Starts off from Dan de Fleurette (3x04)
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The early morning bell rang. Jenny walked with Eric, her arm draped around his shoulder as the two laughed at a joke he made.
"Eric," Jenny said in a chipper tone, "Constance is gonna be so different. There's no more hierarchy. No more mean girls. No one copying how the queen dresses. It's gonna be a new era of sunlight and fairness."
Eric snorted. "Yeah, I don't think that's what Blair had in mind when she picked you to be her successor," he remarked in amusement.
He was probably right. Thankfully, Jenny couldn't care less what Blair thought. Now that the former headband-wearing-queen-bee was no longer a student at Constance, things would finally be different. For starters, the usual start of school jitters Jenny had felt since freshman year had resided, and in its place, a light and giddy feeling.
"Too bad," she said with a casual shrug. As she stared at her best friend, she suddenly remembered his boyfriend. "Hey, when does Jonathan get back from his fencing camp?"
"Not till next month." Eric shook his head, as if the thought disappointed him.
"Jenny!" an eager voice rang out, cutting their conversation short.
Jenny and Eric both shifted their attention, only to find three girls, adorned in very similar outfits to Jenny's, rushing toward them. Upon closer inspection, their makeup too was reminiscent of Jenny's alternative style.
Though Jenny kept a cool facade, Eric couldn't help but let his jaw drop.
"Oh, that's disturbing."
Once they got closer, the girls smiled at Jenny, waiting for her acknowledgement. The blonde seemed to pick up on this as she quickly addressed them, "Uh - Hi. Who are you?"
The girl in the middle, wearing the red leather jacket, spoke up. Jenny assumed she had the most authority within the group.
"I'm Carmen. This is Celeste," she said, pointing to the girl on her left, wearing a black leather jacket. Celeste gave Jenny a little wave. Carmen then pointed to the girl on her right and said, "That's Jane. We're here to make sure you get exactly what you want this year."
Jenny blinked, unsure if she had heard the girl correctly. A quick glance at her step-brother, who appeared astonished by the proclamation, confirmed her hearing.
"You're gonna rule the school with an iron fist," Celeste said proudly.
"Okay, enough," Jenny said, having heard enough of their nonsense. "First, go wash your eyes, and second, tell everyone I need to talk to them now."
At the sheepish looks, Jenny nodded her head adamantly and said, "Now."
With reluctance and sighs, the trio departed. Eric turned to Jenny with a smirk. "So, a new era of sunlight and fairness?"
She rolled her eyes at his unwavering sarcasm. "Shut up," she muttered, to which he only laughed harder.
This was undoubtedly going to be a long day.
A few moments later found Jenny in the courtyard, stood on top of a table as she addressed the crowd of Constance students in front of her.
"There is no more hierarchy," she declared, encouraged by several nods from the crowd. "The steps of the Met will no longer be restricted to a certain crowd. No more nar-tinis. No more headbands. This is a new era. Let freedom reign."
At the applause of her fellow classmates, Jenny failed to notice one very important detail. Celeste, Carmen and Jane all exchanged suspicious glances before the former dug into her purse and pulled out her phone.
With just a simple text message, all hell was about to break loose.
"This is not a democracy, ladies. Everyone does not get a voice, and that's okay."
Jenny frowned in confusion at the sight before her. Celeste, Carmen and Jane were stood in front of a crowd, hands on their hips as they berated their fellow classmates, even going as far as to make one girl cry. Suddenly, she knew what was going on. Clenching her fists, Jenny made her way towards them, with Eric by her side.
"What is this?" she demanded angrily. "Did you not hear me this morning?"
Carmen smirked, "Oh, you mean your cute little attempt at perestroika?"
"We're going back to the old way: queens, hierarchy, and no Brooklyn wannabes," Jane added, eyeing Jenny in distaste. "Sorry, Little J."
"Who told you to call me that?" Jenny asked, though she already knew the answer. There was only one person malicious enough to ruin her credibility.
The trio sauntered off, ignoring her completely. Eric sighed, watching them go.
