Abby’s parents were cooking a big roast lunch so Anne and Kelly went home straight after breakfast, Anne didn’t even manage a kiss goodbye.

When they got home their parents were looking slightly worse for wear. “Good anniversary dinner? Anne asked cheerily, her mother groaned.

“She wasn’t complaining at the time.” Pete said, “the cocktails at the bar and the dancing were both her idea!”

“Oh god. I feel sick just thinking about that margarita.” Her mum moaned.

“So, quiet day in front of the tv?” Kelly suggested, grabbing a fruit juice from the fridge. “You still okay to take me swimming.”

Her mum looked at her and went decidedly green, she jumped up and ran to the bathroom.

“I guess that’s a no.” She said, trying hard to keep the disappointment from her voice.

“If you don’t mind the bus then I’ll go with you.” Anne said, trying to be helpful.

Her dad looked hopefully at Kelly.

“I’m okay with that if we go early and you come for a swim.” Kelly said with a pout.

Anne looked at disbelievingly. “Really?”

“If you’re willing to go with Jo and Abby you can’t hate it that much.” She figured.

“I don’t know if I even still have a swimsuit that fits.” Anne said, trying to think of a way out of it.

“I have loads, we aren't much different heights now so you would probably fit one.” She smirked. “The swim meet is at two, if we have an early lunch and leave here at midday we should get a good swim in.”

“Okay, fine. You better find me a nice one though, something that doesn’t show too much skin.” The girls wandered off to Kelly’s tip of a bedroom without noticing their dad’s amused smile.

Kelly had found a very conservative black swimsuit which was low cut at the hip and high necked. Anne put it on at home, wanting to avoid spending too much time in the changing room, and to avoid nudity as much as she could.

They rode the bus, Kelly nattering on about little things going on at school. Anne only gave her half an ear, her mind on the swimming pool and their lack of changing rooms. She was wishing they could have gone to the bigger swimming pool across the town, they at least had a few changing rooms, but Kelly's swimming class was at the local one.

When they got there the changing rooms were empty, Anne quickly shrugged off her clothes and put a coin in the old locker that she had put her bag and shoes into. She was just fastening the key to the strap of her swimsuit when two girls from her year came in, wet from the pool.

One of the girls looked her way and said, loud enough for her and Kelly to hear, “look out, it's one of the new apprentice dykes, better not take our clothes off yet."

Kelly looked like she was about to say something but Anne just steered her out of the changing rooms, "It's not worth it." She said as she passed the girls, "they're just being homophobic pricks."

“Fuck off pervert.” the girl who spoke shouted after her. Anne just led her sister out to the pool.

Once they were in the pool she let herself cry, the tears invisible in the water streaming off her face. She had been fine until the pervert comment, unfortunately she did feel like a pervert. She just hoped her friends were not receiving the same treatment, socialising with Jo had been her idea after all.

Kelly swam up beside her and quietly said, “It’s not like you would want to see them naked. The one who spoke has a really nasty appendix scar and her friend has a huge strawberry birthmark.”

“Oh my god Kelly! You really are a pervert! And you can't judge people like that, they can't help those things!” She was shocked but the comment had caused her to smile, her mood lifting.

“Come on, let's go to the deep end and do some diving. I'm going to be swimming enough laps later on.” Her sister insisted.

They spent the rest of the time before Kelly’s swimming class messing around, climbing out of the pool and doing flips and dives, swimming underwater and tackling each other. It was actually a lot of fun.

When it was time for the swim class Anne again wished they were at the bigger pool, it had a hot tub which she could have soaked in whilst waiting for Kelly. As it was she resigned herself to doing some lengths of the pool in the two available lanes whilst keeping an eye out on how many people were going into the changing rooms.

It was almost half way through the class before she decided it was safe.

She got out and retrieved her towel from the cubby hole beside the changing rooms and headed into the women's showers. It was blessedly empty so Anne stripped off her wet costume, letting it land on the floor with a splat. The shower room was a large open room with shower heads all round the walls and push buttons to activate them.

She pushed the button and waited for the water to warm. As she stepped into the shower a woman, perhaps twice her age, stepped into the room behind her and started taking off her costume. “At least it was a nice temperature today.” the woman said, obviously wanting to strike up a conversation.

Anne averted her eyes and turned her back, using the pool supplied shower gel from the dispenser on the wall to lather her hair. “Yeah, it was nice.”

“You did a fair few lengths today, what did you get to?” the woman asked, she had been in Anne’s lane so it wasnt so unusual for her to have been keeping track.

“I don't know, I wasn't really counting.” Anne said, speaking into the corner.

“Ahh, I got all the way up to sixty. A kilometer and a half. I'm building up a few more each week.” The woman said. “You’re here with your sister?”

Anne looked at her properly for the first time. The woman was standing in the shower facing her, unashamedly displaying her body. Anne didn't recognise her.

“Yeah, how did you know that?” Anne asked, averting her eyes again.

“Oh, I talk to Kelly all the time, she's a very mature kid.” Anne let out an inadvertent laugh.

“You obviously catch her at the right times, she can be quite immature depending on the situation.” The shower cut off and Anne grabbed her towel, having washed all the suds off already.

As she walked out of the shower the woman followed her, leaving the shower running, “Perhaps have a word with her about not being so obvious about checking out the other girls. It's okay to look but I've seen her… look if you know what I mean.”

“Erm, yes, okay I’ll tell her.” Anne said, embarrassed about the attention from this stranger.

She hurriedly changed whilst the woman wrapped her hair in her towel and took her time sorting her clothes and wringing out her swimming costume.

“If you don’t want to draw attention you need to find the middle ground.” the woman said, still naked as Anne was about to leave. “Don’t obviously avert your eyes like you are doing, but make sure most of your attention is eye level.” Anne looked at her in puzzlement. “See, that's better. If you want to avoid people noticing your discomfort, pretend to be comfortable. Make eye contact.”

Anne nodded and left, going to the narrow viewing area and wondering at the strange encounter she just had.