AN: Hi everyone and welcome to the latest update for this story; I hope you are all well.

As ever at this point I would like to thank everyone who reviewed the last chapter;

Challenge King – yes Pam really isn't a good mother. Carly did want to fix things between her and Sam and made the offer because the blonde needed a home; it might take them some time to get used to one another but I'm sure they'll figure it all out in time.

Fanfic-Reader-88 – yes it did suck for her but it all seems to have worked out for the moment.

Darck Ben – thank you; I think a little character development would have benefitted the show really. Sadly Dan disagreed.

Agent-M – thank you. Freddie and Cat I think make a cute couple; there could be a couple of bumps ahead for them at some stage but I do think that they're pretty compatible really.

Pbow – Freddie was their ride but before they learned to drive they either caught buses or walked, so Cat and Carly probably did one or the other to return home. I don't think Carly would quit her private school just to make Sam feel better about things (nor do I think Colonel Shay or Spencer would let her) and I do think that there'll be some conversations between the girls as time goes on; we'll see a little of their lives every now and again but they'll probably remain mostly peripheral characters in the story, given that they're not in Los Angeles or at Hollywood Arts.

Consort of Chaos – thank you; I'm glad that you discovered this story and have enjoyed what you've read so far. I did give some answers to your questions via PM; beyond that all I'll say is keep reading and you'll find out what life has in store for them all when we reach that point in the story.

If you haven't done so yet then I'd recommend having a read of One Horse Shay's Galaxy Wars story in the iCarly/Victorious cross-over section as that's a handful of chapters in and the story is just starting to develop nicely.

Ok, on with the story.

Chapter 23: Adjustments

Apartment 8-C, Bushwell Plaza, Seattle, WA

Tuesday, 14th September 2010.

Carly sighed as she struggled through the front door of her apartment; the brunette groaned as she stumbled under the weight of the carrier bags in her hands and boxes under her arms before overbalancing with them and collapsing comedically onto the floor in a most undignified heap.

"Carly? What are you doing down there?" Spencer asked as he cautiously stepped over her; he too had his arms full, cradling a pile of boxes that he could barely see over.

Bringing up the rear was Sam; the blonde was busily finishing off working her way through a tub of fried chicken as she calmly stepped over her prostrate friend and set the now empty tub down on the Shay's coffee table.

"Do you need some help with those?" she asked casually, picking up a couple of the fallen girl's boxes.

"Yes," Carly hissed out huffily as she struggled to her feet, "seeing as all this stuff is yours," she continued before finishing in a snap, "the least you could do is actually carry some of it yourself."

"I had the chicken to look after!" the blonde protested. "I'd forgotten how good their chicken was," she added with a dreamy smile on her face. "Hey, is Galini still making those coconut cream pies?"

"Yes," Spencer's tone had turned sombre, "but Mr Galini passed away last year and the recipe went with him; they say he had it in his computer somewhere but nobody ever found it. The shop is still in business – and still busy – but the coconut cream pie just isn't as good as it once was."

"Oh, still, maybe we can try it out tomorrow," she suggested.

"You have school visits tomorrow!" Carly reminded her in annoyance; the Shay siblings had certainly been busy since the two girls returned to Seattle. Spencer had made a number of calls to schools in the local area and found a couple that were willing to interview the newcomer with a view to her starting in the next couple of days; the new year was just starting so she wouldn't be that far behind (her grades had picked up during the latter part of her stint in juvie, though she feared that she would have regressed substantially during her mother's home schooling; in fact she was resigned to have to repeat 10th grade instead of joining her age group in the junior year).

The trio had e-mailed her transcripts to the schools (though they feared that they would cause more harm than good to her applications) overnight and spent the morning dealing with some of the formalities of Sam's move; Spencer went with her to the City Hall in order to formally commence his guardianship application. They were interviewed, together and separately, and an interim order was granted allowing her to stay with them while a full decision was made (though given Pam's absence, the circumstances of her disappearance and lack of a forwarding address they didn't expect anybody to challenge the application and it was expected to be approved without too many obstacles). From there they hit the stores to provide the girl with a new wardrobe; the bag that she had packed when she left Las Vegas would not keep her going for too long.

