”Hey!” he laughed at her head start and raced after her. In hindsight, he probably should have seen that ”tactic” coming but he really didn't mind. Frankie was able to catch up to her fairly easily thanks to all the practice his sister put him through.
Selina wasn't the best swimmer, though she was still relatively good. Frankie was much better though and she just rolled her eyes when he caught up and tried to swim faster than she was already going. It was tough though and her arms already burned from the workout.
Frankie was a pretty decent/better than average swimmer but he wasn't as good as his sister. He was a little surprised when he started getting ahead of her. No doggy paddle jokes!
The island was coming closer and yet Frankie was still pulling ahead, not surprising Selina in the least as she now just focused on trying to not let him gain any more of a lead.
Frankie's smile turned a little mischievous as he saw that he had the lead. He rolled onto his back and continued to swim towards the island, now able to watch Selina. This style of swimming was a little slower but he didn't mind. He was just having fun. ”Come on, Selina! You're doing great.” he cheered.
(Happy New Year!!!)
(Happy new year to you too!!!)
She stopped for a short moment and stuck her tongue out at him before starting to swim again, getting tired but not giving up. Especially when Frankie was having an easy time swimming all the way out there.
Frankie laughed at her childish response and continued to swim backwards. ”Come on. I’m trying to encourage you.” he smiled. ”You can catch me.”
"Sure mister fish boy," She replied, sticking her tounge out again and resting for another moment before staring again.
He laughed again at the nickname and stopped swimming when she did. Frankie didn't think she would appreciate him going easy on her but he wasn't trying to show off right now. ”Here.” he said swimming over to her. ”Stretch your arms out all the way and slightly cup your hands.”
Selina gave him a slightly weird look but did as he said, holding back jokes about her terrible swimming and instead saying, "This doesn't look like it would help when swimming." Maybe she could learn how to swim better, from someone who actually seemed to know how to and not teaching herself from what she had seen from other humans who swam.
Frankie chuckled and swam up behind her, gently placing the palms of his hands over the back of hers. ”When you swim, don't lock your elbows.” he instructed as he moved his arms in through the familiar motions. ”If you keep your hands like this, you actually push the water and propel yourself forward.”
For some reason, Selina's face heated up when he swam up behind her and put his hands over hers. Actually, she knew why her face was heating up, but she didn't want to admit why, instead nodding and listening to his instructions and tips. She copied his movement, still unsure of how this would help until he explained it.
”There. Try swimming like that.” he suggested removing his hands from her’s and swimming back beside her. Frankie raised a brow slightly as he noticed her flushed face. ”Are you alright?”
"No reason," She said, suddenly becoming very focused on repeating the new technique to get it down instead of looking at him with her still red face. "Are you sure this works better?" She asked as she started swimming again, making sure to keep the form going.
Frankie blinked a little in surprise at her response but decided not to push. ”Yeah, this works. It's how I learned to swim.” he nodded before showing her how it worked in practice. ”Watch me and try to copy how I do it.”
She nodded and started treading water again as she watched him, copying him after a little bit and seeing that if she did it right, it did make swimming easier than her method.
”There you go! Much better.” he smiled treading water after a minute to watch Selina’s progress. ”Ready to finish the race now?” he laughed a little.
Selina smiled and nodded, swimming back so they would start at the same place before repeating, "Ready? Set? Go!" She started swimming once again, using the new method as best she could while still making progress forward towards the island.
Frankie's normal smile was back as Selina restarted their race and dove forward at her cue, continuing to swim the way he had shown her. Maybe she had a little better chance now that she had a brief lesson.
She noticed that she was moving through the water faster than before and it gave her a little hope, even as her arms started to burn even more and she tried to focus on keeping her form good instead of the uncomfortable pain.
Frankie was accustomed to the slight pain of swimming for an extended period of time, so he was able to keep going easily. He glanced over at Selina a couple of times to make sure she was alright. Honestly, he had no idea how often she, or any of her pack, came out here to swim like this or how often she raced to the island.
Selina didn't look over at him as she continued swimming, smiling as the island came closer and she was finally able to touch the rocky bottom of the ground leading up to the island, "Ha, now you're done for. I can touch."
”So can I.” Frankie smiled as he stood up, the water still coming up to his waist and started running to the drier shore. He laughed at the eccentric splashing he made, occasionally getting some water into his mouth.
She grinned once she touched, finally having something she was better at. Now, running through the water was still tough work, but she thought it was a lot easier than swimming since she did run every day as a wolf. The splashing was fun though since it got her even more soaked than she already was as she ran towards one giant rock that clearly was the marker for the end of a race to the island.