Madeline woke at 2 in the morning to persistent knocking on her bedroom door. She got out of bed and headed toward the noise, pulling her robe on. She opened the door and found Mike's pretty blue eyes looking at her in a panic.

"Mike," she said, "what are you doing here?"

He sounded a little jumpy, "Can I crash here?"

She moved aside and let him in, "Of course." She shut the door quietly, not wanting to wake her parents. "What's wrong?"

Mike slipped off his boat shoes and sat down on her desk chair, "After the park I met up with Evan. His parents are on vacation so we went back to his house and watched a movie, but we dozed off. I haven't checked in with either of my parents for almost 12 hours, so I figured if they knew I was with you the whole night the punishment wouldn't be as bad. You know how they adore you." He offered a half-smile.

Last Summer

Mr. and Mrs. Goodman beamed happily from their table in the center of the room. The newlyweds were currently feeding each other a piece of wedding cake, but no one cared about that. Everyone was too occupied with the drama happening around the happy couple.

Madeline swayed to the rhythm of the music as she went in search of a bathroom; all those Gin & Tonics go right through her. She exited the ballroom and rounded the corner, finding a door that looked like a bathroom. She pushed it open, finding multiple loveseats instead of a row of sinks. She looked to her left and saw Mike, her best friend of 6 years, playing tonsil-hockey with one of the waiters from the wedding. She couldn't hold in her shocked gasp, which started the pair.

Mike looked like a deer in headlights, while the waiter fixed his appearance before explaining that he needed to "get back to work". He exited and left the two best friends in a more than uncomfortable situation.

Madeline just stood in silence. Mike having his fair share of drinks, stood up clumsily to say, "Maddie, I can explain."

"No need to explain," She replied, "I got it." She turned to leave, desperate the erase this moment from her memory.

"Mads, wait!" He said, causing her to turn back around. Mike sat back down on the loveseat and put his head in his hands.

She walked over and sat down next to him. Rubbing his back she asked, "Mike, are you gay?"

He lifted his head up and looked at her before breaking out into sobs. Madeline wrapped her arms around him, "Shh," she said, "it's okay. I love you just the same. We all love you just the same."

"Not my parents," He sobbed into her shoulder, soaking it with salty tears. "They are complete homophobes. They would never accept me."

Madeline contemplated this, and he was right. His parents wouldn't accept it, at least not now. His parents are currently going through a divorce and they don't want any extra stress, especially if it's caused by Mike.

She had an idea, "Hey," she lifted up his face see their eyes met, "how about I cover for you for a while? Be your 'fake girlfriend' or whatever."

His face lit up, "Would you really do that for me?"

"Of course," She smiled sweetly, "you're my best friend."

He hugged her, "Only until my parents aren't as irritable from the divorce, then I promise to set you free."

"No rush, I think it's about time someone caged me," she giggled. "My parents are sure going to be happy about this."

"I love you, Maddie."

"I love you too."

Present

"Mike," Madeline said, "don't you think it's time to tell your parents? It's been almost a year and a half." Truthfully Madeline has been getting tired of being Mike's 'girlfriend'. She loves him so much, but she can't stand to see him live in secrecy anymore.

Mike looked down at the floor, "Not right this moment. At least until Cotillion, my parents are looking forward to us going together."

Madeline smiled sadly, "Okay, but promise that this will end as soon as Cotillion is over?

"I promise."


That morning when she woke up for school she found her room completely vacant of Mike. Even the spot he had been sleeping in was remade like no one had lain in it. She got up and looked in her bathroom for any sight of him, but he was nowhere to be found. She checked her clock and rushed to her closet, having no time to worry about Mike and his shenanigans at the moment, as she was running late for school.

As she was applying the last coat of mascara on her eyelashes, Dorota entered her room. She had a giddy smile on her face.

"Miss Madeline," the elderly maid said, "there is someone here to see you."

Madeline smiled, she figured it was probably Trevor; he picks her up on the way to school occasionally. She can't wait to tell him about the good news Mike shared with her last night. In less than a month and a half she will be free of her fake girlfriend duties.

As she approached the top of the last flight of stairs that lead to her living room, she spotted a head of curly hair, but it was black, not light brown like Trevor's. The mystery guy turned around and she was greeted by warm chocolate eyes. She stood frozen for a moment; not being able to process he was in her living room. Maxwell Garcia was currently staring at her, with his usual goofy grin plastered on his face.

Out of all of her friends, Max was her number one. Before he left, they were inseparable. They were partners in crime, coming up with schemes together, throwing the best parties, and wreaking havoc wherever they went. They were even each other's first kiss in the fifth grade, an awkward experience for both parties. But that all changed when he left to study abroad in Spain with his cousins two years ago.

"Rapunzel, Rapunzel let down thy long hair!" He exclaimed.

She squealed before running down the steps to attack him. She jumped into his arms and laughed, "What are you doing here!" He spun her around a few times before setting her down.

"Spain got boring, and I was homesick. You can't stay away from Manhattan for too long."

She hugged him tightly for a while, just enjoying him being there. They pulled apart and she looked into his eyes, "Wait," she asked, "are you baked?"

He laughed, "Little bit."

"Have any more?" She asked.

He pulled out a half-smoked dutch from his pocket, "Don't worry I got you."

She kissed him on the cheek, "You're the best. Let's smoke this on the way to school, I have physics first period."


Max lit the joint and handed it to Madeline, "Ladies first."

She took a hit before saying, "Tiffany is going to be so happy to see you."

Max just smiled, thinking about her. Tiffany was his first real love; he still is in love with her. About a week before he was finally ready to ask her out his parents dropped the bombshell of him studying abroad in Spain. He and Tiffany had a fling for a few months and he wanted to finally make it official, but he left and she immediately started seeing other guys. This time it was going to be different. He has the perfect way of asking her out, and he is not going to lose her to some douche who doesn't know how to treat her right.

