Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly or Stargate which is also mentioned in this chapter.

Author's Note: Hey, friends. I'm really sorry for the super late update. I've been really busy. Hope you enjoy the chapter!

Chapter Eight: iHave A Plan

Sam had begged and pleaded with Carly to please, please not make her go dress shopping. But Carly had insisted. She'd called it tough love. Carly knew she would never be able to bring back a dress that Sam would approve of (surely, she'd pick something that was 'too girly') and there was no way she would allow Sam to skip prom.

"I'll just go in sweats and a Penny Tee and call it good!"

"Sam," said Carly, looking at her friend and letting out a loud, exasperated sigh. "This is our Senior prom." She emphasized, "Senior. That means the last one. And that might not be a big deal to you, but it is to me. So pleaseee." It was Carly's turn to beg, and she was about a million times better at the puppy eyes than Sam was. "It would make me so happy to have this chance to go dress shopping with my best friend. Please."

Sam looked away, not wanting to be convinced by Carly's pleading stare. "Who are you going with, anyway?"

"Phillip."

Sam rolled her eyes, with a short laugh. "Of course, Phillip asked you to prom. Of course the captain of the football team asked you out."

"No! Not Phillip Stevens!" Carly said, shaking her head quickly, a dreamy expression crossed her face. "Phillip Avery!"

Sam stared at Carly as if she had just said she was going to prom with a seagull. "What? Seriously? You're into nerds now?"

Carly slapped Sam's arm, but it was a slap from Carly, so it really didn't hurt. "Don't call him that! He's so sweet." She smiled, leaning back in her chair and staring in the distance for a moment before her eyes snapped back to Sam. "And before you overreact, I'm not interested in your nerd."

Sam stiffened. "I don't know what you're talking about." She said, in a voice that clearly warned that if the topic was pressed, she might just explode.

"Of course you don't." Carly changed the subject, not wanting to make Sam mad. "Anyway, with you hanging out with Jack and with Freddie hanging out with Gibby and that Ra—" Carly froze, corrected herself, and tried to go on as if she hadn't said anything odd. "And Freddie hanging out with Gibby, I've had to talk to some new people. And Phillip is so sweet, Sam. I really like him!"

Sam had caught Carly's almost-mention of the girl, Raylee, that Freddie had been spending an extraordinary amount of time with. Sam had been watching. She'd noticed. She just quite stubbornly pretended not to care. And she told herself over and over again that she didn't care. She didn't care that this girl might be Freddie's perfect dream, brunette, nerd-girl, who got all his nerdy references and even liked to listen to them. She didn't care at all.

Except that she did. She cared a lot.

But, about Carly's prom date, it made Sam smile that her friend liked Phillip so much. As much as the constant attention Carly got sometimes made Sam feel frustratingly inferior (especially when that attention came from a certain tech nerd best friend.), she was really glad Carly had found someone she genuinely liked, and who would probably stick with her. Phillip seemed loyal, anyway, from what Sam had seen of him.

"Well, you would've done better with Phillip Stevens but, hey, Avery's okay... If you like boys who smell like Cheetos all the time." Sam said, so she wouldn't have to voice her actual thoughts. Being nice wasn't her strong point.

"He hasn't smelled like Cheetos in two years, and you know it!" Carly said, offended.

"Sorry! Sorry." Sam said, though she looked amused.

"Sam, why are you going to prom with Jack?" Carly asked, finally. She tried not to sound accusing, but that boy was trouble, and she was still harboring some hope for 'Seddie', even if the two weren't currently speaking.

"Because he offered to get me meat." Sam answered. And there's no way Freddie asks me, she thought.

Is there?

No. There definitely Isn't.

"Well, I can't stop you. And I do want you to go with somebody. It would be better if it was Freddie but—"

"Carly." Sam said, drawing out the 'ar' and 'ey' in a warning tone.

"I know, I know! It's just…" She sighed, frustrated, "I'm allowed to talk about it, okay? You two are my best friends and maybe you aren't meant to get married or ever be together but…I miss having you both around." She paused. "Do you think you'll ever talk to him again?"

Sam was furious with herself when she felt her eyes stinging with the threat of tears. "Sure. As soon as he's ready to apologize."

00000

Sam had caved. She had gone dress shopping. And it had been… exhausting. But she'd gotten an enjoyable lunch at the mall food court. And, while shopping hadn't stopped her from thinking of Freddie, it had, at least, kept her from sitting at home and wallowing in self-pity. Which she recognized was not exactly a healthy option.

And so, she'd tried on dress after dress after dress after dress. Sam hadn't known there were so many different kinds of dresses before. And she hadn't realized it would take such a long time to find one.

But, finally, after looking for what felt like a thousand years… Sam found a dress.

And, well, she actually liked it.

It was a blue color that reminded her of a lightning storm, like clouds and rain mixed together. It was long and simple and flowed to the floor.

When she tried it on, it was the first time she could think of that she actually felt like it might be nice to dress up for the dance. Even if her and Jack were only going as friends.

00000

Freddie had a plan. Admittedly, it was a flawed plan. But it was more of a plan than he'd had yet. His plan was this: to go to school on Monday and just be super nice to Sam. Ridiculously nice.

It was not in his plan to apologize.

He was going to be so nice that she would have to apologize to him.

