𝗘𝗟𝗜𝗧𝗘

𝘞𝘈𝘓𝘋𝘖𝘙𝘍 𝘋𝘌𝘚𝘐𝘎𝘕𝘚

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"You have such an exquisite sense of fashion, Angelique. Hired stylist or not, I've never seen you wear anything unflattering even in the slightest!" said Eleanor Waldorf. "Do I need to mention you have a gorgeous body? You should consider modeling, I think you have a great chance to make it to the top of the industry."

"You're too kind, Mrs. Waldorf," Angelique replied with a smile, taking a sip of her coffee. "It crossed my mind a couple times, yes, but I've never actively pursued a career in modeling."

"I know you're probably going to follow in your parents' footsteps and inherit their law firm, but there's still plenty of time to have fun while you're young. Besides, I'm sure your mother would be very proud to see her daughter on the cover of magazines. Starting with Vogue and ending up in Forbes, you know?"

"I never thought about this before, but you might be right, Mrs. Waldorf."

"Speaking of which, are you following a certain diet?" Eleanor asked. "I've been trying to help Blair lose a couple pounds, there must be some secret tips and tricks that help you look so skinny, yet fit at the same time."

"I do sometimes. And even if I'm on a diet or not, I like working out."

"Then you should introduce Blair to your personal trainer! I'm sure you two girls would have fun at the gym together. I've been a little caught up with my job, flying from Paris to New York and trying to secure a deal with Bendel, so I want to do something nice for Blair."

"Mom?" Another voice said from upstairs.

"Oh, good morning, Blair! I was just talking to Angelique and Blair about a future deal with Bendel. If everything goes according to plan, I should have my own collection very soon," said Eleanor, watching Blair as she walked down the stairs and joined them for breakfast.

While Blair and her mom chatted for a bit about how low fat yogurt was a better breakfast choice rather than croissants, Angelique rose from her seat and walked over to the dresses Eleanor Waldorf brought from Paris to take a closer look.

"If you see anything you like, you're free to take it," Eleanor said, her attention shifting back from her daughter to Angelique. "I think most of these dresses would compliment your body so nicely!"

"What do you think about this?" Blair asked, taking a blue dress off the stand.

"Very chic," Angelique approved with a nod.

"There's actually three of them," Serena pointed out. "Blair can take the blue one, I'll go for the one in red and.."

"I'll take the black one," Angelique finished her sentence, rising from her seat and walking up to the clothes.

While they talked about clothes, the girls heard Eleanor and Laurel talking about finding the perfect models for the Waldorf Designs.

"My daughter," Eleanor said, her eyes finally falling upon Blair. With such a pretty dress in her hands, it made perfect sense. There was no one who'd portray this collection better than a Waldorf herself.

"She'd love to!" Serena was quick to jump in, dragging Blair by the hand.

"Yes.. She's perfect!" The woman nodded in approval, then her eyes shifted to the black haired girl. "And Angelique. Blair could be the model for the main collection, and we can give the high fashion pieces from the collection to Angelique. With such long legs and beautiful body, she'll surely draw the attention we need."

For a moment, Blair felt happy. She was finally noticed by her mother, she felt like she was allowed one step closer to the world her mother loved so much. That, of course, until her mother's eyes fell upon Angelique, and she now had to share the spotlight. As always.

"Well, this is going to be fun," said Blair with a half genuine smile. "If Angelique is cool with it, I'm cool too."

"Thank you, Mrs. Waldorf. I hope I won't disappoint," Angelique said.

"We should go upstairs, I think you two need to start studying model poses," Serena suggested, then grabbed the two girls by the hand, giving them a light squeeze as they all chuckled.

"I'll call Kati and Is, we're about to have some girl time!" said Blair as they started walking towards the staircase.

"The clothes are gorgeous!" Serena exclaimed, looking through the pages of a fashion magazine.

"They're alright," said Blair, right before bursting into laughter.

"Shut up, they're amazing!" Serena nudged her and laughed.

"I'm just doing my mom a favor." Blair shrugged. "The hair and makeup test is tonight."

"I think this is my best pose," said Kati, trying to strike a pose she recently saw on the cover of a magazine.

The girls all jumped off the bed and corrected Kati's posture, then tried to show off the best they could come up with.

"Guys, the whole thing with the hand on the hip is so last season," Angelique joked, walking up to them. She placed both of her hands on the outside of her upper thighs, planting one foot in front of the other and putting all her weight on the one in the back so she'd elongate the leg in the front. "This is the new hot thing!"

They fooled around for a minute or two, copying the poses of the hottest models in the industry, until Serena's phone rang and Blair reached out to take it from her.

"Who dares interrupt Serena van der Woodsen when she's teaching?" Blair laughed, trying to figure out who was on the other end of the line. And when she finally heard Dan Humphrey's voice, she stuck her tongue out. "I'm sorry, the number you dialed is no longer in service."

"Oh, come on, Blair," said Angelique chuckling. "You're being mean."

"I'm doing her a favor!"

"Look, I can hear you," said Dan on the phone. "Can I please just talk to Serena?"

