Chapter 5
She was bulimic.
The door of the bathroom that held testament to that fact slammed behind Chuck as he left.
Blair.
For some reason, he couldn’t think. Wouldn’t think, wouldn’t let the message enter his mind.
He just had to tell Serena, tell Nate; her best friend, her boyfriend.
They could deal with it. He wasn’t anything to her.
“Chuck!”
He felt something pull on his sleeve before he managed to get to her bedroom door, the one that lead to the hallway which would take him down to the two clueless blonds.
“What?!” He barked, turning round to face Blair sharply.
She blinked at him, took a deep breath, but didn’t flinch.
“Please,” She whispered, her eyes large. “Please.”
Chuck knew what she was asking.
“What?”
Blair kept hold of his sleeve, her small hand trembling.
Her whole body was tense.
Again, it had happened again.
Chuck had walked in on it again.
Chuck knew what he had walked in on; he knew, therefore, what she was asking now.
“Please what?” He pressed, his eyes cold and set.
“Please don’t.”
“Don’t what?”
Blair couldn’t answer.
She knew what he wanted to hear, though she didn’t know why he wanted to hear it.
Chuck raised one eyebrow, tilted his chin up, and pushed her hand off of him.
“Don’t tell them!”
His hand was on the door handle when he heard her cry.
“Don’t tell them, okay?!”
Her eyes were luminous, the rims beginning to glitter wet.
“Don’t tell them what, Blair?”
“What आप just saw. In the bathroom.” She whispered, looking at the floor.
Chuck glanced back then, at the door he had managed to leave.
His jaw clenched.
“What did I see in there?”
He turned to face Blair again, ready to keep pressing her until she actually कहा outwardly what she had done.
Except when he turned to face her, she lifted her head to face him back; and it stopped him from continuing.
This was Blair, Blair Waldorf, the perfect one.
Stood in front of him, her face vulnerable and dampening with the tears she usually refused to let fall.
Something shifted inside him as he recognised that look on her face.
In the bathroom at school, when he had caught her doing the same thing though oblivious that he had. She had कहा something.
“Nobody else has to try hard! Nate was on the lacrosse team in two days and had everyone’s attention. आप knew half the senior साल personally द्वारा the end of the summer. Serena- Serena’s just Serena. Everybody knows Serena. How can I keep up if I don’t try?”
All traces of anger left him as those words played over and over, and Blair stood by, looking so scared.
He had had no idea what he had meant when he had कहा she was trying too hard earlier.
“You know what आप saw.” Blair eventually whispered tentatively.
He just didn’t understand why she would feel the need to try so hard that she would go this far.
“I have no idea what I just saw.” He replied, taking her small wrist and encircling it with his hand.
Blair’s gaze flicked down to his motion, hesitant for a second.
“I want आप to tell me why I saw what I did, though.”
Chuck tried to speak slowly and gently, after reacting so harshly just मिनटों ago.
Blair bit her lip, but relented, and followed Chuck over to her बिस्तर and sat beside him.
She played with her fingers, stroking each on her left hand with the index finger of her right before clasping them.
Chuck stared at her expectantly.
“I don’t know.” She sighed.
She didn’t.
“Yes आप do. How long?”
“Two days. Three times.”
“You promise that’s all?”
Blair nodded sincerely, and any disbelief Chuck had held he let go of.
There was nothing to disbelieve; it had started in their first week at High School, on the fourth day.
Two days after Nate joined the lacrosse team, the दिन Serena’s deflowering was blogged.
The दिन after Blair started अभिनय so forced and perfect.
“Why, Blair? It wasn’t going to change anything.”
“I already told you, I just don’t know. Everything was different, and everything was horrible, and I-”
Blair stopped to catch her breath. She didn’t like crying in front of anyone, least of all Chuck.
She and Chuck didn’t cry with each other.
They went to each other to stop crying and work to get back at the people who made them want to cry instead.
He was the last person she wanted to tell about her mother being her mother, या about the argument she had gotten her daddy into with her mother, the argument that had first arose two days पूर्व and pushed her over the edge and into the bathroom.
It would ruin their whatever it was they had between them.
“I really can’t talk about it. I’m sorry.”
Chuck had been watching her before she spoke again, and saw a flash of thoughts pass through her eyes.
He knew Blair’s little moment from earlier in the दिन held a lot of clues to how this slowly developing disaster had started, but he also knew that there must be more.
और that she wasn’t ready to talk about.
“Don’t worry.” He said, half regretfully.
He didn’t want to watch Blair turn into another Upper East Side victim; there was an appeal that Chuck found in the artificiality of it all, but there was also darker side that he hated. Somebody close to him had fallen victim to it.
“Just promise me,” He continued, meeting her gaze and keeping it. “Just promise me that आप will not lock yourself in that bathroom and hurt yourself anymore.”
The muscles in Blair’s neck visibly tensed as she swallowed.
This was all too familiar to her, making a promise. She had made the same promise to Serena, and had been unable to keep to it.
Making one to Chuck would be no different, though she wished for the sake of herself now that it would be.
Chuck saw the muscles tense, and knew she couldn’t promise; knew there was a chance she would break that promise.
Blair was anything but dishonest to him.
“Fine,” He nodded. “If आप can’t promise this, then promise me if it happens again आप wont keep it a secret; you’ll tell somebody and we’ll talk about it.”
Blair half smiled.
“Chuck, I don’t want to have a conversation like this with आप again.”
“I know. So make the promise, and think about how you’ll never have to.”
