(A/N) Hello and welcome to my first ever fanfiction for The Sims series!

I'm aware that this franchise is pretty niche to write for, at least from my understanding, and the idea I decided to plan on paper and turn into a story is niche, too. Not everyone is into stories that follow the teens, and that's understandable, but I enjoy them personally and so I tore this idea out of my head and got to work.

This story began production on the 6th of March 2021, so not an awfully long time ago. I have four chapters pre-written so far, so there shouldn't be too many large gaps between updates. The original idea was to begin publishing the story once I'd gotten all of the chapters for the "Introduction Arc" finished, which spans about seven chapters. It serves to slowly introduce this story's version of the characters, the world, and the eventual conflict. However, I'm not feeling 100% right now and so I thought I'll just release chapter one just to test the waters a bit.

I'm not expecting a lot of feedback honestly, but I just wanted to feel like I did something productive today. At the time of typing out this section, it's 4pm and I still haven't tied my hair back due to struggling with dizziness. And I was supposed to do work for Uni today, too...

You'll notice some differences for certain things, which I will address for the author's note at the end. So before you think that I've gotten certain backstories wrong, just hang on until the end.

Also, for those that read my other stories, the release of this story doesn't mean that "We're in Hell" is discontinued. That story has been a passion project for seven years now, so I'm definitely going to see it through to the end. However, I don't have an interest in returning to "Paint it, Red" right now, so this story has taken its place in the update schedule in my head.

Right, with nothing to say at moment, I'll just let you read this... thing.

Disclaimer: If it isn't obvious, I don't own The Sims series, it'd be cool if I did, but I don't. The trademark is property of Maxis and the money hungry Electronic Arts.

The cover image was made by me, since I realised I had the resources to make one for this story.


Chapter 1: A New Day

Fire. It was a destructive element, capable of producing, not only heat, but pain and tragedy.

This was one of those unfortunate scenarios.

In a quiet, suburban neighbourhood, one of many houses was in the process of being engulfed by hungry flames. The cause was a mystery to the neighbours and although they were mildly curious, it was the least of their worries. What concerned them were the two remaining residents inside: a young boy and his mother.

While the neighbours and the man of the house were anxiously waiting for the firefighters to make a move, the young boy was running around within the burning building, tears streaming down his chubby cheeks as he called for his mother.

"Mummy! Mummy, where are you?!"

He was panicking, as any young child would in a situation such as this one. His dark blue eyes were stinging, ash dotted his dark skin and got in his black hair, and his throat was dry and itchy, making his voice hoarse. The young boy was tired, he could not think.

A loud crash made him jump in place, bringing him near to breaking down again.

"I'm scared!"

His cries went unheard, as the temperature increased further.

He stood in place, taking in the crackling sounds the fire was making and watching the embers float to the ceiling. Everything was burning; the dining room table, the couch, his bed, his toys…

Closing his eyes to try and take away the sting, he felt tears begin to form again. However, before he could even let out a whimper, he heard a scream. His mother's scream.

Without thinking, he bolted to find the source of the sound. This led him to his father's newly built art studio, reduced to ashes. Stood in the midst of it all was his mother, who was writhing in agony on the ground, voice too broken to scream anymore. Through the pain, she locked eyes with her son and was just about able to croak the words:

"This is your fault, Dirk…"

Tears escaped her eyes, before the light left them.


Dirk bolted upright with a gasp, breathing heavily as he wiped the sweat off his forehead. His heart was beating against his ribcage, while his brain was in the process of getting its bearings.

He was sat by the small dining room table after he had fallen asleep in the middle of completing his homework, which now lay on the table with a combination of sweat, drool, and tears absorbed into it. Fortunately, it was not enough to render the homework too damp to finish.

Looking up from the table, he sighed in relief to see his living space intact. He knew that what he experienced was merely a nightmare, however it never hurt to be reassured that what had taken place in his mind was not real.

He stood briefly to peek in the back garden. It was still quite late at night, judging by how dark it was, however he could still make out his mother's grave. What she had said to him in that nightmare still echoed faintly in his mind. He had no idea why his brain was conjuring this twisted dream, or even where it was getting the fuel from; his mother loved him and would never have blamed him for something that was not his fault, especially if it were something as traumatic as a housefire.

Sitting back down, he idly looked up to eye the clock hanging above the computer; it was half-past three in the morning, later than he had expected it to be. With it being as late as it was, he briefly thought that he ought to be getting himself to bed, however with him still recovering from that nightmare, he glanced down at his homework instead.

