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"Alright class, your homework tonight will be to finish up the last fourteen chapters of Pride and Prejudice," Sam, Freddie and Carly's English teacher, Ms. Mims, said as she passed back the classes last test. "Be ready to discuss it and don't be surprised if there is a pop quiz thrown in there at some point during the class."

"Fourteen more chapters?" Carly whispered to Freddie. "I'm going to be up all night reading again!"

"I know," Freddie said softly. "Plus this book is so hard to understand in the first place! It takes double the time just to know what they're saying!"

"Ms. Shay," Ms. Mims said, placing Carly's test on her desk.

"Aw man," Carly moaned, seeing the red C on her paper.

"Mr. Benson," the teacher said, placing Freddie's test in front of him.

"There goes my grade point average," Freddie said sadly, staring down at his own C.

"I just hope Sam at least passed," Carly whispered, looking across the classroom at her best friend. Sam was looking down, doodling something in her notebook.

"Oh yeah," Freddie sighed. "There's no way she's going to have fourteen chapters read by tomorrow."

"Has she even started the book?" Carly asked.

"How would I know?"
"She's your girlfriend!"

"She's your best friend!" Freddie hissed.

Suddenly, the bell rang and the class jumped out of their seats.

"Remember to read, everyone!" Ms. Mims said loudly. "Oh, Ms. Puckett? If I could talk to you for a few moments."

"Oh jeez," Freddie sighed. He tried to flash his girlfriend and encouraging smile as he walked out of the classroom but she didn't seem to see it.

"Well, looks like I'll be spending all night trying to finish this book," Carly said sadly. "And you heard her; we might have a pop quiz on this book too! You see, this is why people just read the highlights of these books online!"

"Too bad Ms. Mims purposely makes her quizzes so those won't help," Freddie said. "Man, poor Sam…Mims is probably chewing her out right now about her test grade."

"You know, I was thinking," Carly said. "This is our senior year; if Sam doesn't pass this class, she won't graduate with us! I think it would be a good idea if you and I started maybe trying to help her out."

"You're right," Freddie agreed. "How about after school today, you and I finish our own reading as quickly as possible then we'll go over to Sam's house and help her?"

"Deal," Carly nodded. "Oh! There Sam is now!"

"Hey, baby," Freddie smiled as Sam reached them, giving her a quick kiss. "Don't worry about Ms. Mims. She's insane."

"Oh…yeah," Sam nodded. "She's-she's something. Hey, why are we all just standing around here? Mama's starved, let's get to the cafeteria; it's lunchtime!"

"Yes, and we'd hate to keep you from your fish sticks," Carly chuckled. "Oh, Sam?"

"Yeah?"

"Um, I-I was thinking that maybe it would be a cool idea if we sort of practiced for our class discussion on Pride and Prejudice tomorrow," Carly said. "How about we all come over to my place after school today, read the fourteen chapters and discuss?"

Sam rolled her eyes. "Sounds real fun, Carls, but I'm gonna pass on that. Now come on, let's get to the fish sticks before they run out of tartar sauce!"

"Nice try," Freddie said under his breath to Carly as they followed Sam into the cafeteria.

"Thanks," Carly sighed.

…..

"Well, I officially have turned my brain to goo trying to understand what's going on in this book," Freddie announced later that evening, coming into the Shay's apartment.

"I just finished," Carly said. "And all I got from that book was that it's tough having that many sisters."

"There's no way I'm going to survive any pop quiz Ms. Mims throws at us," Freddie said.

"What are you guys so down about?" Spencer asked from the kitchen, where he was pouring himself a cup of juice.

"We just finished Pride and Prejudice," Carly said.

"Oh, is that the book with all the pride?" Spencer questioned.

"Yes…thanks for your input," Carly smirked. "Mr. C plus English student."

"C minus!" Spencer snapped, retreating into his bedroom with his juice.

"So," Carly said. "Any word on how far Sam is?"

"I just got off the phone with her," Freddie said. "I suggested that she come over and read with me and she laughed and told me there was some killer teddy bear movie on."

"Great," Carly moaned.

"Look, it's already past eleven," Freddie said. "Let's just meet up with Sam tomorrow before school and try and cram enough into her brain so she can at least not fail this quiz tomorrow."

"Deal," Carly nodded.

….

