Bitter Sweet - Ch 5 - Sour Taste

The twins birthday weekend came around fast.

Kelly was happy to be at home again, seeing her Dad, brothers and even her Aunt Stacy who had come over just for the birthday dinner. It seemed everyone was slowly healing.

After dinner was cleaned up, Kelly bought out the simple vanilla cake she had bakes which both her brothers had asked for. Confetti was thrown about the kitchen and the house was filled with laughter again after what had seemed like a very long time.

“Make a wish, quick, the wax in melting onto the cake!” Kelly urged on Francis.

“Alright, keep your shirt on... I was preparing the perfect duck face for this occasion.” He pursed his lips like a model and blew out the candles on the cake; Samual had found a plastic trumpet and was blowing away on it very loudly letting himself be silly for a moment.

“Alright now my darling, childish adults, let’s cut this cake and eat. Not all of us get to stay the night you know.” Aunt Stacy chided at the boys who eagerly cut the cake into pieces.

When everyone settled back at the table again with their cake, no one spoke for a while but then slowly conversation began to ease out.

“Well.” Stacy smiled at her brother down the table. “Maybe next time Devon, when we have a family event you could invite Linda to join us? She’s a breath of fresh air you know.”

Francis spoke quickly in looking at Kelly. “Well, you know; only if it’s appropriate.”

Kelly looked at her Aunt Stacy feeling a hard lump form in her stomach, and it wasn’t from the cake.

“Who’s Linda?” Kelly had a feeling she didn’t want to know but she just wanted to be sure.

“Don’t be rude Kelly.” Her Aunt snapped back at her.

“I’m not being rude;” Kelly retorted back becoming defensive. “I have no idea who this Linda is; it’s a normal question.” She felt upset at her aunt’s sudden snarky attitude towards her for seemingly no reason.

Francis calmly spoke to Kelly. “Linda is a new friend of Dads; she’s been helping him with a new project. She’s kinda helped him get back to working at the Art Gallery and working on new commission projects again. None of us have met her yet, only Aunt Stacy has.”

“But, it’s only been...” Kelly went to speak but her Aunt interrupted.

“Young lady, you do not get to decide your father’s life. Nor who comes and goes from it, that’s his decision.”

“Alright fine, I won’t mention it again.” Kelly snipped back realising she wasn’t going to get anywhere, but she was very suspicious that her Aunt was the only one, other than her Dad who knew who this ‘Linda’ Sim was.

Devon cleared his throat shifting uncomfortably in his chair. “Well, I was hoping we could all go fishing together tomorrow, she does want to come meet you guys. What does everyone think?” It was obvious that Devon was trying to smooth over the prickliness that had enveloped the mood of the evening.

Both the boys got up and left the table going upstairs to their room not saying a word, leaving their cake unfinished. With a sigh Devon got up himself, cleared the plates off the table, leaving Kelly and Stacy to finish tidying up in the kitchen as he went upstairs to talk to his sons.

Kelly finished washing up the plates and she paused as her Aunt Stacy came over from finishing wiping off the table.

“You know Muffin, Sims remarry all the time after they’ve lost a husband or wife. It’s not uncommon, and besides your father can’t mourn forever you know.” She was strangely cool as she spoke, which to Kelly seemed very insensitive of her usually caring attitude.

Kelly had known her Aunt could be very blunt and to the point at times, but this seemed was something completely unfamiliar to her. As selfish as she felt about it, she didn’t want her Dad dating anyone else, at least not yet anyway.

“What are you even talking about?” Kelly found herself snapping at her Aunt, she could see herself doing it and was unable to stop. “It’s only been just over eight months since Mum died, and you’re already encouraging my Dad to start seeing other woman? Do you have any feelings or is this another one of your schemes to make things work in your favour, like they usually do?” Kelly stopped, frozen by her own harsh but very true words.

Nothing more was said between them as Stacy gave a stiff sigh then stormed out of the house without another word, the sound of her cars engine roared for a moment and then it’s sound disappeared down the road.

Looking over Kelly saw Francis and Samual had come down into the lounge room; they had seen and heard the whole thing.

“Oh Francis.” Kelly walked over and hugged her brother; he hugged her back kissing the side of her head soothingly. “I’ve done it now haven’t I?”

He gave a small chuckle squeezing her a little tighter. “Well, in all honesty Sis, you did what we couldn’t do. That school must be doing you some good. Samual said you’d become a bit more brash, but that was awesome.”

Kelly couldn’t help but smile and look at the back of her brother’s head for a moment.

“Really? I didn’t step out of line with telling off Aunt Stacy like that?”

“Really, so stop worrying. Now we’re going out for a few hours to the nightclub, why don’t you head to bed and we’ll see you in the morning ok?”

“I’m not going fishing if...”

“Don’t worry,” Francis stopped Kelly from saying anymore. “Both Samual and I have talked to Dad about that issue already. You just go and get yourself some sleep.” Francis hugged her tightly once more before letting her go up to her room to sleep.

In the morning Kelly came downstairs, the house was still and quiet. She put on a pot of coffee and as she went to start making breakfast, she saw her dad standing at the entrance way to the kitchen.

“Morning Dad.” Kelly wasn’t chipper as she greeted him; there was a slight caution in her voice.

