"I am so excited! We're going to visit home! We're going back to the Gold Coast! For a whole summer!" I squealed, hugging my boyfriend. "I know, I just can't wait, I'm so excited! Maybe we'll see a dolphin!" Eleanor added. "You can see dolphins anytime around here, Ellie. We just have to go to the zoo or Sea World." Theodore informed her. "I know, but I want to see a wild dolphin, one that isn't kept in a glass tank." She said. "Well, I want to check out this really cool uninhabited island they have their. It even has a dormant volcano! That'll make a great extra credit report for school!" Simon said excitedly. "Has it occurred to you that we're out for summer vacation, and that we don't have to worry about school for a whole four months?" Alvin asked, his arm around my shoulder. "Yes. But it never hurts to learn something new." Jeanette said, immediately coming to her boyfriends defense, pecking him on the cheek. "Let's just get packing, we leave in a few hours." Simon added. We went back to our room, bringing our suitcases out from under the bottom bunk of our triple bunk bunk-beds. My suitcase is pink (obviously!) with a big white 'B' embroidered on the front. Jeanette's is light purple, with a big white 'J'. Eleanor's is a beautiful spring green, with a yellow 'E'. Alvin's is red (no surprise), with a big yellow 'A', just like he one on his sweatshirt. Simon's is dark blue, with a white 'S' on the front. Theodore's is bright forest green, with a large 'T' on the front. We packed tons of summer outfits, along with our swimsuits, and sunglasses.

-A few hours later-

-At the air port-

"Now, don't forget. You can stay in a hotel if you want, but I found a nice family you can stay with if you want. They've got two kids, a boy and a girl, and they're very friendly. Here's their address if you need it." handing Simon a small slip of paper. "Ok, thanks Dave." He said, tucking it into his jacket pocket. "I say we stay with the family. Then we'll at least have a chance to not be swarmed by fans." Brittany said. "Me too. I mean, I love the attention, but it gets annoying." Eleanor agreed. Dave checked his watch, then nodded. "Ok guys, it's time for you to go, see you later." He said. "Bye Dave." Theodore said. "Oh, I almost forgot! Here, I got these for you." Dave said, handing us each a little box, wrapped in wrapping paper of our favorite colors. I gently unwrapped it, hoping to save the shiny purple paper, and removed the box lid. I gasped as I saw what was inside: a tiny, chipmunk sized, purple motorolla droid X 2 cell phone! "A phone?" Brittany asked. "Yep." "Catch me Alvin. I think I'm gonna faint." Brittany said, her tone dreamy. She fell backwards into Alvin's awaiting arms, sighing contentedly. We'd each received our dream cell phone, mine the brand new, scientific phone, identical to Simon's other than the color, with lots of awesome apps and scientific activities. "Now you can call me whenever you need. It has unlimited texts, and calls, so I don't have to worry about any of you going over." He said, looking pointedly at Alvin and Brittany, who'd stood up. An intercom voice suddenly blared "Flight to Gold Coast, Australia departs in five minutes. I repeat, flight to Gold Coast, Australia departs in five minutes. If there are any unseated passengers for this flight, we ask you to board the plane now. Thank you." "Bye Dave." I said. We all said good bye, then walked towards the plane, hauling our suitcases with us. We sat in one seat, and people obviously weren't expecting six little furry chipmunks to be seated on their plane. "Um, excuse me." an old, elegantly dressed woman said, gesturing for a flight attendant to come closer. I don't know why she wore the fancy clothes, they did nothing to cover up her hideous wrinkles or aged face. "There are some rats in doll clothes on that seat and I would like them removed at once." She said, pointing at us, her tone snobby. The flight lady looked at us, squinting surprise. She then walked to our seat, scowling. "Ok, who brought these mice in?" she demanded, looking around. "We are not mice, we're chipmunks!" Brittany yelled. The lady jumped back, startled. "Y-you can talk?" she asked. "Well duh. What did you expect, the Chipmunks and the Chipettes are supposed to be able to talk. How do you think we perform?" I asked. "You're the chipmunks? As in, Alvin and the Chipmunks?" she asked. "Yep, that's right. You've got six celebrities on your plane." Alvin said. "Oh my… I am terribly sorry. She had no reason to insult you, and may I get you anything, drinks perhaps? Or a snack? Anything for the Mr. and Ms. Seville's." she said. I felt a warm blush rising to my cheeks, and I was really grateful I have dark fur. Brittany and Eleanor, however, have more of a golden tan fur, and their cheeks now held a pinkish red glow in their possession. "Um, I'll take a strawberry lemonade, carbonated, with extra strawberry's, crushed raspberry's, one of those fancy umbrella's, and two straws" I ordered. "Yes, Ms. Seville." She said, walking off. "Ms. Seville?" I asked myself. "What was that all about?" Brittany asked. "My thoughts exactly." Simon muttered. I must have fallen asleep or something, because the next thing I knew, I was gently being shook awake by Simon.

