Library

"Alright, kill me!" Freddie announced as he let himself into the Shay's apartment.

"Bad day?" Carly asked, looking up from the movie her and Spencer were watching.

"You can say that again," Freddie grumbled, sitting down next to Spencer. "Sam and I made a bet."

"Ohhh," Spencer said knowingly. "And you lost again, didn't you?"

"No!" Freddie replied. "I won!"

"Huh?" Carly frowned, confused. "I don't get it. You never win bets against Sam. Even since you've started dating. Shouldn't you be thrilled?"

"I should," Freddie mumbled. "But of course Sam managed to turn this against me."

"Okay, what happened?" Carly asked.

"Well, I was trying to be a good boyfriend by getting Sam to study for our Civics exam this Friday," Freddie said. "But while we were at the library, Sam kept talking and being really loud. So we wound up getting into a little argument. And that argument turned into a bet. I bet Sam she couldn't go ten minutes without talking or making any noise. I told her if she won, I'd take her out to that all-you-can-eat chicken wing buffet. But Sam didn't even last forty-five seconds before she threw a spit ball at the librarian."

"So what did you get for winning?" Spencer asked.

"I told Sam she had to play a round War of Warlords with me," Freddie sighed.

"Wait," Spencer said. "You got your girlfriend to play the best MMORPG on the planet and you're bummed? Why? You know how many guys would kill to have a girl play that game with them? You're just spitting in the face of the great gamer dream-"

"She beat me!" Freddie exclaimed.

"What?" Spencer and Carly both said simultaneously.

"Yeah, that's right!" Freddie said. "I took Sam on a quest in the marshland this morning and she stomped all over my org, stole my Sword of Salvation and somehow trained my horse to run away every time I even go near it!"

"Oh my God," Carly laughed. "That's hilarious!"

Spencer and Freddie glared at her.

"I mean...how, um, sad?"

"Yo, Fredwash?" Sam said, joining the others in the apartment. "What are you doing here? I thought we were playing War of Warlords!"

"Yeah, yeah," Freddie said, rolling his eyes. "We get it. You beat me. Well the bet's up now so you don't need to keep playing."

"I know the bet's over, but believe it or not, that game isn't as lame as I always thought," Sam said.

"Hold on," Carly said. "You-You're kidding, right Sam?"

"Yeah, you've always said that game was for nubs and dorks with no lives," Spencer said.

"But that was before I played it!" Sam grinned. "It's filled with monsters and violence and hooliganism; it's great! I've only been playing for thirty minutes and I've already beaten up three players and found a dragon companion!"

"A dragon?" Freddie sputtered. "You have a dragon? I've been playing that game for three years and I'm not even close to getting one!"

"Really? It was so easy," Sam said. "All you have to do is go up to the caves and give one of them some berries."

"What?" Spencer exclaimed. "I've used three sacks of gold trying to get one!"

"Wow, you really suck at this game, Spence," Sam smirked. She grabbed Freddie's hand. "Come on, baby, let's go back to your place and play!"

"Great," Carly sighed as Sam pulled Freddie back across the hall. "Now that game has taken all my friends."

…..

"I'm so bored," Freddie moaned a few weeks later as him and Carly sat up in the iCarly studio.

"Yeah, I heard you the first five times," Carly said, looking up from her textbook. "Go hang out with Sam. She's your girlfriend; bug her, not me."

"Pfft, she's busy playing War of Warlords," Freddie mumbled.

"Well you love that game, you love Sam," Carly shrugged. "Play with her."

"I do not love that game," Freddie said. "It's no fun anymore!"

"why, because Sam keeps beating you?"

"Yes!" Freddie exclaimed.

"So what's the big deal?" Carly asked. "Sam beating you has never bothered you before."

"But War of Warlords is my thing!" Freddie said. "I can handle having her beating me at arm wrestling or board games or bowling or any of the other things we do together. But now she's beating me at my favorite computer game too?"

"Freddie, why don't you just talk to Sam?" Carly asked.

"No, it's fine," Freddie sighed. "I'll get over it."

"Ha! Take that!" Sam exclaimed, rapidly clicking away on her track pad. "That's right, just a little more…yes! I got to level 95!"

"Congratulations," Freddie said dryly, looking up from the crossword puzzle he was doing.

"Hey, how come you aren't playing?" Sam asked, looking over at her boyfriend.

"I'm just not in the mood," Freddie mumbled.

"Dude," Sam said, closing her laptop. "What's going on?"

"What do you mean? Nothing's going on."

"You haven't played Warlords in weeks!" Sam pointed out. "I used to have to threaten to use the butter sock to pull you away from this game."

