I am horrible for updating on a regular basis! Thanks to anyone who has stuck this out waiting for the next chapter, here it is!

Please enjoy, :)

~ Chapter Thirteen: Hurting Hearts ~

I hadn't attended classes in a day… no, a couple days. Three? I'm not really sure… I just didn't feel like going anymore. I dropped Damsel-in-Distressing and I feel like dropping everything else too. Just for a little bit. I need time to breathe. There was so much going on that I was still trying to process it. Whenever I closed my eyes I kept seeing images of Hopper with his nose bloodied or a busted lip… black eye… maybe they broke his bones too?

Oh man… I turned over on my bed and curled into the fetal position I'd become so fond of within the last couple nights. Oh Hopper… I'm so sorry. If only I had the chance to tell you that. I'm sorry that you feel like you have to avoid me just to get through a day without a beating. Out of them all… I'm your biggest threat. For that I hope that you can hear my silent plead to you.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

If I got up and I saw my father… no question about it I'm lying back down. I groaned slightly and got up. As I approached the door I could hear a whisper from the other side.

"Darling… I… I'd like to talk."

Hopper?! I knew his voice… but maybe I misheard it. I opened the door slowly and surely it was indeed Hopper. "Hopper… come in, come in." I opened the door and shut it quickly.

"H-hey..." He rubbed the back of his neck nervously. He looked good. Most of his cuts and bruises that I could see were gone. Good. "Daring told me that you wanted to see me a few days ago… and I know you saw me hide… I didn't mean to-"

I stopped him right away. "You had a very good reason to do so Hopper. I don't blame you for one moment. I didn't know that you were… being hurt just because y'know, I happened to help you out of some sticky situations. I hate the whole girl to guy thing… I guess a lot of folks don't see the equality among genders do they?"

He gave a light sigh and shook his head. "I guess not. See… Darling… I'm not appalled by you at all and I wouldn't be completely opposed to a possible relationship. It's just… you'd have to try and stop… y'know, rescuing me."

I understood what he was saying… but I wasn't sure I could do that. I'm a Charming and in my bloodline we rescue and we protect those we care about. I can't just not do that. Or turn the urge off. "Hopper… I don't know what to say." I lied. I straight up lied. Damn it Darling.

"I also wanted to tell you that I'm not mad at you and I don't blame you. It's your nature and I do respect that." He paused. The look on his face told me that he knew what I was going to say… and if he didn't… well he knew what the ending result would be.

I gave his shoulder a pat. "Then you'll understand and respect that I can't change that part of me that's going to want to protect you because I care that much. I'm a Charming… it's kinda what we do. What we're born to do."

To my ultimate surprise he smiled. "I'm pretty sure you're the only one who holds that true right now. But you are correct… I do respect you enough to not expect you to change. I knew how big that would be before I decided to visit you." He sighed lightly. I figured that he was a bit disappointed but that was alright. "I just hoped that you weren't in here completely distraught and thinking about my injuries." He chuckled slightly and it threw me off completely. "It's hard to forget when someone you kinda care about bleeds in front of you… isn't it?"

I nodded. "Yeah. It does stick in the mind a bit."

He shrugged his shoulders. "I'm doing alright now and things seem to have let up so don't spend too much time thinking about me. I'll be okay." Hopper brushed the bangs out of his face and gave me a soft smile. It was the sweetest thing I'd ever seen.

I returned the smile with one of my own. "Yes, you will be." I stuck out my hand in front of him. Noticing his confusion I decided to explain. "Let's agree to shake on being friends… for right now." I wouldn't feel right entering a relationship after everything happening still so fresh.

He looked at my hand and hesitantly put his in mine, accepting my rather strong grip and shake. "Friends."

I heard the door to my dorm open and at first I was alarmed but then I realized that I did have a roommate. My poor roommate was Rosabella Beauty. I had no idea how she put up with me just lying around the last couple days. "Hey Darling." She greeted softly… probably just in case I was sleeping. Soft enough to hear it if I was awake or ignore it if I was sleeping.

"Hey." I greeted in return as I opened my eyes and gave her a little smile.

"There you are." She confirmed and sat on her own bed in our room. "I was worried that you'd be wanting to stay cooped up here forever. It's never good to be held prisoner in your own dorm room. Especially when you don't have to be."

That was very true. "You're right… I should get up and do something with my life. I just have no idea what to do… I've screwed everything up so royally bad."

She tilted her head slightly. "Tell me about it. Start from the beginning though." Before I could try to protest she continued. "Don't worry about timing… I don't have anything else to do this evening."

