Cloze: Gossip Girl

Nostalgic for those traumatic high school years when the cool kids ruled the school, nerds could expect to see the inside of a locker with some regularity, and the head of the basketball team ___________________________(1) only be seen with the captain of the cheerleaders on his arm? Apparently, ___________________________(2) many Americans in the 20– and 30– something demographic, the answer is yes. And now, with the addition of endless supplies of money ___________________________(3) free time, combined with hands-off parents, ___________________________(4) hit teen soap Gossip Girl ___________________________(5) struck a chord with adolescents and adults alike. The New York backdrop of the popular drama adds a sufficiently high-stakes element ___________________________(6) your old high school probably did not have. The hallways of your ___________________________(7) mater, be ___________________________(8) in a small town nestled somewhere in the Midwest, or a sleepy beach community in Virginia, look tame in comparison, no ___________________________(9) how many times the math club members ___________________________(10) their lunch money stole nor the girls ___________________________(11) up excuses to get out of gym class. On Gossip Girl, daily drama could consist of anything ___________________________(12) hazing a new teacher to having a socialite friend extort hundreds of thousands of dollars in investments from school parents. Serena, Blair, Vanessa, Chuck, Dan, and Nate all consider this a part of a normal (albeit eventful!) day's work. New couplings, skeletons in the ___________________________(13) ,and unlikely intrigues surface weekly in the lives of our favorite television cast. For most 16-year olds, arriving ___________________________(14) school in style means a daily carpool in a friend's Jeep; for the Gossip Girls and company, anything ___________________________(15) than a limo with a private chauffeur would mean an instant social demise.