handed Elise a bottle of Poland Spring. "All she wants to talk about is how she's still in love with
my brother."
"Am not." Elise unscrewed the top of the bottle and guzzled the water. "Actually I am."
"Well, he is cute," Serena put in, meaning it. She climbed up to the top step and sat down, crossing
her ridiculously long, perfect legs. If Dan weren't so serious about everything, she would totally
go out with him again. At least for a day.
"He is," Vanessa agreed, taking a seat on the step below Serena. She still felt kind of possessive of
Dan despite the fact that they were broken up. If anyone could judge Dan's cuteness factor, she
could.
"I guess," Blair agreed, sprawling languidly on the bottom step. She could barely remember what
Dan looked like.
Jenny climbed up and sat next to Serena, hugging her knees. "Really?" she demanded mystified.
Suddenly the door opened and Dan himself stuck his head inside. It took a while for his eyes to
focus in the steamy, murky dampness. Surprise, surprise- the room was full of girls.
"Come in, come in," Vanessa croaked in her best horror movie voice. "We've been waiting for
you."
Dan grinned sheepishly and bit his lower lip. He was wearing red swim trunks and nothing else
and his hair was wet. Goosebumps stood out all over his pale arms. "Is my sister here?"
"Yes, loser, and Elise is here too," Jenny replied through the steam. "She's still in love with you."
"We're all in love with you," Serena proclaimed.
Dan sat down on the white-tiled step next to a prone girl in a white diamond-studded turban.
"I'm not in love with you," the girl told him. "I don't even know you."
Well, that's a relief.
The door opened again and Aaron poked his head inside. "'Nessa?" he called sweetly, his rosy
cheeks al sprinkled with sand.
"Over here," Vanessa answered through a cloud of seam. "Come and join our sweatfest. Just don't
look at all the other naked girls."
Aaron tiptoed across the tile in his maroon Harvard T-shirt and sand-spattered army green pants
and sat down on Vanessa's lap. Jenny reached out and turned the dial to raise the temperature of
the steam.
As if it needed to be raised.
"Wow. This is fun," Serena observed. She wiped the sweat from her upper lip and slid to her feet.
"I have to pee. Does anyone want anything?"
"Yeah, but there's nothing you can do about it," Blair replied smugly.
She'd been trying to convince herself that this girls-only bonding was totally fine with her, but
now that there were all these guys around, her true feelings had risen to the surface. She wanted
her boyfriend to appear out of the steam and surprise her. He'd slip a diamond ring on her finger,
cover her shoulders with a creamy cashmere cape, and whisk her off in his pearl gray convertible
Jag to a private, moonlit beach where he would beg her forgiveness with every kiss. At dawn, his
sailboat would float up out of the mist to whisk them away to faraway lands, and they'd spend the
rest of their lives having adventures and making love. She wanted a true Hollywood ending.
Hence the turban.
Serena pushed the steam room door open. Cold air bathed her face.
"Shit, Blair," she heard Aaron say behind her. "I can't believe I forgot. I have something for you."
And what might that be?
IF YOU'RE TOO STONED TO FIND THE ONE YOU LOVE, LOVE THE ONE YOU'RE WITH
The steam door closed behind her and Serena padded across the pool house in search of the
bathroom. For a pool house, it was really quite big. It contained a Ping-Pong table, two king-sized
ivory leather sleeper sofas, and a fish tank with a live barracuda in it. Not to mention the steam
room and the bathroom that had to be around here somewhere.
Someone had clearly been into Mr. Coates's pot stash, because Apollo's head was rolling around
underneath the Ping-Pong table like an oversized Ping- Pong ball. Next to the fish tank was a
white door with a picture of a little blue boy and a little pink girl holding hands decoupaged onto it.
Serena pushed it open.
Inside, the bathroom was decorated in gold leaf and had one of those weird low sinks you always
see in European hotels but that no one ever uses.
Because they're for washing your butt, which is beyond gross?
