Another chapter! I'll try to have one out every week, around Monday or Tuesday.
Thank you as always to KingxLeon21 for my beta, and being one of my only reviewers! I know this story isn't going to get much attention so all your reviews really mean a lot.
Title comes from The Ballad of Mona Lisa by Panic! At The Disco
"And cut!" Gibby called out from behind the massive camera, "Nice job! That was the last shot!"
The idiot farmgirl, the moustached cowboy, and the angsty vampire, all cheered enthusiastically.
Having filmed their scenes out of order, they had just finished filming the opening scene. After nearly two weeks of: planning, practicing and filming they were finally done. Needless to say, all four were very happy about that and looked forward to moving on as quickly as possible.
As the cheering died down, Carly tossed off her hat. "What do you guys say to smoothies after we get out of these stupid clothes? On me!"
"Yes!" shouted Sam.
"Si!" chorused Freddie.
"For Narnia!" Gibby declared. A silence fell over the group.
"For Narnia?" questioned Carly.
Gibby nodded. "Duh." Upon saying that, he then turned and walked out of the room, humming the Mario Theme song as he did so. Sam had to hand it to him; that kid had swag.
Carly made her confused face, then her accepting the weird face, and turned to Freddie. "I'll go grab my makeup wipes so we can get that gunk off your face."
"Thanks." Freddie smiled at Carly, then flopped into a red beanbag, succumbing to the exhaustion caused by overplaying an angsty teen vampire.
Sam mimicked his movement as Carly left the studio, stretching out and settling into the plush a few feet from Freddie. For some reason she couldn't stop looking at the nerd. Lately her eyes had been glued to him without permission from her brain. She was noticing things as a result, things she didn't want to notice. For instance she realized his stupid haircut was actually kind of cute and showed off his soft brown eyes that looked so gentle, even when she was pissing him off and he was at the height of his fury.
He groaned softly and Sam felt her entire tired body perk up. She unconsciously moved towards him as he took off his jacket and stretched out his arms. His arms. Oh god. What happened to the weak little kid who could barely hold one of his beloved cameras with his tiny arms. This hunk had gorgeous, defined arms.
Sam gave herself a hard mental slap upon realizing she'd internally referred to Freddie as a hunk. On top of that horror, she felt an overwhelming urge to grab one of Freddie's delicious arms, look him right in his beautiful face and tell him how sorry she was. He hadn't heard her pathetic apology before; too busy cuddling pavement. Sure there was no visible damage, but the doctor said Freddie suffered slight hearing damage and his right ear might never be perfect again. Sam briefly pondered why she felt so guilty; maybe she was realizing how good Freddie was, and knowing there was a chance she'd break him so bad that he'd never be good again.
He was still good though, he couldn't even stay mad at the whole ambulance ride. Sam and Carly had arrived at the hospital to find him defending Sam against his mother's accusations, even going as far to tell her to leave the room for a little while so she could calm down.
"Who don't you hate me?" Sam blurted, the question coming out on its own accord.
He leaned back and grinned at her, "I never said I don't hate you."
Sam rolled her eyes at his attempt to be clever, "I mean, why don't you hate me for the ear thing." She gestured awkwardly at his head.
"Oh." Freddie tugged gently on said ear and Sam resisted the urge to leap over and do the same. "I dunno, you're always mean to me, but we're always going to be friends."
Sam tried to not completely melt at Freddie's words, and failed mostly, sinking back into her beanbag chair at his words. "Yeah, but this time was different. I caused permanent damage to your body."
Freddie shrugged. "Wasn't the first time. Didn't seem worth it to stay mad."
Sam nodded again and a moment of silence passed, then Sam spoke again. "You're good Freddie. Really… just, plain, good." She ducked her head at this and instantly despised her lame words, but Freddie smiled.
"Thanks Sam," he replied in a humble little voice. Silence fell again.
