Not an Update- My new plan

This is my last week before classes start up, and my deadline to September 2nd is getting pretty close. I've checked and, with the programs I need for school, I just don't have enough room on my SSD to have both Sims 3 and Sims 4. So I think this is what I'm going to do to make sure I finish this story. On my days off from work this week, I am going to marathon playing this family. I'll get all the pictures I need and will be able to continue to take time needed for writing future updates. So this probably will not be updated at all this week.

What to do about Jellybean

            “I just don’t trust it,” Dad mused. He piped up about not liking Jellybean whenever I hung out with my plushy friend.

“Not now, Daddy!” I muttered while Jellybean was distracted by a toy doughnut. “I’m sick of you saying that.”

“You’ve got to think about it, Narissa! Who gave life to that thing? The witch. Why would she do that? The woman hates our family, so it sure as hell wasn’t to be nice and give you a friend.”

“You know I’m here, right?”

“What’s your angle? Are you using that stuffed spawn to control my daughter? To twist her into doing whatever you want?”

“Daddy!”

The witch lady sighed. “Why is it so hard for you to believe that I felt bad? I didn’t want to burden a kid with this mess. If you hadn’t overdone it on the magic candy, then she wouldn’t have ever needed him.”

“She doesn’t need your toy.”

            “What’s wrong Issy? Is your family arguing again?”

“You know it,” I grumbled. Jellybean came over and squeezed me with a tight hug. It felt good and not just ‘cause he was so squishy.

“I think she does.”

            Jellybean and I hugged all the time. It’s just what we did as friends! But, every now and then, things would get kinda… weird. Like intense weird. Like, I’d start to notice how long he’d keep his hand on me after we pulled apart, and then I would silently try to keep it on me even longer. “Get your hands off that thing. You’re basically fondling the witch right now!”

“No I’m not!”

            I think Jellybean got that Daddy wasn’t pleased, because he stepped back from me faster than bills eating up an inheritance. “Let’s play on the seesaw,” he enthusiastically suggested.

            I was annoyed. Quiet enough so that Jellybean wouldn’t hear, I asked, “Why would you even say that?”

“Because it’s true. Just think about it. If she gave it life, which she did, then she must still be supplying it. It’s still a doll after all.”

“Magic doesn’t work that way,” I scoffed. Dad didn’t know anything.

“It sorta does. In this case. If it wasn’t for me, then the Jellybean as you know him wouldn’t be seesawing with you right now.”

“Ah-ha! So that’s how you’re going to control her, by threatening to take away that thing!”

The witch lady and I both groaned. After spending years hearing about her from my family, I no longer idolized her, but I realized she wasn’t the manipulative monster that they made her out to be. At least not all the time.

            Daddy and the witch lady went back and forth for a while. They didn’t involve me so much, so I tuned them out. At first, I was really irritated by Dad. The more I thought about it, the creepier everything felt. Jellybean smiled at me, and then I got stuck with the idea that maybe the witch made him do it. Maybe he wasn’t really real. Just, like, leftover responses from the witch.

            Thinking about freewill made me cringe and my arms got all bumpy. I abandoned Jellybean on the playground and ran off to the park to take my mind off of everything that seemed complicated and scary.

            I really wished that Daddy hadn’t gone prying into my friend’s life-force or whatever you’d call it. Why couldn’t the witch have just magically forced some stranger to be my friend? At least then they’d be a self-sustaining human. Everything Jellybean did started to creep me out.

            When we played pool, did he make the moves that the witch would have? I watched him carefully a couple of different rounds, and he totally just went for the same types of shots over and over again.

            All the weird ideas really bummed me out about our friendship. I didn’t even really like dancing with him anymore, and I love to dance!

            He totally started to pick up on my problems. I think they made him frustrated, because he started to lash out at me. Mostly by harmless heckling, but it was sorta annoying sometimes.

            I didn’t know what to do about Jellybean. The more I thought about it, the less like a friend he seemed. He might not have even been real, like a computer! Only a magic one. The witch lady tried to convince me that he was the same old Jellybean. I didn’t want the same old Jellybean if it was just an arm of her magic though! I wanted a real friend! The kind I thought he was.

            “Narissa Dear, I think I may know how to solve your problem.”

