.
D: "So, how'd you even get in?
S: I have a key
D: You have a key…?
S: …what happened to being beyond this?"
(Dan and Serena, S1 E17)
Chapter 7: V Day Surprises
[Wednesday, February 14]
Come Wednesday morning, Serena's phone alarm had decided not to work again.
"GAH!" She exclaimed, clawing through her bed covers as she tumble out of her bunk.
To her surprise, Ashley was still sleeping below.
"Ashley! Wake up! "
"Mmph..." Ashley rolled over in annoyance. "What?"
"It's almost 10:00am! We have to get up!"
Ashley's mumbling was incoherent to Serena's sleep-clogged ears.
"What?"
"Another. Snow. Day." Ashley growled. "I turned off your alarm for you!"
"Oh… thanks." Serena turned around and pulled up her shade. The snow was once again falling heavy, thick, and white. She knew it was daytime, yet with the snowfall made the outside seem unusually dark, like there was a thick blanket pulled over the sky. There were no signs of it letting up.
"Close that window and go back to bed!"
Serena shrugged and did just that.
By noontime the snow was still flying, but the roads were cleared enough to get at least some of the cafeteria workers through, and the grounds crew had cleared the walkways enough to get the students to the dining hall.
Serena walked the path alone as Ashley was still making her way out of bed. She found it surprisingly tranquil – though the covered walkways were open at the sides, the thickly falling snow created her own private tunnel. She could barely make out the bare trees planted to her left, and couldn't even see the dorms farther afield on the other side of the quad.
She had just reached out to grab the dining hall door when, to her infinite surprise, a pair of unexpectedly strong arms threaded themselves around her shoulders and pulled her back a step. Her fingers slipped off the brass knob just as a kiss was pressed into her cold cheek. Warm lips lingered on the spot as they formed themselves into syllables.
"Happy Valentines Day." Jake whispered.
"…gee thanks." She said dazedly. A warm glow washed over her cheeks as he embraced her for a moment longer, before gently letting go. Truth be told, she had almost forgotten it was Valentines Day. With no boyfriend or pre-planned social events to speak of, this February the 14th was an uncharacteristic blank in her calendar…
"No problem." Jake responded. "You were the first on my list."
… then reality doused her like a bucket of ice water.
Serena let out a deep sigh, chasing away the butterflies of illusion. "It was Ashley wasn't it?"
Jake winked. "Only the Junior Class Social Chairs knows for sure."
It would have only been fitting; Ashley was the one who warned Serena about this day. One of the more creative Knightley fundraising traditions was "Ivy* Kiss Day". Every year in the weeks leading up to Valentines Day, the students of the Junior class put up their lips for sale; selling their kisses to raise money for their prom. The kisses could be bought anonymously by anyone, for anyone, and be delivered by a junior of their choosing on Valentines Day (or the next Monday, if the holiday fell over the weekend.)
"And who else will you be assaulting today?"
"Lets see." Jake pulled out an emailed list from one of his deep pockets. "Three freshmen I've never heard of, Caitlyn – she's a senior but we go way back, and Kim."
"Well aren't you mister popular." She said, with a bit more sarcasm than perhaps the situation called for. She was still smarting from the bursting of her happy bubble.
"Please." He scoffed. "You should see Josh's list. The man has to kiss, like, twenty girls on the crew team alone. And you! When you're a junior you'll probably get jumped by the entire wrestling squad."
Serena wrinkled her nose. "God I hope not. They smell bad."
"You guys aren't frozen yet?" Ashley's echoed behind them both as she came up the walkway, almost buried in her L.L. Bean down-feather coat. "Serena, you are one slow walker."
Serena shrugged and Jake held the door for both of them as they went inside.
Their lunch was entirely disposable that day, served on paper plates and with plastic cutlery so that the few kitchen staff who were able to make it could get back home as quickly as possible and didn't have to waste time washing dishes.
