Lander - Before vs. After

Sand Sculptures

3rd Person POV

The music club was at the beach together, laying down on the sand. Then Hailey suggested, "Why don't we have a sand building competition?" And the others agreed.

They each made a type of building out of sand, and whoever had the best one won. The categories were things like 'your dream home' and 'office'. Sean was the judge, and the other four were building.

    Then Hailey had a new idea. "How about we sculpt people instead?" When the others nodded, she continued, "Let's try to make our crushes first."

Before: (Luke's POV)

    Luke saw Zander shoot her a look out of the corner of his eye, but she just grinned evilly back at him. Milly had already started sculpting, her cheeks flushed.

    When they were done, Luke looked at each of theirs. Milly wasn't the best sculptor, so he couldn't tell who it was, but he could tell that they had glasses. Hailey's was a little difficult to tell, but he had a feeling that he knew exactly who it was. Zander's looked familiar. He was a fairly good sculptor, but this one was messier than it usually was. He wasn't sure who it was, but it looked like someone he knew.

    Luke looked down at his own. It didn't look very much like Zander. He'd tried, but he wasn't a great sculptor, so it wasn't very clear who it was. Hailey was raising an eyebrow at it and Zander was squinting at it, as if he was trying to decipher it. Meanwhile, Milly was giving him a mischievous look, as if she knew exactly who he'd made even if his sculpture was nebulous.

    Sean examined their sand sculptures critically, surveying them for a moment and moving on to the next one. After he'd finished with all of them, he stepped back and announced, "You all did great, but I think Hailey should be the winner for this round."

    Luke nodded sheepishly. "Yeah, hers was the clearest."

    "So, who did ya make Hailey?" Milly grilled, smirking.

    Faint blossoms of pink appeared in Hailey's cheeks. "You'll have to figure that out by yourself," she replied.

After:

    Zander rolled his eyes and started gathering sand to sculpt. Luke did, too, and Milly and Hailey followed suit.

    Soon everyone was finished, and he took a peek at each of their creations. Hailey's was a bit disorganized but clear enough for him to tell it was probably Jake. Milly's was cluttered, but he could make out glasses. And Zander's. . .

    His heart jumped to see his own face staring up at him. Zander was a proficient sculptor; it really looked like him. Zander had sculpted a grin on his face that made it seem brighter, somehow. Luke wondered if that was how Zander saw him.

    He glanced at Zander to see him studying Luke's sculpture of him. He kneeled down beside him and said, "What do you think?"

    Zander looked down at the sand, but Luke could tell he was smiling.

    He quickly added, "I know it's not a great sculpture, I'm not as good at this as you are, but-"

    "Luke," Zander cut him off, "I love it."

    "You do?"

    "Yes." He gave him a quick peck on the cheek. "It's the thought that counts, right?"

    "Well, we were supposed to make our crushes," Luke pointed out. "Who else would I have made, Jake?"

    Zander growled. "You better not have."

    Luke laughed and Sean cut them off by clapping his hands to get their attention.

    "The winner this time is Zander," he announced.

"So, who did you make Zander?" Milly teased.

    "Shut up," Zander mumbled, stuffing his face into Luke's chest.

    "I think it's pretty obvious," Hailey chimed in, "even though he's always a tsundere about it."

    Everyone except Zander laughed, who shot a glare at Hailey.

    "Says the one who simps for the simp," he retorted.

    Luke grinned as his friends teased, argued, and laughed.

    Beach days are always enjoyable when I'm with my friends.

Ok, two things: One, thank you so much for 1k reads!! It's astonishing how many people have read and voted on this book, so thank you!

Secondly, this part is a birthday present to Luke. So happy birthday to our peanut butter!

Thank you for reading!