"Umm, I just don't feel like myself today, Ch--, I mean Dad." Blair responded nervously while twirling her hair in her fingers.
Charlie looks over at her again, reaches over and pats her on the shoulder. "Cheer up, kid. I'm sure everything will be okay."
"I sure hope so." Blair mutters under her breath.
"So, how's school?"
"School is okay."
"What about your friends? How are they? Are you being nice to Blair?"
Blair snickers at the last question, "Well, you seen Natalie and Tootie, they are pretty much attached at the hip because they spend so much time together, but they are great. Well, I am trying to be nice to Blair, but you know me, I'm so stubborn and mean"
Charlie looks at Blair in confusion. 'Did she just insult herself?' "Whatever you say, Jo."
"Uh, Dad, do you mind if I turn the radio on?"
"Go right ahead, Sweetheart."
Blair turns the radio to a station playing Madonna's 'Holiday'.
"…we need a holiday. If we took the holiday. Took some time to celebrate, just one day out of life…" Blair sang along with the radio, forgetting that she was Jo.
Charlie kept turning is attention from the road to Blair. 'Since when does Jo sing and since when does she sing to Madonna? Maybe she's hormonal today.' Charlie shrugs and continues driving.
……………….
"So wonderful to see you, Ms. Warner." Pierre reached for Jo's hand and gave it a kiss.
Jo wiped the back of her hand out of disgust. 'Strange old man.'
"Nice to see you too, uh, Pierre." She notices he has his name stitched on his tie.
Pierre opens the door to the limousine for Jo, who hesitates before getting in. Pierre gets in the driver's seat and drives out of the Eastland campus.
"Ms. Warner, would you like to stop by anywhere on your way to Manhattan?"
"No, that's okay, Pierre. I kind of just want to get this over with."
Jo glances around at the limousine; it has shiny, black leather seats, black carpet, and enough room to fit about 20 people. She glances in front of her and sees various buttons and switches. Jo flips one switch and sees the shade go up in the window in front of her, giving her privacy from the driver.
Jo giggles, "This is kind of cool." She flips another switch and the radio comes on.
"I can't stand Madonna." She changes it to a rock station that is playing Deep Purple's 'Hush'
"This is actually kind of nice." She leans back and props her feet up.
A little while later…
"Okay, I'm bored now." Jo flips the privacy shade down.
"Hey Pierre, are we there yet?" She asks impatiently.
"I'm sorry Ms. Warner but we are in some bad traffic. Hopefully we will be there in 30 minutes, if the traffic clears up." He explains to her apologetically.
"Okay, don't worry about it."
"Oh, Ms. Warner, I forgot to tell you, I'm stopping by to pick your Mother up from Tiffany's on the way to your home."
"Tiffany's?"
"Yeah, she's been there like 3 hours and she wanted to ride home with you."
"3 hours?" Jo raised one of her eyebrows.
"You know how your Mother gets."
"Right." Jo nods her head.
30 minutes later…
"Blair, darling, I've missed you so much." Monica gets in the limo and embraces Jo, kissing both of Jo's cheeks.
Jo pulls away awkwardly. 'This is so weird.'
………….
Blair walks into the tiny apartment Jo shares with her mom in the Bronx. She looks around; it's modestly decorated because it is hardly lived in. She sees a note on the refrigerator. Blair picks it up and reads it aloud.
"Sorry, I couldn't be here today, Jo, I have to work overtime. Maybe I'll see you next weekend. Love, Mom." Blair puts the note back on the refrigerator.
"Poor Jo, her mom always has to work. They must not get to spend that much time together."
Blair leaves the kitchen and goes into Jo's room. It has various posters on the walls of Harley Davidson motorcycles, The Police and Steve McQueen. The bed is made up neatly with a pink floral comforter.
"I thought Jo hated pink." Blair giggles a little.
Blair gets up and goes to the living room as the phone rings.
"Hello?"
"Blair?"
"Natalie? What do you want?"
"Have you learned anything yet?" Natalie eagerly asks.
"No, have you heard from Jo yet?"
"No, she left about an hour after you did, though."
"I can't talk right now, Natalie. If you hear from Jo, tell her I'm in the Bronx and I'm about to meet her friends."
"Alright. Have fun, Blair."
"Like an arcade can be fun." A second after Blair hangs up the phone, it rings again.
"Hello?"
"Hey Jo, how's it going?"
"I'm good. Who is this?"
"Very funny, Polniaczeck, you know it's Jessie."
"Okay."
"Anyway, I'm going to come over to your house and we are going to the arcade. So I'll talk to you later." Jessie hangs up the phone before Blair can get another word in.
"I guess I'm going to be hanging out with the Young Diablos." Blair sighs and sits on the couch.
…….
"Here we are Darling." Monica waits for Pierre to come around and open the door for them so they can get out.
"I thought we were going home." Jo looks confused.
"We are, but we need to make a pit stop at Bloomingdale's." Monica gets up and drags Jo through Bloomingdale's.
2 hours later, they are finally home at the Warners' extravagant mansion.
"Darling, what's wrong? You didn't buy anything at Bloomie's today. Are you sick? Should I hire a nurse to take care of you?" Monica puts her hand on Jo's forehead.
Jo jerks her head away. "No, Mom, I'm fine." She notices that Monica doesn't look convinced, "Really, I'm just really excited about seeing my friends."
"Okay, well they should be here any minute. I'll just have Rosie make you guys something for lunch."
Monica leaves Jo alone in Blair's room. Jo looks around; almost everything is pink or white. She sees a framed autographed picture of Prince Charles on a desk.
"I wonder if she actually met him. No on second thought, if she did, I would have known by now. I can't believe her room is bigger than my Mom's whole apartment.
One of the Warner's servants knocks on the door, "Ms. Warner, your friends are here."
"Thank you." 'Snob city, here I come,' Jo thought as she hesitantly left her room to join her 'friends'.