Disclaimer: I do not own Gossip Girl
Ben Donovan was ecstatic His name was finally clear! After those long years in prison after being falsely accused of a crime he didn't commit, then being on parole and unable to get a job. His record was clean and he finally got a new teaching job! It was what he had been dreaming of for the past three years.
Since he was cleared, TV shows wanted to feature him, publishers wanted him to write books, groups wanted him to speak for them. But Ben didn't want any of that. Ben wanted to go back where he belonged. Teaching for high school students.
Although he had broken up with Serena, the two had remained very close friends. It was hard not to be close to someone after going through all of that drama together. With all the time he had been spending with Serena, he had gotten to know pretty much all of Serena's friends. He'd even gotten on almost friendly terms with Serena's mother. The only problem was Eric, Serena's little brother. Eric had never gotten over his hatred of Ben. It didn't seem to matter to Eric that Ben was innocent or that Damien was playing him the whole time. Eric was still mad.
Serena had promised to hock him up with a job at her old school and Serena had delivered. Her had a flawless interview at St. Judes and they had immediately given him the job. And today was the day when he received all his material so he could begin lesson planning. Dan, his roommate, had joked that he would stay out all week to give Ben his lesson planning space. Ben did tend to get a little over excited about teaching or "molding young minds" as Ben would say.
Finally, the letter arrived. Before looking at the curriculum, Ben glanced over the class lists. Ben froze and started at the list. At the bottom of the list was a name that Ben could tell would ruin his year. EricvanderWoodsen.