Chapter 3 - Mark Barimen

Chapter 3.6 – Clique

Mark’s birthday approaches faster than either David or Ciara want it to.
 Chap3-6h
David’s job at the hospital was beginning to pull him away from his family. But the incident involving Mark, Deirdre, and Claire has given him a new perspective. David has taken Ciara’s advice and is spending more time with Mark. He is the kind of kid who needs constant channeling and redirection to keep him grounded. Looking back, David sees how Bebe had done the same thing with him, and he feels terrible for failing his son in this way.
 Chap3-6g
As it turns out, the situation is not nearly as dire as David had imagined. Mark’s friends are all part of a small, but tight-knit group. It comes as no surprise that Deirdre and Claire are the cornerstones for the little “clique”. Charlotte, Mark, and two or three others all take turns invading each other’s houses to watch TV or just hang out together. Lately, the swimming pool has become their favorite hang-out, however.
Chap3-6a
The fight between Mark and Ali had caused a small rift between Mark, Deirdre, and Claire for the first time since any of them can remember. Dierdre is angry with Mark for letting the feud go on this far, and has made up her mind that his own foolish ego is to blame. But Claire is the more sensitive of the two girls, and she goes to Mark the morning after the fight to let him know that she is not angry with him. Claire has looked up to Mark ever since they were very little, and in some ways, feels a closer bond to him than her twin sister.
 Chap3-6b
Mark is relieved that Claire is not angry. Deirdre had been quite direct in telling him that the fight was entirely his fault. And while she is probably right, her words stung all the same. Claire offers him a hug and assures him that Deirdre will forget all about it, and everything will be just like it was before the fight. But deep down inside, Mark knows that no matter how badly she may want things to be like they were, they probably never will be again. With his birthday just around the corner, the age gap will once again come into play between them.
 Chap3-6c
With their birthdays so close together, Mark, Charlotte Langerak, and Melissa Bateman all decide to celebrate together at the Barimen house. Since Mark and Charlotte have been friends for so long, and had already gone through so much together, nobody in the house is surprised when they share their first kiss moments after blowing out the candles.
 Chap3-6d
 —
 Chap3-6f
Melissa watches with quiet envy as Mark hugs Charlotte and kisses her again. Melissa has grown into a very attractive young woman, and Mark has become quite attractive himself. Most of his features come from Ciara, with the exception of Bebe’s sandy-blond hair. He has inherited his mother’s green eyes and this grandfather’s sly smile. The one striking difference is Mark’s build. He clearly has inherited his mother’s “big bones” as compared to his father’s thin, lanky build.
 Chap3-6e
Charlotte, in contrast, had become quite plain-looking with her prominent and almost disfigured nose. To Melissa’s dismay, Mark completely overlooks the flaw and showers Charlotte with attention. She has been hoping to have that attention for herself. Ever since meeting him, Melissa has had a crush on Mark. And seeing him now as a teen makes the attraction even stronger. She does her best to hide the jealousy and enjoy the rest of the evening with her friends. She doesn’t know how she’ll do it yet, but she is determined to win him over.
 Chap3-6l
After the party, David finds Mark being soundly defeated in a game of chess against Deirdre. He takes Mark aside after the game and gives him his birthday gift; keys to his own car. They take the new car out for a spin and end up at the library. David begins to explain the family history and his own discoveries about the events before Julian. He also tells the story of how the ghost of Julian’s mother visited Bebe to pass the family legacy that had died with her, on to David.
 Chap3-6i
And now that Mark was old enough, he tells the story about Reid, Kacy, and the abandoned mine (omitting some of the grittier details). He tells Mark that if not for Kacey, he would not have left the mine alive. It is the first time he has talked about the incident to anybody becides Ciara. While he’ll likely never admit it, the incident in the mine changed everything; the way he thinks, the way he interacts with people, and the distance at which he keeps his friends.
 Chap3-6m
David collects his thoughts, and shows Mark the old journals and records from nearly two-hundred years ago and begins to explain how he had started researching the history of Julian’s ancestors. David admits that he had run out of leads in his quest of finding more information about the family. It was entirely possible that much of the information was taken by Reid and buried somewhere in the old mine. But one the one thing David knows for certain, is that any information containing any hint of what lies down in the mine had inexplicably vanished. And the missing information was the key to finding out what made the legacy and their land so important.
 Chap3-6n
Mark tries to digest all of this new information as they put away books late that night. He can almost sense a weight lifted off of his father as they continue talking about Reid and his obsession with the abandoned mine from the time he was a child. He talks thoughtfully about his sister, Kacey, who had helped him for years with his research. Even after all the passed years, David still does not like to think about her. It is very late, and after carefully replacing the old journals and public records David and Mark begin to make their way home.
 Chap3-6k
As they leave the library, a slightly built, but attractive woman smiles at the kind mention of her name. She has remained silent and out of sight throughout the evening; sitting at a table hidden by a bookcase. Her pretty face had not aged a day, and her silver hair still shines with the same radiance it had years ago. She had had a inclination that David would bring his son here on his birthday to tell him about the legacy. And as usual, she was right.
 Chap3-6j
Kacey jots a note down in her journal and sighs heavily as old feelings begin to stir while thinking about what could have been. But there is still work to do, and a new heir to keep an eye on.

9 thoughts on “Chapter 3.6 – Clique”

  5. That’s right, I forgot to mention who I am! I’m the writer for the Jackson legacy, found at: http://kijack.wordpress.com/
    I didn’t really know how to ‘recover’ it so to speak so I just made my way to the dashboard of the old one and copied and pasted and frankly I like the new one 🙂

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  6. I figured out who you were, hehe. You can still get to your dashboard on sims3legacy, but everything else looks like it’s down. Not exactly sure why (or how). Anyway, if you go to
    yourusername.sims3legacy.com/wp-admin you can choose export from under the tools menu on the left, then pick the wordpress export. you can import it directly over to this site. Good Luck!

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  7. Oh wow! Kacey is back!? How interesting!! I cant wait to read more.

    Mark is indeed attractive and it warms my heart to see him overlooking the flaws that Charlotte might have and still being her friend, shows that he truly has a wonderful spirit in him.

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    1. Thanks! I’ve been so incredibly busy lately that it’s a wonder I’ve had time to post at all. Admittely, I’m WAY behind in my reading. I promise to catch up on all of my favorite blogs out there. So much time, so little to do…

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