Blair woke up with a jolt, terrified by her most recent nightmare, her heart pounding in her chest, her father's abusive words echoing in her brain. It took her a moment to realize where she was and that she was far, far away from the wrath of her father. She looked over at the new alarm clock on her bed. It shone bright and red 7:15 am. She sighed. She had always been an early bird. She tossed her blankets aside, taking deep breaths. Suddenly, a scent hit her nose. It smelled like pancakes and croissants and omelettes. She jumped to her feet, feeling her stomach rumble loudly. She tiptoed down the stairs, the overpowering smell of coffee delighting her senses. She grinned from ear to ear when she saw her mother sitting at the dining room table, Dorota hustling and bustling around her.

"Hello, mother!" Blair chirped as she said next to her mother at the table. Eleanor jumped in shock and then smiled back at her daughter. "Good morning, Dorota. That smells delicious," she said, eyeing the food Dorota was setting down on the table in front of her.

"Help yourself, Miss Blair," Dorota said. "Big day. New school."

Blair looked at her mother, shocked. "I'm starting school today?" She was nervous at the thought of school again. She hadn't gone in a few weeks, as she had been beaten to a pulp and too hurt to go in. And this was a completely different school, with completely different people. Suddenly, she felt a yearning for her old friends. They hadn't contacted her in weeks, though, she had to remind herself. They weren't worth her time if they didn't care enough to make sure she was okay. The only person that had messaged her over IM was Dan. He had been her best friend for many years, though, so that was an exception. She closed her eyes and felt a guilty pang in her stomach. She had never gotten to say goodbye. She would have to send him a message and explain everything.

And then it occurred to her - she couldn't. That one message could somehow end up back to her father, revealing their whereabouts and everything. She would just have to start over, make new friends. But, oh, how she would miss Daniel Humphrey and his stupid smart remarks that made her grin from ear to ear and the way he could make her feel like there was no one else in the world beside the two of them, even if it were just for a little while. She grimaced, feeling a heavy brick on her chest. She swallowed hard and pulled herself back to reality, realizing her mother was speaking to her.

"Blair? Did you hear me? I figured you could start today. What better way to start your first new day in the city that by going to school and meeting new people? It will make you feel more comfortable, more confident." She watched her daughter's expressions carefully. "If you don't want to, I completely understand. I just thought it might be good for you."

"No, you're right," Blair smiled. "Of course I'll go." Dorota placed a plate of food in front of her and Blair felt her mouth water. It had been a long time since she had had a home-cooked meal. Dorota poured her a cup of coffee and Blair started to ask if she had creamer before Dorota automatically pulled Blair's favorite hazelnut creamer out and poured two tablespoons in. Blair looked up at her, awestruck. "How did you-"

"Miss Eleanor filled me in on the important things," Dorota replied. "I told her I want to know everything about Miss Blair." She smiled while stirring Blair's coffee. "I go make your bed and lay your uniform out on your bed. Pick you out perfect headband to match!" She skipped away, Blair watching her go.

"Thank you, mother," Blair said softly. "I'm so excited to start our new lives."

Eleanor smiled as she held onto Blair's hand. "Me too, darling. Now eat!"

Blair shoveled food down her throat, enjoying the fullness of her belly. Afterwards, she went upstairs to take a shower, blow dry her hair, do her makeup to perfection, and then style her hair in loose curls with the new straightener that was sitting on her bathroom counter. Before she put her clothes on, she looked carefully in the mirror at herself. For the first time in a long time, she felt pretty. Maybe that had a lot to do with how happy she felt at the moment, how free she felt. But then her eyes caught on the cuts and bruises on her body and she frowned. She ran her hand over the large bruise on her ribs and winced in pain. She dressed in her uniform, folding her skirt at the hem just to the perfect length on her thigh, pulling her white stockings up just enough to cover the nasty yellow and purple bruises on her knees.

When she finally descended the stairs, Eleanor was waiting at the bottom of the staircase with a short, tan girl with a rather large nose and a big smile. "Blair, this is Penelope," Eleanor said.

"Hi!" Penelope sang in a squeaky voice. "I saw you moving in last night! I live in the building a few floors down. I ran into your mother this morning in the lobby and we got to talking. Apparently, you'll be attending school with me, so I offered to walk you!" She linked arms with Blair. "We should leave a bit early so I can show you around the city a bit! Bye!" She waved at Eleanor, dragging a very confused and annoyed Blair behind her. Blair looked helplessly at her mother, who shrugged and laughed at her daughter's expression.

