I stood on stage, under the spotlight. Even though the rest of the concert hall was in darkness I knew that it was full of people, watching me. But I wasn’t nervous at all. I’d practised this dance routine hundreds of times. I knew I wouldn’t make a mistake.

The music started and I began dancing. My costume trailed behind me like mist as I moved. I had to be careful that I didn’t step on it. It would be terrible to fall over in front of all these people. But I didn’t fall, even when the music became really fast.

The hardest part was towards the end when I had to spin five times in a row, then jump into the air. I started spinning and the spotlight followed me across the stage. By the third twirl I knew everything was going to be OK.

I finished with the splits and the crowd went wild. They rose to their feet and cheered. My best friend, Dani, ran on to the stage and gave me a big hug.

‘That was really cool, Chloe,’ she said.

As she spoke, the concert hall and all the people disappeared.

We were in Dani’s loungeroom.

‘I think our dance routine is looking great,’ Dani added.

‘Me, too,’ I said.

Dani and I had been working on this routine all summer. Dani did dance lessons, so she worked out most of it. But I had made up a few steps, too, which Dani said were really good.

After our practice, we were both pooped. We flopped down onto the floor, still in our costumes. Dani’s mum had given us a bag of old stuff to use. I was wearing a soft silky dress covered in tiny gold beads. It was excellent to dance in because it swirled out around me when I spun. Dani’s outfit was a satin skirt with a zebra pattern. It was too big so to keep it up she had on a wide stretchy belt.

‘Can you believe it’s the last day of the holidays?’ said Dani.

I shook my head. ‘This summer has gone so quickly,’ I said.

‘I’m actually looking forward to going back,’ Dani admitted. ‘Is that weird?’

I knew what she meant. It had been a great holiday, but I was also excited about going back to school.

Everything was going to change this year. We were moving to a whole new area, where the older kids go. There would be different classrooms, different toilets. There would even be a different playground. It was almost like starting at a new school.

‘But I’m a bit nervous, too,’ Dani said. ‘Everyone says the work will be much harder now. Especially maths.’

I got butterflies in my stomach when she said that. Maths wasn’t exactly my best subject. I had done OK in Mrs Khan’s class last year, but the work was pretty easy.

‘I think it depends on which teacher you get,’ I said. ‘Mr Stavros is nice but Mrs Clarke is really strict.’

My big sister Ashley used to go to the same school as me. She’d told me all about the teachers.

‘Mr Stavros gives out stickers if you do good work,’ she said. ‘But Mrs Clarke only ever gives ticks. And no-one ever gets more than one tick.’

I wanted to be in Mr Stavros’s class. He played guitar and gave his kids silly nicknames. There was a boy in his class last year called Alec Jamieson but Mr Stavros called him ‘I-lick-jam-and-scones’. It was kind of dumb, but it was funny, too.

Mrs Clarke always called kids by their proper names. She didn’t even shorten them. If your name was Samantha, that’s what she’d call you, even if everyone else called you Ant.

But there was another reason I didn’t want Mrs Clarke to be my teacher. It was because of something bad that happened last year.

I was playing four square and I ran backwards to hit the ball. I didn’t notice Mrs Clarke standing right behind me, and I knocked her over.

I mean, completely over.

I turned around and there she was, flat on her back, looking really surprised. I was worried she was hurt but she got up and brushed herself down.

‘I’m sorry, Mrs Clarke,’ I said nervously.

I thought she’d say something like, That’s OK, I know you didn’t mean it. That’s what Mrs Khan would’ve said. But she didn’t.

Instead she gave me a really mean look and said, ‘It’s not a good idea to run backwards.’

Then she walked off.

That’s how I knew that Mrs Clarke didn’t like me. It felt like there were two things that might happen that year – I might get Mr Stavros and have lots of fun or I might get Mrs Clarke and have no fun at all.