The Robinsons- A Rebellious Streak and An Epic Birthday Part 2

The next morning, Charlotte, Amelia, and Mom Paulette eat some toast with jam and talk about Amelia's approaching birthday/graduation party.  Paulette and Teddy have decided to keep Amelia's pary local a mystery to surprise her. Amelia pleads with her Mom to tell her, but Paulette grins and tells her that she'll have to wait and be surprised. 

The family notices that Emma is in an exceptionally good mood this morning, as she pops down from her room with a congenial "Hi!" and then proceeds to grab some cereal.  A few minutes later the bus beeps outside and Amelia braces herself for her last day of high school.  She's always thrived in high school, sometimes its scary to think about leaving that safe haven. But Amelia is braver than most.

Paulette spends some of her morning working on her latest sculpting project, and thinks about how much she loves their waterfront home where it is so calming and inspiring for her work...

....but she's too excited to concentrate and calls Amelia's party venue to secure the details.  Her and Teddy have rented out the reception hall called Glory Retreat Weddings (obviously usually used for weddings) for Amelia's party; it's a terrific open air venue decorated with flowers and columns, and after Amelia doing so well in high school, her parents decided that she deserved a big bash.

Here's a shot of the party venue:

Charlotte leaves Channel 3 News SNN (Sims News Now) over at Smithfield Corporate Towers with great news! She's been promoted to Free Lance Writer! It comes with a nice salary bonus, and she can't wait to call Brennan and tell him.  Every raise is just a step closer to the life with him that she wants so desperately...

Paulette stops at Ted's Grocery to pick up a few last minute items and the birthday cake she ordered for the party.

Charlotte and Paulette head to the venue to start setting up for the party.

Sophia leaves her field trip to Cabella's Italiana with her class and rides her bike right to Glory Retreat like her Mom told her too.

Charlotte changes into her party dress and sets up the buffet table.

With all the setting up and decorating done, Char and Paulette turn on some music and start dancing, just as Teddy, Emma, and Sophia arrive.

Back at home, Amelia changes into her new dress.  She looks in the mirror and breathes in deep. School was super emotional today, what with everyone signing yearbooks and hugging goodbye. Tonight is a big night for her.  She's been told a car is going to come and pick her up and take her to this undisclosed location...

A half hour and a anxious car ride later, Amelia arrives at her party. She's blown away by all the work her family put into it! Of course all her family is there, her boyfriend Payton and all the Washingtons, Lorraine and Gerard Wright (practically the Robinson girls adopted grandparents) and some of her school friends. 

Everybody is dancing and having a great time.  The bartender is mixing up shirley temples and virgin bloody marys, and the music is perfect.

Amelia walks straight up to Payton and gives him a big smooth on the lips, not caring if their parents were there watching or not.

Another shot of the party...

Once everyone has eaten dinner, Paulette breaks out the birthday cake! Everyone gathers around Amelia and claps and urges her to blow out her candles and make a wish.

She makes a wish that her and her family will have many more days, just as perfect as this one. (Look how much Amelia looks like her Mom in this next photo!)

<3

Amelia Robinson has become a beautiful young woman.

She hugs her Dad and thanks him for a great party.

Teddy tells her that the surprises aren't over.  To go with the camera that she bought to start her travel photography business, Teddy gives her a present from him and Paulette- a brand new camcorder to document her travels.

As the party winds down,  Charlotte and Payton share a laugh- he tells her that his brother Brennan wet the bed til he was 9.

On her way home Amelia picks up a part-time job as a Bookstore Clerk- she knows that she needs to have something to pay the bills while she builds up her photography business. 

And Amelia spends that night dreaming about her epic birthday party. 

The next morning, the whole family has taken school and work off for Amelia's graduation.

When 12:00 rolls around, the Robinsons head to Rosedale Academy for Amelia's graduation.

Amelia's sisters hoot and holler when her name is called and she walks across the stage with poise and elegance.  She is named Valedictorian, and gives a beautiful moving speech commencing with a Dr. Seuss quote: "You have brains in your head, and feet in your shoes. You steer yourself the direction you choose."

And so the new chapter of Amelia's life begins.

The Robinsons-A Rebellious Streak and An Epic Birthday Part 1

There's yelling coming from the Robinson household. It's not a good morning.  Teddy is giving his daughter Emma a hard time about her skimpy outfit, and the bus is waiting outside. "I'm not having a daughter of mine go out dressing like a tramp! Not under my roof, kid!"

"DAD! It's FINE! You let Charlotte and Amelia go out wearing less, why do you guys always pick on ME! I'm sorry I'm not PERFECT like your other daughters!" she screams with tears in her eyes and runs out the door.

Emma's mind is rheeling, and as she leaves she gets an impulsive idea.  She acts like she's headed to the bus with Amelia and Sophia...

...and then she bolts down the street away from her house.

