Never Mind The Degree-Part One

In which Admes, Brian, Benjamin,

Bellatrix and Beatrix start and complete

their first year at university. Exciting

stuff.

Admes Havar. The eldest of the Havar

children, Admes is a popularity sim

(eww!) who likes to learn and hates

having to act like a kid, even if he did

spend his entire childhood trying to

get me to let him play on the swings.

Alexander Goth. The infamous

younger child of the Goth family,

Alexander was always forgotten,

until he became friends with and

eventually started dating Admes Havar. He is a

family sim and is very easy going and

easy to live with.

Brian Havar. The eldest of the

quadtuplets, Brian is a family sim with a mean streak. While he loves his family greatly and would

do anything to protect them, like his mother he has

trouble with allowing himself to

seem nice.

Benjamin Havar. Known as Bennie,

Benjamin is a popularity sim who

seems more like knowledge. He's

always been a little recluce, prefering to be alone and study. As a child his only real friend was his

sister, Beetroot. However, he is a total

sweetie when he comes out of his

shell.

Beatrix Havar. While is was her sisters Trixie and

Carrie who received 10 nice points, it

was Beetroot who acted as though she

had them. A sweetly artistic knowledge sim, Beetroot got

along with everyone, even her

cold mother and reclusive brother

Bennie.

Bellatrix Havar. A knowledge sim like

her mother, Trixie also inherited an

inabilty to show her nice points from

Regina. All to oftern did she put her foot in

her mouth when she doesn't think about

what she's saying or how others might

recieve her opinion.

And now, on with the story...

'Hey everyone! Bellatrix Havar

here, but you can call me Trixie! If

you've been following the

chronicles of my family then you will

know that me and my siblings (Admes, Benjamin, Brian and

Beatrix) recently moved to college to

give our parents (Regina and Klaus) more room for their

26 pregnancy challenge. With us gone it is only the two youngest kids

(Carrie, who is a child, and Donna,

who is a baby) left at home...well, until

Mum and Dad get back...doing what

they do that used to make me sleep with

a pillow over my head.'

'Okay, Alice has agreed to let me

narrate this portion of our college life.'

Because you refused to shut up about having no future

after this challenge.

'Yeah, whatever. So, Mum has the LTW

to graduate three kids from college, and Alice couldn't

choose just three, so we're all doing it.'

'Here's Admes with his back to us...'

'Get lost Trixie! I'm studying!'

'Geek! And that shock of hair over

there is Bennie.'

'Put that camera away Trix before I shove it up your-'

'Okay then. Shall we see the rest of the

house?'

'This is the living area! Alice just took one of the Mansion

and Garden Stuff Pack mansions and

put us here. She's rather lazy.'

Oi! You promised to not slag me off too

much if I let you narrate.

'Sorry Alice.'

'This is the skilling/pool room.

That's Admes's boyfriend Alexander

Goth arranging flowers and Beatrix (or Beetroot as she

prefers to be known) making robots.'

'Why don't you have to do this Trix?'

'Because I'm the greatest.'

'Sure thing sis. It's nothing to do with

the fact that you're a jealous monster because I get to

have 60 kids when we're done here and you're going to sink

into obscurity.'

'I'll let you know now readers that she

will be finding a swarm of frogs in

her bed.'

'Here's Brian. Hey Brian!'

'Oh, hey Trixie. I still cannot believe that Alice

let you loose with the camera.'

'Yeah...wait! Why?'

'You may have 10 nice points, but you're a bit of

a bitch. Hells, you even make me look nice, and I have all of 2 nice points!'

'Shut up or I'll noogie you!'

'I'd like to see you try, little sister!'

'I'm younger than you by three seconds! Just

beccause you're the oldest quad doesn't make you

the best!'

'Tell your face, because you're clearly in love with

me.'

'GROSS! Brian, you're my brother!'

'Then stop falling in love with me! I'm way out of

your league.'

GUYS! You're ruining my story!

'Sorry Alice! I'll be moving on now.'

'This is the kitchen, or a place to keep

pizza. And through there is the computer

station, or Bennie's domain. He's such a

little nerd!'

'This from the Knowledge sim?'

'Shut up Bennie!'

'I'll tell Alice if you keep being horrible

to everyone.'

'Whatever!'

'You're just jealous that no one likes

you.'

'And people like you?'

'Duh! More than one person has said how

cute I am.'

'Whatever you ginger goose!'

