Annoying A/N: And here I present to you the final chappie! I got a review or two about mistakes I made in my second chappie, and I reread it and it is revised. Still, I couldn't find any real mistakes, so if it's still there please point it out to me? :) I'm stupid.

Oh, and in case it was what Sam said ("ever since what-happened-to-him happened to him") that confused you, I added dashes to make more sense.

Also, the story is below 5000 words for the lovable mods holding tasers for those daring to even touch the line of rulebreaking D:. It's just my annoying A/Ns getting in the way.

Turning Handles

At the end of that week, there was the day that Carly had to run an errand for the teacher, a day when she allowed Sam to go home before her, the day that as she closed the classroom door behind her—errand wrapped up and her ready to go home—and started walking down the hall, she spotted Elaine Berger walking down in the other direction.

As soon as they got close enough, both brunettes stopped, giving the other similar empty expressions, surveying each other's face. It was Carly who had spoken first. "Hey. What are you doing here?"

"I forgot my history book." As Elaine held up the book she had been cradling in her arms, then tucking it under her arm, the spiteful voice in Carly's head muttered, She must be pretty klutzy to have forgotten a textbook.

Elaine's face remained blank as she asked, "What about you?"

"Had to run an errand for the teacher."

"I see." Elaine started to walk past her, but Carly turned and spoke, "Hey, how's Freddie?"

Elaine pressed her lips together, then turned to face Carly. There was an icy look in her eyes. "Why?"

Carly raised an eyebrow in distaste at the now defensive-looking teen. She must be a bitch, I knew it! "Well, 'cause you know… I haven't been talking to him in a while."

"So you're interested in his life now because of all that's happened and all the rumors about him, is that it?"

Carly frowned. "Gawd! Why are you like that? I haven't done anything to you!"

"Well, maybe not to me…" Elaine lowered her chin and glared at Carly from underneath her lashes.

Carly felt as if someone had dropped ice cubes in her stomach, a familiar feeling. But this did not lower Carly's guard. "Why are you with him, anyway?" Carly demanded. "What's your motive behind all this?"

Tears sprang to Elaine's eyes. Taken aback, Carly's mouth dropped open.

"I wish people would stop asking me that!" she cried, and, spinning on the spot, darted away.

Carly stood rooted to the spot, confusing herself.

Carly did a lot of thinking that night, came up with a few thoughts that she did not want to think about, and finally just blew them away and fell asleep.

The next day Carly saw Freddie and Elaine standing next to the lockers that they usually stood by. Freddie was cupping her left shoulder with his head slightly bent, the back of his head almost completely covering Carly's view of Elaine's face. However, she did not fail to see the look of unhappiness in Elaine's expression. She seemed troubled as she looked up at Freddie, and he nodded at her. He then led her outside, and disappeared in the crowd.

Carly turned away with feelings difficult to describe in text, her face crumpling slightly.

If only she could also have been comforted.

Carly was going through hell everyday, and slowly she finally wasn't the only one who was noticing this.

"Hey, Sam, could you go home before me?" Carly asked her as they were getting ready to leave. "I think I'll be standing by back today to run a few more errands."

Sam gave her a lingering look before finally answering, "Okay."

That was weird, Carly thought, watched her go before heading aimlessly herself in the other direction, into the blinding crowd.

Carly watched the students filed by and slowly disappeared. Their conversations buzzed in her deaf ears as she leaned by in the shadows, so many memories running through her head, but thinking absolutely nothing at the same time.

When the sky darkened and splotches of red stretched out across the sky, Carly was reminded vividly of her occurrence with stupid Elaine Berger. The thought weakened her, and slowly she lowered herself to the ground. Head buried in her arms, Carly came to a clear comprehension with her feelings. Yes, she was guilty. She had no right to call him such things.

She should have apologized to him while he was going through what he did, and when she stood at their doorstep, she should have tried harder.

And, though she still disliked her, she had absolutely no right to hate Elaine Berger when it was that girl who really cared about Freddie and didn't care about what anyone else thought, instead choosing to stay with him even when she was being given a hard time because of it.

Lastly, she should have stopped to think about what she had while she still had it.

Freddie...

"Hey, are you crying?"

Carly lifted her head at the familiar voice. Only now was she conscious of the tears that dropped onto her knees. What she saw standing above her was Freddie Benson, a bag hoisted over his shoulder and with an inquisitive look on his face. He was frowning slightly.

