Up in the van der Woodsen's fifth avenue penthouse, Serena van der Woodsen lay alone on her bed, idly flicking through this month's Vogue magazine, waiting for her best friend, Blair Waldorf, to text her back about their girls night in.
Nobody except Blair had seen or heard from Serena for the best part of the last month; ever since she and her then boyfriend, Dan Humphrey had broken up four weeks ago after the summer White Party in the Hamptons, Serena had locked herself away in her room, feeling sorry for herself and secretly praying that Dan would realise the error of his ways and come running back to her, just like any other sane boy who had a shot with Serena van der Woodsen would.
Dan wasn't exactly part of the Upper East Side, even though he attended St Jude's school for boys and dated the 'it girl', Serena van der Woodsen. Dan was a Humphrey; he lived in a loft in Brooklyn with his father, Rufus, and little sister, Jenny. Although Rufus wasn't a huge fan of the Upper East Side lifestyle, he wanted his children to have the best education the money he didn't have could buy, and that was St Jude's and Constance Billard. Rufus trusted that his children knew better than to lose themselves in the Manhattan lifestyle - he was just lucky Dan and Jenny weren't very popular.
Serena was the princess and Dan was the pauper; what business did he have dumping her?
…maybe it's that attitude that got you dumped in the first place, S.
Blair and Serena had been best friends since before they were born. Their mothers, Eleanor and Lily had known each other long before either got married and had children – not because they were great friends, but because they were part of Manhattan's elite. They belonged to two of the most respected families in New York and they had to keep up appearances. Families like the Waldorf's, van der Woodsen's, Basses and Archibald's had to stick together, whether they liked it or not- and most of the time they didn't.
Serena had finished reading her magazine for the hundredth time, growing increasingly more impatient, checking her BlackBerry every seven seconds waiting for Blair's reply.
"Where the fuck is she! Why isn't she replying? Blair always has her phone on her!" Serena muttered to herself.
Since her break-up with Dan, Serena had become totally dependent on Blair, which was completely out of character for Serena – Blair was usually the needy one. Serena had always been more of a free spirit. She did what she wanted, when she wanted and never answered to anyone. The truth was, Blair had grown tired of Serena's attention-seeking and couldn't deal with it anymore. They were more like sisters than friends so it was okay to treat each other any sort of way because at the end of the day, they would always be Blair and Serena… right?
Plus, there's only room for one attention-seeking bitch on the Upper East Side, and that was Blair Waldorf.
Serena's BlackBerry vibrated, startling her as she had accidently dozed off with the phone right by her face. "finally," she sighed, opening the message, expecting it to be Blair telling her she was on her way with 'Gentlemen Prefer Blondes' and takeout from Atelier. Serena blinked as she read the message, checking that she read it right, "Hey, S – sorry but I can't make it 2nite. Eleanor's having one of her classic meltdowns and the penthouse is pretty much on lockdown so I can't leave. Tlk 2mo – B"
Serena huffed, pissed off that her 'best friend' had just blatantly blown her off. As if an Eleanor Waldorf meltdown ever stopped Blair from doing whatever she pleased. If anything, it was a perfect excuse to leave the house. Blair was lying to her- she knew it, and she was going to find out why. Meanwhile, she'd find something else to occupy herself with; her brother, Erik was always reliable. Serena tossed her phone onto her bed as she reluctantly got up and shuffled toward her younger brother's room.
"Erik? Are you decent?" she asked as she knocked on her brother's door, not wanting to walk in on anything a sister should never see.
"uhh… yeah. What do you want?" he snapped back.
Serena faltered, surprised by his response. Her brother really did pick his moments to become a typical teenager. "uh…I…it doesn't matter."
Eric didn't reply and Serena took that as her cue to return back to her room feeling worse than when she left it. She was already feeling fragile, and not being able to count on her brother when she really needed him didn't exactly do wonders for her. She got back in bed, staring up at her ceiling in her dim room, wondering how she got here. She wasn't supposed to be heartbroken; she wasn't supposed to be let down; she wasn't supposed to be lonely. She's Serena van der Woodsen.
She curled up in a ball under her duvet, looking through pictures of herself and Dan on her phone, wishing things could just go back to the way they used to be. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she scrolled the through photos and she ended the night the way she had done for the past twenty nine nights- in bed, alone, eyes tired from crying, wishing she didn't miss Dan as much as she did. Tomorrow was the first day back at school, and that meant the first time she'd see Dan since the White Party.
S was known for her bags, but it was usually the Herme ́s or Chanel type – not the puffy ones under her eyes. Oh well, I'm sure our resident 'it girl' will find a way to make it work.