They had bought her far more than she had expected them to, hence the huge numbers of bags and boxes that they had returned with. Sam was immensely grateful to the siblings for their generosity (which was financed, of course, by their father far more than either of them themselves) but was still having difficulty putting the feeling into words.

"Right," she agreed, "which ones are we going to see?"

"Ok," Spencer checked the list, "there's Puget, the Center school, Franklin High…"

Sam sniggered. "Franklin," she snorted out. "I wonder how old Teddie is."

"And Nova," the sculptor continued as if she hadn't interrupted. "So there are three or four that we'll look at and see which ones will accept you as a transfer student."

"If any," she grumbled, voicing her innermost fear; that her record, and expulsion from Ridgeway, would count against her to the point that no school in the area would accept her.

At Carly's behest Sam began to transport her new purchases to the Shay's guest room (which had now become her room); the brunette helped her take them up and unpack things into her dresser and closet while her brother made a start on dinner (privately Carly doubted whether Sam would eat anything, having just single-handedly eaten a whole bucket of fried chicken; she had reckoned without the blonde's insatiable appetite).

"So, what do you girls have planned for tonight?" Spencer asked as he cleared away the plates after they had finished eating.

"I thought I might talk to Freddie, see how he's getting on with the new school year," Sam replied with a shrug.

"Ooh, great idea," Carly praised her, "let's try him now."

"Nah, he'll be at the gym with André right now," Sam glanced at the digital display on the oven. "Give him an hour; he should be done by then."

Carly nodded, feeling a little resentful that the blonde now knew their friend and his life so much better than she did.

Valentine residence, Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles, CA

Having completed his work-out Freddie called in on his girlfriend on the way home; as usual Cat's parents were delighted to see him and happy to admit him to their home.

"Hi Freddie," Mr Valentine greeted him amiably, "Cat's upstairs in her room; you can go straight up."

"Thank you sir," he replied respectfully, granting the man a small nod of his head as he stepped to one side to allow the teenager inside.

"Hello Freddie," Mrs Valentine called from the living room as he made his way towards the staircase; he returned the greeting with a small wave of his own before heading up to the red haired girl's room; he rapped softly on the door when he saw that she was sat at her desk with her back to him.

"Freddie!" she exclaimed as she spun around at the knock on her door. The girl hopped from her chair and rushed over to pull him into a hug; he gave her a gentle kiss on the lips as she threw her arms around him and jumped, pushing her weight against him and wrapping her slender legs around his waist. This had the slightly unwelcome side effect of riding her already short dress further up her legs; Freddie shifted his hands to support the girl's weight (otherwise it would have been borne by his neck) and the best place for his hands was underneath her upper thighs, now uncovered by the flimsy material of her garment. He was thankful that her chin was resting on his shoulder as it meant she couldn't see his uncomfortable, slightly embarrassed look at having his hands on bare skin so close to a private and intimate area.

After a few seconds her legs slipped back towards the ground and he was able to set her down, swooping in to give her another quick peck on the lips as he did, resulting in him hearing her (in his opinion anyway) adorable giggle.

"I guess you missed me over the last few hours then," he joked, his heart warming as she presented him with her prettiest smile and fluttered her eyelashes a little.

"I did," she admitted, "and I was wondering, did you get a chance to look at the list of plays that they put up today?"

"No, I didn't need anything from my locker this afternoon so I didn't go by the noticeboard after lunch; it wasn't up this morning," he finished, frowning slightly. "Are there any good ones?" he asked, seeing that enthusiasm was bubbling up inside the girl once again.

"Yeah, there was one, Heart of Gold, that I think we would be perfect for the leads in," she enthused. "I signed up for it and I…" she gave an embarrassed grin, "I kinda signed you up for it as well, I hope you don't mind."

He suppressed the urge to roll his eyes, accepting that the exuberance was a part of his girlfriend and that, had she not done so, he would have signed up for it himself tomorrow anyway.

"No, it's fine," he gave her a genuine smile. "Hopefully we'll have some rehearsals to do together before long," he concluded, his mind wandering back to some of their previous performances together. "Has anyone else signed up for anything?"

"Jade's gone for the lead in two of them; Beck's signed up for one of those. André is down to do some of the music for a couple of them; I don't know about anyone else."

"I'll be surprised if Tori hasn't put in for any of them," her boyfriend observed thoughtfully, "she still has a bit of lost time to make up for." His train of thought was derailed by the message alert on his pear phone; he withdrew the device from his pocket and glanced at the screen.

