I could cut you into pieces, but my heart is broken.

Apologize
by Pwnguin

Day One : M o n d a y

If there's anything that Sam Puckett is known for, then it's her vicious and violent behavior towards her good friend Freddie Benson. Oh sure, she's violent to Gibby and random people in the hallway that decide to pick on her, but for an unknown reason most of her anger and violence is targeted at Freddie. Of course, the reason is known to Sam Puckett herself and only Sam Puckett herself. Isn't it obvious? How do young girls treat the young boys they like? With violence of course so the young boy doesn't think for a second that he's secretly being loved.

It's a simple relationship, really. Sam shows up at school, Freddie walks by to greet Sam and her friend Carly, then Sam sticks her piece of bacon on Freddie's face. During passing period, she pulls out a fist of hair from Freddie's brown head. At lunch, she takes a bite out of his turkey and provolone cheese sandwich without prior permission from Freddie. It's the circle of life, the way Sam works, the way things are supposed to be.

Until Sam takes it just a little too far.

Sam walks straight into Carly Shay's apartment after school, as usual, and she finds Freddie already at the couch working on homework. She plops down right next to him, takes out her math book, and lets it fall into Freddie's lap. "Thanks."

"For what?" Freddie asked, annoyed. "Letting me be your book cushion?"

"Nah. For doing my math homework," she says, getting up into the kitchen to grab a can of Peppy cola from the fridge.

"You could be polite and say please!" Freddie argues.

"I was polite!" Sam insists. "I said 'Thanks'." She takes a sip from her can and walks toward Freddie.

"You know, Sam, sometimes I think you don't appreciate the things I do for you," he says, sighing.

Sam takes another sip and shakes her head, "No! You have me all wrong. I do appreciate the things you do for me." She puts a hand on her shoulder. "Which is exactly why I ask you to do things for me all the time."

He groans and crosses his arms, "No."

"No what?"

"No, I won't do your math homework for you," Freddie says firmly.

"Oh, no, you're going to do my homework Fredward, because if you don't I'll - "

"You'll what," he says with a sneer, "Pour orange juice into my backpack? Lick my PearPod? Put cottage cheese in my sneakers?"

Without a word, she socks him in the face.

A scream erupts from Freddie's throat and it bubbles Sam's blood to her skin. In pain, Freddie puts his hand on his eye and Sam can almost hear the tears. He gathers his homework and backpack and starts to head out the door.

"Where you going, ya crybaby?" Sam calls out.

Freddie turns around and reveals the purple bruise around his eye. Sam gasps. He shakes his head and opens the door. Carly stands there and gasps when she sees Freddie's face. "Freddie, what happened?"

He doesn't answer. He just walks straight into his apartment.

Day Two : T u e s d a y

She knows that Freddie will be back to normal today. She knows he just overreacted a little. This wasn't the first time she gave Freddie a black eye, right? At least, she hopes so. She doesn't want their friendship to suffer just because she punched him in the face for the billionth time since she knew him.

Sam stands by her locker flipping through a magazine she found in the trash that morning. She doesn't really care about what the stars in Hollywood are up to, but the Jonas Brothers were looking mighty fine on the front cover, and she wanted to see if there was more. When she spots Freddie passing by from the corner of her eye, she looks up, tosses her magazine into the hallway and smiles. "Sup, Freddie. Did your mom stick a bag of ice or a frozen fish on that little shiner?"

He doesn't answer. He heads straight into his first period class, English, which so happens to be a class that Sam shares with him. Sam has never been early to class before, but there's a first for everything. Freddie's making her take the first step.

Everyone in the room gasps when Sam steps into the room 5 minutes early, but she barely hears it. She stands in front of Freddie's desk and says, "Hey. What's up?"

He doesn't answer. His eyes are glued to a textbook. She pushes his head back so that she's looking straight into his eyes. His black eye was slightly a lighter purple, but you could still tell he was punched in the face pretty hard. His face is hard, but the bruise around his eye makes him look vulnerable.

"Freddie. Talk to me."

He doesn't. He looks back down onto his textbook. The bell rings, and she sighs to take her seat behind Freddie. The teacher asks to collect everyone's homework, and Sam realizes she didn't know that there was homework.

Then again, did she ever know anything at all?

Day Three : W e d n e s d a y

Well, if there's anything that will make her feel better, it's to complain to Carly. Why? Because no matter what the problem and the level of ridiculousness it is at, Carly will always listen. So she goes straight to Carly.

As it turns out, she's on his side.

