iMove On

Summary: An alternate way "iQuit iCarly" could have gone. Sam and Carly do not reconcile, and Freddie chooses Carly. What will Sam do now that she's lost her friends? Sam-centric. OOC. AU.

Disclaimer: iCarly belongs to Dan Schneider and Nickelodeon.

Chapter 2: iReason

Sam's POV:

It was Monday, the third day since we ended the web show, and Carly and I still had not made up. She didn't contact me at all. To be fair, I didn't contact her either. I didn't even try. What was I suppose to say? I wasn't going to apologize. I wasn't in the wrong here. Then again, neither was she. We just felt like the other was lacking in some way. Maybe…maybe we were just too different to remain friends. Maybe we weren't meant to be friends in the first place. It was easy enough to ignore our differences when we were kids. But as we grew up, our differences became more apparent. Maybe we've reached a point where our differences were all we could see and were all that mattered.

Argh! I growled at my reflection in the mirror and then rubbed my temples in a circular motion. I had given myself a headache with all these "maybes." And I hadn't even started on the "what ifs" yet.

After a minute, I decided that I've wasted enough time in the bathroom and had to start getting dressed for school. Knowing that I would need a clear head today, I opened the medicine cabinet and took out some Aleve. As much as possible, I've tried not to take any drugs, even if they were legal. There were too many drug addicts in both sides of my family, and I didn't want to turn out like them. But with the decision I had to make weighing heavily on my mind, I knew that I wouldn't be able to think properly without some pain-killers.

All too soon, I made it to school. And for the first half of the day, I did not see Carly. It seemed like she was avoiding me and was doing a great job doing so. What surprised me a bit was that I have not seen Freddie either. In hindsight, I knew I shouldn't have been surprised at all. After all, Freddie 'loved' Carly. But I was actually surprised.

Sure, Freddie and I fought and bickered a lot. And I have physically and emotionally tortured him somewhat. But we were kinda, sorta friends…right? We both have said that we hated each other, but I knew we didn't really mean it. Or at least, I didn't really mean it. I would never admit it out loud, but I did care about the nub. I even took the effort to get the jocks in school to stay away from him. And Gibby. A few years back, I'd actually taken the captains of the football and basketball teams aside and told them to stay away from those two nerds because they were mine to torture. Of course, they laughed since I was a thirteen-year-old girl who was a third of their size. But after they got out of the hospital, they smartly decided to follow my order and told all the other jocks to stay away from Freddie and Gibby. (I think they made up some lie about the two boys being their younger cousins or something. They weren't going to tell their teammates that they got beat up by a little girl.) I knew for a fact that the wedgies I'd given Freddie and Gibby were nothing compared to what those jocks could have done to them.

So, yeah. As unlikely as it seemed, I did consider Freddie a friend. But it looked like he didn't consider me a friend.

At lunch time, I ate alone. Well, that wasn't exactly true. I sat with some of my friends from detention, but I felt alone all through the lunch period as I watched Freddie and Carly sitting at the usual table from afar. Ten minutes before lunch was over, I saw Carly get up and leave the cafeteria after dumping her trash. Seeing this as my chance to corner Freddie, I made my way over to him. The slightly frightened look he gave me as I sat across from him hurt a bit.

"'Sup, Freddifer?" I asked as casually as I could.

"What do you want, Sam?" he asked cautiously. I rolled my eyes to hide my hurt.

"Relax, nub. I'm not going to hurt you." He visibly relaxed.

"Well, what do you want?" he asked in a calmer tone and continued eating. A glance at the wall clock told me that I didn't have much time left to talk, so I got straight to the point.

"Are you choosing Carly's side?"

"Of course, I am," he replied right away. "I love Carly." I remained quiet. But in my head, I thought sarcastically, 'Gee, Freddie. Please answer faster.' Then his words finally registered in my head, and, well, they affected me more than I thought they would. I had to get out of there before I started tearing. I would not show him my tears, just as I didn't show Carly my tears after our fight. I stood up from my seat and avoided his eyes.

"Okay then," I said, echoing my last words to Carly, before I turned and walked out of the cafeteria.

I was emotionally drained after that short talk with Freddie. Since I didn't feel up to attending the rest of my classes, I snuck out of school and went home. Luckily, Mom wasn't there. This meant that I could speak to Dad freely. Like always, he answered on the first ring.

"Sammy?" was all he said before the stupid tears started falling.

