The
evening was perfect.
The
lightest of breezes cooled the summer evening, the lighting from the lounge shone
off Bianca’s’ soft skin, making her look like the goddess she was.
She
knew what Devon was going to do, but dare not ruin his moment. His hands shook
as they held hers tenderly, she couldn’t help but smile at him; she adored him
so much her heart hurt with the feeling it would burst at any moment.
He
almost fell too heavily on his knee as he suddenly produced a stunning diamond
ring from his pocket.
“Bianca,
you can have any man in the whole world, but I would be honoured if you would
choose me over all of them.”
Without
performing, her emotions took over, a small squeal escaped her throat and she
gasped like a teenager.
“Devon,
it’s... I mean... Yes, yes of course.”
Bianca
barely had time to put on the ring before Devon swept her off her feet holding
her strongly in his arms.
“Let’s
do this right now, let’s elope, I don’t think I could wait another moment.” His
chocolate brown eyes glistened in the evenings light as he gazed at her making
Bianca feel that she was about to burst into tears of pure joy.
Bianca nodded, and
for once she didn’t care that other Sims stared at them as he carried her out
of the lounge and down to the waterfront parkland.
Gently
Devon put her down as they came to a perfect spot under a cherry blossom tree
that overlooked the lake.
As they exchanged
vows, crickets slowly began to chip and the moon came out making the water
sparkle as if it were covered by diamonds. The breeze blew the sweet scent of the
cherry blossoms past them adding an even stronger romantic accent to the one of
the most beautiful evenings of their lives.
Eighteen
years later, Bianca and Devon now had three beautiful children.
Francis
and Samuel were identical twins, seventeen almost eighteen and had taken on
their dads looks.
Kelly
was sixteen and was the spitting image of her mother, though she was still
stuck in her childhood style and trying to break out of it was causing her some
discomfort at school with being teased and bullied by other students over the
past few months.
Every afternoon as
soon as they came home from school, they would sit down at the table and Bianca
would join them to chat about how their days had been.
Kelly
had a history assignment due and was slightly stuck on some information and
remembering dates.
“Well,
I think Samuel studied that last year, could she borrow your old papers from it
Sam?” Kelly sighed putting her pen down and her hands in her lap showing her frustration.
“Mum, I’m not going to ‘borrow’ Sam’s old paper; my teacher will recognise it and
I can do this myself, thanks for
asking though.”
“Alright
then, how about tomorrow you go the library and you can study there for a
while? Then afterwards we can go shopping and get you a new wardrobe together,
maybe even visit the spa on our way home?”
Kelly
threw back her head giving a harsh scoffed sigh. “No mum, I don’t and I don’t.”
Bianca could only stare at her daughter’s sudden reaction to something that she
had expressed about wanting to do. “I just want to get this done. By. My.
Self.”
Both
her brothers avoided looking at her but Bianca looked at her daughter, she
smiled to hide her worry for how Kelly was acting. She never acted so hostile
towards anyone.
“Alright
then, however you feel. Finish off your homework for tonight and then we’re
having Spaghetti Bolognaise for dinner.”
Kelly didn’t speak to
anyone for the rest of the evening, respecting how she was feeling, her
brothers, mother and father left her alone knowing she would talk to them when
she was ready.
The
next morning, Kelly looked herself over in her mirror for a long while trying
to see what everyone was making such a fuss over in her class.
Remembering
the girls’ cruel and stinging remarks brought tears to her eyes, and the boys
odd compliments and doe eyed stares made her stomach feel like she was going to
be sick.
‘This can’t be
normal ‘hormonal’ behaviour, what’s going on?’ She furrowed
her brow at her reflection for a while again before huffing and decided to head
downstairs as her stomach gurgled. She had only picked at her dinner last night
as she didn’t feel like eating after snapping at her mother.
Just
as she came down the stairs, Kelly came face to face with her mother, who was
her usual smiling and bubbly self.
“Mum
I...”
“It’s
fine darling, everyone has bad days now and then. It’s normal.”
Kelly
thought about it for a moment, and then shook her head. “No, mum; I don’t think
what’s happening to me is normal at
all.”
Kelly
saw something she’d never seen before, her mother frown and chew on her bottom
lip slightly.
“Alright, come into
the kitchen and you can tell me while I make breakfast.” Her mother whipped
around and almost speed walked into the kitchen ahead of her.
Kelly
began to explain as her mother made pancakes for breakfast.
