Chapter 1

I woke up really early this morning to get ready. I got into my clothes I picked out last night, a black T-Shirt with a pair of Grey trousers and light blue trainers. You don't have to wear school uniform on the first night, you just wear your regular clothes and wear uniform on the first full day.

I grabbed my violin and keyboard before walking down the stairs nervously. I didn't expect anyone to be there, but when I went downstairs I found everyone there, including..

"CARLOS!! PARK!! OMG!" I squealed. I dropped my instruments and threw my arms around them both. Everyone clapped when they saw me and chorused "Good luck Allie!" then they disappeared. I just ignored them and started talking to my twin brothers

"What are you guys doing here?!"

Parker grinned.

"We came here to see you off Sis"

"Yeah, you're going to a music school!" Carlos whispered. "You're going to have so much fun! We wanted to come with you but they said no. But I'm sure with the 3 of us working together we can convince them"

I grinned and said loudly "oh my god, I'm so happy to see you guys! I wish you could come to the school with me and Dad though. That would be the best thing ever!!"

"Yeah Al it would, but we're not allowed."

Carlos pulled a sad face and I had to hold back a laugh. I made myself look shocked and said sadly "oh"

That was all it took for my Dad. Up till I was 5, me and Ivy used to spend hours acting sad until we got our way. Ever since then my Dad hasn't wanted to deal with it so he's just said yes.

"Well, I guess if you really want them too. Why don't we bring along Ivy too so the four of you are together-"

"NO!" I interrupted. Dad looked at me, confused and I smiled. "I mean, no thanks. I haven't seen Carlos & Park in 6 months but I see Ivie (pronounced Ivee) every day" I continued, using my old nickname for Ivy. Our Dad doesn't even know that we aren't friends anymore, and we've always heard him saying how thankful he was that none of his children fought very often. Ivy and I made an agreement to get on when Father was around so he didn't have more Drama.

Father frowned and looked at Ivy. "Well as long as it's okay with Ivy"

Ivy fake smiled and reached out. She held onto my hand and said in a voice so kind I thought she might actually mean it for a second "don't worry about me. You'll be at boarding school now when they come back, I'll catch up with them then. Plus they're spending the night tonight too. I don't mind at all" she sniffed, then wiped her eyes and said quietly "I'm going to miss you Als" before running up to our room. Her room, it's just her room now.

I smiled sadly, wondering if Ivy might actually miss me, but quickly changed my mind when she threw my pillow down the stairs and yelled "not gonna be needing this"

I laughed and ran out to the minivan with Parker and Carlos. We got in the back and sat on the bed part squished together like we used to. It's a 7 hour drive from where I live to the school, which means it'll be really weird for me. But still, I'm at a music school! That's all I wanted.

We spent most of the journey sleeping, but then when we were about 2 hours away we woke up. We started just messing around and telling horrible jokes, and my Father actually noticed I didn't wear my seatbelt.

That's one of the things about being the youngest in a big family, you get ignored and can get away with anything. I've never worn a seatbelt and no ones ever noticed except for Jane.

Anyways, when we drove up the road towards the school, I got so excited. There's a huge wall around the school, but that's because there's a bus stop at the gate. It's there for safety.

When the gates were opened, I squealed and jumped out the car...while it was still moving. I heard my brothers shout behind me, but I just kept on running until I got to the centre of the crowd. Then I turned and looked around at the site.

There's a huge front driveway with a round gardening patch at the centre of it. There's a path going down the side of the building that leads to the swimming pool, and another that leads to the woods and the riding stables. Then there's the main building. It's gigantic, it looks just like a mansion. It was actually built as a mansion but after about a week they turned it into a school.

Anyways, there's signposts pointing to the places on campus. I saw the sign that said "Strings" and started to walk towards it when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around and punched someone in the face, then gasped as I realised it was my brother.

"Carlos! Omigosh I am so sorry! I didn't know it was you!"

"It's fine Sis. I'm used to it. Are you going to find your dorm?"

"Yep. I can't wait to see it!" I grabbed my brothers hands and we ran towards the main school building together.

When we got there, there was a lady holding a clipboard giving directions to people. She was wearing a rose gold shirt with a dark green skirt and a pair of black shoes. She had long brown hair tied back into a bun, and she was wearing a pair of dark blue glasses. I ran over to her and she asked for my name.

"Allie Crossford, Madam" I said, pointing at the clipboard. The lady stiffened and turned to me.

