iLove You (Freddie Benson)

“One more thing regarding the contest we talked about earlier,” Carly Shay, the hostess of iCarly, stood up from her beanbag. “We will be choosing two people from our watching audience and they will come here to Seattle and be on the show. We’ll pick them tonight about nine!”
I glanced at my phone, 5:46.
Sam, Carly’s best friend, put her hands on the camera and spoke clearly, “So go down there and fill out the form in my blog!”
“Until next time,” Freddie came out from the tech cart and stood by Carly.
“Eat plenty of chicken,” Sam ‘danced’ around how she usually did.
“Get plenty of sleep,” Carly’s cheery voice sounded even cheerier as Bella, my bff, hit the volume.
I quickly turned it down as Sam finished, “And whisper to your teddy bear.”
Freddie, Sam and Carly each waved as the screen went black and the show ended. I furiously fingered the track pad and scrolled down to Sam’s blog. I clicked on the form and filled it out as Bella struggled to keep up with my typing. After I put in my email address, I clicked the submit button and went to get a soda from the mini fridge in my room in Portland, Oregon. I grabbed an apple juice for Bella.
“Thanks.” She opened it and took a drink. She shivered.
“You okay, Bella?” I sat down, put a hand on her back and looked at her face; it seemed pale, and glowing in the bright light of the laptop.
She nodded and took another swig of a.j. “Just tired and,” she sighed, “I don’t know why you filled it out, we won’t be picked.” Her head fell back onto the yellow beanbag she was sitting on.
“I don’t care. It would still be cool if we won and could go.”
We watched reruns of Disney and MTV until 9:00.
I hastily turned on my computer, went to iCarly.com and clicked on ‘Watch Show’.
“Hey Interneters! I’m Sam.”
“And I’m Carly! And now, we will choose a pair from the thousands of people who sent them in.” She started walking over to the tech cart. Freddie was there, looking at the screen on their Pear laptop. “Freddie?”
“We just go over here,” he pressed the Enter button. “Now, pick a number between one and four hundred forty-four thousand, six hundred and thirty-two.”
“Ooh, big number, let me confer with my co-host.” She turned and hid her face with Sam.
They turned back around, “Five hundred twenty three.” Sam had her hands on her hips and was watching as Freddie typed in the numbers into the database.
He scratched his head and looked confused. “Uhh, well, we have a winner, but I don’t know how to say her name. Its like, Bree-es, or Bres, or something. Her last name is Ozean, and her partner is Arabella. Congrats,” He looked at the camera. “If this is you, you will have an email appearing soon. Reply in the next 48 hours and tell us what day you can make it down. Good night everyone.” He turned off the camera and the little screen went black.
I looked at Bella, speechless. I was too shocked to say anything. So was she. Her face had turned a bright pink color and her apple juice bottle had fallen from her hand onto the floor. After five minutes of dead silence and the slightly hearable music from downstairs, we jumped up and started dancing. Our screams were so loud, Bella’s father, Wyatt, came up and looked at us curiously.
“Um, Dad?” Bella stopped jumping and screaming and let go of my hands. “Is there any way we could be able to go to Seattle and be on the iCarly show? We won the contest.” I wasn’t looking at her, but I knew her eyes were big and glossy, she was daddy’s girl.
He looked as though to be thinking. “I guess. But would it be possible for Moon to drive you?”
I looked at my phone. Just after nine thirty, “Bella can call her while I respond to the email.”
“Alright, if not, I can take off a few days and take you.” He looked at Bella as if to say “She better take you ‘cause I can’t afford to take anymore days off.”
Bella smiled and took her phone off my bed. I heard her phone dialing Moon’s number.
I responded to the email as quickly as I could. I noticed that half way through the email, my phone started vibrating.
“Hello?” I flipped open my phone and answered.
“Uh, Briese? Is Bella with you?” I sighed; it was Bella’s boyfriend Zac.