Yesterday
she had gone back to class just after lunch, same as every other day, but this
time every girl in her class who had a boyfriend surrounded her desk. All at
once they all began to shout at her and accused her of ‘stealing’ their
boyfriend. Having no idea what was going on, she posed to the girls that their
accusations were ridiculous, especially if they all thought she could date up to fifteen boys at the same time, let
alone cause them to simultaneously break up with the girls. Thankfully this had
made the girls step back to think; the teacher coming in also saved her skin
from that first peculiar moment.
The
girls had apologized to her after class; so thinking that was the end of the weirdness
Kelly moved onto her free period classroom.
On
her way over, almost every boy she walked by seemed to pass her their phone
number or stopped her to ask her for her number. A few even asked for her address.
The
most major shock was when she arrived to her free period classroom; stopping
dead at the door, every desk in the usually almost empty room was occupied by other
guys from her class, except one. This desk was in the centre of the room and
covered in wild and bought flowers, cards, cute stuffed toys and sweets. Half
of the boys in the classroom weren’t even in her free period.
Like
something from the start of a horror movie, all their eyes were watching her
like whimsical does, full of longing and adoration.
Before
she could think, her feet turned her around and she ran to the girls’ bathroom
staying there until the bell rang at the end the day for her to go home.
So
afraid of what was going on, Kelly ended up calling her brothers to come escort
her home. Even they were worried it was some sort of sick prank her class was
playing on her, Francis had even threatened one of the guys with a sound
beating if they didn’t leave his sister alone; which was amazing because
Francis was usually the thinker, not the fighter like Samuel.
Kelly
took a deep breath as she finally finished explaining to her mum.
“Mhm.”
Was all her Mum murmured as she finishing transferring the last of the pancakes
from the pan to a serving plate; she paused for a moment holding the pan
seeming to be deep in thought.
“Mum,
what do you thinks’ going on?” Kelly insisted getting flustered.
“Oh,
well... I’ve got to admit, if it’s a prank, it’s a little odd for Halloween and
they’re all being very immature to pick on just one person so drastically.” She
let out a sigh shaking her head. “But...” Kelly watched as her mother put down
the pan and turned to her. “There is something I was hoping you wouldn’t have
to worry about for another year or two, but, our family always were fast
bloomers.” She smiled lovingly at her, but her eyes showed concern.
“What?”
Kelly frowned at her mother and shook her head. “Mum no! This isn’t that, trust me, it’s something a whole
lot...”
“I
know dear.” Her mother interrupted her and kissed her cheek ever so softly, lingering
for a moment before moving away. “I’m going to take you out today; we’ll have a
day just for us.”
Kelly went to protest
about a paper that was due, but her mother had already walked off with the
plate of pancakes to the dining table, which meant they were going where she
liked it or not.
Going
upstairs and getting dressed, Kelly quickly came back down grabbing herself a
plate of pancakes before her brothers ate them all.
Her
mother soon joined her; her dad also came down but was still in his pyjamas
since it was his day off from the gallery.
“Well,
don’t you two look ready to annoy the local townsfolk today?” He smiled winking
at her mother.
“You’re
daughter is going to come back transformed today. I think it’s about time she
showed her maturity a bit more.”
“Not
too much I hope, I don’t want to lose my baby girl to boys and makeup just yet.”
“Daaad.”
Kelly rolled her eyes giggling a little.
Everyone got stuck
into breakfast not really saying much more, Kelly could feel her nervousness
building up about what her mother had planned for her.
After
breakfast, Bianca firstly took Kelly to the local Day Spa; Sims travelled hundreds of kilometres
from different towns to spend time at Newcrest’s Spa. It had the best yoga
instructors and masseuses outside of Bridgeport.
Bianca
was eager to get inside to the spa day, but Kelly hung back for a moment at the
entrance stairs.
“Mum,
I’m not sure about this...”
Pausing Bianca looked
back at her daughter and smiled reassuringly at her. “Sweetheart, you’ll be
fine, this is a new beginning for you and I won’t let anything bad happen to
you. I’ll be right by your side the whole time, alright?” Turning back Bianca
felt a small tug of nervousness herself, her daughter was growing up, and she
still had no idea about her abilities or her families’ secret yet. And Bianca
was trying to figure out how to tell her.
Coming
into the dressing room, Kelly found her mother had already changed into a plush
soft spa robe.
“Do
I have to wear one of those too?” She felt a little uncertain about walking
around in nothing but her underwear and a robe in a public place.
Her
mother laughed softly. “Of course dear, everyone has one here, you’ll look out
of place if you don’t have one on, the only places you don’t have a robe or
towel, are for the baths and yoga classes. Come on, I’ll help you get ready.”
After
a few minutes, Kelly came out of her changing room to where her mother was
waiting.