Kelly was sure that he already knew what she had said to her Aunt last night and mentally prepared to be lectured on minding her own business and respecting adults.

“Morning sweetie, did you sleep well?” He leaned on the half wall giving a short yawn indicating that he had not slept well himself.

Kelly shrugged as she walked over to him.

“Dad, would you mind if I ask you a serious question?” Her mouth became dry, her heart was beating heavy and fast in her chest and her stomach seemed to be twisting itself into knots.

“I suppose, but...  is this going to be about last night or something more?” He had always been good at knowing what his children were feeling, but now Devon was torn at his daughter’s emotions towards him.

“Well firstly, can we go sit down to talk? I think it’d be more comfortable; for both of us.”

“Sure sweetheart.” He stepped aside to let his daughter walk past him into the lounge room.

Sitting down on the couch, Kelly waited for a moment until her father was seated beside her. When he was seated, she took a deep breath and decided to just blurt out what she wanted to ask, being as blunt as she could without being rude; not that she was sure she would be able to do it right.

“Why did you and mum marry when you both knew that the consequences would be that one of you would die when...”

“Now just hold on a second there young lady.” Devon cut Kelly off sharply; she took a sharp breath in and froze in her seat at her father’s stern tone. “Your mother and I knew what the consequences were going to be in our future, but, she had faith in me and I in her. We also knew that no matter what, when we did have a family we knew that all of us would be very happy and have a wonderful life together. We loved each other more than anyone will ever understand. Many sims still can’t understand and I doubt they ever will.” Devon looked sad for a moment.

Kelly felt bad for her father but a stronger feeling pushed its way forward.

“So, both of you knew that one of you was going to die because of your choice? But Dad that’s just...” Kelly couldn’t find the words; anything she was thinking of saying seemed to get stuck in her throat. “Do the boys know about this? I mean other than them knowing I was a cupid of course? Not to mention your decision to not tell me so I had to get a creepy letter in the mail from one of my own brothers, and now I hear from my Aunt over dessert that you already have a ‘friend’ you’d like us to meet?” She had spoken fast so that she could get out everything she wanted to ask and say.

“Kelly this isn’t...”

Kelly raised her voice in her anger not realising it. “What? This isn’t what it looks like? Ok Dad, let’s go with that. That always explains everything away doesn’t it?” Before waiting for her father to say anymore Kelly got up, grabbed her purse and ran out of her house hailing a passing taxi.

She bitterly wiped away tears that dared spill from her eyes as the streets of Newcrest blurred past.

Finally arriving back at the collage via a bus which she had transferred too once outside of Newcrest, Kelly didn’t even get halfway up the pathway when Ms Hunter came out of the front door and stormed over to her stopping her in her tracks.

She spoke in a firm but quiet voice. “Young lady, when I say you be back here before sundown, I mean it. Late taxi’s, buses or planes you organise yourself. Is that understood Miss Andrews?”

“Yes Ms Hunter, I won’t let it happen again.”

“Now then.” Ms Hunter continued before letting Kelly go. “Your father called earlier, I understand you had a difficult weekend and oddly so have others here as well. We’re having a meeting in the downstairs common room in a few minutes so if you could make your way there, I’d appreciate it.”

Kelly felt her cheeks flush and her eyes stung slightly, threatening her with another shower of emotional tears. She nodded swallowing a choking feeling in her throat and walked into the house blinking away any sign she was about to cry.

Coming into the common room, Kelly was followed by Rourke who gave her a friendly nod of hello, she nodded back.

“Hey Kelly, how’d the double birthday go at home?” Ellanor almost jumped on Kelly as she came across to see her.

A knot formed in Kelly’s stomach as she recalled her conversations with her Aunt and Dad, but she gave a small smile and shrugged taking a seat on the middle couch, Ellanor followed suit but sat to the side of her on another couch. “It was ok I guess, you know the usual family dinner, cake and awkward conversations about your Dad’s possible new girlfriend when it’s been less than a year since your mother’s died. Yup, was great.”

“Oh wow, that’s totes harsh.” The look on Eleanor’s face was of confusion and hurt. “That’s so not what anyone expects when they go home for a birthday bash, if you want to talk later...”

Kelly shook her frowning slightly. “Thanks, but I don’t think talking about it much more is going to help. But thanks any way.”

Ms Hunter entered the common room. “Alright everyone, settle down please I have something very important and serious I need to address.” She stood in front of the television waiting for everyone to stop talking and focus on her.

She had a small smile on her face, but her eyes showed she was tired and worried while at the same time trying to maintain an aura of calmness. Something Kelly hadn’t noticed when she had seen her outside just before.

The room went quiet and everyone waited for her to speak, she paused for what seemed an eternity. The crickets outside seemed to be chirping louder than never before, blissfully unaware of the heavy feeling growing in the common room beyond the walls of the garden.

“After much discussion with the Council of Elders,” Ms Hunter took a deep breath before slowly let it out. “It has been decided that at the end of this year, all of you will be graduating.”

There was a joint wave of shock through everyone with exclamations ranging from excitement to confusion.

“Alright, alright. Just settle down and let me explain.” Ms Hunter’s voice sounded wobbly and this silenced everyone instantly. “Now although you are all incredibly smart and gifted with your talents; this is because of a far more serious matter that the council has become aware of very recently.”

