Ariel stepped out of the locker room and into the pool room. The smell of chlorine and moist fur struck her nostrils. She inhaled and exhaled deeply. I love this place, she couldn't help thinking. I love it, I love it, I love it! She stepped over to the pool and dipped in a toe. The water was neither hot nor cold. Just right. Taking a deep breath and adjusting her goggles, Ariel dove in.
The water surrounded her almost instantaneously, like a crowd of fans at the approach of a movie star. Ariel looked around at the empty pool, the wide expanse of blue with black-and-white tiled walls and lane dividers above her head. For her, this was heaven. She would never leave if given the opportunity.
Ariel reluctantly resurfaced and immediately started backstroking across the pool. She only took a breath every so often, focusing more on moving her arms and legs. Once she reached the other side, she did a flip underwater and headed back to her starting point. Back and forth she traveled, slicing through the water at top speed. She used sidestroke, crawl, freestyle. She didn't pause for a second. She didn't want to. Her team would depend on her this weekend. She needed all the practice she could get.
Only, for her, it wasn't practice. It was fun.
"Do you have any aces?" Ariel asked Kiki from behind her fan of cards.
Kiki answered, "Go fish. Do you have a six?"
"Go fish," Ariel replied as she took a card of her own. "Queens?"
Kiki sighed, but handed over three Queen cards. "You get better at this game every day," she quipped.
"Says the monkey who won the Shangri-Paw High-Rise 9th Floor Go Fish Championship," Ariel retorted.
"Well, I am winning right now..." Kiki indicated her five sets of cars as opposed to Ariel's one.
Calvin walked in from the hall and asked, "Can I play?"
"Well, sure," Kiki decided. "We'll deal you in."
"No card throwing this time!" Ariel added.
Calvin argued, "Yeesh, that was one time! Can't a tiger ever live anything down?"
"And no peeking at my cards, either," Ariel muttered as Kiki handed Calvin five cards.
"Reptile Risotto again?!" Calvin whined once he saw what was on his dinner plate. "We have this every night!"
"Last night we had the Quick Meal, remember?" Ariel reminded her brother. "Canned chicken, canned green beans, and microwave quinoa and brown rice."
"Which is the only meal you know how to cook," Mr. Hobbes added. "Be glad your mother could come home so early. Oh, by the way, Ariel, did you interview your classmate?"
Ariel nodded. "Matt was more than happy to oblige. It's in my school notebook."
"Good. I really hope Miss Hopps solves the missing mammal case soon."
"Me too. Matt says his family is heartbroken. Mr. Otterton is probably safe, though."
Even as she said those words, Ariel couldn't help but feel as if she had told an untruth.