Nate had been expelled from school till the investigation was over. At first, he spent most of his days in bed. Then he decided to spend his days driving around aimlessly. Sometimes he'd check in on Natalie. Or watch her house at night. He met Natalie every Friday night at the motel. He looked forward to it every week. Natalie always made him feel better. Sometimes they fought.

"Get your fucking finger out of my face." Natalie said "it was one time." Nate said "Let me talk." Natalie said gently moving his hand out of her face.

And in turn, he made natalie feel better.

The couple said on the floor while natalie was crying. A few minutes later they had sex and then Nate layed between Natalie's legs and rubbed her arm.

"Do you think it's always gonna be like this from now on?" Nate asked the red head "what do you mean?" She asked "like do you think we are going to have to keep secretly meeting up?" Nate asked

"I don't know. I feel like you need a plan." Natalie said "what if I told you I already had one? I just need your help with one little thing." He said

"Then I'd ask what it was." Natalie said he looked up at her before explaining. Which she wasn't to thrilled about having an innocent man go to jail but when he explained who he was. He wasn't as innocent but he didn't do this. But she needed nate in her life. Not just her but her child.
Their child.

The other night nate had picked natalie up a few blocks away from her house since they weren't aloud to see each other yet and drove to Jules house and waited for her to come back home.

They saw her bike up to her house but stopped when she saw Nate's truck. Natalie had gotten out of Nate's truck so she could talk to her.

"Hey." Natalie said walking up to her "hey. It's Natalie right?" Jules asked "yeah, um, I know we don't know each other well. But can I ask for favor?" Natalie asked

"Sure." Jules said taking her headphones out of her ears "can you go to the sheriffs station and tell them you saw a man choke me at the carnival?" Natalie asked

"You want me to lie for Nate?" Jules asked her "why would I do a single thing for him?"she asked

"I know what he did to you was really fucked up. And he knows that. Well, he better know that. But this isn't just for him. It's for me too. And not a lot of people know this so please don't tell anybody other than maybe rue, but I'm pregnant with his child. So he/she needs him."

"I don't want to lie for him." Jules said and started to walk away but Natalie stopped her "I know. And I know you hate his guts. I would too. Look, to be honest he's in a really fucked up place in his life right now. Even if he hasn't said it to me. I know him well enough to know what he's going through. But we really need you to do this." Natalie said

"Nate almost killed you he should be in jail right now." Jules said "it's not his fault. He didn't mean to." Natalie said "he didn't mean to?" Jules asked

"It's not as bad as it looks." Natalie said "it looks like he tried to kill you. What explanation other than that would be believable." Jules asked

"When Nate and I left the carnival we went back to his house. And we had sex and Maddy had done something that pissed him off. And while we were, you know, he grabbed me by the throat. He got carried away. But when he realized what he was doing he stopped." Natalie said "we would've told the cops but no one would believe it. I can tell by the look on your face that you barley believe it. But it's true." Natalie added

"If I were to even do this what would I say?" Jules asked "you would tell them that you were going to the bathroom and saw Maddy leave as a guy walked up to me. And when you left the bathroom you heard him yelling at me. So you stopped and you watched. And you saw him slam against the slide of the trailers. And then you saw me finally get him off of me and run away. And you recognized the guy from somewhere but you didn't know where you saw him from. And then last night you remembered it was the guy I hooked up with the night of mckays party." Natalie said

Jules look at her trying to decide if she should do this or not. "How do I know that the sex story isn't just a cover up. That Nate really did try to kill you and your just protecting him." Jules said "you don't. You just have to believe that I'm telling the truth because I am."natalie said

"Swear on your baby's life." Jules said "I swear on my baby's life that Nate didn't mean to do this. That it was a mistake. And it did happen during sex." Natalie said "okay." Jules agreed hesitantly but she still hated that she was doing it

"You have no idea how much this means to me. I owe you big time." Natalie said "no don't worry about it." Jules said and hugged Natalie "I'm serious. Thank you so much." Natalie said Jules nodded and walked to her house pushing her bike and glancing at Nate as she passed the car.

Natalie got back into the truck and Nate looked at her "will she do it?" He asked Natalie nodded and Nate leaned over and kissed her

The next morning nate went to talk to Tyler. "Morning, Tyler." Nate said as Tyler walked out of the bathroom.