There were not that many questions left, so he thought he would finish them to unwind before heading to bed.


The school train departed from the Pleasantview Train Station a few hours after Dirk's nightmare recovery. As a result, he hardly gained enough sleep, making him feel exhausted and under the weather.

When he thought about it, he could have just called in sick and given himself some TLC, however, if he wanted to have a pristine reputation at school with good grades and a 100% attendance score, then he had to go in. Besides, he also had a maths test during second lesson and there was no way in the world he was missing that.

So, he woke up, drank some orange juice, shoved some toast in his mouth, and bolted for the train station. He got there early, like he often did. The train did not take too long to show itself and as soon as it arrived, he hopped on and stayed seated in his usual spot by the window.

This had been two hours ago, as the school journey was agonisingly long. One school where teenagers from three different neighbourhoods attended, each being one hour apart. The train stopped at Pleasantview first, then Veronaville, then Strangetown, and lastly Sim City High School, the place where they went on this long journey for.

Veronaville had been the last stop, so Strangetown was the next, which Dirk was excited for as most of his friends came from there, excluding one.

This one friend from his hometown was called Lilith, a girl he had known since his childhood. They were close, that much so that they began going steady shortly after entering high school. The Strangetown section of the friendship circle, which consisted of three sims, he had only known since the start of high school, which had nearly been five years.

While he waited for the next stop, he quietly watched the scenery outside of the window, which was not the most visually stimulating when one considered where their next stop was. Sand, rocks, and the occasional cactus could be seen and even though these were basic in nature, Dirk thought it was nice to just watch blankly for a little while, unthinking. He was still feeling somewhat tense from that nightmare, as proven by the iron tight grip he had on his school bag.

"Dirk?"

The boy almost jumped out of his seat when he was addressed. He turned to see Lilith, her ginger hair with its usual barrette tying some of it back, dark makeup on her lips and around her eyes, and a choker fastened around her neck. She was goth. If he was going to be honest with himself, Dirk thought she was going through some sort of phase, but did not question it. He did like how the dark eyeliner made her green eyes pop, though.

Noticing that he was staring at her blankly, she waved a hand in front of his face. "Are you okay?" she asked after she was sure that he was back to Earth.

Dirk blinked slowly, before nodding. "Yeah, I just didn't have the best night's sleep."

Lilith's brows creased with concern. "Did you have that nightmare again?"

He was not surprised that she was able to predict that, it was not like he was the most complex book to read.

In response, he gave her a sheepish smile, rubbing the back of his neck. "How did you guess?"

Before she could respond, the train stopped followed by an announcement over the speaker.

"The train for the School Route has just stopped at the Strangetown Train Station. Please, be patient while the students board."

With that, the train doors were heard opening followed by a voice that the pair were happy to hear.

"Ripp, answer your phone. Phi and I have just boarded the train. You're going to be late," the voice, who they knew was their friend, Johnny, paused to sigh. "…again."

Lilith glanced at Dirk with a humoured smirk, as two out of their three friends came into view.

The one who was getting off the phone was Johnny, an alien-sim hybrid who looked normal if one ignored his green skin. Unlike other hybrids, who had entirely black eyes, he had the human green eyes of his mother, which Dirk found fascinating. What he did not find fascinating was the boy's hairstyle; blonde hair that was parted to the right, which started chin length and gradually became shorter… Lilith liked it, but he did not get it.

The other was a dark-skinned beauty called Ophelia Nigmos, who was interesting to Dirk in the sense that she lived with a rumoured serial killer, which also worried him at the same time. She also had green eyes, making the boy feel like the odd one out, and blonde hair styled into corn-rows. She was going steady with Johnny.

It was kind of like a date train the more Dirk thought about it.

The couple took their usual seats in front of the Pleasantview teens, Ophelia sitting by the window in front of Dirk, while Johnny took the seat beside her, sighing in exasperation as he threw his phone into his blue backpack.

This got a chuckle out of Lilith. "What's he done now?"

"He just…" he looked up and stared at the ceiling, thinking of the right words to say. Giving up, he sighed, yet again. "Ripp's just being Ripp."

"Figures."

"Are you doing okay, Dirk?" Ophelia suddenly asked, startling him slightly as he had not long entered his own little world again. "You look awful," she added.

"Wow, Ophelia, you sure know how to boost a man's self-esteem," he chuckled, prompting the girl to cover her mouth with a gasp.

