DISCLAIMER: Most of the characters and the universe this story is set in are from Gossip Girl.
She reaches for her bag. "So who are you with?"
"Hm?"
She looks back at Daniel, putting her camera away. "Who were you cheering for?"
"Oh. Right. No, no, no, I was just here to give this teacher a message and decided to stay." Her eyes narrow, as if waiting for further information. "I'm really passionate about writing in general," he shrugs.
"Right, and I don't suppose there was any added bonus in the fact that it was a girls-only constest," she jests. "You study here, then?"
He nods. "St. Jude's, the adjacent school. And you?"
"Oh, my sister goes to Sacred Heart, I was here because of her." She indicates a girl that's coming their way. "I'm Lyla, by the way."
"Daniel. Dan, you can call me Dan," he adds immediately as they shake hands. "It was nice to meet you, Lyla. You're really talented," he says, pointing at the bag where her camera is now safely put.
Her smile is so big now it doesn't seem to fit inside her lips. "Thank you! Actually, I keep a small website with some of my work, so if you want to, you caaan …" she starts scribbling down on a small piece of paper and offers it to Dan, "… take a look at it. Tell the friends. You know, make me famous."
He laughs, trying not to think of the alarmingly low number of people he could talk to about this. "You got it."
Lyla then leaves and rushes to give her sister a hug – Dan wishes he could remember which of the essays belonged to this one, but he honestly can't – and this triggers in him the need to go home and see his family as well. He pulls up his earphones and disappears from the auditorium – it is '06, Snow Patrol is still chasing their cars, the All-American Rejects want you to move along and Daniel Powter's still having a bad day, but it is Tracy Chapman's smooth timbre that guides Dan out of the school gates and well into his way back to Brooklyn.
"Something smells good," he says about an hour later, closing his family loft's door behind him. His sister moans from the kitchen counter.
"Don't encourage him," she pleads Dan, which earns her an admonitory look from their father.
"You've been helping, so technically you're slamming your own work, Missy."
"Dad," Dan warns him, kissing his little sister on the top of her head and sitting next to her. "You know we love you, and because of that you have to promise us that you'll never use 'slamming' in a sentence again. And I mean never."
"Or Missy," Jenny nods vehemently and Daniel can't help but laugh. Rufus turns his attention back to the oven, hiding his own smile.
"So how was school?"
"Good," and he's glad he's only partially lying – academically speaking, good is pretty accurate. "Weekend should be pretty light. I'm sorry I was late, there was this thing at the auditorium and I got caught up."
"We know," Jenny says with a smirk, picking up her phone.
"What do you mean, you know?"
"Here." She expands the picture of a highly polished black car in front of his school, to the point where the car disappears and Dan's pixelated self appears. "I'd recognize your backpack anywhere," she comments.
He takes the phone and slides the photo back to its original size. "Let me guess, Gossip Girl?"
"None other," she exclaims happily.
Dan snorts, exchanging glances with his father. Jenny narrows her eyes. "You know, instead of criticizing it so much, you could actually start using her site to your benefit – there's nothing wrong with actually trying to have a social life."
"Hey, I have a social life."
To their credit, both his father and Jenny do their absolute best to look like they don't pity him.
"Anyway, why bother?" he argues defensively. "If I'm ever in need to know about the lives of the rich and famous, all I have to do is nudge you," he quips, dodging her jab to his arm. He looks at the picture again. "Why did someone take the picture of this car, anyway?"
"That was Blair Waldorf leaving school!" she says, clearly disappointed that she still needs to explain such things to her brother – she'd kill to be in his place right now …
"Blair? That's the girl that won the competition today." He takes another look at the car, thoughtful.
"No offense, Dan, but you're in serious need of my help if the only thing you can remember about Blair at this point is an essay she wrote. Her mother is …"
"I'll be positively thrilled to hear about her mother and every silly detail of her life you can give me," he laughs, setting his sister's phone back on the counter. "On the other hand, I can just take a shower, and we'll have some nice dinner and …"
"Fine!" she says, exasperated. She turns to her father and points at Dan as he's entering his bedroom. "He's hopeless."
"Love you too!" he shouts back.
AUTHOR NOTE: This is just a small complement to tie loose ends – while I ended the auditorium scene where I wanted to, there was still room for expanding it. Lyla's an original character, and should make small appearances here and there. I'd like to thank everyone that has contributed with kind words and criticism so far. I'll definitely put some work into this for more chapters, although I haven't still decided how to do it.
Thanks again for your time.