He smirked at her, the smirk reserved for her and her only.
Blair felt the mood lighten, and knew that though the two options she had felt impossible; do something she wasn’t sure she could, या do something she would hate, he had picked them because he wasn’t going to let her continue with what was wrong.
The touching feeling of knowing that somebody even cared, be it Chuck Bass, actually forced a full smile onto her face.
“Everything has to be a riddle with you,” She laughed quietly, nervously glancing at him from beneath her eyelashes. “I know the answer to this one, and I know it’s what’s right- which is why I’m going to promise.”
Chuck breathed, relieved that she had promised and that the tension was lessening as a result.
“Good. However,” He had one last thing to say, that put him in the awkward situation and on the spot. “The way I reacted to this, I’m sorry. I just didn’t want to accept that I had seen what I had, and I acted in way I shouldn’t. I won’t tell Nate या Serena, it’s not up to me to.”
Blair felt that touched feeling grow inside her, and couldn’t answer for a second.
Then his last sentence reregistered, and the soft, numb feeling that she didn’t understand was lost.
“Chuck, are they still downstairs?”
His eyes widened, and he glanced at her carriage clock.
“Blair, don’t worry, I won’t tell them.” He stood up, feeling shaken after the uncharacteristically deep conversation had vanished so suddenly. “I’ll cover, I’ll go with them and make sure they go home. That’s as much as I can do.”
Blair nodded, and stood up and followed him to the door.
Just as he put his hand on the handle to open it and leave, she came closer to him and, without hesitation, wrapped her arms around him.
“Thank you.”
Chuck stood still for a सेकंड as Blair whispered her thanks and embraced him, but soon responded to her action and held her close.
The past half an घंटा had been different enough, and Blair always had been a contact type of person who like people to दिखाना that they cared.
Which, he was beginning to realise, he did.
Then she pulled away, and he accepted her smile with a nod of reassurance before leaving.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Blair had sat tensely in her room for an घंटा after she was left alone, but she wasn’t disturbed.
She didn’t know how he had done it, but Chuck always came through.
It was just after six, and not a school night. Despite that, बिस्तर seemed tempting to Blair.
The दिन could count as और than long, and she was exhausted.
She changed quickly, and settled under her comforter with her DVD player on top. Roman Holiday had offered comfort earlier, now she was going to try Funny Face.
Sleep took over her before the movie started.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Early अगला morning, Blair was woken up द्वारा her cell phone indicating that it had received a message.
She murmured in annoyance, but stretched over to pick up the phone.
B, what was going on between आप and C last night?? S
Careful not to reveal anything that may contradict any story Chuck had दिया Serena and Nate the night before, Blair typed out a quick reply.
Nothing. Mom calling, have to go. Call आप later. B
Once the phone’s outbox cleared as the text sent, she sat it back on her nightstand and slipped herself out of bed.
Her head hurt.
Possibly due to her being sick twice the दिन before. Then talking about it with Chuck.
She didn’t know which was worse.
But she had promised, now. Serena and Chuck. Never again.
या at least, never again without another extremely awkward conversation that was not to be repeated.
She didn’t want to be sick, anyway. It was horrible.
Totally imperfect.
Blair kept thought of as many words to describe how very bad and wrong and it was as she went downstairs.
“Never again!”
Eleanor’s voice struck her when she walked down to the lounge area.
“Dorota, आप finish the plans; and remind me to never hold another party that requires combining business with pleasure!”
The Hungarian maid nodded meekly, and took the folder Eleanor was holding.
“Mom, what are आप doing?”
Blair’s mother twitched at the sight of her daughter.
“Just planning a party to be held here, a week today. Call it a debut celebration, for the opening of my fifth store in New York,” Eleanor indicated for Blair to sit beside her on the sofa. “It’s not important at the moment, though. What is, is my apology to you, for yesterday.”
“Apology?”
Eleanor smiled at her daughter, and tucked a चॉकलेट curl that had fallen आगे behind her ear.
Blair blinked at the soft contact.
“Yes. Dorota made me aware that आप heard snatches of your father’s and my creative discussion, so I have no hesitation in explaining that my responses to आप last night were an after affect of that. You’re too young to understand how stressful relations can be, especially when they hit a minor rough patch. I कहा things to आप yesterday in the midst of that, which I shouldn’t have. I’m sorry, and I care about आप very much, Blair.”
It was robotic and rehearsed, but it was an apology; और than Blair had expected from her mother.
Besides, she did understand stressful relations, and minor rough patches.
Nate hadn’t wanted to do anything alone as a couple for weeks, and they had barely spoken as friends, let alone boyfriend and girlfriend, for just as long. If that wasn’t a rough patch, Blair didn’t know what was; and it was certainly very stressful.
Then there was sex, या the lack of it on her part.
Maybe Nate was bored of her.
It all made her sigh a little, and for once Eleanor noticed her daughter’s mood drop- she was sat अगला to her and giving her full attention.
“Is there something we need to talk about?”
Blair looked up, and shook her head.
“No, not really.” She कहा softly, thinking fast for a topic change.
Her mother would probably never let her near Nate again if she knew she was thinking about sex.
“Well, actually,” There was something she had been thinking about otherwise, that her mother could answer. “What happened with आप and daddy when आप stopped arguing yesterday?”
Eleanor blanched at the question.
“We were not arguing,” She कहा crisply. “It was a creative discussion. After which, your father went to the office to finish up a contract outline. He came घर on time.”
