#will weston

Atlas jumped the last several steps on his way down to the kitchen for breakfast. His smile faded when he caught the serious, almost grim expressions on his parents’ faces. His eyes fell on some open letters on the counter with the recognizable logos of his university. “Uh,” he stammered unsure what he should say.

Lifting the letter “what’s the meaning of this?” 

Atlas shrugged “isn’t it self explanatory?” He took a step back as he was buffeted by his parents disapproval. 

“You’re barely passing your classes,” Temperance crossed her arms giving her son a stern glare “how do you think you’re going to tutor someone when you can barely do your own work?”

“I’ll get extra credit,” Atlas mumbled, finding his feet more comfortable to look at than the disappointment in his parents eyes. 

“You need to focus on your studies,” Will said “or you’ll never become a good doctor.”

Atlas looked up, pressing his lips together to keep from saying he didn’t want to be a doctor. He didn’t want to be knee deep in blood or make life and death decisions. He pried his lips apart “I …” 

“We know how much you want to join the family practice,” Temperance said, “but you have to do your part.”

“I know,” he said, his words almost a plea.

Waving the letter “then you’ll call the university and decline this tutorship,” Will said.

Shaking his head “I can’t do that.”

“And why not,” Temperance demanded.

“Because I gave them my word,” Atlas said, digging his toes in. He could get out of his commitment but he had reasons why he wanted to do it. Reasons he wasn’t ready to share with his parents yet. 

Will put a gentle hand on his wife’s shoulder before she could say anything. “If it means that much to you then do it. However if your grades start falling you will stop tutoring.” He stared at his son a moment before adding “understood?”

“I’m not a child,” Atlas mumbled but under his parents stern gaze he nodded “understood.”

“Good,” Will nodded, giving his head a little shake when Temperance appeared to want to add something.

Ivy chose that moment to join them in the kitchen. “Hey look, I made it on the Dean’s list,” she grinned at the notice she received. Looking around the room at the serious faces of her parents and the rather anxious face of her brother. “Oh I get it, Atlas didn’t make it.”

“No he didn’t,” Temperance said with a little sigh.

“What’s the big deal?” Ivy asked, “he didn’t make it last time either.”

“We know,” Will said as he filled his coffee cup.

“What did you do?” she demanded of her brother.

“Nothing,” he mumbled.

“You must have done something,” she prompted.

“Fine,” he waved towards the open letter “I signed up as a tutor.”

“You,” she choked.

Frowning, “yeah me.”

“But you barely pass your own classes,” she tried not to smirk but she couldn’t help it. 

“Go ahead and laugh,” he grumbled “everyone else is.”

“We’re definitely not laughing,” his mother said over her shoulder. 

“Whatever,” he mumbled, deciding he’d rather starve than endure his sister’s gloating or his parent’s disappointment a moment longer.

Ivy watched her brother leave with a smug expression. “I don’t see why Atlas has such a hard time. It’s not like he dates or has any friends. It should be easy for him to get good grades.”

“Ivy” Temperance admonished “that’s enough. Not everyone can be on the Dean’s List.”

“Well don’t blame me if we get sued for malpractice,” Ivy said, shoving a freshly baked muffin in her mouth.

“We have every confidence in your brother,” Will said from behind his newspaper.

“I’m just say’in,” Ivy shrugged, grabbing her keys.

“Before you go,” Temperance called after her daughter “will you do me a favor?”

Rolling her eyes “I guess.”

“Will you take these fliers over to the mayor’s house?” she asked, pointing towards the stack of fliers on the counter. “I would but I’m due for surgery in an hour…”

“Mom,” Ivy protested, “I’ll be for the hours.”

“Thank you sweetie,” Temperance said, over her coffee cup.

“Fine,” Ivy stomped back to the kitchen and swooped up the fliers “but you owe me.”

“Congratulations,” Temperance said, setting her champagne glass on the coffee table before leaning back on the sofa.

Giggling Aubrey shook her head “you’re just as cute now as you were back in high school.”

“We are not,” Temperance protested even as her husband wrapped an arm around, pulling her to his side right. 

Will’s deep chuckle rumbled in his chest “I have to agree with her, honey. We are pretty cute.”

“You’re outnumbered,” Kaia said from where she sat beside her wife. 

“Fine,” Temperance sighed, throwing her hands in the air “you win.”