"Who is it?" Cat pried.

"Sam; she and Carly are asking if I – so we – want to video chat tonight."

"That would be so much fun!" the girl enthused; her boyfriend smiled and fired back a quick yes to the Seattleites and slipped the phone back into his pants pocket.

"Hi-iii," the redhead waved as the two girls appeared on her screen after loading up the computer; Carly was fully expecting to see her, given that the chat request had come from her fellow cupcake-lover's account, but she still had to suppress a frown at seeing the two of them together as it was something that she just couldn't get used to. Sam's smile was far more genuine as she happily greeted the couple.

"Hey guys, how's school going?"

"Fine," the brown-haired boy answered her, explaining about how his girl had signed them up for a play (Cat giggled, slightly embarrassed) as he did and they then went on to discuss their new classes. "We have Sikowitz, again, for one of our acting classes; he's put up a couple of posters about something called Summer in Film; I need to get some details about that because that could be a good thing to do next summer."

Cat nodded alongside him, "It's a summer holiday course and it sounds like it could be a lot of fun, and it would help us learn more about the industry," she agreed.

"Hey, maybe we could come down for it?" Sam suggested; she was assuming that she would be back on iCarly now that she and Carly had reconciled. The Los Angeles-based couple traded looks and promised that they'd make enquiries.

"Other classes… well I've got to do the make-up class that you had so much fun with last semester," Freddie smiled at his girl; she giggled again as she remembered the trouble that she had caused for Tori. "Mostly special effects," he clarified quickly, trying to make it seem a little more manly as the two girls sniggered, "but some of it is based on the 'natural'-looking stuff that you need on camera. After that, singing, set design – so art basically," Carly shuddered a little; she had none of her brother's talent in that field, "a bit of drama," Freddie continued, "I don't have to do tech theatre as I've already passed the exam," he smiled proudly; Carly glowed as she remembered his efforts in getting iCarly off the ground a couple of years earlier, "that's it for now, apart from the usual academic stuff," he shrugged.

"I really wanted to do costume design," Cat complained, "but I couldn't fit it into my timetable, so it will be next semester now. I have to do theatre history II later in the semester as well." Freddie confirmed that he would also be taking that class later on.

"How about you, Sam, any sign of a school yet?" he asked.

The blonde relayed their day, shopping, school-hunting and the other things that they'd been up to; she gave rather more emphasis than was necessary to the quality of the fried chicken she had eaten but it amused her friends to hear her wax so lyrical about it.

"So we have these places to visit tomorrow," she concluded, "and hopefully one of them will let me start next week."

"Sounds great," the red velvet-dyed haired girl was enthusiastic; Freddie felt a little more circumspect, knowing more of his friend's history, and he saw the concern manifesting in the blonde former trouble-maker's eyes.

"You'll be fine," he attempted to reassure her and she nodded gratefully. "How about you Carls? Are you back at Briarwood yet?"

"No," she replied happily, "we don't start again for another couple of weeks yet. So plenty of time to help Sam get used to life back up here."

"How are you finding it so far?" he asked curiously, "living together", he clarified; the brunette shot a side-long glance at the blonde and she grinned back, with a trace of guilt in her smile.

"It's going to take time to get used to one another," Carly replied delicately.

"She means I'm a pain in the butt," Sam laughed; her housemate smiled but declined to immediately contradict her.

"Oh it's not that bad," the brunette noted after a discrete pause, "just that you leave stuff all over the apartment and Spencer's already fallen down the stairs three times tripping over things that you've left strewn there."

Cat gasped. "Is he alright?" she asked in concern.

"Yeah, he always gets back up; he's fine," the artist's sister assured her.

The quartet chatted a little longer; Carly became more genuinely content and happy talking with them as time wore on, though she still had to avert her eyes a little as Cat leaned closer to Freddie and hugged his arm. It wasn't lost on the blonde sat next to her and she made her feelings known, again, after the video chat concluded.

"You're still making it obvious," she warned.

"What do you mean?" Carly used her hand to sweep her long, brown hair out of her face and over her shoulder.

"Your jealousy about Cat and Freddie," Sam replied bluntly.

"Do you think they noticed anything?" she asked in a small voice.

