Tyson’s bedroom has black walls and posters of a band called Nightmares You Wish For. His doona has skulls on it and there are weights over in the corner that no one is strong enough to lift. This is where the good twin lives.
‘We’re getting the swimming carnival back on now?’ Tyson asks, confused.
‘Yep,’ I say. I’m starting to like this new plan.
‘Man . . . it’s a shame you guys destroyed Redhill Pool,’ Tyson says shaking his head.
From what I’ve heard it’s not actually destroyed. They just need to drain it, clean it and refill it, which takes a few days apparently. It does make it unavailable for Friday’s carnival though.
As if on cue, Pip pops her head in the doorway.
‘Did someone mention me? Are we stirring up more trouble, Max?’ Pip asks with a big smile on her face. It seems she’s really starting to enjoy the bad-twin life. Who would have thought glitter could be used with such evil intentions?
‘No, thank you!’ I reply. ‘You have done quite enough!’
She frowns, huffs and disappears. It’s probably not the best idea to annoy the bad twin, but I don’t have time for that right now. We’re trying to be good and it’s going to take all my energy!
‘There are no other public pools in Redhill,’ Hugo says, thinking out loud.
‘Can you have a swimming carnival at the aquarium?’ I suggest.
‘I’m not sure the seals would like that,’ Hugo replies.
‘What about Redhill Lake?’
Hugo screws up his nose. ‘You want to swim in Redhill Lake? It’s brown.’
‘Fair point. What are we going to do though? We can’t get the swimming carnival back on without a pool!’
‘I guess you could use ours,’ Tyson says quietly.
What?
‘You have a pool?’ I ask. Tyson does live in a massive mansion, but I’ve never heard anything about a pool. I walk over to his window and open the curtains. I look out into his backyard. ‘Where?’
‘Behind our pool house,’ Tyson says.
‘You have a pool house?’ Hugo asks.
‘Yeah, right there,’ Tyson points to a building on the other side of the backyard.
I shake my head in disbelief.
* * * *
So, Tyson and Pip have a pool.
‘It’s enormous!’ I say. We’re standing at the water’s edge, behind the pool-house-that’s-big-enough-to-be-an-actual-house.
Tyson shrugs. ‘Dad went through a swimming phase.’
‘This is perfect!’ Hugo exclaims. ‘We can move the swimming carnival here!’
I’m still dumbfounded by this revelation.
‘I can’t believe you’ve had a pool this whole time . . .’
Something else seems to be bothering Tyson though.
‘Correct me if I’m wrong,’ he says, ‘but isn’t there one other problem with this plan for Max to beat Abby in a swimming race?’
‘What’s that?’ Hugo and I ask together.
Oh, yeah. That problem.