Bonnie & Kyle

i. the gossip girl

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IF NATALIE WERE TO BE thankful for anything in her life, besides her sister, it would be her uncanny ability to simply not care.

She wasn't stupid - she knew what other people said behind her back. And sometimes she would laugh at the rumors she heard that were either completely off, or shockingly accurate. But the student body ate it all up, nonetheless, because she was Natalie Ward, and she was the girl everyone either worshipped or loathed but noticed all the same.

So when Lauren came to her at lunch one day, telling her a rumor was going around the campus, she didn't think much of it. She shrugged it off, like always. She was way past caring what people thought of her.

Except this time, it wasn't about her.

"Hola, people, it's me, your friendly neighborhood gossip girl. And today, I've got an interesting piece of gossip for all of you lovelies," there was a dramatic pause before she continued, "Natalie Ward - name ring a bell? Well everyone knows our very own campus sweetheart. The perfect little girl who everyone loves to love," she spit it out like it was acid on her tongue, “or loves to hate. Turns out, though, she isn't as innocent as she seems. Or at least, her dear family isn't." She spoke with a sickeningly sweet sympathetic tone that made Natalie want to puke. She rolled her eyes, but sat still, listening.

"Manhattan Republican, a well-known bank in New York was robbed last Wednesday," she gave a dramatic yawn, "Boring, I know. But I'm not here to announce the news. I'm here to gossip," she said the five words lavishly, like it was an Emilio Pucci dress disguised in the form of a snobby sentence.

"'Good girls are bad girls that don't get caught.' This quote is ironically true, for our little Natalie. Her sister, Bonnie Chabert, is a suspect of the said robbery. And many other crimes I'd love to list down, but let me tell you this - it is a very long list. And we wouldn't want to tarnish our dear Natalie's sister's name, now do we?" Natalie gritted her teeth. That was what she was doing right now.

"And wouldn't you know it, Natalie was coming in as a new employee that day. But we all know she's loaded. What would she need a job for? Tsk, tsk, Miss Ward. Haven't you been naughty.

"Well, it seems we have a criminal in our midst. But don't worry, your Prada dresses will be safe with me, Natalie, that is, when you trade them in for a classic orange jumpsuit," Natalie felt her blood boil, "Well, that's all for this Friday. Have a rad weekend, State field. And, uh, Natalie?

"I've posted a pic of a beautiful pair of silver flats on my website. I think they'll go great with your cuffs."

The podcast ended with her boisterous cackle, showing a hot pink screen with "XOXO, State field’s very own Gossip Girl" in shiny gold calligraphy.

As a child, most people asked her why her and her sister's last names weren't the same. One day, she asked her sister the same question. And she'd said, "Natalie, are you my sister?" And she'd replied, "Yes, of course you are." And Bonnie had smiled and told her, "It doesn't matter if we don't have the same last names. You're my sister, and I'm yours, and that's all that matters." Over the years, she's learned not to care what others said about her. But saying things against her sister - that was a different story altogether.

"Nate. Nate? Are you okay, darling?" Lauren asked, leaning back against the wooden bench she sat opposite from, looking worried.

Key word; looking. Natalie knew Lauren was the one who kept spreading those rumors about her. She was the only one close enough to her that could get decent - looking proof. But she didn't say anything that gave her annoyance away. As much as she hated her, she needed Lauren. Being the principal's daughter, she had a spare of the master key to the entire school - one that could unlock every door that there was, including the principal's office, which she needed access to, if she wanted to prove that the academy was having budget cuts for all the wrong reasons.