Here's chapter 3. Sorry for the delay. Remember if you like what you read to leave a review!

AK

Sam hadn't spoken to Danny since he left Sunday morning. The nerves she had been battling all morning only intensified when she saw him and Tucker approach her outside the school. What would she say to him now? What would he say to her? Did Tucker know what they did? Did anyone else know? She really needed to calm down. She still had to answer Danny's question. She had not given him an answer when he left yesterday morning. Did she want to be his girlfriend? The two boys had walked up to her and began a conversation. Sam was snapped back to reality.

"Hey Sam! Danny here says he broke up with Valerie this weekend."

"Is that so?" Danny gave her a look that she'd never forget. It was full of love, warmth, longing, and a sense of knowing. She was ready to forget all about the hurt at that moment in time. If he could look at her like that, she wanted nothing else but to spend the rest of her life with him. And crash back to reality in 3… 2…

"Danny! Danny, can we talk?" It was Valerie. What did that whore want now? Danny left her and Tucker standing there and ran off to see what it was that Valerie wanted.

"Sam, this is your chance. He's a free man now." Sam snorted as she looked at Valerie and Danny chatting.

"Does that look like a free man to you?" She pointed in their direction.

"He said it was over, I trust him."

"That would be your first mistake."

The bell rang and Sam and Tucker headed inside to their first class. As they took their seats in the back, they began talking over plans to go see a movie that night. Danny soon came in and sat down in his seat in front of Tucker. He turned around to talk to them.

"So guys, what are your plans for this afternoon?"

"Me and Sam are going to see a movie. Do you want to come with us?"

"I, uh, I kinda have plans with Valerie." Sam froze. The pencil she had been holding dropped to the desk and then rolled onto the floor. She hadn't heard him right. She couldn't have. He wouldn't do that to her.

"Are you back with her now?"

"I don't know. Maybe. We have a complicated relationship."

That did it. Forget school. Forget it all. Sam got up and walked out. At that moment she had no idea where she was going. The only thing that mattered is that she put some distance between her and Daniel Fenton. After she exited the school, she headed to the park. It being the middle of the day on a school day there shouldn't be anybody there. Her assumption was correct. When she arrived there wasn't another soul in the park. She walked over to the swings and began to push herself back and forth. After about ten seconds she stopped swinging completely. Her head fell and she began to sob. How had one boy turned her life so upside down? She had loved him and no doubt part of her still did but she was done with him. It would take divine intervention to get the two of them together again. There was just three weeks of school left. She had made up her mind. After graduation she was going to leave early and take summer courses. Maybe a little distance would help heal her broken heart.

Sam spent most of the day swinging on that swing in the park. Around the time school let out she headed back to her house. Now that her mind had been made up she needed to prepare for leaving for college. As soon as she walked in the door her phone rang. She looked at the caller ID only to recognize the number as Danny's. She didn't want to talk to him right now. She let the call go to voice mail and then quickly dialed Tucker's number. She soon heard his voice greeting her over the line.

"Tuck, why did he do this to me? I finally had a chance. He asked me to be his girlfriend Sunday morning. I didn't answer him right away and he went running back to Valerie."

"He what? I'll kill him. No wait, I'll tell Jazz and let her kill him. That would be more humiliating."

"Doesn't matter anymore. I never told you this but I've been considering going to school a little early and taking summer classes. I was holding out hoping to spend one more summer with you guys. I can't do it now though. I think I need to get away so I can let my heart heal. I need to be away from everything that's happened. Maybe in time I can come to terms with everything."

"Sounds like you've already thought it all out."

"That's what happens when you spend all day in the park. Can you do me a favor and not tell Danny? I don't want him to know."

"Sure Sam I can do that."

The following weeks sped by with little happening. It turns out that Danny and Valerie had gotten back together. It wasn't very long before the two had another falling out. Tucker warned Danny that he better stay away from Sam. She was hurt beyond belief and didn't need him to use her as a rebound girl. Danny insisted that he would never do that to her. He truly loved her, or so he said. How anyone could treat someone they loved the way he had been treating Sam was impossible. Nobody ever knew about what happened in Sam's room early in the morning after prom. That was a secret between her and Danny, one they both would probably take to the grave.

Graduation had finally arrived. There they sat in perfect rows. Alphabetical order, Tucker right next to Danny. Truth be told little had been said between the trio since Sam had broken the news of her early departure to Tucker. This would be the last time in a long time the three of them would be together in the same place. Tucker knew it, Sam knew it, and Danny was clueless as usual. After the ceremony people everywhere were trying to get pictures of the grads. Danny wanted one of him and Tucker and Sam. He had one from each of their graduations, one from kindergarten, eighth grade and this would complete his collection. He rushed around the parking lot only to find Tucker waving at Sam as she drove off.

"Tuck, where's she going? I wanted a picture of all of us."

"She's leaving."

"Is she going to come to the party later? I can still get one there."

"No, she won't be back for a while. She's driving back east. She starts summer classes next week."

"What?!? Why would she leave without saying goodbye?"

"The question you should be asking yourself is: why is she going to college now instead of spending one last summer with her friends."

"What's going on Tucker?"

"You broke her heart and she's convinced she needs to get away so she can heal."

"I can still catch her and talk some sense into her."

"Danny, you better leave her alone. You've done enough for her already."

