on the safe side, part 6

January, 2084 - Summer Phoenix is 19, Hayden is 34, Ryanne is 13.
Soundtrack: "Because of You," by Kelly Clarkson.

warnings: a severe lack of pictures, more difficult conversations, renegade third person past tense narration, the Phoenix family's last story on this blog.

***

The future was full of plans again. After dinner, after talking, after the tears had all dried, you could have counted the plans in a list. Nessa looked forward to going back to work. Jack looked forward to getting her pregnant again, which her doctors told her there was a decent chance would be successful. Hayden and Piper's baby, would it be a boy or a girl? They didn't care as long as it was healthy, of course. And then the night quieted down, Nessa and Jack and Grandma Sophie went home and it was just the four of them -- five if you counted the baby -- what a strange thing to get used to.

on the safe side, part 5

January, 2084 - Summer Phoenix is 19.

Soundtrack: "Because of You," by Kelly Clarkson.

Summer arrives at her dad's house with a sleeping bag under her arm. She owes her sister a sleepover. She has a deck of cards and she'd going to teach Ryanne to play Euchre. They'll do makeovers if she's up for it, though Summer doesn't care much for makeup. It seems like the kind of thing a big sister is supposed to teach. They'll talk about boys and music and maybe their wrecked family, if Ryanne wants to. Summer isn't sure what good talking about it does sometimes. Because they don't talk about it – they talk around it. They talk about everything except what actually matters.

She finds them all in the living room with Ryanne. It wouldn't surprise Summer that Ryanne had caused yet another argument, but it doesn't look like they're talking about Ryanne for once. There's a nervous calm on their faces, the kind of weight that only comes with matters life or death. Aunt Nessa, Summer thinks, dropping her sleeping bag to the floor where it bounces once and rolls to a stop near the wall.

But then Hayden speaks first, and Summer remembers his phone call earlier in the week. She was partly right about the life and death.

on the safe side, part 4

January 15, 2084 - Summer Phoenix is 19, Sophie is 61.

Soundtrack: "Because of You," by Kelly Clarkson.

Summer doesn't dream most of the time. Between school and work and family, there isn't time to dream. Or when she does, they're those short, nonsensical dreams...

on the safe side, part 2

January 10, 2084 - Ryanne Phoenix is 13, Summer is 19.

Soundtrack: "Because of You," by Kelly Clarkson.

After dinner - before her father can pull Ryanne aside to chastise her for her disappointing attitude, before Piper could sulk away from the table, acting all sorrowful like Ryanne could actually hurt her feelings, like she actually had that power - Ryanne gets up first. She grabs her sister by the arm, and quickly tugs them from the dining room and upstairs to her bedroom.

"I wanna show you something," Ryanne says.

on the safe side, part 1

January 10, 2084 - Ryanne Phoenix is 13, Summer is 19, Hayden is 34, Piper Wilson is 29.

Soundtrack: "Because of You," by Kelly Clarkson.

It's boring being grounded. It's the middle of winter, but there's no deep snow on the ground, not that she'd be so childish to go sledding, or skating with her sister the way they used to, the way they'd find some frozen puddle in the field, no matter how small, and get their skates out. Most of the time, the thin ice just cracked under their weight, breaking through to one inch of water and soggy winter grass. It was fun for a minute. Back when they still lived in Bluewater, back when their mom was still alive.

But otherwise, there's nothing to do here in the winter, and Ryanne was bored. So she stopped at the CVS on the way home from the bus stop and she did this. It turned out mostly pink, and a little bit green too. It wasn't a statement. It wasn't a rebellion, or revenge, or hatred for anyone. It was just something to do.

profile: Summer

Summer Phoenix

Summer was a surprise baby for her parents, who were barely sixteen years-old when she was born. So that her parents could finish high school, Summer was mostly raised by her grandmother, Sophie. Her grandmother provided her a stable home and relatively normal childhood. Summer grew up knowing that Hayden and Rhianna were her parents, though in relation to each other, they acted more like siblings.

When Summer was nine, her parents married and made a home of their own, along with her new baby sister, Ryanne. Rhianna established a toy store, and named it after her, Summer's Place. In her early teen years, Summer also started a young romance with her childhood friend, Tyler.

For that short time, which Summer remembers as their glory years, the young family did fine on their own. Until tragedy struck. When Summer was fifteen, her mother was killed in a car crash that sent her father spiraling into a deep depression. The girls were taken in by their grandmother once again, as they all tried to struggle through the chaos to put their lives back together and find their way forward.

take it down, extras

*warning: this is ridiculously long! No joke! *

Extras, outtakes, and misfits from the "take it down" season...

