CHAPTER THIRTEEN
TRUTH HURTS
"you wish you never
ever met her at all"
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What's the difference between gossip and scandal?
So glad you asked, ues forever.
Anyone can commit a minor indiscretion
And generate a day's worth of buzz,
But in order for gossip to birth a true scandal,
It requires the right person to be in the wrong place.
Take one "it" girl on a pedestal. Which one do you recommend?
Add a crowd eager to see her fall
And give them the means to knock her down.

And for a scandal to really blow up, All it needs is an unexpected turn.

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Amelia was brushing her teeth in her crammed bathroom when she read the gossip girl blast.

She hurled over to spit the toothpaste from her mouth, wide eyes scanning the screen of her phone over and over again till she was sure she wasn't hallucinating. "Oh my—" she quickly put her toothbrush away before speed dialing Dan. And what do you know, it went straight to voicemail. The brunette effective immediately began pacing across the small space of her 'living room'. Oh god, I'm not ready to become an aunt, Amelia thought as she began to completely freak out. She tried Dan's phone again, and then again, and then again. The result remained the same; no reply.

     The girl hurried into her uniform before rushing out of the front door, throwing her bag over her shoulder as she stormed out of the building. All the whilst shooting Dan about fifty text messages. Amelia didn't really mind children all that much, but at the mere age of seventeen, she was under no circumstances ready to help Dan and Serena raise their freaking love child. Okay, so maybe the Hopper girl was jumping to conclusions. Maybe Gossip Girl had her facts wrong. It wouldn't have been the first time she advertised false news. The brunette simply had to keep her cool until she had talked to Dan personally. It was easier said than done, especially considering that Dan for once in his life had his phone on mute. Amelia made a mental note of giving him a slapping for leaving her hanging like that.

The second she got off the bus infront of the school Amelia ran. She weaved swiftly through the sea of students scattered across the school yard, eyes peeled for the dark haired Humphrey. Relief washed over her the second she spotted him. Amelia stormed over, practically pouncing him the second she reached him. "Amelia— ouch!" Dan exclaimed after Amelia smacked his shoulder aggressively. "What was that for?"

     "What was that for?!" The girl exclaimed, waving her phone in his face. "You haven't answered any of my calls!" The girl angrily said.

     Dan pulled his phone out, eyes widening at the number of calls and missed texts. "I haven't checked my phone."

     "You haven't checked your— whatever. What the hell is this?" Amelia demanded insight as she shoved the Gossip Girl post in Dan's face.

     "Oh— Oh! Oh that. Yeah, no that's false news." He replied nonchalantly.

     Amelia let out a deep breath of relief. Thank god, she thought. The girl was definitely not ready for anything involving a child. "Oh thank the heavens. I thought I would perish." The girl dramatically spoke.

     "Perish? Also why were that worried. It's not like it would be your baby." Dan rolled his eyes at the dramatic girl.

     She arched a brow. "Excuse me? You would probably die of stress or whatever, and I'd be forced to raise this baby in your stead with Serena. And I don't know about you, but I'm really not ready to co parent a baby who's father died before they got here."

     "What? I would not die, you're so dramatic. And why would that automatically make you the step in?" Dan questioned.

     "It's obvious? I'm obviously the best choice. What, would you rather it be Chuck?" Amelia retorted.

     "No! It literally makes no sense that my only two choices are you or Chuck? What about dad, or-or literally anyone else." Dan replied.

     "The fact that we have to even discuss this makes me doubt your ability as a dad." The Hopper girl teased. Dan scoffed loudly. "Fortunately for you, there's no baby. At least not yet."

"You're stressing me out more than enough, I don't really need to add a baby to that equation. Besides, I think I just messed things up with Serena anyways." Dan sighed as the two began a trolling into the school.

Amelia furrowed her brows at the Humphrey. "How so? Last time I checked, Serena was completely in love with you."

Dan cringed at her choice of words. "Yeah, well not in love enough. . ."

"Spot being cryptic and just spit it out already." Amelia demanded, arms crossed over her chest.

Dan shifted uncomfortably on his feet, embarrassed to recall what he had told Serena. "When I thought she was pregnant, I told her I loved her. And before you ask, I do, I really do. I've never felt this way about anyone ever before. But I said it at the completely wrong time and now I've messed it all up."

Amelia couldn't help but to smile at the news. She wrapped the boy into a tight hug. "This is huge news, Dan! I'm so proud of you!" The girl squealed, almost jumping in excitement.

"Proud, why?" The buzzcut boy questioned.

"For being vulnerable." Amelia replied.

Dan shook his head. "I wasn't vulnerable, I was stupid. I didn't think any of it through, it just came out."

"You said something risky about how you feel without knowing how it would go. That is being vulnerable. Who cares what happened after, it's a milestone in itself to be able to admit one's feelings out loud! What did she even say anyways?" Amelia queried at the end. She was feeling a genuine mixture of happiness and pride for her friend.

