nose with her own. “Dad said we could play, if you’ve finished your work.”
“We’ve nearly finished,” said Antonia, pointing to the clear sack of rubbish Cai was holding. “We’ve just got to get rid of that.”
“Leave the bag on the rocks for now and come and play Sprat. Race you. Last one there is ‘it’.”
Bubbles sped off, leaping in and out of the water, his body a flash of silver. Antonia helped Cai with the bag of rubbish and Dream swam alongside so the three of them reached the rocks together.
“I’ll be ‘it’,” said Antonia once the rubbish was safely out of the water. “I’ll give you a three waves’ head start.”
Everyone scattered as Antonia counted three waves.
“Coming,” she called.
The sea was empty. Cai and the dolphins had dived under the water to hide from her. Antonia dived too and was just in time to see Bubbles dart behind a rock. Slowly, she crept towards him but Bubbles had seen her and swam away. Antonia grinned, knowing she’d have to be much faster to catch the little dolphin. Something was moving to her left. Turning quickly, Antonia saw it was Cai. She chased after him, catching him easily and tagging him as he surfaced.
“Phew,” puffed Cai.
It took ages for Cai to tag someone. Finally he caught Dream. Then Bubbles started a water fight by leaping out of the sea, twisting and smacking down on his back. Soon you could hardly see anything for all the splashing. It was Dream who calmed things down.
“Listen,” she clicked. “I can hear Dad whistling. It’s time for us to go.”
“We should go too,” said Antonia, “Claudia’s expecting us at Sea Watch.”
“One more game,” Bubbles begged but sensible Dream shook her head. “If we don’t go now, Dad might ground us,” she clicked.
Bubbles swam towards Antonia as if to rub her nose goodbye, but at the last moment he somersaulted and smacked the surface of the water with his tail, splashing both her and Cai.
“Bubbles,” said Dream warningly.
“Spoilsport,” clicked Bubbles. “Isn’t she?”
Dream looked offended and Antonia held her breath. It had taken ages to make friends with Dream and she felt torn between the two dolphins. Then Cai whispered something, making Dream smile and Antonia relaxed. It was good to see Cai and Dream getting on.
“Bye, Bubbles,” she said, rubbing her nose against his. “Bye, Dream. Thanks for coming. It’s even more fun when you’re here.”
Dream flushed. “I enjoyed it too,” she said shyly.
Antonia and Cai watched the dolphins swim away, laughing as Bubbles suddenly leapt up and, balancing on his tail on the surface of the sea, turned a full circle.
“The twister,” said Antonia wistfully. “I wish I could do it.”
“You can do everything else,” said Cai.
“Not everything,” Antonia protested.
When Bubbles and Dream were out of sight Antonia and Cai collected their bag of rubbish and swam it ashore. As they waded through the breakers on Sandy Bay beach, the water poured from them, leaving their clothes as dry as if they’d been sitting in the sunshine. The only clue that they’d been in the sea was their damp hair. It was a short walk from the beach to Sea Watch, but the rubbish seemed to grow heavier with every step and Antonia was glad when they arrived. They sorted the recyclable things into a separate dustbin before going inside the Sea Watch building, a large wooden shed at the end of Claudia’s garden.
Eleanor Jacobs and Karen Holmes, two girls from school, were getting dressed in large plastic aprons and gloves. Next to them was a tall, skinny girl with short curly hair, glasses and freckles on her nose.
“This is Emily Jones,” said Eleanor, pointing at the new girl. “She started in Year Six at Sandy Bay Primary today.”
“Hi,” said Emily, stepping forward and accidentally treading on Antonia’s foot. “Whoops, sorry.” Emily grinned, showing her metal braces. “We’ve been asked to clean out the guillemot cages. It’s the first time I’ve seen guillemots. They’re so sweet. I’m going to bring my camera tomorrow and take some photos.”
“Hi,” said Antonia, wriggling her squashed toes.
“Poor you, having to come to a new school for the last week and a half of term,” said Cai sympathetically.
“Why have you?” asked Antonia curiously. “It doesn’t seem worth it for one and a half weeks. You’ll have to leave again at the end of term to go to secondary school.”
“Mum and Dad have bought a shop to sell souvenirs to the tourists, so they’re going to be really busy over the summer holidays. We don’t know anyone in Sandy Bay. I came to school to make some new friends, so I won’t be bored while Mum and Dad are working.” Emily smiled hopefully at Antonia as if she wanted to be friends.
“Emily’s parents have named the shop after her,” said Karen. “It’s called Emily’s Treasure Chest.”
“Cool,” said Cai.
“It’s going to be great,” Emily enthused. “Mum and Dad have got all sorts of ideas for original souvenirs. Mum’s going to make them herself. She’s been taking art and craft courses at night school and she’s really good at it.”
Antonia gazed round the room and saw Claudia at her desk. She was on the phone but waved Antonia over.
“Come on,” she said to Cai. “Claudia wants us.”
They walked over, hovering a short distance away until Claudia put the phone down.
“I’m glad you’re here,” she said, her sea-green eyes crinkling as she smiled. “That was the Sandy Bay Badger Sanctuary. Someone’s brought in an injured badger cub but the sanctuary is completely full, so they rang to ask if Sea Watch could nurse it for a few days until they have a free pen. A lady called Jackie is driving the cub over this evening. Could you two prepare the run in the garden we used when we had the seal? There’s straw in the garden shed.”
“A badger cub,” said Antonia, excitedly.
The next hour flew past, as Antonia and Cai prepared for the cub. Antonia desperately wanted to wait for it to arrive, but when she rang home Mum said tea was nearly ready so she wasn’t allowed to stay.
“But…” argued Antonia.
“No buts,” said Mum firmly.
Disappointed, Antonia set off along the seafront, the quickest route back. The shops stayed open later at this time of year to catch the tourist trade. Antonia wove her way through the crowded pavement until a sign in a shop window caught her eye.
“Opening tomorrow, Emily’s Treasure Chest—original souvenirs that won’t leave you broke,”she read.
Curiously, Antonia
