‘She must be apoplectic. God knows what she’ll do to that poor kid. God knows what she’ll do to me.’ I’d told my dad about the planters because I felt I had to talk to someone—someone detached from the whole business. Most of my friends in Sydney were Troy’s friends too. Or Annette’s. I couldn’t talk to them anymore.

‘You should go to the police,’ Dad said.

I snorted. ‘“Officer, I think someone moved my pot plants around.”’

‘It’s stalking, love. It’s trespass.’

‘It’s an absent-minded feuding lezzo. There’s no proof, Dad.’

‘What do you mean, lezzo?’

‘Oh, didn’t I tell you? Joyce has been saying I’m a lesbian and that means I hate men, which is why I’ve got it in for Aaron.’

There was a brief silence. At last Dad said, ‘Nutter.’

‘Yep.’

‘I’m so sorry.’

‘The reason I moved here was to get away from all the drama and stress…’ I trailed off, trying not to think about that day when Annette and Troy sat down in front of me, Annette crying, Troy’s voice trembling. We feel so bad about this, he said. We feel so bad for you.

‘That boss of yours sounds useless,’ Dad grumbled. ‘He should be protecting you from this stuff.’

‘He’s banned Mitch as well. And now Scott has to collect Aaron at school for the next week.’ The thought of Scott in my classroom made me feel sick. The thought of dealing with Aaron again filled me with a profound sense of fatigue. ‘That poor caseworker. What a fiasco. I don’t know if she’ll have enough data to make an assessment, let alone get me a teacher’s aide.’

‘It’s appalling. Disgraceful.’ Dad was quite upset. I could hear it in his voice and was suddenly guilt-ridden. He was too old for this.

‘It’s all right, Dad. I’ll deal with it. I always do.’

‘You should write to the Education Department.’

‘Mmm.’ That wasn’t going to happen. ‘I might have a word with Prue. She’s our union rep.’ Prue was so jaded, though; I wasn’t expecting much.

‘Do that. Make sure everyone knows what’s going on.’

‘I will.’

‘Is your house secure? Can you lock everything up?’

‘I can now.’ After the planter incident, I’d gone straight out and bought proper locks for the garage and backyard laundry.

‘I can install some sensor lights when I’m down there next.’ He hesitated for a moment. ‘Do you want me to come on Saturday?’

‘No, that’s fine.’ I liked to retreat into my burrow when I was stressed. ‘We’ll stick to the plan. It’s only another week. By that time things may have improved.’