A/N: I'm so sorry, guys; since the last update, I've had terrible writers block. I was even a little negative from the small amount of response from the previous chapter, until I received major inspiration from a reader - (hisdarkmaster) - and I can't help but be thankful for their push and positive feedback. Legit, I cried.

Lately, I've been stumbling with everything in my life, my schoolwork and college life, my personal life and my love life has become outright harsh. But, I promise you all that I WILL finish this story. I have mapped out plans, too! I know that not many people care about this story since the huge hiatus, my personal writers block, but this was important to me, and I will finish it for my own benefit. I know iOMG and many other crucial things have happened.. but this story was written far before those amazing days. I hope you'll enjoy regardless!

Chapter 11 – Don't Mind If I Do

Was I crazy for refusing Freddie's offer? The week and a half then since then have been pretty awful. Carly's upset I didn't go with Freddie back to his house, Freddie hasn't spoken to me, and Gibby keeps telling me he's busy every time I call.

Dinners at the Puckett household have been revolting. No, the food has been really good – Ellie and I get along well – but you-know-who causes issues.

No, not Voldemort.

Cindy.

Lately, she's been trying to pry into my life as much as she digs into Colin's. Did you know that when Colin leaves his backpack around somewhere, she'd unzip it and dump out all of its contents, searching for grades that she can lecture him about? And I thought Mrs. Benson was bad. How much I would kill for her to be my mom instead of my 'real' one and the fake one I've gotten right now…

I've got a ton of respect for Colin after seeing Cindy in action. Colin balances top grades, highest positions in his athletics, and extra-curricular activities, outstanding in them all, and his mother barely acknowledges it. All she ever tells him is that he can do better. Never once out of her mouth has a "good job, Colin!" or even an "I'm proud of you!" escaped. He's scored winning points for his teams, ranked highest for his school projects and gained awards for volunteering around the community. Where is the, "I love you", too? I cringe because I notice Nash getting the praise and showered with the love that Nate's not.

Nash is slightly starting to adapt to my ways. When I watch over him, he laughs at my stories and we came up with a secret little handshake. I told him that if he ever came to Seattle to visit me someday when I go back home, I'd take him to Galinni's for pie and to the Groovy Smoothie so he could see various foods on a stick. Nate's got a bit of Puckett in him, no matter how much his mom wants to stomp it out of him – he's already gotten big dreams of travelling.

The father figure here in the household has yet to withhold any type of in-depth conversation with me. Vague questions, of how my days at the hell school have been going, are about the extent of the father daughter relationship we have. He hasn't approached me about moving here, asked about my mother, or anything else relatively paternal since I've been here. It's work, dinner, office, an hour of TV, then bed, I think. Why is it that Melanie used to think that this place was so amazing, making it seem to me like it would be fairytale-like?

Tonight, I'm going to approach my father about everything. Make him step up and be a man for once. Stand up for Colin and I. Of course, I'll have to pull him aside when Cynthia isn't glaring me down – she'd never let me stand a chance next to him.

After helping Ellie with the dishes (much to the disgust of Cindy, "that's her job, Samantha! That's what we're paying her for!") I waited until the monster was parked in front of the TV to slip into the office. Typically, he didn't even notice me come in, until I sat in the desk's adjacent chair and tapped on the wood.

"Oh, uh, hi Samantha. What's up?"

I gave him a look, and he kind of scrunched up his face, confused, so I continued on. "Listen. I don't get why you brought me here. Your lovely wife isn't doing chizz to help this situation."

"And what situation are we talking about here?"

My turn to shoot him a confusing look. Seriously? Is he that idiotic?

"Oh, I don't know, maybe that my life has become severely ruined? Since I've been here, she's been nothing but insensitive to me. She's smothering not only me, but Colin and Nash as well. Have you paid any attention to how much stress Nate is under? It's like he can never be good enough. And it's like you just let her push everyone around. You just sit around and work on business and grin and bear it. It's like you don't even realize anything in your own home. I might look like Melanie, but I'm not her, so when you take me here and expect everything to just 'fit' as if I was, you really let me down." I stare at my feet.