-Simon's POV-

I looked around, amazed. The buildings were all magnificent, wondrously crafted and shiny. All the people had smiles on their faces, and they all seemed to possess a friendly aura. We walked around, lugging our suitcases with us. We eventually found the house we were scheduled to stay at, but then we found a new problem. "How are we gonna reach the doorbell?" Eleanor asked. "Hmm, we could stack our suitcases." Alvin said. "Sounds good to me." Brittany agreed. We started stacking our suitcases, one on top of another, than climbed up. I gave Alvin a boost, so he was situated on my shoulder's. He rang the bell, and not a moment too soon. The suitcases started to fall, with us on them. We landed on the ground, in a pile with the Chipettes and Theodore.

-Inside the house-

-Emma's POV-

"Emma, I need a favor from you." Mum said, patting the seat next to her at the dining room table. I groaned in my mind, I was supposed to be going out for a swim with Cleo, Bella, and Rikki, my three best friends. And Rikki does not like to be kept waiting. The last time Bella was late, Rikki was so steamed, she didn't speak to her for a week. Now I know you're probably thinking, 'Isn't she overreacting?' and no, she wasn't. You see, we have a very… special way of swimming, and we almost never go without each other. We have this huge secret… we're mermaids. But only when we're wet, even one drop of water will change us, so yeah. "What is it Mum?" I asked. "Do you remember when I told you I had surprise for you two days ago?" she asked. "Yeah." "Well, we've just been assigned to be a host family for six teenagers about your age, three girls and three boys. And I would like you to show them around town, and be very friendly to them." she said, in a kind of it's-not-a-request-it's-an-order-and-that-means-you-have-to-do-it-whether-you-want-to-or-not voice. "Alright, when do they get here?" I asked. "Sometime today." She said. No sooner had she said that, the doorbell rang. "I'll get it." I said, standing up and walking towards the door. What I saw next was not expected, and I jumped back in surprise. Six little chipmunks dressed in miniature outfits and six small suitcases were tangled in a heap outside the door on the doormat. "Oh hello." The one in a green sweatshirt said. I rubbed my eyes, surprised. "And no, you're not dreaming. We can really talk." The one in purple said. She sounded like a girl, and her hair was in a pony tail type style. "Um, is this the Gilbert house?" The one in the blue sweat shirt asked, glancing down at a piece of paper. "Uh, y-yes." I said, startled. "Well, I guess this is it guys." The red clad one said, grabbing the red suitcase and walking in. "Hey Alvin, wait for me." The one in pink said. She ran after him, hauling a pink suitcase. The others followed, their suitcases bouncing around. I followed, dumbstruck. They sat their suitcases in a neat row along the wall, and hopped up on the table, in front of Mum and Dad. Mum screamed, and dad jumped up. "Hey, hey, hey, calm down." The purple one said. My parents eyes widened, and their mouths dropped. "Sheesh, you act like it's a shock to have six talking chipmunks on your table." The one in pink said, crossing her arms over her chest. "It is." Mum said. "Well anyway, what's your name? We need to know, we'll be staying here the rest of the summer." The girl in green said. "I'm Lisa, this is my husband Neil, this is Emma, and her brother Elliot is around here somewhere." Mum said. "Oh, well I'm Eleanor, and these are my older sisters Brittany and Jeanette." The girl in the green dress said, gesturing to the other two. "I'm Theodore, and these are my older brothers Simon and Alvin." The little chubby one in the green sweatshirt said. "Oh, nice to meet you." Dad said, clearly shaken. "Well, are you gonna give us a tour of town? I'd really appreciate it." Eleanor said sweetly. "Oh sure. Come on." I said, gesturing towards the door. They hopped off the table and scurried out the door. "Boy, aren't they gonna be surprised." I muttered, referring to my friends.

-Bella's POV-

-The Pier-

"Where could she be?" I asked, scanning the streets for Emma. "I have no idea. But if she doesn't hurry up, I'm gonna leave with out her." Rikki grumbled. I heard the pounding off feet, and I looked up to see Emma running towards us, but she was yelling. "Hey! Guys! Stop! Wait for me." she said. "We're not going anywhere." Cleo reassured her. "Not you. Them" she said, pointing to the ground. We slowly looked down to find six furry little critters on the ground, staring up at us. "Hi." The little chubby one with little pigtails and a green dress said. "You talk? They talk?" I asked, looking at Emma questioningly. "Yeah, you guys, meet my three best friends, Cleo, Rikki, and Bella." She said, pointing to each of us. "Cleo, Rikki, Bella, meet the Chipmunks and the Chipettes, Alvin, Simon, Theodore, Brittany, Jeanette, and Eleanor." "Nice to meet you." The one in purple, or Jeanette said, hopping up on the railing and holding out her tiny little hand, or paw. I stuck out my finger and shook it, smiling. "Nice to meet you too." I said. "So, what are we gonna do today?" Simon asked. "Well… we were goingto go for a swim, but the water's pretty cold today. Maybe we'll do it tomorrow." Rikki said, quickly thinking of an excuse as to why they couldn't come. I mean, they water was actually pretty nice, but I didn't want them to know our secret. "Well, if you're not going for a swim, could you maybe take us to the uninhabited island I've heard about? Please? I think it starts with an 'M'" Jeanette asked. We all glanced at one another "Uhhh…" We all said together, not sure how to respond. "You mean Mako?" Emma asked. I shot her a look that said 'What are you doing?'. She just gave me the 'Play along and it'll be fine' glance. "Yeah! That's it, I think!" Simon said excitedly. "Oh, you don't want to go there, it's horrible. Poisonous snakes and mosquitos all over the place." "Eww!" Brittany squealed. "All the more reason to wanna go! Hello! Excitement!" Alvin said. "But Alvin-" Brittany protested. "It's sure to win big with the press, too." He bribed. "Ok, I'm in." she said immediately. I groaned inwardly. How were we going to get out of this?

