A/N: Finally! Frankly, I'm kinda disappointed in myself at how slow I'm writing. I used to write so much more faster! I really hope I can gain my speed back and update more regularly. I will try, but in the meantime, enjoy this chapter. :)

Chapter 14

It had been one whole week since Nate had last spoken to her at the Plaza. One whole week. It was the longest they had gone without speaking. For the first few days, Blair had been apologetic. She was always trying to catch him before school, always calling him even when she knew it would just go to the machine. But after that, all she felt was anger. What did he mean when he said did not know her? They had known each other practically since they were born, and had been going out since forever! If Nate had known her by now, he probably never would. And it wasn't even the fact that Nate had been picking up a fight with her because of Amber that pissed her off. It was the fact that he knew. He had always known she was doing this. It was not as if she had suddenly changed or something. She had told him that she had great minds to be Queen ever since they graduated Middle School, and she was always talking about The Queen Bee Project (according to Serena, that's all she talked about). She thought he was okay with it. Ok so he had said that he didn't 'approve' of it, but he said that he didn't want The Queen Bee Project to be standing in their way too! Yet, look what he was doing now. Giving her the silent treatment because of a virtual stranger.

Blair picked angrily at her yogurt at the thoughts of it.

"Hey, you are going to break the spoon if you keep doing that." Serena said.

They were sitting on the steps on Mets, as usual, except that the number of minions Blair had with her had increased. The Monday after the Ivy mixer, Penny and Eunice were found waiting for Blair by her locker, eager to carry her books for her. Poor A, Blair would think sometimes, without a single minion by her side, Amber lost her authority as the Queen Bee almost instantly. Nowadays, Amber was always found nowhere during lunch and the center table in the courtyard was always empty. No one dared to sit there. Although the Queen was dethroned, the throne still gave off an aura that made people stayed away. Blair could have easily taken over the table, but she didn't want to. She wanted no connection to Amber. If she took the table, people would always remember her as The Girl Who Took Down Amber. She didn't want that. She wanted to be The First Sophomore Queen In Constance Billard. Not that she was a sophomore yet, but she wasn't the Queen yet either. But it was only a matter of time.

"Nate still hasn't called?" Veronica asked in true concern.

Nate had made quite a scene at the Ivy mixer the other day and it had drew the attention of Blair's minions, but thankfully, it was not enough for the adults to notice that the golden couple of the Upper East Side was having their very first big fight.

"Just because I have forgave you, doesn't mean you can shoot your mouth off whenever you like, Veronica." Blair gave Veronica a deadly glare. "I don't give second chances, V."

Veronica gulped and began to continue eating her yogurt.

"Don't worry, B. He will call sooner or later." Serena said, placing a comfortable hand on Blair's arm.

"It doesn't matter even if he called. I'm not going to pick up. I'm still mad at him, you know. " Blair said.

Michelle nodded. "Make him beg for it."

"Totally," Penny agreed.

"My mum always said that in a fight, the guy must called at least ten times, which, of course, you wouldn't pick up, and bring you your favorite flowers to your doorstep before you can forgive him." Eunice added. "And that's the very minimum."

Blair merely nodded. How she wished Nate would do that, but she doubted Nate knew her favorite flowers were peonies. There was a reason why he always gave her roses.

He had never hated himself so much for what he was going to do. And for Chuck, that was a lot to say. Recently, his emotions were a mess. It was almost like he's hormonal or something. They were certainly conflicting and intense. One moment, he would feel the sudden urge to hear Blair's voice. He would pick up his phone, looked at the screen, and put it back down again. Because he knew Blair wouldn't want to hear from him. She wanted to hear from Nate, her Prince Charming. Then he would felt anger. Anger at Blair's belief in her 'Happily Ever After', and anger at Nate's inability to care more about Blair. Nate had no idea how lucky he was. Blair was the most devoted, loyal girlfriend anyone had ever seen and she was his girlfriend. Why can't Nate appreciate that? Then he would felt this… emotion that he had never had. He wanted to make things right between Nate and Blair. Because he couldn't stand the way Blair's face always lit up when she heard footsteps behind her, only to see it fell again when she realised it's not Nate. He couldn't stand how he knew Blair would be waiting by her phone every night, because Nate and Blair used to talk on the phone every night before they slept. Mostly, he just wanted to get what Blair wanted. And what Blair wanted right now, was Nate.

Speaking of the devil, Chuck thought as he saw Nate walking out of his Biology class.

Taking a deep breath, Chuck pushed himself off the locker he was leaning on and strutted over to his best friend.

"Archibald," Chuck greeted.

"Hey, how's it going?" Nate said as the two of them breezed through the hallways of St. Jude's. There was no need to push through the crowd. Everyone knew who they were and their innate lowly self willed their feet to step aside, leaving a clear path for the two most well known freshmen in St. Jude's to walk through.