Eleanor almost sounded as though she added that part for her own benefit, her eyes losing focus slightly as though talking to herself.
“He’s resting for the morning, but after lunch आप two are spending the afternoon together, your choice of activity. It was his idea, he feels he hasn’t seen आप enough.”
Blair couldn’t stop the smile.
Despite knowing her daddy had most likely only arranged it because of the words her mother had repeated to him the दिन before, she did प्यार one on one time with him.
They could go shopping, and she could be the perfect daughter and make up for causing arguments between her parents.
“Is that okay with you?” Eleanor checked as an afterthought.
No hesitation.
“It sounds perfect.” Blair confirmed.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The buzz was still there even on Monday.
The buzz of a weekend well spent; time with her daddy on Saturday, then time with both of her parents on Sunday.
That hadn’t happened since she was little.
No arguments at all.
Finally things were looking up; and she hadn’t gone down on her promise.
She hoped Chuck hadn’t doubted her, because she hadn’t seen him in the morning to disperse any fears. She had been late, only just arriving in time for the bell.
Monday was the day.
All projects, on the steps, for the final selection.
She had to look perfect.
After half an घंटा of outfit selection, and then a further घंटा and a half doing hair and make up, she was convinced she did.
Her good weekend had brightened her perspective and made the process easier than she had expected.
“Blair, why didn’t आप call me?” Serena hissed when Blair sat down अगला to her in homeroom.
“Sorry?”
“Nate and I were so worried when Chuck came down after trying to get आप to talk for half an hour. He कहा आप didn’t want to see या talk to anyone. What happened?”
Their homeroom tutor came in then, and silenced them all to take the register.
Blair leaned over to Serena’s desk.
“Nothing, like I said. I just felt so ill when I came home, and was sick again. I wasn’t in the right state to see people, not even आप या Nate.” She whispered, glancing to check wasn’t watching them.
“That’s all? Really?” Serena whispered back.
Blair nodded.
Everything she had कहा had been true, just an evasion of the full story.
“I’m sorry I didn’t call, especially if आप and Nate were-”
“Blair Waldorf!”
Their tutor had heard her whispering and picked her out.
“Whole class silence includes you. हटाइए to the empty डेस्क on the other side of the classroom, I’ve had quite enough of telling आप and Serena to stop talking every morning.”
Blair glanced at the empty desk.
It was behind Nelly Yuki whom nobody talked to, and beside Penelope who was new to Constance that semester and had been nothing but a कुतिया, मतलबी to everyone; though she had made project list.
She didn’t want to हटाइए away from Serena, and Kati and Is.
“I will not ask आप again, Blair.”
“I’ll move.” Serena offered, standing up.
She picked her bag off the floor and went over without waiting for teacher approval, though seemed to approve very much.
“Thank you, Serena, dear.”
“Serena is so sweet,” Is कहा to Kati, and everybody in the room looked like they were thinking the same thing.
Blair looked down at her organiser to hide the embarrassed flush in her cheeks.
When she looked up, the register was done and the girls could talk; Penelope and Serena were deep in conversation.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Blair!” Chuck called, seeing her hurrying down the steps of the girls’ school at the beginning of lunch hour.
She looked up, and forced herself to stop when she saw it was Chuck, despite her being in a rush to get over to the Met.
“I didn’t see आप this morning-” He began, before he was cut off.
“I was late, I had to get ready for having lunch on the Met steps.” She explained and hinted at the same time.
Chuck ignored the hint.
“How was the weekend?”
Blair forced a smile, but glanced at her watch before answering.
There was a seven मिनट bracket from the beginning of lunch घंटा to when आप had to be on the steps. Otherwise, आप weren’t allowed to be there, because it was obviously not important enough to the latecomer.
Nothing was और important to Blair at that moment.
“Good. My dad and I went shopping, I bought a pair of shoes and a cardigan, and daddy got a tie and a bag for my mom from Hermés.”
Two मिनटों left.
“You know what I mean,” Chuck कहा dryly. “Did आप at all-”
“Chuck, I have to go!”
It would take longer than two मिनटों to walk from the school to the Met.
She left him stood in the middle of the courtyard, glaring after her.
Then Blair remembered how kind Chuck बास had been on Friday afternoon, and he had covered for her so that she wouldn’t even have to lie to Serena या Nate, and felt guilty.
She stopped at the gate, turned to face him, and shook her head with a confirming smile.
She hadn’t relapsed.
He gave her a brief nod to say he understood, and she ran away.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
One minute.
द्वारा running, she had made it with one मिनट to spare.
Alicia hadn’t even arrived, which gave Blair the opportunity to sit अगला to Serena and catch her breath.
“B, why did आप take so long?”
Blair indicated she was too put of breath to answer.
“You know why there’s a time bracket, don’t you?” Penelope asked snidely, sat the other side of Serena. “It’s to find out who really cares about-”
“I know what the bracket’s for!” Blair snapped.
She looked at Serena and raised an eyebrow.
“Penelope?” She mouthed.
“We were talking in homeroom,” Serena whispered back. “She’s really not that bad.”
“She’s a bitch!” Blair hissed, glancing at Penelope and catching her gaze with a slight wince.
Serena saw and rolled her eyes.
“So are you, and I put up with it. आप can put up with Penelope, and be nice, because I like her.”
“Is there a problem with me being here?” Penelope asked with faux innocence.
“No.” Serena replied firmly.
Alicia arrived then with her best friend from Senior Year, and Blair gave up arguing.
“You’re all here,” Alicia commented, checking off all the Freshmen mentally.