Sam paused for a moment. "Cat maybe does; that's one kitty who'd have sharp claws if she wanted to use them now she's growing up a little," she grinned. "But Freddie? I think he's snapped out of his puppy-dog crush so he isn't looking at you in that sort of a way; he just looks at her," she concluded slightly dreamily.

"Oh," the brunette huffed out before taking a deep breath and sighing, "I guess I just really miss the Freddie who would do anything for me and only me."

Sam suspected that her friend wasn't admitting the whole truth but she didn't feel in a position to press the matter; instead the blonde put a consoling hand on Carly's shoulder. "That Freddie has gone," she said as nicely as she could. "The best you can do is to be friends with this one."

The other girl nodded sadly as she couldn't argue with her new housemate's words.

Asphalt Café, Hollywood Arts High School

Wednesday, 15th September 2010.

"Hey Freddie, Eli," André set his bottle of water down at the gang's usual table and took a seat opposite the brown and blond-haired teenagers. Freddie looked up from his books and smiled at the songsmith. "So I was uh… wondering if you could help me with this tech theatre stuff," the musician continued, "I had my first class just before lunch and it all didn't make a lot of sense."

"No problem," he smiled, happy that he would get the chance to repay his friend a little for helping him to learn to play a couple of instruments (not only the keyboard, which he had picked as his mandatory instrument when he was accepted into the school but also the guitar, which they had started working on after he became proficient on the former as neither had wanted to give up a little more of the time they got to hang together). He took a quick bite of his meal before continuing, "We're meeting after school tomorrow before we go fencing, right?" André nodded his confirmation, "well we can do it then, either before, after or instead of the guitar lesson."

"Great," the dreadlocked teen dug in his bag for his own lunch as a high-pitched "Hi-iii!" announced the arrival of Cat, followed by a far less enthusiastic-looking Jade.

"Hey," Freddie smiled; his girlfriend squeezed into the seat next to him and the couple shared a quick kiss; the redhead was rather precariously perched on the metal bench, one of the perks of this was that Freddie had to wrap an arm around her to hold her steady. Eli glanced at the couple and their easy affection, feeling a little regretful that things never worked out between himself and the red velvet-haired girl, but at the same time happy for the two of them. Jade walked past them to sit on the boys' other side and began scanning the area for any sign of her man.

"Beck's not with you?" Freddie observed as a question; the gothic teen shook her head before brushing some of her hair, today sporting pink extensions, from her face.

"No, he's not in this class with us."

"Right, I think he's in theatre history with Tori," André volunteered.

"Oh right, isn't Robbie in that class with them?" Cat spoke up.

They wouldn't have long to wait for confirmation as the three teens arrived; Tori in particular looked troubled.

"How was it?" Jade asked her man as he took a seat next to her; Tori sat next to André with Robbie (and Rex) sitting on the side between Tori and Cat.

"It was detailed," he replied in his usual laid-back manner.

"It was insane," Tori protested, "there's so much to go through in a course that only runs for a few weeks, not even the whole semester!"

"Great, we have that to look forward to later on in the year," Jade muttered to Freddie.

"At least you'll be able to borrow Beck's notes; that should help you," he pointed out. She shrugged her acknowledgement.

"You can have mine once I'm done with the class," Tori offered him, receiving a grateful smile in return along with a slightly annoyed comment from André, who also would have liked the notes.

"Relax, I'll take a photocopy then we can both have a read of them," the tech genius offered.

The bell sounded for the end of lunch and he and Cat made their way to the music department. They were a little disappointed when the teacher began the class, informing them that everyone would be working as an individual for the first assignment. They would be required to sing rather than playing any instruments for it and could choose any song that they wanted, or write their own. Despite the success he and Jade had had in the past working on their own song, Freddie decided to pick something that was already written; he felt that he might struggle to write something by himself.

"You will be performing live at the kick-back in late October," the teacher informed the class; a number of the kids glanced nervously around, not having too much experience of public performance despite their two years of study at the school. Freddie and Cat, meanwhile, simply shrugged and shared a grin as they were both more than happy with such performances.

Sikowitz's Classroom

Thursday, 16th September 2010.

"Wait!" the eccentric teacher called as the bell signalled the end of the lesson and his students began to file out. The teens obediently, if impatiently, turned to face him, waiting for whatever he had to say. "Freddie, Cat, hang back for a minute; the rest of you, off you go."

