My first week in my new home went smoothly and uneventfully. Alex was out till late each day, leaving me to explore on my own. This suited me just fine. I found a bike in the garden shed and rode it into town, exploring the beach and the street lined with quaint little stores, the parks and the high school.

I was expecting to run into some people my own age, maybe start up a conversation so I would start school at least knowing someone, but I never saw anyone. It was mainly all just young families and people older than me. Serious case of missing teenagers. Weird.

So that's how I started my final year of high school the following Monday - knowing absolutely no one.

"Maybe I'll just not worry about school. I'm sure this town has a thriving 'lady of the night' market," I contemplated, sitting in the safety of Alex's car.

He shot me a look and shook his head. "You wouldn't last five minutes working the streets."

"I think I have some valuable assets to offer, like-"

"Okay Danni, thanks." He silenced me, looking at me with fake disgust.

I smirked, then remembered where I was, and the ball of dread settled back in my stomach.

"C'mon, get your ass out of the car kid."

Kids were pouring into the school around us, laughing and chatting with each other. "Just five more minutes."

"Danielle Parker, if you don't get out of this car right now I will drag you out myself, cause a massive scene and guarantee you a one way ticket to a swirlie."

I scoffed. "No one actually does swirlies, grandpa."

He raised an eyebrow. "Who's the one who actually knows the people in this town?"

He had a point.

Sighing, I rolled my eyes at Alex and opened the car door. "I'm calling you if it's horrible."

"I'm not picking up."

"Hey! You're meant to protect me."

"Think of it as character building."

I grabbed my bag, gave him one last puppy dog look until he reached over, pushed me out, shut the door and drove away.

Well. I guess I'm on my own.

I would like to say that as soon as I exited the car, the entire student body stopped in their tracks, mouths dropping in a dramatic small town kind of reaction to a new kid. I don't think anyone even noticed me. What a let down.

Clearing my throat slightly, I joined the mass of students flooding towards the entrance. All I had to do was find the admin building. Surely it would be right at the front. But no. No admin building to be found. Just my bloody luck.

So the first twenty minutes at my new school was spent wandering around campus, frantic on the inside but hopefully cool, calm and collected on the outside. In all honesty I probably looked like a lost puppy, but not the cute kind.

At least I was getting a good look at the school campus...

Just as I was about to lose it out of frustration, the bell rang.

So now I was friendless, lost and late. Awesome.

I probably spent the next fifteen minutes wandering around the now empty school, getting more and more lost until finally I was saved.

"Excuse me, class started twenty minutes ago," a voice boomed from the end of the corridor. I spun around to face a tall man in a suit, staring at me with an ominous crease between his eyebrows.

"Uh, well I'm, um, new. It's my first day and I can't find the admin building," I stammered, my voice coming out far too squeaky for my liking. Pull it together, Danni.

The man strode towards me, looking down at me with a guarded expression on his face. "I see. And your name?"

I gulped. The man was a foot in front of me now, and he oozed authority. Not only that, I felt like even if I wanted to, I would do anything he said, just because of the darkness in his eyes. I looked away, almost shaken by the feeling.

"Danielle Parker, sir."

He inhaled slowly, staring at me. "Follow me."

We walked into an office, with the name 'Mr Greg Daniels' etched into the door. My heart was racing slightly as he closed the door behind me and gestured at the seat in front of the desk.

He wasn't a bad looking man, probably about thirty, with a strong, tall build. It was just the vibe he gave off that was making me uncomfortable. Like he ran the place.

"I'm Mr Daniels, principal."

Ah. So he was in charge. Makes sense.

I hoped he didn't want to shake my hand. My palms were very sweaty at this point. Luckily he was too preoccupied looking through my file.

"Your transfer papers all seem to be in order. I'll have my assistant bring in your schedule. Now tell me, have you visited this town before." He asked the question in a way that wasn't even a question. It was like a demand. Jeez, I hoped all the teacher in this school weren't like this.

"No, sir. I'm living with my brother, but I haven't visited before."

He stared at me for a second.

"So you know nobody from this school? You've never interacted with any of the students."

Okay we get it, I have no friends here.

"No. No one."

He nodded slowly, and wrote something down.

"Miss Parker, we do things differently at this school. We will treat you with respect, and you will treat us with respect. You'll find that obedience and hard work will get you far here." Mr Daniels leant back in his chair, eyes boring into mine. I felt my cheeks flare up a little.

"Yes, of course. I have a good record from my old-"

"So we are on the same page," he interrupted. I nodded.

The door opened, breaking the silence, to reveal a woman holding a few pieces of paper.

"Oh hi there, you must be Danielle. I'll take you to-"

Mr Daniels stood up. "No. Thank you, I'll show her to the hall. She's new."

The lady nodded in understanding, smiled and left.

What is it with the people here. It was like they all were talking in normal words, but the meaning underneath what they were saying was something else. Maybe I was just being paranoid. Probably. Nerves tend to do that to me.

Suddenly we were walking, fast.

"The students are all in their year level assemblies. Customary for the first day back."

We walked towards a gym, and Mr Daniels paused at the door. "Just...stay behind me until I seat you, okay?"

Confused, I nodded.

He pushed the doors open and we walked right into the front about two hundred teenagers my age staring down at me. Fantatic. Here was the embarrassing entrance I had so desperately hoped for.

Everyone was silent. The teacher at the podium was swivelling her wide eyes between me and the audience, Mr Daniels was standing almost protectively in front of me, and half the students were staring at me while the other half were looking around as if expecting something to happen.

