Hello and welcome to my first little OneShot in the TSH series!
Just a few things to note:
- The characters are all in their CGI-movie format.
- This story ties in with my future/current main story,
"The Songs of the Hopeful." I hope you have some time to
give that a look, too!
Onward, dear reader, to adventure and emotion!
ooo
The Songs of the Hopeful:
Button Nose
ooo
The Starry Night Theater was a small place only a half hour from the Seville home. It was nothing fancy, old and retro-themed with big purple and pink stars decorating the old stained brick walls. Inside there was nothing but a two-level auditorium, a rounded stage with many overhead lights, and a small backstage area. It was a humble place to perform locally, and it was common to find the Chipmunks and Chipettes previewing their next big tour.
In the ally leading to the rear stage exit door, young Alvin Seville snickered quietly to himself as he set the finishing touches on his latest scheme. The chipmunk's brown eyes squinted in the dark, reflecting the multicolored lights surrounding the small downtown theater as he examined the rope, flicking it with his finger to make sure it would stay in place. He could hear the voices of all three of the Chipettes echoing through the door from the loudspeakers just inside.
"I see your true colors shinin' through,
I see your true colors, and that's why I lo-ove you,
So don't be afraid, to let them sho-ow,
True colors…true co-o-olors,
Are beautiful like a rai-ain bow…"
"Yeah,"Alvin said to himself, looking over the metallic bucket that was suspended just over the door, "We'll see how much color you have left after this one, you spoiled, prissy little-"
"Alvin."
The voice was sudden enough to make the eldest chipmunk jump, and he quickly grabbed the rope to keep the bucket from falling as his middle brother Simon, still dressed in a flashy silver stage shirt, stepped out through the door, a hard look on his dark-brown face.
"Watch it, Si!" Alvin said, "This junk isn't for you!"
"I know it's not," Simon replied curtly, "And I know who it is for. This isn't a good idea, and you know it."
"No," Alvin said, growing annoyed at his brother's pestering, "What I know is that that peppy little princess in there ruined my favorite 'A' shirt! She shoved me into a puddle and stained it all over!"
"And what's the difference between that shirt and the perfectly identical one you're wearing?" Simon asked in annoyance, pointing at his older brother's deep red T-shirt, embroidered with a large yellow 'A' on the chest.
"Well, I, uh…." Alvin stuttered, "That one was…it…ugh, Si! It's payback, okay?!"
"Alright, look, Alvin," Simon said sternly, "You and Brittany's jokes and shenanigans and whatnot have gotten worse and worse over the past few years. I was afraid that one day you two might go too far and, Alvin, I think this is it. This may be…pushing it."
"Yeah, well," Alvin said, ignoring his brother's warning, "She pushed me first, okay?"
Simon sighed loudly, rolling his steel-blue eyes in annoyance. "Fine, but when you end up trashing your relationship with your best friend then don't come crying to me."
"Ah, go tell your girlfriend she did a good job."
"What? She's not my-!" Simon grumbled, but simply dropped the argument before heading back into the Starry Night Theatre and closing the heavy door behind him. Alvin smiled mischievously, hiding to the side of the door, and held the rope tightly to make sure the bucket did not fall.
'And now I play the waiting game…' he thought.
Brittany was having a bad week.
Two failed tests at school and a nightly string of long rehearsals, auditions, and autograph signings were only a few of the things that had really been getting to her over the past few days. She had stayed up late the previous night, studying hard, only to learn that not only was she studying the wrong subject, she had even forgotten about today's performance.
The eldest chipette could barely believe how well she was singing with how tense she felt inside. She and her sisters uttered the last notes of Glee's True Colors, striking their finishing poses as their stage outfits glittered under the soft blue lights of the stage.
It was a normal procedure. The lights turned normal, the crowd cheered and clapped, and the Chipettes hugged, waved and smiled at their fans. The girls made their way off stage as the announcer's voice boomed through the speakers, welcoming the next performance.
"Ugh," Brittany groaned, plopping down on a backstage bench to rub her little four-toed feet, "I can't believe we had a concert today…of all days! Today!"
"Oh, calm down, Brittany," Jeanette said gently, "You did just fine."
"Just fine' isn't great Jeanette," Brittany grumbled.
"Okay then," Eleanor offered, "You did great!"
