The Chipmunks' and Chipettes' time has finally come; their debut tour together.
Following on from the 'Sporting Endeavours' storyline, and trying not to give to much away. Enjoy.
A whole week, free from arduous tasks and school; time to relax and recharge their batteries. The Chipmunks and Chipettes were enjoying their brief break from bust schedules and school work. A whole week of doing as they please; after a tough year of school and a hard fought competition against the 'Jocks'. These draining experiences really took their toll on the six of them, and they were all feeling physically and mentally fatigued. Nothing like a week of rest and relaxation to reenergize the body and mind; and Dave must have needed some too. But a manager's work is never done; so now that the school year and its Sporting Endeavours are out of the way, the main focus is on the Tour of England.
We join the Seville household on the eve of their first real venture together on tour. The Chipmunks, knowing all that there is to know about touring; and the Chipettes ready to learn the ropes and makes their debuts. But currently the six of them are chilling at home, excited with anticipation of the tour that they had been waiting well over a month to go on. After all that had happened in the past month, they are all glad that they can get back to doing what they do best. So with the tour just around the corner, all they have to do is wait for their moment and chill out.
Although, chilling out was the last thing on Dave's mind as he rushed around the house carrying his work and some of his music equipment. This definitely was not a good sign, as it signalled that Dave had not yet finished packing the luggage. The Chipmunks and Chipettes had all noticed that Dave was frequently passing by the sofa with stuff, and were beginning to become concerned with his frantic behaviour.
"I hope Dave can handle that luggage." Eleanor said.
"We should help him." Theodore suggested.
"Remember what Dave said? We all need to sort out our own luggage." Simon reminded. "Besides, I'm sure he can handle it."
The others still looked concerned as Dave continued to stumble past with his arms full of stuff; still seeming to be in a hurry, and rightfully so. The plane that they were going to catch to fly over to the UK was due to depart the next morning; leaving little time to pack. Too add to the hurrying about, it was starting to get late and there flight was an early one.
6:00pm is fairly late to be packing and there was a lot of luggage to pack, but at least he was doing some packing; unlike a certain lazy chipmunk. No guesses as to who hadn't done his packing, with less than 24 hours until the flight departure. Alvin was relaxing to his heart's content, as Dave was rushing by. He was sat watching yet another re-run of their three week long competition and all of the highlights. The coverage of the competition with the 'Jocks' must have proven popular, as it was still a hot topic a week later. Although Alvin had seen the program several times he was watching it again as a distraction from packing for the tour. But if he thought that he could put off packing that easily, then he didn't consider that Brittany may decide to intervene; and that she did.
"Are you planning on packing for the tour?" Brittany quizzed curiously.
"Yeah, sure, I'll do it later." Alvin replied as he continued to watch television.
"There isn't much of a later left, you know? We're going to bed in a couple of hours." Brittany said.
"I'll do it then." Alvin replied, fobbing off the task until later.
"Now, Alvin." Brittany announced, standing between him and the television to get his full and undivided attention.
"But…" Alvin objected.
"Why wait when you can do it now?" Brittany questioned.
Alvin didn't reply; he knew that Brittany was right and that she wouldn't give in until he had packed his luggage. He was prompted to get up, and then was led to the bedroom to pack.
"A stitch in time saves nine." Simon quipped up, as the two of them left the living room.
They were taking a 9:00am flight from the local airport, and Dave had worked out that they needed to be up for 6am if they were to make it on time. This meant that they had to go to bed for about 8pm, so that the six of them would all be well rested for the travel and proceeding tour. Taking into account all this scheduling of time; Alvin was working with less than two hours left to pack all his luggage. Typical Alvin, leaving his packing to the last minute; Mr irresponsible.
Brittany dragged him into the bedroom by the sleeve of his jumper, and sent him in the direction of his suitcase. She looked determined to get Alvin to pack, and was most likely going to stand over him and watch him do it until it was done. There was no possible way that that he was going to worm his way out of it.
"Hurry up and pack; we need to be ready for the tour." Brittany said.
"I see it as more of a vacation." Alvin replied.
"Vacation?" Brittany asked, puzzled at his logic.
"Yeah; we rehearse one day, perform the next and then get one or two days off." Alvin explained.
"Really?" Brittany asked curiously.
"Dave enforces a health mix of work and play." Alvin explained.
"So it is sort of a vacation." Brittany replied.
"Yeah, I've been on a few before, but this one's going to be the best." Alvin added.
