First off, I just wanted to apologize for the long wait for this chapter! I've been really busy with my other story, and wasn't able to get any inspiration for this one...until now! Again, I'm sorry for the wait! But to quote one of the Dingo writers in the iCarly episode, iTake On Dingo, "Coming up with ideas is hard."=P Hope you guys like the chapter! It was a bit difficult getting back into the flow of writing Carly and Sam as each other!
There was an uncomfortable silence between the three friends as they stood in the school's hallway. 'There's something still not right with them...' Freddie thought as he looked at both girls. He watched as he saw Carly glare at Sam disgruntled, while Sam just rolled her eyes at her. '...and I'm going to find out what it is.'
"Um Carly?" Freddie asked quietly. From his point of view, he noticed that Sam was going to respond to him first, and just as she was about to open her mouth she stopped, and shoved Carly instead.
"Huh? What?!" Sam asked as she felt her best friend give her a small shove. She then looked over towards Freddie. "Oh yeah.." She murmured, forgetting she was going by Carly's identity. "What do you want?" She asked a bit too harshly.
"Is it alright if I speak to you for a moment....alone?" He asked cautiously, looking over at who he thought was Sam, waiting for an insult of some sort. Instead she just stared at them nervously.
'This can't be good..' Carly thought as she realized Freddie was unknowingly going to pull Sam into a private conversation. One where he could easily say the wrong thing and end up in a hospital for it.
"Oh...." Sam hesitated as she looked over towards Carly. Her best friend nodded her head a bit, signaling that she should go. Sam gulped and looked back at Freddie awkwardly. "Sure." She finally replied.
"Alright.." Freddie took Sam's arm and pulled her away from her best friend. Carly watched as Sam glanced back at her nervously. Carly knew she couldn't offer any help at this point, and shrugged in response as she watched Freddie drag her best friend around the corner. When the two disappeared out of view, Carly sighed and turned around, placing the bag of cheese puffs into Sam's locker. She started to fiddle around in there to waste time as she nervously wondered what Freddie wanted to discuss with Sam.
"Ok, I want an explanation." Freddie stated as he pulled Sam around the corner.
"Explanation?" She asked awkwardly as the two stopped in front of his locker.
"Yeah! Why have you and Sam been acting all....weird today?" He asked.
"Um....." Sam thought for a moment. She had no clue what to say.
"I mean, Spencer told me about your fight yesterday but you guys said it was no big deal.." Freddie paused for a moment before he continued to talk. "At first I thought that was the cause of your....weirdness, but now I think something else is going on." He stated suspiciously. Sam gulped.
"W-what do you mean?"
"I'm not sure exactly. It's like your personalities have changed a bit."
"What?!" Sam asked frantically. "What are you talking about?!"
"You! This!" Freddie exclaimed as he pointed towards her. "You keep freaking out at everything I say! Almost like you're mad at me for no reason! I mean, it's normal for Sam to act crazy and psycho like that, but not you Carly!"
"But I'm not acting.." Sam's voice trailed off as she finally took into account what the boy had just told her about herself. "What do you mean crazy psycho?" She slit her eyes and glared at him.
"Well you know, Sam's a bit....." He trailed off in thought, trying to think of a word to describe her.
"A bit what?" Sam spoke through gritted teeth. Poor Freddie didn't realize who he was talking to.
"Um a bit....angry?" He offered, noticing that Carly was getting irritated for whatever reason and didn't want to upset her more.
"Angry?" Sam asked as he nodded. She paused for a moment. 'Ok, I can deal with that..' She thought, letting Freddie off the hook.
"Yeah, sometimes I think she should even be put on meds or something." He gave a small laugh. Sam glared at him as she mentally noted that Freddie was back on the hook. A left hook specifically.
'Oh, you're asking for it..' Sam thought angrily as she clenched up her left fist, ready to pop him one in the mouth.
"...but seriously...I don't actually mean that. It's just sometimes..." Freddie's smile faded as he looked down. Sam's fist loosened up as she noticed his expression change.
"Sometimes what?" She asked.
"I dunno." Freddie shrugged. "I mean, I like hanging out with you guys and all, but sometimes I get the feeling that she really hates me. Like a genuine hate..."
Sam was stunned to hear this. Of course they had their share of bickering before, but she thought he always bounced back from it. It was a bit unnerving to hear these words. 'Maybe I have pushed the nub a bit too far..' Sam thought in retrospect. Also, the fact that she was going to punch him in the face a few moments ago didn't help her case much either.
"Carly?" Freddie asked as he snapped his fingers in front of her face.
"Huh what?" Sam asked, as she was shaken from her thoughts.
"You kind of spaced out on me." Freddie looked at her awkwardly. "You ok?"
"Yeah fine fine.." Sam shook her head. "But what you said about er...Sam...it's not true. She doesn't hate you."
"I know you're going to stick up for her since she's your best friend...but if I don't hear those words directly from her mouth, it means nothing.." Freddie sighed.
'But...they are...' Sam thought. 'Sort of..' She added, remembering she had Carly's mouth.
"So anyways.." Freddie decided to switch the topic as he felt they were getting too deep into his emotions. "You still haven't answered my question.."
"Huh? What question?" Sam asked. Freddie sighed in frustration.
"Why you're acting so weird!" He exclaimed.
"Oh...that.." Sam moaned, wishing he forgot about it. "Um..." She looked around the hallway for a moment as she tried to think of an excuse to use for irrational behavior and undeserved bursts of anger. She saw a random girl and boy walking hand in hand down the hallway together as they smiled. She then glanced over and noticed another girl standing by her locker crying as one of her friends was comforting her. And lastly, she saw one more girl walk by with a bag of M and M chocolate candies in her hands, munching along as she walked to class. That's when Sam's eyes widened in realization as she came upon an excuse.
