Winter 2010 - Jr. / Sr. High School

Maia Hayes, Sofia Hartman -12th grade, Violet Cormier, Owen Rossi, Geneva Rossi - 11th grade, Augustus Thaytowski, Bryan Carson - 10th grade, Sierra Thaytowski, Charlotte Platz - 9th grade

This semester was Hope's first teaching the students and since Rich had gotten fired she was doing it on her own.  The subject of focus for the semester was home economics.  The students started out in the morning, learning how to sew.  Each student created a simple potholder of their own design.

Charlotte Platz was late for class.  Hope knew that she hadn't been feeling well lately, so she excused her this time, but told her she needed to be more punctual from now on.

Once the students had finished their sewing projects they went up stairs to do research.  They were to research and write a report related to cleaning and devise a meal plan that they could cook themselves.

Once the papers were turned in and the meal plans approved, the students headed down to the cafeteria to try their hands at cooking.  Today they would be preparing their own lunches.

Hope was close on hand in case anyone had troubles in the kitchen.  By the results and differences in complexity of their meals, she could tell the students had a wide range of cooking skills and experience in the kitchen.

She was glad that, for the most part, students were getting along.  Except for Sierra and Bryan who still had to be kept separated from each other, the other students were all becoming friends.  She was pleased to have a close-knit group.

She was beginning to develop a closer relationship with the students too.  She was glad that they were feeling comfortable enough with her to confide in her when they needed someone to talk to.

She wished she was getting to know some of the other sims in the neighborhood better.  Sometimes she longed for adult conversation and someone to confide in herself.  Especially now that she was faced with a problem she was not expecting to have to deal with when she took this job.

She had noticed, for the last several weeks that Charlotte Platz was not acting like herself.  She was often late for class or asked to be dismissed early because she wasn't feeling well.  She always seemed tired and was becoming withdrawn.  Her personality was changing and so was her style of dress.   She started wearing baggy clothes and looked like she was gaining weight.

Concerned, Hope had Charlotte pay a visit to the doctor for a check-up.  The results shocked her and she immediately called in Charlotte's parents, Bethany and Chandler who still lived in Eden.  She dreaded making the call, but it had to be done.  How do you tell the parents whose fourteen year old daughter, who is under your care, is pregnant?

As soon as the Platzes arrived, Hope scheduled an emergency meeting with them and the boy who had gotten her pregnant, Owen Rossi, and his mother.

"I can't believe this.  How could you have done this?" Alexis hissed under her breath as they waited in Hope's office for Hope and Charlotte.  "What are you going to do about this?"

"I could ask her to marry me," Owen offered with a shrug.

"Marry you?  Are you kidding!  You are too young to get married and she is way too young to think about getting married."

"I know we're young, but maybe we could just get engaged at least and wait a few years to get married . . ." his voice trailed off quietly when he noticed the hateful glare, Charlotte's mother was sending his way.

"I don't think the two of you realize how serious this is," Alexis whispered as Charlotte strutted in.

"I know it's serious," Owen replied.  "But I think we can make it work.  Charlotte and I are best friends.  Isn't that what marriages are supposed the be based on, friendship?  I want us to stay the best of friends forever."

Hope mustered a smile as she entered the room, trying to put on a brave face.  "Thank you all for coming in today.  This is a difficult situation, but I feel if we all come together and discuss what's happened, we can work something out."

She felt so bad for the Platz's.  They had the comments you would expect, such has how could such a thing have happened.  Hope apologized profusely about what happened.  She knew that they had trusted their daughter's care to her and she had let them down.

After the initial upset, Bethany's motherly instinct kicked in.  She wanted to make sure that she was eating right and taking care of herself.

Then came the question of what they were going to do.  Charlotte wanted to keep the baby.  She promised she would work hard to take care of it and to get through school.

"Do you have any idea how hard it is going to be for you to take care of a baby.  You're still a child yourself.  You shouldn't have to work so hard.  You should be a kid.  You can't be a parent."

Charlotte hated to hear it, but she knew her father was right.

"I can't believe you got yourself into this situation," he muttered.  "You're too young for this type of behavior."

"But it was our first time," Owen declared.  There was a little too much pride and excitement in his voice for Charlotte's father's liking.

"It doesn't matter if it's your first time or not.  Pregnancy can happen at anytime, especially if you aren't being careful and using protection," Hope said, gently, trying to tone the tensions in the room down a notch.  She made a mental note that maybe sex education should be added to the curriculum next year.

Bethany looked down in shame, the situation was too much for her to bear.  "First we were told that our son had died while at college.  Now we're told our teenage daughter is pregnant.  We sent our children to New Eden, hoping they would have better lives, but look how it turned out.  We never should have let either of them move so far away from us."

Hope felt a great deal of sympathy for the Platzes.  She could only imagine what they had gone through over the last year and what they were going through now.

"I know things look bleak now and it's hard to look ahead, but I truly believe every cloud has a silver lining somewhere."

"Right," Bethany said decisively.  "We'll just have to make the best of a bad situation and hope for brighter days ahead."

The meeting concluded, Charlotte was sent to her room to pack her things and say goodbye to her friends.  She would be traveling back to Eden with her parents where they would take care of her and the new baby when it was born.

I love when sims conversation bubbles work out well with what they are supposed to be discussing.  The topics and expressions were all them.  I couldn't have staged it better myself.