Against All Odds

Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly

A/N:

Chapter 45 (New Friends, Old Friends)

During her lunch break, Carly and Jeannie were in the school computer lab, which was within the library. She'd been excited to see her in the Newspaper class, and had a great time being introduced to the teachers. Mrs. Sparks, Mrs. Weiss, and Mr. Sylvester were all awesome. Of course, third period with Mr. Sylvester was a bit longer, due to the lunch breaks taking place in third period.

Jeannie was here, showing her all the privacy settings that Facebook had to offer, one of which that Carly truly enjoyed was being able to hide herself from anyone. Which meant, her father could not search her name and find her on Facebook, nor could he find where she was. Though, she figured he might already know that, especially after being unable to locate Spencer's computer. Either way, after creating her initial profile, she found herself staring at a completely blank page, with no idea what to do. "Do you think I should add my location? As for a picture…I do have some photos of me on my flash drive."

"You can add them whenever, but I don't think you should add your location until you're sure that you'd be comfortable with that." She'd already explained to Jeannie just how bad her father was, and how scared she was that he might come find them. "The thing is, you've pretty much completely locked up your profile. Only friends you add and allow would be able to see any information on your page. So, I don't think there'd be a big issue." She nodded and looked to the search bar at the top of the webpage. "Now, you think your friends have accounts here?"

"Maybe, I know Sam was always bugging me to get a Facebook." She started typing out Sam's name and smiled when she saw a picture of her friend pop up as one of the top three names found. "There she is!" She clicked Sam's profile and hummed as she saw a lock on the main page, her profile was private and not viewable by anyone that wasn't a friend. "Now where do I add her on this thing…" She moved her mouse over to the 'add friend' button, then clicked it. "So what now?"

"You wait for her to accept it." Jeannie started typing on the computer next to Carly's. "Okay look up Jeannie Anderson, that's me." Carly typed her name and found her profile, then happily clicked the 'add friend' button.

"Found you." There had been a few other people with the same name, but Jeannie had a photo up. At the bottom left corner, she received a notification that Jeannie accepted her friend request. "Cool." She started typing out her friends in Seattle. She found Freddie, Gibby, who had been difficult to find, Mrs. Puckett, and even Marissa had an account! She was happily searching for anyone she knew from the Seattle region. "I don't know anyone here yet…"

"Oh trust me, you will." Jeannie laughed once and pat her shoulder. She was right, she'd already met a few good people who were happy to chat with her. The people here were a lot friendlier than the kids at Ridgeway. Thinking on that subject, her hands fell limp and she moved them away from her keyboard, sighing as she eyed the profile of someone from her old school. Jeannie frowned and met her eyes. "What's wrong?"

"I was just thinking…the people at my old school were judgmental jackasses." Going through all the pain and trouble, the kids at that school had eventually caught wind that she'd instantly become poor again. When this happened, they gave her hell for it, tormenting her on a daily basis. It happened so much that Sam, Gibby, and Freddie nearly got suspended due to getting into fights over the issue. "I wonder…if I really shouldn't put everything there behind me. Except my good friends, of course."

"That's a good idea, I mean, the only people there that matter to you are Sam, Freddie, and Gibby, right? If you have any other friends, go ahead and add them. Seattle was still a part of your life, whether or not there was anything good or bad about it."

"That's just it, people stopped being my friend when iCarly ended. I was a nobody before and I was a nobody when it ended. I almost wonder what would happen if I told people here who my family is."

"I wouldn't bother with the concept of fame, it kind of blocks the ability to tell who your true friends are." She knew Jeannie was already going to turn out to be a true friend, she didn't know anything about her family, nor was she a fan of iCarly. Apparently, she was one of the people who thought iCarly had been a bit childish. "Just be yourself, and don't worry about the people who aren't your friends, concentrate on the ones that are."

"Yeah." She flipped over to her profile and started scrolling down the info page. She had put in her likes, her interests, her school, and a brief statement in the 'about me' section. "So it'll be a while for them to accept the friend requests?"

"Well whenever they get online and get to the notification, they should be able to add you."

"Right." Freddie and Gibby hardly ever got on their Facebook accounts, she knew that much. Pam and Marissa probably never got online, so she didn't know when they'd accept her friend request. "I miss them, but you know, I think it'll be all right." She never thought she'd resort to becoming 'Facebook Friends' with Sam and the others. Wasn't that the term you used for friends fading away? Once good friends, then they become Facebook friends and you hardly ever talk to them again, until one day so much time has passed that you don't know why they're on your friends list, and the next thing that happens, they are removed from the list. To her, she always pictured Facebook as a cemetery for old friends.

She heard someone moving behind her and glanced over her shoulder towards a tall boy with shaggy black hair and tanned skin. He had a piercing emerald gaze and a pleasant smile. Jeannie grinned and quickly rose up to meet him. "Carly, this is Nat."

"Nat?"

"His parents were overzealous fans of Nat King Cole…" Carly chuckled as Nat rolled his eyes. "We call him Nate from time to time, but seriously, his middle name is King."

