After about two months of silence I have updated this! I'm not keeping you waiting any longer, just read.

13-Saved

Caleb pulled into the parking lot of the skate park and stepped out of his car. Just as he suspected, Cedric and his two friends were occupying three of the ramps. He approached them with minute amounts of caution not even slowing down when Cedric caught sight of him. Cedric called out to his friends and they stood still at the top of their ramps. Cedric let himself down from his board and began in Caleb's direction.

"Watcha doing here man?" He was less than three steps away when Caleb pulled his arm back and hurled it towards him. Caleb drew his hand back and shook out the tension. Cedric stumbled backward and onto the ground. Suddenly the two others were at his side.

"What the hell!"

Cedric shooed them to the side and struggled to stand up. He steadied himself, "What did you just hit me for?"

"You know why." Caleb was ready to hit him again; this time harder.

"Actually," Cedric leaned his neck into his shoulder and a light cracking noise sounded. "I have no idea. If this is about Will I think I've been hit already."

Caleb bit his tongue, "It's about Cornelia."

Cedric's look of frustration quickly vanished. Suddenly he was looking nervous, guilty and angered. He slowly wiped the look from his face and grinned, "So what're you gonna do about it?"

Caleb hadn't thought of that one. He had brought himself here out of anger and revenge but he hadn't really planned what exactly he would do upon getting here. Cedric speaking again stopped him from answering.

"Have fun with my leftovers. She's just a tease anyways."

Caleb knew he was provoking him. He wanted Caleb to hit him again because against all three there was no chance. Caleb made his best attempt at drawing in a steady breath to calm himself, but his attempts were for nothing. What Cedric said next drew the line.

"I could have done the same thing with Will if I wanted to."

Caleb's fist was suddenly breaking into Cedric's cheekbone. He threw his entire body full force into him and knocked them both into the ground. He was winning, Cedric was pinned and he was throwing hit after successful hit until one of the others shoved him off. Suddenly Caleb was on the ground, the three piling on him, throwing their fists. He continued with tries at grinding his knees into their sides and elbowing them away but their strength was too great for his. It was after a piercing knuckle thrust into his eye that he began only seeing shapes. At first their were three large shapes surrounding him, then a fourth came into his shrinking field of view. A loud, high pitched cry was the last thing he heard before he faded into blackness.

... ...

Cornelia raced up the small hill to the scene. Her stomach dropped when she saw three guys piling onto a fourth. She barely made out the one on the ground to be Caleb. She cried out at them to stop, but they didn't even show reaction to her arrival. She hurried to the group and without thinking she threw herself onto the back of the built body she knew to be Cedric's and wrapped her arms around his neck from behind. "Get off of him!" She hardly recognized her own voice.

Cedric backed two steps and untangled her arms from him. He stepped back towards Caleb but Cornelia grabbed at his shirt. Cornelia felt herself being tossed back onto the ground. She hit the pavement hard but ignored the pain. They were still pounding on the already unconscious Caleb and she had to stop them.

She once again threw herself onto Cedric's back, this time wrapping her legs around him and pulled her arms as tightly as she could round his neck.

"Get off me slut!" Cedric choked out. His hands were on her arms, trying to pry her off.

"You're hurting him!" Cornelia shouted practically in his ear.

Sure, she had Cedric away, but his two friends were still hurling fists all over Caleb. Will and Matt's timing couldn't have been any better. Will held a small can of pepper spray and began on the faces of the two still attacking Caleb. Matt ran into them from their stomach's while Will continued with the spray. When they had finally had enough they shoved Matt off of them and retrieved their skateboards. They fled the park so quickly it was a question why Cedric considered them his friends.

Cornelia didn't realize she was still letting out frustrated shrieks as she concentrated on keeping Cedric away from Caleb. She noticed Will kneeling next to Caleb checking his pulse. Cedric was still working to pry her arms from him, but his pull was getting weaker. When he collapsed onto all fours on the pavement, Cornelia wasn't sure she should let go yet. She wasn't just doing this to protect Caleb anymore. She was doing it for herself. Now she finally knew the truth and it felt good to be hurting her attacker the way he hurt her. Cedric began coughing, and then Matt was at her side.

"Let him go Cornelia." He said.

Cornelia felt tears escaping her eyes. Her grip on Cedric loosened slightly, but not enough. She wasn't finished with him yet. She wanted to hurt him more.

"C'mon," Matt said softer, kneeling down next to her. "I'll take him. Go see Caleb."

Cornelia pressed her lips together and slowly her arms uncoiled. She let herself off of Cedric carefully before turning towards Caleb who lay motionless on the ground. She started towards him, and within the few steps it took to make it to his side she found herself sobbing, unable to stop.

"I called an ambulance already." Will stated.

Cornelia wiped under her eyes. She didn't want to make any contact with fear that she might make the bruises even bigger than they already were. She hated seeing his eyes swelled up like they were. His nose was crooked, broken, she guessed. And his leg was twisted in an insufferable way. When she heard the distant sound of sirens she didn't feel any better about his condition because of the burning thought in her mind. This was her fault.

... ...