"My name is Charlotte Adams, Miss Adams to you. I am the headteacher of this fine school. And you, Miss Crossford, will not point like that and talk in suck a unladylike manner!"

"Sorry!" I said nervously. I felt a rush of panic. What if I got expelled on the first day! Oh this was not good!

"Sorry Miss!" Miss Adams interrupted, glaring at me. I could feel Carlos shaking behind me and squeezed his hand to show him I was okay. I smiled sheepishly and Miss Adams sighed before looking back at her clipboard.

"Hmm, let's see. So you're Allison Crossford."

"It's Allie, just Allie." I interrupted loudly. Ms Adams glared at me again and I stopped talking.

She smiled, however the smile didn't reach her eyes, and her red eyes glistened as she said poshly,

"Yes, I can see that. However, Allie is not the name for a young lady, let alone a musically gifted one. Therefore, I shall call you Allison."

I sighed and nodded, reaching out to grab Carlos and Parker's hands.

"Yes Miss."

Ms Adams glared at me once again, then smiled smugly and continued.

"Ah, here you are. You are in Room 11 with Brittany Taylor and Melody Parker. You are the first one of them to arrive so you can go there. On your way, collect your copy of the rule book and your secret key, and of course your music book for the term. The beds have already been assigned and your luggage has been taken up, so look for the sign on the wall with your name on it and wait for your dorm mates to arrive. While you are waiting, if you want, you can find your secret door to your secret bedroom-"

"Hold up" I interrupted. Miss Adams glared at me and I smiled again. "I mean, excuse me. But what do you mean by my secret door to my secret room?"

Miss Adams sighed

"Every student dorm has a secret room with plain bunk beds for sleepovers on the weekend. Each dorm member gets a key and has to find your secret door. There are 3 secret doors next to each bed. The rooms are also for if you want to be alone or can't sleep"

"Ok!" I squealed. Miss Adams sighed again, so I quickly waved goodbye and went to collect my dorm key, rule book & secret door key. Parker and Carlos were frowning at eachother when I turned around.

"Well, she seems rude!" Parker said angrily. I sighed.

"I think she hates me"

"No way" Carlos said reassuringly. "There's no way she could hate you!"

"Thanks Carls" I said quietly, using our secret nickname for him. "But I don't know. She really seemed to not like me!"

"I'm sure it was just first day stress Als, she seemed really stressed out and she is the headteacher, so she probably has to deal with this a lot. Plus, she probably has to deal with the stress of everyone hating her" Parker said, looking at me reassuringly. I laughed.

"Yeah, I guess. Anyways, let's go and find my house mother. I think her name is.....Miss James? Yeah, Miss James. Let's go and find Miss James"

"ok, sure" Carlos muttered, looking at Miss Adams angrily. "but what about Dad?"

"if what Miss Adams said is true, he'll probably already be there with my luggage" I muttered. I saw Miss Adams frown and walk towards us, probably to tell us off for lingering, so i grabbed my brothers hands and we ran for it.

We charged up the staircase until we bumped into someone. I fell backwards and Carlos grabbed my wrist to help. I looked up and then looked back down again. it was Miss James.

She was wearing a light blue T-Shirt with a pair of ripped jeans and a pink bracelet. She has long, curly, brown hair, but she had the back parts tied back. She was wearing a black musical note hair clip to keep back her fringe. I sighed and lifted my head up.

"Miss James? Hi! Nice to meet you! My name is Allison Crossford and I'm in Strings House with you!"

Miss James frowned at me before smiling kindly.

"Hello Allison, nice to meet you! Yes, you are in room 11, which is on the second floor. Come with me, I'll take you there. And who are these people?"

"These are my brothers Carlos & Parker. Me, them and our sister Ivy are Quadruplets" I replied happily. "They're my best friends. Well, I think. They were. "

I saw Carlos & Parker frown at eachother behind me and sighed. Now I'd done it, revealed what I was actually nervous about, when everything had been going so well.

Miss James seemed to notice something was up, because she smiled and said "come with me. I'll take you to your room Allison and you three can talk"

"Thank you Miss!" I exclaimed. "And, by the way, everyone calls me Allie"

"Ok, Allie it is then!" Miss James grinned at me, and at that moment I didn't feel so nervous. She pointed down the corridor and we followed her until we got to room 11. There were three girls standing outside room 9 and when they saw me they raised their eyebrows and laughed. The third one smiled at me and was then shoved by a long, blonde-haired girl with waxed eyebrows who glared at me. I ignored them and walked into my room.