Blair, Serena, Penelope, Hazel, Kati, Is and Imogen.
“Hey,” Serena कहा brightly, breaking the silence. She was the only freshman not sat on edge.
Alicia smiled at her and sat down, on a step higher than them all.
She started speaking to the girls from her grade and the grade below, and soon it was obvious she wasn’t going to speak to them; just listen and pass the odd comment.
Blair bit her lip.
Everyone around her was now in conversation apart from her.
Normally she could talk with ease, but the vibe around her was intimidating and she was afraid of doing something wrong.
She took the lid off of her फल cup and her fork played with a grape.
“Blair, your mother’s party on Saturday…” Alicia spoke down to her, and Blair’s back tensed. “How are the preparations going?”
Dorota had been working and making calls all weekend, though Blair hadn’t even asked about them.
She presumed that everything was going smoothly.
“Fantastic,” She कहा quickly. “It’s going to be perfect for a store debut, there are a lot of important people coming.”
“Like my father,” Alicia nodded. He owned the accountancy firm handling the advertising department expenditures for Eleanor Waldorf. “And me.”
Several people on the steps did a double take of Blair.
That was a connection.
The only way she wasn’t going to make it into the वृत्त now is if she were totally socially awkward.
Penelope glared at her.
Blair hadn’t even realised Alicia was coming, and her eyes widened.
“Really?” She forced, feeling every eye now on her. “Great.”
She was going to have to entertain Alicia for a whole night.
It was going to have to be perfect.
Pressure.
“Great.” She कहा again, and went back to her फल cup, hating feeling so tense.
When she had first spoke to Alicia she hadn’t had this problem, she had been cool and relaxed, and had impressed enough to be on the steps for the final selection.
Now, Alicia looked suitably unimpressed with her reaction.
“Hopefully it will.” She कहा sharply. “Serena, are आप going?”
“Of course,” Serena replied easily. “I go to all Eleanor’s parties, Blair and I प्यार them.”
She rested a supportive hand on Blair’s arm.
“Oh, why don’t आप come up here and tell me about some of the others?” Alicia pulled her bag closer to clear room अगला to her on the चोटी, शीर्ष step.
Freshman on the चोटी, शीर्ष step?
A junior got her cell phone out and began to type the alert.
“I’m fine here.”
Freshman refusing चोटी, शीर्ष step?
A small group of girls took out their cell phones.
“With Blair.”
Serena gave the arm her hand was rested on a squeeze.
She knew how important this was to Blair, and a little stage fright shouldn’t take it away.
Serena wasn’t going to outshine her.
Alicia gave her an interested look, and nodded slowly.
Lunch carried on, but the vibe had changed.
Blair was able to relax knowing Serena wasn’t going to let her fall, and she joined conversation eagerly.
The घंटा ended, and the girls began to make their way back to Constance.
“So,” Alicia commanded attention before they all dispersed. “I’ll see everyone tomorrow?”
She nodded to the freshmen.
They had all passed.
Blair took a deep breath, and answered first out of anyone.
“See आप then.”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Penelope had been gushing to Serena all through homeroom in the afternoon, but Blair barely noticed.
Serena was in both her afternoon classes, and Penelope was in neither, so she was able to have full attention of her best friend.
She was of course envious that Serena had been asked to talk about her mothers’ parties on the चोटी, शीर्ष step, but Serena hadn’t gone; and the pleasure of knowing Serena thought of her as और important than Alicia outweighed the jealousy easily.
Blair was in a bright mood when the दिन finished, and she tapped Chuck on the shoulder when she found him outside the gates.
“Ride home?” She asked with a smile.
Chuck smirked and opened the limo door for her.
“Of course.”
As soon as the pulled away from the curb, Blair poured her news out to Chuck.
“I’m not a project anymore!”
“They finally saw sense and threw आप out? Too bitchy?” He asked, earning a slap on the arm from Blair.
“I could have आप thrownout of every social वृत्त for being an नितंब, गधा now.”
Chuck shrugged.
“I’d be back in before nightfall, they’d miss the sex.”
Another slap on the arm.
“Vicious, much?”
“I’m having a good day, Chuck, don’t ruin it with your disgusting sexual innuendos.” Blair snapped, trying in vain to cover her smile with a scowl.
She couldn’t believe how good the दिन had been, actually.
या the weekend before it.
Maybe, like her parents, she had just been having a minor rough patch, and had succumbed to stress too easily.
All she needed to do was get Nate to talk to her properly again, and everything would be…
Perfect.
“So, what does a कुतिया, मतलबी of your power do? Any take downs I could assist with?”
Blair thought for a second.
“Keep your eye out for Penelope, the new girl. She has her claws into Serena and insulted my headband last Thursday.”
“Bitch.” Chuck commented, mocking Blair’s seriousness.
She glared at him.
“If आप don’t want to help-”
“I do, I will.” He reassured, laughing at her annoyed face.
He was pleased Blair was having a break from everything that had been upsetting her. It would hopefully keep her out of relapsing long enough to break the habit completely.
The only thing he worried about is if such a high would make an even bigger low; and where that would put Blair.
He had seen how those upper social circles worked; he had been keeping the company of the royalty of the high school all through the last two years of middle school.
Talking about their plans of social destruction had gotten them turned on like nothing else.
Chuck amused Blair for the rest of their journey back to her building, but his mind was somewhere else, searching for something.
Blair needed stability beneath this temporary high, and he was going to find it somehow.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To be continued…
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
She was bulimic.
