She could see Miss Drill swimming laps in the pool, a flash of turquoise darting in the water. Constance slipped off her dressing gown and stood by the water's edge. The pool was bigger than she'd imagined. She appreciated that. She hated brushing up against people as she swam.
Imogen reached the other side, turned and blinked. She'd never seen Miss Hardbroom's swimming costume before. It was a turn of the century menswear onesie more suited to clowning around on a silent film set on a beach holiday. It looked faintly ridiculous, especially as Miss Hardbroom would have done no such thing. Imogen sniggered along with the other women draped around the edge of the pool. Constance ignored them, chose a spot in the deep end, eyeballed it and plunged in. Imogen blinked. She did not know that Miss Hardbroom could swim. She soon realised that she was outmatched. Constance was a better swimmer than she. For an hour, Constance wowed the other women as she sped up and down the pool with a powerful stroke, flipping between front crawl and backstroke. After a while Imogen just waited and watched, stretching to give herself something to do. She was never one to hold a grudge and when Constance finally finished, not even out of breath, she complimented her.
'Do you wild swim? You must do for that kind of speed and stamina.'
'I don't know what you mean.'
Imogen explained the concept while Constance stared at her.
'I just call it swimming.'
Of course she would.
A drink appeared between them. Amelia had been observing and had ordered a refreshing pale green concoction for the best swimmer. Constance sipped with enjoyment, reservedly basking in the unexpected glow of being considered rather interesting for once.
'I quite fancy one of those Thai massages.'
Imogen agreed eagerly. Constance tutted.
'Maybe a foot spa for you, Constance' said Miss Cackle hastily. It took a while for that to be agreed on and Miss Hardbroom was pleasantly surprised to find it a somewhat relaxing process. It was lucky that she had the latest edition of spell book to flick through otherwise she certainly would have been very bored.
She supposed that a spa day wasn't too bad.