A/N- Thanks so much for your reviews guys. Here's number 5 xxx

The Saddest Song

Chapter 5: The School Gossip

Blair screams when she sees the message and accompanying picture from Gossip Girl on her phone.

Seems one of our Upper East Siders has gotten herself in a tricky situation. Careful B, eating for two might not look so hot with next season's Prada.

"Miss Blair, what is it?" Dorota exclaims, running into Blair's room, duster in hand.

"I...thought I'd lost my new lip gloss." She lies, fumbling around at her dressing table until she finds something that resembles new makeup. "It's plumping." She says, faux-smiling as Dorota shakes her head muttering something about people thinking a real emergency might have been on hand before leaving.

Sighing as she rolls her eyes, heart pounding, Blair's hand shakily grabs her cell as it bleeps again.

Late night booty call or co-parenting tips? B leaving a certain Bass household in tears doesn't paint a picture of family bliss. Settle down little one, you'll fit right in.

Now she sits, toes twitching on the soft carpetas she awaits Chucks response, then Serena's and probably Nate's too.

It doesn't take Chuck long to reply, even though Blair knows the message will have no doubt awoken him from a morning of laboured pre-school slumber.

Deny everything is all it reads, and Blair certainly isn't impressed. Still, it's nothing more than she'd expected, and knowing that he wasn't going to start revealing anything to anyone was of slight comfort.

Serena takes longer, most probably due to typing and then re-wording so as not to offend, Blair figures.

Still, Is it true B? wouldn't take much effort or thought, the brunette concludes, and due to unfavourable finger control and priorities, finds herself unable to reply. She needs to get a story together. And fast.

X

The school gossip when she enters the gates hits Blair like a slap to the face. Even people who she's sure she's never seen before stop to stare, and she hurries past the crowds and into the building, books clutched tightly to her chest.

"Maybe she's trying to hide the bump." She hears one girl whisper (not quietly enough) to her friend as she rolls her eyes, making straight for her locker along the main corridor.

She can feel her cell vibrating in her bag, and knowing that the only person it could be is Serena, Blair chooses to ignore it, trying (and failing) to focus on the math test she has period four.

Focusing on anything other than her "situation" these days is more easily said than done.

Her outfit today is impeccable, beautifully fitted, tailored to cling to every curve, to every area she's worked damn hard to keep in shape to prove that nothing about her has changed.

Her shoes are high, belt on its tightest notch as she places the books into her locker before smoothing down the cashmere cardigan.

Appearance is still everything and she'll be damned if she ever let herself go.

And then her stomach lurches as she hears small hurried footsteps on the hard floor. She knows it's Serena before she's turned around, and the blonde thrusts herself beside her best friend.

"I've been trying to call you all morning!" Serena huffs somewhat annoyed, keeping her voice low.

"Oh, have you?" Blair asks, with a look of fake surprise. "I must not have heard my cell. Was it something important?"

"Don't pretend like you don't know what I'm talking about B." Serena shakes her head. "I know you saw Gossip Girl this morning."

Blair only shrugs.

"So is it true?

"Is what true?"

Serena groans, knowing Blair isn't going to make this easy. "That you're pregnant."

"As if I would ever do that to my body. I thought you knew me S?"

It's easier to turn this on Serena. She's just not up for a fight today.

"Then look me in the eye and tell me it's all just a stupid rumour."

"It's a stupid rumour." Blair says, deadpan. Her chocolate brown eyes stay locked with Serena's blue ones – she can't afford not to act properly. "Seriously, I can't believe Gossip 

Girl has nothing better to do with her time than make up pregnancy rumours. I mean, if it had been about little J, then I might have believed it but..."

"Blair." Serena cuts, with her 'don't-talk-about-my-ex-boyfriend's-little-sister-like-that face.'

"Whatever."

"And the pictures of you coming out of Chuck's suite?"

"They weren't of me coming out of his suite, they were of me in the courtyard."

