Last Update: August 24, 2008

Today's Update: February 20, 2011.

Yes, 2 and a half years. But I'm updating now!

Chapter Twelve

She took a deep breath.

She was lying on an unfamiliar bed staring at the dresser across the room. The room that she had been in for the last hour. The hour that had changed so many things. The things that were making her very uncomfortable.

She did it.

She slept with Asher.

And now all she wanted to do was take it back.

It wasn't that she didn't like him. Because he was her official boyfriend so of course she liked him. But she wasn't ready for this. God, she was not ready for it.

She didn't even like it. It hurt and was extremely uncomfortable. He kept apologizing. He asked a few times if she wanted him to stop, even after he had started. She tried to give him a reassuring smile and shook her head, encouraging him to continue even though it was already lasting longer than she thought it was supposed to. They had gotten that far already, and she had heard the first time hurt anyway so she figured she might as well get it all out of the way now and maybe next time it would be better.

At the moment, she seriously doubted if she wanted there to be a next time, at least for a while. It seemed to take him forever to finally finish. She thought it was supposed to be a lot faster than that. Maybe he just didn't get off as fast as some other guys did. Hazel and Penelope had wasted no time in talking to her about sex and everything that went with it as soon as they learned of her new boyfriend. They told her not to expect too much from her first time because it would probably hurt and because the guy probably wouldn't last long enough to make her feel much of anything good. But they promised it would get better.

He had almost immediately dozed off afterward. She tried to do the same, but her mind wouldn't stop racing. She wanted to get up. She wanted to leave. She wanted to run to a bathroom and shower and maybe even cry because this was not how she had always imagined it to be.

She wondered if he would be okay with it if she asked him to wait to do it again. The way he treated her while they were doing it, he probably would.

And his original reaction to her decision told her that he probably would too. He had actually been the one uncertain about taking this step. He even tried to convince her to wait. But she had insisted.

He wasn't much for foreplay—a term Penelope coined as essential. He actually barely touched any part of her body. They just made out before stripping and getting down to business. In fact, for all the talk most guys made about breasts, she always assumed her first sexual experience would include major breast attention—even if they weren't mammoth-sized like Serena's.

All in all, the encounter was disappointing, and she still felt a little sore.

"Asher?" she said.

No response.

She slid off the bed, not having to worry about disturbing his arms or other body parts because he hadn't reached for her at all to cuddle or anything when he was done.

She started looking for her clothing, pulling each item on as quickly as possible. She brushed her bangs to the side and slid her headband firmly in place.

"Asher," she said more firmly, bending over to shake his arm gently.

"Hmm?" came a murmur before he opened his eyes.

"I have to go home now," she said, forcing a smile. "Take me?" She needed to get home before her father or brother started to wonder where she was at. She didn't want to see either of them that evening if she could help it. Dan was supposed to be at a poetry reading with Sarah, so maybe she'd get home before the moody artists finished spewing their boring pretentious rhymes.

"Oh… okay," he got up and pulled on his clothes just as quickly as she had.

She walked into her shoes and bent down to retrieve her purse.

Neither of them really looked at each other while getting their things together. Jenny felt so awkward,

Why had she decided to do this? Why did she think it would cement her place as queen? Why did she care this much about being queen of some stupid high school hierarchy club?

If she had known how horrible she would feel once the deed was done, she would have never pursued it. She remembered how Sarah told her that being official would probably tilt the scales in her favor.

After what she'd been through, she was determined that she would achieve it now. If she didn't become queen and boot Blair back down the steps, then all this would have really been for nothing. And she didn't think she could live with that.

'"Are you out of your mind!"

Serena sighed. She knew this would be the reaction from Dan the second the words left her mouth. It was Friday morning. Chuck was leaving later that night with Eric and Bart for Bart's bachelor trip. Originally Eric wasn't going to go, but he begged their mother at the last minute.

She had been getting calls and texts from Georgina non-stop to talk to her, but she was keeping vigilant, following Chuck's advice, to not talk to her. Georgina was surely convinced by now that Blair and Serena's friendship was over and that Serena was extremely pissed off at Georgina because of it.

"Jenny is our only hope of doing this without tipping Georgina off," she explained.

"I don't want my sister involved in this," he insisted.

"If we can't erase all traces of those pictures, it's only a matter of time before she figures out that the fight between me and B was staged. Then she might really involve Jenny in this. I don't want to see anyone else get hurt. Please, Dan?"

