Blair paced around the school gates she was at a loss, she could do take downs and she could manipulate the toughest of people but she couldn't get two of her best friends to see how perfect they are for each other. Serena was getting more involved with the Brooklyn boy and Nate didn't even seem to care, in fact he made friends with the guy and invited him to play basketball with the other guys, Chuck didn't like it but they seemed to have worked something out.
Blair brought her thumb to her lips and started to chew on the nail until Chuck grabbed her. "That is a disgusting habit," he said and she frowned.
"I know," she snapped and Chuck raised his arms up in defense. "It's like they are trying to make this harder, I haven't even begun trying to get them together and already I have to do something about this … this bromance Nate's forming with Serena's cabbage patch friend."
"Nathaniel's not doing it because he wants to," Chuck told her. "Serena begged him to 'make friends' with him."
"Oh sweetie," Blair said sweetly touching Chuck's face before frowning and pulling her hand away. "That doesn't help me at all."
Chuck rolled his eyes and looked at Blair. "Why don't we let the blonds figure it out and we enjoy our year," he said wrapping his arms around her.
"Fine," Blair said leaning her head against his chest and sighing.
"You're not going to let this go are you?" Chuck asked and Blair shook her head no, Chuck pinched the bridge of his nose. "Ok I don't think I'll be much help but I'll try."
"Anything will be fine," Blair said, they hadn't even started working on getting Nate and Serena together and already it was so exhausting.
"We're playing again this afternoon and I know how much you girl's love watching us, so why don't you come check us out in practice and we'll scheme after," Chuck suggested and Blair nodded wrapping her arms around his waist and smiling contently.
Later that day Serena and Blair sat on the benches while the boys played ball on the court. Serena was gushing about how awesome it is now that her boyfriend is playing and that he's friends with their guys and then she screamed his name and Blair cringed because she screamed Dan's name.
"Ok who is that?" Serena asked and Blair turned her attention away from Chuck to look at the small group of girls sitting on the opposite side of the benches.
"I think they're cheerleaders," Blair said looking at their outfits. "Why didn't we ever try out for cheerleading?"
"You didn't want to seem so brainless and I wanted to party with Georgina," Serena answered distractedly, still looking at the group, they were giggling and pointing out into the field. The redhead sitting above the girls seemed to be the leader, she wasn't paying much attention to what her squad was doing she had her eyes trained on someone on the field. When Serena followed her line of sight it was only Nate that this girl was looking at.
"I should have rethought that," Blair was saying, imagining the power she'd have if she ruled the cheerleaders too. "If I could get head cheerleader, imagine how many minions I would have then."
The cheerleaders and the school Queen being Blair and her group, tended to avoid each other, there wasn't a rivalry but they were never friendly either. Both were popular but Gossip Girl tended to favor Blair and Serena so they were more talked about and held more power over the rest of the school.
"She's staring at Nate," Serena said and Blair looked at her confused before looking down at the redhead with way too much make-up on. "She's not a new girlfriend, she can't be, he didn't say anything to me, do you think she has a crush on him?"
"Maybe," Blair said with a smile, Serena was getting jealous that someone was paying too much attention to Nate, imagine what she'd do if Nate paid attention to someone else. "I wonder if Nate knows, she looks nice and he's been single way too long."
Serena scoffed but she didn't turn to Blair, she was still watching this girl, whose eyes were not leaving Nate. "He has not, his last relationship only ended before the school holidays," Serena said and Blair almost laughed.
"Yeah S, he's been back on the market for a couple of weeks, you'd have thought someone would have taken advantage of that by now," Blair said, subtly pointing out that Serena should have but her best friend was too distracted by the new girl staring at Nate.
"Well it's not going to be her," Serena said turning to look at Blair. "She's not his type."
"S, Nate doesn't have a type," Blair said she resisted the urge to say that 'Serena' wasn't a type. "Maybe she'll be good for him."
"She will not, just look at how she looks at him," Serena said turning her attention back to the girl. "Like a piece of meat."
Blair pressed her lips together to hold back a smile, "You know I said Dan won't be good for you and look how happy you turned out, maybe you should give this girl a chance."
Blair almost laughed as Serena shook her head, she was enjoying making her friend squirm with protectiveness and jealousy. "She'll break his heart, you know how sensitive Nate is."
Blair smiled and looked out into the court, Chuck caught her eye and grinned, so this was his plan all along, Blair thought. Smiling she gave him a thumbs up and he nodded. Nate threw the ball and cheered with his team when he scored the winning point.
