Ten Years Earlier
“Yes!” Faith squealed, throwing her arms into the air, “I could beat you with my eyes closed!”
Melinda shook her head and turned away from the arcade machine. “You cheated.”

“I did not! Right, best of three.”
“I’m out of tokens. My mum only gave me five simoleons this week. Said the other ten were to replace the jeans I ripped.”
Faith bit her lip. “I’m sorry about those. I’ll pay you back…”
Melinda nodded although they both knew it would never happen. “So… what shall we do now?”
Faith looked around the arcade. “There’s nothing to do here without any tokens. I guess we could go back to yours and do some colouring? Or go to the park?”
“I have tokens,” said the girl.

A pretty blonde girl they’d never seen before. She walked up shyly and held out her hand to present a selection of glittery coins. “Good afternoon, I’m April.”
Faith’s eyes went wide at the pile of tokens. “Hi April, I’m Faith and she’s Melinda. You wanna play with us?”
“Really? You want to play with me?” April’s eyes sparkled.
“Sure!”
April looked at the giant arcade machine, intimidated. “I don’t know how to play.”
“Really? Are you from the moon or something? You’ll get the hang of it. And you really can’t be any worse at it than Mel,” Faith said, playfully nudging Melinda.

Faith and Melinda had never played at the arcade until they were bored, but April’s supply of tokens just didn’t seem to run out. As Faith thrashed them both for the thirteenth time in a row, Melinda yawned, “We should be getting back soon. My mum won’t be happy if we’re late for dinner, again.”
“What are we having?” April asked brightly.

Melinda looked to Faith and then back to April. “You’re… you’re not invited. I mean we’ve only just met you and my mum won’t have made enough… sorry.”
April looked at her shoes. “That’s OK, I’m not supposed to be out anyway, let alone eating. Mother will be so cross with me.” She was quiet for a moment and then she looked up. “Do you want to come to my birthday party tomorrow?”
Melinda gave Faith a subtle shake of her head.

April didn’t seem to notice. “There will be music and games! And Mother says I can have whatever cake I like, as long as I don’t have any of it, so I’ve ordered a massive chocolate one with jellybeans and french fries on it. And there will be gift bags! Last year they had diamonds in!”
Melinda was still shaking her head.
“Yeah, sure!” Faith gushed.
“Great! Give me your number, Faith, I’ll text you the details.”
Faith looked to Melinda, a plea on her face.
“I’ll give you my number.” Melinda said. “Faith… forgot her phone.”
–
“Thanks for dinner, Mrs. B.” Faith smiled, patting her full tummy.

Melinda’s mum smiled. “I’ve packed you a little bit into a lunchbox for school next week. Make sure you eat it all, including the veggies.”
“I will. Thank you.”
Babs leaned closer to Faith and whispered, “How is your mum doing?”
Faith clenched her fists in her pockets. “She’s OK,” she lied. No thanks to you.
“Oh my gosh, Faith, look at this!”
Faith walked over to where Melinda was sitting. Her eyes transfixed on the TV where Sandy Moss was posing on a red carpet.
“Yeah, that’s last night’s award show. So what?”
“Look at the girl behind her!”

Faith squinted at the TV. “Is that the weird girl?… April?”
Melinda’s phone pinged in her pocket. “Oh my gosh, it is Weird April! She’s just sent her address, look: The Moss Residence, Pinnacles Private Estate, Del Sol Valley. 2 pm. Wear formal attire. What’s ‘formal attire’?”
“Like, a ballgown or something.” Faith dropped her voice to an excited whisper. “Wow! We’re going to meet Sandy Moss! Shoot, I have nothing formal. Can you lend me a dress? I promise I won’t rip it this time.”

Melinda hugged her friend. She hoped her playful voice covered up her concern. “Of course you can! But you’re getting an ugly one.”
–
Babs dropped the girls off at the gates to the Pinnacles Private Estate. She wasn’t allowed to drive her rusty, old car any further in.
“I’ll be back here at 5 o’clock to pick you up. For the love of Gnome, please be good!” she said. “Please, please be polite!”
“We will, Mum.”
Melinda and Faith slipped through the gate and wandered the estate until they found a huge house with a large, gold plaque that simply said ‘MOSS’.
They climbed the marble steps to the grand front door and rang the bell.

“Wow! Mel, they have a butler.”
The butler opened the door, smiling to himself as he took in the two under-dressed girls.
“Can I help you ladies?”
Faith cleared her throat and said in her poshest voice, “We have arrived for April’s party.”
“I see. Names?” The butler asked.
“Faith and Melinda.”
“Full names?”
Well there was no posh way to say those. “Faith Splodge and Melinda Bucket.”