(I think I'll call them seasons now, rather than chapters. Does that make more sense? I mean, each entry is big enough to be its own chapter, right? Why didn't anyone ever tell me that made no freaking sense? lol! So since the collection usually spans about a season, it seems only logical. Season?)

Anyway, whatever we call it, this collection of stories was the longest EVER, and gave us a crapload of extras!!! These stories took me 8 months to write, covered five major story progressions and many independent pieces and mini-updates, and added up to a whopping 50,881 words!

(If I ever want to know why my novel isn't finished yet, I think I have my answer!)

Let us begin? ;)

LCU, landslide, part 4

November 2083 - LCU, fall semester (part 4 of 4) - Vicky Garth and Summer Phoenix are 19, April Hutchins and Beau Jackson are 20.

* warnings: difficult conversations, and maybe a tissue or two? Soundtrack for all parts, "Landslide," by Fleetwood Mac *

Close your eyes, she tells herself, don't look yet. It's what she tends to do, pretend things aren't really happening. Close your eyes and remember a time when things were simple.

The first thing she remembers is a fall day, seven years ago, playing basketball at the Lake City Community Center with Beau and Tyler, running through the crunchy fallen leaves, a crisp chill in the air. It was soon after she started working at their family's arcade, and their parents brought them all out from the suburbs to hear a concert across the street at the Sound Stage. Instead, Beau and Tyler chased her around the back of the concession stands. They were too old for tag, but those boys, silly as they are, took their sweet time growing up. She liked Beau better, even from the start, with that army-print fisher's hat, and an unspoken gentleness that he never wanted to admit. She always wondered, why should he be so ashamed of it? It was her favorite thing about him. Tyler gave her a bunch of noogies that day, but Beau gave her a kiss.

Of course that isn't the first memory she has of her life, but it's the earliest she can recall when anything ever made sense. It's the most beautiful, the one she wants to stay in, to let linger in permanence. She didn't feel like a child the way they were that day, but they made her feel childlike again. So that day, she began her life, as if she could press a reset button and start over from there, as if all the rest could be lost like an unsaved video game. She really thought that could work. She was barely thirteen years old.

LCU, landslide, part 3.5

November 2083 - LCU, fall semester (part 3.5 of 4) - Vicky Garth and Summer Phoenix are 19, April Hutchins and Beau Jackson are 20. (Corbin Gray is 33.) * soundtrack for all parts, "Landslide," by Fleetwood Mac *

Vicky actually waited until three months after the legal drinking age to have her very first drink. April made it for her, a sex on the beach. She didn't taste the vodka so much going down, but it she sure did feel it in her head about ten minutes later. It wasn't that she was afraid, or opposed, or even prudish. It was mostly that she just hadn't even realized she was old enough finally. 

LCU, landslide, part 1

October 2083 - LCU, fall semester (part 1 of 4) - Beau Jackson and April Hutchins are 20, Summer Phoenix and Vicky Garth are 19. (Lucy Harris is 17.)

* soundtrack for all parts, "Landslide," by Fleetwood Mac *

Summer doesn't know much about college yet, but she does know that Lucy is going to love it! They've somehow convinced her mom to let her stay for the weekend. Lucy's mom teaches computer science at LCU, so she knows the campus is largely safe, but she's still worried about the co-ed dorms.

"Don't worry Mrs. Harris," Summer says. "I'll bring her back safe and sound." Then she adds, with a wink, "And not pregnant."

"What?" Lucy's mom says.

"Kidding," Summer says. "I mean, my floor is all girls. We've got an RA - she's a girl. Keypad access and everything."

Lucy's mother is paralyzed.

"Rape alarms?"

"Bye mom," Lucy says, tugging Summer by the arm, pulling them out of the house before Summer can convince her mother to change her mind.

silly red sheet, part 3

September 2083 - Aurora Miguel and Adrian Jackson are 51. (Beau and Tyler Jackson and Evie Bachman are 20, Summer Phoenix is 19.)

* soundtrack: "Superman," by Five for Fighting. *

There have been plenty of girls in and out of this house, and in any family, it's an easy enough mistake to make, the question of what to call your boyfriend's mother?

She prefers Aurora, for the record, as Summer always called her. Or even "mom," as April has boldly called her for the past seven years, is just fine. But anything else gets tricky, as Evie quickly discovers.

"Thanks for having me over for dinner, Mrs. Jackson," Evie says.

It's certainly not the first time she's been mistaken for the actual wife of her longtime live-in lover. But tonight, maybe the word hits Aurora harder than it should.

"Oh, no, it's just Ms. Miguel," Aurora says. "And you can thank Adrian for dinner, he does all the cooking around here."

silly red sheet, part 2

September 2083 - Aurora Miguel and Adrian Jackson are 51. (Beau Jackson and April Hutchins are 20, Summer Phoenix is 19.)