It had been a long trip but Sam had finally made it. She was nearly a thousand miles from Amity Park and she was already starting to feel better. She unloaded her car and began to settle into her room. She opened a box to find her picture album and several pictures of her and Danny and Tucker. She went through the box and pulled out a couple of pictures of her and Tucker and sat them on her desk. She put the rest back in the box and shoved the box under the bed. She dug her cell phone out of her purse and turned it on. She needed to call her parents to let them now that she had arrived. When her cell phone powered up, she immediately had a message pop that said she had five voice mail messages. It didn't take a genius to figure out who they were from. She dialed the voice mail number and waited to hear her messages.

"Hey Sam, it's me Danny, call me."

"Sam it's Danny again. Please call me."

"Sam, please call me back. Please don't ignore me."

"Sam, this is the last message I promise. Please just call me and let me know where you are."

"Alright I know I said the last message was the last but I promise this time that I won't call anymore. I need you, Sam. Why did you have to leave? I thought we shared something pretty special and then you ran away. I know I should have told you that night but I'll tell you now. I love you, Sam. Life ain't the same without you."

That was just like Danny. Whenever she was around, right under his nose, he didn't want her. The minute it appeared she wasn't available he wanted her. As far as sharing something special, if he really felt like that, why did he run back to Valerie? She didn't know what to say to him but she called him up anyway. The phone rang four times and then she heard Danny's voice on his voice mail. She let out a breath she didn't know she was holding and left a message that she was sure would end it all between them.

"Danny, this is Sam. I'm sorry you're not there right now so I can tell you this but this will have to do. This will be the last time you hear from me, for a long time. I have tried to stand by throughout the years and let you come to me. When I thought you finally had, you ran back to Valerie. My heart is broken beyond repair. I can't deal anymore so the best thing for me to do is stay away. If you value our friendship any at all, you won't come looking for me. I have no doubt that my future will lead me back to Amity Park eventually but right now this is best. I'll miss you more than you'll ever know. And just so you know, I…"

"Love you, too." The beep had cut her off signifying that the time limit had been reached. She thought for a minute about calling back to finish the message but decided against it. This is the way it was meant to be. Danny would never know how much she loved him. She sat down on her bed surrounded by all the things she had brought in from the car. She dug under the bed for the box of pictures and pulled out one of her and Danny at the dance freshman year. She looked at it and thought back to the time when things had been better. She cried.

The days that came found Sam preparing for school. She had cried herself to sleep the past few nights. It was slowly getting better. She didn't know if she would ever be ok with what happened but at least she could learn to deal with it. She thought a lot about where Danny was and if he had gotten her message.

When Monday morning rolled around, she was ready to start class. She woke up and headed for the shower. She had an 8:00 class and she didn't want to be late on the first day. She dried herself off and headed back to her room to dress for the day. She had dressed and dried her hair when she began to feel nauseous. She ran to the bathroom and just barely made it there in time. Had she eaten anything that morning she would have lost it all. She washed her face off and brushed her teeth and headed back to her room. She pulled out her book bag and started to load it up with her books and notebooks when she felt the feeling again.

After three attempts at getting out the door and to class, she gave up and lay down on her bed. She rolled over and began to cry again. It was her first day of class and she was sick. Why did her life always have to be such a mess? She soon fell asleep.

After three days, she hadn't got any better. She hadn't been to a single one of her classes. It was about time she visited the doctor to get to the bottom of what was going on. She made an appointment for the following morning and went back to bed. She hadn't been to a single class all week. The four week summer semester was shot. She called her parents and they arranged for her to have an apartment off campus. She withdrew from her classes and began to pack up her dorm room.

The following morning she loaded up her car and headed to the doctor's office. She sat in the office as she filled out the paper work. She looked around at the other patients. Life had become increasingly difficult since she graduated high school and that hadn't even been two weeks ago. If things had escalated to this level in two weeks she didn't want to know what would happen in the upcoming months. Her name was called and she got up and followed the nurse.

Sam left the doctor's office in a trance. She hopped in her car and drove downtown to her new apartment. She unloaded her car and started fixing her apartment. She felt like she was having déjà vu. She had just done this the previous week for her dorm room. It didn't take her long to settle in since she hadn't brought much with her. When she finished, she did something she was becoming very familiar with, she lay on her bed and cried. This time was different than before. Things had become complicated. She had learned that day that very soon she would be responsible for another life, a life that Danny had helped create.

It had taken several months but Sam was learning to adjust the fact she was going to be a parent very soon. She had agonized over whether to tell Danny that he was going to be a father or not. Part of her wanted to tell him so he could assume the fatherly role and she wouldn't have to go through all of this alone. Another part of her kept reminding her that he had Valerie. There was no way he would drop Valerie to be with her. She thought he at least had a right to know what had happened. She owed that to him just in case he did decide to do the right thing.

Sam was only four months along and had not begun to show yet. She packed a few things and threw them in her car and headed to Amity Park for the weekend. She was going to tell Danny regardless of what the outcome might be. It was a long trip back and she had a long time to think. However, the drive did nothing to clear her head. She arrived in Amity Park tired and anxious. Her first bit of business was to check in with her parents. She had not told them the great news yet. She could just hear her mother complaining about what a mistake she had made. Sleeping with Danny may have been a mistake but she now had a little piece of him to keep forever in the form of a child.

She entered the house to find it empty. Of course it was empty, it was Labor Day weekend. Her parents used this time to go spend time with their wealthier friends. Sam couldn't help but feel relieved. She was terribly afraid her mother would find her out; mother's seemed to have a sixth sense about these things.

Sam followed the stairs to her room. She looked around at it and thought back to how different her life had been when she left it not even four months ago. Her broken heart had been the only thing on her mind when she left town. Now that she was back, there was a considerable bit more. She lay down on her bed and fell asleep.