"For You bless the righteous, O Lord; You cover him with favor as with a shield." – Psalm 5:12

When the final school bell rang on Friday afternoon, Alana jumped out of her seat and swiftly grabbed her belongings. She smiled and said goodbye to a few of her classmates before rushing out the door. At first, she made her way towards the gym, but then she realized that Coach Kerr had canceled their after-school surf session today. Since they didn't have a competition Saturday morning, he'd figured it would be okay if the team took the day off and had some fun on their Friday evening.

Alana was glad that there was no surf competition tomorrow morning. It was her birthday, after all, and she would much rather spend it freesurfing with the gang and Tammy.

Her pulse immediately kicked up a notch when she thought of her birthday. An Oreo cookie ice cream cake, lots of presents, and a day filled with surfing caused a smile to blossom on her face. She couldn't wait.

"Hey," a voice said, followed by someone's elbow nudging her in the side. She turned and realized it was Blaine.

"What's got you smiling so much?" he added.

"I'm just thinking about my birthday," she said. "I'm so excited!"

"Oh, sure...I figured you were daydreaming about Cole," he said.

Though Cole did make her smile, Alana shook her head, knowing he hadn't been on her mind at all for the last hour. But now that Blaine had brought him to her attention, she warmed slightly. "Don't go jumping to conclusions," she warned.

Blaine held his hands up. "I wasn't, trust me. I just like to follow my intuition."

"Well, then your intuition is jumping to conclusions."

His eyes twinkled. "Is it?"

Alana tossed her hair over her shoulder and pretended to ignore him, when in reality she was both in awe and wary of the fact that Blaine could read people so well. He often knew more about a situation than he let on.

"So," he said, changing the subject, "about your birthday...Cole has been working real hard on your present."

"Has he?" Her voice sounded way too optimistic.

Catching her tone, Blaine smirked, looking even more like his twin. "You're gonna love his present."

"Which is?"

"Yeah right. Like I'm going to tell you."

"Fine." Alana rolled her eyes good-naturedly. "It was worth a shot. Tammy used to fall for it."

They entered the breezeway, where they paused their conversation for a brief moment in order to part ways and go to their lockers. After retrieving their necessary books, they rejoined paths and headed towards the parking lot together.

"Okay," Alana chuckled, "I'm kind of confused here. Are you really admitting that Cole's present for me is way better than yours?"

Blaine feigned surprise. "Who said I was getting you a present?"

"Hey!"

"Alright, I am getting you a present, and you're right—Cole's is way better than mine."

Alana poked him in the chest. "You need to put in more effort next time, mister."

"Wow, so pushy."

The sarcasm made her laugh. When Blaine joked around, teased, and—on a rare occasion—smirked, he looked so much like Cole that the resemblance was uncanny. Of course, they were nearly identical in the physical sense, but their mannerisms had always been different.

It was funny, Alana thought, how she had fallen for one twin and not the other. The Anderson who used to be a grade-A troublemaker was the one who'd caught her eye. Blaine was just as attractive, but for some reason his personality didn't mesh as well with hers. Cole had been the one to pursue her on every occasion, not Blaine. She guessed that was what had won her over: Cole's persistence. It only helped that he was becoming a kinder, calmer, and more positive person every day. The dramatic change in his attitude seemed to fuel her attraction for him.

Alana blushed. She would be lying if she said she hadn't thought about what it would be like to kiss Cole. He was her first major crush, and she had never held hands romantically with a guy before, let alone kissed one. She thought of all the various possibilities for her birthday present and imagined a kiss as one of them. Cole had experience; he definitely wouldn't shy away from something like that.

But no—Cole was taking his time with Alana. She chastised herself for allowing such wishful thinking. The kiss was only a figment of her imagination. She blushed again and felt embarrassment sweep over her. Blaine, Cole's twin, was still walking right next to her! Good thing he couldn't read her thoughts.

