Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I don't iCarly.

General P.O.V.

Sam and Freddie were walking to Sam's house in utter silence. The silence was killing Sam, so she spoke up. "Um… how's life?"

Freddie chuckled, and buried his hands in his coat. "It's fine, you know, aside from my over-protective mother." He took out his cell phone and looked at it, before rolling his eyes and stuffing it back in his pocket. "So, how's yours?"

"Could've been better." Sam muttered. "By the way, who was on your phone?"

"Huh? Oh, that was nobody. Just my mom checking up on me." Freddie tells her. He breathed in and out, continuing to walk, and she could see the mist of his breath because of the cold weather.

She just continued walking beside him, not saying a word. A cold gust of wind hit her face, and she tried burying her head in his scarf that he gave her. "Damn, it really is cold, huh? When is this weather going to stop? I'm so sick and tired of it." Sam told him, trying not to imply that she wanted him to hold me and keep me warm.

As if she were implying, he stretched out his arm and placed it around her shoulders and held Sam close to him. He took her backpack and carried it. "Sharing body heat is one of the best ways to stay warm." Sam just simply smiled, and walked down the sidewalk with Sam in his arms.

They reached her house and he let go of Sam so she could take her backpack from him to get her key out. She placed the key inside the keyhole, and rotated it to the right, unlocking the door. Sam placed her hand on the doorknob and turned it, going inside. "Welcome to my house."

Freddie smirked. "I've been to your house before, Puckett. I just… never remembered it to be this neat."

She shrugged, "I got bored."

"So, uh, where's your mom?" Freddie asked as she walked to her door and locked it.

Shit, I didn't tell him about my mom."Uh… she kind of… had a job in Vegas. So she went there, leaving me here. Alone. But I can take care of myself, you know?" Sam said. She didn't give him a chance to respond, just continued talking. "Anyway, let's go to my room, and you can do my homework." Sam grabbed her backpack from the floor and made her way up the steps.

"Sam, I'm helping you—tutoring you. So I'm not doing your homework, but I'm helping you." Freddie followed her up the steps. Sam went to her bedroom door and went inside, setting her backpack down next to her study table. She noticed a razor blade was on her desk, so she quickly took it and shoved it inside her desk drawer. I'm not letting this nub get any ideas. "So, since we only have English homework, we'll do that."

She nodded and took her book out of her bag. "Dante's inferno." (A/N only book I can think of that seniors would read for their class. :PP ) She opened the page to where her bookmark was placed, and Freddie took the book from her. Sam looked at him with a clueless expression on her face. "Why'd you take my book?"

He took out the bookmark and placed the book faced down, but the page still opened. "This bookmark. I made this for you when we were still little." He smiled. "You still have it?"

"Well, you're holding it, so duh, I still have it." She said.

"I meant that you still kept it."

Sam shrugged. "So?"

"I thought you'd throw it away at some point." Freddie said, observing the bookmark. "I still have that bookmark you gave me, too." She smiled.

(A/N Telling a story now, just in case you're confused.)

The bookmark was actually really special to her, because during kindergarten, Sam was alone at a table and all of the other students were at other tables, talking to their friends. They were all making their own bookmarks. She was thinking of what to make, so Sam just sat there, really pondering. She looked around at the other children and they were almost finished with their bookmarks when she was still thinking of what to do. What she didn't notice was a brunette boy, throwing glances at her and leaving his table to go talk to her. "Hi, what are you doing?" He asked.

"Uh, I'm thinking of what to make." Sam had replied. The boy sat next to her.

"Just draw something you really like. Like, um… fishies. You like fishies?" Freddie, the brunette boy, asked her.

"I love fishies! Especially when I eat them." Sam grinned proudly. She doodled a quick sketch of fish in the water, and colored it in. "Does this look good?" She showed the picture to Freddie.

Freddie nodded and gave her a thumbs up. "It looks really pretty, like you!" He took out his bookmark and placed it in front of her. "Here. You can have mine."

His bookmark had trees all over the place, and grass on the ground, accompanied by a small robot. "Thanks! You can have mine, too." Sam gave him her bookmark. "What's your name? Mine is Sam."

"Freddie!"Freddie said, smiling.

(A/N DONE WITH THE STORY FLASHBACK THING.)

Sam took her bookmark back. "Anyway, let's start this reading thing." Sam started to read while Freddie listened to her.

