Holiday

"Baby, will you take me back?" Spencer sang happily as he unlocked his apartment door, jamming out with his headphones on. "There, I said it, I-Ah!"

"Oh, hey," Sam said as her and Freddie, who had been wrapped around each other a second ago, looked up.

"I thought you said I wouldn't have to walk in on any of your little make-out sessions anymore," Spencer said.

"Well you were supposed to be at the grocery store for another twenty minutes!" Freddie pointed out.

"Oh, well pardon me for coming home to my home a little ahead of schedule," Spencer snapped. "It's not my fault I got kicked out of Hey Foods again."

"What'd you do this time?" Sam sighed.

"Nothing! Well…I may or may not have accidently knocked my cart into a display of oystamato juice and spilled it all over aisles four, five, and six, causing three customers to fall and bruise."

"Isn't oystamato juice that juice you said taste like sweaty socks and broken promises?" Freddie asked.

"Yes!" Spencer nodded. "So it deserved to spill!"

"It's the tomato in it," Sam said. "You should never trust tomatoes; no one ever knows if it's a fruit or a vegetable! I have two cousins who won't even speak to each other anymore because one went and put a whole bunch of tomatoes in a fruit salad."

"Interesting family," Freddie chuckled.

"Hey, speaking of family, where's Carly?" Spencer asked. "You know, my little sister who actually lives here?"

"Her and Gibby stayed after school at the library to work on some history project they're doing together," Sam said. "But I think they're supposed to be back soon."

Right on cue, the apartment door opened again and Carly and Gibby came in.

"You guys, guess what?" Carly grinned.

"They're bringing back deep fried Fat Cakes?" Sam asked hopefully.

"Um, no, I still think the FDA's claiming that those cause intestinal problems," Carly said.

"What happened?" Freddie asked.

"Well, as me and Gibby were leaving the library," Carly said. "The company that's supplying the caps and gowns for graduation delivered everything to the front office!"

"Yeah, and we got to pick ours up," Gibby said, pulling out a long black gown and square hat from his backpack. "Man, how good am I gonna look in this?"

"I got yours too, don't worry," Carly told Sam and Freddie, tossing them their caps and gowns. "We'll have to get some pictures of us all dressed up soon. My dad wants some, and I should probably send a few to Yakima for my granddad."

"I can't believe graduation's next week," Freddie said, examining his cap and gown. "How crazy is that?"

"It's so exciting," Carly agreed. "And Sam, remember, we're going dress shopping tomorrow. I need something cute to wear under my gown."

"What? We're supposed to wear something under our gowns?" Gibby frowned.

"Um, yes," Freddie nodded. "Like maybe pants?"

"Well, that's a bummer," Gibby mumbled.

"Sorry to disappoint you," Carly chuckled. She turned back to Sam. "So I'm thinking we head to the mall around ten, and then if we don't find anything there, we can try this cute little shopping plaza by the park."

"Whatever," Sam shrugged.

"You okay?" Freddie asked his girlfriend.

"Yeah," Sam shrugged. "I just don't see why all you guys are so pumped up about graduation. I mean, it's not like a huge holiday or anything; it's just a bunch of kids walking across the stage to get a diploma."

"Sam, graduation's a huge deal!" Carly said.

"Yeah, I still remember mine," Spencer nodded. "I was walking across stage to get my diploma and shake my principal's hand when I wound up tripping on the edge of my gown and falling into five people in front of me…but only two wound up in the hospital!"

"You're seriously not looking forward to graduating from high school?" Freddie asked Sam.

"I'm looking forward to being done with school," Sam said. "But I don't see why there needs to be a big ceremony."

"But I thought your Uncle Carmine actually managed to get parole just to come see you," Carly said. "And Melanie's coming up, and your mom just got that fancy new tattoo."

"Eh, they're all just surprised I even finished high school," Sam shrugged.

"They're proud of you, just like we are," Freddie said. "I mean, come on, let's face. You didn't exactly have the easiest time getting here. But you did, that's something to celebrate, baby."

