Thus far, the summer after senior year was shaping up to be unbearably boring. We'd ended iCarly two weeks ago with a two-hour long farewell spectacular complete with possibly the largest amount of fake blood, squirt guns, and stupid skits ever seen over the Internet at one time in history. Now, Carly was splayed out on the couch, playing Angry Mice on her Pear Phone. Freddie was messing with his laptop, probably trying to make it run 1.2 times faster than normal. I was lying on the floor, doing nothing. Well, I was doing something. Sweating. It was impossibly hot inside.

At this point, Carly was unhappily single. For practically the entire senior year, she'd been drooling over Cameron Sykes. He was the cute college freshman who moved into the apartment down the hall. So far, they'd exchanged a grand total of six words. One morning in the Bushwell Plaza lobby, he'd said, 'What's your name?' She'd replied, 'I'm Carly Shay.' Then he nodded and walked away. Carly argued that it should be counted as eight words, since 'what's' and 'I'm' were both conjunctions, but I told her that was ridiculous.

Freddie graduated third in the class. That was a disappointment to him. For a week, I made fun of him for it. His girlfriend, Lena, broke up with him in May when she got accepted to some fancy college in New York and didn't want to attempt a long-distance relationship. I told him it was because she wanted to flirt with all the boys that were smarter than him. He'd acted depressed for weeks and was still not entirely over it.

As for me... Well, I graduated. That was an achievement worth celebrating. I also kicked my lame boyfriend, Josh, to the curb. I'd only dated him so I wouldn't be alone for prom. It was a pity date and nothing more. Now I was working at McDonald's to afford my food needs since my mother refused to give me any allowance since I turned eighteen. It hadn't been much, but it bought a couple good pounds of ham a week.

We were really just drifting until college rolled around. The three of us found the idea of being parted inconceivable, so we all enrolled at Seattle University. Carly was majoring in business. Freddie was doing something with video editing and technology. I'm still undecided, but I'm considering something to do with music or maybe business if I get desperate. Maybe teaching. Because we all know how good I am with kids.

I laughed suddenly at the mental image of myself as a teacher.

"What's so funny?" asked Freddie, temporarily looking up from his circuit board and his brown eyes meeting mine.

"I think her brain is officially fried from the heat," Carly said, with a voice of concern. "Sam? Anyone in there?"

"I'm fine. Just thirsty," I replied, getting up off the floor. "I was imagining myself as a teacher." They both laughed, Freddie much louder than Carly. I made my way over to Carly's fridge and grabbed a gallon of iced tea which I started chugging straight out of the container.

"I don't know if they'd hire a teacher with an arrest record," Freddie said.

"It's only a juvie record," I replied. "It was sealed after I turned eighteen. A fresh start."

After quenching my intense thirst, I returned to my perch on the floor and fell asleep on the rug. I must have slept for at least a few minutes before I woke up to the sound of Carly's latest obnoxious pop song ring tone.

"Hello?" said Carly. I sat up from the ground and stretched out. "Excuse me? Did you say Simon Hensley? You mean, from NMTV?" I stared at Carly, who was beginning to appear extremely confused. "You know iCarly? Wow, that's awesome... Really? You want to make a show... about us? Oh my god, that's incredible."

Both Freddie and I were staring at Carly right now, utterly dumbstruck. What was going on at the other end of the line? Why was Simon Hensley, TV producer extraordinaire, calling Carly Shay of all people? He owned NMTV, which stood for No Music Television. Originally, they were going to be a music video channel, called MTV, but soon the lure of reality TV soon changed their direction completely.

"Okay. We'll see you then... Goodbye." Carly pulled the phone away from her ear and began to smile uncontrollably.

"What was that about?" asked Freddie.

"Well, if you were thinking this summer was going to be boring, you were wrong," she said.

"What did he want? Just tell us already!" I cried.

"Simon Hensley just offered the three of us a reality TV show to be aired on NMTV. He's coming over tomorrow to explain everything."

Both Freddie and I didn't say anything. I was never a fan of those reality shows. They always seemed kind of exploitative to me. Also, I was not a fan of losing my privacy every second of every day. Whenever I watched them, I wondered how much was real and how much was played to the cameras. For some reason, I always thought the people on screen looked a little sad.

"Um... I don't know if that's such a great idea," Freddie said, nervously.

"What do you mean?" Carly asked.

"Well, do you really want a camera shoved in your face all the time? I'd kind of rather be bored than violated."

"Simon said there would be compensation. Money," she said, eagerly."I don't know about you, but I'm getting kind of annoyed with waitressing at the diner every day so I can afford to do anything fun. What about you, Sam?"

