Hey guys. So I decided to write a story that's longer than 2000 words. Hooray for non-laziness.

This is AU, but there's only one change. I wrote a back story for this.

Alvin and Theodore are blood-related siblings—Vinny is their mother. Simon's mother is Vinny's best friend. Basically, Alvin and Theodore are full siblings, and Simon's like their step-brother. They don't acknowledge this because they've been raised together, and they only found out that Simon wasn't their full brother during the episode A Chipmunk Reunion.

As for the whole birthday issue, I've decided that Simon was premature. He was supposed to be born around early June, but ended up being born mid-April with Alvin and Theodore. And, because fate can be weird, Simon just happened to be born 5 minutes after Alvin.

So everything is the exactly the same except for the whole not fully related thing.

The only reason I did this is because it makes me feel better with the logic of this story. There is an actual reason I did this; I didn't just do it for giggles.

So yeah…

Enjoy!

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"Did you guys see that the school play is Romeo and Juliet?" Theodore asked as he joined his friends and siblings at their usual lunch table.

"Yeah, Mr. Rochelle was telling Simon and I about it after class," Alvin said, "he seems pretty psyched,"

"We're all trying out like usual, right?" Theodore asked while learning down to see the rest of the group. The others nodded in confirmation.

Since the fifth grade, they had all done the school plays together, but this was their last year in middle school before they graduated and went to Edison High School. 8th grade was the best year to do plays because all the lead roles always went to the 8th graders. It was finally their year to be on top.

"I refuse to try out," Simon mumbled. He poked the school's questionable peas with his fork and watched them dance around the plate.

"Why?" Alvin asked grabbing the fork from Simon's hand. He received a glare from his younger brother.

"Because I hate Romeo and Juliet,"

"You hate Romeo and Juliet?" Jeanette's eyes widened. How could anyone hate a classic? Two teens who were willing to die rather than live without the other gave her the chills. She knows that Shakespeare wrote it as a tragedy, but no matter how many times their pessimistic English teacher told her it was a tragedy, she would always feel it was meant to be a love story.

Shakespeare was amazing. He could relate to his audience. He knew how to write believable characters; they could be a poor merchant who gets lost in the crowd, or he could write about a wealthy noble who falls from power because of the hands of faith. And, his stories were adaptable—they are used as the base for TV and books; modern twists can be added to them. Romeo and Juliet is a perfect example of all this. How Simon could hate Romeo and Juliet was beyond her.

"Because it's cheesy,"

"It is not!" Jeanette shouted a bit louder than she anticipated. She covered her mouth in embarrassment and dropped her head before mumbling the rest of what she was going to say.

"It was an original work when he wrote it. It wasn't cliché back then,"

Simon rolled his eyes.

"I'll give you that. I guess modern society has ruined it for me. I cringed when we had to read it. Seriously though, why would you kill yourself over some boy you've known for less than a week? Also, Romeo is a creeper; he's 17 and she's 13 or something?"

Jeanette glared at him. He was not going to ruin her favorite play.

"Can I have my fork back? I'd like to eat," Simon stuck his hand out, but Jeanette grabbed it from Alvin.

"Hey!"

"You are missing the whole point! And back then, that was normal," Jeanette defended with a flushed face.

'Calm down, crazy," Brittany sighed, "are you on your period or something?"

The boys cringed.

"Brittany!"

"Grow up," Brittany rolled her eyes at them, "and as for you—it's just a story,"

"But he-"

"Jeanette, your face has gone all red," Eleanor laughed.

"I-" Jeanette felt more heat rise to her face as she dropped Simon's fork and brought her hands up to her face to conceal the growing red hue.

"Look, Jeanette, I'm sorry I offended you," Simon held his hands up in surrender, "but I'm still not changing my opinion, and I'm not trying out for the play,"

"You have to!" Theodore looked upset, "it's our last all-school play until we go to high school,"

"It's fine. You guys can still tryout; I'll just watch this year. Besides, I'll still do senior division and the 8th grade show,"

"But-" Simon cut him off with a glare. Theodore looked down at his lunch tray with a sigh of defeat.