She sat in the most uncomfortable chair for the longest wait of her life. Sometimes she rested her head on the bed beside his hands and held them with hers. Will came in every hour to check up on him and make sure things were going okay. Matt said that they called Caleb's dad but there was no answer, then he added that Julian was probably passed out on a bench somewhere. Will snapped at him for it but they all knew that was the probable truth. It was after Will's fourth check on them that Caleb's hand began squeezing back.

"How are you feeling?"

Caleb made an attempt to turn his head, but he winced and continued staring at the ceiling. "Like I got beat up," he let out a delayed chuckle.

"I'm so sorry."

"For what?"

Cornelia sat up straighter. "It's my fault they hurt you. I shouldn't have told you anything and you wouldn't have ever had to go after him like that."

She knew if it didn't hurt so much Caleb would have shaken his head at that. "It's not your fault."

"It is, and I'm sorry." She always won in arguments, and she figured Caleb would know that by now. When he didn't reply she wasn't sure if it was just him giving up or that he was admitting it was her fault.

"Do me a favor?" Caleb suddenly asked.

"Sure."

He turned his head towards her with his eyes shut (trying to block out the pain of moving). "I haven't seen what I look like yet. Are you like other girls and carry one of those little mirrors with you?"

Cornelia couldn't help but giggle. She knew Caleb was trying to lighten the mood and his horrible attempt at humor was definitely the answer. She reached into her bag and pulled out the purple mirror. "It's called a compact, by the way." She said.

"Whatever." Caleb replied quietly with a grin. She held the compact out and opened it in front of him so he could see his reflection. After sighting just what Cedric and the others had done to his face he whistled and sunk deeper into his pillow. "They broke my nose?"

"Yeah." Cornelia pulled her hand back and put the mirror away. "I don't get why you did it." She said in a very quiet whisper. She wasn't sure he heard until he replied.

"Because he hurt you. I was just…defending your honor." He smirked.

Her mouth dropped and she would have slapped him had he not already been in so much pain. "You're such a loser," she giggled. But then it was as if all the humor was sucked out of her. "The odds were stacked against you. It was a stupid move, Caleb."

He merely shrugged with his smirk still attached to his face. He tilted his head up so he was looking her in the eye. In the most honest and caring voice she had ever heard, he sincerely recited the lines from the play; the turning point in Meg's and Hercules' relationship. "People do crazy things when they're in love."

Cornelia felt her eyebrows raise and her lips part slightly. "Oh, Caleb I thought I said-"

"You don't have to say anything back." He told her, "I just figured I waited long enough to say it."

Cornelia couldn't hold back the smile that was fighting its way onto her lips. "You're sweet."

"Thanks," Caleb grinned.

She looked down at her hands, which were now rested in her lap. "Listen, I know this is probably the worst time for me to leave, but there's something I have to do."

Caleb continued gazing up at her, "Mind telling me what it is?"

Cornelia caught his eye and shook her head. "I can't. I'll tell you when I'm finished though, okay?"

She didn't plan on telling him at all. If she had told him before, he would have convinced her not to, and this was something she couldn't just…not do. And if she told him afterwards, he would give her that look that completely read disappointment and she didn't want to disappoint him at all. So she settled on coming up with a lie before showing up at the hospital again.

Just as Cornelia had guessed, Cedric wasn't at the skate park. Her next stop would be his home. Climbing the steps to his door made her stomach turn. She hadn't been on these steps since the end of last year and it was strange to be climbing them again. Before she could even knock on the door, she heard a familiar sound coming from behind the house. Curious, she walked back down the steps and peered around the corner. Cedric was in the alley behind his house, doing some more skate tricks on the ramps he had set up when he first began skateboarding.

Cornelia bit her bottom lip before practically forcing herself towards him. He caught sight of her before she even started speaking. When he turned in her direction she was pleased to see Caleb had at least managed to give him a black eye.

"What do you want?" He snapped.

When the reply came out of Cornelia's mouth, she tried not to sound shaky, but she failed. "I just want you to know I'll be pressing charges for what you did to me at Elyon's party."

At first he didn't show much reaction, but when he stepped his foot off of his board and took a step towards her, his face became serious.

"Oh yeah? And what exactly did I do to you?"

Cornelia folded her arms in front of her, "You know what you did. And I'm-"

Before she could finish, he had lunged forward and grasped one of her arms firmly. Cornelia let out a quick gasp and stepped backwards, but his hold wouldn't break.

"You aren't going to report anything." His breathing grew hard.

Cornelia bit the inside of her cheek and stared him in the eye. She breathed deeply and replied, "You can't stop me."

And it was after those words that Cedric pulled back his other arm and curled his hand into a fist.

I meant to have this up last week but I got busy. Sadly there is no preview this time for the next chapter because I haven't even started it. I'm sorry to keep doing this to you guys but once again an update is not going to be for a long time. Midterms are right around the corner, and I'm not going to lie to you; I've lost interest in writing this story. Don't worry, it will be completed, but lately I'm in the mood of another category for my fanfictions. That doesn't mean this one will be neglected, it just means there's going to be less time put in by me as far as working on it. This story only has about two more chapters to it anyways so it's not too much to wait for.