chapter THIRTYTHREE.

The vibrant yellow headband Jenny had acquired from Blair several weeks ago looked magnificent on her, even if she did say so herself. The bright hue of the fashion accessory accentuated her blonde hair with strawberry highlights no one had even noticed until now.

The rest of Jenny's outfit consisted of the rather uncomfortable skirt Constance required of all its girls and the matching jacket that had been fashioned to make all of the school's female students look more academic. Dark green stockings enveloped her long legs which provided the perfect innocent-little-slut touch to her outfit.

The young blonde tucked a strand of hair behind an ear and flounced up the front steps of her school, Penny and Hazel trailing behind her. The two followers hadn't been present at Eleanor's benefit party last night because of a razor mishap where they'd accidentally shaved off eachother's eyebrows. Now they both looked a lot tackier (not to mention uglier) with noticably penciled-in eyebrows. Jenny hadn't said anything no matter how gross they looked, though, for fear that Blair would step in at any time and steal more of her supposedly-loyal friends.

Then Jenny spotted Nate and a broad grin swept across her facial features. He was already making his way over to St. Jude's - rather hastily at that, for some reason - but she lunged toward him firmly, spinning him around and planting a big kiss on his lips. When it was done she smiled and examined his light blue eyes, trying to read them. . . But for some reason he didn't look nearly as excited as she was.

"Hey, Nate. What's wrong?"

Her eyes were slightly bluer than his were; they were much more captivating and complex and beautiful. . . Yet he couldn't bring himself to look at them.

He glanced around, desperately searching for something to look at while dozens of his fellow students were probably snapping pictures of he and Jenny as they stood there, embraced in eachother's arms. Boys were no doubt running their mouths about the fresh-hot couple while girls spread more outlandish tales. Nate's eyes finally landed on Penny and Hazel who stood just a few feet away, typing furiously on their Sidekicks and glancing up at him every few seconds. He couldn't quite place his finger on it, but something about them seemed different. They looked slightly off.

Then Jenny tugged on his coat, snapping him back to reality.

He sighed and ran a hand through his golden brown hair. What he had to say next definitely wouldn't be easy for either of them. "Look, Jenny. . . What we did yesterday. . . I don't think it can happen again. As much as I hate to say this, what Blair said was sort of right. It was wrong. And I honestly don't feel like I'm ready to just thrust myself back into a new relationship yet."

He opened his mouth to say more, but then realized that's all he could come up with as a 'it's-not-your-fault-it's-mine' break up. What he really wanted to say was he was so high when he'd slept with Jenny that he couldn't think of anything at the time other than more weed or sex. . . And since she'd sort of thrown herself at him in his family's yard, he'd picked the latter. Besides, she was three years younger than him, slightly immature, and seemed just like a Blair-waiting-to-happen.

And that's definitely not what he wanted.

He examined her crystal blue eyes only to see that there was tears in them. Nate's face turned red hot and when he looked around he realized people were now officially staring, some were giggling while others' jaws were dropped. "Fuck you, Nate Archibald," Jenny finally hissed, whirling around and stomping through the doors of Constance Billard. Penny and Hazel were quick to follow her and as soon as they got inside they began stroking Jenny's back consolingly.

"Oh sweetie, I'm so sorry," said Penny, a hint of satisfaction detectable in her tone of voice. She'd been in love with Nate since the first grade and was pining for the Queen role at Constance since before she could remember, so to see Jenny so distraught and heartbroken did make her feel a little better, as horrible as that might have seemed.

"He's such an ass," added Hazel. She wasn't nearly as excited as Penny was about Jenny's break up, but she couldn't honestly say she felt bad for the blonde either. After all, they'd been trailing Blair ever since freshman year and then suddenly Jenny had swooped in and stolen Constance's throne without lifting a finger. . . It had been a bit infuriating.

Vanessa strolled by wearing a pair of skinny black jeans and a black AC/DC tank. She took note of Jenny's rejected look and walked over to the trio, her eyebrows furrowed with sympathy. "Hey Jenny. What's wrong?"

Jenny swallowed hard and hitched the strap of her bag over one shoulder. When she finally pried her eyes away from Constance's unsettling carpet and focused on Vanessa, fresh tears were rolling down her cheeks. "Um hi, Vanessa." She'd made an attempt to sound stronger than she felt, but that attempt failed miserably. "Listen, I don't really have time for this right now but meet me on the steps after school. We'll walk home together." The red-lipsticked corners of her mouth turned up in a small, hopeful smile, and then she noticed Elise Wells walking by, a pile of books in the young brunette's arms.

Jenny sighed dramatically and plopped her Geometry and Biology textbooks onto the already-tall pile of books Elise was carrying. "Hold these for me, will you? I don't have time to put them in my locker, I need to touch up my make up." She turned to leave but Elise followed her.

"Jenny, what's wrong?" asked the girl. But she recieved only a scoff in return. Jenny ran a hand through her blonde hair and tossed her Burberry coat onto the pile of books Elise strained to hold. Then she walked toward the restrooms slowly, Penny and Hazel sneering at Elise right before following Jenny, hot on the blonde's heels.

All the while Vanessa stood nearby, watching Dan's little sister as she controlled everyone around her. She crossed her arms and tilted her head to the side a bit as she examined the new Jenny Humphrey. An amused and slightly worried look was portrayed across her features and she couldn't help recognizing Blair Waldorf in Jenny's new persona.

Oh great, just what the world needs: another BLAIR, thought Vanessa, feeling a little sick all of a sudden.


Spotted: N calling it off with little J and V witnessing the girl being led astray. . . Guess she shouldn't have helped Little J sneak into the Masquerade Ball after all.

you know you love me.
xoxo; gossip girl