Chapter 10: Prom

Carly:

"You want to get them back together?" Ms. Benson asked me in disbelief.

"Yeah. They love each other, right?"

"YES!" She gave me a huge hug. "I'm so glad I don't have to hate you anymore."

"You hated me?"

"You ruined the relationship between my Freddie and my future daughter-in-law."

"But it's Freddie's fault."

"Yes, but it never would've happened if you hadn't have asked him out."

I decided to let her rudeness slide. "OK. Let's just come up with a plan."

"Go get Spencer first."

"Why?"

"He needs to be part of this. He wants them together too."

Freddie:

I woke up to my mom slapping my face and yelling at me to wake up.

"Mom?"

"We're having a meeting. Come to the living room."

She pulled me by the arm out of bed. I had no idea what was going on. She sat me on the couch, handed me a cup of coffee, and sat down next to me. I took a sip, then looked up and saw Carly and Spencer. I spit out the coffee and asked, "What are you guys doing here?"

"We're going to have a strategy meeting for Mission Get Sam and Freddie Together Forever," Spencer told me.

There was a flutter in my stomach when I heard her name. "But she hates me," I said. "And where is she anyway?"

"She's asleep at my place," Carly said. "She's not allowed to know about this meeting."

"And I am?"

"You need to be involved," mom said. "We can't get this done without you. After all, you caused this mess. Well, Carly did too."

"OK! Let's stop blaming Carly and come up with a plan," Carly said.

"She doesn't want to be with me anymore, people!" I yelled. "She hates me now."

"No she doesn't," Carly told me. "She told me that she loves you. And I know that shirt she always wears to bed is yours."

"She... Told you she loves me?"

"Yes. And she compared your first time together to a romance novel for crying out loud."

"Sam reads romance novels?"

"Apparently."

I can't believe it. Sam loves me. She has always loved me. And I screwed it all up. But mom, Carly, and Spencer wanted to fix it.

"Why do you want us together so badly?" I wanted to know.

"You really need an answer to that?" mom asked. "You gave her chocolate covered bacon. Not many guys would think of that for a Valentine's gift. Even if the girl is like Sam. You obviously lo-"

"Wait!" Carly interrupted. "I want to hear him say it himself."

They all looked at me intensely. I looked down at my lap, sighed, and said, "I love her. I love her so much that it hurts."

"AW!" they all said.

I rolled my eyes. "Now that you're all brought up to speed, how are we going to do this chiz?"

"Well," Carly began, "I was thinking Sam and I could go to prom and have fun for awhile, and eventually you can show up and do your thing."

"Wow. That's very specific," I said with sarcasm.

She glared at me. "That's why we're having this meeting. To improve the general plan."

"Bring her roses!" mom said.

"I don't think Sam's a roses kind of girl," Carly said.

"I'll give her one rose," I said. She doesn't need a bunch, and I know what I'll say to her when I give it to her.

"Oh! And you girls can go to prom in a limo and then Sam and Freddie can leave in it," mom suggested.

"Teah. That's good," Spencer said. "My buddy Socko can get the limo."

"NO!" we all yelled.

"What?"

"Spencer, remember what happened when Socko got us a plane ride to Japan?" Carly reminded.

"Yeah..."

"We were surrounded by possi," mom said.

"We had to pee in a bucket," Carly told him.

"And we had to jump out of the plan into Japan," I added.

"OK. Maybe I won't have Socko get you a limo," Spencer said sadly.

"I already reserved a limo anyway," mom said.

"You did?" I asked.

"I never gave up hope that you two would go to prom together."

"We need to make it perfect," Carly said.

Sam:

Carly shook me awake.

"Ugh. What time is it?"

"It's two."

I shot up. "I missed breakfast?!" I got out of my sleeping bag and ran downstairs to the kitchen. I poured myself a large bowl of cereal.

"Sam!" Carly said breathlessly, "We have a lot to do to prepare for prom."

"Like what?" I said with my mouth full.

"We have to get our hair and make-up done."

"How long could that possibly take?"

"Awhile! And prom's only four hours away! We have to hurry!" She grabbed my wrist and pulled me away from my food.

"FOOD!" I yelled.

"We'll get something on the way!"

Two hours later, we were back at Carly's. Her hair was in this really fancy up-do. They just made my hair a bit curlier and put a bunch of fake red diamond thingies in it. It does look pretty cool.

"Let's get in our dresses," Carly said while pulling me upstairs.

"If I knew going to this dance would be so stressful, I wouldn't have agreed to go."

"Oh shut up. It'll be fun. Now put your dress on."

I did as she commanded. I looked at myself in the mirror. I felt so ridiculous. Carly popped up behind me and said, "You look so pretty!"

"Whatever. S how are we getting to this shin-dig? Is Spencer driving us?"

"Nope. We got a limo!"

Slight panic rose in my throat. "Socko didn't arrange it, did he?"

"Oh god no. Ms. Benson did."

"OK. Good."

"It's waiting outside right now."

"Sweet! Let's go!" I'm a little excited. I've never ridden in a limo before.

