Or not. A few weeks earlier, Nate had been busted by the cops while buying a bag of weed in Central Park and sent to outpatient rehab at Breakaway, in Greenwich. Nate had first met Georgie in teen group therapy. One night, during a tremendous snowstorm, Georgie invited Nate back to her mansion to hang out. They got baked together, and then Georgie disappeared into the bathroom to pop prescription pills. Soon enough, she passed out in her underwear on the bed, and Nate had had absolutely no choice but to call the people at Breakaway to come get her. And ever since then, they'd been boyfriend and girlfriend. That would be some messed-up fairy tale. ?So the reason I'm calling is ? ,? Georgie crooned into the phone. Nate's teammates milled around him, pulling on their coats and chugging from the bottles of Gatorade they'd brought with them. Practice was over. Coach Michaels spat a wad of phlegm near the toe of Nate's sneaker and pointed a gnarly forefinger at him. ?I'd better go,? Nate told Georgie. ?I think Coach wants to talk about appointing me captain.? ?Captain Nate!? She squealed into the phone. ?My cute little captain!? ?So I'll call you later, okay?? ?Wait, wait, wait! I just wanted you to know I got my mom to convince these monkeys to let me out starting Saturday, as long as I'm with an adult or responsible mentor, so we're totally going to my mom's ski condo in Sun Valley for your spring break, okay? Will you come?? Coach Michaels growled something at Nate and put his hands on his old-man hips. Nate didn't have to think about Georgie's question for very long, anyway. Sun Valley sounded a heck of a lot better than regrouting his dad's old catamaran up at their summer house in Mt. Desert, Maine. ?Of course I'll come. Definitely. Look, I have to go.? ?Yippee!? Georgie squealed. ?I love you,? she added hoarsely, and then hung up. Nate tossed the phone on top of his navy blue wool Hugo Boss coat and rubbed his hands together energetically. His teammates had all gone home. ?What's up, Coach?? Coach Michaels took a step toward him, shaking his head as he sucked in snot from his nasal passages.  Yum. ?Last year I almost made you captain when Doherty crapped up his knee,? the coach said. He spat and shook his head again. ?Good thing I didn't.?
 Uh-oh. Nate's hopeful smile cracked a little. ?Why's that?? ?Because you're not captain material, Archibald!? the coach barked. ?Look at you, gabbing on the phone like a playboy while the rest of your teammates are out there dogging it. And don't think I don't know about your getting busted for dope.? He made a little growling sound. ?You're no leader, Archibald.? He spat again and turned his back on Nate, jamming his hands in his red Lands' End parka pockets as he walked away. ?You're just a rotten pile of disappointment.? ?But I haven't been smok?? Nate called after him, his voice trailing off into the wind. The sky was steel gray, and the bare tree branches creaked and moaned. Nate stood alone on the brown March grass, holding his lacrosse stick and shivering a little in the cold. His father was a former navy captain, so he was used to shrugging off the power-tripping tirades of grumpy old authority figures. But it was still pretty outrageous that Coach Michaels thought the only nonstoned guy on the team wasn't fit to be captain. Coach hadn't even given him a chance to defend himself. He bent down and picked up his coat. If he were stoned right now, he would have smiled serenely at the coach's accusations and lit a joint. Instead, he slung his coat over his shoulders, gave the finger to the coach's retreating back, and trudged across the darkening meadow toward Fifth Avenue. Charlie, Jeremy, and Anthony Avuldsen were waiting for him on the pathway leading out of the park. Anthony was too much of a stoner even to play sports, except for the occasional game of soccer in the park, but he always met the guys after practice with ready-rolled joints and a big grin on his freckly, blond-goateed face. Slowly the boys made their way out of the park and onto Fifth Avenue. ?Dude, he made you captain, didn't he?? Charlie asked, his voice cracking the way it did when he was high, which was basically all the time. Nate grabbed the bottle of blue Gatorade out of Charlie's hands and took a swig. Even though these guys were his best friends, he wasn't about to tell them what had happened. ?Coach offered it to me, but I turned him down. I mean, I'm pretty sure I'm already into Brown, anyway, so it's not like I need lax captain on my transcript. And I'll probably miss a few weekend games hanging out in Connecticut with Georgie. I told Coach to give it to a junior.? The three boys raised their eyebrows in surprised admiration. ?Jesus, dude,? breathed Jeremy. ?That's like,huge of you.? All of a sudden, Nate felt the sort of rush he might have felt if he'd actually told the coach to make a junior captain instead of him. How huge hemight have been, if only that was what had really happened. ?Yeah, well.? He smiled uncomfortably and buttoned up his coat. Not only had he lied about the coach offering him the position of captain, he'd also lied about his chances of being accepted at Brown. Sure, his dad had gone there, and sure, he'd had a kick-ass interview, but he'd been baked as a loaf of bread for every exam and standardized test he'd taken since eighth grade, so his grades and scores were barely mediocre. ?Here.? Anthony held out a burning spliff. He had a tendency to forget on an hourly basis that Nate had quit smoking the stuff. ?It's Cuban. I bought it from my cousin who goes to Rollins down in Florida.? Nate waved the joint away. ?I have a paper to write,? he said, turning away from the group toward home. It was hard to get used to?not being stoned. His head was so clear, it almost hurt. And all of a sudden there was so much tothink about. Whoa. B tries to keep her eyes on the prize The door to Georgie's house stood open. No Doubt was blasting out of both the indoor and outdoor speakers, and there were clothes strewn all over the front steps. Four boys with long