Bash

"Man, my mom is unbelievable," Freddie said, letting himself into the Shay's apartment. "She just tried to throw away all of my pencils because she read an article about how pencil led can cause-"

"Freddie!" Sam exclaimed, looking up from her seat on the couch as she threw the blanket that had been hanging on the back of the sofa over the coffee table. "What-What are you doing here?"

Freddie gave his girlfriend a strange look. "What were you doing?"

"So you were saying something about your mom and pencils?" Sam said quickly, trying to appear nonchalant. "Yeah, she-she sure is crazy."
"What's under the blanket?" Freddie asked.

"Nothing, what blanket?" Sam said.

"The blanket you just threw-"

"Hey! Carly and Spencer aren't home!" Sam said, jumping to her feet and stepping over to her boyfriend. "Let's-Let's go make-out on top of the prop car in the iCarly studio! That-That will be fun!"

"Um, okay," Freddie nodded.

"Great," Sam said, starting for the stairs. "Let's just-"

"-After I see what you were hiding," Freddie grinned as he grabbed the blanket and speedily lifted it, revealing a red and black checkers board.

"Hey!" Sam yelled, running back over.

"Checkers?" Freddie grinned. "What were you doing with a checkers board?"
"It-It's not mine, I was holding it for a friend," Sam said lamely.

"Which friend?" Freddie smirked.

"Um…the-the one-"

"Come on, you can admit it," Freddie chuckled. "You were playing one of the lamest games in existence."

"Oh can it, nub!" Sam snapped, swatting his shoulder. "And if you think I'm still making out with you on top of a car, you can just forget it!"

"Why were you playing checkers?" Freddie asked, rolling his eyes.

"Just-Don't worry about it," Sam said. "Let's go to the Groovy Smoothie or something."

"Sam, you can tell me," Freddie said. "What? Were you bored or something? Hey, why don't we play a game together since you have it all set up?"

"I-I can't," Sam mumbled.

"What do you mean you can't?" Freddie said. "Come on, I haven't played in awhile. It will be fun to-"

"No, I mean I can't!" Sam groaned. "I-I don't know how."

Before he could stop himself, Freddie let out a snort of laughter, earning him a glare from Sam.

"Sorry, sorry," Freddie said quickly. "It's just…who doesn't know how to play checkers?"

"A lot of people!" Sam defended. "It's a game for the elderly! It's stupid and useless and boring!"

"So then what were you doing with it here?" Freddie asked.

"I-Ugh! Fine!" Sam conceded. "I was trying to teach myself how to play!"

"But you just said you hated the game," Freddie said, confused. "Why would you teach yourself something you hate?"

"Because, ever since I was a little kid, this game has been ruining my life!" Sam said angrily.

"Okay…I feel like there's a story behind this," Freddie said. "How has checkers ruined your life?"

"It was the one game I could never win at when I was growing up!" Sam sighed. "Which I guess I could've gotten over, eventually, if it hadn't been for my dumb sister."

"Melanie?"

"No, Freddie," Sam said, her voice dripping in sarcasm. "The sister I hid from you for the past seventeen years."

"To be fair, that wouldn't be that hard to believe," Freddie said. "You never told me about Melanie until-"

"Can I tell my story or what?" Sam cut him off.

"Yes, yes, continue," Freddie said.

"Anyway," Sam said. "Normally when Melanie and I would play board games or stuff, I'd win. But not with checkers…No matter how many times we'd play that horrible game, I could never beat her! I-I could never wrap my head around all the rules and chiz. I mean that game's complete chaos! There's jumping and kinging and all kinds of crazy stuff going on! I would spend hours just trying to figure that game out but I couldn't do it! So Melanie just kept winning and winning and winning! It was the worst part of my entire childhood. And then last night, while my mom was cleaning out the attic to turn into a home tanning studio, she-she brought the dang game down! It's like she was taunting me! So that's when I decided I'm finally going to do it…I'm going to learn how to play checkers so when Melanie comes down to visit at Christmas I can finally beat her stupid face at this game and I won't have to live like this anymore!"

"You do realize that you and Melanie are identical twins," Freddie said slowly. "So if you say she has a stupid face, then technically by default, you're also admitting-"

"What's that?" Sam snapped, giving him a look that could scare a wild tiger.

"Nothing," Freddie said quickly. "And have I mentioned how pretty you're looking today?"

"Look, I just need to teach myself how to play this game," Sam said, sitting back down on the couch in front of the board. "I mean…Melanie was always good at everything else when we were growing up. She was smarter, more likeable, cleaner…Games were the one thing I had! And then she went and took those too! Well, you know what? I'm taking them back! It may be ten years later, but I'm going to reclaim what was mine!"

"Okay, baby, don't you think this is just a tad bit dramatic?" Freddie said.

"Oh of course you wouldn't get it," Sam scoffed. "You were an only child! You don't know what it's like to grow up constantly competing with someone at everything! I mean you compete for the good toys, for your friends, for your mom's attention…"

"Wait," Freddie said, lowering his voice. "What was that?"

