Nate walked into the Van der Woodsen household and heard shouting coming from Serena's room. He frowned and ran over there. He opened the door to find Chuck and Serena arguing.
"Woah! Guys! What's going on here?"
"She has something of mine and I want it back."
Serena looked at Nate. "It doesn't belong to you! You can have it back once I'm done looking through it."
Chuck started arguing again and Nate grabbed his arm and pulled him away. "You'll have it back by tomorrow. Just let her see it. It's important to her. Come on, man."
Chuck rolled his eyes. "Of course you're on her side. But if I don't have it back by tomorrow I'm coming back and taking it." He shot Serena a dirty look and turned and walked out of her room.
Serena looked at Nate. "Thanks."
"Did you find anything interesting?"
She shook her head. "Not even remotely."
…
Serena sat at one of the benches in Central Park and watched as all the happy couples walked by. Sometimes she wished she could be with someone who didn't know absolutely everything about her. Someone who'd never even heard of Georgina. Everything would be so much simpler and she wouldn't have to try so hard to be happy with him. She looked up to see Nate walking towards her and completely forgot about all her speculations.
His eyes met hers and he flashed her a bright smile instantly. Serena felt butterflies in her stomach and she blushed and looked away.
Nate sat next to her on the bench. "Sorry I'm late."
Serena smiled at him and gave him a quick kiss. "It's okay."
"Wanna go to lunch? Our reservation is in 15 minutes."
Serena thought about it for a second. "How about we just go grab a slice of pizza? And eat it while we walk around here?"
Nate nodded. "Pizza sounds great."
…
Serena kept zoning in and out of the conversation. Chuck was talking to them about the Murdochs but she was tired of the same thing. She smiled at Nate, who sat beside from her; he gave her a small smile back. She ran her hand up and down his thigh and then let it brush against him carelessly so that he was caught off guard and his eyes widened. She giggled under her breath.
Nate put his hand over hers under the table and kept it resting still on his knee. Serena broke free and would slide it back up his thigh to start the game all over again.
Chuck gave them a dirty look. "That's all I have to say. Now I gotta go. See you guys later."
Blair got up too. "I'll walk you out. Bye."
Nate looked at Serena. "You're a tease."
Serena looked at him innocently. "I have no idea what you're talking about."
Nate brushed her hair out of her hair and brought her closer to him. He kissed her deeply and ran his hands up and down her sides.
Serena let out a soft moan against his lips as she felt his hands slide under her dress.
A door opened and closed and Serena pulled away quickly and smoothed out her dress just as her mom turned the corner. "Hi Serena, hello Nate."
Nate nodded politely. "Hello Ms. Van der Woodsen. I was just leaving."
Serena frowned at him. "You were?"
"Yeah, I'll see you in a couple of hours though." He kissed her cheek and whispered softly, "We can pick up where we left off."
…
"Where's Nate?"
Serena shrugged. "Not sure. I haven't heard from him today."
"He'll be here can't miss his own graduation." Blair gave her a small smile and then turned to see Nate appear in the doorway.
Nate smiled at them. "Hey B." He gave her a tight hug.
Blair hugged him back tightly. "I'll be in the other room."
Nate watched Blair leave and locked the door behind him. "Sorry I'm late."
Serena smiled at him. "That's okay."
Nate held his cap and gown in one arm and tried to put his tie on with the other.
Serena walked over and kissed his cheek. "Let me help." She made sure it was perfectly straight and then she looked at Nate's face and realized how nervous he suddenly looked. "You okay?"
He cleared his throat. "Yeah…I…" He swallowed hard. "I want to give you something."
Serena gave him a worried look. "Okay…"
"I want to marry you sometime in the future. And until I can give you an actually engagement ring…I wanted to give you this. It's a promise ring. As a placeholder. It's not very fancy or anything…I just thought it was nice. And you don't have to take it…I just wanted you to know that I think about our future all the time. I'm not trying to pressure you…" Nate realized he was rambling but he couldn't make himself stop talking.
Serena kissed him so he would shut up. "Baby, it's perfect. Thank you so much." She held out her hand and he slipped the ring on her. It was a thin white gold band with a small emerald in the center. Simple, delicate, but very pretty. "I love it. I love you."
Nate looked relieved. "Good. I'm glad." He pulled her in for a hug and held her tightly for a few seconds. "Now let's go get our diplomas before they change their minds."
…
Blair sat impatiently as she listened to the valedictorian give her speech and then the St. Jude's valedictorian give his. She just wanted to graduate already.
Luckily, Serena and her last names were next to each other so they got to sit together during the ceremony. Serena reached for her hand and gave her a tight squeeze and they were declared officially graduated. They all stood in unison and switched the tassel on their cap from one side to another.
Serena caught Nate's eye and gave him a small wink then she removed her cap and tossed it in the air.
The speakers came on to play the march for them to all walk out as high school graduates. A very different noise played, a laugh, that unmistakably belonged to Georgina Sparks.
The projector that showed their class picture changed into a quick video. Georgina's face was laughing at the camera but it abruptly cut to pictures of her beaten and bloody bodies.
Everyone watched in horror as red letters appeared on the screen. "I know you killed me."
The screen went black and then more red letters appeared. "I'm coming for you." Then the 15-second movie came to an end.
Blair grabbed Serena's hand and pulled her away from the silent crowd. Nate and Chuck reached them and Nate placed his arm around Serena and pulled her close.
Their classmates looked at one another, wondering who the murderer was. One by one their eyes fell on the four of them, the only students who had moved at all.