"So he's not...you know... the father?"

"Serena, I said I'm not pregnant okay!? And Chuck Bass as a babydaddy? Please. His sperm would never have a helping hand in the making of another human, not if I could help it."

The blonde rolls her eyes and laughs, but her serious tone is soon back as she questions the first photo.

"So those pictures of you leaving the clinic?"

"If you must know, I...found something."

"Something like...?"

"God, do we have to discuss this in the hallway?" Blair sighs, shooting a quick glance to check who might be listening.

"Fine, drinks after school. Palace Bar at 5?"

"Done." Blair nods. "I'll have a raspberry cosmopolitan. No crushed ice." She adds before slamming the door of her locker shut, heels clacking on the dark flooring.

She's done feeling guilty for lying now. If her own best friend can't tell, she knows nobody else can. Nobody except Chuck.

X

Nate collars her at lunch, right when she's finally plucked up enough courage to spoon a mouthful of cherry granola into her mouth.

"Blair, can I talk to you?" He asks, shifting his weight from his right foot to his left, and then back again with a look of both annoyance and intimidation at the same time. Blair guesses it's only because Serena is sat beside her wearing quite possibly the shortest skirt in history.

"Go ahead." She says icily, shooting an evil glare towards her spoon.

"In private."

"I thought you liked everyone to know my business?"

"Well we can make an exception this time. Besides, it's not like you're busy right?"

She's angered by the comment, and also by the much softer smile he gives her blonde best friend, who dips her own head, staring at the new leather boots on her feet.

"Actually, I am."

"Trying to avoid eating?"

Her group stop pretending to not listen as the words leave his mouth, and when her lip quivers accidentally, Blair can tell Nate knows he shouldn't have gone that far.

She's not even sure why he's requesting they talk in private – everyone has seen Gossip Girl (though none have bothered to ask her for the truth) and they all know he's going to make sure dollars don't have to be handed to trust funds anytime soon.

They only go as far as the corner of the gate, a somewhat secluded spot where they'd share kisses and stories of how boring their morning lessons had been. Now, all that's left to share are stony silences and wasted memories.

"I saw Gossip Girl this morning."

"Didn't we all."

"And I wanted to ask you whether it was true." Nate adds quietly. "I guess it's not really any of my business but I wanted to make sure you..."

"Weren't going to take you to court for child support money? Don't worry Nate, the chequebook's safe." She cuts in coldly.

"So are you?" He asks again. "Pregnant I mean."

"You were right in that no, it definitely is none of your business."

"Blair..."

"But I'm not." She relents. "I'm not pregnant."

Nate lets of a sigh that is almost definitely too loud, but Blair chooses to ignore it because all of this pretence is making her head hurt. Besides, she needs to save her energy for drinks with Serena later.

X

Blair stares at herself in the mirror, fixing her hair over and over as if it will somehow make a difference to the face that gives away a half hour of constant vomiting. Her stomach hurts 

and her legs feel heavy and weak, and all she really wants is a big bowl of spaghetti followed by the death-by-chocolate desert one of the kitchen staff had whipped up for some forgotten occasion.

And yet, none of that is possible, and so she forces a tight smile, steadying herself for countless hours of listen to a drunken Serena ramble on about how much she loves Dan, even though Blair knows it's really Nate she wants.

She spritzes her neck with perfume just once more, even though she's sure that she's only imagining the smell of vomit now. She's washed her hair and changed her clothes and showered with some expensive soap that Eleanor had brought her back from Milan a few weeks ago.

Her cell bleeps, and expecting Gossip Girl again, Blair's relieved that it's only from Serena checking that she's on her way.

X

"You're late so I had to start." Serena tells Blair as the brunette sits down, frowning at the near-empty glass of what looks to have contained a margarita.

Her raspberry cosmo is waiting for her as requested, and as Blair takes a seat, Serena signals to the barman to pour her another.