"Try to have a good day!" Eleanor called as the penthouse's elevator doors closed and it was just Blair and Penelope in the elevator.

"Love that headband," Penelope commented, eyeing Blair's hair. "And you look dang good in that uniform. One of the only girls at school that can pull that off, that's for sure." She grimaced, looking down at her own appearance.

Blair noticed the lack of self-esteem and took the moment to compliment how Penelope looked. "I think you look great."

"Really?" Penelope smiled at her. "Thanks. I'm trying to impress a boy." She laughed. "That sounds so childish. Feels like middle school all over again."

"Who's the boy?" Blair asked, trying to keep the conversation going. "What's he like?"

"His name is Nathaniel Archibald," Penelope gushed. "But he goes by Nate. He's really tall and tan and handsome and athletic and dreamy…" She trailed off, caught up in her own mind. "Anyway, he's with this girl named Serena, so there's only a small chance. I don't see what everyone sees in Serena in the least but I guess that's not up to me."

"Why don't you like her?" Blair asked. "It can't just be because of Nate."

Penelope squinted her eyes. "She just gets everything she wants. She just breezes through life, with no problems. She's tall, tan, beautiful, legs that go on for miles. She's hard to not be jealous of. It makes it even worse that she's such a nice girl." She screwed up her face in disgust, looking like she just tasted something revolting and she might vomit. "I just hate her."

"Ooookay," Blair murmured, under her breath. This girl seemed really uptight, definitely not the type of girl she would normally be friends with. It made her wonder if all of the girls at Constance were going to be like.

They walked the rest of the way to school, making simple conversation, stopping at local restaurants and shops to get Blair a little more familiar with the city. When they arrived at school, students littered the courtyard, chatting about Friday night plans and the previous night's boring amount of homework. Many turned to look at Blair as she passed by, clearly not recognizing her face. She just kept her head held high and walked at a semi-quick pace, just trying to make it to the building. As she climbed the stairs, she noticed a couple standing before them that she could already make out must have been Serena and Nate. They were the two most enchanting people she had ever seen in her entire eighteen years of life. Serena had long blonde hair and perfect skin and Penelope was right, legs that go on for miles. What Penelope didn't mention, was how much of a goddess Serena was. And then there was Nate. Exactly as Blair had pictured him when Penelope was describing him. He was a gorgeous man. The two looked like they could take over the world.

Serena looked up as Blair passed and gave her an encouraging and welcoming smile and Blair realized just what Penelope meant about the girl being nice. "Hi, Serena!" Penelope squeaked out as she passed by, trailing along behind Blair. Blair tried her hardest not to roll her eyes at Penelope's desperate need to be fake towards Serena. Oh, how she hated two-faced bitches. They entered the school building and Penelope led the way to the front office, where Blair filled out paperwork and got her course schedule, with a mix of other flyers about events and clubs in the school. Blair was getting her things together when the first bell rang and a boy walked out of the principal's office, a smug look on his face. She caught herself staring at him as he passed by, his masculine scent filling her nostrils. He had dark hair and dark eyes, the kind that might just bore right through your soul. He had a killer jawline and strong facial features and the kind of smirk that said he was a heartbreaker. She blinked rapidly and swallowed hard, tearing her eyes away from him.

"That's Chuck Bass," Penelope whispered in her ear as they left the office, watching him walk down the hallway to catch up with Nate and Serena. "He's Nate's best friend and Serena's step-brother. He's a hottie for sure as well. Probably just as hot as Nate, but the badboy, playboy thing is kind of a turn-off."

Blair nodded in agreement, realizing her mouth had gone completely dry. Penelope was right. He was sure good-looking. "I would probably be a player if I looked that good too," Blair admitted. Penelope laughed at her, and took her schedule out of her hand, leading her to her first class of the day.

The first few classes of the day went by with bliss. None of the teachers pointed her out and made her introduce herself in front of the class. None of her classmates stared at her for too terribly long or asked antagonizing questions about where she was from. It was just kind of calm. By lunch period, Blair was a little worried about where she would sit. She was tempted to just go sit in the girls bathroom, but she figured she might as well try it out and see if maybe Penelope had the same lunch as her. She walked into the cafeteria, the different scents filling her nose, reminding her of all those hours she spent in the cafeteria with Dan, talking and laughing about stupid things. School had been her safe zone. Dan had been her safety net. This was going to be hard.