The couple hovered by the edge of the stage as their peers departed; when Sikowitz continued to stand there in silence Freddie shrugged and took a seat on the stage.

"So what's up?" Cat prompted before moving to sit next to her boyfriend.

"Oh, right," he seemed to snap out of whatever was distracting him, "your auditions for Heart of Gold will be at lunchtime today."

"So… right now?" Freddie sought to clarify in surprise.

"I suppose so," the teacher exclaimed, seeming as amazed about it as they were; he reached into one of the drawers underneath his whiteboard and pulled out two scripts, handing them to the teenagers as they stood and turned to face him. "You'll read the parts highlighted," he clapped his hands rapidly as he continued, "Up you get!"

Freddie glanced through his script, paying particular attention to the blue-highlighted words; through the piece of paper his girlfriend was holding he could see large swathes had been coloured pink. He shrugged, reminding himself that seeing a script for the first time was no different to when they had first auditioned for roles almost two years ago (albeit they had auditioned opposite other people) and, trying to use the script as little as possible, he climbed slowly onto the stage, stood facing his girl and prepared to begin the scene.

"How do you think it went?" he asked Cat as they left the room hand-in-hand a few minutes later.

"I thought it was great!" she enthused.

"Yeah, I didn't need to refer to the script too much," he noted, "I wish I'd had a few more minutes to try and learn it all before we started though."

"I guess," she agreed with a small shrug. "Hey, have you heard any more from Sam? Did she get into a school?"

"Uh… yeah, she did," he confirmed. "She texted me last night while I was at work and she'll be starting Franklin High on Monday. I called her during my break and I'm not sure she's really looking forward to it, especially as they're probably making her join the sophomore class rather than the juniors because she's been out of formal schooling so long…"

"How long?" Cat interrupted.

"Well she was home-schooled after being let out of juvie and that went on for over a year, during which time she doubts she learned anything useful. She sat an aptitude test after the interview and she doesn't think it went too well; she said so afterwards which is why she thinks she'll be joining the year group below."

Cat nodded her understanding. "Well maybe that will be better for her and give her more chance of earning her diploma," she commented reasonably.

"Maybe, but it also means she needs to keep working for three years and not two; we'll see if she can do that," he added with a grin.

"Are you busy tonight?" she asked.

"André and I are hanging after school," he explained, "he wants me to help him with tech theatre and we'll maybe do a little more work on my instrument playing. After that we're going for our fencing classes but later on I'm all yours if you want to do something?"

"Sure, just head on over once you're done swashbuckling," she grinned.

Music room

It was a shorter lesson than normal for Freddie; he and André spent around three-quarters of an hour working on his guitar playing before downing their instruments and picking up the tech theatre books. As they were dividing time between the two, and sat in the music room, they would only be looking at the theory for tonight (having about another forty-five minutes before they needed to meet Beck at the fencing studio). It had been slow going to begin with but in the final five minutes Freddie gave his friend a quick quiz and, at last, he was comfortable with all the terms that they had been using.

"So how was it?" the former tech producer asked once they had packed everything away and were leaving the room.

"Better than I thought it would be," the musician confessed, "I get the basics now so hopefully when we look at some of the things in action in a couple of weeks I'll be able to get it all down."

"You should," Freddie reasoned, "people see all the gadgetry and all the buttons on the board and they panic, but there's really nothing complicated; it's like thinking a keyboard or a piano is hugely complicated because there are so many keys on it – but once you know which one you need to play to get which note it's not so scary."

"I guess," the dreadlocked teen replied weakly; he wasn't sure about the comparison but could at least see his friend's point.

Valentine residence

It was a weary Freddie Benson who rang the doorbell of his girlfriend's home; Cat's parents were out so she was sat in the living room with the TV on while she made a few notes on the song she planned to write for class.

"Ding dong," she muttered subconsciously in response as she lifted her head, before getting up and opening the door and being greeted by her smiling boyfriend. "Hi," she smiled back and gave him a hug, "how was sword fighting?"