"So what has been going on with you?" He asked.

"Well, I'm dating Mike," she said.

"Mike Neely?" Max asked, "I just thought he was… Never mind."

"What is it?" She asked. He just shook his head.

"Don't make me twist your arm," she warned.

He sighed before saying, "Mike's gay."

She stopped in her tracks, "What would make you say something like that?"

"After my going away party, we were just hanging out." He laughed, "He was so bombed, and he just blurted it out to me." They started walking again.

She spoke lowly, "We'll talk about this later." As they rounded the corner and saw their school in sight, she spotted Trevor walking a few spaces ahead of them. Madeline wolf-whistled while Max called out, "Hey sexy!"

Trevor turned around with a confused look until he spotted the source on the noise. He let out a laugh before for coming to greet the pair, giving Max a slap on the back and avoiding Madeline's gaze all together.

"Glad to see you back, man." Trevor lied. As if Mike Neely wasn't making it hard enough to keep Madeline all to himself, of course Max had to come back home. Everyone knew that Max and Maddie were like two peas in a pod, and frankly he was shocked when Max started going after Tiffany. It wouldn't be long before started pursuing Madeline.

As they walked up the main steps to the courtyard the warning bell rang. She gave Max another hug before grabbing Trevor's hand, "Walk me to physics?" He just nodded.

"See ya, Max!" She called out before blowing a kiss.

The walked through the school's large main doors as Madeline gushed, "How great is it that he's back?"

Trevor stayed silent as he released his hand from her grip. She stopped walking, "Okay what is your problem?"

"I don't see how we'll ever have time together know that your BFF is back in town." He said with an attitude.

Madeline laughed, "Is this seriously what this is about?" He avoided her gaze. "Trevor, when are you going to realize that I don't want anyone else?"

Those words should have made him happy, but they angered him even more. "You seem to want Mike."

She looked at her feet, "That's not fair."

"You're not fair," he said, his voice starting to rise, "I hate being the second choice."

She whispered, "Please just keep your voice down."

His nostrils flared, "And I hate having to sneak around constantly. Why can't you just give up this failed dream of your future blue-blooded husband and kids? You know you don't want him, why are you making this so hard for us?"

Tears started forming in her eyes, "It's not about my future. I wish I could explain why, but I can't, not now at least." Her voice was starting to shake.

He looked down at his feet, "Well when you figure it out let me know." He looked back up at her, "For now we should just end whatever we have going on."

"Why are you trying to hurt me?" She couldn't stop the tears from falling.

"Maybe what you said to me last night got me thinking, I deserve someone who actually wants to be with me."

"I want to be with you!" She exclaimed.

"I'm done with this cat and mouse game, Maddie. It was fun for a while, but now I'm bored." He ran a hand through his unruly hair. He knew what he was saying was untrue. Sure he was tired of the game, but he would never get bored of her. But if he can't have all of her attention and affection, he doesn't want her at all.

Her eyes hardened and the tears stopped flowing from her eyes, "You're right, I'm exhausted, and I have bigger things planned for me than some silly high school fling." She pushed passed him and headed towards the main entrance, not being able to deal with school at the moment. As she rounded the corner she bumped into Tiffany.

"Hey Maddie, what's wrong?" She said with genuine concern in her voice.

"I don't want to talk about it." She walked around her and headed for the center courtyard. She spotted Max talking to some of his old schoolmates.

She walked up to him and grabbed his arm, "Can we get out of here?"

He saw the distressed look on her face, "Of course," he threw his arm around her, "Where to?"

"The Palace roof."


They sat on the perch of the roof, gazing out onto the city in a comfortable silence. She sighed, unable to grasp how much has happened in less than two hours.

"Now do you want to tell me what happened?" Max asked.

She thought about this for a moment, she never uttered a word of the affair to anyone. Now that there was nothing to worry about, what would it matter? "About three months ago, at Chase Preston's end of the year party, Trevor and I hooked up."

Max raised his eyebrows, "Like you kissed or…" he trailed off.

"He was my first," She put it bluntly.

"Oh," he said, looking down at the passerby's on the street below, "But what about Mike?"

"You're right, he is gay. I'm just his cover-up. It's been going on for almost a year and a half, and I can't take it anymore."

"That's why you're upset? What does you hooking up with Trevor have to do with this?"

"We sort of had a thing since then, and it ended about a half-hour ago." She said, getting sad just thinking about it.

They sat in a surprised silence for a while before Max spoke up. "Wait," he said, "Do you actually have feelings for him?"

She put her head in her hands and nodded. She sniffled before looking up at him, "Yes, I do, but I can't tell him that."

"If you really care about him you should let him know," Max said soothingly.

"I tried to, but I can't do that to Mike. It's not fair."

"What you're doing to yourself and Trevor is not fair," he rubbed her back.

"What were you smoking in Spain?" She laughed. "How did you get so wise?"

He just smiled and shrugged his shoulders.

She leaned her head against his shoulder, "I'm really glad you're back."

"Me too," he kept his eyes on the pavement below them, "Isn't it crazy that in a single moment something can change? We could fall off the ledge and plummet to our fate in the next minute, if that what was in the stars for us."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." She stood up and grabbed his hand, pulling him up, "Let's go Socrates, I'm in the mood for some Serendipity."

And in that moment, she couldn't be more grateful that Maxwell was in her life again.

A/N: I hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving if you celebrated it! Thank you for all the lovely reviews, every one I got made me smile! I know this chapter had absolutely no NJBC (and Dan) in it, but don't fret, they will appear in the story. I have a big storyline planned for Chuck and Blair. Thanks for taking the time out of your day (or night) to read! Reviews are much appreciated! (: