The Greatest Secret

Disclaimer: Nope, don't own iCarly

A/N:

Chapter 155 (Auditions: D5, Learning and Growing)

"Are you all right there, man?" Jonah asked as Freddie took his seat. Carly reached over and pat him on the back as well, a small comfort. Freddie slowly nodded his head and dropped it onto his arms on the booth. Carly and Jonah glanced at each other with arched eyebrows and shrugged, the show had to go on one way or another. As Freddie started to snore, Jonah turned off his friend's microphone and stood up to talk to the people. "Okay, let's just forget about what just happened, Freddie's had a long day as well as a long night. I believe the next person to call is Ophelia Davies."

A girl with red curls going past her shoulders stood up and squealed for joy as she hurried towards the stage. Carly leaned forward and lifted her eyebrows up with bored exhaustion, did these people never cease their relentless excitement? Even when it had been hours and hours, they were always so enigmatic. "Hi, I'm Ophelia and I want to be the drummer for this band because…I think the Seattle Beasts rock! I want to be a part of that rocking team!" Carly's spirits rose up a bit as her lips curled up into a smile, at least this girl knew how to put people in a good mood.

"Okay Ophelia. For today's audition and strictly today's, Freddie's changed the first song to WakeUpLittleSusie, by the Everly Brothers. Do you think you can handle it?"

"Yes sir." Jonah smiled and moved his hand through the air, signaling her to play away. Carly crossed her legs over and put her hands in her lap while Ophelia walked to the drums. She turned her eyes to the doors and spotted Tasha, Gibby's girlfriend, watching. After a moment, she left. Carly nudged Jonah and pointed to the door.

"Hey I'm going to be right back, all right?" He nodded and looked back to the drummer. Carly quickly got up and started making her way to the doors. She had to wonder what it was that possessed Freddie to change the first song to what it was now, but that would probably change back in tomorrow's auditions. As she put her hands in her pocket, she nudged the door open with her foot and stepped out. "Okay, where did you go? Hm…"

As her eyes drifted across the hall, she spotted Tasha talking on the cell phone by her locker. Thinking fast, and hoping not to lose her, Carly hurried over to her. She'd really not talked much to Tasha before, she'd only seen her with Gibby on several occasions and confirmed with Griffin that the two were obviously dating. As she got closer, she couldn't help but to hear a bit of the girl's conversation. "Yeah, I was only interested in looking for a bit. Anyway, I'm going to do my homework, I'll talk to you later. Love you!"

Carly's eyebrow rose and the corner of her lip tugged up into a mild smile, she always admired couples who knew they were in love. She'd have to wonder how she was going to introduce Griffin to her family. She knew she needed to if he was to be considered by her mom and dad for the arranged marriage. The only thing was, she wasn't sure if they would accept him. She hoped they'd see him as she did, more than just a biker with spiked leather and strange demeanor.

Getting back on track, she cleared her throat and called out to Tasha, who promptly turned and smiled at her. "Hey, how are you? I thought you were at those auditions? You're one of the judges?"

"Yeah, but they're going a bit slowly in there right now. Jonah can handle them for a bit." She leaned up against a locker as Tasha clung her books to her chest. Carly smiled at her again and tilted her head back against the blue locker. "Gibby, he's your boyfriend right? Freddie and Jonah had been trying to get him to audition, but my guess is it isn't going so well." Tasha shrugged and opened her binder up, glancing at a paper inside. Carly watched her for a second and folded her arms over. "Is he good to you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Boyfriend wise, is he a good boyfriend? There's not a lot of those out there these days." Tasha nodded and leaned up against the lockers with her. Carly closed her eyes as Steven came to her mind for a split second. The fact that she gave herself to him and he just used her, then left made her want to puke every time she thought about him.

"Yeah, he's a great boyfriend. He's not too keen on Freddie and Sam." A curious statement, it definitely warranted a bigger explanation. She looked to Tasha and moved her eyebrows up. "He says he thinks they're all cool, but Sam apparently hangs around you guys a lot and he's still weary on her, due to all the stuff he got from her over the years. Hell, he still talks about that busted locker from years ago."

"Busted…oh…" She chuckled as she recalled a few years back when Sam was on a rampage and smashing a locker with a hammer. She thought it was hers, but it had been Gibby's. "Nah, Sam's a lot nicer now, trust me. She and I have been hanging out more often and she's really cool. Gibby shouldn't worry about her, I think someone or something has got that girl tamed down." Tasha laughed once as Carly gave her a confident smile, she trusted Sam.

"What makes you say that?" Carly stared off into the distance and shrugged as Tasha's words went into her. They did make her think. Whenever she and Sam hung out, there was always a certain glow, some sort of happiness that seemed to be deep inside of her, but she could never place her finger on the cause of it. Maybe Sam had a boyfriend she didn't know about. Maybe not. She wouldn't really be able to guess that in all fairness, but one thing was certain, Sam was a happy person.

