Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight I only used the characters created by Stephanie Meyer there is NO COPYRIGHT INTENDED.

A Day At The Beach

Bella's P.O.V.

I wiggled my toes and felt the sand shift under my feet. I couldn't believe where I was! It was summer vacation and I was expecting that Edward would wisk me away to some place exotic possibly with his family but Hawaii was the last place I expected. Then again knowing the Cullen's and how frequently they wasted their money i wasn't totally surprised that they owned their own private beach. It was a sort of family vacation I'd never had and I was really enjoying myself.

We had just spent the better part of the day swimming and now I was relaxing on the beach with Edward. At first I couldn't get over all the sparkling bodies of the Cullen's. I was totally entranced when it was just Edward, but when you're alone on the beach with 7 sparkling vampires it's more than a little hard to concentrate.

Eventually though i got a hold on myself even if i wasn't totally there. We had so much fun! We played Marco Polo forever but I wasn't very good at it and was usually the one calling Marco because i couldn't swim as fast. I leaned back against Edward and smiled as I thought how the game had ended. Alice had snuck up on Emmett in a shark outfit and oh my gosh Emmett screamed like such a little girl! It was hilarious!

"Everyone?" Esme called in a voice loud enough so that I too could hear her. "It's time for the annual Cullen Castle Competition! You have 30 minutes to design a sand castle or sculpture that will be judged by either Carlisle or myself. As usual this is an individual event so no partners."

I sighed. There was absolutely no point in me participating I would definitely lose.

"Now" Esme said "Are there any questions before we start?"

I raised my hand.

"Yes, Bella?"

"Can I judge? I'm not very good at these kind of things and this way both you and Carlisle can participate as well."

"Well...I suppose you could, but why not make a sculpture for fun. The judging's not 'till the end so why not occupy yourself?"

I nodded, I'll just doodle or something.

"Okay, now to choose this years themes... Bella, why don't you decide since you'll be judging?"

"Alright...Umm...How about nautical for sculptures and medieval for castles? Have you guys done those before?"

"Surprisingly not." said Rosalie.

"Okay, well umm.. I guess you guys can start now."

It was a blur as everyone scrambled to stake out an area for their masterpiece. I just stayed where I was and drew squiggles in the sand. After becoming bored with that I made a small sand castle and then went back to doodling, drawing zigzags and x's until finally the 30 minutes was up.

First was Emmett. He had done a sculpture of Rosalie as a mermaid.
It was a really good likeness and the detail was fantastic! You could see every single scale on her tail. She was wearing the traditional shells and she had a seaweed headband. I never would have thought that someone as big as Emmett was capable of something like this! I smiled at Emmett and moved on to Rosalie.

Rosalie had also done herself as a mermaid but hers was much more impressive. It radiated style and everything was perfectly formed. In addition she had placed a crown on top of her statues head making it obvious that it was royalty. I giggled a bit nodded to Rose and moved on to Jasper.

Jasper had chosen to do a sand castle. His was slightly bigger than your average sand castle and definitely more skilful. It had several turrets complete with flags and windows all in the medieval fashion. It even had a little drawbridge and moat! I complemented Jasper on his work before continuing to Alice.

I laughed when I saw what Alice had done. It was a mini Simons store complete with nautical themed clothes and all. There were bandanas, boat-neck blouses, and rope belts! It was amazing! Alice smiled at my reaction and I entered the store to explore further. She'd made a cash register as well and when i looked at the clothes more I realized they all had little price tags. I giggled and left to go see the next masterpiece.

Carlisle turned out to be the next in line and he too had done a sandcastle. It was even more impressive than Jaspers! Carlisle had made tiny sand crocodiles in the moat and a few even had their mouths open revealing tiny sand teeth. He had even made little chains out of seaweed connecting his castle to the drawbridge. I complemented him on his wonderful work all the while thinking, is there anything the Cullens couldn't do?

Next was Esme, just as I was beginning to wonder what she had come up with I saw it and gasped.

"Esme.." I gasped. "It's beautiful!"

Esme too had made sandcastle but really you could hardly call it that, hers was so magnificent it could not be compared to the sad things children make. Esme had made a real life size castle in authentic medieval style, it even had a torture chamber and a jail! Esme gave me a full tour of her sand home and I was in awe of how much work she had put into this. You could practically live in here! When we finished the tour I thanked her and moved on to Edward.

When I finally reached the place I'd seen him setting up I was completely blown away. There in front of me stood an authentic pirate ship complete with seaweed rigging. It was wonderful but then again I shouldn't be surprised, after all this was Edward and he's good at everything! I looked around for Edward but I couldn't see him.

All of a sudden two cold arms wrapped themselves around my waist. I smiled and turned around only to come face to face with the HOTTEST pirate ever I mean seriously even if you mixed Captain Jack Sparrow AND Will Turner you wouldn't even come close to how HOT pirate Edward was.

My mouth dropped open as I took in the sight of him. He chuckled and gently closed it for me.

"Well," He said Gesturing to his boat, "What do you think, would you like a tour?"

I nodded dumbly unable to speak.

Edward swung me onto his back and climbed up the anchor onto the boat, I made to get down but he just shook his head and grabbed onto one of the many ropes, swinging us to the front of the boat. Even though I knew I was safe with Edward I couldn't help but scream a little. This was even scarier then running! At least then I knew where the ground was!

Edward stopped at our destination and swung me around immediately into his arms with a look of concern on his face.