Oh… it was evening already? Huh. "Well… it all started with Damsel-in-Distressing a couple weeks back… there was this total idiot who was set to 'rescue me'." I noticed her giggle at how I chose to describe my 'rescuer'. "Seriously Rosa," that's what I used to shorten her name. "I had the entire obstacle course figured out and he was still trying to comprehend the first one. It was horrible. And you know what happened to me all last year."

She smirked. "You were very hungry missing lunch from Monday to Friday and you never hit the first class after lunch."

I smirked as well. "Exactly… do you know how hard I had to work just to barely pass that class? I missed so much of it!" I shook the nostalgia off and sighed. "So… I decided to grab the nearest vine and swing down from the tower when the lunch bell rang. Well, didn't Marian catch me."

"Of course she did!" Rosabella stretched out along her bed and propped herself upon her elbows. "She must have had a freak out."

"It wasn't bad actually… she just told me she failed me in this assignment and I thought it was very unfair. So later on my dad ends up bringing this up and I told him it was entirely unfair that she failed me and that I'd be malnourished and never show up at the class after lunch again… so I told him I'd drop Damsel-in-Distressing and I did."

Rosabella seemed impressed. "I didn't think you had it in you."

I sighed. "Honestly, this year has turned me savage I swear." We giggled at my comment but I felt like there was far more truth in it than I wanted to let on. "Anyway… so I kinda noticed Hopper. Like… noticed how good looking he is."

Rosabella didn't cringe her face or judge me right away. She thought about it and gave a so-so gesture. "I prefer blonds really but hey, whatever." She smiled. "So what happened there?"

"A whole lot of drama." I decided to prop my pillows up and lean back on them. "We were in the library and I noticed the shelf was beginning to fall and so I ran and pushed him and I to safety from the falling shelf."

"Go Darling! That takes a lot of skill." She praised me. Rosabella was very good at that. She made you feel good about yourself.

"Yeah well… little did I know that me being a girl and rescuing him being a boy would cause him so much trouble." I paused, trying to sort out my thoughts. "He was getting beat up by other guys… they called him pathetic for having a girl fight his battles and rescue him. I didn't know that at first so when I saw him hurt I decided to jump in and threaten them."

Rosabella was cringing now. "Oh no, poor Hopper." She then scoffed and shook her head. Her beautiful locks of hair falling down around her. "Guys are terrible."

I shrugged. I knew not all of them were bad… I had two brothers after all and they weren't like that in the slightest. "Well not all of them." I gently reminded her. "But most are – yeah. Anyway..." I knew she was waiting to hear the rest. "so he avoided me to the extreme. I went to Daring's dorm room because I know they're roommates and I wanted to talk to Hopper but he wouldn't let me. He was super protective of him. It was very sweet." I was almost worried that Daring didn't care about anyone but himself… but I should've known better. Us Charming's are raised with good hearts after all.

I could see her smiling. Though it didn't go away anytime soon… peculiar.

"Anyway," me speaking again seemed to snap Rosabella back to the situation at hand. "so that's when I came back to my room and began hibernation. But..."

She raised an eyebrow. "There's more?"

"Yeah." I'll admit, I truly wasn't expecting Hopper to come visit me. It was nice though… and needed. "A few hours ago… Hopper came by."

Her eyes widened. "He came by?"

"That he did." I confirmed, adjusting my body pillow that lay against the wall so it would benefit me more. "He looked much better. It was bad Rosa… like I closed my eyes and could see all his injuries… but he was more cleared up than he had been in days. He told me that we were alright. That he didn't blame me at all even though the way I see it… it's my fault. But it was nice of him to deny it."

Rosabella shrugged her shoulders. "Sometimes it doesn't matter how it started… only how it finishes."

She was right. "Daring told me to stay away from him… which he was only trying to protect Hopper and I was staying away from him in here. Which is why it threw me off so much when he showed up at our door." She gave a nod and I carried on. "Basically he left making sure I knew that he was doing okay now. He's such a nice soul. I'm just… conflicted."

Rosabella took a breath before speaking. "That's understandable. I mean you mentioned you thought he was good looking. That's a huge set-back when y'know, you can't be around him without him getting physically punished for it..."

I nodded again. I didn't know what else to do… she was right. "I want to ask him to be more than friends… but I couldn't just stand back if he was being bothered. And I couldn't not..." I was trying to find the perfect words.

"Save him?" She chuckled. "It's in your nature." She pursed her lips in thought. "I must say Darling… that's quite a situation you've got going on. I don't really know what to say but I'm glad we could talk about it."

"Me too Rosa. Thank you." She had no idea how much she helped me. I hardly deserve a roommate like her but maybe I was lucky after all.