Monica Bratford: Sophomore Year

Not long ago, we spent a "year" at La Fiesta Tech, visiting with the "brothers" living at the Oresha Varele Ho fraternity house. Now I am going to move next door, to the Tri-Fruhm Sorority, the house on the far left.

It is currently the home to four "sisters", and it is the red-haired girl in front of the mirror who we are here for: Monica Bratford. She is the only Sophomore, whereas the others are all Freshmen. Monica is a Knowledge Sim with the lifetime want of becoming Chief of Staff. Her Maxis-written bio says that "... her newfound political activism can seem somewhat... fake. She can often be found protesting deforestation and animal testing for cosmetics while handing out stacks of fliers and free makeup samples."

The other ladies here are, from left to right, DJ Verse, Sarah Love and Jessie Pilferson.

A close-up of the house.

The ground floor is open-plan, apart from the kitchen. There are squashy settees, a TV, book shelf, and easel, as well as a fire place and fruit punch device. A porch at the back of the house leads to a small swimming pool and a patio with a grill, two chairs and a table. 

Upstairs are three bedrooms with a total of five beds and one (one!) bathroom, also holding the only toilet in the house. Can you imagine sharing a place with three other people who are not family, and only having one bathroom with a toilet? There is only one computer, too. There are two telephones, though! :-D Everything is neat and shows a feminine touch, but nearly all furniture is on the cheap side. Right now, the girls only have 2,197 Simoleons between them, so they have to be careful with spending any unnecessary money until the grants roll in. 

Good job that sorority members get pizza for free! Here, DJ has picked up pizza on her way home from class. At the same time, a student by the name of River Smith walks by. He is one of a group of four ex-NPC teenagers with playable surnames who I have sent to the smallest dorm here on campus.

All four girls need logic, and so 500 Simoleons are invested in a chess board. The two chairs were already dotted around the house.

Jessie obviously had the same idea as DJ when she comes back from class. Another member of the extended Smith family from Strangetown walks by and is duly greeted; the girl with the hat is an NPC student called Danielle Smith.

Before their first day is over, Sarah Love finishes her Term Paper, and the Greek House achieves level 3.

Last but not least this semester, Monica writes her Term Paper.

There is no shortage of pizza in this house!

An impromptu party ensues with visiting playable students Gunnar Roque (in black) and Almeric Davis. The place looks less neat now with used paper cups strewn across the floor.

But some of the girls are sensible enough to clean up the mess... at least part of it.

It's Exam Day, and Monica has done all she can do to get ready. She spends the morning before her exam playing chess with Jessie, while Sarah watches. (By rights Jessie should be in bed - she is VERY tired, but since she's acquired all her skills and written her paper for this semester, I do not control her. In the end, she just about manages to snatch an hour or so of sleep before it is time to head to her exam.) 

All four girls achieve an A+ and a spot on the Dean's List - their hard work (and not so hard partying) has payed off. They now have 6,072 Simoleons; time for an upgrade here and there.

Another one of the ex-NPC townie teens I have made playable by sending them to this campus is Christopher Hart, and Monica greets him warmly, believing him to be a relative to her "sister" Sarah's boyfriend Matthew Hart.

As important as it is for my Sims to meet other playables, sometimes they appear on the lot not at the best of times - right after their exam, I want to make sure that everyone gets their skills and knuckles down on their term papers. But of course Stella Terrano receives a friendly handshake from Jessie.

Pizza is the standard meal here, as is shown by Monica, Jessie and Christopher Hart.

Then some skilling is in order. Monica especially needs quite a few points this semester.

DJ Verse is the first to complete her Term Paper.

With part of their combined grant money, I change the girls' bathroom a bit. A partition wall is put in to create a separate toilet, and in the bigger part of the room, a half wall creates a simpler shower than the one that was there before, but a second toilet is added. For comfort, the old bath tub is still there.

Monica wakes up from the telephone ringing in the upstairs hallway. "Danielle? Do you know what time it is? It's 10:43 am, and i have been up skilling almost all night!" After a conversation like that, is it likely that Danielle is going to pledge to become a member of this sorority...? ;-D

The girl studying here alongside Monica is Tiffany Riley (yes, Riley!), another former NPC townie teen I have made playable by sending her to this campus. I had to, with that surname!

Even with not being controlled anymore, like Sarah, DJ is quite good at keeping the place clean.

And finally, Monica switches the computer off - she has just finished her Term Paper. With her Sophomore Year savely bagged, she can now concentrate on the fun part of student life.

Towards the end of the year, the Greek House achieves level 4. Sarah congratulates Monica on those good news, and the two "sisters" become best friends.

Sarah dashes out to greet Blossom Moonbeam, a playable student we will meet properly later on.

Nobody has been to a community lot yet this "year", and I finally manage to send Monica, DJ and Jessie to LFT Student Union. Sarah had to go to class just as the taxi was pulling up to take them there. 

To my surprise, Monica seems to be very attracted to this young man sporting an unusual hair style. He is a Secret Society member by the surname of Wheeler (sorry, forgot to note his first name). If there should be a 3-bolt attraction between them, it might lead to something.

Many other students appear, and the soririty girls make sure to greet the playable ones especially, such as Klara Vonderstein... 

...Shenene Kim (made playable by me because of her surname)... 

...and Guy Wrightly. By the way, the cafeteria cook's name is Zaitrarrio Lee - as in Emily Lee, yet another of the original playable students.

Jasmin Rai is here, too - she and DJ Verse both love music, and get along like a house on fire.

Remember River Smith? The (as yet) NPC student and DJ develop a crush on each other completely out of the blue for me. They even have a crossed-out bolt, so only Maxis knows where that came from! 

Danielle Smith is the first girl asked to pledge (and she does - in spite of Monica's unfriendly answering of her phone call earlier). She spends the rest of the evening clearing up used paper cups, putting away books and making beds.

For a change, someone (Sarah?) decides to cook spaghetti - what's wrong with free pizza? :-D

On exam morning, Monica gets up early once more. This time, she works through her nerves by dancing rather wildly to salsa music from the stereo.

All four sorority girls finish the year with an A+, their names on the Dean's List and the full grants sent to their account, which now contains a comfortable 10,146 Simoleons. Better beds, maybe? I really enjoyed this year with the girls. The house is nice, not too big or with a strange layout, and everyone was kept busy without being completely stressed out. 

Many new people were met, some of them potential sorority members, and love is in the air for DJ - maybe for Monica, too. Sarah, whose Maxis-made boyfriend Matthew Hart is also on this campus, never rolled a want about him. I still made her call him every now and then, but they did not see each other at all.