Emerald Valley #2: Spring's Summer.

I set up the Emerson-Trujillo household then went back to check on Spring. She had made a good enough friend of Gustavo Jolly to ask him to be her roommate. I gave them separate apartments and locked the doors so they wouldn't invade each other's privacy. There are some common areas where they can hang out - the apartment's work-out room, and the laundry room which now has only dryers since Corrine Brunette burgled the washing machines.

Spring is getting pretty stressed out, feeling the pressure of trying to be something she's not. She isn't doing well at school even though she tries because she isn't a witch and it's hard to stay ahead when she doesn't have any magical powers. She is also still a toad from her first attempt at alchemy backfiring, which doesn't help matters any.

She wanted to go to the park and play her guitar for a bit to help with the stress. As she was getting in her car, Gustavo ran up and go in the the car too. I guess he wanted to go to the park as well. When they got there, the hearts were circling their heads, indicating they were on a date though to my knowledge neither of them asked the other out. Maybe it happened while they were in the car.

One thing led to another at the park, and Spring had the option to ask Gustavo for a "toad kiss." Gustavo seemed a little freaked out about it to start with . . .

He was certainly not going to kiss her on the lips!

But he did work up the nerve to kiss her on the cheek, which was enough to start the transformation.

Spring was so happy, she gave Gustavo a great big hug and a kiss on the lips!

The evening ended with some tree-house woohoo before returning home.

As it's still early in their relationship, they are keeping separate living quarters, though I unlocked the doors (They gave each other keys to their apartments.) Both woke up hungry. Gustavo started making waffles in his apartment while Spring made pancakes in hers. Then for some inexplicable reason, Gustavo, whom I don't control, put his waffles in the oven and walked away! He went to Spring's apartment and started watching TV. It wasn't long before a fire stared in his apartment, sending both sims running over there.

I prompted Spring to put the fire out, but she struggled with the extinguisher. Gustavo, meanwhile was no help at all! With the fire out, Spring returned to her apartment just in time to watch her pancakes that she left on the stove erupt into flames.

The irony of the situation is that these sims live across the street from the fire department. (You can see the firetruck through the doors on the left - the next apartment over.)

I had to remind her to put out this fire too. After this adventure, both sims were very hungry having not only burnt both their breakfasts, but both their stoves as well. They didn't have enough money to replace the stoves, but they did have enough to go across the street to the pub and pizza place and make some breakfast calzones.

Spring chose to eat hers outside, while Gustavo ate inside. Maybe she was upset with his carelessness earlier that morning.

Spring then went next door to the fire department and reported the fires.

She was given a fire-safety lecture by her friend Autumn who worked there.

While this exchange was going on, I could hear a slap-fight in the background. It seems these two sims got into it, presumably over the broken computer. I don't know who the brunette is, but I know the blonde to be a trouble-maker ever since she was a teen. I think she either got the hot-headed or mean-spirited trait as a teen. Her name is Bridgett Wolfe, and her mother Patty is dating the resident vampire Terrence.

I see Terrence around town on occasion. This is him. This lady, however, isn't Patty Wolfe.

Maybe he wants to hire her as a housekeeper? Update: She's his mistress, which I learned awhile later.

After the eventful morning, Spring and Gustavo decided to spend the Saturday at the summer festival. It was there that Spring encountered Corrine Burnette, the sneak-thief who got away with both of the apartment's washing machines among other things. She was easy to spot.

Spring gave her a piece of her mind.

This escalated into a full-on fight, which Spring lost.

Corrine told Spring she deserved what she got as she started the altercation. The Corrine throttled her again.

Needless to say, Spring declared Corrine a nemesis and made her first enemy in town.

Later that 3-day weekend, Spring threw an "adult swim" party at the Roman Bath and DIDN'T invite Corrine. It was a lovely evening and there was a good turn-out.

Of course, Bridgett Wolfe was her attention-seeking self.

Spring didn't have enough money to feed the group, but luckily some of them brought picnic lunches.

It appears one guy- I think it's Daniel Blocker - was afraid of drowning. He was too fatigued to swim.

Even though it wasn't a full moon, the moon had some negative effects on people's behavior, and poor Marlene Foreman fell victim to the "lunatic slap."

Spring just up and did this without my input. Then the poor girl was further harassed when another sim snuck up behind her and scared her!

Poor woman! After nearly everyone went home. Spring got up on her soapbox and ranted about the fact that this town doesn't have a movie theater, then ranted about the stars.

Her only audience at this point was the statues, and some of them looked taken-aback by her obnoxious behavior.

Spring knew her grades were suffering, so she spent one of her days off at the school working on the things she could improve on - like alchemy.

When she got to the school, she discovered that the dragon eggs in the potion storage room had all hatched. Neither she nor I know much about dragons as I've just got the Dragon Valley world. But there's a green one, which apparently helps with gardening, which she named Phyllis,

a purple one who seems associated with parties, which she named Grape Ape, (not pictured)

and a black one, who seems to be associated with death and ghosts. She named this one Sparky. Apparently she gets to keep them, so she's going to. They appear to be magic, and it might be the only magic she gets from the looks of things. While she was at the school, she also tried casting a spell with a wand, but didn't have any luck.

There's a new elixir store in town, and so she thought she would go looking for a potion that could turn her into a witch, but they only had ones for mummies, vampires, and werewolves.

While still hopeful that she will someday be a real witch, she made the mistake of consulting the magic 8 ball to see if this was the path she should be on. She was crushed when the magic 8 ball told her "I wouldn't recommend it."

It's time to do some soul-searching. How important is being a full-fledged witch? What should she do if she flunks out of school? Despite her lack of magical powers, she aces her tests, and could become a darn good alchemist without magic.