly warned, "Cat..."

Cat snapped around and pointed to her friend, "Shush up!" She turned and looked back to the assistant and asked, "Yeah, um, could you point me in the direction of Mason's Bibble?"

"I've been told not to give you any Bibble."

"Hmm... maybe you're thinking of someone else."

"You're Cat Valentine."

"No, I'm Cat Valen...Stine." She smiled to the blonde and pointed to her as she finished, "Hey, were you at my Bat Mitzvah?

The assistant smiled and turned to head out of the office, pulling the door shut behind her.

Cat turned to see Robbie standing bowlegged. She softly pleaded with him, "Don't be so nervous."

"I'm not nervous."

"Then why are you breathing so heavy?"

He softly whined in response, "Because these pants are a little snug in the rump."

Mason happily entered his office from the back door to the left side of his desk, "Well, hello. If it isn't my new friend Robbie and my old friend Cat."

Robbie nervously laughed, "Hey, Mason. You like my snazzy outfit?" He did a spin in place then smiled at the record president.

Mason ignored him and commented while looking at the puppet, "And there's Rex."

"All day."

The redhead spoke up, "Mason, quick question..."

"No Bibble," he quickly cut her off.

"You don't know that's what I was gonna ask."

"Oh, then what's your question?"

She hesitantly asked, "How ya been?"

Mason gave her an expression that suggested he didn't believe her for a moment. He turned a moment later to look back at the door he just entered and called out, "Francis, come on, get yourself in here."

A tween boy walked out of the door clenching a cone full of bibble with his left arm and stuffing his face with his other hand. His hair was disheveled and the left side of his button blue shirt was pulled out of his pants.

"There he is. Robbie, Cat! This..." He slightly frowned and finished introducing the preteen with a hint of embarrassment, "…is my son, Francis."

Robbie began to greet him, "Well, hello Fra..." but Cat excitedly interrupted, "Bibble!"

Mason softly admonished the redhead, "Cat."

She looked up to the music record president and innocently asked, "How ya been?"

"Alrighty then. My work here is done." He patted his son on the shoulder then turned and headed to his back office door.

Robbie took a step forward asked with mild shock, "Wait, I thought we were gonna talk about my music career."

He casually remarked, "Well, sometimes we think things that never happen," then turned and headed out of the office.

Francis continued to munch on a handful of bibble.

Cat tried to comment with an idle tone, "I see you have a... Bag of Bibble."

"You can't have any."

"Not even for..." Cat reached down her shirt and pulled out something from her cleavage which she quickly identified, "Chocolate covered nuts?"

"Nah, keep your nuts."

Robbie leaned forward and asked, "Francis, is your dad coming back?"

"No. He brought you here so I could buy your little friend."

He flatly asked, "Cat?" He shrugged a shoulder and asked, "How much?"

She looked Robbie and asked in a stunned voice, "Robbie?"

Francis snapped, "Not the chick! Him."

Rex's mouth dropped open and uttered, "Eh!"

"But... but Rex isn't for sale."

"I'll give you two thousand bucks."

"Two thousand... what?!"

Cat walked around Robbie to stand on his right and attempted to slip her hand into the bag of bibble, but Francis slapped her hand and the redhead cried out, "Owie!"

"So we got a deal or what?"

"No."

Rex pointed out, "Think about it Rob. Two G's... That'd buy you a lot a body wash."

Robbie looked away and commented, "Well, I do use a lot of it."

"My offer's good for twenty-four hours."

"Alright. I'll think about it." He immediately turned to go, but noticed that Cat remained in her place in front of the child. "Cat, you coming?"

The petit girl stared at Francis and held up a hand and curtly instructed him, "Wait for me outside."

Francis insisted, "I ain't giving you any Bibble.

Cat capitulated, but asked anyway, "Okay. But... Will you at least breathe in my face?"

He huffed a breath into her face and the redhead immediately smiled and nodded her head. "Oh, yeah, that is Bibble breath."

He gave her a strange look while she knotted her brow and demanded will pointing to her face with her left pointer finger, "Do it again!"

Cat Valentine: Does ANYONE out there have BIBBLE? I'll do anything for bibble! G. FEELING: Desperate

West Residence
Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Freddie was sitting at his desk typing away at his computer working on some homework while Jade sat on Freddie's bed working on lyrics for her first album for a late summer release and a possible fall tour.

Mrs. West knocked on the opened door and called out, "Hi, sorry to interrupt."

The couple looked up from their respective works and Jade answered, "Hey."

She walked inside and took a seat at the left side end of the bed and glanced between the pair. Freddie swiveled his chair to face her as the raven colored woman continued, "I had an interesting conversation with Mister Vega this morning. He stopped by just before I left for work."

The couple instantly put on worried expressions and looked to one another.

She immediately noticed them and realized that they must have had some idea about what he had come to see her about. She quickly put the pieces together that Tori filled them in at school. Seeing Jade worried expression turn into outright fear, she continued, "He was concerned about what kind of trouble Freddie could get into if you two are having sex since you're still seventeen and he wanted to let me know because he doesn't want Freddie to get into any kind trouble."

Jade let out a visibly relieved breath.

"But I told him not to speak with you without my presence and if he did, I would file a complaint against him and the department then sue him. Hopefully he's smart enough not to test me."