"I… I have to think about it," he said, running a hand through his hair, frustration showing.

"There isn't any time," she said.

"Why not?"

"Because Chuck leaves tonight. We're already cutting it close by waiting so late. We need Jenny on board now so we can get Georgina to go to her party."

"Serena…" Dan knew how important this all was, and he understood why involving someone else was key to keeping everything under the radar from the psycho. He just really didn't want to involve his sister. "I don't want her to get hurt."

"She won't," Serena insisted. "I know Jenny. She can pull this off. And if there is any sign of danger, we'll call it all off."

"So now there's danger?"

"No!" she exclaimed. "Georgina has just been using rumors and blackmail to freak us out. She hasn't done anything to suggest bodily harm. She wouldn't go that far. I was just saying that to make a point." Well, the box of baby doll body parts could suggest bodily harm... but not in the context Blair received it in.

"Serena—"

"What's going on, guys?"

Serena and Dan both snapped around to look at the girl who just emerged from her room, dressed and ready for the day.

"Good morning!" they said simultaneously.

"Okay… Good morning," Jenny returned, thinking something was up but instead of trying to pry, she just went into the kitchen to get some juice and a breakfast bar. She didn't want to pry because then Dan might decide to pry even more into why she had been so quiet all night. Of course, if all went well that morning at school Dan was going to know what happened anyway. Prolonging that conversation as long as possible was a very good thing.

Serena glanced meaningfully at Dan.

Dan took a deep breath and against his better judgment, gave in.

"We need your help."

Jenny grasped Asher's hand and got out of the limo after taking a deep breath to fortify herself.

She had two roles to play today.

The loving girlfriend who couldn't wait to tell her friends about what transpired the previous evening with her amazing boyfriend.

And the friend to a psychotic girl who would stop at nothing to ruin the relationship between her brother and his girlfriend.

Serena was her friend and she was already hit hard enough by the loss of Blair's friendship. Jenny could use this time to create a stronger bond with Serena so that when the minions accepted Serena back into their arms—after Jenny knocked them through a loop with her perfect prince and perfect party—Serena and Jenny could unite against Blair, once again knocking her off her pedestal.

She also relished the idea of getting one over on the brunette psycho who had managed to plant the stupid idea in her head that she needed to sleep with her boyfriend to cement her place in society.

She leaned into Asher's embrace, kissing him with as much feeling as she could muster, putting on the show for her friends on the steps.

SPOTTED: Apparently our Little J got her V-Card swiped at A's register last night. Welcome to womanhood, J. A party is set for this evening, ready to celebrate…and maybe even attend a coronation? Reigning Queen B, watch your back. She has the king, the royal subjects, and… I think she just declared war.

"Is this true?"

Jenny breathed a sigh of relief. She had been trying to avoid Dan all day since the Gossip Girl blast. She hadn't responded to any of his text messages and she had become adapt at ducking into classrooms to avoid her passing brother.

"Eric! Hi!" she smiled at her friend, the only one she has never had to play games with or pretend to be something she's not.

"Is this true?" he asked again, barely concealing his agitation, holding up his phone with the latest post written out on it.

She shrugged, "Yes? What's wrong?"

Eric wouldn't look at her. "I've been trying to talk to you all week, why have you been avoiding me?"

"I wasn't… not really," she said, thinking back. She hadn't really meant to not talk to him, but she was so busy with Asher and her friends and plans for the party. She guessed she'd forgotten to get back to him. "I'm sorry, but we can hang out tomorrow! Or, you can come to the party tonight! I would love for you to be there!"

"I just really needed to talk to you," he said, wincing and still not looking at her as he put his phone away in the pocket of his uniform slacks.

"Like I said, tomorrow or—"

"Just… " he sighed and looked heavenward. "I can't, I'm going away this weekend."

"Well, when you get back for sure!" she said. She actually really wanted to talk to him now that she thought about it…he was the only one she could be completely candid with about her present circumstances. "I really want to talk to you about… stuff too."

Was it her imagination or did his eyes look a little glassy?

"That's… fine," he mumbled. "I'll call you."

"Walk me to class?" she pointed down the hall, not wanting to relinquish him just yet.

"Going that way," he nodded in the opposite direction before taking off.

"Bye…" she trailed off, growing a little worried but deciding if it was something really bad he would tell her now instead of waiting until he got back.