"Nothing," Sam said, quickly regaining her composure. "Just-Just let me figure out how to play this game so I can beat Melanie at it. We can hang out later."

"Or," Freddie said, sitting down next to her. "I can teach you how to play."

"You know how to play?" Sam asked.
"Of course," Freddie grinned. "This was one of the few games my mom deemed acceptable when I was growing up, so I played it almost everyday."

"Well then what were you waiting for?" Sam exclaimed. "Let's play! Show me all the ropes!"

"Alright," Freddie said, looking down at the board. "Now, first things first, you've been using chess pieces not checker pieces."

…..

"Ugh! I'm never going to get this!" Sam moaned after three hours of sitting in front of the checkers board with Freddie. "That's the sixth game you've beaten me at."

"But you're really starting to develop your own strategy," Freddie pointed out.

"I hate this pathetic game," Sam mumbled.

"Hey, no need to bash checkers," Freddie said. "Come on, let's just play one more round."
"Why bother," Sam sighed. "I'm never going to be any good at this. And you know what? It doesn't even matter anyway! Even if I can become a decent checkers player, which is never going to happen, Melanie's still going to always be more successful than me in everybody's eyes. My mom doesn't hide it, neither does anybody else in my family."

This isn't about checkers anymore, Freddie thought to himself as Sam continued to sulk.

"Sam," Freddie said gently. "You're plenty successful on your own! Does Melanie have a hit web show? Is Melanie the reigning world-record holder for most chicken wings consumed in a single sitting? Is Melanie-"

"Okay, okay, I get it, I've done some stuff!" Sam cut him off. "But it still doesn't even come close to everything she's done."

She let out a breath as she stared down at the checkers board. "She gets scholarships, internships, awards…and I can stuff one hundred and ninety-eight chicken wings down my throat. I can't even play checkers. You know what? This is stupid. We're just wasting our time, I'm done with this."

She started to get to her feet.

"Wait," Freddie said, gently grabbing her wrist to prevent her from standing. "How about…how about we just play one more game?"

"No, I don't want-"

"Come on, I promise, if after one last game you still want to quit, we'll quit," Freddie said.

"You just want another chance to beat me," Sam mumbled. "Fine. But this is it."

Sam and Freddie set up the game again. Sam made the first move and the game began.

About ten minutes into the game, Freddie realized he was once again in line to win the game.

How can someone be so bad at this game? Freddie thought to himself. Children used to play it all the time before technology came around and saved them!

But as Sam moved her red piece, Freddie noticed a look on Sam's face that he rarely saw with his girlfriend.

Defeat.

Man…this whole thing with Melanie must be bugging Sam more than she's ever let on, Freddie thought. But then again…I guess growing up with a twin would bring about a lot of competition. Maybe that why Sam never likes to bring up Melanie. You know, I bet she did have a hard time growing up with someone like that. And even now she's still dealing with it…

"Alright," Sam said, bringing him out of his thoughts. "Your move."

"Okay," Freddie nodded. He picked up the piece that would secure the win for him, but then, at the last moment, put it down and move another one instead.

"Ha!" Sam said moving her own piece to his side of the board. "King me! That's what you say, right?"

"Yeah, that-that's right," Freddie smiled, placing a piece on top of hers. "Wow, that was a good move. I never even saw it coming."

The continued the game for another twenty minutes until finally, Sam took the last move and won for the first time in her life.

"Holy chiz!" Sam exclaimed, staring at the board in disbelief. "I-I won!"

"Yeah, you did!" Freddie beamed, throwing his arms around his girlfriend and giving her a quick kiss. "See? I told you you'd eventually get the hang of it."

"This is insane!" Sam said, bouncing up and down with joy. "I've never won checkers in my life! I-I have to call Melanie now and rub this in her face!"

As she pulled out her phone, Freddie couldn't help but smile at the proud look on his girlfriend's face.

Sure, he had let her win…but it was worth it to see her this happy. Plus, he knew that no matter what anybody thought, strong and tough Sam Puckett did sometimes need a confidence booster. And he was glad he had been able to give her one.

"Hey, Melanie," Sam said into her phone. "Guess who's not going to be able to gloat about being the family checkers champion anymore! When you come down for Christmas your gonna be toast! Just you wait and-what? No! I don't want you to sent me any of the sweaters you knitted! Can't you hear me? I'm uprooting you! Man! Stop being so nice!"

She angrily hung up the phone. "Unbelievable! You see what I have to deal with?"

"Well at least now you have the skills you need to take her down at checkers," Freddie said.

"All thanks to you, baby," Sam grinned, giving her boyfriend a quick peck. "Now hurry up and set up the game again."

"Wait…we're playing again?" Freddie frowned. "But we've been at this for hours. Don't you want to do something else now?"

"Dude, now that I went and talked myself all up to Melanie, I have to make sure I win when I play her!" Sam said. "So until Christmas, you and I are going to be playing this game morning, noon, and night! Actually…scratch that morning part, but you get the idea! Now let's go! Less talking more checkers!"

What have I done? Freddie thought miserably as he began to set up the game once again.