Ashley, on the other hand, had no intention of going back to her room.
"You brought books with you?" Jake asked, eyeing her backpack before taking a big bite of meatloaf.
"Well yeah, I have a test tomorrow." Ashley replied. "I was going to go to the library afterwards." The library was one of the few buildings that routinely stayed open, even on snow days.
"I think you're underestimating Old Man Weather." Jake continued. "I mean, look at the radar! They'd be crazy not to call it a snow-week!"
"Well, I think you're overestimating this school's powers of observation." Ashley interjected, as she put her tray down next to Serena's. "But remember the day before spring break last year?"
Jake cringed. "Yeah." He turned towards Serena. "There was a big snow storm heading towards Connecticut, but the school didn't want to close early because they weren't sure if it would hit. But we were buried on Friday and most parents weren't able to pick up their kids until the next Monday. My family had to completely reshuffle our trip to Bermuda because of it."
"This school rarely make intelligent choices when it comes to cancelling school." Ashley agreed.
Just then, a somewhat malicious gleam lit up in Jake's eyes. "Ah ha! Another victim! Excuse me ladies,"
Serena shrugged and continued eating her spaghetti. A few seconds later Kim's piercing screech echoed over the vaulted ceilings of the dining hall, followed closely by the clatter of trays and squelch of tomatos as Kim dumped lasagna down her front in shock. Serena jumped about a foot off her seat.
"Ohmygod!" Serena gasped, her fork dropping out of her hand.
"You both certainly startle easily." Ashley replied, unfazed as she continued to cut up her pepperoni pizza.
"Only with him, apparently. Is he always like this on snow days?"
Ashley shrugged. "Honestly, I don't know. We weren't really friends last year."
"Oh? Who'd he spend time with?"
"Travis and Kim, mostly, and I guess some of the other guys in his dorm. Before that? Well, I knew him even less well freshman year. But he ran with a very different crowd. They had some kind of falling out though, over a girl I think."
That piqued Serena's interest, but before she could ask more Jake had retreated to the table, followed by Kim's livid admonitions.
"You violated my personal space AND made me drop a tray! OF LASAGNA! My parents sent me these slippers all the way from Wellington! I am going to KICK your ASS!"
Pertinent questions were thus delayed in the interest of playing peacemaker. She didn't forget completely, however.
"I don't get why she's still mad. I said I was sorry – AND I offered to pay for the dry cleaning!"
"Girls take a little while to get over the loss of special items of clothing." Serena patted his shoulder. "Don't worry; she'll get over it eventually."
Jake and Serena were plowing their way along the half-buried school paths leading out towards the sports fields. Ashley and Kim had left for the library, the latter refusing to speak to him until further noticed. Jake wanted to take a 'romp through the grounds' as he called it (a type of excursion which was becoming a regular thing with them, Ashley would later point out.) As much as Serena liked the idea of getting away from the sight of school, however short the distance was, she changed her mind shortly after they set out.
"We should turn back." Serena said. "It's turning nasty."
The wind had shifted, and though the snow was falling down less thickly than before, it was doing so almost at a ninety-degree angle, so it felt like icicles were whipping through Serena's unprotected nose and ungloved fingers.
Jake merely shook his head without slowing down, two facts that Serena could barely make out through the snowfall. "You have clearly underestimated the Connecticut winter." His voice sounded distant.
"Seriously, Jake, I want to go back…"
"It's just a bit of snow."
"But it's cold, and I didn't bring gloves. There isn't anything to see out here anyway." It was true, the sports fields were a great plane of white. The forest that bordered it on three sides could barely be discerned from the sky.
"But this is what I always do on snow days." Jake replied.
"Hmm… what if I share some of my hot chocolate with you instead?" Serena knew that Jake, like herself, was quite peculiar about the quality of his hot chocolate. It may not have been the swiss brand that she kept stocked at home, but Godiva was nothing to shake a stick at in the wilderness, and she knew Jake knew how protective she was of her stash."
