Hey everyone! It's been a while, but August was hectic as all hell. But that was then and this is now. Hope you all enjoy this newest chapter. It may be a little short, but it's gearing up for the last two chapters. Happy reading!

And who can't wait till Saturday for iDate Sam & Freddie? It's going to be awesome!

I could literally feel the awkardness in the air.

The two of us have been standing out here on the fire escape for the past fifteen minutes and not a word has been said by either of us. I could have been home by now if I wasn't an idiot and taken the elevator in Carly's apartment. I could be devouring a box of low fat Fat Cakes and drinking all the Wahoo Punch in my fridge. I could be anywhere but HERE, on the FIRE ESCAPE, with HIM. God, sometimes I really hate my life.

"Are you going to say anything, Sam?"

I really, really hate my life.

"Come on, Puckett...say something...please."

"Something."

He rolls his eyes and sighs heavily. I wasn't going to make this easy for him, no way, no how. He could pout and complain and act like a child (like he hadn't been doing that already), but he wasn't going to get anything out of me unless he really earned it. I'm content to make him hurt like he's been making me hurt. If he couldn't man up and tell me who he's seeing and who he's so madly in love with, then why should I open up to him and say anything? Why should I even be giving him a chance to speak?

"Seriously, Sam?"

"What? You said say something."

I could tell he was getting frustrated more and more by the second, but so what? Why should I care if he's getting upset? He dug himself into this grave, and he's too stupid to realize that it's too steep and that he'll never be able to dig himself out of it. If I really wanted to, I'd break his arms and then leave him there, crying like the little girl he really is, but a part of me (a very, very small part) wants to stay here and see what he's got to say, just to hear how pathetic he'll sound. Which, I'm guessing, will be really pathetic.

"Why are you acting like this? You've been so...distant. And weird. Did something happen at home? Are you feeling ok?"

"I'm fine. What's it to you."

"You're lying to me, Sam."

"Oh, you know me too well."

The sarcasm's practically dripping off each and every one of my words. He's got a mix of frustration and worry on his face, but anyone with half a brain could tell that his concern is fake. I really should just break his arms and be done with it. But something's keeping me rooted to this spot...my heart. And the fact that one thing, no matter how strong it may be, is keeping me from killing him and leaving is irritating me to no end.

"Sam...what did I do?"

Oh, how I wish I could just throw him over the ledge right now.

"You should know what you did, Benson."

"It doesn't help when you and Carly won't tell me what I did that was so wrong and horrible! Why can't you two just tell me so I can try and fix it!"

"Telling you would make it too easy for you. We're girls. We want to make this as absolutely hard as possible for you, Fredward."

"There's no reason for you to be acting so unreasonable right now, Sam."

With those thirteen little words, I whipped around quicker than you could say 'beef jerky' and I was in his face, almost touching nose to nose with him. Where the chiz did he get off saying that to me? Did he really have NO idea what he did? He really must not've realized how utterly stupid and near-sighted he sounded when he said that. It took every fiber of my being to not kick his face in at that exact moment, only because the reprimand from Carly would be pure hell, even if she would also agree that he deserved it. Kinda hypocritical, but it is what it is.

"You don't get it, Benson. Just shut up and leave me alone right now, for your own good."

"What the heck happened since last night? You were fine when we spoke on the phone last night!"

"And that was a mistake and a show of weakness on my part. It's not gonna happen again, believe me on that. Leave me alone, Benson. I'm serious."

My eyes were staring holes through his face, and I'm pretty sure that warm feeling in my palms is blood from my nails being dug so tightly into them. All I could think about was kicking him around like I used to, back in the day, but part of me didn't think it was worth it. Who knew that a chance to beat the chiz out of Freddie Benson would come and go like this. I didn't.

"Sam...why can't you just talk to me?"

"Why can't you just be up front and honest about everything? Why do you have to hide everything from your two best friends? Why do you have to be so damn stupid?"

He takes a step back and puts his arms up in defense of himself, but I'm not going to whale on him tonight, oh no. You know I'm angry when I don't want to beat him to a pulp.

"Sam..."

"When you learn to open your eyes and realize that all you could have had has been standing right in front of you for years, then I'll talk to you. Until then...I don't want anything to do with you, Benson."