"Good, good." Chuck answered absent-mindedly. "Listen, have you spoke to Blair recently?"

"No, why?" Nate gave a slight frown.

Chuck hesitated. "You might want to call her. You know how Blair is. The longer you take to call her, the harder the time she will give you."

"Did she ask you to talk to me?"

"What? No. Blair has too much pride to do that."

"True." Nate muttered.

"So, umm, what's stopping you? From calling her, I mean."

"Chuck, what are you doing?" Nate eyed his best friend skeptically.

"Trying to be a good friend." Chuck said. He couldn't help but noticed that he sounded defensive to his own ears.

Nate raised an eyebrow.

"I'm just trying to figure out what had changed. A few weeks ago, you said you loved her and now you two are having a fight. What did I miss?"

Nate gave a sigh.

"Chuck, did you see what she did to Amber the other day? That was mean. And that was just… That's not Blair. Frankly, I don't even know who she is anymore."

"What do you mean you don't know Blair? You guys have been going out since kindergarten. You know her, Nathaniel."

"If this manipulating, selfish person is who Blair had become, then I don't think I can love her." Nate confessed as the two of them stood on top of the stairs that connect the St. Jude's building to the New York City's pavement.

Chuck shook his head. "Isn't that what love is all about? Loving their good and bad? Yes, Blair may like to do things her own ways, but what's so wrong with that? She's just willing to do the necessary things to get what she wanted. It's not wrong."

"Since when do you know so much about love?" Nate asked as he furrowed his eyebrows together.

"Think about it, Nathaniel." Chuck said, ignoring his question, and went down the steps into his awaiting limo.

Nate was on his way home as he thought about what Chuck had said earlier. What had changed? Just a few weeks ago, he was convinced Blair was the one for him. He loved her. He loved the look on her face when she's unwrapping presents, he loved the way she was obsessed with Audrey Hepburn and he loved how she always twist the ring on her finger when she's deep in thoughts. Sure, maybe Blair liked to be in control a little too much, but she's still Blair. Chuck was right. They had known each other for very long time, longer than he could remember. He had always known that that was Blair. If he loved Blair a few weeks ago, he would still love her now.

Nothing had change, nothing should change, Nate decided as he turned around the corner. Maybe he should call Blair when he reached home. Blair would be so upset that they haven't been speaking for so long. They had never, never been in a fight as long as this one. Maybe he should bring her out a nice date. With limo and chocolates.

Nate was feeling more and more positive as he neared his home. Just then, someone called his name.

"Nate!"

He turned around, only to find himself facing with Amber. Amber looked fabulous, as usual, wearing a cute beret on top of her red hair, a simple cardigan and a pair of 7 For All Mankind jeans.

"Hey," Nate gave a polite smile. "Amber right?"

"Yeah."

"What are you doing here?"

"Believe it or not, I'm here to see you."

Scrunching his eyebrows, Nate looked confused upon hearing Amber's answer.

"Can we talk inside?" Amber tipped her head towards Nate's house.

"Sure."

Spotted: A not so secret rendezvous on the Upper East Side. Who knows A and N are such good friends? Maybe B does…

"So, what is it?" Nate asked lightly after pouring Amber a drink.

Amber blushed lightly as she looked down on the floor.

"I'm really sorry that I yelled at you the other night. I was having a really bad day and you came along, and I guess I just leashed it out on you. You don't deserve that."

"Oh. It's okay, I understand."

Folding his hands in front of him, Nate continued.

"I must apologize for Blair as well. I admit that this time, Blair did go overboard. She should not have messed with your future."

Shocked at Nate's sincere apology, Amber blinked. In fact, she blinked twice before she found her voice again.

"Nate, you do not need to do that." Amber exclaimed. "What Blair did got nothing to do with you. I know that I said some… pretty harsh words to you the other day, but I don't really mean that."

"I know. It's just that… I know Blair wouldn't apologize, so I did. She may be… Blair sometimes, but she's really very nice once you get to know her. She's a very good friend."

"And a good girlfriend too?" Amber pointed out the underlying words in Nate's last sentence.

Nate nodded silently.

"You like her a lot, don't you?"

Nate nodded again as he kept his gaze in front of him, on his hands.

Amber was silent as she took in Nate's honest confession.

"In that case, I will accept your apology." Amber finally said. "But I wouldn't forgive her. I just can't."

Nate nodded. "I understand. I don't expect you to forgive Blair either."

There was then a moment of awkward as Amber and Nate sat in silence once again.

"Well then, I must get going." Amber stood up from the couch. "Got to keep my grades up if I still intend to go to a good college." Amber laughed silently.

Following suit, Nate stood up as well. "I'll see you to the door."

