Vol. I - When we were Kids - Track 07
When the sun shines, we’ll shine together
Told you I'll be here forever, said I'll always be a friend
Took an oath I'm stick it out till the end
Now that it's raining more than ever
Know that we'll still have each other
You can stand under my umbrella
‘Umbrella’ - Rihanna
"I can't believe Mr. Smith is dead" Alex muttered, rocking on his chair, as he tried to understand what his friend was telling him.
He remembered seeing Jill's father at Cassandra's wedding, and wondered how come someone who looked so cheerful and alive one day, could simply died a few days later without even a warning.
"Everyone is very sad" Buck continued softly "Even my dad is sad."
"I thought your dad hated him."
"They didn't get along well," Buck shook his head slowly, but didn't seem to be paying real attention to Alex's comments "but he had been very serious since we got the news."
"Your dad is always very serious." Alex commented unable to contain a quiet giggle.
"Bella says Strangetown will never be the same without good old Mr. Nine." Buck continued immersed on his own thoughts, clearly not listening to the other boy's remarks "Everyone is so sad."
"Even your dad is sad... " Alex adventured, trying to get Buck's attention, but the blond boy only nodded and continued talking on the same monotonous tone.
"He wants all of us at the funeral tomorrow." Buck sighed and paused for a moment, this time staring directly at Alex. "I'm sorry I can't come to your birthday."
"It's ok" Alex replied, trying to keep the current circumstances in mind, and stood up looking for words to cheer up his friend "Jill will like to see you there."
"I hope to see her there too. We haven't been able to speak yet, you know, I'm worried."
Alex was thankful his friend have been able to visit him, but that was certainly not what they had planed.
The three kids had their birthdays coming up soon, and were looking forward to start a new part of their lives sharing their first experiences as teenagers together, but of course now, with Mr. Smith's passing everything had changed, and none of them would have much reason or desire to celebrate.
And so, Alexander will have to spend his birthday without his friends, but at least meeting Buck for a couple of hours was better than nothing.
"C'mon! I want to show you my house, before you leave." Alex encouraged Buck to follow him.
"This place is huge!" Buck exclaimed looking around fascinated, when Alex guided him through the hallways.
"This is not my house, though." Alex corrected him promptly, and continued explaining. "This is just where we live now. Temporarily. But the Goth Manor is much bigger. It has 3 floors, 3 rooms and a studio. And you can walk on the roof!"
"The roof!? That must be very high..."
"Not as high as the tower in your house, though. It must be awesome up there!"
"I don't like it. It's too high" Buck commented lowly, but both kids quickly forgot everything about the Grunt's tower as they reached the terrace from where the old manor was visible at distance.
"Over there! Can you see it!? Keep lives there now."
"Who?"
"Keep. Our servo. Dad made him to take care of the house. Sometimes I can see something shiny moving in the yard and I know it's him. He needs to keep everything clean or the elders can get really mad."
"Elders? I though you said no one else lived there now." Buck asked confused.
"No, I mean the spirits in the graveyard. They don't like when the house is dirty and start haunting at night."
"You mean ghosts!?"
"Well, yeah, but they aren't bad, they just float around, sometimes." Alex added suddenly remembering that most people didn't take kindly of haunted houses "but that's why Dina wanted to leave. She said our house was a horrid place to raise a baby girl."
"Can we see your sister?" Buck asked, curious about Alex's new sibling, but more interested in giving his friend a reason to go change the creepy topic and maybe even go back inside. It was only a one-story house, but they were at least 3 feet from the floor over a foundation, and Alex climbing up the fence didn't look safe at all.
"You mean Cassie!?" Alex asked back, with no apparent intention of stepping down.
"No, the baby! She's your sister too, you know! What's her name?"
"Donna, but Dina doesn't let anyone see her, not even dad."
"I only saw her once, sneaking in the room. She looks like all babies look like." Alex finished shrugging uninterested.
It was difficult to think of Dina's baby as his own sibling, no matter how much everyone said she was, but the new addition to his family, was only one of the many things that had changed in Alexander's life since Dina married into the family.
