Disclaimer: I do not own iCarly… obviously.

iGet Protective

"And… we're through!" I said, turning off my camera.

"Sweet!" Sam said, reaching into her pocket to pull out a bag of jelly beans in a zip block bag.

Carly smiled at her best friend, then looked up to me, "Do you guys wanna stay and watch a movie?"

"Sure," I said, and put down the camera.

"I would've stayed anyway." Sam said her mouth full of jelly beans.

Carly walked over to the elevator, and Sam followed.

I tied up the cords I used today-

"I'll be down in a minute I just have to tie-"

I was cut off when Sam rudely pushed the button, and the doors closed.

I frowned, and tied up the cords and stuffed them into the rack on the cart, and took the elevator down.

When it opened up, I just saw Carly, sitting in front of her computer picking grapes out of a bowl.

"Hey," I said, taking a grape, "Where's Sam?"

She didn't look up from her computer, "Bryce stopped by, and I think they went to the Groovy Smoothies. She said she'd be back in half an hour."

Ugh, Bryce, her boyfriend. I don't get what Sam sees in him, he's a bad dude. I mean, so is Sam, put he seems worse, nastier, I don't know. Carly doesn't exactly approve of him either, but Sam has been dating him for two months.

I nodded.

Forty- five minutes later…

Carly crossed her arms, "Where is she? She is fifteen minutes late…"

I shrugged, "She's always late."

She looked like she was about to defend her friend, but then had nothing.

"Let's just watch the movie without her."

"Okay," She agreed, "Nothing scary."

I laughed, and she glared at me.

One hour later…

"She won't pick up her phone!" Carly sighed.

"Maybe she accidently flushed it down the toilet…again."

"She's usually careful with her phone, though, she just dropped the other one down the toilet to get a new one."

Carly was pacing back and forth now, "I knew Bryce wasn't good, what if he hurt her?"

"Carly… calm down, I'll go find her. I said, walking towards the door.

"…Okay!" I heard from behind me.

She wasn't at the Groovy Smoothies, so I walked further down the street.

There were too many people walking around, and it was raining too, so there were a thousand people squirming around trying to get places quickly in the rain.

But of course I found her in that mush of people.

She was standing against a brick wall of a building, under a small ledge that had a light under it. She's looking like she's trying to stay dry, but she's not succeeding. She was soaked.

"Sam!" I ran up to her, "What are you doing? You have Carly freaking out wondering where you are!"

She looked up to me, "Oh, sorry." She said, plaintively.

"What's wrong? Where's Bryce?" I asked, talking a little bit loud over the pouring rain, already flooding the street.

She shrugged. "He just left you here?" I grabbed her shoulder, and she jumped a mile… almost…. Frightened?

She shook it off, "No. He left me at the Groovy Smoothies."

I was so confused, and didn't really know what to ask.

"Did he… um… what happened?"

She raised her eyebrows at me, and then looked at her shoes, which were in the middle of a puddle, "He dumped me."

I wasn't surprised. I felt bad for Sam, but I wasn't surprised. Everyone knew Bryce is known for breaking hearts.

"…Oh… I'm sorry, Sam. But, come on, you're strong, you've been dumped bef-" And she slapped me. Okay, yeah I know, that was a really bad move, I know. "Sorry. I didn't mean… Um… what did he do?"

"He. Dumped. Me. Did I not just say that?" She snapped.

"Well, I mean, did he do anything? You never been like this when-"

I didn't finish, and she gave me a glare.

She didn't answer.

"Did he say anything mean?"

"…no."

"Did he hurt you?"

She turned pale in the rain, it looked like, "…er, no. Why would he?"

"Sam?"

"WHAT."

"Come back to Carly's." I grabbed her wrist, and she jumped again.

I looked back at her, shocked.

"What's wrong?" I asked, confused.

"I just got dumped." She said, again. She didn't really seem mad, she didn't seem happy, she seemed tired, if anything.

I walked her back to Carly's, full of confusion, trying to ask her questions.

"I never seen you this upset about a guy, Sam."

"I'm n-not that upset." She studdered.

"You seem kind of hurt."

"I just got dumped."

"I told you he was a bad guy, so did Carly."

"Y-yeah."

Maybe she was just cold…

"Did he do anything to you?"

She didn't answer.

"Sam?"

She made her hair cover most of her face, and her bangs were dripping wet, and covering her eyes.

"No. And I don't wanna talk about it, so shut up."

I blinked a few times, but walked the rest of the way in silence.

Sam POV

As soon as I walked through Carly's door, I headed for her bathroom to put makeup on the bruise that's probably beginning to form, but of course Carly slowed me down.

"SAM! Where have you been! -"She gasped, "W-what happened to your face?"

I quickly shot a glance at Freddie who froze, looking at me with bulging eyes.

I covered the side of my face, "I—um, I've been crying…" I tried to fake look embarrassed.

"Oh, Sam…" She went to hug me, and then her arm touched the bruise on my face, and I gasped, and winced.

She pulled back immediately, "What's wrong?"

I looked over to Freddie, who had his mouth party open in shock. Does he know?

I looked back to Carly, "Nothing." I said, and sniffled.

Freddie's POV

Sam walked into the apartment quickly, and I put my jacket on the Shay's couch.

"SAM! Where have you been! -"She gasped, "W-what happened to your face?"

What? I quickly turned to see Sam, who quickly covered the side of her face.

What… was she doing? Did she get hurt? I started to put the puzzle pieces together… maybe Bryce did hurt her. Maybe she lied.

"I-um…. I've been crying." She admitted to her best friend, looking down to her toes.

I calmed down just a little.

"Oh, Sam…" Carly hugged her, and then I heard Sam gasp, and she winced.

Okay, the panic returned.

But maybe I'm just thinking too much about it. Maybe she really was just crying, and her face was red.

But, she's my friend, and I want to know the truth.

Sam tucked her hair behind her ear, and then I really saw it.

Right under her eye. Her cheek was swollen, very red, and almost purple. I stiffened. I didn't want to think about it. But all I was thinking about was Bryce hitting Sam across the face. I shuddered.

Sam looked at me, and I think she noticed me staring, because she quickly turned her head quickly, and got up.

"I'm going to take a waz." She stated, and quickly ran to the bathroom.

Carly rolled her eyes, and smiled.

"Poor Sam," She said, sitting down next to me on the couch, "Bryce was one of her longest relationships."

I just nodded.

"She hasn't cried in forever either. The last time she cried was when she got that job." Carly sighed.

"Poor Sam…" She said again.

At that second Sam walked back into the room, and the redness was gone.

Makeup.