"She said. . . She really didn't say anything. Actually, she probably still thinks I only said it because I thought she was pregnant." Dan realized.

"Then go for it. Tell her again, this time because you mean it." Amelia encouraged. Dan nodded.

"I will. I, Dan Humphrey, will do that. See you later, Bunny. Oh, and thank you. I really needed this talk." Dan disappeared down the hallway before Amelia could utter another word. She smiled as she watched him go. Hopefully everything would go smoothly for him.

     The Hopper girl continued her venture over to her locker. By the time she reached it, her eyes fell on Julian. He was standing across the hallway chatting it up with some girl. Amelia couldn't help but to frown at the sight. The brunette wasn't sure why it made her feel so irritated, so she chalked it off to his simple presence getting on her nerves. When his gaze lifted in her direction, she quickly averted her gaze.

Before he could approach her and tease as per usual, someone else took residence on her side. Jenny sighed deeply, catching Amelia's attention.

"Blair is driving me crazy." The girl complained. The two hadn't really seen each other much lately. With Jenny at Blair's service at any given time, and with Amelia either deep in her homework or at the nursing home, there weren't a lot of time to spend. Besides, most of the time Amelia had to kill was spent hanging out with Dan. But even he was starting to get more and more busy, which honestly left Amelia with little to nothing for her to do.

     It wasn't like she had any real time consuming hobbies other than reading some book. Lately it had proven challenging to actually find one she enjoyed. That combined with the fact that she was growing bored of staying cooped up in her apartment was starting to drive her insane. But not as insane as Blair was driving Jenny.

     "I don't understand why you bother with her." Amelia admitted. She couldn't help but find the entire ordeal absurd. Why was Jenny craving popularity so hard? Amelia could respect wanting to fit in and wanting friends, but there were thousands of other ways to go about it. Was running around every hour of day like a damn servant really necessary? According to Jenny, yes.

     "Don't start, I already get it enough from Dan and dad." Jenny groaned. "But you'll be happy to know that I actually did stand up for myself."

     "Oh yeah? Enlighten me."

     "Blair wanted me to move down a couple of steps, I said no and then left." Jenny proudly explained.

     Amelia gave her a blank look. "That's it?"

     The blonde rolled her eyes. "Not that you would understand, but that kind of a big deal with Blair. No one ever crosses her and leave."

     "I'll take your word for it." Amelia nodded. "I've got to get to class, Jen." Amelia bid Jenny goodbye, scurrying off to class.

     Between school and everything else that had been going on in Amelia's life, she had yet to deal with her. . . 'itch'. The entire ordeal was becoming more and more ridiculous the more thought she gave it. Was she really letting Blair freaking Waldorf advice her about her sex life? According to Blair herself, she only just lost her virginity to the Archibald, so that didn't exactly leave her an expert in the topic. Besides, with the way the Waldorf had been treating Jenny lately, Amelia had to remind herself that the girl didn't give a shit about Amelia's best interest either. The Hopper girl felt stupid for ever even telling Blair and Serena about her 'situation'. They were on completely different planets, and her problems however big or small was nothing but mere entertainment for them.

It was hard to concentrate on whatever the teacher was saying. Amelia couldn't keep her mind from constantly wandering, daydreams plaguing her mind. The brunette never struggled focusing her attention on whatever she deemed important, but recently she found herself in a constant battle of trying to stay focused on school and work. Work. The girl almost groaned, realizing that she had slacked off severely at work. She had worked very few shifts lately, which was both disappointing to her employer and herself. Between attending lavish balls like cotillion and dragging Dan to stupid pool parties on school grounds, Amelia didn't exactly find the time to work. But she was definitely taking the hit because of it. Her diet lately has consisted of just enough to keep her going which forced her to take more trips than usual to the Humphrey's humble loft to raid the fridge.

Rufus had yet to reprimand her for it, so as for now, munching on waffles every damn forsaken day was keeping the Hopper girl pretty content.

"Ms. Hopper?"

The sound of her name snapped her out of her state of mind. Her blue eyes landed on the teacher staring directly at her. Mrs. Keller was staring directly at her, arms crossed over her chest. Her scrutinizing eyes bored into hers, making Amelia shift uncomfortably.

"Yes?" Amelia squeaked, suddenly painfully aware of the entire class staring her down. She shifted uncomfortably in her seat, cursing herself out in her own mind.

"Yes? That's your answer?" The teacher taunted, obvious to the fact that the brunette student infront of her wasn't paying attention to the class.

"Uh. . ." Amelia looked at the blackboard, desperate to decipher the correct answer. "I, um. I—"

"57.3." A voice interjected, cutting Amelia off. The attention shifted over to the Murdoch boy sporting a confident grin. "The answer is 57.3, Mrs."

