*A/N: Hi everyone! I wrote this story just now so my readers have something to read while you wait for the first chapter to my other story. It's gonna take a while since I published it a little earlier than I wanted, but anyways I hope you like this one.*
"Oh my gosh," Jeanette gasped in awe at the sight of her trampled flower bed, or rather, what was left of it. Leaves and petals were scattered over the uneven lumps of soil, some of which found their way onto the footpath surrounding it. The stems were broken and folded, some even cut in half.
She walked around and picked up a purple hibiscus from the ground. Tears flowed off her face as she twirled her favourite flower in her fingers. It had been badly trampled and it only took a little hint of pressure before it disintegrated.
"D-did you do this?" Jeanette turned to glare at Alvin who was standing behind her, on the corner of the flower bed.
He had a guilty smile on his face. It was the same smile he puts on whenever he did something he knew was wrong, like that time Simon found his pocket tool kit in his jacket. Or like those other times Simon found out he'd been sneaking off to his laboratory.
"B-but it was an accident Jeanette, I swear!" He was on his knees, his hands desperately clinging onto Jeanette's.
"You see, Mrs. Croner's cat started chasing me on my skateboard a-and I just had to run! So I was hurrying home, did this cool jump over the fence, oh-hoh boy you shoulda seen it," He started ranting but then cut himself short when he realised Jeanette's expression was starting to change into one of disappointment.
"Y-yeah and then I got carried away and landed on your flower garden. Then the stupid cat jumped on it too and by then it was too late to stop him." He let go of Jeanette's hand and sighed. "I'm really sorry Jeanette."
"Sorry," Jeanette shook her head. "Sorry, Alvin? I-I put a lot of effort, i-it'll takes another few months to even replace less than, I, I, I, I can't even, agh!" Her voice trailed as she couldn't find the exact words to describe what she was feeling right now. She wanted to just lash out at him for ruining all the months of work she put in, all the time she spent caring for them, but she couldn't. She knew that yelling at him wouldn't bring her flowers back so there was no use in doing it.
"I," It took all the energy left in her to even say one word. "I need to be alone right now." She dragged herself back to the treehouse. Walking had never felt like such a draining task before.
"Wait, Jeanette!" Alvin chased her. "I'm really sorry! I'll fix it I promise!"
He stopped on his tracks only now realising what he has done. It wasn't the first time he had ruined things for Jeanette. He always ruins things for Simon, but somehow messing up Jeanette made him feel a million times worse. She was so innocent and never did anything wrong to him. Her extreme kindess caused a huge wave of guilt to consume him.
He had to set things straight.
He had to replant the flowers.
And rebuild the garden.
For Jeanette.
"Hoookay," Alvin quickly scanned the glass counter for some flower seeds. He had woken up at 7 am to get to Jeanette's favourite nature shop to pick out some seeds. "Which one of these flowers grows the quickest?"
"These marigolds germinate quite easily and should only take a couple of weeks to fully grow." The shopkeer responded with a smile.
"A couple of weeks?!" Alvin shrieked at the thought of getting dirt all over him for a several days, let alone weeks. "Are you serious? Is there anything else you have that doesn't take that long?"
"We have poppies too but they take around about the same time to grow."
Alvin sighed. Just think about Jeanette. "Okay fine, I'll take a bunch of them. But in different colours! Mostly purple though."
"No problem. I'll get some for you now from the storage." The shopkeeper headed out to get some seed packets.
Alvin looked around the store as he waited. A bright purple plant hanging by the entrance had caught his attention. Its frilled petals were curled back, and a long tube stuck out from the centre. It was the same flower that Jeanette had twirled so lovingly yesterday.
It was a hibisucus flower.
"Hey," He faced the shopkeeper who had just returned. "Can I get that hibiscus over there too?"
"No problem young man." He went to grab the flower pot. "These ones come with a special card cause they're usually Valentines' Day presents. What name would you like me to write on it?"