Serena frowned when the red head jumped up and down and squealed with her friends before they all ran onto the field, spreading out to the nearest guy. Chuck took a step back so none of the girls would go to him and Blair smiled at his efforts, Serena on the other hand got up without warning and stormed onto the court because the redhead was talking to Nate and she was touching his arm.
Blair laughed as she walked down to Chuck, "Genius," she muttered when she reached him and he chuckled. "I wonder how much longer until they figure it out?" she asked, squealing when he tried to hug her because he was sweaty.
"Natie," Serena screamed jumping onto his back. "Awesome game."
Nate laughed as his arms automatically latched around her to keep her from falling if him. "Hey S," he said tightening his arms a little so he could give her an awkward back hug. "Oh Serena this is, Bree Buckly," Nate said nodding to the red head in front of him and Serena gave the girl her best fake smile as she was sure Bree was giving her. "Bree this is my annoying best friend Serena van der Woodsen."
"I've heard about you," Bree said sweetly, holding her hand out to Serena, Serena unlocked one hand from around Nate's neck to shake Bree's hand, keeping the other firmly around him. "You're quite the party girl."
"I've had my days," Serena said, she didn't like this girl at all.
"Dan's somewhere around here," Nate said with a small frown when he couldn't see the curly haired boy from where he was. "You will be pleased to know that he's actually fitting in with the guys."
"Yey," Serena said faking excitement and then realizing that if she stayed on Nate's back any longer instead of going to find her boyfriend it will cause Nate to ask her questions that she wasn't sure how to answer yet. "Ok, I'm going to find them, I'll see you later."
Serena kissed Nate's cheek and jumped of his back before making her way to Dan and one of the other guys. Dan didn't look very impressed that she went to Nate first but he didn't say anything to avoid an argument. Serena smiled at the other guy and pecked Dan on his lips, Dan's teammate asked him a question so he turned back to that conversation keeping an eye on Serena who was openly watching Nate and his red head friend with her arms crossed and an unreadable expression on her face, it looked like a cross between anger, jealousy and sadness.
"Hey Serena, I'll walk you home," Dan said touching her arm and Serena looked up at him and smiled her expression soft again. Sometimes he really had no idea why someone as amazing as Serena van der Woodsen would want him as a boyfriend.
"So Nate told me that you don't play half bad, I had to come check it out for myself," Serena said and Dan cringed at the way she said Nate's name, when she calls him 'Natie' it's always playful but when she calls him 'Nate' it's this intimate tone that always gets Dan so jealous.
"Yeah, yeah it's going well, the guys aren't bad I guess, Chuck says things sometimes but Nate's been cool," Dan says and it's true, he can't bring himself to hate the guy because he really was that nice. "I heard you screaming."
Serena smiled brightly, "I was hoping you did," she exclaimed. "I was so excited, it's the first time I saw you play."
Dan couldn't help but smile with her, Serena had that effect on you, she could always get you to smile. "I have to rush home, mom and Jenny are planning some surprise for my dad's birthday so I have to keep him occupied."
"Oh, you could keep him busy with basketball," Serena said nodding and giving him a huge smile because she gave him an awesome idea.
Dan laughed at her enthusiasm and leaned down to kiss her. "Yeah I'll think about it, see you at school."
"Bye Dan," Serena called as she walked into her building.
Erik van der Woodsen sat at his laptop finishing his homework as he waited for his sister to get home, their mother was somewhere in the world with her new boyfriend after her third wedding didn't work out like she planned. He and Serena stopped counting her boyfriends and husbands, they just leant to be polite to those they'd never see again and dress up nicely and pose for photos if a wedding came along.
"Hey sis," Erik said when he saw his sister, she looked pissed, she threw her bag on the floor and paced in front of him.
"What do you know about Bree Buckly?" Serena asked and Erik raised an eyebrow.
"The cheerleader?" he asked and Serena nodded. "Not much, she's old money, her family's pretty big, I think they have something to do with oil or diamonds…"
"I don't care what her family does," Serena said loudly cutting him of and sat down on the couch tapping her feet and biting her nail. "I want to know what she wants with Nate."
"Nate?" Erik asked confused, his sister has always been protective of Nate, she'd scrutinize his girlfriends and intimidate them with her relationship with Nate but she's never looked this upset about it.
"Yes Nate, the guy that's been coming here since before you were born," Serena said running her hands through her hair and Erik frowned.
"Serena you do know that Dan's your boyfriend right?" Erik asked and Serena raised an eyebrow at her little brother to ask him what his point was. "Well you aren't meant to go this crazy over some girl you saw Nate talking to."
