Against All Odds

Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly

A/N:

Chapter 10 (More Bad News)

When Spencer awoke, the sun was glaring through the window onto his body. He lifted his hand and attempted to block the sunlight from his eyes, wincing as the light stung him. Had he slept the entire night? That wasn't good, he still had to finish the sculpture, but he also had to make sure his family was all right. A fresh aroma tickled him out of bed, someone was making muffins, chocolate chip muffins at that. He made his way from his bedroom and saw Carly cleaning up the house with Sam and Freddie, all of them looked relatively tired. The trio looked up at Spencer with wry smiles. Sam and Freddie still looked guilty as they did last night. "What are you doing?" He asked with a groggy voice.

Carly brushed her hair over her shoulder and put her arms around her friends' shoulders. "Sam and Freddie felt responsible for everything, so they stayed up all night to help clean the house." Spencer smiled briskly and moved over to them, catching their eyes. They really were sorry, but he didn't feel it was their fault for anything.

"Sam. Freddie. Go home and get some sleep, I'm sure your families are wondering about you." Then again, Sam's mother was debatable. Marissa would have normally bugged the living hell out of Freddie, so he's amazed that he's still here. "You two did nothing wrong, okay?" They bowed their heads and began muttering. He really didn't want them around today, not because of them, but because he had to think about a lot and really didn't want them to be burdened. Hell, he was pretty sure he was about to become poorer than Sam's family was."Go home. I need to check my bank accounts and everything." Freddie looked up at him and smiled slightly, taking Sam's hand in his.

"Okay Spencer. We could use the rest, anyway. We're really sorry for last night. We should have been paying more attention." He gave them each a hug and motioned to the door. After they rushed out, he turned to Carly and hugged her. She sniffed and moved her arms around him. She looked like she'd been up half the night as well, so it was time to send her on to bed as well.

"You too Carly, get some rest."

"Aw, but Sasha's making breakfast. It's only ten in the morning." That late? He really was in for a world of trouble. He turned away and rubbed his head, eyeing the living room. It did look a lot cleaner, it was as though nothing had happened. His eyes fell onto his bottle robot and his stomach knotted up. What the hell was that? Junk? His father and grandfather thought so, so maybe it was. "More bad news, Spencer. Those men found the hidden stash of money…" His heart stopped and he turned abruptly to his sister. There had been two thousand dollars saved up for a rainy day, he was planning to use that for the rest of this month's rent!

"What?"

"It's all gone. That, and any money we had laying around. I counted up the figures in my head…it's not good." He smacked his forehead and fell onto the couch. His head was spinning a mile a minute, his heart was racing, and he personally felt like a bomb waiting to go off. "Spencer, what's going to happen to us? Now that dad and granddad are…taking out their assets…I'm kind of scared."

"We'll be fine, just relax."

"I'm trying to. I can't help but feel this is all my fault."

"It isn't anyone's fault." His lips fell into a frown as he rose up from the couch, ignoring the pain inside him. "I should have been more responsible from the start, I guess." Could he help it if his father was a prick? What of Tyrone, he was as much to blame as anyone. His eyes fell onto the computer and his legs grew weak. "Bank Account…" The words ran amuck in his mind, wrapping around him and strangling him. He shook his head and moved for the kitchen. Sasha was over a pan, frying some hash browns. He smiled at her and she turned her gaze to him.

"Hey Spencer, I'm making fried eggs and hash browns for everyone. Also, I've made some chocolate chip muffins. Your plate's right there." He grabbed his plate from the counter and smiled at her.

"Thank you." His shining ray of hope, that's what she was right now. He eyed his plate and breathed in. There were two eggs, hash browns took up half of the plate, and there was one large muffin right in between. "I'm going to check the bank accounts. Sasha nodded as he moved over to the computer and took a seat in front. Why did he have such a crushing feeling of defeat? His fingers trembled above they hovered above the keyboard. With bravado, he typed in what he needed to open the bank account, but within a moment, he was unable to get in. "What the hell?" Sasha looked over as she plated Carly's food, her lips were pulled back in concern.

"What's the matter?"

"I…" He tried typing his credentials again, making absolutely sure he got his password right, but once again, he was denied. "I can't get into my bank account!" Then it hit him, and the color in his face drained instantly. Sweat trickled down his spine and he hunched forward. "No…it's a joint account with my dad." Sasha frowned and walked over with her plate while Carly ran over to hers. Spencer reached for his phone and dialed the bank. Once they answered, he spoke in a calm, collected voice. "Hello, this is Spencer Shay. I need to know the status of my account?" He gave his information to the receptionist and held his breath. After a minute, the woman came back on the line.

"Sir? That account has been closed." His eyes widened and his body became increasingly numb. "Your father closed the account this morning. There was a balance of four thousand, five hundred and fifty withdrawn as a result." His muscles tightened and he slowly nodded his head. He thought he had more in there than that, but it really didn't matter. He was fucked.