"It's just lost its appeal," Freddie said simply. "That's all."

Sam gave him a knowing look. "Fredwad…"

"Alright, fine," Freddie said. "You wanna know the truth?"

"Yes!"

"Because…because of you, okay?" Freddie sighed.

Sam blinked. "M-Me? You stopped playing because of me?"

Freddie nodded, avoiding her gaze.

"Well what did I do?" Sam asked softly.

"Well you keep winning!" Freddie said.

"Huh?"
"Look, Sam, you-you know I love you," Freddie said. "But do you have any idea what it feels like to constantly have your girlfriend beat you at everything? I mean every time we do something together, you win. And I never mind! I don't care about losing! But War of Warlords…it's my thing! It was the one thing I was good at! And now you come in and you start winning at that too!"
Sam looked down at her lap. "I-I didn't know. I didn't mean-Sorry."
"Don't be sorry," Freddie said. "It's not your fault you're good at everything."
Sam gave him a small smile. "Trust me, baby, I'm not good at everything. But, um, listen, since-since it's upsetting you so much, I'll quit playing War of Warlords and-"

"What? No!" Freddie said at once. "Sam, that's ridiculous. You shouldn't give up the greatest game invented just because of me. That's not fair. I can just-"

"No, Freddie…to tell you the truth, I-I still actually hate that game," Sam said slowly.

Freddie frowned. "Huh? What do you mean?"
"I mean I've been faking it these past few weeks!" Sam said. "I still think this game is the lamest thing ever created on the Internet and that it's boring and stupid."
"You-You do?" Freddie asked, a smile forming on his face.

"Yeah, and I-I have no idea how to do the quests or anything," Sam continued.

"Wait, then how did you get all the way to level 95?" Freddie asked, confused.

"My cousin knows a guy who got him all the cheat codes for the game," Sam replied. "I've been using those."
"You have?" Freddie said excitedly. "So-So you're not really better at War of Warlords than me?"
"No," Sam sighed. "I'm actually quite suckish at it."
"Holy chiz, this is fantastic!" Freddie exclaimed. "This is-Hold on…I don't get it. If you still hate the game then…then why did you go to all the trouble of playing it and using the cheat codes these past few weeks?"
Sam shrugged. "I thought…I thought it'd be fun for us to play the game together. I mean you always watch MMA fights with me and do things I want to do. I wanted to try doing something you liked for a change…even though you're really only interested in the world's lamest chiz."
"Wow, Sam," Freddie said softly. "That-That was actually really nice of you. Thank you. I-I really appreciate you doing that."
"Yeah, well, what can I say?" Sam said. "You've done tons of nice things for me since we've been dating…it was my turn to give it a try. Guess I wasn't any good at it, though…I wound up driving you insane instead."
"Hey," Freddie said, putting an arm around. "That's not true. I needed a break from the game anyway. But, um…baby? Not to push you out or anything, but-but now that I know I'm not some pathetic War of Warlords player who got beat by his girlfriend who started the game three years after him-"

"You want to catch up on some gaming?" Sam asked knowingly.

"Yes please," Freddie nodded eagerly.

"Go for it, nub," Sam laughed. "I've got to catch up on having a life anyway, now that I'm not playing that game anymore. God, I don't know how much more of that I could've taken…I'm gonna go hang out with Carly for awhile. I'll see you later though."
"Later," Freddie said, already logging onto his game.

Sam rolled her eyes as she leaned down to give him a quick kiss.

"Enjoy your nerd game," she smirked.

When she left Freddie's apartment she headed right across the hall and let herself into Carly's.

"Oh, look who it is," Carly said. "I haven't seen you in ages Sam. You're not still playing that dumb game?"
"Nah, I'm officially done with it," Sam sighed. "Apparently I kind of bruised Freddie's ego being so good at the game. So I'm deleting my account."
"What? But I thought you really liked that game," Carly pointed out.

"Eh, I'll get over it," Sam shrugged.

"I can't believe Freddie made you give it up just because you were beating him at it," Carly frowned. "That's not fair."
"He didn't make me quit," Sam said. "I'm doing this on my own. War of Warlords was always Freddie's thing, so I told him some lame excuse about never really liking it in the first place. Besides, I know how it feels to feel constantly outshined by someone and-and I don't want to do that to Freddie."

"Oh," Carly nodded. "Huh…that's actually pretty sweet. Wait…who outshines you? Your Sam Puckett? You're the toughest girl in the school."
Sam gave Carly a small smile. "Don't worry about it…it's not important. Come on, let's go get a smoothie or something."