"Okay, I'll get the computer; you go through her drawers and stuff!" Serena ran straight to the desk against the wall in the tiny apartment. She knew it was more likely the pictures would be on there, so she made sure she got there first. She just prayed Chuck didn't find anything else incriminating to Blair during his search.

He closed the door, frowning at his future sister, before doing as she bid.

"You're still trying to hide them from me, aren't you?" he said, amused.

"Yes, because you're that horrible," she bluffed. "In fact, if you find any pictures, don't look at them. Just tell me and I'll do the honors."

"Right," he smirked. He started rifling through her dresser drawers, shuddering when he opened the top to reveal her lingerie drawer. He took out a handkerchief to use to move the items around. Usually he didn't mind running his hands over silky sexy outfits, but this was Georgina, and he'd rather not touch anything that had been against her body ever again.

"Just look as quickly as possible. I don't want to be here longer than I have to," she said.

"Relax," he said, slamming the drawer shut and moving to the next one. "The landlord won't say a word after the wad of cash I slipped him. And little J will give you the heads up if there's a problem with our resident crazy person."

"Just hurry!"

The party was going better than even she hoped. Some part of her thought that Blair might try to crash, but thus far nothing. And Asher was being absolutely amazing. The girls were convinced that he was charming and elegant and the perfect catch.

She had been continuing to avoid her brother who had been calling and texting her so much she had to turn the phone off for a while during the party preparations. She turned it back on only to talk to Serena and 'Sarah'. She knew her role in this. She just needed to switch out the sim card in Georgina's phone and then manage to destroy the phone through some freak accident. She would have rather just destroy the phone, but Serena insisted that destroying the phone didn't mean that the sim card was destroyed. So, she would do as Serena asked. This crazy girl, 'Sarah' aka Georgina, had been playing with everyone. Jenny would not allow her to use her brother or his girlfriend again!

Now she just needed to get Georgina to set her purse, which held the phone Jenny saw her put in there, to the side so she could get to that sim card.

"Asher," she said, smiling at her boyfriend and dragging her new 'friend' with her in front of him. "This is Sarah."

Sarah had opted to put her hair up in a long dark green wrap, which almost everyone at the party thought was weird. Jenny had understood immediately that there were probably some people at this party who would know that 'Sarah' was actually Georgina Sparks. Since Serena had given her all the details of this Georgina girl earlier that morning, she wasn't surprised at the wrap. Nor was she surprised by the makeup that was applied in such a way that even Jenny might not have recognized her face if the girl hadn't walked right up to her when she arrived. Apparently Georgina Sparks was a master of disguises as well.

"Hello," he said politely, if a bit put off by the strange girl.

"Jenny has told me so much about you!" Georgina gushed. "I'm so glad you two decided to make your relationship official! Was it hard taking that step, coming out?" She knew her eyes almost glinted with glee when Asher seemed to pale in front of her.

"I, um, uh," Asher's careful demeanor floundered for the first time that evening.

"I mean, coming out as an official couple, of course!" Georgina said. "You two are so perfect together. And this party is so great! Tasteful and elegant. I'm sure Jenny took care of all of that, because you're such a man you probably couldn't be bothered by all the little details like decorations and ordering cocktails," she flirted with as much friendly banter as possible. She wanted to emphasis the cock part of that word so badly, but didn't want to give too much away. She wanted to make Asher uncomfortable, not make him think she knew more than she should.

"Actually…" Jenny was going to point out that Asher actually had very specific details he wanted for his party, but Asher interrupted her.

"Jenny did do an amazing job!" Asher said forcefully, trying to smile at his girlfriend.

"Thanks," Jenny smiled. "Oh, I see one of the wait-staff with an empty tray. Obviously he's a little lost and needs direction. Asher, honey, be a dear and show Sarah, here, how proper gentleman dance with ladies on the Upper West Side."

Asher looked like he would rather systematically slice paper cuts into each of his fingertips than dance with the strange girl.

"Would you?" Georgina said sweetly. "I've noticed you haven't been on the dance floor much. Haven't found your inner dancing queen tonight? Well, with your very own queen on your arm, I suppose you already found her."

"I'll take that for you if you want," Jenny offered, motioning to the purse in the girl's grasp.

"Would you?" she smiled, handing it over as she took Asher's reluctantly proffered arm.

