Sam's POV

I don't usually participate in school activities. Anything with the word "school" in it must be bad, at least for Sam Puckett. But the school play looked interesting enough, so I decided to go for it. It was Peter Pan, which is good 'cause it won't be some mushy romantic play like Romeo and Juliet. Unfortunately, the only girl parts are Wendy and Tinkerbell. Wendy's okay but Tinkerbell is a glittery fairy and that's just not my style. Guess who I got.

Yep. Sam Puckett is to play Tinkerbell in the school play. The apocalypse must be happening.

But Tinkerbell's okay. I mean, I get attached to a harness that makes me go up in the air so it looks like flying. It's pretty cool, even if I do have to wear a sparkly too-short dress and wings. The only annoying thing was that stupid Frednub.

Yes, Fredward Benson was in the play too. In fact, he was Peter, the star! Imagine the nub getting a role like that! What bugged me was how the girl who played Wendy always flirted with him. He didn't really flirt back, but he was friendlier than he should've been.

I don't have a crush on the nub, before you start thinking that! I just don't like…it's just…she's so…and he…okay, okay, I have a big crush on the nub. Don't judge me!

At one rehearsal he and the stupid Wendy babe were chatting. I was a little mad but I knew I shouldn't have been: Freddie would never crush on me. But I'm a Puckett, and Pucketts get angry a lot.

I glared at the two of them, yakking and flirting, when a devilish idea came to mind. I strapped myself in my fancy harness and grabbed my trusty pouch of pixie dust. After pulling the lever to get me up, I hovered over Fredwad and the girl. Then I "accidentally" opened the bag upside down.

The glitter rushed down and fell into Freddie's hair. You see, the dust as a prop is actually pretty sticky. He moaned and looked up. His confused face turned to anger and then exhaustion.

"Sam!" he yelled, and I threw my arms up in an "Oops" gesture. He rolled his eyes, but I saw a small grin on his face. He looked like Peter Pan with that boyish smile (and, well, the nerdish green tights and feather hat too). I tried to get down from the ceiling but I had forgotten I couldn't go down without being put down.

"Hey!" I yelled at Freddie, pointing at the control panel, "Get me down!" He ran over to the panel and pulled on the lever to get me down…if it hadn't been stuck.

"It's stuck!" he shouted, struggling to pull it.

"Whaddaya mean stuck?!" I shouted back angrily. He shrugged helplessly and I started flailing around. I knew I couldn't get down by doing that but you don't really think when you're hanging by a rope in your auditorium.

Freddie ran underneath me, grabbed the other harness, and hooked himself it. He gestured to the girl to pull him up. She pulled on his lever and he rushed up next to me. He moved over to me and reached his hands out and fiddled with my harness. It's pretty flimsy, so if he merely touched it I'd plummet to the floor. Which I truthfully didn't feel like doing, thank you.

"What're you doing?" I asked him nastily.

"I'm gonna get you out of here and hold you when I go down." he explained, "And please don't say anything like 'Ew! Nub cooties!', okay?" Despite the moment, I smiled. It was definitely something I'd say. He knew me so well.

He got me unhooked and carefully pulled me into his arms. I'll admit that it was scary being, like, twenty feet in the air and the only thing supporting me is Freddie. But I trusted he'd be careful.

"Okay, set us down!" he told the girl. She looked rather jealous, but pulled the lever down anyway. We slowly went down. I licked my lips and said, "Thanks, Freddo."

"No prob." he said, "Friends help friends, right?" I smiled.

"Yeah, guess so." I replied. We were silent again until Freddie's feet touched the ground. He set me down and unhooked his harness carefully. He turned to the girl, who was beside him in a flash.

"Oh, Freddie…" she swooned, "That was so brave…"

"Thanks…" he said, arching an eyebrow at her. Off in the distance blared a car horn and the girl rolled her eyes.

"My mom." she said, "Well, I'll see you, Freddie." She hugged him and left. He looked a little confused.

"So, you got her number yet, Freddieo?" I asked him. It was a perfect time for teasing, even if I was jealous.

"Number?" he said, "Why would I get her number?"

"Duh! She's hot, she likes you, and you never get dates!" I yelled, "This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!" He shrugged.

"She's nice and all, but…" he said, "I wouldn't date her. Too…perky."

"So you'd rather have a sulky and depressed girlfriend?" I teased. He sighed.

"No. I just can't have a girlfriend who's so bubbly and happy all the time. I want a girl who's independent, unique, and loves me for who I am." Wow, the dork was deep. And what was weird was his "perfect girl" wasn't described like Carly. Carls isn't all that independent and she's sort of unique but she's mostly like any fifteen-year-old girl and if she didn't love him by now there wasn't much chance she ever would. I pondered his words and he stared at me, as if waiting for a response.

"You don't know?" he said, surprised.

"Know what?" I asked.

"Sam…" he whispered, stepping close to me, "I want you." I swear my mouth fell open right then. Me? Fredward Benson, the geek, liked me? I can't say I wasn't happy but…me?

"Me?" I said. He nodded.

"Sam, you're different." he said, taking my hands, "You're funny, athletic, cool…cute…I just think you're perfect." I put my hand on his head, and almost kissed him, when I remembered this could all be a lie or a prank. So I moved his head from side to side as if examining it.

"What'd that Tinkerbell dust do to you?" I asked. He laughed and took my hand again. He intertwined our fingers.

"I don't know," he said, "but I'm glad it did something." I grinned at him.

"What're you gonna do about Wendy Girl?" I asked. He shrugged.

"She'll get on without me." he said, pulling me along, "C'mon, Carly expected us at her place a half hour ago." I held onto his hand as we walked out of the auditorium.

Fairy dust…gotta get me some more of that chiz.