Final Exams And A Strange Request

Finals were upon her, and she realised that she hadn't studied hard enough. Her text books lay open at the first page, the words jumbling up as she crammed ... hard. She only had two exams, but these were essential. The results from these would go towards accreditation for her Fine Arts degree.

She simply could not fail. Failure was not an option.

After a breakfast of cereal, whilst sitting in a room full of dirty pots and buzzing flies, Sophie steeled herself. She could only do her absolute best. If that didn't work, there was always next year.

The clock ticked ominously in the silent hall. The only sounds were the scribblings of pens on paper, and the soft footfall of the invigilators. There were two, opposite sides of the hall, making sure that nobody could cheat. All revise papers, phones and other devices had been confiscated. It was just the pen, the exam paper and the person.

Her head throbbed and the words swam. Time ticked onwards until the final bell rang. There was a great outpouring of relief, sighs simply rippled through the hall as all the students took a deep breath. It was over.
But for most of them, including Sophie, this was just round one. There was a break for a couple of hours before round two commenced. This time the exam was being taken in the much bigger sports hall. Once again, it was a rinse and repeat scenario, but with the accompaniment of rain drumming a rhythm on the bowed ceiling.


After it was over, Sophie felt sick to her stomach. Something told her that she'd tanked both exams. It was just a matter of waiting for the results. She needed a distraction, and as luck would have it, the minute she switched her phone on, there was a text message from one of her tutors Wade Anthony. He was throwing an after uni party, would she like to come?

Would she ever? All through the semester, she'd pointedly refused all invites as she was determined to do well. But since this was all over now, why not let her hair down and have some fun?

When she arrived, the place seemed eerily quiet. No loud music, no gathering throng of students and professors. It was .... creepy.

She wandered indoors to ... nothing. Starving, tired and in desperate need of a shower, she didn't dare touch anything. So she headed for the laundry room and washed her hands in the hopes that this would stave off the hygiene issue.

And then she headed home, wondering why the invite if you couldn't be there to organise and host the party yourself? She was in mid thought when she heard an almighty howl and the sound of sobbing.

Student: Why you Kyle? My bestest buddy in the world. Why?

Sophie wasn't quite sure how to handle this, since she personally didn't know this Kyle Shalom from Adam. Comforting this poor Sim might not be the best thing to do. Besides, at the rate he was going, she half expected him to lay prostrate with grief. But nope, he stood there quite firmly and sobbed his heart out until he couldn't cry any more.

With a sniff, and the wipe of his sleeve across his face, he straightened up and turned towards the stairs.

Student: I think I'll have a shower, change out of these clothes, since they're soaking wet.

And that's when Sophie remembered the fairy trap in the shower. She knew that there were several showers on the second floor, and she hoped that he'd choose one of those. She didn't want to hang around, just in case, so she headed to the kitchen area to clean up.

And that's when she heard the second howl!

Yep, he'd hit the shower with the trap in it, and his hair turned a sickly yellow.

Student: What the..... ? This can't be happening to me! 

Oh boy.

To avoid looking guilty, Sophie grabbed the nearest student and started playfully pestering her. The giggles were infectious.

Female Student: Hey guys, I'm making salad, want some?

That soon put paid to Sophie's harmless shenanigans, as she turned back to her full sized form.

Sophie: Did you like that?
Vampire Student: Meh, I guess.
Sophie: Will I be seeing you back at campus next semester?
Vampire Student: You're coming back?
Sophie: Yeah, I guess.
Vampire Student: Yeah, well, I dunno. We'll see.

It was getting late, very late. Sophie collapsed into bed at about 4am and slept soundly until well after midday. Throughout the dorm, there were shrieks of happiness as student after student opened their results letters and discovered that they'd passed.

Sophie wasn't so sure. She stared at the envelope for what seemed a long time before carefully tearing it open. Closing one eye in the hopes that the results would look better - she started reading. And frowned.
She got a C average. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't good either.

But then something else caught her eye. A small handwritten note on the bottom of the envelope.

It  was from Professor Wade Anthony. It simply said .... remember Question 6, ask your mother.