It was breathtaking. It was like walking into a fairytale! Sure enough, there were name plates on the walls next to each bed. I looked and saw that mine was the furthest beacon the left, next to the big window. There was a row of desks in the corner, each with a laptop and notebook on, and a fireplace and sofa in the other corner. The room was very pink, but I don't care. There's always the secret room too, I can't wait to find it! I'm going to later tonight.

After Miss James had left, me, Carlos and Parker sat in silence. After a few minutes, Parker turned to me, confused.

"What did you mean by 'Well, I think. We were' Als, you know that we're still your best friends right!"

I sighed and turned to face him, trying desperately not to cry.

"No! I don't know, okay! You left! You left when you promised you never would! You left me alone with Ivy, who made my life friking miserable! And on top of that, you didn't even write!"

"Als..." Carlos started, but I cut him off.

"NO! Let me finish! I missed you so much, and you didn't even write one letter! I thought you'd forgotten me like everyone else!"

"ALLIE! Stop! We weren't allowed to write letters, we could only text and you don't have a phone. But we could never forget you! You're our twin sister! Remember, we are a gang together, just like the-"

"Birds of a feather" I interrupted Parker, smiling tearfully. Birds of a feather is a song we came up with together when we were 5 and Ivy had started being mean to us. It goes something like this;

We do everything together, together.

We are inseparable, yeah yeah.

We will be a team,

just you guys and me.

Yeah, yeah. YEEAAHHH.

We glide through the sky,

We fly together.

We are a gang together,

Just like the birds of a feather

Yeah yeah, we fly and glide.

We'll Flide together.

We are a quad gang,

Just like birds of a feather.

Don't mock, I said we were 5.

We sang the birds of a feather song and then caught up and recalled memories until our Father finally arrived, carrying my luggage. I ran over and leapt on him, squeezing him tight in a hug. I've never felt this way about my Dad before, like I'll actually miss him. My brothers started dragging my luggage over to the bed, and I turned to help, but my Dad grabbed my shoulder.

"Wait"

"What is it Fath-Dad?" I asked curiously. My Dad smiled at me before bending down to my level. He reached into his pocket.

"I've got something for you Darling"

He moved his hand around a little, and then pulled out a phone. He handed it to me and I gasped.

"Really?" I asked, trying not to cry again. I've always wanted a phone! My parents gave my brothers phones a year ago, but they didn't have enough money to get me one. My Dad nodded and I squealed. I threw my arms around him and whispered "Thank you Dad! Thank you so much!" Before turning to my brothers. I handed it to them and they entered their phone numbers. We tested it out for a few minutes, and after we were sure it was working, I smiled at my brothers.

"This is perfect! Now we can keep in contact while we're all at school! YAY! Thank you Fa-Dad!"

My brothers grinned before sighing as the school bell went off.

"*sigh* Sis, I think we have to go now"

"Oh" I frowned, trying to remember what I'd read about this in the handbook online. "Of course, it says in the handbook that every family member should be gone by the third school bell, unless you've just arrived"

"Yeah" Parker sighed as he reached over and hugged me. "I'm going to miss you Als"

"Me too" Carlos whispered, his voice cracking. I tried to stop myself from tearing up, although I failed.

"C'mon Carls, Park. Your my big strong older brothers remember. It'll be fine. This is a good opportunity for me, I'll be alright"

Carlos laughed.

"Yeah, I guess so. But text if you're being bullied or picked on, okay?"

"Of course Bro" I said quietly. I heard the second school bell and began to push them out the door. "I'll call you tonight okay? Yeah, okay. Good luck on the way home. Love you guys! Bye!"

I shut the door in their faces and leant against the wall, silently crying. I didn't know it would be so hard to say goodbye to your family. Was this what it was like for Carlos & Parker when they went to school.

I sat on the bed crying for a few minutes before taking out my diary and writing in it. It's been about 15 minutes now, the third bell should ring in around 15 minutes. My roommates still haven't arrived.

Actually, I think I can hear someone coming down the hall. I really hope it's....um, let me look at the previous pages. Found it, Brittany Taylor & Melody Parker. That's it. I really hope it's Brittany or Melody. I can't wait to meet them.

Bye for now, I'll write more later, but dinner is soon and I want to wait for my roommates.