It's the first day of school! Calvin's out to get more dumpster stuff to sell so Evan's left to his own devices for the morning. He doesn't lack for imagination and spends his after breakfast time pretending he's in a high speed car chase. The coppers will never catch him!
Meanwhile, his mommy is having a very rushed morning. The school bus arriving coincides with her carpool...
She tells Evan to get his butt into the bus on her way out...
"Uh...ok!" he calls back. He can't hear the content of her words over all that honking...
Honk! Looks like his imaginary car chase is getting more heated!
By the time Evan is ready to brave the chilly outdoors, the bus has long left.
Drat...
He doesn't know the route to school yet, either. Calvin thought Naomi would do it, and Naomi thought Calvin would show him how to walk to school.
Still, Evan won't let the day go to waste! With just the clothes on his back and the old flip-phone his dad gave him (from a dumpster! Cool!) in his pocket, Evan sprints off in a random direction.
That's why when Calvin comes home by lunch, he's none the wiser that Evan isn't at school.
Evan only runs as far as the dog park down the street. He spends the afternoon making a snowman.
While his father gardens...
Evan has a blast playing by himself.
When he gets hungry, the small "cabin" in the park has some easy bake supplies. He quickly figures out the instructions despite never baking before and makes himself a snack. Yum!
Calvin, by contrast, spends his time doing chores. Halfway through cleaning up the dishes, the home phone rings. Who could that be, he wonders with a frown. He hates it when people call. Why not just send an email or a text?
"Hello?"
***
By the time Evan comes home, Calvin is sitting stock-still, an unreadable expression on his face.
"Hi daddy," he greets his father cheerfully.
"EVAN! Where have you been!?" Calvin's worry propels his voice to new volume, "Why did you skip school!?"
"I was just playing in the park..." Evan doesn't understand his father's anger. He didn't do anything bad...
"I had no idea where you were!" he fumes, "The school called! I was about to call the police!"
Evan's face twists with confusion, eyes brimming with tears. No one's ever yelled at him before! "I'm sorry daddy! It was just boring at home!"
Calvin sighs. "When the school bus comes, you need to get on it, Evan. You have to go to school."
Evan pouts, but doesn't object.
Calvin pauses, then hugs his confused son. "Just...don't scare me like that, alright? It's dangerous for you to go somewhere alone without telling me or mommy, ok?"
Evan nods. "Okay..."
Evan trudges to his room to "think about what he's done", leaving Calvin alone. He frowns as he checks his phone- Naomi won't be home for another few hours. He sends her a text. Evan skipped school today.
Predictably, there's no response.
The sun quickly disappears, leaving the town eerily dark at only 5 PM. Naomi is chatting with Nicole about Salvatore's upcoming campaign.
"I swear, it feels like as soon as one campaign finishes, there's already another one that we're weeks behind on," Naomi jokes with a smile.
Nicole laughs, "You said it. I've only been here for a few days and I already have a stack of papers as tall as me!"
Nicole reaches out and touches Naomi's arm gently, "Congrats on the promotion, by the way! You totally earned it. Salvatore's talked my ear off about how hard you work."
Naomi smiles bashfully, "Well, I'm not sure how much we really needed another Yes-Man..."
Nicole grins cheekily, "They're the bread and butter of any political system! You'll do great, I'm sure."
Naomi comes home, blissfully unaware that anything has gone wrong today.
After she changes her clothes, Naomi tells Calvin about her wonderful news.
"They gave me a promotion! Oh Calvin, soon I could be a council member!"
"Don't you ever check your phone?" Calvin snaps, "Evan skipped school today! You were supposed to make sure he got on the bus. What happened?"
Naomi, surprised by her husband's sudden anger, holds up her hands defensively, "What? But...I told him to get on it when I left for work..."
Calvin scoffs. "He's only five and he's never ridden the bus before! You have to show him first, he doesn't know how to do it yet!"
"Fine, fine. Sorry. I didn't realise he needs us to hold his hand for everything," Naomi says with an eye-roll.
Calvin glowers at her angrily. "He's literally five years old. Of course we need to show him how to do things."
"Alright! Alright!" Naomi is quick to placate, "I'm sorry. Tomorrow I'll help him onto the bus, ok?"
