Author's Note: Hello people! =D You see? It didn't take me THAT long to update this time! =D I would have posted this a week ago, but school keeps getting in the way of my writing... And Tumblr too XD

Anyway, in this chapter, you'll all meet a new character! =D A really important one! Okay, not THAT important, but anyway... I should just shut up now, shouldn't I? XD

Disclaimer: Instead of helping me getting Dan to hand iCarly over to me, Bob threw a party at my house, and you guys have NO idea how much damage 47 chinchillas, 32 hamsters, 26 bunnies, 14 parrots and 3 turtles can cause. So yeah, after posting this, I'll go straight back to cleaning... And for the slow ones, I don't own iCarly! XD

Okay, that's enough talking! =P

Enjoy! =)


Chapter 16: Fluffy

Carly's POV

Just like I had imagined, Sam had indeed gone up to the iCarly studio. I watched her as she looked around the studio frantically, clearly looking for something, and I knew what that was.

I took a deep breath, trying to decide whether I should go inside the studio and talk to her or not. There was this voice in the back of my head telling me to get out of there and leave things like they were, but I just couldn't chicken out of this. I had chickened out so many times in my life, so I decided that this time, with something so important like this, that involved the relationship between my two best friends, and therefore, my own relationship with them too, I couldn't just turn around and leave.

After taking another deep breath, I held out my hand and grabbed the doorknob, before pushing the door open slowly, trying to be silent.

Sam's POV

I looked everywhere in that studio, but I couldn't find my notebook.

I clearly remembered that I had left it under the beanbag chair, but when I looked there, I saw absolutely nothing. I decided to look around the studio, even though I kind of was expecting not to find anything. I mean, if it wasn't where I had left it, how the hell it would have ended up somewhere else?

That made me begin to think that someone had probably found it, and that was precisely what worried me the most.

I could only think of three people who could have found it. That is, if someone had actually found my notebook here, and I hadn't left somewhere else, which could end up just as badly.

And those three people were: Spencer, Carly and Freddie.

Okay, the thought of Spencer finding my notebook didn't really worry me, but the thought of either Carly or Freddie finding it truly terrified me. I mean, I had been hiding all this from them for the past whole year, and I really didn't want them to find out about it, at least not now.

Carly finding it worried me because I'm sure I know how she'd react to all this. She'd just be herself, trying to find a way to help and come up with her matchmaker plans, when I knew that it would completely be useless. I knew Freddie didn't feel the same way I felt for him, so what was the point of trying to make this work, when it was obvious it wouldn't?

And if Freddie found out about this… I have no idea what I'd do. I just couldn't take being rejected, at least not by him.

I sighed, about to give up on my search, when I heard the studio door opening slowly, and I turned around abruptly, startled, only to find Carly standing in the doorway.

"Oh... Hey Carls! What are you doing here?" I asked, trying to put off a normal face.

"Oh, nothing. I just came upstairs to my room to find you and you weren't there, so decided to come here to see if I'd find you" She explained. "So... What are you doing here?"

"I, uh... I left something here yesterday, and I came here to get it, but I can't find it anywhere" I said calmly, trying to seem like I thought this wasn't a big deal or anything like that.

"Really?" She asked, frowning a bit.

"Yeah..." I trailed off, not finding anything else to say.

"I found a notebook of yours here yesterday, is that it?" She asked suddenly, and I swear I felt my heart skip a beat.

"You did?" I asked, and she nodded.

"Yeah, I left it downstairs, in the living room" She said.

"Oh... Then I guess I'll go down there to get it" I said, before starting to walk towards the door. "You still making breakfast, right?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

"Yeah, yeah. I'll be right there, I just need to finish getting ready for school" She replied chuckling and rolling her eyes. "Hey, Sam!" She called after me just as I walked out the door.

"Yeah?" I asked, turning back around to face her.