"Hmm… you drive a hard bargain." Jake finally stopped and turned around. "Okay, fine. But only if you make it with milk. In fact, I have the stuff in my common area. Why don't you just bring the powder over?"
"Sure." Serena replied, not really caring about the details but just thankful that she would soon be back in the warmth. Turning back, she put her hands in her pocket hoping to warm them up. However, her right hand ran into something cold and hard. She numbly fingered it for a moment, before her nail hit the metal teeth and she remembered.
Oh yeah.
"Here." Jake handed her a cup. "I think you will find the Chocolate to Milk ratio quite satisfactory.
Serena took a generous sip, and sighed into her cup as warm chocolate flooded her mouth. "Mmm... Your middle school math teacher would be proud."
They had made it back to the warmth of Jake's common room. Jake had grabbed two blankets and they were both curled up on opposite ends of the couch facing the fireplace, where a roaring fire glowed. It was approaching 3pm, and yet the dorm was unusually quiet as most of the boys had chosen this day to hole up in their rooms as long as possible. Serena didn't disturb the quiet, but was content to simply stare at the fire as the silence stretched out between them. There was no awkwardness felt as they both sipped their cocoa, it felt comfortable.
"Hey, you're on the Disciplinary Board, right?" Serena asked.
"Yeah."
"So… let's say I broke a rule… and then I told you about it. Do you have to report me to your own board?"
He thought a minute, swirling the cocoa in his cup with one hand. "No. The rules about being on the Disciplinary Committee is different than being an RA. I'm not under any obligation to say anything..." His eye's narrowed. "Why? What did you do?"
"Here." Serena handed him the key she had dug out of her pocket. "Maybe you'll know what to do with it better than me."
"This isn't the key to your heart is it? I didn't think you were that corny."
"No!" She aimed a playful kick in his direction. "Trust me; I'm more expensive than that. I just found it… check out what it says."
He did and nearly dropped his cocoa on the floor when he read the serial number.
"Do you know what this is?"
"I can guess."
"It's a frickin' master key. Where did you 'find' this?"
"A drawer."
"A drawer? Uh huh. Where?"
"Ms. Robinson's apartment."
"SERENA!" Even without the added volume of his admonition, the anger in his voice was unmistakable. in the volume looked clearly shocked.
"What?"
"You STOLE from a TEACHER!" Though Jake had lowered his voice, his words sounded even harsher for it. "What happens when she finds it missing?"
"Hey, it was buried under a drawer. It had DUST on it for crying out loud."
His eyes glittered in genuine anger. Serena was a bit shocked; she'd never seen him genuinely angry at her before. But before she had a chance to bite into him he continued.
"What were you thinking? Do you know how much trouble you could have gotten in if someone figured out you have it? It's worse than having pot - you could be EXPELLED! Man, I thought you might be a bit of a rule breaker, but I never pegged you for a klepto."
Serena frowned. "I don't think one minor theft will set me down the bad path forever. Besides, the key was hardly in use. I don't even know that it opens anything."
"Well then, why the hell did you take it?"
"I DON'T KNOW!" She retorted. "It was kind of an impulse decision."
"Well, get rid of it."
"No."
The stubbornness in her voice surprised even her.
"No?" Jake asked, shocked.
"No, I'm not. It's a key, Jake, not a bottle of tequila. It's not going to be that hard to hide. I have a perfectly useful key, which as you said is a master key, who knows when it might come in useful."
He made as if to argue again, but she beat him to it.
"And you're right Jake. I may not be a klepto but I'm not afraid of bending the rules when I need to. I've tried to be good, Jake. But I'm bored. I've been bored for weeks. Don't you get it? This key… its possibilities. For all I know, it might not open anything; they may have changed whatever locks it was connected with. But I might as well try to figure it out."
"There are thirty thousand doors on this campus!" He pointed out, exaggerating just a bit. "You don't even know what this one goes to."
