Entry One: The Real World

Sammie took in a big breath of fresh air. The bus had dropped her off at the town square. She had spent the summer abroad volunteering to help curb the human trafficking problems in Les Champs Sims. She got to spend a lot of time in the famous red light district, which was both exhilarating and terrifying at the same time. She met a lot of very interesting people, from all walks of life. She made a lot of connections and she found networking to be much simpler than she imagined it would be, most likely due to her charismatic trait. 

She enjoyed her time abroad immensely, but now all that was over. It was time for her to enter “The Real World”, whatever that meant. She had just graduated from University in May and it was time for her to get a job. While she was in school, she did several internships: she was a Filing Clerk, Podium Polisher, and even a Ballot Counter. Her lifetime wish was to become Leader of the Free World, so entering the political career seemed like the logical choice, though she wasn’t sure. She also loved education and enjoyed helping others learn. She let that thought drift away for now, even though she knew it would return to the forefront of her mind continuously until she managed to get a job.

The more pressing matter was where on Earth she was going to live! She hadn’t been to Twinbrook in years! She was born and raised in Sunset Valley and went to University in a small town north of Riverview. When she was younger, her mother would take her to Twinbrook to see the annual fireworks display, something they were very well-known for. Some would say it was the best in the entire simverse. At the very least, it was nice to be away from the crowded streets of Champs Les Sims.

Sammie had no idea where she was going to settle down. She put a lot of thought into it. She knew she didn’t want to go back to Sunset Valley, since moving in with her mother again wasn’t an option for her, plus she didn’t want to live in a place where she was already defined by her upbringing. Riverview was so flooded with people looking for employment; she felt she would never get a good start. She briefly considered Bridgeport, but big city life wasn’t really for her. She didn’t have the option to move to Barnacle Bay, so logically all that was left was Twinbrook. Although it was known as not being the best place to live in the world, and seemed to generate some repugnant townies, it was a calm suburb with plenty of jobs available. This was her very first time on her own. She never truly had to support herself before.

She still had a few thousand simoleans from graduation money and other various savings. She knew it would not go far when she started to have to pay rent and bills of her own. If she couldn't find a place to stay right away, she could stay in a motel for a few days while she looked for a place. All she had on her was her luggage from France. It was really all she needed for now.

She knew the library was only two blocks away. Her plan was to use the computers to find housing in the area. She was crushed when she got there and it was closed for renovations! She couldn’t believe it; the sign said it would be closed until the end of the week! She couldn’t think of any other way to procure housing. For the first time in her adventure, she felt very apprehensive about this whole thing. How was she going to find a place to live, let alone a job? The stress was getting to her, so she decided to clear her head and figure out what her next step would be. 

 She wandered down to the riverbank and started to reminisce about her summer. She stayed with a host family, the Morel’s. There was Edith, who was a very advanced nectar maker and her husband Gerard, who was one of the best photographers in Champs Les Sims and last, but not least, there was their teenage son Pascal, who was an up and coming musician. Pascal had also been studying under his mother’s nectar making since he was a young child. He helped her mass produce the family’s secret recipe. They lived in an adorable house called “The Ginkgo House” on East Southbank Boulevard. It had an unusual layout, but it was charming nonetheless. They made up a small guest bedroom for her and she ate with them at the family table. After living there for four months, Sammie really felt like a part of the family. When it came time for her to leave, she offered to host them any time they wanted to visit Twinbrook. 

Sammie didn’t know how long she was immersed in thought. Before she knew it, it was starting to get dark out. She and her mother used to stay in this small motel a few blocks from the town square. She was pretty sure she could find her way there. When she got there, it was a bit cheesier than she remembered, with a bunch of bright neon signs. 

She realized there were not many rooms and was hoping there would be a vacancy. She was in luck! One room was open. The front desk manager handed her the key. He seemed friendly enough; he told her to let him know if she needed anything. She laid down in her hotel room trying to relax and figure out her situation. Before she knew it, she was fast asleep. 

