AN: Hope to have another chapter by late tonight. Enjoy! The plot is gonna start to pick up now. Thanks for the reviews, ya'll are great!

Lita woke up to the sound of her cell phone ringing and Chuck mumbling incoherently. Nudging him off of her body, Lita stumbled out of bed and over to the couch where she had left her Blackberry. The call was from Serena.

"Hey S, what's up?" Lita asked. Her voice still raspy from sleep. Looking around the suite, she tried to find a clock.

"Hey, I was just wondering if you wanted to go to school together today. I can meet you at your place in an hour."

Lita watched as Chuck sat up, supporting himself on his elbows and stared at her expectantly. "Actually, I'm not at home."

"Oh," Serena sounded surprised. "Are you with Blair?"

"No…" Lita felt her cheeks heating. "I'm at The Palace."

"Oh…my…God." Serena's shriek made Lita laugh. "Well it just so happens that I'm staying here with my family so…I'll be expecting you downstairs in an hour, ready to spill everything."

"Okay, see you soon." Lita tossed her phone down and went back over to the bed. Chuck reached for her- helping her get settled underneath the sheets again.

"Who was that?" He asked. "Blair?"

"Actually, it was Serena. She wants to go to school together." Lita sighed and rolled onto her stomach. "I don't want to go. I want to stay in bed all day."

Chuck laughed and kissed her shoulder. "Me too but somehow I think skipping on the second day wouldn't go over very well."

"Yeah, probably." She sighed and closed her eyes. "Your bed is just so comfortable and I don't feel like facing Blair today."

"What do you mean?" Chuck's hand slid into her thick tangle of hair and started to play with the loose curls.

"She called me about a thousand times last night. She probably heard that I had lunch with Serena and is furious. I tried calling her when I was on my way over here but she 

didn't pick up." Lita inched closer to him, cuddling up against his side. "I somehow manage to end up right in the middle of all of their fights."

"Well, you know it's not my usual style to agree with Blair but I do think she has a right to be mad. Her best friend did just disappear with no explanation." Chuck argued. "Aren't you mad?"

"I guess I was kind of mad." Lita agreed. "Well, maybe more than a little mad but mostly hurt. But I guess I just realized Serena must have a pretty serious reason for going away like she did. It couldn't have been easy for her either."

Chuck made a face. "You're much too forgiving and sympathetic."

"You're the one that told me that everyone deserves a second chance, Chuck." Lita stared up at him.

Chuck was quiet for a long while. "I suppose you're right." He kissed the top of her head. "And I guess no one should be more thankful that you're forgiving than me."

Lita sat up and pushed Chuck onto his back. Straddling his waist she looked down at him sternly. "Chuck, the past is the past. I forgave you and you forgave me."

"What did I have to forgive you for?" Chuck asked in confusion.

"We both made a lot of mistakes." Lita leaned down and pressed a kiss to his lips. "But that's all behind us, right?"

"Yeah…" Chuck smiled up at her. "L, things really are going to be different this time."

"I believe you."Lita kissed him again, letting Chuck flip her onto her back. They were interrupted by the sound of a cell phone- this time it was his.

"Just ignore it." Chuck said in between kisses.

"No." Lita pushed him back slightly. "Get it. Besides, I've got to get ready to meet Serena."

Chuck groaned in disappointment and reached for his phone. "Nathaniel…this better be good."

Lita kissed him one last time before getting up and heading towards the bathroom.



Serena watched in amusement and just a little bit of shock as Chuck and Lita exited the elevator, holding hands and looking completely enamored.

"Well, well, well." Serena laughed. "You two look like you're having a good morning."

"Something like that." Chuck smirked. "I'm going to get Nate, do you girls want a ride?"

"No, we'll walk." Serena interjected quickly. "We have a lot of catching up to do."

"Suit yourself." Chuck noticed Serena's strange behavior but didn't comment on it. He simply gave Lita a quick kiss on the temple. "Lunch?"

"Yeah, I'll meet you in the courtyard." Lita smiled as she watched him leave.

