Chapter 24
There are three things we do alone: we are born, we die, and if we're a high school junior headed for college, we take the S.A.T.s. And while the test is said to measure our best traits, preparing for it inevitably brings out the worst. Humility becomes self-doubt…striving becomes obsession. Some are driven to self-medication…while others cling to the security of being part of a group.
And anyone who's used to bending the rules, will find themselves breaking them.
Blair Waldorf was in the zone. No one was allowed to bother her during this important time and if they even thought of doing such a thing, she would destroy them without a bit of hesitation. This moment was prepping her for the defining moment in her academic career. Everything was riding on this: Blair's future, Yale, everything. And for the past week she had been knuckling down on preparing for Saturday: The day of the SATs.
Sure some people may say that she was becoming a bit obsessive, but she wasn't the only one who was becoming consumed. Unlike everyone else though, Blair had a guaranteed stress reliever who happily forced himself on her even when she demanded that he leave her to her studies. Chuck Bass always had a way of knowing what Blair needed even before she did, and Blair had to admit that she wasn't nearly as stressed out as some others because of him; some people, like her blonde best friend beside her.
The best friends were sitting at a table in the courtyard of Constance with all their SAT prep books covering the table. Neither speaking as they focused their whole attention to their handhelds as they answered question after question in earnest. As Blair answered another prep question on her SAT prep handheld, finally finished, she spoke up as she saw her score, "2200. Fair."
"Its 90th percentile," Serena responded in confusion, causing Blair to sigh and roll her eyes.
"Which means Nelly Yuki probably got 2300," Blair spoke, her tone dripping with irritation as she sat the small computer down on the table in front of her.
"You don't even talk to her. Why do you care how she does?" Serena asked, not looking away from her own handheld.
Blair looked at her best friend as she was forced to explain herself, "Nelly Yuki has her sights set on Yale, too. What are the odds of them accepting two girls from Constance? And have you seen Nelly Yuk's extracurriculars?" Blair continued, "I need to kick her well-rounded ass."
Serena smiled lightly at Blair, "And they say you've lost your edge."
Blair continued on to stare at her handheld, "Nelly Yuki must be destroyed."
"Why do you keep saying her name?" Serena spoke in exasperation.
"Because it's Nelly Yuki," Blair spoke firmly as she looked at Serena, feeling as if her answer was enough of an explanation. Serena laughed lightly at Blair's dramatics as Blair began to pack up her stuff to head out.
"Hello, ladies," a voice spoke, appearing to have come from out of nowhere as the girls looked to find the source.
Blair smiled as Chuck sat beside her at the table, "Hello Bass." She leaned towards him and happily took his lips with her own to which he quickly responded in kind as he pulled her closer. It wasn't until the sound of a clearing of a throat beside them that they finally broke apart.
"Waldorf," Chuck spoke with a grin, "You're looking particularly….tantalizing this afternoon."
Blair smirked, "How tantalizing?"
"Ew, gross. You two really need to work out your issues," Serena interrupted before Chuck could answer.
The brunette couple turned towards their mutual blonde friend, "What issues?" Chuck asked, "We're issue free."
Serena sighed as she went back to fiddling with her handheld, "Is there a reason why you're here other than to make out with your girlfriend?"
"As a matter of fact there is. Based on my exhaustive research, you too are issues free," Chuck spoke as he wrapped his arms around Blair and rested his chin on Blair's shoulder as he looked at Serena with a smirk.
Serena paused as she looked up at Chuck with a hopeful look in her eyes, "Georgina?"
Blair smirked as she listened to Chuck give his report, "According to my very reliable sources, Georgina Sparks is nowhere near our fair isle. She's in Switzerland, dating the Prince of Belfort."
"There's a Prince of Belfort?" Serena and Blair asked in unison as they both looked at Chuck.
The notorious bad boy nodded with a smirk, "Uh-huh."
"And she's dating him? Oh, thank god," Serena said with a smile on her face as she sighed in relief.
"Now you can enjoy the gifts she mailed you with peace of mind…and maybe Chuck in the room," Chuck leered at his step-sister before Blair effectively elbowed him in the ribs.
"Oh, shoot. Except we're siblings," Serena said in mock sadness as she shoved Chuck's face away.
"I'm just glad that we can avoid that particular problem, the last thing any of us need is Whorgina back in town," Blair spoke bluntly with a roll of her eyes.
"True, Georgie always brought out the devil in Serena, but I admit that there is a part of me that is a little disappointed she's not here," Chuck explained with a sigh.
"Mm, I wonder which part," Serena said sarcastically as she answered the next question on her handheld as Blair turned towards her boyfriend with her famous bitch brow.
"It's been a while since I saw the old Serena," Chuck explained
"Well, thanks to her, the new one has to break 2000 on her SATs so if you could just go smarm elsewhere…" Serena said with a wave of her hand.
"The offer still stands. I know a, uh, lovely little redhead that's just dying to be you for the day," Chuck stood up, holding Blair's hand in his.
"Oh, I'll leave the cheating to you, Chuck," Serena answered, obviously not at all tempted by the offer, "I plan on taking the SATs myself."
Blair sighed as she stood up from her seat as well asking Serena, "Are you coming?"
"No, I gotta wait for Dan. He's pretty stressed. He doesn't do well with tests, so…," Serena explained with a smile towards her best friend.
"Performance anxiety?" Blair leered with a smirk, causing Chuck to laugh behind her as he waited for her.
