Chapter One:

"I was thinking blue. You know, because pink is overused?" Blair Waldorf held up a powder-blue piece of card stock for Serena van der Woodsen to inspect. "But if I use this, the party name can't be PG-13."

"What about yellow?" Serena offered. She pointed at the yellow hot dog vendor sign that was propped up a few paces from where they were sitting on the steps of the Met. "It's bright and we can make the name, like, the SUN of a Bitch party."

"Oh my God, Serena," Blair laughed. "We're having the party at night."

"So book another ballroom that has a huge light on the ceiling that's shaped like the Sun." Serena leaned back on her elbows, tilting her face up to the cloudless azure sky and closing her eyes.

Blair put down the piece of card stock and tapped her pen against her chin thoughtfully. "It could work," she admitted.

Serena opened her eyes and beamed at her. "Great! Do you wanna go check out the function rooms at the Vine Club? I heard they were cool."

"Yeah, sure." Blair put her materials back into her emerald-green Chloe satchel and stood up, brushing off the skirt of her black-and-grey waistcoat dress which she had paired with simple black ballet flats.

Serena stood up too, slipping her oversized purple Marc Jacobs hobo bag over her bare shoulder, and slipping a pair of sunglasses onto her nose. She was wearing a completely mismatched outfit of leopard-print shorts and a pink and white polka dot strapless top, but being Serena, she pulled it off like it was the latest trend.

Blair and Serena were fifteen, and had been best friends since five, when they'd bonded over blocks in Kindergarten. Even since then, the two girls had been known throughout New York and as they grew older, their popularity only increased.

Blair Waldorf was one of those people who worked for what she wanted until she got it. She'd always been ambitious, and had always liked planning out the life ahead of her (at this age, she'd already had several different variations of how it could turn out). But every one of her plans had always included going to Yale. Blair was convinced that she had been born to go there and didn't even consider going to any other college. She was smart and had been on the Student Council team since fifth grade, even though fifth graders at Constance Billard weren't technically allowed to be on the team. If you'd never seen Blair and had just heard about all her achievments, you'd just automatically assume she was a nerd and not really worth wasting your attention on. But once you saw her, you'd regret you ever thought that.

Because Blair was (to use a word other than 'hot') aesthetically-pleasing, with long wavy chestnut-brown hair, a foxlike face, and wide Tiffany-box-blue eyes. She was petite and liked to dress like she was older than her age and had lately developed a liking towards red lipstick.

On the other hand, Serena van der Woodsen wasn't nearly as academically accomplished as Blair, but she certainly challenged her in the looks department. She was tall and willowy with golden skin and straight blonde hair down her back like some sort of Medieval princess. She would probably be the most beautiful girl you'd ever meet in your life, and you'd never forget her either. Serena was infectious; chirping and laughing all the time. You could be asking her what she wanted to drink and she'd launch into a retelling of her favorite childhood memory, or a speech on why bubblegum was better than chewing gum. She was random, gorgeous, and utterly fearless, which made everyone want to be near her. But even though everyone loved her, she only loved one boy.

And that boy happened to be her other best friend, who also happened to be Blair's boyfriend.

Nate Archibald. The hottest guy in New York City. He'd been best friends with the two girls since their Kindergarten days, and had been with Blair since they were thirteen years old. He was irresistable with his glittery green eyes, year-round tan, and beach-brown hair, and the fact that he was St. Jude's lacrosse captain just made him hotter.

Everyone talked about Nate, Blair, and Serena and everyone was jealous of them. There wasn't a single girl who wouldn't drop anything to go out with Nate and there wasn't one boy who wouldn't jump at the chance to kiss Blair or Serena. The three of them were golden.

And everyone knows that while the golden look pretty and untroubled on the outside, they harbour a lot more feelings, scandals, and secrets on the inside. Which is exactly what made the trio so impossible to ignore.