A New Start



Chris Green is 48; Marsha Green is 47; Christine is 17; Anna is 13 ; Jessica is 2 months.
Serdar Green is 76 ; Alana Beare is 13.

Oct 2025


Through the wall of her bedroom, Christine Green could hear the hum of her sister Anna's exercise bike.


She groaned.  What kind of a thirteen year old girl gets up this early on a Saturday morning, to work out on an exercise bike?  For that matter, what kind of a thirteen year old girl even has an exercise bike? Anna had wanted one for her birthday, so that was what she got.  But then, Anna could be strange like that.

Probably, it was kind of strange to be up this early on a Saturday doing homework, too, but Christine knew the rules - no finished homework, no friends over.


She'd hoped that her parents would have forgotten her abysmal grades over the summer, especially now that she was at a new school... but no, the rules were still in place, and she wasn't going to waste a perfectly good Friday evening on homework when Ricky had asked her out.  So, Saturday morning it was.  At least then, she'd have the rest of the weekend free.

As she finished, she heard her father calling her to breakfast.  She stopped to say a quick goodbye to Max.


Now, this, is what you call a birthday present!  She loved the way Max seemed to recognize her, the way he responded to her.

As she slipped him back into the cage, she promised him again that she'd work on getting him some company - she'd wanted two chinchillas, to breed them, but her parents had said no.  But as much as she tried to keep his life interesting, Max deserved company of his own kind.

Well, next year she'd be in college, and she could have as many pets as she wanted.  "Not long now..." she promised him, before running down the stairs to breakfast.


Usually, Christine enjoyed their relaxed weekend breakfasts, but not today.  Just as she'd expected, Dad spent most of the meal trying to convince her and Anna to come visit their grandparents and sister in Richmond.

"We'll come next time," Anna said.  "We've got plans for today, right?"


Christine nodded, swallowing down a mouthful of egg.  "Right.  Today's not good."
"What kind of plans," Dad asked.
"Just having some friends over, hanging out, stuff like that."


"Can't that wait for another day?"


"We've already asked some girls from school," Anna said. "It's hard enough to make a new start at a new school without messing people around cancelling things..."
"She's got a point," said their mother.
"But - "


"No, let them stay home today.  It's not like it's that far to go now, we can all go up together some other time."
The Christine and Anna smiled to each other.  They knew Mum would win, she always did.  As long as they could get her on their side, it was easy.

---

By the time the girls got dressed, their parents were gone.  Well, by the time Christine got dressed, anyway.  She couldn't understand how someone like Anna could just take a shower and let her hair dry however it landed.


It took time to look perfect!  By the time Christine was ready, Anna's friends were already there.

Regardless of what they'd told their parents, the girls weren't having any trouble at all making new friends.  But really, given the choice between hanging out with their friends, or visiting old people... well, what did their parents expect?


Anna already had her own little circle at their new school, and Christine joined them until Ricky, her date from last night, arrived. 


They didn't see much of her after that... not that Anna minded.  She'd rather not share her friends with her sister, anyway.


She'd met Tessa Rameriz and Melody Tinker on the first day of school.  They had been friends already, and Anna got along great with both of them.


But the person she'd become closest to, her first-ever real BFF in her life, was Alana Beare.  Alana lived in Richmond, and she'd come to the private school in the city on a scholarship.  They had a lot in common... among other things, there'd be a baby in Alana's house soon, too.  

Anna found that more exciting than Alana did.  She and Christine just loved having baby Jessica...


... well, most of the time...!


Maybe the reason Alana wasn't excited, was that her family was already huge.  She was one of six kids already, the baby would be number seven.  Anna couldn't even imagine a family that big, so she could understand why Alana was glad to come to the city and spend time away from all her brothers and sisters.

It was fun just to hang out talking, but even that got boring for a while.  So, they put on some music...


... and danced... 



... with varying degrees of success...



... not that anyone cared how bad you were, it just made for more laughs.

How could her parents have even expected her to go with them?!  She ever have fun like this, visiting a couple of old people.
---

 Chris Green looked critically around the small room.