Freddie:

Carly texted me when she and Sam were leaving. I peeked out of the peephole to get a look at Sam. She looks gorgeous. I can't wait to see her close up.

"They leave yet?" mom asked.

""Yup. They just did."

"Good. It's time to get you ready."

Carly:

Sam really seemed to be enjoying the limo.

"This limo is the chiz!" she yelled happily.

I laughed and tool a ton of pictures of the both of us. But I'm really nervous. What if our plan doesn't work? What if Sam runs away as soon as she sees Freddie? What if she kills Freddie? No. It'll be OK. It'll all work out. Right?

We finally arrived at the dance.

"I can't believe our Senior Prom is in the gym of our school," Sam said. "Don't most proms happen in fancy hotels or whatever?"

"Well, someone stole most of the money from the prom fund," I said to her accusingly.

"Oh. You can't prove anything!"

I laughed. We walked into the gym and Sam said, "Wow. They actually managed to make it look awesome."

I agreed. They did a really good job. It didn't even look like a gym anymore. I hope it stays that way after our plan gets set into motion.

Freddie:

I snuck into the backyard of an old lady's house. Her yard was filled with roses. I wiped out the gardening shears I found in her shed and cut one free.

"Intruder!" I heard the lady yell.

"Shit!" I whispered.

"I'm calling the police!"

I ran across her yard and jumped the fence. I landed hard on the ground. Luckily, the rose was OK. I got up, and started racing toward prom.

Carly:

I ran up to Gibby and asked, "Is Freddie on his way?"

"Yup. He's running here now."

"Running?"

""He said something about an old lady calling the cops on him."

"Um... OK? I gotta get back to Sam."

"Hey, Carly?" Gibby said.

I stopped. "What?"

"Thanks for letting me in on Mission Get Sam and Freddie Together Forever. I'm really hoping it works."

"Me too, Gibby. And no problem. You're an awesome friend. Hey. You're going to the same college as all three of us, right?"

"Yup. Well, I'm gonna go dance." He walked away from me while removing his jacket and shirt. He left his tie on.

"Oh Gibby, you weird little man," I said, and went to join Sam.

Freddie:

I walked into the dance. I thought out gym would look terrible since Sam stole all the prom fund money, but it actually looked really good.

As I waled toward the DJ on the edge of the crowd, I searched for Sam. I found her quickly. She was dancing with Carly and a shirtless Gibby. She was laughing and having a good time. I hope our plan doesn't ruin her good time.

I reached the DJ. "Did Gibby tell you I was... T-Bo?!"

"Hey."

"You're our DJ?"

"Principal Franklin bought a month's supply of bagels in exchange."

"OK... Anyway, you were expecting me?"

"Yup. Do your thing, man."

I grabbed the microphone, and it began.

Sam:

The music stopped and a voice over the speakers said, "Samantha Puckett?"

I turned around to face the DJ booth. Sure enough, there was Freddie. He was wearing a suit with his red vest and tie, and he was holding a single rose.

He looked really, really nervous. I feel kinda bad for him. "Um... I didn't really plan on what I was gonna say when I got here..."

The crowd laughed at him. I yelled at them to "shut the fuck up" and looked back at Freddie. He was smiling at me.

"Ask her to dance!" Carly yelled.

"Right. Do you want to dance, Sam?"

I stood there dumbfounded. Nothing like this has ever happened to me before. Guys don't usually go this far to be with me. I looked around. Everyone was staring at me. Waiting for my reply to Freddie.

"She would love to dance!" Carly said for me. "Right, Sam?" I nodded in agreement.

When Freddie started to scurry toward me, I asked Carly, "Did you know about this?"

"We developed a plan."

"We?"

"Freddie, Spencer, Ms. Benson, and I. Well, Gibby helped a bit too."

"Sam," Freddie said when he finally reached me. He held out a hand. A slow song started. My heart was pounding. I took his hand.

"So," I said as we danced, "You guys had a plan?"

He chuckled. I love his stupid chuckle. I want to be mad at him for thinking I'd forgive him so easily, but I couldn't. If Carly forgave him and was willing to get him back together with me, maybe there was more to everything than I thought.

"Yeah. We had a plan," he told me. "Carly came over last night talking about how she wants us back together. I learned that everyone wants us back together. "

"Wow. And they think I'll just forgive you?"

"If this plan doesn't work there'll be more. And I never expected you to forgive me. I didn't expect you to even dance with me."

I laughed. "Neither did I. But here I am."

"Sam, I'm really, really, really, really sorry that I was a complete idiot."

The song stopped and a faster one began.

"Can we go somewhere to talk?" he asked.

""Sure." He grabbed my hand as we walked, but I pulled it away.

Carly:

Gibby and I watched them walk away.

"Why'd she do that?" I asked with panic.

"Calm down," Gibby said to me. "It'll all work out. I men, Sam didn't beat him to a pulp."

I took a calming breath. "You're right. It's all going to work out."

Sam:

We had been wandering through the halls for about a minute, and we had yet to say anything.

"You wanted to talk, so talk," I finally said.

