The Atwood DITFT: Generation 3, Chapter 1
Author's Note: Yes, I'm back! A four-day break is much better than a two-month one, no? xD Anyway, I'm super excited about this generation, I have so much planned <3 I hope you guys enjoy it!
The Atwood DITFT: Generation 3, Chapter 1
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“Hey, Woo,” Norah teased, “how was youw fiwst day of school? Did you make lots of new fwiends?”
“Go away, Nowah,” Rue mumbled. Her sister, who was eight (three years older than Rue), loved to make fun of Rue about everything-but especially the way she had trouble pronouncing her r’s.
It was unfortunate that Rue’s name, and the name of her sister, rather depended on that particular consonant; Norah had always called her “Woo,” in a slightly exaggerated imitation of Rue’s own speech. More recently, Norah had come up with an even better nickname: “WooHoo,” which, she told Rue, was a fancy vocabulary word that would impress her parents.
But when Rue mentioned “WooHoo” in front of Reagan and Finn, they scolded her for using naughty language! She tried to explain herself, but then Norah jumped in quickly, saying, “I tried to tell her you guys would be mad, Mommy and Daddy, but she didn’t listen!” Rue was put in time out, and Norah came to visit her in her room to gloat.
Today, Norah had a new topic to tease her sister for: Rue had formed an unconventional friendship on her first day of kindergarten.
As she explained it to her mother later that day, “I made a fwiend, but nobody else likes him. They think I’m weiwd fow talking to him.”
“And why is that?” Reagan asked, mystified.
“He sits in a big chair that wolls awound, and he can’t get up out of it,” Rue explained, wide-eyed. “I know because I asked if I could have a tuwn.”
Reagan tried her hardest not to laugh at her daughter’s innocence. “That’s called a wheelchair, honey,” she explained. “Did he tell you why he has to use it?”
“He says his legs don’t wowk like mine do.”
Reagan nodded. “That’s right.”
“But he’s just a wegular kid like me,” Rue insisted. “He likes to colow, and make papew aiwplanes, and his favowite show is Spongebob!”
“You love Spongebob, too, don’t you?”
“Yes!”
“Well, that’s very cool, sweetheart! I’m glad you made such a nice friend. What’s his name?”
“James,” Rue said. “He says his family is from… umm… Fance?”
“France,” Reagan supplied. “Wow, how neat! He certainly seems interesting!”
“Where’s Fance?” Rue asked.
“Here, let’s go take a look at a map,” Reagan suggested.
“Okay!” Rue exclaimed. She hurried off after her mother.
* * *
Unfortunately, Rue’s excitement over her new friend was marred somewhat by her big sister’s relentless teasing. That evening after dinner, the girls were in their room playing. Jaden, their big brother and Rue’s most common defender, was at their cousin Hope’s house, so it was a perfect opportunity for Norah.
“I heard you made friends with a little crippled kid,” she said nastily.
“Did not! He’s just in a…” She struggled to remember the word her mother had used. “…wheelchaiw!” She didn’t quite know what the word crippled meant, but if Norah was using it, it couldn’t be nice.
“Whatever,” Norah said, proud, as always, to know a word her little sister didn’t. “I don’t know why you’re friends with him, anyway. It’s just going to get everyone to make fun of you.”
“You alweady do that,” Rue pointed out. “Plus, James is nice to me! Unlike you!” She stuck out her tongue at her sister.
* * *
Norah’s dislike of her little sister had been around as long as Rue herself. Norah, who had been born when Jaden was five, enjoyed an abundance of love, attention, and presents as the first girl born to Reagan and Finn, and the first biological child of their marriage.
The couple’s paychecks had really started to pick up in the year leading up to Norah’s birth (Reagan had accomplished her dream and become CEO of her company, while Finn was just two promotions away from being a DNA Profiler); there was talk of redoing the entire house, or even moving somewhere new. (Reagan wasn’t too keen on this idea because she liked living next door to her triplets so much.)
What they did spend their money on was a lavishly decorated nursery for their brand-new baby girl. They were thrilled at Norah’s arrival, and bought her anything and everything she wanted.