Her goal the next day was to find a computer. Even without the library, there had to be someplace in town with a computer. Sammie decided to talk to the Front Desk manager to see if maybe the hotel had one she could use somewhere. He informed her that although he did not have a computer for her to use, the whole town knew that the firefighters at the Fire Department all took a lunch break together from noon to one. That was not the time to start a fire in town. There was a computer there that she would be able to use while they were away. She felt kind of funny walking into the empty Fire Department, but she also felt a bit desperate at this point. She sat down at the computer and started browsing the internet. She couldn’t believe it: there was not a single real estate listing anywhere in town! She found dozens for Bridgeport and a few for Sunset Valley, but absolutely nothing for Twinbrook. Sammie was so disheartened. 

She decided to try and look up jobs, when she heard it. There was some type of sound coming from the other room. It sounded like someone was crying. Since the building was supposed to be abandoned for another twenty minutes, Sammie decided to investigate. The sound was coming from the restroom. Sammie peeked in through one of the windows built into the door. She saw a young girl crying. She stepped back and hesitated for the moment. It didn’t look like she was in any grave danger and Sammie was afraid if she asked her what was wrong, she might be ashamed or humiliated. But Sammie decided to try and help anyway, she backed away from the door and called out “Is everything okay in there?” The crying came to an instant halt and there was no response at first. Sammie stepped a bit closer and heard sniffling.

 “GO AWAY” yelled the crying girl. So Sammie did just that. She had no idea what she was going to do now. How could there be absolutely no housing? Maybe starting over completely was a bad idea. Sammie noticed her stomach was starting to growl and decided to head over to Brunton's Boxcar Diner to grab something to eat.

As she approached the diner, she noticed a grown women swinging on the swing set without any children around.  She made a mental note that this seemed strange, but didn’t put too much thought into it until she got closer. The women jumped off the swing set and ran towards her, giving her a big hug! Sammie was completely in shock. “Sammie! It’s so good to see you again! Are you here visiting Orange?” said the woman in a very uniquely raspy voice that sounded very familiar. 

The name Orange got her attention and Sammie responded “Orange…Do you mean Orange Plumbob?

She answered, “Why of course silly, who else would I be talking about! How have you been since graduation and what on Earth brings you to Twinbrook if you’re not visiting Orange?”

That’s when Sammie figured it out. It was RJ, one of her “friends” from college. She used the term “friend” loosely for a few reasons: mainly because RJ never really got along with Orange, who was one of Sammie’s good friends, but also because everyone suspected she was a bit insane. They decided to go inside to have a bite to eat and catch up. Sammie explained her story and she learned that RJ was from Twinbrook and living with her friend Julia from high school. As they were getting ready to leave, a question came to mind. “You mentioned Orange earlier, is she staying here?”

“Yeah, she joined the Pheasant Hollow Co-Op over on Puddlewick,” responded RJ. Then, she gave Sammie another big hug and went home.  Sammie hadn’t really talked to Orange in over a year. They were good friends while they were in school, but senior year, Orange moved off campus to live with her boyfriend. After that, things weren’t really the same, Orange stopped going to campus events and they would only see each other occasionally between classes. Sammie checked her cell phone to see if she still had Orange number. She decided to give her a call and let her know she was in town. Orange seemed really excited to see Sammie again and they decided to meet up at Sammie’s motel room. 

Orange was Sammie’s first roommate at college. They actually made good roommates and became fast friends. They spent quite a bit of time together the first few years. They shared the same core group of friends and they were in similar extracurricular activities. Things changed a little bit Junior year, though. Orange got herself into a pretty bad relationship with a boy named Meat. Sammie thought they originally bonded over their unique names. Sammie and Meat never really seemed to get along, and although she was hesitant to call it abusive at first, Sammie never liked the way Meat treated Orange. He seemed to try and control her and take her away from her friends.

When Orange walked through that door, it was like nothing changed. They sat and talked for hours, catching up on each other’s respective lives. Sammie always remembered Orange being so easy to talk to. Right after graduation, Orange landed a great job as a Lab Tech at the Twinbrook Science Facility. She told Sammie she decided to move to Twinbrook to start over, since she had to get away from Meat. Orange even went as far to tell Sammie she wished she listened to her warnings way back in the beginning. It seemed like Orange had more to share, but was holding back. Sammie didn’t pry. She knew that Orange would open up in her own time. 

