Try again

Round 27: Autumn 2026

last update/Sarah's next update/next update

Sarah Carmody is 21, Ethan Novak and Matilda Jacobson are both 20 and Adrienne Novak is 19.

Narrated by Adrienne Novak

After I had Sylvia, I went to stay with my parents for a little while, just for a break and to be around family. It was nice but I had to come back to reality sooner or later.

It was so good to see Matilda again! I liked seeing my family again but I really missed just hanging out with Matilda.

Matilda was keen to catch up and wanted to know everything about when I saw Sylvia.

I sometimes find it hard to talk about Sylvia but Matilda's one person who I'm open with about the whole thing. I'm not ready to be a mother and I know that but it was still hard to carry a baby around for 9 months and then hand her over to somebody else. Sometimes I just need to vent about that.

And sometimes I need some distraction and Matilda's good for that too.

I definitely have my moments where I wonder if I've done the wrong thing by giving Sylvia up. Everything is so up in the air right now and I don't know who she's going to end up with.

Tate and Zelda call every week or so to update me on how Sylvia is doing. They're really enjoying having her with them but it sounds like she's also keeping them pretty busy. I don't think I could handle it.

I'm happy she's in such good hands. I can only hope the adoptive family she ends up with is as great as the Bentons are.

I've been working really hard since I got back to campus. Even after getting pregnant last year and having to deal with social workers and (justifiably) angry ex-boyfriends, I managed to maintain a 4.0 GPA.

We even all study together now. You'll notice Matilda's absence. Matilda never, ever studies. She's like a genius or something and she coasts through her classes without even trying. I'm pretty jealous.

Matilda still likes to go out a lot and I go along. It's a little different than last year though. It's usually more of a girls' night kind of thing now. Last year, I was looking for as many guys as I could find but I haven't really felt much of an urge for that lately.

I'm not planning on joining a convent or anything but I have been a little more cautious since coming back to uni.

There have been a couple of guys I've "clicked" with, at which point Matilda goes and finds something else to do but it hasn't really gone anywhere.

I've met plenty of cute guys, who were very interested but so far, I haven't actually taken any of them home.

I've flirted a little...

...and exchanged phone numbers, but it hasn't gone any further than that. I was pretty non-committal about taking it easy on dating when my dad talked to me about it but I was thinking it over all the way back to campus. And he's right. I do need to be more careful. I've already learned one lesson the hard way. I want to make better choices now.

Before I got pregnant last year, Matilda and I would head out to the bars and Ethan would stay at the dorms. She likes staying home occasionally but staying home is Ethan's thing most of the time. So I can't say I was surprised that they broke up.

For a couple that's broken up, Ethan and Matilda are still getting along like a house on fire. They seem to have slipped really easily into being friends.

I think Ethan's probably still got a little thing for Matilda but hopefully, he doesn't get too hung up on her.

I still think he should have went for it with that cheerleader the other day but he wasn't having any of that!

Sarah and Alasdair are still a couple right now but come graduation, they're going to end things.

He's not originally from Sullivan and he'll be heading back home after graduation. Sarah wants to stay in Sullivan, so obviously, they can't stay together.

They've decided to just make the most of the time they have left before Alasdair goes back home.

Sarah and I have actually become friends this year so we've talked a bit about the Alasdair situation.

Sarah's relatively okay with it. They both knew it was coming, because Alasdair was up front about it from the start. She's going to miss him of course but I think she's mostly grateful that she had a decent boyfriend for a while, after that Marshall ass.

Our friendship started because I can't keep my mouth shut sometimes. I was telling Sarah about the vacation home my parents own in Takemizu and she started asking about tai chi. For some stupid reason, I decided to tell her I knew how to do it.

I really shouldn't have talked up my skills so much, because they are mediocre, at best. Sarah wanted to learn how to do it and I had no idea what I was doing.

You wouldn't think I'd ever seen tai chi, the way I was going.

Sarah would have been better off learning it on her own and ultimately, that's what she decided to do. But at least we had a laugh about my ineptitude later.

You'd think Sarah would become more uptight with everything she's got going on. Her relationship is ending soon and she's trying to finish up her senior year, at which point she wants to start her Master's.

Sarah has actually loosened up a lot though! She'd already started warming up to Matilda last year but this year, we've actually all started to hang out together.

I don't think Matilda or I ever thought we'd miss Sarah once she graduates but I think we just might!

Notes:

• Title is from Try Again by Big Star. But I've still had that Aaliyah song of the same name stuck in my head all day anyway.

(click to enlarge)

• The picture above should give you a pretty good idea what Adrienne's wants panel looked like most of this session. When I loaded, Adrienne's only romantic want was to have 3 lovers simultaneously, which rolled away pretty quickly. She also rolled up some pretty chaste wants like "ask Sim on date" and "slow dance with Sim". Blondie's name is Arthur and Adrienne actually has a low 3 bolts with him. He was keen right away and rolled up the specific want to flirt with her and ask her on a date but Adrienne just wanted to talk about her hobbies and make the dean's list (seriously, that one rolled up while she was barhopping!) So I guess she's taken her little chat with Owen to heart and is being a little more responsible. Most of the time, she had no romantic wants at all.
• Ethan and Matilda roll zero romantic wants for each other, so they're over. ;) He actually rolls more for Sarah than for Matilda, which is crazy. He's only got 1 bolt with Sarah and he's got a high 2 bolts with Matilda.
• Still not sure what I'll do with Sarah when she heads back home. She might live with her parents again while she does her Master's. She doesn't really fit into any of the other roomie households I have going on right now. I'm going to have Kimberly and Betsy pay for Sarah's Master's but she'll have to pay them back eventually. Josie won't have to pay her parents back because they're very, very rich and she's kind of spoiled. Sarah's not spoiled and her parents don't have nearly as much money as Tate and Zelda do!
• As for grades, all four students still have a 4.0. Sarah has graduated, so I'll do a run-down for her in the summer birthdays.