'I'd be careful about making fun of

gingers when half of your family and

your boyfriend are ginger!'

'Whatever.'

'Trix.'

'Yes Admes.'

'I'm the oldest so taking care of you

lot is kinda my responsibility.'

'Sure...'

'So leave your brothers and sister

alone or I'll lock you in the bathroom

until graduation!'

'And everyone says I'm the bitch!'

'Anyway, break from my crazy

family. This is Jerry, my boyfriend. You

might remember him as the townie I made friends with

when I was a toddler. Well, we've

kept up correspondence since then, and

when he found out I was at college, he

asked me out right away. Kinda weird, but sweet too. He'd

been waiting for me for so long; I had to reward that kind of

devotion.'

'My first kiss with Jerry was magic.

Butterflies and fireworks and that fizzy feeling that

made my toes feel all tingly. It was incredible. The world stopped

spinning, just for us, just to make this

moment go on forever. Or that's

how it felt.'

'GET IN THERE TRIXIE!'

'Shut up Brian!'

'*giggle* Trixie's got a boyfriend! I'm

telling Mum!'

'You little rat!'

Some things never change.

'Jerry was very good at distracting me

from Brian. It was so easy for us to slip

into a relationship because we'd been friends for so long.

It felt so natural, like we were made

for each other. And the way he held me

and kissed me made me feel like he felt

the same way.'

'He even let me cut his hair and strip all

the hair dye out of it. Jerry definitely

makes red hair look good.'

'Thanks babe, but who are you talking

to?'

'I'm narrating this chapter in the

chronicles of my family's life.'

'Oooooh...'

'We were in love, that much was

obvious, and I knew that I'd never want

anyone else. Admes and Beetroot and Brian and Bennie

and even Alex tried to talk me out of it,

telling me that I should at least wait

until college was over and I was sure that Jerry was all I wanted, but I was

sure. Jerry was it for me. So I proposed

that night...'

'...and he said yes! I have never felt so

happy ever before. I get to keep him!

Forever! Because we're never going to

die! We'll get married, maybe have a few kids then Alice

will forget about us and we'll live forever,

watching the family grow.

It may not be the life I wanted, but now it

seems pretty perfect.'

'Not everyone was having as much luck

with love as me. Bennie found

himself with an unexpected and

unwanted stalker in the form of the head

cheerleader, Lindsay. For

reasons unknown she seemed to be

more than slightly obsessed with him and followed him

about the house. We couldn't have her removed without

lowering the standing of our

Greek House, and she brought good

friends, but Bennie was not the type to shack it up with a

cheerleader. But she continued to ignore

both his casual hints and his blatant

demands. Where Bennie was

concerned, she was blind to reason.'

'But it was hard to care about Bennie's

problems when I was so blissfully

happy. Neither Jerry or I were the type to wait until marriage,

so celebrated our engagement in the

best possible way.'

'Bennie tried in vain to take his mind off

of his cheerleader issues by fishing.

He was actually pretty good at it, and

Rootie had a lot of fun learning new

fish based recipes. We all felt bad seeing him so

unhappy because of this chick, and Brian

offered to step in and deal with it.'

'Jerry and I weren't the only sickeningly sweet couple in the house. Admes and

Alex were rarely apart, following one

another around. It was rather nasty, but as they weren't prone to public displays of

affection, we tolerated their goo

goo eyes.'

'Thanks for that sis.'

'Sarcasm doesn't suit you Admes.'

'Yeah, hey Carrie. It's been really

weird without you around annoying us

all. Yeah, I miss you too and your weird

way of talking. Well, you'll be here

too soon, won't you? Yeah yeah. I know

Donna's a smelly baby now, but she'll

grow up soon. Ewww! Mum and

Dad are gross! I don't envy you little one. Yeah, Bennie's stalker is right here.

I'll tell her to get lost after I'm done talking to you

sweetie. Yeah, she can hear me. No,

she'd not paying me any attention at all.

No, Carrie. You stay there. I'll deal with

it. No one can understand you

anyway. Later baby. Love you too.'

'Yeah, Lindsay,can I talk to you?'

'Sure future brother-in-law. A brother of

my Bennie is a brother of mine!'

'Yeah, that's what this is about. My brother,

Benjamin.'

'What? Is Bennie hurt?'

