Take Me to the Moon 4.7: The More Things Change

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Oasis Springs Community School has just opened

It was the first day of school and everyone was mingling on the sidewalk, waiting for the bell to ring. In spite of his usual reserved attitude in social situations, Ewan Tesla immediately began chatting with his teacher, Ms. Rolle,

 

Rachel Arias, Ryleigh and Dante's daughter,  started complaining about her parents to Desmond Goth.  Desmond had never heard anyone speak ill of their elders before.

There was an awkward silence as all the other kids absorbed Rachel's sassy attitude.

"So how about that new sugary candy?" Desmond said.

The bell rang and everyone went inside.

Ewan Tesla, Etienne Pancakes, and Eleanor Simself made up the older class.  They were second graders.






The second graders looked around and wondered what this school year would be like, and whether they'd find a friend in this group.







Ms. Rolle, the teacher and principal of the school, explained that this year, all the students would move through most of the day as a single group, even though they were not all the same age.

She laid out the schedule:

1. Core Academics (Language Arts and Math)
2. Media Center/Computer Lab, 
3. Lunch and Recess, 
4. Art or Music or Science

Next, she taught the school-wide expectations.  Students were expected to keep the school a safe, bully-free environment, follow instructions of staff, and be respectful of each other and the teacher.   Students would be given warnings, but after that, if they did not begin making better choices and continued to go against the rules, Ms. Rolle would conference with their parents.

Ms. Rolle could tell right away that the kindergarten class was going to be a handful.  Rachel, Rianna, and Elise already were thick as thieves, and Desmond already knew how to dish it back out to his mean cousin, Elise.  






Desmond also learned quickly that Rachel could be just as mean as Rianna and Elise,

since she would rather join with her twin, Rianna, than become her next target.






Fortunately, Desmond was used to his cousin Elise's jeers, and had learned to at least act like he was not bothered by them, so overall, the kindergartners were avoiding major conflict.

Soon it was time for computer lab.   Ms. Rolle reiterated that the students were to stay on the school web site and its authorized links, which contained all the programs the students were supposed to use during school hours. 

Rianna made faces at Ms. Rolle behind her back while she talked.

And quickly proceeded to troll forums, instead.

Ms. Rolle quickly noticed that Rianna was having a lot more fun than one typically did on Arithmetic Attack.

And told Rianna that she needed to close that window immediately.  Even though Rianna denied that she was trolling instead of practicing math.

Rianna, caught in the act, was not very pleased with Ms. Rolle.  But she reneged.

Finally, it was the long-awaited recess time.  Rianna was still mad, so she was happy to escape Ms. Rolle's clutches.

Eleanor was excited to play, but halfway across the monkey bars, began to think she was going to fall.

Ewan, typically of a first child, once again gravitated to his teacher and began chatting with her while she tended the school garden.

Etienne, who, as an aspiring musician, considered himself above recess, condescended to play Space Rangers with Desmond Goth.  Desmond was not too thrilled at the prospect of unstructured play time, either.

But they ended up having a lot of fun, in spite of themselves.

The next day at recess, they played again, and Elise and Rachel joined them.

Until Rianna began mocking Ewan, and all the kids gathered around to see what would happen.

At first, Ewan gave her a little attitude, right back.

But he couldn't keep it up, like Rianna  could.

Desmond turned to his cousin to see what he would say, now.

Ewan got up.  He was mad.  The madder he got, the funnier Rianna seemed to think it was.

Rianna shoved Ewan.  Everybody saw it.

Ms. Rolle heard the commotion and came over to the students.   Ewan was still stunned and shaken.

 Rianna proceeded to tell an unbelievable story to Ms. Rolle, which shocked Desmond.  It was hard for him to believe the lie's sheer magnitude.

Ms. Rolle knew better, as she had actually seen it herself.

Ms. Rolle called Rianna's mother.   Ryleigh was there, feeling defeated, within moments.   It was only the second day of school. 

Ryleigh, who had always been a rule-follower herself,  had worried that Rianna would have a hard time staying out of trouble at school.

As Ms. Rolle approached, Ryleigh worried what Ms. Rolle must think of her parenting skills.

Ms. Rolle began to describe the issue of Rianna trolling forums yesterday.  Ryleigh felt a little peeved at being called during an important meeting at work, and wondering if this was going to happen every other day, all school year!