She looked directly into her daughter's eyes and stated with an unwavering voice, "Jade, this is very important: Do not talk Tori's father. I don't care if he asks you what time it is, you tell him you are remaining silent. I'm not taking the chance that he's just not trying to snowball me."

The pale teenager nodded her head and softly answered, "I will remember that."

She glanced between them and asked in a cautious tone, "So you two really aren't?"

Freddie shook his head and gave a halfhearted smile. "We're not because of that and… as much as I love Jade, I'm not completely comfortable for us to be that intimate until after we're married."

Mrs. West cracked a smile to the answer then turned to look to her daughter and asked, "Is that going to be a problem for you?"

The teenager was caught off guard by the question then answered with a slightly confused expression, "No, I don't. I don't want Freddie to do something he's not comfortable in doing."

The matriarch nodded and reassuringly smiled to her then stood up from her seat. "Okay, as long as you two are happy and safe. I'll let you get back to what you were doing." She turned and headed out of the room, but pulled the door shut behind her.

The couple looked to one another and simultaneously let out a relieved breath. Jade jumped off the bad and dashed to the muscular teenager. He grabbed her just as she jumped into his lap and she wrapped her arms around the back of his neck to hold him tightly.

He whispered, "We're okay, we're okay."

Hollywood Arts High School
Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Jade started her way down the left side stairway wearing a gorgeous blue Dana Mathers prom dress. It was a high/low hem dress with a beaded left shoulder strap and a ruffled bottom and of organza material. The dress was a mostly open back with an asymmetrical weaved beaded straps across her bear back. Her outfit was finished with a pair of blue high heels. She held a box speaker in her left hand a radio mic in her right hand to call out, "Here I am... just walking through school... hoping the Flour Bomber doesn't ruin my awesome, expensive outfit by, ya know... Flour bombing me."

She looked down the hall towards the janitor's closet. She idly commented with a raised brow, "That better not happen." She continued to look around and didn't see him. She dismissively finished, "Okay."

Freddie smiled as he saw his girlfriend turn and walk towards him. He happily commented, "There's my girl. Looking as beautiful as ever. I've always said that blue is her color."

As she held on to the mic, she smiled, pointed at him and commented, "I wanna know who that Flour Bomber is."

Dusty asked the obvious question, "And you're wearing that dress to catch his attention?"

"Yup. And when he tries to get me, I am going to grab him and wrestle him down to the ground."

The more muscular teenager softly laughed, "He might like that."

Dusty laughed, "A part of me would like that."

The pair looked with odd expressions to the former webmaster.

He looked back to the couple in an innocent tone, "What? I'm still a heterosexual male and look at you beautiful." He looked her up and down then back up to meet Jade's eyes and commented with a soft laugh, "Lord have mercy, your legs look like they go on forever." He continued to let out a small chuckle while looking to Freddie, "And you go home to that every night."

Jade softly smirked at the compliment while Freddie shook his head trying to keep the smile off of his face.

---

Tori and Cat stood by the brunette's locker as Robbie walked around the corner. He immediately greeted the pair, "Hey. Hi girls."

The pair replied in unison, "Hey. Oh, hi."

Robbie whined out, "I can't talk!" then started walking away.

André politely called out to his friend as he approached the girls from the opposite direction, "Hey Rob."

The ventriloquist quickly bumped into and walked past the songsmith and shouted, "I don't know!"

André continued walking to the girls and thumbed behind him as he asked, "You guys worried about Robbie?"

Tori was quick to answer, "Totally."

Cat explained, "Yeah, he called me in the middle of the night last night and just yelled... 'What do I do', 'what do I do', 'what do I do', 'what do I do?!"

"And what'd you say?"

"'I dunno', 'I dunno', 'I dunno', 'I dunno'."

André nodded as he praised his redheaded friend, "He's lucky to have you as a friend."

Freddie and Jade walked side-by-side, his arm wrapped around the small of her back and resting on her right hip and her arm over his shoulders, spoke up, "You guys talking about Robbie selling Rex?"

"Oh, yeah."

"Yeah."

Jade sympathetically commented, "I can't imagine Robbie without Rex. It's like Sikowitz without clown pants. Or Tori without that stupid monster purse."

Tori looked on oblivious to Jade's insult and asked, "What? What's so funny?"

André answered, "Nothin'. Um. Where were we?"

Tori picked up, "Well, I think Robbie should sell him."

Cat asked in concern, "Why?"

The brunette shouted back, "Because! I think we all know that Robbie's relationship with Rex is... Ya know... it's not natural."

Jade laughed out, "Oh, this coming from the girl who saved Rex's life last year after we had him good and dead?"

Tori sighed, slightly tilted her head and closed her eyes.

Dusty spoke up coming up between Freddie and André, "Why is he freaking out? Why doesn't he just make another one and sell that one to the kid?"

Freddie nodded along to the suggestion but the rest of them gave him confused and dumbfounded expressions.

He tilted his head to the side and continued in a tone that questioned if they were really serious about the expressions they were giving him, "Oh come on, he had to make it in the first place. Besides, he had to put the puppet back together again after it was all smashed up, so he has to know how to make another one."

Cat quickly pointed out, "But then it wouldn't be Rex."

Dusty patiently looked at his ex for a moment then calmly answered, "Continuing to assume the puppet is real for the sake of discussion and he's not a golem like Mary thinks, unlike the rest of us, the puppet's equivalent of a soul resides in Shapiro like a horcrux. You could incinerated the puppet and Shapiro could make another one then stick his hand in it and presto, 'Rex Powers' is back."