'No, but he would appreciate you

leaving him alone. Lindsay, none of us understand why you

won't leave Benjamin alone, but all of us

want you to. He's not interested in a

mentally incapacitated

cheerleader. Okay? So please just go away,

don't come back, and leave my brother

alone before I call my mentally

incapacitated mother to come and kick your

ass!'

'I will get my man, Brian Havar, mark my

words. You haven't seen the last of me.'

'So, Brian had finally gotten rid of

the evil cheerleader,but

Bennie's problems just kept on coming. With Lindsay gone, the mascots moved in on her territory.'

'Trix? I'd appreciate you putting down

the camera and using your obvious emotional issues to kill this llama and

dispose of his body in the pond.'

'I think all this stress its taking its toll on

him.'

'Greek Houses don't fund themselves, and

so Rootie, Admes, Alex and Brian started a small

workshop in the attic, sewing various bits

and bobs for private clients. It's earning us

quite a bit of money,and we are all powering through our

badges.'

'Another way that we're saving money

is through Bennie. Not only does he

catch us fish, he has a small orchard and a greenhouse where

he grows various fruits and

vegetables. With the energizers out there,

Bennie rarely ever comes indoors anymore. He's

almost happy out there. We're all

starting to get really worried about Bennie. When

Lindsay left, we had hoped that he would be back to normal, a

happy little geek. But he's just so sad all the time, never

just chilling out with the rest of us. He

won't even talk to Rootie, and she was his bestfriend when

we were kids.'

'Again, it is Jerry who distracts me. We enjoy a very

physical relationship.

We woo hoo everywhere.'

'Really. Everywhere.'

'Honest. If there is a spot in the house or

in the garden that we haven't touched, I'll

eat Carrie's hat.'

'Don't get me wrong! Jerry and I do talk

and share our feelings. It's just

that...well, I tend to put my foot in my

mouth when I talk. I don't think too much and don't really tend

to give too much thought to other

people. Kinda like Mum and Brian.

Jerry understands that it's easier for me to

show him how I feel through actions than

words.'

'Oh my gosh! Well, we've all be waiting for this day forever,

but it was still a shock! Admes

finally proposed to Alex! It had taken

so long that we were worried he'd never do it. They've been

together since...ever! We had

all assumed that when Admes took

Alex home to meet Mum and Dad

before Brian, Bennie, Rootie and I

left for college that he would propose then. I dunno why he waited so long,

but I'm glad they're finally officially

together.'

'It's so cute! Alex is already good friends

with the rest of the family and it will be

great having him as a brother. Not that I don't already have

enough brothers. But Alex is cooler than my actual brothers,

and he's nicer to me! Brian says it's

because he doesn't know me properly

yet. Brian's a jerk!'

'Ahem....well, we returned from our

exams to find the two of them

celebrating...erm...yeah. It was kinda

sickening really, seeing my brother in

the buff! While Brian and I rushed off to

run steel wool on our eyes, Bennie went back to gardening

and the little flowerchild Rootie

just smiled and drifted off to study.

She's just as weird as the rest of them.'

'I may be a Knowledge sim, but I hate studying. I'm a party girl, and it's due to me that our

House, Alpha Beta Detonator, is as high

standing as it is. Almost everyday

I'm throwing a party of some description.

It's great fun! And, though I'd never tell

them, it's a great way to search for

partners for Brian, Bennie and Rootie.'

'One down. A young girl from one of the

dorms drops by. Faydra Nettle Rose Verte. One hell of a

name. Apparently she's a clone of a sim that Alice founded a

joint legacy with. Whatever. She is

totally Brian's type. Quirky, pretty and

tough enough to deal with his crap.'

'I don't even have to pretend to casually introduce them. As soon as Brian sets

eyes on her he's hooked.'

'Hello thar. The Gods must be pissed

that you're here talking to me as

opposed to singing sweetly to them, you siren angel.'

'To me, that was way too much, even

from Brian. Fay, however, gobbles it

up. Love really is blind, deaf and a

mute.'

'Mum always comes to these parties, even if Dad refuses. She is

always there when you least want her to

be. While it's gross when she walks in on

Jerry and me, it's amusing when she's embarrassing other people. Brian is her

favourite target, especially when he's

trying to chat up Fay.'

'Did you know that Brian has the cutest

little mole on his little w-'

'MUM!'

'Don't worry about it Brian. And yes, Mrs

Havar, I did know that!'

'Mum loves Fay. She always did respect a

woman with backbone.'

