AN-So this chapter is a sequel to ch610, where Freddie's dating an overly-clingy girl and Sam helps him break up with her.

Pulse

"So Kendall's officially out of the picture?" Carly said to Freddie later that night as the two sat in the Shay's living room.

"That's right," Freddie said happily. "All thank to Sam's brilliant scheming. Her demonic mind was finally used to help me, not cause me pain."

"Well how's your mom taking this break up?" Carly asked. "I know she was a huge fan of Kendall."
"Yeah, um, about that…" Freddie said slowly. "I haven't exactly told her yet."

"You haven't?" Carly frowned.

"Well I was going to right after it happened," Freddie explained. "But she was at work. And now I-I've kind of lost my nerve."

"Dude, she's gonna realize eventually," Carly chuckled. "You should just get it over with now."

"I'm not really in a mood for one of her scenes right now," Freddie said. "It's late."

"Whatever," Carly shrugged. "But don't say I didn't warn you…"

Just then the front door opened and Sam walked in.

"Hey!" Carly said. "I heard you put on quite a performance this afternoon, Sam."

"Huh? Oh…yeah," Sam nodded. "Yeah…"

"I told Carly how amazing it all was," Freddie beamed. "Seriously, I know I said it before, but thank you, Sam!"

"No problem," Sam mumbled, not looking him in the eye.

"You alright?" Carly asked.

"Yeah," Sam said quickly. "Yeah I'm fine. So…um, what's going on here?"
"We were just discussing how Freddie's mom is gonna kill him when he finally tells her him and Kendall are no longer an item," Carly replied. "You know how much she loved her."
"Oh, right," Sam chuckled. "Yeah, she's gonna murder you, nub."

"Can we change the subject, please?" Freddie moaned.

"Fine," Carly conceded. "So you guys wanna order a pizza or-"

Suddenly, thought, the front door burst open again, and none other than Marissa Benson stormed in.

"Mom!" Freddie exclaimed, jumping up. "What-What are you-"

"Fredward Benson!" she yelled. "Is it true?"

"Is-Is what-"

"Is what that poor, sweet Kendall told me at our afternoon tea true?" Marissa snapped.

"You have afternoon tea with-"

"She says you broke up with her!" Marissa exclaimed. "She says you ripped out her heart and sampled all over it!"

"Look, Mrs. Benson," Carly said, standing up. "Um, maybe you should calm down and-"

"Calm down?" Marissa gasped. "I will not!"

"Alright, alright!" Carly said, quickly sitting back down. "Guess I was right when I said you never tell a girl to calm down…"

"Mom, listen, I'm sorry Kendall is upset," Freddie said. "But I just wasn't into her. What did you want me to do? Force myself to have feelings for a girl because you liked her?"
"That's exactly what I want you to do!" Marissa exclaimed. "That's what all mothers want their sons to do!"

"Mom, I'm sorry, Kendall and I aren't going to happen," Freddie said firmly. "We just didn't mesh well. I mean she was talking about having nine kids with me already!"

"Well that's only a minor setback!" Marissa said. "There's still plenty of time to get her open to the idea of ten children."
"T-Ten?" Freddie said weakly. "Mom!"
"Well I would like grandchildren," Marissa said. "And one of the nurses at the hospital already has eight grandchildren from her four kids. Do you think it's fair that I have to walk past their pictures on her desk every day?"
"Mom, stop it!" Freddie said. "I'm not with Kendall anymore, and that's all there is to it. So can you please just-"

"And that's not the worst of it, from what she tells me," Marissa continued, wheeling around to glare at Sam who, until this point, hadn't said a peep. "She tells me you left her for this gutter girl again!"

"No, mom, that-that's just what we told Kendall," Freddie said quickly. "Sam and I-"

"I thought you were done with this rebellious phase!" Marissa sighed. "I thought you were done making me crazy with your poor dating choices!"

"Um, okay, Mrs. Benson, I don't think it's fair of you to say Sam was just some 'bad choice'," Carly said, glancing over at her best friend.

"Quiet!" Marissa hissed. She turned back to her son. "Well? You mean to tell me you broke up with sweet, polite, clean Kendall so you could get back together with-with her?"

"Mom," Freddie said slowly. "Mom, I-I think that's a little-"

"Why would you do this, young man?" Marissa groaned. "Why would you want to put me through this again? Why would you want to put yourself through-"

"He's not putting anybody through anything, okay!" Sam finally spoke. "You can stop having a panic attack; we didn't get back together! We just made Kendall think that so she'd leave him alone!"

