Just as Aaron had suspected, there was a cream-colored envelope from Harvard waiting for him beside the Spode china milk jug of white roses on the side table in the foyer of his father and stepmother?s East Seventy-second Street penthouse apartment. Aaron let an extremely thirsty Mookie tear down the hall to the kitchen with his leash still on and picked up the letter with rigid fingers. Serena was waiting expectantly behind him, but he would really rather have opened it alone.What if he didn?t get in? Serena slipped out of her coat and tossed it on the blue toile?upholstered chair in the corner. ?I?ll still love you no matter what,? she said breathlessly. Aaron stared down at the envelope, annoyed at himself for feeling so tense. He was usually pretty mellow about this kind of thing. ?Fuck it,? he declared under his breath and tore open the sealed envelope. He unfolded the neatly creased cream-colored piece of paper and read the short paragraph typed on it, twice. Then he looked up at Serena. ?Uh-oh.? Her face fell. What a horrible thing for her sweet love to go through! ?Oh, poor baby. I?m so sorry.? Aaron handed her the letter and she glanced at it reluctantly. Dear Mr. Rose, We have reviewed your application and we are very pleased to inform you of your acceptance to Harvard University?s class of?Serena?s blue eyes were suddenly enormous. ?You got in! Oh baby, you got in!? Behind them, Myrtle, the cook, walked briskly down the hall with a drooling, panting Mookie trailing after her. Her light yellow maid?s uniform was spattered with something orangey-red and she looked pissed. ?Myrtle, Aaron got intoHarvard ,? Serena announced proudly. She put her arms around her boyfriend and gave him a squeeze. ?Isn?t that amazing?? Myrtle was unimpressed. She thrust Mookie?s leash at Aaron, her fleshy wrists jangling with gold bracelets and her work-weary hands smelling of onions. ?Better take that dog with you where you?re going,? she chided before stomping back to the kitchen in her new white Nike tennis shoes. Serena and Aaron grinned mischievously at each other. ?I think this calls for a little celebration, don?t you?? Aaron asked, his relief mutating instantaneously into cockiness. Serena tweaked his adorable freckled nose with a slender forefinger. ?I know where they keep the champagne.? Blair rode the elevator up to her family?s penthouse overlooking Central Park at Seventy-second Street. When the elevator doors rolled open she instantly recognized Serena?s new navy blue cashmere pea coat flung carelessly on top of the toile Louis XVI chaise in the foyer. It was still hard to get used to the idea of Serena hanging out at her house when she wasn?t even home. ?Blair?? Serena?s voice echoed out of the former guest room, which now belonged to Aaron. ?Get in here. Where have you been?? ?Hold on,? Blair called. She pulled off her light blue duffle coat and hung it up in the coat closet. She didn?t really feel like explaining her drastic new look to Serena and Aaron while they were sitting around in their underwear or something equally nauseating, but she didn?t see how she could get out of it. If she ignored them, they?d soon be banging her door down, bouncing up and down on her bed, and demanding her attention like immature imbeciles. The smell of herbal cigarette smoke wafted out into the hall. ?Hey,? she called, standing outside the half-opened door. ?Come on in,? Aaron slurred. After two glasses of Dom Perignon he was already tipsy. ?We?re having a party.? Blair pushed open the door. The room had been redecorated for Aaron in shades of aubergine and cerulean, with funky fifties gray metal shutters in the windows instead of curtains and giant vinyl beanbag chairs on the floor to lounge around on. The woven organic hemp mat covering the hardwood floor was littered with CD cases, computer games, DVDs, music magazines, and library books about Jamaican Rasta culture and the evils of the meat industry. Serena and Aaron were sitting on the disheveled Edwardian four-poster bed, drinking champagne out of her mother?s best crystal flutes,in their underwear , just as Blair had predicted. Actually, Serena was wearing one of Aaron?s oversized hunter green BRONXDALEATHLETICT-shirts, with her white satin La Perla panties peeking out from underneath it. Well, at least it wasnice underwear. Blair was about to ask what the big occasion was when Serena blurted out, ?Aaron got in! He got into Harvard!? Blair stared at them, bile rising in her throat. It was hard enough to look at Serena?s gorgeous abundance of long, pale blond hair now that her own hair was sitting in a trash can back on Fifty-seventh Street, but the smug smile on Aaron?s annoying dreadlocked face was enough to make her want to projectile vomit all over his stupid cruelty-free rug. ?Pull up a beanbag,? Aaron offered. He pointed to the Harvard mug sitting on his desk. ?That mug?s pretty clean if you want some champagne.? Serena waved a sheet of cream-colored paper in the air. ?Listen to this. ?Dear Mr. Rose,?? she read aloud. ??We have reviewed your application and we are very pleased to inform you of your acceptance to Harvard University?s class of??? Blair had gone to the hair salon without eating any lunch, and this little we-love-Aaron worshipfest was making her dizzy with disgust.She was the one who should have been openingher early acceptance letter, but after her botched interview Constance Billard?s college advisor had told her it was best not to apply early. Getting into Yale had been Blair?s sole mission in life?well, besides marrying Nate Archibald and living happily every after in the ivy-covered brick town house just off Fifth that she already had picked out?but now she?d have to wait until April along with all the rest of the morons in her class to find out if she?d even gotten in. It was completely unfair. ?Sorry, Blair.? Aaron sipped his champagne. He?d always been supersensitive about ruffling Blair?s feathers, but he was feeling too good about himself right now to bother. ?I?m not going to apologize for getting in. I deserve this.? As if the enormous new science wing his father?s development company built on campus last year had absolutely nothing to do with it. ?Fuck you,? Blair replied. ?In case you forgot, I would be hearing from Yale right now if you hadn?t kept me up drinking shit beer and eating crappy junk food in that gross motel room the night before my interview.? Aaron rolled his eyes. ?I never told you to kiss your interviewer.? Serena let out a little snort and Blair glared at her. ?Sorry,? Serena apologized quickly. ?Come on, Blair,? she coaxed. ?You?re, like, the best student in our class. You?re totally getting in. You just have to wait until April to find out.? Blair kept on glaring at her. She didn?t want to wait until April. She wanted to knownow . Aaron lit another herbal cigarette and tilted his chin toward the ceiling to blow a few smoke rings. Already there seemed to be a sort of lazy, superior air about him, as if he knew he could just drink champagne all day for the rest of second semester and still go to Harvard. The fucker. ?Hey,? he yawned. ?I have to head up to Scarsdale to practice with my band, but let?s go out later to celebrate.? Serena stood up on the bed and did a few jumping jacks, as if she really needed the exercise. ?Definitely.? Blair watched Serena?s gorgeous hair fly up into the air above her head and then cascade prettily down onto her shoulders as Aaron blew more smoke rings. All of a sudden, Blair couldn?t stand to be in the same room with them. ?I have homework to do,? she huffed, reaching up to feel her new hairdo as s............