Carly burst into the room after that, complaining that her makeup remover wipes had been in Spencer's room and soon after Carly, Gibby entered in full cardboard body armor. Chaos ensued, of course, but eventually they made it to the Groovy Smoothie, Sam in her untucked cowboy shirt, Freddie in vampire garb minus the makeup, Carly wearing her farmgirl outfit without the hat, and Gibby in his cardboard suit, racing around the shop declaring the unicorns were ready for battle and other stupid shit like that. It gave Sam an excuse to punch him in the gut a couple of times, but when Freddie started fangirling over a new line of cameras for sale at the electronics place next door, Sam just rolled her eyes. She probably should have abused him a little, but she was still a tad worried she'd wreck another part of that perfect boy.
Pam flopped down on her faded turquoise couch, swinging her legs up and hooking them on the top, scratching her new rash passionately, as she settled down. Normally her routine before her boyfriend of the week came home was to sleep in, eat breakfast, go on tumblr, have a nap, put lotion on her rash, eat lunch, have a nap, shop online, have a bath, reapply lotion and then watch tv until Charles or Ryan or whatever his name was showed up with supper. Today she'd messed up her whole routine by sleeping past breakfast, tumblr time, and nap time, and then when she woke up the bumps on her arm were so irritating that she'd spent all day itching, eating, and slathering lotion on her rash. Nothing, however, would make her miss TV time.
Pam let her head flop down, grabbing the remote and watching TV upside down for all of three minutes. She tried to focus on 1000 Ways to Die, she really did. It was her favourite show; always providing the perfect inspiration on how to spend her weekends. Today her mind kept wandering, and even when a man accidentally opened an umbrella that was shoved down his throat, Pam was thinking of Marissa. Eventually she ignored the TV show altogether and let herself slip into a flashback from the previous night.
"So, do you have any exciting changes to propose for the school?" Marissa's hand remained tightly pressed to Pam's as they made their way to the chemistry lab, and the blonde was desperately trying to ignore the excited little tingles she felt running through her hand.
"Not really. I just came for the men and free coffee," Pam replied casually.
"Oh…" Marissa's short reply trailed off into an awkward silence that lasted until the chemistry lab.
Upon arriving Marissa never took pressure off Pam's hand as she opened the door, turned on the lights and set up her first aid kit. It was strange for Pam, having someone taking care of her and be concerned about her wellbeing. Sure, she had a string of boyfriends that clothed and fed her, but they didn't care about her, to them she was just free sex.
"I know you said you wouldn't hurt me, but from my experience needles hurt," Pam said warily, breaking the silence and causing Marissa to look up from the needle she was threading.
"Tell you what Pam," her voice was extremely gentle and comforting, "You just look at my face while I do this. You'll see how calm I am, because I've done this millions of times, and it'll put you at ease."
Pam nodded uncertainly and fixed her eyes on Marissa. The redhead finished preparing the wound for stitching, then pricked Pam's skin with the sharp needle. Pam winced at the pain, but didn't pull her eyes away from her nurse. She watched the beautiful, outstanding eyes that were brown with green woven in dart back and forth as Marissa carefully watched her stitching. Then Pam swept her eyes down to Marissa's lips that were relaxed in an easy smile, causing Pam to smile and relax herself. Lastly she examined the red hair that captured the light and looked extremely soft and shiny. Pam resisted the overwhelming urge to reach out and pet Marissa on the head like a kitten. Where did that ugly Freddie kid get his looks from? His mom was hot!
"There, done." Marissa's warm tone broke Pam's concentration and the two women looked each other in the eyes, doing nothing but staring for a few moments.
"Uh, thanks," Pam finally stumbled, moving backwards.
Marissa jumped a little back too. "Oh, it was no trouble."
Shortly after that Marissa received a phone call from the hospital, informing her that Freddie was in the hospital with a bleeding ear and possible hearing loss. Pam had never seen a women move so fast, and the redhead was soon gone, leaving Pam alone, with a perfectly stitched up finger.
Now, abusing her furniture and watching TV, Pam's mind was still in the chemistry lab. She, absentmindedly, ran her fingers over the harsh black thread, then, moved down to her wrist to scratch furiously. Her apartment seemed suddenly empty and lonely, and for reasons she didn't understand, Pam longed for the company of the redheaded nurse.