"Apparently you can, Cabbage Patch." Blair rolled her eyes and passed the phone back to her best friend.

"Blair was just playing," Serena apologized. "You have my full attention, I promise."

"Ms. Evans, you're making my job such a dream!" the photographer said, snapping another couple of pictures of Angelique in a high fashion dress. "You look like a young goddess, this can't be your first time in front of the camera."

"It's not, at least not if you count family portraits," Angelique cracked a joke, then her facial expression switched back to a more serious one, striking another pose.

"Ah, you're funny too! You'll be even more pleasurable to work with after you turn eighteen, I have a couple of fun ideas for photoshoots we can do later. For Eleanor's collections, of course."

Angelique arched one of her eyebrows, but it seemed like it was part of her model face. In fact, what she wanted was for this photoshoot to be finally over so she can wear something more normal and less.. ridiculous.

She loved Eleanor Waldorf's clothes, she really did, but she would have felt more comfortable if she was modeling the main collection she was going to display at Bendel instead of this ambiguous and sort of revealing piece. Oh, the things people do for fashion.

At least she learned something, modeling high fashion was not her thing. Not for now, at least.

"Alright, you can take a break for now, Ms. Evans. I think we have enough pictures for today. I'll go check on Little Ms. Waldorf," the photographer said, finally allowing her to breathe for a moment.

Test shooting or not, the rules were pretty clear. No food, no water until the photoshoot was done. And since she just finished her part, she earned at least a glass of water. She was on her way to get something to drink when she noticed Blair slightly struggling with her poses. For a while, Angelique just watched, then she decided she might as well come to the girl's rescue.

"You're looking drop dead gorgeous, B," said Angelique, walking over to where the other girl was. "Here, let me help you with a more fun pose."

"Please do, I feel awful," Blair whispered to her as soon as she was close enough to hear.

"I got you."

Angelique straightened the girl's back and gave her some tips for her leg poses, then tilted Blair's head backwards only a little bit. She took a step back to get out of the picture and flashed her an encouraging smile.

She wasn't blaming this on Blair entirely, the photographer wasn't being helpful either. He didn't do much to make sure she was comfortable before she started posing and his attitude was irritating to say the least. She saw some of Blair's pictures and the girl looked like she was one second away from throwing a fit and running away.

And again, that's what Angelique would have done as well if she were in Blair's place. But she promised Eleanor she'd model for her, so she was stuck on this set for now, surrounded mostly by people she didn't necessarily like.

"Lean on me, this might look good as well," said Angelique, once again walking up to Blair. Their backs barely touched each other, they were both facing different ways. What she intended was to help her out a bit, not start another photoshoot herself.

But the photographer had a different idea.

"Marvelous! The difference between these two collections is inspiring, hold still!" he said.

"Apparently, my break is already over," Angelique muttered, then switched her pose. One of her elbows was now resting over Blair's shoulder, while her body was oriented diagonally. She was using Blair's shoulder for support; if she stepped even a little further away, Angelique would lose her balance and fall. But she didn't, because she needed her there.

𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚏𝚊𝚜𝚑𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚒𝚗𝚍𝚞𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚢 𝚒𝚜 𝚌𝚛𝚞𝚎𝚕 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚘𝚕𝚎𝚛𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚜 𝚗𝚘 𝚖𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚔𝚎𝚜. 𝙸'𝚍 𝚋𝚎 𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚎𝚏𝚞𝚕 𝚒𝚏 𝙸 𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞, 𝙱. 𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎, 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚖𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚑𝚊𝚍 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚑𝚎𝚕𝚙 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝙰, 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚠𝚑𝚘'𝚜 𝚐𝚘𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚘 𝚜𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚗𝚎𝚡𝚝 𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎? 𝚂𝚙𝚎𝚊𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚘𝚏 𝙰, 𝙸'𝚟𝚎 𝚜𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚙𝚒𝚌𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚎𝚜 𝚖𝚢𝚜𝚎𝚕𝚏. 𝚂𝚑𝚎'𝚜 𝚕𝚘𝚘𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚜𝚖𝚘𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚑𝚘𝚝 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙸 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚊 𝚌𝚎𝚛𝚝𝚊𝚒𝚗 𝚙𝚑𝚘𝚝𝚘𝚐𝚛𝚊𝚙𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚊𝚐𝚛𝚎𝚎𝚜 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚖𝚎. 𝚆𝚊𝚝𝚌𝚑 𝚘𝚞𝚝, 𝙰. 𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝚠𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍𝚗𝚝'𝚝 𝚠𝚊𝚗𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚍𝚒𝚜𝚊𝚙𝚙𝚘𝚒𝚗𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚜. 𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎 𝚖𝚎.

— 𝘟𝘖𝘟𝘖, 𝘎𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘱 𝘎𝘪𝘳𝘭.

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i'm back with another update! i can't believe elite is so close to 40k, you guys are incredible! i hope you're still reading this story!

also, how do we feel about the new cover?

i'm sorry for any grammar mistakes, i was too excited to write and post this chapter. i started rewatching gossip girl so expect more updates soon!