Jenny had always been shy and had trouble making friends, but she had managed to make one in peer group that day. ?You know, I never really noticed your, um . . . bra size,? Elise murmured shyly as they were packing up their book bags to go home. On either side of them girls slammed their metal locker doors closed and shouted to each other as they ran downstairs and out the school doors. ?Yeah, right,? Jenny responded sarcastically, trying to wedge her geometry notebook into her red-and-black-striped Le Sportsac bag in between her French textbook andAnna Karenina . Elise giggled as she wound a fuzzy pink scarf around her neck and buttoned the black velvet buttons on her nerdy tweed coat. She definitely looked like her mother still dressed her in the mornings. ?Okay, I noticed. But I never thought it bothered you.? Jenny tucked her curly dark brown hair behind her ears and squinted at Elise. ?Itdoesn?t bother me.? Elise pulled her fuzzy pink hat down over her blond bob and hitched her backpack up on her shoulder. She was nearly a foot taller than Jenny. ?Um, are you busy now? Do you want to, like, do something?? ?Like what?? Jenny zipped up her puffy black parka. Now that she no longer hung out with Nate or her older brother, Dan, she really needed some new friends, and it might be kind of nice to hang out with a girl for once, even though Elise seemed kind of prissy and immature. ?I don?t know. Like go buy some new makeup at Bendel?s or something?? Elise suggested. Jenny cocked her head, pleasantly surprised. For a minute there she?d thought Elise was going to suggest buying an ice cream cone or visiting the zoo. ?I?d love to,? she agreed, slamming her locker door closed and starting to walk toward the stairs. ?Come on.? Blair couldn?t believe how a simple haircut could change everything so drastically. She?d already tried on every flirty empire-waisted top and A-line skirt Bendel?s had in stock? exactly the same types of pieces she?d always worn and looked good in, but now they were all wrong. Her new crop was preppy and sophisticated and gamine. It was going to require a whole new wardrobe. ?From now on I?ll wear only solid colors,? Blair whispered as she buttoned up her uniform and hung the last unwanted dress on its hanger. ?And everything must have a collar.? She pulled open the red velvet curtain and dumped six wildly printed Diane von Furstenberg tops into the sales clerk?s arms. ?I changed my mind. I?m looking for simple suits in navy blue and black. And plain white shirts with collars.? She wanted to look sexy in a chic Parisian-woman-wearing-a-simple-black-dress-while-riding-a-bicycle-and-carrying-a-baguette-un der-her-arm sort of way. Nate had always had a thing about French girls. He would go out of his way to walk by L??cole Fran?aise just to gape at the girls in their short gray skirts, high heels, and tight black V-neck sweaters. Those tramps. Soon Blair had found the first item in her new wardrobe and the perfect thing to wear for her interview Thursday night: a navy blue knit shirtdress by Les Best with a beaded belt and a cute little white lace collar at the neck. It was prim yet intriguing?just what Blair was looking for. She paid for the dress and then headed downstairs to cosmetics to outfit herself with navy blue mascara and a subtle shade of lip gloss that wasn?t as girly or come-hither as her usual shade of light pink or dark red. ?Look who?s here,? Jenny whispered to Elise in front of the Stila counter. ?Hi, Blair.? ?Great haircut!? added Elise perkily. Blair turned around to find two of the freshmen from her peer group: she-really-should-have-a-breast-reduction Ginny, and in-desperate-need-of-a-makeover Eliza, or whatever their names were, staring at her admiringly. She was horrified to see that they were trying on some of the same eye shadows and lip glosses that she wore all the time. Couldn?t they just stick with Maybelline from Rite Aid or something? Elise frowned down at the vial of glittery black eye dust in............