"Huh oh yeah." Alvin had stopped paying attention. He was eager to get out and start planting. The sooner he leaves, the sooner he finishes this thing. "Just put Jeanette or something."
The shopkeeper wrote Jeanette on the card in elegant cursive fashion. As soon as he finished Alvin payed the man and hurried back home on his skateboard, clutching the hibiscus flower pot in his hand, paying extra attention not to drop it.
"Dave!" Simon rushed down the stairs in panic. It was 7:30 am and he had realised Alvin was nowhere to be found. "Dave, it's bad news. Alvin's gone! He wasn't in his bed or hiding under the tent when I woke up!"
"Relax, Simon." Dave chuckled. "He went out early to go somewhere."
"How are you not worried, Dave? This is Alvin we're talking about. He NEVER wakes up that early unless he's into trouble."
"I did find it strange, but it's a nice change so I don't mind. He's outside now if you want to go see him."
Unsatisfied with Dave's response, he marched outside to confront Alvin. He notices him by Jeanette's garden fiddling with some flower seeds, looking frustrated.
"Stupid marigold seeds! Why can't you just plant yourselves!" He threw the seeds to the floor out of frustration.
"Alvin!" Simon called out as he approached his brother "What's the big deal?"
Alvin jumped in surprise and hurried to push his brother away from the backyard. He wanted to keep his plan a secret so he could surprise Jeanette.
But he wanted to keep it a secret mostly because his brother hadn't known about the incident yet. And if he finds out, he'll berate him constantly and he'll never hear the end of it for sure.
"Simon you can't be here!"
"And why is that?" Simon stopped Alvin from pushing him any further and folded his arms on his chest. "And what are you doing to Jeanette's garden?"
"That's none of your business, dear brother of mine. Do I ever interrupt you when you're working on your science whatever they are, huh? No? That's right. Now be more like me and just leave me alone!"
Simon laughed at what he had just heard. "Oh yeah, you totally leave me alone when I'm working on my projects. Like that time you left my invisibility cloak alone, or that time with my cloning machine, or the jetpacks, or—" Alvin used his hand to cover Simon's mouth. He let let out a bunch of in audible noises. "Hmmmgmgmgphhh..."
"Okay okay I get okay, I'm a horrible person! You don't have to rub it in! Jeanette will never talk to me again!" Alvin buried his face in his palms pretending to sob in an attempt to gain his brother's sympathy.
"Oh quit your drama, Alvin. What are you not telling me?"
"Huh, what? No! Just leave now!" He pushed Simon away again. Simon thought he had better things to do than to deal with Alvin's drama, although he did become more curious when Alvin mentioned Jeanette.
What was it that Alvin did to Jeanette to make her not want to talk him again? Jeanette was an extremely kind person, too kind in fact. There had to be a very good reason.
Unless...
What if Alvin had a crush on Jeanette and Jeanette somehow found out so now Alvin was trying to find ways to talk to her again?
No, that's incredulous Simon. Why would you even think of such a thing?
He pushed this thought to the back of his mind. It was so far-fetched that he couldn't fathom why it even came to him in the first place.
He continued walking when he spotted a bright purple plant fixed on a pot next to Alvin's skateboard. There was also a card next to it. He headed towards it and picked up the card to examine it.
Jeanette
It was written in cursive. Elegantly, he might add. The spirals on the J were perfectly drawn, as if written by trained hands using an old fountain pen.
Terror came over him as he glanced back at his brother a fair distance behind him, who was frantically pacing himself back and forth. He was still busy figuring out how to plant the flowers.
Thoughts of Alvin and Jeanette quickly came rushing back to him. Now that he thought about it, they had been spending quite a lot of time together lately. She even prefers to ask Alvin for help over himself. He couldn't blame her though, he was in fact the more confident one.
But the thought still made him sick to his stomach. So much, he could feel his stomach turning itself over, ready to defy gravity and come rushing up his throat.