Rourke spoke up, his smooth voice cracking slightly with obvious worry. “Ms Hunter, no cupid has ever graduated early, it’s against...”

“Thank you Mr McTavish.” Ms Hunter cut him off; the stress of what she was trying to say was coming through. “I do understand the laws and rules of how things are managed. So if you’ll let me continue?”

Rourke nodded, his cheeks flushing slightly.

“Alright.” Ms Hunter took in a sharp breath and let it out recomposing herself. “The council has noted that our jobs have now become much harder than what they use to be, ‘love’ is beginning to literally...” She paused; her eyes glistened with unshed tears. “Love is beginning to die.”

“WHAT?” The collective word seemed to echo into the hall outside the common room and fade into the collages walls and floors like a heavy fog.

“Please, everyone just calm down.” Ms Hunter’s composure was failing, Kelly could see that she wanted to end the meeting as quickly as possible. “Silence please. Now for the next few months we have left, as few as they are. All classes will start at eight o’clock rather than nine, and in the evenings everyone will meet here so that we can all complete any homework and extra credits studies together. Any spare time you have, I suggest you use it to fine tune your abilities.” Ms Hunter sighed seeming to relax a little.  “You are part of the first generation to ever experience this sort of ‘situation’, so all of you must now prepare yourselves for the unknown. I am sorry to say that there is nothing new that I am able to teach you anymore, nor can I help prepare you for what is to come with any of your futures.” She paused for a moment again, her gaze passing over each of them. “Tomorrow we will begin our new classes and schedule, you should all try to go and get some rest. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight Ms Hunter.” Everyone replied flatly as she left the common room.

Wordlessly everyone slowly got up and left the common room going to their rooms for the night to get whatever restless sleep they could.

Ms Hunter was brilliant with the new classes and scheduling everything so that it all ran smoothly and with very few hiccups..

Each evening after classes everyone would meet up in the common room to go over the last of their lessons where they were now focusing on Shakespeare’s plays which had romantic interactions of any sort in them, no matter how insignificant they were.

Ms Hunter’s idea had been that since so many of his plays and sonnets had expressions of ‘love’ in some form or another in them, studying how these interactions ‘played out’ and studied, they might be have a better understanding of the reasons as to why some where successful and others were not. Mostly the unsuccessful scenarios were concentrated on because of everyone’s destiny to ‘create love’; what better way to figure out how to fix broken and misunderstood love than to figure out what had gone wrong in fictional and historical instances.

There was always lots of discussion and a lot of arguing because everyone had a different idea as to why, how and what could or should have been said or done with each different scenario in order to have made the relationships successful and lasting.

Zack stood up as they were finishing off Romeo and Juliet.

“Juliet’s problem was that she had to listen to Romeo’s family droning on and on about how much they hated her family, no wonder she didn’t tell Romeo she was getting that sleeping potion and faked her death. That relationship was going nowhere fast.”

Ellanor stood up shaking her head tossing her book aside in frustration. “Their relationship was doomed because all they ever did with each other was make googily eyes and talk about how much they loved each other!” She snapped passionately. “Other than that they had no idea about each other!”

Anita moved to the back of the couches putting her book away and smiled sighing, her voice was breathy as she made her own googily eyes at Zack. “There’s nothing wrong with being each other’s object of affection and desire, a whole conversation can be spoken between two people without a word spoken if they truly love each other.”

Kelly now stood up holding her book firmly in hand. “Oh really, the entire time they were’ together’ they actually never had a real conversation and don’t even get me started with the droning balcony scene!”

Ellanor laughed at Kelly’s out bust which caused everyone else to start laughing or snickering as well.

Ms Hunter sat listening to them debate smiling to herself. She was very impressed that her students had taken so quickly to what she had needed them to do.

Looking at how people fall in love from every different angle was very difficult. Now-a-days people’s relationships had taken a sharp plummet downhill with the invention of social media, increases in drug use, alcoholism, and divorce rates rising, not to mention weird lust fuelled fetishes becoming more apparent with each passing year.

The average Sims ideas about love had become hardened compared to what they once were.

Flowers, chocolates and forever rings were far from making the cut any more for ‘being in love’. The initial ‘spark’ that happened between two perfectly matched Sims wasn’t just down to a chance meeting across a crowded room at work, a friends party or on holidays. Now two perfectly matched Sims were able to be connected by wireless communications of many varying forms, thousands of miles away from each other within moments of turning on a mobile phone, or computer.

Ms Hunter knew her students were to be one of the first groups of modern cupids that were going to have their work cut out for them. 
The future of the Sims race was going to be entirely in their hands.

When the weekends came around, everyone was watching classic and modern romance movies. Ms Hunter had explained it to them as ‘The modern woman still likes to see romantic movies, so as a small leg up for you, I’d say watch what you can to try to understand something about what it is the modern woman wants in the way of ‘love’.”.

So, Friday and Saturday evenings became movie night. Romantic movies covering every genre were watched and the collage smelt of popcorn on Sunday mornings.

As the end of the school year came up fast for everyone, on the last warm Saturday evening Ms Hunter told everyone to dress in their best outfit and meet her at the Rose Lounge in town at ‘six o’clock sharp’.