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Silently, the six friends walked into the theater for auditions. Simon stayed near the back of the theater as to differentiate himself from the rest of the students there to actually audition. Jeanette glared at him, but Simon smiled back playfully.

Jeanette wasn't too mad at Simon; she never could be truly angry with her best friend. Also, they had a small image to keep up since they are "dating".

She had been the first person Simon told he is gay. It wasn't really intentional either; it just slipped out.

Back in the 7th grade, Jeanette had finally worked up the courage to tell Simon how she felt about him. She had spent days in advanced practicing every scenario that could happen; acceptance, rejection, surprise, laughter—the whole nine yards. She had practiced every situation except the one that actually happened.

Simon and Janette were having a Doctor Who marathon at her house when she decided to tell him. They had spent the whole evening watching all of seasons one and two and crying over the end of the second season. It was nice being wrapped up in her purple hoodie and PJs with a massive Doctor Who blanket draped across them. She had her head rested on his chest, and his head was tilted slightly onto hers while his arm lazily rested over her shoulder. She had never been more content in her life.

When they finished the final episode of season 2, she paused at the credits as to prevent Netflix from moving onto the Christmas special. She titled her head up and looked at his eyes. He was so cute.

She took a deep breath and listened to the sound of his breathing for a moment. It helped calm her slightly because she was a nervous wreck back then.

She felt him adjust and look down at her.

"Something the matter?"

She closed her eyes and let the rumble of his vocal chords tickle the top of her head. She couldn't think straight; she was so infatuated with him.

She loved the way he could go on and on about something he was passionate about. She loved the way they both were able to fangirl over Doctor Who. She loved the random moments when they would burst out in Disney songs and it be completely normal. His personality was just the tip of the ice burg; to her, he was incredibly handsome. She loved looking at his eyes; they were like a vast grey storm that you could easily get lost in. She felt lucky that he never caught her staring at them. If he did, he was polite enough not to embarrass her about it.

"Jeanette?" He looked concerned.

"I love you!" She blurted quickly.

That wasn't the way she intended to tell him; however, she was glad she was even able to say anything at that point. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest, and it was making her feel nauseous. The pounding felt like it was in her throat, and it was slowly making its way up to her head. Had breathing always been this hard?

Her eyes jerked up to his face. He was shocked, and she could see his face redden. She felt her own mimic his.

Is this what rejection feels like? Technically he hadn't rejected her yet, but it felt like it. Then again, she was the one who just sprang on the 'I love you' card on him. She would have been a hot mess if he had been the one to say it. This is not a rejection.

Simon shifted his arm off her subconsciously as if to put some distance between him and the offending phrase. Love? Where did that come from? He loved Jeanette as a friend, but he was fairly certain she didn't mean it in the friend sort of way. Love? How long has Jeanette felt this way? He didn't really want to be anything beyond friends; there was no way he could even ask her out.

He felt himself bit his lip in a nervous habit.

It wasn't that he didn't have the courage to ask her out—even though he didn't. It was more so that fact that he morally couldn't.

He saw Jeanette look up at him with glossed-over eyes. He had to say something. Anything. The silence was worse than not saying anything at all.

"Okay then," He couldn't make eye contact with her.

He didn't seem appalled by her; that was a good sign.

She shifted away from him and wrapped her arms around her legs and dropped her head to her knees. This is what small children felt like when they wanted to please their parents, but really, all they did was put them in an awkward situation. It was like when they tried to be cute for them, but it was just happening in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"Do you not like me?" She sunk her head lower into her knees.

"No!" Did she actually just ask him that?

"No, y-you don't l-like me, or-" Jeanette just wanted to be able to disappear.

"N-no, no, no, I don't hate you—if that's what you're implying!" It was times like these where she wished she could be Brittany. There was no way she would have worked herself in this bad of a situation.

"It's… just… I-" What was he saying. He liked Jeanette as a friend, and nothing more. She was a sister to him.

Jeanette didn't dare to move. Any sudden movement would have made her lose her dinner.

"I…" Had talking always been this hard? "I like you-"

"You like me?" She sprang up in surprise. All she was listening for that one phrase, and as soon as she heard it, she felt a wave of relief wash over her. He liked her.

