1.28 How Can I Stay Grounded?

Disclaimer: I forgot to mention that I did not build this house in any way! I downloaded it straight from Mod The Sims here: Woodlawn Estate

The Gray family had finally moved into their new house. There was enough room for everyone, including a spare guest bedroom. Noah had been taking more responsibility in the house as he got older. He helped his mother care for the twins while Levi was at work.

It was the twin's birthday. The family decided to just have cake instead of throwing a huge party. 

Noah was particularly excited to see his siblings age up. Caleb was pretty indifferent, at least on the outside.

He even decided to take his cake and eat it in the other room away from his family. He had been gradually opening up, but still was a reserved and quiet person. 

Kayden grew into his short black hair. 

Daisy and Kayden couldn't look further apart from twins. Athena wondered if they'd resemble each other when they aged up to teens.

The children were always fighting for Caleb's attention even though he tried to ignore them. 

"He's going to tell me a bedtime story because I asked him first!" Daisy exclaimed.

"But he'll have more fun telling me a story!"

"No he won't! Tell him Caleb!" 

"No! Tell her Caleb!"

"Go ask mom. I've got some homework to do," Caleb grumbled.

That night, Caleb had invited Malissa over to go over some last minute questions before she had to take the exam. Malissa had been coming over frequently, at least twice a week to study with Caleb. Mostly they stayed on topic, but sometimes they found themselves laughing and joking with each other and they quickly became good friends.

"Hello guys, how is studying going along?" Athena asked coming into the room.

"Great Mrs. Gray. Caleb is so smart." Malissa smiled. "Thank you for leaving dinner out for us by the way, it tasted really good." 

"Oh no problem. You can't study on an empty stomach right?" 

"Mom, we're kind of trying to study now, and you just got back from work so why don't you go and relax?" Caleb suggested politely. If Malissa wasn't here he'd probably be flying off the handles at his mother. She was embarrassing him! Athena on the other hand had been trying to sneak her way into their conversations for weeks. She wasn't particularly keen on the idea of an older girl hanging around her young son. He wasn't in the place to have bad influences in his life and she feared Malissa would drag him into a world too adult for him.

But she knew when to back off. "Alright, stick to studying you two."

It was awkward for a few moments until Caleb thought it was safe to commence with his plan. He had wanted to ask Malissa an important question and things were going so great between them that he was sure she wouldn't reject him.

"Malissa....I uhmm...I'd like to ask you something..." Caleb trailed off. He was nervous. He'd never asked a girl out before, yet alone someone much older than him. He felt his palms get sweaty.

"If it's about number four then I got 87." Malissa answered.

"No...it's not about any of that. Just close the books for a second and look at me." His heart was pounding. He'd had Malissa's full attention. "Doyouwanttogotopromwithme?!?" Caleb quickly spat out.

"Woah slow down Caleb. Did you say something about prom?" Malissa asked.

"Will you go to prom with me?" Caleb asked again.

 "Oh Caleb. It honestly means a lot to me that you'd want to take me to prom with you. I'm flattered but...I don't think my boyfriend would like that very much."

"What are you talking about? Didn't you say you were single?" Caleb frowned.

Malissa looked flustered. "When did I say that?" 

"At yesterday's lesson." Suddenly Caleb understood the entire situation. "You don't like me." 

"No Caleb it isn't that. You're really sweet, but you're too young. I can't go to a high school prom, how bad is that going to look for me?"

"Good luck on your entrance exam." Caleb said standing up. "Good luck on your future." Before he left the room he turned to her. "By the way...I made that dinner, not my mom. You know the way to the exit."

"Caleb...wait. I didn't mean that. It's not like that."

"Your reputation is more important then my feelings, I get it. Now I'm going to tell you one more time to leave my damn house," Caleb growled. Malissa had never seen him like this before. The last time he was this worked up was when Elliot told him he was leaving.

~Meanwhile, with Noah~

"Noah!" Athena yelled. She had gone outside to let Malissa out. She had tried to talk to Caleb who pushed her away as always. She noticed Noah was sleeping on the front porch in the snow.

"Ten more minutes, mom." Noah groaned.

"What are you doing out here?" She asked. "You're not drunk are you!?"

"No mom. I'm not drunk. Just tired. I'll explain later." 

"I want an explanation NOW." 

-Enter Flashback-

"So what do you say? We ruffle the new girl's feathers?" Noah's friend asked him (I can't remember what her name was >_<)

"Why do you care honestly? You graduated last year," Noah shrugged.