André knotted his brow and commented as if he couldn't believe what he just heard, "You know, you've thought way too much on this."

The glanced to the songwriter and idly answered, "I'm just taking it out to the logical conclusion for what is in Shapiro's head, what you accept as real for him and trying to reconcile it to what I know about how the universe works."

Sikowitz ran up to the group of students and shouted, "Ooh, kids kids! Have you seen an unholy woman with a horrible little girl?"

A dirty blonde walked around the corner at the end of the hallway with a young girl in tow and shouted, "Mister Sikowitz!"

The acting teacher quickly dashed grabbed Jade's right arm and pulled the couple in front of him to hide himself behind them. He shouted, "Oh dear."

"Mister Sikowitz, I see you there."

He stepped out around Jade and Freddie then answered with an irritated filled voice, "Mrs. Hellbert! Isn't it bad enough that I have to live across the street from you and your vicious little daughter?" He raised his left hand up dramatically and questioned, "Must you bring her to my place of work?"

"I brought her here to apologize for what she did this morning."

André curiously asked, "What'd she do?"

The preteen girl shouted back sarcastically, "None of your stupid business!"

André surprised them all by attempting to charge the girl, but Freddie and Dusty were each able to grab an arm and pull him back. The guys' shouts mixed, "Hey, André. Hey, hey. Hey, hey, hey!"

Dusty pulled hard and shoved the songsmith against the lockers behind them and shouted, "Back off!"

The songsmith took a step forward and he and the former webmaster stared each other down.

Everyone took a step back with fearful expressions and other students loitering in the halls turned their attention to the pair.

Freddie stood off to the side and raised his hands up to try to calm the pair, "Guys take a breath."

Dusty took a step back while maintaining a cold stare and commented, "Try it again and they'll have to carry you away."

André clenched his jaw then harshly countered, "You so sure about that?"

The Southern teenager snorted out, "I've put bigger boys than you down before."

The songwriter's eyes shot open and slightly bowed his head as he angrily questioned, "Boy?"

"You're the one who's charging at a little girl, what else am I supposed to assume you are? If you had the spine to charge me instead, I'd have a higher opinion of you, but you let oh Pretty Boy rub too much off on you: picking on girls, but it looks like you've taken it one step further."

"Guys!" Freddie shouted to get there attention before they really could get swinging on one another.

The pair stared for a few more moments then everyone turned their attention back to Sikowitz's situation, the tension ebbing only slightly.

The little girl looked to Freddie and immediately shouted, "Freddie Benson!" She laughed, "It's Freddie Benson from iCarly!"

He nodded and smiled to the blonde. "Yep, I'm Freddie Benson."

"You should have got with Sam!"

Jade immediately frowned and instantly took a dislike to the girl while Freddie realized why the girl would pick Sam. He patiently countered, "I've been told that… but I'm happy with Jade."

She slightly frowned, but refrained from saying anything.

Sikowitz crossed his arms over his chest and continued, "I'll tell you what she did! This morning I was showering with my bathroom window open and this little egg-chucker nailed me in the head!"

The girl shouted back, "It ain't my fault your head broke my egg!"

Freddie couldn't help but to start laughing. His friends looked to him in disbelief.

He innocently replied, "What? I would have loved to have seen that."

Mrs. Hellbert asked with a curt tone, "Would you please stop encouraging my daughter?"

He politely bowed his head and answered, "I'm sorry ma'am, but it's just… well he deserves it."

The child smiled from the approval of her former idle.

Sikowitz pushed his annoyance for Freddie away for a moment so he could start to charge at the girl and shouted, "I will end you."

Freddie jumped in front of Sikowitz and blocked him then gave him a good shove away. The teenager spat out in disgust, "Oh, I'm bad if I'm willing to hit a girl back if they swing first, but it's fine if you charge at a little girl."

The eccentric teacher shouted while pointing past him to the child, "But she's a little monster."

"So is Sam. Now you know what I had to put up with nearly every day for almost four years."

The mother ignored the pair's potential argument and shouted down at her daughter, "You say you're sorry!"

"No!"

"Say it!"

The child defiantly shouted in return, "You say it!"

"Rhoda!"

She looked to the acting teacher and shouted with a motion down with her hands, "I'm sorry!"

Sikowitz re-crossed his arms over his chest and replied, "Thank you. And I hope you've learned you have to show adults some degree of respect."

Freddie spoke up, "But don't think that includes him."

His words drew an annoyed expression from the mother while Sikowitz frowned, but continued as he strolled to the child, "You can't just..."

Rhoda interrupted him by kicking him hard in the right shin.

He shouted out, "OH!"

The girl started running away towards the school exit.

Mrs. Hellbert started chasing her daughter down the hallway and shouted, "Rhoda! Not nice!"

The balding acting teacher started crawling around to turn into the direction of the entrance then towards it as he dramatically shouted, "Come back here! I will get you if it's the last thing I..." He stopped in place and dropped his voice to speak in an almost conversational tone, "Great Jeepers, I think my leg is broken."

The teenagers turned and slowly walked behind the crawling teacher. Freddie threw his head back and looked at the ceiling and huffed out, "Oh my God, another girl with super strength."

A random student standing at the bottom of the stairwell shouted, "It's the Flour Bomber!"