Amber allowed Nate to see her to the door, but just before she left, she spoke again. "I hope you can promise this, Nate. What happens between Blair and me in the future, you don't interfere. Don't let it come between Blair and you, and don't let it come between you and me either. To be honest, I like you, and I hope we can be friends."

Nate nodded. "I promise."

"Hey, what's with that glum look? You should be honor that you can be my friend you know. In case you didn't notice, I don't do that too often. Making friends, I mean." Amber joked.

With that, Nate managed to crack a smile.

"Let alone a freshman huh?"

"Yep, so you better appreciate it." Amber gave Nate a small poke in his chest.

Nate laughed. "I will. You better get going before the sky turns dark."

Amber nodded. "I will see you tomorrow."

"See you."

Ok, so last night, Nate didn't call. He wanted to, believe him, he wanted to. But then, on second thoughts, he thought he will have a higher chance of appeasing her if he went to find her with her favorite macaroons. She probably wouldn't pick up his calls anyway. And he deserved it.

So here he was, walking towards the steps of Mets with a box of macaroons in his hands. Nate smiled involuntarily as the image of Blair's smile popped into his head. How he loved that smile. And he just couldn't wait to see it again.

"Nate!" A voice stopped Nate in his tracks and he whirled around.

"Amber?"

"Why are you smiling to yourself? Good news to share?" Amber asked, laughing a little.

"Not exactly…"

"Oh! Is that macaroons? Can I have one?" Amber asked gleefully.

"Err…" Nate began. He wanted to say no, the macaroons were for Blair after all, but he made the mistake of raising his head and saw Amber's hopeful face. "Sure." He said, and stretched out the box towards Amber.

Amber face lit up as she reached inside the box, and took one. She bit on it and the creamy goodness filled her mouth immediately.

"This is good." Amber said. "Really good."

"Well, it's the best in New York. Blair demands the very best."

"Oh my god." Amber said in horror as realization hit. "Is this for Blair? I'm so sorry."

"No, it's ok. Makes more time for me to prepare for a good sorry gift." Nate shrugged

"At least let me buy you lunch."

"Like I said, it's no big deal." Nate laughed.

"I insist." Amber said with determination. "And I will have you known that I'm a very persistent person."

Nate laughed again. "Ok, if you insist."

A smile broke on Amber's face. "Great."

Spotted: A and N having a little lunch date. Who knows A likes younger boys?

Veronica gasped at the latest Gossip Girl blast.

The girls were having their lunch together on the steps on Mets as usual when everyone's phone started ringing, signaling a Gossip Girl blast.

"B, you know that's not true." Serena assured.

"I'm sure they are just having lunch. As friends." Michelle added.

"Definitely." Eunice said, and Penny nodded her head in agreement.

Blair pressed her lips tight as she re-read the blast again.

Finally lifting her head from her BlackBerry screen, she said, "Serena, can I talk to you about the sleepover party I'm having next week? There are some… issues that we need to discuss."

Serena nodded and the two best friends walked off from the steps, onto the pavement while the rest of the group ogled with curiosity.

"Going to his house and then lunch? Amber is trying to get me!" Blair exclaimed once they were out of the girls' earshot.

"Blair, Amber is 4 years older than us. Do you really think she will fall for a 14 years-old boy?" Serena reasoned.

"That doesn't mean she can't use him to get me!" Blair threw her arms in the air in exasperation.

"She won't get away with this." Blair announced.

"Blair, haven't you done enough? You got where you wanted. It's just a matter of time before you claimed Queen. You don't have to do this."

"Then it doesn't matter what I do, does it?"

Serena shook her head. "Blair… "

"Enough, Serena! If you are my friend, you will support me, wouldn't you?"

Suddenly feeling very tired, Serena merely nodded.

"Good. Let's go have our lunch now." Blair said in fake sweetness.

Uh-Oh. Looks like Amber strikes a nerve. Watch out, A. B is not one to belittle.

A/N: I hope you guys understand why Chuck did what he did. When I was writing, I was kinda afraid that it might not be something Chuck would do, but then what Chuck did for Blair at their prom kinda assured me that Chuck would do anything for Blair if he thought it would make her happy. So I sorta applied the same logic here.

Review please? :)

To: Jasmine

Aww, thank you! It always warms my heart when someone told me I have a gift for writing. :)

As for the shocking everyone with a sex tape part, I kinda wanna this story to be filled with the OMG moments. Just like the show, you know? That's what I love about the show: It always shocked me.

Oh, and don't worry, I hate to leave things hanging, so no matter how long it takes (and I think it would be pretty long), I will finish this story.

Thank you for your review!

xoxo

Janice

To: 13

Will try! Thanks for reviewing! :)

xoxo

Janice