Novels by Cecily von Ziegesar: Gossip Girl You Know You ... - Weebly

turning into a loser.
Serena steeled herself and pulled up a chair in the space next to
Blair.
“Blair, I’m sorry I’ve been such a complete asshole,” she said,
removing her linen napkin from its silver ring and spreading it out
on her lap. “Your parents splitting up must have totally sucked.”
Blair shrugged and grabbed a fresh sourdough roll from a basket on
the table. She tore the roll in half and stuffed one half into her
mouth. The other guests were still making their way toward the
table and figuring out where to sit. Blair knew it was rude to eat
before everyone was seated, but if her mouth was full, she couldn’t
talk, and she really didn’t feel like talking.
“I wish I’d been here,” Serena said, watching Blair smear the other
half of her roll with a thick slab of French butter. “But I had a crazy
year. I have the most insane stories to tell you.”
Blair nodded and chewed her roll slowly, like a cow chewing its cud.
Serena waited for Blair to ask her what kind of stories, but Blair
didn’t say anything, she just kept on chewing. She didn’t want to
hear about all the fabulous things Serena had done while she was
away and Blair had been stuck at home, watching her parents fight
over antique chairs that nobody sat on, teacups nobody used, and
ugly, expensive paintings.
Serena had wanted to tell Blair about Charles, the only Rastafarian
at Hanover Academy, who’d asked her to elope with him to Jamaica.
About Nicholas, the French college guy who never wore underwear
and who’d chased her train in a tiny Fiat all the way from Paris to
Milan. About smoking hash in Amsterdam and sleeping in a park
with a group of drunk prostitutes because she forgot where she was
staying. She wanted to tell Blair how much it sucked to find out that
Hanover Academy wouldn’t take her back senior year simply
because she’d blown off the first few weeks of school. She wanted
to tell Blair how scared she was to go back to Constance tomorrow
because she hadn’t exactly been studying very hard in the last year
and she felt so completely out of touch.
But Blair wasn’t interested. She grabbed another roll and took a big
bite.
“Wine, miss?” Esther said, standing at Serena’s left with the bottle.
“Yes, thank you,” Serena said. She watched the Côte du Rhone spill
into her glass and thought of the Red Sea once more. Maybe Blair
does know, she thought. Was that what this was all about? Was that
why she was acting so weird?
Serena glanced at Nate, four chairs down on the right, but he was
deep in conversation with her father. Talking about boats no doubt.
“So, you and Nate are still totally together?” Serena said, taking a