iOMFG

Freddie typed a few keystrokes on his computer and told Brad, "Ok, tap the faces button."
Brad sat down and pushed the correct button on the pear pad. "OK" he says. As Freddie synced the emotions matrix, Sam opened the door to the classroom with her arms full. "I'm back," she grumbled. She handed Freddie his camera and hard drive. She sat down in a nearby chair and stared off into space.

Freddie looked at her, brows furrowed, and told her thank you. Brad gazed at her as if he'd love for her to speak to him, but she didn't seem to be interested in anything at the moment. Pulling out her phone, she stared at it like she was expecting a call or a text.

Sam pulled out her bag and puts chips and guacamole on the table. Brad hungrily looked at them before scrambling over to grab a bite. Freddie didn't hesitate to slap the chip out of his hand. "HOLD IT!" he yelled. "What did you put in the guac.. something to make us sleep?"

Sam looked at him like he's crazy and tells him, "no.."

"Then eat some."

Sam obliged, dipping her chip in the guacamole and taking a bite. Freddie continued to stare at her, thinking about how this behavior wasn't too much out of the norm, since Sam was often moody and aggressive towards him. However, she never brought food just to be nice, and her mannerism, the way she was acting now was strange. She was distant and obviously her thoughts were elsewhere.

Sam seemed to snap out of it when her gaze met the PearPad set up a few feet away from her. She walked over to it.

"So.. is this baby ready for testing?" she asked.
Brad made a few last minute adjustments and said, "yup, just sit right on that chair and stare right into the pear pad."
"I do like sitting and staring."

Freddie turned on the machine and spoke into his PearPad, "Ok, this is Freddie Benson, proceeding with test number 3 of application MoodFace. Subject Sam Puckett. Alright Sam, just stare at the PearPad straight on and keep your head still."

Sam nodded. The computer made whirring noises as it processed Sam's facial expressions. After a few seconds, the application came up with a result and Freddie stared at it with his mouth wide open.

Mood: In love

He looked up at Sam in disbelief. What? he thought. He immediately bent back over his computer and started typing. Sam, sitting completely still, asked, "can I move now?"

Freddie, still in shock, said, "Uhh, yeah."
Brad asked, "So what's her mood?"
"Uhhhh. . . it's . . . inconclusive."
Sam looked confused, "no reading?" and Brad said, "It was working this morning."

Freddie grabbed his computer and took off out the door. "I'm gonna go see if Carly has any tissues." Brad and Sam looked at each other with confused expressions and shrugged their shoulders.

In the classroom down the hall, Carly and Gibby were conducting an experiment of their own on Spencer. Freddie ran in, out of breath, and said, "Carly."

Carly turned around, "Hey, how's your MoodFace project going?"
"Listen," Freddie said, "you know how we've been wondering what's up with Sam?"
"Yeah."
"Why she's been acting distant and moody and like she has other things on her mind?"
"Well, what did you find out?"
Freddie looked around. "I just did the emotion test on her with our new app."
"And?"
"Her mood," Freddie opened the computer dramatically and showed Carly the page.

Carly laughed, "In love? . . With Brad?"
Freddie smiled and nodded his head knowingly.

Gibby called over to them, "Hey Carly, check this out," he nodded at the see-through box Spencer was trapped inside of. "I turned the stink up to eleven!"
Spencer held his jacket up to his nose and banged on the one-way glass. He slowly fell to the ground as the stink overwhelmed him.

Carly turned her attention back to Freddie and asked, "Sam's in love?" She tried to keep the disappointment out of her voice. Freddie just shrugged and looked at the screen.
She went through a myriad of emotions.

In love? But with who? Is it really with Brad? She probably is attracted to him, he's great looking, athletic, funny, and he obviously likes her too. And why didn't she tell me if she was in love with someone. We're best friends!"

And then she thought, But wait, what if isn't Brad, what if she's actually in love with me? She shook her head, ridding herself of thoughts that simply couldn't be true. There was no way Sam Puckett would be attracted to her. She considered herself weird and quirky, upbeat and she tried to be friendly to everyone. Sam was her opposite, constantly thinking of food, at times aggressive and tomboyish, but fiercely loyal. They did have that in common, best friends, loyal to each other since before they could remember. When did I start thinking this way about her? Why am I so worried about who she's in love with anyway.?

Carly couldn't remember a specific time that her feelings turned from friendly affection for Sam to attraction. It must have been around the time they started their first webshow. Carly thought back on the moment fondly. They were dancing around having fun, and she couldn't help but want to make eye contact with Sam whenever she could. Carly also couldn't help but appreciate Sam's turnaround during the web show. Normally she was uptight and guarded, but in here with the camera trained on her, she came out of her shell and shined. Carly realized as she stood there reeling from Freddie's disclosure that it was probably that moment when she started to fall for Sam Puckett. Her feelings had slowly grown in the years after that.

But now what am I going to do?
She took off down the hallway to find out.

Carly found Sam standing by the lockers eating a sandwich.