But as Ms. Rolle objectively described the expectations that had been taught to the students, and  listed the rules Ryleigh had broken in the last two days, Ryleigh realized that the teacher had been very thorough in her expectations and supervision, and Rianna had misbehaved more than she had even anticipated.

Ms. Rolle told Ryleigh how she had seen Rianna shove Ewan, and Rianna had made up a lie to try to convince her otherwise.

The thought that her daughter was acting like a bully was very hard for Ryleigh to take, and she had a hard time fighting back tears.  She knew Ewan well, and knew he wouldn't have started a fight with Rianna.

Ms. Rolle asked Ryleigh if there were any strategies she could suggest to motivate Rianna to behave more pro-socially.

And then Ms. Rolle found herself comforting an embarrassed and overwhelmed parent.  In the end, Ryleigh and Ms. Rolle decided to each let Rianna know they were talking to each other about her behavior, consequences if she fought or was disrespectful, and rewards she could earn at home and at school if she followed rules.

The school day was almost over.  It was time for art, music, and science.  The kindergartners went to art.

Desmond Goth, who had been pretty shocked by the outspoken Rachel Arias when he first met her, started looking for opportunities to talk to her or play with her.

But although she was a naturally cheerful child, she had spent her whole life learning from her twin, Rianna, and she was more prone to mock Desmond than to be friendly.

The teacher had to remind Desmond to use kind words, when she saw him jeering back at Rachel.

But as soon as the teacher's back was turned, they were laughing, this time, with each other.

Etienne Pancakes had chosen to study music.






Which he quickly discovered was more challenging than he had anticipated.

Meanwhile, Etienne's classmates, Eleanor and Ewan, were busy working on a science lab lesson.  Ewan pretty quickly created a yellow green cloud that smelled terrible.  Eleanor looked around to see if the teacher saw it.

Finally, the school day was over and everyone was at home with their parents.  As soon as they reached the house, Ryleigh asked Rianna what she was thinking, getting into a fight at school?!

When Ryleigh hemmed and hawed and said it really wasn't like that, Ryleigh put up her hand.  She told Rianna to march herself right inside and her dad and her both would give her a talking-to.

Rianna literally marched into the living room, mocking her mom as she went.

She took a seat and glared at her mom.

Ryleigh was confounded but determined not to let a five year old get the best of her.  After all, she hired and fired people every week!

"I am very disappointed in you, Rianna," she finally said.

That took the wind out of Rianna's sails.  She looked back at her mom, also confused.

"I know you can behave if you want to, and you are a smart girl."  Ryleigh went on to tell Rianna that she expected this nonsense to end and that Rianna was losing computer privileges for the rest of the week.

Rianna made a face but she knew from the past, that if she argued, she'd lose more days.

A little later, she made the calculated decision that if she didn't make up with her mom, it was just going to be tougher for her in the long run.  "I love you, mommy," she said, and gave Ryleigh a big hug.  Ryleigh knew she'd come around eventually, and everything would be ok.

Notes:

• Sims 4 has the advantage of being very easy to move sims between lots, so I just moved all the kids in to the school lot for this update, so I didn't have to contend with sims leaving, and having to get them to come back.  With the lot cap of 8 sims, I wasn't able to include the two younger Pancake children, though.
• Rianna went straight into the computer lab to troll forums, while everyone else socialized on the sidewalk.  I had Ms. Rolle go and scold her, and that set in motion her getting angry.  
• Rachel is a goofball, and I'm not sure if she was autonomously choosing mean or mischievous interactions, probably mischievous, but they looked mean at times.  Desmond would always smile afterwards, though!
• Ewan did constantly want to chat with Ms. Rolle, I thought very typical of an oldest child.
• I was really lucky that Ryleigh came to the school in a sad mood, it helped with getting the pictures I needed.
• Rianna wanted to make an enemy and her lowest scores were with Desmond and Ewan, so I decided if she were enemies with Ewan that would cause more story-fodder, with Ryleigh and Delaney being best friends.
• In the game, Rianna and Ewan fought, and Rianna won.  So she was in a confident mood, and he was dazed.  When Rianna got home, she was still in the confident mood and that's why she was "marching."