Chapter Six: Never Let Me Down

Just like that, it had all come to an end. Four years of wishing it away, texting in class, gossiping by the lockers, sneaking a kiss while the teachers aren't looking. Four years of mostly hating high schools was about to be replaced by one night of wishing it wouldn't end. The night of the Senior Prom had dawned. The exams had taken a lot of out of Sam, Freddie and Carly and tonight they would cut loose and have fun. Carly still wasn't speaking to Sam and Freddie however and this concerned Freddie. The countdown to graduation was on and in a few short months Freddie would be trading, the rainy nights of Seattle for the sunny days of Los Angeles and he didn't want to leave things with Carly on a sour note. They had been friends for such a long time he couldn't bare losing her because she didn't approve of his girlfriend. When he really thought about it, he couldn't help but wonder what she was really mad about. Sam had her theory of course, but Freddie found it hard to believe that the reason Carly was mad wasn't because she didn't approve of Sam but because it wasn't her. True the two of them had expressed feelings for each other in the past but they had agreed to see how it went and nothing happened. Freddie moved on and he always assumed she had too, he'd never thought for a second that she might still have feelings for him. Instead he paraded by her first with Jennette then with Sam. If Sam's theory was true then Freddie had been a terrible friend to Carly, but then again. How was he to know?

Jennette was once again speaking to Freddie and had seemingly formed a friendship with Carly, Freddie wondered if the reason they were friends was their mutual disapproval of his and Sam's relationship. The news of their relationship had passed and they had become old news, the occasional confused look may be painted on a by passers face but generally their relationship had become accepted. The morning of the prom had arrived, sadly for the students of Ridgeway High they had attend school first. Sam arrived early that day from the way she walked the halls and tapped her locker as waited in front of it, it was clear to anyone that she was excited for the prom. Of course, she would never show this excitement in front of Freddie. She had been in love with Freddie for over a year and during that time she had worked on gradually changing her public attitude towards him and for the most part she had succeeded but for some reason she was still unable to show any excitement radiating from their relationship. This didn't seem to bother Freddie but with him leaving at the end of the summer, she wanted to correct this fundamental flaw in her behaviour before he went off to college and found someone who would be comfortable showing her happiness around him. The thought of this unsettled her, but not just that. The idea of him being in California surrounded by beautiful girls and a dorm full of temptation actually terrified her. This was a concern she was not likely to bring up with him as she trusted him and didn't want to tell him anything to make him doubt that. "Sam Puckett in before the first bell, who'd ever have seen it coming?" Sam smiled to herself before she returned to her cool, calm demeanour as she turned to meet her boyfriend.

"Well I sure didn't, you must be a good influence on me Freddork," She said.

"Aren't you sweet," Freddie said and leaned in to steal a quick kiss. Sam hesitated before she backed away denying him a kiss. Before he could say a word, she interjected,

"No PDA," She said quietly. Since their relationship was made public, Sam had been against public displays of affection. Kissing was a huge no-no especially in the middle of the school hallway.

"Sorry," Freddie said apologetically, "I forget," Sam looked down at her feet. She didn't like being like this with him but now their relationship, as out she had come to the realisation that there was a real chance of losing him and she had already begun pulling away.

"I'm sorry I've been a pain lately, it's just with everything with you and college and Jennette and Carly it just doesn't seem right to parade our relationship around the school," She said looking up.

"Alright I get it, but would slow dancing at the prom count as PDA?" He asked. Sam shrugged her shoulders,

"Maybe I could make an exception," She said. "Anyway I gotta get to 'class'," Sam added putting the word class in quotation marks.

"Alright, I'll see you later," Freddie said and Sam took off in the direction of her first class.

Carly walked into her apartment later that day. The senior prom was that night and she was not looking forward to it. It had been weeks since she had spoken to Sam and Freddie. Never did she imagine that her two best friends coupling up would result in her being left out, on the rare occasion the thought crossed her mind she assumed it would make life a little easier due to the lack of fighting. Carly pushed open the door to her bedroom, dropping her backpack on her bed as she made her way over to her desk and slumped into her chair. Hung up on her wardrobe was her prom dress, a beautiful pink dress, slit side, crystal straps. Simple but classy. Spencer was a little unsure about it after he saw the slit; Carly took a while to convince him that it would fine. She wasn't used to him be parental with her, she kinda liked it. It almost felt like she had a father in the house. Carly's mind had began to drift off into the dreams she had about the senior prom over the years, as she grew older and mature she found that her fantasies would often include Spencer opening the door of their apartment revealing Freddie in a handsome tuxedo coming to escort her to the dance. This was something she never shared with anyone, for a long time she didn't know what it meant and thoughts like it made being around Freddie confusing, she would never let on to how she was feeling. Not to Freddie, who as she believed, would get ahead of himself before she'd have a chance to think for herself. Or to Sam who would, despite never having done before, probably hit her for, as she would no doubt have put it, 'liking a loser'. Now, she wished she spoke up sooner. The fantasy of going to the prom with Freddie had forever been lost and now that he was dating her best friend, he was lost to her completely. After spending so many years keeping his advances at bay, had she missed her chance.

Sam Puckett was perhaps one of the least feminine girls there was, but there was something about going to the Senior Prom with her boyfriend that made her feel tingly and girly. This feeling was very alien to Sam who didn't know how to handle it. She sat at home wrapped in a towel, her blue satin prom dress laid out in front of her on her bed just waiting to be worn. She could her mother downstairs arguing with the cat but Sam had learned by now not to get involved when her mom was acting like a psycho. She knew that Freddie would be arriving in one hour and she knew that he would look handsome in his tuxedo but she felt like something was missing from her senior prom image. The fact that she had not spoken to her best friend for a couple of weeks had not crossed her mind until she was walking home from school and found herself outside Bushwell plaza. Never had she thought she'd have drifted apart from her best friend at such a monumental time in her life. She loved spending time with Freddie but as she looked from her prom dress to the photos around her room, she realised just how much she missed her best friend.

Freddie Benson didn't understand why so many people obsessed about their senior prom. Many people acted as if it was the end of something special and that the best days of their life was over. While he would never say he didn't value his experiences in High school, Freddie felt that the next part of his life would be the greatest years of his life. That the next four years he would spend in Cambridge would be an adventure that he would never forget. He couldn't wait, but one of the things he dreaded the most was how it would affect his current relationships. His friendship with Carly had become almost non-existent over the last few weeks and she lived across the hall. What would happen when he left the state? Then there was Sam, sweet Samantha. What would become of their relationship when they were separated by state lines? Would a long distance relationship work? Or would they both meet more suitable matches for themselves. Time would only answer these questions. Freddie would have to enjoy the only moments of certainty he had left. He stood in front of his mirror, he traditional black tux was almost perfect, he reached into the opened box on his bed and pulled out a blue bow tie and tied it around his neck completed his look. With a slight tug on the tie, he left the room to pick up his date.