Excitedly, everyone had put on their best clothes and taken taxis to the lounge.

At six o’clock exactly, Ms Hunter came in and approached them.

She gushed at everyone. “Well, first of all, you all look absolutely stunning.” She herself had also worn a beautiful gown, to Anita’s distaste it was a darker version of her own supposedly unique pink one. “Alright so you’re all wondering what we’re doing here.” They all nodded and Ms Hunter smiled. “Well tonight is your unofficial graduation ceremony. This is the celebration of all of you graduating into certified Cupids.”

Ellanor became excited. “Wait, so we can get drinks, go out dancing and stay out really late?”

“Yes, yes Ellanor.” Ms Hunter gave a small laugh. “Now you all probably noticed no one has kicked you out yet.” She smiled warmly at them. “Well this is because you are all adults.” She smiled even more seeing all of them look at each other with slight confusion of their faces. “The very moment each of you walked through the lounges door, and I’m not usually allowed to use this sort of ‘magic’ for such large transformations but, just this once it has been granted. So I bid you all a very odd happy twentieth birthday. Of course, there’s usually there’s a bit more pomp and ceremony, but as things are a little... rushed, I know you’ll all forgive me.”

Everyone stood silent for a moment, then there seemed to be a collective wave of understanding on everyone’s faces and they all visibly relaxed.

Ms Hunter went over to the bar and ordered everyone a standard drink as well as some food so that they could start off their celebratory evening without overdoing it.

Anita, Rourke, Zack and Joshua joined her at the bar while Ellanor and Kelly went and sat on a lounge off to the side to take a breather.

As the night wore on, Joshua and Kelly ended up sitting with each other chatting.

“You know I’m not the baby anymore in my family, now I’m the oldest.” Kelly laughed slightly realising her situation.

“You too huh? My sisters are going to either be really happy or really upset that they won’t able to tease me anymore about being their baby brother.” They both laughed for second.

For a second Kelly paused. “I wonder how they fix up our birth certificates and all of that stuff, I mean we’re all now four years older than we were two hours ago. We’re seriously adults, able to go out and do adult things and all that.”

To Kelly’s surprise Joshua turned towards her and gave her a strange look; her stomach felt like a huge stone had fallen into it when she recalled her time at school where the boys had looked at her that very same way.

He spoke before she could stop him. “Well, if that’s the case and we’re all adults able to do adult things...” His voice was a husky soft tone that gave her goose bumps all over, and not in a good way.

“Uh, no, I don’t think so Joshua. I’m sorry, but you know two cupids can’t have a... Well, you know.”

The awkwardness set in quickly for both of them, Kelly wanted to get up and walk away but she also didn’t want to embarrass Joshua or herself by making any sort of scene. Especially on what was supposed to be one of the greatest nights of their lives.

“I... I’m just going to go chat with Rourke.” Joshua nodded and moved off quickly, Kelly nodded back and found herself letting out a long sigh of relief as she watched him walk away, thankful it was he who got up and left.

Closing time for the lounge came faster than any of them wanted, but at two in the morning it was time to go.

As everyone gathered outside, the coolness of the night air hit all of them making them realise just how tired their feet and eyes were.

It would be their last night together, after a year of all of them being thrown into a fast paced world of intense learning about each of their own unique abilities and family heritage; now they were all being tossed into the winds of the world to set out and use their own adaptations of their skill sets to help Sims rekindle their lost understanding of what love was really all about.

The next morning, everyone was awake early and out front of the collage by nine o’clock, waiting for their taxis and personal rides to where each of them would call home.

Everyone seemed to know where they were going to be placed, except Kelly.

Rourke was going to Willow Creek with Zack; they were bunking up in a share house together and they had both gotten jobs in the town. Rourke had been invited to work at the prestigious Landgrab Technology Labs and Zack was working at the Lama Stadium as a coach for a local teenager sports program.

Ellanor was heading off to Oasis Springs; her dad had helped her get a small but decent place of her own and a popular night club had offered her a job as a DJ so she was really excited that she had landed her dream job.

Anita would be staying in Windenburg with Joshua; they’d both landed jobs at a successful modelling agency, they were also going to be sharing a place together for the time being. Anita seemed sad to be leaving Zack, but at just over half a day’s drive away, her spirits didn’t seem to be too crushed.

And Kelly had been asked to come home by her father. She had agreed, happy to not have to deal with the outside world just yet but not too happy about facing him again. She’d not spoken to any of her family since her last visit for her brothers’ birthday weekend, there had been messages left by her father with Ms hunter letting her know everyone was ok and they loved her very much; but she’d half ignored them with still being a little angry at him.

All the girls received roses from the boys as they all prepared to finally leave the collage.

Ms Hunter stood watching everyone with a sort expression of admiration of her face.

Not much more was said other than ‘goodbye’ as each of them got into the taxi’s which would be taking them to their new homes, no one really knew what to say.

Surely they were eventually going to catch up and see each other again though. The towns weren’t all that far from each other and there was video calling as well as texting and chatting online.

But only time would tell, though bonds had formed between a few of them, out in the real world where they would all have their own abilities tested to possible breaking points.

Free time did not seem to be looking as if it would on the cards in the future for any of them.