"You've got this place looking good," he said to his father.  "Cory made it sound like some kind of a hovel you were moving into."
"Cory never liked me moving here," Serdar said.  "I think he still hopes I'll move back with him."

Not much chance of that, Chris thought.  His father and step-mother had settled well into the retirement home.  Brandi was enjoying the crafts program, learning to paint...


...and volunteering to teach other residents flower arranging.


And, as much as he enjoyed his grandchildren, Serdar found he also enjoyed the peace and quiet of a home without children in it.  It was a luxury he and Brandi had never had before - they'd both had children from their previous marriages, and Helen had barely left for college when they moved back to Richmond to take care of Sam after the breakdown of Cory's first marriage.

He'd even been able to buy Brandi the kitten she'd always wanted but had been unable to have at Cory's house because of the family dog.


"Come, sit down," Serdar said, gesturing to a small table at the side of the room.  They were alone now, Brandi had gone downstairs to paint, and Marsha had taken baby Jessica to visit her eldest daughter, April.

It bothered Chris that, even after all these years, his wife still couldn't make more than a brief visit with his parents.  There's been good reason, once - April's father was Chris' twin brother Aaron.  Time had eroded away most of the bad feelings between the brothers, Marsha still felt awkward around Serdar and Brandi.



"So, how's it going now that Cory is back home?" Chris asked his father.
"I'm not really sure," said Serdar.  "I mean, I've talked to him on the phone, but I'd trying to give them a bit of space, at least at first..."
"Do you think that's a good idea?" Chris asked.  "I mean, things might have happened differently if we'd paid a bit of attention to - "

"You're not still blaming yourself for what happened, are you?"
Chris shrugged.  "Not so much for what happened, as for not seeing what was happening.  I mean, he was living in my house, for God's sake... I should have - "


"No, you shouldn't," said Serdar firmly.  "Cory's hidden his drinking from people closer to him than you are.  You had a lot going on, too."

Well, he couldn't argue with that part, at least.  From the time they learned that Marsha was pregnant, they'd known that they'd need a bigger house, and it made sense to move back home now, for many reasons.  But actually making the move... that had been harder than they had anticipated.

Chris had worked full-time, almost right up to the move.  Marsha had to take things carefully, pregnant reletively late in life and more at risk of complications.  The deal on the first house they'd chosen had fallen through at the last minute, and they'd been scrambling to find another place before Chris started his new job and the baby came.

They'd welcomed Cory's offer to come help them with the move, although in the end his actual contribution had been minimal and short-lived.  Well, Chris couldn't blame him, he had far bigger things to deal with.  And no matter what Serdar or anyone else said, Chris still felt that he should have realised.

But he wasn't going to tell them his father that.


 "You're probably right," was all he said. Serder didn't need to worry about Chris's feelings on top of everything else.  His father seemed to age visibly between visits lately.  Chris knew that along with all the other good reasons for moving back, the one that had really made his mind up was the fact that he would be only a short drive away from his parents.

He was still annoyed that his daughters, and even Marsha, weren't here to visit.  Sure, the girls talked about coming another time... but at some point there wouldn't be another time, and as much as Chris hoped that this was a long way off, he still wanted to make the most of the time they had now.

---

The visitors were leaving as Chris and Marsha arrived home.  Tessa and Melody had already gone, and they were just in time to see Christine saying goodbye to Ricky outside the house.


"He seems a nice boy," Marsha said, as they went inside.  "Is he - "
"He's not my boyfriend," said Christine.  "He's just some boy I went bowling with last night."
"Ok, I only - "
"I'm not interested in having a steady boyfriend, ok?  I mean, its fun going out, but its more fun with a bit of variety."
"Christine, if you - "


"Variety for dates, nothing else!  Why don't you bug Anna for a change.  She's old enough to have a boyfriend now... "


"No way!" said Anna.  "Boys are disgusting..."
"Boys are disgusting..."  Christine mimicked.  "You sound like you're ten years old or something.  Isn't it time you grew up?"
"Leave her alone," said Chris.  "Everyone grows up at a different rate.  Her time will come."