'Mum is always a riot. It's nice having

her around again. After she stopped

complaining that we didn't move into the house she and Dad

shared at college, Mum really got into the spirit of college

again. I guess she appreciates being away from Carrie

and Donna. Rootie likes having her around a lot too.

Bennie and Brian less so, and Admes

tends to just keep out of it.'

'Back in the skilling room, Brian is

making progress with Fay. For all his zeal and cockiness, he's

actually really shy. It took much prodding

from Mum and me before he actually

even asked Fay out.'

'Uhhh....Fay?'

'Yeah?'

'There's a streaker behind you.'

'Is she pretty?'

'Not as pretty as you.'

'Then you can look.'

'Thanks sweetie.'

'Okay, naked chick-'

'I have a name!'

'Whatever. So, I have this brother,

Bennie. He has some bad luck with

a stalker cheerleader and you look like a free spirited girl, so how about you and

him...you know.'

'Uh, thanks, but no thanks. I know

Bennie, he's in some of my classes and

he's already said no. Bennie's...well,

every girl wants him, but he doesn't want any of them. Get over it, Brian. He's a big boy...or

so the rumours go.'

'Gross!'

'After temporarily taking a brake from

sorting out his brother's love life,

Brian swooped in to romance his lady

some more. Brian and Fay were fast

catching up on Admes and Alex

and Jerry and I in the list of the most

sickening couples.'

'Do you have to shove that camera in

my face ALL day? Can't you go and

annoy someone else?'

'Trying to escape from me and my camera, they flee

upstairs to Admes and Alex's room.'

'Bellatrix Havar. Leave now or I'll kill

you myself!'

'Fine! Whatever! I'm just doing my job!'

'Time went past quickly, and we were now fast approaching

the end of our first year at college. All of

us had top grades in our various subjects

and our work is always up to date. When you have a

bizarrely persistent Goddess like Alice forcing you to max all your skills as a child, you tend to

have a lot of spare time later on in life.'

'I took up painting as a hobby, and

made quite a lot of money selling them

on. We were extremely well off

by the end of our first year, which was great. We never had

to covet anything, because we could have whatever we wanted, and Alice made sure that we

got it all. She made good on her promise

to make us all happy.'

'Alex wanted a bird, so Admes got him

this pretty little parrot. Everyone

knew that Alice had wanted Admes to be a girl that she could

have named after herself, so, in a kind

of tribute thing, he named the bird

Alice. She let us all know that she was

pleased by blessing us with a few days

of gorgeous sunshine.'

'The old contest between Brian &

Fay, Admes & Alex and Jerry & me still

rages. While Jerry and I are more prone to physical displays in public, Brian and

Fay had to be commended for persistence. Fay

rarely left the House anymore. Admes

and Alex are more about the lingering doe eyed looks and

the oozing feeling of contentment that

they expel....'

'...however, they can get grossly physical.'

'Give the camera a rest, Trix!'

'But, Alice-'

'NOW!!'

'Things began to look for Rootie when a

rather good looking guy came walking

alone the street.'

'Hey, I'm Beatix, but my family calls me

Beetroot...or Rootie.'

'I'm Cubone. I'm watching over Fay

for Alice and I heard that she's been

spending a lot of time here.'

'Yeah, she's dating my brother, Brian.'

'And Alice is okay with this?'

'Yeah.'

'Good.'

'Rootie felt something, but it was not to be. Fay told us

all that Cubone was indeed her

"babysitter", assigned to her by Alice. She

also told us that Alice and Cubone were

kind of an item, and had been for years.

Poor Rootie.'

'While I watched in horror as Rootie set

herself up for a broken heart, one of

my secret cameras caught another

vulgar display from Brian and Fay. I

cannot remember the last time she went back to her

dorm.'

'It happened. Rootie went in for the kill

and he shot her down. I wanted to warn her, but whenever I tried

she told me to get lost. So much for her

benevolence!

However, she didn't die. Apparently

Rootie is made of sterner stuff than

assumed. She just brushed it off and

went back to gardening with

Bennie.

If only Bennie were as resilient. He's

starting to become a problem.'

'The next day Rootie decided to take

action. Alice gave her the number of a

gypsy who specialised in all things to do with

love. She had lovepotions and spells, and also

arranged blind dates.'

'Her first try was a disaster, as it turned out to be our butler from home. Jeeves

looks as shocked as Rootie, probably

worrying that Mum and Dad would fire him for dating their

daughter.'