Despite her best efforts, though, her mind turned again and again back to Cole. Did she really want him to kiss her? Or was that just some fairytale wish that she could never actually picture happening in real life? Alana frowned and realized she had some figuring out to do. She needed to reevaluate her relationship with Cole and see if it was headed in the right direction. Then, and only then, could they take the next step and declare it "official."

She and Blaine were almost at the Volkswagen. Blaine sighed and leaned against the door, letting his backpack fall to the ground at his feet. "Man," he said, "I kind of wish Coach Kerr hadn't canceled this afternoon's practice."

Glad for the change of subject, Alana waited next to him and set her heavy backpack down as well. "Just because practice is canceled doesn't mean we can't go surfing ourselves," she pointed out.

"But the swell is small anyway."

"So?" She grinned. "There's always longboarding."

Blaine thought for a minute. "Okay, let's wait until Cole gets here. If you can convince him to longboard at C Street, then I'll go with you guys."

Alana clapped her hands together excitedly. She knew she would have no problem convincing him. A surf session tonight, and then another one tomorrow for her birthday! It couldn't be more perfect, even if the waves were a little on the small side.

Noticing her excitement, Blaine pulled out his phone and asked, "Do you want to invite anyone else?"

"Mmm, I don't know." She rolled her head back and studied the sky, watching the white clouds scurry across the pale blue expanse. "Jake and Maya still aren't on good terms, and Koa has been acting sort of weird lately."

Blaine nodded. "I'll take that as a no."

"It's fine," she said with a shrug of her shoulders. "Everyone is forced to get together tomorrow for my birthday anyway."

He laughed. "True."

Just then, they both spotted a familiar mop of curly blonde hair above the crowd of teenagers. Alana smiled and watched the rest of Cole's figure come into view. "There he is!" she exclaimed. "I'm gonna go ask him."

As soon as she and Cole made eye contact, he grinned broadly. She rushed over to his side and quickly expressed her idea to him.

"Sounds perfect!" he said immediately. "I'm always up for a surf."

Alana couldn't help but smile, especially when he stared at her with those brilliant blue eyes. Before she could lose herself in his gaze, she looked away. "Hey Blaine!" she called. "Guess what?"

Upon seeing their smiles, he asked, "Does this mean I have to longboard with you two?"

Alana nodded excitedly.

"Forget about homework for a few hours and come join us," Cole said, pulling his keys out of his pocket and unlocking the Volkswagen.

"Okay, I'll come. But only if you let me drop in on you every once in a while," Blaine countered.

Alana listened cheerfully to their banter until the moment her phone rang. She glanced down at the screen, where the caller ID caused her to raise an eyebrow in surprise. It was one of the Roxy scouts! What could they possibly want? They told Alana to be on standby for any potential offers and features, but so far she hadn't received any. Her heart thrummed with anticipation.

"Hello?" she asked, trying to make her voice sound calmer than it was.

"Hi Alana, I hope you're doing well. Listen, we have an exciting opportunity for you! I just know you're going to love it..."

Twenty minutes later, Alana found herself at home rushing to get ready for the beach. She pulled on a bikini, shorts, and a sweatshirt, then flung her hair up in a messy bun before dashing downstairs.

Dylan was sitting at the kitchen counter clicking away on his laptop, while Tammy was watching TV in the living room with a friend. Alana slowed her pace when she reached the bottom of the stairs and turned left into the kitchen. She walked over to Dylan, where she began casually drumming her fingers on the countertop. "Hey," she said.

He glanced up. "Hey yourself. What's with the sudden change of clothes?"

"I'm going surfing with the Andersons," she explained.

"Oh, fun," he said. "I have to be back at work in thirty minutes, so make sure you're home to fix Tammy and her friend dinner."

Alana made a face. She didn't care for cooking all that much.

"We have spaghetti," Dylan offered. "That's easy to do."

"Alright." She straightened up and cleared her throat. "Listen, there's something I have to tell you."

This time, Dylan turned his attention completely away from the laptop screen. "Uh-oh. This doesn't sound good."