Kelly
giggled getting out her phone. “Ok, I have to get a photo of this; we both look
like polar bears.”
The
whole had already been arranged and booked by Bianca so that Kelly had nothing
to worry about and would be able to enjoy her first spa day experience.
After
they were done at the spa, Bianca took Kelly to the shopping centre to get her
a new wardrobe and hair cut.
Again
Kelly wasn’t too sure if she was ready to wear the fashions that were on the
store mannequins, no matter how excited they were posed.
Upstairs
Kelly tried on one of the active wear sets, her mother arrived soon after, and
she had changed into more comfortable clothes herself.
“I
don’t have to wear this exact outfit do I?”
“No
sweetie, you can take pieces and mix and match them to whatever makes you feel
comfortable.”
“Oh, then I’ve got a
great idea for they style I’d like to have myself, for everything.” Kelly now
sounded excited about the shopping trip, she and Bianca buzzed about the store
picking up bits and pieces for her until they reached the given budget, then it
was a last trip to the hairdressers before they dragged themselves home with
arms full of bags.
After
getting home, Bianca gave Kelly hour to get sorted into some new clothes.
Knocking gently on her daughters’ door, she was surprised to hear her reply
much more inviting than usual.
“Come
in.”
Opening
the door, Bianca was almost speechless at her daughters transformation into
what seemed almost a totally new person.
“Well... how do I
look?” A nervous smile touched Kelly’s’ lips, Bianca felt her heart swelling
with pride and admiration for you youngest child who was turning into a
beautiful young woman.
Without
saying a word she threw her arms around Kelly in a tight hug.
“Oh,
wow... thankyou mum. I really mean it. Today was great.” Kelly sounded
surprised but happy as she hugged her mother back.
“You’re so welcome
sweetheart, you look amazing.” Bianca let go and pulled out her own phone to
take a photo. “Smile, my turn.” She snapped the shot, Kelly wanted to see
herself in the picture and Bianca was pleased to see her daughter so happy for
the first time in a few months.
Sitting
on her daughters’ bed, Bianca patted the spot beside her.
“Alright,
I’ve got some things to tell you.”
Kelly
sat and looked worried for a moment, Bianca smiled shaking her head.
“Don’t
worry sweetheart, I promise this is good news; you know that collage in Willow Creek
that you applied to go to; Arrowheart Academy?”
Kelly
nodded.
“Well,”
Bianca could barely contain her smile. “You got accepted to go.”
Kelly
was almost speechless with excitement. “Really? I did? Oh my Watcher, I got
in?”
“Alright,
calm down, you’ve got the rest of this year to prepare and keep your grades up,
then next year you’ll start there. I got the phone call last night, but wanted
to surprise you.”
Kelly
wasn’t sure if she should jump up and down or squeal in her excitement, all of
her extra hard effort in her studies had finally paid off, ever since she had
gotten the invite to join the exclusive collage the next town over.
“Now,” Bianca smiled knowingly at her
daughter. “I know how stressful it can be going to a new place away from home,
so your father and brothers have set up a special spot just for us so that I
can teach you some meditation tips. Change into your exercise clothes and meet me
up upstairs, ok?”
“Ok, and, thanks
again mum, today was just awesome.” Bianca got up off the bed touching her daughters’
cheek affectionately before going to get ready.
Upstairs
was a patio off the side of the attic; the attic had been transformed into half
an art studio for Kelly’s Dad to do his painting projects and a gym for the rest
of the household.
Coming
out the side door of the attic to the patio, usually was a sparse empty space
with a redecorated private spa area to the back; now the empty space has been transformed
into a small meditation area.
Bianca
sat on her meditation stool and nodded to the one opposite for Kelly to sit at.
“Now,
just sit like me, then take a slow deep breath, close your eyes as you exhale
and focus on a pink flame burning bright and steadily in the darkness. Nothing
else, even if the flame changed shape; focus on it releasing all of your
negative energies to it.”
Kelly smirked slightly. “You sound like one of
the weird guru tape recordings.”
There
was a small laugh from Bianca before she calmed herself. “Just do what I ask,
ok?”
“Ok,
ok... meditation officer.”
Kelly took a deep
breath, exhaled and closed her eyes focusing on the image of a strong pink
flame burning in the darkness of her mind.
Just
as the image of the flame begin to flicker and move as it was began to change
shape, Francis’s voice interrupted Kelly’s concentration, the image of the
flame faded to nothing.
“Whoa,
can I learn to do that?”
Half annoyed at him,
but wanting to know what he was talking about, Kelly peaked across at her
mother through half closed eyes, she opened them completely staring in surprise
when she saw her mother was actually hovering a few feet above her meditation
stool.
