𝗘𝗟𝗜𝗧𝗘

𝘒𝘐𝘚𝘚 𝘖𝘕 𝘛𝘏𝘌 𝘓𝘐𝘗𝘚

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The bottles of champagne kept popping, one after the other and the music was loud enough to make anyone forget about whatever was bothering her. The perks of being white, ridiculously rich and in a limo.

Angelique was feeling light-headed, so she rested her head over Chuck's shoulder. As soon as she did that, he wrapped an arm around her waist and placed a kiss on top of her head, then filled her glass again.

"Drink up, Angel," he said teasingly. "The night's still young and so are we."

Blair, who was sitting on the opposite side of Nate, next to Chuck was surely enjoying herself. Her glass was filled by Chuck, after all. She was dancing and laughing, it was impossible to tell that she had been a crying mess only a few hours ago.

Nate, however, was playing with the fire. He was just as drunk as everyone else and he seemed to have lost his sense of reality along with his inhibitions. His eyes were not on his girlfriend, he didn't even notice that she was flirting with Chuck and even if he did, he couldn't care less. No, he was focused on Angelique.

And her long legs that sent his mind to wander in places that should be forbidden.

"We're here. Let's show these losers what a real party is," Chuck said, waiting for his driver to open the door for them. He was in the middle and as much as he would've liked to help both Blair and Angelique get out of the car, he couldn't.

Nate had been faster. He extended his hand to Angelique, pulling her closer to him once she stepped out of the car. "You look beautiful, Angel."

"I know."

She dropped his hand and walked to the entrance, handing her empty champagne flute to the bouncer right before she walked in.

Just because she came with them didn't mean she had to stay with them, right? She could disappear for at least fifteen minutes and get lost in the crowd. Not that it was hard, this place was swamped with people.

A group of girls approached her and hugged her one by one, welcoming her to the party. Then, Angelique was dragged to the bar by somebody else.

Oh, how good it felt to be popular.

Blair was busy greeting everyone she knew and thanking them for coming, Chuck was on the other side of the bar, lifting his glass in the air and mouthing cheers to Angelique and Nate was right behind his girlfriend, absent-mindedly saying hello to people left and right, waiting for the right moment to ditch her and go have some real fun.

"Angelique, right?" A younger blonde asked, handing her another drink. "Cheers!"

"Obviously. Cheers to you too, uh..?"

"Jenny Humphrey. I'm Dan's sister and I'm a freshman."

"Good for you." Angelique nodded and raised the glass in Jenny's direction before she took a sip. "I saw you this morning with Blair, didn't I?"

"Yes, that was me!" Jenny replied excitedly. "I must tell you this: I love your dress! It fits you perfectly, but that's only natural, you have a killer body. Maybe you could model for my dresses one day—"

"Sorry to interrupt girls, but Angelique, I'd like to steal your friend for a word or two," Chuck said, placing an arm around Jenny's waist as he circled her, then extended his hand and introduced himself. "Hi, I'm Chuck."

"She's all yours, but hey—careful. She's a freshman, don't be a dick," she warned him, causing Chuck to lift his hands in the air in defense.

Angelique left the bar, headed nowhere in particular. As she passed the staircase, another hand reached for her and grabbed her by the wrist, pulling her in a more secluded place.

"You really can't keep your hands off me, Nate?" She chuckled, placing a hand on his chest to regain her balance.

"Come on, I just want to talk. Don't think this is a big deal, alright?" Nate teased.

He placed his hands on her waist and turned her around, then he pressed her against the wall and put his hands on each side of her head, caging her in a box.

"I mean, I have a girlfriend, remember?"

"Oh, I'm not the one who needs to be reminded. What would Blair say if she saw us like this?" Angelique slowly raised her chin and wrapped her arms around his neck, careful not to spill any champagne on him. "She'd probably think you're crazy."

"I think Blair's a little too busy with the guests to notice that I'm missing, don't you think?"

"What I think, Nate, is that there's nothing to see." And with that, she lightly pushed him off her. "Don't forget she's my best friend. I don't care how long you two have been dating, you have no excuse to be this close to me. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'd like to see if any of these guests is worthy of taking me home tonight, because so far, I have found none."

Oh, if only Angelique left a little bit earlier, maybe their little moment would've been unnoticed. Maybe. But there was somebody who had eyes everywhere.

Angelique tried once again to get lost in the crowd, but Nate was quick to follow. Until he was stopped by his girlfriend, of course.

"There you were!" Blair said, grabbing his hands and lacing their fingers together.

"Uh, yeah, Blair. Just a moment—"

Not too far, the front door opened, revealing a certain concerned blonde who held hands with a boy that seemed familiar.

"Serena? It was about time you showed up!" Angelique said, taking a look at her partner. "Who's he?"

"Hi, uh—have you seen Chuck? Or Jenny?"

"Jenny?" She thought for a second. "Oh, you mean Blair's new friend, right? The blonde one! Ohhhh, so you must be Dan!"

"Angelique, focus!"

"Yeah, Chuck was talking to her a while ago. They are right—" Angelique turned around to point at the bar, but the two of them were nowhere to be seen, "there. Or were."

"Great. Dan, I'll go search in this direction and you'll go in the other one, okay? Angelique, if you find her just make sure she's okay."

"Serena, what's going on?"

Serena didn't get to answer Angelique's question. Nate walked right past them, not even lookin in her direction.

A pair of freshly manicured nails snapped in front of her.

"Earth to Serena?"

"Right, sorry! I think she's having trouble with Chuck."

"Fuck!" Angelique exclaimed. "I told him to be careful. I'll text you if I find her."

And with that, Angelique turned around and stumbled into Blair, who didn't look pleased to see Serena at all.

"Um, Blair? Geez, what's going on with you people—" She didn't wait for an answer. Instead, she started searching for the blonde freshman.

And just like that, the night took a turn for the worse. For all of them.

𝘏𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦, 𝘜𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘌𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘚𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴. 𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘮𝘦, 𝘎𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘱 𝘎𝘪𝘳𝘭. 𝘐𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘐 𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘬𝘦 𝘶𝘱 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘘𝘶𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘉'𝘴 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘺, 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵? 𝘈𝘭𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘉 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘬𝘪𝘴𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘱𝘴, 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘰𝘺𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘥𝘪𝘥. 𝘐𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘮𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘉'𝘴 𝘨𝘪𝘳𝘭𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴, 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬? 𝘐𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘮𝘴 𝘚 𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳-𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘺, 𝘸𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘴𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘭𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘨𝘰𝘵 𝘢 𝘵𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘊 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘳 𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘔𝘢𝘯𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘢𝘯'𝘴 𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘦. 𝘏𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵, 𝘉. 𝘞𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘸𝘦? 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘦.

— 𝘟𝘖𝘟𝘖, 𝘎𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘱 𝘎𝘪𝘳𝘭.

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