"Bella? Are you okay?"

"Yes..." I stuttered. "It just freaked me out a little when the ground disappeared."

He chuckled. "Oh...Bella" he said shaking his head slightly.

Luckily we were done swinging for now so he lead me to the front of the boat and let me wander around looking at things. I admired the steering wheel for a while before moving to the very tip of the boat and looking down at the decoration. I gasped and felt tears form in my eyes before slowing beginning to fall down my face. Edward was beside me in an instant.

"Bella?! What is it?! What's wrong?!"

"It's me." I whispered.

He looked confused for a second before realization hit and his face fell.

"You...don't like it?"

Once again I looked over the bow of the boat and examined the beautiful head ornament that was me.

"It's beautiful." I whispered.

He looked confused. "Then why are you crying?"

"The way you see me...It's beautiful."

He smiled "It's pretty, but it's nothing compared to the real thing."

I smiled back up at him and his smile widened. After making sure I really was okay he continued showing me around the rest of the ship. The detail on everything was incredible. Each rope and line was woven perfectly out of seaweed and could probably support more than twice my weight. The railings were carved with rose patterns and even the deck looked like it was made of real wood.

Once my tour was finished I smiled and said "It's beautiful." Before returning to where I had been doodling before to finish up the judging and decide on a winner.

This is not going to be easy I thought. Everyone was so talented. Alright well Emmett's statue was wonderful but both he and Rosalie had done the same thing and creativity was important. So that's them off the list. Jasper and Carlisle's castles were both amazing and very precise but Esme left both of them in the dust.

Alice's store was well made...Ugh! What am I supposed to do?! Alice, Esme and Edward had all done such good jobs.

Well as much as I love Edward, the others might think I'm a little biased if I pick him and Esme's castle was very impressive. But then again Edward dressed up too...but this WAS a sand castle competition not a costume party so Edward is out. So now to decide between Alice and Esme. Oaky well the rules were medieval for castles and nautical for sculptures, and Alice was kinda pushing it with the shop...even if the clothes were appropriately themed. Oh well it's decided then.

"Alright everyone," I said "I've made my decision.'

Everyone appeared in a matter of seconds. They all looked so excited I hated to upset anyone.

"Okay so umm... You guys all did a wonderful job, those were definitely the best sand things I've ever seen and all the entries were amazing! I know all judges say it to make the contestants feel better but it actually was a very hard decision to make. It was only after deciding to focus on creativeness and regard for the rules or themes I was finally able to make my choice."

Everyone stared at me expectantly.

"The winner is Esme," I said "For her magnificent life sized medieval castle."

Esme squeaked happily and everyone went to congratulate her.

"Well..." Carlisle said "Esme you're the winner what would you like to do now?"

"I want to go back to my castle!" Esme said.

Once we arrived back at Esme's castle there was a collection of gasps as the others laid eyes on Esme's castle and I could tell everyone agreed with my decision.

"Cool." said Emmett.

That of course set everyone off laughing. Except Emmett of course who just stood there looking confused, which made everyone laugh twice as hard.

When we all settled down the discussion turned to what to do next, and an argument began over which game to play.

"I have an idea." I said.

Everyone turned to look at me and I suddenly felt nervous under their intense stares.

"Umm...how about hide and seek?"

"Hmm... not a bad idea actually." Rosalie said.

"Sure, why not?" said Jasper.

"Alright then, are we agreed?" asked Esme.

Everyone nodded.

"Good, okay since it was Bella's suggestion, she's it!"

"What?! Wait! NO!" But it was too late everyone was already gone and I was left all alone in a big sandcastle. I sighed. Oh well, at least I knew where everything was. Esme's tour was going to come in handy.

I was nearest the torture chamber, so I decided to head there first. As soon as I was in the room I wished I wasn't. Without Esme beside me this place is really creepy. I approached a couple of coffins cautiously. I started opening them when I heard a Emmett sounding giggle come from a suit of armour.

Now that I looked at it the suit did seem oddly Emmett shaped. I tiptoed up to it even though I knew with their super hearing everyone would hear me anyway. I flipped up the visor and looked inside. I was surprised when I saw there was nothing inside.

Weird I thought. I turned around to look elsewhere and came face to face with a hangman. I screamed.

Emmett pulled off his mask and burst out laughing.

"You should have seen your face!" Laugh "It was hilarious!"

I growled "Emmett!!!!"

But before I could do anything he ran away laughing. I sighed this was not going well. I finished looking in the torture chamber andd moved onto the living room. I started looking behide the sand couch when all of a sudden I heard a big BOOM and the walls began to shake. Before I knew what was happening Edward appeared out of no where and scooped me up into his arms, before running outside. Once we had gotten a good 50 feet away from Esme's castle he set me down and we both turned back and watched as Esme's castle tumbled to the ground.

I could see Carlisle and Esme watching about 20 yards away from us, and when the castle finally collapsed I was able to see Alice, Jasper and Rosalie as well.

"Where's Emmett?" I asked.

Edward sighed. "Well...since he's the one who set off the firework he's probobley buried underneath the sand.

Carlisle walked over to us. "I suppose we should dig him out now."

"NO!" Well all shouted at the same time. Then realizing what we said Esme quickly emended "At least not right away."

"Exactly." said Alice. "There's no rush, it's not ike he's going to suffocate."

So what do you think so far? Please review! I love writing but if I think no one enjoys it then really what's the point?