Free In the Deep End by Pam Harvey Page B

and she hadn’t had a chance to talk to him about what she’d seen. He probably thought she was angry with him like she’d been angry with Gabby. E.D. had been hanging around but she didn’t want to speak to him without talking to Angus first, so she’d just left him to eat his lunch.
    Without thinking about it, Hannah found herself going towards Gabby’s house. It was aten-minute bike ride out of the way but that was okay. Gabby will be home training, thought Hannah.
    She was right.
    Gabby was in the pool, swimming her heart out. Pat wasn’t there and Hannah sat herself in a chair and watched. Gabby kept doing laps, using a float between her knees to make her arms work harder. After five minutes, Hannah stood up and waved at her but Gabby didn’t stop. Unsure that she’d been seen, Hannah sat down again.
    Gabby’s pink and white phone was balanced on the arm of the chair and Hannah picked it up idly, flicking through to text messages. The last one was from Ling: I believe in you Gab yr an awesome swimmer. Hannah put the phone back on the chair.
    She stood and waved after another five minutes and then realised what was going on. Gabby had seen her—probably ten minutes ago—but she wasn’t going to stop.
    ‘Fine, then,’ yelled Hannah at the water. ‘I hope you dissolve! I’m going home.’ She hoisted her bag onto her back and walked away.
    Gabby reached the end of the pool and went to turn. She glanced in Hannah’s direction to check that she was still waiting and saw nothing.She stopped. Hannah was just disappearing through the pool gate. Quickly, Gabby hoisted herself smoothly out of the water.
    ‘Hannah!’
    Hannah kept on walking. Maybe she hadn’t heard.
    ‘HANNAH!!’
    Hannah stopped and turned around. The girls looked at each other.
    ‘Well…’ said Gabby.
    ‘So…’ said Hannah.
    ‘I’m sorry,’ they said together. And they both laughed.
    ‘I didn’t mean anything the other day,’ said Gabby, stepping forward and giving Hannah a watery hug.
    ‘Yuck!’ Hannah shook the drips off her. ‘I know you didn’t. I was just feeling a bit grumpy. The competition and all that.’
    ‘Yeah, I know.’ Gabby grabbed her towel from where it was hanging on the fence. ‘Believe me, I know what it’s like to lose a competition.’
    ‘But I didn’t lose, Gab. Listen to this.’
    Gabby listened carefully, taking in Hannah’s story of the night before. They sat in silence for a moment afterwards.
    ‘So something’s not right,’ Gabby said slowly.
    ‘You’re telling me.’
    ‘What do the boys think?’
    ‘I haven’t told them yet.’
    ‘I’ll go and ring them to come over.’ Gabby stood up. ‘I think we need all our heads together on this one.’
    As she walked inside to use the phone, Hannah smiled. There was one thing about Gabby—if she wanted things to happen, they happened. Hannah glanced at her watch. She gave the boys eight minutes to be here.
    It took them five minutes. But they cheated—they came across the paddocks on E.D.’s motocross bike.
    ‘I am so hot,’ Angus said as he pulled his helmet off.
    ‘No wonder,’ said Hannah, looking at the motorbike jackets the boys were wearing.
    ‘New gear,’ said E.D., proudly brushing the front of his black jacket. ‘Pump brand. Cool.’
    ‘No, hot.’ Angus pulled his off and flung it over a chair. ‘Your mum thinks we’re safer with these on, but she hadn’t counted on death by overheating.’
    ‘Easy to fix that.’ E.D. winked at Hannah, pulled his jacket and boots off, and, without another word, jumped into the pool.
    Hannah had to take Gabby away for a while until Angus hauled E.D. and his soggy clothes out of the water. ‘He jumped into my pool with his clothes on!’ Gabby was gasping. ‘They’re covered in grease and he jumped into my pool!’
    ‘Did you want him to take his clothes off?’ Hannah said.
    Gabby looked like she was going to faint. ‘No way. That would be worse. ’
    ‘Well, then. That’s