"Okay, unless I'm blind, their headbands were monogrammed with BW," he observed, staring at his best friend in concern.
Jenny huffed. "What a surprise."
As cool as her exterior was, internally she was seeing red. It seemed Blair had yet to loosen her vice-like grip on the school, and was unwilling to let the social hierarchy crumble. The thing that Jenny didn't understand was why that was. Blair had already graduated and was now in college. Surely she'd be too busy to engage in such trivial matters? But then again, this was Blair Waldorf - meddling was her middle name.
Clutching her bag tightly, Jenny scowled. No matter what stunts Blair would pull, she would stand her ground. Constance would become free of the hierarchy. This was a new era.
And Little J from Brooklyn would make sure of that.
"Congratulations. Your girlfriend has installed a puppet regime," Jenny said, leaning back against Chuck's limousine. The boy in question shook his head with a smirk.
"Blair's gone Colonel Kurtz. She needs to be back to reality," he said a matter-of-factly.
He stuck his hands in his trouser pockets and regarded Jenny carefully, who remained silent. "Help me, and I'll help you take back the crown."
Resisting the urge to scoff at his request, Jenny stared at him incredulously. "Why? They don't want my kind of leadership. They want a tyrant who'll police their behaviour and chart their movement on the social ladder."
The corner of his lips twitched upwards. It was so faint that she thought she imagined it.
"Find someone else."
"I need you," he insisted, nodding his head in determination. His words were sharp though his inflection was soft. "You're fooling yourself if you don't think you were born to rule this school."
"People change, Chuck," she said, folding her arms across her chest. Not that she expected him to understand, he was always the same self-entitled, rich kid.
"Not you," he replied with a gaze that felt as though he were looking right through her. She shifted uncomfortably. "Not about this. The Jenny Humphrey who used to sit in Brooklyn and watch the lights across the water?"
Jenny shrugged, trying not to show how badly his words affected her. She absently wondered how he knew all of this, but didn't press it.
"Who went toe-to-toe with Blair Waldorf and actually won her respect?" he continued persistently. "You can't tell me that girl isn't still in there. Now that the dream is coming true, you owe it to her to live it."
Closing her eyes, Jenny took a deep breath to steady her nerves. She didn't owe anyone anything. Especially Blair. But with the way Chuck had stared at her, as if he expected so much more from her, she slowly felt her resolve crumble. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to go along with his scheme, after all. Maybe it would work, and Blair would back off. That alone was worth the attempt.
"Blair doesn't want me to be queen," she admitted, opening her eyes to look at the dark-haired-boy beside her.
He didn't waver. "Well, maybe we can make her reconsider."
Now that her father was about to remarry and Dan was at college, Jenny felt more alone than usual. Thankfully, life had blessed her with a soon to be step-brother who doubled as her best friend, and in times of crisis he was always there for her, much more so than her own kin were.
"Eric," she wailed, laying on his bed with a pout after having recapped her earlier conversation with Chuck. "What am I going to do?"
"Hang on a second," Eric replied, typing away on his computer. His fingers were practically banging the keyboard at lightning speed and his eyes were glued to the screen. Out of curiosity, Jenny sat up on the bed and squinted to see what he was doing.
"Uh - earth to Eric? Are you even listening to me?"
Eric didn't reply, he continued typing until he was done. "There," he said, hitting the send button. "I was just writing an email to Jonathan, updating him about our first day. And don't worry - I was listening, why do you think I took extra long to type everything out? I couldn't miss out a single detail or Jonathan would have killed us both."
"Uh huh," Jenny said, rolling her eyes. "Back on topic - what do you think I should do?"
"Well," Eric said, leaning back in his seat, "as tricky as the situation is, I think the solution is quite clear."
Jenny raised a brow. "You do?"
"Yeah. I think my step-brother - er, ex-step-brother, is right. As annoying as he can be, Chuck means well. His plan is solid and will definitely give Blair a reality check."
"I'm not sure about that," Jenny said, tugging at his bed sheets. "Blair has a jealous streak. What if when she sees Chuck and I together at the premiere, instead of snapping out of whatever haze she's in, she decides to never let me take back the crown."
