Dancehall queen

Round 14: Autumn 2022


Rianna Midlock is 52, Anthony is 48, Emily is 14, Sara is 13 and Jesse is 9.
(Regan is 58, Eve is 21 and Ethan is 14.)

Narrated by Sara Midlock

I've been working really hard for good grades lately. Mom and dad finally allowed me to start proper dance lessons this autumn but I can only continue them if I manage to keep my grades up. It's not exactly ballet but it's a good start.

The coolest thing is that the classes are at Brixton University and Eve is our teacher. I have to take a 1-hour bus drive there twice a week but I don't care. Studying dance at Brixton is like a preview of what I'm hoping my life will be in 5 years.

Eve will graduate in about a month so she's more than capable of training our "creative movement" class. We practice different kinds of dances and even tai chi because Eve says it'll teach us to control our body.

We also get some training on the ballet bar but not very often since it's not supposed to be a ballet class. That's my goal though, to get into a ballet class but they only approve the best of the best.

Emily turned 14 this year so she was allowed to get a part-time job after school. She likes getting some extra money but she's more excited about her boyfriend Ethan though. Mom and dad have always said that we're not allowed to start dating until we turn 15 but they sort of changed the rules after they found out about Emily and Ethan. They're not allowed to go out on school nights and they're definitely not allowed to spend much time alone but they can still see each other.

Emily's been trying to convince me that I should start dating Ethan's brother Aaron. Frieda has been saying the same thing, especially since she found a boyfriend this summer. I don't even know Aaron well enough to start dating him and although he seems like a nice guy I'm just not that interested in him. We kind of kissed one time last year at Generation X and it was nice but I don't want to start dating someone just for the sake of having a boyfriend. Sometimes I think there's something wrong with me because I'm not that interested in boys but mom says that I'm just a late bloomer.

Emily got the flu so she was allowed to stay home from school one day. She told mom that she rested the whole day but I'm pretty sure she was online the whole time she was alone in the house. She was chatting with someone when I came home from school anyway.

She did get better pretty quickly, just in time for mom's impromptu family party. Even Ethan was invited although he's not technically part of our family.

He's kind of cute though so I can understand why Emily likes him.

Eve hadn't met all our relatives yet so the party was also meant to be a "welcome to the family" kind of thing.

Mom never wants to cook when grandma comes over so she picked up something from the deli on her way home from work. Not that grandma would judge anyone's cookings but I guess it's a bit intimidating to cook for a chef.

In a few years we'll have another chef in the family since Dawn is studying culinary arts. She's our aunt but feels more like a cousin because she's only a few years older than us.

Aunt Regan had some exciting news. She told us that our cousin Erin, who got married in the summer, is pregnant! The baby is due in July next year. Aunt Regan said it's going to be wonderful to have a new baby in the family. Mom joked to her that soon we'll have to rent a stadium if we plan to get all our relatives in the same place at the same time.

Grandpa kept asking me about my dance lessons.

"Is it like that weird modern stuff I've seen on tv where the so-called dancers just flap their arms and run around the stage?" he asked. I was worried that Eve would hear and be offended since she's more into modern than classical dance. He did say that he was just joking. He seemed really pleased to hear that I wanted to be a ballerina. Maybe that means he and grandma will buy a ballet bar for my room as a Christmas present.

Notes:

• Title reference: Dancehall queen by Robyn.
• Sara rolled the family reunion ROS which is the last ROS for this round. We're approaching the end of this round anyway, only 2 updates + the round summary coming after this one.
• Erin actually got pregnant in the limo ride after her wedding party! I guess it's a feature of either ACR or InTeen, don't know which one. I had planned to make her and Toby wait some time before trying for a baby but the game decided otherwise. I'm not complaining though because I love sim babies.
• Sara doesn't roll any romantic wants so I'm thinking she's not that interested in dating anyone yet. She has plenty of time for that later.
• The dance studio is in the same faculty building that Dawn visited in the previous update. Eventually I plan to build a Faculty of Performing Arts and move the dance studio there but for now the studio will stay in the Faculty of Arts.