The butler paused, looked down his list, twice. He looked back at the girls who smiled nervously.
“We might be under something else. April didn’t actually ask us for our full names,” Melinda said.
“Do you have an invitation card?”
“No. We met her at the arcade yesterday and she just sort of invited us. I have a text! Do you want to see it?”
“No need. At the arcade, you say?” The butler looked at them a long while, then glanced back at his list. “How silly of me! Here you are,” he said in a warm voice. Then he nodded professionally and let them through.
“You made it!” April squealed, running up to the girls.

“Oh my god Mel, look! It’s her, it’s Sandy!”
Sandy had entered the hallway. The butler immediately tried to distract her, but even his beard and come-to-bed eyes couldn’t stop Sandy from noticing the juicier feast of two common girls.
“Well, hello. Who do we have here?”
April drew a big breath. “Mother, these are my best friends, Faith and Melinda.”
“Hello Mrs. Moss,” the girls chimed in unison.

Sandy didn’t respond. She took April’s arm, her nails digging into the little girl’s flesh. “Excuse us a moment.”
Faith and Melinda lingered awkwardly until April came back.

“Mother says you have to leave,” she whispered.
“Why?” Faith asked, “have we done something wrong?”
April leaned in her voice barely above a breath. “Head round the back, you’ll see a trellis running up the wall. If you climb that and wait for me on the balcony, I can explain.” She stepped back and shouted. “Thank you for coming by! Unfortunately, we don’t need anymore servants at the moment.”
–
“I’m not climbing up there, Faith. Let’s just go home.”

Faith hopped down next to Melinda. “Come on Mel. Don’t you want to know what’s going on here?”
Melinda sighed, “Not really.”
“Please?” Faith took Mel’s hand and flashed her best puppy-dog eyes.
Melinda walked forwards and started to climb.
“You’re the best, Mel!” Faith smiled, climbing up behind her friend. “Oh balls!” She looked down where a rogue nail had stuck into her. “I’m so sorry, I think I’ve snagged your dress.”
Melinda rolled her eyes. Of course she has.
April was already waiting when they reached the top.

“I’m sorry for calling you servants and I’m sorry about my mother,” she scuffed her foot on the floor, “she doesn’t like me to have friends that she hasn’t personally selected. You’ll have to be my secret friends, just for now, just until I can sort my mother out.”
“Secret friends,” Faith said sceptically, her hands on her hips, “so in other words, not good enough to be real friends.”
The light left April’s eyes. “I don’t have any real friends.”
“How can you not have any friends?” Melinda asked.
“No-one likes me,” April said quietly. “They call me ‘weird’ or they’re only interested in meeting Mother. Not like you two. Please stay.”
Melinda felt terrible.
Faith scoffed, “Stay and do what? Clean your shoes? Tidy your room? Come on, Mel,” she headed back towards the trellis, trying not to stare at the hot tub or the amazing view, “I know when I’m not wanted.”


April started to cry. “Look, I’ll figure out a way for us to be real friends. I will, I promise. Please, I had so much fun with you both at the arcade. No-one has ever wanted to play with me before. I’m so lonely, stuck in this stupid house all the time. Please be my friends.”
“Why should we stay?” Faith asked. “What’s in it for us?”
–
“We need to go now, Faith. It’s five past five.”
“Just five more minutes Mel.” Faith pleaded and turned her attention back to the biggest TV she’d ever seen which was showing a movie that Melinda knew her mum wouldn’t approve of her watching.

“He’s definitely a zombie.” Faith beamed through a mouthful of popcorn and chocolate cake.
“Totally,” April replied. “He’s gonna eat her brain, for sure! Hey, if you like this one, you’ll love Zombie Town 3: Pleasantview, you should definitely come and watch that with me next time. I’ll have the butler order in a pizza and we can have a sleepover.”
“How will we get here?”
“I’ll have the butler collect you in the limo.”
“Limo?” Faith’s eyes lit up. “Does the butler do anything you want him to?”
“Yes, that’s his duty.”
“Wow! If you were a zombie, would he let you eat his brain?”
April laughed, “Probably.”
Melinda didn’t like this movie, it made her feel sick. She didn’t like feeling like she didn’t belong in April’s pristine bedroom. She didn’t want to be picked up in a limo. She didn’t want to be friends with Weird April.

But mostly, she didn’t want to share Faith. And that made her feel really mean.
She could feel her phone vibrating in her pocket. She looked down at the hole in Faith’s dress and then up at the sheer joy on the faces of two girls who really needed friends.
It didn’t matter how she felt.
“Five more minutes,” she whispered, wondering if she would ever be able to leave at all.