What the hell was that supposed to mean? There were so many questions that needed answering that she couldn't even remember what any of them were, let alone Question 6.

But she didn't have time to ponder, she needed to pack up her stuff and be ready for the moving van. She was heading home whether she liked it or not.

After saying her goodbyes, she floated to the end of the street to await the moving van and make her long journey back home.

The campus was beginning to look empty and quiet as many other students also made their way home too.

She hopped into the van and headed off home. To see her family..... and figure out what Question 6 was in the exam paper. And why it had something to do with her mother.

Sophie Learns About Her Auras

Sophie headed for bed, happy that she'd put her mother's mind at rest and pleased that she wasn't angry with her. She was surprised that she was the only one in the dorm. Everyone else had gone to the kegger party right across campus. So it was nice and quiet for her. She was sound asleep by the time they all arrived back at around about 3 maybe 4am!

The next day proved to be quite dramatic. She had a lecture to attend to, but by the time she arrived there, there was a congregation of students AND tutors outside the lecture hall. *

Sophie: What's going on?
Student: We don't really know, we've been told to stay here.
Sophie: But a couple of students have already gone in, look, I can see them from here.

Professor: Students! Pay attention. We have a serious problem here. One of our lecturers has been taken to hospital, seriously ill. We don't know for sure what is wrong with him and we are sorry for the inconvenience this has caused here and the short notice too.
Irate Student: Surely you could have posted a notice on the boards?
Professor: We only discovered him about half an hour ago, there wasn't time to let everyone know.
Irate Student: But what about our studies? What about those two inside?
Professor: There's nothing we can do about the studies, sorry, but we'll let those two students know what has happened.

Sophie sensed that there was going to be an uproar if she didn't do something. During her free time study periods, she'd been secretly reading up about the Fae and their powers. Since she was still fairly new to all of this, she had severely restricted magic. But the one that she had, was that of an aura of Soothing.

Acting quickly, she managed to diffuse what could have been a toxic, maybe even dangerous situation. Every body calmed down immediately and dispersed, grumbling only slightly.

Only one student appeared severely stressed out that she was considering hitting the bars for a few drinks!

It didn't help that a paparazzi had infiltrated the campus, disguised as a student, and was taking pics of everything! Sophie was so glad that she'd stayed waaay under the radar there!

Studying was fast taking it's toll on poor Sophie, and she found herself grabbing a quick siesta at the coffeeshop in between classes, just to recharge her batteries! The study packs were increasing at an alarming rate and she struggled to get anything done. Not only that, she was getting invites to parties galore. Parties that she couldn't possibly attend.

However, she managed to oversleep and after checking her watch, realised she was late for her next class. Thankfully she'd packed her Kenspa, and hopped on board.

One of her friends wanted to throw a bonfire party, but the sky was filling with thick dark clouds, so Sophie backed out. Instead, she called her mother to chat.

Sophie: Hey mom, thought I'd better check in, how's everyone?
Shannon: Missing you, believe it or not. It's too quiet here.
Sophie: Really? I find that hard to believe.
Shannon: Afraid so. So what have you been up to?
Sophie: Not a lot, got an art class tomorrow.

Shannon: That sounds nice.
Sophie: Yeah, well, I'm not so sure about that. It's being held outside, and the weather doesn't look favourable at all.
Shannon: Maybe they'll take it indoors if it gets too wet?
Sophie: Nu uh, I'm pretty sure they're adamant that it has GOT to be taken outdoors.
Shannon: Not cool.
Sophie: Nope.
Shannon: Soo, how's the partying going?
Sophie: Partying? What partying?
Shannon: Don't be coy Sophie, I've heard of all the keggers etc.
Sophie: Trust me mom, I'm too busy studying and sleeping to go partying.
Shannon: Aw that's a shame. Anyways I'd best go, Blaine's rusted up and shorted out ... again. I'd better go fix him.
Sophie: Okay. Laters mom!

She hung up the phone.

Sophie: Party indeed. I'm always too tired for those.

The rain continued to pour and Sophie suddenly realised that she forgot to pack her umbrella. So, whilst everyone else managed to keep dry, she was soaked through to the skin!

