Crazyrussiangal- You will be happy to know that their will be no saddens in this chapter. A bit of brooding on Sam's part. But nothing sad. I love these kids too their so fun to write.
Pretender Fanatic- Why thank you. I thought that it would be the way the Centre would treat Sammy since he kinda has the Parker name behind him not to mention that there were plenty of people who knew who his parents were.
Morgan- Here's the next chapter. Hope you like it.
Miss Dynamite- Not only will Mor meet this Pretender named Jarod. But Sammy will have the opportunity to work with him soon. This chapter and the two that follow it are going to be Jarod filled.
CHAPTER 13
NEW FRIENDS
August 27, 1967
8:16am
Blue Cove, Delaware
The Centre
Sammy had spent close to a month at the Parkers. It was one of the best months of his life. It was much like old time' he and Mor constantly together, driving Emma and Catherine insane with the tricks they played and the trouble that got into. Sammy began to follow the summer schedule that had been established for Mor. Each day from eleven to one they went to ballet classes. Sammy didn't mind the teasing he recived in ballet from all the girls, he had found himself enjoying the class. It was new and challenging two things that Sammy liked.
Afterwards Sammy and Mor would return home for lunch and then set off to piano. With in the first week of lessons Sammy was playing Mozart like a pro. Mrs. Wilkins -the piano instructor- wondered why she even bother teaching Sammy and Mor, for Mor was just as good if not better than Sammy.
The question on why if Mor was and actual pretender and Sammy wasn't, why did Sammy perform so much better than Mor on many things would be asked a few years down the road. The answer was quite simple; had Mor been trained like Sammy had over the past seven months she would have out striped Sammy's performance and maybe even have run a close second to the Centre's top pretender.
When Sammy returned to the Centre he spent his first week back under the care -if you could even call it that- of Dr. Raines. It was the worst week Sammy had ever spent at the Centre. If Sammy took too long to answer a question or if he answered it wrong Raines would hit him. Sammy's performance quickly plummeted. To make matters worse Raines tired to push Sammy farther than he was able to go. On Sammy's second day back Raines gave Sammy a picture of a man and some information on him. Raines then instructed Sammy to become that person. Sammy failed miserably. On top of it all Sammy was not allowed to see Mor or to be visited by Catherine.
Sammy might have stayed under Raines's care a bit longer but on his seventh day he passed out. The doctors classified it as a sever case of stress. The triumvirate steeped in and deiced to give Sammy to someone else who better understood the boy. Raines was outraged of course, but he quickly quieted when he was given a new boy named Timmy.
After a week of rest Edna Raines deemed Sammy fit enough to return to the lab. Sammy was then given a new mentor Melanie Bannerman. She was a young, semi-kind, slightly dumpy woman with black hair . She wore a pair of silver frame glasses and a lab coat over top of her dress. She did not offer Sammy as much praise as Jacob had and was slightly stricter. But she was a hell of a lot better than Raines.
Once Sammy had been at the Centre for a year, Melanie decided that Sammy was ready to preform Sims. How wrong she was.
Melanie started Sammy of on a rather easy simulation. He was to describe the emotions of a man who had been trapped under a steel pipe. Sammy tried as hard as he could to put his self in the man's shoes. Yet in the end he could only tell his mentor how he would feel if he had been trapped. Sammy's answer was wrong. For the next month Sammy was given many other Sims he was unable to preform any of them.
No one knew what to do with the boy. A meeting was then set up to decide Sammy's fate. It was acknowledged that unlike some of the other children at the Centre they could let Sammy go. But Sammy was still a valuable resource even if he could not preform SIMS. In the end it was decided that Sammy would stay at the Centre. Each day the Centre received contracts from various companies that needed answers to analytical questions. They were that type of questions that did not need a pretender. For the next eight years it was what Sammy did for the Centre.
October 7, 1969
2:39pm
Blue Cove, Delaware
The Centre
"Sammy, Sammy guess what!" Mor said running in to Sammy's room. Mor and Sammy were now nine. Though Mor was nine she was in her last year of middle school. She had been skipped two more grade levels and was in the eight grade. She had no friends save Sammy. At school she was shunned for being so bright. She was the top of her class and though she was four years a head of others her age she still found herself not challenged in class. She often thought of asking to be skipped another grade but the teasing was bad enough as it was. It would have been different if Sammy was with her, then she would have had someone at school to talk to, and could understand what she was going through first hand.
"Whatch ya want Mor?" Sammy asked turning from his work.
"Guess what I met a boy here. Daddy let me participate in one of those Sim thingies you do. His name is Jarod and he's our age."