"Thanks," the elder chipette growled, slipping out of her bright pink stage outfit, undoing its short, frilly skirt and sliding it off of her small, furry body. She stretched, hugging herself and brushing both paws through her bare fur. It felt good to let her short orange-brown coat air out after a performance.
Eleanor did the same, slipping off her lime-green outfit and using a soft doll brush to smooth down her sandy-brown fur. Jeanette was too bashful to expose herself in any place deemed public, so she shied away to a corner. Suddenly, the backstage door opened, and Theodore and Dave entered the small room.
"Hey girls, ready to go?" Dave asked.
"Almost ready, Dave!" Eleanor called, adjusting one of her blonde pigtails.
"Yeah, not like we just finished a song and dance," Brittany mumbled.
"Brittany, I know you're upset but don't take it out on David." Jeanette scolded.
"Whatever…"
Jeanette stepped over to Dave, standing on her tiptoes to whisper: "Don't take it personally. She's had a pretty bad week."
"Oh," Dave replied, "We've all been there."
After Eleanor put on her normal spring-green shirt, she and Theodore went to sit on a bench, waiting and talking while the others got ready. Brittany clothed herself in a pink outfit with a small skirt and- feeling increasingly annoyed by the second- did not cease in 'helping' Jeanette undress herself from her stage outfit- yanking it off of her, causing her to drop her glasses.
The middle chipette squeaked aloud, snatched up her purple glasses, grabbed her own violet outfit, and dove behind a costume chest to quickly get clothed. Brittany rolled her eyes as Jeanette stumbled frantically over a pile of multicolored cloth.
"For crying out loud, Jeanette!" Brittany snapped, "I'd like to go home today!" She stuffed her and her sisters' outfits into a bag, grabbing up her stuff to take home. Her cheeks were red with pent-up anger, even though there was reasonably nothing to be angry at. The eldest chipette was sleepless, anxious, and stressed to her limit.
Just after the chipettes were ready, Simon entered the room, shutting the metal door with the words 'STAGE EXIT' written on the side. Jeanette blushed, quickly pulling up her purple skirt, slipping on her striped T-shirt, and putting on a blue-jean jacket over that.
She then moved out from behind the large chest, handing her stage outfit to Brittany- who snatched it away, not caring if it was folded, and stuffed it into the bag- before heading over to meet her counterpart.
"Um, hey, Simon," she said, smiling.
The middle chipmunk smiled back. "Hello, Jean. You did great out there tonight, by the way."
"Oh, um…thank you," she replied, "But um, I didn't see you in the crowd. Where were you?"
"I just wasn't there for the last two minutes or so," Simon said, sitting down on a bench and inviting his friend to do so as well, "Dave asked me to go find Alvin and see what he was up to."
"Oh, did you find him?" Jeanette asked, sitting down and shyly folding her tail around herself.
"Ah, in a manner of speaking." he said, adjusting his black-rimmed glasses, "I'll warn you: when we step out that door, stay away from Brittany. Alvin's latest scheme is going to go too far, I know it, but the only way to teach him a lesson is to let it happen."
"What?" Jeanette asked, suddenly worried, "Is he…he's not going to hurt my sister, is he?"
"Not physically. I hope," Simon muttered, "Look, Alvin needs to know that jokes can hurt someone's feelings, and they can be just too much. If he had any sense in mind, he'd see that Brittany is really stressed right now and that this may not be the best time to prank her, but he doesn't. And that's my point."
Jeanette cast a worried glance at her fuming sister, who now seemed to be squabbling with Eleanor over something while Theodore watched in an awkward silence. The bespectacled chipette knew that Brittany's attitude was very unstable, and, as Simon had said, a prank was not going to make it better. But her friend had always been the wiser one, and if this was going to teach Alvin a lesson, then she should just let it be.
Finally, with everyone's things packed up and ready to go, with the sounds of the stage actors only short ways away, Dave began to usher the group out of the rather dim and dusty backstage area.
"Girls," he said, "We'll be right behind you. Simon, did you find Alvin?"
"Yes…" Simon said uneasily, scratching one furry cheek.
"Well? Where is he?" the caretaker asked.
"He'll be along…momentarily."
"Uh, alright then," Dave said, confused, "You all did good tonight. I'm proud of you. All six of you, you hear?"
"Whoop whoop!" Eleanor replied from outside.