"No, it's great news, actually." She tried to ease the tension out of her voice as she explained, "One of the scouts from Roxy called and wants to set up a little photoshoot for me. I would be featured in some of their stores and wherever else their brand is sold."

"You would be modeling?"

She nodded.

Dylan stroked his jaw, obviously a little hesitant about the whole thing. "I've never pegged you as the fashion type, sis."

"Trust me, I'm not," she laughed. "I just think this is cool. It's a whole new experience for me—it's a way to get myself out there and find more sponsorships."

Dylan opened his mouth to ask another question, but a honk suddenly sounded from outside the house.

Alana smiled and headed to the door. "That's my ride! I'll talk to you later, okay?"

Dylan nodded, though his expression showed that he clearly wasn't happy that their conversation had been interrupted. "Catch a wave for me," he said.

"Will do!" Alana happily grabbed her longboard and wetsuit and darted towards the Volkswagen idling in the street. After Blaine helped her position the board in the back, she climbed inside and buckled in. Cole swiftly pulled away from the curb and towards the beach.

Despite its chill, the afternoon was bright and sunny, with harmless white clouds drifting across the blue sky. Cole parked in a free lot next to a row of apartments and pulled the key out of the ignition. It had been a short three-minute drive, a distance that Alana could have easily walked, but she had wanted to catch a ride with the Andersons instead. Though she would never admit it, any chance she got to spend with Cole, she would take.

The trio hopped out and quickly unloaded their boards from the back. They spent the next few minutes getting dressed and waxing up their longboards. Once Alana's wetsuit was securely fastened across its chest zip, she picked up her board and tucked it underneath her arm. Cole grabbed his keys, locked the van, and placed the keys in a small pocket on the leg of his wetsuit. He then zipped the pocket closed and grabbed his longboard.

Blaine, who was waiting for them at the end of the parking lot, waved and pointed at the water. Cole and Alana quickly jogged over to meet him.

"It's not as small as we thought," Blaine said, gesturing to a set that was breaking around the Point.

Sure enough, a few glassy waist-high waves were rolling through. The usual crowd of longboarders was sitting in the lineup. Cole, Alana, and Blaine headed down a flight of stairs to the sand and soon joined them.

As they were paddling, Cole asked, "So what did the lady from Roxy ask when she called you?"

Alana realized she hadn't yet explained why Roxy had called. "Actually, I was just talking to Dylan about that," she said. "They wants to do a little photoshoot with me for some of their clothing."

Blaine and Cole both looked at her. "A photoshoot," Cole echoed. "Like, modeling?"

Alana chuckled. Was that the only answer a guy could think of? "Yes, modeling," she replied.

"That's pretty cool," Blaine said.

"When are you doing it?" Cole asked.

"I don't know. Next weekend, maybe."

"Wow." Cole grinned. "Are we going to see a giant picture of you posted on the wall of Scottie's Surf Shack?"

Alana burst out laughing. Various professional surfers and models littered the walls of the surf store, but she couldn't imagine herself as one of them. "No way," she said automatically. "I'm going to be clothing ads and stuff like that. No posters."

"Are you doing their winter clothing?" Blaine asked.

Alana frowned. Actually, she didn't know what she was going to be wearing. She had only been briefed on the potential time of the photoshoot, not what it would entail. "I'm not sure," she murmured.

Cole quickly looked away. Alana fixed her gaze on the water, too, suddenly not wanting to look either of the twins in the eye. What if she had to model something skimpy, like a bikini? She had surfed in a bikini many times, but those were always sport ones, designed to stay on and function in the ocean. She gulped, remembering all the Roxy models she had seen in the past. Most bikinis were designed for fashion, not sport.

"Well," Cole said lightly, trying to change the mood, "whatever you'll be wearing, I'm sure you'll look amazing."

Alana ducked her head in embarrassment while Blaine groaned.

"Sorry," Cole added. "I didn't mean to sound so cheesy."

By now, Alana's cheeks were burning. "Let's just focus on the surf, okay guys?" she said.

They nodded eagerly. The awkward conversation was avoided, for now.