"I'm so sorry!"

"No worries, I'd imagine I'd look tired…"

"That nightmare again?" Johnny asked, sympathetically.

Dirk nodded.

"What nightmare?" asked a voice that sounded quite like Lilith's, except it was softer.

Turning to look at the source of the voice, Dirk could see his girlfriend's older, twin sister, Angela. The girls were identical with subtle differences, namely Angela having slightly thicker eyebrows and choosing to wear lighter makeup and girly clothes in contrast to her sister's darker and gothic getup. Her hair was styled the same as Lilith's and she wore a simple, green floral sundress with tan flip-flops.

She had her arms folded while she waited for an answer, which wound up being the one she was not looking for.

"It's none of your business!" Lilith snapped, folding her arms in a slight huff, turning away from her sister.

Angela rolled her eyes, before having them settle on Dirk. "If it's a recurring nightmare, maybe there's something in your life you need to come to terms with."

"What do you want?" the younger twin groaned.

"Mum got our lunches mixed up again," the eldest explained, opening her schoolbag to get out a ham and cheese sandwich. "I must have gotten yours, since I asked for tuna and cucumber."

Lilith raised an eyebrow and opened her schoolbag, wrinkling her nose as soon as she got to her lunch. "Take it."

The girls silently exchanged sandwiches, before Angela left to take her own seat.

"Bitch…" Lilith whispered under her breath, shoving her sandwich into her bag.

"How?" Ophelia asked in response. "She only asked for her lunch."

"She's nosy!"

The train announcer interrupted their conversation.

"Attention! We are about to set off for Sim City High School. We hope that you have a comfortable journey."

At this, Dirk perked up for the first time that morning. "I can't wait for period two today."

"Maths?" Johnny asked with a smile, getting a nod from Dirk. His smile widened when the realisation hit him. "Oh yeah, we have a test today!"

Lilith and Ophelia were confused by the enthusiasm surrounding a maths test, but just sat there and let the pair have their geek moment.

"I know and it gets better!" Dirk stated, failing to hold his excitement. "It's algebraic equations!"

"Yeah!" The pair high-fived, earning them a groan from Lilith.

"You're both nerds!"

With that, the group laughed, making Dirk forget about that nightmare for a little while.


Sim City High School was an ambitious project conceived by the founder of the Dognatchi technique, Cyd Roseland, and funded by the Landgraabs, much like everything else in Simnation. Why a dog trainer wanted to run a high school confused Dirk to an extent, though it was explainable. Anyone was capable of altering their course in life at any time, so it was possible that Cyd was simply tired of being a dog trainer and instead wanted to impart his knowledge to students. What could not be explained was the greedy and cruel Landgraab's willingness to aid this dream.

No one could complain about it as there were none to be had. The school looked great. It stood tall, having many rooms to accommodate the many students and had a cream colour, giving it a clean look. There was a long and wide stone path leading in with green grass beside it.

The sight never failed to amaze Dirk as he approached with his friends, who were silent while Johnny got his phone out again.

"Ripp, it's me again," he said, causing Lilith to stifle her laughter as if she knew what was coming. Dirk and Ophelia just smiled and shook their heads, finding the ginger's amusement a welcome change in attitude. "We're outside of the school now. You're late."

The girl continued to giggle to herself, while the blonde put his phone away, shaking his head. Gesturing for the others to follow, Lilith led the way to the grass, sitting down with a small smile and a brief stretch of her arms. Dirk could not help but smile at the sight, as he sat across from her.

"We have ten minutes to kill," she yawned, touching the spikes on her bracelet.

Ophelia cringed in response. "Please, don't say it like that..."

The red head's eyes widened for a split second, as she looked up to meet her friend's unnerved gaze. "Sorry, Phi," she began, crawling up to the blonde and patting her shoulder. "How are things with your aunt anyway?"

"She's been acting more suspicious than usual."

"How so?" Dirk asked suddenly, as he watched Lilith give the girl personal space.

She looked down at the ground, taking a deep breath. "She's been growing weird plants and sharpening more sticks lately..."

"I thought she did that in her spare time, anyway?" Johnny asked, having recently tuned into the conversation after zipping his bag shut.

"Yeah, but I don't know..." she looked up again, rubbing her arms. "The atmosphere just feels more tense around the house, so I have a bad feeling... I think she might be up to something."