The door of the bathroom that held testament to that fact slammed behind Chuck as he left.
Blair.
For some reason, he couldn’t think. Wouldn’t think, wouldn’t let the message enter his mind.
He just had to tell Serena, tell Nate; her best friend, her boyfriend.
They could deal with it. He wasn’t anything to her.
“Chuck!”
He felt something pull on his sleeve before he managed to get to her bedroom door, the one that lead to the hallway which would take him down to the two clueless blonds.
“What?!” He barked, turning round to face Blair sharply.
She blinked at him, took a deep breath, but didn’t flinch.
“Please,” She whispered, her eyes large. “Please.”
Chuck knew what she was asking.
“What?”
Blair kept hold of his sleeve, her small hand trembling.
Her whole body was tense.
Again, it had happened again.
Chuck had walked in on it again.
Chuck knew what he had walked in on; he knew, therefore, what she was asking now.
“Please what?” He pressed, his eyes cold and set.
“Please don’t.”
“Don’t what?”
Blair couldn’t answer.
She knew what he wanted to hear, though she didn’t know why he wanted to hear it.
Chuck raised one eyebrow, tilted his chin up, and pushed her hand off of him.
“Don’t tell them!”
His hand was on the door handle when he heard her cry.
“Don’t tell them, okay?!”
Her eyes were luminous, the rims beginning to glitter wet.
“Don’t tell them what, Blair?”
“What आप just saw. In the bathroom.” She whispered, looking at the floor.
Chuck glanced back then, at the door he had managed to leave.
His jaw clenched.
“What did I see in there?”
He turned to face Blair again, ready to keep pressing her until she actually कहा outwardly what she had done.
Except when he turned to face her, she lifted her head to face him back; and it stopped him from continuing.
This was Blair, Blair Waldorf, the perfect one.
Stood in front of him, her face vulnerable and dampening with the tears she usually refused to let fall.
Something shifted inside him as he recognised that look on her face.
In the bathroom at school, when he had caught her doing the same thing though oblivious that he had. She had कहा something.
“Nobody else has to try hard! Nate was on the lacrosse team in two days and had everyone’s attention. आप knew half the senior साल personally द्वारा the end of the summer. Serena- Serena’s just Serena. Everybody knows Serena. How can I keep up if I don’t try?”
All traces of anger left him as those words played over and over, and Blair stood by, looking so scared.
He had had no idea what he had meant when he had कहा she was trying too hard earlier.
“You know what आप saw.” Blair eventually whispered tentatively.
He just didn’t understand why she would feel the need to try so hard that she would go this far.
“I have no idea what I just saw.” He replied, taking her small wrist and encircling it with his hand.
Blair’s gaze flicked down to his motion, hesitant for a second.
“I want आप to tell me why I saw what I did, though.”
Chuck tried to speak slowly and gently, after reacting so harshly just मिनटों ago.
Blair bit her lip, but relented, and followed Chuck over to her बिस्तर and sat beside him.
She played with her fingers, stroking each on her left hand with the index finger of her right before clasping them.
Chuck stared at her expectantly.
“I don’t know.” She sighed.
She didn’t.
“Yes आप do. How long?”
“Two days. Three times.”
“You promise that’s all?”
Blair nodded sincerely, and any disbelief Chuck had held he let go of.
There was nothing to disbelieve; it had started in their first week at High School, on the fourth day.
Two days after Nate joined the lacrosse team, the दिन Serena’s deflowering was blogged.
The दिन after Blair started अभिनय so forced and perfect.
“Why, Blair? It wasn’t going to change anything.”
“I already told you, I just don’t know. Everything was different, and everything was horrible, and I-”
Blair stopped to catch her breath. She didn’t like crying in front of anyone, least of all Chuck.
She and Chuck didn’t cry with each other.
They went to each other to stop crying and work to get back at the people who made them want to cry instead.
He was the last person she wanted to tell about her mother being her mother, या about the argument she had gotten her daddy into with her mother, the argument that had first arose two days पूर्व and pushed her over the edge and into the bathroom.
It would ruin their whatever it was they had between them.
“I really can’t talk about it. I’m sorry.”
Chuck had been watching her before she spoke again, and saw a flash of thoughts pass through her eyes.
He knew Blair’s little moment from earlier in the दिन held a lot of clues to how this slowly developing disaster had started, but he also knew that there must be more.
और that she wasn’t ready to talk about.
“Don’t worry.” He said, half regretfully.
He didn’t want to watch Blair turn into another Upper East Side victim; there was an appeal that Chuck found in the artificiality of it all, but there was also darker side that he hated. Somebody close to him had fallen victim to it.
“Just promise me,” He continued, meeting her gaze and keeping it. “Just promise me that आप will not lock yourself in that bathroom and hurt yourself anymore.”
The muscles in Blair’s neck visibly tensed as she swallowed.
This was all too familiar to her, making a promise. She had made the same promise to Serena, and had been unable to keep to it.
Making one to Chuck would be no different, though she wished for the sake of herself now that it would be.
Chuck saw the muscles tense, and knew she couldn’t promise; knew there was a chance she would break that promise.
Blair was anything but dishonest to him.
“Fine,” He nodded. “If आप can’t promise this, then promise me if it happens again आप wont keep it a secret; you’ll tell somebody and we’ll talk about it.”
Blair half smiled.
“Chuck, I don’t want to have a conversation like this with आप again.”
“I know. So make the promise, and think about how you’ll never have to.”