Emma heads into town, not sure where she's going, and find herself at Rosedale Community Pool.  She decides to spend her ditch day laying out in the sun, and puts on her skimpiest bikini, just to spite her father.

Somehow this seemed like a better idea in theory.  She doesn't feel vindicated....just lonely. She wants to do something that makes her feel a little....dangerous.  She decides to try something she saw in a movie. She heads to the grocery store and buys a few dozen eggs. Then she searches around town for her first target...

And finds the Reeds home empty! How would they like to come home to a house covered in eggs, she giggles.  She breaks out the eggs, and throws them at the house with all her might.

The egg smashes against the glass doors with a satisfying crunch.  She feels the surge of an adrenaline rush. Being bad is kind of fun.

She searches around for the next victim, and find the Bells house looking unoccupied.  She runs up to the front door and sends an egg hurtling toward the siding.

She stops dead. Oh my God. That's Lieutenant Bell, and apparently he's home.  He screams at Emma, "What the hell are you doing kid? You're in serious trouble!"

He tells her to not move a muscle and phones his buddy who's on duty.  Sergeant Meers shows up to to handle the situation.  Emma feels her knees shaking. She's never been in trouble like this before. God, how dumb was this?

"Come on young lady, I think we better take you home. You're lucky Lieutenant Bell here isn't pressing charges against you for trespassing and criminal mischief." says Sergeant Meers and he leads her to the passenger side of the car.  Emma climbs in weakly, and her stomach drops at the expectation of whats coming next for her.

Sergeant Meers brings her back home, and brings her inside to make sure Mom Paulette knows exactly what happened. "We're leaving this in your hands this time ma'am.  But please understand, anymore mischief, and it won't be handled so lightly." Paulette keeps her composure. "Yes, Officer, we understand."  Once the Officer leaves, Paulette turns to Emma with a dangerous gleam in her eyes. "How DARE you do this? How DARE you?"

"What has gotten into you? Skipping school, damaging property? Your father is the Vice President of Smithfield, do you know how something like this could affect his reputation in town? We NEVER had these kinds of problems with your sisters Emma!" Emma's eyes well up with tears. The comparisons always hurt.  She never feels like she can measure up to her beautiful older sisters, Charlotte the budding ambitous journalist, and Amelia the sure-to-be valedictorian.  "You're GROUNDED! Until further notice, do you hear me? And that means no phone calls from Davy either! Your father and I knew we never should have let you date a senior! Now go your room!"

Emma sits in her room for a long time, just staring.  She had really messed up today.  She hears her Mom talking to her Dad on the phone, then hears her slam the door, and she knows she's leaving for Amelia's final art show at the school.  She had really wanted to go to that.  She sighs, and decides that she really needs to turn this around. What good was it to feel sorry for herself?  She goes upstairs to finish the laundry for her Mom, then pulls out her overdue homework.

A few hours later, she hears the door open and close and she knows her Dad must be home. He calls her down.  She's so ashamed to face him.  She reluctantly heads downstairs, taking each step extra slow.  When she finds him, he looks surprisingly soft.  "Come here and talk to your Dad baby." he says soothingly.  She looks at him confused, then moves a little closer.  He's quiet for a moment, then says "You know- growing up I had 4 brothers.  Your Uncle Sam was the best football player in the state.  Your Uncle David used to be able to make a whole room of people laugh." He chuckles. "I was smack in the middle, and I used to do some pretty strange things to get attention.  Thank God I found the business world Em, or God knows where I'd be." He grabs her shoulder and looks her straight in the eye.

"I know why you're acting out. I get it.  And it's made me realize that maybe-" the words stop in his throat-"maybe your Mom and I don't tell you enough, just how much we love you."  Emma is speechless. She was waiting for the axe to fall. She can't believe her usually stern take-no-nonsense father is actually being so open with her.  For the third time today, she feels the tears stream down her cheeks. "Dad-" "I know you're sorry." Teddy interupts. "I know. Me too." He pulls her into a huge hug and Emma feels her heart lighten.  Her Daddy loves her.

Paulette leaves Rosedale Academy with Amelia and Charlotte after seeing Amelia's final Art Gala.  The girl takes some pretty amazing photographs.  Paulette is so proud of her.  She knows that Teddy is home talking to Emma, so she decides to go out to Sawyer's Bar and Grill with the girls.

This place has the best food, and they can all get their favorites- Amelia can have her hamburger, Paulette her fish and chips, and Charlotte loves nachos!

Then they move to the fusbol table, although none of them are very good.

And then Charlotte and Amelia drag their Mom onto the dance floor!

Back at home, Emma has some explaining to do about why she wasn't in school today to her boyfriend Davy.

And Sophia is home from ballet class, and wants to show off her latest moves for her Dad.

Then he helps her out with her homework.  Teddy is a shrewd businessmen, but his wife and daughters sure melt his heart.

(......to be continued :))