With a look of discontent, the teacher nodded. "Thank you, Mr. Hopper. I wasn't aware you changed your name." The class erupted in chuckles as the teacher returned to the topic at hand.

Amelia spared a look over her shoulders, her eyes meeting the deep blues that belonged to the Murdoch boy. He shot her a wink, refocusing his gaze at the blackboard. The brunette turned back in her seat, fighting off the heat creeping at her cheeks.

˚✧₊⁎*⁎⁺˳✧༚

This just in: our very own Julian Murdoch
coming to the rescue.
He does like his Brooklyn baby in distress,
doesn't he?

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"We need to talk."

The blonde Humphrey girl approached Amelia frantically. Her thin fingers circled around the brunettes wrists, tugging at them to catch her attention. The brunette groaned in annoyance as her notebook slipped from her fingers, crashing against the ground. Amelia pulled her hands from Jenny's cold grasp. She quickly crouched down to pick the book up, peering curiously up at the blonde. "What is it, Jen? I kinda have to get to class."

Amelia's mind wouldn't stop reeling after class the previous day. The way Julian had jumped to her rescue wouldn't stop replaying in her mind. His stupid smirk, that damn wink. The Murdoch boy was pretty much haunting her imagination all day long, so much so that she couldn't focus on her school work at all. Which was why she was currently terribly sleep deprived. She got little to no sleep last night. The brunette stayed up till at least two am trying to finish up schoolwork, but when she realized there was no use, she fell asleep ontop of the piles of books. Her brain felt like total mush right now, and Jenny's loud screeching felt like needles in her ears.

"I have to tell you something, but you have to promise not to tell anyone." Jenny rushed out. The brunette shoved the notebook into her locker, slamming the door shut.

"If this is some stupid gossip thing or whatever, I'm not interested. I had no sleep, and I feel like a zombie. I just want to go to class, and go home and rot in bed for the remainder of the day." Amelia sighed deeply, not even remotely interest in whatever Jenny had to say.

Jenny grabbed the brunette by her shoulders, halting her in her tracks. "Trust me, Bunny, you're going to want to hear this. I just need some advice on what to do."

"Jen, please. I really need to focus on school, and I can't focus on school if my mind is filled with lavish balls, expensive dresses and gossip. My mind is working on scarcely any space. I can't have any of that crap crowding this place up." Amelia rambled, pointing to her head as she spoke. The Hopper girl realized she needed to start concentrating, and she couldn't concentrate with all of this upper east side glitz and glamour shining glaringly in her face.

"Oh my god, will you just listen? I need to know if what I just did makes me a horrible person." Jenny stated. She opened her mouth to continue, but before she could, a loud pling interrupted her. Amelia pulled her phone out to check the notification, her mouth falling open at the gossip girl blast staring her down.

"Looks like the virgin queen isn't as pure as she pretends to be. Who's your daddy, B? Baby daddy, that is. Two guys in one week? Talk about doing the nasty, or should I just say B-eing nasty?" The girl read out loud. Amelia almost smacked her hand over her mouth in suprise, staring wide eyes at the blonde infront of her. Then, she realized. "Oh no, no. Jenny you didn't."

"I— I need to go." Jenny disappeared out the main entrance, Amelia chasing after her. How the hell did the blonde even know about this? Once the Hopper girl reached the pavement outside of the school gates, Jenny was nowhere to be seen, and by chance, Amelia landed smack bang in the middle of Blair's baby daddies show down.

     The golden boy threw Chuck up against his limo, rage burning in his eyes. "Whoa, man!" Chuck exclaimed, pushing the Archibald off of him.

     "Did you sleep with her, huh?" Amelia's eyes widened, realizing along with everyone else who the 'baby daddies, in question was. "You son of a b¡tch. I could kill you. What'd you do? Did you get what you wanted, like you do with all those other girls?"

     Chuck scoffed in annoyance. "Yes, Nathaniel. I took what Blair kept throwing at you and you kept throwing back."

     "Oh, so somehow you screwing Blair for sport is my fault?" Nate yelled in anger.

     "It wasn't for sport. She needed someone, and I was there." Chuck tried explaining,

     Nate shook his head in disbelief. "Oh, so you cared about her?"

     "You guys were broken up." Chuck's voice faltered as he spoke.

     "What, for how long? A week? An hour?" Nate questioned.

     "Look, I am sorry, all right? I know how long you and I have been best friends, okay?" Chuck tried, sadness coating his eyes,

     Nate shook his head. "No, it's not okay, Chuck." His voice was dripping in venom. "From now on, you stay away from me." The Archibald exclaimed.

     "Nate—"

     "Did you hear what I said? You stay the hell away from me, Chuck!" Nate stormed off the scene, his eyes falling on the blue eyes brunette watching them. His eyes softened for a second before he disappeared down the street.