"Sam! Sam!"
she doesn't need to try that hard to get my attention. All she had to do was walk in the door and I'm all hers. Every time.
"Oh. Hey Carls."
She leaned against the locker and tried to act natural. She noticed Carly did the same thing. Carly asked, "Ham?"
"Uh huh," Sam said.
"Extra Ham?"
"Uh huh."

'So how's your project going?', Carly asked.
"Good, I think. But I'm not sure, cause Benson freaked and ran out the door a few minutes ago."
"Oh. . and how's Brad?" Carly asked tentatively.
"Brad's cool."
"Hmm.." Carly said, reaching out to poke Sam's arm. She couldn't help but want to touch her. "Would you say.. very cool?"
"What do you mean?"
"I know you love Brad!" She touched Sam's arm again, "Admit you love him!"
"I love ham, I'll admit that."
"You can't kiss and snuggle with ham."
Sam proceeded to kiss the ham sandwich. She snuggled it against her face, and Carly couldn't help but be jealous of a ham sandwich. Crazy thoughts.
"Sam!"
"Excuse me I have to turn my back on you now."
Carly came around the other side of her to get in her face.
"I know you love Brad, ok? It's exciting."
"Ok, did you fall out of a tree or what?"
"You want to know how I know you're in love with Brad?"
"Sure, please share."
"When Freddie tested his MoodFace app on you it said, In Love," Carly smiled at Sam with a matter-of-fact look on her face.
Sam looked frightened. "Well, who said his app really works?"
"Well does it?"
"No!" Sam said.
"Yes it does," Carly fired back, "You know it does. It works goo-ood."
Sam looked down. "I'm gonna go eat my ham in peace." And she walked away.
"You can't bury your love in ham!"
"I can try!" Sam called back as she raised up her sandwich.

Freddie came around the corner and asked Carly how it went.
'Not good, she won't admit that she's in love with him." She probably really is, too, that's why she's denying it so much, Carly thought sadly.
"Hmm," said Freddie. "Oh well."
"No! Not 'oh well'. We're gonna find out if Brad is really who she's in love with. Come on, I've got a plan"

Carly and Freddie ran up to the classroom where Brad and Sam were still working on the PearPad MoodFace app. Because there were other people in the room, they wanted to clear everyone out to give Brad and Sam some alone time. It hurts me to do this¸ Carly thought to herself. But it's the only way I can find out if Sam wants to be with him.

Freddie announced to everyone that a two–headed dog was outside, and he proceeded to shepherd them out to see it. Sam and Brad started to walk towards the door, but Carly stopped them and said, "Oh, he's just kidding. It's just a one headed dog. You two should stay and work on the project."
Sam looked at her like she was crazy, but turned around and got back to work. Carly tried hard not to stare at her backside for too long before she walked out the door. I have got to get control of that.

Back in the classroom with Carly and Gibby, Spencer was looking like he had finally recovered from his introduction to the stink gas. Carly instructed Gibby to give Spencer some clam chowder. Gibby held up the bowl and asked if Carly was sure they should go through with the experiment. It seemed a bit unethical to him. Carly urged him that it would be alright, it was all in the name of science. Unfortunately for Spencer, the bowl had a connection to some electricity. As soon as he touched the soup spoon to his mouth, he got a little jolt. The soup went everywhere and needless to say, Spencer was not very happy.

Soon after the soup spill, Sam opened the door and held it. "Carly Shay."
Carly looked over at Gibby. "Be back in a sec."
"Might be more than a sec."
"What are you doing here? Where's Brad?"
"That was not cool."
"Why?"

"I know the whole two-headed dog thing was just to get me alone with Brad."
"So? I was hooking you up!"
"I don't need to be hooked up!" Sam snapped. She wanted to hurt Carly for what she did. How could she make her see that her feelings weren't directed at Brad? She pictured herself shoving Carly up against the wall. But that thought turned into her pushing Carly against the wall and running her hands along Carly's body, maybe bringing their lips together for the first time. A rushing feeling went through her abdomen, like she had just been down the first big drop on a roller coaster. Sam shook her head, clearing it of those thoughts. She stormed from the room because she wasn't brave enough to show Carly how she really felt.

Freddie looked out the window to the courtyard. He saw Sam sitting against the wall, sulking. He was anxious to talk to her because he's afraid she would smack him upside his head, as usual. He leaned up against the wall opposite of Sam, looked over at her. She looked down at her phone, a scowl on her face, refusing to look up at him. She finally glanced up at him.

"Did she send you to find me?" she asked.
"Nope," said Freddie.
"You know about our argument?" she asked.
"Yeah, she told me about it." He replied. "And you know something, Carly's right."

"UGGGHHH"
"Sam, come on. She's right and you know it."
"Look, Freddie, I honestly don't care what your PearPad app says about what my mood is. I'm not in love with Brad. I don't think of him that way."

