“LILLIE!!!!” She heard an angry voice scream. Raging, her mother ran towards her and said “I’ve been waiting in the car for ages outside your school! What in the world are you doing at the ice-cream store!” Lillie’s face turned bright pink. Every one at the shop stared at her. She could hear the faint giggles of the kids who went to her school and the whispers of judgement coming from the parents. “We are leaving right now!” Her mother grabbed her by the wrist and shoved her into the car. As it pulled away from the curb, all of the children burst out in laughter.

How could she do this to me! Lillie thought. How could she embarrass me in front of everyone! “You’re going to be at least 10 minutes late to your swimming lesson”, her mother said after calming down a bit. “You were supposed to meet me at the gate after school. Why didn’t you?” Lillie looked down. She had no excuse this time. Her mum rolled her eyes and an awkward silence fell over the pale blue car.

BEEP BEEP! A truck full of dirt backed in to a construction site. On top of a large scaffold, Lillie spotted a man sitting down in a yellow vest and construction hat wearing pink slippers which looked absolutely ridiculous. He seemed to be holding a big jar of mayonnaise and using a salad server to spoon it into his mouth. Eww! she thought as they drove past him.

Finally they arrived at the pool. She grabbed her swimming bag and ran into the changing room. By the time she got there and turned around to wave goodbye, her mum had already left. She changed into her swimmers, goggles and swim cap as fast as she could and then ran to Ms Kate, who was already teaching Tom and Charlotte. As soon as Kate saw Lillie she looked a her watch and said “13 minutes late! 13 laps walking around the pool. Lillie sighed but Ms Kate squirted her with a water gun and said “Get a move on!” Lillie started to jog around the pool because if she walked her feet would get extremely burnt by the hot tiles.

By the time she had finished the last lap Ms Kate said, “Alright, there’s ten minutes left, can you kids dive down to collect the rest of the sinkies?”. Charlotte and Tom quickly submerged but it took a while for Lillie to get into the water since it was not heated. Just when she was about to be fully in, she heard Ms Kate say, “All right! Time to get out and dry off!”

“But Ms Kate!” Lillie started, “I’ve only ju-”

“It’s your fault for being late! Now the pool closes in ten minutes so get out!” Ms Kate was getting annoyed.

Frowning, Lillie dripped over to her towel, wrapped it around her, picked up her swim bag, and left in fury. First her Mum embarrasses her in front of everyone and then she doesn’t even get to swim at swimming lessons! This was surely the worst day of her life! Or at least, that’s what she thought.