Sink or Swim

Chapter 1 - Everything is New

The sun was shining. It was late May  the temperatures were not too hot just yet but it was warm enough to take an outside swim for the first time this year.  Leanne Cox, Jessica Lane, Abigail Jones and Joanne Wu were making their way to the recently refurbished public pool to do just that - they were the best relay foursome in the local sixth form college. They were all great swimmers in their own right but as a team they felt unstoppable. They had spent the past two years visiting various swimming pools across London and were finally pleased to be returning to the newest pool and leisure complex built in their own back yard.

Leanne was tall, about 5'9" and slim, very fashionable. Her long blonde hair was always immaculate despite the fact that she spent so much time in the pool training and racing. Today she wore her hair loose with a single blue braid woven into a plait to one side, the blue braid brought out her striking beautiful blue eyes. She wore casual sportswear in a stylish way, all branded - if there was a member of the group who would be modelling Leanne was the girl you would pick. She walked with confidence and was clearly the leader of the group - her attitude, confidence and demeanour was greater than her actual 18 year old age would suggest. Leanne had grown up with just her career oriented mother and as an only child. Her father left the country when he found out her mother was pregnant, she didn't know her father, she had never met him and had never had the time to find him.  Fortunately coming from a rich family Leanne had everything she wanted and under the circumstances she found herself totally spoilt - a 'money is no object' kind of girl.

Her best friend Jessica was not quite as tall at around 5'7", but she was as equally attractive. She too had sparkling blue eyes and cute freckles that ran just across her nose. Although a few months older, she clearly did not show the confidence of Leanne and was quite shy. Her long dark wavy hair fell just below her shoulders. Despite her shyness, Jessica chose to always wear figure hugging clothing. To save time, it was clear that Jessica had chosen to simply wear her team swim-costume to travel to the pool and simply pair it with a some hot-pants. She added a zip-up track top to her outfit in case it became colder later and although her trainers were not the same high-spec branded type like Leanne, were stylish enough to match the colour scheme of the rest of her outfit. Jessica was from a solid family but her circumstances were different to her best friend although she also was an only child. Her parents were totally over protective and kept a close eye on anyone she was involved with and took an interest in everything she did.

Abigail was certainly not the most attractive girl in the group but she was still someone who could turn heads despite her more chubby build. She was shorter than both Leanne and Jessica, approximately 5'4". She had striking red-ginger hair that was quite frizzy and freckles that ran across her face, over shoulders, down her ample cleavage and all over her arms. Boys in her classes described her as "cute" and were not only attracted to her features and sweet smile, but also to her wonderful bubbly personality. Abigail, or Abi as her preferred to be called was the glue in the team - she was always positive even when the worst scenario was playing out. If the girls were loosing a a relay race it was Abi who would always say they could win even if it looked like an impossible situation to retrieve. Abi didn't choose to follow a particular style, but when summer came around she would always wear strapless flowing dresses, not to hide her size 12 figure, she was proud of her body, but so she could enjoy the freedom an feeling of the summer air flowing close to her skin.  Both her finger and toe nails were painted in expensive glossy polish, her finger nails sporting a ladybird design. Her family were always busy as she had three sisters and a younger brother. Being the oldest her Mum and Dad left Abi to do her own thing.

Joanne, the fourth member of the team was of Asian decent, at 17 she was the youngest member of the team. Her father was a dentist from Hong Kong who married her British mother, an executive banker,  shortly prior to the territory being handed back to the Chinese from the British in 1997 when the family moved to the UK. An only child like Jessica, Joanne was far more confident due to her up bringing and was the brains and tactician behind the team. She had dark black straight hair cut in a bob that framed her face. She had dark brown oval eyes a small nose and beautiful full smile. She wore light framed glasses which were hardly noticeable against her warm yellowish-sallow coloured skin. Joanne dressed in a preppy manner, preferring to wear short plaid skirts and blouses and at 5"6 was slight taller than Abi. Jo, as the team called her, loved stripy long socks that sat just above her knees and she matched them to a set of neat black formal shoes. The other girls were so casual when the four were together it seemed as though Jo was the oldest amongst them and could even be taken as the team manager!