The next morning, Sam was leaning against her locker, enjoying a donut, when Carly and Freddie approached her.

"Hey," Freddie said, giving her a quick kiss.

"Hey," Sam smiled. "You missed a great movie last night. This teddy bear totally terrorized this whole town and no one even thought to lock down the stuffed animals!"

"Crazy…" Carly said. "You know what else is crazy? The overall theme of Pride and Prejudice."

"Huh?" Sam frowned.

"Oh yeah," Freddie nodded. "The effect of class and reputation on love…really makes you think. Just like the use of Mr. Darcy's estate as a symbol of his character."

"Speaking of Mr. Darcy, have you ever met such fellow?" Carly nodded. "Don't you think it was heroic how he rescued the youngest sister from disgracing their entire family?"

"What's wrong with you guys?" Sam asked.

"Nothing," Carly said quickly. "We just really loved doing all that reading Ms. Mims assigned to us. Maybe it would be a good idea to, you know, keep some of the things we just discussed in the back of your mind so when Ms. Mims gives us that quiz you can maybe, oh, I don't know, use them."

"Huh?"

"Oh look, there's the bell," Freddie said as the first bell rang through the halls. "Time for class! Come on, baby, we wouldn't want to be late for calculus."
"I'm not in your calculus class," Sam pointed out, giving Freddie a strange look. "Seriously, what is up with you two?"

"Shouldn't we be asking ourselves what was up with Elizabeth Bennett?" Carly asked. "What with all her prejudice? It totally conflicted with Mr. Darcy's pride!"

"And I'm out," Sam said, shaking her head as she turned away. "Call me when you two are done being weird."

"Well," Carly sighed as Sam headed off to her first class. "That backfired."

"I guess we'll just have to pray for a miracle when she takes that quiz," Freddie said.

….

"Overall, I was very disappointed with how you did on our last Pride and Prejudice exam," Ms. Mims said a few days later as she once again passed out papers to the class. "I know I'm a tough teacher, but I still expected to see better grades than what I did. There was only one A in this entire class."

"Aw man," Carly moaned as she received her own exam. "Another C?"

"I've never gotten two C's in a row," Freddie sighed, looking down at his own paper.

"Many of you will really need to get your act together as we dive into One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," Ms. Mims said. "I expect you to have chapters 1-5 of the book read and ready to thoroughly discuss by tomorrow's class. You are dismissed. Ms. Puckett? A word, please."

"She must have failed this exam too," Carly said sadly as her and Freddie filed out of the classroom. "This is ridiculous. I can't just let my friend not pass a class she needs to graduate!"

"You think I want to see my girlfriend to have to retake senior English our last summer before we go off to college?" Freddie hissed. "You know what, tonight I'm going to make sure Sam does her reading and knows these five chapters inside and out! I'll chuck her remote right out her window if I have to!"

….

"Sam, come on, just come over to my place so we can study for English," Freddie sighed as he talked to his girlfriend over the phone that evening. "Please."

"I'll come over to make-out," Sam said simply.

"We'll make-out after!"

"I don't want to sit around reading some book on your mom's plastic covered couch," Sam said. "I can do that here…after I watch this thing on T.V about this guy who can lick his eyeballs…"

"Sam, you need to read!" Freddie exclaimed. "Ms. Mims is one of the toughest and strictest teachers at the school and you need to pass her class so you can graduate!"

"Oh don't get your tick-resistant panties in a knot," Sam scoffed. "Chill out."

"I will not chill out until you promise me that you'll read all the-"

"Yeah, yeah, I've got to go, they're showing the guy grooming his eyelashes with his tongue now," Sam said, cutting him off. "Love you…Whoa! His tongue is huge!"

Freddie let out a groan of frustration as he hung up the phone. Why did his girlfriend have to be so difficult?

He shook his head as he grabbed his jacket. Well, one way or another, Sam was going to pass that class. If she wasn't going to cooperate with him, it looked like he was going to have to make her cooperate.

…..

Freddie knocked on Sam's door, tapping his foot impatiently.

"I know you're home, Sam!" he called, knocking on the door again. "Open up!"

But after several minutes there was still no answer.

"You've got to be kidding me," Freddie sighed. He looked around the house and saw a light coming out of the window he knew was in Sam's bedroom.