The red and blue mystery man ran down the stairs and stopped just in front of the teacher. He pulled back his arm then threw the flour in Sikowitz's face, covering his head.

The Flour Bomber started dancing in place on one foot, making strange mumbling noises then dashed off down the hallway.

Jade attempted to chase after him and shouting into her hand-mic and hold up the speaker, "No! Don't bomb him! Bomb me!" She turned to the others and whined, "We're never gonna know who he is!"

Sikowitz sat there and blinked, dumbfounded about what just happened.

André commented, "Poor Sikowitz."

Cat followed up, "He looks like a big hairless doughnut." She softly laughed, "Now I'm hungry." She walked around him, her red high heel platforms clicking on the hallway floor as she made her way down the hallway.

Tori blew out a breath and shook her head before turning to head for class which was in the same direction Dusty was heading.

The Flour Bomber ran around the corner at the end of the hallway and towards the pair, holding up two Tupperware containers filled with flour; ready to throw them in the faces of the pair. However, he stopped, apparently recognizing the grey hooded black leather jacket from yesterday.

The former Northridge student calmly stated, "Remember me? I'm the one from Northridge, so do you really want to do that?" He pointed over to Tori and finished, "Same goes for her."

The Flour Bomber took a few steps back then dashed to double back.

Jade attempted to chase after him, but she could only move so fast in her dress and her high heels. Once she reached the corner, he was long gone. She turned to Dusty and questioned in outrage, "Why did you let him go?!"

"And throw the first punch that would give Helen an excuse to get me out of here? No thank you. I don't have the time or energy to drag her through court with graduation this close." He cracked a hopeful smile and stated, "You still look gorgeous."

She closed her eyes and took several calming breaths. She opened her eyes and annoyingly smirked, "Next time." She started pass him and back to walk with Freddie to class.

Tori gratefully smiled to the lean teenager and thankfully commented, "Thanks."

He smiled to the brunette and answered, "You're welcome."

Neutronium Records
Los Angeles, CA
Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Francis was sitting on the edge of the right side end of his father's desk playing with a ventriloquist doll dressed as a turn of the twentieth century German school boy as the same blonde assistant that had greeted Cat and Robbie the previous day opened the door and escorted them along with Tori leading the pair.

Cat whispered into her taller friend's ear, "That's the weird boy."

Tori slightly turned her head to answer her redheaded friend, "Ah." She started leading them to the child as the assistant exited behind them. The brunette began with her right hand resting on her upper chest, "Hi Francis. Um, my name is Tori and this is...

Francis hopped off the desk and snapped off at the brunette, "Gimme the puppet!"

"Eh," Rex sounded.

Cat insisted, "Let's see the cash."

"No prob." He pulled out a stack of cash in his pocket and held it up with his left hand, "Two thousand bucks and I'll throw in Goonter."

"I don't know." He turned Rex's head so that they could look at one another and continued, "I mean, selling Rex... Doesn't that make me a terrible friend?"

"Man, I'd sell you for half a sandwich, even tuna."

"It's okay, Robbie. I mean, Francis seems like a..." Tori softly laughed, "Nice boy."

The boy let out a rude-fully burp and the brunette instantly frowned down at him and slightly shook her head.

A smile lit up Cat's face as she sniffed the air from is burp and she commented, "I smell Bibble!"

Mason's son called out impatiently, waving the money about, "Well? Give me the puppet."

The girls turned in place and looked at their glasses wearing friend.

"Alright then," Robbie muttered in defeat.

"Bye bye, cheekbones."

Tori softly mewed out, "Aw." She took his right hand and softly patted the top of it while returning the farewell, "Bye Rex."

"Later Valentine."

Cat sadly uttered with a pat on his right shoulder, "Bye."

Robbie took a step past them and held out Rex which the boy quickly took and shouted, "Sweet!" The next moment Francis tossed the stack of bills towards Tori, but rather than catch the money, it bounced out of her hands and clear above the teenagers' heads to the side of the room. The younger Vega sister quickly walked over to get it while Francis held the puppet.

He laughed out, "I gotta try him out!"

"No, please don't..."

The boy quickly interrupted him and corrected, "He's mine now and I'll do what I want."

Cat bent down and picked up the other puppet as Francis finished, "Now I'm just gonna stick my hand right in here."

"Oh my God," Robbie whined out and clenched his right fist over his heart as if he was in physical pain.

The disheveled child did exactly that and asked the puppet, "Hey Rex. Say 'knock knock'."

"Knock knock."

"Who's there?"

"Cows go."

"Cows go who?"

"No. Cows go moo." He laughed at his own joke and happily commented, "I'm awesome."

The next moment Robbie fainted and collapsed on the floor, much to the shock of the girls.

Francis motioned in disgust towards Robbie, "Well, drag his carcass out of here."

"Come on, Robbie," Tori called out as she grabbed Robbie's right wrist and Cat his left one and the pair started dragging the teenager out of the office.

West Residence

Freddie leaned back in his desk chair, enjoying a brief moment of respite to just lazily surf on-line and catch up on some news before heading down to grab dinner. He only needed a minute of browsing to find a particularly troubling headline which immediately put a look of shock on his face.

"Oh my God…" He shook his head as he continued reading the story.

"Damn…" he swore in disbelief then reached for his phone resting next to his mouse. He brought up his call list and tapped the name. The other end rang several times before it picked up, "Carly? Gibby did what?"