Johnny wrapped his arm around her, pulling her into a side-hug. "Don't worry, if you're worried about anything happening to you just remember that we have your back."

Dirk could only nod. He was aware of Ophelia's anxiety towards her aunt and has even heard some nasty rumours about her himself. She has a graveyard in front of her house filled with the graves of service sims, unrelated civilians, late husbands, and even her own family. Some called her a 'black widow,' others called her a 'cold-blooded murderer,' and there were even some who believed that she was simply a graveyard keeper. Regardless, the very mention of her aunt, or even simple words that involved death, deeply disturbed his friend. He did not know if it was the rumours that scared her or if she knew something that no one else did.

A hand in front of his face brought him out of his musings. It was Lilith, who looked worried. "You zoned out, again," she said.

"I did," he nodded. However this did not erase the concerned looks his friends were giving him. "I was just thinking," he added.

"About?" Johnny asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Ophelia's aunt," he replied honestly, getting an odd look from the girl mentioned. "Like Johnny said, if things go awry, you have us."

The reply got a small smile out of her. "Thanks," she said.

Before any more words could be exchanged, a ringing sound could be heard coming from Johnny's bag. With a look of mild perplexion on his face, he pulled away from his girlfriend and opened his bag, getting his phone out and looking at the screen. He sighed before pressing the device against his ear.

"Oh, so you are alive?" He asked, his tone of voice being a blend of sarcasm and annoyance.

Lilith covered her mouth in a vain attempt to hide her laughter, while Dirk looked at her in confusion. He never understood why the girl found these lectures funny, however it could be because of how goofy they were in nature. Glancing at Ophelia, he saw her just looking on in curiosity, much like himself.

The half-alien shook his head. "Is saying 'sorry' going to get you to school? No, it isn't," he paused, then sighed as he looked up at the school building. "It's not too late, the last morning train is in fifteen minutes," there was another pause, followed by furrowed eyebrows. "You have legs, you can run!"

At that, Lilith erupted into a fit of laughter just as the school bell rang. Dirk stood to make a start on getting to registration, the rest of the group following while the phone call continued.

"Form is about to start now, so I have to go," Johnny stated hurriedly. "If you leave now, you should be here by the end of first period," he paused and nodded, making a sound of agreement. "Right, see you then."

With that, he hung up the phone and placed it back in his bag.

"Was he skipping?" Dirk asked, as he held the door open for his friends.

Johnny shook his head. "Nope, he overslept," he sighed. "...again."

"You'd think that with his Dad being the General of Strangetown's Military, he'd be up by now," Lilith stated, as they made their way up a set of stairs.

"Doesn't his Dad leave early?" Ophelia asked, getting a nod from Johnny.

"Yup," he said, as they neared their destination.

"Why doesn't his older brother wake him up?" Dirk asked, as they entered the Form room and took their seats at their usual table.

This got a scoff from the blonde boy. "His brother's an asshole, so he wouldn't do that."

"Heard that, freak!" A voice yelled in response, prompting Johnny to shake his head.

"See what I mean?"

Dirk simply nodded.


English was far from being one of Dirk's favoured subjects, but he still managed to get the higher grades. He just did not consider the stories they taught all that interesting and he also felt that he lacked the imagination to create a decent story himself. Fortunately, he shared the class with Johnny and the absent Ripp, who both possessed a greater creative flair than himself, making it fun and useful to bounce ideas off of them.

The lesson was only fifteen minutes in and the class had their eyes glued to the front, as they watched Mr. Long write their assigned task on the whiteboard.

"For this lesson," he began, turning to face the class. "I want you all to analyse this passage from 'Of Rats and Sims' where - " he was interrupted when the classroom door slammed open.

Everyone turned their heads to see a panting, dishevelled Ripp, gripping the doorframe like his life depended on it. His brown hair that reached just above his shoulders looked windblown, instead of its usual straight and silky appearance, while his dark grey polo shirt had half of its collar standing up. A smudge of dirt was noticeable on his pale cheek and a fresh cut was visible on his elbow.

Dirk figured he ran through a hedge or something.

"Sorry, I - !"

"Not interested," Mr. Long interrupted calmly, raising his hand to silence the, still breathless, boy. "Get out, tidy yourself up, and knock."

With a small sigh, the brunette shut the door while the class giggled amongst themselves. Dirk found this to be a rather childish display, but that was just high school in general. From the corner of his eye, he could see Johnny shaking his head, before resting his head on the palm of his hand. He either found this just as tiresome, or he simply wanted to get on with the lesson.

