"Roxanne, put your Sidekick away. It's annoying."
Roxy rolled her eyes at Charlize, but stored her Sidekick in her Andy Warhol purse anyway. The twins were in the valet car for the first time, fresh from the airport on their way to their penthouse apartment in Upper East Side. Charlize glanced out the window in her Chanel sunglasses and sighed, "It's so much colder here."
"Yeah, that's because it's New York in the fall," Roxy quipped, searching through her iPod Touch playlist for something suitable, "What do you expect?"
Charlize whined, "I miss L.A. already."
"It's not that bad," Roxy assured her sister, "See? They have a Barney's here."
Charlize Elizabeth sulked in her seat. Yeah, it was Barney's, but it was NO Juicy Couture. No comparison.
The Evergreen-Winters family was a wealthy one; with father Kristopher owning his own racing team and mom Jeannie owning her own cosmetics company, they were easily able to relocate to New York City's Upper East Side. Their parents wanted the twins to have a better life, a better education and more independence. And Los Angeles wasn't going to cut it.
Roxanne, the oldest, was excited about the move. She loved adventure and always wanted to go to New York. Their parents were never around, so getting used to living alone in a huge apartment didn't bother her. Starting to blast the Ting Tings to get rid of Charlize's whining, Roxy took the time to look out the window.
Charlize might have been born three minutes behind her sister, but that didn't mean Roxy was the mature one. Char sometimes had to pretend she didn't know Roxanne in public, due to her sudden outbursts into song and spontaneous decisions (for example, the time she thought it would be fun to go to boy's washroom instead of the girl's in third grade). No, Charlize was the smart and sensible one. She always dressed the best and was the envy of all the other California girls back home. Her hair was blonde and skin golden.
It wasn't long before the car stopped and the girls were in the apartment.
"It's huge!" Roxanne screamed, jumping on what she claimed to be her bed.
"It's not LA," Charlize pouted, "And it smells like city smog."
"Whatever," Roxy got off the bed and began to wander around, "Good, we've each got two bathrooms." She had planned to turn her second one into a darkroom to develop her photographs. Roxanne was a freelance photographer and took pride in it.
Charlize opened the window in her new bedroom and gazed outside. Dirty, gross, cold city met her eyes. She didn't like it as her sister did. It sucked compared to Cali. That was where she really belonged. There was nothing here that would-
And then she saw him.
Walking down the street, cigarette in hand, golden hair and green sparkling eyes.
He was amazing.
Charlize smirked. So maybe there was a reason to stay.
--
"What do you think of this one, Natie?" Blair Waldorf showed her boyfriend, Nate Archibald, the seventeenth dress she's tried on that night. He shrugged, "It's nice."
Blair pouted, "Nice? Is that it?" She'd hoped he'd notice the fantastic cleavage. Perhaps it was Blair's imagination that she'd gone up almost one bra size in the past three months. Nate should've noticed.
Better yet, Nate should've cared.
Nate wouldn't admit it, but he hated watching Blair try on clothes. After awhile, everything looked the same. And if he dared chose what he liked best, she'd become angry and end up saying it made her look fat or something trivial like that. Perhaps if he waited a little longer, she'd be bored too and want to leave…then they could go back to her place and fool around…
"I like this one," Blair told the saleslady, "Do you have it in midnight black? This one's more of a velvet black…"
Nate groaned. He was going to be here forever.
A smooth-talking, somewhat slimy voice suddenly pierced the air, "Well if it isn't everyone's favourite faggot?"
Chuck Bass walked in, wearing a very gay-looking pink cashmere sweater beneath a grey Armani jacket, along with his trademark cashmere scarf. His shiny new Steve Madden shoes made him look even more polished than usual. And a bit a more circus clown.
"Boo!"
Serena van der Woodsen, another one of Nate's friends, jumped out from behind Chuck and nearly tackled Nate on the shoulders. She turned it into a hug and giggled, "Scare you?"
Nate laughed, "Hardly."
"Don't be mean," Serena crossed her arms, and then turned to Blair, "Cute dress."
Blair shook her head, "I hate it."
"Doesn't show your tits enough." Chuck noted, just before receiving a slap from Blair.
"What? I was just being hones," he said innocently.
"Too honest." Blair snapped.
"So what are you two doing here?" Nate asked Chuck as he sat down next to him on the soft, suede chesterfield.
"I'm picking up a birthday gift for my mom," Chuck replied, eyeing Blair as she chatted with Serena, "A new fragrance set and a bunch of other shit my dad ordered."
"Isn't your mom on vacation?" Nate asked.
"Yeah, but I'm sending it off anyway," Chuck sighed, bored as ever with the subject, "And I ran into Serena while I was on my way here. God, she looks so fucking hot right now."
Nate shrugged. Everyone though Serena was the most beautiful girl in the universe.
Only Chuck wasn't talking about Serena.