Okay, yeah, it was a bad plan. But he was getting pretty desperate. He'd tried to forget, and he'd tried to move on, and he'd tried and tried and tried.

But there was no denying it now.

He cared about her.

So why couldn't he just apologize?

He pushed the thought away, shaking it off like it was nothing. She has to apologize first, he told himself for what felt like the thousandth time.

00000

When Freddie approached Carly's locker during lunch period, he found Carly and Sam standing there, just as he'd suspected.

"Walk away, Benson." Sam said, narrowing her eyes when he stopped in front of them.

"Hey Sam. Hey Carly." He said, cheerfully. "You two both look lovely today." He said, looking at Sam.

The blonde's eyes narrowed. Carly's eyes widened.

"Uh, hey, Freddie. What's up?" The latter of the two asked, finally.

"Nothing. Just wanted to say hi." He shrugged and turned to go. He didn't want to annoy Sam. He wanted to win her over. He didn't want to force his friendship on her.

"Peace offering!" He called to Sam, tossing a fat cake package over his shoulder. He heard her catch it and grinned, before hurrying back to the cafeteria to join Gibby and Raylee.

00000

Freddie passed the rest of the week trying to do random, little, nice things for Sam. The problem was that she wouldn't accept his gifts. Carly had told him she'd actually thrown away the fat cake, something that was almost unheard of for Sam. He'd brought her bacon that she wouldn't eat. Ham, even. And he was pretty sure bringing her flowers wouldn't do any good, either.

So, he'd tried different tactics; Offering to carry her backpack or her books, or offering to give her a ride home from school.

Rejected.

Even though he had been getting more and more discouraged, he had been determined to keep trying.

…Until he talked to Carly at the end of the week.

"What are your plans for prom?" She'd asked him, trying to move away from the topic of Sam. She'd figured out by now what Freddie was trying to do, and the fact that it wasn't working was obviously really bothering him.

"I'm not sure, I guess." He shrugged. "You're going with that Phillip guy, right?"

Carly smiled brightly and nodded, but her smile faltered a moment later and she looked at him with concern. "But you should really go Freddie. It's-"

"-Yeah, I'll go." He said quickly, then added as casually as possible. "Who's Sam going with?"

Carly hesitated. "Um…." She said, uncomfortably. "Well, you see…"

"Carly?"

"She's going with Jack!" Carly blurted.

Freddie should have seen it coming, but it still made him feel awful. "Oh. Right. Of course." He managed, swallowing.

"Freddie…"

"I'll see you later, Carly, okay?" He said, hurrying away.

"Freddie!"

00000

Freddie found Raylee after school that day, out in the parking lot where she was waiting for her dad to pick her up. "Hey, Raylee!" He called.

She turned and waved to him. "Hey, Freddie! What's up?"

He jogged the rest of the way across the parking lot toward her and said, after a moment, "I…Had a question for you."

"Sure, what is it?" She asked, looking at him.

"Uh…" He hesitated, scratching the back of his neck. "Do you… I mean… Do you want to go to prom with me?" He asked, his words coming out in a blur.

She blinked.

"Just as friends!" He added quickly, "Not as a date or anything… Not that you're not great- It's just… I mean, it's only fair to say…" He was doing a really bad job of this, he thought, and he shook his head. "I just mean, I'm sort of interested in this other girl… But I really like hanging out with you…"

Raylee chuckled, rolling her eyes. "So, why don't you go with this other girl?"

"She's… Sort of already got another date."

There was a short silence.

"Just as friends?" Raylee asked him.

"Just as friends!" Freddie reassured, quickly.

"Um… Can I think about it?" She asked, slowly.

"Sure," He shrugged, he wondered what was up, but didn't ask. "Just let me know."

00000

Raylee called the next day and told Freddie that she would, in fact, go to prom with him. As friends. The 'as friends' was emphasized by both of them quite heavily, and Freddie was completely fine with this. Sure, he wasn't exactly excited about the dance, but he would have a nice time with Raylee.

There was no real problem with the plan until he talked to Gibby later that day.

"Dude!" Gibby objected, when Freddie told him about his plans for prom.

"What?" Freddie asked, confused.

"Nevermind." Gibby got a sort of half-angry, half-sulky look on his face.

"Gib?"

"I mean, you know I like her!" Gibby burst out.

Freddie stared at him. "No! How could I?" He wouldn't have asked Raylee out if he knew Gibby liked her!

"It's not obvious?" Gibby asked, with a look of a confusion on his face.

"No!" Freddie said, shaking his head.

"Oh… That's good." All GIbby's previous anger seemed to have vanished and he sighed sadly. "It doesn't matter, because she hates me anyway."

Freddie wanted to object, but as far as he could tell, Raylee did kind of seem to at least dislike Gibby. He'd never been able to figure out why, but she definitely did seem to have some kind problem with him.

"Look, man, how about I try to talk to her about you? We're just going as friends."

"You'd do that?" Gibby asked, looking up.

"Of course, man. What're friends for?"

Author's Note: I'm going to be really busy for about three weeks, so it may be some time before I update. I'm really sorry. And I'm sorry it took me so long to get this chapter up, too. Things have been really busy, but I meant to update earlier anyway, I'm sorry.

Also, I was in a bit of a hurry editing this so that I could finish in time. So, I'm sorry if it wasn't very well done.

Thanks for your understanding. :D

God bless.