Of course, they didn’t neglect Jaden; both parents loved their adopted son very much, and made sure to devote time to him too. Yet somehow, spoiling a baby girl was much more fun than spoiling a school-aged boy.
Norah was a wonderful baby and a happy-go-lucky toddler. She thrived on all the attention her family poured on her, and quickly became best friends with her big brother Jaden.
When Norah was three, Rue came along, another beautiful and bouncing baby girl. Reagan and Finn were ecstatic, showering their youngest with gifts as they had done for Norah.
But there was a catch-Norah became jealous. Very jealous.
It’s normal for older siblings to feel some envy when a new baby comes along, and Reagan and Finn didn’t take Norah’s attitude too seriously. She was, after all, used to being the center of everyone’s attention. It was hard to explain to a three-year-old that babies need more care and time than toddlers do, especially when that three-year-old is as stubborn and spoiled as Norah was.
Her parents placated her with even more new toys and other presents, but tantrums were still an uncomfortably frequent occurrence in the Atwood home. The parents usually sent Norah to her room to cool off during these occasions, where she would scream and cry at her toys in frustration.
Once Rue was walking and talking, things only got worse for her. Norah began to take out her frustrations on their cause. She would break, spill, or steal things, then blame it on Rue. As she got older, she became more adept at creating a ‘crime scene’ that would convince her parents that Rue was the culprit.
Yet no matter how she bullied her sister, Norah was excellent at pulling an angelic face that convinced her parents she could do no wrong.
In addition to making Rue look naughty, Norah enjoyed making her sister look stupid. Rue was an exceptionally bright child-both girls were, though they expressed it in different ways-who learned things almost as soon as they were taught to her. She also figured out a vast amount of things entirely on her own.
Yet Norah could outsmart her time and again with a quick, “Let me help you tie your shoes,” before the girls left their room to go somewhere; Norah would tie the laces together or leave them loose and dangling, then watch as Rue tripped and fell in front of pitying parents.
Or, Norah would say, “Let’s do some math problems to show Mommy and Daddy what a little genius you are!” She would diligently work up a sheet of ‘homework’ for her sister, full of simple problems. Then, when she helped Rue solve them, she would deliberately confuse the girl. “No, silly! Two plus two equals five, not four!”
The problem with Norah was how manipulative she was. Not only did she tap into Rue’s desperate desire to impress her busy, often preoccupied parents (whether with her big vocabulary, her math skills, or even her ability to tie her own shoes), she figured out how to make Rue think everything that happened was her own fault, not Norah’s.
When Rue said bad words in front of her parents because Norah had told her to, Norah insisted that Rue had heard her wrong-she had said “hullabaloo,” not “WooHoo.” When Rue showed her parents a sheet filled with math problems she’d done entirely wrong, Norah admonished her for writing things down differently than what Norah had said. And when Rue tripped on laces Norah had left untied, Norah scolded, “How could you let them come untied after I did them so perfectly for you?”
Unfortunately for Rue, the girls’ parents were convinced that Norah no longer felt jealousy toward her little sister. When parents were around, Norah was nothing but sweet to Rue; Reagan and Finn figured she had grown out of her jealousy, the way most children do. What had really happened was something different.
One evening when Norah was six and Rue was three, the girls were getting ready for bed together. When they went to pick out a bedtime story, Reagan allowed Rue to choose, which Norah did not like.
“Mom,” she whined, “Rue always gets to pick! You love her more than me! I want a turn picking the book! She picked yesterday!”
Reagan, who had had a long day at work and a long three years putting up with Norah’s complaints, did something she wouldn’t normally: she snapped back at her daughter.
“Norah, don’t use that tone with me. It makes you sound like a baby. You picked the book last night, so Rue gets to pick tonight. If you have a problem with that, you don’t have to listen to the story at all. But don’t make yourself look like a whiny little toddler. Even Rue is more patient than you! I’m tired of you being so nasty to your sister all the time. Next time it happens, you are going to be punished.”
Norah was shocked. Neither of her parents had ever spoken to her that way. But what struck her most were the words: “even Rue is more patient than you.” That was just one more thing her parents loved about her little sister. One more thing that made Rue better.
Well, if Reagan didn’t like Norah’s impatience, and she didn’t like Norah’s attitude toward Rue… the only way for Norah to make her mother happy with her again was to stop letting Reagan see that side of Norah.