The laughing stopped as soon as Mr. Long gave the whole class a cold glare, which allowed the teacher to hear a knock at the door.

"Yes?" He asked in a neutral tone.

The door opened slowly, revealing Ripp, who looked more presentable than before. He stood by the door rubbing at his cheek with one of his fingers, most likely trying to get the dirt off with his saliva. The thought made Dirk shiver in disgust.

Mr. Long folded his arms. "What do you say?"

"Sorry I'm late, Mr. Long," he said simply, entering the room and shutting the door behind him. He attempted to take his seat, but was halted by the teacher.

"And why were you late?"

Ripp coughed into his hand and gave a sheepish smile, his dark blue eyes finding something on the floor more interesting than the current lecture. "Well, the traffic... was bad..." He looked up to see Mr. Long with a piercing glare directed at him and visibly flinched. "Okay, fine!" He held his hands up in surrender. "I overslept."

"Good," the teacher nodded and turned to walk back to his whiteboard. "Fifteen minute detention after school."

"Fair enough," the brunette sighed, as he took his seat across from Johnny and Dirk. The class never took their eyes off him, but he was not bothered by it. "Sorry about the missed calls, John," he said with small grin, placing his red backpack under the table.

Johnny stared at him with raised eyebrows, his mouth a line, as he pointed to the front of the classroom. Ripp appeared confused briefly, before his face lit up.

"Oh..." he smiled, as he faced the front to see Mr. Long stood with his arms folded.

"I'll continue now."


"I got none of that," Ripp yawned, as they left the classroom and entered the crowded corridor.

Dirk hated it when it was crowded, there was barely any space to breathe, but it was understandable. Some students were either rushing to their next class, the bathroom, or stood in the middle of the corridor chatting away to their friends; the latter of which being the most annoying, next to the students that kick cans around. Fortunately, none of the latter were about that day, so fellow students were spared from bumps on their foreheads and black eyes.

"If you arrived on time, then maybe you would have gotten what was going on," Johnny replied.

Dirk nodded in agreement. "What time did you go to bed last night?" He asked.

The brunette placed a finger on his chin. "Not too late... like, midnight or something like that."

"What were you doing?" The blonde folded his arms with a knowing smirk. "Let me guess, you were watching that stupid zombie movie."

"How'd you know there was a zombie movie on, John?" Ripp grinned widely, pointing accusingly at the half-alien. "Unless, you were watching it!"

Johnny held up his hands defensively with a chuckle. "Hey, at least I was up on time."

Ripp laughed, then stopped as soon as he looked at Dirk.

The boy knew what was coming as soon as the pale boy's expression went from a grin to a frown. He did not have time to blink before the other boy placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Anyway, what's wrong, Dirk?" He asked softly. "Not feeling well?"

There it was. The third person that day who showed concern about how exhausted he looked. Did he look that bad?

"I'm fine," Dirk replied with a small smile, gently shrugging Ripp's hand away. "Just had a bad night."

"It's that dream again, yeah?"

The boy sighed. "Yes."

Ripp gave him a sympathetic smile, pulling him into a side-hug, much to the other's slight discomfort. "You really need to talk to someone about that."

From the corner of his eye, the black haired boy could see Johnny nodding his head with a worried look. He had to try and lighten the mood, steer the topic into a different direction.

Dirk chuckled, pulling away. "And you really need to talk to someone about your sleeping schedule."

"You can't talk!"

The three laughed as they continued on their way to second lesson, Maths. When they got in front of the classroom door, Ripp began giggling to himself, much to his friends' confusion.

Johnny was the first to voice his curiosity. "What's tickling you?"

The brunette shook his head. "Doesn't matter, it's bad."

"Enlighten us," Dirk said.

"Okay, so your last name's 'Dreamer,' right?"

"Yeah?" He nodded in mild confusion.

"So, I was just thinking for a guy with 'Dreamer' in his name, you sure have nightmares a lot," he explained, his smile dropping as soon as he said it out loud, being replaced by a look of guilt.

Dirk did not take it personally, but the brunette did not know that. Even Johnny gave him a wide-eyed look.

The raven haired boy shrugged. "I guess... for a guy with 'Grunt' in his name, you sure don't..." he paused. He did not know where he was going with this, so he just finished the sentence. "...grunt."

It was quiet between the three for a split second, before Ripp hummed.