"Well-"

"You gave me a heart attack for a second," She laughed nervously, "Gosh, I felt like I was about to throw up,"

She turned to look at Simon, but felt a wave nerves hit her. He looked more sick than anything. Had she been so relieved to hear "I like you" that she hadn't let him finish his sentence? Did he say something afterwards?

She tried to replay what he had said moments before, but all she could hear was a confession. What was his tone? He sounded relieved in her head, but then again, she was having her own mental breakdown. It was very possible that her wreck of a brain was just looking for relief and that she hadn't been paying attention to details.

'Shit,'

"I-It's nothing against you by any means! It's just that I'm not attracted to girls, and things, and-"

He did not just say that?

No.

He refused to believe that he just told Jeanette that he was gay. That did not just slip out, did it? Perhaps she wouldn't interpret it that way; maybe she would just assume that he meant… something else.

Yeah right. You can't get more obvious than that. I don't like X gender which means that I would have to like this gender! What were the chances of her thinking that he was asexual?

'Highly doubt that's what she thinking. What the hell.'

'Simon's not attracted to girls,' Jeanette mentally slapped herself, 'Way to fall in love with someone who's gay. You've really reached an all-time low this time Jeanette,'

"You're…" She took a deep breath, "gay?"

Simon shifted closer to the other end of the couch. Just a few minutes ago they were on top of each other, and now there was a massive three foot gap between them. This was a new level of cringe.

"I… didn't necessarily say… that," Simon tried to do damage control, but he didn't even sound convincing in his own ears.

"You just said you weren't attracted to girls!" God, she needed an aspirin.

"I will pay you twenty bucks if you forget this happened," Simon reached across the couch to grab her shoulders for emphases.

"I'll pay you fifty for you to forget this entire conversation!"

_page break_

It took them a while to regain their normal friendship, but after many more awkward conversations, they were able to sort themselves out.

In a series of events that Jeanette did not regret—at least now she didn't-somehow, a rumor got started that she had asked out Simon, and he had said yes. She had been so torn on whether to punch Brittany in the face or go and buy her a cupcake. There was no way she was going to tell her that he actually rejected her because that would involve telling her why he did. Lying had never been one of Jeanette's strong points, so instead, she decided to roll with it. Once Brittany left the room to go call more of her friends to tell them that her sister was breaking the rule that "the guy has to ask the girl out", she ran to go and tell Simon.

They both shared a moment of panic before Simon forced Jeanette to come with him to go talk in a sketchy back ally. She wanted to yell at him for taking her back there.

After a bit of arguing, they had decided that they would pretend to be boyfriend and girlfriend; she wouldn't have to explain herself to Brittany, and no one would suspect Simon is gay. Plus, this gave her the right to kiss him every now and then.

It would never be the same as being able to date him, but she wasn't going to pass up the opportunity to pretend to be dating her dream guy. She knew it was really pathetic, but she refused to look at it that way.

Jeanette playfully punched him in the arm before running to catch up with the others.

The five chipmunks sat down in the front row of the theater and quietly watched the other students file in. All the usual theater kids where there plus a few new faces.

"I hope Astrid tries out again. She definitely get Juliet," Alvin whispered over to Brittany with a smirk on his face.

"Yeah, and maybe Hennery will get Romeo," Brittany replied with a scowl. Alvin was so obnoxious sometimes. She would bet that Theodore could play a better Romeo than him. He had no right to assume the role would be his.

"Please, how could anyone resist all of this?" Alvin gestured to himself.

"You just gestured to all of you," Brittany replied sarcastically. She heard Alvin grunt in response, and she couldn't help but smile.

With a loud clap, the room went silent as Mr. Rochelle walked to the front of the room with a smile on his face. He jumped up onto the stage and sat down in the center.

"It's wonderful to see all of you again! I see we have our returning 8th graders; can we give them a round of applause?" He asked enthusiastically.

The other students clapped and some even gave vocal responses. They were like a family, and it was always sad to see the 8th graders leave for high school—well, the theater 8th graders at least.

"It'll be sad to see you guys graduate come this May, but we wish you the best of luck with your final year in middle school. You lucky 7th graders will get to work with them again later this year. Now how many of you do we have trying out?" Mr. Rochelle went over all the names on the sign-up sheet.