hair were walking around in their underwear eating wild-mushroom potstickers and showing off their snowboarding muscles. When Blair and Serena walked in with Erik and Jan and the ski patrol guys, they turned around to gape and smile. ?Where's Georgie?? Serena asked, desperate to find the heart of the party before Jan-the-dentist tried to get her alone. ?In the hot tub,? the boys answered in unison. Blair stayed in the living room while Serena went out the patio doors in search of their host, with Jan trailing after her. Erik went over to the bar and began to mix drinks. He'd taken a bartending course last semester?the most useful thing he'd learned in college so far. Blair noticed that Nate was sitting by himself on a leather sofa in the corner of the living room, sort of picking at his toes. He was wearing his broken-in navy blue Brown sweatshirt and a pair of tattered yellow St. Jude's gym shorts. With his wavy golden brown curls and sparkling green eyes, he looked like a sad little boy. Blair wanted to sit down next to him and ask him why he was picking his toes and looking so sad at his girlfriend's party, but then Erik came over and handed her a glass filled with something swirly and orangey-pink. ?Mai tai. Careful, it doesn't taste it, but it's almostall liquor.? ?Thanks.? Blair took the glass. Normally she preferred vodka tonics, but she'd drink anything Erik made for her. ?I'm going out to sit in the tub,? Erik said. ?Wanna come?? Blair shook her head. ?No thanks.? The idea of jumping into the hot tub with Georgie and whoever else was in there really wasn't all that appealing. And she didn't want Erik to think she couldn't fend for herself at a party. Besides, there was a whole table of catered food standing only ten feet away. If Erik went outside, she'd have a chance to stuff her face without worrying about whether he thought she was a big fat pig or not. A girl needs fuel, especially when she has a long night ahead of her. As soon as Erik left, she grabbed a plate of spring rolls and plopped down on a love seat next to a guy with shoulder-length brown hair, who was smoking a joint. He looked up at her and smiled. ?You board?? Blair had no clue what he was talking about. ?No.? She took a deep breath through her nostrils. She never got high, but she was feeling sort of nervous all of a sudden, and all the stoners she knew were so mellow. Maybe a few hits off this guy's joint were just what she needed. ?Is that pot?? The guy smiled again and looked at the roach in his hand. ?Itwas . Sorry, it's kaput.? He wasn't wearing a shirt or shoes, and he still had his ski pants on. They were bright green, with reinforced knees. ?So how do you know Georgie?? Blair asked, still chomping her food.  ?Who?? Blair could feel Nate watching her from across the room. Maybe he thought she was sharing this guy's joint.
 Oh, the irony. ?Where do you go to school?? she asked, figuring the guy must be about twenty and in college. ?I don't do school,? he told her. ?I board from March till December and then surf the North Shore all winter.? Blair shoved a potsticker in her mouth and chewed. ?How can you snowboard all summer??  ?Chile. Argentina.? ?And the North Shore is in Hawaii, right?? Don't ask how she knew this. It was the kind of thing a girl with brothers justknows . The guy nodded. ?You surf?? Blair shook her head, intrigued by the idea. She envisioned herself in her new pink Eres bikini and a Hawaiian lei made of white orchids and red hibiscus blossoms, balanced on a surfboard and riding out a humungous wave. She'd have an amazing tan and incredible butt muscles?the kind that actually look good in a thong. And after a long day of surfing, Erik would massage her with coconut oil and feed her the fresh fish he'd caught that day. Maybe she didn't really need to go to Yale or any college at all?she could just ?surf . Nate got up all of a sudden and walked over to her. His emerald green eyes weren't sparkling so much as smoldering. He looked like he had a lot on his mind.  ?Hey,? he said. ?Hey,? she said back. ?How come you're not in the hot tub?? Nate shrugged. ?It's too hot?? Blair jumped up and dumped her paper plate in the trash. She didn't like making small talk with Nate when Erik was outside with Georgie and Serena. It didn't make any sense. ?Come on,? she said, leading the way outside. ?Catch you later,? the stoned guy called after them. It had snowed for a few hours earlier in the day, and Georgie's backyard sparkled in the moonlight with crisp, fresh, dry snow. No Doubt had morphed into Missy Elliott, and the ski patrol guys were dancing with a group of girls from the local high school on the deck surrounding the hot tub. Serena had always loved soaking in hot tubs outside at night in the cold, especially when it was snowing lightly and everyone was naked. This time she was particularly grateful to be wedged between her brother and Chuck Bass, while Jan-the-Dutch-dentist gazed at her dreamily from the other side of the tub. Georgie had eaten too many potstickers or too much something and was doing handstands in the middle of the tub, leaving no part of her naked body up to anyone's imagination. ?Oh,? Blair said, anxiously surveying the scene. Okay, so she'd been planning to get naked that night, but not in front of Nate and Georgie and the Sun Valley Ski Patrol and the entire Dutch Olympic snowboarding team. And she certainly wasn't doing any fucking handstands. ?You coming in?? Erik called from inside the tub. Serena blinked water out of her long, dark lashes. ?It's nice.? Blair pulled the sleeves of her borrowed sweater down over her wrists. ?Not right now.? Georgie popped up out of the water and wiped her nose. Her skin was ghostly in the moonlight. ?Leave her alone. Maybe she has her period.? Blair blushed angrily. ?Does Nate have his period, too?? Chuck taunted. Nate pulled a pack of cigarettes out of his shorts pocket, lit one, and then handed the pack to Blair. Then he trudged off into the dark, snowy lawn behind the house, wearing only his sweatshirt, shorts, and tennis sh............