Disclaimer: I do not own any of the FOL characters or settings. I am grateful that the creator of the show has allowed me to use their material in my own manner.
Before school one morning Tootie asked Blair to review her poem for class. Blair started to read aloud. She stopped and looked at Tootie.
"Where have I heard this poem before?" Blair asked. "I know it." Tootie nodded.
"You should. It was the Emily Dickinson poem that you turned into Mr. Bradley and he put in the poetry contest." Tootie said.
"Why are we opening old wounds Tootie?" Blair asked.
"They aren't old wounds. They're memories." Tootie replied.
"I waited until the last minute to try and write a poem and ended up taking a poem." Blair admitted.
"I'm glad you confessed, but I was surprised that Mr. Bradley didn't know the poem." Tootie said.
"Me too." Blair responded. "But I did feel a lot better after I told him." Tootie nodded.
"Well he turned it into that poetry contest. They would have spotted it for sure." Tootie said.
"You got that right. I knew I had to tell Mr. Bradley when he sent it in. I figured if I told him the blow would be easier, I guess." Blair stated.
"It probably was. But it couldn't have been easy." Tootie responded.
(flashback)
Blair walked in. All the girls were sitting around the room.
"Blair, I thought you were rehearsing with Jason." Mrs. Garrett said.
"I was, well… there was something I wanted to tell the girls." Blair said as she walked away from the door. "You know that fantastic poem I wrote?" Blair paused. "I didn't write it."
"Who did?" Sue Ann asked.
"Emily Dickinson." Blair replied.
"Are you kidding us? You cheated." Sue Ann questioned.
"Ask Tootie. She was there." Blair responded.
"Tootie, you kept a secret?" Natalie asked in amazement. "There is a God."
"I'm sorry you guys. I feel worse than you do." Blair said.
"Give me a break. Are we supposed to feel sorry for you?" Sue Ann asked.
"You can't go through life cheating." Cindy said.
"If you cheat your way through school, you're in real trouble." Molly stated.
"Unless you go into politics." Natalie said.
"Yeah Blair, why don't you run for president?" Molly asked.
"I said I was sorry." Blair exasperated.
"Sure Blair, take care of number one. What's the difference if the rest of us got lousy grades?" Sue Ann asked.
"That's enough." Mrs. Garrett exclaimed.
"No, that's okay. I've got it coming. But I want you to know that I did do one thing Mrs. Garrett, I finally wrote a poem." Blair said walking across the floor. Mr. Bradley walked in at that moment.
"I see you're all here. I got some terrific news." Mr. Bradley said.
"I don't think we can handle anymore terrific news." Mrs. Garrett replied.
"Mr. Bradley, I have something very important to tell you." Blair said.
"This is more important. I just talked to the poetry committee, your poem won third prize!" Mr. Bradley interrupted.
"Oh no! Mr. Bradley, honest, I don't deserve it." Blair exclaimed.
"Frankly Blair, your modesty is getting to be a bore." Mr. Bradley said.
"Mr. Bradley." Mrs. Garrett started to say.
"First thing we do is have a Blair Warner day." Mr. Bradley said.
"Mr. Bradley." Mrs. Garrett tried again.
"Take your picture with a trophy." He said.
"Mr. Bradley." Mrs. Garrett tried a third time.
"Oh, everyone will be so proud." Mr. Bradley said.
"MR. BRADLEY!" Mrs. Garrett yelled. "Blair has something to tell you."
"Mr. Bradley, I cheated. I copied that poem from Emily Dickinson." Blair exploded.
"Emily Dickinson? Blair, what the h*ll (A/N: sorry, he said that word, but I do not feel that it's a word I should say or type) are you talking about?" Mr. Bradley asked. "I didn't mean it." He said realizing what he just said and paused. "Yes I did." Tootie walked over to him.
"I was shocked too Mr. Bradley." Tootie said.
"How could you do this to Eastland, to me, how could you let me go around praising a poem you never wrote? I feel like a complete idiot." Mr. Bradley said.
"Mr. Bradley." Mrs. Garrett said carefully.
"What?" He exclaimed.
"You're right. This is a serious offense and yes she did make a terrible mistake, but at least she had the courage enough to admit it." Mrs. Garrett said.
"Well that doesn't excuse her." Mr. Bradley said.
"I know that and she knows that." Mrs. Garrett replied.
(Back to present)
"It was hard telling everybody, especially with the way everybody talked to me but I got over it." Blair said.
"I'm just surprised Tootie was able to keep the secret." Natalie said with a smile.
"Hey!" Tootie exclaimed glaring at Natalie.
"Tootie, you aren't nearly as bad now as you were then." Jo stated. "But you had loose lips when I first came here last year."