"Oh," Sammy said quietly. He only half way listened as Mor went on about Jarod. And though he only heard half of what Mor was saying Sammy come to the conclusion he didn't like this Jarod. Mor was too excited about him never before had she shown such interest in another person. Most would assume that Sammy had a slight crush in Mor, but it wasn't true. For most of their lives it had been just the two of them and they both looked out for one another. Sammy was coming into the role of the protective brother and like many brothers he found himself in the position in which his sister had discovered boys. Sammy didn't like it. Also as Mor continued to talk about Jarod, Sammy felt the slight burn of jealousy. It had been along time since he had to share Mor's affections, and he really did not want to share her with another boy.
"So you wanna meet 'im?" Mor asked.
"I'm kinda busy right now Mor, maybe some other time." Sammy replied half heartedly.
"Oh okay. So what did you do today?"
"Same thing I did yesterday and the day before that, and the day before that. Problem solving." Sammy snapped at Mor. Mor stepped back from Sammy her eyes showing the hurt she felt.
"I'll go I see you're busy," She said curtly and left the room. Realizing what he did Sammy buried his face in his hands as he mentally scolded himself. He wanted to go after her but was afraid that she would blow up at him -if Mor had one thing it was a temper-. He would let what ever anger she was feeling blow over, letting Mor cool down would also give him time to figure out how to apologize. Groveling was usually best, an 'I'm sorry for being a massive idiot' card worked wonders too. Unable to focus on his work Sammy set himself to making an apology card for Mor.
October 10, 1969
5:19pm
Blue Cove, Delaware
The Centre
Mor didn't return to the Centre for three days. They were the three loneliest days of Sammy's life. When Mor finally did return she did not come directly to Sammy's room instead she went to visit Jarod. Sammy having over heard that Mor was in the building went in search of her.
He found her in one of the sim labs sitting next to a boy Sammy could only suppose was Jarod. They were sitting at a work table on which a plastic model of the human body sat. Jarod looked obviously nervous, Sammy supposed that the older boy was rarely around people besides his trainer. Sammy was unable to make out what the two were saying but his eye sight was in fine working order. It was all Sammy could do to not walk over and choke the older boy for kissing Mor. Well actually Mor kissed him and on some level Sammy knew that but as far as he was concerned no boy should be laying his lips on his sister.
Sammy walked back to his room brooding. Mor arrived a few moments latter. She found Sammy laying on his bed looking up at the ceiling that showed the planets elliptical orbit.
"Hi," Mor said cautiously as she walked over to Sammy. She sat at the foot of the bed.
"Hey," Sammy said sitting up. "That's for you." He said nodding towards his work table. Mor walked over to the table and picked up the card.
"Another one of your 'I'm sorry I was a jerk cards'?" She asked am mused.
"Yeah," He replied. "You like him don't you?"
"Jarod?"
"Yeah," Sammy answered.
"I guess I don't really know him all that well." Mor confessed.
"You knew him well enough to kiss him." Sammy said quietly.
"I knew you were there," Mor said smiling sadly as she shook her head.
"Is that why you kissed him because you knew I was there?" Sammy asked.
"Yes... No... I don't know Sammy." She said sitting down next to her 'brother' resting her head on his shoulder. "He's lonely Sammy. Did you know he's never seen a girl before? He has no friends, at least we have each other."
"You like him," Sammy stated, "I can tell. When you were talking about him the other day your face was all lit up. It's okay that you like him Mor. I'm not mad, a little jealous yes, but not mad."
"You can't always look after me Sammy," Mor told him "That's what your doing I can tell, you want to protect me from being hurt. But you can't always be my white knight."
"You want him to be your white knight?" Sammy teased. Mor hit him with a pillow. "Mor has a boyfriend. Mor has a boyfriend."
"Shut up." Mor said punching him in the shoulder giggling. The two then spent the next ten minutes having a tickling fight until they were out of breath. Mor collapsed on the bed next to Sammy her head resting on his chest.
"I don't have to like him do I?" Sammy asked joking.
"As long as your nice to him I don't care how you feel about him." Mor replied.
"Good. And Mor if he hurts you I promise I'll hurt him back twice as much. You're my sister even though weren't not related by blood it's my job to make sure no one hurts you. I promise you no one will ever hurt you." Sammy whispered his eyes darkening at the memory of his parents' bullet ridden corpses.
Mor could feel the tension in Sammy's body. She realized where his thoughts were going.
"I know you'll never let anything bad happen to me Sammy. I have faith that you wont." Mor reassured him. "Come on lets go to the greenhouse. I hear Sydney got a really neat plant in." Mor said knowing it would lift Sammy's sprits.
Up next Sammy works with Jarod on a project and Mor reveals a secret to Sammy.
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