"Well, it's a good thing I'm going to start figuring it out… now." Not that she had planned to, but in the heat of their argument it seemed like the best possible move.
"Now? In broad daylight?"
"Why not?" Serena started walking towards the main hall. "None of the faculty are around, and all the buildings are unlocked during the day. I can go through each classroom one at a time."
"You're going to get caught." He denied her flatly. "Campus safety is still wandering the halls. A student, wandering the halls with a key not her own? That smells suspicious."
"Well yes…" She thought out loud, "But not if you come with me."
"How you figure?"
"Well, it is Valentines day." Serena gave him devilish wink. This was really too much fun. "We'd just use the obvious, and much more excusable cover."
They went through the campus, working their way building by building. Jake kept a lookout and covered Serena from view as pushed the key into various locks. The snow had picked up while they were in doors, and as such they were only a few times, mostly by students couples looking for a private enclave, and once by a wandering security guard. Serena and Jake had just entered the building when he came into view. Serena grabbed Jake's arm and nestled her head into the crook of his neck, until they could both hear the echoes of his retreating footsteps.
"You can let go now." Jake said after a few moments longer than strictly neccecary. And she did.
The entire day was rather discouraging. Though they had made it through most of the buildings, they had only found a few doors that could be unlocked, and in no particular order: two offices, a hallway door, and (strangely) all the broom closets. All the classroom doors, however, stayed locked.
"Well, that was disappointing." Serena frowned.
"Yeah, you'd think a key marked M would open more than one door of a type."
"Maybe they rotated the locks?"
Jake shook his head. "No, that'd be too expensive. Likelier this key doesn't go with classroom buildings."
"Then what about the broom closets?"
"Maybe they're just the lowest of the low – any key can open them?"
"I suppose. Should we hit the gym next?"
"What, to work out?"
"No, to see what this will do."
"You're seriously going to go through all the locks at this school just to satisfy your curiosity."
"Like I said, I'm bored."
"The idea of living with your closest comrades twenty-four seven starting to get old? Painting not exciting enough for you? What else would you rather do?"
"I don't know!" She threw up her hands. "I haven't travelled outside of this town in weeks! I'm getting a little stir crazy!"
"Uh huh. And how often did you leave the City during the winter?"
"Probably once a month. But come on, even you have to admit that there's a lot more to do in the city than here."
"Well, of course there is. Knightley doesn't have eleven million people. I'm just trying to help."
"I don't know if you can, but thanks for trying."
"Ok, so if it was a snow day in New York City, what would you be doing?" He asked
"Oh… well, after sleeping in my best friend would probably invite me over to her house to watching something with Audrey Hepburn in it. We'd eat waffles and drink mimosas."
"Well, I don't know if I can help with the first. Roman Holiday is one of my girlfriends favorite movies and I have sat through it enough times to never watch it again voluntarily. I must have sat through it half a dozen times last summer. Too sappy for my taste." Jake's nose had a very cute way of crinkling when he showed displeasure, which made Serena chuckle at the sight.
"…but I do have other movies. Let's go watch some. I'm half-frozen and it's too cold to keep standing around here."
"Sounds like a plan."
The hot chocolate was Ghirardelli this time, which Jake warmed up in a saucepan along with the milk while Serena glanced through the DVD case he had brought down. Somewhere between the lines of Film Noir and Science fiction, he did also have some classics.
They settled on Animal House.
"An iconic example of the power American film making;" Jake had speculated. "Their evil suggesting to parents, administrators and lawmakers alike that such debauchery was rampant across the board and convincing them to raise the drinking age." Serena thought Jake was full of it and said as much. "Maybe, but the rest is, as they say - history."
"Come on, you don't think the drinking age high school students are doing that exact same thing?" She said.
"Was there a lot of drinking in your last school?"
Serena snorted. "Tons. I'm honestly surprised there isn't any here."