"Why?" Brittany asked.
"Because I get to spend it with you." Alvin replied.
Brittany blushed at hearing this; she was looking forward to spending time with Alvin, and now she knew that he wanted to spend time with her as well.
"But, if I can't finish packing in time; I won't be able to go." Alvin continued.
"I know what you're trying to do Alvin." Brittany said seeing straight through his ploy.
"Pack?" Alvin replied innocently.
"I will help you pack, but only because of the nice things you've said." Brittany explained.
"Thanks Britt," Alvin replied, "And I really meant those nice things."
"I know." Brittany replied feeling happy about Alvin's thoughtfulness.
Back in the living room, the others were beginning to get excited about the tour and were talking about how much fun they were going to have.
"It's going to be great performing alongside you guys." Eleanor said.
"Same for us." Simon replied.
"Plus, we'll finally get some time to spend together as a family." Theodore added.
"And as couples." Jeanette added.
"Especially you two." Simon said to Theodore and Eleanor.
Simon looked at the two of them, and hinted over at the television. It was now showing a highlight, where Theodore and Eleanor were hugging in celebration of winning a round in the competition.
"We need to let our hair down." Jeanette said.
"And enjoy being together." Eleanor suggested.
"Exactly; then we will probably perform better as a result." Simon concluded.
"We don't want to disappoint our fans." Theodore added.
Dave arrived in the living room and sat down with a cup of coffee, interrupting their slightly private conversation.
"I've finally organised everything." Dave announced with some relief in his voice.
"We wanted to help you." Theodore replied.
"It's okay; I was too unorganised for any help." Dave assured them.
"Unorganised? You?" Simon quizzed, surprised at Dave's uncharacteristic predicament.
"Someone must have moved my stuff." Dave replied.
"It was probably Alvin." Simon suggested.
"He was looking for the tour schedules and song choices, yesterday." Jeanette revealed.
"I should have known. That cost me a lot of time, and bother." Dave replied sounding annoyed.
"He was only excited about the tour." Theodore said, defending his brother.
Dave saw this and knew that Theodore didn't want anyone falling out and arguing even before the start of the tour.
"I guess his excitement got the better of him." Dave replied forgivingly. "And I bet you're all excited too."
"Really excited." Eleanor replied.
"It's going to be so much fun." Jeanette added.
"Well make sure all of you do have fun; and try to share that with all the fans." Dave said.
"We plan to." Simon replied.
"There will probably be some meetings with the public; so be prepared to meet some of your fans while you're out there." Dave said.
"Something Alvin will excel at." Simon pointed out.
"We'll try our best." Jeanette said, linking arms with Simon, and prompting him to take the emphasis off Alvin.
"The fans are there for all of you; just remember that." Dave assured them.
They were now buzzing with excitement, and time flew by as they continued to chat to Dave about the tour arrangements. They must have been having a lot of fun, as soon enough it was time for bed and a whole hour had passed them by.
They all made their ways into the bedroom, where Alvin and Brittany had finally finished packing the suitcase. It may have been small but it had still taken them a while to fill it.
"Just in time." Dave said, as he and the other chipmunks entered the bedroom.
"Bedtime already?" Alvin questioned.
"Aren't you glad that we started early?" Brittany commented to Alvin.
"Yep, we have an early start tomorrow." Dave replied.
The six of them then set about getting ready for bed, and didn't take too long doing it. Dave said goodnight to them once they had gotten into bed; leaving them all to try their best to go to sleep. But their excitement was getting the better of them and they couldn't settle down. All they could think about was their tour; the songs they would sing, flying over to England, the hotels that they would be staying in; and in Alvin's case the girls that they would meet.
The next thing they knew, they were waking up and it was morning; they all must have dozed off. Dave was now in the bedroom and opening the curtains to reveal a bright morning, with the sun just beginning to rise.
"Rise and shine, guys, we don't want to be late." Dave cautioned.
On hearing the word 'late', they all immediately began to get out of bed as quick as they could. Well, all except Alvin who was intent on getting a couple more minutes sleep. It was only 6:05am on the clock as Alvin glanced across the bedroom; five more minutes wouldn't hurt, he thought to himself. The next time he awoke from his slumber, it was 6:17am and the others were dragging their suitcases through to the front door. Brittany was the only one who noticed that Alvin was still in bed, and immediately jumped into action to get him up.