Not Home

            I started to not spend so much time at home. I still wasn’t going to school, but I’d leave like I was. Then I’d zoom over to the park with my strings and play until it was dark out. Being the heir meant that I was the only one who knew about our sitch. Bills were crazy high, but the simoleons Daddy left were not.

            I didn’t want to, like, upset anyone about something stupid like money though. I wasn’t going to go around my house selling stuff. They’d know, and I liked my stuff. Playing for tips in the park was such a great alternative. I got lots of practice and was getting my face out there!

            I kinda missed home though. And my brothers. Just a little. They got to enjoy my pad while I had to go earn it. That’s totally not how I felt, cause that’s bitter and I’m not a bitter person. Still, they could’ve at least done the dishes more or something! Just because I was an amazingly gifted genie didn’t mean that they should be slackers.

            Mom didn’t notice that I was gone all the time. Well, if she did, then she didn’t say anything. I really don’t think she knew though. She was too concerned about getting old.

            She spent soooo much time in front of the mirror, worrying about wrinkles. She looked totally fine though.

            Claudey was the only one of us she’d listen about whether or not she was ancient. They talked about it a lot. Actually, in the little bits of time I spent at the house, they were pretty much always together. Even in weird places. Like the bathroom.

            I asked Hans about why Mom liked Claudey so much better than the rest of us. He was too busy doing homework and working his musical geniusness to notice though.

            And James spent too much time chatting on the computer to have any dirt on what made Claudey so good.

            I worked waaaaay too hard for a teenager. Most of the time, I was super tired. So, I decided to get over being bugged by Mom liking Claude best. If they wanted to be besties, so be it. At least I had Hans. And Jellybean. And sometimes James.

            I needed to enjoy the little amount of time I had to hang around with my family.

Things to Do

            “Why are you doing this?”

“What? Fixing the tub?” I asked my grandma, grunting at the end because of a really stuck nut. “It’s ‘cause it’s broken and leaking all over the place and driving me crazy!”

“That is well and all, but why are you doing this during school hours? This will be the third day in a row that you have not attended classes.”

“Grandma, I’ve got way too much stuff to do to go to school! It’s really hard having so many people expecting so much stuff outta me. And besides, it’s not like I’m going to need school.”

“You will if you want a fulfilling career.”

“Nah, I want to be a rock star! Don’t need school for that.”

One of the ladies in my head scoffed, but I couldn’t tell which one.

“You could go to college and get a fine arts degree. People will take you more seriously with that.”

“Relax Grams! I totally know what I’m doing.”

            I had loved going to school. Trying to become more popular was like a really fun game, and it was kinda nice to flirt with people occasionally. Too bad I had to give it up. There really was too much stuff for me to do to waste time in classes. I had an easy way to get out of trouble with Mom too. I would just fix something up and she’d forgive me. And there was always something breaking!

            Hans and I wanted to start a band together, so practice ate up a lot of my time. He was technically better than me at guitar, but I sounded way cooler.

            Jellybean supported our ambitions.

            I had to practice on my own time too for my solo career and all. I was really going to become a rock star one day!

“Honey, you are no rockstar. You’re pure pop, just like me.”

“You were a singer Vienna?”

“And an actress and model. I was very famous in the city.”

“Wow—” I was going to ask her a question, but she went on a crazy rant about how great she used to be. I just ignored her in favor of my music.

            The witch wanted me to get more control over my genie powers. That was cool by me. I loved to be clean and the pink glow magically cleaning myself gave me was a cherry on top!

            And I was starting to be able to clean the whole house a lot faster and with more accuracy.

            One morning, I woke up super starved.

            And then it clicked right in my head! I pictured some delicious bouillabaisse and my hand started to get all hot and fuzzy.

            Ta-da! Food! “Take that James! I guess you’re not the best genie around.”

            “Fine Jellybean. I guess I can share some of my hard earned food with you.”

            There was other magic stuff that I had to work on too! Daddy still wanted me to overthrow the curse, and so he started having me look over his magic book. It was all so boring and hard to read!

            “What are you doing, Issy?” Jellybean asked while I was looking up some spells. “Researching curses again?”

“I think I could totally learn how to do this mood elevating thing!”

“Are you sure that is such a good idea? Your dad simply wanted you to see if that book had any answers for your family’s problem, not try to learn even more magic.”

            “Watch this!” I shouted, silently reciting exactly what the book had told me to do.