"Oh I don't know, there's just something there…I can't really be sure, but I know she's more tame than anything. I don't know what she has to do with the band, other than being associated with them through Jonah's wife and my brother."

"Jonah's married?"

"Yeah, he's a father now, has been as of August." Tasha nodded and lifted her eyebrows up as she stared down at her books. Carly got the sense that she was keeping her from her studies, so she figured it'd be best to let her go, but not before trying to get her to talk to Gibby about the auditions. "So you need to go study?"

"Yeah I do actually, I wouldn't mind talking some more though."

"It's okay, don't let me keep you." The two girls pushed off from the lockers and faced each other, Carly really felt confident that she could get through to Tasha. "So, I guess before I go, can I ask if you'd talk to Gibby about those auditions?"

"Well, it's really all up to him, you know. Don't get me wrong, it's just that we've already talked about them. I will tell him what you said about Sam, though. So do you really think she's got a boyfriend?"

"Honestly, I have no idea. She hasn't told me anything." She wasn't so worried about it, considering Sam might have a good reason for not telling her. Hell, she hadn't told Sam about Griffin because she didn't know how Sam would react to Carly's biker boyfriend. In the same sense, if Sam did have a boyfriend, maybe she was going through the same issues and didn't know how she'd react to whomever that person was. "Hell, there's a lot of stuff going on that I don't know about…"

"Like what?"

"For instance, who the hell my brother's fiance is…They still aren't telling me, probably because I still talk to my granddad…" Her eyes drifted skyward for a moment as she shrugged her shoulders and sighed. She still was processing everything she had been told about that man, and yes she really wanted to talk to him about it all. She knew she was a bit high strung and had a tendency to blurt out secrets if caught off guard and yes, Tyrone knew how to manipulate that fact, so thinking on the subject, maybe they were right to not tell her who Freddie's fiance was quite yet. "Anyway, you go study and I'm going to get back to the auditions…"

"All right, it was good talking with you."

"You too, have a good evening!" She smiled as Tasha waved and hurried off to the library. She took a deep breath and started heading back into the auditorium and to the judging booth. Freddie and Jonah were both wide awake and watching Nate Garner doing his best on IntheAirTonight. They looked over to her as she slowly sat down next to Freddie and folded her hands over the other on the booth. "How's he doing?"

"Not too bad," Freddie commented. He looked to Carly as she watched the drums with an almost somber look in her eyes. "Is everything okay?" The question caught her off guard as she moved her head back and glanced over at him with a small smile.

"Yeah, I was just thinking about stuff…" Her fingers closed in to her palms and she closed her eyes, gradually leaning straight up in her chair. "Freddie, I was thinking…I know my granddad is good with manipulation and I know that you, mom, dad, and even Spencer don't trust him." Freddie raised his eyebrow as Jonah blinked in curiosity, what was she about to say? "I know right now, it's probably a good thing that nobody's telling me who your fiance is, because Granddad does have some power over me. In a way…"

"You think so?"

"I called him up just the other night when you were out, we were worried and I honestly wondered if he knew where you were. Maybe he did something, I didn't know. I just…he asked me if you were probably with your fiance, I told him no, that you were locked up with Sam in the school." She didn't notice his face start to go white and Jonah slowly shake his head. Instead, she opened her eyes and frowned. "He tried to get me to say Sam was your fiance, but I told him that was wrong and that you two never really got along. So then he starts asking if there were any other girls that might still be at the school, he goes on and on until mom grabs the phone and shuts it."

"Jesus Carly…you need to get away from that guy."

"I know! I just…I don't know, I'm still his granddaughter aren't I?" Her heart ached and Freddie slowly wrapped his arms around her in a comforting hug.

"It's okay Carly. Yeah you're his granddaughter. We're all hoping for him to get his head out of his ass, yes, but that doesn't mean you need to cut all ties. I only meant…"

"That I need to be careful around him?"

"Yes. When the time comes that you can deal with him, I guess, then I think mom's going to let you in on the finer parts of our culture. You still have a lot to learn, it'll take time, but you'll get it." A tear dropped from her eyes and she quickly swiped it away. It was times like this that she really felt like a part of the family.

"Thanks Freddie…so how's Nate? Is he in?"

"We'll see, so far he's been the best drummer today."

"Okay." She wiped her eye again as Freddie sat back. He started talking to Nate, who finished drumming. She slowly smiled at him and closed her eyes, she really was starting to feel really happy with the things going on around her. She wanted to know more about the culture, so maybe she would eventually. She just needed to be a bit stronger. At least she knew now, it wasn't her they didn't trust, it was only her grandfather.

Getting close to the final drummers, there's going to be a big chapter actually where they pit the best drummers together in a final endurance test to see who can last. There's another chapter or two before then though.