"Aggggh!" He yelled but immediately placed his own hand over his mouth.
Suddenly, a light bulb flickered in his brain.
He carefully placed the card back where it had been originally and took a photo.
"Brittany?" Simon knocked on the door to the chipettes' treehouse. "Brittany I need to talk to you about something."
The door swung open to reveal Eleanor standing gleefully by the doorway.
"Hey Simon what's up?"
"Can I speak with Brittany for a moment?"
Eleanor's grin shifted upside down. "Why of course you can, Brittany's who all anyone wants to talk to these days anyway. You know, it's like I'm never here. Like, I'm invisible or something! Agh! Come in she's on the couch."
Eleanor headed for the kitchen to continue her cooking, leaving just Brittany and Simon alone in the living room.
"I, er, thanks Eleanor." Simon stepped in and fixed himself in front of Brittany.
"Just ignore her, Simon. She's had a rough day. Why are you here?" Brittany was focused on filing her nails. Her head barely even nodded to acknowledge the fact that he was standing right in front of her. He was so glad he didn't have to live with her, he thought.
"I have something to show you." He held his phone out to Brittany, anxiously tapping his shoes on the floor.
"Erm, I'm looking at..." Brittany looked up to give Simon a sly smile. "A picture from Jeanette's birthday?"
"Huh what? No!" His face was flushed red. He took his phone back and swiped through his photos looking for the one he had just taken this morning. "Here have a look."
"Yeah I see a flower with Jeanette's name on it. So what?" She was unamused.
"That also happens to be Alvin's skateboard beside it. Alvin has also apparently taken up a new hobby, gardening, which, according to my investigations—"
"Hold up, Alvin is doing gardening? Like, for real?" She burst out into hysterics. She couldn't contain the amusement that came with the though of Alvin carefully sowing seeds on the ground. It was simply out of his character.
"Yes, that is exactly the problem. You see, he seems to be doing it for Jeanette. And this flower right here, appears to be a gift for her." He pushed his glasses up his nose.
"Look Simon," Brittany had calmed down a bit and carried a more gentle tone this time. "I get you're madly crushing on my sister but there's no need—"
"I am not madly crushing on Jeanette!" He retaliated as he crossed his arms on his chest. What he couldn't hide though was the redness of his cheeks, which got even redder by the second.
"Yes you do."
"No I don't."
"Uh-huh"
"No way."
"Yes you do Simon and it's no biggie, really. We all know. Jeanette seems like the only one oblivious to it." She looked down to her nails again, knowing she's won the argument. Simon couldn't hide his feelings anymore. There was no use especially since everyone knows now, apparently.
"Oh, sorry for interrupting you by the way." Brittany broke the silence. "Continue what you were gonna say."
Simon stretched his arms and re-composed himself. "As I was saying, Alvin has been stressing out this morning, learning how to do gardening. He also seems upset about how Jeanette doesn't want to talk to him anymore, and he wouldn't tell me why."
Now, Simon's caught Brittany's attention.
"So he's being secretive now? To his own brother?" Brittany had a worried expression on her face. "I've read this from an article on teen life magazine before. When guys are rejected by girls, they try to learn some of her hobbies, no matter how obscure, to get the girl's attention. Oh my god! Simon!" She had completely dropped all of her nail filing tools. She stood upright and shook Simon's shoulders.
"We have to do something about this! I can't let my sister—"
"Date my brother?" Now, it was Simon's turn to give Brittany the sly smile. "Looks like someone's crushing on Alvin."
"Shut up Simon! This does not concern Alvin at all." She put her hand on her hip and frowned. "This is about my sweet little sister potentially ending up with a stupid horrible idiot that is your brother!" She angrily pointed her finger outside, indicating Alvin, and started yelling.
Simon just stared at her, his eyes half closed from boredom.
"Yeah, so, are you done ranting about how jealous you are of Alvin giving Jeanette more attention than you?"
