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she might say yes, then Bubbles whizzed past them causing a mini tidal wave.
    “Bubbles!” whistled Dream crossly. “No, thanks. I’m not playing with him,” she added and swam after her parents.
    Antonia was disappointed until Bubbles clicked, “Come on, Flipper Feet. You’ll never catch me atthat speed,” and forgetting Dream she raced after him.
    Antonia loved playing Sprat with Bubbles. Her dolphin-like swimming skills were now so good that she almost believed she was a real dolphin. She raced through the water tagging Bubbles with her nose each time she caught him. After they’d played Sprat, Bubbles showed her a move he called the twister that involved leaping from the water and turning a circle on his tail. Antonia was hopeless at first and kept crashing down in a belly flop.
    “If it’s Splash you want to play then why didn’t you say so?” clicked Bubbles, smacking the water with his tail to splash Antonia in the face.
    “Eeeek!” she screamed, and splashed him back.
    The water fight lasted until Antonia, gasping for breath, called a truce. It was getting late andalthough she could hardly bear to tear herself from the water she knew she had to go home. Mum would worry if she wasn’t back by five thirty. Bubbles swam a little way with her, but he didn’t want to get too close to the shore.
    Antonia rubbed her nose against his, marvelling at how lucky she was.
    “See you soon,” she clicked.
    “Bye, Silver Dolphin,” Bubbles whistled back.
    Bursting with happiness Antonia swam back to the shore. She wished she could share her amazing secret with someone. Sophie was good at keeping secrets, but Antonia wasn’t sure she wanted to confide in her right now. Also she wasn’t sure if she was allowed to tell anyone about being a Silver Dolphin. It was one of the things she somehow felt sure that Claudia would know the answer to.
    I’ll go to Sea Watch after school tomorrow
, she decided, determined to get some answers soon.
    As Antonia stepped out of the sea the water cascaded from her, leaving her clothes completely dry. As before, the only thing to show she’d been swimming was her damp hair. She stood for a moment wondering how that happened. It had to be a very special sort of magic.
    Antonia ran most of the way home, arriving back at exactly five thirty. Mum was in the kitchen dishing up their tea.
    “Hello, darling. Did you have a good time?”
    “Fantastic,” said Antonia, sliding into a seat at the table.
    “Why’s your hair wet?” asked Jessica. “Have you been swimming?”
    Mum spun round from the cooker and looked at Antonia properly.
    “Antonia, what have you been doing? You didn’t go into the water without an adult, did you?”
    “No,” said Antonia, crossing her fingers under the table and hoping that Spirit counted as an adult.
    “So how come your hair is wet?” asked Mum anxiously.
    Antonia uncrossed her fingers and scrunched them into two fat balls.
    “We had a water fight.”
    “What, you and Sophie?” said Jessica. “You two get all the fun.”
    “Not Sophie, someone else,” said Antonia.
    “Cai, the new boy?” said her mother, putting a steaming plate of lasagne down in front of her. “Well, I hope you’re not going to get so involved with Cai and Sea Watch that you forget about Sophie. She’s been a good friend to you, Antonia.”
    A good friend! That was a joke. Sophie hadn’t wanted to work with her at school today and she’d let her take the blame for something she didn’t do. If it hadn’t been for Cai and her dolphin friends the day would have been horrible. At the thought of Sophie’s unkindness Antonia’s stomach flipped. What if she was still in a bad mood tomorrow and went off with Becky again? Antonia stared at the plate of lasagne. Suddenly she’d lost her appetite.

Chapter Eight
    B y midweek Antonia had never felt so miserable at school in her whole life. Lauren was still away and Becky stuck to Sophie like Velcro. Becky met them on