1.8 The Big Sims' Club

Hello again!

My estimates for new chapters tend to be quite optimistic. Thank you for your patience! I hope you enjoy this chapter.

My studies and especially writing my Master's thesis will take a lot of my time this fall, but I try to publish new chapters as often as I am able!

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"Mama, mama! Look what Greg can do!" Dylan shouted enthusiastically, as the cowplant caught a treat from mid-air and swallowed it with a huge gulp. 

"That's great, honey", Trisha said absent-minded. Was that banana tree showing signs of evolving after all...?

Mama's mind being clearly somewhere else and Greg refusing to eat any more, Dylan headed to the playground. He decided to count, how many times would he be able to cross the monkey bars before he would run out of strength and fall to the ground. 

He had counted to three as he heard someone coming to the playground.

"Yay, a new friend!" Dylan said enthusiastically. "What's your name? My name is Dylan, wanna be friends? Do you like pirates? I do, let's play pirates, shall we?" Dylan bubbled, question after question. 

"I'm Rasmus", the boy responded. "Yeah, let's play pirates!"

Rasmus was little weird, but nice enough company. He seemed to be excited over conspiracy theories, and told Dylan super confidently that he knew for sure what kind of strange things were going on in Strangerville. Dylan listened to him politely, even if he often felt the urge to say something about the irrationality of the boy's story. Finally he proposed that they should have a little race in the monkey bars to try and see which one of them could finish first without falling to the ground.

Dylan won of course, and after Rasmus left he stayed a bit to hone his skills.

"Ugh... There's glue all over my fingers. Where does this part go to? Where's the manual?"

"Come on, buddy, let me help you. That hot glue pistol can be a little dangerous."

"Thanks, dad. Though I could have done it myself." Dylan had to act as independent and confident, even if he was rather pleased that his dad came and did the hardest parts of the project for him. 

"It looks really nice", Salim said pleased.

"It does!" Dylan said stoked. "I'm gonna get an A- for sure, if not an A!"

The castle ended up being a bit too girly for Dylan's taste, but if anything, it would impress his friends - and Dylan enjoyed it when they admire his doings and showed it too. It made him feel truly invincible.

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Dylan was sitting at the computer and practicing typing as he heard footsteps and soon a familiar voice from the living room door:

"Hi Dylan."

"Hilda!" Dylan called out surprised. "You have grown up! You're a teenager now!"

"Yeah, I am", Hilda said and sat down on the sofa. "Now I'm the same age with Anne. But your birthday is also gonna be pretty soon."

"True", Dylan grew more excited. "And then I can do all kinds of teenager stuff with you guys!"

Dylan couldn't wait for his birthday, because he couldn't help feeling a little jealous as Hilda sat there discussing adult stuff with his mother, and he couldn't understand a word of it. She was his friend, but rather spent time with his parents. 

But soon. Soon that situation would change.

Before that though, he had to call for mum to help him because of the monsters under his bed. He was ashamed as Trisha emerged to the room with a spray bottle (Dylan knew that there was no monster repellent in the bottle, but just plain water) and looked under his bed. Now he too saw that there was nothing under the bed and that he had waken his mother up for no reason. He was a coward and a mama's boy. But he couldn't help feeling afraid. When the fear grew too strong, it was impossible to control it.

As he woke up in the morning, he was exhausted, but luckily his mum had made delicious breakfast, and its smell made Dylan drool. Apparently she hadn't told anything about the night before to dad, and Dylan was thankful for that too. In things like that he could always count on his mum.

"GAAAAAH!" Lightnings found their way to Salim too. "Coffee was enough to wake me up this morning, thank you very much!"

"Did the lightning melt your brain, dad?" Dylan laughed while typing at the computer. "You hate exercising!"

"Yes, I do... *huff* ... but I try to stay fit and... *puff* ... set an example to you..."

"Go ahead. I'm playing a typing game. It's way more fun than that, whatever that is."

