Chapter 4

Today is probably going to be one of the longest days ever. Freddie thought as he entered the classroom to first period history. He went over to his desk near the back of the room and sat down. He was the first one in the classroom, so he just stared at the front blackboard and began to think about the last twelve hours.

He didn't want to shed tears in front of Carly while he was at her apartment, but as soon as he made his way across the hall to his apartment, the floodgates were let loose. He pretty much ran past his mom into his bedroom and shut the door and locked it. He then had to endure nearly 20 minutes of shouting with his mom that he wanted her to leave him alone. He didn't want to explain why he was upset, or why he was back from his study date so soon. But even when his mom finally gave up interrogating him, he still couldn't get a sense of peace. His heart was shattered by one of his best friends. Deep down he appreciated Carly telling him the truth, and getting the record straight, but he was so crushed by the fact that he was actually gonna have to move on, that he couldn't hardly sleep that night. Added to the fact that he really couldn't avoid Carly for any length of time, he wasn't ready to talk to her about the previous night's events. He, Carly, and Sam were all in this class together, so he knew he would have to see her in the pending minutes before class began.

A few more people had started to enter the classroom now as Freddie began to think about what Carly had said last night. She wants somebody different, somebody with a totally different personality. Maybe I should try to do the same, I'm sure I could find someone who's totally different than I am.

Another classmate had entered the classroom, slamming her book bag against the door as she entered. For the first time Freddie looked up. Speaking of somebody who is totally different than I am, he thought.

"Hey, Freddork," came the groggy but cheerful voice of Sam, who past by his desk and took her seat in the desk directly behind his.

"Hey." Freddie just muttered back. He really didn't want to start in with Sam this morning.

"Did you get your homework done last night? Can I see it?" Sam asked him, like she regularly does every day.

Freddie's eyes just went wide. Because of the emotional evening he had the evening before; he never actually sat down and did his homework.

Very quickly, he opened his textbook up and grabbed his homework sheet out of folder and tried to scan through the chapter they were working on to try to complete the homework.

"You don't have it done?" Sam asked shocked and wide-eyed. "Are you the real Freddie Benson?"

"Shut up, Sam!" Freddie growled, not wanting to take his attention off his schoolwork. He was getting frustrated that he wasn't finding the answers very quickly. He didn't even notice his former object of affection was making her way to her seat.

"Hey Carls," Sam called out to her friend. Upon hearing her name, Freddie looked up from homework to where Carly was sitting.

"Hey Sam," Carly replied back to her best friend. Then she sort of cocked her head at Freddie and with a soft smile said, "Hi, Freddie."

Freddie knew that he didn't want to talk to her right then, but he went ahead and answered her greeting. "Oh…hey Carly," he said awkwardly. He then turned back to his schoolwork.

Carly then faced forward, and got her own homework out and was reviewing it. Sam, who didn't have any homework to copy, just sat there for a moment. She had seen the unpleasant and nervous greeting between Carly and Freddie and was wondering what Freddie was actually feeling.

Sam wasn't one that liked to be left out of the loop. Even though she had spied on him and Carly last night and knew what was going on, she still wanted to know what was going through that nerdish mind of his. "So, how come you didn't get your homework done last night? I thought you and Carly had a study date last night?" She pressured.

Oh, here we go. Freddie was thinking when he looked back up from his homework to answer the pest that was sitting behind him. "We really didn't get to study." Freddie muttered plainly not wanting to turn around and look at Sam.

"But Carly has hers done I see." Sam pointed out. This caused Freddie to turn his head towards Carly's desk.

She's right, Freddie thought as he noticed that Carly indeed had hers completed, and was now quietly reviewing it. This made Freddie angry. Carly obviously isn't upset about what happened last night, he thought.

Freddie then turned around and took his anger out on Sam, "Well, why don't you just get your answers from Carly today!" He hissed at her.

Sam got cross with Freddie. "Don't take your dorky troubles out on me!" She hissed back. And she took her hand and smacked Freddie upside his head.

"Ow!" Freddie glared at her for a minute. Then the bell finally rang, and he turned back around in his chair and stared at his nearly empty homework assignment. He shook his head at the prospect of what was going to happen to his grade point average; then he sat still as the teacher started class.

"Okay class," Mrs. Wood began, "I need everyone to turn in last night's homework to the front at this time."

Freddie sadly handed his paper to the front. He knew he didn't have to reach behind him to get one from Sam, because he knew she didn't do it period. He did feel bad about barking at Sam earlier. She does like to get on his nerves, but she didn't deserve to be hissed at when she didn't deserve it. He grabbed a piece of paper from his notebook and wrote down, I'm sorry I yelled at you. He folded the paper and handed back to Sam.

Sam took it from him, read it quickly, then scribbled a reply and handed it back to Freddie. He took it from her and read the message. It's all right; you're no fun to pick on if you're that upset. I guess I'll forgive you this time my little nerd.

Freddie grinned for the first time today. He waited for the Mrs. Wood to turn her back; then he looked back at Sam and told her thanks. Sam warmed, and patted Freddie's shoulders telling him that it wasn't a problem.

