Wow! That was a brave move! Hope Chloe has a better college experience than her mother did!

what was so bad about her mums college experience?

Well, so far, all you know is she got sick a lot at college. There'll be bits and bobs coming up soon. I've had some issues so I know the story seems a little rushed, but I promise things will slow down now Chloe's at college and you'll find out some more about Beth.

Well, this was it. My home for the next few years; McClung Hall. It was small and kind of shabby, but I liked it.



Much as I hated to admit it, though, I could see what Mum meant about college food. I didn't even want to know what I could see floating in my mac'n'cheese...



Thankfully, Jamie had managed to get in the same halls as me. It was nice to have someone I knew around, it made settling in easier.



I was unpacking in my tiny room when this girl came in and introduced herself.

"Hi, my name's Vyn. I've just moved in to the room across the hall and I thought I'd introduce myself."

"That's nice of you. I'm Chloe Mossberg."

"Really? Mossberg? Beth's daughter?!"

"Um.. yeah? Do you know her?"

"My mum went to college with her. Didn't she tell you?"

"No. She didn't really tell me much about her college, except that she hated it. She didn't really want me to come."



Vyn laughed. "I'm not surprised."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"You don't know? Well, it's not really my business to tell you if your mum hasn't but... I'm sure if you do your research it should be easy enough to find out."

With that, she turned and left.



What Vyn had said bothered me, but I didn't have time to think about it. Both Jamie and I had masses of assignments to do, not to mention a term paper to finish and various skills to brush up on. I was studying Journalism, and Jamie was working on his Law degree.



After pulling an all-nighter to finish our term papers, Jamie and I finally emerged to have some food. I couldn't help but notice the other inhabitants of the dorm had rather... striking new looks.



"So what prompted your lovely new look then?" Jamie asked the girl next to him, Mary.

"The local boutique were doing discount makeovers door-to-door, probably trying to get new customers. They said they'd do the whole dorm free if we passed out flyers to our friends. It's a shame you guys weren't here, you could have used a spruce." She sniffed, looking down her nose at me.



"Oh, I think Chloe looks great as she is." said the blonde guy next to me, Douglas. I blushed, and Jamie shot Douglas a funny look.



"Thanks, Douglas. I'm pretty tired, I think I'm going to turn in. See you in the morning, guys."



As I climbed into bed, I started thinking about what Vyn had said before. I had some free time tomorrow, thanks to finishing my term paper ahead of deadline, so I thought I'd head into Sim State Library to see if I could find any old yearbooks that might give some clue as to what she meant about Mum.



The next morning, I was up bright and early, and knocked on Jamie's door before I left.

"Hey, I'm heading to the library for a bit, got any books you need taking back?"

"No thanks Chlo, the beauty of the internet means I did all my term paper research online. You have fun in the Stone Age Library, though! What are you going for?"

"Oh, I just want to look at some textbooks. See you later."



I felt bad for not telling Jamie why I was really going to the library, but I didn't want to get him involved in something that might just be idle gossip. I wanted to know why Vyn had found it so interesting that I was Beth Mossberg's daughter.

OO whats up??

Wait and see... The pictures have been taken for the next chapter so I'll edit those and should have it up later tonight.

Awesome! I am so hooked!

Tee hee glad to hear it!

ohh, sounds interesting....I love her new look!

OOOH!! I am intrigued. I can't wit to find out the source of Beth's notoriety! Keep it coming and as always, happy simsing.

As I walked up to the library, I began to feel nervous. What exactly was I hoping to find? Mum's old yearbook conveniently placed on a shelf, signed by all her classmates, confirming her as... what?



A kindly librarian pointed me to the stacks that held the lists of past graduates. I stopped short in front of the books. It occurred to me that I didn't know what year Mum graduated. Come to think of it, I didn't remember ever seeing her diploma. Quickly I worked out what year it would have been when Mum was eighteen, and found that years graduating class.



When she didn't show up in that one, I checked the one for the next year.



And the next...



And the next...



And the next. After three hours, I'd checked all the graduates from five years either side of my Mum's eighteenth birthday. She wasn't there.



I walked out of the library feeling dejected. The librarian had no suggestions as to why a graduate wouldn't be listed. I trudged home, disappointed with my wasted day.



When I got home, Jamie was sat on the couch watching the football.

"Hey, lazy arse. Have you done any work today?" I asked.

"Nope!" He smiled. "Come on, we worked our bums off yesterday, today is rest day. How was the library?"



"Pointless." I said, plonking myself on the sofa next to him, and recounting my whole wasted day to him. As the frustration caught up with me, I felt tears well up in my eyes.



"Hey, don't cry." He shuffled up to me on the sofa and put his arm around me.

"I'm okay, I just... I thought I might be able to find something to explain the way she is. Its weird to think that she has this whole secret history that I don't know about."



"Maybe there's a good reason for that. You won't know until you talk to her."

"I know," I sighed. I looked up into Jamie's eyes, and realised with a jolt that we were practically snuggling on the couch. I jumped up, flushed.



"Anyway," I stammered, "I'm going to take a shower. Thanks for letting me moan at you, Jay."

"No probs, Chlo."



As I stood in the shower, letting the water run over my aching body and listening out for the toilet flush so I could jump out from under the surge of freezing water that usually followed, I got to thinking about the graduation lists. Why wasn't Mum there? And why had I never seen her degree? She'd definitely come here; she talked about it a lot, and even Vyn knew her by name through her Mum.