Mortimer had tried to keep their regular schedule, but seemed to be quickly loosing interest for all the things he used to enjoy,
and was spending more and more time distracted with his new pet parrot,
no matter how much Dina complained about it.
Dina, on her side, wouldn't stop nagging and asking for anything imaginable,
including a full time maid and a butler,
who didn't have much to do
and only seemed to be there to serve her.
But above all, Alexander missed his old house. His home. He felt like living in one of those big hotel rooms his father rented sometimes when traveling, just a very big one, but a hotel room nonetheless. Not his home. That was Dina's house, his real home was just a few blocks away, waiting for its owner to go back.
And its owner was him. Alexander Mortimer Goth.
Of course he had to grow up first, but Mortimer had promised the house would always remain in the family, and that when the time comes, Alexander would inherit it.
"I still need to finish high school and go to college, but that is my house." Alex said finally off the fence "Maybe next time you come, you can see it from inside too!"
"Yes! I would like to!" Buck replied excited.
And so Alex promised he would find a way to take Buck to see his house, and though the idea of visiting a 3-stories high house full of ghost and robots wasn't exactly appealing, Buck was willing to risk it and go there with his friend, because it obviously meant a lot to him.
***** *****
Less than a hour later the kids heard someone honking from outside.
"That's my dad!" Said Buck, clearly seeing the familiar green car from the bedroom's window.
"He's here early." Alex commented slightly disappointed.
"I'm sorry" Buck replied shyly "He didn't even want me to come, but Bella insisted."
Sometimes it was weird for Alex when Buck made those casual comments about his mother. It only reinforced the fact that Bella actually spent more time with Buck than her own son, but Alex wasn't used to have his mother around either, and their unusual family situation had quickly become a normal part of their lives and friendship.
"I'll see you soon, I promise." Buck rushed when the horn called for the second time, and gave Alex a quick hug before running out the house.
"Say hi to Jill for me!" Alex screamed at the last minute, wishing he could say so much more, but hoping it would at least send his support.
(Continues soon)
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I've been slowly recovering the siming mood, so finally decided to post this chapter, which had been patiently waiting to see the light of day for several weeks now lol. It was only needing a couple of shots here and there, but never had the will to finish it until now.
I also thought about skipping this part all together, and go straight to Alex's bday (as mentioned in the last update), but ended up missing it. It's their last "screentime" as pure innocent kids, before becoming angsty troubled teens! :P
Now, age transition in simstories can be a bit tricky. Sims simply age in the blink of an eye, so I try to find a subtle way to deal with it by dividing each age group in 2 or 3 different subgroups (like younger kids/older kids, for example) to create a bit of age difference within the same age rage, without trying to translate my sims age into realistic terms like "8-10-12 years old" so literally.
I still try to keep their ages when the game starts in mind for the tods/kids/teens transitions, though, so there's a moment in which Alex is a teen a Buck and Jill still kids, but they are pretty much the same age. (for college they move in groups, but we are still far away to worry about that lol). Hal is about the same age as well, and the Montis are just a bit younger, so they'll be growing to teens about the same time and going to (public) high school with Buck and Jill. Alex is the only doomed in private, so he won't be having much friends (or foes) there.
JiC, in my sims world the school system works like in a small city or town. All kids (all hoods) go to the same schools, meaning there's only one public high school where most teens go, and all the rich kids go to the one private school all together too. And because there's not that many children in total (and I don't like adding extra background sims) , there's only a couple of classes in each school.
So in short, the groups of students in each school are very small, even smaller for private, and Alex doesn't know anyone else...
/TEASE ALERT
...yet!
Alex will be using the exact same outfit and hair style he had when I was first playing/posting this story. I just got soooo used to seeing him like this, I simply couldn't find anything else I liked on him now. ROFL
I'm having some extra free time this week, and I'm very inspired atm, so I'll be working on the next update, which is like 3/4 ready by now. Hope to have done for next week. (Tho, you know me... it may take longer lol)
Thanks for reading!! :D