Metal Pointe- Chapter 1A

EPOV

I played in the sandbox, I built a fortress in the sand by myself because there was no one else here that I wanted to play with. I was almost done when my mom called me to come over to the bench where she sat.

There was a lady and a little girl that stood off to the side as I walked over, "What momma?" I asked, mad that I had to leave my castle for fear that one of the other kids would knock it down while I was gone.

"Edward, this is Bella and her mother, Renee. Can you say hi?" she looked at me as I looked up at the lady and smiled, "Hi," I said to her mother, I couldn't see the little girl very well; she only peeked out from behind her momma's skirt occasionally. What I saw was dressed all in pink; she didn't look like she would be any fun. Too girlie to play the games I liked. "Bella's four, just like you," my mom offered. I just nodded.

"Why don't you take Bella over to the playground and show her around?" my momma said and I knew that I didn't have a choice. They wanted to do 'grown up talk' without us kids around.

"Fine. Come on, Bella," I said as I waited for her to follow me. I took a few steps and turned back around to see if she followed me or not.

She was tiny. There was no way that she was four years old like me. And, blah, did she have to wear all those pink princess clothes? Yuck.

"I was making a sand castle, do you want to come help me?" I asked her as she looked up at me and smiled while she nodded her head.

She had pretty brown eyes. "Okay," I said and grabbed her hand to make her walk faster.

She giggled and tried to run fast enough to keep up with me.

We sat down in the sand and she stared at the fort I had already built. "Did you make that?" she asked.

"Yep, I'm the bestest sand castle maker in the park," I said with a grin and started to pack more sand in my bucket.

Bella sat there and watched me for a few minutes. I worked to build the top part of the castle before I looked at her, "Aren't you going to help me?"

She frowned. Great, now I hurt her feelings. "No, my mommy doesn't like me to get dirty," her little face was sad and she looked like she was pouting.

"Ever?" I asked. There was no way you could go through life and not get dirty. Why would you want to? That was most of the fun in life, the getting dirty part. Suddenly a thought occurred to me, if you don't get dirty then you don't have to take baths. I just shook my head, I liked getting dirty too much to ever worry about a little bath.

"Nope," She said and shook her head.

"Well, then what do you do for fun?" I asked and kept shoveling sand.

"I play with my Princess Barbie or I color. But, mommy wants me to be a ballerina so I watch a lot of videos and dance around the house a lot. I get to start ballet lessons when I turn five," she said with a big grin as she held up her hand to show me five fingers, like that would magically make her five sooner.

"Your mommy sounds mean. You don't get to play in the yard or build tents or ride a bike?" I said and she looked like she was about to cry.

"My mommy took my bike away from me 'cuz I fell and hurt my knee. She didn't want me to break a bone or sumthin' in case I get to be a ballerina," Bella said and I could tell she was sad because she didn't have her bike anymore.

"Well, maybe I could let you ride mine sometime. We could let it be our secret," I said as she smiled at me.

"Is your bike pink?" she asked, sounding excited.

"Yuck, no. Pink is for girls. My bike is blue with black flames on it," I said, proudly.

"Oh. My bike was pink with purple strings on it...and a princess basket for my Barbies." She said and I could tell she was sad again.

"Well, if you want to ride my blue bike, you can, but, no Barbies on it, okay?" I said and watched her smile again.

She was pretty when she smiled. I think I like her. She seemed okay and maybe I could teach her how to get dirty. That should be fun.

"Are you sure you're really four?" I asked as I handed her the shovel to scoop sand out for the moat.

"Yep, just four," she said and held up her fingers.

"No way. I'm four and I'm way bigger than you are."

"Am too," she said and pouted again.

"Really?" I asked her again as she nodded her head at me.

"Okay, well, do you want to be the princess of this castle?" I asked and she smiled again.

"What are you going to be?" she asked curiously..

"I'm the Knight. I fight off the bad people that try to get in and hurt you," I said and waved my pretend sword through the air.

"Okay, this might be fun," she said and started to really dig in the sand.

Bella and I played together every day after that. I realize now that I fell in love with her that very day. She will always be my princess and I will always be her knight, who waits to rescue her.

But, really we rescued each other.