CHAPTER EIGHTEEN:

CAMILLA:

CONFESSION:

The pain was shooting through my leg, but I couldn't just lie there helplessly and let them kill Cayden. I tried to get up but the pain was so awful it made me scream and collapse back to the ground.

If only I could call Nate, warn him…but Deryk had my phone. I slowly dragged my bleeding body from the lunch line to the opening of the cafeteria. Crashes were erupting from every part of the cafeteria.

I got to the opening and looked out at the wreck that was once my high school cafeteria. Now it was more like a war zone. Everything was broken and smashed. Even the walls had pieces falling from big dents where someone had gotten slammed into them.

Something flew across the cafeteria and crashed into a banister. It was Cayden. I gasped and put my hands over my mouth to stop a scream. He would get up and fight. He had to. He lifted his hand like he usually did when he used his powers but nothing happened.

My heart started to race. Cayden wasn't moving, and I could see a pool of blood forming beneath him. Deryk, Cole, and Axel circled him.

"Cayden!" I screamed. "CAYDEN!" Cayden didn't move but the rest of them turned their attention to me.

Deryk rolled his eyes. "Oh, I forgot about you. But don't worry I'll get to you next," he said with a smile.

They focused on Cayden again. Deryk hovered his hand over Cayden's face. Cayden was motionless. He was... I couldn't bring myself to say it or think it. I couldn't breathe. It was like someone had just punched me in the throat. I was going to pass out. But I couldn't, so I forced myself to breathe in, and it was sharp, and painful, and I choked on each breath I took.

"Stop," I begged them, but they didn't listen. I lowered my head to the ground and started crying.

Then I heard a big crash, and I looked up.

Deryk was pinned to the wall by this throat...by Nate. He took Deryk's head and started banging it into the wall over and over again.

Deryk managed to kick Nate in the chest, but not hard. Nate slid back a few feet, but didn't lose his balance. He flew back to Deryk and threw another punch. Deryk dodged it, socked Nate in the jaw, and shoved him a lot harder this time.

Nate got back up but Deryk was too quick. He lifted a table and slammed it into Nate head on. Nate collapsed to the floor.

Tyler came out of nowhere, tackling Deryk. I looked to the right, and Vince was fighting Cole. They threw punch after punch at each other, each dodging and deflecting his opponent's blows while trying to find new angles to strike. Vince finally caught Cole with an uppercut that sent him flying into the air. Vince then caught him in midair and started slamming his head into the ground making dents in the floor wherever Cole's head struck.

In the cafeteria, by the doors leading to the gym, Jay and Axel squared off. Jay ran at Axel, knocking him into the wall. He punched him a few times in the face. Axel pushed Jay back then Axel screamed in pain as Jay grabbed the arm that Cayden had previously broken. Jay used his power and threw Axel back into the wall. Axel fell to the ground and didn't move. Jay, that arrogant ass, turned around laughing, sure that he had Axel down for the count.

Surprise.

"Jay, behind you!" I screamed.

Jay turned but couldn't react in time. With one hand Axel grabbed Jay by the back of his shirt and threw him through the wall of glass windows. Jay crashed through the glass and fell to the ground.

Get up, get up, I thought frantically. Axel would have him for sure if he didn't. But to my surprise Axel took off running in the other direction, through the athletic building.

This all distracted me for a few moments, but it wasn't long before my eyes were drawn back to Cayden, still lying motionless on the floor.

"Cayden?" I yelled once again. Nate hadn't even noticed my presence until I screamed. He came running over to me. "Oh, God, Camilla, your leg." He ripped off his shirt and tied it around my bleeding leg tightly.

"Ahh," I groaned.

"Sorry."

Suddenly I came to my senses and screamed, "STOP!"

He looked at me, confused, holding his hands up. "It's okay, Camilla. I'm already done."

"No, stop taking care of me and go help Cayden" I sobbed.

"I already did," he said simply.

"You…did?"

"Yeah." I looked at Cayden and noticed what I hadn't before. His shirt was off and was tied securely around his ribs and there was no more blood pouring out on the floor. The ripped jacket to his tux was lying next to him. I don't know how I missed that. There was just so much fighting going on everywhere. I felt nauseous and dizzy. I could barely keep my eyes open.

"So he's alive?" I managed to ask.

"Yeah, he's just old cold."

That was all I needed to hear. Everything went black

I heard voices. It was a man and a woman talking. I tried to open my eyes but the light was blinding me and making my eyes water. I finally got my eyes open and I realized I was in the emergency room at the hospital. The man talking was a doctor and the woman was a nurse.

