Carly's POV

No word from Sam. Not all weekend. That's never happened before. Did Freddie talk to her or something? Oh, I bet he did! I shouldn't have told him anything, he probably just made things worse! He was the last person Sam would have wanted to see when she left, and he probably went and tried to find her. Sam's probably mad at me because she figured I told him she was upset! I mean, I told him, but I also told him not to worry!

Just when I was thinking that Sam wouldn't be coming to school today, I heard a locker open beside me.

"Sam!" I said as I turned my head. Sam looked at me, one hand holding the door of her locker, the other hanging by her side.

"Hey Carls." She mumbled.

"Hey! I didn't hear from you all weekend! Are you okay?"

"Yeah, just needed a little alone time."

"You could have texted me, just to let me know how you were."

"I turned my phone off."

"All weekend?"

"Yeah."

We were silent, awkward floating in the air likes a gnat.

"Have you seen Freddie?" I asked. I probably shouldn't have.

"No." Sam paused, going back to looking into her locker. It looked as if she was going to say something else, but I heard a voice behind me. Now I get why Sam looked into her locker.

Sam's POV

"Hey guys." His voice met my ears, making my pulse begin to quicken.

"Hey Freddie." Carly said, her voice sounding so upbeat.

"Hey Sam." Freddie said. Shoot. I shut my locker and looked at him.

"Hey nub." I replied.

"Feeling any better?" He asked.

"Sure."

"Well, that's good."

Gibby ran up, thankfully breaking the awkwardness that was looming in the air.

"Freddie! Freddie!" Gibby ran up, panting.

"What Gib?" He asked, turning towards the slightly jiggling boy running towards him.

"Mia Turner!"

"Mia Turner?" Carly asked.

"The dirty blonde, smoky-eyed chic that's just barely taller than Carly that looks a little bit like Valerie Poxleitner?" I asked.

"Yeah!" Gibby replied.

"Well, what about her?" Freddie asked.

"I heard from Johnny who heard from Teresa who talked to Mike who said that he overheard Mia telling Anne that she liked you."

"Me?" Freddie asked.

"Freddie?" Carly questioned.

"The nub?" I said, my heart in my throat.

My head whirled, my pulse dropped, I felt dizzy and as if I may fall down. I had to lean against my locker to ensure that I wouldn't fall to the linoleum floor. Mia supposedly liked Freddie? If she actually did, and approached Freddie, of course he would fall for her. No guy at Ridgeway hasn't fallen for Mia at one point or another, apparently some girls too.

"Mia would be an excellent model, if she were taller. Her legs are killer, though; they're so long." Carly stated.

"Yeah, I know." Gibby smirked.

"I don't think that what you just said, Gibby, could possibly be true." Freddie said, indifferent to the fact that probably the prettiest girl at Ridgeway might have a crush on him.

"Why do you doubt me! You know, Freddie, you could approach her or something, I mean, if you asked her out on a date, I know for a fact that she wouldn't say no!" Gibby tried to convince Freddie. If Mia went on a date with Freddie, I think that she and my butter sock might have to meet.

"I'll think about it, okay Gib?" Freddie asked, shifting his weight.

"Better think fast Freddie! Homecoming's coming up soon, you want to take her, don't you?"

"Gibby! I don't even know if I like her!"

"Well she may get swiped up soon!" Gibby paused, thinking. "Maybe she's waiting for you to ask!"

"Gibby!" I yelled, not sure why I did. Everyone looked at me as I mentally smacked myself on the head. "Just leave Freddie alone, give him some space to breathe and think about this whole Mia thing." It was silent. "I gotta go to class before Briggs gives me detention. Again." I said before walking away. I don't really care if I get detention or not, Briggs always goes off with Howard to make out in the teacher's lounge ten minutes after detention starts. I just had to get out of there before I broke down.

Freddie's POV

We watched as Sam walked down the hall.

"Since when does Sam care about getting detention?" Gibby asked.

"Maybe she's trying to be a better student because it's our senior year." Carly said.

"Sam Puckett trying to do well in school? Nope, don't think so, probably went off to vandalize something without us knowing." I said.

"I don't know." Carly paused. "Well, I got to get to Science, see you two later." Carly said, before walking the opposite direction as Sam.

"So, since it's just us two now, what are you going to do about Mia?" Gibby asked. I walked to my locker, Gibby following behind me.

"I don't know, I just found out about her a few minutes ago. I've barely had time to think about her."

"Better think fast before somebody else snatches her up."

"What about you Gibs?"

"I'm still with Tasha, so I'm taking her to homecoming."

"Well it's great that you two are still together and that you're taking her and you have everything figured out." I snapped accidentally, shutting my locker.

"I'm going to pretend that didn't hurt." Gibby paused for a second. "Well, you may have someone to take. Here comes Mia."

I turned and saw Mia walking up to me. Her dirty blonde hair was newly layered and came down just below her chest. Her smile seemed to reach her bright green eyes, and I remembered how she got her braces off over the summer. Late getting them on, late getting them off. She had on light skinny jeans and a shirt with thick dark and light purple stripes. Her simple black flats had bows on them and made no noise as she walked.

"See you later Freddie." Gibby said, walking away as Mia came up. She had an AP Physics book in her hands.

"Hey Freddie." Mia smiled.

"Hey Mia." I said, sliding my thumbs into my pockets.

"What's up?"

"Oh, not much. You?"

"Same, except I've been studying so much lately."

"For what classes?"

"Well, all of them basically, but mainly Physics and French. English and History come pretty easy, and Stats is easy to get once you get the hang of it."

"AP or regular?"

"AP. My mom's pushing me to take as many AP classes as I can so that maybe my Freshman year of college won't be so hard."

"Do you know where you want to apply to yet?"

"I've been dying to go to Brown, you know, in Rhode Island. My dad went there."

"I heard about your dad. I'm so sorry."

"It's okay, I mean, it's in God's hands now, huh? We've had him for seven years, three more than his oncologist predicted."

"I don't know how you are handling it so well."

"Someone has to be the strong one. Lord knows it's not my mother right now, and the twins are taking it differently. Josh seems fine, but Rebecca hates visiting the hospital and refuses to go whenever she can. She's only seen him once since he was admitted. I understand, though, she hates hospitals and the one time she went, she broke down in the hall and cried."

"Oh wow. Sorry you have to go through all this Mia."

"We all knew it was going to happen someday, I guess. My mom more than anyone."

"Well, if you ever need someone who will listen when you need to vent, I'm your guy."

"Thanks." Mia smiled. "I was wondering if you were free Saturday night?"

"Yeah, I think I am."

"Cool. So I was wondering if you'd like to go out? I mean, it doesn't have to be a date or anything..." She trailed off. Judging by the way she kept shifting her weight, practically bouncing on the balls of her feet, I could tell she was nervous.

"Sure, how about we catch a movie? The new Sherlock Holmes one just came out."

"Sounds great! I've been wanting to see that movie since I saw the trailer. So, I'll talk to you later then? We can decide on a time and a theater?"

"Okay, sounds like a plan."

"Okay!" Mia beamed. "I have to get to History, I'll talk to you later?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, bye." She spoke as if a huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders. She walked away just as the bell rang. I went into my locker and grabbed my English notebook when it dawned on me. I have a date on Saturday night with Mia Turner.