"Because, we have to make sure that she knows her place in Lunar Lakes. Theres a hierarchy here... I don't like that these scientists from other worlds are discovering Lunar Lakes and letting their people take over."

"I'm sure it's not even like that. Who cares about some new girl anyway? I'm not going to bully her. It's people like you who've made my brother's life a living hell. Just let people live their lives," Noah said.

"You do realize who you're turning on right? I can have the whole school turned against you and your gay older brother." She spat.

"EXCUSE ME?" Noah shouted. "I don't care about who you turn against me. I don't care if the entire school hates me. My brother on the other hand is none of your damn business. They all already hate him. Theres nothing you can do that isn't already happening. My brother is a great guy and naive, idiotic, self absorbed people like you are the reason he's afraid to be who he is. You honestly need to get a life, because messing with people...teenagers...when you're a young adult is really sad." Noah walked off. He honestly didn't know why he hung out with her for so long. It was all fun and games in middle school but after watching what became of his brother because of the constant bullying, he had had enough.

Noah's next course of action came naturally to him. He decided to visit the new girl and warn her about the vicious people she'd encounter in Lunar Lakes if she stayed.

"Hi, I'm Noah Gray. I live up on that hill over there. I heard about a new girl moving in and I want to welcome you here and uhmm...warn you." He felt himself slipping on his words. He was not expecting her to be so beautiful. Something about her radiated off of her. He felt like he couldn't frown in front of her.

"Hello Noah, I'm Corrine! I'm from Lucky Palms. It's nice to meet you. I'm actually glad to meet someone from Lunar Lakes. What do you mean by warn?" 

"There's these kids and even some people who have graduated who want to prank you in order to show you your place in Lunar Lakes. They've been pulling the same crap on my brother and it's torn his life apart. I can't stand to see it happen to anyone else, so I just thought I'd let you know to watch your back here." 

"Really?" Corrine frowned. "I have no reason not to believe you do I? I mean unless you're the one pulling the prank right?"

Noah shrugged. "I put the information out there. What you do with it is up to you."

"I think I'll trust you, you seem really sweet and cute." She grinned.

"What was that?" Noah asked blushing.

Corrine shrugged in return. "I put the information out there. What you do with it is up to you."

The two found themselves flirting with each other easily. They hung out for a while until Noah had to leave. He had to head over to the science facility and get some research done for a project. It was getting late and if he didn't leave soon, he'd not get out until after curfew and the cops in Lunar Lakes did not play around with teens hanging out after dark.

Noah found himself acting really out of character around Corrine. He'd only known her for a couple of hours and he already felt the need to leave her with something to remember him by. He had given her his first kiss and ran off in a hurry. On his way out his shouted, "Prom?"

"Don't you have to be a senior?" Corrine shouted back.

"Do I look like I play by the rules?" Noah smirked.

Corrine laughed. "I'll take that as a yes!" He shouted before waving her off. It was hard to believe he'd only known her for a few short hours. He couldn't wait to spend many more with her.

Corrine watched the strange boy run away. "Noah Gray," She whispered, touching her now cold lips. She had been here for only a day and already she had her first kiss stolen by a cutie with pink hair. She didn't know what to think about any of it, except that it had felt so right. "Noah Gray," She repeated. Her father was not going to like this one bit, but she couldn't help but smile when she thought about it...

Afterwards, Noah had headed to the science facility as prompted by his teacher. It was kind of late but the staff was very friendly towards him and let him in because his mother worked there. He tried to hurry with his research but it was a lot and he had left his project until last minute.

Of course, he'd been caught passed curfew by the police. They had dropped him off home and he'd been camping outside until the coast was clear to sneak in. He's been trying to call Caleb to cover for him, but he didn't answer his phone.

-End of Flashback-

"Noah, I'm so proud of you for telling me the truth, sticking up for your brother and even being there for the new girl" (He had conveniently left out the part where he kissed her, he knew his mother would want to know every detail and he was just too tired for all of that interrogation). Athena continued, "But you did stay out way past the curfew I'd given you. You had plenty of time to do your project and talking to the new girl didn't need to last that long and so you have no excuse for staying out so late. Your father is all about tough love with Caleb and I don't think we should be babying you either, so I'm sorry but you're grounded Noah."

"Are you serious?" Noah groaned and trudged inside.