Five minutes later, Chuck's limo pulled up outside of Nate's house. Nate was outside waiting. He barely waited for the car to come to a complete stop before he pulled open the door and slid inside.

"She knows."

"Well good morning to you too Nathaniel. Now, who knows what?" Chuck asked.

Nate reached into his pocket and pulled out a bag containing an already rolled blunt. "Blair knows that I slept with Serena."

"What?" Chuck's eyes widened in surprise. "How'd she find out? Did Serena tell her?"

"No," Nate sighed. "I told her."

"Okay…"Chuck nodded his head. "And you did that, why?"

"She wanted to have sex and I couldn't go through with it." Nate looked through his backpack trying to find a lighter.

"And how did Blair respond to this sudden burst of honesty?" Chuck could only imagine Blair was furious and plotting some sort of devious revenge.

"She yelled and cried and ended things between us." Nate sighed. "Do you have a fucking lighter?"

"Yeah." Chuck reached into a compartment and pulled out a lighter and tossed it to Nate. "Are you going to try to talk to her?"

"Who, Blair?" Nate shook his head. "Honestly, I think I'm kind of relieved."

"I feel sorry for Serena." Chuck shook his head. "Blair is going to have her banished."

Nate snorted. "I know. Do you think I should have told her that I spoke to Blair?"

Chuck arched an eyebrow. "You mean, you didn't warn her?"

"I really missed you all this summer." Serena told Lita as the girls sat down on a bench outside of their school. Without verbally acknowledging it, both girls had purposefully avoided the steps of the Met.

"We missed you too." Lita sighed. "Especially Blair, she had a really rough summer with her Dad leaving and all."

"Yeah, I heard about that." Serena said regretfully. "I wish I could have been there for her but I just didn't know how to."

"You two should really talk about all of this." Lita told her friend. "Before this gets any more out of hand."

"She refuses to speak to me. Do you think you could talk to her? She's always listened to you, L."

Lita frowned. "I don't know, Serena. I really want to help but I hate being the go between and somehow I've always been in the middle."

"That's because you're trustworthy." Serena laughed lightly. "Please, L, it would mean so much to me."

"Fine, I'll give it a try but I can't make any promises." Almost as soon as the words came out of Lita's perfectly glossed lips, Blair appeared flanked by Isobel, Kati, and a handful of Blair's other followers.

"Lita, you might not want to sit so close to Serena, you wouldn't want to catch anything." Blair's eyes were glued on Serena with a look of intense hatred.

Lita stood up. "B, come on-"

"Has your pal, Serena told you why she left?" Blair demanded. "Did she tell you what she did?"

Thinking Blair was referring to the Ostroff center, Lita was quick to interject. "Blair, come on, that's private."

"You told her?" Serena yelled at Lita. "How could you?"

"I didn't tell her anything." Lita said defensively. "She had to have found out on her own."

"You knew and you didn't tell me?" Blair turned her fury on to Lita. "That's even worse Lita. Serena can't help herself because she's a slut but you, you knew she slept with Nate and you never even said a word."

"She slept with Nate?" Lita's head was swirling with all the accusations. She turned to Serena. "Is that true, you slept with Nate?"

Serena looked ready to cry but none of the other girls seemed to care much about that. "It was a mistake. A terrible mistake that I'm so sorry for."

"A mistake?" Blair stepped forward, getting into Serena's face. "A mistake, is forgetting to return a pair of shoes you borrowed from a friend. Sleeping with your best friend's boyfriend isn't a mistake; it's something you do because you're a bitch."

Lita stared at Serena in shock. She'd gone from feeling sorry and concerned for her friend to being completely disgusted. "Serena…"

"I told you, Lita, she can't be trusted." Blair's tone softened. "You're just too nice, she probably told you some sob story and you, being the sweet person that you are, fell for it. It's not your fault. You're just too trusting."

"I never lied to Lita." Serena defended herself. "And I'm sorry for what I did Blair, really, I am."

"It's too late for sorry." Blair turned on her heels and started toward the entrance of the school. "Are you coming, L?"



Lita stared at both of her friends, unsure of what to do or say.

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