Back at the dorm, she couldn't help noticing that one of her dormies was looking a little sad and folorn. He also looked a little spaced out. So she decided to introduce herself.

Sophie: Hi, I'm Sophie
Dormie: I'm hungry.
Sophie: Hi, um ... Hungry, nice to meet you.

Shortly afterwards, he collapsed in a heap on the floor and started snoring. It was plainly obvious that juggling study time and partying, was taking it's toll on every student here.

It was late by the time Sophie went to bed, so she crashed out instead, taking a power nap. She needed to be focused for her class today.

Unbeknownst to her, a fellow student suddenly collapsed and died, right outside her dorm. She was so focused on getting to class that she failed to see him.

He was laid there for at least three hours until the Grim Reaper claimed his soul.

Sophie couldn't mourn because she hardly knew him. But she felt bad because she was always too busy to actually meet and greet a few of the students.

Sophie was especially smart. She didn't have time to grab a bite to eat, but managed to smuggle a tub of ice cream out of the dorm. She was sitting quietly eating it, when she was joined by a fellow student, who took out a book and started studying ... hard.

Desperate to get rid of the unnecessary guilt over the deceased student, Sophie decided to try another aura. Creativity. She was a little rusty. After all, casting these auras was pretty new to her.

The downside to maintaining these auras is the fact that they drain quite easily, leaving her feeling a bit queasy and sick. But she was happy that she'd managed to help that studious student along.

However, her mood quickly plummeted when she'd discovered that someone had been helping themselves to her wheatgerm shampoo and left the empty bottle in the shower. It wasn't a matter of the cost, it was pretty cheap and easy to buy. But the fact that someone had taken it without permission and used the whole lot without even attempting to replace it.

So, without further ado, she decided to try out a fairy trick, and booby trapped the shower.

Sophie: There, that'll teach them to steal my stuff!

Outside, the weather had dried up somewhat, and somebody was stoking up a bonfire. But Sophie was far too tired to join them. Tomorrow was Finals day. She needed to be fresh, alert and ready!

Editors Notes:

* Naturally, there's  a guaranteed bottleneck whenever the Sims go to class/lectures etc. preventing them from actually attending classes at all. And this was what had happened. So I had to write something to explain why hardly anybody was at class.

College - It's Not All Parties And Such

Sophie arrived at campus and was immediately blown away by the amount of progression that was going on. Never mind that her dormies were happily gathered around the table - family style - to chat about the weather and whatnot.

 There was one girl who was fiddling with a metal contraption and talking into a strange looking cone!

Sophie: Hi, sorry to stare ... but what's that?
Radio Hack: Hi, it's my radio. I'm a radio hack. I'm just trying to get a sig ... oh there it is! Sorry I'm a bit distracted, I like to broadcast events and whatnot when I've got the chance.
Sophie: You can do that?
Radio Hack: Sure I can.
Sophie: You don't need to post scrolls on the town hall walls for everyone to read?
Radio Hack: Er no.... where are you from, you sound positively medieval
Sophie: Yeah, you could say that.

There was a distinct squeal of feedback and the hack had to quickly adjust the frequency.

Radio Hack: Sorry, signal's a bit iffy around here. I'd better start broadcasting before I lose it completely. Nice to meet you, see you around campus maybe?
Sophie: Um, yeah, okay. See you.

And Sophie went a wandering, taking in everything that was going on. Never mind that her mother had travelled into the future and seen what could be. This? This is in the NOW. This could bring Dragon Valley slap bang up to date - provided the Elder Counsel would allow it. She was only too aware of their restrictive way of life. How they disapproved of practically everything new.

The only thing that Sophie did not approve of, was the fact that her fellow students/dormies, were a messy lot. But she guessed that this was the price she had to pay for living with a bunch of strangers for a year.

Plus, she also discovered that she was sharing her room with a vampire .... who SNORED! Yes, she herself was a Heavy Sleeper, but the rattling sound of that vampire fast asleep was enough to wake the whole neighbourhood!

