Faze

AN: the actual first chapter. I'm afraid this story isn't good. It's not exactly what I'm used to doing. Also, this story is told in the first person by Blair. :)

"Where to, Miss… pardon, could you repeat the name?"

"Krieger, Alice Krieger. I'm on the three thirty flight to London." I put my baggage up on the check in counter.

"Ok, Miss Krieger… thanks for flying British Airways." The British blonde at the counter flashed a quick smile at me and then moved on to the next customer, some pompous guy who'd I seen minutes before having quite the farewell with a couple of Russian twins, and then later with a couple of Beverly Hills blond twins.

"Mr. Bass, how can I be of service?" I heard her say as I walked away.

I walked to the waiting area and sat in the seat nearest to the plane's gate. My feet were killing me. I'd come all the way from Upper East Side to the airport after waiting half an hour for a cab outside my atelier (the flat I'd lived in for five years) in my black stilettos!

I had a passion for dance; mostly ballet and modern contemporary so that was the only honest thing I did for a living. My actual job (you might call it). I gave dance classes to little kids and participated in a few dance groups, it was the only thing that I'd do openly, with no alias.

And that day I'd just come from a meeting with my manager/lawyer Serena Van der Woodsen (my best friend) that supervised my life. She'd hook me up with dancing gigs and, more importantly, get me out when cons when sour.

S was the only person that knew everything about me. She was the opposite of me: physically (she had glowy skin and long shiny blonde hair, while I had my super curly brown hair, that I had to groom for at least an hour every day, and ivory skin that made me look like a vampire half of the time) and mentally (she was an open kind of person; I was reserved and very artsy, not to mention a schemer with no heart for the "victim").

The flight was delayed a few minutes. I gritted my teeth. I wanted to pass the time. But there was nothing to do!

"Goddamn it."

"True."

I jumped as I heard the voice of a man in the seat beside me.

He smiled. "Sorry, did I scare you?"

"No!" I blushed. I recognized him. He was the player guy. I mean, I'd seen him before, but now I was really looking.

He was easily the most charming man alive. Black hair gently pushed back, his luxuriant dark chocolate eyes and his perfectly overwhelming eyebrows that were lifted. He was like a God or something: terrifying, powerful, handsome. He pulled up his wrist to check the time. He was wearing a black suit and a purple tie. I noticed on his suitcase a B carefully printed… rich, definitely.

"Going to London on business?" I guessed.

"No. Family… apparently there's something big happening now that I can miss." He sighed and I noticed his very light (almost unnoticeable) English accent. "But I bet it's nothing I couldn't hear from my office in New York."

I laughed even though I didn't really understand his point of view, how could he think that spending time away from work was bad? Unless he was a workaholic… but he didn't look like one. He was so well groomed and (by the people I'd seen him with before) I think he quite enjoyed pleasure.

"How so?"

He smiled. Not a huge kind of smile, but more of a light smile with a lift of the eyebrows. He grabbed a newspaper from his suitcase and began reading it.

"I… don't really get along with most of my family. My parents are dead, uncle's a prick; my aunt loves to meddle; my cousin is an annoying idiot… the only person I'm ok with is my stepmother, but she lives in New York. The only real family I have left is from my mother's side. I try my best to run from their little claws, but they always find a way to pull me back. And, on top of that, they told me I had to leave New York so late I didn't even have time to prepare a private plane."

"That's too bad." I was very surprised he'd told me all that. Wow, an orphan, just like me.

He didn't say a thing, just reading his newspaper naturally and ignoring me. He turned the page.

We kept silence until my phone began to ring.

I looked at the caller ID, it was S.

"Hey S," I greeted. I'd been expecting her to call.

"B, where are you?" I heard Serena's ecstatic voice on the other side of the line.

"Waiting for the airplane… it's late."

"Oh damn! I hoped nothing would go wrong!" there was a hint of dishonesty in Serena's voice.

"Serena, stop it, I know you hate what I'm doing, don't lie."

"I thought I was doing a pretty good job at lying!" Serena sighed. I could practically hear the shrug of the shoulders she gave on the other side. "Just be careful, ok B?"

"When am I not careful?"

"True. You made your point. Dan and I are just leaving the house to go to dinner now. Good luck with the Duke, Dr. Alice Krieger."