They realized it was already after midnight and Orange had to be at work in the morning. She was getting ready to step out, when she turned to Sammie and said, “Why don’t you come live with us? I have a pretty large room; it wouldn’t be too much trouble to add an extra bed. Plus, the rent’s really cheap.”

Sammie’s jaw almost dropped “Yes,” she blurted out elatedly. If this worked out, all her biggest problem would be solved. “I mean, that would be perfect! Thank you so much for offering,” she responded once she regained her composure.

“Don’t get too excited yet,” she said after seeing Sammie’s reaction. “I have to talk it over with all the girls and get permission from the house mother. I’ll talk to everyone tomorrow and give you a call when I know more.” They hugged and Orange headed home.

It took Sammie awhile to fall asleep that night. She was thinking about the possibility of living with Orange again and reminiscing about all the fun times they had together in college. She felt comforted by the fact she was no longer alone in this new town and she already knew two people, one of which was already a very good friend. She didn’t even remember dozing off; she woke up suddenly still half dreaming about a something to do with a simbot marrying a vampire. Her phone was ringing. She tried to answer it as fast as she could. “Hello?” Sammie managed to groggily mumble.

“Good morning! I didn’t wake you, did I?” said the enthusiastic sounding Orange.

“Don’t worry about it. What’s up?” Sammie said, more coherently this time.

“Pack your things and check out of that motel! Everyone agreed and it looks like you’re moving in with us! I took the day off work to show you around! Get over here as soon as you can. It’s a short distance from your motel; just cross over the bridge on Westlake and we are the first house on the left past the empty lot. The address is 26 Puddlewick Drive.”

Sammie couldn’t believe it! She was so excited that things had worked out! She was looking forward to living with Orange again, although she was hoping their room would be in better taste than their dorm room. Yesterday, when Orange was talking about her life in the Co-Op house, she mentioned she lived with four other young women, all of whom had finished their college educations within the last few years and were just starting out on their careers. She even mentioned there used to be a large garden, which fell into disrepair over the years. Nonetheless, Sammie was excited to garden again.

She checked out of the motel and headed to the Co-op. She was a bit taken back when she got there. The house looked like it was once a beautiful colonial home, but it had obviously fallen into disrepair. The landscaping, which looked like it was once the envy of the neighborhood, was now overrun with brambles and buckhorns.  Parts of the foundation of the entryway were completely missing. The paint was old and chipping, but it looked like the barn may have been painted recently, although whoever did it may have been intoxicated. 

Sammie didn’t even have to knock on the door. As soon as she neared the front of the house, Orange came out and said “Sammie, you made it! I’m so glad you are staying with us! Watch your step those boards are a little loose.” As soon as she got up the stairs Orange gave her a big hug! “I’m so excited to show you around! Everyone’s home, so I can introduce you to them!”  Sammie was a tad nervous, but over all very excited to meet her new housemates.

Orange opened the door and they walked inside. As soon as they walked in, there was a wall erected in the middle of the entrance way. Orange could tell Sammie looked slightly baffled and said “Well this is probably the best place to start. These are the house rules:”

“Always Recycle”

“Clean up after yourself, and keep your rooms presentable”

“It is against fire code to place anything obstructive in the hall ways”

“Vibrating beds are prohibited”

“Turn all stereos in the house off by midnight, does not include the barn"

“If you are having a guest spend the night in the house, you must first clear it with the house leader”

“If you are a vampire, you may not hunt while on house property”

“If you are a pyromaniac, you must not set things on fire in the house”

“If you are an inventor, you may not blow up anything inside the house, and your simbot may not live in the house with you.”

“It’s pretty simple stuff. The rules apply to everyone, including guests. You could get in a lot of trouble if you or your guest breaks rules, including being thrown out of the house. Anyway, I think I’ll show you around a bit down here and then we will work our way from the top down.”

Orange moved around the awkward wall into the right archway. “So this floor is the common space, you’re free to come down here and use anything, but be warned if you leave anything down here it’s fair game for the other housemates.”

Orange noticed the bewildered expression on Sammie’s face and said, “Ah yeah the furniture. This house was once the Knapp Estate, a very prominent Twinbrook family. This house was once very elegantly furnished, and they did leave a few things, but the rest of it is furniture the people who have lived here throughout the years have brought with them and left behind. It’s rather eclectic! Wait until you see the dining room! Let’s head that way now, so you can see what I’m talking about!” Orange giggled as she crossed the hallway and stepped into the dining room.   