“Don’t sound so disappointed,” Will said, lifting one of her hands to his lips.

Rolling her eyes “maybe I was hoping for romantic or something…I don’t know … mature.”

Will leaned his head back, filling the room his deep laughter. “Honey, you’re married to me. Be thankful to get cute.”

Elbowing him in the side she smiled “I am but one can dream.”

Aubrey smiled over at one of her oldest friends “we should get together more often.” 

Her wife nodded in agreement. “I’ll even make room in the mayor’s schedule.”

Will raised an eyebrow “that should be pretty easy considering you are the mayor.”

Kaia gave her wife a rueful glance “you’d think so but there’s always something that needs my attention.”

Patting her hand Aubrey sighed “I’ve gotten used to it but it’s our son who really misses his mother.”

Huffing a little Kaia said “Basil saw more of me than you. The little trouble maker.”

Temperance smiled politely knowing the reputation their son had. She caught her husband’s eye and smiled, thankful their children had not caused them so much trouble.

“He’ll settle down soon,” Will said, trying to sound positive “must boys do at his age.”

“If you ask me he’s overdue,” Kaia huffed, “he’s almost twenty-four.”

“Maybe he just needs the right motivation,” Aubrey said, turning to her friends. “You have kids. Are they single?”

“Oh no,” Will shook his head “we’re not setting our kids up.”

“Well it was just a thought,” Aubrey sighed but the glint in her eyes didn’t fool anyone.

“Don’t meddle,” Temperance said, although in her mind she had been transported back in time. She could still hear her teenage self mapping out the lives of her children and how one of them would fall helplessly in love with one of Unity’s children tying their two families together. Of course that hadn’t happened, Unity had died from a rare form of cancer when they were teenagers. She still missed her best friend even though she’d been gone for almost thirty years.

Leaning in close Will asked “are you alright?”

Blinking fast, she nodded “I’m fine. Just thinking.”

Will squeezed her tight. She didn’t need to explain. He understood she still ached for her childhood friend and moments such as these sometimes brought back the past and what might have been. “It’s getting late,” he said to his hosts “congratulations again and hopefully the next four years as mayor will be less hectic than the last.”

“Don’t worry,” Aubrey said “Kaia thrives on solving problems. It’s why she makes such a good mayor.”

“Maybe she should run for governor next,” Temperance said.

“Oh no,” Kaia shook her head. “Being mayor of a small country town is all the thrill I need.”

Atlas doesn't find school easy much less the prospect of becoming a doctor. He feels like a disappointment to his parents who are both doctors themselves and have dreams of setting up a family owned medical center once their kids finish school.

Ivy on the other hand has no problem with school and can't wait until she finishes medical school to join the family business. She's the apple of her parents eyes.

Basil is a spoiled only child who is just realizing being the mayor's son doesn't exempt him from paying the consequences of his actions.

The first chapter of The Art of Being Yourself is available on my WP Blog if you want to read it now otherwise it'll be queued and posted later.

Kaia was made by @reverieinsimlish

Frowning “I think you should take it, afterall you haven’t been on a date, ever.”

Shrugging “doesn’t mean I want one.”

Blinking “is something wrong with you?”

“This isn’t about me,” Atlas frowned.

“Why don’t you date,” she asked, frowning at the winning raffle ticket as if it had the answer.

“I’ve dated,” he mumbled, looking away, not wanting to get into a discussion about how uncomfortable dates always made him. The expectations that he always failed to meet. 

“In the past,” she pointed out, like it was a defect in his design.

“I’m still not going to take that raffle ticket,” he said “you can keep that pleasure.”

“I already know he doesn’t like me,” she cried. “Please take the raffle ticket.”

“Nope you bought it,” he shook his head. “Besides I thought you said the mayor’s son was hot.”

“He is,” she sighed knowing she was defeated “it doesn’t mean I want to date him.”

“It’s one date,” Atlas said “it’s not a proposal.”

Basil couldn’t decide which was worse, the way Ivy stalled to come forward to claim her prize or the way his parents grinned like the cat who ate the cheese. 

The polite applause and the disappointed groans of some in the audience did little to appease his ego. He glanced towards his mother, the mayor of Appaloosa Plains as she rambled on about how the proceeds of the raffle would go to the community garden and the food shelter. His parents were all about worthy causes, unfortunately for Blair he had the uncomfortable feeling he was counted among those causes. 