"Yes, goodbye now S. And say goodbye to Cabbage Patch for me too."

I was flying first-class. I'd prepared everything myself. I'd pulled some strings: of course anything for my dear Lord Nathaniel Archibald, Duke of Bedford. We were going to announce our engagement to his family. Actually, we were announcing Nathaniel Archibald and Alice Krieger, not Blair Waldorf. And not to his whole family: just to his mother, later on, to his grandfather.

The fact was; marrying the Duke was part of a plan to get filthy rich and never have to work again! I didn't actually have feelings for the guy. I just had to put up with him for a couple of years as Alice Krieger and then… ka-ching!

I knew it was wrong, but being married would be perfect! I'd get a kick out of the experience and a laugh out the divorce! Obviously I had a plan for that to…

"Hello again"

I looked up. Shit! It was Mr. God himself. Yes, Mr. Bass. "Hi" I said, shaken.

"It seemed we were destined to meet again, hum?" he sat as a special stewardess came to put his bag up on the bag carriers. "Thank you."

I lifted my eyebrows. That man! He was looking at the stewardess's breasts. Oh my God. What an ass.

"So, what are you going to do in London? Business, leisure…" he said this last word with his eyebrows lifted.

I laughed ironically. "You could say business," I pretended "…strictly business."

"Right, miss…"

"Krieger, Dr. Alice Krieger." I stuck with my alias, it was a lot safer.

"I'm Chuck Bass," he smiled. Then he took out a blackberry from his jacket's pocket and checked it distractedly.

"Anything to drink?" a pale and redhead stewardess asked smiling.

"I'll have the best scotch on board please." Mr. Bass lifting his eyes and smiling, "and for the lady…?" He looked at me with curiosity.

"Mineral water please." I answered. Not in a million years I'd ever drink alcohol next to this guy; even though I did miss a good glass of champagne.

"Oh please!" he sighed. Then he looked at me intensely, like he was analyzing my every inch. "Will you get your finest champagne for the lady please? And put it on my tab."

"Certainly sir," the stewardess gave a short curtsy and stepped away.

I was amazed. How did he know? That was so freaky.

"My treat to you, Miss Krieger" he looked at me, then grabbing a random newspaper and reading it carefully. His face was really scary when it was serious.

"Scotch for you sir" The redhead stewardess was already back, and she carefully placed the glass onto Mr. Bass's table. "And champagne for the lady?"

I wanted to say no; the glass of wine had not been ordered by me. It was all a huge misunderstanding. But no. I stayed silent… big mistake.

After drinking the whole thing, I asked for a refill. The talk with Mr. Bass had ended and I had nothing to do, so after drinking that, I asked for more again.

"Is that champagne really that good?" Mr. Bass was quick to ask after my forth glass.

"Definitely. And you're paying, so let's hope it's cheap too." I said this in a tone of mockery.

"I highly doubt that."

So, just to annoy the hell out of him, I drank loads. About ten glasses and I still took Bass's scotch at a certain point and drank it down as well.

"You're quite the drinker."

"You have no idea!" I waved my arms in the air. "Wait. Am I drunk?"

"I'm afraid so Miss Krieger."

I hiccuped and the laughed. "Nah! Don't call me that! I'm not Alice Krieger! My name is Blair Waldorf!" I hiccuped again. "Damn these hiccups! I'm not usually like this you know." I laughed compulsively again.

He frowned "Wait, you're not Alice Krieger? What do you mean?"

"I mean…" hiccup, "I lied," hiccup. "I'm a freakin con-artist. I'm not going to London on business. I mean, kind of. I'm actually tricking the Duke into marrying me."

Chuck stared at me, paralyzed. Then he smiled. "Don't you think it's unwise to tell a complete stranger this?"

"We aren't strangers! You're Chuck! I'm Blair. See, we know each other." I was starting to have double vision. I grabbed his arm so I wouldn't feel so woozy.

"Wow. You really are wasted."

I woke up with a horrible headache. My brain was made into jelly. I blinked a few hundred times until I could see clearly. My lips were dry and it was difficult to breath.

I looked over and no one was beside me.

Maybe Mr. Bass was just a dream; maybe it was a figment of my wild imagination. I sure did hope so. I didn't remember what I'd done last night, but if I was hung-over enough to not remember, it couldn't have been good.