Brittany, her stomach flipping, shoved her sisters out the stage exit door; Jeanette took a worried glance around the dark, outside alleyway, wondering what Alvin might be planning. Eleanor cast her a questioning glance.
"Hang on, I forgot my bag," Brittany sighed. Annoyed just that little bit more, the eldest chipette turned back away from the doorway, running back to grab her things. Meanwhile, the two other chipmunks and chipettes made their way back out of the dark alleyway, waiting by Dave's car. Dave held the exit door, waiting for Brittany.
The pink-clad chipette snatched up her bag, grumbling to herself, and trudged angrily back towards the door. 'I swear, if any other kind of crap happens to me I'm going to-"
'snick'
Alvin, who had been hiding behind the open door this entire time, let go of the small twine, the only thing that had held up the bucket on top of the frame. The bucket, which was a half-full can of black paint left over from one of Simon's science projects, toppled from its perch, and the eldest chipmunk's scheme went perfectly.
The can fell, the loose lid popped off, the silver bucket's dark contents fell in a wide curtain, and in an instant Brittany was drenched in paint. The chipette shrieked in terror, blinded, and stumbled into the brick wall of the alley. Even Dave cried out in surprise, jumping back against the doorway.
Alvin came out of hiding…and burst out in cruel laughter at his counterpart's condition. Everything visible, from her bright pink outfit to her ocher-brown toes and furry face, were covered in sheer-black paint. The chipmunk continued to laugh, holding his 'A'-clad stomach, as poor Brittany fell to the ground right on her bottom, coughing at struggling to free her nose and eyes of the paint.
She did, and, upon hearing that familiar, mocking laughter, Brittany looked up, ice-blue eyes peering out from the black, sticky paint…to see Alvin, cackling wildly at her as if she were the best episode of the Three Stooges ever.
"Your color fits your temper, now, Brit!" he laughed, "Dark and moody as-"
Alvin stopped.
He peered closer…was, was that a tear cutting a line through the paint on Brittany's cheek?
"Brit…?" he asked, cocking one eyebrow.
Suddenly, the black-coated chipette jumped to her feet. With a cry of anger and heartfelt hurt, Brittany lunged at Alvin, her eyes filled with tears and wide with rage, and shoved him, hard, sending the chipmunk rolling into a trio of metal trash cans, landing with a loud 'clong!' of steel.
"Whoa, what the-!?"
"Shut up, Alvin, just shut up!" Brittany screamed, standing over her counterpart with tiny claws shaking as if they wanted nothing more than to scratch his eyes out, "I've had it up to my freaking ears with you and your stupid jokes! And I've had all I can take out of you, you stupid chipmunk!"
"I hate you, Alvin!"
Alvin's eyes widened; his arms and legs went numb. He was feeling something, something he'd never felt before, as his black-drenched counterpart covered her eyes, in absolute tears from rage, and simply ran away. Out of the alley, and out of sight.
"Brittany, wait!" Jeanette called out, sprinting after her sister.
"Alvin, you jerk!" Eleanor snapped, as she followed her older siblings.
The red-clad chipmunk found himself trembling slightly. He was confused, not knowing what to think. He'd been yelled at before, by Dave, Brittany, teachers, students, even a CEO at one point. To a troublemaker like himself, it was common business to be scolded. This was different. For a moment, Alvin looked down, seeing two small, black paw-prints on his signature red shirt where Brittany had shoved him.
"Alviiiin…" Dave growled.
The chipmunk winced. "Um, y-yeah, Dave…?"
"Alvin, that was…in no way necessary, nor was it even enough to be called a 'prank'. What you just did was very cruel. Brittany's been working hard and she's had a difficult past few days, and you just shoved her right over the edge."
"Uh, she…kinda shoved me, Dave…" Alvin said with a nervous laugh.
"Alvin…" Dave said softly, "Listen to me: You've done a lot of crazy things in the past but this just went way too far."
"Si kind of said the same thing…"
"Then you should have listened to him, at least just this once. If you do not apologize to her, Alvin, then you may end up losing your best friend-"
"Best friend?!" Alvin asked, "She's crazy, plays pranks on me, and always tries to knock me down a notch no matter what I do!"
"And you don't do the same to her?" Dave asked, cocking one eyebrow.
"Well I-"
"Guys, what happened?!" Theodore asked, running back down the shadowy alley, Simon right on his tail; the latter's face hardened as he glared at Alvin. "Brittany just ran out there crying and…well, the girls just left!"