"I don't know how to start."

"Just tell me why you were with Carly and me at the same time. I'm sure you have a reason."

It all cam flying out of his mouth. He told me he stayed with Carly-even though she annoyed him-was because he had wanted her for so long that he thought he should be enjoying it, so he just kept it up, hoping it'd get better. He said he always preferred to spend time with me, and not just because we got it on. He also said he didn't realize all that until that day we tried on our prom dresses.

I punched his arm and said, "You're such a fucking idiot."

"First of all, OW! Second of all, I know I should have realized this before. I was going to dump Carly."

"But you fucked her!"

"If it helps, I thought about you the whole time."

"Nope."

"Really?"

"OK. Yes it does. A lot better actually. So. Is that rose for me?"

"Yes. It is." He practically squished it into my face. Thank god I grabbed it quickly.

"Jesus, Frederly. You didn't have to try to kill me with it."

"Sorry. I'm really nervous."

"Sure." I looked down at the rose. No one's ever given me a rose. I guess it's because most people don't think I'm worthy of them. "Do I seem like a rose type of girl?"

"Not a dozen of roses type of girl, but a single rose type of girl. And that rose needs to still have its thorns."

"Um... OK. Why?"

"A rose with thorns is just like you."

I just looked at him. Where is he going with this? I don't stab people. Well, I haven't stabbed anyone yet.

"How's it like me?" I asked.

"A rose with thorns is beautiful, but can hurt people. Make them bleed. Just like you."

That was the sweetest thing I've ever heard. But I had to torture him a little bit. "The only thing that I have in common with a rose is that I can make people bleed?"

He looked baffled. "Did you miss the part where I called you beautiful?"

I laughed and smiled. "You really think I'm beautiful?"

"I think you're fucking gorgeous."

I stepped closer to him. "Wow, Fredward. I like it when you swear."

He took a step closer to me. "You wanna hear something even better than that?"

A step closer to him. "What?"

A step closer to me. "I stole that rose from an old lady's backyard."

I started laughing.

"Hey! She said she was going to call the cops on me!"

"You got caught?!" I just laughed harder.

He groaned and turned to walk away. I grabbed him, turned him back, and kissed him very passionately. When I pulled away I said, "I love you, you nub."

He smiled. "Good. Because I'm madly in love with you, Princess Puckett."

I looked around and realized where we were. "Freddie?"

"Hmmm?"

"Do you realize where we are?"

He looked around. "Holy shit! When'd we get on the second floor?"

"I have no idea." We were in our hallway. Right in front of our closet. I smirked. "It's been a long time since we've been in the closet. Wanna go in there?"

He smiled. "Sure."

I kneeled down-wich was awkward in heels-and picked the lock. Once we were in and the door was shut, we attacked each other. I didn't realize how much I missed the feel of his lips against mine until that moment.

He moaned. "I love it when you do that."

"Do what?" I asked.

"Nibble on my bottom lip. It drives me wild."

I giggled. Then a thought crossed my mind. He hadn't asked yet, which is surprising. What else is surprising is that I really want to do it now. "Hey, I said.

"What?" he asked between kisses on my neck.

"Wanna make one of your fantasies come true?"

His eyes widened. "YES!"

Damn. The bot had my clothes off in, like, two seconds.

Freddie:

This is the best night of my life. Sam had finally forgive me. And we got to have sex in our storage closet. It was even better than I imagined it would be.

"Stop looking so happy," Sam said as we walked back into prom. "Everyone'll know you got laid."

"Who cares? We're graduating soon. We won't see most of these people ever again."

"Guys!" Carly yelled as she ran up to us. "Is all good with you gu-Oh my god. You did it?" She looked at Sam and gasped. "In the closet?"

"You told her about my fantasy?" I asked.

"Shut up, Frednerd," Sam said. She looked at Carly. "It was fucking awesome. I'm so glad he would always beg me to do it. I never would have suggested it tonight if he hadn't. Oh my god, Carls. You need to screw in a closet with a dude sometime."

"OK, Sam, that's enough," I said. "Is it cool if we go, Carly?"

"Sure. I'll see you guys later."

I walked Sam out of the dance. "How are we getting back to your place?" she asked.

"We're taking the limo."

"Really?"

"It was part of the plan."

We were walking down the hall of my building when we ran into Spencer.

He screamed with joy and embraced us both. "I'm so happy Mission Get Sam and Freddie Together Forever worked!" He let us go and ran off.

"That's what the plan was called," Sam said simply.

"Yup."

We walked into my place.

"Mom! We're here!"

"Freddie!" mom yelled as she ran to greet us. "Our plan worked?"

"Yes, mom."

"Can I sleep over, Ms. Benson?" Sam asked.

"As long as you two sleep with the door open."

"Sure," we both said.

Ms. Benson:

I looked into Freddie's room when I walked by it on my way to bed. Sam was in one of his T-shirts and Freddie had his arms wrapped around her. They go together so perfectly. I can't believe it took us all so long to realize it. I think I'll start planning their future wedding tomorrow.

THE END.