"Twenty-two, twenty-three, twenty-four, twenty-five—wow, good crowd this year!" He said glancing from the sign-up sheet and to the audience.

"Well, since this it's been seven years since we done a Shakespeare play at this school, I'm going to have to explain a bit. We are going to be using the Shakespearean text—meaning we are not using the No Fear Shakespeare version. I think this will be a great learning experience of all of you. However, auditions will still be the same as always. You can either recite a monologue that you've already prepared, or you can do a cold read from the script—I will allow you to read the modern translation for your audition if you wish. Any questions?" He looked at the row of students.

"Nope? Great, let's get started! First on the sheet we have Alvin Seville," The other students clapped in support as Alvin hopped up onto the stage with an air of confidence. He picked up a script on the way up as Mr. Rochelle was stepping off the stage and moving to the middle rows of chairs in the theater.

Alvin smirked. Of course he was going to read the Shakespearean version—that would earn him major brownie points, and assure him the part of Romeo. How hard could Shakespearian English be? Wasn't it just a bunch of Ye arts and thy comeifs and what not? He wasn't too sure considering that fact he never actually read their assigned English books.

"I see you've chosen a script, Alvin," Mr. Rochelle noted, "I'm assuming you want to try out for Romeo?"

He nodded his head in confirmation.

"Alright, flip to Act II Scene II. It's right before Juliet's famous aside. The first line is 'but soft.' Start from there,"

Alvin nodded again and flipped to where their teacher was talking about before slating himself.

"Hi, my name is Alvin Seville. I am in the 8th grade, and I will be reading as Romeo," Alvin took a breath before starting the passage.

"But soft! What light… through yonder window breaks? Is it the east… and Juliet… is the sun," What the hell was he reading?

"The line is: It is the east!" Mr. Rochelle called out. Alvin tried not to glare at him for interrupting.

"Arise, fair sun, and kill the… envious moon. Who is already sick and pale with green!"

"Greif!" Mr. Rochelle called.

"Greif!" This was a lot harder than her thought. Maybe he should have just gone with his original monologue.

"That there, her maid, is far fairer than she is," Well, he botched that line, "Be her maid since she's envious," Shakespeare grammar was stupid anyways.

"Her vest- vest-al… live…ry liver… is sick and green," Alvin could hear a few snickers coming from the audience, but he decided to ignore them. He'd like to see them cold read from this stupid script.

"And none but- fools do wear it. Cast it off!" At least he managed to get through that line okay. He wasn't even sure what he was saying; all he was hoping was his voice matched the tone of the scene.

"Thank you, Alvin, that's enough for now!" Mr. Rochelle called. Alvin looked down in the audience and saw most of his friends trying to contain their laughter. Did he really do that bad? He glanced in the back of the theater and saw Simon was nearly dying. He furrowed his eyebrows.

'You are so dead,'

"What's so funny, Simon?" Alvin yelled out to his brother. Everyone turned to the back of the auditorium, and Simon tried to compose himself quickly. He removed his hand from his mouth and sat up straight and then crossed his arms over his chest as nonchalant as he could. He cleared his throat when he felt everyone looking at him.

'I'm going to kill him,'

"Simon, what are you doing back there?" Mr. Rochelle asked surprised. Why was one of his regulars not sitting with the rest of the group?

"Uh…" Simon's mind drew a blank.

"Oh, he doesn't want to try out this year." Alvin yelled from the stage. The room filled with a few teasing 'Ooos'.

"Shut up, Alvin!" Simon yelled back. He felt an angry blush forming on his cheeks.

"You have to try out, Simon!" Mr. Rochelle stood up and turned to face Simon with crossed arms.

"No, I really-"

"Simon, Simon, Simon!" Alvin started chanting. The rest of the auditorium joined in with some students adding stomps. He felt his face get redder and he buried his face into his hands.

"Shut up, Alvin!" Simon yelled through his hands.

"Come on, dude, your girlfriend might even play Juliet!" Alvin put a bit of emphases on girlfriend that only they would know the actual reason for.

'I'm so going to murder him,'

A few laughs were heard, and the chanting grew louder. This was too embarrassing. He stood up from his seat and in an exasperated voice, he gave in.