"Okay, it's getting to the point that his bad habits are rubbing off on you now," Serena spoke bluntly with a light hit on Blair's arm, "Bye Blair."
Blair smiled as she turned away and walked with Chuck out of the courtyard. As the couple arrived at where they were to part to head to their respective classes, Blair turned towards her boyfriend with a smile, "Do you think it's true?"
"Is what true?" Chuck asked with a smirk as he pulled Blair closer to him so that her body pressed up against his.
"That I'm picking up your bad habits?" Blair asked as she gripped his orange jacket lapels as she flipped her hair over her shoulder with a shake of her head.
Chuck's smirk grew as he slowly shook his head, "Only you can make my bad habits look so good."
Blair looked away as she laughed before she looked back at him, "What am I going to do with you Bass?"
"Hopefully something fun and erotic, Waldorf," Chuck answered softly as he kissed her ruby red lips.
"Mmm," Blair hummed as she broke the kiss reluctantly, "Later. I have to go meet the girls for a takedown and my next move against Jenny Humphrey. Apparently the freshman is using Nate's soft touch to her advantage to still be socially relevant."
"Want me to talk to Nate?" Chuck offered.
Blair shook her head softly, "No, thank you. He can only be useful to her for so long. She already has a strike against her with stealing that dress, at the rate she's going she'll dig her own grave soon enough."
The couple shared a smirk and a kiss before they parted ways; content with the way life was going at the moment. As Blair walked down the hall she heard the sound of a certain blonde freshman offering her aid to Blair's minions for the SATs just around the corner; which was great because it gave Blair an opportunity to cut the freshman down a peg or two while getting rid of her for a few days. Blair smiled as she called out to the group, "That won't be necessary, Little J."
The group turned towards their Queen as she made her presence known and greeted her accordingly. Blair continued to smile as she tilted her head to the side, "You girls are all taken care of, courtesy of Blair Waldorf SAT prep and spa."
"Are you serious?" Hazel asked hesitantly.
"If you're going to sweat the test, it better not clog your pores," Blair teased lightly, "This evening at my penthouse, you'll find personal tutors, hot stone massages, mani-pedis and an amazing acupuncturist who specializes in mental acuity."
Blair smiled as the group looked at each other in excitement, obviously all for the plans for the night. "Guess that beats my dad's lasagna," Jenny spoke up over to Iz, Penelope, and Hazel.
Blair smirked at the freshman at her presumption, "I'll flickr over some photos for you." When Jenny looked at Blair in confusion, Blair added with a light shrug, "Oh, it's Upperclassmen only. I'm sure you understand."
"Totally," Jenny responded, carefully to hide the look of disappointment at being left out.
Blair smirked as she took her leave of the group without another word, only pausing when she heard Hazel call out, "Wait up, B." Blair looked over her shoulder as Hazel, Penelope, and Iz followed after her down the hall, leaving Jenny all alone, just the way she was supposed to be.
"I'm so glad I didn't book that flight to Tel Aviv to go after Kati," Iz said as she shared a laugh with Blair as the foursome left the freshman in their wake.
Spotted in the Halls of Constance: Little J. realizing that age really does come before beauty.
xoxo
Later that night, Chuck found himself sitting in his suite for the night alone, having just left Blair to set up a takedown for one Nelly Yuki. Chuck smirked to himself as he took a sip from his glass of scotch, seeing Blair agitated was a lovely sight to see from a woman who prided herself in her ability to stay in control. He had no problem taking advantage of her agitation with distraction since she was most likely going to be dividing up the rest of her time either plotting against her academic rival or studying for the SATs herself for the rest of the night.
At first she was a bit reluctant to become distracted, but all Chuck had to do was mention Yale and how it was all hers for the taking and she was practically putty in his arms. He didn't know what about the subject that got her all hot and bothered when he mentioned it, but again he was all for taking advantage of it for his own means.
Chuck was just grateful that he had already taken the SAT test the previous year with Nate, back when Nate still wanted to go to USC and his parents were against the idea. So Nate got in his head that he needed to do really well on the test so he could get in on his own when the time came. Chuck had to admit that it was one of the few times that Nate took initiative in regards to what he wanted for his future, and decided to be supportive and take the test with his best friend, scoring at a very impressive 2190 on his own.
Chuck made it a point to hide his results, not wanting to make a big deal out of it since he most likely wasn't going to go to college anyway after high school. Chuck just figured that he would start right in on working at Bass Industries and begin to be groomed to take over for his father when the time came. It was only because Blair kept harassing him on why he wasn't taking the SATs with her that he finally cracked and told her the truth. At first she looked surprised and then proud when he told her; that pride quickly turned into a look of Blair Waldorf being impressed after he showed her his scores. She then proceeded to give him a reward for doing so well on his own merit and Chuck had never found pleasure in getting a good grade before in his life.
At the sound of his phone going off, Chuck was jerked from his memories of that particularly stimulating SAT session with a sigh. He frowned as he saw that it was Serena and answered it. "I'm so stupid, so, so, so, so stupid," the blonde spoke without waiting for him to speak.
Chuck smirked at the sound of obvious intoxication and responded, "You don't sound stupid. You sound drunk. What have you been into?"
"Georgina," Serena responded, causing Chuck to pause at this information as Serena continued on, "Good news is, she doesn't want anything except to party. Bad news is, I partied. "
Chuck found himself relaxing at her words and leaned back into his sofa, "Care to paint a picture? Does this party require clothes?"