"Really good thanks," he ran his free hand through his hair; Cat had seized the other and was leading him inside. Freddie intentionally caught the door with a swing of his foot and pushed it shut as they headed for the living area and sat together on the couch. "Beck's really improved after missing so much time with his injury last year, André's still working hard at it and me…" he shrugged modestly, "I'm enjoying it – I have some time sparring with some of the other experienced fencers and then I take a group of beginners for a class too. Usually it's quite young kids just starting out with it but that's fine; it means I get my membership for free so long as I teach a class for them."

Cat nodded politely before turning slightly on the couch so that the couple were facing one another; she gently framed Freddie's cheeks with her hands and pulled him into a deep kiss. There was no urgency for the pair as they enjoyed the pleasant contact; Cat moaned slightly against his mouth as Freddie slipped his arms around her back to pull her body closer against his own. They remained lost in their own, tranquil world as they made out – until Freddie's stomach growled audibly; it was something that his girlfriend found hilarious.

"I'm sorry," she panted between giggles, covering her mouth with her hand and trying desperately to control her laughter, "it was just so funny!"

"I didn't get to eat anything before we went to the studio," he defended himself lightly, "do you want to go out and get something?"

"I'm good," she replied with a trace of sadness, "we ate before mom and dad went to the theatre tonight," was her explanation. "There might be something in the fridge I could warm up for you," she offered.

Freddie shrugged and smiled his acceptance; after all they had the place to themselves and it wouldn't be as much fun going out for something to eat if he was the only one who was eating.

Benson residence

Monday, 20th September 2010.

An unusual sensation was guiding Freddie into consciousness; as he emerged from his slumbers and his brain began to function again he could vaguely process a light, gentle pressure jumping across the left-hand side of his face (the right-hand side was resting against his pillow) along with a strange, almost tickling sensation by his ear and neck. The boy smiled at the pleasant sensation awakening him before his eyes shot open as he realised what he was feeling. He twisted his head to the left and saw the grinning face of his girlfriend less than an inch from his own; he managed to halt the movement of his neck as their noses gently bumped into one another and he scrambled to the right a little, retreating from the girl as she greeted him,

"Hi Freddie!" she declared in excited tones.

"Cat! What are you doing here?" he demanded in a shocked voice.

"I was so excited about the result of our auditions for the new play that I woke up early this morning… so I thought I'd come and say hi," she answered as if it all made perfect sense to do so.

"And my mom… she just let you in?" Freddie was incredulous that Marissa was happy for the girl to be in his room alone with him.

"She said I had to leave your bedroom door open but apart from that she was fine."

The tech producer found that hard to believe but opted against questioning his girl further, especially as she inched ever closer to him; he wriggled his left arm out from under the bed covers and slipped it around her as she snuggled next to his side. He closed his eyes, a feeling of absolute contentment welling within him.

"FREDDIE!" It wasn't to last long; Mrs Benson was calling loudly from the doorway. "It's time to get up and have some breakfast or you'll be late for school!"

He groaned but glanced at his clock, rather shocked to see that it was almost 8; he wasn't sure quite how early Cat had arrived but from the way her eyes were widening as she processed her surroundings it appeared that she'd fallen asleep again next to him.

He loosed his grip on the girl and she rolled off his bed, allowing him to get up; once he was upright she returned to his side and took his left hand in her right.

"I was expecting you down for breakfast almost an hour ago, since Cat arrived so early," Marissa commented.

"I guess we both fell asleep," he shrugged; the redhead nodded vigorously next to him. The head nurse turned on her heel and the young couple followed her downstairs to the kitchen.

"Would you like some breakfast, Cat?" Mrs Benson offered.

"Yes, please, I forgot to eat before I left," she replied, suddenly realising that that was indeed the case and smiling politely as a bowl was set before her; she helped herself to some of the muesli on the table and thanked Marissa for the cup of (decaffeinated) coffee that she was given.

"So what's happening today?" Mrs Benson asked her son.

"We've our singing class to carry on working on our songs for the kick-back," he began, thinking that he really needed to choose one soon, "then we've got Sikowitz's class; hopefully he'll tell us whether or not we've won the roles that we auditioned for last week."

"I still think it's odd that a teacher lets his students call him just by his last name," the reddish-brown haired parent commented.

"Odd pretty much sums that guy up; you remember him from my audition right? Bald hair, looks like a hippie hobo?"

Marissa nodded; it was the moment when she wondered whether, despite what Freddie had found out about the school, he might have been better off at Northridge after all.