"How do you know they were just talking?" Serena asked and Erik turned the laptop so Serena could see Nate and Bree at the courts talking.
"Gossip Girl is interested but they didn't do anything else," Erik said. "At least there's no photographic evidence to say something else happened."
"Well she was flirting a lot," Serena said and Erik laughed so Serena glared at him.
"Nate's single, he's allowed to flirt," Erik said biting his lip to hide his smile from his fuming sister. "Why are you getting upset?"
"I don't know, I just … urg," Serena said falling back on the couch and putting a pillow over her head. "It was normal and then today all of a sudden this girl just took his attention and I didn't like it."
"So you're getting jealous of other girls that like Nate," Erik said. "Why?"
"Why are you asking me such hard questions?" Serena asked scowling. "I saw her watching him and then she only spoke to him and I got … defensive, because he's mine, not hers."
"Serena this girl didn't do anything to take him away from you," Erik said, he was amused at his sister's possessiveness over Nate. "Nate's had girlfriends before."
"Yeah but they were easy to get rid of," Serena said and Erik gasped. "What? They weren't good enough for him so they left, I didn't even have to do that much, this girl looks like she's going to be a challenge."
"Don't you think that's Nate's decision?" Erik asked trying not to laugh at his sister and she just waved her hand. "Ok, so why are you with Dan?"
"Because he's sweet and different from all the other guys that I've dated, he keeps me on the right track," Serena said slowly and Erik gave her a pointed look. "I don't know what answer you were looking for."
"You guys have been dating for a while, the answer should have been 'because I love him'," Erik said and Serena scrunched up her nose at him and looked away. "Ok let me ask you a question."
"I think I love him," Serena said thinking that was the question Erik was going to ask and Erik shook his head for her to be quiet.
"Why didn't you and Nate get together when you were both single," Erik asked.
"We were never single at the same time," Serena said and Erik thought back, he was so sure that wasn't true, they were both single at the same time at least twice so why weren't they together. "We're best friends anyway, it would be weird to date Nate, date Nate, that rhymed."
"As amazing as that rhyme is Serena, that's an excuse," Erik said shaking his head at his sister.
Serena took a breath and shrugged. "Nate won't want to date me, he's never tried to stop me from getting into any relationship, he's never gotten jealous," Serena said, biting on her lip. "He doesn't notice me like other guys do, his eyes never follow me when I try to get his attention, he's just not into me like that."
"But if he were, you'd date him?" Erik asked.
"Erik I've been in love with Nate since I knew what love was," Serena said with a sad smile. "Of course I'd date him, he's ... Nate."
"Why don't you tell him this?" Erik asked. "He could be scared to let you know how he feels for the same reasons."
"No Erik, Nate doesn't like me like that he probably thinks of me as his little sister or something," she said shaking her head. "I'd rather have him as the amazing best friend he is now than ruin that and have it be awkward, I can't lose him like that."
Erik didn't know what to say to that, if she was right then he knew she'd probably shut him out of her life forever if he let didn't return her feelings but if he did then they'd be the perfect couple. "Ok so you aren't going to do anything but why break up his relationships," he finally asked when it dawned on him that she tried breaking up all of Nate's relationships and she succeeded.
"I know this is going to sound selfish but I don't want anyone else to have him," Serena said biting her lip and Erik knew she felt bad about doing it but she wasn't going to apologize because she couldn't say she was sorry for doing it. `
"Serena you need to stop," Erik said giving his sister a sympathetic smile and Serena nodded.
"Fine but I still want to know everything about this Bree girl," Serena said and Erik chuckled. "I won't do anything."
"Ok, I'll see what I can find," Erik said and Serena gave him a hug. His sister was the craziest girl in the world but she was his sister and he'd do anything for her.
A/N Hey guys I'm glad you're enjoying this so far :D I love writing this its just fun and easy lol anyway as promised the next chapter *claps hands* if you keep up the amazing reviews I'll post another chapter tomorrow hehe ... who am I kidding, I'll do that anyway lol
So thank you for the amazing reviews, I just want to let you guys know that I am going to update this story really fast so could you please review the chapters as you read them, it would be greatly appreciated!
Ok so this chapter introduces Bree, I needed to bring in someone for Nate and she just kinda appeared, I needed Dan more as a name more than anything else, but he'll have a few moments. We also find out that Serena has feeling for Nate but she plays it of as friendship to keep her close relationship with him.
I adore Erik so I had to sneak him in somehow hehe he's her little brother and she loves him more than anything, that much was clear on the show.
Please review and enjoy, until next time (^^,)