"I'm supposed to be at Dan's studying," Serena spoke into the phone, obviously upset, "I called to tell him I'd be late, but not this late. I-I just have to call him and say-,"
"That instead of studying with him, you're out with your old pal Georgina," Chuck interrupted as he leaned forward and poured him another glass of scotch, mentally deciding whether or not he was going to be productive tonight in regards to Victrola, or put it off for later on in the week.
"No. I don't want him to know she exists," Serena said firmly, "My mom, Blair, even you can't stand her. Dan of all people cannot know Georgie." Chuck listened as the blonde breathed through the phone before making her request known, "Can you help me?"
Chuck found the entire situation funny and had no problem teasing her as he spoke in a low tone, "Say you need me."
"Chuck!" Serena yelled causing Chuck to smile.
"Hearing you scream my name is more than enough. I'll take care of it and pick you up in ten," Chuck assured his future step-sister and hung up the phone. Not waiting even a minute before he began to dial Humphrey's number, grateful that he could just get this over with instead of having to hunt down a way to contact the Brooklyn rat.
After a couple of rings, someone picked up the phone and started speaking, "Hey, I've been wondering where you were."
Chuck smirked as he stood up and began to head out, unable to resist, "You mean all of your life?"
"Uh, don't take this the wrong way, Serena, but you sound just like this jackass we know," Dan quipped back with a sigh.
"Serena has food poisoning," Chuck said simply, figuring it best to keep it that way, "She's too sick to come to your play date."
"Put her on the phone," Humphrey said bluntly.
"The bathroom doesn't get reception," Chuck responded with ease.
Humphrey paused before he spoke again, "Somehow I don't believe you."
"And I'd like to say I'm a little glad about that," Chuck admitted, "but my poor, sick sister has asked for my assistance in the matter, so I'll leave it at this- she's not coming. Don't try calling. Humphrey, always a pleasure."
Chuck hung up the phone without another word, not even waiting for the Brooklyn rat to say anything in response, just glad to have fulfilled this part of his promise to Serena before he made his way downstairs to go fulfill the second part. He'd figure that he could handle Serena tonight and decided to not call Blair for reinforcements for now, since she would be busy plotting and studying and there wasn't really anything she could do at this point. It was definitely going to be an interesting couple of days on the Upper East Side, Chuck had to admit to himself silently.
xoxo
The next morning Chuck was standing in the quad at the front of the school minding his own business as he talked on his phone with an associate for his SAT con. Most people would leave the masses to their own devises on how to adequately prepare for the grueling test, but Chuck was born a business man and saw it all as an opportunity. He could smell the desperation off of the bulk of the junior class around this time of year and he wouldn't be Chuck Bass if he didn't think to take advantage of it. Besides why stress unnecessarily over a test that could change your life when, for a price, Chuck could set up someone to take the test for you and you come out with a score good enough to get into the school of your choice? Suffice it to say, Chuck found this time of year to be very profitable in his part-time side business.
Currently, he was setting up a new customer when he was accosted by Humphrey. Before the Brooklyn rat could even be in his face, Chuck raised a finger up at him as a universal sign of "wait a minute" as he spoke into the phone, "I'm going to have to call you back." Chuck sighed as he hung up the phone and looked at Humphrey, full of contempt, "Beautiful day you're ruining, isn't it?"
"Do me a favor, please, and leave Serena alone," Dan spoke bluntly.
Chuck rolled his eyes as he responded, "It was Serena I was doing a favor for."
Obviously not believing him, Humphrey continued on putting the pieces in the wrong place, "All I know is before spring break, everything was great. It was good. Now break's over, she's not quite herself, and I'm trying to think, what has changed in her life?" Dan snapped his fingers as if the answer just came to him, "Oh, the Bass family moved into it."
Before Chuck could responded, the blonde in question made her appearance with a bright smile, "Dan, hi." Chuck took a step back as Serena kissed her chump of a boyfriend in greeting before he shared a look with her as Dan responded.
"Hey. How are you feeling?" Humphrey asked.
"Good. My migraine's gone," Serena responded, causing Chuck to mentally roll his eyes and give her a slight shake of his head to indicate that she messed up.
Dan frowned, "Migraine? I thought you had food poisoning."
Chuck stood back as Dan kept glancing over at him and back at his girlfriend as Serena attempted poorly to rectify her slip, "Yeah, that came after."
Chuck found himself mentally scoffing at that, even Hum-drum Humphrey didn't even buy it as he asked, "What exactly happened last night?"
"I already told him," Chuck responded, giving one last attempt to cover for his future step-sister. She asked him to help her and that's exactly what Chuck was going to do until she asked him to stop and even then, he would still continue on.
Dan raised his hand towards Chuck as he spoke directly at Serena firmly, "I'm asking you."
Chuck took that as his cue and turned away from the couple to give them the illusion of privacy as he continued to fiddle with his cell phone as he listened to Serena begin to explain, "Well, I got food poisoning, and then Chuck helped me out."
"Okay, where exactly did you eat that you got this killer food poisoning migraine?" Dan asked as his voice began to rise in frustration.
"Can we drop the interrogation?" Serena asked softly.
"As soon as you tell me where my girlfriend is," Dan said as he held onto Serena's arms.
Chuck watched covertly as Serena silently begged Dan to drop it as she responded, "I'm right here with you."