"Fuck. Oh, God." Tyler jumped "Sit down, Tyler." Nate said "Please, man. Please don't fucking hurt me again. Please." Tyler begged

"Tyler, I'm not gonna hurt you. You're in a fucking neck brace. Just sit down. I want to have a mature conversation. Come on." Nate said and pointed at the chair

"About what?" Tyler asked "Your options. It's okay. Sit."Nate said and Tyler sat in the chair "What are my options?" Tyler asked

"Not good, man. But one's better than the other." Nate said "Oh, fuck. Please, dude. I-I was in the hospital for, like, seven days. I-I... My retina detached, and I can't... I can't see, and, and...I get migraines constantly, and I can barely breathe through my nose..." Tyler said "Tyler. Tyler. I don't care. I need you to take a breath. Relax. I need you to go in your room and put some clothes on. Then I need you to get in your car and drive down to the East Highland police station. You're gonna walk up to the receptionist, and you're gonna tell her that you'd like to confess to a crime." Nate said "What crime?" Tyler asked

"The second night of the carnival, you ran into natalie clarke, who's a junior at East Highland High. You'd been stalking her since she turned down your sexual advances. You confronted her and asked her why she'd been ignoring you. She said it was because she had a boyfriend. You became enraged, and you choked her." Nate said

"What's my other option?" Tyler asked "Well, I mean you go about you day. But, at some point, Natalie Clarke is gonna go down to the East Highland police station. She's gonna walk up to the receptionist. She's gonna say that she'd like to report a crime." Nate said

"What crime?"Tyler asked
"On the weekend before school started, she went to a party. She got intoxicated. She blacked out. She was raped in the swimming pool by a 22-year-old college student named Tyler Clarkson. Who, on the second night of the carnival assaulted and raped her again." Nate said

"You cannot prove that I was at the carnival."Tyler said
"You sure about that?" Nate asked "Yeah. 'Cause I was here"Tyler said "Here. Alone?" Nate asked the blond

"I'm not gonna confess to a crime that I didn't do." Tyler said firmly "Then we'll make you confess to one that you did. Either way, it doesn't fucking matter." Nate said and patted his back scaring him before he left.

Later that day natalie got called down to the sheriffs station and they took her to the back where Tyler was.

"Do you recognize that man?" Detective Riley asked Natalie
"Yes. He's the guy who assaulted me the night of the carnival." Natalie said looking at Tyler

"Something about this whole thing just... I don't know. It just feels odd." Detective Riley said walking up the stairs "Riley, we got a girl in 202 who says she witnessed the clarke assault." A guy said and led her to the room

Detective Riley walked in the room and sat down looking at Jules "so what happened?"

"I was walking to the bathroom. And, uh... I saw Maddy talking to Natalie behind the trailer and then Maddy walked away as a guy walked up to natalie. And when I came out of the bathroom, I saw the same guy yelling at Natalie. And, I kind of, like, stopped and looked for a second. And then he grabbed her by the neck and kind of, like... pushed her up against the side of the trailer. And I knew... I knew the guy's face from somewhere. I just... couldn't, like, place it. Uh, and then... Last night, I realized where I knew him from. And, uh, he's the guy that hooked up with Natalie the night of McKay's party." Jules said

"Did anyone coerce you into making this statement today?" Detective Riley asked "No." Jules said "And you realize that filing a false police report or making false statements to the police impeding a criminal investigation is a very serious crime, punishable by up to seven years in prison." Detective Riley said

"I do." Jules said "I'll ask you one more time. Are you telling us the truth?" Detective Riley said and Jules nodded "Happy Halloween." The receptionist said as she past by Jules.

Later that night nate picked Natalie up from her house to go to the Halloween party and when they got there everyone watched nate and Natalie walk in together then started chanting Nate's name as he grabbed Natalie's hand and walked through the crowed.

Jules was drunk and was trying to get another drink and rue was trying to stop her. They both stoped when they heard people chanting Nate's name.

Nate picked Natalie up and put her on the counter before kissing her and pouring her some water since she couldn't drink.

People started coming up to nate and then Maddy walked up to Natalie.

"Bitch, I feel like I haven't seen you in forever." Maddy said as Natalie hopped off the counter hugging her best friend

Maddy looked up at nate "I'm sorry about the night of the carnival. I guess what you said about your parents not liking me really bugged me." Maddy said

"It's alright I should've have said what I said." Nate said "are you apologizing to me?" Maddy asked shocked nate laughed a little "what did you do to him?" Maddy asked Natalie

"He knew if he said anything else I'd be pissed. I've got him whipped." Natalie joked

"I'm not whipped." Nate said smiling at her even though he knew he was "yeah, okay"

"Okay, well you are coming with me right now." Maddy said and started pulling her away "i gotta go I love you." Natalie said "I love you." Nate laughed watching his girlfriend get drug away.

Nate knew in that moment that she was the one he wanted. He was his happiest when he was with her. He was gonna marry her. No matter what anyone said.