chapter SEVEN.

Blair dove headfirst into the clear blue water of the pool's deep end and giggled as she twirled around under the surface, feeling the cool liquid envelope her form and take full control of her body. She twisted around so that her back was facing the pool's floor and she opened her dark brown eyes underwater, blinking a few times at first from the sting of chlorine. But eventually her sight cleared and she could see the blue sky and the bright afternoon sun through the water's blurry mirage. The sight was breathtaking; things always seemed to look so much cooler and easier when they were seperated by a body of water.

Finally it came to a point where Blair's mind was screaming for her to swim back up and break through the surface so that she could get another breath of much-needed air. And reluctantly, she did.

Hopping out of the pool altogether, she wrapped a smooth white towel around her torso and walked over to where Serena was sunbathing luxuriously on a lounge chair. Both girls had decided to wear their matching white bikinis, Blair's Eres and Serena's Gucci. The decision hadn't been verbal, however, since neither girl had spoken after the events of last night had transpired and Serena had overheard Blair making herself sick in the bathroom.

The only way they'd both known to wear same-color bikinis was because of the slightly-awesome, slightly-creepy telepathic link they shared. . . Of course, neither girl was actually telepathic, but they'd been best friends for so long (not counting the little tiffs they had with eachother almost every week,) that they could basically read eachother's thoughts like an open book.

Unless of course, one of them was too deeply involved in their own problems to notice the other ones' - which Blair was currently involved in doing; the striking words of Chuck, Nate, and all of her past friends had been playing on a loop through her mind since last night and no matter what she did, she could do nothing to stop them from doing so. She was now constantly being reminded that she was always fatter, always uglier than she wanted to be, and not good enough for anyone else.

But thank God she was too distracted to pay much attention to Serena, because if she knew what was really going on in her best friend's mind at the moment, she'd probably strangle the girl with one of the pool's signature towels without a second thought.

"Do you think you can grab me a cocktail, B?" Serena asked in the most innocent-BFF voice she could muster, running a hand through her pale blonde hair. She'd chosen a seat near the ledge of the building because the view of the city from the SoHo House Rooftop Pool was absolutely amazing. The entire strip of tall buildings and exclusive hotels stretched out before her eyes and a cool breeze that she'd never be able to feel on the streets of Manhattan streaked through the area as a whole.

Blair placed both hands on either hip but turned on her bare heel toward the bar anyway. "Whatever. I guess I could use a drink, too. . . And the bartender is really cute!" She laughed hysterically at her own joke and then blew Serena a kiss, prancing away toward the cute bartender in his even cuter uniform.

Serena watched Blair go out of earshot and slid her Razr into view, flipping it open and scrolling through the address book. She knew that even though Blair was laughing and flirty and trying to stay positive, the girl was caving in inside with each passing moment. Even the way she'd laughed just now had sounded overly-cheerful, as if she was laughing so hard just to mask the pain and keep from crying.

And with that, Serena took a deep breath and clicked on the name 'Eleanor' in her phone's address book, bringing the device to her ear and listening to the low hum of its ring.

That was it. Something needed to be done about Blair before she hurt herself beyond repair.

"Hi, Eleanor? It's me, Serena." The young blonde kept her tone grave and a little hushed, making it clear right off the bat that she meant business. "I'm calling about Blair - look, we both know about her. . . 'Problem.' And we both know that something really needs to be done. Last night she was in our hotel bathroom for at least an hour and a half and I'm starting to get really worried about her."

There was nothing but silence on the other end and Serena knew that meant she'd struck a nerve - but she kept on speaking nonetheless.

"The thing is, I'm just her friend. And we only recently got back into the 'friend zone' again. I'm afraid that if I approach her about it, she'll do more than just refuse to give a listening ear, but she'll hate me forever." Serena swallowed hard. This was more complicated than she'd thought it would be. After all, she was basically tattle-tailing on Blair and possibly making her 'big secret' known to more than just her mom. But she knew if she didn't do this, nothing would ever get done.

Then suddenly Blair returned, sliding into the lounge chair beside the one Serena lay in. She set their drinks on the glass end table that sat between both pieces of pool furniture and eyed Serena a bit suspiciously as she whispered into her phone. Who are you talking to? she mouthed.

"Just promise me you'll think about what I said," came the blonde's final words, right before she snapped the phone shut and tossed it into the new Hermes Birkin bag she'd purchased last weekend. And instead of answering Blair's question, she simply wrapped her slender fingers around the tall cocktail glass and took a long, tentative swallow of what lay inside.


Poor S, always having to choose between the role of best friend or worst enemy. . . Or should it really be B we feel sorry for? After all, isn't she the one constantly getting backs turned on her? Sigh. Get well soon! - Both of you!

you know you love me.
xoxo; gossip girl