Unfortunately the school bell rang to warn the students that they had about fifteen minutes to head to class. Dan just shook his head and made his excuses to head inside, leaving Serena standing there alone. Chuck slowly made his way over to the blonde as he watched Humphrey walk away. Serena stood beside him as she began to explain herself, "This is exactly why I didn't want her to come back. She's been back a day already and look what's happening."
Chuck looked over at her and did what he did best and that was ask the obvious question, "If it's really that bad, why don't you just tell him about her?"
Serena paused before replying simply, "I can't," She broke eye contact and turned away with a soft, "I'll see you later."
Chuck stayed where he was as he watched the blonde head inside, left curious as to the story behind Serena's reasoning and having the feeling that it was much bigger than what he originally thought. And the last thing Chuck wanted was to be left in the dark when it came to protecting those who he cares about.
xoxo
Blair was just getting out of class and was on her way to get into position for the minions' recon work on the whole Nelly Yuki situation, when Chuck Bass appeared by her side, "Waldorf, I need you."
Blair didn't even break her stride as she walked down the hall, "Bass, can it wait till later? I need to get into position."
"It's about Serena," Chuck explained, causing Blair to pause briefly with a frown.
She turned towards her boyfriend and saw that he was serious before responding, "What's wrong?"
Chuck sighed as he moved them to the side of the hall to gain some privacy, "It turns out that my PI was mistaken; Georgina is very much in town and stirring up things."
Blair felt her anger rise, "What? I hope, for your sake, you fired him."
Chuck smirked, "I already have a new PI on speed dial."
"Let's just hope that this one is more sufficient in his job," Blair sighed before continuing, "What has Whoregina done?"
"As far as I know, she's just brought Serena back to her old tricks and it's causing some strain between her and Humphrey," Chuck explained, "But she refuses to tell him about Georgina so he's left in the dark."
Blair nodded softly, "So she's lying to him?"
"Last night she got drunk when she was supposed to meet him for a "study date" and my excuse for her was food poisoning. She, of course, jumped in with her own explanation of a migraine," Chuck sighed as he saw Blair roll her eyes at the amateur move on Serena's part. "I don't know, I just feel like there's more to this than we know."
Blair checked her watch and saw that she didn't have much more time, "It really wouldn't surprise me. Tell you what, go get your guy on it and see if he's worthy to work for you. I'll invite Serena over with the minions to study tonight so she won't fall into temptation and we'll talk tomorrow after the SAT's?"
Chuck nodded in agreement to the plan, leaning in to give her a kiss, "Have fun with your take down." He spoke softly with a smirk as he turned and headed off to get his newly acquired PI to work.
Blair smiled as she made her way to the courtyard, getting into place in the corner as she took out her phone under the guise of fiddling with it as she waited for the minions to lead the target of this particular take down over into the courtyard so Blair could find something useful to use against her. Blair sighed with a soft smile as she waited, her mind reflecting over last night when the girls came over, ready to study:
When Blair heard the sound of her elevator door bell going off informing her that her minions had finally arrived, she smiled in anticipation as she watched them come in excitedly, only to come up short at the sight before them. It was Penelope who spoke first, "Where are all the tutors?"
"And the masseuses?" Hazel added in dismay as she looked around at the empty penthouse.
"And the smoothies?" Iz finally spoke up as Blair stood up from her seat and slowly made her way over to her guests.
"All that I have promised you is waiting," she placated them with an innocent smile as she continued on, "And while it gives me great pleasure to think of us crossing that SAT finish line together, before the race can begin, you need to be made aware of one little thing."
Blair turned from the group and motioned them to follow her to the couch where her laptop sat waiting for Blair to begin her presentation. She sighed as everyone gathered around as she began to speak after opening up the lid revealing the photo of their target, "Nelly Yuki, top in our class, summer schooled at the Sorbonne."
"Lots of people do summer at Sorbonne, including me," Penelope added a bit smugly to her Queen.
Blair looked at Penelope briefly, refraining from snapping at the girl, as she simply replied, "True. Penelope, you may be a National Merit Scholar, but Nelly Yuki is a merit scholar…," Blair clicked the mouse to move on to the next page of evidence, "A Peabody Scholar, and an Intel Science Talent Search finalist."
As Penelope looked the screen, effectively brought down from her high horse, Blair turned towards her next target, "Isabel, you're a concert pianist," at the minions nod in pride, Blair turned and clicked to the next page as she gave Iz the bad news, "But Itzhak Perlman himself gave Nelly her very first violin."
Blair glanced over her shoulder at the final minion, "Hazel," when the blonde nodded, waiting for her turn, Blair just shrugged with, "You're just along for the ride, 'kay?" Hazel scoffed in outrage, but said nothing more as Blair finished speaking, "But if any of us wants to live out our college dreams, we have to find Nelly Yuki's weakness and exploit it."
Blair sighed as she turned towards her minions with a smile, "So, what's it going to be: Aromatherapy or annihilation?"
Silently the girls looked at each other and nodded in agreement as Iz spoke up, "What's the plan?"
"Look, I'm not stupid," Nelly Yuki spoke forcefully, snapping Blair out of her musing and into attention as she took in every little detail she could get as she watched Hazel and Penelope accosting the target. "I know you're not really interested in how my family owns half of Tribeca."
"Of course we're interested," Hazel assured, "You're the newest member of our little club."