-Mako Island-

-Alvin's POV-

The four girls decided they didn't want to go, so they had they had Cleo's boyfriend drive us out. He gave us his phone number, so we could call him, then he left, saying he had something to do. We explored quietly for a while, but then things went sour. There was this hugs snake towering above us, licking it's lips, as if envisioning how we'd taste. We ran off, screaming. It was gaining on us, and Simong saw a place to hide. "Look! A tunnel! We can hide in there!" he said. We were too scared to argue, and dove in. The snake was about to follow, but as it charged towards the entrance, it suddenly bounced back, as if some invisible force were keeping it out. It hissed in anger, and we ran. We went up this stone like staircase, ending in a cave of some sort. The water had and eerie bluish glow, and when I looked up, it was like we were in a volcano. The stars shone above it, making it look really nice. "How are we going to get out of here?" I asked, looking back at the opening, which seemed to have vanished. "I don't know. Well, we might be able to swim out." Jeanette suggested. "I don't think so, it looks like a long way." Eleanor observed. "Well, I for one am not staying here all night!" Brittany said. "Neither am I! We can just call someone." I said, remembering our cell phone's. I pulled mine out, but there was no signal. "Never mind that idea. There's no service." I announced. "Well, I'll go see if we can swim out. I'm glad I brought my bikini." Brittany said, slipping her shirt and skirt off, revealing her hot pink flower print bikini. "I'll be right back." She said, placing her hands over her head. She took a deep breath and dove, disappearing into the glowing blue water. "I'm not going to like this." Jeanette muttered, sitting down to wait. I stood, while the others sat, nervous and fidgety. What if she drowned? What if there was a shark out there and it ate her? What if-? I stopped thinking when my girlfriend suddenly surfaced, treading water. "Yep. About thirty second swimm to the ocean out side. It's totally safe." She said. "Alright. Not like we have much of a choice." I said. I'd worn my swim trunks underneath my clothes, so I was prepared. I left my phine on the sand; I'd come back for it later when we had waterproof containers. I jumped in, holding my breath. the water was surprisingly warm, and it felt good as it swished between my fur. Theodore and Eleanor jumped in, along with Simon, but Jeanette was hesistant. "I don't think I want to." she said quietly. "C'mon Jeanette. We can't just stay here." I urged. "Well…" she said. "Alright." She said as Simon reached up his hand for hers. She slipped off her shirt and skirt, plunging in. We were about to dive, but something happened. The water started to bubble and glitter, and when I looke dup, the full moon was directly over the circular mouth of the volcano. Little twinkling spheres of water were rising out of the pool, up towards the moon. "Ok, take a deep, deep breath." Brittany instructed. We all sucked in, then went under, paddling. I followed Brittany, quickly. As I resurfaced, I gasped for breath. "Oh, thank goodness. I thought I was gonna drown." I said. the others nodded in agreement. "Well, now that we're out, how do we get home?" Eleanor asked. "How about I give you a ride?" a voice asked. We turned and saw Lewis in his boat, a flash light in hand. We climbed out of the water and into the boat, shaking ourselves dry. Lewis handed Jeanette and Simon each a towel to dry their glasses, then we headed towards the mainland. He brought us to Emma's house, saying goodnight. "See ya Lewis." Theodore said, waving. "Bye guys. See you tomorrow. Probably. Hey, uh, one more question. How did you guys get that far out into the water?" he asked. "Well, we were in this strange cave, with this pretty glowing pool of water, and then the full moon was above us, and the water started bubbling. Then we swam out." His body pitched forward like he'd been shoved. "You weren't… in the pool while it was bubbling, were you?" he asked. "Um, yes, why?" Brittany asked. "Uh, n-no reason. Just uh… curious. That's all. Good night. Gotta go. Bye!" he said, bolting off. "ok, that was weird." I observed. "Oh well, let's just get to bed. I'm exhausted." Brittany said. We noticed the door oped a crack, so we pushed it open. We went up to our spare room, which Lisa had shown us before. It had six chipmunk sized beds lining the wall, and lots of space for our stuff. We immediately crashed, drifting off into sleep after our tiring day.