I paused a second before replying, "Well, I'm no fan of working either, and I need my daily ham. Let's see how much exactly Simon is offering."

Freddie sighed loudly and shook his head. "I'm telling you, this is gonna be a big mistake."

"Come on, Freddie. Have an open mind. Let's wait and see," Carly said.

Simon Hensley was in his mid-thirties and would have perhaps have been attractive if his hair didn't contain so much gel and excessive product. His brown coif looked almost plastic. It was utterly pathetic. He was dressed elegantly yet casually in a plain black t-shirt and neat long pants. He carried a briefcase, presumably filled with a lot of papers. He seemed out of place in Carly's living room. He offered his hand to me in greeting, and I shook it. His grip was firm, but his palm was sweaty and sticky. I wiped my hand on my pants. He greeted Carly and Freddie next with a cool smile. Carly invited him to sit in one of the seats in her living room, and we all sat down in the other places around him.

"Hello, I'm Simon Hensley. I produce several shows for MTV including 16 and a Pregnant Druggie and My Vapid Life," he said with a self-satisfied smile. I wasn't getting such a good vibe off of him already, but I was going to give him a chance. Anything to make this summer less boring than it was shaping up to be. "I watched your webshow, iCarly, and when I saw that it was canceled, I was terribly disappointed. However, I think all of your talents could be even better utilized in the reality environment. You're already well-known. The show would certainly get great ratings."

I was getting bored of listening to him talk. And his awful hair was really bugging me. "So, how much will we get paid?" I tried to say in a sweet, not rude voice. That was tough for me.

He chuckled and replied, "Ah, getting straight to the point. I like it." He fished out a paper from his briefcase. "As you three are the stars, your compensation will look like this." Simon passed around the sheet, which had a salary highlighted in pink. I think my mouth actually dropped open when I read it. I tried to hide it, but I honestly think that was more than my mom earned in a month. I couldn't believe it.

"Will that suffice?" he asked, grinning at us.

We all nodded in unison. Even Freddie seemed to forget his doubts as soon as he saw the amount. I tried to calculate how many hours at McDonald's I would have to work to match the money I'd get for just one episode. Then I remembered I nearly failed every math class I ever took and gave it up.

"I'd like to explain the basic premise of the show for you all. It's going to be focused on the lives of you three as you go about your normal lives. Dating, partying, getting ready for college. I'm sure you each lead extremely interesting lives."

I smirked a little. Lately, our lives hadn't seemed very noteworthy.

"Cameras will follow you around. The object is to act as you normally do and as if there isn't a camera recording your every move. You've all seen My Vapid Life I'm sure. It's a bit like that. Now, sometimes we will have to step in to spice it up a bit. Nothing major. Maybe we'll offer a snappy comeback or something small like that. Just to enhance your character and improve the viewing experience." He paused before saying, "We've decided to call the show iCarly: The Continuation. It will attract your past fans and it sound quite intriguing, right?"

Then, he reached into his briefcase again. His fingers curled around several rather thick packets of papers. "These are your contracts. Don't feel rushed. Only sign when you're ready."

"I have a question," said Carly, looking to Simon.

"Yes?"

"Will there be any hair and makeup? You know, to get us camera-ready?"

"Of course," Simon said, laughing. "Don't worry. When it's time to film, you'll look much better than you do today."

My gaze flew down to my outfit. I was wearing a green penny tee reading 'Bleeding Pickles' and distressed, cropped jeans. Maybe I did look a bit of a mess, but still I was a little offended. But I didn't talk back because I was still pretty excited about the money. Simon was still a good guy in my book. I wondered how much ham I could buy with my salary.

Then I turned to the contract Simon had passed out. I wasn't big on reading forty-page packets. I started to skim it quickly before getting bored. I uncapped the pen Simon gave me and signed the contract. Freddie was staring at me, eyebrows raised. He was still on page five. I knew he would lecture me later about signing away my rights without even reading a page of my contract, but whatever. Surely, it didn't say anything too bad.

What seemed like an eternity later, Carly and Freddie finished reading their contracts and signed them. With a gracious smile, Simon collected them and slipped them into his bulging briefcase. "Thank you for your time," he said, as he stood up from the couch. "I hope to start filming next Monday. Does that sound good to you all?"

"Sure," Freddie said. Carly and I nodded in agreement.

"I'll see you then. Just you wait, this is going to be a lot of fun," Simon said, as he walked out the door.

Author's Note

First, I'd like to thank all the people who reviewed and favorited my first story "The Definition of Love." All your nice comments really made me smile.

So, hopefully this chapter was okay. It's only meant to be a prologue, and the real story will get started in the next chapter. I have some big plans for what will happen later on. I'll update as quickly as I can. Thanks a lot for reading!