"Alvin just pulled a prank on Brittany," Dave said, glaring at his adopted son, "A big one."
"What…?" the youngest chipmunk asked, "Alvin, why would you do that!?"
"Theo, we always prank each other!" the red-clad chipmunk retorted, "Besides, I'm tired of that hothead trying to show me up all the time…I'm almost glad she hates me!"
That last statement felt…hollow.
"Alvin!" Dave said firmly.
"She what!?" Simon asked, stepping closer, "Alvin, don't you realize what you have just done to your best friend!?"
"Why do you keep saying that?" Alvin asked, wishing that this conversation could just end, "I don't see you and Glasses squabbling over every stupid little thing you can! At least she's nice to you! And Theo, you and Ellie play and laugh all the time!"
"But me and Brit!?" Alvin continued, "We're…I…I don't know what we are."
"You're friends!" Simon pressed, "Just a different kind than me and Jean or Theo and Eleanor. You and Brittany are rivals. You respect each other for being equal, and your competition makes you friends."
Alvin sighed, glancing at the puddle of black paint on the concrete as it slowly crept along. There was still an imprint of Brittany right in the middle.
"Can we please just drop this? She'll cheer up when she hits me with some random prank, maybe even tomorrow."
"Even through all her…tantrums, I've never seen her that angry before," Dave said. "Alvin, listen to me: If you don't apologize for what you've done, then you could lose Brittany's friendship forever."
Alvin laid on his bright red bed with his arms crossed and a glum look on his face.
Grounded?
For playing a joke on Brittany?
'Dave can be such a…dad, sometimes…' the chipmunk thought, huffing in annoyance. He rolled onto his side, staring at the wall, trying to think of something he could do. Boredom glazed over his liquid brown eyes, and he sighed again.
'I wish I had Simon's fat brain to lug around all the time. Maybe I could study for that English essay, at least then I wouldn't be laying around. Oh what am I thinking?'
So Alvin began to think hard, wondering what he could do. He couldn't play any more jokes, which would get him in even more trouble. And with no video games, he was stuck between boredom and schoolbooks.
So, the chipmunk's mind began to travel back to what Brittany had said…
"I hate you, Alvin!" she had screamed…
His ears flicked just from remembering the noise. Alvin then tried to imagine what life would be like without her. Quiet, peaceful, no pink-obsessed hothead trying to upstage him all the time. It would be better…right?
Right?
Alvin swung on the park swings, trying with all his might to get higher up than the grinning chipette on the opposite swing. That silly girl thinks she can outdo him? Hmph!
Higher and higher the little chipmunk went, easily rising above the chipette's height, when suddenly, the swing came out right from under him. With a sharp yelp, Alvin was flung to the ground hard on his back, his vision jarring from the impact.
"Oh…ow…" he muttered.
"Hey, hotshot," Brittany said, her smug little furry face entering Alvin's vision as she leaned over him, "At least you don't have to worry about knocking a brain loose or something, eh?"
Alvin's eyebrows met as he frowned.
"Why you little…"
In a flash the chipmunk was on his feet, sprinting after his counterpart, both of them almost equally matched in speed and endurance. They raced over monkey bars and through the playground, up ramps and down slides.
He could not catch her, nor could she escape. And, in the end, both ended up simply collapsing from exhaustion, calling a very rare truce. There, that spring day in the park, a new kind of friendship was born.
Alvin's face softened a bit at that memory. 'Even if all we did was fight over something…it was those fights that kept us together…it'll be boring without competing with her, I guess…'
For five more terribly inactive minutes, the eldest chipmunk simply lay there on his bed, staring at the shadowy ceiling as moonlight rippled through the curtains over the open window. Another memory finally came to him…
'Did plan wrk?', Alvin texted, sending the simple message through Dave's cell phone to Jeanette's. He waited patiently for a reply, snickering softly, hoping that she would say yes.
It was April Fool's Day, and Alvin had come up with his greatest prank yet. After convincing the docile and sweet-hearted Jeanette to join in, he then delivered her the one tool to complete the job: a packet of pink hair dye. If the plan worked, Jeanette would have placed the packet in the showerhead, just before Brittany was about to take her shower.
'You like pink?' Alvin thought mischievously, 'I'll give you pink, Brit…plenty of it.'