As I saw him walking back to his seat, I knew it. He sat next to me and smiled… how I'd like to kill him! He was so impossibly gorgeous, yet that was one of the reasons I was scared.

"Hello, Miss Waldorf. Sleep well?"

"Hum, yeah I guess." I was slow that day. But then I understood… I snapped; my head turned to stare at him violently and my eyes opened up a lot.

I could've killed myself there and then: WALDORF? Seriously, I was such a bad drinker. I tried keeping myself calm, but, suddenly I remembered last night. I'd told him… everything.

"I don't know what you're talking about." I whispered harshly and as seriously as I could.

"You're one hell of a liar…" he paused to see my reaction. Of course, I had none. "…really. But I'm better at these games than you. Even though it's what you do for a living."

I thought it wiser to not say anything else to Mr. Bass. My plan was simple: as soon as we landed, I'd run as far from him as humanly possible. Even though I could barely think because of a burning headache and the nauseating smell of the plane.

My thoughts, after a few gulps of water, turned towards the Duke. I was actually happy to see him. Even though he didn't love the real me, at least he really loved Alice.

I'd met him in a hospital two years back where he was interning, when I was waiting with Dan (S's husband) after Serena had twisted her ankle while the three of us had gone skiing in the Alps.

He was nice and all, but a little too boring. He was the average British guy: blonde, blue eyes, tall. I didn't like the way he looked though… so boring and easy to control.

"Please get an aspirin for Miss Krieger." Mr. Bass was talking to the stewardess while adjusting his tie. "And the morning paper for me."

"Sorry sir, but we are about to land, so the paper will only be possible to obtain outside of the plane, after we land. The same goes for the aspirin."

"Fine," he said, while the stewardess walked away. He whispered ironically, his eyebrow slightly lifted "I was expecting better from first-class service."

I didn't say anything, although I wanted to laugh.

Soon the plane landed and then came normal rush to the exit. Everyone seemed so eager to get off the plane. I never rushed to get off any kind of transport. Especially when travelling alone.

This happened a lot. I'd always stay inside, silent and still mentally preparing myself for my role. Preparing myself to be somebody else is hard. Sometimes, all I wanted to do was cry. Other times I held in huge bursts of laughter.

But that wasn't the difficult part of using these masks. It wasn't faking a laugh or pretending to be interested in a conversation. It was the little things… little things that a lover or a friend would know: like helping out with chores, laughing at inside jokes, and understanding the tiniest movement as something meaningful.

But I managed well. Always did.

"Good luck." Mr. Bass turned and smiled as a steward helped carry out his bag. "You're quite the interesting young lady."

"Thank… you." I said frankly relived he was gone.

I got up when the plane was practically empty. A hard blow to the head hit me as I did: my headache was worse than ever. I carefully took my bag from the compartment it was in and put it on the floor.

I tried to keep my balance as I strolled to the exit where two stewardesses where waiting.

"Have a nice time in London, Miss."

"T-Thank you," I held on to my bag as I passed through Customs. Trying to keep myself composed, I walked out to the waiting lobby.

Nate spotted me almost immediately. "Alice!"

I turned to him, just as he came to give me a light kiss. "Hello Nate. How have you been?"

"Fantastic!" he grabbed me by the arm and dragged me next to spot where he'd been before. "Alice, this is my mother Anne."

A woman, probably in her forties, who looked just like Nate came to greet me, "Lovely to meet you Alice."

"Likewise, Mrs. Archibald," I knew she hated being called Duchess because that was a title she had gotten from her husband. The Duke had run away from his family, leaving the responsibilities to his wife and son, many years ago.

"Alright, there's someone else I'd like you to meet."

I stiffened, was it his grandfather? His grandfather was a powerful man. And Nate had told me that he wanted me to get comfortable before meeting the grandfather.

"This is my cousin. His mom was my mother's little sister. This is Chuck Bass." Nate's voice echoed when I noticed someone come up to me.

Chuck Bass.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Bass."

He smirked at me. I was starting to hate that smirk.

"The pleasure is all mine, Miss Krieger."

Holy shit.

AN: Here it is, whole chapter. I wanted to keep the essence of Blair and Chuck. I'm not sure I was successful in doing that. You tell me: Do I keep it or trash it?