"You're killing me here, Puckett," Freddie said, rolling his eyes as he started towards the window. He peered through and saw that Sam was indeed home. She was lying on her bed and Freddie at once saw why she hadn't answered the door; she had her headphones in. But what surprised Freddie the most, though, was that Sam wasn't just lying on her bed; she was also reading!

"What the-That's a book!" Freddie exclaimed. "And there's no pictures! She's reading!"

Suddenly Sam looked up from her book, clearly sensing that she was being watched.

"Uh-oh," Freddie frowned as Sam got up off her bed and opened up her window.
"You know you can knock," Sam said as she leaned out her window.

"I-I did," Freddie said quickly. "You didn't answer."

"Oh, well I had music on," Sam shrugged. "So what do want, Fredwad? I thought you were too busy with your precious homework to hang out tonight."

"I-I just wanted to-I was just coming over here to make sure you were doing your homework," Freddie said as he took Sam's hand to climb in through her window.

"Thanks mom," Sam said, crossing her arms.

"Well I-Carly and I were worried that you weren't taking this class seriously," Freddie said. "And you need to pass it to graduate…But I can see that you were actually reading."

"Yeah, I do know how to," Sam said.

"Well good then," Freddie said. "I'm glad you decided to start doing your assignments. So do you need any help understanding the plot? The characterizations? Themes? Do you get the importance of-Hey! This isn't One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest!"

He picked up the book Sam had been reading and stared at the cover. "It's…The Jungle?"

"Hey, good to know you can read too," Sam smirked, grabbing her book back.

"Sam, why would you be reading this book when you have to get through five chapters of another book for class?" Freddie asked. "Baby, this is important!"

"I already finished the other book!" Sam snapped.

"Huh?"

"I finished it this weekend," Sam mumbled.

"Ms. Mims just gave us the book today," Freddie frowned. "How could you have finished it this weekend?"

"She gave me a copy early," Sam shrugged.

"Why?"

"Because," Sam said. "She wanted to know if I thought it was a good book so she could decide if she should assign it to the class to read. I thought it was pretty decent so that's why she's starting it."

"Wait, why is she-since when-huh?" Freddie stammered, confused. "Why is Ms. Mims taking book suggestions from you."

"What? A teacher isn't allowed to talk to me without giving me a detention?" Sam asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No," Freddie said. "It's just…well…you're not exactly the type of student that a teacher would go to for that sort of thing…that's something you would think she'd ask someone like Carly or me for."

"Except you and Carly keep getting C's in her class and I have an A in that class," Sam pointed out.

"You have an A?" Freddie cried. "How?"

"Thanks," Sam said coldly.

"I-I didn't mean how," Freddie said quickly. "I just meant…how. I mean you mislabeled at least fifteen states on our map printouts in history, you sleep through chemistry, you almost made your trig teacher cry…"

"So I can't have one subject I'm good at?" Sam frowned. "I like to read. It's homework you can do lying down! And I like to write. After our first essay at the beginning of the year, Ms. Mims held me back after class and told me I-I was really talented and my work was some of the best she's seen in years. She always gives me books to read that she thinks I would like. It's the first time a teacher has ever thought of me as something other than the troublemaker or slacker."

"Why didn't you ever say how well you were doing?" Freddie asked softly, still in shock. "I would've been thrilled for you."

"I guess I liked just keeping it to myself," Sam shrugged. "Besides, based on how little faith you and Carly had in me, you probably wouldn't have believed it anyway."

"I'm sorry," Freddie said. "I-I guess we did sort of assume the worst of you. And that wasn't fair of us."

"It's fine," Sam mumbled. "Just…don't make a big deal out of it to Carly. I don't want her freaking out over it."

"I won't," Freddie promised. He looked down at the book in Sam's hand. "So is that the next book we'll be reading?"

"Maybe," Sam smiled. "It's really good so far."

"Well," Freddie said, sitting down on her bed. "If you want to take a break from reading…I-I sort of do need a little help understanding those chapters we needed to have done for tomorrow. I read them, but I think I missed a lot. You mind maybe tutoring me?"

"You want me to tutor you?" Sam asked.

"Yup," Freddie nodded seriously. "I'm struggling in that class and I think I could use someone who knows the material like you do to help me out."
Sam rolled her eyes as she sat down next to him. "Fine. Let's get to work, Benson."