"Oh, there is." Jake said, frowning. "Don't let the academic shine fool you - Knightley has just a seedy underbelly as any other school. In fact, it's gotten worse over the years. I'm surprised you haven't noticed it, if you partied as much as you say you did in the past."
"I haven't been looking for it." Serena shrugged.
"Why not?"
As Serena got more and more intune with the Knightley daily life, questions about Constance and her life before these walls had become increasingly rare. Even Jake hadn't tried to pry in so long that Serena had thought he'd given up. This last question had caught Serena so off guard she had given an inflammatory response instead of an inert comment that served as her usual form of deflection.
From the way Jake was looking at her now it was obvious that he wanted her to elaborate. A month ago she wouldn't have dreamed of it; but maybe it was the fact that they were completely alone – an unusual feat for the busy life of Knightley students. They were also literally snowed in, holed up in the common room and nestled in blankets that Jake had brought down. The drama of New York seemed miles and miles away. So, Serena answered honestly.
"It's different here. I can't imagine drinking with the amount of faculty scruitiny here. Back in NYC drinking always happened off campus - after school at Socialite, Red Pagoda, whatever the 'club of the moment' was between Fifth and Seventh. We'd go out every week, pretty much. There was usually one main party on the weekends, though not always. Sometimes we'd just raid our parents' liquor closet or go clubbing."
"And the parents were okay with this?"
"They didn't really have much say in the matter. It's not like they could lock them in at night – it's not that hard to catch a taxi. Though, I suppose they could have cut them off allowance wise… but honestly? I don't think most of them cared enough to do so. Mine didn't."
"And you're bitter about it why?"
"Huh?"
"I mean, from your tone it sounds like you hated it, but it seems like you were the life of the party."
"I had my moments. Trust me; you don't want to hear the details… I'm actually surprised I haven't seen more drinking around here! I mean, some of the stories I heard back home about life at boarding schools were wilder than Constance."
"Yeah… well, Hanover Academy is like that for sure, there's a running joke that the teachers allow them to do it because it's the drunken glow saves them on heating costs. I mean, like I said, don't under estimate Knightley's seedy underbelly. Maybe we're just smarter about hiding it. Even so, about five kids get expelled for drinking every year, and it's generally because they get too drunk and do something stupid to call attention to themselves. Tons of people have alcohol in their rooms; of the twenty-five guys on my floor, I've seen five drinking in their rooms, though I'd guess at the real number is more like fifteen. I know a bunch of them have tried pot while on campus and three others do coke. One uses Ritalin without a prescription."
"Wow. How'd you know all that?"
Jake shrugged. "I'm observant."
"Enough to have x-ray vision?"
"Well, I have very good hearing." He scoffed.
"Wow."
"Come on, you know how thin the walls are."
"How do they get it?" Serena asked.
"I don't know. Why, curious?"
"Ha, better not let me know."
"And here I thought you were a straight arrow… well, I'm impressed you've grown out of it. You've clearly started making good life choices." The cheekiness of his tone brushed Serena the wrong way and she had to bite back the urge to set him straight.
You have no idea how hard it was. It wasn't all a choice you know. She thought instead.
He clearly didn't know her. Nothing right now would make her backslide. The need to drink came out of the environment they all were in. Granted, a gin party might lighten up a Saturday night here. But, well, you had to drink there if you even had a chance of being ignored. To be truly popular, you had to go all out. Besides, the more you drank, the easier it was to forget the sorry situation which put you there in the first place…
"Why were you angry?"
"Huh?"
"When you were shouting at me for having the key, I've never seen you so livid."
"Oh… yeah, I guess I over-reacted. I just don't like seeing people do stupid stuff that could get them in trouble. Especially my friends. I see it happen more often than most, remember I'm on the DC. It's no fun to expel someone, or to be expelled - to leave all your friends behind. Trust me."
I can imagine. She thought.