A few moments later, the text scrolled across the cell-phone as it beeped out a little jingle:
'the mouse has taken the cheese.'
Jeanette's message alone was enough to make Alvin burst out laughing, almost dropping the phone as he fell back onto his bed, kicking his feet hysterically.
"Ah, I'm guessing your little scheme with manipulating my friend actually worked?" Simon asked from across the room, looking up from his book.
"Heck yeah it did!" Alvin laughed, "Brittany's gonna look like a wad of cotton candy!"
"But did you have to use Jeanette?" Simon asked, annoyed, "Brittany is bound to get angry at her. If you get my friend in trouble, I'll-"
"Don't worry about it, Si!" Alvin defended, "Jean doesn't do stuff like that. Brit will know who did it."
Later, while he was fixing himself lunch, Alvin got another text:
'brit yanked my tail hard'
'what?' Alvin texted back.
'rope and tail pull me up in doorway like piñata. brit mad at you.'
'bet she is. tell her to bring it on.'
Barely an hour later, Alvin was half asleep, busy watching a show about a white-robed cartoon samurai fighting armies of weird monsters Just before he dozed off, the musical doorbell of the Seville home rang out.
DING…A-LING DONG. DING…A-LING DONG.
"I'll get it," said Simon, hopping off his bed and putting his book away to go answer the door. He scurried off down the hall.
Alvin heard the doggie door squeak open, Simon chatting quietly with someone.
"Hey, uh, Al?" the blue-clad chipmunk said, striding back into the bedroom on rather short legs, "It's for you."
"What?" Alvin asked lazily, but his middle brother was already lost in his book. Again.
With a sigh of exasperation, Alvin hopped down from his bed and trudged out of his room and down the stairs. Wiping his eyes tiredly, he knocked his little fist on the door and called out.
"Hello, who's there?"
No reply. The chipmunk sighed again, unlatched the doggy door, and hopped through the flap into the warm noon air.
Alvin had but a split second to recognize Brittany, whose entire body was covered by one of Jeanette's long violet hoodies. Every visible part of her body- from her angry, furry face under the jacket's hood to her lower body and legs- was the color of a Barbie doll box, pink as could be. She was hefting a rectangular white bag over her head.
Before the chipmunk could utter even a word, Eleanor leapt up from the brick stairs behind Brittany.
"Surprise, Alvin!" Eleanor giggled, and threw a cup of freezing water all over him. Alvin yelped and hopped up and down, his hoodie soaked right through.
Brittany swung the rather heavy, rectangular bag right over his head, and it popped in a huge puff of white smoke. Alvin was knocked onto his behind from the forceless blow. He coughed, covered from head to tail in flour that stuck to his wet fur and hoodie.
"That's what you get, Alvin Seville!" the very much ticked-off chipette snapped, tossing the bag of flour away to glare down at him with angry blue eyes that he could hardly take seriously against her bright pink face, "How dare you turn Jenny against me and…turn me pink!"
"You tell him, Brit!" Eleanor giggled, winking at Alvin. She knew jokes just as well as he did.
"Hey," Alvin coughed, trying to hold back his laughter; the situation was utterly ridiculous, "I thought you liked pink, baby?"
"What did you just call me!?" the chipette snapped, glaring at him from under the violet hood, bright pink fur bristling.
"Alright," Alvin said, brushing some of the white flour out of his brown fur, "You're adorable! You could be a Happy Meal toy! Someone make a stuffed animal outta this cutie!"
With that, the white-stained chipmunk leapt to his feet, grabbed Brittany's hood, and yanked the hoodie right off of her before she could react. The chipette shrieked in surprise, struggling to cover her furry body. Alvin burst out laughing: every single strand of her fur, from the top of her head to the tip of her tail, was pinker than a wad of strawberry bubble gum. She shone so brightly in the noontime sun that he had to cover his eyes.
"Nice bod, Br- oof!"
Brittany immediately grabbed him by the neck and tackled him off the brick steps and onto the grass, wrestling madly with him. Eleanor sat on the steps above and giggled, shaking her head.
Alvin could only laugh…and laugh…and laugh…
Alvin sighed.
'Maybe they were right,' he said softly, 'Without Brittany around…things just might be boring. I don't really have anything to do…TV and games? That'll get boring…but Brit always fought back when I'd do something to her. It was always…interesting, to see what she'd do next.'
'Now…without her…maybe I've lost more than I thought.'