Hollywood Arts High School
Thursday, May 17, 2012

Freddie and Jade were gathered around Tori's locker with Tori, André, Ava and Dusty just before the first period of the day and the tech-producer was catching them up with his conversation with Carly late yesterday afternoon.

Dusty rolled his eyes and muttered in complete disbelief, "For the love of God… Gibby flashed his junk on TV?"

Freddie slightly frowned, "It was an accident."

The girls made faces at the sheer disgust of such an image which the brown eyed teenager noticed and brought up, "Carly threw up at seeing it."

Tori started looking as if she was getting paler if not outright sick on her stomach.

The leaner teenager frowned and questioned in disbelief, "How do you accidentally drop your pants… without any underwear on?"

Freddie palmed his forehead and let out a breath. "His luggage got lost and he didn't have time to buy any other underwear."

"He couldn't have just worn the ones he was wearing in the first place? Were they that funky?"

"I don't know. I don't try to understand what goes through Gibby's mind."

Dusty raised a hand and continued, "Okay, I can't remember if I have every brought this up to you, but saying this as a longtime fan of the show: he was the worst thing to happen to that show. He should have never been added."

The former Seattleite blew out a breath as he found it hard to argue with the point.

Tori apparently was able to settle her stomach then ask, "So what's going to happen?"

"The FCC is threatening to take down iCarly if they don't pay something like a five hundred thousand dollar fine."

The others hissed in shock and sympathy.

Dusty shook his head and snorted out in disgust, "So the bastard's making another power grab? Oh goody."

The group look flabbergasted at him other than Freddie.

He looked at the others back indignantly, "What? The FCC doesn't have the power to do that as much as he and his cronies wish it were so. It's a blatantly illegal and a power grab. This isn't China or Iran. We still have rights in this country and due process is one of them, especially over an area they don't have control over."

Freddie spoke up, "Dusty's right."

Tori spoke out in shock, "What?"

The brown eyed teenager shook his head and pointed out, "The FCC doesn't have the power to regulate the internet, so they simply can't take the site down. The Justice department could if the site was involved in fraud or illegally trafficking copyrighted material or you know… hosting very bad material."

Dusty clarified, "The type of stuff that you should just really take the guy out back and shoot him for what he's doing to a child."

The others looked as if they were going to be sick again, but Freddie quickly continued to turn their minds away from that, "And any case, since the show was shown after ten p.m. and it wasn't obscene, indecent, but not obscene, they shouldn't even be able to fine NBC in the first place least long trying to shift it to them."

The Southern teenager snorted out with a laugh, "Well, he is running out of money for his utopian bullcrap. He can only steal so much from our unborn grandkids."

André raised a hand and sharply spoke, "Enough with the Obama bashing."

Dusty cocked his head to the side and flippantly asked, "Name something I just said that wasn't factually true?"

Jade interrupted, "Could you two save the political argument for another time?"

The pair stared at each other for a few seconds before finally letting it go.

Tori hesitantly asked, "So what are they going to do?"

Freddie shrugged a shoulder and answered, "Well, I have an idea to save them…"

TheSlap Computer Room
Hollywood Arts High School

Freddie finished setting up the webcam at the top of one of the desktop computers. He had passed a glance to Dalton, but he boy wasn't willing to challenge his presence. The brown eyed teenager tapped a few keys to start up the recording and bring up the iCarly site.

He smiled into the camera and began, "Hello iCarly fans. I know it's been a while since you've seen me, but I've heard some disturbing news. The FCC wants to illegally take down iCarly for what happened with Gibby on the Jimmy Fallon Show. What happened with Gibby was obviously an accident, but they just want to take down iCarly because they know that Carly can't pay a half a million dollar fine. So, I'm asking one of our biggest fans for a favor in order to save the show: Mrs. Obama, if you could do me—all of us—the favor and let your husband know what is going on and tell then to stop? I'd really appreciate it. We'd all appreciate it. Thanks Malia and Sasha for watching."

Robbie Shapiro: I miss REX. I hate Goonter (no offense Goonter). FEELING: Regret

Advance Acting II
Hollywood Arts High School
Thursday, May 17, 2012

Sikowitz was erasing something off the top of the whiteboard as Jade impatiently asked the rest of the class, "But why? Why would a guy dress up and walk around this school, blasting people in the head with flour bombs?! Why?"

Once the acting teacher finished his erasing, he turned and asked, "The question no one's asking is why? Why is he doing this? Why?"

Jade looked over to the others in disbelief.

Freddie pinched the bridge of his nose. "For the love of…" He looked up and snapped at the acting teacher, "Jade just asked that! Could you lay off the hallucinogens for a few days? Please?"

The balding teacher crossed his arms over his chest and frowned.

Freddie rolled his eyes in disgust.

André spoke up in an attempt to further the conversation and prevent and argument between the pair, "Come on, who could it be?!"

The redhead shouted, "Oh! I have an idea!"

Tori eagerly shouted, "Tell us."

Cat jumped up from her seat, "We make hamburgers! But weiner-shaped, right? And we put 'em on hot dog buns and we call 'em Hot-durgers!"

The all gave her a strange look, but she retorted to them in a dismissive tone, "I don't care I'm gonna do it anyway."

She had a seat just as Robbie quickly walked inside with a disheveled burgundy buttoned shirt and grey sweatpants. He quickly rattled off while taking a seat on the left side of the class, "Hey guys, sorry I'm late. What's up André? I'm here. Start the lesson, start." He took a breath and rested his face in his palms.

