Let me know about the money.
Love, Serena v.d. Woodsen Blair, Rain, and Kati giggled2 noisily. “Shhssh,” Mr. Beckham whispered, glancing at Vanessa sympathetically. Blair turned the note over and scrawled3 a reply. Sure, Serena. Whatever you want. Call me from jail. I hear the foodis really good there. Nate and I will visit you whenever we’re free,which might be . . . I don’t know . . . NEVER?!
I hope the VD gets better soon.
Love, Blair Blair handed the note back to Kati, feeling only the tiniest speck4 of remorse5 for being so mean. There were so many stories about Serena flying around, she honestly didn’t know what to believe anymore. Plus, Serena still hadn’t actually told anyone what she was doing back, so why should Blair say anything in her defense6? Maybe some of it was true. Maybe some of this stuff had really happened. Besides, passing notes is so much more fun than taking them. “So I’m going to be writing, directing, and filming this. And I’ve already cast my friend, Daniel Humphrey, from Riverside Prep, as Prince Andrei,” Vanessa explained. Her cheeks heated up when she uttered Dan’s name. “But I still need a Natasha for the scene. I’m casting her tomorrow after school, in Madison Square Park at dusk. Anyone interested?” she asked. The question was a private little joke with herself. Vanessa knew no one in the room was even listening to her; they were too busy passing notes. Blair’s arm shot up. “I’ll be the director!” she announced. Obviously she hadn’t heard the question, but Blair was so desperate to impress the admissions office at Yale, she was always the first to volunteer for anything. Vanessa opened her mouth to speak. Direct this, she wanted to say, giving Blair the finger. “Put your hand down, Blair,” Mr. Beckham sighed tiredly. “Vanessa just got through telling us she is directing and writing and filming. Unless you’d like to try out for the part of Natasha, I suggest you focus on your own project.” Blair glared sourly at him. She hated teachers like Mr. Beckham. He had such a chip on his shoulder because he was from Nebraska and had finally attained7 his sad dream of living in New York City only to find himself teaching a useless class instead of directing cutting edge films and becoming famous. “Whatever,” Blair said, tucking her dark hair behind her ears. “I guess I really don’t have time.” And she didn’t. Blair was chair of the Social Services Board and ran the French Club; she tutored third graders in reading; she worked in a soup kitchen one night a week, had SAT prep on Tuesdays, and on Thursday afternoons she took a fashion design course with Oscar de la Renta. On weekends she played tennis so she could keep up her national ranking. Besides all that, she was on the planning committee of every social function anyone would be bothered to go to, and the fall/winter calendar was busy, busy, busy. Her PalmPilot was always running out of memory. Vanessa flicked8 on the lights and walked back to her seat at the front of the room. “It’s okay, Blair, I wanted a blond girl for Natasha anyway,” she said. Vanessa smoothed her uniform around her thighs9 and sat down daintily, in an almost perfect imitation of Blair. Blair smirked10 at Vanessa’s prickly shaved head and glanced at Mr. Beckham, who cleared his throat and stood up. He was hungry, and the bell was going to ring in five minutes. “Well, that’s it, girls. You can leave a little early today. Vanessa, why don’t you put up a sign-up sheet in the hall for your casting tomorrow?” The girls began to pack up their bags and file out of the room. Vanessa ripped a blank sheet of paper out of her notebook and wrote the necessary details at the top of it. War and Peace. Short film. Try out for Natasha. Wednesday P.M., sunset. Madison SquarePark. Park bench, Northeast corner. She resisted writing an exact description of the girl she was looking for, because she didn’t want to scare anyone away. But she had a clear picture in her mind, and it wasn’t going to be easy to find the right girl. Her perfect Natasha would be pale and blond, a natural dirty blond. She wouldn’t be too obviously pretty, but she’d have the kind of face that made you want to look at it. She would be the kind of girl to make Dan glow—full of movement and laughter—exactly the opposite of Dan’s quiet energy, which burned deep inside him and made his hands shake sometimes. Vanessa hugged herself. Just thinking about Dan made her feel like she had to pee. Under that shaved head and that impossible black turtleneck, she was just a girl. Face it: we’re all the same. “The invitations, the gift bags, and the champagne11. That’s all we have left to do,” Blair said. She lifted a cucumber slice off her plate and nibbled12 at it thoughtfully. “Kate Spade is still doing the gift bags, but I don’t know—do you think Kate Spade is too boring?” “I think Kate Spade is perfect,” Isabel said, winding13 her dark hair into a knot on top of her head. “I mean, think how cool it is to have a plain black handbag now instead of all those animal prints and military shit everyone has. It’s all such . . . bad