She looked around desperately for Penelope but didn't recognize her in the growing crowd of students. She sighed and got into line to get her food, trying to decide on what she would eat. Suddenly, she felt someone poke her in the side. She tensed and then relaxed, realizing where she was. She turned over, hoping to see Penelope, but instead she saw Serena. "Don't eat the potatoes," Serena whispered, jokingly. "I heard they come from real potatoes. Ew."

Blair laughed at her poor joke. "I'm Blair. I'm-"

"The new girl," Serena filled in for her. "Yeah, I saw you this morning! With Penelope."

Blair smiled and nodded. "She seems...nice."

Serena giggled. "Yeah, if you like fake, two-faced friends. I'm Serena. I'm sure Penelope's told you all about me and how she wants to get with my boyfriend."

Blair smirked. "She may have mentioned it."

"We used to be best friends," Serena explained. "Then she became like really crazy jealous of me and tried to be like me and it was kind of weird. I kind of just spaced myself from her and then she kinda got stalkerish. Just be careful, okay?"

"Okay," Blair agreed. "So you're the one who runs this place?"

Serena laughed again. It wasn't fair that she had such a cute laugh and a perfect pearly-white smile. "Is that what she said?"

Blair nodded matter-of-factly. "Yeah, she also said that you and Nate are a power-couple. I wondered what that meant. Do you guys save the world? Do you have matching costumes? Interesting stuff."

Serena snorted out a laugh. "Yeah, we also have magic powers." She smiled at Blair. "So how's your first day going? Pretty boring?"

Blair shrugged. "It's been okay, I guess. Nothing too great has happened. I really think I'm going to like my English class. We're reading one of my favorite books."

"The Great Gatsby!" Serena said. "I love that book! I took that class last semester. It was a good class. We did a lot with that book. You'll have fun."

"Oh, so you're a Senior too?" Blair asked.

Serena nodded and held up three fingers, wiggling them back and forth. "Three more months and we're off to college! Any idea where you're planning to go?" They started to put food on their trays. Blair put a little less than Serena did, suddenly feeling very self-conscious of herself, as other people seemed to start to look in their directions.

"Not really," Blair said. She was being honest. She had no idea if she would even still be here in three months. It just depended on how things worked out. "You?"

"Brown," Serena smiled. "It sounds like a dream, compared to this dump."

"It's not so bad," Blair protested.

Serena shrugged. "Do you want to sit with me and my boyfriend and his friends?"

"His friends?" Blair inquired. "Aren't they your friends, too?"

"Hardly," Serena wrinkled her nose. "Mostly his weird jock friends. They're kind of annoying if you ask me, but don't tell him I said anything."

"It's between us," Blair replied softly, as Serena led her to the circular table full of people in the center of the room. Blair looked around at all the different faces, took in all of the different voices. There were so many people at the table that she wasn't even sure if she could fit.

"Hey! Chuck! Move your fat ass over," Serena swatted at a boy, who Blair instantly recognized as the boy she'd seen earlier, Serena's step-brother, Chuck. Blair jumped at Serena's loud voice.

"Calm down, sis," Chuck said under his breath, shifting so that the too-tan blonde with caked on makeup who was perched on his lap had to stand up. When Chuck ignored her, she huffed and stalked away. Chuck rolled his eyes and looked down at his phone, typing out a long message and sending it.

"Ewwww," Serena said, leaning over his shoulder to read the text. "That's disgusting!"

"I don't get the girls by just looking at them," Chuck shrugged calmly. Though you could, Blair thought to herself. "You gotta dirty talk 'em sometimes."

"What about that broad that was just on your lap?" Nate asked, scooting over so that Serena could sit down cozily next to him. "She was cute."

Chuck shrugged again nonchalantly. "She wasn't my type."

"Sit down, babe," Serena said to Blair, patting the seat in between her and Chuck. Blair squeezed between the two of them, trying to sit closer to Serena than to Chuck. When he looked up at her, she thought her heart might stop. Their eyes locked momentarily, light brown puddled into dark brown, before she forced herself to tear her gaze away. "Guys, this is Blair. She's very new here and very nice and very cute." She winked at Blair. "I like her."

Blair blushed as everyone looked at her. "Thanks," she murmured, poking at her food. How on earth was she supposed to eat with all of these people staring at her? Chuck's knee moved underneath the table and touched hers and Blair jumped. Chuck gave her a strange look. She was so jumpy these days and she hated it.