Sikowitz brought his left hand up to his mouth and rested the elbow against his other forearm resting across his stomach. "Robbie, are you all right?"

The glasses wearing teenager looked up and shouted with an impatient expression, "Yes! Why would you even ask that?"

Jade turned her head in the direction of the sitting teenager and answered, "Uh, because you look sloppy..." Her voice shifted into what sounded like Rex's voice to Robbie's ears as she continued, "And your hair looks dirty, and I dunno, you just seem all freaked out."

Robbie leaned forward too get a good look at her and shouted, "What?! Wh-why are you talking like that?!"

Jade gave him a confused expression as she continued to question in Rex's voice, "Why am I talking like what?"

Robbie shouted, "Stop it, stop that!"

The dark brunette turned her attention to Sikowitz and gave him a look in the hopes that he understood what was going on. Tori motioned a hand towards Jade and spoke up, "Robbie! She's just worried about you." Her voice shifted to Rex's voice as well as she finished, "Now why don't you just calm down and quit acting like a fool?"

Robbie grabbed the side of his head and started shouting, "Ah! Ah!"

The songsmith interrupted, "Hey, are you freaked out because ya sold Rex?"

The ventriloquist quickly denied in a panicked tone, "No. Look, I don't need Rex. I'm a grown boy. I don't need anybody."

Cat turned in her seat and disputed him, "Aw, Robbie, everyone needs friends. Especially..." The redhead's voice was the next to change, but to Robbie's eyes, her face morphed into Rex's face, "Weirdos like you, who wear turtle pajamas like a doof-bag."

He stood up from his seat and opened his hands out to her. "Rex!"

"Aw, you miss Rex?" Cat questioned in her own voice.

"Yes! No! I... ah, don't look at me!" He plopped done in his chair for the briefest of seconds then shouted, "Oh, I just need to go home! I just need to take a nap. That's all I need to do is just go home. A little rest and relaxation would be..." He opened the door just in time for the Flour Bomber to throw a bowl of flour into his face.

Once again the mystery man let out an odd laugh then dashed away. Robbie turned to face the others then collapsed as a heap on the floor.

Freddie blew out a tired breath, "Great, he's finally lost it."

Asphalt Café
Hollywood Arts High School

Cat sat up a pink decorated hotdog cart in front of the Food Cart, serving her creation to the last lunch period of the day. She had a sign next to the cart in the same color scheme with a cartoon cow printed on it. Apparently Sikowitz realized he wasn't going to get anything accomplished in class, so he decided to just let them go for the rest of the period.

Cat put together one of her creations and handed it to a blue dressed freshmen girl and took her money. "Thank you! Enjoy your hot-durger!"

"I will," the random student answered and walked away.

She raised a pink bullhorn and called out, "Hot-durgers! Come and get your Hot-durgers!" Several students quickly got in line for their hot-durgers and the petit girl greeted the first girl in line. "Hi."

"Hi."

---

Sikowitz was walking from the Asphalt Café's parking lot back to the Café as Mrs. Hellbert shouted out from behind him with Rhoda in tow, "Sikowitz. Mister Sikowitz! Mister Sikowitz!"

He turned around and shouted, "What do you want?!"

"For you to drop the charges against my daughter!"

"Yeah, Sikowitz!"

The mother wrapped her around her daughter's shoulders and whined, "They're gonna put my baby in juvy!"

He raised his finger and pointed to the child as Tori and Freddie approached from his right, "I told you if she threw one more egg at me, I would contact the police, and last night..." He grabbed the hem of his shirt and raised it while finishing, "…she egged me right in the tummy!"

A considerably dark purple bruise was across his abdomen above his bellybutton.

Rhoda defiantly corrected, "I was aiming lower!"

Tori pointed to the girl then to Sikowitz's stomach while speaking, "She did that?"

"Who asked you, chicken hips?!"

Freddie quickly spoke up in defense of his friend, "She does not have chicken hips. She has fine hips."

She looked to him with wide eyes.

He rolled his eyes and answered, "You wear those jeans for a point, remember?"

She looked down embarrassing then snapped at Rhoda, "Watch it, strawberry grunch-cake!"

The blonde child shouted then charged at Tori, "That tears it!"

She started slapping Tori's right arm and the brunette started returning the slaps in-kind and shouting, "Ah! Get off of me!" The brunette started shouting louder as she quickly realized the slaps from the child were quite painful, "Stop! Hey! Stop! What is she doing?"

Freddie grabbed Rhoda by the wrists and pulled her away. She tried to struggle out of his grasp, but he pulled her arms to his chest and harshly stared down at the girl. "Don't make me hurt you. You may have super strength, but I can take a beating long enough to break you. Understood?"

The child sucked in a sharp breath at seeing the cold stare directed at her and swallowed down nervously. He let her go then turned to Tori and led her by the right arm back to the Café.

The nemeses stared at each other, readying to see who would move first.

---

André and Trina were sitting at the usual lunch table while the songsmith was on his cell phone, "But he... Mister... Mister Thornesmith... It's a puppet. It's a pup... it's not alive. It's... but, why?"

André annoying commented, "Thanks for hanging up on me." He turned to the older Vega sister sitting next to him and looking herself in a mirror. He asked with a hint of disbelief, "Why are you looking at yourself in a mirror?"

