Episode Report Card Kim: B+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Drawing The Line, Part I
By Kim | Season 1 | Episode 7 | Aired on 11.09.1998
Felicity walks down the street in slow motion, and enters a building. She walks down the hall while reading a piece of paper, then encounters Blair and shows him the paper.
Elena is in her dorm room packing to leave when Blair enters, saying that he wanted to see her before she left school forever and he never saw her again. Elena closes the door and apologizes for not telling him what's going on. She explains that she's angry with her father for not paying her tuition bill and that now her father is saying that he's not sure he even wants her to go to college. Blair interrupts her and confesses that he knows that Elena's scholarship didn't go through and that her dad doesn't make enough money to help. Elena looks shocked, then upset. After an awkward silence, Blair says that he has something for her, and hands her the piece of paper he got from Felicity earlier. Blair explains that there are very specific scholarships out there, and he has found one that Elena qualifies for. Elena reads that the scholarship is designated for an African-American woman, pre-med, one-parent family, moderate to low-income, attending a New York college. Blair explains that he called the woman giving the scholarship and that the money was not awarded this year. Elena repeats, "Moderate to low-income family with one parent." Blair exhorts her to call the scholarship woman, and then admits that he asked someone to check Elena's file, so he knows that she qualifies. Elena wants to know who checked the file, but Blair gets all defensive, saying that Elena wouldn't tell him anything about what was wrong. Elena demands to know who it was, and Blair admits that it was Felicity, but that she did it as a favor to him. Elena grabs her coat and leaves, slamming the door.
Felicity is working at Dean & Deluca. Knoll walks in and tells her that he's there to redraw the line. Felicity says that he can't do that because the line is "a symptom of some fundamental discord." Knoll protests, but Felicity says that he was right, and that she shouldn't talk to him about Ben. Knoll shows his lack of spine by saying that Felicity can talk to him about anything except sex. Felicity looks shocked but keeps wiping down tables, trying to ignore him. Knoll starts yelling that Felicity can never talk to him about having sex with Ben, like pipe down, Knoll! Felicity says that she's going to have to draw the line. Knoll asks where her line is, but before Felicity can answer, Elena walks in and starts yelling at Felicity for looking in her file, saying that Felicity had no right to do that. Felicity tries to protest. Elena starts babbling that she got a full scholarship to a private high school only because she is poor and black. Felicity points out that Elena is also smart. Elena replies that it didn't matter, and that every student knew why she was there. The scholarship that Elena had for college was based on merit, and she doesn't want Felicity's "handout." Felicity looks downtrodden. Elena gives her the "Thanks, but no thanks" speech and stomps out. Felicity brushes past Knoll as he tries to get her back into their conversation.