"Which is only for the smartest girls of the junior class," Penelope added.
Blair carefully changed positions so as not to draw attention to herself as Nelly Yuki responded, "Our junior class only has 30 girls. We're already an elite club. Can I go now?"
As Nelly Yuki started to pick up her violin to leave, Hazel glanced over at Blair to see if it were okay. To which Blair jerked her head in a negative response. Hazel quickly began to speak as she stood in front of Nelly Yuki, "You know what would be hot? You, us at G spa."
"I don't drink," Nelly Yuki responded as she attempted to get away.
"Saks fifth?" Penelope offered as an alternative.
"Hate shopping," Nelly Yuki snapped back.
"Yogurt on the steps?" Hazel gave a final try, obviously becoming desperate.
"Lactose-intolerant. Look, I really don't want any friends," Nelly Yuki explained causing Blair to frown in frustration as she continued to listen to Nelly Yuki rant, "All I want is to be alone and to never listen to Flo Rida ever again."
Blair raised her brows, intrigued at that last bit of information as Penelope reached for Nelly Yuki as she tried to walk away, "What happened? A little backstage hit it and quit it?"
"What? No, my boyfriend broke up with me at a Flo Rida concert," Nelly Yuki explained with a sigh. Blair smirked as she opened her phone and began to click through iTunes as she listened to Nelly Yuki's sob story, "One minute we were waving our hands in the air like we just didn't care, and the next…" Nelly Yuki sighed dramatically as she turned and left, obviously very upset.
Blair smirked over at her minions in approval as she downloaded a song from Flo Rida, already forming a plan to take down Nelly Yuki. And the plan was going to be set in motion that very moment. Blair decided to give her rival a little time to get settled in her new study spot before making her move. Since it was currently raining, it made it easier for Blair to find her inside. After insuring that Nelly Yuki was in position for the attack, Blair casually started to play her newly acquired song on her phone as she walked down the hall absentmindedly.
As Blair walked by Nelly Yuki without even glancing her way, she heard her opening of Nelly's voice in misery, "Oh, god. Not that song."
Blair turned towards the girl on the floor, adopting a look of concern, "Nelly Yuki, what's wrong?"
"It's like it's happening all over again," Nelly said softly, "That song just reminds me of my boyfriend…my ex-boyfriend, I should say."
Blair turned off the music, keeping up the façade of concerned friend, "Oh, no. did he dump you?" She asked, already knowing the answer and gasped before continuing at the sight of Nelly Yuki's nod, "That's horrible. W-what was his name? Brad? Bill?"
Nelly Yuki sighed and shook her head, "Todd… Jansen."
Blair shut off her phone, officially acquiring that last bit of information she needed to have her plan work perfectly tonight as she took a seat on the floor, "There's nothing like the fresh, sharp pain of a breakup. Believe me, I've had my fair share of heartache, but this is about you."
Blair gently patted Nelly Yuki's shoulder in comfort, "Tonight you're going to come over to my house, and just cry till you get it all out of your system."
"I can't, I have to be focused tomorrow," Nelly Yuki said softly.
Blair gently shook her head as she countered, "You can't focus when something's on your mind, now can you?" Blair reached over and shut the textbook on Nelly Yuki's lap as she continued to speak, "Come, come, come. Tell me all about it."
Blair smiled softly at Nelly Yuki and felt her smile grow as Nelly began to nod in agreement to the plan of hanging out at Blair's place tonight. Yes, this take down was going to be perfectly sweet and Yale will be within Blair's grasp without a single doubt after tomorrow morning.
xoxo
Later that evening in Blair's penthouse, all the girls were assembled as they were getting settled for their study session/take down. Blair was laid out on her chaise lounge throne in the middle of the sitting room as the rest of her minions were arranged around her with fresh smoothies in their hands hands and getting manis and pedis while Nelly Yuki was getting a back message across the way. The evening had only just begun, but Blair felt that everything was coming together quite nicely, with the exception of a missing Serena.
Blair picked up her phone and dialed the familiar number and frowned a bit when she got her best friend's voicemail instead. She spoke lightly as she left a message, "Hey S, I'm just sipping a gingko biloba blended and wondering how your stomach migraine is. Call me so I don't worry."
After hanging up her phone, Blair put on a happy smile towards Nelly Yuki as Iz sat at her feet, "How you doing, Nelly Yuki?"
Nelly moaned in response as she sat up from the message chair, "My upper trapezius seems to hold a lot of sadness."
Blair held her glass to her lips as she spoke cryptically, "Something tells me you'll be feeling better very soon…" Blair checked her watch as Nelly rested back on the cushion, "Any minute."
"No. I think I should just go home and study," Nelly replied attempting to get up.
Blair gave a look of warning to the masseur to not let Nelly leave from her grasp; to which the masseur forcefully pushed Nelly back into position without another word. Blair sighed in relief at the sound of her elevator bell going off, informing her of a guest. She only hoped it was who she was expecting.
Dorota came in with a smile, very much aware of what Blair was up to, as she announced, "Mr. Jansen is here to see Miss Yuki."
Nelly Yuki jerked up from her spot, "Todd's here?" she quickly tried to fix herself up and whispered to the group as the boy in question walked into the sitting room, "Do I have cushion face?"
"A little," Iz responded truthfully causing Blair to roll her eyes and sigh silently as Iz looked at her Queen and gave a light shrug in her defense. Everyone turned their attention to Todd and Nelly Yuki as they began to speak.
