Summer 2011 - Havers-Rossi

Alexis (47), Geneva (17), Owen (17)

Alexis was feeling reflective.  Time seemed to be flying by.  Her children were almost all grown-up.  They would be graduating from high school at the end of this simyear and starting college the next.

She had been looking forward to this time since she found out she was pregnant with them.  She had never particularly wanted children, but she was glad that chance had given them to her anyway.  She had to admit, it had been fun watching them grow and she loved having them in her life.  She just had a feeling she'd love her relationship with them even more once they were grown and on their own.

Getting pregnant all those years ago had been a shock and having twins and even bigger shock, but Alexis thought it worked out for the best.  She was glad Geneva and Owen had each other and that they were so close.

"So do you and Charlotte still keep in touch?" Geneva asked her brother.

"Kind of.  I wish she didn't have to move all the way back to Eden.  She could have stayed here and raised the baby together."

"How?  You don't have a job.  Neither does she and mom certainly wouldn't let you both stay here.  She doesn't want another baby in the house."
"Yeah, I know . . ."

"And you wouldn't want to miss out on college."

"Definitely not.  I know it's for the best, but it's still really hard . . . I called dad and he said he'd pay for us to fly out to visit him during summer vacation and Charlotte said her parents would let me come and visit the baby."
"Hang on," Geneva said as she got up and went to her closet.

"Give this to Charlotte for the baby from me.  I saw all these cute toys in the shops and I couldn't resist buying something for my nephew."

The twins weren't just entering a new stage in their lives, Alexis was as well.  She was about to become an empty-nester.  As much as she tried to deny it, she was changing too.  She was trying new hobbies and becoming interested in studying nature of all things.  She'd never been even remotely the outdoorsy type, but things change.

"Bye, tell mom I'll be back."

"What?"
Alexis even had the desire to adopt a pet.  Her kids could only laugh.  They hadn't even left for college and she was already preparing not to live all alone.

The trip their mom had talked about taking over the summer was cancelled in exchange for the twins paying a visit to their father and Owen getting the chance to meet his infant son, Noah.

The trip had made him realize how difficult it would be to maintain a long-distance relationship with Charlotte, so when he got home, he started looking around for a new love interested.  The high school was planning a year-end dance and he didn't want to be stuck going alone.

Trying to kiss Violet Cormier in his basement was not a good idea. 
"Sorry, I'm taken.  You know Bryan and I have been going steady forever."

"It's been hard for me since Charlotte had to leave the hood to have the baby . . .

I miss having someone to make out with."
"Yeah, sorry, but it isn't going to be me."

Geneva was also working on improving her love life.  She'd had a strong attraction to Augustus Thaytowski for a long time.  They never really got together, because he was a few years younger and she was more into older guys, plus she was put off by him last year when he caught him flirting with her brother's girlfriend.  But Charlotte was out of the picture now and this was her last year of high school.  She didn't want to miss out on her chance to get to know him better before she went off to college, so she invited him over to the house for a date.

Nothing too serious, she told herself.  She just wanted to have a little light-hearted fun before graduation and then college.

He seemed very impressed by her, but as she'd planned the date was very casual.  Augustus spent most of the time playing pool with her brother in the basement.

While Geneva chilled out with the girls in Owen's room.

Even though it wasn't the most romantic date ever, it was fun and Augustus was enough of a gentleman to bring her a flower after the date was over.

Owen was nervous one evening when he got a call from Miss Miguel.  He hoped he wasn't in trouble again or there wasn't any problems with his grades.

She just wanted to give him a friendly reminder to make sure he finished his senior project on time and started chatting about the weather. It had been really stormy this year and the weatherman was predicting that come this fall, it would only get worse . . .

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.

Spring 2010 - Havers-Rossi

Alexis Havers (43), Geneva Rossi (16), Owen Rossi (16)

Things had been heating up between Owen Rossi and Charlotte Platz for quite some time.

Since they were both so young, especially Charlotte, they tried to hold back their raging hormones.  Although things went farther than they should have, they managed to stop themselves from going all the way.

 But when spring came, things were beginning to change.  Charlotte was still in shock from the sudden death of her older brother, Chase, and things at home were not going well for Owen.  He was thinking ahead, looking forward to attending university, but his mother was not interested.  She didn't continue her education and she had been successful in her career.  She just didn't think school was all as important as other sims made it out to be.

 She was always on his case about something.  He knew she wished he was more cool like Geneva and not such a bookworm like his father.

 He couldn't help it though, that was his nature.  He was finding life as a sixteen year old sim incredibly frustrating.

 Charlotte was always there for him though.  She never hesitated to come over when he called.

 Intimate conversations about the frustrations and sorrows in their lives while taking a dip in the hot tub one evening, prompted them to take things to the next level.

 For Owen it was true love.  He was absolutely smitted and could only hope that Charlotte felt the same way.

 Meanwhile, Geneva was also thinking about her future.  She had been staying in touch with Genesis Sartor at the university, discussing college life.

 She was beginning to consider law as a possible area of study.  She was started to get excited about the idea.

 She tried not to get too carried away with thoughts of college and still made time to hang out with her high school friends after school.

 The Havers-Rossi household was the main hangout place for teens after school.  Half of the time Geneva and Owen's mom was out of the house after the kids got out of school.  She had shows and rehearsals from 4 to 10 p.m., the prime time for teens to gather after school.

 And even when Alexis had a night off, she didn't mind that her kids had their friends over.  She was usually preoccupied with her own social life.

 Having a house full of teens did cramp her style at times, she had to admit.

Geneva didn't want to be the only one in the family without a love life.  She had a major crush on her mom's . . . well, she wouldn't call him her boyfriend exactly, her latest fling perhaps?  But she decided it might be wiser to start looking for someone closer to her own age.  Augustus was pretty cute, she thought, but so far they were just friends.  That wasn't a bad place to start.

Owen was surprised one evening to discovered he had recieved a love letter via e-mail.  He was even more surprised when he discovered that the e-mail hadn't been sent by Charlotte.  The sender refused to reveal their identity, but promised that they would meet soon.

The next day, Owen ran into the newspaper carrier delivering the paper. 

After inviting her in and playing a few rounds of pool on the basement pool table, the papergirl revealed that she was the one that sent Owen the mysterious e-mail.  She had noticed him a long time ago and had admired him from afar for a long time.

"Are you kidding me?  I have a serious girlfriend.  I don't need anyone sending me mysterious love letters and causing me trouble.What are you, crazy?  You don't even know me."

The poor papergirl was devastated.  Owen started to feel a little bad for stomping on her heart so carelessly, but he didn't want anything to mess up his relationship with Charlotte.  He had to be honest.

Charlotte on the other hand was not being so honest or as faithful.  Geneva caught Charlotte and Augustus smooching in Owen's bedroom of all places.

While she was disappointed to see her potential crush kissing another girl, she was completely furious to find out, first hand, that the girl that her brother was convinced was the love of his life was kissing another guy.  She gave Charlotte a piece of her mind.  "If you aren't serious about my brother, you had better tell him.  If I catch you cheating on him again, so help me . . ."

"Mind your own business."

Geneva stormed out of the room determined to tell Owen exactly what she saw, but she couldn't bring herself to do it.  She just hoped he wouldn't get his heart broken.

*ROS - Owen Rossi has a secret admirer *