Author’s Notes: I usually save the notes to the very end of the post/chapter but since it’s been such a hot minute since the main story of Forever in Time has received an update, I thought some catching up and a refresher was needed. I’m just sorry it took so long to publish a chapter. Between real life and major challenges with my Sims 3 game, updates were hard to come by. While we waited, I did write several things up so all I’d need to do was make some small changes as I saw fit while editing and provide the screenshots. In terms of screenshots, you may notice that they make look a little different. I never really used to do any kind of photo editing to them but have discovered that Canva is a total godsend for brightening up screenshots. They often turn out rather dark unless you amp up the lights and even then, a reshader could possibly be needed. Well, a reshader seems a bit complicated and can bork things up if you don’t know what you’re doing (believe me, I’ve had enough borking for a while LOL!). I’m no expert by any means, but putting them through Canva as needed seems to be getting me desirable results.

Now, onto the story refreshers. I’ll give a SPOILER ALERT in case you’re new and wander onto this post without having read prior chapters. This is just a general refresher/recap but still references major events that have gone and and are still happening. I suggest that you please go back to the beginning and read, as there is a lot occurring in this story.

Lenora – Still being held hostage by the Clayton brothers, Shane and Allen. Locked up in a cold, dark, and dank cell hasn’t done much for her health, and she became ill with pneumonia, homesickness, and heartache. Valerie was able to throw off Shane’s mind control and get help for her own ailment, then was able to bring Dr. Neil Hughes in to treat Lenora’s illness. Later on, Lenora received a special visit from the divine Alpha Wolf Pair, Drogo & Phaedra, who further helped her and promised that she was highly regarded and under their protection.

Tyrone – He realizes his wife is actually alive and is being held against her will, but something is interfering with their Bond, making Tyrone unable to sense her location and Lenora unable to guide Tyrone to her whereabouts. They’re able to connect but only for brief moments which exhaust Lenora almost beyond endurance. He has announced to his family that he wants “Lenora” exhumed (a clone of Lenora was created and buried while the real Lenora was stolen from the hospital morgue while still under the living death spell) and now knows that it’s not his wife’s remains in the grave. We’ll be hearing a bit more about this later on, but I’ll just say that in true soap opera fashion, there will be a snag or two before it actually happens.

Tyrone revealed to both sets of quads that Lenora was, indeed, alive but MIA. The Landgraab quads had their teen birthday (heh – I really should do a post about “Sim Time” because it’s probably a bit unclear just how long Lenora’s been in captivity) along with a family party. The day after, Aurora and Tyrone had a very touching and heartbreaking father/daughter bonding talk.

Aurora – After becoming a teenager, Aurora revealed to Tyrone that her powers were immensely growing day by day and that it sometimes scared her. There is a LOT that is going to be happening with Aurora, both good and not-so-pleasant (you’ll have to keep reading to find out), who is going to have quite an upcoming storyline.

The other quads will have quite a lot happening in their lives, too, and some storylines will be overlapping. Oh yes, what a tangled web this family weaves. LOL! Definitely never a dull moment with this family, but that’s part of what makes for a good story, right?

As you will soon see, this post takes place at High School. Yes, there’s a lot of family drama happening but life outside of that moves on, too. With our first set of quads now teenagers, I thought some High School drama would be a nice and realistic attribute to the story, although some of the events that’ll be happening in the future are supernatural in nature in keeping with the flavor of this story. You’ll notice there are new characters appearing starting in this post, and I’ll be featuring them in upcoming “Meet the Families” (Sims) posts. It’s not hard to figure out who goes where, so to speak, but it’s always nice (and helpful hopefully) to feature a new family, unit, or Sim in a post dedicated to them so background and backstory can be revealed.

Right, enough blabber! Without further adieu, here is what you came here for – the next chapter.

***Content Warning! Swearing and reference of sexual assault toward a teenager***

Aurora scowled at the test paper she’d just received from Mrs. Willis. There ought to be a law against putting people through such torture. Aurora’s Geometry class was the bane of her school existence, and Mrs. Willis just added more steam to the already boiling kettle that was Aurora’s patience. “Some of you did very well. Many others, however,” the teacher’s icy eyes raked over the class, landing on Aurora for a longer than necessary few seconds, “have failed miserably. I am simply appalled at this performance.”

If only a sinkhole would appear and swallow Aurora. She slumped in her seat, wishing she could make herself vanish. She’d never done so poorly in a class until this one, and it both embarrassed and pissed her off.

“Pssst! Aurora, what did you get?” mouthed her friend, Avery Benedict, who shared a table with Aurora.

“Fifty-two. You?” Aurora mouthed back, her index finger gingerly pushing the paper to Avery.