"Come get me, Daddy. Please?" I sounded pathetic, but I didn't care. Dad was the only person I'd allowed myself to be pathetic with.

"Oh, princess. I'm sorry you had to go through this. But don't worry. Everything will be all right from now on. I'll make everything better. Now just hang on a minute. I'm going to do that 'cover the mouthpiece' thing while I arrange some things with Louise. All right, princess?"

"Okay," I replied softly. I grabbed my pillow and hugged it with one arm as my other hand continued to hold my phone to my ear.

"Louise," said Dad's muffled voice.

"I've already started rescheduling your meetings as soon as I heard Samantha's ringtone, Mr. Puckett."

"You're the best, Louise. Could you also get Roger on the phone?"

"Of course, Mr. Puckett."

"Thanks again." I heard Dad lift up and drop his office phone. A second later, I heard the phone ring followed by a short beep.

"Roger?"

"You needed to speak with me, Mr. Puckett?" Dad had apparently put him on speaker.

"I need you to book the next flight out from here to Seattle for me and Melly."

"Round-trip, sir?"

"No. I don't know how long it will take to get everything that needs to be done completed. I'll just call you when I'm ready to come back with Melly and Sammy."

"Sammy is coming here? Congratulations, sir!" Wow. Did all of Dad's subordinates know about me?

"Thanks," Dad replied distractedly. "And also book me two hotel rooms, please. Right next to each other. One with two beds. And a rental car. SUV preferred."

"Done, Mr. Puckett. I emailed you the itineraries. Your flight leaves in two hours."

"Thanks, Roger." I heard him hang up his phone.

"Mr. Puckett?"

"Yes, Louise."

"Most of the meetings have been rescheduled. The clients who did not want to reschedule have agreed to meet with Mr. Grenaldi or Mr. Lee instead. Mr. Grenaldi offered his limo and driver to take you to the airport, while Stanley is en route with your limo towards St. Vincent's Christian Academy to pick up Melanie. I've also contacted the school's office. I've explained that there was a family emergency and you needed to take her out of school for a few days. They've already fetched her from class. She's on hold on line three right now."

"Thanks, Louise." I heard a few beeps, and then, "Melly?"

"Daddy? What's going on? The office said there was an emergency," Mel's worried voice sounded through my receiver.

"Not really an emergency. But it is rather urgent. Listen, Stanley is on his way to your school to pick you up. Go with him. Louise has already cleared it with the school. I'll meet you at the airport."

"The airport?" she asked in confusion.

"Yes, the airport. We're picking up your sister."

"Really?" Mel sounded so excited that it made me feel a bit guilty.

"Really, Melly," I could hear the smile in Dad's voice. "Now I have to go. Your sister is on hold on my cell. Just go with Stanley, and I'll see you at the airport."

"Aren't we going to go home and grab some clothes?"

"There's no time. The plane leaves in less than two hours. We'll just buy whatever we need when we get there."

"Okay. Bye, Daddy. Tell Sam I love her and that I'll see her soon."

"Will do, sweetie." A click ended their conversation.

"You heard that, princess?"

"Yeah, I did," I answered in a raspy voice. But at least my tears had stopped falling. "Go ahead and tell her that I love her too when you see her. But also tell her to—

"Tone down the corniness? Don't worry, I remembered our agreement. I'll tell her when we're on the plane." I heard a door shut closed. "Sorry to cut this short, Sammy, but I've got to go run, literally, to the car. I'll call you later, all right? Just hang in there. We'll be there soon."

"Wait! Dad, what do I tell Mom?" I asked apprehensively.

"Don't worry about that now. Just don't say anything yet. Wait for me at, okay? We'll handle telling her together."

"Okay, Dad….I love you."

"Initiating another dramatic moment? You're getting soft, princess," he jokes with a short laugh. "And I love you, too, Sammy. Bye."

As I closed my flip phone, I felt a sense of relief and excitement. Dad was coming to get me.

TBC

A/N: Okay…so shorter than the first chapter. Oh, well.

Btw, the story is officially Seddie. Not so much a romance (at least not until much later...I think; haven't brainstormed that far), but definitely a friendship and perhaps even a start of their romance. But that's getting ahead of myself. In any case, I had to change the character selection since later chapters will be in Freddie's point-of-view. However, the next few chapters will still be in Sam's.

Again, thanks for reading. Hope you leave a review and tell me what you think.