"Yeah, yeah, if you say so," Sam said, rolling her eyes. "Hey, I'm hungry. That pizza from last night still in the fridge."

"Should be," Carly nodded.

"Well, speaking of graduation," Freddie said. "I need to get home so I can finish up my speech."

"You're doing a speech?" Spencer asked. "How come?"
"Because Freddie happens to be our class's valedictorian," Carly smiled.

"What's that? Some kind of surgeon?" Gibby asked.

"No! We've told you a million times!" Carly said, rolling her eyes. "It means that out of all three hundred seniors that are graduating, he has the best GPA."

"Yeah, which means his nub status has just broken the record," Sam said playfully, coming back over to her boyfriend, putting an arm around him.

"Wow, your mom must be real happy," Spencer said.

"No, not really," Freddie replied. "She was sort of hoping I'd get held back or something so I'd have one more year of living at home with her."

"Ah," Spencer nodded.

"Well, I'll see you guys later," Freddie said, giving Sam a quick kiss. "Unless my mom tries to glue me to a chair again so I can't leave her…"

"Well, here's to our last night as high school students!" Carly said, handing Sam, Freddie and Gibby bottles of root beer. "Because tomorrow, after we walk across that stage, we'll officially be graduates!"

"Oh yeah!" Freddie cheered.

"No more pant restrictions!" Gibby said as the four clinked their bottles together.

"We're gonna be able to do whatever we want," Carly grinned. "We can do anything once we're out there in the world on our own!"

The four clinked their bottles together again.

"So you guys up for a movie?" Carly asked. "We shouldn't be do anything too crazy tonight, we have to be at graduation tomorrow at nine."

"Yeah, a movie's cool," Sam nodded. "But um…I'm gonna run upstairs and get something quick first, okay?"

"Okay," Carly said. "I'll pop some popcorn."

"And I'll go compare your liquid soaps," Gibby said.

Freddie watched as Sam headed upstairs. Something seemed off with her all night. So, being the concerned boyfriend he was, he followed her.

She had gone up to the studio and Freddie saw her sitting in one of the beanbag chairs. The studio was pretty much empty; they had done their last web show a week ago.

"Sam?" Freddie said softly.

"Oh, hey," Sam said, turning to look over her shoulder at him. She shifted on the beanbag chair so that the two of them would be able to fit on it.

"What's on your mind?" Freddie asked, sitting down next to her, wrapping his arms around her.

"Just…stuff," Sam mumbled, resting her head on his shoulder.

"You're nervous for tomorrow, aren't you?" Freddie said knowingly.

"No…"

"Sam-"

"Okay, maybe a little," Sam admitted.

"It's fine to be nervous, Sam," Freddie told her. "I mean, graduation's a big step. But after it's done, you have your whole life in front of you. You can do whatever you want-"

"And what exactly am I supposed to do?" Sam sighed. "Huh? What am I supposed to do with my life?"

"What do you mean?" Freddie frowned. "You're going to Washington State with Carly."

"I don't even have a major yet, though," Sam pointed out.

"Well you'll figure that out," Freddie said.

"And what if I don't?" Sam said. "What then? What if I get to college and I realize that I'm really not cut out for anything in the real world? I mean, yeah, high school was boring and stupid, but at least there I knew what I was supposed to do because people were always telling me what to do. I had to do math, I had to do history, blah, blah, blah. But now I'm supposed to figure it all out! And with me being in charge of that, it's only a matter of time before I fail."

"Baby," Freddie said gently, kissing the top of her head. "You're not going to fail."