* soundtrack: "Superman," by Five for Fighting. *

Summer is visiting over at Beau and April's apartment, one afternoon in September. She sits in the corner armchair, slumped deep and sulking. Like the rest of them, she also just heard that Tyler is shipping out. Unlike the rest of them, she learned this information second-hand through Beau.

"You could have been there," Beau says.

"No, I don't think your mom wanted me there," Summer says.

"She's not really mad at you."

Summer shrugs her shoulders. "How long did he say he was going for?"

"About four months."

"That's a long time."

"He'll probably call you," Beau says. "He said he'd try."

"He'd better," she says.

graduation, extras

*** graduation extras ***

I think I like posting the outtakes separately when they're as plentiful as this. I wish I'd been doing it all along, so I could have my concise and well-planned story posts, and then my long-winded and rambling gameplay posts... but you know, I didn't. Ah, well ;)

the rules

May 2083 (graduation) - Summer Phoenix, Dallas Deppiesse, and Vicky Garth are 18, Lucy Harris is 16, Sarah Harris is 14.

*soundtrack: "Rhinoceros," by the Smashing Pumpkins*

On the morning of their graduation, the seniors gather in the library to receive their ceremony plans. Dallas has picked up a random physics textbook, just to pass the time.

Summer says to him, "Haven't you learned enough already?"

prom 2083, revisited

With four different scenes, and travel time to community lots, that prom update took forever to shoot and produced a lot of fun outtakes. And I was also feeling very particular about the mood of my narrative, so I didn't want to throw a bunch of funny outtakes at the end.

And besides all that, it was plenty long enough on its own.

So to start things off, this is what Melissa thought of my first idea for her prom dress! She says, "My cleavage is showing, I feel so naked!"

the things that make you panic

May 2083 (prom) - Dallas Deppiesse (18) and Lucy Harris (16) // Elijah Roberts (17) and Melissa Fortney (15) // Vicky Garth (18) // Summer Phoenix (18) and Tyler Jackson (19).

*** Sorry, I just realized three of my four girls have long dark hair, so I hope that doesn't get too confusing - none of them are wearing the same style. The first section kind of banks on you already knowing who these characters are, so new readers might want to read the linked posts above first. Before you think you're going crazy, yes, the first half is written in a wandering second person POV - and I intend it that way ;)

Box of tissues warning, and maybe NSFW?...

Soundtrack, "Details in the Fabric," by Jason Mraz/James Morrison. ***

You're young. You're growing up by the very minute, but inside, you're not much different from one minute to the next. Not deep down, where it counts, where you still feel the same things you've always felt. You're still the same girl you've been all along.

LCU, life in present tense, part 2

LCU, spring semester, 2083 (part 2 of 3). Last semester, fall 2082.

*soundtrack (for all three parts), "Lifeboats," by Snow Patrol*

They find themselves in a new bar one Thursday night - or new to them, rather. Lucky's Card Bar in the Old West End has been around for decades, longer than the three of them put together. There was a help wanted sign on the door for bartenders. April needs a job, seriously, she doesn't have rich entrepreneur parents funding her education like her friends.

April says, "I'm broke as a joke, guys. Which one of you are buying my drinks tonight?"

Beau says, "Eh, maybe, if you don't tell Evie."

April says, "Tyler? I'll put out."

Tyler says, "Eww."

taken seriously

April 2083 - (2082/83 school year update)

*** as usual, I can't feasibly link to the family updates of each kid, so use the database and school enrollment if you need to ***
Bluewater Township: where Fiona McCullough shall rule the world!

As the school day begins in Bluewater Township, Robbie greets his best friend Liza with warm and questionably friendly hug. She looked a little cold, and she probably would be since it's only early April still. You know how these teenagers refuse to be bothered with jackets when they should.

But that's okay, Robbie insists, his arms will warm her just fine.

Fiona is thinking, Well isn't he a charming little booger?

His mother is thinking, Oh hell, already? At twelve?

2082, extras

Extras, misfits, and outtakes from the year 2082 :)

LCU, just one key (part 2)

LCU, fall semester, 2082 (part 2 of 2). *optional soundtrack, "Get Together, by the Youngbloods*

*** I had a blast playing these three, so this is MEGA-LONG! I couldn't find a logical place to break it though, and it's mostly picture/dialogue-heavy, so it shouldn't feel too bad ;) ***

It's a lovely night in October, the air is crisp, but not very cold yet. The soccer field smells like cut grass and young men sweating. They're watching Tyler's soccer practice, or not exactly watching, but discussing the wonders of life. Which brings April Hutchins to a very important question.

She turns to her best friend, Beau, and says, "So I'm not saying I'm going to try or anything, but I just want to know, would you hate me forever if I hooked up with Summer?"