LCU, at the end of things

LCU, fall semester, 2077

Go ahead and grab yourself a cup of coffee or something... this one is LONG! :)

Amelia moved in with Alon and Piper after coming home from Takemizu Academy last semester. It was just something they all assumed she and Alon would do, but now she's beginning to question whether that was a good idea or not.

Amelia's flight got in really late and he was tired. Sure, he was happy to see her, but just tired. Really tired. And he had work in the morning. She tried to show him some bow thing she learned and he just didn't get it.

He says, "Sorry honey, I gotta crash. Come to bed when you're ready." He gives her a quick peck on the cheek before he heads to bed. She thought he would have been happier to see her again.

Amelia quickly finds out that Alon is all about his work lately. He was promoted twice while she was gone, and is now a flight officer in the Military. He's so dedicated, and it seems to be all he cares about. More than school, and more than her even.

The very next morning, a girl called for Alon while he was working. What did she say her name was? Ally? And she wanted to know if Alon was home? Who the hell is Ally, Amelia wants to know?

So she calls Charlotte, freaking out maybe just a little! "Who the hell is Ally?" she asks.

"She's just a friend," Charlotte says. "I think she's okay."

When Alon gets home, before he can even eat some lunch, Amelia bombards him about how it's only natural that they meet new people and make new friends - and then she just comes out with it, and she can't help but look worried, "Who's Ally?"

"Just a friend, I promise. You can even invite her to the party if you want," he says.

This house they're living in is far too small for parties, but they have one anyway. A welcome home party of sorts. And Amelia does invite Ally, which turned out to be uneventful. Absolutely uneventful. Other than dancing in near proximity to each other, all night, Alon and Ally did appear to be just friends.

So the party went on, Cameron beat up the llama dude, Charlotte brought a guy she's been seeing - though Joe's seeing a lot of girls, everybody knows that...

And after a brief bout of she doesn't even know what with Alon last semester, Piper has started seeing Bill again, and they are getting quite serious - and their love is so good they even have a cheerleader rooting for them! (lol)

Amelia is just so bored with her welcome home party, and Alon's lack of attention (except for wanting to play football), that she ignores her party guests to start her term paper.

But the Ally problem is far from resolved. Nearly every single day Ally calls to talk to Alon - and if they're just friends, then they must be the best damn friends in the world. Both Amelia and Piper are starting to get annoyed with it.

***

Luke is pouring himself 100% into his dance classes this semester, and even has a barre installed in his dorm room.

And it didn't take long for Mariah to find a college boy suitable for dating. His name is James and he's studying... well, she doesn't really know what he's studying, she just knows he's cute.

Keri drives out to visit on the weekends.

Not just to visit her sister, but Chandler too. Though things are a little stifled for Keri and Chandler now. Since they're so far away, they've both started taking an interest in other people. They were never strictly serious anyway.

Mariah helps Chandler with his business-swing - he is going to major in economics with a focus in business management.

***

A funny thing seems to be happening to Bella this semester. Despite the fact that she's been boy-crazy since the very day she was old enough to notice boys, there's been only one boy on Bella's mind lately, always on her mind, and that is Cameron. Could the infamous Bella Bradshaw finally be settling down? And if she is, what about Cameron? Neither of them have ever been the type to commit, but they just can't seem to get enough of each other.

But on the upside of things, with her romantic life growing more calm and stable, she has the energy and motivation to finally pursue her studies a little more seriously. Cameron even cuts work one day to come to her piano recital, which was nice of him...

But that's the other thing about Cameron, he's all talk about money and no motivation. He's just a record store clerk right now, and his only aspirations are to be a professional party guest, of all things! She wasn't even sure any of that mattered until she met Malcolm a couple weeks ago, and realized all the things Cameron probably wouldn't be able to give her.

But for now, a lively bedroom life is one thing he surely can give her. And while Bella is upstairs in her room, loving it up on Cameron...

downstairs, Malcolm stops by to drop off a token of his affections. LOL, they're just about beating down her door!

But in any case, Cameron seems to be good for her state of mind. She aces her term paper, and is expected to ace the semester as well.

***

And while Bella is busy with Cameron, Jeremiah feels her distance more than ever. It was really only a matter of time before he found someone else to spend his time with. And his roommate Jessie, while not nearly as pretty, is certainly available and willing, so they strike up a casual kind of thing.

But Jeremiah still wants to call Bella every day, just to chat, just to hear her voice, just to see how she's doing. He's trying not to feel too heartbroken about it.