Eric scratched his head as he considered this. "That is a possibility. But again, I think Chuck would know best. I mean, he is dating her. I'm sure he's thought it all out."
"I suppose that's true." Jenny hoped he was right. She didn't want any more drama than necessary. After the train wreck that was last year, she'd had enough drama for a lifetime.
With determination, she stood up and headed for the door.
"Hey Eric, can you help me pick out what to wear tonight?"
The limousine door opened and Jenny climbed out. The khaki green dress that Eric had picked out for her fitted like a glove, which she paired with a statement necklace and killer heels. Her hair was let down in an array of soft curls and her makeup bold.
Chuck stared at her, momentarily surprised, before he recovered.
"Exquisite. You exceed even my high expectations," he said smoothly, in that low baritone of his.
Fighting back a blush, Jenny smirked at him, meeting his gaze. "I'm only here for the good of the school, Chuck."
He stared back and said, "I'm only here for Blair."
They continued to stare at one another a moment longer before Jenny walked away with nary a backward glance, unaware his eyes stayed glued onto her retreating figure, a puzzled expression on his face.
The premiere was actually quite fun. Much more than Jenny had initially expected. The movie was great, Olivia was nice and the food was to die for. So far, Blair had yet to turn up, though after the gossip girl blast she had sent out, that would no longer be the case.
Her thoughts were confirmed when the overly ambitious brunette stormed her way towards her.
"Did you really think your lame attempts to embarrass me…" Blair shouted, uncaring of the little audience she had garnered from her outburst.
Jenny felt uncomfortable with all the watchful eyes and so interjected, "Blair! Stop it."
"...would help you get back queen? I will make your life a living hell."
"Blair!" Jenny tried again.
Chuck chose the perfect moment to cut in. He grabbed Jenny by the shoulders and positioned her away from his girlfriend.
"It wasn't her idea," he said calmly.
Blair was taken aback, her mouth hung open, and Jenny decided that now was a good time to walk away. She didn't want to witness an argument between the couple. They were already psycho enough that it would no doubt escalate into war. With a pointed glance at Chuck, she let her feet carry her away to where her father stood with Lily.
"So, how did it go?" Eric asked her as soon as she had entered the penthouse.
"As expected," she replied, kicking off her heels before joining him on the couch. "Blair kicked off. Chuck intercepted and I walked away."
Eric leaned forward in interest. Ironically, he held a packet of popcorn that he was munching on as he waited for her to say more.
Jenny sighed. "In other words, the whole thing worked out in Chuck's favour and not mine."
"Really?"
"Unfortunately. After tonight, she definitely doesn't want me to be queen. It seems my reign was short-lived, it has to be a record or something."
"Hmm," Eric hummed in thought, "maybe it doesn't have to be."
"What do you mean?" Jenny asked curiously.
"Well, let's say when we get back to school, you continue to play the role of queen," Eric explained, putting down his bag of popcorn. "You know, being bossy and ordering your posse around all day. No one would stop you, not even Blair, because to them, that's the way things should be. No one would expect you to take down the social hierarchy from the inside."
"Take down the social hierarchy from the inside?" Jenny asked, turning the words over in her mind. "That's genius, Eric! Why didn't I think of that before?"
Eric grinned. "Maybe because you don't possess the kind of intellectual superiority as I do?"
Before he knew it, Jenny lobed a pillow right at his face.
Jenny sat alone at a table in the courtyard. She was soon approached by Carmen, Celeste, and Jane, all of whom were dressed in another attempt of replicating her sense of fashion. Unlike last time, Jenny didn't bat an eyelid.
"Hey, Jenny. Is there anything we can do for you?" Celeste asked.
Jenny regarded them with a cold look. One that she had spent hours perfecting. If she wanted to play the part, she had to look the part.
"Actually," she drawled, "go make sure my spot's free at the Met steps. And wait there with a yogurt for me."
The girls nodded eagerly, pleased that their queen had finally given her first command. As they scurried away, Jenny felt the overwhelming guilt wash over her.
.