Chapter 21: A Second Chance

Author's Note: Okay, so the past thing from the Halloween chapter up until now were not planned, but I'm actually really glad that I added them. (I added those chapters for you guys because you didn't want them to go home). Most of this chapter is something I'm just writing now, but the end of it will be the stuff I wrote when my computer is broken. :p Review!

P.S. There's a special character in this chapter who is a character in iCarly but is never in this story D:. I love this character, and I needed this character in this chapter anyway, so here you go! ;D

P.S.S. For those of you non Spanish-ers, Vamanos means let's go (I couldn't put the accent over the a), and si means yes (again, no accent :p).

I woke up to the loud sound of a train going by. My eyes widened, and the first thing I saw were brown eyes of Freddie on mine. "Sorry, did I wake you?" he asked softly.

"Nah," I said. I realized his arms were still around me, and mine were around him. I lightly pulled away from him, feeling an awkward sensation of coldness because I was so used to his arms around me, and sat against the wall of the train station next to him. "Is it my turn to watch?"

"No, it's morning," Freddie said, pointing to a train schedule that showed the time. It was 9:47 AM.

"Wait, did you stay up all night?" I asked, raising my eyebrows. I couldn't believe it, because I was still tired after having a full night of sleep, but I couldn't imagine how he must've felt lying on his back on this cold, hard floor of the train station with a sixteen-year-old girl on top of him for ten hours.

"Yeah," Freddie said, with a slight shrug. He winced after shrugging his shoulders, as if that pained him. He massaged his own shoulder for a moment.

"Why?" I asked, almost angry that he didn't wake me because I thought he was going to blame it on me.

Freddie gave an "it's-not-a-big-deal" look to me, with another small shrug. "You just looked calm, that's all. I didn't want to wake you. It wasn't worth it."

Ugh! I thought. Why does he have to do this to me? "Oh," I said. That was all I could say, because I felt my face become red again, and I turned away, pretending I was looking at something else.

"Hey Sam?" Freddie said, still sitting next to me. He spoke excitedly, as if he had an idea. "I've been thinking a lot throughout the night. We're at a train station. We've been here for a long time and no one caught us."

"So?" I asked slowly, almost afraid of what he was about to say next, because I'd predicted that one of us would mention this idea, but I was hoping that he wouldn't think of it.

"So, if we can get through a night here without getting caught, we can probably get through a whole train ride," Freddie said, grinning.

"To where?" I asked nervously, my voice becoming loud and high-pitched because I'd considered this idea in my head but I disregarded it because I decided it was too far-fetched.

"Anywhere," Freddie said, grinning even wider. He crawled in front of me, his bright eyes looking into my eyes so happily that I felt as if I couldn't disappoint him by rejecting this idea. "We can start a better life, the two of us! Come on!"

I wideend my eyes, and let my instincts come over me as I picked my hand up and slapped him hard across the face.

Freddie rubbed his now red cheek, gaping a bit. "Ow!" he said loudly, then looked at me for an explanation.

"Start a life?" I asked, sort of angrily. He was acting like we were together. Boyfriend and girlfriend or something. "Benson, what about school? What about friends? What about getting married and having a family? What about your mom?" I was surprised at the small feeling of my heart dropping, because a part of me thought that this idea was the best thing in the world. But I couldn't. Even I know sometimes when I'm going too far, and this was one of those times. If I felt like this idea would work out, I would jump right on it. But sometimes I need to be the one with the common sense. We couldn't afford to buy a place, we were too young and uneducated to get real jobs, and we were not going to be hobos the rest of our lives.

Freddie closed his eyes lightly and took a deep breath. "I know," he said softly. "I know. But... it just feels hopeless. I feel like we should just take a risk."

"We already did," I said softly. "And I know, Benson. I'm regretting this after every step I take." I even regretted saying that to him after I did. "Let's just hang in here for a second until a chance comes our way. We'll know a good chance when we see one." I couldn't believe I was being the calm, comforting, and smart one for once.

Freddie nodded. He smiled at me and sat back next to me. "Sorry for getting you into this whole mess."

"Don't even," I said with a sigh. "If it's anyone's fault other than my mom's, it's mine." I couldn't believe I was admitting this. I kept trying to forget the fact that I might have been in love with him, but after everything I say, I realize I'm speaking in a way that I wouldn't speak in with anyone except for Fredward Karl Benson.

Freddie gave me a sad smile.