Ch 4 - No Recipe

That night, Kelly’s dreams were strange and somewhat terrifying.

When she woke to her alarm going off, she could only remember blurry fragments and even though she knew it was a dream, she couldn’t help feeling very disturbed and her mind was buzzing with questions.

Going next door to Ella’s room Kelly knocked waiting for a moment.

“Come on in.” Ella was as cheerful as always, but her face changed a little when she saw the worried look in Kelly’s eyes.

“Hey, are you alright? Rough night huh?”

Kelly nodded going over to her.

“Well,” She looked around the room for a second then gave heavy sigh. “My bad sleeping habits aren’t really why I’m here.” A nauseous feeling welled up in Kelly’s stomach as the image of the note flashed in her mind’s eye for the hundredth time that morning. “I wanted to ask you something.”

Ellanor shrugged with a smile. “Sure ask away.”

Kelly pursed her lips as she put the words together in her mind, careful of how she asked her question. “What, what would you do if someone knew something about you and they let you know they knew and that they wanted you to do something about it?”

For a second Ella’s small smile turned into a frown and she laughed nervously. “Uh, as in...?”

“I got a letter yesterday afternoon.” Kelly blurted out; she averted her eyes from Ellanors. “Hey, who told you about... your place?” She felt butterflies in her stomach as she avoiding one issue by asking about another.

Ellanor smiled beckoning Kelly to lean in a bit closer, her eyes lighting up like fireflies.

“Actually, I found out on my own.” She giggled slightly. “It was weird but kinda cool, like when you get to the end of a movie with a totes wicked plot twist for the ending; BOOM!”

 Ella’s loud expression at the end made Kelly jump slightly.

“Oh, okay. Well, what I mean is that... I think I was already supposed to know except, things got complicated with my mum. I think that why I’m here.”

“Ah.” Ellanor half sighed looking at Kelly with a beautiful kindness in her eyes. “It’s not bad. Some people get told, others discover it from being taught and sometimes... it happens right at that perfect moment when everything falls into place. Like with me.”

Nodding and sighing softly, Kelly knew that Ellanor hadn’t really understood what she was trying to talk to her about, but she didn’t rally understand what Ellanor was talking about either and decided not to mention the letter to anyone else.

“Okay, I think I’m going to get some breakfast. Thanks for talking with me.”

“Okays, I’ll be right down after I wash my face and turn back into a Sim.” Ellanor made a funny face laughing slightly.

With a small wave Kelly closed the door behind her as she left.

During class throughout the entire day Kelly was unable to concentrate. Her mind kept wandering back to the letter.

Who was it from?

Why would her own father be keeping an important secret from her?

Why wouldn’t he have just told her?

Shaking off the distractions Kelly went back to focusing as best she could on her class work. Although as soon as she had settled back into writing down some extra class notes, the sound of a phone camera clicking went off behind her.

Feeling frustrated she sighed and did her best to ignore it and concentrated harder on the early teachings of Aphrodite.

“Miss Donovan to my desk; now.” Ms Hunter’s voice snapped through the silence of the room like a whip, everyone looked up for a moment before quickly going back to their work books.

There was a screech as wood on wood scraped against itself, then the firm, slightly too loud heel clicking of Anita’s’ shoes as walked up to the front of the classroom echoed throughout the room.

She stood in front of Ms Hunter.

Ms Hunter spoke firmly but with elegance. “Miss Donovan, the rules of my classroom are very simple. If you are finished your work early, you may leave so as not to disturb the other students. So have you already finished your lesson?”

There was a slight pause before Anita spoke.

“No Ms Hunter, I...”

“Well, I’m sure that your blog followers who are eager for one the famous ‘selfies’ of the Aphrodite ancestor line will be able to wait for a few hours more. Now, go back to your desk, sit down, and finish the work I’ve set out for the entire class, which includes you, to do.”

“Yes Ms Hunter.” Anita answered but much more quietly and politely.

Just before she went to move to go sit back down Ms Hunter spoke again. “And if I hear or see you using your phone during any classes again Miss Hunter, I shall keep it until the end of the year, understood?”

Anita nodded as she quickly returned to her desk with as little noise as possible much unlike when she had gotten up.

That afternoon when everyone had finally finished their class, Kelly took herself down to the vegetable patch section of the garden and helped with the planting of new vegetable seeds. Ms Hunter had said that later in the evening there was going to the initiation for Kelly into the schools private club.

She had asked Kelly to cook the dinner and although Kelly had agreed, she did think it was quiet odd that she would be preparing the food for her own ‘guest of honour’ dinner.

The questioning thoughts passed away though as she envisioned fresh crunchy bread rolls still steaming as you opened them, lamb ribs perfectly roasted with crisp steamed vegetables and freshly baked strawberry pie with fresh whipped cream. Her stomach growled slightly as the thoughts made her hungry.

Joshua was also helping plant some fruit seeds and was humming happily to himself as he carefully covered over his last seed with soil.

Getting up to go inside Kelly brushed off dirt from her jeans and hands, Joshua suddenly called out to her.

“Hey wait for a moment would you Kelly?”

Turning back, Kelly thought it was nice to see him wearing less formal clothes than when she had met him and in class.

“Hi, what’s up?”