Jenny pretended to walk over to a man carrying a tray, staring back at Georgina and Asher the entire time before opening the latch and sliding her hand into the bag. She reached around for the familiar feel of a phone.

Then froze when her hand was greeted with a different sort of metal.

She looked inside and nearly dropped the bag.

Oh My God!

Serena jumped and hit her knee on the bottom of the desk when her cell phone started blaring.

"It's Jenny," Serena said to Chuck who was in the process of cleaning out Georgina's closet.

He sighed and started putting things back where he found them as quickly and accurately as possible, ticked at the fact that he had found nothing.

"What's wrong?" she whispered, flipping the phone open.

"Serena!" Jenny whisper-shrieked. "This girl is bad news! You need to forget all about this plan and just get out of there! Don't do anything to let her know you were there! Just get out now!"

"What's going on?" Serena asked, heart in her throat. "Were you not able to get the card? Were you caught?"

"No, but," Jenny's breath hitched. "There's a gun in her purse. A tiny little metal killing thing and she brought it to my party, and oh my God, if she has a gun then what is she really capable of? Just get out of there! Forget about the video and go to the police now before someone really does get hurt!"

Serena gasped and put her hand over her mouth. She had promised Dan there would be no danger, but this was definitely danger territory.

"Don't do anything! Just give the purse back to her when the dance is over. Act cool. Normal. Natural. I don't want you involved anymore, Jenny! Do not, I repeat, do not do anything at all to even hint that you know her true identity! Do you understand?" she spoke a mile a minute and she started frantically putting things in the desk back where she found them, praying that she got everything right.

Chuck raised his arms in question, wanting to know what was going on. Serena held up a finger and continued. "We'll be leaving immediately. Don't worry. Just forget I ever told you any of this. Understand?" Crap, she said "we'll"! Jenny wasn't supposed to know that Chuck was with her! She was only supposed to think that Dan and Serena knew about the 'video', and the plan wasn't for Dan to be with her. Hopefully Jenny would be too distraught to notice Serena's slip up.

"But, I… and Dan… and you…"

The poor girl was only fifteen. Guns were scary at any age, but to be that close to one had to be terrifying for her. She would have no problem facing down adversity when a reputation was on the line, but when it came to life and death situations, the tables turned completely.

"Jenny!" Serena said sharply. "Calm down! Do you understand!"

"Yes," the girl whispered.

"Can you do what I told you to do?" she demanded more than asked.

"Yes."

Serena ended the call. "We're leaving now. Make sure everything is exactly the way it was when we got here."

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Jenny found a lot more in that purse than just her cell phone."

Chuck shifted his leg, trying to stop the nervous twitter that was making him shake incessantly against the smooth leather of the limo's seat.

Serena had filled him in on the latest development before deciding to run off to talk to Blair. Chuck wanted to go, but there was no way he could get out of this bachelor weekend. Bart Bass didn't make that many demands, but this had been one of them.

He looked over to the dark blonde boy sitting quietly across from him. His future step brother looked glum and moody. Not a good mix for the long journey ahead of them. But try as he might, Chuck couldn't start a conversation. It wasn't often that he worried about other people, but this time he was worried about everyone.

Georgina Sparks was a thundering loony, but until today she hadn't really been dangerous. Now all bets were off on the outcome of this mess.

He told Serena to just go to the police. He told her that no pictures of Blair kissing Georgina were worth anyone's lives. He assumed it would be easy to convince Blair of this once Serena explained what Jenny had found.

He was just waiting to hear from Serena before he called his guy at the police station to put a security detail on both Serena and Blair. Fortunately, Eric was right there with him so he didn't have to worry about the rest of his family. He would have already called for the bodyguard detail, but he knew Georgina was keeping a close eye on everything going on with Serena. He didn't want her to figure out that the girls and Eric had someone following their every move. She might step up her game then.

"So, ready for the best weekend of our lives?" Chuck tried to give his best 'oh yeah' expression along with his signature smirk.

He didn't have to even try with the facial expressions because Eric was in his own little world, fiddling with his cell phone.

"Expecting a call?"

Eric shook his head and tossed the phone on the seat next to him. "No."

"So, ready?" What was bothering Eric? And why wasn't he telling Chuck? Since their parents had gotten together, they had formed a bond that almost felt like a real brotherly connection... even though Chuck didn't really have any idea what that was really supposed to feel like.

"…Sure."