My father looks at a loss for words, and rummages through his desk drawer.

"Here, Samantha. Take the spare keys to Melanie's car. You're not registered on the insurance, but I can get that cleared up in a few days."

This is worse than I thought. "Seriously? You're handing me keys to run away from her? Newsflash, dad. I don't have my license. I don't even have my temps!"

"What in the world has Pam been doing? Not teaching you how to drive, that's ridiculous."

"Yeah, there's a lot that you don't know about how I've grown up. Seriously, you live your rich life sending mom and I minimum child support; I haven't even got a birthday card from you since you moved out. Mom doesn't care about what I do and where I go, she goes and finds a guy who can suit her needs. Majority of that time, she pretends she doesn't have a daughter. She claims that having a daughter when being in the dating scene is like carrying an extra purse; unnecessary and unattractive. How do you think that makes me feel, knowing that my father doesn't acknowledge I exist, and then realizing my mother does it too? Where is there any fairness involved in that? I'm still always searching. I dreaded coming here, dad. I hate how Cindy treats me. I hate how you treat me. I was given the opportunity to go home with one of my friends the other day, but you know what? I didn't take it."

His face was sunk; finally, my words were hitting him.

"Listen," I continued, "I know you didn't want me to come here in the first place. And honestly, if I weren't at my last resort, I wouldn't've. But I am. You need to start listening. Stop standing around and letting Cindy ruin the rest of our lives. You wouldn't let mom, so what makes her any different?"

"Sam, things are different than when you were little. I'm in a great place financially. A mother is supposed to run a home. Cindy just wants the best for her children. She may be a little rough around the edges, but her best intentions are at heart."

I swallowed a huge lump in my throat, "That's what you used to say about mom when she yelled at us."

He looked at a loss for words, and came up with the generic statement, "Just give her a chance, Sam."

I stormed out of the room, bitter and more irritated than when I began in the first place. I miss home. I miss Frothy – I hope that she didn't claw up the fridge too bad, that mother actually realizes she needs food every so often.

I pull my phone from my pocket, wondering whom I could call without too many problems.

"Spencer? What's up?" I kept my tone airy and light, I didn't want to set off any alarms.

"Sam! Is that really you? Oh! Or is this Melanie? If this is Melanie I'm sorry for confusing you for Sam. Wait. If this is Sam then I'm sorry for confusing you for Melanie but I thought it was you in the first place but uh, uhhh. Who is this?"

"Slow down, you were right the first place. It's Sam." I hear him breath a sigh of relief.

"How's Seattle?" I ask, timidly, even though I really don't want to know how amazing everyone is without me.

"Uh. Hmm. Carly hasn't said much lately that I could tell you about. I'm working on a sculpture. Its full of remotes – Freddie wasn't thrilled about that one." He stops, realizing he made a mistake. "Aw man, I'm sorry Sam. I forgot for a second."

"It's fine," I say, "I'm fine." I think he realizes that I'm saying it for my own wellbeing.

"Yeah well. Uh. Gibby's been over here a lot lately. I think Carly's tutoring him." A small smile creeps up on my face. I can only imagine how much frustration she's put herself into.

"What subject is she tutoring him in?" I miss Ridgeway's wacky projects; the school I'm at now is just rigid and dull.

"mmmm, ahhh… I can't remember." I hear some rustling, and then…

"CARLAYYYYY!"
I jump back, my ear temporarily deaf and ringing in discomfort from the high decibel scream for his sister.

I immediately switch my phone in my hands, now cradling it against my other ear.

I hear a faint "whaat!" from Carly, apparently upstairs yelling down.

In a quick moment, I think – uh oh. Spencer could tell Carly I'm on the phone. Yeah, I know, I've given her minimal detail of where I am and how I am, but that's how it needs to be. If I hear more about her and Freddie or how she wants to come get me, I'll scream.

"What're you studaaaying up there with gibbaaay?" The stress on the "A" sound is enough to get me to roll my eyes.

Silence.

I check my phone to make sure it hasn't dropped my call.