"Oh," Marissa said, clearly relieved. "Well…I suppose that is some comfort. Of course you will need to call and make everything right with Kendall, Freddie dear."
"Huh? No, mom, I told you I don't want to date Kendall," Freddie said. "She made me miserable."

"Well you dated this one, and she made you miserable," Marissa pointed out, nodding over to Sam. "At least this girl doesn't have a prison record."

Sam looked down at her lap.

"Mom…Sam-Sam didn't make me miserable," Freddie frowned. "You know what? I had way more fun with her than I did with Kendall, and I enjoyed spending time with her more too."
Sam looked up, but said nothing.

"Freddie!" Marissa said, giving a horrified gasp.

"So…So let me try and see if I understand this right," Freddie said. "You'd rather I date someone who I'm unhappy with than someone who I actually have a good time with just because you like her better?"

"I-I think she's made that much clear," Carly piped in.

"Well you know what? That's not going to happen," Freddie told his mother bravely. "Because from now on, I decide who I date. Not you, me."

"What?" Marissa exclaimed.

"That's right," Freddie nodded. "I-I don't want you trying to set me up on any more dates. I appreciate the effort you put in, but I can take it from here."

"You-You-But Freddie!" Marissa cried. "You've already proven you can't make good dating choices on your own! If I don't step in you're just going to keep dating hoodlums!"

"That's my choice to make, not yours," Freddie said simply, still not backing down.

"You-You can't…But-But I…Ahh!" Marissa sputtered, her face bright red as she spun around and stormed out of the apartment, slamming the door behind her.

"And now you broke your mom," Carly said, shaking her head.

"Huh, that actually went better than I expected," Freddie chuckled. "Although she's probably across the hall plotting some way to get me and Kendall back together as we speak. But you know what? It doesn't matter. There's no way I'd ever get back together with her. Besides, I doubt Kendall would even want to do anything. I mean Sam freaked her out pretty well today, right Sam? Sam?"

Freddie glanced over at the chair where Sam had been sitting only to find it empty.

"Where'd she go?" Carly frowned, looking around the room.

"I don't know," Freddie said. Then he glanced up towards the stairs, just in time to see a blonde head disappear around the turn.

….

Sam sat silently on one of the beanbag chairs in the iCarly studio.

Wonder how Freddie's mom reacted when she heard we broke up, she thought to herself. She sure as heck didn't throw a fit like that. The lady probably jumped up and down on that stupid plastic-covered couch of hers and screamed with joy.

Just then the studio door opened and Freddie poked his head in.

"Hey, there you are," he said, stepping inside. "What are you doing up here?"

"Nothing," Sam said quickly.

Freddie sat down on the beanbag chair next to her.

"So…your mom seemed upset," Sam said simply.

"Yeah, well…what else is new?" Freddie shrugged. "She'll get over it, though."

The two were silent for a moment.

"I'm sorry about what she said about you down there," Freddie said. "Really, it-it was completely out of line."

"Whatever," Sam shrugged. "It's not like I haven't heard her say those things before."

"Well…she-she still shouldn't have said them," Freddie said. "And-And none of it was true."

"Oh what? That I'm not as sweet and polite as that Kendall chick?" Sam scoffed. "I'm not a moron, Freddie."

Freddie looked down at his feet.

"Hey," Sam said slowly. "Um, downstairs…you-you said that you had more fun dating me than you did Kendall. That-That was just to get your mom to leave you alone, right? You didn't actually mean-"

"Yes I did," Freddie said.

Sam felt her pulse quicken. "Oh. You-You did?"

"Sam, you might not have been a traditional girlfriend like Kendall, but-but that's kind of what I liked about dating you," Freddie said. "You kept things interesting. You were crazy and spontaneous and-"

"Abnormal?" Sam finished for him, giving him a small smile.

Freddie let out a soft sigh. "And abnormal…" he agreed.

Sam got to her feet, clearing her throat. "Exactly."

And with that she turned and headed towards the door. Before she left, though, she looked back over her shoulder at Freddie. "So, um…hey, you-you still owe me that smoothie for helping you get rid of Kendall."

"Right," Freddie said quickly. "Right, um…I guess we can go down to the Groovy Smoothie now. I-I'll be ready in a minute."

"Okay," Sam said. "I'll tell Carly."

As Sam left Freddie alone, Freddie stared up at the ceiling.

It was true…Kendall had been nothing like Sam. She was adored by his mother, neat, girly, overly-kind, normal

The problem was, though, now that he had gotten a chance to see what it was like to date a normal girl, he realized just how much he enjoyed abnormality.