"Carly...?" Freddie asked cautiously, wondering if she was blanking out on him yet again. "Hello?"
"It's female trouble!" Sam snapped as she looked back at him.
"What?" He cocked an eyebrow as he looked at her.
"Carl uh, I mean, Sam and I, it's female trouble." She stated firmly, not saying a word more as she let Freddie draw his own conclusions.
"Female troub...? Oh..............OH!" He stated slowly until he realized what she was implying. Sam watched as his eyes became wide. He was definitely not expecting that response.
Freddie then shoved his pointers into his ears. "NAH NAH NAH NAH, DON'T WANT TO HEAR ABOUT IT, NAH NAH NAH." Sam rolled her eyes at his immature reaction. She reached over and pulled his hands away from his head.
"But I thought you wanted to discuss this.." She stated sweetly, obviously enjoying his discomfort. Freddie stared back at her, downright horrified.
"Hey! It's your's and Sam's business! No need to include me." He stuttered quickly with a sheepish smile, backing away. Just then the bell rang, signaling class was going to begin in a few minutes. "Oh look, the bell!" Freddie exclaimed as he pointed up to the ceiling. "Don't want to be late!" Sam watched as he turned around on his heel and bolted down the hallway. She gave a small laugh as she walked back around the corner to see Carly waiting for her by their lockers.
"Where's Freddie?" Carly asked quickly. "And what did he want?!"
"He went to class. And he was just wondering why we were acting all weird and stuff." Sam stated casually.
"Oh no.." Carly muttered. "What did you tell him?"
"Tell him..?" Sam repeated nonchalantly as she glided over to her locker. "Nothing really. All you need to know is that we don't have to worry about him bothering us anymore." She stated with a small satisfied smile.
"Sam...." Carly spoke slowly with caution, knowing her best friend could have easily threatened the poor boy into submission. "What did you say?" She asked accusingly.
"I didn't beat him up if that's what you're thinking." Sam replied as she looked back at her friend.
"But..then what.." Carly started to protest but was cut off.
"It's done. Over with. Period." She couldn't help but smile at the last word. Carly just looked at her oddly before the bell rang once more, signaling that they now had only one minute to get to class.
"Oh man! I forgot! We're not in the same class right now!" Carly remarked, suddenly remembering that small detail. She quickly ran over to her locker and dug around for a second until she pulled out a textbook and notebook. She turned around and handed them over to Sam. "My class is in room 112, with Mrs. Stevens."
"Huh?" Sam looked down at the books and noticed they had the word science written on them. "Oh, that's kind of funny because I also have....." Her voice trailed off as she looked up at Carly, realizing there was something that she hadn't thought of until now.
"What's wrong?" Carly asked, watching her friend's expression change.
"Oh uh nothing, n-nothing at all!" Sam stuttered.
"Well ok then.." Carly replied, not at all convinced. But she decided to let it go as she realized there was no time to talk. "So can you get me your books for your next class? Also, what room is it.."
"No!" Sam quickly responded.
"Huh?"
"Um, I want you to cut class." She stated quickly.
"What? Why?!" Carly asked, not sure what her friend was talking about. Just then a teacher walked by and looked over at the two girls.
"Get to class ladies!" He yelled as he continued to walk down the hallway. Sam turned around and shut her locker.
"But Sam! I need the textbook for your next class! Or at least one of them to give off the illusion I have the right book." Carly stated, putting air quotes around the word illusion.
"Dude...listen to me." Sam looked back over at her friend and put a hand on her shoulder. "I. want. you. to. cut. class." She stated firmly.
"I can't do that!" Carly responded once more, knowing their time was running short.
"I gotta go." Sam stated as she looked over towards the hallway. She knew Carly had a thing about getting to class on time for whatever reason, and didn't want to soil her friend's impeccable timing.
"Sam.." Carly moaned.
"Look!" Sam turned back around as she shoved her hand into her pocket. She pulled out a twenty dollar bill and handed it over to Carly. "Take my money and go to the Groovy Smoothie and sit there for forty minutes sipping a smoothie or something. Now I gotta go. Bye!" Sam waved back as she ran around the corner and disappeared. Carly just stood there in shock, holding up the twenty dollar bill. She looked down at it in her hand and thought for a moment, wondering where Sam got the bill from.
"Hey! Wait a minute! This is my money!" She yelled out as she realized Sam took it from her own pant pockets. Carly grumbled as she shoved it into her friend's backpack. She then looked around the empty hallways and realized she was unfortunately going to have to cut class since she had no clue where to go. Just as she started to walk towards an exit, a geeky looking boy ran around the corner. Carly recognized him as a boy named Brandon.
"Hi Bran.." She started to say casually before he ran up to her.
"Sam! I've been looking for you everywhere!" He stated as he grabbed her arm.
"Wha--?" Carly asked as the boy started to pull her down the hallway.
"Our teacher was wondering where you were!" He exclaimed, pulling Carly's arm as he dragged her down the hallway.
"Our teacher?" Carly asked. "So that means you're taking me to my next class?"
"Mhm." Brandon nodded as he pushed up his glasses with his pointer.
'Oh wow, what luck!' Carly thought happily. Even though Sam didn't want her to go to, she felt there was no harm in going to class anyway, especially since she was getting escorted there.
"Here we are." Brandon smiled as he stopped at room 127.
'No way...' Carly's eyes widened as she realized what room it was.
Hmm, now what class does Sam have that she was so reluctant to let her friend know about?