A/N: hey guys, its super short. this is the introdution to my newest story... actually it's not new to me, but it is to you. It's been hanging around my computer for a while, along with the first five chapters. AWTH will remain by focus story. i have two scenes left of chapter 7 so it should be out today or tomorrow. the chapters in this story will be shorter than AWTH, so i can spend my time writing the other story.

WARNING! if you do not like AU storys than i wouldnt advise you to read this one. i have made a point to royal fuck everyones storylines.

i hope everyone loves it as much as i do. i have a gift for twisting storys to be what i want them to be. :) tell me what you think.

NJBC during jr. year. the story is named after the song "mr. brightside" by the killers.

Serena van der Woodsen was the Upper East side IT girl. It was only natural that she would be the socialite of the century, given the fact that her mother was the Chair of most committees. Everyone envied her. Girls wanted to be her and guys, well they just wanted to be with her, but they all knew she was off limits and wore a chastity belt. She was the typical tall skinny blonde that everyone loved. She was always warm and bubbly; she even had this glow around her that followed her everywhere she went. She had been brought up traditionally, with her brother Eric. Their family was well respected, as were most old money families. While she may not have had the best grades in school, all of the teachers loved her so they let her slide. The van der Woodsen family had always been in the spot light, there for they were always camera ready. To most, she was perfect, from her long golden curls to her freshly pedicured toenails. Serena had it all, class, beauty, and power. She even had the perfect best friends, Blair Waldorf and Nathaniel Archibald, and loving boyfriend Chuck Bass. The only thing Serena cared about more than anything was her reputation. Well that and being the face of Waldorf designs.

Blair Waldorf was the Queen of Constance and Upper East Side bitch. Then again they don't call her queen B for nothing. Her mother was a fashion designer and well respected old money. She was a bit of a wild child, always in trouble with her parents. She just liked to look at as rebellion. If they did something that pissed her off, she would get even. Everyone knew better than to mess with her. She never lost the game. She could manipulate the pope into thinking he was Jewish, if that is what she chose to do. She had a reputation as the party girl. She loved scheming to get what she wanted and ruining people's lives, what did it matter if she had a few drinks while doing so? If by few you mean dozen. The only down side to it was she often slept with people that would never past her standards when she was sober. Not that she was a whore by any means, she just enjoyed sex. She loved her best friend Serena, although they didn't agree on a lot of things, they had been practically inseparable since they were in dippers. Serena's boyfriend Chuck was another story. Blair always felt a little jealous over the way he looked at Serena, like she was the only girl in the world. She hated it. The only reason she put up with it was because he was her partner in scheming. She needed him. Well that and the whole, dating her best friend thing. She couldn't very well drop him as a friend, he would be around anyways. His friend Nate, yes his friend, was horrible. He was everything she hated in men. They were complete opposites; she never understood how they had become friends to begin with. She never really considered him as one of her friends. She had all A's in school, and a perfect attendance record. She could spend the entire night partying and still be up in time for class. To her it didn't matter if she was hung over and throwing it, she never missed a day.

Nathaniel Archibald was the Upper East Side playboy. He was sweet and charming, probably why most females fell for his tricks. He was the heir to the Vanderbilt fortune and loved to rub it in nearly ever person he meets face. He cared about three things; money, the pleasure money brought him, and his best friend Chuck Bass. He's favorite past time was getting drunk, doing drugs, and sleeping around. He didn't really care about school, in fact he rarely attended, normally he was too fucked up or hung over to. He didn't believe in love. He had never slept with the same girl twice. He loved that he wasn't like his best friend, tied down and sexless. It didn't really bother him what gossip girl had to say about him. The way he looked at it, he was trying to have sex enough for the both of them. There were only two females he knew that he hadn't slept with, Blair Waldorf and his best friend's girlfriend Serena Van der Woodsen. He hadn't slept with Serena out of respect and he had yet to sleep with Blair because she was a bitch. Its not that he didn't want her, because he did, she just never gave him the chance. He planned to change that soon.

Chuck Bass was new money, the only one in the bunch. His father owned Bass industries, making him one of the wealthiest kids in America. He and Serena had been together since kindergarten. He couldn't help but be envious of his best friend Nathaniel. Sometimes he wished he was more like him, carefree, uncommitted, and a whore, but instead he was stuck striving to be the perfect boyfriend for his golden goddess. He was a good kid, well other than the scheming with Blair, drinking scotch, and smoking the occasional cigarette. As much as he hated to admit, he always sort of had a thing for the brunette. He liked how she wasn't afraid to be herself, even if that meant taking pride in her cruelness towards others. Serena never approved of him partaking in Blair's schemes; she said it was bellow him and that it wasn't really him. Most of the time he felt like she was trying to tell him what he was and what he wasn't, what he liked and what he didn't like, he hated that about her. It was like she was trying to mold him into something he was not personally, bring people down brought him satisfaction. He loved that people feared him. He was tired trying to be perfect. His best friend often teased him about it. Claiming he was pussy whipped without the pussy. It was no secret he was a virgin, he and Serena had been saving themselves for each other. All he had to do was wait until she was ready. In school is grades were average, the only things he actually devoted himself to were; social functions, Serena, and destruction.

The four had grown to know eachother as the Non- judging breakfast club. They have always worked through there problems as a united front and never turned their back's on one another. Alot can happen in a year...