In Your Company

Chapter 1

When I was 9 we were playing hide and seek in the little park surrounded by bush down the street from my house. It was a large group of us. It was always fun down at the park, since our parents never really came and checked on us. Being twins, Taylor and myself had a bigger amount of freedom then the other kids in our grade, so all the parents trusted at if the Norm Twins were going to be somewhere, their kids would be safe. And that was always true.

This particular time at the park we were playing hide and seek. It was one of our favourite games to play. Taylor, Rachel and Connor always had the best hiding spots. I loved counting. The suspense. So I was counting. We counted to 90 so everyone could get the optimal spots in the park. The deal was that we never went too far into the bush. The boulder was our guide. I counted to 90, like normal, and then started looking. There were always specific spots that people hid in, so they were my first points to check. Oddly, no one was in any of them. But to my 9 year old self that made the whole thing better. I started looking hard. But didn't find anyone. I started to call out, starting to get worried. But no one called back. Normally at least Connor would give up by this point. It would have been half an hour. I decided to make the mistake of going past the boulder, thinking that maybe they had decided to hide further into the bush. By then it started getting dark.

I walked until I couldn't see in front of me. By then I was well and truly lost. Accepting my fate, I sat down next to a tree, and started to cry. There was nothing I could do. At some point it started to rain, and I fell asleep, only to be awoken later by a flashlight and someone shouting my name.

"Danielle!" Joel, my 15 year old brother, started running towards me. I got up, tears still streaming down my face. "Why are you here? Why didn't you come home with Taylor hours ago?"

"She left?"

Not only did Taylor, my identical twin, leave me in the park, she had told my parents I didn't want to come home with the group. My parents didn't bother to look for me when I didn't come home for dinner, and instead, when Joel dragged a wet and shaking 9 year old with him, we both proceeded to get in trouble for being out when it was dark.

It was safe to say that was the last time I went to the park with Taylor.

***

That wasn't to say I never went to the park again, instead, I left that night with sever anxiety when alone, hatred of suspense, and a sister that seemed to hate me. No explanation, no apology.

"Does anyone know how to do question 15 of the math's sheet?" Faith asks, placing her head down on the wooden bench we were sprawled across.

"I have no idea..." Mia slams her pen down on the table heavily.

"I've done it, look at mine." Coral flips her book the other way around, so the two can look at it.

The 4 of us, where best friends. Ever since we met, 7 years ago, when we were 10, we have been inseparable That fateful Music class at Ms Blakeson's academy for performing arts. The four of us got put in the same group for a mini band project. Of course, that project seemed to evolve into something much more. Four very different best friends. And a partially successful band, but the friendship is more important.

"You guys are hopeless." I let out a small laugh, and Mia and Faith scramble for Coral's answers. We all had a free last period from school, so returned to my house before the start of lunch, to get a head start on our homework.

"Okay Miss Smarty Pants. Not all of us do Extension math's. We have to work hard for our good marks in General math's." Mia throws down her pen again in defeat.

We were all sitting in the basement of my family's 'moderate' sized house. That's what rich people call their extremely large houses right? My parents are quite well off, meaning our basement is approximately the size of a large studio apartment. I claimed it as mine after Taylor claimed practically the whole third floor for herself when we moved in 4 years ago.