"Whatever. Just tell me what you want to do."
"Actually," Simon scratched the back of his head. "I came here to ask you that. You're usually better at this than I am."
"I'm glad you noticed." She flipped her blonde hair through her fingers. She was used to people asking for her help when it comes to love. "Okay, here's the plan. We start tomorrow."
"I-I really just don't want to talk to you right now Alvin." Jeanette continued on her path down the stairs from the treehouse. Her head faced straight on, trying to block him out.
"But Jeanette," Alvin pleaded, once again kneeling on the grass at the bottom of the stairs, trying to block her path. "It's been two weeks, please talk to me! I can't take it anymore"
Jeanette turned left, walking past Alvin who was walking on his knees towards the chipette. He grabbed hold of her ankle and clung on to it for his dear life.
Simon and Brittany were hiding behind a bush, spying on them from a distance.
"Oh my god we're too late, he's already begging her to marry him!" Brittany pretended to faint and let herself fall backwards.
Simon had quick reflexes though and she landed on the palm of his hands, gently breaking her fall. He held her upright and gave her a stern look.
"Enough games, Brittany. Just watch and observe."
They both turn to face the purple and red-clad chipmunks. Jeanette was begrudgingly dragging her right foot to which Alvin was helplessly clinging onto, using the weight of his whole body to stop her from getting away.
"You hurt me, Alvin. You can't just expect me to forget about it that easily. All that time, and effort, and love that I put into it." She paused for a moment. Tears started building up as her eyes start to swell. "All of them gone."
In one brutal motion, she swiftly pulled her right foot away from the chipmunk, who was taken aback by her sudden movement. His reflexes cause him to let go of his grip, and by the time he realises it, she had already ran a fair distance away.
"What does she mean by 'love that she put into it'? What could 'it' be Brittany?" Simon was lost in his own thoughts as his eyes were fixed on Alvin. He waited for an answer and when it didn't come, he turned to face the chipette.
"Brittany, you okay?" Her jaw was firmly dropped, her eyes stared in disbelief of what she had just witnessed.
"No," She snapped. "Of course I'm not okay! Your brother just broke my sister's heart and he's gonna pay for that!" She pushed the leaves to side, to get out and confront Alvin.
Simon quickly pulled her back behind the bushes.
"What do you think you're doing?!" She yelled at him. "I'm about to give Alvin a lesson on how to treat women properly!"
Simon didn't say a word. He simply stared at her unamused.
"Don't you get it? 'It' stands for 'relationship'! They were a couple, Simon. And he broke her heart. Hello? Earth to Simon! Wake up!" She waved her hands in front of his face.
Brittany freed herself from Simons's grip and stomped her way out of hiding.
"No Brittany, wait!"
"Alvin!" She called out to him. He was already walking away with his head bowed down. "Alvin come back here you, you... you jerk!"
Alvin didn't even turn around to face her.
"Go away, Britt. You don't know what happened."
"No, I do know exactly what happened and I'm here to—" Simon cut her off by covering her mouth.
"Simon?" Alvin looked puzzled. "What are you doing here?"
"Oh, nothing." He whistled. "Brittany and I were just working on our new Science is Magic performance. We were actually just going. Bye and have a good day Alvin." He pushed Brittany away, who was forcefully trying to resist.
"No we're not! We were—hmmmmnnggph"
Simon wrapped a handkerchief around her mouth trying to get her to shut up.
"I'm sorry I had to do this to you Brittany, but you leave me with no choice."
"Bleh," Brittany spat out her tongue, furiously wiping all the handkerchief germs that contaminated her. "No offense Simon, but for someone with an IQ north of Einstein, you're an idiot!"
"O-oh right yeah." He was tired of Brittany's constant complaining. "And for someone who's supposed to be a love expert, you're horrendous at keeping secrets."
"Really? Cause last time I checked, I haven't told Jeanette about your massive crush on her yet. Or do you want me to?"