The shower curtain was made of clear plastic decorated with gold stars. Behind it, sitting inside
the tub with Mr. Coates's pot stash cradled in his lap, his clothes damp with sea water, and his eyes
all red and sleepy, was Nate Archibald- the famously missing Nate. Serena pulled the shower
curtain aside and climbed in the tub, clutching her towel around her.
"Natie? What are you doing here? Why weren't you on the boat?"
Nate grinned foolishly. Serena was naked except for a white towel wrapped around her torso. It
was impossible not to smile at her; she looked like a Greek goddess. Her forehead was damp, and
her blond hair was matted with sweat, but she was still gorgeous. Beyond gorgeous.
She pulled her hair up on top of her head and fanned her face. "God, I'm hot."
Of course, Nate was thinking the same thing.
"I'm not supposed to be here," Nate confided idiotically. "The sign said, NO BOYS ALLOWED."
Serena picked up a clear glass bottle of Clarins bath gel from the edge and examined it. Aqua was
the first ingredient. Didn't that mean water? She wondered. Why didn't they just say so? She put
the bottle down again. "That's okay. Blair's stepbrother is here. And Dan Humphrey. I didn't think
the no-boys policy would work."
Nate's eyes hadn't left her face. Tiny beads of water studded her blond-tipped eyelashes. God, she
was pretty. He'd come here looking for Blair, but Serena was right there in front of him, wearing
only a towel.
"I've decided to go to Yale next year," Serena blurted out, brushing the damp tendrils of blond hair
away from her face. "I haven't told Blair yet because I don't want her to be mad in case she doesn't
get in. But that's where I've decided to go."
Nate nodded. It was funny how Serena's face and even her voice were sort of delicate but her body
wasn't delicate at all. It was long and sinewy and strong, like a marathon runner's.
"I'm going there too," he told her giddily, his voice cracking. "I already sent them my deposit."
Serena grinned. "We're both going to Yale!"
Nate leaned forward and clasped the top of her bare, damp arms in his hands. He pressed his nose
into her long, fair hair. She smelled sweet and warm, like summer. "Mmm," he murmured, and
kissed her soft, warm neck, tasting the signature patchouli-scented essential oil mixture she always
wore.
Hello? Wrong-girl alert!
Serena grinned as his lips, traveled up her neck to her lips. "What are you doing?" she murmured
without pushing him away. It had been awhile since she'd been kissed, and it felt nice. Of course it
was kind of wrong, but it wasn't like she and Nate hadn't kissed before,a dn somehow knowing
that they ere going to be together next year made it sem okay.
She closed her eyes and gave herself up to the kiss. Her towel fell away, and somehow Nate's
damp gray t-shirt seem to fall away too.
It was the end of the year, graduation was fast approaching- there was nothing wrong with a little
celebratory hookup between two best friends.
Yeah, but what about their other best friend?
NOBODY DOES IT BETTER
Blair was dripping with sweat and badly in need of a Vodka tonic. She hitched up her towel.
"What is it?" she asked Aaron impatiently.
Aaron stood up and patted his army shorts pockets. "I've got it," he explained. "At least I hope it's
still there." He fumbled around for a moment and then produced what looked like a damp
envelope.
Blair squeezed her eyes shut and then opened them again. She was pretty sure she knew what the
envelope contained. "And you've had that for exactly how long?" she demanded furisouly before
snatching it out of his hand.
Aaron shrugged innocently. "It just came this morning."
Even through the steam Blair could see the familiar royal blue of Yale's insignia printed in the
upper-left-hand corner of the envelope. The dampness made the letter disintegrate as she
attempted to pry it open with shaking, impatient hands. "Fuck it," she breathed and ripped it open
with her teeth.
A single, flimsy, bitten-into piece of paper was folded up inside. Her life had been hanging in the
balance for months now. It was hard to believe it all depended on this.
The others waited with respectful silence.
Dear Blair Waldorf,
After much consideration we are happy to offer you a place at Yale University this coming fall...
Blair clutched the piece of paper to her chest and tore out of the steam room. "Serena!" she
shrieked, dashing across the pool house and heading straight for the bathroom. She yanked open
the soon, expecting to see her friend perched innocently on the toilet.
