1.14 How Far We've Come

Another week, another party. Now that Xara is older, she takes the time to chat with some of the guests. The Fox family is always invited to their gatherings even though, as far as Xara knows, no one in the household actually knows them that well. 

And she says hi to her schoolmates too. She's surprised just how many of them showed up to this party, but it is a small town after all. It's not like there's much else to do.

"Oh hi Roman," Xara greets Roman Loveland, Gracie Loveland's son by Booker Singleton and her only child. Roman keeps a pretty low profile in school so this is the first time Xara has talked to him outside of class. 

Chatting about school... 

"Are you going with anyone to prom?" he asks, changing the subject. 

"Of course!" Xara says cheerfully, "I was planning on going with a group of friends, to save money on the tickets. We're going to rent a limo and everything! Do you want to come with us? You could split the rent for the limo." 

Roman raises his eyebrow, surprised to have been invited on a social outing by someone he barely knows. 

Xara is oblivious to his hesitation and continues to bubble, "Oh it would be really fun if we could get more people to join! Right now it's just girls- and you, if you come, one boy- but we could gather some of the guys too... bring some of your friends!" 

While Xara is trying to get the school to collectively go to prom, Paolo talks about what he wants for his birthday with Tulip. 

"We need a computer."

Tulip sighs, "I knooow. Our family is so weird- we don't even have a couch." 

"Are mom and dad technophobes?"

Tulip shudders at the thought. "No, I don't think so... but I wish we didn't have to use the crap computers at the library for internet access..." 

They can drop all the hints they want, computers are simply a luxury this family cannot currently afford. Sorry guys. 

As the party winds down, Pablo Parrott takes a chance and approaches Xara. 

She feels heat creep up her neck as Pablo hovers just a little too close. 

"Heeeey Pablo, what's up?" she tries to seem natural, taking a small step backwards. 

"I was wondering if you'd like to go on a date sometime?" he asks producing a bouquet of flowers. 

Xara blushes. "I'm flattered- and you are very cute- but aren't you dating Melissa Marshall?" 

"Well not exactly. We're not exclusive or anything. So...?" 

Xara has seen them holding hands in the hallways, and is pretty sure Melissa thinks they're exclusive. She's not going to hurt someone else's feelings just for a date. "Sorry Pablo, I can't." 

Pablo looks a bit hurt, but he schools his features. "Will you at least take the flowers? I got them for you, after all." 

She doesn't want to hurt his feelings any more than she might have already, so she takes the bouquet from him. "They're pretty," she says with a weak smile, "Thanks." 

"Not as pretty as you," he says with a quick smile. Xara's face reddens even more, making Pablo smile wider. He decides to take the opportunity to make a graceful exit, leaving Xara flustered. 

I hope Melissa knows what kind of guy she's dating, she thinks after she gets a hold of herself. She looks at the flowers in her hands. Still...wow! No one's ever flirted with me before. Holy crap. She needs to tell Tulip about this later. 

Right before the party draws to a close, Pablo ages up. 

He looks less than pleased with his birthday. There's no computer, after all. 

Just because of this face, teen Pablo is my favorite sim ever from my saves. And I've had quite a few! 

He takes over the role of the family electrician and fixes the malfunctioning washing machine. Somehow playing with blocks as a child makes electrical repair a piece of cake. 

Freddy the Yeti is the first in the house to have his portrait painted. I think it's quite flattering. 

Morning before Paolo's first day of high school. 

"You have Mr. Winston for geometry? You poor soul," Tulip worries over Paolo's schedule. Like her, he's in accelerated classes, later on probably in advanced courses, but some of the teachers for the gifted classes are...less than stellar. Mr. Winston is infamous for his laid-back teaching style, which consists of dispensing homework and then leaving the students completely to their own devices. Tulip does not have fond memories of teaching herself the entire course.

Paolo shrugs. Math has never been hard for him. He pays attention in class, does the required work, and gets good grades. He doesn't expect high school to be too different, even with sub-par instructors.

The twins end up not being able to interrogate Paolo about his first day; he stayed behind to sign up for shop club and the soccer team at school, causing him to miss the bus home. 

"Dad, you don't need to wear glasses, your eye sight is fine," Tulip finally says what has been on her mind since her dad got into his spring-get up. 

"What're you saying? They make me look distinguished."

"They make you look old." 

Marko looks genuinely hurt for a second before sighing dramatically. "So you think you're dad isn't cool enough for you? Too embarrassing? I can't believe that my own daughter is ashamed of me!" 

"Daaad, that's not what I meant!" Tulip calls out after her father. Marko just closes the bedroom door. 

Xara yawns. "You see what you've started?" 

"He has to know how he looks with those things on."

"That's probably why he's wearing them in the first place. To be ironic or something." 

Tulip shakes her head. "I need to get ready for work. But honestly, he'll probably have forgotten about this by the time I get home." 

With her younger sister gone, Xara is left to fend for herself against her Simlish homework. Literature bores her to tears, but this essay is due tomorrow. She's been putting it off long enough... 

"Maybe I could call up Lucia...and Kathy... and we could do this together," Xara thinks outloud. Doing homework with other people is always better in her opinion. At the very least they could all complain about it together. 

