20 Amanda Goes Swimming
Deirdre was not expelled. Her real fault had been weakness, and that could be dealt with. When she heard that she was to stay on, she could have sung for joy. She was shocked about Jo, but secretly relieved to be free of her strong, dominating influence.
The whole school was shocked too. It was so very rare for any girl to be expelled—but everyone agreed that Jo was impossible.
“Poor kid,” said Mary-Lou. “Who could be decent with idiotic¹ parents like that—throwing money about all over the place, boasting, thick-skinned, trying to make Jo as bad as themselves. Well—it was one of Malory Towers’ experiments that went wrong.”
“I must say I’d rather have a generous parent like Jo’s than a mean one like mine, though,” put in Gwen. “Jo’s father would never have grudged² her an extra year at a finishing school.”
“You’ve got a bee in your bonnet³ about that,” said Alicia. “And let me tell you, it buzzes too loudly and too often. Your father’s worth ten of Jo’s—oh, not in money, but in the things that matter!”
“That was a very nasty business about Jo,” said Darrell. “I’m glad it’s over. Now perhaps we’ll have a bit of peace without any more alarums and excursions!”
This was, of course, a foolish thing to say. Things began to happen almost immediately!
Amanda had decided⁴ that the tide would be right for her swim out to sea the next morning. She was looking forward to it eagerly. A good long swim at last!
She was in a small, sixth-form dormy, with only three others. All the others were very sound sleepers—Moira, Sally and Bill. She could easily creep out without waking them. She didn’t mean to tell any of them what she was going to do, or what she had done, when she had had her long swim! They were so keen on rules being kept—but such rules, thought Amanda, really didn’t apply to a future Olympic swimmer!
She got up at half-past four in the morning. It was dawn, and the sky was full of silvery light. Soon it would change to gold and pink as the sun came up. It was a heavenly day!
She slipped on her wrap and went quietly out. There wasn’t a sound to be heard in the whole of the school. Amanda was soon

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