I turned around and faced the window, expecting him to try and grab me, to try and make me stay, but no such resistance came. So I slid through the open window, and I ran. I just ran, and ran and ran. Somehow, I ended up at home, kicking the front door open and scaling the steps to my room. When I finally reached it, I collapsed...and I cried. I promised myself that I wouldn't cry again over this, not like I did three nights ago, but it was harder than it was then. Was he really that thick headed and ignorant? How could he lie so blatantly to my face? I mean, I'm not one to talk...but him...I'd never have expected that from him. I seriously hope he's happy. And I hope that he's proud for doing the one thing I never thought he'd do to me, or that anyone would do to me, for that matter.

Break me.

It's nearly been two weeks since I last saw Sam. She hasn't responded to any of my calls, texts, e-mails, none of them. I've gone over to her house every day since, sometimes more than once, but either nobody answers the door or her mother screams at me and tells me to go away. I'm beyond the point of being worried...I'm scared for my best friend right now. What if she ran away? She could be anywhere, or anyone...I wouldn't put it past Sam to change her identity or her look so that nobody would recognize her from iCarly. Spencer keeps telling me that I should calm down, that everything will be ok...but I know better.

"And it's all his fault."

Gibby looked up at me with a puzzled expression, while I sighed. Of course, I couldn't expect him to fully understand the situation that was at hand if he didn't know a decent portion of the details. I had only told him bits and pieces here and there, and Freddie wasn't telling him a dang thing, so it was up to me to fill him in as best I could.

"Freddie's fault? Harsh. I thought you two were like, best friends? It sounds like you're pretty upset with him."

"That's because I am, Gibby. Sam has...ugh, well, let's just say that Sam's been looking at Freddie differently for a while now, and she's made it fairly noticeable too, but he's just been too..."

"Stupid?"

"Exactly...wait, were you calling someone else stupid?"

"Yeah, duh. I'm Gibbeh. I'm like, the smartest kid ever."

And right after he said that, he managed to squirt ketchup all over his hideous looking Hawaiian shirt. Yep, smartest kid ever, he was. A natural Einstein.

"I meant to do that."

"Right. Anyways...yeah, he's been too stupid to realize it. I knew Freddie could have his dumb moments, but this has just been...unbelievable. And now...I can't even find Sam. What if something happened to her, Gib?"

He finished cleaning himself up and sighed as he sat back down next to me. He put his hand on my shoulder and gave me a gentle squeeze in an effort to try and calm me down.

"This is Sam we're talking about here...she's tough as nails. I'm sure that if she's out there somewhere, she's kicking butts and taking names. She might not even have run away, to be honest. She just might be locked away in her room and shutting herself out from the world."

"Yeah...but for two weeks?"

"I will answer that with another question...how much did she really care about Freddie?"

I lean back in my chair for a moment and let that sink in. At that point, many thoughts began to swim through my mind, each one more confusing than the last. There's so much history between the two of, some of which I don't even know about, I imagine, that it's hard to really pinpoint when she really started to fall for him and stopped hating him. But even then, when we were still kids...I always had an underlying feeling that she did care about him, even if it meant pulling her teeth out to get her to admit it. She just didn't realize it until...I don't even know. It just kind of...happened. And I feel bad for not realizing it sooner than I did.

"She's always cared about him, Gibby. She always has...most of the time though, she didn't know it...until, you know, unfortunately for her, it was too late. And now look what's happened."

"He still hasn't told you he's dating her, has he?"

"No...and that's why I haven't spoken to him since. It's so unlike Freddie to be this way, but something tells me that it's not all him that's doing this."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that I think she's pulling the strings and telling him to act this way, threatening to break up with him if he doesn't. And he's so blindly and ignorantly in love with her that he'll do anything he says...but I think he feels bad, even if it's only a little bit. I think he wanted to tell us...but he hasn't summoned up the courage to do so."

"You really think that, Carly?"

I thought back to earlier times, when they had known each other...and it made my blood boil. Freddie was always such a great friend, and loyal to a tee...but she tried changing him. He came to his senses then...but now, not so much. She's beginning to change him again and use his emotions against him...and she's hurting Sam, too. She's hurting all three of us. And if I ever get my hands on her...I'll do Sam proud and show that little witch a thing or two.

"Yeah Gib...I really do."

I sighed as I lugged my bag up the steps to my destination. I really couldn't believe I was doing this, but it needed to be done. I couldnt stay there any longer...not with him parading around with that little evil skunkbag and acting like everything in the world is fine. I took a deep breath and let another sigh loose as I reached the door and knocked three times. Before I knew it, I was greeted with a stunned expression and that high pitch voice I so love to loathe.

"Sam? What are you doing here?"

"Hi Melanie. I'm your new roommate."