            It didn’t go so well though. “You should leave the witchcraft to the real witches. Those spells can be dangerous if done improperly.”

“Are you trying to say I can’t do it just cause I’m a genie? That’s bull!”

“Well, you’re only half genie technically.”

            The witch lady’s lack of faith made me practice the stupid spell over and over again. I kept getting in worse mood each time. It totally blew. Until it didn’t.

            When I finally got the dumb thing to work, it took away all the bad feelings from my failed attempts. “Ha, take that witchy!”

“That’s my daughter!”

            And there were even more things that people wanted from me. Vienna like it when I worked out.

            Cardio was soooo boring, but at least it made most of the voices happy. A fitter me would be a more attractive me, and I guess that might help break the curse? I wasn’t sure.  Whatever though.

            Sometimes after a workout, I liked to sneak a tasty jellybean.

            It was hard to get anything past people living in your head. They’d all shout at me and I’d have to totally ignore them. I didn’t care if my dad died from eating one. That wasn’t going to happen to me.

The Family Band in and out of Practice

            Hans practiced the piano a lot. His passion for it made Mom interested in playing again. Those two were always filling the downstairs with pretty music. Pretty, but boring.

            I thought some new instruments would definitely liven the show up.

            I tried out the totes cute guitar first. And then I didn’t have to try anything else. It was like magic in my hands, only magic that I could learn way easier! My inner rocker diva was let out!

            Jellybean danced while I practiced playing mixed with some light singing. I knew my voice totally sucked, but it was still fun to hear some words set to my awesome strings.

            Mom couldn’t pass up the opportunity to jam. And I thought for sure Hans would want the boring bass. James surprised me by grabbing it.

            It was obvious that I needed to buy some more instruments! Even Claudey got on board the family band.

            Mom, Hans, and me were the true stars of it. We sounded the best and practiced together more than everyone else.

            I mean, Claudey just didn’t have the right personality to wield the strings. Not like me.

            It was soooo much fun when we were all jamming together though! It might not have sounded as good, but it still made Jellybean dance. And it was pretty much the only time that we all got along.

            Not everything was rad at home. Every day James would get a little more angry about Jellybean. “For Watcher’s sake Sis, I had a toy too! I know how fun it can be to pretend that your doll walks and talks, but Jellybean isn’t real! It’s not healthy for you to keep acting like he’s your friend.”

            “She’s not going to change,” Hans said like I wasn’t even there. “Mom said that our family carries some insanity. Haven’t you heard her talking to other people aside from Jellybean?”

“Yeah, it just sucks. I wish she wasn’t stuck being crazy, like Claude.”

They were so annoying sometimes!

            And boring! They both thought they were too old to go trick-or-treating, so I went by myself.

            My costume was way cuter than like ninety-nine percent of the other ones I saw that night!

            And I got so much candy!

            So so so much candy!

            I stopped by one house and the guy introduced himself after giving me a softball and some candy. “Hey, you’re one of Francis’ kids, aren’t you? I’m Brady, we used to work together.”

“Yeah, he’s my Dad.”

“Oh man, I am so sorry for your loss. If you ever need to hear some stories about him, I’ve got a lot. You should come by sometime.”

“Uh, I guess I could. Maybe.”

“And you should bring that cute little costume too.” He gave me a weird smile.

“I will kill that piece of scum!” Daddy roared. “Get out of here, Narissa. He was a terrible criminal. Never stole a single thing.”

            I got home too excited to go to bed. I found Mom and asked her if she could teach me how to drive. I would look so much cooler taking my own car to school!

            “Sure, what could be a worse idea than taking a teenager driving for the first time at night?”

            Mom picked out Dad’s favorite car. “Don’t you put a scratch on that beauty.” Daddy warned.

“That might be even nicer than the car I learned how to drive in.”

The car was super fast and I got the hang of the gas pedal right away.

            We drove past the bad criminal’s place and he was outside hitting on his wife or something. What a creep!

            By the time I had to leave for school, Mom deemed me able to drive by myself! She said it was crazy that I learned so fast!

            “Jellybean! I got my license!”

“Have you been up since yesterday morning? Are you sure you should be going to school? How will you be able to drive safely?”

I popped a piece of candy in my mouth. “It’s cool Jellybean. I’ve got a secret weapon.”

            There were plenty of options to pick from.

            But there was only one real choice for my set of wheels!