I do not own the Chipmunks, Chipettes, Miss Miller or David Seville. Bagdasarian Productions does. Mr. Ratburn is based on the teacher from Arthur. I do not own him either. All the other characters depicted in this story were created by my sister or myself and are owned by us.

Memories

Theodore didn't like thunderstorms. They were loud, scary, and too many bad things could happen if you were caught outside in one. Simon thoroughly enjoyed them, especially if he was measuring the rainfall to compare the data with other records of rainfall. To him, they were fascinating to watch. Alvin didn't care about thunderstorms, unless they got in the way of his plans. Today, Alvin was holding a grudge against them.

"It's been raining for two whole days, now Dave!"

"Actually Alvin, it's been raining for approximately 2 and a half days, " Simon corrected.

"Whatever. The point is, it's Sunday night, all my plans for this weekend have been ruined, and I'm bored!"

"What's wrong with playing some video games?" Dave suggested.

"I don't feel like it. I don't feel like doing anything except sitting on this couch and sulking. We've already done all the normal rainy day activities anyways."

"You don't want to play cards, or sing, or even color?"

Alvin gave Dave an insulted look. "What am I, four?"

"It was just an idea. If you want, Alvin, you can help me do some laundry."

"No thank you! I'd rather watch the raindrops on the window to see who wins the 'Raindrop Race'."

Alvin turned around and acted like he was intently watching them.

"Alright, well that's where I'll be. I'm sorry you're so bored."

"I think this weather is doing something to Dave's head," Alvin remarked to Simon after Dave left.

He nodded and continued to stare at the sky. Lightning was so thrilling to watch!

Now, Theodore had been in the downstairs closet for the past half hour. The thunder had gotten really bad, and he had retreated in there. The closet had been able to muffle the storm. Nothing Dave did could convince him to come out. When he had some cookies for him to coax him out, Theodore had opened the door, snatched the cookies, and went back in the closet. After he had eaten his cookies, he had fallen asleep.

A huge crash of thunder suddenly woke Theodore from his sleep. He was paralyzed with fear for a few moments. When he could move again, he decided to look for something to do in there. He stood on a step ladder and looked around on the top shelf. He saw nothing interesting until he came across a photo album. Thinking it could relax him, Theodore took it down and began looking at it on the floor.

The first page had pictures of the Chipmunks on their first day of school. Theodore's backpack had been so heavy with snacks that he had fallen over backwards when Dave had snapped the picture. Simon's smile had never looked more radiant, and Alvin's frown had never looked more dismal.

Flipping through it, Theodore came across a picture Dave had taken with Alvin and his posse in front of their school. Alvin's posse consisted of 4 friends: Roger, Arnie, Ron, and Walter. Alvin had known Ron for about 3 years now. Ron had golden blond, shaggy hair and was very laid back. He didn't let anything bother him. He had an older sister who was in boarding school.

Arnie and Roger had been best friends even before they met Alvin 5 years ago. They lived across the street from each other and only 2 blocks away from Alvin. Arnie, with glasses, freckles, and bright red hair, was a little strange. He seemed normal, but there were strange things that he did or said that made you think, "Is he really crazy?". For example, he once thought that his glop of mashed potatoes looked like a giant toe. Arnie's quirks could have partly to do with the fact that Arnie was suffering from a plague, his older sister Sydney. There had been trouble between them the first week Arnie was born, when she had accidentally dropped him on his head. Ever since then, they've fought about everything. She bullies him around, treating him as her slave, while Arnie just tattles to his father, who is always on his side.

Roger was beyond strange. He was from a different planet! He had a bad overbite, overgrown brown hair, and a tall stature. He always wore mismatched clothing, even two shades of white socks. Not only did he look and act strange, but he was dumb too, I mean really dumb. He was a year older than anyone else in his class because he had to repeat a grade. It wasn't because he didn't understand his work; he just didn't try to do his work. He didn't have common sense. Why, only last week, he had burned his hand by taking a cookie sheet out of the oven without oven mitts and wondered why his hand got burnt.

Roger had a big family. His oldest brother was Robert. Robert, named after his father, was in high school and bullied his siblings around just like any other mean brother. He mostly cared about himself. Roger had a sister named Tiffany, who just happened to be Brittany's best friend. She was a year younger than him, but since he had to repeat a grade in school, they were in the same classes. She was constantly complaining about how mean her brothers are, how she had been born into a different family, and that she was the smartest one in her family. The smartest one in their family was actually their youngest brother, Little Robert. (He was also named after their father while Roger was named after their father's middle name.) Little Robert was a little evil genius, using his intelligence against his brothers. He always made Alvin think how fortunate they were that Simon never used his intelligence against them. Simon could have world domination if he wanted!

