Generation 5: Part 5. You make me feel like dancing

Apparently, four teenagers in the house were a little too much. Every now and then one of us freaked out and started randomly insulting somebody else. Well, to be honest with you, usually it was Ivy. Ever since Grace left, there was nobody she could really fight with, which seemed to be a big part of her personality. Things weren’t going that great with this Eric guy, some of our teachers didn’t accept the way she dressed and she still hadn’t found a hobby that could distract her from her troubles. Naturally she had to take this out on someone or something. And since she was always compared to her great, successful, responsible, respectful twin sister, Bella regularly was in for a fight. Those two really were as different as two people could possibly be. 

I was really worried about Ivy sometimes. I already told you that she had some issues in school and in her love life (which was nonexistent, as far as I knew), but her behavior got more and more irresponsible. Somebody had to tell her that and since I seemed to be the only one realizing where she was heading, I chose myself for this task. Unfortunately she didn’t seem to understand that I was trying to help her, instead she thought that I wanted to patronize her. If I was confronted with one of my younger siblings telling me what (not) to do, I would probably freak out, too. Still she shouldn’t have slapped me in the face. That wasn’t very nice and hurt like hell. And when she told me that I didn’t know anything about the real world and that my mind was as empty as a white sheet of paper, I ran off to my room. Where was the Ivy that protected us all and who cared about our family? 

Sometimes I thought about the time when I still was a child. Life was so much easier then, although Grace had still been there at that time. When something went wrong, I often went to my room, looked at my favourite chair and waited till its face made me laugh. Then the worst part was over. Somehow its magic disappeared with the years – when I looked at it now, I could only see a drooling mouth and ridiculously black eyes, staring straight ahead. Was this what growing up felt like? Then I didn’t want it to continue. Feeling serious all the time was something I didn’t approve of. 

Apparently, this was a feeling known to my siblings, too. One day when I went to clean the bathtub, I met Bella who just wanted to wash her hands. When she opened the water tap, a giant water fountain came shooting straight at her. So fun to look at! I guess Ivy was the one who had prepared this little trap, as she coincidentally walked in the bathroom the second we were there, too. I couldn’t help but giggle when I looked at her smiling face and as soon as we had left the bathroom, we burst out into laughing. Maybe the old Ivy was coming back now? 

At least she tried to get her life back. Whenever she could, she invited Eric over to hang out at our place. And you could see that she had a thing for him. The way she smiled at him when he was talking, regardless of what he was actually saying, and the look on her face when he turned away for a second and she felt unobserved. 

She even wrote him a song about how he made her feel like a natural woman. When she played it to us later, I couldn’t help but think that I had already heard this somewhere. And by the way, wasn’t this a little lame? I was lost until I found you, blah. If I ever wrote or dedicated a song to a boy, it would be so much more fun. Something like “You make me feel like dancing”. Life was colorful and moving so fast. No time for talking like you were living in the 1950s. 

Apparently he thought the same way. When she tried to pull him into a close hug, he pushed her away and told her he wasn’t really interested in her that way. She was devastated and immediately rushed back home, where she found me sitting on the couch, watching TV. As soon as I saw her face, I turned off the TV and hugged her for a long time, before she was able to speak. And although I kind of admired him for his honesty, I kept telling her that he was a jerk. That was the right thing to do, wasn’t it? 

My mom didn’t think that way. She had always liked Eric and was sure that this was just a phase those two were going through. By telling Ivy to forget about Eric, I apparently was pulling her away from him, despite their wish to be together. If you ask me, that was nonsense. But nevertheless my mom kept blaming me. Life really wasn’t fair when you were a grown up or a teenager. But hey, after every rain there is sunshine. 


Author's Notes: We're still around...! :) I have played quite a lot ahead, so now I really have to catch up. In my game Julia has just aged into an adult, which means something like ten chapters to come,considering the enormous amount of pictures I have taken. For now a little chapter showing how life in our legacy house continues after Grace moved out. It instantly got a little more boring, but since Ivy decided to act according to her traits, it didn't stay that way.
Make sure to check out the two songs I linked above, if you missed them before. ;)
Hopefully I will get some chapters out the next weeks - the next two weeks, starting next Monday, there is no school here, so I don't have to work (which is really fun, by the way). I planned to write at least two of my term papers during those weeks, because after that university starts again. My new class schedule is way fuller than the old one and considering that I still will work in 5th/6th grade two afternoons a week AND want to try some new stuff as well, there won't be much time to post. But I'll try and keep you posted. Literally. :)
(Chapter title: Obviously a great song by Leo Sayer, even if it's pretty old. I tried to find the choir version I know, but the videos online are pretty crappy. Anyway, believe me when I say that this song is even more amazing in that choir version a friend's husband made, who is a known arranger here.)