"Well, that depends..." he winked with a grin.

"Let's do this maths test," Johnny said hurriedly, pointing to the clock hung on the corridor wall.

Realising that they were going to be late, they entered the classroom.


It was break time, a period of time when students were allowed to go outside and blow off some steam, have conversations with their friends, or even get a snack in before the next round of lessons began.

Lilith was sat on a bench in the school's courtyard, enjoying the fresh air on her own while she waited for her friends to show themselves. Her eyes were fixated on the door they would eventually exit meet her, as her thoughts had a wander in her mind.

She found the idea of her, Lilith Pleasant, waiting for her friends to join her something that would never happen in a million years; the girl hated large groups and was more than happy to just hang out with only Dirk for the rest of her life. However, things changed when Dirk met two boys in his English lesson and introduced them to her, while at the same time, those boys brought a girl with them that neither she nor Dirk had met before. If anyone had told her that they were going to be her friendship circle from then on, she would have laughed in their face, but would have been glad to discover down the line that they were right. She would never admit it out loud, but they bring a warmth to her life that her family were never willing to provide.

Speaking of her family, she began to internally groan when she could make out a splash of green getting closer from the corner of her eye. It could have been anyone, but the red hair made the figure definitely be known as her sister. There was another crimson haired girl behind her wearing a blue top and a light purple skirt, who Lilith immediately recognised as the Capp heiress, Juliette.

Rolling her eyes, she turned towards the pair. "What?"

Angela folded her arms, a look of exasperation on her face. "I got a call from mum, she wants us home straight after school tonight."

"Why?"

"I don't know," the older twin shrugged. "She said it was serious... she sounded upset."

"Cool," Lilith waved her away dismissively, causing her sister to walk away in a sulk. Juliette had not moved, as she was stood folding her arms with a stern expression.

"Was that necessary?" She eventually asked in a naturally soft-spoken voice that Lilith could only describe as 'fancy,' or 'posh.' She raised a brow while the heiress continued. "She did nothing for you to act so cold to her."

"You should see her at home," was her simple reply, which prompted Juliette to shake her head and walk away, most likely to try and catch up with Angela.

Lilith sighed, before someone sat next to her on the bench and the scent of toast filled her nostrils.

"Was that your sister?" Ophelia asked, as she offered the red-head a couple slices of toast she picked up from the canteen.

Lilith nodded, as she took a bite.

"If you don't mind me asking, what did she want?"

"To tell me that Mary-Sue wants me home ASAP after school."

They sat in silence for a short time, before the blonde spoke again.

"Did she tell you why?"

"Nope!" Lilith shook her head, as she finished her slice and threw the crust in a nearby bin. "And I don't care."

"Hey, ladies!" They heard a familiar voice call to them, making them snap their heads to the direction it was coming from.

The source of the voice was who they expected it to be, Ripp waving with a goofy smile on his face. Behind him, were Dirk and Johnny, who were smiling and shaking their heads. Lilith could not help but smile at the positive energy they were radiating.

"When did you get in then, sleeping beauty?" She asked, as the brunette sat himself on the ground.

"Umm..." he glanced at Johnny, who had began looking through his bag, and then, Dirk, who was wearing a small smile. "...first lesson," he finally answered, combing a hand through his hair. "Mr. Long wasn't happy."

"If looks could kill..." Johnny shook his head, as he opened a bottle of water.

"Eh," Ripp shrugged. "The General would've killed me by now if that were the case."

"True..."

"Do you guys want some toast?" Ophelia asked, pointing to the full box beside her. "There's plenty."

"Sure!" Ripp beamed, leaping for the box and grabbing a few slices. "I skipped breakfast, so I'm starving."

"I wonder why?" Lilith asked sarcastically, as the group laughed and shared toast.


School had to come to an end eventually, and fortunately for those who did not express much of an interest in it, it did. Everyone was excitedly leaving the school grounds, whether it was at a leisurely pace to talk to friends, or frantically running just in case they missed the train.

Dirk and his group of friends were walking at their own pace, enjoying each other's company before they inevitably had to split for the rest of the day. That was if none of them made plans, which they always did. Dirk had other things to do after school, so he would have to turn them down gently. With how quiet it was, he did not think he would have to. That was before the most talkative of the friendship circle spoke up.

Ripp yawned with a stretch of his arms, a carefree smile on his face as he enjoyed the warm, afternoon weather. "What's the plan, then?" he asked, prompting his friends to look at him and think.