"Oh, hello, miss," he said kindly, as I fully opened my eyes.

"How are you feeling?" The nurse asked sweetly. She had short brown hair pinned back behind her ears and she and was wearing light blue scrubs.

The doctor eyed me, waiting for my answer. He had on a white lab coat. His hair was dark brown and wavy with a few streaks of silver running through it.

"I'm okay," it came out really scratchy.

"Well, we put 15 stitches in your leg and five in your arm. You're very lucky you weren't hurt worse. It was a good thing you were wearing your seatbelt."

A seatbelt? That made absolutely no sense. But it didn't matter right now. "Is everyone okay?"

"Yes. Two of the boys had a few injuries, but they are all patched up and recovering. The other boy just had a few scratches".

Wait, that was only three. What about the other two? I had passed out before the fight ended. Which two didn't make it? The last I remembered, Cayden and Jay were the ones lying motionless on the ground. I tried to push words past the lump in my throat but it just seemed to swell even more.

"Your friend is outside waiting. Would you like me to send him in?" The nurse asked

"Yes!" I choked out quickly.

"All right. Oh, and I spoke to your parents. They're on a flight home now. We have to keep you until they get here and then you can go home," she informed as she walked out.

I watched the door, waiting to see who would come through it. It was Tyler. Tears started running down my face.

"No, it's okay, everyone's okay," he tried to calm me down.

"But the doctor said there were only three others treated," I sobbed.

"Yeah Nate and Vince went home to take care of everything. Jay and Cayden are here. Calm down and I'll explain." He sat in the chair next to my bed and talked so quietly it was barely a whisper.

"People are going to wonder about a huge fire in the school. There will be an investigation. There was blood everywhere. And we had to think of a way to explain your injuries and Jay's and Cayden's. So Nate and Vince are working on that."

"There was a fire?" I exclaimed.

"Shhh!" he warned, looking around to make sure no one had heard. The door to my room was closed so I didn't think anyone had. "Yeah, well like I said," he continued in a whisper, "there was blood everywhere, and we had to make sure Deryk and his friend weren't coming back so we…uh…torched them and the building."

"What do you mean 'so they couldn't come back'? Did they get away?"

"No, they're dead." He was speaking in such a hushed tone there was barely even sound coming out. "But we had to make sure they couldn't heal. And bodies that have been burned, turned to ash, they can't heal." He took my hand. "Axel did get away, though. I went looking for him, but he was gone."

I was starting to get it. "So you told the doctor we were in a car accident?"

"Yeah. The story is we were on our way to go see that play. Musical. Whatever. Jay was driving and he lost control of the car. Cayden was sitting in the front and flew out the windshield. You were cut by broken glass, and I just happened to be lucky enough to only get a few scratches. I pulled you guys out of the car and called an ambulance."

"How is anyone going to believe that? There was no accident scene."

"Well I drove Cayden's car down the street from the theater. Vince, Nate, and I used our powers and slammed the car into a ditch. Then they took off to take care of everything at the school, and I stayed with you guys and called the ambulance. I must say we did a damn good job." He gave me one of his charming smiles.

"Wow… So it's all over?"

"Yeah. We were really lucky that we got there in time. Another few minutes and Cayden would have been a goner." He shuddered at the thought.

"So what's wrong with Jay and Cayden?"

"Jay broke his arm and Cayden broke a few ribs. They'll both be okay, they'll heal. Cayden almost killed himself over-using though. He's gonna need a lot of rest, especially since he's in no shape to run it off."

I breathed a sigh of relief.

Tyler stood and kissed my cheek. "Well I need to go check in with Nate and see how everything's going. I'm sure your parents will be here soon. And if they can't stay, you're welcome at our house whenever you feel like it." I could barely keep my eyes open, so I laid back and closed them.

It had been three days. My parents would not let me out of the house. I was surprised that they actually stayed for three days. They kept saying I had to stay in until I was 'better'. I tried to explain to them that it was only a few stitches and wasn't a big deal, but they wouldn't listen. Big surprise there, huh? They finally left on day three. I had never been so happy for them to go. They made me promise to stay in.

I promised with the fingers on both hands crossed. Like that was a promise I was really going to keep. I hadn't seen or talked to the guys since that night. My phone got lost when the school burned down, and I was waiting on a new one in the mail.