"How did you find the math test?" Blair asks quickly in hope of her friend forgetting why they were there in the first place.

"Hard." The blonde replies with a hand on her forehead. "I officially hate surds."

"I think everyone hates surds." Blair replies, taking the glass full of pink liquid into her hand, swirling it round as Serena instructs the barman to put her second drink on the tab.

"But we're not in school now, lets forget about math. You're telling me why you were at the clinic. And why you were leaving here last night."

"I found a...rash." Blair stumbles.

"What kind of a rash?"

"You know, like the kind you don't want in the place you really don't want."

"You got an STD? And from Chuck?"

Blair hadn't thought that far ahead in her story. But she figures she can work with where Serena's going, and shakes her head, faux-reluctantly elaborating.

"Turns out it was just a reaction to some soap I'd been using. I just came to tell Chuck that he wasn't the bearer of some gross disease."

She feels bad for talking about him as though he's unworthy. But Blair hating Chuck is more believable than the real truth, and if she doesn't end the gossip soon, she knows things are going to get out of control.

Serena soon moves on, reeling off something about an art show she went to see in Brooklyn with Dan as Blair concentrates on drawing circles across her leg with her finger.

"B, you haven't even touched your drink." She frowns, adding that she's on her third, and maybe should make it her last as she hasn't yet had dinner, and rolling in drunk might make Lily cross.

Blair brings the glass to her lips as Serena caves when the barman tells her just one more and then he'll stop serving.

"Is there something wrong with it?" The blonde asks when Blair places the glass back down on the bar.

"No, I just...I kinda don't feel well."

It's the truth. There isn't anything wrong with the drink, it's even optimum drinking temperature, and Blair's a little miffed that she can't drink it, as these days, getting a barman to chill a drink just enough is hard to come by.

It's just that the pain in her stomach has gradually been getting worse, and she still feels rather nauseous.

"You want to head home?"

She doesn't need further invitation, and asks if Serena would mind.

"Not at all." She waves it away. "I'll come with you."

"Don't be silly, you'll have to come all the way back here and I was going to walk anyway..."

"I could use the fresh air." Serena cuts in. "I think the tequila's gone to my head a little, and my mom won't appreciate me not being able to hold my knife and fork properly at dinner."

Blair only shrugs, too tired to argue.

X

Blair rolls her eyes in annoyance as Serena stumbles through her bedroom door, clearly drunker since they left the Palace bar. It had taken them longer than expected to reach Blair's house, and the brunette had found herself making sure that Serena wasn't going to throw up, and not the other way around.

Still, Serena had seemingly forgotten the day's earlier rumours, and flopped down on the bed, legs and arms akimbo.

"I think I might stay here tonight." She announces, snuggling against a scatter cushion. "You know, stay up late on a school night like old times, talking about hot boys and girls with bad fashion sense."

"I'm actually really tired S."Blair replies wearily. "Do you mind if we do it another time?"

"But it would be fun." Serena pouts. "And I'm too drunk to walk back to the hotel now. Please don't make me." She offers Blair her puppy-dog eyes, making her relent.

"Okay you can stay, but only if we go to sleep."

"Deal."

Blair disappears to her bathroom to change as Serena removes her clothing, riffling through Blair's drawers to find a pair of suitable pyjamas.

As the brunette opens to the door, bent over with stomach pains from not eating all day, she stops dead, glass of water in hand as she realises the drawer Serena, stood in pretty lace underwear, is looking through.

"S, that's the wrong drawer there's only gloves and..." She trails off as Serena's hands clasp around something white, bringing it out of the drawer.

Blair watches as her friend's eyes widen, and before she can respond, a surge of pain hits, and she feels something hot and wet between her legs.

Serena's face tells her that something is definitely wrong, and as her own eyes start to cloud over, her balance becoming unsteady, Blair manages to place the glass on the sideboard before another surge of pain hits her, and everything goes black.