OK, so here it is. I'm not dead, after all!


Greendale Park School, Melbourne. Two weeks later.

Not for the first time, Dana wondered why school assemblies were obligatory. Why did the pupils of Greendale Park have to attend assembly five times a week? All they did was sit in a cold, draughty hall, listening to Mr Newman rumbling on about how the sins of naughty children would be found out and they would be subjected to an eternity in hell.

Also not for the first time, she wondered why the headteacher had chosen a career path which specified in children. Maybe he thought he was auditioning for Hitler's replacement as head of the Nazis. She smiled to herself at the thought. However, this was a mistake.

"Unfortunately, some children are so steeped in evil that they cannot even listen to my attempts to save them from a fiery demise!" the head bellowed, showering the Year 2s with spit and staring pointedly at Dana. "Instead, they sit, GRINNING, while I and my colleagues try endlessly to save their souls......." He spoke as if smiling was a capital offence. Mr Newman ranted on in this less than absorbing manner for another minute, by which time Dana had completely switched off.

You pompous twit, Dana thought viciously, You evil, twisted fiend, you blithering idiot, you don't have any idea what you're talking about, do you?

Finally, the bell rang. The whole school seemed to mutter an inaudible sigh of relief. The headmaster was not exactly liked in the school.

The Head Boy stood up to read the notices. Something about a new drama club starting and a lacrosse match against another school.

"And, lastly, there is a new pupil arriving in Year 8 on Monday. Her name is Amy Cooper. I hope you'll all make her feel very welcome."

In any other school, the news that a new pupil was arriving would not be noteworthy. But Greendale Park was a very posh, very expensive, and very small school - there were only about 200 pupils - and any new pupil would be instantly sized up - as a possible friend by the snobs, or as a possible nerd who would have to be taught how to behave.


The Cooper family home, Melbourne.

"Amy!" Zara called. "I've just had a call from the headmaster. He says you can start at Greendale Park tomorrow."

Amy rushed down from her enormous bedroom on the second floor of the house that Ms Cooper (in other words, Zara) and her three children John, Amy, and Ella, were staying in. In actual fact, mansion was probably a better word to describe the Cooper family's new home. It was absolutely huge. It boasted seven bedrooms; an indoor swimming pool, complete with jacuzzi; and several living rooms, including a kitchen with marble worktops and every labour-saving gadget ever invented, and a TV room with a gigantic flatscreen TV in one corner. Amy's bedroom had a king-size bed and wardrobes full of clothes. The whole room was decorated in various shades of pink. Amy Collins, who had never been a pink sort of girl, was beginning to be a bit fed up with trying to impersonate Amy Cooper.

"OK, Mum," she called back. "Do I have a uniform yet?"

"Yeeeees," Zara said cautiously, "But, don't be too annoyed, will you? It's not exactly lovely."

Amy ran into the lounge and saw her new uniform laid out on the carpet. Thick green woolly tights, a long (ankle-length?) green pleated skirt, and a green blazer with shoulder pads and a ridiculously fancy crest on the pockets. Not to mention the high-collared white shirt (surely it wasn't.......silk?), straw boater with green ribbon, and the black lace-up shoes, which looked as though they'd come from an old ladies' shoe shop.

"........Oh. Great," she said lamely.

John walked in, a smile on his face. "Love the new uniform, sis. I'm sure you'll look great in it." He turned to walk out the room, but didn't quite manage it before he burst in a fit of laughter. Amy grabbed the horrible clothes and ran upstairs to her bedroom to shriek in frustration into her pillow.

They had only been in Melbourne for a week, and she had to go to a posh, stuck-up school with a disgusting uniform while John and Ella got to mess around in their massive house. It was just not fair.


That was a short chapter.........

Just a note, the uniform is based on the one I used to wear at my old school........happy days........

If I get 10 more reviews, I'll write another chapter before the New Year, OK? I know it's not saying much, but for me......who updates about three times a year........

Thanks for reading!

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