“This wasn’t my idea,” he mumbled low enough for only Ivy to hear.

Rolling her eyes, Ivy bit her tongue. 

“You don’t like me much, do you?”

She cocked her chin upwards, studying him. “Not much,” she conceded.

His laughter rumbled over his mother’s concluding words earning him a glare. “The feelings are mutual.”

“Good to know,” Ivy muttered as he moved stiffly away, her chin up as if declaring to everyone how much above she was the unpleasant situation she found herself in.

Striding across the stage, Kaia demanded “are you proud of yourself?”

He stared at his mother for a split second before, shrugging and looking away. “This was humiliating.”

“It’s for a good cause,” she said, launching into all the good things they would be able to do with the money raised.

Rolling his head in a disgusted circle “spare me the details.”

“If you didn’t want to do this you should have said so,” she said, her voice a mixture of disappointment and anger.

“You didn’t say you were going to auction me off like cattle,” he complained.

“We told you,” Aubrey said, coming to a stop beside her wife.

“No you didn’t,” Basil contradicted.

“We did,” Kaia said, “as usual you weren’t listening.”

“I think I’d have listened if you had told me I was the prize,” he insisted.

Aubrey sighed “you agreed to do this.”

“When,” he demanded belligerently as usual.

“When we caught you stealing from the city treasury,” Kaia said, looking around to make sure they were alone. 

“Oh,” he said deflating beneath his parent’s disapproving gazes.

Temperance exchanged glances with her husband when they heard their daughter calling for them before the door even closed behind her. “You’re home early,” she said as her daughter stomped into the room.

Stopping Ivy stood with her hands on hips, glaring at her parents. “You did this, didn’t you?”

Will shook his head, setting his reading glasses on the end table. “I haven’t got the foggiest idea what you’re talking about.” Turning to his wife “do you?”

“No,” Temperance set her medical journal on her lap. “Maybe you should explain.”

“It’s all your fault,” Ivy raged at Atlas who chuckled incautiously behind her. “They couldn’t control you so they think they can manipulate me.”

“We’re not manipulating anyone,” Temperance snapped.

“Oh really,” Ivy huffed, “then what do you call this?” She waved her ‘prize’ in the air.

“Oh you won the raffle,” Temperance said smiling.

“As if you didn’t know,” Ivy huffed “you and the mayor rigged it so I’d win.”

“Why would I do that,” Temperance asked, her smile fading beneath the heat of her daughter’s laser-like glare.

Rolling her eyes “because you and the mayor are friends. Because you’ve been after me to have a little fun.” She flung her hands in the air “why else would you have sent me over to their house but to have Aubrey force me into buying those raffle tickets.”

“That doesn’t mean it was rigged,” her dad pointed out reasonably.

“Yeah right,” she shook her head “that’s just a little too convenient.”

“It’s the truth,” Temperance said “we’d never set you up with someone.”

Some of her anger drained from her “you’re sure you didn’t know?”

“Of course we didn’t know,” Temperance said. Turning to her husband “I wonder what they would have done if someone’s grandma had won?”

“Well I’m not doing it,” Ivy announced.

“Why not?” Temperance asked, “it’s just one date.”

“Because Basil is an insufferable snob,” Ivy said.

“You don’t even know him,” Will said.

“I know I don’t like him,” she said walking from the room, ending the discussion.

A new chapter of The Art of Being Yourself is available on my WP Blog. Ivy finds out what the raffel tickets she bought was for and she's not happy with her prize.

If you want to read the chapter now just go to my WP Blog otherwise it'll be added to the queue and posted later.

Kaia Tovar was made by @reverieinsimlish

It's only taken three years to finish but here it is, finale. What everyone was looking forward to has finally arrived, the summer social. There will be epilogues to follow once I figure out what the next gen will be and what and who the story will follow next.

If there are any TS3 Simmers out there who would like to see one of your sims featured in the next gen DM me or leave a comment.

Kaia Tovar was made by @reverieinsimlish

Riley O'hare was made by @rosimmingcorner

This chapter follows the Bennett Family over the intervening years from the last chaper of Glitter to the start of the next Generation. This chapter will have the following warnings: death mention tw and illness tw.

Donovan Glenn was made by @wannabecatwriter