"Well, I have football tonight, so I have to be getting home," Johnny replied, his expression unreadable, but if Dirk had to guess, he would say that it was a mix of excitement and dread. A strange conflict in emotions.

Lilith spoke up next, folding her arms with a scowl. "Apparently, I have a 'family meeting,' or some shit," her expression softened into a dejected one. "So, it's straight home for me, too."

The group continued to walk in silence, until Dirk decided to make everyone privy to what he was doing after school. "I have to look for work, since my Dad won't," he yawned, wrapping a comforting arm around Lilith and planting a kiss on her cheek. "So, I could do with getting home, I'm sorry, babe."

"It's okay," the red head smiled, leaning a little into the hug.

"I have no problem with walking you home," Ripp said with a shrug. "I'm in no rush."

Ophelia looked at the brunette in slight confusion. "I thought you had work tonight?" She stated, earning a chuckle from the boy.

"Not for another two hours," he grinned, as they walked further away from the school.

It was silent until Johnny broke it.

"Ripp?" He asked, a small smirk on his face as he paused mid-step, making everyone stop in curiosity.

"Yes, Johnny?" Ripp replied, the grin not leaving his face.

"Don't you have a fifteen minute detention with Mr. Long right now?"

At that statement, the brunette's face dropped. "Oh, shit!" he cursed, as he turned around and ran back into the school grounds.

This earned a laugh from Lilith. "Unbelievable."

"I'll wait for him," Ophelia said, looking back at the building. "So he's not on his own."

Johnny nodded, as he approached her. "Okay, I'll call you tonight," he told her, pecking her on the lips, before they parted ways.


The train journey home was an unusually quiet one. Johnny was glued to his phone for the first fifteen minutes, probably texting Ophelia to keep her some sort of company. For the remaining forty-five minutes, the blonde silently did his homework, while Lilith was looking out of the window, dreading what was waiting for her when she got home. Any attempt on Dirk's end to initiate a conversation, resulted in nods and 'hmms.'

After the journey was over, Dirk went straight home, hugging Lilith before he left.

Entering his house, the boy saw that all the lights were on, despite it still being light outside. He sighed and hung his bag by the front door, before calling to his Dad.

"Dad! I'm home!"

He waited and got no reply. Knowing fully well what he would be doing, he went upstairs to the art studio to find his Dad sound asleep on the couch. Looking around, he saw an unfinished painting of a sunflower on the easel, next to a hung finished one of Cassandra Goth.

Shaking his head, Dirk went downstairs to boil some spaghetti and turn his computer on to begin job hunting.


And that was the end of the first chapter. I don't think it's anything special so far, but I hope you enjoyed it regardless.

Okay, as promised, a list of canon deviations!

▪ In The Sims 2, if one looks through the Dreamer family album and the Dreamer's memories, it can visibly be seen that Darleen died when Dirk was a teenager. However, in this story, I made him a child, because I honestly forgot how old he was at the time of writing. Dirk is an elder in the year old hood that I play and I haven't seen these memories in a while. After saying that, just know that this story isn't based on events that happened in my game and it's entirely from my head. I still kept him as a child after finding out my mistake, because it felt more dramatic... I don't know.

▪ Not "canon divergence" per se, but you may have noticed that despite The Sims series being based on America, at least I'll assume anyway, the characters in this story talk like British people. That's because I'm British and didn't want to give myself a headache going through what's American and what's British. It was the only way I could think of to avoid whiplash and cringe for readers that may notice words like "Mom" become "Mum" randomly, because the latter is the correct spelling where I live. I also didn't want to feel like I was spelling wrong and was hating the red underlines Microsoft Word was giving me. So to make this easier, this is sort of like a British AU. It could be fun and trust me, even I find it weird.

▪ Again, not canon divergence, but I'm aware that the school system makes zero sense. Like, how would it take an hour to get from a grassy area to a hot desert? We'll just attitude it to sims logic, okay. It's the only way I could wrap my head around them all going to one school.

I can't think of anything else right now. If I think of something I'll include it in the starting author's note next chapter. Also if you have any questions, I can answer them too.

I'm not sure when the next update will be, but since the next three chapters are finished, it shouldn't be more than a month. We'll see.

Improvements are appreciated, please tell me what I did right, wrong and how I can improve. If you would like, you could also favourite and follow this fic, as well as suggest areas of improvement, which I guess is the same as the first sentence. R&R and thanks for reading!