“Yeah, she’s on the phone now, but after I’ll have her call you back.” I started closing the phone as I heard Zac say, “Well, actually, just tell her to call me before you guys leave for Seattle. I watched the show and wanted to congratulate you guys. Tell her I won’t have my phone for awhile because of vacation and stuff. I’ll see you later. Bye.”
I looked at my phone and finally shut it. I got back to the email as Bella got off the phone.
“Who was that?” She sat next to me and started reading over the email.
“Zac, he said that he won’t have his phone for awhile ‘cause of vaca and stuff.” I pressed the send button.
“Oh.” She sounded disappointed that she didn’t get to talk to him. “Well, Moon said she could take us. She knows them, like me, and she can’t wait to get home. She’s been staying here for about three months you know.” She fingered the trackball to her MySpace page.
“I know. You always tell me that. I guess I’m the first one that will be meeting them for the first time, huh?”
“Yup!” She started answering to a message that Carly sent her (they’re cousins).
I rolled my eyes and put my head on her shoulder. Soon enough I drifted off to sleep thinking about the next day: I’d have to pack, burn that CD for Kayla, finish that book and write the latest verse to my song. So much stuff…
I was woken up ten hours later by Bella, already dressed and ready to go with her black suitcases behind her, sitting by my door. I looked at my bed; my suitcases were spread out with my hairbrush, toothbrush, toothpaste and deodorant in the small pouch on the main one. There were a few tanks and pajama pants hanging out of the closed one. I sighed and stood up; I was still in my jeans and Metro Station Tee. My phone chirped with the sound that I had a new email.
I smiled and looked at Bella, who was bouncing from excitement. “It’s Freddie. They said that we could get on the show next week, but to meet them at three o’clock at the Junior High they go to.”
“O-okay. Moon will be here at eleven to pick us up. So, hurry!” She flopped down on the yellow beanbag she claims as hers.
“Alright.” I quickly finished packing some pj’s, tank tops, tees, jeans, two pairs of flip flops, some sneakers, my phone and MP3 player, some cds, my camera and new batteries. I also packed facial wipes, my blanket, a teddy bear that my first boyfriend back in Tennessee won at the county fair, and my laptop. Surprisingly, all I needed was my small backpack and a medium sized suitcase.
Until eleven, Bella and I watched Star Wars reruns on Starz.
My phone started beeping and chirping. I looked at the Caller I.D. and saw Moon was calling. “Hello, Moon. Are you here?” I looked at my clock, 10:57.
“Yup. You coming?” I heard the motor running in the back and her dog, Vitani, panting in the backseat.
“Yeah, be there soon.” I turned off the TV, grabbed my bags and dashed down the stairs.
Five minutes later, as I was saying goodbye to my foster parents and little sister, Guiselle, Bella came down stairs with her three large suitcases and a small carry on case. I raised one eyebrow and sighed.
“What? I have to come prepared.”
“That reminds me,” I quickly ran upstairs and took out my favourite outfit, a purple and white polka dotted shirt, faded white skinny jeans, a black beanie with a grey horse on it, and my purple converse. I ran back down stairs and held it close. I’d put it away later, after we got to the hotel.
When we left the house, Moon was waiting by her black Cadillac. Luckily, she had a really big trunk, we were gonna need it, with Bella’s three large suitcases, my medium one, and Moon’s one medium and one large red suitcases.
“Took you long enough!” she went to the back of her ‘baby’ and loaded everything in it, including Vitani’s small case with food, bowls, treats and brushes. “You guys better hope that the hotel we stay at has the CW on, I can’t afford to miss another ‘Smackdown!’.”
So, after we all piled into Moon’s car, with me in the front, Moon in the driver’s seat (duh) and Vitani and Bella in the back, we set off on the longish ride to Seattle from Portland. Moon was finally going home, Bella would see her cousins, and I would meet the people I loved to watch on the ‘Interweb’ every week.