school.”
“I’ll go and get the rubbish,” said Cai. He turned and swam towards a small beach nestling at the foot of the cliffs.
“Wait for me.” Antonia swam quickly after him.
Antonia and Cai had been litter picking. It was part of their role as Silver Dolphins to protect the seas and all the creatures living there. Whenever the Silver Dolphins were needed, Spirit called to them through the silver dolphin charms that Antonia and Cai always wore. A very special magic let them swim and communicate with their dolphin friends. Today Spirit had called them to clear some floating rubbish he’d found.
When it was shallow enough Antonia and Cai stood on the seabed and waded up the beach.
“It’s a shame there’s no bin on the beach. We’ll have to be careful how we get this back,” said Cai, picking up the strips of polystyrene packaging they’d found. “This stuff is lethal if an animal eats it.”
“I know,” said Antonia gravely. “It breaks up into tiny balls that don’t rot and are left in the sea forever.”
They shared the polystyrene between them, being careful not to snap it.
“Where are we?” Antonia wondered aloud. She looked up at the cliffs. “There’s a lot of noise coming from up there.”
“I think this is Crane Point,” Cai answered. “Aunty Claudia told me there’s a block of luxury apartments being built on the cliff top here. There was a story about it in the Sandy Bay newspaper. Lots of people don’t want the apartments to be built because they’ll spoil the view and bring more traffic to the area. Most of the apartments are being sold as holiday lets.”
“I don’t blame them,” said Antonia hotly. “It’s lovely here.”
“Aunty Claudia says it’s not all bad,” said Cai. “The building project has created lots of jobs and the tourists will too when they start visiting.”
“True.” Antonia walked backwards down the beach, keeping her eyes on the top of the cliffs for signs of building activity. “But the builders should be more responsible. This looks like their rubbish. They should clear up properly and not dump things in the sea.”
“Maybe it blew away,” said Cai reasonably.
“That’s not clearing up properly,” Antonia argued, hoping this wasn’t going to be the start of a bigger problem.
They swam back to Bubbles and his mum Star, who looked at the polystyrene inquisitively.
“It seems harmless,” clicked Bubbles, “but Dad says it can kill us.”
His sister Dream shivered. “Thanks for taking it away,” she clicked.
Bubbles and Dream swam with the Silver Dolphins back to Claudia’s beach.
“Goodbye,” clicked Bubbles. “And if you change your mind about going to school we can teach you lots of new things.”
Antonia and Cai laughed.
“See you soon.” Antonia rubbed noses with Bubbles and then Dream.
As the dolphins swam back out to sea Antonia trod water for a moment, reluctant to go home. She’d had a brilliant summer and wasn’t keen to go to school the following day.
“That’s it then, the summer’s over,” sighed Cai, echoing her gloomy thoughts.
“It doesn’t feel like it,” said Antonia, slowly swimming towards the shore. “It’s still really hot. I don’t want to sit in a stuffy old classroom all day.”
“Me neither,” agreed Cai. “Especially now we’re in Year Six. Mrs Howard said she’s going to work us extra hard.”
They waded up the beach. The Silver Dolphin magic made the sea water pour off them like a mini waterfall until their clothes were completely dry. Antonia shook out her damp hair and Cai pulled a face as he ran his fingers through his.
“The water makes my hair go extra curly,” he laughed.
They sat on the warm sand to put on their sandals, then went through the gate that led to Claudia’s garden.
Claudia was talking to a builder who was making a deepwater pool for injured sea animals. She waved and called out, “Are you staying to tea, Antonia?”
“Not tonight, thanks,” said Antonia. “I promised I’d be home early.”
“See you tomorrow then,” said Cai after they’d put their rubbish in the Sea Watch bin.
“See you,” said Antonia.
On the way home Antonia stopped halfway up Sandy Bay Road to look at the sea. A funny feeling was bothering her, and her thoughts strayed to the building site at Crane Point. Staring at the bright blue water, Antonia strongly sensed that Mrs Howard wasn’t the only one who would be keeping them busy that term.
“A ntonia!” Sophie was waiting at the end of her drive, but when she saw Antonia she ran to meet her. They hugged until they almost toppled over.
“When did you get back from Australia? Did you have a good time?” Sophie bombarded Antonia with questions as they walked to school.
“I got you a present,” said Antonia, when she could get a word in edgeways. “I’ll give it to you when we get to school. Do you think Mrs Howard will let us sit together?”
“I doubt it,” Sophie giggled. “I expect Miss Brown has told her that we chat too much.”
In the school playground Antonia swung her bag to the ground and rummaged inside for the miniature wooden boomerang she’d bought for Sophie. As she handed it over Lauren Hampton barged past. Antonia dropped the neatly wrapped present, but luckily Sophie caught it.
“Watch it!” cried Sophie hotly.
“Watch what?” asked Lauren nastily. “It’s not my fault that Antonia got in my way.”
Sophie went red with indignation, but Antonia steered her to another part of the playground before she could protest.
“Ignore her,” she said. “She’s not worth it.”
“Ooh!” exclaimed Sophie crossly. “I don’t know why she’s always so nasty to you. Thanks for the boomerang, Antonia. It’s lovely. I’ll ask Dad to help me hang it on my bedroom wall.”
Cai and Toby arrived as the bell went and they all walked into school.
“Let’s sit together,” said Cai, but Mrs Howard had other ideas.
“Just my luck,” groaned Antonia when her new teacher called out, “Charlie West, Lauren Hampton, Antonia Lee and Harry Lucas on this table, please.”
Antonia hurried to her new place, hoping to sit next to one of the boys, but Charlie and Harry beat her there and she was forced to sit next to Lauren.
“Move up, Toni,” said Lauren, making herself as wide as possible when she sat down.
“It’s ‘Antonia’. I might not know you’re talking to me if you call me Toni.”
“Good. Then I won’t have to talk to you, Toni,” said Lauren unkindly.
It was one of the longest days Antonia had ever spent in school. The work was much harder than it had been in Year Five and Antonia’s brain felt rusty after the long summer holiday. Lauren had a brand new pencil case and a bumper pack of gel pens that she laid out, taking up more than her fair share of the desk and she grumbled each time Antonia accidentally touched one.
“My dad got me those,” she boasted. “He’s got this great new job over at Crane Point.