Mary Kate and Ashley - war of the wardrobes

Chapter one

"Say it's not true," Ashley Burke begged her friend Wendy. "Please - tell me its a joke. Just a cruel, ugly joke. We can't be getting school uniforms!"

Wendy Linden shook her head. ''It's no joke. Everyone at White Oak Academy will be wearing uniforms by the end of the month. My mom said so''

Ashley Rolex her eyes and glanced at her friends. She and her twin site, Mary Kate, we're hanging out in the lounge of Porter House, their dorm at boarding school.

''But how can you be sure?" Elise Van Hook asked. "Maybe it's just a rumor."

Ashley remembered that Elise was new at white oak. She didn't always have the inside scoop.

"Wendy's mom is on the board of trustees," Ashley explained. "If anyone would know, she would."

"It's not fair!" Samantha Cramer said. "I just bought a whole new wardrobe for this term!"

"Me too" Ashley agreed. "I've been waiting three weeks for it to get cold enough for me to wear my new ski-sweater outfit"

"Well you better wear it soon" Wendy advised. "The board of trustees is going to decide about the uniforms during homecoming weekend. That's only two weeks away."

"Homecoming?" Elise's eyes lit up. "Does that mean that we get to have a big dance - and elect a queen?"

"Not us," Mary Kate said, shaking her head. "The girls in fifth and sixth form will have the dance."

Elise looked confused. "Sixth form? What grade is that - in plain English? I'm still not used to this system."

Ashley laughed. " I know - it takes a while, but you'll catch on. Sixth form is like being a high school senior"

"So they get to have a dance. Then what do we get?" Elise demanded.

"We get to watch helplessly while all the old white oak pupils come back and invade our dorm room." Wendy explained.

"Your kidding!" Mary Kate cried. "They get to stay in our rooms?"

"No" Wendy laughed. " but they'll be prowling around the dorms and the rest of the campus all day. That's what homecoming is all about. The pupils come back, talk over old times, and tell us how great it was when they were here."

Ashley glanced around the dorm lounge. It was a mess. The walls were only half painted. The carpeting had been ripped up. And the heavy green curtains had been pulled from the windows. They lay in a heap on the floor. "Well it probably was better in the old days!" Ashley joked. "This place is a disaster zone."

"YeH, that's why they are redecorating," Wendy explained. "Everything has to look spiffy by the time the homecoming crowd arrived."

Ashley stared out of the window at the beautiful orange and gold leaves that covered the lawn. It was the middle of October in New Hampshire. Ivy claimed the walls of the dorms across the way. She and Mary Kate were completely happy at boarding school now. Sure, they missed Chicago at times. That's where they had grown up - and where they dad still lived. But white oak academy was they best. I love it here, Ashley thought. But not if we have to wear uniforms!

"I thought white oak was totally into traditions" Ashley said. "Why would they suddenly decide to change things - and make us wear uniforms - in the middle of the school year?"