Eric Is Back (A Gossip Girl Novel)

24. 2009

Did the universe pick and choose when it wanted to work in my favour? Or this whole time... had it been laughing at me? Building me up so it could knock me down? Getting my hopes up before tearing them back down again?

I lay on my bed... staring up at the ceiling... out of tears... all cried-out now that I'd started laughing like a crazy person...

Dan and I had finally reunited... but now we were being ripped apart again... and I was being sent back to boarding school...

I thought about texting him about it. Who knows? Maybe he already knew? Maybe that was why he had kissed me – because he knew it would be a while before he saw me again?

I didn't text him. I didn't want to ruin the magic of that kiss. I wanted to continue living in my fantasy world... the one in which Dan and I rode off into the sunset...

Just then, my cellphone buzzed, making my heart jump out of my chest. But when I opened my phone, it wasn't Dan like I'd hoped it'd be. It was a text from an unknown number.

But when I opened it, my stomach dropped to the floor.

"Oh my God!" I cried out.

To my horror, attached to the text was a picture of me and Dan kissing on Damien's bench! And, worse than that, when I clicked off it, the sender had accompanied the picture with the words:

$100,000 and I keep my mouth shut!

XOXO Gossip Girl ;)

*

Wait... what?!

Gossip Girl was behind this?! No, it couldn't be! Could it? I mean, it would surprise me; some of the things Gossip Girl came out with were pretty barbaric.

But the thing was... it didn't matter who was behind this evil text. What mattered was keeping the person's mouth shut!

But how was I going to do that?!

I didn't have $100,000 lying around!

No... I didn't...

But Mom did!

*

I can't leave my apartment... I'm leaving the city tomorrow morning!!!

It was true; I was trapped. Mom and Rufus wanted to ship me off to boarding school as soon as possible. But would my evil blackmailer sympathise with that?

Bullshit! It didn't stop you from kissing your STEPBROTHER earlier today, did it?

My blood was boiling. I was starting to get mad now!

I'm serious! I can't leave! How can I get the money to you?

My cellphone kept crunching in my hand as I waited for my blackmailer to reply.

Meet me on the roof of your building. You have fire escapes, right?

I did.

Yeah.

Then sneak out through the window and meet me on the roof, okay?

I blew out a breath.

Okay.

*

Midnight. The roof. I'd never used the fire escapes before and had felt my life flash before my eyes as I climbed to the top of our building. When I reached it, my legs were like jelly as I stood there... waiting for my blackmailer to emerge from the shadows...