"Seriously Sam, you've been acting differently. You get kind of glassy eyed every now and then, and you've been distant around me and Carly. I started noticing it when Brad starting hanging out with us, so there must be some explanation for how you're acting."
"So that automatically means I'm in love with Brad, just because I've been acting differently lately?"
"Well, you hate me, Sam! The app doesn't lie. It's gotta be somebody! If you'd talk to me, things would be easier. "

Sam rolled her eyes. "Just leave."
Freddie threw his arms out in exasperation. "Fine, I'll leave. But before I go…"
Sam hopped up and walked menacingly towards Freddie. "Freddie, if you don't get out of here I'm going to kick your ass."
Freddie surprisingly didn't flinch. "threaten me all you want, but Carly is still right. I know it's scary for you to put your feelings out there. I would be scared too if I were in your shoes. "
Sam looked down at her feet. Freddie couldn't believe what he was seeing. Sam had tears in her eyes. She was actually crying.

Wow, thought Freddie, I've never seen her cry before.
"I just don't want to talk about this with you," Sam said, her voice choking out the words.
"You can tell me Sam, it's okay."
"I gotta go." Sam said as she took off towards the door.

Sam ran out the door and the down the hallway to the school entrance. She ran to the nearest bus stop to get home as quickly as she could.

Freddie walked back to the classroom Carly was waiting in. She and Gibby were still working on their school science projects. Carly looked up at him as he opened the door.
"Hey," she said. "Where's Sam?"
Freddie shook his head. "I just talked to her. And I need to talk to you… privately." He looked over at Gibby with a meaningful stare.
"Oh.. you mean me. Ok, I'll leave. I've gotta get home anyway. See you guys at school tomorrow. " Gibby said, walking out in the hallway.

Carly set her laptop down on the table, and sat on the desk. Freddie walked over and stood next to her.
"Carly, something is up with Sam. The PearPad app has been working perfectly, and I think something is really bothering her. I think she's really in love with someone, but, I dunno.. she's bound and determined not to say that its Brad. But who else could it be?"

Carly's brow furrowed, while her heart fluttered the tiniest bit, as she looked at Freddie. "I honestly don't understand why she won't just come out and say that she wants to be with Brad; if the PearPad app is telling the truth, she really can't hide it anymore."
Freddie nodded in agreement.
Carly said, "she's probably just embarrassed that she likes a guy like him. She normally goes for the bad boys, the tattooed, pierced kind of guys."

Yeah, that's gotta be it, she thought to herself. She tried to shake off the disappointed feeling that had bothered her all day. There's no way Sam would have feelings for someone like me. And it certainly isn't Freddie. She's just embarrassed, that's all."

"Yeah," said Freddie, "You're probably right. It's just so unlike Sam to be afraid of anything. She's usually so fearless. You know, like how she runs headlong at any meat she sees and scarfs it down without a second thought.."

Carly smiled at the thought. "But when it comes to her feelings, she just clams up about everything. She's afraid to show her emotions. I wonder what we can do to make her see that it's okay to open up?"

"I dunno. But we gotta do something about it… I hate to admit it, but I miss the old Sam."

"Wait," said Carly with a frown, "You mean to tell me that you actually miss the Sam who punches you and insults you and won't share any of her meat with you? Wow. You're so sweet."

Freddie laughed and then his face fell at the thought of not ever having any food when Sam was around.
"On second thought, maybe it's better this way."

"No Freddie, we have to do something about it. I'll go talk to her."

On the bus on the way back to her apartment, Sam sulked.
Shit, she thought, They know.

Ok wait a minute, the rational part of her brain said. They don't actually know. They just know that you're in love. They don't know who you're in love with.
Yeah, she told herself, the frantic part coming through, but if they find out, I'm seriously screwed.
But why? The rational part asked. What's the harm in them finding out? You can finally get this weight off your chest. You can finally find out if she feels the same way.
No way! There's no way Carly has feelings for me like that. It's just not possible.

It turns out Sam Puckett had had feelings for Carly for some time. Probably ever since they started doing the web show. That was around the time Sam's hormones started kicking in and it just happened to coincide with the first time they did their first online show. When she, Carly, and Freddie watched it all together later that day, her eyes were glued on Carly. She didn't realize it, but she literally only watched Carly the entire time. It wasn't until a few webshows later when Freddie asked her a question about one of the guest stars they had on the show that she realized what she was doing.

"Hey Sam, what did you think about what that kid was saying about his dad?" Freddie asked, looking over at Sam, who was gazing with strange puppy-dog eyes at the screen.

"Huh?" asked Sam, snapping out of it.
"You know, the kid who's dad is a butcher? How could you miss that? You love anything to do with meat."
"Yes, mama does love the meat," said Sam, still unsure of how she had missed it.

It was only recently though, that her feelings had progressed to the point that she would go into mood swings. For Sam, it became tough to be around Carly. It was even harder to be away from Carly; Carly was all she ever thought about. She was constantly waiting for Carly's text, any invitation at all to come over to Carly's apartment. Most of the time Sam would show up on her own. She had never felt this way about anyone else, but knew that this was real, that she had most definitely fallen in love.