Trina calmly retorted, "Why wouldn't I?"

Tori and Freddie approached the table and had a seat together while the brunette was still catching her breath. She rubbed the side of her right arm (still looped with Freddie's), trying to ease the pain, and shouted with a high pitched voice, "I was just in a fight with a twelve year-old!"

Trina smugly correctly, "No, you just lost a fight with a twelve-year-old."

"She has super strength like Sam! It makes a difference."

The older sister rolled her eyes.

Freddie added, "It does make a difference. I've shrugged off enough beatings from her."

Trina wasn't going to argue with Freddie so she turned back to her mirror.

Tori looked to André and asked, "Did you call Mason?"

"Yep."

"Will his son sell Rex back to Robbie?"

"Nope."

"Oh! Why would a twelve-year-old boy be so stubborn about keeping a dumb puppet?!"

Trina interrupted with her annoyance dripping off of her voice, "Yo. Idiot. If you wanna get a twelve-year-old boy's attention away from a puppet then get him something he'll like better.

Tori raised a curious eyebrow. "Like?"

The songsmith eagerly suggested, "Donuts."

Trina spat out in disgust, "I have no time for this," then got up from her seat, grabbing her drink and book bag and walk away.

Freddie and André watched her go and one thought passed through the tech-producer's mind: 'Vegas' and their Daisy-Dukes'. Tori's attention was caught by Sikowitz and the Hellberts starting up their shouting at one another from the parking lot. She turned back in her seat to look at the boys and smirked. "I know something an obnoxious twelve-year-old boy might want."

André laughed along and motioned with a hand towards her. "Cupcakes."

Back at the ham-durger cart, Cat was fulfilling another order with the customer thanking her. He turned for the next patron and Cat happily asked, "Hi. What would you like on your hot-durger..." She was cut off as the red and blue costumed teenager threw the bowl of flour in Cat's face.

"Oh!"

She blinked and pitifully whined, "It's not as fun as it seems."

Tori Vega: I did NOT lose a fight with a 12 year old girl! Ok SO WHAT IF I DID? Be quiet! FEELING: Girl-Slapped

Freddie Benson: She has super-strength ToriVega! It makes a difference! Ask Sam Puckett. FEELING: Reminiscent

In route to Neutronium Records

Freddie was behind the wheel of his Charger with Tori in the passenger seat and Rhode in the back. The muscular teenager was not shy in his objections, "Giving her a guy is going to solve her problem? That's ridiculous."

Tori eagerly pointed towards her friend and retorted, "You mellowed out Jade. You were the best thing to happen to her."

He resisted rolling his eyes since he was driving and countered, "No, Jade mellowed herself out after seeing what her behavior got her: the lost of the guy she loved and her friends ditching her to go to Yerba while she was trying to put her heart back together. You have to be a friend to have friends."

The brunette turned her attention to the front windshield and frowned at her regret of leaving Jade behind to celebrate the summer with a getaway. The most comforting thought about what she saw was a horrible choice was it gave Jade and Freddie the chance to meet again without the rests' presence and down the path that would lead them to today.

Neutronium Records
Los Angeles, CA

Francis walked up next to his dad, who was busy working at his desk, and called out, "Hey dad!"

Mason blew out a tired breath and answered, "What?"

"Knock knock."

He decided to humor his son and ask, "Who's there?"

"Woo."

"Woo who?"

"Woo-hoo?! What are you so happy about? Ha!"

He muttered out in a regretful tone, "Ya know, I never wanted to have children."

Francis looked oblivious to his father's comment as Mason's blonde assistant pushed open the door and entered the office. She called out, "Robbie Shapiro is here to see you."

Mason answered in a tired voice, "Oh! Alright. Send him in."

Robbie timidly entered the office carrying a little yellow jacket and boots and answered, "Hello."

"Yes, Robbie, you wanted to see me and Francis?"

"Yeah, I just wanted to drop off Rex's raincoat and hiking boots."

"Good, give 'em. I got a super funny joke about a raincoat."

"Yeah well, I don't think I can stand watching another minute of this," Mason commented in an exasperated voice and stood up to head out his back office door.

Robbie approached the desk with Francis while unknown to the pair, the office door slightly opened and Freddie, Tori and Rhoda looked into the office. The brunette motioned her head towards Francis and told Rhoda, "Him."

Rhoda whined, "I don't wanna."

"Oh! You..." Tori angrily hissed back, "You do it, or Sikowitz is gonna send you to juvy."

Freddie let his thoughts known, "I am still so torn: I'm enjoying you tormenting Sikowitz, but does the world need another Sam in the making?" He glanced to Tori as he finished, "Maybe she should go to juvy while there's still a chance to save her from not turning out like Sam."

The lovely younger Vega sister threw him an annoyed expression, but he held his ground.

Rhoda got tired of the bickering couple in her eyes and approached the pair from the behind. She paused for a moment then looked over her left shoulder back at the pair.

Tori knotted her brow and made a face while pointing at her, daring her to defy her.

The blonde child grabbed Francis by the shoulder and turned him around to face her. He shouted in confusion and outrage, "Who are you?"

She grabbed him by the shoulders and brought him in for a quick kissed him on the cheek.

He hissed out in disgust and tried to wipe the side of his cheek with his free hand, "Uh! Gross! That was..."

Tori smiled at the reaction from her vantage point of her head peaking around the door.