I got in my car and drove down to Cayden's house. It was the first time I had driven myself that I didn't get lost but that was only because of the GPS the guys bought me. I pulled in the driveway and shut the car off. I sat there for a minute. I was nervous. I thought about the same thing I had been thinking about for the last three days.

The last time I saw Cayden, he told me he loved me. And over the past three days all I wondered was if he meant it, or did he just say it because we were facing death? And even if he did mean it, did he mean he loved me as a friend, a sister, or more than that? I knew which one I wanted it to be, but I had a feeling it wasn't what he had meant.

I felt all twisted and knotted up inside. I took a deep breath, walked to the front door, and knocked.

Vince answered the door. When he saw me, his eyes lit up and he yanked me off of the ground into his arms, squeezing. His huge biceps wrapped around my body.

"Vince…ow…can't…breathe," I choked. He put me down quickly.

"Sorry, I'm just glad to see you" He looked like a little kid who had just seen Santa. The rest of the guys came and gave me hugs, too. Vince grabbed my hand and led me to the couch. Everyone was downstairs but Cayden. Jay was fooling around with his cast. My eyes started to water. The guys all noticed and their eyes widened. They weren't expecting that and they didn't know what to do.

"Camilla, don't cry everything's okay" Jay tried to calm me.

"No it's not. You guys could have been killed because of me. I was stupid and brought him around. I fueled the fire." With a gust of wind they were all surrounding me crowded together to comfort me.

"Camilla, Deryk knew about us before you did. He used you to get to us. That's not your fault," Nate said.

"Yeah" Vince agreed "Oh, and I'm pretty sure I was the one who fueled the fire…in a literal sense, that is." He winked

I let out a little laugh and felt better. I wiped the tears from my face.

"We've been dying for you to get here. What happened?" Jay asked eagerly.

"What do you mean?" I asked, confused

"How did you guys end up at the school? How did everything go down that night?"

Vince elbowed Jay. "Be sensitive, you jackass. Maybe she doesn't want to talk about it."

"Watch it man, you're hitting someone that's crippled. Just wait till I get this cast off."

"Like that's even a challenge." Vince barked with laughter.

"I don't mind telling you guys," I stated. They all fell silent and stared at me.

I tried to remember exactly what had happened. "Well, uh, the night before, Deryk and I had gotten in a fight. So that night of Phantom, he called me and asked if I would go for a ride with him because he wanted to apologize and talk. He said he would have me back in time for the show.

"I got in the car and I took out my phone to text Cayden to tell him I'd be late, but when Deryk saw me with the phone, he snatched it from me. I started to get a weird feeling. I asked him where we were going, and he just laughed."

I felt a knot in my stomach just thinking about it.

"Then I tried to get out of the car, and he locked the doors. I turned to him, and all I saw was the back of his hand coming at my face…then everything just went black."

The guys all stiffened when I said that Deryk had hit me.

"I woke up tied to a chair in the school with duct tape on my mouth. Deryk, Cole, and Axel were there, and when Cayden texted me they texted him back telling him to meet me at the school. They started talking about how they were going to…" it hurt to even say it "…kill him slowly and make me watch. And then finish me off" I finally choked out.

"That must have been when I was on the phone with him," Nate said. "I called him, and he said he was meeting you at the school. Then I heard him scream your name and a bunch of crashes. I kept trying to call back but I couldn't get through, so I knew something was wrong. It was a good thing I called him, or we would have never known where you guys were. We ran back as fast as we could. We would have been there sooner but Deryk gave us those tickets to get us away from here. I can't believe we were so stupid," Nate finished, shaking his head.

"At least you didn't date him," I said, still mad at myself.

Nate laughed "He's not exactly my type."

"Oh well, what's done is done. It's all over now, and everyone came out okay. Unless you count Deryk and Cole, that is, and I don't," said Tyler.

"Yeah, we had some damn good luck on our side," Vince smiled.

"Camilla go see Cayden. We know you want to" Jay smirked.

"Yeah no one's checked on him in a few days, you might wanna go make sure he's still breathing up there," Vince joked. I elbowed him in the ribs as I got up, and he just laughed even harder.

I went upstairs and knocked on Cayden's door.

"Come in" he called.

I walked in, and he was watching the news.