taste, don’t you think?” Blair nodded. “Completely,” she agreed. “Hey, what about my leopard14 skin coat?” Kati said, looking hurt. “Yes, but that’s real leopard skin,” Blair argued. “That’s different.” The three girls were sitting in the Constance cafeteria, discussing the upcoming Kiss on the Lips benefit to raise money for the Central Park Peregrine Falcon15 Foundation. Blair was chair of the organizing committee, of course. “Those poor birds,” Blair sighed. As if she could give two shits about the damned birds. “I really want this party to be good,” she said. “You guys are coming to my meeting tomorrow, right?” “Of course we’re coming,” Isabel said. “What about Serena—did you tell her about the party? Is she going to help?” Blair stared blankly back at her. Kati wrinkled her pert little ski-jump nose and nudged Isabel with her elbow. “I bet Serena is too busy, you know, dealing16 with everything. All her problems. She probably doesn’t have time to help us, anyway,” she said, smirking17. Blair shrugged18. Across the cafeteria, Serena herself was just joining the lunch line. She noticed Blair right away and smiled, waving cheerfully as if to say, “I’ll be there in a minute!” Blair blinked, pretending she’d forgotten to put in her contacts. Serena slid her tray along the metal counter, choosing a lemon yogurt and skipping all the hot lunch selections until she came to the hot-water dispenser, where she filled up a cup with hot water and placed a Lipton tea bag, a slice of lemon, and a packet of sugar on the saucer. Then she carried her tray over to the salad bar, where she filled up a plate with a pile of romaine lettuce19 and poured a small puddle20 of bleu cheese dressing21 beside it. She would have preferred a toasted ham-and-cheese sandwich in the Gare du Nord in Paris, eaten in a hurry before leaping onto her London train, but this was almost as good. It was the same lunch she’d eaten at Constance every day since sixth grade. Blair always got the same thing too. They called it the “diet plate.” Blair watched as Serena got her salad, dreading22 the moment when Serena would sit down next to her in all her glory and start trying to be friends again. Ugh. “Hey guys,” Serena said, sitting down next to Blair, smiling radiantly. “Just like old times, huh?” She laughed and peeled back the top of her yogurt. The cuffs23 of her brother’s old shirt were frayed24, and stray threads dangled25 in the yogurt’s watery26 whey. “Hello, Serena,” Kati and Isabel said in unison27. Blair looked up at Serena and turned the corners of her glossy28 lips upwards29. It was almost a smile. Serena stirred the yogurt up and nodded at Blair’s tray, where the remains30 of her bagel with cream cheese and cucumber were strewn. “I guess you outgrew31 the diet plate,” she observed. “I guess,” Blair said. She smashed a lump of cream cheese into her paper napkin with her thumb, staring at Serena’s sloppy32 cuffs in bewilderment. It was fine to wear your brother’s old clothes in ninth and tenth grade. Then, it was cool. But now? It just seemed . . . dirty. “So my schedule totally sucks,” Serena said, licking her spoon. “I don’t have a single class with you guys.” “Um, that’s because you’re not taking any APs,” Kati observed. “You’re lucky,” Isabel sighed. “I have so much work to do I don’t even have time to sleep.” “Well, at least I’ll have more time to party,” Serena said. She nudged Blair’s elbow. “What’s going on this month, anyway? I feel so completely out of it.” Blair sat up straight and picked up her plastic cup, only to find there was no water left in it to drink. She knew she should tell Serena all about the Kiss on the Lips party and how Serena could help with the preparations and how fun it was all going to be. But somehow she couldn’t bring herself to do it. Serena was out of it, all right. And Blair wanted her to stay that way. “It’s been pretty lame33. There really isn’t much going on until Christmas,” Blair lied, shooting a warning glance at Kati and Isabel. “Really?” Serena said, disappointed. “Well what about tonight? You guys want to go out?” Blair glanced at her friends. She was all for going out, but it was only Tuesday. The most she ever did on a Tuesday night was rent a movie with Nate. Suddenly Blair felt seriously old and boring. Leave it to Serena to make her feel boring. “I have an AP French test tomorrow. Sorry, Serena,” Blair said. She stood up. “Actually, I have a meeting with Madame Rogers right now.” Serena frowned and began to chew on her thumbnail, a new habit she’d picked up at boarding school. “Well, maybe I’ll give Nate a call. He’ll go out with me,” she said. Blair picked up her tray and resisted hurling34 it in Serena’s face. Keep your hands off him! she wanted to scream, jumping onto the table ninja-style. Hiyeeh-yah!
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1
itches
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| n.痒( itch的名词复数 )；渴望，热望v.发痒( itch的第三人称单数 ) | |
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2
giggled
