The pool sessions were very short. No sooner was Sunshine in the water than she was out again, shivering with the cold, being from a hot land of course. The diving practice was all about falling off a plank and avoiding concussion. Again as soon as she hit the water she was up and out and towelling off with vigour. Everyone accepted her place on the team was an inevitability no one could avoid. The plan was simply to get through with the least problems. If she could somehow contribute to the point tally by participation on competition day the honour of the school would be upheld. Her greatest asset was her stamina and in the warm sea with its added salty buoyancy she seemed more relaxed as her long arms cut through the gentle waves, propelling her for hours at a time as the others watched from the sandy shore or upon a raft.

"Pull!" shouted one of the twins through a megaphone, which was immediately snatched from her by the other.

"Pull!" she also shouted and the cone was passed back and forth as rhythmically as the instructions were shouted.

They stood upon a pedal raft with the other three Flare coaches who watched with interest the figure just ahead of them, attached to the raft with a rope. The sun was shining, the sea a rich warm blue with little white waves upon it, and the bay was full of happy daytrippers enjoying the summer season.

Sunshine knew nothing of their enjoyment as with goggles firmly strapped to her head she plunged and dipped and swung and gasped, making a determined progress towards an island up ahead, a bright, rocky promontory dotted with palms and colourful figures of others relaxing in the sun.

"Not far now," Bubbles encouraged her friend through the pink cone reluctantly relinquished by a twin.

"Shall we ramp up the difficulty level?" Fizzy mischievously said. "I could pedal backwards to add to the drag."

"I think not," the princess said, adjusting her sunglasses and peering at the approaching shallows that flanked the tiny island. "Are they Chancefleet boys diving over there?" she then said, pointing discreetly.

"They are!" Bubbles said, a glint in her dark blue eyes that bespoke competitive ardour.

"Jellyfish!" someone shouted. It was Sharshua who had looked up from her clipboard to see colourful blobs swaying to the drift of waves not far from the raft.

"Perfect," Bubbles said, the gleam in her eyes brightening in such a way that suggested a plan was in the offing. "That's our practice island and those boys will have to shift. Get the net Sharshie, we'll give them a welcome warning."

"Pull!" the twins reminded Sunshine, who was oblivious of everything but reaching the pale green shallows so she could use her legs in the way they were intended again.

The boys on the rocky outcrop had of course by now spotted the approaching raft and its occupants.

"Away, away, this land is ours by conquest," one of them shouted, waving arms in windmill fashion. By this time Sunshine had reached the shore and was disentangling the rope from her shoulders and shaking salty water out of her ears. Some of the boys just stared at this slender vision born of sea foam until one of the older boys slapped someone's head.

"That's the enemy," he reminded them. "Repel the invaders. We've diving practice still and they are spoiling it."

The raft ran aground abruptly and a twin plunged into the surf with a squawk that made everyone laugh, friend and foe. Sunshine looked around at her friends, ignoring stares from the rocks above.

"How did I do?" she asked between gasps.

"Come aboard and we'll give you the breakdowns," Sharshua said, gesturing frantically. The princess and Bubbles were meanwhile struggling to keep hold of a sack at the stern of the raft still afloat in shallow water.

"Hurry, can't hold on too long," Bubbles warned and Sunshine, a little perplexed, skipped on board. This was a signal for the twins to push off from the tiny beach amid triumphant cheers from the boys.

"We have a situation," Bubbles then explained to her swim buddy, indicating the lads now dancing on top of the highest peak of the little island. "That's our turf and we need to reclaim it."

Sunshine shaded her eyes and looked at the problem.

"I am an accomplished rock thrower," she said in warrior mode. "It would be easy to pick off these aggressors one by one. It would be my pleasure."

"This sounds promising," Rappy interceded. "However we are not allowed to kill pupils of other schools in Frangea. We must drive them off in other more subtle ways," and she indicated the net tied to the end of the raft.

"What have we here?" Sunshine said, smiling curiously.

"Subtle ways," Bubbles answered cunningly and the twins whooped with less cunning glee. "Let's shift the raft to the north west. I know the currents of this place like I know my eyebrows," she explained. "Once the boys are back in the water doing their practice thing we'll unleash the fury of Dorm Flare upon them."

As instructed the raft was navigated to the drop off point to allow matters to resolve in the manner desired. The girls pretended to sunbathe on the drifting raft, keeping a careful eye on what the boys were doing.

"They are all in the water," Sunshine said, sharp-eyed.

"Right, let's release the jellyfish we gathered in the net. The current here will do the rest."

The blobs of pink and green were slowly eased out of the net and allowed to drift towards the island and the splashing, swimming boys. It was not long before screams of alarm replaced shouts of joy.

"I'm stung!" came a satisfying cry.

"Me too!" was the delightfully distraught answer and before long the boys could be seen gathering their things, pausing to scratch itchy legs every now and then, before all tumbled into a small dinghy that took them to the mainland.

"Okay, twins, you're in the driving seats, pedal to Pleasant Isle so we can plant our flag and do a seriously goofy dance of victory," Bubbles declared. "Plazenby girls conquer and rule." A resounding cheer filled the blue skies, making swimmers around the bay pause a moment in wonder.

All thought of coaching and competitions and swim fests were forgotten for the rest of that afternoon. There were no more lessons of course so the girls kept partying the rest of the day until one of the twins managed to get stung too and came out in a splendid rash her sister envied with bizarre sympathy.