As the taxi arrived, Tank Grunt heard his father's words ringing in his ears. "I've chosen a fine dormitory for you, son." General Buzz had told him. "It's a little sparse, but efficient - and it'll get you ready for basic training." Military-mad Tank had, at the time, just nodded and agreed with what his father (the commanding officer) had chosen. But looking up at his new accommodation, he shuddered to think what his father meant by _efficient_.

Tank was cheered by the discovery that he would be sharing accommodation with no less than _three_ girls from his former Neighbourhood. Either his father hadn't thought to check for single sex residences, or Army barracks were more interesting than he'd thought. Nonetheless, the grey walls of Casteroff Dormitory seemed a bit brighter already.

First came Barbara Young. Tank already knew Barbara from their time in the Cadets together. He remembered her as a quiet, Family sim, who wasn't afraid to get her hands dirty. Described by some as "homely" and by others as "monkey-features", Barbara compensated for her lack of physical beauty by being hard-working. Tank smiled at her, and quickly looked away.

Secondly was Kendal Lawson. The dreaded phone stalker of Strangetown had finally grown up and moved to college. Tank found her face quite attractive, but shuddered as soon as he heard her voice. He remembered finding his father ripping the phone cord out of the socket and threatening to sell the phone if it ever rang at 4am again. Although she seemed quite nice in person, Tank wondered what would happen if he upset her. He immediately moved on to girl number three.

His third dorm-mate was Tiffany Riley. Attractive even as a teen, Tiffany had collected plenty of crushes at school. Now grown up, her hobbies included fashion, makeup, and flirting with professors. Tank was smitten.

Tank? She's a Romance sim! And a Drama student! Oh, whatever, you're not listening anyway, are you...?

It was a rare morning when Tank and his three budding girlfriends all sat down to breakfast together. While Tank, Barbara and Kendal all rose promptly at 6am, Tiffany was rarely seen before lunchtime. Partying much? Oh, there's always Influence for getting those term papers done...

Who'd be the recipient of Tank's First Kiss?

Not Kendal. She'd met a nice young man at the library, a fellow Fortune sim called Tom Freshe. She'd decided he was going to be The One.

Being Kendal, she then had to ring everyone back home to tell them her news. She called the whole Neighbourhood, including Scot Specter who hadn't, to his knowledge, ever met the young lady in question before.

The night before their final exam, Tank got his First Kiss from Tiffany Riley. Emboldened by testosterone, he crept out to the gallery and started painting a portrait of her. Painting, of course, being one of those creative arts that his father looked down on as being "for girls and sissy boys". His brother, Ripp, had only got his bass guitar into the house after a fight.

Tank thought Ripp was a sissy anyway. _He_ wouldn't be making out with Tiffany any time soon.

But Tiffany, being a Romance sim, wasn't going to settle for just one boyfriend. She flirted with another dorm-mate, Stephan Toyonaga. Stephan wasn't quite sure what to make of it, but was very flattered by the attention.

Meanwhile, Tank remained oblivious to the interest of his "study partner" Barbara, who somehow always found time to test him for his Political Science exams, despite her own major being in Art.

"Mirror, mirror, on the wall, when will Tank notice me and hear my call?"
"Your poetry sucks and your face is worse. Try a makeover and a course in verse."

So poor Barbara took herself off to the beauty salon. She was assured that guys love crimped hair, and that red lipstick was oh so sexy. Unfortunately, neither the hairstyle nor the makeup looked any good on her _whatsover_. It was a real "quit without saving" moment.

Barbara thought . o O (Perhaps it'd help if I got that cow Tiffany out the way, first)

After all, Tiffany, being a Romance sim, wasn't exactly good at the monogamy thing. She'd already flirted with Stephan the dormie, Leo the streaker, and Prof. Dawson Barthelet. So at dinner time, Barbara was secretly pleased to see her getting closer to David Rusewicz...

When Tank found out, he reacted in stereotypically bulldog fashion, and challenged David to a fight. David was unsure that he _wanted_ to fight over Tiffany, especially as _she_ had done all the chasing! But he let Tank get in a few punches because it seemed to make him feel better. Then he hit back with everything he had. Both sims were surprised to find Tank on the floor! After that, they had a grudging respect for each other.

Meanwhile, Kendal was working on her relationship with Tom Freshe. Although both Fortune sims, neither of the students had any money, so the best date they could manage was a "romantic dinner" in the Casteroff canteen. Lovely! Luckily, they were each too absorbed in the other to notice the appalling standard of fare.

And Kendal got her First Kiss that evening.

What? Couldn't you find a nicer place to snog than the downstairs _bathroom_? *rolls eyes*

It was the day before Sophomore year exams. Tank, Kendal and Barbara were all hard at work in their rooms. cramming to improve their knowledge of Politics, Literature and Art respectively.

Tiffany was hard at work in the rooftop gym, exercising to improve... her bust.

Fortunately, a quick flirtacious call to Prof. Dawson gave her all the Drama information she needed, and all four sims passed the semester with a 4.0 average.

Check out Part 2 of this story to find out what's been happening back in Strangetown...