"It doesn't help my last name," Nate said while crossing his arms and sighing. Carly was intrigued now. She smirked and he slowly shook his head. "Colby. Nat King Colby." Nate leaned against the wall and looked to Jeannie. "All right, so Jeannie, I've been looking all over for you."

"Oh, I was helping my new friend get acquainted to the school. She wanted to make a Facebook account too, so here we are. What's up?"

"We were supposed to meet up during lunch and go over some math problems. Remember?"

"Oh! I forgot about that. You have your Algebra exam after this! Not sure how much help I can be, but yeah…Carly, would you like to study with us?" Carly grinned and quickly nodded. She was more than happy to study, if it meant making new friends. "Just don't forget to sign out of Facebook, you don't want to close the browser while still signed in, you could still be logged in."

"Right. Thanks." She logged out and closed the browser down, then rose up from the computer. She turned away with a fleeting gaze and followed Jeannie and Nate towards the back part of the library where the tables were. "So, how are your grades anyway?"

"Not the best," Nate said with a slight chuckle. "I average out B's and C's sometimes…currently got a seventy-eight in Algebra." Carly winced and Jeannie shook her head. "Jeannie's the smart one." The girl laughed and smacked Nate upside the head.

"The only thing I have an A in is English. Newspaper too, but otherwise, I'm a B student. What about you, Carly?" Carly paused for air and met their gazes. Would it be bad to say she'd been an A student? She was almost afraid to say that, granted she had some B's here and there. She didn't want to be seen as a 'dork' because of her grades. She bit her lip and closed her eyes, exhaling sharply. There wasn't any use in lying.

"I'm an A-B student."

"Oh, cool." Jeannie and Nate turned to the book and Nate started tapping it with the eraser edge of his pencil.

"So how are you at Math, then, Carly?" He gave her a hopeful and pleading look and Carly laughed, remembering how many times she'd tutored Sam back in the older days of their friendship. Sam was more knowledgeable now and her grades were actually very good, but it was still nostalgic to think about the early days when she would plead and plead for Carly to help her.

"I know a little math. I'm not the best…" She closed her eyes and felt her body shake very slightly as her mind went back to her friends. She could never replace them, she could never forget them, but what about them? Would they move on from her? Would they replace her? Would they forget her as time went on and their lives became busier? She felt a hand on her shoulder and opened her eyes, meeting Jeannie's concerned gaze. She smiled sadly and glanced over to Nate, who was studying her carefully. New friends, genuine concern. "Sorry, I was just…thinking about my friends in Seattle…" Jeannie and Nate smiled at her and slowly closed the textbook.

"You know what? I'm confident I'll do fine in my final. Let's just talk, I'd like to get to know you a bit more…"

"I agree," Jeannie stated. "Tell us about your friends." Carly waved her hand in the air and inhaled, she really didn't want to burden them with that. She didn't want to load all of that junk on them.

"I couldn't do that to you guys."

"Do what? We're not worried about anything." Jeannie lifted her shoulder and reached over, patting Carly on the arm and giving off a reassuring smile. "I know Sam, Freddie, and Gibby meant the world to you. They always will, simple as that, and no one can ever replace the greatness of true friends like those. No one should try, but allow yourself to have other friends. You can have more than one good friend." Carly smiled and looked down to the yellow and green Algebra book. She put her hands to the table and exhaled.

"I miss them…A bit afraid to make new friends, because I don't want them to think I'm trying to replace them."

"I don't think you could ever replace them, they're still here for you, and hey, I'll be here for you too if you can't talk to them."

"They wouldn't forget about me, would they?"

"If they're true friends, they won't do that. I'm sure no matter how busy their lives become, they'll always have time for you." That was what she hoped, but she knew pregnancy and college was going to be tough as hell. "Didn't you tell me earlier that you were going to call them up after school?"

"Yeah."

"So bring up your worries to them, they're your best friends for a reason. Don't let a few thousand miles come between you and them, because physical distance means nothing to good friends."

"She's got a point," Nate remarked. "When I was a kid, I had pen pal from Japan. She was my best friend, and there was an entire ocean between us." Nate tapped his chin and breathed in a wistful sigh. "She had a crappy brother who liked to read her letters, so we found a more secret way to communicate. Feelings developed, and, that was that…"

"What happened to her?" Nate thinned his lips and slowly shook his head.

"She and her brother passed away several months ago…I know their family wanted to move here, but they never did." Carly frowned and watched Jeannie pat Nate on the back. It was terrible to hear, but at least she knew if an ocean didn't keep him from that person, maybe a few thousand miles between her and her friends didn't make a difference either.

"Thank you for sharing that…I'm sorry to hear about your friend."

"Yeah…"

After school, she did talk to Sam and Freddie. They were doing well, and complaining about how quiet it was without them there in Seattle. They were missing her and thinking of her constantly. They did promise not to let the distance in between them separate them, emotionally. They assured her that they would remain her friends for as long as they could. Though new friends would come, old friends would not part. Maybe one day, she'd see them again, and until then, she'd always hold them close to her heart.

There's that