“Sixty-one,” Avery replied. “Guess we’re both gonna be in the shithouse.”

“And since some of you have so much time on your hands,” Mrs. Willis glared at the two girls, “you girls can have detention. I suggest you use that time to buckle down so that maybe, by some miracle, you won’t perform so dismally on your next test.”

Aurora had never disliked anyone as much as she disliked this bitter old woman, and the feeling appeared to be mutual. Mrs. Willis seemed to single her out especially, which baffled Aurora. She wasn’t the only one who struggled with this class, but Mrs. Willis treated her as though she was.

”

“I hate her!” Avery mutter-whispered when the battleax turned her back on them to write on the white board. “I ought to turn her into the toad she is.”

Aurora ducked her head and smothered a snicker behind her hand. If anyone would ever pull such a thing, it would certainly be Avery. She would be a loyal lifelong friend, but if someone found their way into the pages of her bad books, there was usually no turning back.

//Aurora, what was your grade?// came Chris’s telepathic message. He, too, was in the same class with his sister and her friend.

//Fifty-two. What about you?//

//”Seventy-six.//

//Well, at least you squeaked by. Barely, but you squeaked by.//

//Betcha Andrea and Jonas are faring much better in Mr. Bonner’s class. Lucky them. At least you and I can suffer together,// answered Chris. //You gonna text Da about your detention?//

//Guess I’d better once we’re outa this torture chamber,// communicated Aurora.

Avery snuck a sidelong glance at Aurora while Mrs. Willis continued to drone on and write on the board. Then, she passed a note to her under the desk that read, “What about Chris?” Avery hadn’t manifested the ability of telepathy but always seemed to know when her friend was sending mental messages.

Aurora discreetly and quickly wrote Chris’s grade on the note and handed it back to Avery. “At least we’re not the only idiots around here,” she whispered out of the corner of her mouth.

The two girls then fixed identical expressions of mock concentration on their faces and waited impatiently for the lunch bell to ring. When it did, they scuttled out the door before their nemesis could call them back to bitch at them further.

The two girls hurried to the cafeteria where they met up with Andrea and their other friend, Grace Kildare. “You two bomb out?” asked Grace sympathetically when she saw the sour looks on their faces.

“Epic F-bomb,” Aurora groused. “Ave and I are in the soup. Detention.”

“Ouch,” Andrea replied. “Glad I’m not in that old crone’s class. She’s a fucking menace.”

“And how,” Avery grumbled. “Man, I’d like to get drunk. You guys wanna come over after school and whoop it up before we get marched off to the gallows tomorrow? The folks won’t be home to babysit us. Let’s have a sleepover.”

“Okay,” said Andrea.

“Count me in,” Aurora replied, Grace agreeing as well.

“Any new developments on your mother?” Grace asked a few minutes later after a break of silent eating.

Andrea shook her head. “Still trying to get the exhumation order processed. Someone on the committee is balking. My grandmother is livid, and Da is wild. Fucking red tape.”

“No new visions either,” Aurora sighed. “It’s getting us all down.”

“I’m so sorry,” said Grace, her voice soft and concerned. “I think I’d need to be hauled away in a straightjacket if something happened to my mother. Except for my friends, she’s all I’ve got.”

“You’ll always have us,” said Aurora, smiling at her fairy friend.

“Damn straight,” Avery and Andrea chorused.

Gina Reynolds picked at the mound of break and mystery meat on her lunch tray and glanced around the cafeteria. She nodded and slightly smiled in the appropriate places as her friend Julie Duckworth chattered on and on about cheerleader trials, Prom, and whatever else crossed her mind. Julie was a shoe-in for cheerleader, and her steady boyfriend, Zach, would be taking her to Prom. Gina, however, didn’t yet have a date, and that irritated her. Her latest boy du jour had worn out his usefulness, so she’d recently dumped him. He was getting too clingy and possessive. She’d thought of keeping him around long enough so she wouldn’t have to attend the dance alone, but she simply couldn’t stand his shenanigans any longer.

Gina’s eyes landed on a table occupied by several boys who were laughing and talking animatedly. Two of them were the Landgraab brothers, and what handsome brothers they were! Chris was the more muscular of the two, and Gina fantasized about the workout they could do together in bed. However, it was Jonas who stirred her attention more. He was smart as well as good-looking…and rich. Jonas was the top candidate likely to be the class Valedictorian…and he was rich! Although Gina preferred muscles over brains, Jonas was who she needed at the moment. Her grades were in the shithole, and her father was constantly ragging on her about it. God, she was just so sick of it all and would have liked nothing better than to blow this damn town.

