A/N: Hope you enjoy it. I love reviews ;)
Summary: ten year old Blair Waldorf was afraid of heights. So when she was standing on a spring board looking down into the crystal clear water at her friends the first thought that crossed her mind was "Oh my, I am so going to die."
Swimming lessons at school.
How she hated them. She would have given anything to just skip those classes.
But as a Waldorf you never miss school and don't just skip classes when you feel like it, even if it was a silly lesson as swimming lesson.
It wasn't even the particular class itself that she detested like poison, but one specific item.
The spring board.
It frightened her to death. Just when she sometimes glanced up at them she already felt woozy, let alone when she thought of standing up there and actually jumping down from there. Losing so much control over your own body was nothing that she liked to experience.
And so far she always tactically and successfully avoided spring boards during the lessons. Every time her teacher suggested jumping from the spring board, Blair would excuse herself to go to the toilet or would tell her teacher that she forgot her towel in the wardrobe – which she always purposely forgot there so she would be able to go and get it. Those little plans always did the trick. She just prayed her excuses would never run out and that she would never be in a situation where she had no other choice then to willingly agree to throw herself from a spring board.
Unfortunately her prayers weren't heard and in the next swimming lesson she found herself 10 feet high on a spring board with trembling knees. This time she had tried to back out of the situation by telling her teacher that she simply wasn't feeling well, but when she saw the looks that her friends gave her, she knew that they were getting suspicious and without another word she just followed them to her final destination, literally, she was sure of that.
That's how she ended up there.
She gulped soundly and leaned forward to look down. It made her feel dizzy. How was she going to survive such a jump? And it didn't help that everyone was down there looking up at her, expectantly.
Even at the age of ten Blair was known as someone who dared anything and who never chickened out on something. There were some frenemies of her, who followed every step she made only to see her fall, but until now, it never happened, however, this time Blair was sure that it would be a first Waldorf quitter – in history she might add.
One by one her friends had thrown themselves into the water without a worry in life, until she was standing up there all on her own.
"Come on, B!" Serena waved at her to jump already. Blair rolled her eyes, Serena, of course just heated up the situation and made her frenemies more eager to see if Blair would be up to it. She was sure that a lot wanted to see her fail for the first time so they could gossip about something.
"You're afraid?" A voice from behind asked. Her body tensed immediately when she heard the voice. She looked over her shoulder to see it was Chuck, who was standing some feet away from her. So she wasn't the only one still there.
"I am not!" She snapped, never would she admit to Chuck Bass that she feared something. "Then why don't you jump?" He asked, his smirk already appearing on his lips.
"Because I... It's just…" She started, but didn't know how to continue and already regretted not having skipped the lesson for just once.
"Come on, Waldorf, the worst thing that could happen is that the wind would blow your fly weight into the wrong direction. You would miss the water and land headfirst on the ground instead. Later you would undoubtedly die of brain bleeding." He said, holding back a laugh, when he saw her wince and take a step back from the spring board. She looked at him with a horrified expression, which changed into a fake sweet smile instantly.
"Thanks so much for your encouragement." She told him sarcastically.
"Why do you need encouragement? I thought you aren't afraid?" He asked with a mockingly undertone.
"Bass, just spare me your gloating and jump already." She growled at him, moving aside and motioning towards the end of the spring board.
"Ladies first." He insisted as politely as possible, his smirk never left his lips though.
Looking at her expectantly he saw that she wasn't going to obey just like that.
"Okay, I think I have a good idea." He said walking towards her. She instinctively backed away, thinking that the Bassholes brainwave idea might be to push her down. He, sensing her discomfort and knowing exactly what she thought, chuckled lowly. She fast regained her posture back.
"If your idea doesn't include me magically being at home and waking up from a nightmare, then I don't see how this idea is going to be good at all." She said her voice increasing by the second.
He ignored her comment and concentrated on his idea. "We are going to jump together." He told her, smiling satisfied with his plan. She frowned at him and wasn't sure if she should laugh at the stupidity of the idea or cry, because she really thought he could come up with something good.
"So what do you say Waldorf?" He asked her.
She pursed her lips and hesitated. Again, she found herself looking down into the water and saw how a lot of her friends had already lost their interest to see if she was failing or not. The last thing she wanted was to go out of there as a coward, so she had no other option then to consider his offer, because no way she would jump and die in there all by her lonesome.
With a loud sigh, she turned towards him. "Let's get it over with."
They walked together to the edge of the spring board and stayed there side by side, both looking down at the clear blue water.
They both turned their heads to look at each other for a moment.
"You're ready Waldorf?" He asked his eyes staring directly into hers. She swallowed thickly, already getting cold feet and thinking that it maybe wasn't a good idea after all.
"If something happens to me, Bass, you will most definitely pay for -" But before she could end her threat he grabbed her hand and was pulling her down with him. With a shriek she was falling down, never letting go of Chuck's hand.
For that short amount of time when the only thing that surrounded her was air, she felt free for the first time.
Seconds later both of them reached the water with a loud splash. She couldn't believe she just did that. Jumping down and even enjoying it – with Chuck Bass.
Full of joy she threw her arms around Chuck, hugging him tightly. To her surprise he hugged her back and he laughed as heartily as she did.
Then she realized her mistake, because everybody was looking awkwardly at their exchange. It wasn't like Blair Waldorf and Chuck Bass hugged each other all the time, more likely the opposite – never.
She cleared her throat and dipped him into the water. When he appeared back on the surface startled by her action, she looked at him with narrowed eyes.
"That, Bass, was because you unexpectedly pulled me down and hold my hand." She said matter-of-factly and with that she swam away from him.
From the distance Chuck looked at her and her delighted face. He was glad he could help her out. And she didn't need to know that ten year old Chuck Bass put all his strength together to suppress his own fear of heights just to help ten year old Blair Waldorf out.
A/N: Check out my other stories :D