"Freddie? Sam?" I heard a familiar voice say. I looked up in unison with Freddie to see a familiar and slightly chubby face. I grinned widely and almost squealed when I saw him standing there. Gibby!

Any piece of our old life made me happy.

"Gibby!" I exclaimed quietly. I yanked him down by his wrist so he'd sit in the corner with us, because we were still hiding. He was holding a blue suitcase, but after I yanked him down he pushed the handle of the suitcase down and held the suitcase in his lap.

"Freddie, Sam, what are you guys doing here?" Gibby asked softly. His hazel eyes were wide and he seemed shocked to see us. He leaned on the wall next to us, me sitting between the guys.

"Hiding," Freddie said with a shrug.

"Guys, some lady claimed she saw you guys trick-or-treating yesterday," Gibby said. "It was on the news. But I know you guys wouldn't do something that stupid."

I turned my head to Freddie and gave him a sheepish grin. "Yeah," I said slowly to Gibby after turning back to him.

"Anyway, you guys should seriously go home. Everyone is freaking out about you guys, like there have been announcements in the school and everything. And your mom is seriously freaking out. The other day, she barged into our house at three in the morning to see if we know where you are. Three in the morning! During my night bath! Really, guys, go home. Why did you guys even run away?"

"Well, she kicked me out of Freddie's house," I said quietly, ignoring his 'night bath' comment. I never really talked to Gibby about what happened with me living with Freddie, although I was almost positive he'd heard it in school. It was just a known thing. But I decided to mention it anyway to confirm it anyway. "I moved in with Freddie because my mom kicked me out, and now Freddie's mom kicked me out. I was gonna run away by myself but Freddie insisted on coming." I gave Freddie a small angry glare, but I didn't mean it because by then I finally knew how empty I'd feel without Freddie by my side.

"You guys haven't seen Freddie's mom though!" Gibby exclaimed. "She hasn't slept at all! She would probably take you back, Sam! She would do anything to see Freddie again!" Gibby almost seemed angry.

"Okay, fine, we'll think about it," I said, getting annoyed, because there was a part of this that I think only Freddie and I understood. No one else got that if Freddie's mom would not let me back in, my life would be ruined forever. "So why are you here anyway?" I asked, sort of annoyed that he came and interfered. I get annoyed a lot, on case you haven't noticed.

"Going on vacation to Yakima with my mom," Gibby said with a grin and slow nod as if saying: "Yeah. You wish you were me."

Freddie and I exchanged confused looks. "Well, you have fun with that," Freddie said with a tiny bit of sarcasm, his eyebrows raised.

"Oh, I will," Gibby said, grinning and standing.

"Oh, and Gibby," I said, and he turned his head to face us one more time.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"Don't tell anyone," I said with a serious look on my face.

Gibby hesitated before slightly nodding, and my stomach felt queasy, realizing that the fate of my life was in Gibby's hands. I saw him run off to find his mom, and Freddie and I hid our faces as they walked past us again so that Gibby's mom wouldn't see us. We watched them board their train and I saw Gibby sit in the seat by the window. He gave us a nod, and the train went off. I frowned, even that slight movement hurting me.

Freddie turned to me. "So what do you think?" he asked.

"About what?" I asked.

"Going home."

"Sure, have fun," I said, nudging him a bit.

"You're coming with me," he said. "C'mon, Carly and Gibby both said that my mom would take you back."

"They don't know your mom," I said. "Even I know your mom better than them."

Freddie gently, very lightly touched my arm and I turned my head to look him in the eyes. "What if I promise you'll be safe?" he said softly.

"Define safe," I said flatly.

"Home. My home. With me. Pretending to eat my mom's disgusting nutritional food. Staying up until two AM watching stupid movies. Having all the strange deep talks that we wouldn't have even imagined before any of this happened."

Somewhere in there I cracked a grin. I noticed that familiar pattern in his eyes, realizing how comforting he had always been. "That was kind of fun, huh?" I said sotftly.

He smiled and nodded. "So what do you say? Vamanos?"

"Si," I said, grinning.

We stood and walked quickly out of the train station, looking down a bit so that no one would see our faces too clearly. We double checked that we had all of our stuff as we stood outside of the train station.

"Let's get out of here," I said. I stared at Bushwell Plaza in the very far distance, afraid of what came next. I then turned to my side and looked up at Freddie, and I took a slightly relieved breath. More than anything right then, I knew that Freddie would do anything to keep me safe.