Anna was saved from replying when Alana came out of the bathroom.  "I need to get going now," she said.  "If I don't get the next train back to Richmond I'll get in trouble for being late."


"Do you need a ride to the station?" Marsha asked.
"No, I'm fine, I'll get the bus," said Alana.

---

"Don't worry about Christine," Alana said, as they walked to the gate.


"You heard?"
"Yeah, but don't worry about it.  Everyone's different, like your Dad said.  I mean, I'm not interested in boys yet, either.  It doesn't matter."


She gave Anna a quick hug.  "I've gotta run.  See you Monday at school."
"Ok..."

 Anna watched her walking briskly down the street.


When you've got friends like Alana, boys don't even cross your mind.  But Dad was right about one thing, Anna knew.  Her time would come.


Just not in the way that anyone expected.

----

Before anyone declares me insane for letting Kevin Beare father his seventh child, let me explain!  Kevin rolled the 'fulfill your greatest want' ROS, and good family sim that he is, he wanted another baby.  I tried to fulfill some smaller wants to roll it away, then I realised that his second greatest want was to see the ghost of his ex-wife.  For the sake of Cherry's welfare, and mine (I don't think I'm up to writing a murder!), I let him have the  baby.  I'm hoping that the wide spread of ages will save them from turning into a repeat of Alex Centowski's family.

Alana rolled the want to go to private school as soon as she aged to teen. I figured a big family like that, on a small income, wouldn't be able to afford it for even one child, but I called the headmaster anyway.  She's always been an A+ student who wants to do homework, so when they were successful, I decided to make it a scholarship.

And, I've included all this here because when I played the Beare family, something happened that was seriously dramatic even for my hood!  By doing it this way, I can hit the ground running with that in their update, rather than have to cover all the background things.

Comments

  1. Wow, 7 kids! I don't think you're insane because if it was an ROS, I'd probably let my Sims do the same thing! Especially if it was a choice between that and killing someone.

    I wondered about Anna when she said "boys were disgusting"! I wonder if Alana feels the same way. That would be tough for Anna, being so close to someone so unattainable.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, I'm glad I'm not the only one who'd go with the over-population route :) We'll find out about Alana's feelings in a future update, but yes, it would he hard for Anna if she doesn't return her interest.

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  2. Wow, there is a lot of drama. Good gracious!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah, I can always count on Serdar's branch of the family to keep things interesting around here...

      Delete
  3. 7 kids is way intense. I just can't imagine running that household.

    Anna and Christine need to get it together and go see their grandparents. They're going to be really hurt if they miss their chance to really get to know them.

    Anna threw me for a loop with that end shot. Wow, I can't wait to see how that plays out.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anna surprised me, too - because I hadn't played her household much recently, I guess I never checked her preference when she aged to teen, and I didn't realise until she started flirting with her friends.

      The one thing that might save the Beare household from being a complete nightmare to play is the spread of ages - the eldest has left home, the next two are teens, so also fairly independent. It's still going to be busy, though.

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  4. I think I would have chosen 7 kids instead of killing off a sim. I hate killing off a sim, I hate killing off my characters.

    I really hope that Alana returns Anna's feelings. I have a feeling that she would take it hard if Alana doesn't.

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    Replies
    1. I'm the same - I have a couple of deaths coming up in the next sim-year, and I'm dreading it! You're right, it will be hard for Anna if Alana doesn't feel the same way.

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  5. Ah I thought Anna might be interested in girls after that disgusting comment, guess so'! And wow on the Beare's having another one! But uh yah, I wouldn't have done murder and ghost hunting ether! Imagine that getting fulfilled! lol! I love Serdar, when he talks (in my head) he's got this great, deep, wise voice that is comforting. I love reading about him and hope he still has loads of time left. I hope the girls go visit though, they should have made them to begin with. And I'm seriously curious on the drama in the Beare house!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well, I've had to delay the Beare family drama a bit due to 'storyline overload' - too much else going on right now! But it will come up early in the next sim-year.

      I probably would have made the girls go, too, if I'd been their father - but in-game, they were rolling so many friend-related wants, I decided to go with that.

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