"But I-"

"So you don't have your entire life planned out," Freddie said. "Big deal. No one does! Heck, all I know I want to do going into MIT is that I want to do something with computers. There are thousands of things that I could do like that, and I haven't even begun to narrow it down yet. And Carly's not one hundred percent set on a major, remember. Right now I know she's leaning towards English, but she's also been talking about maybe doing something with fashion, or going into communications. And Gibby…well, no one's sure what that kid's going to do, but he'll figure it out. Like you will. You're going to go to Washington State in the Fall, take a few classes that you think are interesting, and in no time, you'll have found a major. And then pretty soon, you'll figure out what you want to do for a living, and then everything else will fall into place."

"It just…it just sounds so hard," Sam sighed.

"Yeah, it is," Freddie nodded. "And it's supposed to be. But that doesn't mean you're not going to make it. Just remember, every other person who's walking across that stage tomorrow is freaking out just like you. This whole thing…it's just part of life."

Sam gave him a small smile. "Maybe you should change your major to 'cheesy advice'."

Freddie chuckled. "Just…don't freak yourself out, Sam, okay? You're going to be fine."

As Sam sat in the sea of graduates the next day, watching her boyfriend up on stage, giving his valedictorian speech, she couldn't help but feel a sense of pride.

"-And as we embark on this next stage in our life," Freddie said, wrapping up his speech. "It's important for us all to remember that it's us who determines what happens next. Everyone has been telling us for so long that soon, we'd have out chance to make it. Well, that time has come. With high school conquered, the world is ours. So as you walk across this stage, remember, this is it. This is your time."

Everyone cheered, and Sam could hear Mrs. Benson shouting from the audience "Don't leave me, Fredward!"

Sam glanced back over her shoulder at Carly, who was sitting a few rows back with the other S's. Her best friend gave her a smile of encouragement.

And then Principle Franklin stood up and began calling up the students to receive their diplomas.

Freddie was the first of them to cross the stage, beaming as he was handing his diploma. And then Gibby went, and Sam could see a pair of bright gold pants peaking out from underneath his gown; it was the only pair that the three of them had been able to convince Gibby to wear.

And then after probably the longest wait of her life, it was Sam's turn. When her name was called, she could hear her Uncle Carmine yelling loudly and she saw Spencer's light up sign that he had made to congratulate the four teens in the crowd.

"Congratulations, Sam," Principal Franklin smiled at her, shaking her hand and giving her the diploma. "You really worked hard for this."

"Thanks, Ted," Sam whispered.

Carly was the last one of their group to walk across the stage, and Sam made sure to scream extra-loud for her best friend.

And then once the last students had crossed the stage, Principal Franklin took the microphone again.
"Without further ado," he said, looking proudly out at the sea of his students. "I present to you, Ridgeway High School's fifty-third graduating class. Congratulations, and the best of luck you all."

…..

"We did it!" Carly grinned as the four met up after the ceremony. She pulled them all into a group hug. "I can't believe this, we're graduates!"

"Feels good," Gibby grinned.

"Nice speech, baby," Sam said, standing on her toes to give him a kiss.

"Thanks," Freddie smiled.

"My dad sent fancy Italian frames for our diplomas," Carly said. "We can put them in later. Sam, we should bring them to college in the Fall and hang in our dorm!"

"Yeah, totally," Sam agreed.

"This baby's going right above my cat's litter box," Gibby said. "To rub it in his face!"

Carly, Sam and Freddie gave him an odd look.

"Well, I'm hanging this up in my dorm too," Freddie said. "I think it would look nice right above my bed."

"So," Carly said. "What now?"

The four were silent for a moment.

"Well," Freddie said, breaking the silence. "I don't know about you guys, but graduating's really fueled my appetite. Who's up for some smoothies and burgers at the Groovy Smoothie?"

"I'm in," Sam said at once.

"Definitely," Carly nodded. "But we shouldn't eat too much…Spencer sort of let it slip this morning during breakfast that he's planning us a surprise graduation party."

"Awesome, I love surprise parties!" Gibby said.

"Yeah, when you're not ruining them," Sam said, rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, the last three surprise parties we've tried to throw, you wound up messing up," Freddie nodded. "How many times do we have to tell you, putting your hands over your face doesn't count as hiding."