"Aw, man…" he said softly, "I…I have to get her back. Now."
As quietly as he could, the chipmunk rolled off of his bunk, padding quietly towards the window. Alvin unlatched the window's lock, swung it out…and got one leg out before he heard a small voice call behind him.
"Alvin?"
The eldest chipmunk looked up. Theodore stared at him with wide green eyes from the covers of his bed.
"Theodore," Alvin said, "Look, I really hurt Brittany, and, as much as I hate to say it, I need her as a friend. I'm gonna go tell her I'm sorry. Go ahead and tell Dave if you want, but I'm not stopping, okay?"
Theodore looked back up at Alvin, and the young chipmunk could see in those deep brown eyes that his big brother was sincerely sorry. So, with a wave and a little smile, Theodore ushered Alvin to go, that it was okay.
Alvin smiled. "Thanks, Teddy," he said softly, and with that the red-clad chipmunk swung out the window, his small body barely feeling a thing as he dropped onto a shrub just under its pane.
He sneaked around back, keeping nine-inch-tall body low, carefully avoiding the windows so as not to be spotted. He hoped that Theodore would keep him covered, but the littlest chipmunk was not a very good liar. It would not be long until Dave was alerted of his absence.
As if he cared.
'I'm coming, Brit…'
Taking a breath to gain his courage, Alvin scurried up the ladder to the girls' treehouse. It was a beautiful and elegant little home suspended through the stalwart branches, decorated with seasonal blooms and ivy spread across the balcony railings. Moonlight filtered down, clear and pink as it shone through the hanging blossoms from the flowering tree.
It struck Alvin that Brittany was the designer of this magnificent little home. On a few sheets of paper, she'd planned it all, and most of the hands-on construction had been hers, as well.
"She's more amazing than I thought," Alvin whispered to himself as he crossed the long balcony, approaching the tall double doors. He knocked sheepishly, waving his tail back and forth across the patio planks as he waited.
Tiny footsteps approached the doors. One swung open, and Eleanor poked her head out, squinting in the darkness.
Eleanor gasped. "Alvin!?" she said, opening the door completely to glare at him, "What do you think you're doing here, jerk?"
"I…I came to talk to Brit-"
"No way! Not after what you did to her this time. She's been crying all night!"
"I uh…bet she has," Alvin murmured, scratching his head, "Come on, give me a chance, Ellie."
"Come back in the morning before I kick you off the balcony myself, mister!"
"Just let me see Brittany!" Alvin pleaded.
"No-"
"What's going on?" Jeanette said softly, walking up behind her younger sister and rubbing a sleepy eye, "What's this about getting thrown off balconies?"
"Alvin just popped up and now he wants to see Brittany!" Eleanor said angrily.
"Alvin?" Jeanette asked, using her higher stature to look out over her sibling's head, "It's getting late. David told us you'd been grounded. I don't think that means you should be here."
"I snuck out, what else do you expect from me?" Alvin muttered, "And I didn't do it for nothing…please let me come in! I just want to talk with Brittany, that's all."
"She's still trying to clean that crud off of her, jerk," Eleanor snapped.
"Ellie…' Jeanette scolded softly, "Alvin, I'm sure plenty of people are going to be upset about this. But, by all means, you are, uh, welcome to try and make amends with my sister."
Eleanor, not wanting to get in a fight with her middle sister, simply glared at Alvin with angry lime-green eyes as he stepped inside, and the youngest chipette shut the door behind him.
"Oh thank you, Glasses!" Alvin exclaimed, taking Jeanette in a hug. She went stiff as a board and her tail stuck straight up with surprise.
"Ah! Uh, you're uh, welcome, Alvin," she stuttered. Alvin let go and looked down at Eleanor.
"Hug me," Eleanor mumbled, "And you're going off that balcony."
"Thank you too, Ellie," Alvin laughed, "I'll make this up to both of you."
"Make it up to Brittany and it'll be plenty," Jeanette assured him.
Alvin nodded, and scurried up the little spiral staircase.
"It's his funeral," Eleanor muttered. Jeanette yanked one of her pigtails, pulling her into the living room to give Alvin his space. The youngest chipette squeaked and kicked in protest.
"Ow ow ow! No fair, you're so tall!"
The Chipettes' treehouse was a two-story home. Downstairs was a living room and spacious kitchen, while upstairs there was the single bedroom and bathroom. The girls had gotten running water installed only a few months after the construction of the house itself. It really was a little marvel.
