Fake plastic trees

Round 25: Spring 2022

last update/next update/Ethan's next update

Charlton and Aphrodite Nihill are both 77, James Novak is 47, Madelyn is 42, Ethan is 16 and Connor is 9.
(Sarah is 17)

Narrated by Ethan Novak

I'm having a really crappy time this spring. I've been plagued by acne, first of all. As soon it one breakout clears, another one arrives the next day.

Sarah's been acting really odd too. It used to be pretty easy for us to talk but now she always seems to get this weird look on her face before she responds.

That's if she's even listening. Half the time, she's so distracted and I can tell she can't hear a word I'm saying.

When I ask her, Sarah keeps saying nothing is wrong when but it doesn't feel like that. I've never known her to act like this before.

So we haven't been hanging out as much as we normally do. I've kind of been stuck tossing the football around with Connor.

He used to play with Grandma but he says she's no challenge any more. So I always end up relenting because I know he's often felt left out of stuff Aaron and I get to do. There's a pretty big age difference, so Connor and I aren't really as close as we could be.

We don't really have a lot in common. Maybe as we get older, we'll find some common ground. I really don't care about sports and Connor has no interest in insects.

I was out looking for insects when Sarah came by to really top off my awesome spring.

I had a feeling I knew what was coming and after she said she wanted to break up, I sort of tuned out.

When she started talking about the reason she wanted to break up, that got my attention again! She's leaving for college in a few months and she thinks a year is too long to wait for me.

I felt pretty great hearing that. A year doesn't seem like that long to me. I guess it's easy to say but I like to think if I was in her position, I would have waited.

Sarah's much more outgoing than I am though, and I guess she wants to be single in case she meets some college guy. She just wants to be friends with me.

I think one of the worst things about it was we broke up in the front yard, and Dad came home right in the middle of it. He just walked straight in the house, so I was hoping maybe he wasn't listening or didn't hear.

Yeah, no such luck. He couldn't have heard everything but he heard enough and he just had to ask me about it.

I know he was trying to help but I just really don't feel like talking about it right now. Not with Dad, anyway. I don't know...it's embarrassing talking about that kind of stuff with your parents. I think I'm just lucky Mum wasn't out there. She wouldn't have let up about it.

Sarah has called a few times but I haven't spoken to her. I got Grandma to say I wasn't there. I'll talk to her eventually but I don't feel like it right now.

I called Aaron and spoke to him about it though. I tend to be a little cagey about sharing personal stuff with people but I tell Aaron pretty much everything. I'm really glad he'll still be there when I start college - he'll be a senior when I enter as a freshman.


Notes:

• Title is from Fake Plastic Trees by Radiohead. Today, I listened to almost nothing but Radiohead, so the title didn't have much of a chance of coming from any other artist!
• Don't forget to vote in the election in the side bar, if you haven't already. James wants you to vote for him but I'm happy for any of these three to be the next governor of Sullivan, so I'm not fussed. :) I haven't even voted myself! I'm saving my vote in case we get a tie.
• If you're wondering, this is the same house but I've redecorated. I redid the office for James's campaign photo and I went a little crazy and redid most of the house while I was at it. I was getting bored of all the red. A lot of my houses are decorated a bit lazily, because I wasn't always as into decorating as I am now. I'm really enjoying it lately though, so I'm upgrading some of the more boring houses as I come across them.
• So Ethan kind of took over this update but I was mostly focusing on him and everyone else was sort of doing their own thing. I almost had a little campaign fundraiser for James but my computer was groaning so I decided against it!
• Ethan and Sarah don't really roll wants for each other, so Ethan will get over this pretty quickly, I think. They're the lowest chemistry couple in my game - their attraction score is a whopping 11! I think one bolt kicks in at 10, so they're only just barely attracted to each other at all. There are better matches out there for both of them!
• Ethan got into college and he'll be my second guinea pig for the new tuition (Sarah will be the first). He earned 6 scholarships, so his tuition will be less than Sarah's. I'm pretty sure Matilda will be starting at the same time but I still have to check her skills to see how much her dad will be forking out for her!