"Jumpy much?" Chuck asked.

"Sorry," Blair said.

"You okay, B?" Serena asked. "It is okay if I call you B, right?"

Blair nodded, liking the sound of that. She was really starting to like Serena, definitely a lot more than she liked Penelope. She was getting along so well with her that it felt like they had been friends for years. "I'll call you S."

"Awh, how cute," Chuck scoffed.

"Do you have a problem?" Serena demanded.

Blair frowned and kept her mouth shut. She didn't like the vibes coming off of Chuck right now and she had a strong feeling that he didn't like her. She poked at her food for a few more minutes before standing up. Serena looked up at her, concerned. "Everything okay? You hardly touched your food."

"Yeah, I'm fine," Blair said. "Just had a big breakfast. I'm going to go to the bathroom."

"You want me to come with?" Serena started to stand up.

Blair shook her head. "No, that's fine, thanks. You can stay here and finish your lunch."

"What's your next class?" Serena asked.

"Calculus," Blair said.

Serena shrieked with joy, causing Chuck to, once again, roll his eyes and causing Blair to, once again, feel uncomfortable and unwanted by him. "Me too!" She exclaimed. "Okay, I'll see you later, B."

"Bye, S," Blair said, scurrying away to the bathroom that she recalled Penelope telling her that the least people went in to. She checked to make sure that no one was in there and went into the very last stall. She got down on her knees and began gagging, trying to force herself to puke. She had no idea what had set it off. Maybe it was Chuck's cold attitude towards her or maybe it was just something inside of her. She had gone so long without puking up her food, months maybe. She just couldn't help it. And once she was finished, she felt much better about herself. She hated it. She hated having an eating disorder, but it was the only thing that made her feel the least bit in control of her life. She stepped out of the stall and rinsed her mouth out with warm water several times until the taste was long gone. Then, she popped in a piece of gum and stepped out of the bathroom.

She was caught off guard when she saw Chuck leaning against the wall next to the bathroom. For a moment, she thought she might have a panic attack. She took a deep breath and started to walk past him but he grabbed her arm. "Hey," he said, his voice rough and husky. She felt as if she might melt into a puddle right there. She felt blush creep up her cheeks and hoped it wasn't noticeable. What was he doing here? Had he heard her in the bathroom? "What are you doing?" he asked.

"Going to class?" Blair tried to sound uninterested in him, but she knew she was failing.

"Let me rephrase this," Chuck said softly. "What were you doing?"

"I had to pee…" Blair tried, weakly.

Chuck shook his head at her. "Okay, never mind. Sorry I asked." With that, he stormed off, leaving a very confused Blair Waldorf behind him.

After giving herself a couple of seconds to clear her head of this jumble of thoughts, she made her way to her calculus class, excited to see Serena again. Serena was sitting at a table for two people and she waved Blair over to her. "I'm so glad you're in this class now!" Serena said. "I hated everyone in this class. What took you so long? You left before me."

"I ran into Chuck in the hallway," Blair said. "I don't know why but I kind of get the feeling that he doesn't like me."

"Oh, nonsense," Serena said, brushing it off. "Chuck can be a dick sometimes. He doesn't mean it. Well...not all the time, anyway." She looked at Blair. "Hey, he's having a party tonight at our penthouse. You should come!"

"Oh, I don't know if that's a good idea-"

"Blair, you have to! I really need a girl with me. I don't wanna go alone."

"But, aren't you going with Nate?" Blair pointed out.

Serena shook his head. "No, this is the kind of party where you show up with your girls. It's not some...dingy couple get together. It's show up looking hot with a hot girl," she winked at Blair, "get drunk off of our asses, forget about our problems, dance, and have the time of our lives."

Blair laughed. "Well, I have to-"

"You don't have to do anything!" Serena said. "Don't make up excuses. I need you with me. I'll pick you up at eight. No more protesting," she said, before Blair could say anything else. Blair fake-glared at Serena and she grinned back at her as the teacher began talking.

Well, this night was going to be very interesting...

A/N: So, this was kind of a filler chapter of Blair becoming friends with Serena and meeting Chuck. Wondering why he's so cold toward her? We will find out, won't we!? Haha. Anyway, this chapter was a little longer for ya and I hope you liked it! The next chapter will be Chuck's party and it's going to become very fun after this! I'm thinking maybe it will be M rated here in a couple chapters, if you know what I mean... Love you all! Don't forget to review!~ :)