"Okay! I'll "tryout,"" He walked to the front of the room. Alvin smirked at him when he walked up next to him on the stage.

"Let me show you how to read Shakespearean English," Simon said taking the script out of Alvin's hand.

"Be my guest," Alvin grinned and walked off stage. His smile sent a shiver up Simon's spin. Alvin could try harder to make his flirting less obvious; he felt so exposed whenever he shot him those looks. It felt like everyone knew about them even though there's no way they could.

"Simon," Mr. Rochelle called from the back, "why don't you read Romeo's monologue from Act III Scene III. It when Romeo is complaining to Friar Lawrence about being banished. The first line is 'tis torture and not mercy,"

Simon flipped to the page in the script and skimmed it quickly. He knew this scene well because he hated it so much when he read it.

Oh no, I've been banished because I couldn't control myself and just had to go and refight Tybalt when I should have just reported him for killing my best friend. But nooo… now I'm going to go and sulk like a 5-year-old and complain that everyone else gets to be with my love except me. I think I'll go and kill myself.

It was disgusting.

With a sigh, Simon started to slate himself.

"Hello, my name is Simon Seville. I am in the 8th grade, and I will be reading as Romeo," He took a pause before adding, "just so we're clear, I'm not actually auditioning," He watched Jeanette and Alvin roll their eyes.

"That's very nice Simon. You may begin," Mr. Rochelle brush off the statement like it was a joke.

With another sigh, he started reading the scene.

"'Tis torture and not mercy. Heaven is here, where Juliet lives, and every cat and dog, and little mouse, every unworthy thing, live here in heaven and may look on her, but Romeo may not," Simon read the lines smoothly and with ease. There were no awkward pauses, and he kept the sentence structure in-tact. Mr. Rochelle was defiantly impressed with what he was seeing.

Jeanette grinned upon listening to Simon act out the words. She could hear the attitude in in his voice, and she knew that wasn't because he was acting; it was probably because he was internally cringing at the lines. She wouldn't be surprised if Alvin came to school with a broken wrist.

Alvin was trying his hardest to suppress the stupid smile on his face. God, Simon was cute when he was acting. He could feel the anger in his words, and he knew that part of that tone was to be directed at him, but he concealed it well. Simon was going to kill him later that evening. Guess he was going to have to work hard tonight to get Simon to cuddle with him—not that he minded a challenge or anything.

"They may seize on the white wonder of dear Juliet's hand, and steal immortal blessing from her lips,"

Jeanette loved this scene because it showed just how much Romeo cared for Juliet. All of a sudden, he was transformed into this jealous machine because of the irreversible punishment of being banished. His mind wandered from being bitter towards dogs, cats, and mice because they were able to live in the same city as Juliet, to being angry at flies because they could touch her skin and give her "kisses", and then to thinking about how innocent she was because she blushed at the thought of her own lips touching—let alone them touching anybody else's. He was telling Friar Lawrence that death was better than banishment. Why would Simon hate something so sweet and romantic?

"A sin-absolver, and my friend professed, to mangle me with that word "banishèd"?" With a nod of the head Simon concluded his monologue, "thank you," He said as he walked off stage. He shot Alvin a glare on the way down.

"That was excellent, Simon! Bravo!" The others clapped as well. Simon gave a nervous laugh before heading back to the back of the theater.

"Alright, next on the list we have Jeanette,"

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Yes, Alvin and Simon are dating if you didn't catch that; this is the reason why they are not related. If you don't like, feel free to pretend they are. I don't care.

I hope you like that!

Side notes!

First, to "cold read a script" means to read it for the first time and act it out as best as you can. It would be like if you had never read this story, and you decided to go act it out right now.

Second, Simon's view on Romeo and Juliet match that of my own. I personally love Shakespeare, and his plays are amazing once you figure out what the text means. Romeo and Juliet is my least favorite Shakespearean play because of modern society; it has just sucked everything out of it and made it the most cheesy thing ever.

So why is the play in your story Romeo and Juliet?

Because I love how it shapes this story. Yes, it's corny, but this story isn't Romeo and Juliet; the plot just builds around the play.

I hope that made some since.

Review please!