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| v.咯咯地笑( giggle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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scrawled
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| 乱涂，潦草地写( scrawl的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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speck
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| n.微粒，小污点，小斑点 | |
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remorse
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| n.痛恨，悔恨，自责 | |
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defense
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| n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩 | |
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7
attained
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| （通常经过努力）实现( attain的过去式和过去分词 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况） | |
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8
flicked
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| （尤指用手指或手快速地）轻击( flick的过去式和过去分词 )； （用…）轻挥； （快速地）按开关； 向…笑了一下（或瞥了一眼等） | |
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thighs
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| n.股，大腿( thigh的名词复数 )；食用的鸡（等的）腿 | |
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10
smirked
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| v.傻笑( smirk的过去分词 ) | |
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11
champagne
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| n.香槟酒；微黄色 | |
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12
nibbled
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| v.啃，一点一点地咬（吃）( nibble的过去式和过去分词 )；啃出（洞），一点一点咬出（洞）；慢慢减少；小口咬 | |
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13
winding
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| n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈 | |
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14
leopard
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| n.豹 | |
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falcon
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| n.隼，猎鹰 | |
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dealing
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| n.经商方法，待人态度 | |
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smirking
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| v.傻笑( smirk的现在分词 ) | |
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18
shrugged
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| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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lettuce
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| n.莴苣；生菜 | |
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puddle
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| n.(雨)水坑，泥潭 | |
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dressing
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| n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料 | |
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dreading
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| v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的现在分词 ) | |
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cuffs
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| n.袖口( cuff的名词复数 )v.掌打，拳打( cuff的第三人称单数 ) | |
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24
frayed
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| adj.磨损的v.（使布、绳等）磨损，磨破( fray的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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25
dangled
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| 悬吊着( dangle的过去式和过去分词 )； 摆动不定； 用某事物诱惑…； 吊胃口 | |
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26
watery
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| adj.有水的，水汪汪的；湿的，湿润的 | |
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unison
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| n.步调一致，行动一致 | |
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glossy
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| adj.平滑的；有光泽的 | |
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upwards
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| adv.向上，在更高处...以上 | |
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30
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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31
outgrew
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| 长[发展] 得超过（某物）的范围( outgrow的过去式 )； 长[发展]得不能再要（某物）； 长得比…快； 生长速度超过 | |
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32
sloppy
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| adj.邋遢的，不整洁的 | |
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lame
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| adj.跛的，(辩解、论据等)无说服力的 | |
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34
hurling
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| n.爱尔兰式曲棍球v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的现在分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
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