His Bubblegum Klutz: The Start

Jay's POV:

Hi, so this is my one shot spin off of His Bubblegum Klutz for CJustMe 's competition. Hope you like it! #HBKComp
* * * * *
The day I saw her was the day I fell in love with her. Seeing her there, at the park, the wind blowing through her hair as she built a sandcastle. She was alone that day, nobody to protect her. I watched her from the swing set, thinking about how pretty she was. It sounds creepy right? Yeah, I know. But we were in 5th grade, so cut me some slack. Anyway, I watched as she built her sandcastle, almost done, and I watched as Mason Montry came over with 1 of his friends and stomped on the castle. I watched as he and his friend laughed, as Aqueela stood up and brushed the sand off of her jeans. She didn't want to show that she was upset, so she just smiled and walked away.
A few minutes later, after Mason and his friend had gone away, I hopped off the swing I was sitting on and made my way to the sandbox. I began to remake Aqueela's castle, and I made an unspoken vow that I would always have her back, always protect her. As time would have it, I stayed true to that vow, though she didn't know it.
The next day, I went back to the park, where I sat again on the swing and waited for her to come, not knowing for sure if she would. However, a few minutes later she came. She went straight to the sandbox and looked down in confusion. She had noticed that it had been rebuilt. Getting over her confusion, she sat down in the sand and began making more castles. I decided to talk to her.
I jumped off the swing and walked over to her. "Hi." I said one I reached her. She looked up and me and brushed the hair out of her face. Instead of saying hi back, she jumped straight to the point.
"Did you rebuild my sand castle yesterday?" She asked, not with any specific emotion. I was surprised and her boldness.
Yes. "No." I lied. To this day I don't know why I lied. Maybe I was nervous, maybe I just did it. I don't know. If I had just said one different word, things could have gone so much differently. Maybe I wouldn't have run away from my orphanage. Maybe I wouldn't have met Grey. Who knows? But anyway, I lied. She looked at me for a second before looking back at the ground, then back at me.
"My name's Aqueela." She said.
"Jay." I replied. After that, we spent the whole day building sand castles and climbing trees. Pretty much doing whatever we wanted. At the end of it, I kissed her. I don't know why, I just felt like I had to. It was a short kiss (we were in 5th grade, what'd you expect) and then we said goodbye and ran off to our separate homes.
For a few days after that, we hung out some more. It was really fun, and then of course I had to ruin it by running away.
After that, the only places I saw her was at school. By then she had met Bells, and they were now best friends. She didn't need me anymore, and after a while, she forgot about me.
But I never forgot about her.
From then on, Mason continued to bully her, and every time he did, I was there. I had seen it, and there was no way in hell I was going to let him get away with it.
Every time he hurt her, I would hurt him. Over the years I probably earned myself at least a hundred detentions because of him.
Mason knew what I was doing, the principle knew what I was doing, pretty much everyone knew what I was doing but her. Well, and Bells. She started dating Mason, and I couldn't help but dislike her. After all, what kind of person would date their best friends bully? I had wanted to say something multiple times, either to Bells or Aqueela, but somehow I knew I would mess it up. So I stayed away silently watching over her. When Mason threw a football at her, I gave him a black eye. When Mason targeted her in dodgeball, I gave him a bloody nose. For years I watched her, keeping my distance. What started with Mason eventually turned into anyone who hurt her.
There was more than one reason to why I did that. One was that vow I had made all those years ago in the sandbox. Another was the fact that I saw how she handled the bullying. I saw how she laughed it off for Bells. But I also saw that it hurt her more than she would ever admit. I admired her for her strength and humor. What I really wanted to do was to comfort her, to make her pain, no matter how much she told herself it wasn't there, go away for good. To get rid of Mason, who by then had stolen my parents, if only foster, and who tormented the girl I loved.
Yes, I loved her even then. I loved her from the day I saw her. I know that now, but I didn't know it then. I didn't think I would, or could, ever figure that out.
But then I walked into that goddamned ice cream shop.