"That… could have gone better," Wes said, looking dazed. "I realize it was unrealistic to think she might have completely forgiven me, but a part of me still hoped."
"It could have gone much worse, though," Henry reminded. "She could have gone crazy and pushed you down the stairs, or she could have cried and made a scene. Frankly, the cold shoulder is a pretty decent reaction on Laurel's part."
"I guess you're right," Wes sighed. "But I just-"
A girl suddenly appeared behind him and grabbed his arm, cutting him off. "Hey guys, this is Constance and St. Jude's, right? I just want to make sure I'm at the correct prep school before I go to class or anything."
"Um, yeah; you're in the right place," Wes said, looking a bit surprised. "Constance is on the right and St. Jude's on the left."
The first thing Henry noticed about the girl was that she did not fit in. She was very pretty, dark-haired and long legged with big blue eyes; but her skirt was crooked, her blouse untucked, her tights ripped, her tie uneven, and her hair a tangled mess. She certainly didn't look like any of the other girls who walked by in polished, color-coordinated outifts. Henry raised an eyebrow. "Are you a student here?"
"Duh," the girl said, gesturing to her uniform. "Do you think I'd wear this get-up on purpose? I look fucking ridiculous."
"You certainly do," Henry agreed.
The girl eyed him suspiciously. "I'm Sloane, by the way."
"Oh right. Sloane Beaumont!" Wes said. "You're one of the twins from the blog post this morning, aren't you?"
"I'm from the what!?" Sloane backed away slowly. "Are you two creeps stalking me?"
"No, it was on Gossip Girl," Henry explained. "It's this blog that writes about all of our lives."
Sloane looked confused. "Who the hell runs this blog and how do they know me? I literally just got here three weeks ago."
"Well, we don't actually know who Gossip Girl is," Henry said. "It's kind of complicated. The original Gossip Girl was my step-uncle, Dan Humphrey. He created the blog back when my parents went to school here, but he stopped posting once their group of friends settled down. Everyone thought that was the end of Gossip Girl, but then a few years later, someone started posting again, about a new group of students. It turned out to be Melanie Bennet, who hacked the site when she was a sophomore and became the new Gossip Girl. Then nine months after she stopped posting, another Gossip Girl popped up. Gossip Girl three was revealed to be Jane Fernandez, the nanny of two students, Pierce and Hannah Cabot. She actually held on to the blog for almost eight years because she focused on both of the kids she watched, so when Pierce graduated, she just moved on to Hannah. But eventually, those kids grew up too, and Jane gave up the blog. And then, near the end of eighth grade, the fourth Gossip Girl appeared, the Gossip Girl we have now. She mainly follows me, and Wes, and our friends, and we haven't the faintest idea of who it might be."
"So this Gossip Girl just posts stuff about your day to day activities?" Sloane asked. "Doesn't that get… boring?"
Wes shrugged. "It hasn't so far. I guess we lead pretty interesting lives. But it is pretty annoying to have a judge-y blogger broadcasting everything we do to the entire internet. I mean, it feels like I have no privacy. Gossip Girl knows all, sees all, and then writes it up into cleverly worded paragraphs and posts them on her blog."
"That's invasive and horrible!" Sloane said, grinning hugely. "How can I view this blog? It sounds wildly entertaining."
Henry grabbed her phone and started adjusting her settings. "I'm programming it so you get updated every time there's a Gossip Girl blast. Pretty much everybody at school does."
"Thanks, man," Sloane replied.
Wes looked around. "Wait... aren't you supposed to have a brother? Dylan or something?"
"Oh right, forgot about him for a second." Sloane turned around and started waving frantically a black town car parked about fifty feet away. "Declan was waiting in the car because he was convinced we were at the wrong school. That's why I came up and asked you in the first place."
A boy in a St Jude's uniform emerged from the car and bounded up the stairs to meet them. It was easy to tell that Declan and Sloane were twins. They were both tall and narrow and shared the same fair skin, wide blue eyes, and nearly black hair. Sloane grabbed her brother by the arm, pulling him in front of her. "Guys, this is Declan. Declan, these are two guys I just met, and I realize now I know neither of their names… Who are you two, again?"
"Wes Morgan and Henry Bass," Wes supplied.
"These are Wes Morgan and Henry Bass," Sloane announced.
Declan waved shyly. "Hi."
"Wait, should we be getting to class?" Sloane asked. "What time does school start?"
"You've got four and a half minutes," Henry responded, looking down at his watch. "So you should probably think about finding your classes."
"Right." Sloane pulled out her schedule. "Does anyone know where Mrs. Falkner's science class is?"
"It's the first door on the left of the Constance hall," Henry answered over his shoulder as he walked towards the school. "You can't miss it."
Sloane tilted her head and watched him go. "Well, thanks, I guess."
"Don't mind him," Wes reassured her. "He's always like that."
Declan looked up from his schedule. "Um, I've got AP Geography with Mr. Hanesly."
"Hey, I'm in that class!" Wes said. "I'll walk you down. No problem."
"Oh, thanks." Declan smiled for the first time since they'd met him.
"Alrighty then." Sloane grabbed her backpack and began towards the front door. "I'll see you two at lunch then. Later."
And with that, she walked through the double doors and began her new life at Constance Billard School for Girls. God help her.
And with that, the Beaumont twins have arrived in Manhattan. Declan seems nice enough, but Sloane is a whole different story. I can tell already that a bold, direct, and poorly dressed new girl will make a big splash here on the Upper East Side. For good or for bad, it's impossible to say, but she certainly isn't going to fade into the background. She's very pretty, Wes, do I sense a rebound on the horizon? What will Laurel say?