Actually, Blair was having a good time at the ball.
Humphrey had managed to make himself presentable, and wasn't doing anything too weird.
More importantly, though, Blair was making good progress with the leader. Paul Hoffman.
In fact, she now had his full attention. She smirked to herself.
Whoever said Tisch kids were hard to crack?
"Well, Dan, that's a really intriguing idea."
Paul was looking at Humphrey with genuine interest.
In all honesty, Blair hadn't actually been following Humphrey's story in great detail. Something about post-modern, some tortured artsy work.
But she'd seen the spark in Paul's eye, seen how he'd caught on to it.
Brilliant.
"I'd be very eager to meet with you, actually, to go over it. I could do with some inspiration for my next play."
Blair's eyes lit up. This was too great an opportunity to miss.
"Dan would love to come!" she interrupted for him.
Dan stared at her.
She smiled brightly. "Wouldn't you?"
"Yeah," Dan admitted eventually. The idea of his script getting picked up was too good to miss.
Blair smirked.
"We could meet over coffee?" she asked innocently. She wasn't being too obvious, of course, about the fact that she'd just invited herself along. She managed a sweet smile in Dan's direction. "I would love to hear more of your ideas too."
Paul Hoffman was looking at her again, nodding. "Great. How about tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow's great." She glanced at Dan. He just shook his head; giving up. Her grin widened.
There.
She'd managed to a secure a private meeting with the leader himself. Well, ok, technically Dan had. But Paul seemed to want her there too, if his smile was anything to go by.
And Blair never misinterpreted people, especially when it came to interest in her. A lifetime of being the unwanted one had taught her to pick up immediately when she wasn't. Not that she'd ever let being unwanted stop her before; but this did make things easier.
Powerful ally number one.