Soon enough, they finished reading and answered the necessary questions that they needed to answer. Sam and Freddie went downstairs and sat on the couch. "So, now what?" She asked.

Freddie shrugged. "Wanna watch a movie? If you have movies." Sam punched him playfully.

"Of course I have movies, diphthong." When Freddie gave her an 'are you sure' look, she added, "They are not pirated."

Freddie smiled. "Okay, that's good. What are the movies that you have?"

"I have Rush Hour 3." Sam shrugged, taking out the DVD. She placed it inside the DVD player and played it. She sat back down on the couch. "So." She said as the previews started.

"So?" Freddie asked.

"How's it going with um… school? Are you going to college?"

"Yeah, I guess… but you know, if Carly and I stay together…" Freddie sighed. "which I truly don't want to happen…" Freddie muttered.

"What's that?" Sam asked him.

"Huh? Oh, nothing. It's um, it's hard to keep a long-distance relationship. She wouldn't be able to come to the same college because her grades went down." Freddie mumbled, "Not that I want her to come to college with me. Look how she is now."

"Stop mumbling! What did you say?" Sam asked.

"Nothing. Let's just watch the movie." Sam nodded and looked at the T.V. screen. "By the way," Freddie took Sam's arm. "Why do you always wear long sleeves?" Freddie slowly started to fold her sleeve up.

Sam suddenly yanked her arm away. "It's um… just cold."

"You wear them during the summer, too."

"Who cares?" Sam yelled, exasperated. She continued to look at the T.V. screen.

Sam slowly fell asleep around 45 minutes later, and soon, her head ended up on Freddie's lap and sleeping peacefully. Freddie had her arm around her and holding her close to him as if he never wanted to let her go. Curiously, Freddie's hand traveled to her arm and started to fold her sleeves up. And it revealed…

Scars.

Scars that stretched from her wrist to her elbow. A total of 8 scars, and a fresh cut. That amazed Freddie. Why does she cut herself? Freddie carefully traced his fingers along the scars. Sam flinched a little, but she didn't wake up. I guess she's sensitive here. Freddie sighed, "Sam…" He folded her long sleeve back down and lifted her shirt up to see if there were other scars. As expected, Sam had a long scar across her stomach. Why is there a scar here? Freddie thought. He observed it a bit more and found that there was a faint bruise on her stomach. It must be from when she told me how Carly hit her with her bag. He pulled her shirt back down and looked at Sam's sleeping face. Well at least her scratches and bruises on her face are healing. The ones that Carly gave her and the ones from the accident. Freddie sighed. He brushed some pieces of hair out her face and kissed her forehead.

The phone rang out of nowhere, and Sam awoke from it. She yawned and stretched, releasing herself from Freddie's grip. She walked over to the ringing phone and answered it. "Hello?"

"Hello?" Another voice sounded from the opposite side of the line.

"Who's this?" Sam asked the random person on the other line.

"This is Sandy… Is this Pam Puckett's daughter, Sam?" Sandy replied.

"Um, yeah…"

Sandy on the other line sniffed. "Sam… I'm sorry… but… Your mother… she was shot."

Sam's eyes widened, but then filled with tears. "What! Who! Did they get arrested?" She shouted into the phone.

"Yes, thankfully… but… I'm so sorry, Sam…"

"I—uh… thanks for informing me. I uh… bye."

"I'm so very sorry Sam…" Sandy sniffed. "Goodbye…"

Sam nodded even though Sandy couldn't see her, and hung up. Tears streamed down her face as Freddie asked, "Sam? Are you okay? Who was that?"

Sam shook her head and turned away, and wiped away her tears, only to have new ones stream down her cheeks. "Freddie… can you… just go home."

"Sam? What's wrong? You know you can tell me anything." Freddie stood up and went behind her, hugging her tight.

Sam shoved him away, and shouted, "Leave! Please. Just leave." Sam hiccupped, and she covered her mouth with her hand. "Leave."

Freddie was about to say something else, but he left without saying a word. As soon as the door shut, Sam dropped to the floor, crying.

Her one and true mom had died. And she wouldn't be able to see her again, or let alone hear her voice ever again.

And so the death of another family member had passed away. What will happen next chapter, you think? Will Freddie comfort her?... or something?
Review your predictions. (;

Review? Yes?

~miscellaneousmystery~