Generation 1, Chapter 7 - Dylan

On his first day of school, Dylan bounded out of bed in excitement, hitting his head in the process.

He rubbed the new bruise as he walked into the kitchen. He wanted to run, but he knew himself well enough to realize that would probably be a bad idea. He was clumsy.

His mother had made waffles for the special occasion. Usually they just had leftovers for breakfast, but today was different.

“Looking forward to your first day of school?”

He nodded enthusiastically, not wanting to try to talk while he ate. That, along with running indoors, was another thing that never ended well. It was enough work to eat without spilling his drink or knocking something off the table.

After he'd gotten dressed and brushed his teeth, it was time to go. He was a little nervous, but mostly excited as he climbed the tall steps onto the bus.

Soon he'd be at school, where he would learn new things, and make new friends, and have new things to do. He bounced in his seat, giddy with anticipation. Soon he’d learn that having high hopes inevitably led to disappointment.

He walked into his house at the end of the day with a lot less enthusiasm than he’d had when he’d left it that morning. His mother turned towards him and smiled. “How was your first day of school, baby boy?”

He thought about it.

--------

Some things had been almost exactly the way he’d imagined them. His teacher, Mrs. Bachelor, was really nice. They hadn’t really learned much today: they’d mostly just talked about the rules and played games to get to know each other. That had been fun, though, so he didn’t really mind.

He’d been having a great time until the time came to go out to recess. That was when his classmates all divided into little clumps. It was a small town. They all knew each other, or at least knew of each other. He had to decide who to approach and ask to play with them, or play by himself. It wasn’t a hard decision. Dylan desperately wanted to make friends. So he walked up to the clump closest to him, smiled, and said, “Hi, I’m Dylan. Can I play with you?”

The group was two boys and a girl. They looked at him, then at each other. Finally, the blond boy looked back at him. “No.”

Dylan stared at them, confused. “Why not?”

“If you really need to ask, you obviously haven’t looked in a mirror lately. Now go away.”

Dylan slumped off, metaphorical tail between his legs. That boy had been so mean! Dylan didn’t even really know what he’d meant, but he could tell it was an insult. But there were other people on this playground. He could still make friends.

He approached another group. This one was made up of a pretty girl with red hair and a chubby boy in a bike helmet. He smiled at them. “Hi, I’m Dylan. Can I--”

The boy cut him off. “No way. You messed with Nick Landgraab, you’re going to die now. I don’t want to go down with you.”

Dylan looked beseechingly at the girl, but she just smiled sympathetically and nodded, agreeing with her friend.

Dylan was dejected now. Did nobody want to play with him? He scanned the playground until someone caught his eye.

“I like your shirt. Aliens are cool.”

The boy smiled at him. “Thanks. So are dinosaurs.”

Dylan grinned back. “I’m Dylan.”

“Terry.”

They played together for the rest of recess.

--------

Dylan smiled at his mother before responding. “It was good. I’m excited for tomorrow.”

He’d made a friend. He may have also made an enemy, but time would tell whether that would lead to anything. After all, tomorrow was a new day.

Author's Note: This is mostly just a little filler chapter to introduce you to Dylan and the major players in his childhood plot. Most of the kids featured in this chapter will be seen again a couple of chapters on. In case you're curious, the mean group is Brittany Kimura (daughter of Tori Kimura and Cycl0n3 Sw0rd), Nicholas Landgraab (son of Nancy and Geoffrey Landgraab), and William Langerak (son of Iliana and Dustin Langerak). The boy in the bike helmet is Jonathan Andrews (son of Victoria and Beau Andrews) and the girl with red hair is Chanda Ursine (daughter of Claire Ursine and Jared Frio). Terry is Terrill Wan (son of Pauline Wan and Hank Goddard). Introduced a little later will be Johanna French-McGraw (daughter of Molly French and Stiles McGraw). Don't worry, you don't have to remember any of that information. If any of it's significant, it will come up again in a later chapter. Honestly, this is mostly just here so that I remember in case anyone asks about it.

Also, not pictured in this chapter: the moment Dylan locked in his lifetime wish. It was hilarious. As he got out of bed on his first full day of childhood, he got up and immediately decided that he wanted to be a forensic profiler. I've had child sims lock in lifetime wishes before, but never so randomly. There was absolutely nothing to trigger it. But I locked it in, because the rolled career for child #2, Dylan, is Law Enforcement (Forensics). Sometimes I swear the game knows. I won't spoil Ayla's career just yet, but if Sam was eligible for heir, he would have been an artist. He isn't, though, so he's been spared a lot of drama. But he still gets a plot, which we will see more of next time.