"Where is Sam?" said Carly, frustrated again by Sam's lack of punctuality. Freddie and Carly had been in the studio for about twenty minutes, trying to come up with ideas for that week's iCarly. But without Sam, most of their funnier ideas and pranks fell flat. Most of their funniest ideas and pranks came from the wondrous cacophany that was Sam's brain.
"I'm not sure. I texted her a little while ago and I called her too, but she's not answering me." Freddie was worried too, that much Carly knew, but he knew that if Sam wasn't here after all the crap Carly had given her about arriving late to rehearsals in the past, there had to be a good reason that Sam wasn't currently in their presence.
Carly walked over to the stand by the prop car and grabbed a banana and a Sharpie. Plopping down on the red beanbag, she started to draw a face on the banana like Gibby had taught her to do whenever she got nervous.
Freddie noticed Carly anxiously doodling on the yellow fruit. "Shay, chill. She'll be here-she always is."
The worried brunette relaxed the tiniest bit, but Freddie knew that she would only fully calm down when Sam was with them. Though he wouldn't admit it out loud, he was concerned about Sam's absence as much as Carly was. Before, when she had been late to rehearsals, it was always because she was either doing something that could get her in trouble with the law or stuffing herself full of food, sometimes both. Lately she had cooled down on the illegal activities, channeling her temper and rampant creativity into iCarly and her specialties, the Messing With Lewbert and Wake Up Spencer pranks.
She was still Sam though, and still ate massive quantities of food. That would never change-except maybe on her deathbed-and even then Freddie was sure she'd be asking for a burger and a Fat Shake.
Five minutes passed in which Carly drew a whole fruit family and Freddie filtered through some videos sent to iCarly from their loyal viewers, his favorite being this group of kids no older than seven years old doing the catdaddy.
Just as Carly was finishing the face on an apple, Sam barged into the studio.
"Guys, I'm so sorry that I'm late!" Sam apologized in between large gasps of breath; she had clearly run a long distance.
"Jeez, Puckett, where were you?" The apple that Carly had been drawing on now rested on the table with the other various fruits, and she confronted her friend. "We were worried sick!You usually call when you know you're going to be this late!"
Sam took a deep breath, bracing herself for Carly's wrath. "I couldn't, Carls. The battery on my phone died. I'm sorry though, I really am."
"Sorry? Sorry? Chiz, Sam, for all we knew you could have been in some serious trouble and all you have to say is sorry? Where were you?" Carly's voice was reaching a frequency that would soon be heard only by bats and some dogs.
"I was at the library."
Freddie and Carly were flabbergasted, to say the least. Freddie almost asked Sam to repeat herself, because she had whispered her answer so quietly that neither of them were sure of having heard her correctly.
"The library?" Freddie said, just now noticing the full backpack whose straps strained against Sam's shoulders.
"Yeah...finals are coming up next week and I know that you guys are going to have no problem at all but even with the extra help you have been giving me with school and stuff I still think I might fail, and if I bomb the finals then I don't pass the year which means I don't graduate on time." Sam looked at her feet, almost ashamed to meet Freddie and Carly's eyes. They had fully convinced her to start applying herself in school a few months ago, but even that couldn't fix the earlier portion of the year, where Sam had been her usual lazy self.
Freddie and Carly looked at each other, shocked. Of all the activities that they would have predicted Sam's involvement with, studying at the library was NOT one of them. Carly opened her mouth, clearly about to continue the subject, but Freddie shut her down with a shake of his head. He knew how much it took Sam to admit that she had to work to be good at something, it was a Puckett pride thing.
"Well anyway, we should get started planning out this week's iCarly. There's this really cute video of three little kids doing the catdaddy that we should definitely air. Two of the kids can't be older than 6 and the other one is only like 7, it's so funny..." Freddie said, desperately trying to steer the conversation back to iCarly before Sam got too embarrassed and gave up the institution of studying altogether.
The rest of the night proceeded like any other iCarly rehearsal, if what they did every show could be considered normal. Sam came up with a wickedly funny prank to play on Lewbert that involved a very delicious, very innocent-looking ice cream sundae for the nasty doorman that would deliver an unexpected shock once he took a big bite. The iCarly viewers would love it, they were of this.