As soon as she saw it, Sammie couldn’t help but laugh out loud. Every single chair at the table was different! One was even a beach chair! “We get by with what we’ve got; it works for us” Orange said as she moved out into the kitchen. This was certainly the most normal looking room Sammie had seen yet. “What we try to do is have each member of the house cook a group serving for everyone at least once a week. Try to be out of the house on nights when Styx is cooking. It's usually somewhere in the horrifying to bad quality range. On the other hand, Emma is a real natural cook; her meals are always exquisite. If you ever need to impress anyone, bring them over when she’s cooking and they’ll feel like they are at the Bistro. She’s always able to kick it up a notch. Oh and by the way, any food in the fridge is up for grabs. Part of our rent is allocated towards groceries. This is a good enough time to take you outside”

“I’m really excited about the garden” said Sammie.

“Well umm… don’t get your hopes too high unless you are willing to put a lot of work into clean up” Orange said as they stepped out onto the patio. Sammie’s eyes bugged out when she realized the garden was completely covered in junk. “You’re free to use it if you can get it cleaned up, but I’d stay away from the pool if I where you.” The pool was green! It looked like no one had tended to it in years. “The only person I’ve seen brave (sarcastic tone) enough to use it was RJ. Just to let you know, Julia will bring RJ with her from time to time, so you’ll see them both wondering around the house.” Sammie was starting to get a bit confused by all the names, and was looking forward to having faces to put with them. 

“Alright, that’s pretty much everything on this floor. Really the only other common rooms in the house are the bathrooms and the laundry room. I think it’s time I brought you up to meet Cheyanne,” Orange said as they started to head up stairs. She continued, “I can’t wait until you see her room. She turned the loft up in the attic into her bedroom and she basically made it into her own art studio. It looks fantastic! Cheyanne is the house leader, but we all refer to her as the house mother. She is always looking out for us and best of all, she is always willing to lend an ear if you ever need to talk with someone. I’ve spent many hours talking with her, cuddled up in her unbelievably comfy chairs. She gives amazing advice.”

The first thing Sammie noticed as they started to ascend the last staircase was there were absolutely no doors. Cheyanne’s room was completely open and once you climb the stairs, you were standing in the middle of her bedroom.  When they got to the top, Sammie noticed a young woman sitting at a computer desk furiously typing away.

“Hey Chey, I brought the new girl up to see you,” Orange said

“Oh thanks sweetie, just give me one minute to finish this though” said Cheyanne.

“Cheyanne is a very talented author, she even has a few books published already,” Orange said in a more hushed tone

“Alrightly then ladies, thank you for being so patient. I just don’t like to leave a sentence unfinished. So you must be Sammie,” Cheyanne said as she approached her with open arms. Cheyanne gave Sammie a big hug and said, “Welcome to our home. We are a very tightknit bunch her at Pheasant Hollow. So did Orange here explain all the rules to you?” Before Sammie could answer, Orange nodded and Cheyanne continued, “That’s good. Do you have any questions about the rules or anything about the house?”

“No, none at the moment,” Sammie responded.

“Okie dokie. If you ever have a question or if you just need to talk, my nonexistent door is always open. Well then, I should probably let Orange get back to her tour. All the girls are going to be home tonight and everyone’s going to get together in the barn. You should join us, it will be a great way to get to know everyone. I know Cait invited Julia, so RJ might be there as well.”

“Come on, Sammie, I’ll go introduce you to Emma.” Sammie followed Orange downstairs. Orange stood in front of the door on the right and said “This is Emma’s room. Emma is a really sweet girl. She can be a little shy at first, but once she gets to know you, she is an incredibly loyal friend.” Orange knocked on the door.

“Come in,” responded a voice from behind the door.

Orange opened the door and said, “Hey Emma! I brought the new girl here to meet you.” Sammie could see a girl curled up in a chair in front of the fireplace reading a book. She put the book down, stood up and turned towards them. As soon as Sammie saw her face, she knew it was the girl she saw crying in the restroom yesterday.

