"We wished we were," Nita said under her breath. "Oh, well. No matter. Three hours after dawn be all right? The same place? Good enough. Let me take you back. I have something to fetch so that you can swim with us, Kit. And, look—" She gazed at them for some time from that small, worried, gentle eye; but longer at Nita. "Thank you," she said. "Thank you very much indeed." "Think nothing of it," Kit said grandly, slipping into the water and patting S'reee on one big ribbed flank.Nita slid into the water, took hold of S'reee's dorsal fin, and thought something of it all the way home.Seniors' SongThe alarm clock went off right above Nita's head, a painful blasting buzz like a dentist's drill. "Aaagh," she said, reluctantly putting one arm out from under the covers and fumbling around on the bedside table for the noisy thing. It went quiet without her having touched it. Nita squinted up through the morning brightness and found herself looking at Dairine. Her little sister was standing by the bedside table with the alarm clock in her hands, wearing Star Wars pajamas and an annoyed look."And where are we going at six in the morning?" Dairine said, too sweetly. "We are not going anywhere," Nita said, swinging herself out of bed with a groan. "Go play with your Barbie dolls, Einstein.""Only if you give them back," Dairine said, unperturbed. "Anyway, there are better things to play with. Kit, for example—""Dairine, you're pushing it." Nita stood up, rubbed her eyes until they started working properly, and then pulled a dresser drawer open and began Pawing through it for a T– shirt."What're you doing, then—getting up so early all the time, staying out late? You think Mom and Dad aren't noticing? —Oh, don't wear that," Dairine said aj the sight of Nita's favorite sweatshirt. It featured numerous holes made by Ponch's teeth and the words watch this space for fur-ther developments. "Oh, really, Neets, don't, it's incredibly tacky—"
