i want it all - gg

𝙨𝙬𝙚𝙚𝙩 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙮

Double photography was first, which was exactly what Hadley needed. Two hours where the girls were free to roam the city to take photographs. Well, that was what they were supposed to do. Most girls just browsed at Barneys or got their hair highlighted at the John Barrett Salon. A haircut was what Hadley needed, so a haircut she would get.

"Girls, for today's lesson I want you to really go out of your comfort zone with your photography," their teacher, Ms. Ridley, said. "Which is why I'm going to put you into pairs."

The girls groaned and protested, but the woman held out a finger and shushed them.

"This is going to be good for you girls, you can really draw from each other's photography styles," Ms. Ridley said, though she knew full well there wasn't one student in her class that was good enough to have a photography style.

That was when the door burst open, and in walked a tall, dark haired girl none of them had ever seen before.

"Is this photography with Ms. Ridley?" She asked nonchalantly.

"Yes! Oh, wonderful! You must be Allegra," she smiled. "Have a seat at the back I was just putting you into pairs."

A, Hadley thought. Just like Gossip Girl had predicted. The class watched as Allegra sat down next in the desk behind a sleeping Scarlett Van der Woodsen.

"Kim Hoffstetter and Azaria Muniz," Ms. Ridley said. "Hadley Waldorf and Delilah Bass."

Hadley felt like rolling her eyes but restrained herself. She wasn't sure how long she could stand to be around Delilah before she started tearing her hair out, but she hoped it wasn't less than 2 hours, otherwise, she'd be bald as a coot by the time she got back to school.

"Allegra Thorpe, you can go with Miss Sleeping Beauty over here," Ms. Ridley announced.

So Scarlett got the new girl, huh. A year ago Hadley and Scarlett would've run up to the teacher and pleaded her to put them together and then spent the two hours trying on outfits at Barneys, but things were different now.

Like you said.

xoxo

"You wanna get a facial?" Scarlett asked the new girl. "Or go to Barneys?"

"Are you serious? That's what you Manhattanites do in photography?" Allegra asked.

Scarlett shrugged, feeling a little judged. Hadley would've come for a facial with her.

"Where are you from, then?" Scarlett asked.

"Chicago," Allegra said simply. "We could go to the park or something?"

Scarlett smiled weakly. She really, really wanted to go to Barney's, but it was the new girl's choice.

It was a sunny but cold and crisp September day, and Central Park was wonderfully orange and brown. If she gave a shit about photography, Scarlett might actually take a couple pictures, but instead, she lay on a bench listening to music on her phone while Allegra took endless photos of the leaves.

Allegra was getting a little tired of this Charlotte chick (or whatever her name was), and as she took yet another photo of the leaves, she silently wished the leggy blonde would just slip off to sleep and Allegra could sneak away.

Facials? Seriously, her mom had told her how stuck up these girls could be, but she didn't realize it was this bad.

Scarlett had managed to glimpse a look of her childhood crush, Gabriel, that morning, and couldn't stop imagining his face in her mind. She had missed that face. Funny thing was, she missed Hadley's stupid face just as much. More so even.

But it seemed now more than ever that they would never be friends again. Scarlett toyed with the idea of making her an invite to this charity gala her grandma Lily was making her organize for some cause she couldn't remember.

What was she thinking, her mom would insist she invited Hadley anyway.

Maybe it was good that things with her best friend ended when they did, without a big showdown. Now Scarlett could just look back on her friendship with Hadley with fondness.

xoxo

"Jeez," Delilah Bass said, fumbling around in her scrappy brown vintage bag for a cigarette. "Have you got any ciggies on you, Hadley? I'm dying for a smoke."

Hadley wanted to throw her cousin off the Central Park bridge like in Sweet Charity and run off to get a haircut. Only unlike in the musical, Hadley wouldn't take the handbag.

An hour into double Photography and the girls were wandering through Central Park aimlessly after Delilah had been too much of an embarrassment in Barney's.

"No," Hadley replied flatly, which was a lie. Hadley was a shame smoker and always kept a few cigarettes in a metal case in her bag for when school got a little too grating.

Now seems like the perfect time.

"Oh never mind! I've got one," Delilah cooed, flicking a match to the end of one of her Marlboro lights. She was so excited to be in New York with her cousin, just walking through Central Park. On the weekend, she imagined the two of them going partying in some club in Queens and finding too totally hot, totally scruffy guys. Then maybe Delilah would lose her virginity!

If she keeps her mouth shut, that is.

Hadley checked her phone for the fifth time in the last ten minutes. One post in, and she was already hooked on this Gossip Girl thing. She read the post over and over in her head until she'd practically memorized the lines.

Gabriel really was back. She had actually really seen him again, and she still couldn't believe it.

Delilah was blabbing on about some sports therapy she did with the horses at rehab or some nonsense, and Hadley wasn't sure how much more she could take. And then she saw Scarlett.

She was lying on a bench picking at the split ends in her blonde hair and looking infuriatingly gorgeous as always. She looked bored out of her mind as her partner knelt over a patch of leaves and craned her neck to take photos.

She turned her pretty head, and her eyes met Hadley's. They shared a solid moment of eye contact. A strange one that made Hadley almost forget they weren't really friends anymore. The sort of look you'd give a best friend when you've found too really boring guys at a bar and want to sneak off to the bathroom together and never return.

But they weren't best friends or even friends anymore, which meant it sort of turned into a sad look. The sort you give someone when you miss them but you know it'll never go back to the way it once was.

Never say never, girls.