The ventriloquist in the making started smiling at seeing the blonde girl smiling in return then threw Rex on the floor.

Robbie shouted in outrage, "Francis, you threw Rex on the floor!"

"So? I don't need a stupid puppet." He looked to Rhoda and smiled, "I got me a woman." He took her by the hand and started to the door.

Tori and Freddie let them walk past while Robbie picked Rex off the floor with the puppet mumbling, "Oh."

Tori hopped to him and laughed out, "Yay, you got Rex back!" She gave him a half hug on his left side while he answered, "I know! I missed you so much!"

The puppet looked away and Robbie asked with a concerned filled voice, "Rex, what's wrong?"

"You were with another puppet."

The younger Vega sister's eyes shot open in disbelief and her jaw slacked. Freddie didn't look any better at the scene unfolding in front of him.

Robbie laughed out nervously, "Yeah, but it was only for one night. It didn't mean anything."

"This other puppet... Do you love him?"

"Goonter?!"

"Don't say his name. Ah!"

"No, I was just alone..."

The pair slowly started walking backwards to the door.

"Oh my God…" Freddie turned to Tori and stated, "You were right, this really is unnatural."

"I wish I hadn't found out about this."

He tightly grabbed her hand and turned to head out the door as quickly as possible with lovely girl as she called out over her shoulder, "Bye."

Hale Residence
Los Angeles, CA

The time was the early evening as Dusty was relaxing in his bed watching Fox News as the channel was playing a replay snippet of a Presidential news conference.

The President softly laughed as he answered, "Yes, my family loves iCarly and I want to reassure the public that the FCC will not arbitrarily shutdown it down or any other website or service providers. That was just a snapped and uninformed and quite frankly stupid decision on their part to make such a threat and I'd like to apologize to the entire iCarly crew for the trouble that they were put through from an obviously inadvertent accident. I've instructed Attorney General Holder to look into possible other misconduct by the commissioners…"

Dusty snorted out a laugh, "At least he didn't need a teleprompter this time."

Hollywood Arts High School
Friday, May 18, 2012

A random student shouted and pointed to the blue and red dressed mystery man, "The Flour Bomber!"

He was rewarded with a face full of flower and the Flour Bomber turned and let out an odd laugh before dashing towards the exit, however he was met with Dusty entering and blocking the exit.

The mystery man let out an odd sounding, "Oh," then turned to dash up the main stairwell. He took the right hand path, but was quickly stopped by meeting Jade's harsh expression and disgustingly throwing her bag on the floor, symbolically throwing down the gauntlet for him to charge her.

He fortunately had enough sense not to do such a thing and let out an, "Ah!" then turned to head in the other direction.

However, as he tried to dash of the left path, he was stopped by Freddie walking down them and giving him a cold stare. He shouted oddly again then started running down the main stairwell and down the hallway in the direction of the janitor's closet.

The others immediately gave chase to him with a random student among the ones lining the hall and lockers shouting out, "Somebody stop him!"

He made it to the end of the hallway and turned at the corner to start down the short hallway, but Cat ran down it and spread her arms and legs out as she hurled herself at him, "Oh."

He shouted in surprise from the small redhead tackling him back onto the ground, "Ah!"

Little Red quickly got on her feet and shouted, "Help me!" She grabbed him by his right wrist and tried to pull him up. A number of male teenagers helped her and pulled him to his feet.

Jade shouted, "Take his mask off!"

Cat took the goggles off of his face then the red ski mask.

The dark brunette raised her right pointer finger to the teenager's face and shouted, "Ah ha!"

Cat curiously asked, "Who is that?"

Jade knotted her brow and asked with a perplexed and soft tone, "I don't know. Hey, who are you?"

The tall teenager answered in a bored tone, "I'm Tom. Tom Vineman."

Dusty motioned a hand towards him and asked just as dumbfounded, "Do... do any of these people know you, because I don't have a clue who you are?"

"Nah. I go to East Hills High. We're on semester break."

Cat still looked quite confused at the stranger and it filtered in her voice, "So then why are you flour bombing people here?

He shrugged a shoulder and lazily answered, "I dunno. Just bored… and my mom bakes, so she had a bunch of extra flour." He motioned down with the Tupperware bowl stuck to his hand and blew out, "Phoo."

The bell signaled for the next class, but it was ignored as Freddie commented, "This feels like the complete opposite of a Scooby Doo moment."

Dusty confidently pointed out, "I told you, but… we're still taking him out back and beating the crap out of him, right?"

All the boys looked to one another then started nodding followed by a series of yeahs.

Tom's eyes shot open as Dusty and the other male teens lifted him off of his feet and started carrying him down the hallway to the senior wall.

Jade, Freddie, and Cat turned and started on their way back down the hallway. The taller girl muttered, "That was still kind of let down."

Freddie took Jade by the hand and shrugged a shoulder, "I guess the mystery of not knowing was more satisfying then finding out it was just some random guy."

She nodded along then said, "So tell me again about that 'Scooby Doo' moment again so I can get a little satisfaction in a mystery."

He grinned, happy to oblige her. "Well, it started with Carly's obsession with proving Bigfoot is real…"

---

Author's note: I hope you enjoy this chapter. I hope it offered something to everyone. Next week will be 'Pear Eye in the Sky', my interpretation of 'Bad Roommate'. I'll see you then.

Special Guest Appearance by President Obama as himself.