"If you need to talk, about anything, remember that I'm here, alright?" She said, and I simply stared at her for a moment, confused by her sudden comment. Where had that come from? Had she... read my notebook?

"I know that Carls" I smiled at her, trying to ignore that last thought that had crossed my mind. "But... Where did that come from?" I asked, and she shrugged.

"Just thought I should say it. You've been pretty off these last couple of days. If there's something bothering you, I just want to let you know that you can talk to me about it" She said, and I gave her a small smile, before leaving the studio, heading downstairs to the living room hurriedly.

Freddie's POV

I wondered what the notebook was doing here, because even though Sam was here -I noticed her backpack lying on the couch when I walked past it-, it didn't explain why she had left it in the fruit bowl.

I held it for a moment, looking down at it curiously. I wondered if peering inside it would lead me straight to the hospital. I looked around making sure I was alone, but when I was about to open the notebook, I heard footsteps coming from the stairs. I froze for a moment, before putting the notebook right where I had found it, meaning the fruit bowl, and grabbed a half full cup of iced tea that had been placed right next to the computer screen. I then started drinking it, pretending I had been doing that all along.

That was exactly when Sam came walking down the stairs and spotted me where I was.

"Hey dork" That was her usual greeting for me. "Uh... What are you doing?" She asked, raising an eyebrow at me. I guess I wasn't really good at being an actor, since I couldn't hide the fact that I was pretty nervous for almost being caught about to read a notebook I wasn't supposed to be reading, and if she ever found out about it, I'd probably earn a broken limb.

"What do you mean? I just got here, and I... I'm just waiting for you guys, so I could ask Carly if I could get a ride to school with her and Spencer" I said, and it wasn't exactly a lie, it was just part of the truth.

"Oh, it's not like I care anyway..." She shrugged, but then I swear she looked shocked for a moment as something caught her eye behind me, and I assumed she had spotted the notebook on the fruit bowl, but she hid her shock quickly. "Uh... Hey, you know how to cook bacon, right?" She asked randomly, sounding a bit nervous.

"Yes..." I answered hesitantly, not sure of where she wanted to get with that question, but already afraid of what it could lead to. Sam could be pretty unpredictable sometimes.

"Well, Carly is still getting ready, and you know how long she takes to do that, so why don't you get over there and cook mama some bacon?" She asked, smiling.

"Why don't you just cook it yourself?" I asked, and she shrugged.

"I love eating, not preparing things for me to eat!" She said, sounding like that was an obvious statement, and I simply rolled my eyes at her.

"Fine" I gave in and walked to the kitchen. I just couldn't make myself say no to her, no matter how much I tried. Even if I resisted at first, she'd always find a way to make me change my mind, so I saw no point on saying no to her anymore.

As I cooked the bacon, I had already forgotten about the notebook thing, until I caught Sam quickly stuffing something inside her backpack, before she walked back to the kitchen and sat down on a chair by the table, and I wondered why she hadn't picked the notebook right away when she saw it, and why she had suddenly become so nervous after spotting it on the fruit bowl.

It almost seemed like the idea of me seeing it, and possibly reading it, actually frightened her. But why? Was there anything she didn't want me to know? And if there was, what could that be? I shook my head, trying to get rid of those thoughts. I was probably just being paranoid.

Anyway, after I finished cooking the bacon, I got a plate out of the cabinet over the sink to put the bacon on, and then laid the plate down on the table right in front of Sam, who was just staring at me as she waited impatiently for her food. She looked so cute when she did that.

While she ate, I snuck a glance in the direction of the fruit bowl, and just like I had expected, the notebook was gone. That made me go back to the trail of thought I had abandoned a few minutes ago, but I soon had to drop it once again.

I guess I can't say I was surprised when Sam was done eating all the five slices of bacon I had cooked in less than a minute. I had somehow gotten used to her eating habits over the years, and it was amazing how she could eat like there was no tomorrow, especially junk food, and still have such an amazing body like hers. And I'm not complaining at all.