Paolo, on the other hand, is wishing this project could have been individual instead of with partners. He could do this presentation much more easily on his own without other people to have to compromise with, but he has to do what the teacher assigned. His partner, Mitchell Blanco-Riffin, is still at his part-time job so Paolo does the project himself  gets a head start. 

"Oh, Mitchell should be home soon," Juanita informs him, "If you need anything to eat, just grab whatever's in the fridge." For someone who dislikes children, Juanita's actually pretty nice to them and even has two children. 

"Thank you, Mrs. Blanco-Riffin." He doesn't really want to eat and overstay his welcome, but if Mitchell doesn't show up soon he'll have to have dinner. 

Mitchell arrives after about 1/4 of the project is already done. 

"Sorry I'm late, my dad made me take my sister to the park after work," Mitchell apologizes. His sister comes crawling in after him, making Paolo wonder why he didn't carry her in, or why there doesn't seem to be a crib anywhere in the house. 

"I'm pretty glad I got paired up with you- no one else in our class is really good at this history stuff." 

"Thanks...?" 

"I mean everyone else always whines about how difficult it is, but it's not that hard if you just read sometimes, you know? But high school kids just don't care about reading because it's not 'cool' anymore, I swear." 

Paolo is beginning to see why Tulip doesn't like this guy. 

Thankfully, once they get started on their assignment, they focus on history and not on the faults of their generation. 

Mitchell invites Paolo to stay for dinner since his mom is a "fantastic cook", so he has some macaroni and cheese before heading home. Mitchell's step-aunt Chantrelle also lives here and is heavily pregnant. Paolo wonders what is must be like living with so many relatives in the house. There must not be a lot of privacy. He shudders, glad that he and his sisters have their own bedrooms. 

"Do you have a boyfriend?" Marko subtly inquires about Xara's relationship status.

Xara arches an eyebrow. "Nooo dad. Why are you even asking?" 

"I saw Pablo Parrott talking to you at the party and he gave you flowers! Are you dating him?"

Xara bursts into giggles. "Good one dad. No, no I am not dating Pablo Parrott. Melissa has that honor." 

"Do you want to date him?"

Her face is already red from laughing so Marko doesn't notice when she blushes, "No!"

"Is there anyone you want to date?"

"Dad, oh my gosh, no."

"Are you suuuuure?" 

"Dad!" 

Tulip is not pleased with Pablo's seemingly casual attitude towards life. "Do you even know what you want to do after high school?" 

He shrugs. "Haven't really thought about it." 

"Come on, you must have some idea." 

"Nope." At her glowering disapproval, Paolo rolls his eyes. "I started school, like, two days ago. Chill." 

Tulip shakes her head. "You need to start thinking about these things early! You have such good grades, there's so much you can do!"

"Ok, thanks mom." 

"And how about you?" Paolo suddenly turns the conversation towards Tulip, "What are you doing after high school once you move out?"

Tulip has already carefully weighed the various options available to her, so her answer comes easily, "I want to be a police officer." 

Paolo blinks. "Wait, seriously? Since when? And why?" 

"At the recruitment fair, they told us that Appaloosa Plains' police force needs more officers and since no one else is stepping up, I thought I'd give it a go." 

Paolo isn't buying it. "Why, Tulip?" 

She sighs and puts her cookie onto her plate. "I'm going to be alive for a really long time. I want to do something useful with my long life span. I could become a CEO of some large company, but then what? I'd just spend the rest of my life accumulating more and more money. I want to do something meaningful with my life." 

Paolo doesn't know how to respond. Most of the time he forgets that Tulip is a vampire in the first place. "Tulip-," 

"No it's fine," she cuts him off. "Oh crap, we're going to be late for school!" she sprints to her room to get ready, leaving Paolo in the dust. 

He keeps thinking about her question. What is he going to do once he graduates? 

Answers do not seem to be forthcoming. He goes to the gym, hoping to clear his head with some exercise. 

He's too young to be targeted by the recruitment fair yet, and there's plenty of time before he graduates. No need to worry...

Right? 

"You're home late," Marko observes when Xara comes through the door at 5:30 PM. 

"I signed up for drama club." 

"Oh really? I didn't know you liked acting," or anything really. Xara has never shown an interest in any hobby or skill besides her brief stint in scouts. 

"Well I don't, not really, but a lot of my friends are in the club and they said I should join," Xara says meekly. She spent most of "rehearsal" today whispering back stage with her friends, but her dad doesn't need to know that. 

Xara waits for Tulip to come home before starting her homework. They complain about math together as they halfheartedly scribble in answers. 

"This one is too hard. Skip." 

They move on to the next problem.

"Skip."

Tulip stares hard at the next problem. "I don't even know what that is." 

"Skip?"

"Skip." 

With their math homework "done", Xara is free to go to bed while Tulip has some extra reading to do for simlish class.  Paolo breezes in at 10:50, ten minutes before their curfew, and promptly begins his homework. 

"It's amazing how lifelike he is," Xara quips to her sister. 

"Evidence of how far AI technology has come," Tulip agrees. 

"Ha ha ha, hilarious, guys," Paolo rolls his eyes. 

"It even has a sarcasm setting!" 

Paolo sighs. 

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AN: Wasn't sure how to fit this in, but I redecorated the girls' room! Here it is: