The Best Tour Ever Part I

A Picture Speaks A Thousand Lies

A story of Life and What Happens

By musicalreader

(Please note that this story happens a year before A Long Time Coming)

"Dave!" Theodore yelled from his room in the Sevilles house, "When did Rob say he'd be getting here with the bus?!"

"He'll be here as soon as he picks up the Chipettes!" Dave yelled in reply. Dave remembered when it was just Alvin who yelled through the house. But since Theo had gotten involved with the track and field team at school, no doubt inspired by his new girlfriend, he'd found a new wellspring of confidence.

Meanwhile, Theo was upstairs pacing in his room and wondering just how long it would take the girls to get packed. He figured that Jeanette and Ellie would be ready with their stuff as soon as the tour bus pulled up, Britney on the other hand, could take all day to get her clothes packed in the storage cabinet under the bus.

"Oh man, we're going to be stuck in L.A. until midnight just waiting for Britney to pick out her stage makeup." He groaned.

Then he remembered that he still hadn't packed his stuff yet. And the last thing he wanted was his brothers thinking he was lazy, even Alvin had his stuff packed and by the door. All of a sudden Dave poked his head into Theo's room and smiled.

"Hey Theodore, how's it going?" he asked innocently.

"Not good Dave, I still have to pack my clothes, I already have all of my entertainment packed, and I have all of my bathroom stuff, but I totally blanked on what to bring to wear." He said brusquely as he hurried over to his closet and tried to find his favorite sweater.

"Well, I just wanted to have a little talk to you about a couple of things for the trip. Now I know that you and Eleanor have recently been going out and it has been perfectly fine with me because I knew where you guys were going, but with you guys taking this tour by yourselves and only Rob in charge, I want to make one thing perfectly clear." Dave rambled

"What is it Dave?" Theo asked, slightly concerned, Dave only rambled when he was nervous.

"I just want to impress upon you the seriousness of this situation. There are two huge beds on the bus, one for you boys and one for the girls. I want it perfectly clear that I do not expect anything between you and Ellie to end up in the bed." Dave said with a little color coming to his cheeks at the awkwardness of the situation.

"Oh!" Theo answered slightly stunned by this news, he had never considered that things would go that far between him and Ellie, "Well, that's ok Dave; I don't expect anything to happen between…"

But he was cut off by Dave, "Now, I know that you don't plan on anything happening, but I'd rather see you embarrassed and prepared than innocent and unprotected. So that's why I got you these." As he said this, he brought out a small box with the words blacked out and a square of paint where the picture would normally be, nevertheless, Theo felt he knew what the small box contained.

"Uh, Dave, are those condoms?" he asked, his face as red as Alvin's shirt.

"Yes, yes they are." He replied, "This does not imply that I condone the use of these, but I'd much rather know that if anything happens, you will be prepared."

" Th-th-thanks, I-I think…" he stuttered out, still a little abashed at the whole conversation.

"You've taken health class right?" Dave asked

"Yeah, I know what they're for and how to use them, in theory." Theo answered

"Good, now that that's out of the way, I'm going to tell you the same speech I gave to your brothers. I am going to call all of you each night while Miss Miller is talking to the girls. I will be checking in with Rob each stop to make sure things are on track. Your director Mr. Frisk will be at each concert venue with your instructions, other than that, I expect you guys to do your shows without incident or accident. Are we clear?" he asked sounding to the whole world like a stern father.

"Yeah Dave, I get it, and if anything goes wrong or we have to stop?"

"Then I want you to immediately call me and explain, I'll make the final call. If anything happens onstage and one of you is injured, call 911 and I'll bring you all home if it's serious."

"Got it Dave!" Theo responded happily, after all the thought of a two month cross country trip was cool enough, but getting to do it practically all by himself was pure awesomeness.

Not to mention the fact that he would be around his girlfriend almost nonstop, which was fine by him since they had track and field and school to talk about, not to mention the mini kitchen on the bus. This trip was going to be great.

When the bus finally pulled up to the Seville house at quarter to nine, the Chipettes were waving excitedly to the boys to get their stuff loaded and get moving. The actual loading took about ten minutes but Dave's last minute instructions to Rob took almost a half hour.

"If those two take any longer talking about our curfew, I'm going to start hiking to New Mexico." Eleanor said jokingly.

"Oh, I hear you," Theo replied, "Hey Ellie, did you guys get the weights packed at your house?" he asked.

"Yep, I also brought the iron gym for sit-ups and pull-ups." She answered with a smile that would have lit up the Hollywood sign.

"Cool, this will be my first road trip since I started track and I don't want to get all soft." He said hesitantly, conscious about the word soft around Ellie. She was still a little sore about her weight even though all of it was muscle.

"Don't you worry Theo; I've toured with this stuff all the time and I never get out of shape. I'll show you tomorrow the workout I made up for your brothers and me. Simon starts weight training next year, right?"

"Yeah, he spent all of last weekend looking up books on how to exercise properly, me and Alvin had a good laugh." He replied with a mischievous grin.

Ellie gave him a dirty look, "Now Theodore, I'm shocked, do you remember what it was like for you when you started on field events and you couldn't lift the shot-put enough to throw it?"

"Don't remind me." Theo groaned, "I was in pain for weeks after the first workout you put me through."

"Then have a little sympathy for Simon, besides, he's taller and a little older, so he's already pretty strong. The only thing he needs is tone." She mentioned matter of factly.

"Yeah, whatever," Theo answered offhandedly, sounding to Eleanor just a little too much like Alvin.

As the kids sat in the bus waiting for Dave to run through the safety checklist, their minds wandered to different things.

Simon thought of how Dave had put him and Jeanette in charge of their siblings.

Jeanette thought of how Simon and she would be working close together to make the concerts a success.

Alvin and Britney were each thinking the same thing; of seeing their names in lights all through the country again.

Theo was thinking about all the fun he was going to have on the trip with Ellie. They would cook and workout, and when they were worn out or ready to try their latest recipe, they had each brought some movies to watch.

And then there were Ellie's thoughts. She was imagining what it would be like to spend so much time with Theo. She was also nervous about the press, they had been trying to get the inside story on the tour for weeks now, and they had even gotten so far as to find out that she and Theo were now going out, a fact that Dave had tried to keep private for as long as he could. "Oh well," Ellie thought to herself, "They were bound to find out sooner or later." What worried her was that the tabloids would make some really stupid claims while they were sharing the bus.

"…ok kids?" Dave finished, clearly not having noticed that the kids were each in their own little worlds, "You all understand what to do in each city? You know where to stay away from and you know who to avoid?"

"YES DAVE!" the six squirrely chipmunks replied loudly, he had gone over the same instructions several times with each of them.

"Alright then, well Rob, I guess you have it handled from here on out right?" Dave asked nervously, still a little apprehensive about the whole tour.

"Sure thing Mr. Seville, I got this." He reassured Dave, "Hey! You kids ready for New Mexico?!" he called out.

"YEAH!" they chorused back, clearly excited.

"Alright then, well goodbye boys, I'll call you tomorrow at lunch, girls, Miss Miller said she'd call you at lunch as well."

As Dave finished, rob pushed him off of the bus reassuring him that everything would be fine etc. and shut the door on him as he tried to keep talking. When the doors shut, the boys breathed a sigh of relief and started to talk about what they wanted to do in each city, and the girls started to talk about what they would wear on stage at their first stop in Salem, Oregon. After about an hour on the road however, the kids started to feel a little sleepy and when Rob pulled over at a rest stop, they decided that they would try and sleep for the rest of the night.

As they began to re-board the bus, none of them noticed the shadow that seemed to follow them.

While the rest of the kids slept on the ride, Theo found that it was impossible to get into a restful spot. After an hour of furiously turning about in the bed that his brothers and he shared, he decided that a late night snack would probably help him out. When he got to the small kitchenette at the bus, he looked in the fridge to find a six pack of pudding cups with one already gone. "Strange," he thought, "I didn't see anyone take one out earlier, and Rob hasn't left his seat to get one…" as he shut the door, he found his answer, Ellie was sitting on the couch watching one of the movies she had brought along for the ride, and eating the missing pudding cup.

When Theo saw that she there, he smiled, pulled out a pudding cup and sat next to her, careful not to interrupt her movie. When the movie was over, Theodore saw Ellie tear up a little, confused, he asked, "What's wrong Ellie?"

"Oh it's nothing Theodore," she answered, "it's just that I always cry when I watch The Corpse Bride."

"Why would a movie like that make you cry?" he asked, confusedly

"I guess it's the whole meaning behind the story," she said, "I guess, sometimes, I feel like the Bride, you know?"

"No, not really." He replied bluntly, confusion still etched on his every feature.

"You know, you look really cute when you get confused Theo." She said with a small smile.

After a few more minutes of silence where they just sat on the couch and just held each other. Theo spoke up, "Hey, do you remember when you and I first started going out?"

"Yeah," she replied, "It was only just a few months ago."

"Well, do you remember why I asked you out?"

"Now that you mention it, I don't know what finally made you want to ask me out, I just remember feeling so great when you asked me out." She answered

"Well, do you want know why, and in exchange, you tell me why you're feeling sad?"

She smiled up at him, "ok then mister mystery, why did you ask me out?"

"Well, it all started about three months age when I was still going out with that bitch Julia…"

THREE MONTHS AGO…

Theodore felt like shit. That was the only way to describe what he felt like. In one day, his whole world had fallen apart. Just hours ago at lunch, he had walked in on an abandoned classroom to try and get some more writing done for his English report, only to find his girlfriend Julia making out with a member of the lacrosse team. When he saw this, his only reaction besides shock was to yell at her for cheating. And then the bitch tried to turn the situation around and accused him of cheating on her with Ellie. "That is the final straw," he thought to himself as he yelled back, "I don't care anymore you fucking whore! I don't care if you drag my name through the mud trying to keep your reputation clean, but NO ONE tries to hurt my friends!"

And with that, he stormed out to the shocked faces of his brothers and the Chipettes. With the tears rising out of him uncontrollably and the rage slowly seething out of him in small tremors, he ran out to the field where he usually went now to calm down.

As he got to the hut where the javelins were stored, he yanked open the doors and collapsed on the mats folded up in the corner face first and cried.

"How could I have been so stupid?" he asked himself out loud, "Everyone probably knows now and I'll bet anything that slut is saying it's my fault."

After he cried over his broken trust for a good 15 minutes, he sat up and put his head in his head. He now had a throbbing headache thanks to the crying he had just done. As he sat and thought over his pain, the shed door cracked and a familiar voice asked, "Theo? Are you going to be alright?"

"Yeah Ellie, I'll be ok in a little bit." He replied smiling slightly at the fact that his best friend was there.

Ellie poked her head inside the shed, "Well just so you know, I went into the office and told them you were sick and had gone home, the secretary didn't like it that you hadn't gone in yourself to checkout, but she said to feel better." she said like she was talking to a little kid.

"Thanks Ellie. That really makes it easier, at least now I don't have to worry about English class."

"Do you want to talk about what happened? We walked by the door and heard screaming and then the next thing we know, you come stumbling out of the room purple in the face and shaking. I was worried Theo." She said caringly

After a couple of deep breaths he explained that for the past few weeks, he had a suspicion that Julia was cheating on him, but he had completely lost it when he walked in on her actually making out with another guy.

When he was done with his story, he closed his eyes in disgust at himself, why hadn't he broken up with her weeks ago. His instincts had never been wrong before. Why did he ignore them when it applied to girls?

Suddenly Eleanor piped in, "You know, maybe it's for the best that you caught them, another few days and I'm sure she would have started a rumor that it was you who was cheating."

Theo realized that she was right, that was just the sort of thing he could see Julia doing.

"Besides," Ellie continued, "I've seen her in the locker room bragging about all of the guys she's been with, and she is just an all around bitch. You know she doesn't have any real friends because she keeps messing with people."

"Yeah, I guess you're right" Theo answered, "But it still hurts that she smashed my trust. I wish I could meet a girl who would never hurt me. If I could find a girl like that, I'd be the happiest guy alive."

As he finished his sentence, he saw that Ellie had tears in the corner of her eyes, eyes that he had seen a million times before, but for some reason he couldn't explain, seemed to be the most beautiful things he had ever seen.

"Why are you crying Ellie?" Theodore asked concerned that something had happened to her today as well.

"Oh Theo, it's nothing, I just think that you are really oblivious sometimes." She laughed as she wiped the tears from her eyes

"Wait," he said as he started to think, "I'm guessing that it's not every friend that would care enough about them to the point that they go looking for them in a shed. Am I right?"

"You're close." She said still giggling.

"Now that I think about it, you've never hurt me, have you?" he asked as recognition dawned on him

"Nope, I've never hurt you and would never try to."

"Ellie," he gasped as he finally got the message, "Do you maybe want to go out sometime and get dinner or go for a walk in the park?"

"Oh Theo, I'd love it!" she squealed as she realized that he had just asked her out.

And with that, they embraced with pure joy that they had each finally found someone to truly be with.

"Wow, I only knew my side of the story before…" Eleanor said stunned that Theodore had told her something so personal.

"Yeah, now a deal's a deal, why are you so sad?" he asked, his voice still a little choked up from the slightly painful memories.

"Oh right," Eleanor answered taken slightly off guard, "Well, the reason I'm sad is that I've had this really bad feeling for the past few weeks, like someone or something is watching me. The only time I feel like I'm not being watched is when I'm around you."

"Oh, well if you don't think I pay attention to you, I can fix that." Theo responded hurt in his voice.

"Now, you know I didn't mean it like that Theo, I just meant that when I'm around you, I feel safe." She said with a smile.

"Oh!" Theo said excitedly, "I didn't know I meant so much to you Ellie."

Eleanor sighed and pulled Theodore in closer, "Of course you mean a lot to me Theo, you're the first guy I've ever liked this way, and certainly the only one I would trust to keep their self control on a long trip like this." She said smiling as she pulled Theo in for a kiss.

The next morning, the kids woke up to find that they had crossed the California state line and were now only about a few hours from the state capitol where they would put on the first show in their 48 state tour. The kids had tried to convince Dave to let them also fly to Alaska and Hawaii, but the thought of the kids being alone and the boys seeing the girls in nothing but their swimsuits made Dave and Miss Miller too nervous to let them.

When Simon went up to the driver's side of the bus, he was amazed to find that Rob had made it through the entire night without anything but the occasional rest stop and refueling. When Simon insisted that he pull over to grab a quick nap, Robs response was, "Now look here little man, you kids may be rock stars, but I'm a driver, and if there's one thing I'm good at, it's staying awake. I make night runs all the time and I know my limit. So far, my record is 3 days straight without sleep. You're in good hands, now go back there and enjoy the ride." He smiled at Simon as he said this.

"Well, if you're sure you're alright, but if you get tired, I'm sure the director will understand if we're a little bit late." Simon replied in his usual matter of fact way.

After his little trip up to the "Cockpit" as Rob called it, Simon returned back to the rear to find his siblings battling it out on Guitar Hero III, and Eleanor was hard at work in her little corner of the bus with the hand weights; meanwhile Britney and Jeanette were back on the couch. As Simon drew closer though, the girls got real quiet and Simon saw Britney putting away a magazine. "Girls," Simon thought, "I may never understand them" but as he was walking away, he noticed that Jeanette was blushing. "Oh well," he thought to himself, "She is probably overheating a little. I'll probably go turn down the heat."

"Come on Theo, you can do better than that!" Alvin chided

"I could if you'd stop using that damn lefty flip Alvin!" Theodore shot back, daggers shooting from his eyes.

"Hey Si, you want to play winner?" Alvin offered as he turned on another battle mod, a string cutter, Simon noted.

"No, its ok, I need to go practice my bass anyways. I suggest you practice your guitar before we show up in Salem. The last thing we need is a crappy guitarist for our first show."

"Ah, you sound like Dave Simon." Alvin joked

"Actually, Simon," Eleanor interrupted, "you and I have a date with the weights. You said you were taking weight training next year right?"

"Yes, I am, but I really think that we should wait for the workout until after we get to the hotel."

"Hehehe, sounds to me like big brother is scared by the thought of an Eleanor Workout." Theo remarked pointedly

"Theo, we talked about this last night, now unless you want me to improve on your workout when it's your turn, shut up" Eleanor said with a smile

"Oh hell no…" Theo trailed off obviously shaken up by the thought of a more intense workout

And so the kids passed the time until they arrived in Salem to their first venue in the local colleges' football stadium. By the time they actually got to the stadium from their hotel, it was only four hours until show time.

"Ok kids, you girls all know your moves and the songs you're going to do?" their director asked nervously

"Yes!" the girls responded enthusiastically

"Good, and you boys know the order of the songs you're playing, and you know your lyrics?"

"Yeah, we got this director man." Alvin responded casually, "Just point us towards the front and turn on the mics so we can run through the show a little first."

"Of course." And he showed the girls where their starting places would be and showed the boys how to work the effects pedals for the instruments.

After that, the kids took over, giving directions to the stage crew and running through their set list in record time. After they were done, they still had about an hour to kill before the ticket booths opened to let people in, so they decided to go backstage and chill for a little and get their makeup and clothes right.

An hour and a half later, the stadium was filled to capacity in the stands, and the folks who got field spots were sitting on shoulders to make space. When the lights went down, the crowd was quiet enough to hear a pin drop. Then the lights flashed as the opening power chords for Witch Doctor blared out of the speakers and the fans went insane.

Three hours and 25 songs later, the Chipmunks were backstage winding down from their first performance.

"Man was that fun or what?!" Alvin asked excitedly, "Did you guys hear the crowd out there? That was the best show I've done in months!"

"Yeah well, it's easy to get the fans excited when you're the one crowd surfing while you do your little solos Alvin." Theo glowered

"Geez man, what crawled up your ass and died?"

"Think about how Theo must feel," Jeanette said, "All of us get to move around and see the people, while Theo's the one who keeps the beat going and he can't get out there and meet the fans screaming for him. And to top it all off, you never give him the chance to get in a drum solo Alvin."

"Oh man. That true Theodore?" Alvin asked, this time sounding a little concerned, "Dude, do you want a little more time to be heard? I'm sure if we talk to Dave, we can arrange for a recording to play while you get out there and meet some of your fans. Hell, we can even give you more time with the mike so people know who's keeping us going."

"Well it would be nice," Theo answered grudgingly, "but that would mean that you'd have to give up a couple of your solos Alvin. And just so you know, the whole crowd surfing thing died with the 90's."

"Now you're the one being mean Theodore." Simon interjected, "We all know Alvin and Britney have always loved the spotlight, that's why I play bass. I don't mind playing a smaller part, besides, if the group didn't have you and me, Alvin would have absolutely no rhythm." He finished with a smile.

"He's right man, I have no rhythm except when you start off the songs." Alvin joked

Right then, the director came in to congratulate them on a job well done, and following right behind him was the usual flood of cameras and reporters. The kids had no problems with the news crews; the ones they had to look out for were the paparazzi and tabloid reporters. As they tried to get through the flood of bodies and make a run for the safety of the bus though, none of them noticed one man in particular who had neither press badge or tabloid insignia. And even the security didn't notice him as he trailed the Chipmunks and Chipettes back to their hotel room with his camera at the ready.

The next few days were a blur as the kids worked their way steadily through the first few stops on their tour. The crowds cheered their names in Salem, but they were overwhelmed by the size of the greeting they got in Carson City Nevada. Then after a double nighter in Salt Lake City the kids were taking a well deserved break on their way to Phoenix Arizona.