By dinner time they had finished Animal House and took an hour to comb through some of the academic and athletic buildings on campus and weren't any closer to finding what the supposedly "master" about the key. The doors they opened included one faculty office (Mr. Rhodelli, who taught Calculus), seven broom closets, and three classrooms, and the back door of the painting studio, but with no discernible pattern. Their most interesting discovery was actually behind an unlocked door – there was an old stairwell in the back of one of the closets which led up to the copula on the third floor of the main building. The library, the science center, and the residence halls were still left to be explored.
"Should we try the dorms now?" Serena asked as they came out of the language department.
"No. Too many people are around and the snow has stopped. We'll have to do it another time. Shall we return to dinner?" Jake said, and in an exaggerated gesture offered his arm to her.
They walked back towards the dining hall, crossing over as they did the main road which allowed cars to drive through campus. Parked on the chapel side, (in the fire lane), was a black stretch limousine.
"Huh. It isn't often you see a limo drive up through Knightley." Jake commented.
Serena turned to look, but at that moment the sun peeked out from a hole in the clouds and the glare off the limo's windshield momentarily blinded her. As she rubbed her eyes clear of it, she heard a door open and a voice call out to her.
"Hello Serena."
The voice was sarcastic in its arrogance, as well as chillingly familiar. Two invisible hands clenched and twisted Serena's stomach as her vision cleared and she saw the familiar figure descend into the snow, and glance knowingly at the arm that held Jake to her.
"Just as popular as ever I see." The figure said. "Well, it's refreshing to know that nothing's changed."
Serena let go of Jake's arm and didn't say anything, just stood and stared unbelievably at the figure who she had thought she left in Manhattan, her mind trying to make sense of her carefully separated New York City and Connecticut life colliding irrevocably.
As they looked at each other the silence began to stretch into 'awkward' territory, but only Jake seemed to mind. He shifted against the cold for a few minutes, but finally good manners got the better of him. He walked forward into the heat from their stares and he held out his hand to the newcomer.
"Hi. I'm Jake."
"Jake Charles Montgomery." The enigma in front of him ignored the outstretched hand while savoring the name. "House in Fairfield, you summer at Newport."
"Yes." Jake raided his eyebrows.
"How does your cousin like Harvard?"
"Ah... a lot from what I hear…I'm surprised you made the connection." He pressed. Jake blustered, and he never blustered. Montgomery wasn't that common of a name, His grandfather might have been the founder of a prominent architecture firm, but he didn't think the name was that recognizable. He and his cousin didn't look a thing alike either.
Serena, on the other hand, looked surprised not at all. She had gone stony and silent, not looking anywhere but on this boy with an oddly formal manner and a totally incongruous scarf.
"What can I say? I know everything." The boy said enigmatically.
"Well, it's good to meet you, ah..." Jake raised an eyebrow, obviously wondering who this person was that could zip up his normally laid-back friend tighter than a straight jacket.
"Yes. The formalities."
The hand that finally gripped Jake's was firm and cool. Two professional shakes at first, yet then a third which lingered, trapping Jake's hand as he tried to escape. It was as distinctive as well-tailored business suit, leaving Jake with a cold sense of the power behind this individual, whatever his age.
The figure smiled knowingly.
"I'm Chuck Bass."
* It's called 'Ivy Kiss Day' because Eleventh Grade-ers, ie juniors, ie Form IV had the archaic nickname at Knightley of "Ivies". I-Vee. IV – Four. Get it? There are nicknames for every grade, but you don't need to hear those now.
A/N: OMG! This is going to be fun :-)
This chapter also took way too long in coming, in truth it was finished a good three months ago. Rather than suffering over tweaking it to perfection, here it is complete and uploaded! My profuse apologies.
I'll be adding another side-story, soon, called 'November Was White, December Was Grey'– one week after graduation Nate and Serena get together for a chat, discussing where they are and where they are going. Enjoy!
xoxo,
Lily Jacobs