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XXXXXXX
Wha—what? Let me- me g—go" I stumble on my words. Well that didn't sound tough or convincing at all. My arm is really starting to hurt. I can't pull away.
"Sorry" He says and let's go of my arm. I quickly take a few steps away from him. "Look I know you know, but Sam it was no big deal."
"What?" I ask. It's actually a really big deal you stalker.
"Carly kissed me, that's it. I know you saw but I need to tell you that it meant nothing. I pushed her away. I like you, Sam." He says, taking a step towards me. I quickly take another step back; I'm definitely failing at not looking nervous. That is what he was talking about? The kiss? I can feel the panic leave me now that I know he doesn't know about the backpack.
"Oh yeah, I know. Carly told me, but nothing is going to happen between us." I say.
"No don't say that, Sam. I know you don't mean it."
"I do mean it." I snap at him, getting my nerve back, "I'm serious." I see this angry look flash across his face but he quickly softens it.
"Sam" He says, and takes another step towards me. Once again I quickly step away; I want a safe distance between us.
"Look, I'm sorry Aaron, but I don't like you, so_"
"But we have so much in common" He says. Yeah we have a lot in common because you looked up everything about me!
"I have to get to class" I say.
"Wait." He says and quickly walks towards me so I can't back up fast enough and he is once again too close. "Let's hang out, just one day. Today, after school?"
"No" I say.
"Why not" He asks all upset. Why not, well let's see I think anyone with a brain would punch me in the face if I agreed to go anywhere with you; it would be the stupidest thing ever. I still haven't answered him yet, I'm trying to think of something to say besides "I can't". Why not?...
"Because she is busy." I hear someone say. I look to my left and see Freddie walking towards us. Thank god. "Sam and I have plans today; we are also late for class, so we will see you later Aaron." Freddie says, almost protectively. Aaron just glares at Freddie. This is weird, they are like having a mental 'macho- man' contest. They both glare at each other for a minute.
"Fine. I'll talk to you later Sam." Aaron says and walks down the hallway, leaving me and Freddie. I take a deep breath.
"You okay?" Freddie asks.
"Yeah" I say softly. My hands are slightly shaking, Freddie notices.
"Sam, what happened? What did he do?" He asks, slightly angry.
"Nothing. He just scared me, I thought he knew about the backpack, but it was about kissing Carly and he just grabbed me and_"
"He grabbed you?" He says, now that was said with a lot of anger.
"Kind of" I say.
"Let me see, is your arm okay?" Freddie asks and comes closer to me. He gently grabs my arm and rolls up my sleeve. Aaron's grip didn't bruise me, but you can definitely see where his hand was; it's all red.
"Freddie?" I ask. He is still looking at my arm. I'm trying to read his face; he looks angry, and kind of worried. Is he worried because I got hurt? I gently pull my arm away from Freddie to snap him out of it. "Freddie?" I say again. He just looks at me. He is almost as close as Aaron was, but it's not uncomfortable, like Aaron. I start rolling down my sleeve, I'm struggling a bit, due to the fact I'm using my left hand and it will not stay steady.
"Here." Freddie says and helps me roll my sleeve down.
"Thanks" I say. You know, I have never actually looked, like really looked at Freddie before. Now standing this close to him, I see his eyes, brown, but not in the dull and plain sense, it's different…. He definitely has his crazy mother's eyes.
"You have your mother's eyes" I say. I don't even realize that I just said that out loud. Crap! I really did just say that out loud! Freddie looks confused. Well of course he is confused; I just randomly talked about his eyes!
"Is that a good thing?" He asks with a smile. A really cute, one of a kind, Freddie Benson smile. I don't think he has genuinely smiled like that for a few weeks.
"Uhhhh…. Just a fact." I say.
"I see" He says.
"Well we should get to class." I say and take a few steps down the hall.
"Yeah" He says and walks up to me. "Oh you have your mom's eyes too" He says and walks down the hall, leaving me a few steps behind him. I smile, smooth Benson. I turn and walk to him and we go to class.
XXXXXX
The end of the day, finally. Mondays always take the longest to end. I wait for Carly at our lockers, she should be here by now, this girl takes forever; doesn't she know I want to leave.
"Sam!" I jump the sound of her overly- excited voice. Carly practically runs up to me with this ridiculous grin on her face.
"Whoa, someone is in a good mood" I say.
"I'm SO happy!" She says.
"I can tell" I say.
"Why is she so happy?" Freddie says walking up to us.
"No idea" I say.
"He isn't mad at me! We talked and he is coming over after school and is totally cool everything!" Carly says a million miles a second. Oh no.
"Who?" Freddie asks. Wow, he could be really stupid sometimes.
"Aaron." "Aaron!" Carly and I say at the same time, she was way more excited than I, obviously.