Seconds went by, which doesn't sound like long, but in the position I was in felt like an eternity.

Finally, finally Mr Daniels let out a sigh that sounded relieved, cleared his throat and nodded at the teacher.

"Students, this is Danielle Parker. I trust you will be welcoming and help show her the way." And with that, he left.

Something weird had just happened. What did he think was going to happen, the students were going to have a psychotic breakdown at the sight of a new student? Was I that foreign that he expected some kind of rebellion act from the student body?

"Please take a seat, Miss Parker," the teacher at the podium said, clearing her throat, eyes looking almost relieved.

Confused and a bit weirded out, I took the long and intimidating walk to the third row, where there was an empty aisle seat. It was safe to say that my face was bright red and my first impression hadn't been great.

Everyone lost interest as the teacher began to speak, even the person next to me turned away slightly.

The assembly went on for about an hour, until another bell rang and the students scurried away to their next class. I waited back slightly, not knowing where I was going anyway so I may as well let everyone go ahead of me.

"Hey, Parker?" I heard someone call my name. Spinning around, I saw two girls a few rows up, gesturing to me.

Apprehensive, I climbed the stairs and offered them a smile.

"Need some help finding your class?" The blonde one asked, reaching for the schedule I was still holding.

I almost cried in relief. "That would be amazing. I got so lost this morning."

The other girl flipped her silky black hair behind her shoulders, looking at me slightly bored. "We have english together now, I'll take you."

A little standoffish, but hey, I wasn't complaining. "Thank you, uh..."

"Kimi," she said, with a half smile. "This is Cara."

"I'm Danni, really nice to meet you."

Cara laughed and started walking. "C'mon, we don't want to be late. So where are you from?"

"Uh up North. My mom moved to France so I'm here living with my brother."

Kimi walked a step or so infront of us, obviously not one for small talk.

"Wait. Are you Alex's sister?" She said, wide eyed.

I cocked my head. Why did teenage school girls know my brother...? "Yeah, that's me. You know him?"

She grinned, then cleared her throat. "He, uh, does some work for my family."

"Oh," I shrugged. "Cool."

We dropped Cara off at French and made our way to English.

"You're not a talker, right? I really need to concentrate in this class this semester," Kimi glanced at me as she sat down in a desk towards the front of the class.

I pulled up the chair next to her. "Nope, no distractions from me. I promise."

She nodded. A few seconds passed, and students filed in, mostly ignoring me.

"Hey Kimi?" I asked, and was met with a deadpan look.

"Sorry. I was just.... Was it just me or were things kind of weird in that assembly?" This girl looked like she wouldn't bullshit me.

Her eyes flashed to mine. "What do you mean?"

I pursed my lips. "I don't know, I mean when I walked in it was like everyone braced themselves?"

She shook her head quickly. "Don't be ridiculous."

I wanted to push the subject, but at that moment the teacher walked in and the class went silent.

The morning passed quickly, and before I knew it I was leaving biology and being ambushed by Cara.

"Hey Danni! Sit with us?" Not like I had anyone else to sit with. No one really seemed to even notice me, which I guess wasn't a bad thing, but you'd think more than two people would be welcoming to a new student.

"Lifesaver." I laughed, as she led me towards the cafeteria. We grabbed trays of food and Cara led me to a table where Kimi and a few others were sitting.

"Guys, this is Danni. Danni this is Fraser, Henry and Becca," Cara introduced excitedly.

The others smiled at me, then turned back to their conversation. Cara shrugged at me apologetically. "They're in an argument about something, best to leave them to it and don't take any offence. Sometimes Kimi and I don't get a single word out of them all lunch."

I smiled, and looked down at my meal. Shit.

"Uh, is this satay chicken in this roll?" I asked.

Cara and Kimi checked their meals. "Looks like it."

I put down the roll, swallowing. "I'm, like, really allergic to nuts."

"Shit, that was close," Kimi scoffed. "I'll eat if it you won't."

"It's all yours," I handed her over the meal, looking at my now empty tray and rubbing my rumbling stomach.

"There's a vending machine in the corridor out there if you want to grab something else," Cara said kindly.

It was either that or go hungry, so I got up and went looking for the vending machine.

It had all the usual stuff, so it looked like I was making a nice healthy lunch out of corn chips and a can of coke.

The machine was literally the slowest thing I'd ever encountered. While debating whether or not to smash the side of it to encourage it to hurry up, I heard a voice from around the corner.

"Levi, please." The girl's voice sounded desperate, and when she wasn't met with an audible reply, I figured she was on the phone. Probably boy troubles.

"Because he's an asshole. I don't want to ask anything of him... No I do not want you to do that... Levi!!... I swear to God... I know you're busy, it will literally take you half an hour... I'll do anything..."

I smiled slightly, remembering the hours I'd spent with my old friend Milly, listening to one half of the conversations with her boyfriend as they argued over the phone.

"Thank you, thank you. I owe you." Lucky girl, obviously got what she wanted.

Just as the can of coke dropped to the bottom of the vending machine, a girl rounded the corner. She was beautiful, sharp features, soft hair and an air of confidence that obviously came with being respected by many people.

I must have been staring, as she slowed down slightly, offered me a half smile, said 'hey' and kept walking. From that one word I could tell it was the girl who was on the phone. What the hell did a girl like her need to be begging a guy for?! I'm sure most of them fell at her feet.

Shaking my head at the injustice of the world, I grabbed my meager lunch and headed back into the cafeteria.