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I see Sandy was a real treat then already. Yikes.
You can definitely feel little April’s loneliness here, I suppose she even flat out says so, and yet, the girls (especially). arely seem to realise it. Kids can sure be cruel. Well, I’d say that, though it doesn’t feel like their friendship dynamic has changed a great deal.
Wonder what happened with Faith’s mum. I would imagine her lack of empathy might have something to do with that – too much crap went down in her own life for her to be able to focus on anyone else’s. Though that’s a guess.
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Sandy was a real treat? You must’ve had some terrible treats.
Melinda could tell that April was lonely back then, but she’s only realising the extent of it now. Faith just saw a kid who had everything and was still complaining about it. You’re right about their friendship dynamic. A relationship based on secrecy, escapism and lies is going to be more of a emotional trap than a genuine bond.
Good job they’re not stuck with each other forever or anything.
It’s a good guess.
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God, April is just killing it, humor-wise. “And Mother says I can have whatever cake I like, as long as I don’t have any of it.”
Maybe I have to go back and jog my memory, because I can’t figure out what Babs did that Faith is blaming her for her own mother’s condition. In any case, this friendship’s getting messier—love it—and I can’t tell what to make of Melinda’s actions. Yeah, she’s feeling obligated to both of them, but is there a reason she doesn’t have any other friends whose company she prefers? Hmm. I’ll chalk it up to not enough info and be on standby.
Nah, it’s just that I see someone who can’t say no getting fucked over by it, and I don’t like that I’m in this picture.
But on a lighter note, Splodge and Bucket are flipping fantastic last names, and that’s coming from someone who befriended the creator of Thoriatober Tillurch and Ulfer Ostocule. And did I already say I have a sim in his fifties who would happily stay in April’s poshly monochromatic room forever?
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You haven’t missed anything. I haven’t yet told you what Babs did or didn’t do.
Getting fucked over is Melinda’s whole life.
Ha! I put a lot of thought into the first names for my characters; they all mean something. But the surnames? Nah, whatever pops into my head.
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These three definitely had a strange frienship from the start. I can see why Faith would agree to be friends with April. She’s a survivor and a pragmatist. She and April would both benefit from the friendship in their own way. While for Melinda there’s nothing for here in it except for all the inconvenience and insults from April’s mother. And ofc there’s the blasted curse of the odd number three in friendships and all relationships. It’s actually a miracle this friendship lasted so long.
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And now they’re stuck with each other forever. Yay!
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I can’t make up my mind which girl to pity the most 😭
Thanks I’m kinda sobbing now 😭
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Ah, yes, sorry. In amongst the laughs and calamity I do pull a few heartstrings. ❤
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Okay, so lemme get this straight. Faith and Melinda are actual friends, even though Faith doesn´t like Mel´s mom. And Faith hung around April despite everything because /stuff/ and Mel hung around for Faith and a bit because she felt sorry for April too. What a mess.
What gets me most is that you keep repeating that they´re stuck together. Which kinda doesn´t make sense to me. Yeah, they´re vampires now and in a mess together. But they won´t age, they have literally forever. This whole mess with Sandy is gonna blow over eventually. What keeps them from getting each their own life then? Now, of course /they/ won´t be thinking that far ahead, but… we can.
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“Faith and Melinda are actual friends, even though Faith doesn´t like Mel´s mom.” Correct-ish. “And Faith hung around April despite everything because /stuff/ and Mel hung around for Faith and a bit because she felt sorry for April too.” Correct, to start with. “What a mess.” Correct.
It doesn’t make sense to you because you have a good brain and, as you identify, you can see the bigger picture and they… cannot. There’s something else keeping the binds tight and amplifying the ‘stuck’ feeling, but… I cannot elaborate that yet. 😘
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XDD
Oh, now you reminded me. April just effectively became the “master” of those two would-be friends of hers. And while the gravity and exact consequences of that bond are totally something I´m sure you´ll play with in your own way, the fact April is the one who turned them is likely to have some sort of impact at least. Uh-oh.
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Others already stated stuff I was thinking and wondering. But mostly, I liked getting more background on these 3.
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I love that you gave us a chapter of backstory.
April’s the rich kid with everything and nothing at the same time. She even has the birthday cake of her dreams without actually having it (even though I may have spied a slice in front of Faith). It’s sad how Melinda and Faith instantly became her “best friends” because they were her only “friends.” I feel like hoping that the trauma of everything causes them to finally develop a genuinely deep friendship is asking too much.
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We have a few flashback chapters in the mix because… well, why not. 😆 Ooh! Very observant, noticing the cake!
And I see your hopes are suitably attuned to the story already.
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