“Hi, it’s nice to meet you Sammie. I’m Emma, how do you do?” said Emma

Before Sammie could respond, Orange asked “Emma, are you going to join us in the barn tonight?”

“Yeah, I’ll be there,” said Emma.

“Great! Alright, hun, I think I’m going to go ahead and introduce Sammie to Cait. We’ll see you tonight!” said Orange.

“See you both later,” Emma said while she waved goodbye. 

Sammie couldn’t help but wonder if Emma realized she was the person in the firehouse yesterday. For a moment, she began to ponder exactly why this girl would be crying in such a public location, but before her thoughts got too detailed; she tried to make herself focus on the tour instead. Orange had walked across the hall and opened the door on the left. It lead to a narrow corridor with two doors, one directly in front of them and one at the end.

Orange pointed at the door at the end and said, “That’s our room. I’ll take you there in a moment, but first I’d like to introduce you to Cait. She is a friendly person, especially once you get to know her. You’ll see her around the house a lot; she loves to lounge around. She even found us the TV in the living room downstairs. Cait is in a relationship with Julia; you’ll get to meet her later tonight. Julia’s pretty smart and she’s also very musically inclined. Actually, her and Skip are in a band together,” Orange said as she knocked on Cait’s door.

“Who is it?” called a voice behind the door.

“It’s Orange, open up. I’m bringing the new girl around to meet everyone.” There was silence for a second and then Sammie could hear someone walking towards the door and the sounds of a locking mechanism unlatching. A woman opened the door. “Hey Styx, I would like you to meet our new housemate Sammie.” Orange said.

Styx extended her hand to offer Sammie a handshake. As they were shaking, Styx said “Hey, nice to meet you, I’m Cait, but you can go ahead and call me Styx. So what brings you to Twinbrook?”

Styx and Sammie started hitting it off. They spent a few minutes chatting and getting to know each other, until Orange interrupted and said “It’s so nice to see you ladies getting along, but I think I’m going to steal Sammie away and finish off the rest of the tour if that’s amenable to both of you.”

“Yeah that’s a good idea, well glad you joined us Sammie. We’ve really got something of a great big family going on here. I’m sure you’ll fit in just fine. I will see both of you tonight in the barn,” Styx responded.

“See you later” said Orange as she started walking towards their room. Sammie followed quickly, excited to see her new room. The majority of the room was orange, but of course it was. It was Orange’s room and orange is Orange’s favorite color. Orange pointed at the little bed in the corner and said, “We set that up for you for now. Feel free to upgrade it later on. You can move in whatever furniture you want, just ask me if it’s something huge. I also put up that barrier for you, in case I have a guest over.” Sammie had seemed to have forgotten that little detail about Orange. You see, Orange was a bit of a flirt. While they were in college, she used to have many different male “guests” spend the night. Sammie could see that leading to a problem in the future, but let the thought slip away.

“Here, go ahead and put your stuff down, but you don’t have to unpack just yet. I’ll show you around up here, and then take you down to meet Skip. After that, you will have officially met everyone in the house.” Sammie took her luggage out of her inventory and placed it next to her bed. “Our bathroom is right here,” Orange said as she walked through the door, “and if you keep going, you’ll get to the laundry room. I know it’s strange that the laundry room is up here and in such an awkward location; it didn’t always use to be this way. When I first got here, it was downstairs, but Skip decided she was going to remodel the entire basement and didn’t want everyone coming down there to do their laundry. So she single-handedly moved and installed the washer and dryer up here.”

“Alright, let’s go down and meet her,” Orange said as she started walking downstairs. “I guess I’ll warn you a little bit about Skip before we get there. I don’t really know her that well; none of us do. She stays in the basement most of the time. She has her own entranceway to the basement, so she seldom uses the front door. Also, she holds these meetings down there. She calls it her vegetarian club. We all just kind of try to let them be.  There’s a lot of rumors circulating about her. I’m sure it won’t take you long to hear some of them, but it’s pretty clear she has some sort of troubling past. I just try and stay out of her way.”

