As James followed Carly in what felt like a blur of a moment, he realized that he hadn’t heard anyone scream or say anything loud enough to indicate that there was a problem. He wondered if Carly’s ability to detect this kind of thing was some sort of magical skill, or if she was just normally this perceptive.
As James went where Carly did, he found himself on the edge of the water, where Molly has submerged herself from the neck down in the shallow end. She looked nervous and, frankly, rather embarrassed. Nobody aside from James or Carly was paying her any attention, which James at first thought was disgraceful, until Molly showed immense terror at seeing two people so close to her.
“C-Carly! Ja..... James..... Um..... I.....”
“Is everything okay? I sensed that some magic went wrong over here,” Carly explained. Molly shifted, which wasn’t seen but rather hinted at given the ripples in the water around her.
“I..... I wanted to go swimming.”
“Okay, and what is the problem with that?”, Carly asked, almost amused by the seeming simplicity of the moment.
James then remembered. When everyone first arrived in this illusion, Molly and Suzanne were both dressed in shirts and shorts, not swimsuits. Molly, however, answered anyway.
“I..... wanted to have a swimsuit on for it. So I..... tried a transformation spell, and.....”
Carly looked worried. “Stand up, show us what you did to yourself.”
“I’d...... rather not..... I don’t have a bikini on.”
The reality of the situation then hit Carly, who began to think. “Hmmm..... I have an idea. I could give you my swimsuit.”
Molly stared at Carly, smiling awkwardly. “Oh! That’s very sweet, Carly, but.....”
James saw the problem as well. Molly wasn’t fat, but she was relatively pudgier than Carly’s athletic body. What’s more, Carly’s height made it impossible for her swimsuit to fit her shorter classmate. And thirdly, Carly was currently wearing a one piece sports swimsuit. So even if Molly could get it on in a way that would make it cover her up decently enough.....