“Oh, I was just wondering if, you know...” He gave a small awkward smile. “Have you found out yet about your ‘place’? How you fit in? I think it would be great if by tonight you found out. It’d make your initiation so much more worth it.”

She felt slightly confused by his comment and Kelly slightly shook her head. “No but if I’m right, I have a feeling that it’s something to do with cooking or gardening, every time I’m doing either of those things I feel like something is working in my head, like a puzzle unlocking. But for now...” She playfully bowed to Joshua. “If you’ll excuse me, I should go wash up before I head into the kitchen to prepare tonight’s dinner for my induction.”

Joshua laughed warmly. “Well, call me if you need help.”

Kelly paused as she was turning to walk off and smiled back at him. “Thanks, if I do I will.”

After a good shower and putting on some fresh clothes and her cooking apron, Kelly went straight down into the kitchen and got out the majority of ingredients she would need and started to fly through the rest of the afternoon’s time she had to get the three course meal prepared.

The rack of lamb was perfect quality, after it had been in the oven for a while Kelly checked it and then with her pre-prepared basting she felt a wonderful sense of enjoyment as she added the extra herbs and made sure it was perfectly seasoned and cooking evenly.

She turned up the oven just slightly before closing it and turned her attention to getting the dinner rolls ready.

The eggs were generously sized and the flour was so silky Kelly smiled to herself wondering if it was actually powdered silk. As soon as they were rolled into perfect hand sized ovals; into the oven the buns went.

A beautiful assortment of fruit was in the fridge so Kelly decided on making a fruit pie rather than a plain strawberry one.

The heavy scent of cinnamon wafted through the kitchen as Kelly generously added in the sugared spice with some extra cocoa powder, to add bite to the sweetness. She thought about her mother as the smells reminded her of the way her mother’s hair smelt and how the warmth of her smile always made her smile back, no matter how bad she was feeling.

Carefully criss-crossing the fine pastry on top of the pie, Kelly paused for a moment feeling butterflies in her stomach. She stood holding the pie in her hand forgetting to put it into the oven for a moment.

She smiled to herself knowing that the wonderful smells would waft up through to the rooms of everyone as soon as she opened the oven door to put in the pie, letting them know that dinner was almost ready. Carefully she opened the oven door letting out the delicious scents from the rack of lamb and the bread rolls.

Kelly breathed in deeply as the scent filled the kitchen, for a moment she felt light headed and happier than she had felt in a very long time. She places the pie onto the bottom rack and closed then oven again.

Kelly cleaned up the kitchen, making sure anything she didn’t use was put away and that anything she did use was either put back into the fridge, dirty utensils and bowls were put into the dishwasher or hand washed then dried and put away.

Kelly was finally able to take everything out of the oven and set it up on the table for dinner.

She could feel more butterflies in her stomach again as she placed the fresh warm bread rolls on the table along with the rack of lamb and fruit pie.

The doors suddenly opened to the dining room and Joshua strode in with a warm smile on his face.

“Hey, I thought I told you to ask me for help?”

Kelly smiled. “Yes, if I’d needed it and well... I’m sorry, I just didn’t.” Kelly smiled as she spread out her hands, then she found herself talking fast and a huge smile was on her face with her eyes lighting up like diamonds under a spot light. “This whole afternoon was just so much fun and invigorating; I feel like a millions butterflies have gathered in my stomach and are fluttering around making me feel so incredibly happy and full of energy.”

Joshua gave a sharp click of his fingers making Kelly stop talking. “Of course, that’s it!” He exclaimed.

“What? What’s it?” Kelly looked confused before giving a quick glance down at her watch knowing that she would have to go get ready soon for the dinner and initiation.

“You, you’re it” Joshua walked around her looking very impressed. “You’re a Culinary Cupid, I mean I’ve heard of them yes, but, there haven’t been any offspring for over a centenary.”

“Me?” Kelly gave a short laugh, and she looked at Joshua whose expression was happy but serious about his statement. “Wait, you can’t be serious? You think I’m a Cupid? As in the cute little guy in a nappy with wings, golden bow and shooting arrows making people fall in love Cupid?””

Now it was Joshua’s turn to look confused. “Well, yeah of course. And it’s a waist toga not a nappy. But, yeah.” He gave a nervous laugh. “That’s what this collage is for; everyone here is a descendant of the Cupid bloodline. All of us have a parent that’s a Cupid. We’re all here to fine tune our talents that we’ve inherited. We are the new generation who’ll help Sims lives continue on. Help Sims fall in love.” Seeing Kelly wasn’t still convinced Joshua continued. “My father is a cafe owner in my home town, every morning he makes beautiful coffee, it’s really only famous in our little town but every morning, Sims come into the cafe to get their coffee, and some mornings, two Sims hearts flutter towards true love all from ‘coffee’.”

“So... I guess I ask my dad then when I get to visit home what I should focus on then?”

“Yes, he’ll be able to tell you about the part your family has played over time.” He pulled out his phone from his jeans pocket. “And now, since this is a great occasion, I’d say a memorial photo is in order.” Joshua pulled Kelly to his side so she could join in on the picture.

“Say I’m a Cupid.” He teased.

“I’m a Cupid.” Kelly giggled feeling silly but the flash blinded her and the memory was complete.

