The Whispers

This chapter begins where the Prelude ends: with the fallout from Whitney’s behavior toward Xavier during the party. Immediately, she feels “exposed,” knowing everyone has seen the worst of her. Remorse overwhelms her, and the “familiar high” of her anger subsides. She apologizes to Xavier and tells him he can stay in his room. When Whitney rejoins the party, she lies about Xavier having a mental illness, hoping other moms will sympathize. They do. Blair overhears this lie with “discomfort” before rescuing Whitney with a question.

When most of the guests are gone, Whitney asks Blair and Aiden to stay for drinks. Whitney pressures Blair to dance, and, though Blair hates to, she does it anyway, enjoying an “unfamiliar” moment of fun and freedom. She thinks of Aiden watching her and gets aroused until she notices that he is watching Whitney instead of her. Feeling invisible, Blair thinks, “She is not there at all—she never is” (109).

Hearing Ben downstairs watching baseball, Rebecca goes to an online pregnancy forum on her tablet. She doesn’t let herself “consum[e] [all] the details” of this stage of pregnancy (111), but she takes a few minutes to enjoy having made it this far.