"Y-Yes ma'am, thank you." What more could he say? His hand trembled as he turned off the phone and gazed at Sasha with wide eyes. Carly and Sasha exchanged a worried look and set their plates down next to his, the bad news was readable in his eyes. "Dad closed the bank account. He withdrew all the money…it was his money anyway, but…" Carly's jaw fell and Sasha cupped her hand over her mouth. Spencer couldn't understand why all of this was happening, he wanted things to go much differently. He couldn't give up on Sasha, no way in hell. "Never should have made that joint account with Dad." He felt Carly hug his waist and smiled down at her as she put her chin on his arm.

"It's okay Spencer, we'll figure something out. In fact, what about the museum? I found a letter from them in the mail last night, but with everything, I didn't give it to you. Maybe they've agreed to accept your artwork!" He raised his eyebrows and Sasha reached over to the other side of the counter, picking up a small envelope. He was afraid to open it, really, but his art was so good, who wouldn't accept it?

"Here Spencer, open it and see what they said." She handed him the letter and he took it in his hand, treating it as if it were precious porcelain. He eyed the fold with a growing feeling of despair and anxiety. He pushed away the dangerous emotion and tore the envelope open. Sasha leaned forward against the counter while Carly started eating. As his eyes ran over the words, his heart began to sink.

"It isn't good…" Exactly what he was afraid of, but he couldn't understand it. He'd been rejected. Carly gently set her fork on the plate and slowly looked up to him. "They rejected my letter, the piece of art…wasn't to their standard."

"What? That's not right!" Sasha grabbed the letter from him and started to read the letter aloud. "Mr. Shay, we regret to inform you…" Her eyes flicked up to Spencer. Carly slowly pushed her plate away and Spencer bowed his head. "While some of our family here at the Seattle Museum find your artwork to be a decent piece of work, we do not feel that it is good enough to place in our museum and…this is bullshit!" She threw the letter to the side and glared at it. "Your artwork isn't bad, Spencer, it's great." Spencer chuckled and slowly shook his head. Despair clouded him, stabbed at him, just as reality came checking in. He was certain the very thing that got him into the mess would get him out, but who was he kidding? A jokester, a player, someone who just rolled through life, not feeling the painful jolt of responsibility, that person would survive. How the hell would they make it alive without understanding the gravity of what was to be responsibility?

"No…if it's not good enough to get in a museum, it's not good enough at all. You didn't finish reading, they called my art junk, Sasha."

"Well it isn't junk!" He raised an eyebrow and straightened himself. His jaw tightened and his hands closed.

"All my artwork is made of things I get from the junkyard."

"Many artists started out that way…"

"Sasha, please…" She frowned as he moved from the chair and started walking to the couch, he no longer had the appetite for breakfast. "You don't need to try and make me feel better. You were right, art isn't enough. I've lost all my money, I'm behind on rent, I've just been turned down by the one museum, and the only project that could possibly bring me any money the rest of this month, is lying on the ground in pieces! You were right, I was wrong." He fell onto the couch and brought his hands to his face. He had a bitter taste of defeat in his mouth, he wanted it to go away.

Sasha slowly sat next to him and put her arm around his shoulders. She rested her free hand on his arm and put her head on his shoulder. "I'm sorry…I'm sorry that all of this is happening." He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, opening them only when he heard the elevator sound off. He raised an eyebrow and looked over, he hadn't approved anyone to come up, that was their private elevator

"Did you two invite anyone up?"

"No. Carly?" Carly shook her head and turned around as the doors started to open. Much to Spencer's disdain, as if things could get any worse at all, he saw Lewbert walking through the house. Lewbert's face fell onto some of the cracks and holes in the wall that were left over by the Loan Shark's thugs, he cringed and turned his attention back to Spencer. Spencer's eyes fell on a small yellow paper in the man's hands, he started to tense and panic. He'd seen that paper so many times whenever Lewbert would take it to someone else's apartment. Never his own.

"No, no you're not doing this…you don't have a valid reason!" He quickly stood and Sasha looked at him with concern.

"Spencer, what's happening?"

"Eviction notice…" Sasha's eyes widened and Carly quickly ran off into another room, unable to take what was going on. Lewbert raised an eyebrow and handed the paper to Spencer.

"Spencer Shay, you have a week to get your ass out of my apartment building. Your father called to let me know that he is no longer interested in leasing. As the apartment's in his name, you're technically trespassing now." Spencer's stomach churned inside and he quickly turned to Sasha. The poor woman looked like she was about to faint. They just couldn't take any more bad news. "I decided to have a heart just this once, normally I'd call the cops on you straight away, but if you're not out in a week flat. Cops will be called. Oh, and don't worry about the damages to the apartment building anymore, they've been paid for. Have a great day." Lewbert flashed a toothy grin and started walking away.

"Have a great day," Spencer mocked the man and threw the notice onto the couch. "Shit. A week? Just a week?" He fell to the couch and groaned. There was nothing more he could say, he was just emotionally beaten.

Well, things definitely don't look to be getting any easier for them.