"Chemistry." I hear.
"Sam, you still here? Carly said she and Gibby are working on chemistry."

I laugh at this. If the two of them thought of how silly that sounds, they'd probably be embarrassed at the implication.

"So," Spencer asks, "How's being an official "Puckett" at the estate?" Spencer's innocent question brings me over the edge.

"Puckett?" I sneer, "Don't call me that. I sure as hell don't want to live up to that family name."

"That bad?" I hear the empathy itching up in his voice

"My stepbrothers are okay. It's the older people that I don't get."

"I know. Hang in there, Sam. Things have a way of working themselves out."

Yeah, I want to say, and then become ten times worse.

"Listen, before you hang up, I wanted to let you know that Freddie has been pretty upset since whatever happened at your house." I stiffen. "He won't talk about it to Carly either, since it was around the same time the two of them broke up."

What? WHAT?

"Excuse me?"

"Yeah, since Carly and Freddie broke up, he won't really talk about anything having to do with you. I think he doesn't want to mess up the shaky friendship the two of them have anymore."

It hits him after eight seconds more.

"Oh my gosh, Sam. No! No one told you! Lalalalala I didn't say anythiiiinggg!"

"Bye, miss you." I hang up the phone and just sit there, shaking.

The whole reason I'm here is because of THEM. Together.

Why am I the one to have to deal with the collateral, when they didn't even last?

Needless to say, I didn't get any sleep that night.

I wake up, the next morning, relieved it's the weekend. I didn't have to do anything; no one was forcing me out of my comfort zone. I check my phone, slightly surprised, two missed calls from Melanie. I shrug it off, figuring I'll call her back after I'm awake and cleaned up, regardless the fact its still really early in the day.

There are a few seconds when reality sinks back in; Carly and Freddie aren't together. They're not dating any longer. Not the relationship that tore me to pieces, lead to the downward spiral of my life.

Wait.

Woah woah woah.

My first thoughts regarding their breakup have been constant, and in a sense, selfish, but waking up must've cleared up what really should've been running through my mind.

Freddie came here for YOU. He wasn't dating CARLY when he was asking YOU back.

My mind began to race. Did Carly know? Is she upset about it? Did she tell him to try again? Will they be back together because I didn't leave with him?

"Sam or Melanie?" I hear a voice say, down the hall. I roll my eyes. Don't they realize I'll never be Melanie?

"It's Sa-" I begin to say, walking out to the hallway, when I get cut off, noticing the shimmery blonde hair and sparkling pink shoes.

Okay. Maybe it's not Sam.

I duck behind a doorway to watch, knowing that either Melanie or Colin, who posed the question in the first place, haven't spotted or heard me yet.

"What are you doing here?" Colin says in a hushed tone, his eyes darting around the hallway, hoping for a moment of privacy.

"My dad called me last night, saying I should come up for the weekend and spend some time with Sam, that things aren't going that great here. Something about stepmom, not adjusting to school well, and the fact she doesn't have her license."

I roll my eyes at the last part; in Seattle, I don't really need my license when school, Carly's apartment and the Groovy Smoothie is in walking distance.

"Why didn't you tell me that you were coming?" Colin's tone turns hurt, pouty in a sense.

"Colin, you know how difficult this is, the situation we're in. I don't want you spilling out how we've been sneaking around. Besides," a pause, "I wanted to surprise you."

I peak around the corner, and ah. Kissing.

I slide back into my room to give them a little privacy. I can talk to Melanie about whatever later. Peering through 'my' closet, I realized I needed to take a trip to the mall relatively soon, I was running out of clothes that didn't require frills or massive amounts of pink.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

Or, maybe not.

Running out into the hallway, it hits me.

"WHAT THE YUCK!"

OH NO.

"COLIN AND SAMANTHA!" Uh, excuse me? "What in the world is going on?"

"You came into my house and look what you're doing to my family? I warned your father that if you were going to stay here, you had better follow my rules, behave accordingly, and THIS. THIS HERE! I'm so disgusted at you corrupting your evil ways upon my son. I knew you were trouble from the start. We had no choice in taking you in, but we now have no choice but to ship you back. Seriously, juvenile delinquency that should put you in the foster care system-" She stops, my finger tapping on her shoulder from behind.