Bianca
smiled her eyes still closed; she steadily lowered her feet to the ground and
stretched opening her eyes.
“You
could, but since you don’t like to sit still for long stretches on time Francis,
it could be a bit of a challenge for you. That took me at least five years to
master and I was living in Shang Sim-La at the time, just before I met your
father.”
Francis
sipped at the fizzy health drink and made a face. “Yeah, I think I’ll stick to
my R.E.F.U.G.E tournament I got on this afternoon. If I win I get a hundred
simolians. New headphones, here I come.”
Kelly pouted slightly
as her mind wandered what her flame had been going to morph into.
“So,
baby sis...” Francis snapped her attention back to him as he tapped her arm handing
her one of the fizzy health drinks. “I hear you got into that fancy collage in Willow
Creek. Nice going, how’s your brain feeling?” Francis was always teasing her
about how smart she was, but in the kindest possible way because he was
considered a genius himself and had never gotten below an A+, even in kindergarten.
“Not
sure, it left before I even started. I’m hoping to convince it to come back soon.”
Though it was probably lame, she giggled at her own joke, but Francis
joined in making her feel better.
“Well, whenever it
comes back, let me know. We’ll have a conversation or something.” With a bit
more slight laughter, Francis wandered off downstairs no doubt to start his
gaming tournament.
Later
that evening, Kelly sat at the dining table running her fingers over her extra
credit work book.
Samuel
plonked himself down from finishing his workout with a fizzy health drink, and
Bianca also came and sat down with a bowl of ‘stew’.
“You
already got into the collage sis, why do you look so stressed out?”
Kelly
stayed staring at her book trying to find an answer to her brothers question,
but couldn’t.
She
shook her head; her fingers tensed up feeling the edges of the paper dig in roughly
to her fingertips.
“You’re
over thinking again, relax. You should go swim a few laps in the pool for a
while, cool off.”
“No,”
Kelly muttered getting up picking up her book. “I think I’m just going to go to
bed, today’s been really long. Goodnight.”
“Night
sweetie; sleep well.” Bianca chimed.
“Ok, night. Don’t
dream, it uses up brain cells.” Samuel called, Bianca whispered for him to
leave his sister alone and the sound of him huffing made Kelly smile as she
made her way to bed.
In
the morning, Kelly came downstairs to everyone already sitting at the breakfast
table excitedly talking.
They
were all still in pyjamas and she felt a little odd that she had taken extra
time to get dressed but grabbed a bowl of yogurt and joined her family.
“So,
we’re going?” Francis was talking fast and excited.
“Where’re
we going?” Kelly asked feeling slightly out of the loop.
Her
father Devon smiled looking at her then the two boys.
“Yes,
we’re taking our family camping trip early this year!”
“For
real?” Francis seemed to be checking if his father was playing a joke on him.
“That’s
a whole month early.” Kelly was also surprised at her father’s announcement.
Every year at the end of the year, they family had gone camping as a relaxing
way to end the year and begin the new one.
Fireworks
over the lake on New Year’s Eve with marshmallows and freshly caught fish
cooking over a campfire, Kelly always looked forward to it.
“Yes,
but your mother and I were discussing how hard you three have worked this year,
and since everyone has stayed above C’s, we decided that we’d all go early,
before the place gets crowded. We’re going next weekend for the school holidays
before your last term back at school, so you’ll all be ready to blitz your last
exams.”
Samuel
rolled his eyes and groaned, Kelly laughed slightly and nodded. “Great, I’m
just heading to the library for a bit.”
“Oh
hey, wait up.” Francis got up quickly himself. “There’s a game meeting today
there, may as well come with.”
“Ok.”
Kelly shrugged getting out of her chair.
“Have
fun you two, Samuel and I are going down to the river to refresh out fishing
skills.”
“Oh
yeah, I’m so catching the biggest fish this year.” Samuel grabbed the dirty bowls
off the table heading to the dishwasher.
“Alright,
everyone be home by dark, and I’ll make up some campers stew with grilled fruit
for dinner, sound good?”
“Sounds great Hun.”
Devon got up and kissed his wife before going upstairs to get ready to go
fishing.
While
everyone was out, Bianca decided to go swimming; she found it always relaxed
her. She was worrying about Kelly; she still hadn’t figured out a way to tell her the real reason
she was attending the Arrowheart Academy.
Lazily
floating in the water, Bianca wondered how to tell her daughter why
all the boys in her class had suddenly started fancying her and why she had
always been such a passionate and caring person.
She
felt that a brisk dive in at the deep end of the pool where the water was
crisper might help clear her head...