"Hello Todd," Nelly spoke with a smile after putting on her glasses.
"Hi, Nelly. Blair said it was all right if I came," Todd spoke not really selling his role in Blair's eyes.
"For a Siberian ginseng pedi?" Nelly asked in confusion.
Todd frowned, "No." He then looked in Blair's direction causing her to give a faint smile of encouragement before he looked back at Nelly and continued on, "I really feel bad about how things ended, Nell."
"So do I," Nelly said happily.
"Can we talk about it?" he asked, "In private?"
Nelly eagerly responded, "Okay." As she turned to gather her things, Blair raised her glass to Todd for a job well done behind Nelly's back as the Asian girl turned towards her with a grateful smile, "Thank you, B."
Blair simply smiled in return as she watched the two leave her penthouse apartment, unable to hold back her smirk of victory after they disappeared in the elevator, "Lucky for us, mentally acuity and common sense rarely come in the same package."
The minions laughed with their Queen as they continued to relax before getting down to get some real work done and prepare for the big test tomorrow morning. Getting rid of Nelly Yuki would only take them so far in reaching their goals of getting into the school of their choice; they had to come out with the needed score to get in on their own.
xoxo
The next morning, Blair arrived at Hunter College refreshed and ready for this test. The only thing that plagued her mind was her lack of response from Serena last night and that left her with a very bad feeling. Fortunately the only one that could do anything about it happened to appear to be waiting for her just outside the doors to the main building where the SAT's were set up.
Blair smiled as she walked up to him, "What are you doing here?"
"Well, I came…"Chuck responded as he wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her lips lightly, "For that and to wish you luck; even though I know for a fact that you won't need it."
Blair felt her smile grow in pleasure, "Thank you. Overall, last night went perfectly with the exception of Serena being a no show." Blair sighed as she let her worry show, "Have you heard anything from her?"
Chuck nodded, "She called me ten minutes ago, claiming she was going to be late and if I could do something to keep the doors open."
"But they don't keep the doors open for anyone once the test starts," Blair frowned in confusion.
"I know, but I have an alternative plan set to be set in motion if she doesn't make it," Chuck saw Blair about to reply and quickly reassure her, "Don't worry. It won't cause any kind of problems to stop you from taking your own test today, especially after all the work you've done to prepare. And I don't mean studying."
The couple shared a smirk and a kiss, "Good. I have to go check on the development of my last prep work for today. I'll call you after it's over? Maybe…have a little victory celebration for the close of this particular chapter of my academic career?" Blair asked with a seductive smirk at her boyfriend.
"Sounds like nothing short of perfection, Waldorf, but I can't say that I expect anything less when it comes to you," Chuck responded, always up for a celebration.
"Then I'll see you then, Bass," Blair gave him one last kiss before she walked over to her waiting minions with a reluctant sigh.
"Later, Waldorf," Chuck called after her with a grin as he headed off to check on his customers' replacements for the day, making sure that no one was missing.
Not too long later, Blair and the minions saw Nelly Yuki finally making her appearance at the school with not much time left to spare. Blair quickly cut through her group and ran over to Nelly, hearing the sounds of foot falls behind her as they reached their new "friend."
"Rough night?" Blair asked concerned, but inwardly rejoicing out how out of it Nelly Yuki appeared.
"Yeah, and not in a good way," Nelly said sadly as Blair stood beside her with her minions beside her as Nelly explained what happened, "Todd doesn't want to get back together."
"No?" Blair and Iz spoke in unison as Penelope and Hazel had a faked look of shock. "But he said…" Blair began with a look of confusion.
"We stayed up all night having the same conversation about why we broke up over and over again," Nelly was so frazzled the poor girl dropped her calculator.
Blair bent over as the minions continued on with their "I can't believe it" and their "Unbelievable", sounding like the genuine group of girlfriends that they were pretending to be as Blair made quick work on her contingency plan before standing up.
"I got no sleep, spent the whole night crying," Nelly explained as she wiped her face.
Blair handed Nelly back her calculator, having gained the information she needed to deem the plan a success, "Okay. Well, good luck!"
Blair gave an encouraging smile as she and her minions' watched Nelly walk away in fog of misery. "Do you really think this is going to work?" Iz asked a bit doubtful.
Blair smirked as she slowly lead the group to head inside, "Yes, but I also believe in insurance." She revealed what she held in her hand to the girls behind her, four AA batteries, "From her calculator."
Hazel and Penelope laughed as Iz asked the next question that the others wished to know, "You never did tell us how you got Todd to play along."
Blair looked over her shoulder at her favorite minion, "Iz, what are you doing later tonight?"
"Uh, not Todd," Iz said after a moment's hesitation and a smirk.
"Okay, well, I guess I'm going to have to come up with something else," Blair replied with a roll of her eyes, as they all laughed together and headed inside.
After checking in and receiving her appropriate card, Blair found herself continuing to look around for Serena. Even though Chuck explained the situation a bit on her being late, she still hadn't heard anything from the blonde herself and would have thought that she would have at least received a phone call. Upon her looking around, Blair spotted Humphrey and walked over, "Humphrey, have you seen Serena yet?"
"Uh, not yet, but I bet Chuck has," he responded as he began to fiddle with his phone a bit.
Blair sighed, "Well, I'll try to save a seat for her."
"Yeah, I'll keep calling," Humphrey called after her as she turned and headed inside the room.
