Why is this Happening?

Ohh... Fun

It seemed like a marathon walking from the office to the lawn, even though its a mere fifty metres. All the kids on the oval doing sport looked at me simultaneously.

'Oi Oakie who's the boyfriend eh?' Johno shouted from across the oval. His friends whistled at me.

I looked back at him in disgust and mouthed 'piss off' Johno is so immature. Grade eighters are generally like that. It's funny seeing grade eight guys. Half of them are tall and their voices have broken. The other half are short with voices higher than Justin Bieber. They're all obsessed with rugby and cricket. The funny thing is none of the girls seem to be particularly interested in them. They like the guys from the all boys school a few ks away.

When I got to the lawn I was mortified. I look down. I'm standing on grass up to my knees. For all I know there could be ticks and snakes and toads living in this mess.

'The school supplied me with this 21st century rubbish,' said Winston, pointing at the weedcutter 'but I prefer the method I used back in the day of pulling the weeds out with your hands like so,' Winston put on a pair of thick rubber gloves and pulled the weed out at the root, discovering a colony of worms underneath. I can honestly say I was traumatised when he scooped the worms out and told me they were earth worms before smelling them and playing around with them on his hand. He was babbling on about his childhood.

No way am I doing this. I can't. It's impossible. The weed killer was invented for a reason. The school even supplied one! I want to run away and start a new life in Slovenia. Anything but this!

'Odie?'

'It's OAKIE!' I snapped.

I hate my name. It's so weird and random. It's a boy's name too... Everyone thinks its a weird name and some of the teachers question me about it; it's origin and meaning. It's English and it means of an oak field. I wish my name was Alicia or Sarah, something pretty and impossible to mispronounce. My little sister's name is Jasmine, she's so lucky mum and dad gave her a normal name. Why am I the only person with a weird name in this family? It's annoying.

'My great grandfather's name was Oakley. Thats such an interesting variation. I've never heard a girl being called that...' Winston talked on.

Ugh.

'Hey, um, can I just tidy up the garden over there?' I pointed at the rosebushes

'After you deweed the lawn Oakley'

I couldn't be bothered to correct him. He'd blabber on about my name again. I squatted down near the edge of the lawn and started pulling some dandelions. I blew a few and watched the puffs float magestically in the air.

'OAKLEY NEVER I REPEAT NEVER BLOW DANDELION PUFFS AROUND MY LAWN! I OUGHTA PUNISH YOU FOR THAT!' The groundskeeper went ape.

'...What did I do?'

'YOU BLEW THAT DARN DANDELION PUFF! THAT SPREADS EVEN MORE WEEDS AROUND THE LAWN!'

Oh, crap. That means I'll have more weeds to pull. I just wish this day was over.

'Oakie Samuels? Oakie Samuels, Mrs Constance wants you to report to her office as quickly as possible. Something has happened to your parents,' Ms King said, panic in her voice.

This can't be good.