Getting By

Spring 2023 - Britechester, Illinois
University students: Caleb Gates is 21, Olivia Gates is 19, Emily Smith is 18

Caleb takes breaks when he can between classes to practice his kicks with the soccer ball he likes to carry around. He claims it's just so that he can have some time for perfecting his skill between all his other duties.

But that doesn't also explain his time at the student quad doing a little spray painting for the artwork the school is allowing there.

Or his chats with the school mascot.

Emily is not happy when he's not home after class. She calls when he doesn't arrive within five minutes of her last texts.

And so Caleb finds himself running back to the little house they're renting along with Olivia this semester.

 An angry Emily Smith is not easy to deal with. "Where were you?" she growls when he walks in the door. 

"I had some extra work to do at the library for my comedy class," he says.

"Why would a comedy class require work at the library?" Emily asks, clearly not believing his excuse.

It's not that Caleb doesn't want to come home to Emily. He loves her and wants to be with her like they're planning, but...she's a bit...cranky this far into the pregnancy. She's constantly complaining about hurting, about being exhausted, about smells making her nauseous, about her feet swelling, about the baby kicking her bladder any chance he or she gets. It's nice to go to class just so that he can have a little break from all of that whining.

"I wanted to look at some research on other comedians before me," Caleb explains. "They're all so great at their jobs, I wanted to know how I might be able to follow their lead. How I can really support you and the baby."

He knows how to get to her good side. Emily's expression softens and she hugs him tight. "I'm sorry," she says. "I shouldn't have gotten so mad like that. It's just these crazy hormones and my body hurts everywhere and I'm so tired, you know?"

The on campus dorms don’t allow pregnant students or students’ children to live there, so Emily and Caleb found a townhouse that’s an even distance between both schools. It makes it easy for both of them to get to their classes and on campus events.

The only problem, Emily thinks, is that Olivia is living with them.

Emily doesn’t hate Olivia, but it certainly feels at times like Olivia hates her. They’ve never exactly gotten along and never hung out with the same people when they were in high school.

It certainly is a challenge getting on Olivia’s good side. Caleb agrees to that.

***

Caleb knows that things aren't going so well between his girlfriend and his sister. So he tries to convinnce them to spend time together to get to know each other better whenever he can.

"Our baby is going to love it here," Caleb says. He asked for one of the kids' paper menus and the two crayons that the diner gives away. Now he colors on the menu like he's a kid too. "We'll make artwork every time we come to eat."

"You're in your second year of college," Olivia reminds him. "You only have one left and then you can move back home."

"I have two years left," Emily says. "So he'll be here as long as I'm in school. He's not leaving me behind."

They don't say anything else as they eat. Things just are not going so well between the girls in Caleb’s life.

***

The next day, Emily comes downstairs after a nap to find Olivia home from her morning class.

Olivia watches her, which has Emily nervous. What is it she’s done to annoy Olivia today?

After she gets some food from the kitchen and goes back to sit, she finds Olivia still there.

“Hey,” Olivia says. “Caleb wants us to get along.”

“Yeah,” Emily says.

“And so we should,” Olivia goes on. “It’s not that I hate you, it’s that I worry about how my brother will do once the baby is here. I want him to make good grades and graduate, you know, and get a good job.”

“So do I,” Emily says. “I didn’t mean for this to happen. Not right now, in the future. But I want him to graduate and do what he wants.”

“So,” Olivia says slowly, “I guess we can be kind of friends. For him.”

As if on cue, Caleb arrives home from his class. He gives them a weary look. “Everything okay over here?”

Emily smiles at Olivia. “Everything is good.”

For the rest of the semester, Emily doesn’t worry so much about her relationship with Olivia and puts most of her focus on her classes. She tries to understand her assignments when she can.

But she's exhausted. This pregnancy is taking every bit of strength and energy she has.

And these back aches. Ugh. She's so ready to get this baby out of her and get her body back to herself.

------------------------

I can't find a picture of Emily's grades, but unfortunately she failed. She had also failed last semester, so she's now been expelled from school. The game would let her enroll again in a few days, but I've made it my rules that the Sim has to be out of school for at least a year before they can consider going back. At the moment, I don't know when or if Emily will go back to university classes. I have to decide for sure what she wants to be in her life and what she wants to do as far as education goes.

And Olivia really isn't too fond of Emily! I don't know why, but they do have moments of getting along and talking with each other.