He smirked at her, the smirk reserved for her and her only.
Blair felt the mood lighten, and knew that though the two options she had felt impossible; do something she wasn’t sure she could, या do something she would hate, he had picked them because he wasn’t going to let her continue with what was wrong.
The touching feeling of knowing that somebody even cared, be it Chuck Bass, actually forced a full smile onto her face.
“Everything has to be a riddle with you,” She laughed quietly, nervously glancing at him from beneath her eyelashes. “I know the answer to this one, and I know it’s what’s right- which is why I’m going to promise.”
Chuck breathed, relieved that she had promised and that the tension was lessening as a result.
“Good. However,” He had one last thing to say, that put him in the awkward situation and on the spot. “The way I reacted to this, I’m sorry. I just didn’t want to accept that I had seen what I had, and I acted in way I shouldn’t. I won’t tell Nate या Serena, it’s not up to me to.”
Blair felt that touched feeling grow inside her, and couldn’t answer for a second.
Then his last sentence reregistered, and the soft, numb feeling that she didn’t understand was lost.
“Chuck, are they still downstairs?”
His eyes widened, and he glanced at her carriage clock.
“Blair, don’t worry, I won’t tell them.” He stood up, feeling shaken after the uncharacteristically deep conversation had vanished so suddenly. “I’ll cover, I’ll go with them and make sure they go home. That’s as much as I can do.”
Blair nodded, and stood up and followed him to the door.
Just as he put his hand on the handle to open it and leave, she came closer to him and, without hesitation, wrapped her arms around him.
“Thank you.”
Chuck stood still for a सेकंड as Blair whispered her thanks and embraced him, but soon responded to her action and held her close.
The past half an घंटा had been different enough, and Blair always had been a contact type of person who like people to दिखाना that they cared.
Which, he was beginning to realise, he did.
Then she pulled away, and he accepted her smile with a nod of reassurance before leaving.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Blair had sat tensely in her room for an घंटा after she was left alone, but she wasn’t disturbed.
She didn’t know how he had done it, but Chuck always came through.
It was just after six, and not a school night. Despite that, बिस्तर seemed tempting to Blair.
The दिन could count as और than long, and she was exhausted.
She changed quickly, and settled under her comforter with her DVD player on top. Roman Holiday had offered comfort earlier, now she was going to try Funny Face.
Sleep took over her before the movie started.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Early अगला morning, Blair was woken up द्वारा her cell phone indicating that it had received a message.
She murmured in annoyance, but stretched over to pick up the phone.
B, what was going on between आप and C last night?? S
Careful not to reveal anything that may contradict any story Chuck had दिया Serena and Nate the night before, Blair typed out a quick reply.
Nothing. Mom calling, have to go. Call आप later. B
Once the phone’s outbox cleared as the text sent, she sat it back on her nightstand and slipped herself out of bed.
Her head hurt.
Possibly due to her being sick twice the दिन before. Then talking about it with Chuck.
She didn’t know which was worse.
But she had promised, now. Serena and Chuck. Never again.
या at least, never again without another extremely awkward conversation that was not to be repeated.
She didn’t want to be sick, anyway. It was horrible.
Totally imperfect.
Blair kept thought of as many words to describe how very bad and wrong and it was as she went downstairs.
“Never again!”
Eleanor’s voice struck her when she walked down to the lounge area.
“Dorota, आप finish the plans; and remind me to never hold another party that requires combining business with pleasure!”
The Hungarian maid nodded meekly, and took the folder Eleanor was holding.
“Mom, what are आप doing?”
Blair’s mother twitched at the sight of her daughter.
“Just planning a party to be held here, a week today. Call it a debut celebration, for the opening of my fifth store in New York,” Eleanor indicated for Blair to sit beside her on the sofa. “It’s not important at the moment, though. What is, is my apology to you, for yesterday.”
“Apology?”
Eleanor smiled at her daughter, and tucked a चॉकलेट curl that had fallen आगे behind her ear.
Blair blinked at the soft contact.
“Yes. Dorota made me aware that आप heard snatches of your father’s and my creative discussion, so I have no hesitation in explaining that my responses to आप last night were an after affect of that. You’re too young to understand how stressful relations can be, especially when they hit a minor rough patch. I कहा things to आप yesterday in the midst of that, which I shouldn’t have. I’m sorry, and I care about आप very much, Blair.”
It was robotic and rehearsed, but it was an apology; और than Blair had expected from her mother.
Besides, she did understand stressful relations, and minor rough patches.
Nate hadn’t wanted to do anything alone as a couple for weeks, and they had barely spoken as friends, let alone boyfriend and girlfriend, for just as long. If that wasn’t a rough patch, Blair didn’t know what was; and it was certainly very stressful.
Then there was sex, या the lack of it on her part.
Maybe Nate was bored of her.
It all made her sigh a little, and for once Eleanor noticed her daughter’s mood drop- she was sat अगला to her and giving her full attention.
“Is there something we need to talk about?”
Blair looked up, and shook her head.
“No, not really.” She कहा softly, thinking fast for a topic change.
Her mother would probably never let her near Nate again if she knew she was thinking about sex.
“Well, actually,” There was something she had been thinking about otherwise, that her mother could answer. “What happened with आप and daddy when आप stopped arguing yesterday?”
Eleanor blanched at the question.
“We were not arguing,” She कहा crisply. “It was a creative discussion. After which, your father went to the office to finish up a contract outline. He came घर on time.”