"No! But I have followed your plan for two weeks, and we have found out absolutely nothing!" Simon threw his hands up in anger. "Okay, it's my turn now. Tonight, we do something different."
"Come in Princess B." Simon whispered into his walkie talkie. "Alvin has left the building. Do you copy? Over."
"Yes I read you loud and clear JeanetteLover123. I'm looking out from my treehouse window and I can see him walking towards Jeanette's garden from here. Over."
"For the last time, my codename is NOT JeanetteLover123. It's—"
"Blah blah blah whatever Simon. Who cares. Just come over here now."
Brittany tiptoed her way behind a bush near the garden. She had agreed to meet Simon there so they can confront Alvin once and for all.
"Today, Simon." She whispered to him as they watched Alvin water the plants. The soil was no longer stripped bare. It's been two weeks since he's planted them and so the seeds have started to sprout.
"Okay," He signalled. "Three, two, one, go!"
The two of them leaped out of the bushes, howling louder than the owls of the night.
"Alvinnn!"
"Gah!" Alvin jumped in terror, causing him to drop his watering can and destroying one of the marigold sprouts.
"Oh great job you guys," His eyebrows were crossed and his arms were folded on his chest as he turned to confront Brittany and Simon. "That was two weeks worth of work you just ruined there."
He eyed the two of them from top to bottom. They were wearing a fully black woollen suit covering their whole body. He raised an eyebrow and started narrowed his eyes at them in suspicion.
"Well?" He spoke. "Are you gonna tell me the reason why you two have been spying on me for the last two weeks?"
Simon could feel his face being flushed in embarrassment while Brittany was fuming with anger.
"I'm sorry, we?" She scoffed in her high pitched tone. "We?! You're the one at fault here for breaking Jeanette's heart!"
"I, what?!" Alvin threw his arms, his expression a mixture of agitation and disbelief. "What on earth are you talking about?"
"I saw you earlier begging Jeanette and she was angry at you because she loved you and she put effort into her relationship with you and what did you do?"
Alvin tilted his head in confusion.
"You broke her heart! I don't know how, or why, or—"
"I don't know what you're talking about alright! What you saw earlier was me asking Jeanette to forgive me for completely destroying her flower garden. She got really mad at me alright and she doesn't wanna talk to me, no need to keep rubbing it in!"
The two black-suited chipmunks exchanged confused glances. Neither wanted to say a word.
"Eh?" Simon finally gathered the confidence to speak up. "So you mean, you don't have a crush on Jeanette?"
"What? Did Brittany tell you that?" Alvin started to get angry again.
"But what about the purple hibiscus? What was that for and why is Jeanette's name there?" the chipette asked.
"I was gonna give it to her as a surprise sorry gift, along with this rebuilt garden, which, thanks to you guys, is now missing one marigold flower!" He growled at them before crouching down to continue his work. "Now that you know about this, can you stop now and leave me alone? As you can see I now have extra work to do."
Brittany and Simon looked at each other with remorse, guilt. They knew they were in the wrong this time. They had let their crushes cloud their judgement and immediately assume the wrong things before investigating properly. They couldn't even bare to look Alvin in the eye anymore after what happened. Their cheeks were flushed, their face were flustered, and their legs are barely holding up from the embarrassment.
There was only one thing left to do.
"Alvin?" Simon put his hand on the red chipmunk's shoulder. "We're sorry."
He turned to face them, annoyed that they still wouldn't leave him alone, but he stood up and faced them. "Yeah it's okay I guess."
"No really, we are sorry. To prove it, Brittany and I, have decided that we will help you rebuild this garden." Simon glanced at Brittany and gave her a smile. She smiled back at him.
"For Jeanette." She added.
Alvin could see that it was geniune and he pulled his brother into a tight embrace. "No worries, Si."
"Now let's get to work."
"Come on, Jeanette. You're killing me here." He pleaded for her again. This was becoming quite familiar. "Just come with me. I have a surprise for you."