So that’s what she did. From that night on, Norah was never openly jealous of her little sister. When her parents were watching, Norah was sweet and helpful towards little Rue. Often she would offer to help her sister with something or another, then deliberately mess it up to make Rue look bad when her parents stopped paying attention. It was a mind game that gave Norah both power and the satisfaction of seeing her hated little sister get what Norah felt she deserved.
Yet Reagan and Finn found it impossible to believe that their sweet firstborn daughter could be anything but a little angel.
“Mommy, I pwomise I didn’t bweak youw favowite plate,” Rue said sadly. “I found it like that when Nowah told me to look in the kitchen for a suwpwise.”
“Yeah right, Mom!” Norah would say. “Has Rue ever told the truth when she breaks stuff? I guess you can believe her if you want, and punish me…” She took a few slow steps toward the bedroom she and Rue shared, as if she were going to put herself in time-out and save Reagan the trouble.
She made her voice tremble just slightly as she added, “I just d-don’t think it’s very fair…” Then came the clincher: she cried just a few fake tears.
Reagan was sold. “Of course not, Norah, no. I don’t blame you. Rue, I’ve told you before to please not try to get things out of the cabinets yourself. You’re too small still, and then things like this happen. Next time, ask your sister for help, all right?”
Yeah, right, Rue thought, scowling. She couldn’t believe Norah had intentionally broken their mother’s favorite plate-given to Reagan by her father, Nick, as a wedding gift-and then blamed it on Rue. Rue would never try to get a plate out of the cabinet without help; they were too high up, and she knew it.
Reagan tried hard to be fair when punishing her children. In her mind, Norah was the perfect child, and Rue was a troublemaker. Since Reagan and Finn were both constantly busy with work, they weren’t home enough to see the other side of everything that went on. They were only home to dole out punishments for what the girls got up to while the babysitter was there. And the worst part was that Jaden, who stood up for Rue when he could, was out of the house more than he was at home.
It was probably due to her parents’ constant absence that Rue became so obsessed with impressing them. When she was younger, she would take any advice Norah gave her-after all, Norah seemed to have that situation in the bag. But once Rue realized that Norah just wanted her to look worse, she turned to her own devices.
“Look, Mom! I built a model aiwplane!” she exclaimed. Jaden, who had been home for once, had spent the entire afternoon helping Rue construct the kit, which he had given her for her fifth birthday.
“That’s nice, sweetheart,” Reagan said absently as she set down her briefcase and went to pay the babysitter.
“She has a lot on her plate,” Jaden said comfortingly when Rue came crying to him later. “I’m sure she’s very impressed with your building skills.”
“Yeah, right,” Norah sneered, prancing into the room at just that moment. “Mom doesn’t care about anything you do, you little snot, and you know it.”
Rue cried even harder. “I kn-know,” she moaned.
“That’s right. And she doesn’t care about you, either, Jaden!” Norah announced. “Because you’re not her real kid-you’re adopted!”
Jaden, who knew far more about his parentage than Norah did, just sighed. “Just because she didn’t give birth to me doesn’t mean she doesn’t love me,” he said patiently. He’d had this conversation with Norah many times, yet she seemed set on believing that because Jaden was adopted and Rue was incompetent, she was automatically the favorite child.
“Well, whatever,” Norah said, using her favorite word. “You two have fun crying together-I’m going to go show Mom my new ballet moves!”
When she had gone, Jaden turned to Rue with a smile. “Cheer up, kiddo. Because you want to know something? You’re my best buddy, and that even includes cousin Hope. I’d never build a model plane with Norah like I will with you. And I’d never practice ballet with her.” He made a disgusted face.
Rue giggled through her tears. “I love you, big bwother.”
“And I love you, squirt.”
* * *
Well, there you have it! The beginning of generation 3! As you can see I'll be doing the travel stuff... I can't wait! You've gotten hints of everything that is to come with this gen's plot... Rue's first bit of interest in the world, her little friend, her family situation... Well, safe to say I'm so very excited to show you guys how it all plays out :) Thanks for reading, friends! I hope you enjoyed it - make sure to let me know if you did! And happy simming!