Envy

Round 23: Autumn 2017

Principal Betsy Carmody is 46, teacher Kendal Draper is 41, Claudia and Victoria Kirby, Finn Romilly and Jacob Weaver are all 16, Patience Draper, Josie Benton and Maia Novak are all 15, Calvin and Troy Clarke, Aaron Novak and Nick Moretti are all 14 and Sarah Carmody is 12.

Kendal has been teaching at SDHS for just over a year and Troy is still unimpressed. This school is supposed to be his turf. Why couldn't his mother have got a job at some other school?


Teaching has been a challenge for Kendal and there are days when her logic ball doubles as a stress ball.

High school students seem so hard to motivate, even with Kendal reminding them of their grades and how important they are every day.

She's always there to offer assistance, but it seems like only the already conscientious students seek it out.

The others just whine and complain that it's too boring, too hard, too everything, ad infinitum.

Most of the kids are naturally good students and Kendal's stepdaughter Patience is one of them but she just has other things on her mind right now. Like, does Jacob look even cuter now than when they were together? And is he growing a beard?

He does have a little beard going on, not that it matters. He's all about Maia now.

Having an extra teacher on staff has helped Betsy out tremendously. Teaching 6 students at once is a breeze compared to having 12 in the one room, only 8 of whom had any resources to use.

Finn is, reluctantly, working hard in art class. He hates painting but he is desperately trying for as many scholarships as he can. He's not sure if his parents will be able to afford the standard tuition of $4000 and of all the kids, he's probably the most excited about university.

The sole new student this year is Sarah Carmody, the principal's daughter. So far, of all the things at high school, she likes the library the best.

She's found Grade 7 to be a bit lonely so far. She remembers some of the older students from when she attended primary school with them.

But they're absorbed in their own conversations now and aren't too interested in having a 12 year-old butt in.

Sarah wishes someone would talk to her. Like maybe Finn Romilly or Jacob Weaver. They're both so cute!

Or maybe Calvin. Sarah doesn't mind the look of Calvin either.

Aaron took pity on her at lunch time and they chatted in the playground for a little while.

Most of the time though, Sarah's on the outskirts, just observing.

To Sarah's eye, the rest of the kids seem to have only one thing on their mind and she's smart enough to know she's not really ready for any of that.

Betsy is only a few years older than Kendal but in terms of teaching experience, she's got more than 10 years on Kendal and is happy to pass on some advice.

For starters, Kendal is far too easily shocked at the shenanigans high schoolers get up to sometimes. She'll need to get used to that.

Maia is incensed about the water balloon that Nick's just thrown at her head - doesn't he know how long she spends straightening her hair every morning?!?! - but Betsy's philosophy is that she's old enough to sort this out herself.

As is usual for Finn and Victoria, they've isolated themselves in a quiet section of the playground and are deep in conversation. The topic is, once again, college. Finn and Victoria are 16 and can apply any time from now right up until graduation.

On today's agenda: living arrangements. Finn wants to rent a house on campus and avoid the dorms - how is he supposed to get any serious study done there? Victoria thinks dorms are merely part of the whole uni experience. The current plan is to try the dorms for a year and then if Finn really hates them as much as he claims he will, they'll get a house.

Troy is not having a great time this year. His mother is teaching at the school and one of his best friends, Nick, is dating his girl. Well...he knows Josie was never really his girl. But she was supposed to be and Troy can't help but feel jealous.

It's a bit less awkward between Nick and Troy when Josie isn't around. Like right now, while Josie is busy fulfilling her best friend duty to Patience. Most of the school has forgotten about Maia trying to kiss Aaron - it was over two years ago, after all - but Josie is sure to bring it up at regular intervals, just to make Patience feel better.

Neither Patience or Josie really like Maia, nor have they ever, despite being in the same class with her since kindergarten.

They're the only ones, on the whole. Any awkwardness that might have existed between Aaron and Maia has long since dissipated.

Maia is pretty popular with most of the other students too. Perhaps not the sharpest knife in the drawer, as her current average grade of D- would suggest, but she's sweet and friendly. If things hadn't happened the way they had with Jacob, Patience and Maia probably would have eventually become friends.

Random pics:

I really don't think there's a single one of these teen girls who doesn't have chemistry with Jacob.

Sarah stares like this at all the boys. And they all ignore her, like Finn is here. They totally treat her like she's 12, even though Sims don't really know the difference.

Can't help myself. Sorry! I had turned off free will to take that intro picture and forgot about it for ages and wondered why they were all being so boring. This was the first thing Finn did when I finally realised my mistake.

Notes:

• Title is from Envy by Ash. I guess it applies to Patience, but also Troy.
• Sarah is completely boy crazy. Especially for Jacob Weaver, which is unsurprising. All my girls love Jacob - Sarah has 3 bolts with him. Finn is her second highest, with a high two bolts but I think she might actually like all the boys. She's a little overwhelmed right now!
• Sarah is, by the way, a very odd outgoing Sim. I didn't see her interact with anyone except Aaron for the entire time I had them at school. I had them at school for a really long time too, because I discovered the Freeze Time function on the freezer clock. For some reason, I thought it would freeze the entire lot but it does, shockingly, exactly what you might think - it freezes the time. Duh.
• Must find Patience a nice boy! The playables she has chemistry with are Jacob, Finn and Troy (her stepbrother). It's pretty dumb how the game calculates an attraction score for stepsiblings, considering they're off-limits. It's not like the attraction score already existed when Lake and Kendal got married either. Calvin and Troy were still children then.