     Amelia looked back over at the Bass, watching him throw the door open to his limo. He spun around, glaring at the crowd that had gathered. "Show's over." He yelled out before climbing into the vehicle.

     Amelia forced a hand through her hair. She couldn't help but to feel the urge to pick up her phone and call the Archibald to make sure he was okay, but she fought the urge off. They weren't that close, would it even make sense for her to check up on him? She opted against it, deciding to head her last class of the day.

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The boyfriend and the best friend? Pretty classy.
Consider yourself dethroned, Queen B.

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     Amelia was suprised to find Nate Archibald sitting with his back against her front door when she arrived at her apartment. His knees were pulled up against his chest with his head resting against the door behind him. Her mouth fell slightly open in surprise, worry coating her mind.

"Nate?"

His head snapped in her direction. The boy quickly got to his feet, relief washing over him as he spotted the brunette. "Bunny." The brunette approached him with her head tilted in confusion.

"What are you doing here?" The girl wondered.

"Look, I now you saw everything that happened between Chuck and I." The golden boy began explaining. "Without him and Blair, well, I don't really have a lot of people. This is completely inappropriate isn't it, turning up like this? Shit, I'm sorry."

Nate made a move to flee the scene, but Amelia's firm hand planted on his chest halted him. "Stay." She instructed. The blue eyed boy didn't hesitate before nodding. She unlocked the door to her apartment as he followed her hot in heels. Nate shut the door behind them, watching her closely as she dropped her bag to the floor. He could recall the last time they hung out at her place vividly. They had just talked for hours. The memory almost made him want to smile.

     Silence enfugled the two. It was uncomfortable for the both of them, the awkwardness hanging in the air. Nate knew she was itching to ask why he was there, and in all honesty he wasn't sure himself. After confronting Chuck, Nate had headed back home only to find Blair begging in his living room. When she refused to leave, he decided to do so himself. It was a hasty decision. Right now the blue eyed Archibald didn't have too many places to go, so mindless wandering and a limo ride later he found himself at her doorstep. For some not so apparent reason the girl felt like comfort to him, like home. Despite knowing so little about each other, Nate felt like he knew everything he needed to know. Amelia was good and would undoubtedly provide him with the comfort and distraction he so desperately craved.

     "I don't know why I'm here." Nate broke the silence. Amelia looked up at him, watching him as he spoke. "I just started walking and suddenly I'm here, knocking on your door, waiting."

     The brunette's heart swelled with pity as she watched the Archibald explain himself. She couldn't help but feel bad for him. He had obviously messed up really badly with Blair, so much was obvious. He got with her best friend, maybe her and Chuck was karma, maybe it was Blair simply returning the evil favour. Amelia didn't know. She wasn't close enough to any of these people to know the real intentions behind their actions, nor to know the actual emotional consequences of them. But she did know that Nate was hurting, and for some reason that made her hurt.

     "You need a distraction." Amelia concluded. Nate nodded. He didn't have any one else to turn to, and his mother would without a doubt tell him to forgive Blair to benefit the family. Amelia had no greater intentions. She was simply Amelia, and she was good. In fact, all she wanted to do was have good time, and right now Nate was her ticket to just that.

The Hopper girl didn't hesitate when she decided to humour the idea of hanging out with the Archibald despite having decided early that day to focus on her school work. Amelia pushed that thought to the very back in her mind. Right now, she was only concentrating on one thing and one thing only; to make sure Nate was in a good mood. Fortunately for the both of them, Amelia knew just the key to anyone's heart. With the special brew of either coffee or hot chocolate at her downtown lowkey coffee shop, and her sassy ability to hold a conversation going, Nate was in good hands.

     And so they headed down the street towards the coffee shop, chatting and laughing carelessly just like the first few times they had hung out, not a single care in the world as they provided each other with the greatest distraction they'd ever experienced before.

     But hey, what did they know? They were nothing but mere teenagers craving an outlet.

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Looks like our golden boy is ready to move on already, and with our Brooklyn baby herself.
One good scandal deserves another.
Wonder who's going down next?
Everybody, if B has anything to say about it.
You know you love me,
x.ox.o gossip girl.

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word count; 3908
a/n

chapter thirteen was certainly a fun chapter to write, and also the first chapter i've officially written and posted in 2024 ! hope you guys enjoyed it and that you're into the slow burn. there is no denying my undying love for a good slowburn, so hope you guys love it as much as i do ! now that the fall out between b, chuck and nate has gone down, some action is due ! ALSO, this is probably the last chapter posted before ag7 is to be announced, so get ready to pull my plug cuz it will send me into a coma !!! literally so excited i'm going to perish !
have a feeling the next chapter will be a lot of fun, so please stay tuned for chapter fourteen ! bye for now.

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