“We should go get ready; I can hear the others coming downstairs.” Kelly smiled at Joshua. “Oh and, thanks. This is going to give me a lot to think about.”

“No problem, this means we’ll have to do some cooking together some time.” He followed Kelly out of the dining room and they parted in the hallway to go and get changed.

To Kelly’s relief and delight the dinner party went perfectly, everyone enjoyed the food, the boys even had seconds and only complained when they had to leave a decent plate of leftovers for Ms Hunter.

“Well then,” Anita finished taking pictures of the remaining food with her phone then put it away. “As club captain, I say we all have a bit of fun in the games room before we have Kelly’s initiation.”

There was a happy chorus of everyone’s voices agreeing, Kelly found herself slightly relieved as her stomach was doing back flips with how nervous she was feeling and the last thing she wanted to do was re-invite dinner so soon after eating it.

Upstairs in the games room, Anita followed Zackary and Rourke to the foosball table, where they began a vigorous game as Anita looked on, making doe eyes and overly complimenting Zackary during play.

Zack was a fitness buff, anything to do with keeping fit and healthy, he was into it.

Rourke was what one would call a book worm; he looked at science with an eagerness and understanding that was almost poetry. He’d even put up a few interesting prints taken from flower and plant samples under a microscope.

Anita was obviously only interested in herself and her looks. Although she seemed to make sappy eyes at Zachary, usually she was looking in a mirror at her own reflection or taking a selfie for her blog which was about, herself.

Jacob, Ella and Kelly had sat down to a game of ‘Don’t Wake the Lama’.

With expert precision, Ella pulled out a bottom piece and waved it in the air triumphantly. “Ha ha! That’s right, sleep on fluffy creature; you shall not be my demise tonight.” She placed her piece on the table giggling and waited for Jacob to have his turn.

Jacob was a bit more daring and took a piece from near the top of the tower, Kelly watched with close interest and found she was holding her breath, she let out a slow lungful as Jacob’s attempt was successful and he gave a small cheer himself.

Kelly was next; she’d never actually played the game before, and didn’t want to cut it short by knocking down the tower.

Carefully she chose a piece from the centre of the stack, pulling out the wooden stick, for a moment the tower stood, then with a slight wobble the tower came crashing down. Ella and Jacob laughed as Kelly closed her eyes looking away as she was giggling at herself.

“Oh, that was just bad.” She commented helping reset up the game again.

“True,” Ella jested at her smiling. “But it is a game. I use to play this with my father every Sunday afternoon, he was ruthless, and I’ve lost twenty simolians to him.”

“Oh see you’ve have had expert training in the ways of the Lama, that’s an unfair advantage.” Jacob teased causing them all to erupt in to laughter.

There was a cheer from Zachary across the room signalling that he had also won his game of Foosball against Rourke, which in its own way was the signal it was time for Kelly’s initiation to begin.

Back downstairs and outside at the back of the collage house, all six students gathered around a large pile of wood set up for a bonfire.

Zackary got the fire started, added extra wood as the flames grew.

Jacob explained to Kelly the symbolism. “The fire is a symbol of the burning passion of each and every cupid, down here and in the spirit realm as well. When the flames reach their full high and heat, a Cupid from this club will toss in a vial of your DNA sample, one of your parents might have asked for a lock of your hair before you came here?”

Kelly nodded, recalling her mother taking some of her hair when she had gotten her hair cut on their spa day together a year ago, just before the most awful day if her life and a year before she’d arrived at the collage. “Well,” He continued. “If the flames glow a bright pinkish colour, you’re a true Cupid, if not,” He paused for a second. “Well, I think you have to leave. Not sure though, I’ve never heard or seen the flames not glow pink when this happens so...”

“Oh.” Kelly recalled the flame she had seen in her minds-eye when she had been meditating with her mother.

The flames grew higher and higher, the heat also became quite intense making everyone step back and sort of ‘take places’ around it. Jacob kept talking to Kelly, nothing of real importance; she gathered he was trying to make her feel at ease.

Rourke suddenly moved over to the fire pulling a glass vial from his pocket. It was corked; there was a clear liquid inside it and a lock of Kelly’s beautiful straw yellow hair.

“We are here to initiate Kelly Andrews into the Coeurs Naturelle’s. If accepted she shall promise to learn her rightful duties and live her life according to the sacred teachings of our ancestors.” Rourke tossed the vial into the fire.

In an instant the flames burst upwards even higher and turned a bright soft pinkish purple, colour. Casting a soft glow on everyone and the backyard

Everyone began to become very excited, Ella seemed to be the most excited about it. “That colour hasn’t shown up in the flames for over three decades; my dad said that it only shows if a descendant is a ‘pure’ cupid, as in both of their parents are...” She stopped looking across the fire at Kelly, their eyes met for a moment.

Kelly turned to Jacob not wanting to meet her gaze. “So is this a good thing or a bad thing?”

Jacob smiled at her. “This? It’s a really good thing; if you wanted to you could take over the captaincy of the club. Anita was the only one who had a darker pink than the rest of us when we had the first initiation ceremony, the night before you arrived.”

Kelly gave a small laugh and shook her head. “Anita can keep the job. I think I’ll just concentrate on getting through my studies.”