Eleanor almost sounded as though she added that part for her own benefit, her eyes losing focus slightly as though talking to herself.
“He’s resting for the morning, but after lunch आप two are spending the afternoon together, your choice of activity. It was his idea, he feels he hasn’t seen आप enough.”
Blair couldn’t stop the smile.
Despite knowing her daddy had most likely only arranged it because of the words her mother had repeated to him the दिन before, she did प्यार one on one time with him.
They could go shopping, and she could be the perfect daughter and make up for causing arguments between her parents.
“Is that okay with you?” Eleanor checked as an afterthought.
No hesitation.
“It sounds perfect.” Blair confirmed.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The buzz was still there even on Monday.
The buzz of a weekend well spent; time with her daddy on Saturday, then time with both of her parents on Sunday.
That hadn’t happened since she was little.
No arguments at all.
Finally things were looking up; and she hadn’t gone down on her promise.
She hoped Chuck hadn’t doubted her, because she hadn’t seen him in the morning to disperse any fears. She had been late, only just arriving in time for the bell.
Monday was the day.
All projects, on the steps, for the final selection.
She had to look perfect.
After half an घंटा of outfit selection, and then a further घंटा and a half doing hair and make up, she was convinced she did.
Her good weekend had brightened her perspective and made the process easier than she had expected.
“Blair, why didn’t आप call me?” Serena hissed when Blair sat down अगला to her in homeroom.
“Sorry?”
“Nate and I were so worried when Chuck came down after trying to get आप to talk for half an hour. He कहा आप didn’t want to see या talk to anyone. What happened?”
Their homeroom tutor came in then, and silenced them all to take the register.
Blair leaned over to Serena’s desk.
“Nothing, like I said. I just felt so ill when I came home, and was sick again. I wasn’t in the right state to see people, not even आप या Nate.” She whispered, glancing to check wasn’t watching them.
“That’s all? Really?” Serena whispered back.
Blair nodded.
Everything she had कहा had been true, just an evasion of the full story.
“I’m sorry I didn’t call, especially if आप and Nate were-”
“Blair Waldorf!”
Their tutor had heard her whispering and picked her out.
“Whole class silence includes you. हटाइए to the empty डेस्क on the other side of the classroom, I’ve had quite enough of telling आप and Serena to stop talking every morning.”
Blair glanced at the empty desk.
It was behind Nelly Yuki whom nobody talked to, and beside Penelope who was new to Constance that semester and had been nothing but a कुतिया, मतलबी to everyone; though she had made project list.
She didn’t want to हटाइए away from Serena, and Kati and Is.
“I will not ask आप again, Blair.”
“I’ll move.” Serena offered, standing up.
She picked her bag off the floor and went over without waiting for teacher approval, though seemed to approve very much.
“Thank you, Serena, dear.”
“Serena is so sweet,” Is कहा to Kati, and everybody in the room looked like they were thinking the same thing.
Blair looked down at her organiser to hide the embarrassed flush in her cheeks.
When she looked up, the register was done and the girls could talk; Penelope and Serena were deep in conversation.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Blair!” Chuck called, seeing her hurrying down the steps of the girls’ school at the beginning of lunch hour.
She looked up, and forced herself to stop when she saw it was Chuck, despite her being in a rush to get over to the Met.
“I didn’t see आप this morning-” He began, before he was cut off.
“I was late, I had to get ready for having lunch on the Met steps.” She explained and hinted at the same time.
Chuck ignored the hint.
“How was the weekend?”
Blair forced a smile, but glanced at her watch before answering.
There was a seven मिनट bracket from the beginning of lunch घंटा to when आप had to be on the steps. Otherwise, आप weren’t allowed to be there, because it was obviously not important enough to the latecomer.
Nothing was और important to Blair at that moment.
“Good. My dad and I went shopping, I bought a pair of shoes and a cardigan, and daddy got a tie and a bag for my mom from Hermés.”
Two मिनटों left.
“You know what I mean,” Chuck कहा dryly. “Did आप at all-”
“Chuck, I have to go!”
It would take longer than two मिनटों to walk from the school to the Met.
She left him stood in the middle of the courtyard, glaring after her.
Then Blair remembered how kind Chuck बास had been on Friday afternoon, and he had covered for her so that she wouldn’t even have to lie to Serena या Nate, and felt guilty.
She stopped at the gate, turned to face him, and shook her head with a confirming smile.
She hadn’t relapsed.
He gave her a brief nod to say he understood, and she ran away.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
One minute.
द्वारा running, she had made it with one मिनट to spare.
Alicia hadn’t even arrived, which gave Blair the opportunity to sit अगला to Serena and catch her breath.
“B, why did आप take so long?”
Blair indicated she was too put of breath to answer.
“You know why there’s a time bracket, don’t you?” Penelope asked snidely, sat the other side of Serena. “It’s to find out who really cares about-”
“I know what the bracket’s for!” Blair snapped.
She looked at Serena and raised an eyebrow.
“Penelope?” She mouthed.
“We were talking in homeroom,” Serena whispered back. “She’s really not that bad.”
“She’s a bitch!” Blair hissed, glancing at Penelope and catching her gaze with a slight wince.
Serena saw and rolled her eyes.
“So are you, and I put up with it. आप can put up with Penelope, and be nice, because I like her.”
“Is there a problem with me being here?” Penelope asked with faux innocence.
“No.” Serena replied firmly.
Alicia arrived then with her best friend from Senior Year, and Blair gave up arguing.
“You’re all here,” Alicia commented, checking off all the Freshmen mentally.