Inside, a tangle of familiar, gorgeous, naked limbs, greeted her from the bathtub. Nate and Serena
blinked stupidly up at her, their golden heads only inches apart.
"We were celebrating," Serena stammered. She climbed out of the tub, her towel clutched
ineffectually around her naked body, and pointed at the soggy piece of paper in Blair's hand.
"What's that?" she asked in a desperate attempt to change the subject.
Blair felt like washing out Serena's perfectly angelic mouth in the Coates's' stupid bidet. "Yale
accepted me. Finally." She narrowed her eyes. "As if you cared."
Nate staggered to his feet, spilling the giant bag of pot all over the bathtub and ripping the shower
curtain off the rail as he tried to find his balance. Infuriating as it was, he was still as handsome as
ever. His golden brown hair was wavy from wind and salt air, and his cheeks were flushed from
sun and pot and kissing Serena. And his bare chest- it made Blair feel ill to look at it.
"Hey, you know, that's what we were just talking about," he fumbled, his tongue heavy with a
mixture of pot, confusion and guilt. "Me and Serena, and now you too. We're all going to Yale- all
three of us!"
Whoopee!
"Thanks for telling me," Blair snapped. She'd imagined sharing a celebratory bottle of champagne
with Serena on the Coates' private beach. Then she'd give in and call Nate's cell and he'd kidnap
her from the party and make wild love to her on some other beach.
So much for her imagination.
Nate was still standing in the bathtub, his bare feet sprinkled with pot. She reached out and turned
the shower nozzle on full blast, raining freezing cold water all over his head. Then yanked off
Serena's towel and tucked it under her arm, slamming the door on their lying, cheating faces as she
left the bathroom.
Lexique or whatever her the fuck her name was drifted into the pool house in her annoying
Missoni tunic, her braids bouncing against her braless breasts, just as Blair was headed out the
door. "He's in der, yes? My lover, my Nate?"
Blair bared her teeth with evil satisfaction. "Oh yes. He's waiting for you in the bathroom," she
told the stupid French bitch, slamming the pool house door behind her and making a beeline for
the poolside bar.
There seemed to be more guys under the tent than girls. Damian, Lloyd and Marc from the Raves
were mingling with the Constance Billard seniors, handing out cigars and copies of their new
single, "Twisted Little Sister," starring none other than Jenny Humphrey on vocals. The girls had
taken off their T-shirts and were all wearing bright, pastel-colored bikini tops, looking like extras
in one of those Elivis beach movies.
Chuck Bass was trying to talk to Rain Hoffstetter, Laura Salmon, Kati Farkas and Isabel Coates
into joining him at military school. "It doesn't really matter where you go to school. What matters
is how much fun you have," Blair heard him say. "Just think how fabulous it would be if we were
all together!"
Blair wentover to the bar, grabbed a half-full bottle of Absolut,a dn carried it over to the pool.
"Hey, no glass around the pool!" Isabel shouted through her bullhorn.
Blair ignored ger andclimbed up the ladder to the highdive. She let her towel drop, and padded to
the end of the diving board.
A naked diva in a diamond-studded turban, swigging her favorite beverage.
Ignoring the shocked murmurs of her classmates and the delighted jeers of the guys beneath the
tent, Blair took a moment to rewind. She and Nate were obviously over- again, and so were she
and Serena- again. She was living in Brooklyn of all places, with Vanessa, a shaven-headed girl
she'd never spoken to until a week ago. And she was finally, finally into Yale.
Most of her life had been an endless loop of repetition, filled with the same people, parties and
predictability. Even her dreams had been predictable, and she liked it like that. Now she wasn't
sure what to expect.
She lifted the bottle to her lips and took a giant swig before setting it carefully down on the diving
board. Then she raised her arms up straight as arrows, stood on tiptoe, and dove in. holding her
breath, she glided beneath the blue-green water, delighting in the silence. Behind her, the diamond
studded turban bobbed to the surface.
When she really thought about it, this whole year had been a series of highs and lows, with more
lows than highs. But so what if her life wasn't turning out the way she'd imagined it in the movie