"Smile." Missy smirked as she tossed a handheld video camera at Nevel, his clumsy coordination skills forgotten by his instinctive reaction to electronics in danger. He managed to secure a grip on it, just as gravity had nearly won.
"Why would you do that?" he squeaked, "How dare you handle an electronic device like that! This is not one of those silly footballs your boyfriend throws around while you wave pom poms!" his fingers curled protectively around the camcorder.
Missy shrugged, not at all disturbed by his scolding. "I have the first part of your job ready. Are you ready?"
"Of course," Nevel snapped briskly. Missy rolled her eyes at the blonde boy. His dramatic attitude and high, nasally voice was already getting on her nerves. Why did that boy believe he even ever stood a chance with Carly?
"Good. Keep your coat on, we're going shopping." Before Nevel could protest, and he opened his mouth to do so, Missy grabbed his shoulders and turned him around, pushing him towards the door that was still open from his arrival.
The first minutes of the car ride were spent in silence, before Nevel spoke.
"Are you going to enlighten me on the details of your genius plan now?" it was evident he was annoyed and Missy detected a hint of sarcasm in his voice.
Shaking her glossy, perfectly curled, red hair; a smug smile crept onto Missy's face. "What's Carly deathly allergic to, that will cause her to nearly stop breathing if she only touches them?
"Bread and butter pickles," Nevel replied instantly.
"Exactly." Missy ignored the creepiness of Nevel's quick answer, keeping her voice calm. "So we are going to make a little video. In it you are going to apologize for being so mean to the iCarly crew, and then you're going to start a shopping trip where you will buy supplies for a peace picnic. After that we'll also film you giving them the basket of food, making sure that you hand Carly the pickles personally, because you heard they were her favourite."
Nevel's eyes lit up with realization. "Naturally she will react badly to such a horrifying gift, and overreact knowing that drama queen, which you'll have on tape, and upload online, exposing her as a bratty diva!" Missy nodded at Nevel's conclusion, ignoring the irony of him calling her former best friend a diva.
Once iCarly was in hot water for being snobby to someone who just appeared to be making peace the friends would become upset and frustrated with each other, and with her team working their magic, everything should fall apart, according to her plan.
Shopping went quickly. Missy filmed Nevel giving his opening speech in front of the store and she followed him around as he collected items meant for a "Grandeur Picnic of Forgiveness and Tranquility". Needless to say, Nevel had come up with the name.
The entire charade was going according plan until they got to the pickle section and Missy found herself with ten minutes of Nevel screaming shamelessly at a little girl, after she bumped into him, making him drop and break the pickles he'd been holding. To be fair, they were the last of the bread and butter pickles, and absolutely necessary to their plan, but Missy stayed back and let Nevel do her dirty work. Now she had golden, career ruining footage of him verbally abusing a little girl, and physically abusing her rainbow lollipop.
"Whatcha doing, baby?" Chuck's voice came from behind her, startling her out of her musing.
Missy smiled at the younger boy. He was cute, and if she had to pretend she wanted to date him so he'd help her, then so be it.
"Nothing babe. Is it time to watch the new Johnny Test already?" Chuck was fantastic at web design and live video streaming, and she needed someone with those skills to help her carry out the real plan.
When she lost Carly to Sam she wasn't just losing her best friend, who really was, rightfully, hers first. Missy knew she had also lost the chance to be a webstar on iCarly. Ever since she was little, Missy had wanted to be famous, and have millions of people love her and hang onto her every word. Sure, she could start her own webshow right now, but Missy knew that she wasn't going to get anywhere until iCarly came crashing down and people needed something new to watch. If she took Nevel down, even more people would turn to her. It was maybe a little early to destroy Nevel's career, but if she released the footage now, there was a whole new way Nevel could pull apart the iCarly trio.
Chuck's eyes lit up at the mention of Johnny Test, "Yeah, it's on in five, come on!" he grabbed his girlfriend's hand and pulled her towards his couch. She settled down comfortably, faking a pleased smile when Chuck put his arm around her, and allowing a sinister smirk to rest upon her face.
Did you see that coming? Was Pam's, Missy's or Sam's perspective your favourite?