Blair, Serena, Penelope, Hazel, Kati, Is and Imogen.
“Hey,” Serena कहा brightly, breaking the silence. She was the only freshman not sat on edge.
Alicia smiled at her and sat down, on a step higher than them all.
She started speaking to the girls from her grade and the grade below, and soon it was obvious she wasn’t going to speak to them; just listen and pass the odd comment.
Blair bit her lip.
Everyone around her was now in conversation apart from her.
Normally she could talk with ease, but the vibe around her was intimidating and she was afraid of doing something wrong.
She took the lid off of her फल cup and her fork played with a grape.
“Blair, your mother’s party on Saturday…” Alicia spoke down to her, and Blair’s back tensed. “How are the preparations going?”
Dorota had been working and making calls all weekend, though Blair hadn’t even asked about them.
She presumed that everything was going smoothly.
“Fantastic,” She कहा quickly. “It’s going to be perfect for a store debut, there are a lot of important people coming.”
“Like my father,” Alicia nodded. He owned the accountancy firm handling the advertising department expenditures for Eleanor Waldorf. “And me.”
Several people on the steps did a double take of Blair.
That was a connection.
The only way she wasn’t going to make it into the वृत्त now is if she were totally socially awkward.
Penelope glared at her.
Blair hadn’t even realised Alicia was coming, and her eyes widened.
“Really?” She forced, feeling every eye now on her. “Great.”
She was going to have to entertain Alicia for a whole night.
It was going to have to be perfect.
Pressure.
“Great.” She कहा again, and went back to her फल cup, hating feeling so tense.
When she had first spoke to Alicia she hadn’t had this problem, she had been cool and relaxed, and had impressed enough to be on the steps for the final selection.
Now, Alicia looked suitably unimpressed with her reaction.
“Hopefully it will.” She कहा sharply. “Serena, are आप going?”
“Of course,” Serena replied easily. “I go to all Eleanor’s parties, Blair and I प्यार them.”
She rested a supportive hand on Blair’s arm.
“Oh, why don’t आप come up here and tell me about some of the others?” Alicia pulled her bag closer to clear room अगला to her on the चोटी, शीर्ष step.
Freshman on the चोटी, शीर्ष step?
A junior got her cell phone out and began to type the alert.
“I’m fine here.”
Freshman refusing चोटी, शीर्ष step?
A small group of girls took out their cell phones.
“With Blair.”
Serena gave the arm her hand was rested on a squeeze.
She knew how important this was to Blair, and a little stage fright shouldn’t take it away.
Serena wasn’t going to outshine her.
Alicia gave her an interested look, and nodded slowly.
Lunch carried on, but the vibe had changed.
Blair was able to relax knowing Serena wasn’t going to let her fall, and she joined conversation eagerly.
The घंटा ended, and the girls began to make their way back to Constance.
“So,” Alicia commanded attention before they all dispersed. “I’ll see everyone tomorrow?”
She nodded to the freshmen.
They had all passed.
Blair took a deep breath, and answered first out of anyone.
“See आप then.”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Penelope had been gushing to Serena all through homeroom in the afternoon, but Blair barely noticed.
Serena was in both her afternoon classes, and Penelope was in neither, so she was able to have full attention of her best friend.
She was of course envious that Serena had been asked to talk about her mothers’ parties on the चोटी, शीर्ष step, but Serena hadn’t gone; and the pleasure of knowing Serena thought of her as और important than Alicia outweighed the jealousy easily.
Blair was in a bright mood when the दिन finished, and she tapped Chuck on the shoulder when she found him outside the gates.
“Ride home?” She asked with a smile.
Chuck smirked and opened the limo door for her.
“Of course.”
As soon as the pulled away from the curb, Blair poured her news out to Chuck.
“I’m not a project anymore!”
“They finally saw sense and threw आप out? Too bitchy?” He asked, earning a slap on the arm from Blair.
“I could have आप thrownout of every social वृत्त for being an नितंब, गधा now.”
Chuck shrugged.
“I’d be back in before nightfall, they’d miss the sex.”
Another slap on the arm.
“Vicious, much?”
“I’m having a good day, Chuck, don’t ruin it with your disgusting sexual innuendos.” Blair snapped, trying in vain to cover her smile with a scowl.
She couldn’t believe how good the दिन had been, actually.
या the weekend before it.
Maybe, like her parents, she had just been having a minor rough patch, and had succumbed to stress too easily.
All she needed to do was get Nate to talk to her properly again, and everything would be…
Perfect.
“So, what does a कुतिया, मतलबी of your power do? Any take downs I could assist with?”
Blair thought for a second.
“Keep your eye out for Penelope, the new girl. She has her claws into Serena and insulted my headband last Thursday.”
“Bitch.” Chuck commented, mocking Blair’s seriousness.
She glared at him.
“If आप don’t want to help-”
“I do, I will.” He reassured, laughing at her annoyed face.
He was pleased Blair was having a break from everything that had been upsetting her. It would hopefully keep her out of relapsing long enough to break the habit completely.
The only thing he worried about is if such a high would make an even bigger low; and where that would put Blair.
He had seen how those upper social circles worked; he had been keeping the company of the royalty of the high school all through the last two years of middle school.
Talking about their plans of social destruction had gotten them turned on like nothing else.
Chuck amused Blair for the rest of their journey back to her building, but his mind was somewhere else, searching for something.
Blair needed stability beneath this temporary high, and he was going to find it somehow.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To be continued…
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
