Chapter Sixteen: Once Again

"Mom, mom, I've got it! I figured out what I'm going to do!" Phoenix rushed into the kitchen after school one day, excited and out of breath.

"That's great, honey!" Rachel turned away from the sink full of dirty dishes to greet her son, "So, what is it?"

"Well, we went on a field trip to Anne Arbor General Hospital today, and they were telling us all about this work/study program they have, that you can start right out of high school. So, that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to be a doctor!"

Phoenix was so excited to finally have a goal to work toward that he didn't want to wait until graduation, and started diving into his medical studies to the best of his ability in his free time. Rachel was proud to see her son striving so diligently; she figured she must have managed to pass on her work ethic to him somehow, after all.

Of course, he still managed to find time for all the usual senior activities, too.

"So, Sadie, will you go to prom with me?"

"Oh! Well, I supposed, since no one's asked me out yet this time," Sadie agreed, teasingly.

It wasn't long after that when she showed up at the Keatts' all dressed up for the dance.

"Wow, you look... great," Phoenix found his vocabulary lacking in this regard.

"Thanks, I made the dress myself," Sadie blushed, not seeming to mind.

"Aren't you two the cutest!" Rachel interrupted.

"Let me get a picture," she convinced the teens to pose while she snapped several shots with her phone. Luckily, the rented limo arrived before that went on too long.

"Have fun! But not too much! Behave yourselves!" Rachel called after them as they left.

Phoenix leaned back with a sigh of relief once inside the vehicle, "I was afraid she wasn't going to let us go for a minute there."

"I think it's kind of sweet," Sadie replied, waving out the window.

The gesture was lost on Rachel, however, since the tinted windows blocked her view as the limo pulled away from the curb. Still, she watched until it turned around the corner before heading back inside.

Printing out one of the photos she had taken, she hung it on the wall to add to her ever-growing collection of pictures of her not-so-little-anymore boy. Tonight would be his last night of teenage fun before having to face the responsibilities of adulthood. She had confindence in him - he was ready and she felt she had prepared him well - but she was suddenly realizing that she might not be quite ready for this herself.

Rachel stayed up late to wait for Phoenix to come home, keeping herself busy with work on the computer. When he finally returned, he had worked up quite an appetite from all of the dancing, so she joined him in the kitchen as he dug into a carton of ice cream.

"What's this?" Rachel asked as he pushed a silver crown toward her on the table.

"I got voted prom king," Phoenix shrugged nonchalantly, but his mother thought she could see a hint of a grin tugging at the corner of his mouth.

"Well, congratulations!" Rachel was as surprised as her son had been when he had first heard. Apparently the kids in his class had appreciated him freeing the science lab frogs more than he had realized; they might not have agreed with his animal rights philosophies, but standing up to authority was something they could get behind. Plus, he got everyone out of science class for the day while the resulting mess was cleaned up. If Phoenix hadn't been so absorbed in his relationship with Sadie, he might have noticed that his fellow students had adopted a much friendlier attitude toward him since Paulie had left the school, as well.

There was no time to recover from the excitement of the prom, as the next day Sadie was back over to celebrate Phoenix's birthday.

Eighteen years old and now officially a young adult.

Phoenix had convinced Sadie to celebrate her birthday at the same time, so it was his turn to cheer next.

When that was over, Rachel helped herself a slice of cake and took it inside.

Phoenix and Sadie took advantage of the privacy.

"So, this is it, we're going to be graduates in a few days," Sadie looked toward Phoenix, "Guess that means you'll start working at the hospital, then?"

"Yeah, and you'll be working with your dad?"

"Yeah," they nodded solemnly at each other in agreement of some unspoken resolve before turning to watch the sun set slowly behind the hills.

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And that's officially the end of generation one! 'Bout time, eh? ^^;

I kept Phoenix and Sadie's YA outfits as close to their teen outfits as possible to make the age transition seem less jarring. Sadie kind of ruined it by showing up in her first teen outfit rather than her more recent one, though. I got the idea for that at Sandy from ATS's blog, specifically this post: http://aroundthesims.online.fr/my_sims/story_2007_06_bal-2.html.

I was kind of upset that Phoenix got prom king since his only friend in school was Sadie and it made no sense, so I had to come up with some reason why that would have happened. If anyone knows of any mods that make it harder to be prom king/queen, please let me know. I've only seen mods that make it easier, and I already think that it's so easy that it makes it boring and pointless.

Anyway, updates should be coming regularly for awhile now, so be sure to check back next Friday! :)