Brittany leapt up onto Alvin's bed and pulled the duvet off him; leaving him cold and unable to go back to sleep.
"Alvin! We have less than 15 minutes to be ready; I don't want to be late." Brittany said urgently.
"I know; I'm on it." Alvin replied, dragging himself to the edge of the bed and almost falling off.
Brittany proceeded to follow him across the bathroom, while dragging her suitcase, and made sure that he went into the bathroom. Once he had gone in and shut the door, Brittany took her luggage and placed it with the rest of the suitcases by the front door.
When she arrived at the table, a minute or so after the others, she was greeted by a slightly unorganised assortment of cereals and toaster waffles. Dave must have been running around and worrying about being late, and left all the breakfast in a big muddle on the table. The others had gotten their own breakfast from the available food, as it didn't look as if Dave was going to be orchestrating breakfast.
Several minutes later, Alvin emerged from the bedroom with his red cap on, dragging his luggage behind him. He now looked like he had woken up and was ready to go on tour.
Alvin joined them for breakfast, just as they were finishing; giving his little time to enjoy eating from the slightly muddled up table of food. But sure enough, Alvin ate the meal at record pace and was ready a couple of minutes later. This worked out well, as no sooner had he finished his breakfast; the doorbell rang. Dave dragged some of the luggage from the music room to the front door, and then answered it.
It must have been 6:30 because the taxi driver was stood at the door, ready and raring to go.
"I'll just be a minute." Dave said to the taxi driver, as he returned to the music room to get some more of the luggage.
The six chipmunks stood and watched helplessly as Dave continued to drag the heavy suitcases from the music room.
"That's a lot of baggage." The taxi driver said to the chipmunks.
"Well, it is for our tour." Simon replied.
"Tour? Oh, of course; you're the chipmunks, right?" The taxi driver asked, realising who they were.
"Yeah." Theodore replied happily.
"And the Chipettes." Brittany added.
"That's right; you're all going to England, right? Nice to meet you all, I'm Al." He replied friendly.
"Nice to meet you." Eleanor replied.
"I hope you're strong, because that baggage looks heavy." Alvin commented.
"Don't' worry about that." Al reassured. "But is your friend going to be much longer?"
"I hope not." Brittany said becoming impatient.
Dave continued to dash about the house performing last minute checks and making sure that he hadn't forgotten anything. The six of them and Al continued to watch Dave as he went from room to room.
"That's Dave, he's our manager." Theodore informed Al.
"Come on Dave, we haven't got all day." Alvin said.
Dave must have finished checking things around the house, as he returned to the front door.
"That's everything." Dave announced.
"Dave, this is Al." Theodore introduced.
"Hi, I'm Dave." He said introducing himself.
"Hello." Al replied friendly.
"I think we should be going." Brittany suggested, interrupting the friendly introductions.
"Oh, right, I'll start loading the luggage into the car." Al said picking up a couple of the suitcases.
"You'd better help as well Dave." Alvin suggested.
Dave grabbed one of the suitcases and began to drag it down the path to the main road. The six chipmunks followed him, each carrying their personalised suitcases to the car.
"Need a hand?" Al asked helpfully.
"That's okay, we can handle it." Simon replied, allowing him to continue to retrieve the rest of Dave's luggage.
Alvin jumped up onto the back seat of the taxi, and Simon and Theodore began to pass him their luggage as well as the Chipettes'. Alvin put the suitcases neatly in the foot well; allowing the back seats to be free of baggage. The Chipettes jumped in and took their seat, followed shortly by the Chipmunks. Dave closed the car door for them when he returned with the last of the luggage.
Dave and Al then shut the trunk of the car, and got in the front seats. The time that was displayed on the dashboard of the taxi read: 6:42am, which meant that they were late.
"Is everyone ready?" Al asked as he started the engine.
"Yeah, but can we make it to the airport for 7am?" Dave asked.
"Sure, why not; I'll do my best. Right." Al replied, putting the car in gear and revving the engine.
"That's my kind of driver." Alvin commented.
The taxi sped off down the street and headed for the airport. There was just 17 minutes to get to the airport for check-in, leaving them with no time to spare. Al, the taxi driver, seems confident on getting there on time and hopefully his driving can back it up. Dave and the others certainly hope so; it would be a really bad start to the tour if they were to miss their flight.
It's full speed ahead for the tour; if they get to the airport in time. Al is going to have to drive his socks off. Hope they make it.
Thanks for reading, and please review. :)