All of a sudden it hit me; Mum wasn't on the grad lists because she never graduated. She must have dropped out! But why?

Great update...this is intersting..but i have to ask...what happened to the 'homegrown' aspect of the story??? lol either way it's still a good story
Can i make one tiny suggestion about your picture taking, not that i'm an expert or anything but Perhaps you could tilt the camera down a touch so we can't see the sky?

You know what would be surprising? If it turned out that Beth wasn't in the sim state yearbooks becasue she went to another school! It would be very lame, but I would be surprised. Can't wait to read more! Happy simsing!

Nice story! Great job so far!

Starywn - Thanks for the tip about the picture taking. I used to Photoshop the sky white to look like ceilings but for some reason I seem to have forgotten that in a few pics... *doh* As for the homegrown thing, I know what you mean in terms of Beth's farm, that has been put to one side a little. I think what 'homegrown' means here is the seeds of Beth's life that are coming together for Chloe to piece together. Don't worry, the farm is doing great and we'll get back to it soon!

Panda - Sorry to disappoint, but Beth did go to Sim State, she just didn't graduate, for reasons currently unknown.

Thanks to everyone for reading and commenting. Updates are coming

Don't worry aryxa, i'm not complaining I forget to correct mine too sometimes and i hate having to photoshop skill bars etc

Are you aware Ary, that you have have skipped a chapter (17 and 19 with no 18) It looks like Chloe's mum got up to no good at school lol.

Auroraspirit :angel:

So I have! I would never have noticed that... Thanks Aurora!

Ack, I know! Thank God for Clone and Heal...

Your welcome

Auroraspirit :angel:

To: [email protected]
From: [email protected]
Subject: Hi!

Hey Jamie, it’s Mum here. Just thought I’d drop you an email, see how you were doing. I hope you’re studying hard!



Annette is growing by the day - you won’t believe how big she’s getting! She misses you very much; she’s always snuggling up to the teddy you bought her before you left.



And guess what? She’s walking now!

How’s Chloe? We don’t hear from her often. Please try and persuade her to phone her mum; you know Beth’s stubborn but secretly she’d love to hear from her.



As for me, I’m also growing pretty quickly! Yep, baby number three is almost due, and I can’t wait. This pregnancy has been a tough one! Almost everything makes me feel sick. I helped Jasper take the bins out last night and the smell nearly had me hurling right there.



Well, that’s pretty much all my news. Except, have you heard from Nana and Grandpa recently? Grandpa’s been very busy at work, and… well, you know he doesn’t really like Jasper. Nana has called a few times but never for very long. Please give them a call, you know Nana loves to hear from you.

Jasper and Annette send their love.

Love you lots,

Mum
xx

That was a nice update, short and sweet. Update more! and soon! Happy simsing!

I was working off some off the cafeteria's finest mac'n'cheese when Jamie came strolling over.

"Guess what?" He grinned.

"You finally grew a pair?" I teased.



"Less of that, missy, or I'll have to sign you up for the campus streaking squad. I made the Dean's List! And so did you!"

"That's great!" I squealed. "When did you find that out?"

"I just checked the boards after class."

"Well, you clever thing, congratulations."



"You too. So... gonna tell your mum?" He asked.

"That's not a good idea, Jay."

"Why not?"



"What would I say?! Hi Mum, you know how much you hate me being at college? Well I thought I'd call and rub your face in how well I'm doing."



"Chloe," Jamie sighed, "you're going to have to talk to her eventually."

"I've tried! Everytime I call, Leod picks up. He's nice but as soon as he hears it's me, I can hear her ask him to tell me she's out."



"Then email her. Anything, Chlo. She misses you, and she'd be proud to hear how well you're doing. Just get in contact, for me?"

"Fine, fine, I'll do it, you can put the puppy dog eyes away."



As I headed to my room to try and compose an email to Mum, a faded noticeboard caught my eye. The thing must have been up for years, and I'd never really looked at it. But a picture stuck out to me.



As I looked closer, a familiar face swam out of the collage of old photos and flyers. Was that... Mum? Kissing some guy? What the h*ll?!



I quickly put the do not disturb sign on my door, and started up my computer, even more confused about what to say. I knew Mum had never graduated, but surely this was proof that she'd at least been here?!



As thoughts swam around my head, my computer made a familiar pinging sound.

You have received an email from Beth Mossberg. Read?

To: [email protected]
From: [email protected]
Subject: None

Chloe, it's Mum. I need to talk to you. This is hard for me to do, but... I really miss you.



I went into your old room yesterday. I've kept it the same way you left it. I haven't even changed the bed.



You'll be pleased to know the farm is doing well. Oh, who am I kidding, you always hated the farm.



Leod is helping a lot around the house. It's nice to have him around; it makes the house feel less empty without you.



We both got really bad colds a few weeks ago, and I made us the same juice mix I used to make you when you got sick. It always made you feel better.

What I really wanted to talk to you about happened earlier today. I was tidying up in my pajamas when Leod came in with a funny look on is face. He looked really nervous, and he kept talking about how close we'd got, and how special I was to him.

Then, he got down on one knee and...



He proposed.

I'm really shocked and I don't really know what to do. Chloe, I need your approval. I need to know this is ok with you. I know I haven't really been there for you lately, and I know I've been selfish and blind. I can't just use my experiences to judge yours. But I'm still your mum and I know if I marry Leod it could make things uncomfortable for you.

Please email me or call me about this. It would mean the world to me.

I love you.
Mum

Aww What a sweetie taking her daughter's feelings on her man into consideration