Calvin sighs. "Yeah, ok..."
He asks about her promotion during dinner.
"Oh it's great. I just have to say yes to everything, my work day ends at 3 now, and my pay is 16 simoleons per hour higher."
They make sure to properly celebrate.
***
The next morning Evan wanders out of his room for breakfast. He glances questioningly at his mother- is she going to be mad, too?
Thankfully she isn't.
"Oh look at the time," Naomi says, glancing at her phone, "We'll be late, Evan."
"Aww, but mom-"
"No buts, buddy," Calvin cuts in, "Go get dressed."
Naomi sprints out the door. "Come on, Evan, we don't have all day!"
Evan pouts, but at the stern gaze of his father, obeys.
He's cranky when he finally gets out of the bus. His mom practically shoved him up the stairs and he didn't know anyone! He had to sit by himself in the very front, and just his luck, sat on a wad of gum! Evan's day was not going well at all...
He takes out his frustration on a snowman, reducing it to powdery snow in minutes.
All too soon, the school bell rings, ushering him inside.
***
Another day, another dumpster dive, Calvin thinks wryly to himself. He often finds strange metals and gems in the science lab's waste, but he likes them too much to sell them. He contents himself by cleaning up and selling off things like old fishing poles and terrariums.
The school day ends for Evan. He's elated to see that the snow has melted and spends some time on the swing set.
But all too soon he has to go home and do his stupid homework.
It doesn't help that his daddy keeps telling him to do it!
"I knooooow," Evan whines, "I'll be a good boy! Promise!"
Calvin relents and lets him have some playtime before his assignments.
Unfortunately, despite her shorter workday, Naomi will not be home for dinner. She's been sent off to get donations from voters.
This call, however, is as much social as it is for work. Sadie is all too happy to see her sister-in-law.
"I should probably call you sis, huh?" Sadie says, throwing her arms around Naomi.
"Haha, whatever works for you..."
Though Sadie doesn't earn much, she gives Naomi a small 10 simoleon donation.
"Tell my brother to visit sometime! Haven't seen his stupid face in ages. Bring Evan too," Sadie calls out before she goes.
"Oh, yes, of course. See you later!" Naomi waves goodbye.
It's quite late when Naomi gets back.
And very early when she leaves the next morning.
Calvin tries to distract Evan from his mother's absence with a corny dance.
"Daaaaaaddy, why are you being so silly?" Evan complains, "Stoooop."
"I'm just-" Calvin waves his arms around, "Too cool for ya!"
Evan is all too happy to get on the bus.
***
Naomi comes home at 3:30 today.
Naturally, it's for another fundraising party.
This isn't really what Calvin imagined when Naomi said her hours would be shorter...
But still, at least this way he can catch up with his family and old friends, right? A party's a party, he tells himself.
She's not only schmoozing for donations, though. Naomi meets Calvin's half-sister, Deliah Broke-Bagley, coincidentally also her half-sister by her father Billy Caspian. Despite Riverview being tiny, the two have never met before. Sage's strict schedule for Naomi didn't exactly allow for a lot of socialising in her teen years...
"I can see a family resemblance," Naomi claims.
"Really?"
"Yeah, we're both gorgeous!"
Brianne watches in bewilderment as the two of them laugh uproariously.
Plumbob, I'm glad I'm not a politician...
"Grandpa, can I ask you something?" Evan looks at Sherman, clearly distraught. Calvin dances behind them like nobody's watching.
"Shoot."
"Has daddy always been so weird?"
Sherman grins at his book. "As long as I can remember, sport!"
The party draws to a close shortly before 10. They're both exhausted, though for Calvin it's from dancing and Naomi it's from all the talking, and practically collapse into bed.
If all goes well, it will be far from the last fundraiser Naomi will host.
------
AN: Feels like a weird place to stop, but oh well. I'm trying to speed things along here, I took about 800 more photos for this generation, but Evan is only a child still! So I'm putting in pictures and then trimming away the fluff as I go. I hope the chapters aren't super long and dull.
Evan rolled a wish to skip school. Since his teen trait is daredevil, I decided to go for it and give him some hints of his future traits!
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