Blair just took a deep breath and tried to put her worry over her best friend out of her mind and focus on this very important test. She had to do well, otherwise all this scheming and take down of the last 24 hours would have been for nothing, and Blair did not enjoy wasting her time. She was a Waldorf, and failing was not an option.
xoxo
After several long, grueling hours, the test was over and the students were freed from the auditorium. Blair felt as if a huge weight had been lifted from her shoulders; she could now focus on everything else that had been going on around her while she was busy preparing for the SAT's. As it's known to happen during busy times, things have a tendency to slip through the cracks, important things. Because of this, Blair needed to be on her A-game for the remainder of the year so there would be no worries of someone coming up the ranks to take what was hers; including Jenny Humphrey.
Speaking of Humphreys, Blair spotted Dan as she walked out the front doors and asked friendly, "How'd you do?"
"Uh, not my finest hour," Dan responded as Blair took out her phone to check for messages. "I finished, but…I kinda had a lot on my mind."
"I'll keep calling," Blair assured him as she placed her phone to her ear.
"Yeah. I think I know where to find her," Dan said as he started walking ahead to the street.
Blair paused as she, once again, received Serena's voicemail and sighed as she left another message, "Hey, S. It's B. Now I'm really worried." Blair saw Humphrey pause not too far ahead of her, looking off into the distance. "I'm going to go home and change and then…," Blair continued to leave her message as she looked in the direction that Dan was looking and saw Vanessa and Nate looking very close.
Blair mentally scoffed at the sight It seems to be a trend of everyone slumming it in Brooklyn she thought silently. As she moved to stand next to Humphrey slowly, she glanced over at him and registered a look on his face that really shouldn't be there if he was supposed to be in love with his girlfriend. It was a look that Blair new well from Nate throughout their many years together. Blair didn't like that look at all because it lead to something else that ended with her best friend getting hurt. Snapping out of her musings, Blair realized she was still on the phone and ended it with, "Call me. Bye."
Blair continued to watch Humphrey and then Nate and Vanessa as they climbed into the back of Nate's town car laughing. She was definitely going to have to on her A-game. With this new development, the whole Georgina drama going on, and not to mention getting rid of Jenny Humphrey, Blair concluded that she was definitely going to have her hands full. As the town car door shut, Humphrey snapped out of whatever haze he was in and glanced over at Blair, just as she started fiddling with her phone to call Chuck, and walked away down the street. Blair sighed as she watched to car drive away. She definitely had her work cut out for her for the remainder of the semester.
xoxo
After receiving the text message from Blair that she was on her way over after she changed clothes at home, Chuck sighed as he looked over at his future sister, sitting across from him. "Serena, what's going on?" He asked.
The blonde sighed as she pushed her hair back, "I don't know what happened last night. The last thing I remember was that I was out with Georgie for dinner and I was drinking soda; the next thing I know I'm waking up in her bed the next morning. According to her, I switched to patron during the night."
Chuck kept a neutral face, "And yet you're avoiding Blair?"
"I just think it would be best to keep her out of the line of fire; besides she'd just make it into an even bigger thing than it already is," Serena attempted to explain.
Before Chuck could respond, not at all convinced with Serena's way of thinking, there was a knock on his door. He glanced over at it, knowing that it wasn't Blair because she would have just used her key, and debated on if he should let the interruption stand. After looking back at Serena, he saw that the blonde was done talking about the situation with Georgina for now as she stood up to go answer the door.
Chuck decided to not push, for now. He quietly watched as Serena looked through the peephole and opened the door to reveal Humphrey on the other side. Humphrey sighed in relief and gave her a hug with a soft "Hey."
"What's going on?" Humphrey asked the million dollar question, concerned as Chuck sat quietly out of sight.
Serena paused before shaking her head in denial, "Um…nothing. I'm fine."
As Serena pulled away from her boyfriend, Humphrey spoke up, "No, you're not, and you need to stop saying that. Hey. Come here."
Chuck silently watched as Humphrey pulled Serena back to him, having some hope that maybe the Brooklynite could get through to Serena and stop hiding whatever it is that she was hiding, "Where were you?"
At Serena's silence, Chuck knew it was too much to ask for her to be honest with someone that wasn't one of them. As much as Serena liked to pretend that he and her were the same, there was something that have proven that Dan Humphrey just didn't get when it came to the world of the Upper East Side. Chuck stood up from his seat and made his presence known as he answered for Serena, "She was with me."
"What he means is," Serena quickly tried to stop Humphrey from jumping to the wrong conclusions, "We were both at home. Um, my stomach started acting up again."
Chuck silently walked over to the couple as Humphrey looked at her in disbelief, "Oh, okay. A food poisoning relapse? Look, if-if you didn't study enough and you're freaked out, I can-,"
"I told you. I was sick," Serena interrupted as she crossed her arms in front of her chest.
"You paid someone else to take the SAT for you," Dan spoke bluntly, "and that's the best you can do?"
"What are you talking about?" Serena asked in confusion.
"I'm talking about the 5-foot-nothing redhead claiming to be Serena Van Der Woodsen. I'm pretty sure that wasn't you," Dan said with a sigh.
Serena quickly turned towards Chuck, "Chuck, what did you do? I told you to keep the doors open. When I got there, they were closed."
Chuck smirked and shrugged as he replied, "Yeah, they don't keep the doors open. I was thinking on my feet, just trying to help."