Walter wasn't in the picture Dave had taken because he was the newest member of Alvin's posse. He had only been attending the school for a few months and was still in the "trial stage" of becoming a member of Alvin's posse. He looked similar to Roger, only much cuter. Sadly, his looks were his best feature. Like Roger, Walter had no common sense or motivation to learn either. And yet, somehow Walter managed not to repeat any grades. He got sent to the principal's office alot for outbursts during class. He always tried to make light of every situation and would do anything anyone told him to do. Alvin used this feature to his advantage.

Theodore thought of Brian Nesbit, Alvin's other friend who also wasn't in the picture. Alvin didn't hang out with him all the time. He was an average student with brown hair and blue eyes and the only child in his family. Since his mother was a teacher at the school, she called on him frequently, and he was teased a lot. Brian was a good boy; he behaved in class and did what he was told. In his mother's class, however, Brian decided to be the worst student ever, as a way of getting back at her for humiliating him. He would always interrupt and disobey her. He thought it was funny how mad and frustrated she got when he did this. In reading class, when called up to read, he read like he was 6. He was known for reading aloud about the "big red dog", pretending that's what his reader said instead of a story about Abraham Lincoln. Ever since he started doing that, the class loved him, and Mrs. Nesbit tried as hard as she could not to yell at him.

Alvin's posse was an odd bunch. Everyone, even Alvin himself sometimes, wondered why Alvin was even friends with them. His posse had one thing in common: they loved Alvin and his music. This made them want to do anything for Alvin. They were dumb enough so that Alvin could boss them around however he liked. They were also quite amusing.

There was a newspaper article pasted on the next page. Brittany's friend Tiffany wrote it; she works for the school newspaper when she feels like it. The article was about Simon's and Trent's science fair project that won first prize. Trent and Simon had been best friends since 1st grade. Trent loved computers, playing chess, and he was very good in science. With sandy-colored hair, blue eyes, and silver glasses, he could almost be the human version of Simon.

A large smile spread across Theodore's face when he saw the next picture. He remembered the fun he had at that picnic. You could see the cake Theodore had won in the cake walk on the table next to a cold, wet Simon. Alvin had signed him up for the dunking tank. In the picture, Theodore was standing next to a smiling black-haired boy. They had met each other in the school cafeteria a couple years back. Samuel was the new boy and eating all alone. Theodore went over to eat lunch with him, and they had an instant friendship.

Theodore giggled at the next picture. Alvin and Simon were scratched up and dirty after Nancy had beaten them up at the park. That was also the same day he had met Juliet. He had secretly taken the picture when they had gotten home from the park. It was too funny not to remember. Nancy was now one of Brittany's friends. She tended to avoid Alvin and Simon, who had long gotten over their crush on her.

Thinking of Nancy reminded Theodore of Amanda. She was another one of Brittany's more strong-spirited friends. She had dark skin, brown eyes, shoulder-length brown hair, and always wore something purple.

When she had first attended their school, Simon had a crush on her. Alvin thought it would be a good idea for them to study together, but when she came over to their house, she liked Alvin instead. This time, Alvin liked Amanda back. Over time, all their crushes wore off. It was a funny situation to remember.

Before Theodore knew it, he had come to the last page of the book. It was last year's school graduation picture. The entire school and staff were there. Mr. Lipsky, the principal, was like a mouse. He was timid, wanted to please everyone, and hid in his office playing on his computer and eating junk food. He was the object of ridicule in the school.

Mr. Ratburn was one of the two teachers they had. He taught math, English, spelling and vocabulary, history, and science. He was like a lion, a mean and dominating teacher who was out to get Alvin and any other person who went against his authority (which was almost everyone). He gave out the largest amount of homework that anyone had heard of. Not many people liked him.

Mrs. Nesbit was the chameleon. One minute she was sweet and the next she would bark at her students to behave. Everyone respected her. She taught reading, penmanship, and PE.

In the corner of the picture, Theodore could faintly see Joe the janitor. Joe didn't like his job. Constantly cleaning up after "those messy kids" ate away at his nerves. He cleaned the bare minimal and sometimes interrupted class just to vacuum. Walter in particular did not like him.

Theodore closed the photo album and looked on the top shelf again to see if he could find another one to look at. The closet door opened, and his brothers were standing there.

"There you are, Theodore!" Alvin exclaimed.

Theodore was a bit startled.

"You don't have to hide now," said Simon. " The storm is over."

"We're going outside to play with Rodney for a while before it gets too dark. Do you want to come?"

"Sure!"

Theodore got off the ladder and ran outside after his brothers. He would never pass up an opportunity to make more memories.