"There is still no final explanation as to what happened here at Ridge Mont High School just a few days ago," a reporter was saying. "A fierce fire erupted within the school. The fire marshals claim foul play as parts of the school were torn up and fire was started by several cans of gasoline and matches. Suspects include Deryk Andrews and Cole Matthews. The two students had just transferred to Ridge Mont this year. Their cars were found in the parking lot with more cans of gasoline in their trunks. When officials went to the houses of the two seniors, the houses were empty. Officials have not been able to find their parents. It seems as if everyone just disappeared."

"Or the parents were never there to begin with." I mumbled. Cayden laughed grabbing his side in pain as he did. I looked at him sympathetically.

"Officials are still investigating, and a 25,000 dollar reward has been posted for anyone with information that will lead officers to these two boys. The school is in no condition for students to return tomorrow, so finals have been cancelled. So, all you lucky students get out a week early." She continued on about the graduating students, but I wasn't paying attention. I focused my attention to Cayden.

"How are you feeling?"

"I'm alright. Just two cracked ribs. I'm just still pretty exhausted from over-using the power. I feel so drained. I wish I could go for a run."

"Yeah, and mess up your ribs even more. Sounds like a great idea."

He smiled. "So… how are you? I've been worried."

"I'm fine. I'm sorry I didn't call. My phone got lost in the fire, and my parents have been watching me like hawks. They finally left today, so I slipped out."

"Yeah my phone was broken, too. Nate got me a new one, I'm just waiting on it. That and my car."

"Oh, yeah, I forgot about that. They had to trash your car."

"Yeah," he said sadly. "But it's cool. The insurance is taking care of it. I'll have a new one in a few days. Come sit," he said, a little more happily. He was lying in the center of his bed and scooted over to make room for me. A groan of pain escaped him.

"Cayden maybe you shouldn't move around so much," I suggested.

"No I'm fine."

I considered pointing out that most people as "fine" as he was would be dead, but instead I just I sat on the bed next to him. I felt so guilty about his pain. He had never liked Deryk. I should have listened to him. "Cayden, I am so sorry." I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes.

"Don't apologize. Nothing was your fault He caught me using my power before he even knew you. If anything, I should be sorry that you had to go through all that because I let my temper get in the way."

"Yeah, but you didn't like him. You didn't want him around. You knew something was off. I should have listened to you."

Cayden's face turned bright red. "Cam, it wasn't any sixth sense or anything. I was just jealous. This happened because I was too chicken to admit how I felt about you. He saw right through it and used it to his advantage."

I thought I felt my heart stop. I had a knot it my stomach again. This was the talk I had been waiting for. The one where I would finally find out what we were to each other.

"So, do you… like me?" I asked.

"No," he replied. I knew it. I knew that he didn't mean what he said that night. But it wasn't like Cayden to come out and be so blunt like that. I would have expected to get the "I Think of You More as a Sister," speech at the very least.

"Oh." If he could play it cool, so could I.

Cayden shook his head and laughed. He gently grabbed my chin and turned my head to him. He brushed my hair out of my eyes. "Cam I don't like you, I love you"

My stomach changed from having knots in it to having butterflies. He leaned his face in closer. I had to remind myself to breathe.

"I love you, too," I whispered.

He put both of his hands up to my face holding my cheeks securely and staring into my eyes. "I've been waiting days to hear what you'd say back. It was agony. I couldn't stand it, sitting here in this bed knowing what I had said to you that night and not knowing how you felt…Every time someone came to the door to check on me, I hoped it was you. All I wanted was to hear your answer and I prayed it was the one I wanted to hear. It was torture, Cam."

My mouth nearly dropped open. I'd had no idea he had felt that way. "I'm sorry…" I started to say, but he put a finger over my lip.

"It was worth the wait" He smiled his gorgeous pearl-white teeth. He removed his finger from my lips and he leaned in slowly to kiss me. I thought the butterflies in my stomach were going to burst. It seemed like it took him ages to kiss me and my breaths shortened. His lips finally reached mine, and it was better than I had ever dreamed. He kissed me softly but passionately. He slid his right hand to the back of my neck. He kissed me for a minute then he gave me a short, soft kiss and pulled away.

I bit my lip and couldn't hold back my smile. He gazed back at me. He was smiling, too. I stared into the depths of his pale blue eyes as he stared back into mine. I cuddled up to him and rested my head on his shoulder.

No wonder that position had always felt so natural.

I tried to fight the desire I felt to sleep, but it was taking over. I looked up at Cayden and he, too, had dozed off. I didn't want this day to end, but then I realized there would be plenty more to come. He was mine now. I finally had all I ever wanted. A feeling of joy rushed through my body and I slid into a comfortable sleep.