Around nine, Carly went downstairs to get dinner and other supplies for the three. Sam had already announced (there was no need to ask anymore, really) that she was spending the night with Carly regardless of being a school night, and Freddie would stay as long as he could. Sometimes, if he lingered over at the Shay's until a particularly late hour, Spencer would offer their couch up for him to crash on. Surprisingly, Mrs. Benson allowed this.
Her excuse was that her little boy was becoming a little man, and she couldn't control him forever.
The reason that the rest of the gang knew to be true was that Marissa Benson was too busy focusing her attentions on Freddie's one-time bodyguard, Gunsmoke.
Nobody understood it.
Nobody was sure if they wanted to.
All they knew was that one day Sam, Carly and Freddie went to hang at Freddie's after school (Spencer was running an errand with Socko that for some reason involved a trip to the Canadian border, but he had locked the door and Carly had inconveniently forgotten her spare key) when Freddie had unlocked his apartment door to a sight that had them all screaming.
Marissa and Gunsmoke.
Gunsmoke and Marissa.
Sprawled across the couch that Freddie frequently used to lounge about and watch TV on, making out voraciously.
At least they had the decency to jump apart and look ashamed when they heard the kids' yells.
Needless to say, the gang ran to the Groovy Smoothie as fast as their legs could carry them, Sam winning the unannounced race and insisting that Freddie buy her a smoothie as a reward.
Ever since then, Marissa had been a lot easier on Freddie. She was still slightly crazy, still made sure he double poo'ed and ate all of his asparagus, but no longer fought to the death with her son about every little detail, something the younger Benson was extremely grateful for.
"Did you hear where Carls said she was going to go get food? I wasn't listening when she told us." Sam walked over to where Freddie was reclining on the blue bean bag and snuggled up next to him, placing her head against the comfortable fabric that covered his shoulder.
"Yeah, she's just running across the street to Tennessee Fried Chicken."
"Awesome."
"Wait, if you weren't listening to her then, what was holding your attention?"
Sam wanted to make a witty remark about Freddie always having her attention because she knew it would inflate his ego, but she decided against it and decided to tell the truth. "I was thinking about how awesome that Lewbert prank is going to be."
The pair thought about it and started chuckling at the same time. "Sam, you're cruel."
"I know, but this? This is going to be LEGIT. Imagine Lewbert's nasty, warted face when he thinks he's taking a bite of a delicious ice cream sundae with whipped cream and sprinkles only to realize that the whipped cream is really sour cream!" Sam cackled evilly.
Freddie couldn't help it. The mental image of what was sure to be a hysterical reaction from Lewbert coupled with the evil grin on Sam's face had him doubled over in laughter, to the point where his stomach hurt, he couldn't catch his breath, and he felt like he was going to cry at any second.
Eventually his laughter subsided and he folded Sam back in his arms. "I love you, you demon."
"I love you too, you dork."
Sam pulled his face down to hers and relished the few minutes they had together before Carly returned, when she would chastise the couple for making out in her studio.
To LyshaLuvsSeddie: That's okay, you don't have to read every other story I write just because I write it. If you're a Ron/Hermione shipper, then you're a Ron/Hermione shipper :) And hush, HP fics are AMAZING, as long as they're written well enough.
To Arocksprpl2: Awww, I'm sorry, I know how badly that must suck. If I was more knowledgeable about the various X Men, I would write a Rogue/Bobby just for you. But, alas, I do not, and I apologize for your sufferings.
To luktheduke: Of course, Rocky Horror Picure show is freaking fantabulous.
To Key2DestNE, Mary Rachel, MayRaah: Thank you all for your sympathies on my problem. It warms the cockles of my heart, truly. 3
To Mike2101: I have actually gotten this complaint before, about my transitioning being funky. Even my newly found beta pointed it out. I will try to be better about it, and after I finish iCHTA I'll go back and edit. Promise. And I will also try to keep my personal life ramblings to a minimum, that's also why I moved everything to after the chapter is written that way you can skip it if you want to. You are yelling at me to post, you are very good at that. I appreciate it, really I do.
To ccQTccQT, DannySam20, SeddieForever45, ilove icarly, GeekQuality, SeddieSpaghetti: Awww, thank you! These are always so sweet :)
To hartful13: Thanks you for the tip on where to find more H/Hr fics! :)
To SeddieSpaghetti: Wow. That was a loooooooooong review, I loved it :) Yes, I will definitely continue the story for as long as it feels right. I definitely won't be stopping any time soon though. I promise.
Review, please?
-Amy