Ashleigh POV

I don't know why but I woke up the week after my fourteenth birthday with the thought that today would be different. Maybe it was something in the air. Maybe it was the fact that it was the last day of school, and because of that my family and I were going on a trip. Where we were going, well that was yet to be determined.  I was excited though, since my parents are so overprotective of me that they rarely allow me out of the house. They even went as far as homeschooling me, for fear that putting me in public school would damage me in some way, shape or form. But, I guess that's the price I pay for being the eldest of my siblings.  How many of us are there? Well, before I tell you you may want to brace yourself. Ready? Alright, but don't say I didn't warn you. There are twelve of us, all adopted of course, after my mother found out she couldn't have her own children. Why didn't she hire a surrogate mother? She didn't want a stranger carrying her child for nine months only to have the possibility of the surrogate changing her mind as soon as the child was born. So, she and my father decided to adopt. There's me, Ashleigh, I'm fourteen then Joseph, who is thirteen, the twins Natalie and Nicole, identical, age eleven, Kyle age eight, Kendall, age seven, Luciana age five, Xavier, age three, Christopher, Caleb, and Jacelyn, the triplets who are two and finally there is Gabriella who has just started teething. Needless to say, it's non stop at my home, and with being the eldest I get asked to babysit a lot and help with the chores, etc. Not that I mind, just that sometimes, I wish I could spend more time outside of my over-crowded home, you know? 

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Time passed, and eventually we passed a sign that said we were in Kansas. Joy, nothing but flatlands for miles and miles, as far as the eye can see. Why did we leave Washington again for this trip? I swear if my parents plan on doing what they did when I was twelve, I WILL find a new place to live. I can't take how  overprotective they are anymore. I mean, I understand that I'm the eldest, and in some ways the guinea pig, if you will, but the other children? Some could get away with murder. I'm not joking.  That's how lenient they are with my siblings.  Soon enough, we passed a sign that read, 'welcome to New York'. Well I guess this trip is going to be anything but fun and relaxing, at least for me anyway.