XxXxXxXxXx

Finally, the bell rang, and first period was over. It couldn't end any sooner for Freddie, who was getting strange looks from Mrs. Wood while she was looking through the homework and found that Freddie Benson turned in a "very" uncompleted homework assignment.

Freddie was slow to get out of his seat; he let Sam go by him without saying a word. He also wouldn't look Carly's way as she got up from her seat and proceeded out of the room. He waited until everyone had cleared the room before he exited, then he made his way to his locker.

As Freddie was gathering his books for the next class, he noticed a new boy pass by him down the hallway. He had never seen this guy before. Must be a transfer, he thought. Freddie decided to go visit his friend Jeremy (better known as Germy) at his locker before class. He remembered what Sam told him yesterday about not hanging around the girls so much, and visit his guy friends more (or something like that).

Jeremy's locker was not far from Sam and Carly's lockers. As he approached his friend's locker, he noticed that new guy again making his way slowly towards the girls' lockers. While keeping one eye on the new guy, Freddie spoke to Jeremy, "Hey, what's up?"

"Achoo! Oh…hey," Jeremy replied drowsing, "If you'll give me just a couple of minutes…Achoo!...I just need to take some new medication. Then…Achoo!...I'll be right with you."

"Oh, sure," Freddie said uninterested. He was still watching another drama unfold anyway. "Go ahead and take your time."

Sam was at her locker, tossing in her history book, and frantically looking around for her algebra book and homework. If I cared about school, she thought, I'd care about keeping this locker clean. Carly was on her cell phone. She was standing on the other side of Sam's locker door with her homework to her next class. She and Sam did not have the same class in the upcoming period, but she waited for her friend anyway. But knowing it would take awhile, she decided to call her grandfather in Yakima to discuss a possible trip to see him in October. Since she talked on the phone with her back turned to Sam's locker door, she didn't realize that this new guy was coming towards them.

Nor did Sam, she had finally got her stuff together and was getting ready to shut her locker, when she turned to see a very good-looking young man approach her. Oh my gosh, she thought to herself, he is like, so cute, and he's coming to see me!

The young man was coming towards Sam, and at the moment he reached her locker, she smiled and said, "Hi."

The young man looked at Sam and smiled back, "Hi."

Sam continued to smile at him as she asked politely, "I've never seen you before, are you new here?"

The young man brightened his smile, "Yes, I just transferred from a high school in Eugene, Oregon this week." He then momentarily looked up from Sam and stared just past her.

Sam just glowed. I can't believe I have a cute guy from another state flirting with me! Sam then thought that maybe she better introduce herself to her new future boyfriend, "My name is Sam Puckett."

The young man was a little distracted by something ahead of him, but he returned his attention back to Sam, and replied brightly, "Nice to meet you Sam, my name is Danny Watson."

Sam almost felt like doing a bow as she replied sweetly, "And it's very nice to meet you too, Danny Watson." She noticed that his gaze had left hers again as he was staring at something down the way. He must be a little shy, she thought, I better be careful not to scare him away like I do with every other boy around here.

Just then, she heard Carly finish her call, and snap her phone shut. "Hey Sam," she said as she was putting her phone away and was getting ready to turn around, "Are you finally ready to go…" she began when she caught eye of the boy candy that was looking at her.

Danny then brushed by Sam and walked over to Carly, "Hello," he said with a big smile, "and who might you be?"

Carly blushed. She couldn't believe that this totally hot guy was speaking to her. "Why, I might be Carly…Carly Shay," she said very cheerfully.

"Well I hope you are Carly Shay," Danny said jokingly, absolutely beaming at her, "My name is Danny Watson. I'm a transfer from Eugene, Oregon."

"Wow!" Carly replied. "Well, what brings you to Seattle?"

The two were like in a trance; they only had eyes for each other. They began walking down the hallway together, not knowing for sure where they were going or even caring at this point.

Sam, still at her locker, just looked at Carly and Danny in disgust. "Yeah Carly, I'm ready to go to class now!" She hollered out sarcastically.

Never taking her eyes off Danny's, Carly raised her hand in a little wave; then continued down the hall with Danny.

Sam slammed her locker door shut, and marched to algebra class. The little dweebs that she tortured ducked out of her way in terror as she passed them in the hallway.

Freddie was still waiting on Jeremy at his locker. He saw the entire episode of Sam and Carly's encounter with the new guy. As Sam stormed by them, Freddie wanted to say something to her, but he felt that she needed to cool off for a few minutes. Besides, they did have the next class together; he could try to talk with her then.

I'm sorry Sam, he thought, you didn't deserve that.

Author's Note: A bit of a longer chapter, and an important one too. I didn't mention that this takes place this fall, which should be 9th grade for them. Also, I started writing this before the new season of iCarly started, so there'll be no references of what's happened on the new season in this story. Let me know what you think if you want.

I would like to thank the people who have commented thus far. Unless something happens where I can't get to a computer, I will be uploading a chapter daily. Enjoy! – kwags74