It was worse than I had even imagined. The other students in my musty, drab new homeroom weren't just unfriendly, they were hostile. A group of girls sitting in a huddle in the corner shot me venomous glances as soon as I entered. The boys throwing around a paper ball turned to look at me, dislike etched on their faces. Where was Mr Tomas, the teacher?

A girl with dirty blonde and pink-streaked hair, long on one side, shaved on the other, strode over to me. "I know who you are," she hissed, "Saw your Aunt Jaiya on the news."

I mentally cursed Aunt Jaiya once again for her publicity stunts, for the way she didn't even care how they would impact me.

"She has to make announcements for her job as State Education Minister," I offered with a shrug, making my face a mask. There was now a whole circle of students glowering at me now. Why did they all seem so much bigger and older than me?

"She said this school is for the biggest losers in South Australia," spat the girl.

"Guess I must be one of the them then," I mumbled. That got a smirk from the guy opposite me with the samurai sword tattoo on his neck and the word Jason underneath.

"Maz her exact words were: the lowest performing school in the metropolitan region," said a girl with glasses and such an intense stare I blinked away.

"Shut up, Lucy," Maz said, not even looking at the bespectacled girl who flinched. Maz stepped even closer to me and I got a whiff of what smelled like the Lynx deodorant my former boyfriend of three days used to wear. I tried to lean away but my head brushed the wall behind me and I was forced to pull it forward again.

I tried to placate them by saying, "My Aunt sent me here. She believes in this school, despite what happened last year."

A hint of pain appeared in Maz's brown eyes with their irregular yellow splotches before it was engulfed by fury and her hand pushed my shoulder against the wall. With a jerk of surprise I realized she wasn't just picking on the easy target of a new girl with an unpopular well-known aunt. She was truly angry at Aunt Jaiya and, by extension, me.

Too stunned to think of a suitable reply, I was grateful for Jason drawling, "No one believes in this school." My gratitude came too quickly though because he added, "Maybe you're a spy. Here to make sure we all follow the new rules. Report on the teachers and so on."

"Report on the teachers?" I bumped my shoulder against Maz's hand and she reluctantly removed it. "Why would I want to do that?" I retained the cool dismissive look on my face but my mind was racing. Was that why Aunt Jaiya sent me here? If it was just about modelling her belief that all the government schools were places students could thrive, it still begged the question: why this school? Surely if Aunt Jaiya actually liked me, she would have picked a more mid government school to send me to.

A scrawny, young man who looked too young to be a teacher opened the door quietly and scuttled to the teacher's desk and started arranging the pile of papers he carried. The other students seemed to ignore him but I did something to make myself even more detestable to them.

"Mr Tomas," I squeaked. The young man startled then pasted on a smile, gesturing me to come to him. Maz and the rest glared at me as they inched back to let me pass. Great, first day and I was posing as a teacher's pet and a secret believer. I'd never recover from this.