"Well, that was interesting." Paul said as soon as we were in the car, making our way out of the parking lot.

"You could say that again." I laughed quietly.

"Well, that was….."

"I was kidding." I giggled.

For a few minutes we sat in a comfortable silence. While Paul drove us to out mysterious destination I still couldn't believe what had just happened. I mean, Paul stood up for me in front of Jackie! The world was obviously coming to an end. That, or I was having a VERY long dream.

"Are you okay?" Paul asked, breaking the silence.

"I'm great actually. Why, do I not look okay?"

"You look incredible, as usual. But there's been a lot going on, I just wanted to check."

I realized where we were going just before we arrived, I hadn't been paying that close attention. Why was he taking me to first beach? Don't get me wrong it's absolutely beautiful. But it's not exactly a date spot with all the rain around here. Suddenly I realized it hadn't been raining the entire trip here.

"When did it stop raining?" I asked as he helped me out of the car.

" Just after school. You didn't notice the clearing of the clouds during your epic fight with Jackie?" he said sarcastically.

"It wasn't exactly what I call epic." I mumbled to myself.

"So are you going to tell me what happened or am I going to have to guess?" said taking my hand as we made our way down the sand to the water.

"Well, it's not exactly that complicated. Jackie obviously still thinks you guys are boyfriend and girlfriend. She took notice in the fact that you've been spending time with me and she got jealous. I'm the easiest target to let out her frustration."

"I'm really sorry Hailey. Jackie has always been a little crazy. I guess I should have seen this coming."

"Why did you guys break it off anyways? You two were inseparable for the longest time. What happened?" I asked curiously.

"I just started growing tired of her drama. Everything we did had to be in public or we didn't do anything at all. I wanted to be with someone more mature and Jackie has the intellect of a snail," he laughed. I had to stifle a giggle myself. But Paul caught it anyways and put his arm around my waist drawing me closer to him as we walked down the beach.

"I'm serious! All she ever wanted was to go shopping and get her nails done. I was her chauffer, not her boyfriend. I wanted something serious. I'm done playing around."

"So why me?" I said shyly. "There are plenty of other smarter prettier girls in this school."

"Weren't you listening before? I thought we've gone over this?"

"Yeah, but Jackie had a point. I'm nothing special Paul. I don't have fancy clothes, or a cool hairstyle or any of that. I just a plain Jane."

He took a deep breathe and let it out slowly. He looked as if he was trying to find the right words so I let him have a few minutes. As he lead me down to the waters edge I took in the view. The rain had indeed faded away and it amazed me how far out you could actually see the water. The sun was beginning it's decent across the horizon, making was for the moons rise for the night. The pink and white of the clouds nearly took my breath away. I've never seen the beach like this.

"Hailey, you don't see yourself the way I do. And I know it's because I've done nothing but bring you down since middle school. But you're an amazing girl and I need you to understand that I care about you. Ever since kindergarten you've always been the most confident, caring person I've ever met."

The look in his eyes was better than the ocean view. It was like he was reaching into my soul and it was starting to scare me, yet excite me all at the same time.

"Do you remember in second grade, when I fell off of the monkey bars after everyone had already made their way back inside? You were the one that found me stayed with me screaming for help until finally someone came outside looking for us. You never left me there all by myself. Even when they took me to the nurses office you wouldn't leave."

I laughed at the memory, but thinking back…

"It was one of the scariest things I've ever done. I was so worried about you and about getting in trouble," I mumbled.

"I know, but you still took care of me. I was a complete dick to you and you stood by me even when the teachers threatened to call your mom. I've envied you ever since."

"You envied me? Why would you envy me? You're the most popular kid in school and you've got everything you've ever wanted. How could you possibly envy me?"

I couldn't believe what he was saying. The doubt of Jackie's previous words played over in my head.

He has to sleep with her?

Yeah, to get into the gang.

"This doesn't make any sense." I said more to myself than to him.

"I know. I promise it will all make sense soon. I can't tell you everything just yet, but for right now I just wanna spend some time with you. Okay?" he said with his cheesiest smile yet.

At this point I was almost in hysterics with all of the emotions flying around in my head. I looked up at Paul and all of those thoughts and doubts seemed to melt away. He had a calming effect on me that I've never experienced before. So I decided I'd deal with the unanswered questions stilling plaguing my mind later. For right now, I was going to enjoy my time with Paul.

"Stay here a sec. I just gotta go get something from the car," he said with a burst of excitement.

In a split second he was off running back toward where we'd come. I looked back toward the ocean just as the suns last bit of light flickered off the edge and disappeared below the horizon. Before I'd realized it, Paul was back next to me with a huge basket and a blanket.

"How did you get so fast? You were gone for like ten seconds." I laughed.

Paul merely shrugged his shoulders and began setting up what appeared to be a picnic. I hadn't ever realized that we were near a fire pit until he lit the one I was standing right next to. The wind was low which made it so cozy to sit by the fire. He spread the blanket across the sand, added some pillows and laid out a gorgeous meal of sandwiches and fruit salad. All I could do was sit there and watch in amazement at what he'd prepared. He stopped mid-setup and looked up at me curiously.

"What?" he said with a chuckle.

"This is incredible." I said in awe.

"So you like it? I wasn't sure if it would be enough to impress a girl like you, but I figured I'd take a chance."

I had to laugh at that one, "Nobody's ever done anything like this for me before. It's so romantic and sweet and perfect."

"I love the look on your face right now."

"I'm sorry," I said when I realized I had the worlds goofiest grin on my face, "I'm just…. Happy."

"Nothing to be sorry about. That's kind of what I was hoping for."

For the rest of the evening we enjoyed the food he set up, talking as we gobbled everything up. He ate most of it, but I guess that's just a guy thing. After the food was gone we laid back in each others arms simply watching the stars. He was so comfortable I didn't want to move. And before I knew it, we were both fast asleep.