As the group stumbled into a rest stop halfway to their show, a tabloid picture caught Rob's eye. He may have been a tough guy on the outside, but underneath the surface, he enjoyed gossip almost as much as an eighth grade girl. And due to his latest job shuttling the kids around to their tour stops, he easily recognized the face on the front cover. When he bent over to pick it up however, he immediately regretted it. There on the very front cover for all the world to see in color like only the trashiest magazines can provide was a picture of Theodore kissing a girl who wasn't Ellie.

"Oh shit…" he said to himself, "I have got to keep this from Ellie until I find out what the hell is going on."

And so saying, he bought every copy that the store had and immediately trashed all but one copy he kept in a brown paper bag.

But as things always seem to happen at the worst of times, Ellie got bored when the bus was pulled over and acting as an improve hotel, and went through Robs magazine collection, when she got to the paper bag though, she was just too curious to resist a little peek inside.

"WHAT THE HELL Theo?!" she screamed, waking the sleeping Chipmunk, and the rest of the bus up.

"Whawhowherwhat?" he answered still coming out of his dreams.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Ellie cried, tears forming streaming down her face, now bright red going on purple with rage, "I thought you said you'd never hurt me, and now I find this?!" she yelled back, throwing the magazine at Theo's head.

After a few seconds of staring at the page, Theo looked at Eleanor in complete, uncomprehending, shock.

"Ellie," he tried to say, but was cut off by her continued yelling.

"Why would you go off and do this behind my back?! If you wanted to breakup, there were a hundred other ways to do it that would have spared my reputation! Now there are going to be people out there who think I'm not good enough for you! Did you realize that when you went off with that slut!" she screamed pointing at the headline, (THEANORE NO MORE?)

"Ellie, please give me a chance to explain," he began, meaning a chance to explain that that wasn't him, this however was the wrong choice of words, as she now felt he had just confessed and was trying to cover it up.

"No Theodore," she said, deadly quiet, "I'm through, I would expect this kind of thing if you were Alvin, but not you. We're done together." And she walked to the back of the bus and slipped behind the curtain that hid the girl's bed from view.

"Dude, what the hell just happened?" Alvin asked.

Theodore just sat there on the couch stunned. He was still processing the fact that he had been dumped over an obviously fake photo.

"Let me see that Theo," Simon said gently as he took the magazine out of Theodore's hands.

After flipping through the magazine to the article attached to the photo he read aloud,

…It is this reporters opinion that based on the photograph graciously donated to The Enquirer by an anonymous photographer who caught the pic after the Chipmunks first stop on their cross country tour, that Eleanor Miller needs to wake up and smell the coffee, she's obviously been replaced in Theodore's heart by another woman. (If I were in her shoes, I would break up with him in a heartbeat) one fan replied after being asked what she thought of the incriminating evidence of Theo's infidelity…

"Well, that's total bullshit right Simon? I mean, Theo was with us the entire night before and after the show." Alvin asked clearly shaken at the bad press his brother and Eleanor were getting.

"Well, I have to admit that there was very little time he wasn't with us, except when he went to go get our hotel keys in Salem, but that was only for a couple minutes. And besides, if this were a real photo, why would the photographer want to remain anonymous?" Simon mused out loud.

"In any case you guys, I think you should all get some sleep." Rob suggested, "We can sort it all out in the morning, AFTER Ellie calms down."

All of the boys nodded in agreement and Alvin and Simon went to the bed, but Theodore stayed up the entire night, still numb from the shock, staring into space and thinking about why someone would use a fake photo to try and ruin his relationship.

Out of the driver's seat of an old dodge, a shadow smiled in delight at the fact that his little plan had worked. Now all he had to do was wait until their next stop on the tour and he could get close enough to his beloved to convince her that he was the one who could help her heal from the undeserving Theodore's crime against her…

TO BE CONTINUED IN

THE BEST TOUR EVER

Ch. II Forgiveness and Hatred

If you have questions or comments, please leave a review or send me a message by going to my profile. And look for Ch. II coming soon.

Happy Reading

musicalreader