"Oh, um…" Carly wiped the tears from her eyes, and fixed her gaze back on her knees, thinking about what to say.

Freddie hesitated, then crouched in front of her. "You know," he said in an effort at casual conversation, "this reminds me of the time when I saw you crying in front of the iCarly studio."

She smiled a small smile. "You remember?"

"Yeah," he stood up, looking away, placing his hands in his pockets. "It was when you hugged me." He mentioned only now not because they've never hugged before, which they did, but because he didn't know the reason for the hug then.

However, there was neither curiosity nor concern when he said it.

There was a pause, and Carly lowered her head. "Freddie," she said, then lifting her head to look at him, "What are you doing here? Don't you… hate me?"

He shrugged, looking at her. "I don't hate you," he said, "I just hate what you did."

Another pause. His words were cold comfort, but at least the knew the truth. Well, some of it. "…And what about Sam?"

He smiled. Of course, it was not a big one. "Well, she got to be less annoying ever since I started 'hating' her. But then earlier she stopped me from walking Elaine home. Asked me if I could stay behind."

So that was it, Carly realized, but the only thing she could focus her mind on was the name last mentioned. A shadow came over her eyes, and Carly asked with much reluctance, "H-how's Elaine? I didn't know you were close with her before."

There was a silence as Freddie looked blankly at her. "I wasn't," he finally answered. "She might have been a witness, maybe even just heard about it, but whichever it was, she was concerned and came onto me while I was still in a cast." He looked up, another smile on his face. "Of course she just pitied me then. I was distant from her and reluctant to accept her goodwill at first. Then we got to know each other, and then… you know."

Carly didn't smile. "B...by the way," she began. "I... I saw Elaine crying yesterday. I-I wasn't spying or anything, but I just saw her and..."

"Oh, something was bothering her." His face turned solemn. "She was worried about how other people saw her regarding our relationship. It didn't bother her in the beginning, but it just kept coming, and she started to react more sensitively. It's amazing how a person can break like she did and still endure. I even suggested that maybe we should stop, but she refused, not een agreeing to keep us a secret. She said being with me was worth it. She works hard."

Carly felt as if the guilt would kill her, there and then.

"Well, the thing is, she saw me for who I really was and loved everything about it," Freddie went on, smiling. "And I like her because of that."

Wasn't that why you liked me?

"You? Well, not lately."

Ohmigawd, did she just say that out loud?

"I loved you, Carly," he said softly. "You threw away our friendship, and that hurt, but I only realized it when you embarrassed me in front of everybody. I still hate what you did, but I guess I hate more that you didn't think of me even as a friend anymore." This time, he crouched down to her level slowly as he said it.

Carly let out a single dry sob, her shadowed face streaked with tears. "I'm sorry," she said.

"It's okay." He patted her on the head. "I figured out that much. The first thing you did was my fault, too. But I guess if it weren't for you rejecting me so callously, I would have never gotten together with Elaine."

Carly inwardly cringed.

Freddie lifted his pat, making Carly lift her head, and he held out hand. "So, what do you say to getting back to being friends?" He was grinning broadly as he said this.

She smiled back, and held out her hand to shake his.

It wasn't exactly what she wanted.

Because through their conversation, she was knowing her true feelings more and more.

As he helped her up, she hid the tears glistening in her eyes from him by facing away; for fear that it was too late; all too late. She had been telling herself this for a while, but now she knew she would never get her chance again.

"Hey I didn't know you could be like this," Carly said as they walked down the hall together, smiling. It was a mildly shy smile. "You changed."

The smile was wiped from his face. "No, I didn't." Then he smiled again. "You just never noticed my coolness before."

And as they teased each other and laughed, Carly found her confidence again.

Okay, maybe it wasn't too late.

She just had to try harder.

~END~

Overly Annoying A/N: And that was it! Not the best, maybe even a little disappointing as it was so tame, and I'll make a sequel, but that probably won't be the next iCarly story I'll be working on. And the next iCarly I'll be working on may be quite some time from now, and it ought to be rather different from this one. No more major torturing of characters!

It shall be called "The Masochist."

Okaaaay, maybe there will be torture.

But anyway, so the story you have just read is my kind of Carly-chasing-Freddie story. The Masochist shall be a Freddie-chasing-Carly story. It might be similar to this one, but very different.

Okaaay, did you get it?

Never mind, you'll read about it, won't you? Besides my A/N is getting long and overly annoying.