"Just let it go Alvin. I've moved on." Jeanette rested her elbow on the table, her palm propping up her chin. She was reading The Book Thief and wasn't interested in playing any more of Alvin's games.
"No, really!" He insisted. He tugged her hand, maybe with a bit too much force, causing her to loose her balance and fall from her seat. He quickly caught her and assisted her to stand upright.
He helped her push up her misplaced glasses up her nose and pulled her outside the treehouse.
"Up-pup-pup-pup," He waved his finger over her mouth, reminding her not to say a word. "I forgot to take this," he swiped her glasses off her face and kept it in his pocket.
"Alvin I can't see!" She held out both her hands in front of her and swung her head from side to side, trying to make out her surroundings.
"Here let me help you with that." He covered her eyes with his hands and guided her way down the stairs.
"You know this would be a million times easier if you'd just waited till we got to the bottom to take my glasses from me." Jeanette smirked.
"Come on now Jeanette," Alvin directed her path to her garden, eyes still covered. "It's called a surprise for a reason. You like surprises don't you?" He leaned towards her, eagerly waiting for her response.
"It depends. Should I be worried?"
"Stop with the complaining Jeanette. I surprised you with an owl for your birthday! A real, live owl for crying out loud! If you still don't trust me by then, then I'm deeply offended. That hurts Jeanette, that really hurts."
"Yeah but you also kind of ruined my movie the other time."
"Correction, I also got it in on time."
"Good point."
He stopped on his tracks and removed his hands off of her eyes. He took her glasses from his pocket and pushed it up on her nose. "Here you go Jeanette."
"Surprise!" Alvin, Simon, Theodore, Brittany, and Eleanor all leaped up and yelled in unison.
Jeanette gazed in awe, this time at the sight of her clean re-hashed garden. It was only simple, as is expected given how the seeds have only had three weeks to germinate. The plants were only a few centimetres high, but she loved every single bit of it.
Her eyes lit up, brighter than any sparkle any star could give out. This was the nicest thing his friends had done for her.
The nicest thing Alvin had ever done for anyone.
"One more thing," Alvin walked towards her and handed her the pot with a bright purple hibiscus flower, blooming as ever. "I saw you liked it so I thought I'd give you one. Plus I don't think any of these other plants are gonna be growing soon, so I kept this one as a backup." He winked at her.
"Oh thank you Alvin!" She pulled him into a tight hug to which he was reluctant at first, but then gave in and let his arms wrap around her as well.
"Er, ahem!" Brittany faked a cough. "We helped too!"
"Yeah, thank you so much for noticing!" Simon chimed in.
"It was my idea though and for the record," Alvin stomped towards them with his hands curled into a fist. "I did most of the work! All you two did was go around with your spy gadgets and spy on me and Jeanette!" He glared at both of them.
"What?" Jeanette gasped. "What is he talking about?"
"Uh," Brittany let out a nervous laugh. "Heh heh, I just remembered. I was supposed to stay over at Vanessa's to do some group study. Uhm, see you guys later! Ah!" She hurriedly ran away from the rest of the chipmunks, hoping to avoid having to answer any of their questions.
"I concur with Brittany." Simon ran his fingers through his hair as he tried to come up with his own excuse. "I need to go with her to, uh, see if they're doing fine. Because you know how it is sometimes, they need someone to, er, check if their facts are all accurate. Yes that's right. Gotta go!" He bolted across, following in Brittany's path. "Brittany, wait!"
"Oh no you're not!" Alvin chased the two of them out into the streets.
Jeanette looked over to Eleanor and Theodore who were just as confused as she was. They all shrugged their shoulders and yelled,
"ALVINNN!"
* A/N: Yeah so that was the end of my first ever one shot story. I literally just wrote this right now so I'm sorry for any grammar mistakes and I really hope you liked it. Don't forget to favourite and review. Bye for now. :) *