The couple rolled their eyes for two very different reasons as Humphrey reached for Serena, placing his hands on either side of her face, "I'm not mad. Okay, I'm just worried. I've been so worried about you. Please, help me understand what's going on here."
After a moment's hesitation, Serena spoke, "Can we talk tomorrow? I'll call you." Chuck mentally scoffed at the question, and people thought that he ran away from his problems? Serena took running and avoidance to a whole new level.
As Humphrey continued to just look at her, Serena whispered a soft, "I'm sorry."
After another moment of silence, Humphrey finally gave up and simply responded, "I'm sorry, too." Before turning around and leaving Chuck's suite. Chuck sighed as he shut the door behind the Brooklynite, actually feeling kind of bad for the guy and making a decision that he was going to start pushing. Something was going on that Serena did not want to run the risk of it getting out and it was about time that Chuck found out what it was.
"Chuck, you went too far," Serena attempted to scold him as Chuck glanced at her over his shoulder.
"And so did you, sis," Chuck responded bluntly, "Look, I feel foolish for admitting it, but obviously, I've come late to this party."
"English, please," Serena deflected.
"What's Georgina got on you?" Chuck asked the question that's been floating around in his head for the past 24 hours.
"Chuck…" Serena started, obviously trying to, once again, deflect.
"Dan I understand, but what's so bad you can't even tell me?" Chuck said with a look of confusion as he leaned against the door behind him.
Serena sighed and turned to gather her things to leave, "Look, I have to go run an errand. We'll talk about it later."
Chuck sighed as he reluctantly stepped to the side and let Serena leave, knowing that he could only help so much while flying blind.
Before Serena could actually get to the door, it opened up revealing Blair. Blair released a sigh of relief at finding her best friend safe and sound, "Serena! Thank god, I was worried. Why didn't you return my calls?" Blair gave the blonde a hug before noticing that Serena had her jacket and purse in her hands.
"Hey, B. Sorry about that, there was a lot going on, but I'm fine. I'm actually heading out to run an errand, but I'll catch up with you soon?" Serena started to edge toward the open door.
"I could come with you," Blair offered, "I haven't seen you in days and I know there's been a Georgina sighting. Unfortunately, I didn't hear it from you."
Serena sighed, "I know; I just thought I could handle it on my own, and that's exactly what I'm about to do. Handle it. I'll call you."
Blair sighed in defeat as Serena left, shutting the door behind her, before turning around towards her boyfriend, "What's going on?"
"I have no idea, but it's something so big that she couldn't even tell me," Chuck said softly as he wrapped an arm around Blair. "Humphrey came by."
"Did they talk?" Blair asked as she laced her hand with his and walked over to the bar, in need of a drink.
"Briefly; it wasn't very productive. In fact you made more headway in the last few minutes before she left than me and he combined," Chuck stated as he poured them both a glass of scotch.
Blair sighed as she took a sip from her glass, "That doesn't make me feel better, Bass."
Chuck nodded, "Hopefully she'll be able to handle it and we won't have to worry."
Blair shook her head, refuting the claim, "No, we'll have to worry less, until we know what's going on, figure out what Serena's hiding, I can't stop worrying."
"Neither can I," Chuck sighed as he took a sip from his glass as well. The couple put off their celebration of the end of the stress of the SATs and spent the afternoon catching up on all that's been going on the past several weeks; things that they've witnessed and heard about, as well as things that needed to be on the agenda for the remainder of the semester.
Chuck was a bit disgusted, but not all that surprised, when Blair told him about how close he appeared with Vanessa outside of Hunter's college this morning. While Blair wasn't all that surprised when Chuck informed her that Jenny Humphrey was seen scoping out guys in the hopes that it would help her with securing her place amongst Blair's ranks permanently. The girl had to be able to afford to be in their circle somehow, and if she found it by lagging onto a sugar daddy it just revealed how much of a social climber she was and a gold digger to boot.
The couple continued talking throughout the night, scheming and plotting; as well as figuring out what they were going to do for the summer break. When Chuck mentioned possibly going to Tuscany before the duo made their way to Lyons to visit Blair's dad, Blair was thrilled and was already wishing for the end of the semester to come. Just one more month and they'd be home free.
A/N: I did it! I worked on this chapter up until half an hour ago, but I finished it and I present it to you my lovely readers! I know it's a short one, but there was only so much that I could do for this episode since it was all about Serena and her problems with saying no. But I hope you enjoyed it! My favorite part would have to be the entire Nelly Yuki part of the chapter. You can not get away with just saying that girl's first name! You have to say the entire thing and I, for one, have fallen victim to it. The big plot point in these next several episodes of Dan spending time with Georgina, but not knowing she was Georgina, was one of the biggest plot holes in regards to the big reveal of Dan being GG. If GG knows about Carter, it stands to reason she'd know about Georgina! Besides that, didn't she go to school with them? And Dan claimed to have always been there...yet he didn't know about Georgina..with all his stalker like tendencies over Serena? Gah! I'll just stop before my anger over the finale returns. You'd think after about 6 months I'd be able to get over and accept it, but I just can't let it go!
Anyway...
Finals are this week and I still have a paper to write, but my last final is on Tuesday! So I should have plenty of time to write up the next chapter based off of the episode All About My Brother and it's going to be epic, I just feel it! 3 more chapters and the epilogue! I can barely stand it!
I love you all and I'll see you next week!
-Plei4fun