"Don't say that... When my abs grow big enough, I can lift you... with one hand... holy Plumbob!"

"Dear heart, don't fail me... You can do it... Just a little more..."

Finally Salim ran out of strength and he couldn't lift his legs to take even one more step.

"Why do people even do this", Salim chuffed. "Totally insane. Son, don't ever exercise, it just makes you angry."

"Advice noted", Dylan giggled and continued with his little game.

"Mmm... This is life. Who would want to do exercising when you can also eat food made by Trisha Crowe?

"What kind of birthday cake should I ask mama to bake", Dylan pondered already. "Maybe chocolate!"

"Sounds great", Salim said absent-minded, savouring every bite.

"Note to self: don't do exercising. And buy more batteries from the store, the remote is soon dead."

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Finally, it was Dylan's birthday. He himself hadn't even had time to change to his party attire before the first guest arrived. It was one of his classmates, with whom he had always had good discussions and fun play sessions. Soon he wouldn't be playing anymore, but he would be doing teenager stuff with other teenagers - like Hilda and Anne, for example.

What did teenagers even do? Only now Dylan realized, he didn't have any idea. Those teens he had seen somewhere sometimes were only hanging around, chatting and shopping at the stores. It seemed boring. But maybe teens thought it was fun? Who knew.

Finally the party got really started, and Dylan went to change clothes.

"Hi, Hilda! Cool that you made it!"

"Of course. Although you didn't show up to my birthday party. I'm still a little hurt about that."

"I'm sorry. But those are the rules in our family. We cannot go anywhere else from this neighbourhood except holiday resorts or Magnolia Promenade."

"Your family is so weird. But very well. I forgive you."

"I wish... A-ha! Now I know!"

"I wish to become the sidekick of the Fly-Man! He was a teenager when the radioactive fly bit him, so my chances are pretty good..."

Being a teenager didn't make Dylan feel so much different after all. Or maybe a little. He couldn't say yet, he was quite tired. Growing up was tough job, both physically and mentally. But before he could go to his room and take a nap, Dylan had to greet his guests and receive lots of congratulations. 

"It feels like only yesterday I trained you to potty! Time truly flies", Riikka sighed. "Congratulations to the handsome teenager!"

Trisha and Salim watched their son proudly. The had done something right, Dylan being so well-mannered and polite.

Finally Dylan had the chance to rest a bit in his renovated room. He wanted the interior of the room to express his nerdy side without being too clinical of futuristic, because he enjoyed warm colours. The final result was perfectly his liking, and the bed was comfy enough for a quick nap. 

Of course, from all the places in the house Trisha and La'ei had to come and chit-chat in his room. Luckily, Dylan slept like a log.

After a while Dylan was rested enough to rejoin his own party. He made sure to chance his style to fit his taste better. From the corner of his eye he saw both Anne and Hilda checking him out, but he wasn't sure. It could all be also just wishful thinking.

"Well hello, handsome!" Hilda said playfully and laughed. "Welcome to the Big Sims' Club!"

"Thank you! Now I feel really mature. I feel like doing all kinds of adult stuff!"

She laughed again and winked. Dylan wasn't sure what she meant with that, but he smiled back at her.

She congratulated him once more before she headed home. The party started to be wrapped up and guests started saying their goodbyes one by one. Everybody were praising the party and the delicious food. This evening had been one of the best ones in Dylan's life.

"I hope with this party we made up the last time, when we forgot your birthday", Salim said to his son.

"Absolutely! This party was epic. Thank you, dad!"

"You are a great son, Dyl, you deserved this bash."

Dylan rolled his eyes. "Dad... still lame."

Salim just laughed as a response. Even Dylan couldn't help but smile before he headed upstairs and started getting ready for bed.

"We have a wonderful kid, haven't we, darling?" Salim asked his wife.

"Yes. Can you imagine that we have created something that incredible?"

"I certainly can, you being his mother."

"Flatterer", Trisha said and smiled shyly.

"It's not flattering, it's the truth."

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