"hi." I'm shaking, hard, but I can't even form words.

She looks from me, to Melanie and Colin, back to me, and Nash is now trudging down the hall with sleepy eyes.

"YOU." She points a finger in my face, "my family was happy when you weren't here. Your hellion ways are inflicting upon your sister, look what you did!"

Melanie's standing there, tears streaming down her cheeks, ashamed and terrified, while Nate sits, face bright red, at a loss of words.

"You know what? They love each other. LOVE. Not some twisted plot created by me to piss you off, but something real, something they'll fight for. You love yourself too much to even realize that they've had something for each other for a long, long time. To keep them away from each other, that's just another twisted way you're manipulating and destroying your family. It wasn't a good thing that I came here, but you know what? Maybe you'll finally get the point."

"I'm not stupid, Samantha. I knew it was possible, why do you think I suggested her prep school in the first place?"

Then, like a time bomb,

Boom.

"Are you serious? Mom! How could you!"

She rolls her eyes, scoffing at her son's comment.

"I love Melanie. You're not going to take her away from me, no matter what it takes. Ship her away; I'll go find her. Better yet, I'll run away. I'm graduating soon, and I've earned my way into any school. You don't care, you think I'm never good enough for anything. So either push me out or order me out, either way, I'm sticking with Mel."

This huge mess of emotions is blowing up in Cindy's face, and she just deadpans.

"Fine." She takes a sharp intake of breath, "Melanie. Go downstairs; sit in the living room. Colin, stay up here in your room. Um, Nash, darling, go down and have Ellie make you some breakfast, alrighty?" I raise my eyebrow. She saved me for last?

"You." She pulls me out of the room separately, closes the door to my room and stares straight at me. "Out. Of. My. House. Pack your bags, Samantha. You're no longer suitable to be living this house. Here's a hundred, go and leave, leave my family alone." Her frigid, emotionless tone sent chills down my spine, and as she watched me pack, I realized she wasn't kidding.

As I walked towards the front door, my backpack and a small bag filled, Nash ran towards me.

"Sammy! Don't leave!" And I was trying so hard not to cry.

"It's okay, Nash. I told you about the pie and smoothies, someday you can come see me."

"It's not fair. I want to come with you!" He latched on to my leg. I dropped down to his level, giving him a proper hug.

"Nash, listen to me. I'm always here for you if you need me. Do you want to do our handshake before I go?" I hear the taxi pulling up; I steady myself to pull off our little tradition. "And I have to admit. I like your name lots." A weary smile appears on his face. One more hug, and then I look around.

My sister runs and nearly tackles me in a hug, crying. "I love you, Sammy. I'm so so sorry. This is all my fault."

"Mel. Listen here. None of this is your fault. This is fate."

Colin hugs me as well, looking pretty guilty, visibly shaking with anger. "Thank you."

"No, Colin. Thank you."

I smile. Maybe my time here wasn't so bad.

I walk towards the door, held open by the witch herself. She wouldn't look at me, just shoved a box in my hand and made sure I was setting en route in the taxi.

"Goodbye Samantha."

"Bye Cindy."

The car rolled further away from the house, I let a few tears fall, looking down at my lap.

A package, I opened it carefully, pulling out its content.

The bright rectangle object immediately brought a smile to my face, knowing all of the good memories attached to it.

Sam,

I couldn't let Spencer destroy this by sticking it in with every other remote he found in the apartment. This one is too important, like you.

Te echo de menos – I miss you

Freddie

I guess I know where my first stop will be.

A/N- Readers, if you've stuck with me this long, I applaud you. I haven't made it easy, but I have another chapter, maybe two of this story before I begin a new one (different show, different characters; still Dan Schneider.) Thank you for coming along with me in this wild rids of fanfictional proportion, I'll be writing the next chapter as you read this one! Review, let me know your thoughts, they're greatly appreciated.

~Thank You! ihearu