My High School Life [Rewritten - Ongoing]

29. [Jason]

"You do know building sandcastles are for little kids, right?"

"What? No way!" Like I didn't know that. All I wanted to do was jog her memory somehow. I know it'd been years since the incident and nothing has ever triggered her memory, but I wasn't going to give up now. Especially after she showed signs of remembering our past together. It was a long shot, but she did recognize the bracelet. Although she didn't know the situation behind it, it was a start.

She laughed, completely unaware of my intentions. "Yes way!" she playfully copied my tone. "But hey, let's do it! It'll be fun."

"That's the spirit!" I said, as I switched the ignition from park to drive.

In less than five minutes, we'd arrived at the local park. Seeing that it was almost January, there was no one at the park but a mother of two, who appeared to be pushing her children on the swings.

As we entered the park, the pathway that we crossed was nothing more than dirt littered with piles of leaves on the ground.

"Where to first?" Isabella asked.

I smirked. "Do you even need to ask? The sandbox, of course!"

"Wanna race?"

"You're on."

As we ran past the large tree up on the hill, the swing set, and the monkey bars, we finally made it to the sandbox on the east corner. Isabella jumped in and sat on the wood that enclosed the sand and patted the spot next to her.

"Come on, aren't we going to build a sandcastle or something?" she asked, a twinkle in her eye.

I laughed, but obeyed and sat next to her. Throwing her the first shovel I saw, I dug around and found another one buried a little bit deeper.

"Wow, this sand actually feels like play-doh," she said, while she inspected the sand with her fingertips.

I smiled as I watched her. If only she could remember all the times she'd touch this sand, maybe then her memories of us would come back.

"Why do you think I like playing in this sandbox?" I laughed, bringing her attention back to me. "It's because it's easy to build a sandcastle. There's no extra steps needed to get the sand to stay."

"Do you go here often then?" she asked, as she absentmindedly played with the sand.

"Not all the time, but when I was younger, yeah." I watched her face for any signs of recognition. I tried not to show my disappointment when she just continued to stare at me.

"Really?"

I nodded. "With a friend of mine."

"It was with that little girl, right?" she asked. No, with you.

"Yeah," I said nonchalantly. "I'm surprised you remembered."

"I have a good memory." Besides the first few years of your life.

I smirked. "Why don't we test that out, shall we?"

"Test what out?"

"Let's see who really has the best memory and build a fairy tale themed castle."

When we were younger, we used to challenge each other a lot. Every time we went to the park, we would always try to out build one another, and every time we did, she won.

"You're so going to regret this."

"We'll see about that." I grinned. "On your mark, get set, go!"

As soon as the words left my mouth, we started digging like crazy maniacs. I knew from the very start, I was going to build the castle I assembled whenever I was with Isabella. Maybe if she saw it, something might come back to her. And even if she doesn't remember anything, I could at least say I'd spent the entire day with her. With that thought in mind, I focused my attention on the task at hand and went back to our challenge.

"Done!" she shouted half an hour later.

"Seriously?" I was about to stand up when I saw it. The blood drained from my face and my body movements became static. "Isabella. Why-why did you write that?" Does she remember? She has to, right? Why else would she write the word princess underneath the castle? Ever since we were young, it was her special way to let the prince know where the princess was. She said she wanted to help all the princes find their princesses easier.

"No reason." She shrugged. "I thought it would go along with the theme, don't you think?"

I sighed. In a blink of an eye, my hope was annihilated with one single answer. The desolation I felt was all too familiar, but I should've known better. I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up too soon.

"It does." I forced a smile on my face. "You won though."

Her castle was different from all of the ones we'd built together in the past but it was still equally as impressive, perhaps even more so. Compared to hers, my castle was pretty sad looking. She was definitely a true artist who saw the world for how it was supposed to be seen—with purity and with an open mind.

"Yours is pretty awesome too, Jason!" she complimented. "I think we both won."

Looking at her, it was these little moments that made me realize why I fell for her in the first place. It was her gentleness and kindness that melted my heart. There was something in those blue eyes of hers that was so beautiful, so inviting, and warm, that I wanted nothing to shatter the light she projected every time she looked at me. I wanted to wrap her in my arms and protect her from the very people who wanted to destroy the smile on her face.

I wanted to go back in time before everything happened, to when I was her Jay and she was my little princess. Because letting her go was the hardest thing I could have ever done.