There was a constant buzz of whispering, a low hum of sound, that always echoes through the halls of Constance Billard, where gossip and rumours were always forming and spreading, factious or not, even without the help of the infamous Gossip Girl that had reigned through a previous generation.

The latest news to spread like wildfire through the historic halls of the school and the courtyard was that the filming of a movie was to take place in its halls; thanks to the celebrity behind two of the people involved in the production.

Serena van der Woodsen during her time at the elusive private school for the offspring of the dirty rich, famous and infamous had become a living legend; with the kind of exploits that made urban legends.

It was now the young blonde daughter of the model and best selling author Dan Humphrey that sat in her third grade class room, her sapphire blue eyes trained on her English workbook in front of her.

She could hear the rest of her classmates whispering, the audition for A Life to Love had started that morning, and some big names were auditioning for the roles of Serena and Dan; they were wondering who exactly would be invading their school in the coming months.

"Do you know anything?" One of the girls in her class, Celia, broke through Emily's train of thought with the question that had been directed towards her.

"Not really." Emily spoke quietly, unlike her usual person since she didn't really want to be discussing the technical sides to the movie.

"You have to know something." Katherine, Celia's best friend spoke up. "I mean, your parents have to tell you something."

"Not really." Emily repeated. "Nobody knows much yet."

Celia, Katherine and a couple of other girls grumbled at the vague and unhelpful answers that Emily Humphrey was providing, before they went back to speculating; which was much more interesting.

Before Emily looked back down at her workbook, with over half the assigned work completed, she glanced towards the clock that hung high above the chalkboard. 2.48; only twelve more minutes left before her weekend freedom.

The familiar sound of the bell rang through the classroom after what felt like an eternity, echoing into the deserted hallways; releasing the students from academic rigor for the weekend.

Bolting from the classroom as soon as was permitted, grabbing her backpack as she flew out, Emily almost sped down the steps towards the iron wrought gates. All she wanted was to start her weekend with her dad.

She reached the bottom step and instantly froze; she couldn't see her dad. There was no mom. There was no Grandma Lily. She looked around, confused for a second, trying to figure out if her parents had forgotten about their only child.

"Emily, honey." It was her Aunt Vanessa; standing at the gated entrance with her eight year old son Ben waiting impatiently next to her. "Your parents are tied up with meeting and auditions; so you're coming home with and Ben until your dad can come get you, okay?"

Well, I'm sorry I'm not who you thought I was. But what's happened is in the past. All that I can do is try to change. But if you can't accept that…then you're not who I thought you were. Well, I guess we both make mistakes.

"Can we please finish this up sometime soon?" Dan grumbled glancing at his watch after the tenth generic young, blonde model wannabee actress left the room after she stumbled clumsily through her lines.

He had made the call to one of his oldest friends, Vanessa, begging her to Emily home with her because he was stuck, and he wanted to be able to get his daughter as soon as possible. He only got to see her every fortnight, and he didn't want to spend that time stuck in here.

"We're almost here." Brian Goldberg sighed, flipping through the remaining headshots and CVs; they were all tired, they had all been stuck in this stuffy room since early that morning. They all wanted to go home. "But we still have to decide who to call back."

"That's if we find anyone who's even remotely good enough." Serena grumbled, running her manicured fingers through her blonde hair, the movement was her stress release. "These women can not act."

"I'm sorry I'm not who you were expecting. What's happened is in the past, and I'm trying to change. If you can't accept that, you're not the person I thought you were. I guess we both made mistakes."

The next person to enter the room, the eleventh blonde, stood in the middle of the room, surprising everybody as she was the first to recite her lines from memory, tweaking them slightly so they fit her.

Serena noticed from the corner of her eye that Dan had leant forward in his chair, all of his focus on this girl.

She's good, Dan thought to himself. She's…more than good.

"I need to know why you love me." When nobody stopped the girl, she launched into the second paragraph that had been selected for the audition process.

"I really want to believe you when you say those words. I want to trust you Dan. So maybe if I knew why, I'd stop being so afraid of hearing them and saying them."

Stopping, the blonde looked between the five people sitting behind the long wooden desk, a small smile forming across her lips as she studied their reactions.

"Ah…thank you Miss Burke." Goldberg said eventually, after regaining himself. "Someone will be in contact with you shortly."

The young twenty two year old smiled again, and left the room without another word.

"She was great, let's hire her now. I don't need to see anybody else." Dan hit both palms against the table, pushing himself into a standing position ready to make a fast escape.

"We have to at least let the other girls audition. There may be someone even better." One of the casting directors interrupted Dan's joyous moment and brought the author crashing back down to reality as he sat back down again.

Dan took the steps two at time that led up to Archibald townhouse, the sun had long set across the Manhattan skyline and the streets were glowing under the bright lighting of the street lights.

"Daddy." As he followed Vanessa into the house, Emily came bolting out of the entertainment room where he could hear a movie blasting from the surround sound system that Nate had installed a couple of months before.

"Thanks for taking her Vanessa." Dan smiled as Emily went racing for her backpack. "It was just impossible to escape."

"Anytime." Vanessa smiled at the first friend she had made when she moved to New York City. "You know that Ben loves playing with her."

"Come on Miss Em." Dan wrapped an arm around his daughter. "How does Chinese sound for dinner?" He was going to make up for the afternoon he had missed with her.

Father and daughter were snuggling on the couch, watching Emily's favourite Finding Nemo with empty Chinese takeout boxes littered across the coffee table. "Come on Em, it's time to go to bed." He said reluctantly.

"It's only nine o'clock." The miniature Serena protested, she wasn't tired yet. "And it's the weekend daddy; the movie isn't even over yet."

"Bur you have a tennis game tomorrow. You know you do, and your mother and grandmother would gladly kill me if I let you show up on the court still half asleep."

Emily grumbled, but she stood up to go get ready for bed anyway; even she knew that no one wanted to go against Grandma Lily's wishes.

"Don't walk away from me!" Serena Humphrey yelled at the retreating back of her husband. "You can't say that about me and then disappear."

"I can't talk to you when you're like this." Dan pivoted half way up the stairs of his penthouse home to gestures at his wife, speaking no quieter than she was. Their neighbours were either enjoying the show or getting ready to call for backup. "This is not the woman I married."

"You have always known who I am." Serena was following him up the stairs now, this conversation wasn't over and she wasn't about to drop it. "You knew what my life was when you met me, and you told me it didn't matter."

"Well, it does now."

Casey xXx

[Edited: 30 April 2010]