When they got to the basement, Sammie took note of the structure. All that was visible was a small corridor with one door on the right at the bottom of the steps and one door in the back at the end of the corridor. Sammie estimated the basement actually had to be significantly larger behind these walls. Orange walked to the door at the end of the corridor and knocked. There was no response. Orange tried again and knocked harder. “SKIP!” she yelled out.  That’s when they heard movement on the other side of the door. It took about a minute longer for the door to open, but it sounded like she was fumbling with a very intricate locking mechanism, or multiple locking mechanisms. When the door finally opened, Sammie was terrified of what she saw. There was some type of malevolent statue and a crazy looking door with all kinds of gears on the right. It looked like the wall to her bedroom was completely made of glass and Sammie could see inside enough to see a purple peace sign pattern on the wall. 

“What do you want?” asked Skip

“Skip, I’m introducing everyone to the new girl, Sammie.”

“Cheyanne’s already making me go out to the barn tonight, I can meet her then. I’m a little busy at the moment: I’m in the middle of a meeting.”

“A meeting?” asked Orange, “I didn’t see half a dozen Twizy’s in the driveway.”

Skip sighed, “Do I have to explain everything to you? It’s a virtual meeting. We are conducting business with our counterparts in Champs Les Sims today. I don’t have time for this now. Hi new girl. Look, I met her. Now I’m going to get back to more important things” Skip said as she closed the door on them, there were many metal locking sounds after the door was closed.

“Where does that door go?” Sammie asked, referring to the door with the gears inside Skips area, but Orange thought she was talking about the door near the stairs. She pointed towards the wrong door and said, “Oh that door over there? That’s actually an old public restroom. Way back when this house still belonged to the Knacks, Julienne Knack’s daughter started a soup kitchen for all the homeless sims in her basement. That’s also why there is a separate entrance to the basement. I’ve actually used the restrooms down here a few times when the upstairs ones were all occupied.”

“Well, that was fun. You’ve got a little more than an hour before we’re all supposed to meet up in the barn. Feel free to use the time to get ready and unpack a little. I’m going to head down to the store to pick up some party supplies.”

Sammie decided to go upstairs and take a shower. While she was relaxing in the warm water, she was sure she heard some kind of banging sound coming from her room. She wondered if Orange had come back. Sammie finished her shower, dried off, and went back into her room. To her dismay, the contents of her suitcase had been spilled all over the floor and it looked like it had been rummaged though. Sammie was a bit concerned. She rifled through it and it didn’t look like anything was missing. She still had some time before she needed to head down to the barn, so she decided to unpack a little. 

The first thing she pulled out was her favorite comforter. This thing had traveled with her across the world. She always used it! It was dark blue and covered with stars and moons. After making her bed, Sammie put away her clothes in the dresser. The next thing she did was put the new books she bought while abroad into the bookcase. She held the last book in her hand, “Avant-Garde Literature for the Masses”. Something looked like it was sticking out from the side. She pulled out a slip of paper, which read, “Soon, you will learn the truth.” It was written in an eerie way to mimic dripping blood, or at least she was really hoping it wasn’t real. The strangest part was the note seemed to have a time and date stamp on it for precisely 38 minutes ago, when Sammie was still in the shower. Sammie tried to shrug it off, thinking it must have been stuck there accidentally when it was in Champs Les Sims. Still, it managed to creep Sammie out.

She felt very accomplished with how much she was able to get done unpacking in such a short period of time.  She reached into her suitcase and pulled out the photograph of her with her host family. It made her smile! She really felt connected with those people and longed for the day they would be together again. She was planning on writing them a letter as soon as she found a job to update them on her life back in Twinbrook. Just then, Orange walked into the room and said “Hey Sammie, are you ready to head down?”

“Yeah, lets go” Sammie said as she placed the photo back down on top of her suitcase.

They walked over to the barn. When she stepped inside, she thought to herself that it was obvious the members of the house had their priorities set. It was like a dance club inside. They had a huge dance floor, gobo balls, strobe lights, a special effects machine, a huge stereo, a foosball table, a shuffleboard table, a large seating area in the back, and they even had their own professional bar.

By the time Sammie and Orange got there, the barn was filled with people. Styx walked up to Sammie with another girl on her arm and said, “Hey Sammie, I would like to introduce you to my girlfriend, Julia.”

“Hi, it’s nice to meet you,” Julia offered while extending her hand for a friendly introduction.

Sammie shook her hand and said “It’s nice to meet you too.”