Next, her gaze moved to the table occupied by Aurora, Andrea, Avery, and Grace. Gina’s expression darkened, and she literally snarled at the four girls. She hated that stuck-up bitch Aurora. It was always Aurora who got the best parts in the plays the drama club put on and Aurora who got the best solos in musical productions. Not only was Aurora stuck up, but she totally creeped Gina out. There was just something weird about her. The way she looked at someone like she was trying to penetrate their soul was strange enough but her singing or rather, the way it entranced people, was even weirder. Gina always felt like she wanted to plug her ears before the girl even opened her mouth. Andrea and Avery were total bitches, and Grace was a total sickly sweet airhead. Gina just hoped she wouldn’t have to make nice with one or both sisters in order to lure Jonas to her web. If she could snag Jonas, she could use his talents to her own advantage and finally get what she wanted for a change instead of always being nagged at or overlooked.

“Earth to Gina! Come in, Gina.” Gina jumped when Julie’s voice brought her out of her reverie.

“Sorry,” Gina apologized, tearing her gaze away from the Wench Convention.

“Girl, you gotta quit brooding. What you need is a few drinks and a good lay. I’ll throw an impromptu party tomorrow night and invite the right peeps. You’ll get some action for sure.”

Gina smirked. “I won’t say no to that as long as you invite Jonas Landgraab.”

Julie arched an eyebrow. “What do you want with him? He’s not your type.”

“No, but he’s who I need right now. The rents are on my ass about my damn grades. They still think I’m gonna become some shyster legal beagle or sawbones but ballocks to that. I gotta get ’em all up to B’s or they’ll pull me out of the arts classes. If I can schmooze Jonas, I can eliminate that little issue. Plus, if I hook him, I might be able to get in good with his rich Daddy and get a good part in the ‘grown-up’ plays, which hopefully will get me discovered by some talent scout. I want to blow this stupid place before the rents fuck up my life even more.” An evil grin crossed Gina’s features. “I’ll pull it off. I just hope I can bypass having to suck up to the Snob Sisters.”

Julie snorted and shrugged. “Uh, well, good luck with that. You’ve got your work cut out for you.”

“I laugh in the face of challenge,” Gina said confidently. “That rich virgin boy won’t know what hit him.”

Julie tittered and looked over at the table where the boys sat. “How do you know he’s a virgin?”

Gina rolled her eyes and pinned Julie with a look of mild impatience. God, Julie could be dense sometimes, but Gina liked her nonetheless. “He’s too wholesome looking to be otherwise. Plus, that soft look in his eyes screams innocence. Honestly Jules, you need to learn how to read people.”

“If you say so,” Julie said, unfazed by her friend’s snappishness. Gina was just Gina, after all, and Julie was used to it by now. “So, how’re you gonna snag Mr. Bookworm?”

Gina smirked and winked at Julie, all traces of impatience gone. “I’ll appeal to his compassionate side. What guy can resist a damsel in distress?” Satisfied that she had a goal in sight and a plan beginning to formulate, Gina turned her full attention to her friend, noticing how tired and sad Julie looked. “Hey, woman, what’s going on? And where’s Zachy-pooh?” she asked. Zach and Julie were usually inseparable.

“My slut of a mother brought home one of her fuck buddies last night. They both were drunk as skunks. When Slut Mama passed out, Fuck Buddy decided he wanted to do me. He tried to grab me but tripped over the damn coffee table when I got myself out of his reach. I headed right over to Zach’s and spent the night there. He snuck me inside, and I left early this morning so we wouldn’t get busted. Oh, and he had to serve his in-school suspension today so he’s under lockdown.”

“Oh, shit, Jules! You should’ve reported him or at the very least, kicked him in the nuts,” Gina said, her face contorting into a moo of disgust. “She’s a piece of work, your mother.”

“Tell me something I don’t already know,” Julie grumbled. “I just have to put up with it for another year. Then, Zach and I are going to take off on his motorcycle, elope, and move as far from here as we can get. This town has gone to the dogs.”

“Tell me something I don’t already know,” Gina shot back, echoing her friend’s words. Then, both girls looked at each other and burst into fits of hilarity.

When the mirth quieted, the girls switched to the subject of Julie’s impromptu party. After coming up with a decent guest list, they began texting the details to their friends. Both girls high-fived when the positive responses started immediately rolling in. “Zach’s getting the booze,” Julie grinned. “We’re in business, but if you want Mr. Bookworm, you invite him yourself. I don’t have his digits.”

Gina grinned devilishly and covered her mouth as an uncontrollable giggle surfaced. “You just watch your girl in action. Virgin Boy is toast!”