Joseph Pons is 21, Todd Riedmayer is 19, Seth Pons is 17, Lauren Whitfill is 16, Alexis Kules is 22
"22"
narrated by Alexis Kules
My dad never got to go to college, and the way he talked about it made it sound like it was a very small step down from dying and going to Heaven. I wasn't expecting it to be quite
that great, which is good, because I would have been disappointed. Being at college is pretty much exactly like being at home, except my room is a lot smaller and the food isn't as good. And I don't have Dad constantly inviting me to study with him.
It doesn't help that I was kind of lonely the first semester. The only people I already knew were the Pons boys (since I'm kind of dating their little brother), and they spent all their time trying to pick up women. Todd too. He's got a little more style than his cousins, but at heart he really just wants to pick up women too.
They didn't seem to have much luck, though. Apparently whenever they went out they only saw other guys, and none of them swing that way. I must admit I am glad of it; I don't really want to hear about their romantic adventures with people of either sex. I got enough of that from my mom when I was growing up.
I got straight A's the first semester, and so did the other girl from our town, Lauren. The boys did okay, but they were more a mix of A's and B's.
The second semester, the boys apparently gave up on women in favor of gambling. I swear their butts were glued to the chairs around that mah jong table. Within a few months Todd and Joe were both gold members of their gaming club or some such nonsense.
Seth didn't do quite as well. I think he found out that when you stop acting like an idiot trying to pick up women, then women start to actually like you. At least, he seemed to be having some pretty long conversations with this girl Anna--my brother Jaden knew Anna a little bit and says she's "smart," which coming from him means "off the charts brilliant." I wonder what she sees in Seth--maybe it's an opposites attract thing?
Meanwhile, I discovered that I'm not a total hopeless nerd like Dad and Jaden. There's this basketball hoop just outside the dorm and I actually really like going out there and shooting some hoops to clear my head. Lauren ended up going out there with me most of the semester. She confessed to me about two weeks from finals that she doesn't even like sports; she just got lonely without any friends and thought maybe I'd like her if she played with me. I do kind of like her now, though I told her she can feel free to suggest the activity next semester.
Right after her basketball revelation Lauren apparently got a bad grade on a quiz or something and it put the fear of the SimGoddess into her--or at least the fear of academic probation--and I barely saw her again until we were back home for the summer. I think she would have done fine either way, but who am I to tell her she's not supposed to study at college?
She rubbed off on Seth too (or Anna rubbed off on him) and he spent finals week locked in his room cramming for all his tests. Cramming is one thing I just don't get. Either you know the material or you don't; trying to speed-read everything the night before the test isn't going to do a thing.
Of course, I probably shouldn't judge, considering Seth made the Dean's List while I averaged a B minus in my finals. That stung a bit. And I know Dad's not even going to say anything; he'll just sit and play chess with me all summer like he's been doing my whole life. And maybe someday I'll figure out what the chess is supposed to be a metaphor for.
Notes:
- Alexis and Lauren both have 1 outgoing point, but Alexis has 1 nice point whereas Lauren has 6. So I see Alexis as much more the prickly, standoffish type of shy, whereas Lauren is the more socially anxious type. At any rate, they're well on the way to becoming BFFs now.
- End of year stats:
Alexis: Undeclared major, GPA 3.4
Joseph: Psychology major, GPA 3.7
Todd: Politics major, GPA 3.8
Seth: Art major, GPA 3.8
Lauren: Psychology major, GPA 4.0
Lauren and Seth have career-related LTWs, so I picked their majors for them. Joe and Todd rolled wants for their majors. So far Alexis seems to be drifting a bit, not rolling any school-related wants at all. (She mostly rolls wants to play chess and computer games and things, with a few basic romantic wants thrown in--unfulfillable, since her intended is still in high school.)
I got bored of everybody getting a 4.0, so I am trying a new tactic where I only make college students study if they roll wants (e.g. "Get a skill point", "Write term paper"), or if they roll a fear of academic probation. So far nobody's flunked out, but we'll see what happens when the skill requirements get higher.
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