Disclaimer: Gossip Girl doesn't belong to me.

Summary: Need, boundaries, control, love, obsession, shame, heat, submission, lies, ego, pain, money, dreams and all that's Chuck and Blair in thirty vignettes.

16. Bother

She looked immaculate, with her spotless velvet dress, her curls carefully kept in place by a red band, her serious little face, her small white hands on her lap. She looked so flawless, so umblemished, so perfect she didn't look like a real girl at all.

That bothered him for some reason far too complex to be understood by a five year old boy. All he knew was that there was something unnatural in the way she sat, her crossed ankles revealing a pair of laced stockings, her head held high, her small, quiet voice solemnly pronouncing 'Morning, Miss' as though she were a talking doll.

The other girls whispered among themselves and giggled, they tossed around the toys and shoved each other, but not her. She just sat in a corner in complete silence, brushing her doll's straight, long blonde hair, so different from her chocolate curls. In spite of being surrounded by the noise and chaos provoked by a gang of small children during breaktime, she remained impassive. He didn't like it at all.

Perhaps, if he made her lose her concentration, if she was distracted from her doll, the serious look would dissipate, perhaps she'd stop looking like a porcelain doll to become a real girl he could play with.

He did all he could think of to draw her attention. His laugh became the highest, his voice the loudest. He run faster than all the other children, he walked over a fence – and fell on top of a bed of flowers, forever ruining them. He even caught a toad and chased the other girls with it, but it was all in vain. With her usual regal attitude, she kept untangling the doll's hair, lost in her own dreamworld, as though everyone else was insignificant in her eyes, as though he was insignificant.

That was unacceptable. No one ignored him, not ever, and he wouldn't let a girl with curly hair, bright eyes and a red headband get away with it. It was time for drastic measures.

On his tiptoes, he approached her from behind. He looked around once, making sure the teacher was distracted – she'd already lectured him enough over the toad and the flowers – and that the other children were too preoccupied in their games and fights. Then, with a malicious smirk, he grabbed one of her curls and pulled.

Everything happened very fast.

The girl cried, jumped from her seat, dropping the doll, and turned around to glare at him with eyes brimming with tears that could not conceal the fury in her gaze.

'I hate you! You're mean, ugly and… and a pig!'

He wasn't hurt. On the contrary, he was delighted to have her undivided attention. Besides, when she got angry her eyes gleamed and her pale cheeks turned pink, and he thought she no longer looked like a doll.

Smiling like he'd seen his dad do when he 'made business', he stretched his hand for her to shake.

'I'm Chuck. And you?'

She gritted her teeth and her tiny hands balled into fists.

'None of your business.'

She scrunched up her nose, as though there were a foul smell, and turned around. He started to run after her, but a boy with sandy hair and a round face got between them.

'Is this one yours?'

The girl stopped and looked at the new boy, who has holding her doll.

'Belle!'

The boy handed over the doll, and to Chuck's shock the little girl gave him a dazzling smile in return.

'I'm Nate. And you?'

The girl held the doll against her chest, hesitating.

'I'm Blair,' she said quietly. Nate held out his hand.

'Do you want to go to the swings with me?'

Blushing, she nodded shyly and took his hand. Both of them walked away chattering, leaving behind a boy with dark hair and pointed features boiling from fury and also, from disappointment.