Once breakfast was over the teens left; Marissa had the first night shift of her current rotation this evening so she had a steady day planned in which she'd run a few errands before having an afternoon nap to prepare herself for a night at work.

Main Hall, Hollywood Arts High School

"Oh, someone's happy this morning," Jade called teasingly from her locker as she saw Cat and Freddie enter the school smiling broadly. Cat headed for her own locker and Jade sidled over to join the tech genius by his, keeping an eye out for Beck, who was running late this morning. "What's put you in a disgustingly good mood," she joked.

"Little, red hair, giggles a lot," he smiled. "Let's just say being woken up by her was infinitely better than the last time I woke up with a girl in the same bed."

"WHAT?" Jade yelped loudly; a large number of heads turned in their direction.

"I didn't mean that," he assured her in a low voice, trying to keep their conversation at least slightly private, "but Cat showed up early at mine this morning while I was still asleep and snuck into my room and woke me up. Nothing happened," he insisted; Jade nodded to show that she believed him, though she still made a mental note to have a little chat with Cat at some point during the day.

"Hey, sorry, sorry," Beck interrupted wearily as he worked his way through the throng of students to his girlfriend's side; he greeted her with a quick kiss to the cheek and she closed her eyes briefly as the contact relaxed her.

"Hey dude, you ok?" Freddie asked in concern, seeing his friend looking slightly less composed and collected than usual.

"Yeah, just the whole working life," he shrugged. "I had to work some overtime last night because we were short-staffed, so I was up late finishing the last of my homework that's due today, so I overslept a little this morning, hence…" he finished by gesturing towards himself.

"Well, so long as they pay you the extra for it," Freddie commented. The longer-haired boy nodded his agreement, though he felt that the extra money didn't really compensate for the inconvenience and lack of sleep that he had experienced as a result.

"Not a problem for me," André observed as he joined the gathering, having overheard the latter stages of the exchange, "it was quiet at Yotally Togurt last night. In fact, the whole mall was quiet most of the evening; the boss sent me around the place with samples to entice customers and I could hardly find anyone."

"I'm not surprised," Freddie commented, "I was looking at the list of movies playing at Green Meadow at the moment and there's not too many new ones that I'd want to see right now. If it's the same at the theatre at the Northridge mall then no wonder there are fewer people there on an evening."

André nodded. "I just hope it picks up a little bit soon," he whispered, slightly fearfully, "if not then Mr Mooney says he might have to cut back on people's hours; I don't have a lot of hours to begin with."

The gang murmured sympathetically towards their friend as the bell rang and they began to go their separate ways; Freddie and Jade headed together towards their set design class.

"So how was your weekend if Beck was busy a lot?" he asked.

"Oh, you know me," she began.

"Yes, I do, how was it?" he repeated with a grin.

"It was quiet, alright," she answered in defeat. "I mean it's great that Beck's doing well at work; I just wish I saw him a little more is all."

Freddie gave an understanding nod. "And his boss wouldn't like you being there and distracting him any more than mine would like Cat leaning against the brilliance bar for my entire shift."

"Right, so I just have to amuse myself."

"You could hang with Cat for the afternoon," he suggested with a smirk.

"She's my best friend, I love her, she's your girlfriend but – there's only so much Cat I can take when nobody else is around," the gothic teen stated. "And speaking of her, what's the whole story about this morning?" she challenged.

"I told you," his voice was calm as he opened the door to their classroom and gestured for her to enter before him, "I was asleep then suddenly she was waking me up. I'm surprised my mom let her in to be honest but there we go." He sniggered, "maybe she's still worried that I'll move out again if she upsets me."

"It looks like that has its uses," Jade commended.

The young couple received some good news at the end of Sikowitz's class, the final class of the day; the balding eccentric informed Freddie and Cat that they had won the leads in the play they had auditioned for and handed them the full scripts to begin their read-throughs.

"So, do you want to do a little rehearsal tonight when I get back from work?" Freddie asked as the two left the classroom. "My mom's working nights so we could practice at my place."

"Ok, text me as you're leaving work and I'll see you at your place," she suggested.

Freddie gave her a quick goodbye kiss. "I look forward to it," he grinned.

AN: That's it for this chapter. Thanks for reading, please don't be shy about adding a review and I hope that you all return for the next chapter. PD.