Her own semester timetable was punishing. She'd fallen back so badly on her grades at school, that she really needed to slog hard to get that Fine Arts degree that she wanted - and prove that she's equal to .. or even better than ... her siblings. If she was to carry on this legacy, she REALLY needed to pull up her socks - figuratively speaking - and get cracking!

But first, she felt really out of place. Whilst everyone else ran around in loose casual clothing and what she herself called 'reckless hair'. Her 'schoolmarm' look was far too severe. And her purple fitted dress was far too old for her young figure.

So she went to the salon to have a complete restyle.

The severe bun went, and out came a really nice carefree hair, loosely tied into a plait at the back, but short enough so it wouldn't get into her eyes when she studied.

Make up was a little better, not too harsh and heavy, and it accentuated her eyes. She chose NOT to go down the contact lenses route. Maybe because she still had that medieval streak running through her and she believed that they'd roll to the back of her eyes and make her blind.

The outfit. She'd already purchased that in the store and had it tucked away in the chest of drawers. Now that was a little more risky. A short bolero jacket, cut off at the waist, revealing a rather sharp and toned midriff, with a strange leggings/shorts combo. Finished off with some rather dandy ankle boots. She was used to walking in heels anyways. These were just a little higher. Nothing she couldn't handle.

Now she felt ready for college, and what it had to offer.

Before class even started, she decided to sit quietly and sketch for a while. It was peaceful, the warm breeze tickled her hair as she concentrated on her work. It wasn't much, just a quick study sketch. She wasn't even sure if she wanted to keep it. But she did, she added it to her portfolio for future usage.

She went to class where she was also supplied with a textbook that she needed to study. So, after her sketching and drawing, she settled down to read. At least the weather was in her favour as the sun warmed the back of her neck, and the murmur of students passed to and fro as they went about their business.

But then her sweet tooth kicked in, and following the scent of the campus coffeeshop, she treated herself to a large slice of cake. Studying was making her feel hungry! But she really needed to watch those pennies, maybe get herself a part time job or something, just to keep her going through the semester. This slice of cake was her treat... for now.

Just as she was finishing off the last few bites and was ready to go, another student arrived at her table.

Student: Mind if I join you? I feel self conscious sitting on my own.
Sophie: Sure you can, but I'm just headed off to class. I'm sorry.
Student: Hey, that's okay. Maybe we could meet up at some point? Share study tips etc.?
Sophie: That sounds cool. But I'd better go, see you around.
Student: See you.

Sophie felt really guilty that she had to leave like that. But she wasn't kidding. Class was but an hour away and it was right across the other end of campus, so she had to do some serious travelling.

After class, Sophie decided to do the right thing ... and call home. After all, it had been a couple of days and she'd left with hardly a goodbye or even a note for that matter. She felt it was her duty to let her mom know that she was okay and unharmed. By this time, the heavens had opened and it was pouring down outside, at the same time, she was exhausted and needed some sleep. But her mom came first. Her hand shook as she dialled the number. She half expected - actually,  strike that - FULLY expected a right royal dressing down and her ear being chewed off.

Shannon: Hello?
Sophie: Mom?
Shannon: Sophie? Is that you?
Sophie: It is Mom, and I'm sorry.
Shannon: Where are you, we've been worried sick. No note, house empty. All I could get from Sonny Em was that you had gone.
Sophie: I'm at college. I ... I decided to go a little early, you know, get a feel for the place.
Shannon: Although that was a rather reckless and immature thing to do, at least you are safe. You have no idea how close I came to calling the police and reporting you as a missing person.

Sophie: I'm sorry Mom.

Shannon: Well, promise me you'll keep in touch.

Sophie: Yes Mom.
Shannon: So, what major did you pick?

Sophie: Fine Arts, do you approve?
Shannon: I't s a good one for you, and you don't need to ask for my approval here Sophie, you are of your own mind. You can do whatever you want and go wherever you wish to go.... which is college by the looks of things.

She finally hung up, feeling a great weight of guilt lifting from her shoulders. And strangely enough, not once did she even give Pat a second thought. She was here in college, and enjoying every minute of it!