the water was half-way up his body. He looked round and saw that he was three-quarters of the way down the pool!
Not bad," said Nails carelessly.
And he left Hoomey looking down in surprise at how far he had swum, and went over to Jazz and Bean
But the lesson with Jazz was not so successful.
Nails decided to teach Jazz how to turn. He was standing on the side of the pool and as Jazz swam up to him, Nails put his foot on the back of Jazz's head and stepped in, taking Jazz's head with him and making Jazz turn over beautifully. But Jazz did not seem to think that this was a very good idea and he hit out at Nails under the water. He caught Nails across the face with a ring he wore. Water and blood flew about wildly everywhere, and made Nutty think of films about man-eating fish. She heard the sound of wet feet running along the side of the pool as everyone came to watch But Nutty turned away. She did not want to see. She heard shouts, bad language, and more shouts
Then the lifeguard saw what was happening, and jumped into the water. Suddenly, two bodies flew through the air and came to rest on the side of the pool, helped there by the lifeguard's large hand
"And don't come back for a week, Nicholson!' he shouted after Nails.
Nails turned his bloody, angry face on Nutty.
Is that what you want, then?' he cried
"Shut up, Nails. You frightened him. Don't get angry You're a great teacher, but go easy on them. Get changed and I'll buy you a coke.
'She waited for the boys, bought them something to eat and calmed them down. By then it was raining heavily and Nutty still had to take Midnight out for his ride. She ran to catch her bus, tired of having to do everything for the others