Alvin approached the flowery bathroom door, swallowing his nervousness. The chipmunk leaned in. Soft sobs echoed inside.
Alvin swallowed again, reaching one small paw up, and ever-so-gently knocked on the door. Immediately, the sniffling stopped, and the dim hallway was silent for a moment.
"What?" Brittany's voice asked flatly, muffled by the closed door.
Alvin could not bring himself to answer. He was afraid of what his friend might say.
"What?" Brittany asked again, this time louder, "I can't grab the doorknob because of this mess, so what already?"
The red-clad chipmunk twisted the little doorknob, opening the door slightly so that he could peek inside. He was immediately aware of the odor of paint, thick and sickening. In the bathroom was Brittany, sitting in the bathtub, struggling to scrub her fur clean of the messy black paint. There were watery black droplets everywhere. A pile of used washcloths sat next to the tub, Alvin had never felt so guilty in his life.
"Hey, uh, it's me, Brit…" Alvin whispered. Water splashed as the chipette jumped, his voice surprising her. But it quickly wore off, leaving Brittany to glare with furious, ice-blue eyes, in high contrast with the black-stained fur of her face.
"What are you doing here?" she hissed.
"I…I just-"
"If you think I'm falling for some stupid apology just so you can throw a pie in my face or something," Brittany snapped, "Then you have another thing coming, you idiot chipmunk! Get out!"
"N-No, really…" Alvin said, wincing at his friend's anger, "Brit, I really want to say I'm sorry. Si tried to tell me this would happen, but I-"
"That what would happen?" the chipette interrupted, "That you'd get shoved on your behind for pissing me off even more than I already was? Who are you to do this to me? I'll be lucky to look normal again in a month! It's nothing compared to what I'll do to you if you don't get out of here!"
"Brittany, please,"Alvin said desperately, "I couldn't take it anymore! I couldn't go to sleep tonight thinking that…that I…"
"Spit it out," Brittany growled from the bathtub, her eyes dangerous.
"That I would, you know," the chipmunk looked down, playing with his claws, "Lose my best friend…"
Silence.
Brittany's critical eyes narrowed, her head tilted, as she studied the chipmunk. What was she thinking? Did she believe him? Alvin continued to look down at the hardwood floor, wiggling his toes, waiting impatiently for his former friend's answer.
The butterflies in his stomach began to go insane.
Finally:
"You…do you mean it?" Brittany asked softly. Alvin looked up, afraid to meet her gaze.
"Mean…what?"
"You're afraid? And…I'm your best friend?"
Alvin managed a little smile, leaning against the doorframe. "Uh…yeah. I mean…if you want to be…again."
Brittany's gaze softened, just a bit. She ran one black arm over her paint-stained lips, trying to make it easier to talk, but only managed to make herself gag as the nasty taste intruded into her mouth. Alvin's guilt grew as he watched.
"Look," she said, spitting into the bathwater to try and remove the taste, "If you do anything like this again," she paused to spit again, "…then I'll never forgive you. But...I guess I can let this one go…I mean, what can I expect from Alvin Seville, huh?"
She sighed. "I deserve it anyways, I guess…such a bad week and I take it out on everyone."
"Well, hey," Alvin said with a smile, "Pranks are fun and all but…I never thought there was a 'too far' until now. If you'll…forgive me, then…I promise you, Brit: I'll never hurt you like this again. Ever."
The chipette looked up, and Alvin could see where her tears had managed to cut tracks through the muck on her cheeks.
"Here's the deal," Brittany muttered, "No more tricks using junk to mess up each other's fur, and I'll drop this for now."
"Hey, you have to admit," Alvin joked lightly, "That thing with the pink hair dye was pretty funny."
"Do that again and you'll wake up one morning with no fur, mister," Brittany said with a smile, though it was barely visible, "You'll be the naked version of pink."
Alvin chuckled, feeling a very large and very dark weight finally lift from his chest. It felt so good…finally being able to suck up his pride for just a moment to rebuild his friendship with Brittany.
"Hey, uh…" Alvin said cautiously, "Do you mind if I come in? I want to…you know, help out…"
Brittany cocked one black-stained eyebrow. "You know I'm sitting in the bathtub, right?"
"Erm, yeah."
"You don't think it's awkward?"