"He apologized for freaking out, which I mean is understandable I kind of jumped him, you know?" Carly says.
"Wait, he is coming over after school?" I ask.
"Yep" She says. No, he can't come over; I want this kid out of my life and nowhere near Carly or me. I have to tell her about Aaron.
"Carly you can't have Aaron come over" I say trying to approach this carefully.
"Why not?" She asks.
"Because he_" I start….
"Hold on a sec" Freddie tells Carly and pulls me away.
"What?" I say irritated. I was just about to tell her and Freddie interrupts me.
"I think we should have Aaron come over." He says.
"What?" I say again, "Freddie I can't have him come over. I can't."
I know, I know." He says, "But this could be our chance to get in his backpack."
"Freddie, I don't_"
"Sam, I promise you nothing bad will happen. You won't even have to be near him. I'll get in his backpack and find some of the papers and then we will tell Carly tonight." He says. I am hesitant at first, but he is right. I trust him, I do.
"Okay" I say and walk back to Carly.
"What was that about?" She asks.
"Nothing, Freddie was just being dumb." I say. She just rolls her eyes.
XXXXXX
"Hey guys, I need to talk to you." Spencer shouts when he walks into the apartment. I look up from the couch, Freddie walks to the couch from the kitchen, Carly comes down the stairs from her room. What is this about?
"What's going on Spencer?" Carly asks.
"We should talk. Sit." He says. All three of us give him really confused looks, but slowly Carly and Freddie join me on the couch. Carly sits on my right and Freddie is next to her. We are all sitting there, waiting for Spencer to say something.
"Look I don't know where to start." He says flustered.
"Is everything okay?" Carly worriedly asks her brother.
"It's about court" Spencer says. I suddenly get a little excited; finally, I have been wanting to tell the court what a little sleaze ball that Roy guy is since I got out of the hospital. He helped the people who kidnapped Carly and if he thought he was just going to get away with it, he is wrong.
"Finally" I say. Spencer takes a deep breath. I have never seen him like this before.
"You guys, I'm sorry, but it is not going to happen." He says.
"What?" Carly asks.
"They don't have enough tangible proof on Roy, not enough to bring to court anyway." He says.
"What?" Freddie and I say at the same time. Carly stays silent.
"Look, they have the phone records, but it just says that the phone called the Mongery Motel; there is no evidence that it was Roy that answered the phone. Everything is hear-say and without hard core evidence, it cannot be brought to court." He says.
"You have to be kidding me!" I say.
"I'm really sorry you guys and Detective Burke said he is truly sorry; they did everything they could, but they can't bring Roy to court. There is just not enough to prosecute him" He says. Of course, this would happen. None of us say anything. "I'll leave you guys alone" Spencer says and leaves the room. We sit there in silence for a minute.
"I can't believe this." Freddie says.
"It is actually not that bad" Carly says.
"What?" I say.
"I mean, there really was nothing on Roy and now… I don't know, we could really just get on with our lives." She says.
"No Carly! This guy has to_" Freddie starts; I know I never would have thought Freddie would disagree with her either.
"She is right" I say interrupting Freddie. I can see that both of them are shocked.
"You agree?" Carly asks.
"Yeah, I do. I'm just done with this." I say. Carly nods in agreement. "All of it" I add, this was towards Aaron; Freddie understands, Carly doesn't of course, but she will tonight after we get Aarons backpack.
"Good. And as cliché has it sounds we still have each other." Carly says. I smile, that is so Carly.
"Yeah, we do" Freddie says. There is a knock on the door.
"Oh there is Aaron" Carly says and answers the door.
"Hey" Carly says.
"Hey" Aaron says and walks inside. I stand up, Aaron looks at me. I turn and walk up the stairs to get away.
"Well, that was weird" I hear Carly say as I head up the stairs to her room.
XXXXXX
I stay in Carly's room for almost an hour, just watching TV. Carly texted me saying that they were all going up to the studio now. I get up and start walking down the stairs; I stop almost at the bottom when I hear Aaron.
"What are you doing?" I hear Aaron ask.
"Oh nothing, man" That was Freddie. I peak around the wall and see Aaron and Freddie in the kitchen. Freddie is holding the backpack! Oh crap.
"Then why are you going through my backpack?" Aaron asks.
"I needed the science notes from today" Freddie says.
"You could have asked" Aaron says.
"You weren't here, sorry. I'll see you in the studio." I see Freddie hand the backpack to Aaron and head towards the stairs. He walks up the stairs and sees me. He puts his finger over his lips, telling me to be quiet. We both walk up the stairs and into the hallway outside Carly's room.
"What happened? Did you get it?" I ask.
"Sam, there was nothing in the backpack" He says. Freddie worriedly looks at me. My mind goes blank; I can't even think.