After watchingThe Great Gatsby twice in a row, Blair clicked off the TV and picked up her phone. She was eager to talk to someone; to let the world know she was still alive despite everything. The thing was, she absolutelydreaded speaking to every single person she knew, including her gay, France-living dad, whom she had always counted on to cheer her up. If only there were someone else, someone new and different who? Actually, there wasone person she could bear to speak to. And why the fuck shouldn?t she call him when he had called her completely out of the blue last week while she was getting her hair cut? She speed-dialed Nate?s cell phone number, and, to her surprise, he answered it. ?Natie?? Blair crooned into the phone. ?I heard all about what happened. Howare you? Are you okay?? ?Yeah, actually I?m really good,? Nate responded, sounding suspiciously unstoned. ?My dad?s still pretty pissed off about what happened, and I don?t know how it?s going to affect my chances at Brown, but I?m still good.? Blair pointed her bare toes into the air and frowned at the day-old cotton-candy-pink polish that she?d painted on herself out of complete boredom. ?You poor baby,? she sighed sympathetically. ?Rehab must totally suck.? ?Um, actually?and I know this sounds weird?I?m starting to kind oflike it,? Nate admitted. ?I wish it wasn?t such a haul to get up there, but it?s a really cool, modern place, and it?s kind of, I don?t know . . .relaxing to do something totally unrelated to school.? ?Really?? Blair fluffed up the pillows behind her and sat up in bed. Rehab wasrelaxing ? Maybe it was exactly what she needed?a respite from the travails of her quotidian existence. She could picture herself wrapped in a downy white spa robe, her face lathered in green clay masque, her feet and hands stuck with acupuncture needles, sipping detoxifying herbal tea as she lounged on a daybed chatting to an attentive counselor in a white linen tunic. ?If you could be any sort of animal, what would you be?? the counselor would ask her. Nothing too challenging. Rehab. Why had............