Back to the point, as soon as Sam stood up to put her plate in the sink, Carly came skipping downstairs.

"I'm assuming you don't need me to cook breakfast anymore" Carly commented, gesturing to the plate Sam was putting in the sink.

"Nah, the nub beat you to it, and he did it pretty well, I might add. That was good bacon." Sam said, and I found it pretty amusing how she managed to insult me and compliment me in the same sentence.

Carly simply shrugged, before moving her gaze to me. "What are you doing here so early?" She asked.

"Oh, I was wondering if I could get a ride to school with you and Spencer" I asked.

"Sure. But how come you're not going with your mom?"

"I'm kind of trying to get away from her…" I admitted, and she chuckled.

"What did she do this time?" She asked as she walked towards the kitchen and grabbed an apple from the same fruit bowl that had my complete attention a few minutes ago. I wondered where Spencer was, he was always the one who made breakfast in the morning, and it seemed like he hadn't finished it today.

"She keeps complaining about how I got home late yesterday" I said, not really wanting to mention the fact that I didn't answer my mother why I was two minutes late because I wasn't in the mood for that, due to the fact that I thought there was something going on with Carly and Sam, and I still think that.

"But you didn't go home late last night… well, at least you didn't leave late" She said, seeming a bit confused.

"I wasn't late, but according to her, I was. Two minutes" I said, rolling my eyes, and she laughed, and I heard Sam doing the same, but she didn't say anything.

"Okay, Freddie, not to sound rude or anything but your mother is completely insane" Carly said, and I laughed a little.

"You think I haven't figured that out yet?" I asked, and she laughed too. "Anyway, where's Spencer? I mean, shouldn't he be here-" My words were interrupted by the sound of the elevator stopping on that floor. And when the doors opened, Spencer walked out of it, with something I wasn't expecting to be there.

A baby giraffe.

"Hey Freddie, hey Sam" Spencer greeted us happily and then walked past me and Sam, headed to the kitchen. He stood near where Carly was standing, her mouth hanging open, clearly too shocked too say anything, exactly like me and Sam were.

Spencer seemed to be looking for something near the sink, until his eyes widened suddenly.

"Oh, man!" He exclaimed after he looked around.

"What?" Carly asked, confused.

"I didn't finish frying Fluffy's bacon! Now she has no bacon to eat for breakfast!" He said, pointing at the baby giraffe, who seemed to be way more interested on eating the back of his pants without him noticing it.

"Uh… just one question: why do you have a baby giraffe with you?" I asked, finally finding my voice to speak, and Spencer's face brightened up suddenly as he started hopping in the same place happily, making the baby giraffe have to move her head up and down repeatedly as she tried to keep eating the fabric of his pants on the area of his butt.

"Socko's cousin, Zoomer, sold her to me" He answered, smiling brightly.

"And what are you planning to do with her when she grows up?" Sam asked, clearly amused by what was going on.

"What do you mean?" He asked as he stopped jumping in the same spot, and Fluffy was finally able to keep biting his pants properly.

"Well, didn't you think about how big 'Fluffy' will get in a few months?" Carly asked, and Spencer thought for a moment.

"You know, I hadn't thought about that" He admitted, and Carly simply shook her head in disbelief.

Anyway, it took us some time to convince Spencer that Fluffy could wait a few minutes to eat breakfast, or else the three of us would be late for school, but after about ten minutes, he finally told Fluffy to sit down on the couch and watch some TV while we were gone. Yeah, please don't ask.

Author's Note: Okay, does anyone else love Fluffy? lol XD

I was going to make Spencer buy a dog, but then I remembered Marvin, the ostrich from iMeet Fred, and then I was completely torn between making him buy a zebra or a giraffe, and I ended up going for the giraffe. XD

So, on the next chapter, we'll all get a sneak peek of what's in Sam's notebook! I wonder what that could possibly be... Oh wait, I know XD

I love reviews =)

xxiCarlyFanxx