He's also stressing out about his student loans, and can't really afford to be paying so much for school anymore. But in what looks to be a last minute spurt of luck or genius, he is expected to earn himself an A+ for the semester, and should have enough money to pay for at least one more semester of school.

***

Amelia is wondering what on earth happened to her boyfriend while she was away? He's thinking about work so much that he's skipped almost the entire semester of his drama class, and there's no way he can pass his exam at this point. They have a fight about it. Amelia just doesn't understand him lately, or understand how he can ignore her so much. He says, "Screw it, if I'm failing my exam anyway, I might as well go play some basketball."

The thing is, he just doesn't get it. With the money he's bringing in through the Military, why bother with school? He could put more efforts into his work instead. He still wants to play pro basketball one day, but he certainly doesn't need to be taking drama classes to do that.

Then there is Ally. Funny enough, he was playing basketball the day he met her too. She says, "I thought I might find you here." She gives him a friendly hug, except it feels closer than friendly and he isn't sure if that's his fault or hers. And the thing is, as much as he says she's just a friend, every time he says it, he feels like he's lying. It's a hard conclusion to come to, since he really honestly does care about Amelia very much.

He showers and changes, and they take a walk outside. Finally, beside an empty soccer field she tells him, "Alon, you know you're over that girlfriend of yours. We all know it. I mean, the high school sweethearts thing was sweet and everything, but you're not in high school anymore."

He's been telling himself differently ever since he met Ally, but now he starting to see that she's right.

They sit down in the bleachers together. "So what do we do now?" he says.

"You do whatever you want," she says.

So he does...

And when Alon really does skip his exam, Amelia suspects something is wrong. And then when he isn't home that night, she knows something is wrong.

It's after midnight when he finally comes home, and they really need to talk.

He says, "I might be in love."

"Might be?" she says. "Might be???"

It gets ugly.

And it's over.


Report Cards for 2077, Fall

Piper, senior, literature: failed
Alon, senior, drama: failed
Amelia, senior, drama: C+
Bella, junior, drama: A+
Jeremiah, junior, political science: A+
Mariah, freshman, undecided: A+
Luke, freshman, drama: A+
Chandler, freshman, economics: A+

Post-semester updates:
Piper ended her academic career at LCU - she's been hanging on the edge of academic life for quite some time now, and can't afford to keep failing classes. She moved into the Lakeside Circle Apartments in Lakeside Heights (current residents include George McCarthy and Carly Cook). She thinks George is annoying, but he's the only one with a computer, and you know how Piper is about her video games!

Alon also dropped out of college and moved to the North Park Street Townhomes in Lake City (current residents include Benjamin Long and Roland Ellis). He's still not very sure about the whole mess he caused this semester. He's not very sure of anything at all... Maybe some day he will be.

Jeremiah answered Amelia's ad looking for a roommate, since she's lost Alon and Piper this semester. Both of them love to have parties, so they ought to get along well.

***

gameplay notes on ex-boyfriends/girlfriends:

Both Alon and Jeremiah are only playable because they went to college with their girlfriends. And if they don't end up together, I'm supposed to just stick them in a house somewhere, to be aged, and allowed to keep jobs and make friends (Alon can even marry that bottom-sucker, Ally, if he wants, lol), but we can't follow their stories because if we did, the neighborhood would just get too huge!

Sometimes though, I like them so much I can't get rid of them. I get attached. As was the case with a lot of Sims currently living in my hood - Brady and Meadow Lind (Meadow went to college with Jeremy Nova), Orlando and Audrey Centowski (Orlando went to college with Abigail Nova-Collins), Blake and Clarice Miller (Clarice was dating Maxwell Shaw), or Adam and Heather Thompson (Adam went to college with Charlotte Centowski). In some cases, it's nice to have some new blood in the neighborhood, and the children of these new couples are unrelated and free to date/marry any of the other children in the neighborhood when they grow up.

But, I just can't keep them all. And as my neighborhood is already bursting at the seams, and I'm actually looking to move people out soon, we probably won't be able to follow either Alon or Jeremiah. Jeremiah will be allowed to finish college, and then they'll both be moved into some of my various apartment buildings around the neighborhood, with the other ex-boyfriends or girlfriends. Charlotte's ex, George, is also living in one of these. And they may come back into play if they date or marry another playable down the line, which they are free to do, or if a playable Sim happens to move into the building where they live.

They'll still be around though, and you might see them pop up in the updates here or there. Or who knows, maybe they'll get involved with their old flames again sometime in the future. You never know.