Author's Note: Hey everyone, I'm back! Still keeping up with posting so far. My hope is to post maybe one more chapter this week depending on how much schoolwork I have to do, and then after that I'll be posting once or twice a week. I have my AP exams coming up in less than two weeks, so I might not be able to post a lot around that time, but the hope is twice a week. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter, and wish me luck for my exams. I'm a bit anxious since we've never done APs like this before.

And as always, if you enjoy, please favorite, follow, and review!

Good morning Upper East Siders, first day back, 'ey? I'm expecting you all to find me some juicy scandal. No more summer in the Hamptons, it's time for some action. I'm looking at you Little Lion and Queen B. Where's our Upper East Side drama? I'm ready for the claws to come out.

Just as always, Leonora was up by 6AM. Her bed was comfortable, overly so, but nothing could hold the girl back on her first day back at Constance Billard School for Girl. Imogen had left yesterday before the Waldorf's, or should she say Blair's, mild disaster of a party so Leo's room was lacking the familiar presence of her best friend who had been spending the indefinitely over summer vacation. Half the time spent by the pair in Australia and the other half stateside had made for the only fun part of vacation. Maybe Gossip Girl had hit a little too close to home with that one. Nose buried in a book or forced there, Leo's parents had chosen summer vacation of all the times to crack down on her slipping academics.

"Leile are you awake?" Blue eyes turned up from her phone in time to see the one and only Gordon Coldwell walk in.

"Hi, Dad," Leonora sighed, sliding her arms underneath her torso to prop herself up the rest of the way in bed. "I thought you would be in Germany with Liliane by now."

"And miss my daughter's first day as a Junior? Not a chance." Gordon walked over, planting a kiss on his daughter's forehead and smoothing back ash-blonde wisps of hair. "Breakfast downstairs in an hour."

"Okay, thanks daddy," Leonora smiled, waiting until her father left the room to let the look drop off her face.

With her father gone from her room, Leo made her way out of bed, one of the white down and feather pillows falling out of the bed with her. No way to prepare for school like a steaming shower.

Ash-blonde hair bound up in a messy bun with a blue scrunchie, Leonora made her way to the bathroom. Her phone was left buzzing on her nightstand, most likely another Gossip Girl update or maybe Blair or Imogen.

An hour. She had an hour to get ready before she was suspected downstairs, so with that in mind, Seraphina wasted no time turning on the shower and allowing the room to fill with steam.

What's the perfect way to start off school? A warm, no, hot shower with matching peony body wash and shampoo.

Thirty minutes later, thirty-three to be exact, Leo exited her bathroom accompanied by a peony scented cloud of steam, damp hair dripping down on her shoulders and the bathrobe gracing them.

Now... what to wear? Cardigan or sweater? Skirt or pant? Heels or flats? In the end, the combination was as follows; a cream cardigan buttoned up with a tank top underneath, a classic schoolgirl skirt, and black flats. And of course, no outfit was complete without her diamond bracelet she had gotten from her father for her sixteenth birthday.

"Miss Coldwell? Everyone is waiting downstairs."

Racing up the stairs of the Met, Leo sat down just in time to hear one of Blair's second hand's speaking.

"So cute!"

"These should be framed or something."

"Not bad work, and here's yours, as promised." Blair, cold as always, her 'people smile' present across her features.

"Thanks."

After she had sat down next to Blair, Leonora was handed one of the invitations, and she had to admit, they really weren't bad.

"Kiss on the lips, huh? It's time for that already?" Leonora asked, giving the piece of paper a once over before setting it on the steps beside her. "Blair's right, you did a pretty decent job. Jenny, was it?"

The blonde freshman smiled, even more than she already was. "Th-thank you!"

"Alright, Leile, so tell me you and-"

"Hey! Here you guys are." And there's Serena, eating yogurt of all things. "I look all over the dining hall for you... Oh, hi, I'm Serena."

"I know. I mean, hi, I'm Jenny." Ah yes, the classic freshman, always impressed and turned dumb by Miss Serena Van der Woodsen.

"So... when's the party?" Leonora looked up at the blonde, her own ash blonde hair flowing around in the wind and obscuring her striking blue eyes. Serena had taken her invitation, inspecting the yellow envelope and the calligraphy scrawled across it.

"Saturday. And... you're kinda not invited... Since until twelve hours ago, everyone thought you were at boarding school, and now we're full, and, uh, Jenny used up all the invites." Blair smiled up at Serena at the same time as Leile averted her eyes back down to her hands.

"Uhm, actually-"

"You can go now." Cold stone eyes.

"Sorry." Yeah, she's so not sorry.

"No, that's okay. I got a lot of stuff to do anyway," Serena stated, her tone having lost some of the warmth that it so commonly held as she dropped the yellow enveloped invitation.

"Well, we should get going then... unless you want us to wait for you. Look like you got a lot of yogurt left."

"No, go ahead."

"I've got something to take care of... I'll catch up," Leile stated smiling softly and squeezing Blair's arm. "See you at lunch?"

Blair frowned minutely but nodded, looking between Serena and Leonora. "Yeah, something to take care of."

"So I'm something to take care of now?" Serena asked, looking between the girl and the yellow invitation she was holding.

"I don't know, why don't you tell me?" Leo responded just as quickly, crossing her arms but still smiling politely.

"I'm sorry, Leile," Serena sounded sincere, reaching out to grab the girl's hand that wasn't clutching onto the party invitation.

"You left." It wasn't a question, it was a statement. An accusation.

"And I'm sorry about it. Really. What can I do to make it up to you?" Serena's tone was softer than it had been previously. Gentler.

Leonora tried to smile but both girls could tell it fell very obviously short. "I don't know."

Spotted on the steps of the Met—An S and B power struggle. Did S think she could waltz home and things would be just like they were? Did B think S would go down without a fight? Or can these two hotties work it out? What's going on with S and Little Lion? There's nothing more Gossip Girl likes more than a good catfight, and this could be a classic.

Xoxo,

Gossip Girl