 “Sammie, why don’t you show off some of those mixology skills from our college days?” Orange said as she pushed Sammie towards the bar. Some of the girls standing by cheered, which got everyone’s attention. Sammie went over to the bar and made a whole bunch of party drinks for everyone. The girls danced for a while showing off their various levels of skills, some obviously a bit better than others.

After a few drinks and some dancing, people started to head over to the seating area. Sammie was still out on the dance floor with Orange and Julia, when Cheyanne called them over, “Hey ladies, won’t you come join us for a little game?”  The girls hurried over and found a place to sit. “Alright, I thought it would be fun to play a little drinking game to get to know each other a bit better,” announced Cheyanne “Let’s play “Never have I ever”. Does everyone know how to play?” Everyone nodded. Sammie had played this many times in college and a few times with Orange and RJ in the past. “Good, then I don’t have to explain the rules. Let’s keep this closer to PG-13 tonight ladies; I won’t have you scaring off the new girl with all your sexcapades.” A few of the girls groaned, but no one challenged her authority.  

They played for a few rounds. It was a great way to get to know the rest of the girls. Through the game, Sammie learned that Skip, Orange, Cheyanne, and Styx had all gone abroad in their lifetime. The band Julia and Skip were in had two other members and was called “F4YR”, which was short for “Fight for Your Rights” She learned Emma was the only other person besides Julia and RJ who was originally from Twinbrook. She found out Skip was extremely politically opinionated and joined multiple political causes. She learned Meat came to try and win Orange back twice, but she stood her ground. Cheyanne even kicked him out of the house the second time and threatened him with repercussions if he were to ever return. Through this story, Sammie learned that although Cheyanne was a soft gentle house mother to them, if anyone messed with any of them she could be extremely hot headed. They like to joke, “beware the momma bear.” 

Everyone seemed to be having a wonderful time and this was really helping Sammie get to know everyone better. Orange, RJ, and Skip were all down to one finger each and it was RJ’s turn. “Never have I ever cheated on a significant other,” she said. Everyone looked a little stunned for a moment. Cheyanne had a concerned look on her face and her body language made it clear RJ was on thin ice. Julia blushed and slowly put a finger down. RJ was glaring at Orange.

Trying to alleviate some of the tension, Emma quickly started her turn, “Never have I ever ba..” was all she got out before she was interrupted by RJ.

“Wait a minute, Emma, I think the game is over,” said RJ.

“What are you talking about, RJ? You shouldn’t have interrupted her,” responded Styx, who was not very pleased with RJ for embarrassing her girlfriend like that.

“The game should be over. Orange is out of fingers,” said RJ, even though Orange clearly still kept one finger up.

That’s when Cheyanne stepped in, “RJ this is the only warning I’m going to give you: you better back off. Let’s just move on.”

“No, how are you all going to sit here and let Orange lie to you like that? We all know she cheated on Meat, it’s not a secret,” blurted RJ.

Until this point, Orange just stood her ground by holding up one finger and glaring back at RJ, but this pushed her over the edge. Orange stood up and started to yell, “Why do you think you know everything? You know wha…”

Orange was cut off by Cheyanne, “Stop right now! Get out of here, RJ. I don’t want to see you around here again until you learn how to behave yourself! Do you understand me?” RJ ran out. All that happening was a pretty instant buzz kill for the party. Orange left and said she was going out to a nightclub to clear her mind. Cheyanne tried to stop her, but Orange just didn’t want to deal with anyone and walked out.

Sammie climbed the stairs back to her room. The first thing she noticed when she stepped into her room was that her suitcase was missing. She couldn’t figure out where it could have gone; she knew right where she left it. She was exhausted and intoxicated, so she decided to try and figure it out in the morning. She crawled into bed to get ready to go to sleep and put her hand underneath her pillow to fluff it up. That’s when she felt something jagged. She pulled it out to get a better look. This was part of the beautiful engraved frame her host family had given her. It had held the photograph she was looking at earlier when Orange walked in. Now it was broken in half and the picture was missing. Sammie was devastated and it was too late to go talk to anyone about it. It took a while for her to fall asleep because she was worrying about the picture.

All of a sudden, Sammie was awoken by a blood curdling scream. She jumped out of bed and ran downstairs towards the noise.