Jacob laughed and they both turned back to the fire, the colour slowly drained away leaving the flames burning their usual comforting orange glow.

School continued over the next few weeks, which soon turned into two months having passed by faster than anyone realized; Kelly had almost forgotten about the strange letter.

One afternoon just as classes had finished for the day, Samual showed up surprising Kelly. She threw her arms about him feeling happiness well up inside her.

“Oh my Watcher, what are you doing here you big lug head.”

“Hey, nice to see you too muffin head.”

Their loving banter didn’t faze anyone else as they held onto each other for a moment longer.

“So, who is everyone? I knew this place was a collage of sorts, but I never expected this.”He gave a whistle looking around at the fancy classroom. “Nice digs.”

Kelly could feel herself blushing before she introduced him to everyone, explaining that he was her older brother and twin to her other brother.

Kelly grabbed a photo with him as she could tell everyone wanted to say hello and ask him all about his little sister.

Everyone somehow migrated to the dining room, and Kelly was chatting with Ella, Rourke and Zack to one side somehow getting separated from Samual.

Anita had sat down with Samual at the dining table and was chatting almost nonstop to him, Kelly couldn’t help but smile slightly as her brother who was usually the one doing the talking, couldn’t seem to get a work in edgewise.

“She always has to take over.” Ella commented frowning at Anita who was obviously flirting with Kelly’s brother.

“Don’t worry; he’s not interested in girls anyway.” Kelly remarked giving a small smile glancing over at Anita and Samual. “But Anita can try all she likes.”

Rourke gave Zack an uneasy look and Zack sort of hunched up his shoulders for a moment in a silent conversation. Kelly was finding entire conversations could be said between them all without even one word spoken at times; and right now the silent conversation between Zack and Rourke was thick with caution and worry.

The evening’s hours ticked away much faster than Kelly would have liked and soon enough she found herself standing out the front of the collage hugging Samual, she couldn’t help but hold him tightly in her arms.

‘Hey sis, would you be mad if I told you something?” His voice was soft in her ear and Kelly opened her eyes from her safe haven she had been in and she frowned slightly.

“Well... I guess that depends on what it is. Did you trash my room again?” She let her brother go and stepped back a bit from him.

Samual shook his head smiling sadly for a split second. “No, but...” He paused averting his eyes from his sisters’ face.

“Samual, tell me.” Kelly felt a heavy sinking feeling in her stomach that she wasn’t going to like what her brother was about to tell her, but she wanted to hear it anyway.

“You, you may have gotten a letter when you first got here. Well, Francis and I were the ones who sent you that letter.”

For a moment Kelly was speechless, she wanted to speak, then scream but her throat closed up on her and all she could do was look at him with the pain showing through from her eyes. “Sis I’m sorry...” He continued quickly so she couldn’t interrupt. “I know we should have told you to just go and ask Dad but we weren’t supposed to interfere and we just wanted to help you out a bit.”

“That... that was you?” Kelly angrily burst out at him. “Do you know what that did to me? I was freaking out. I almost didn’t discover that I am a Cupid because of that letter! You and Francis are...”

“Sis, we’re both really sorry.” Samual stopped her before she said something she would regret. “It’s why I came to see you. To make sure you doing were alright, we knew you got into the club from the emails you sent Dad, but I wanted to see you on a more personal level.”

Kelly let out a sharp breath as she gritted her teeth before she couldn’t help but give a sigh to relax and not be mad at him anymore.

“Oooo, you’re so frustrating; you know that?” Kelly half smiled shaking her head at him.

He gave an uneasy smile back and nodded. “Yup. Oh hey you’re still coming to our birthday party right?”

Before Kelly could answer the sound of heels tapping on the road came up behind Samual. She frowned seeing Anita coming over to them.

She spoke quickly before Anita was within ear shot. “Yes, you know I’ll be there. Just get Dad to contact Ms Hunter about it ok?”

“Will do Sis, I’ve got to get going. See you next weekend.” With that, just as Anita stopped beside him, a taxi that he had ordered pulled up, he got in and was driven away.

Kelly went to walk back to the collage house as she wanted to get away from Anita and also felt a chill in the air.

“Well that was rude of your brother to leave like that without even saying goodbye to me.” Anita snipped putting her hands on her hips looking to where the taxi had disappeared over the hill before she turned back to Kelly. “You know, I was going to...”

“You weren’t going to do anything you stuck up, self absorbed cow!” Kelly snapped suddenly at Anita, she had finally had enough of her selfish attitude. “That was my brother who was here to see me, not you, me. I’m not sure if it’s because you’re an only child or not, but you don’t seem to understand what it means to have a sibling travel two hours just to come and see you, then have your entire time taken over by a selfish brat!”

Anita was shocked and stood back as Kelly restrained herself from punching Anita as she had balled up her hands into two fists, her nails digging painfully into her palms.

“Just, just stay away from me.” Kelly turned and began to walk away, just before she got too far she turned back to Anita with a sweet smile. “Oh and by the way, Samual has a boyfriend.”

She then continued walking back to the house, a smile plastered on Kelly’s face as she heard Anita making a muffled scream in annoyance and she also heard her stomping her foot on the ground in frustration.

Kelly had a feeling she was going to start enjoying the rest of her time at the academy in a whole new way and a whole lot more.