Serena looked at her best friend who was quietly sitting on her bed, staring at the wall across the room.

She immediately told Blair everything that had transpired when she arrived. Now she was waiting for Blair to tell her what to do. From the beginning Serena had been ready to go to the authorities over the Pete situation. The only thing holding her back was Blair's secret. And it was a doozy.

She felt so terrible for Blair. She'd been through so much this year. Everything with Nate, and then Chuck, and then Chuck ruining her reputation. And now Georgina was threatening her. She was forced to have a very public argument with her best friend and had to keep pretending that they were no longer friends. Georgina didn't even know the real truth behind Blair's secret, but she knew enough that the damage would be even worse than Chuck's tipping off Gossip Girl to Blair's sexual activities.

Blair's face finally smoothed out, as if she had come to a decision.

"I'll tell him… them."

"You'll…?"

"I can't let Georgina keep terrorizing everyone, not if she's really dangerous. My secrets aren't worth anyone's life," Blair gave a sad bemused look. "Even if it's little Jenny Humphrey's."

They sat in silence for a few minutes.

"It was Nate's, wasn't it?" she finally whispered.

"How'd you know?" Blair whispered shakily.

"The timing," Serena explained. "You were with Chuck before the ball. You lost it over spring break. Almost four months. You wouldn't have recovered as quickly, and it wouldn't have been a miscarriage. It would have been more like a still birth." She had looked some things up right after learning of Blair's secret.

"Right…not as quickly…" Blair trailed off.

Serena knew those words were double edged. Blair may have recovered physically, but mentally she was still an emotional wreck. She might have been making strides to put it out of her mind, to try to control her emotions regarding the loss of the baby, but she was never going to completely forget.

Maybe revealing the truth would be for the best.

"I'll tell Nate… I'll go tonight, I guess," Blair murmured.

"What about Chuck?" Serena asked. Because even if the baby wasn't his, it would be better for Blair to tell him that before Georgina released a photo that indicated Blair had an abortion. That way he didn't mistakenly think she had aborted his child.

"I'll tell him when he gets back?" Blair said, uncertain.

"Okay…" she trailed off.

"What?"

"Nothing… I'll wait until you talk to Chuck before I do anything."

"What exactly are you going to do?"

"Tell them what happened last year. Tell both our parts in it," Serena said. "And tell them about all the stuff she's been doing."

"Do you really think that will work? Do you really think they'll believe you?" Blair asked.

"I… I don't know," Serena murmured. And she didn't know. There were so many things wrong with this situation. She just couldn't stand the thought that her friends were all hurting because of her. But if the police didn't take heed, and didn't arrest Georgina, she would be setting a loose cannon off into the middle of everything.

"What does Dan say?" Blair asked.

"I haven't talked to him since me and Chuck went to her place," she said. She'd been putting it off as long as possible. She told him Jenny would be safe, but now she wasn't sure. She was a little surprised that Blair would care what Dan thought, but it actually made sense because he seemed to know more of the logistics of all the legal stuff.

She opened her silent phone and saw that she had quite a few texts waiting from her boyfriend. Maybe he already knew what was happening from Jenny, or maybe he was just worried beyond belief because he hadn't heard anything. She was about to start reading them when another text came through.

Ur friendship w B may b done, but Im not. Ur my best friend S. Stop ignorin me… while u still have some friends left.

Serena shakily tried to close the message, but her fingers weren't working.

"What?" Blair said, noticing the way her friend was shaking.

Serena showed her the message.

"Who's left for her to possibly torture?" Blair said, exasperated and worried. "She's hurt me, Chuck, Nate, thinks she has Dan. She's even taken small shots at Vanessa. As far as we know there's no reason for her to go after Jenny. Who else could she possibly mess with!"

"Eric." Serena said, closing her eyes as she realized that she hadn't once thought about her going after him since the night Georgina faked her out into thinking she was going after him but really meant Chuck.

"I can't take the risk, B!" Serena suddenly cried out, struggling with her hysteria. "If the police do nothing, she could hurt him! What if she saved her biggest play for last? What then? Oh my God!" She was shaking.

Blair wrapped her arms around the blonde. "We'll figure this out. They have to help, right?"

"Why won't she just go back to wherever she came from!' Serena yelled. "Why is she even here!"

Blair just kept holding her, not knowing what to say.

Serena read the threatening message again.

Then it hit her.

"I know what to do."

To be continued…