Dive In

Chapter 5

Ella curled her toes in the soft, warm sand. The water gently lapped at the shore and the sun beat down on the glass surface of the water. She knew that under the waves was a refuge from the insufferable heat, but Ella couldn't bear to tear her eyes away from the North shore for even a minute. She hadn't set a time to meet Landon at the beach, and now she was stuck out here waiting for him to show up. The summer sun was scalding her sensitive shoulders and making her sweat profusely, and she was tempted to duck back inside the cabin and fill a cooler with ice and cold drinks. She hoped Landon would come soon, she hadn't felt quite the same once he'd left. It was like she had gone her whole life without realizing a part of her was missing, and yesterday she'd found that part, only to lose it again. She had no idea what it was about Landon that made her feel complete, but now she felt empty.

She could hear Derek rustling around in the trees with Topher; twigs and branches snapping as they frolicked about. After Ella had told Derek she was meeting up with Landon at the beach he hadn't strayed far from the shore. Derek said that it was Topher's favourite place to play, but Ella knew he wanted to see Brittany again. She knew they would make good friends, after last night she could tell Brittany had the same thirst for mischief and hunger for adventure. Ella noticed a flash of blue in the trees, and soon after Landon emerged from the forest.

“Hey Ella!” he called, a goofy smile plastered on his face.

“Hello Landon,” she smiled back, her earlier unease dissipated.

“You didn't wait all day on the beach for me, did you?” he teased, striding across the sand.

“Of course not,” she said a little too quickly.

“So what do you want to do?” asked Landon, digging his feet down into the layer of sand that was cool and damp.

“Swim?” suggested Ella hopefully. She wanted nothing more then to dive into the cool depths.

“Nah, water's too cold today,” he said, scrunching his nose.

“It's always the same temperature. Are you scared of it or something? Can you not swim?” she teased. Landon burst out in laughter, like she'd said the funniest joke. Ella frowned, it didn't seem that funny to her.

“Oh, I can swim, trust me. How about we build a sandcastle? You know, purely for the sake of destroying it when we're done,” he grinned mischievously.

“Sure. I think Derek has some shovels and pails in his bag, I'll go grab them,” she said, jumping up from her beach towel and trotting over to where Derek had tossed his bag. She pulled out a couple of buckets and shovels and returned to Landon, who was evening out the sand.

“Go fill one of these with water, I'll start on the blueprints,” grinned Landon, picking up a piece of driftwood and scratching things into the sand. To Ella it just looked like chicken scratch. She went down to the water to fill up the bucket, and carefully carried it back, trying not to get any on herself. She set down the bucket and crouched next to Landon.

“There, a miniature replica of- uh, some castle I once saw in a book. I think,” said Landon, pouring the water over the sand to make it sticky.

Ella filled buckets with sand and passed it off to Landon, not even bothering to follow his horrible plan. When Landon was done building his castle, which to Ella looked like a big mound of sand, he pulled a tiny flag out of his pocket and placed it on the top. When she looked closer, she saw it was decorated with symbols like the ones they'd found in the forest.

“Can we destroy it now?” Ella asked giddily, raising one foot in preparation to smash it.

“No! Not my baby!” shrieked Landon and he grabbed her leg. She fell down on top of him, landing with an oof.