"You were just a little too mean to him, you know?" Carly says as she pours a glass of iced tea for Sam and herself. Sam sticks her straw into the glass and sips quietly. Deep down inside of her, she knows Carly's right. The rest of her believes that Freddie was acting like a drama queen. She punched him in the face for the billionth time. Does the billionth time break down your walls and cause you to not be friends anymore? Apparently.

"Sam, I think you should apologize to Freddie," Carly says.

"Why should I? Freddie knows I'm always bothering him. What makes this time any different that I need to apo-..." She chokes on her iced tea. "Apolo-" Or not. The word didn't want to come out. She coughs and takes another sip, "Apologi.... Yeeayy..." Sam shrugged. "Well, so much for that."

Carly rolls her eyes. Why was she friends with her again? Sam sighs and gets up, "Thanks, Carly. I guess."

If Carly can't make her feel better, then who can?

Day Four: T h u r s d a y

It's not like she has any other choice, except apologize to Freddie, of course. That path is just a little too hard for Sam, so she turns to...

"Gibby!" Sam screams down the hall. The pale kid sees Sam and instantly runs the other way. But Sam is still able to catch up.

"What do you want from me? Money?" Gibby whines. "I have some water balloons!"

Sam wonders about the change in Gibby's behavior. Usually Gibby would have taken Sam's violence without complaint. She hadn't even laid a finger on him and Gibby was already shaking in his sneakers.

"No, it's okay. I... I just want to talk," Sam says sincerely.

Gibby looks more afraid than he ever has. Sam is just a little shocked by that, but then again, why is she talking to Gibby in the first place? Gibby doesn't try to get away, so Sam starts to talk uncertainly, "Gibby, do you think I'm... too violent?"

"Which answer gets me out of you turning me into a pancake?"

Sam gives him a glare, "Really, Gibby. I'm not going to beat you up."

"Are you sure, because I heard about what you did to Freddie..."

"I punched him in the face! Gosh, I do that like every other week! Why is everyone making such a big deal out of it?" Sam screams hysterically.

"I don't know, but if we were friends, I would never want to stop being your friend if it's gonna get me a black eye like - "

"What?!" Sam says, shocked. "What do you mean, Gibby?"

"You and Freddie. Freddie didn't want to be your friend anymore so you punched him in the face. Right?"

"No! I just wanted him to do my homework and he said something about not appreciating him or something and he kind of threatened me a little and..." It dawns on her. Suddenly Sam feels something inside of her that she never felt before: guilt.

She turns to talk to Gibby but he's not there anymore. She hears quick footsteps running away from her.

Day Five: F r i d a y

She steps inside the apartment, and quickly goes to the fire escape before Mrs. Benson can bother her to get her shoes off. Sam sees Freddie sitting in a simple blue beach chair with his PearPod on its deck playing a song she doesn't recognize. She knocks on the glass door.

Freddie turns and sees Sam. He doesn't ignore her, but he doesn't talk to her. So she sits in the windowframe and recalls her first kiss there. "Hey."

Freddie nods.

"Nice... weather."

A mumbled out of Freddie's lips.

"Bruise fading?"

He turns and she still sees a slight purple tinge around his eye, but he's looking better.

"Still mad at me?"

He doesn't answer.

"What if I apologized?" She had practiced in front of her mirror saying the word.

He shifts his position and looks at her, but he doesn't answer.

"I'm... really sorry, Freddie. I really do appreciate the things you do for me. You're a really good friend and... I hate you not talking to me. So... I'm really sorry, and please talk to me Freddie 'cause it's not the same. I talked to Gibby, Gibby for Pete's sake, Freddie, and that made me realize how much of a jerk I was." She took a breath and stared at Freddie's eyes. They were straight on her eyes. "So please forgive me because I'm feeling really icky for being nice right now. Please, before I give your black eye a friend."

Freddie nods and looks at her, "Apology accepted."

A smile comes on her face and, on impulse, she gives him a big hug. Freddie takes it by surprise, but then she feels his hand pat her back. With a tear rolling down her cheek, she says, "You finally talked to me."

You're my perfect little punching bag, and I need you, I'm sorry.

A/N:
Lyrics are from "Please Don't Leave Me" by P!nk
I don't like this song very much, (the video is just scary) but it's very Sam/Freddie, don't you think?
With this story, I officially declare myself a Seddie shipper. Happy?
You wouldn't believe how much I slacked on this story. I wanted it done by today, which is why the last three days are kind of rushed. I couldn't think of a better ending either.
Despite that... what do you think?

Oh, and btw, today was the last day of Freshman year for me. (: Haha, I feel like I just announced starting my Freshman year on some fanfic... oh how time passes. Happy summer everyone. :D