'She sent him home straight away, but not

before a fierce lip lock! While the

gypsy looked away, I couldn't take my eyes

off of it. Wow! Rootie has a naughty

side!'

'She tried again, however, after inviting a few

friends around for a toga party.'

'Well...this time she found who she was

looking for. Barbera...well, you

could see them click the moment the

gypsy summoned her. I guess that with the

Queen Bee challenge she'll be attempting

when this college experience is over, we'd assumed that

she'd end up with a sucsession of hot guys. Well, trust

Rootie to be different.'

'Let this be said about her; Rootie wastes no

time. Within a few minutes she had

dragged her lover up to the double

bedroom and staked her claim fully.'

'I mean fully. No time wasted.'

'How cute!'

'Beatrix, why is your sister taking pictures

of us?'

'Just ignore her and hope that Brian starts

doing something more interesting

soon.'

'They were in luck as Brian also

descended on one knee, finally making

Faydra his.'

'Other way around, Trix. There's no doubt that I'm in

control here.'

'Good point Fay.'

'Much like Alex, Fay got along with the

entire family, especially Admes.

Her brazen confidence and his

tempered easy going nature just gelled. I

know it pleased Brian that she got along

with us all so well. Mum loved her too.

Life really was great. Everything was just

working out...except Bennie.'

'Taking a hint from Rootie, Bennie called

the gypsy and asked her for a date. I guess

by this point his thinking was "what do I have to loose?"

Poor boy.'

'That is the first smile he's cracked in forever. Tamara was

a professor, sure, but it was there. Like Admes &

Alex. Like Brian & Faydra. Like Rootie

& Barbera. Like Jerry & me. They were meant to be. And it made us all

happy to see him so happy! Finally, we were all where we

had to be.'

'Admes, don't look, but Bennie's getting

some loving!'

'If you didn't want me to look,why

point it out?'

'Just so you know!'

'You're just as annoying as my real

sisters.'

'Good!'

'Finally, Bennie was with the rest of us

on cloud nine, with his true love.

Tamara was kind and sweet and

caring...and gorgeous. I offered

to give her a hair cut and do her makeup,

but she refused. And that made me like

her even more. She was interested in

more than her looks. She suited Bennie

so well.'

'LOOK! Admes ,I got another fish!'

'Shut up Fay! I got another boot!'

'Umm...guys? Sparkle behind you!'

'Huh?'

'Grr! Like Rootie, Bennie waited all of

a few hours before placing the ring on

his love's finger. Great! This is just

what he needed. Lindsay was a thing

of the past, and Bennie was his old

self again!'

'Get in there little bro!'

'I was trying to before you

interrupted, big brother!'

'My bad!'

'Trix, I can see you in the tree!'

'Sorry Bennie!'

'Ignore her and let's get back to where

we were...'

'Eww...wait! Guys! I'm stuck up here!'

'We'll get you down later. Serves you

right!'

'I miss depressed Bennie.'

'Eventually I was helped of of my

perch,where I settled down to

watch Admes, Brian and Fay fishing.

Like his to-be-wife, Brian was pretty good at fishing,

giving Admes's ego a bruising.'

'Since everyone else had a gold sewing badge and Bennie

was only silver, he upped his game and made enough quilts

to cover the entire country.

And, as you can see, Alice is still with us,

watching and demanding more

food than any parrot should be able to

eat.'

'Our staple diet was pizza. After almost

every class one of us would bring a deep

pan or two home. Thank god for the

impressive metabolism we

inherited from Dad.'

'As Bennie's mood lifted as he spent

more time with Tamara, his garden also benefited. This

also made our resident chef,

Rootie, happy, which made

everyone else happy when we got to eat

her delicious food.'

'Is it meant to smoke? Alex?

ALEX!!

We had more than our share of

disasters too, especially with the

numerous robots being made!'

'Robots aside, other badge earning was

going well. All of us had numerous gold

badges already. First year was almost over

(I know I've been saying that for ages, but things happened really fast!) and we

were shaping up nicely.'

'When we all arrived home from our end of year exam,it was

like a weight had been lifted that we hand;t known was

there. We'd made it! One year down,

three to go!

Kinda exciting really!'

Okay, thanks for that Trixie. So, that's year one over for the first batch of college

kids. Join us next time for their second

year, where things are likely to get

even more interesting for the

eldest of Klaus and Regina's spawn.

See ya'll then.