"I owe you one."
"True…"
Brittany looked down at her ruined body, feeling sticky and stiff from the paint. Every movement caused her fur to slide together in a way that felt disgusting. The bathwater- which was only up to her lower back- had a grayish tint. She had already wasted three old rags trying to get herself clean.
She sighed. "Fine…but if you try anything dirty, I swear I'll-"
"Relax, Brit!" Alvin said, his face shading red as he realized why Brittany was so hesitant, "If dumping paint on you was too much, then you'd murder me if I…I just want to help…"
"Okay…" the chipette said, gesturing for him to come in.
As quietly as possible, Alvin stepped into the little bathroom, shutting the door behind him. He then approached the bathtub, truly feeling in his heart that he wanted to help his friend.
But the guilt still ate at him as he caught glimpse of Brittany's entire body. She no longer looked like an ocher-brown pink-loving chipette. Instead, she looked like the shadow of a chipette, with her fur absolutely covered in a slick film of paint. There was the occasional light patch where Brittany had scrubbed and scrubbed to no avail, but the fur underneath was spikey, gray, and hard.
"Once again…" he said, picking up a fresh rag and soaking it in clean sink-water, "I'm…sorry for this."
"Getting this crud off will be hard enough for you that I'll just call it even if you can do it," Brittany muttered, turning around to present her back to Alvin.
It was then that the chipmunk realized that there were a few clean parts of her body; rather, the parts that had been covered by her pink outfit when she had been pranked. Strips of her belly and lower back were almost untouched, however, the paint had had invaded her outfit and wrecked everything else. Her hair was a spiderlike mess and her tail was spiked and ratty-looking.
Remembering what she was supposed to look like nearly made Alvin shed a tear of regret.
"Well?" Brittany said, "Quit staring, weirdo."
"Just going over the damage," Alvin defended.
"Sure…"
Alvin reached down and drained the gray water away, turning on the faucet to replace it with some fresh warm water. He dumped plenty of extra soap into the bath, watching the suds wrap around Brittany's body as the water level rose to her middle.
Taking up a soapy, new rag, Alvin began the grueling process of cleaning up his counterpart. It was less scrubbing, more painful pulling, as a lot of the paint had already dried into a sticky rubbery mess. More than once, Brittany squeaked or yelped as strands of her fur came off with the paint. Alvin's hands and sleeves were stained black in little time.
"I hate to ask, Alvin, but," Brittany started, gritting her teeth as more fur got pulled, "Why did you do this in the first place? I don't remember pranking you lately."
"Oh, uh," Alvin laughed sheepishly, "Remember when you uh…shoved me in the puddle? The hoodie I was wearing was my very first one with the A on it-"
"That's why you did this?" Brittany snapped, sitting upright to glare at him.
Alvin held up both hands in surrender. "Yeah, I know, I know! I'm a jerk and that's a really, really stupid reason and I'm sorry. Really."
"You're not the one getting your fur yanked out," she muttered.
"This would be easier if we just shaved you, you know."
Brittany narrowed her little eyes at him.
"Don't. You. Dare," she growled.
"Lips are zipped, Brit. You got it. Back to the fur pulling."
"That better have been one really, really good hoodie."
It was a full hour before Brittany's upper body was somewhat free. Using some tiny scissors and a mirror, Brittany trimmed her hair down while Alvin spread it out to wash it. Even with the large bathroom window open just above, the smell of paint made them both feel nauseous multiple times. Thankfully, the sweet scent of Brittany's soap overpowered it with ease.
Jeanette eased the door open to check on Alvin and Brittany. She gasped and nearly dropped her glasses when he saw Alvin giving her sister a bath, and quickly yanked her head back out, only to get part of her bun caught in the door. It opened again, freed her hair, and swiftly clicked shut again. Alvin and Brittany giggled, and the chipette shook her head.
"So, uh," Brittany said, wincing in slight discomfort as Alvin tugged on her tail with a washcloth, trying to rinse the paint from the long strands of fur, "Did you…really sneak out? For me?"
"Yeah," Alvin said, giving one last tug before looking over his friend's freshly-cleaned and bushy ocher-brown tail, "I get a rush from going rogue once and a while. I'm a loose-cannon munk on a mission."
"Mission?" Brittany asked, turning her head to smile at him, "I'm surprised you even found your way up the tree, lug-nut."
She squeaked as Alvin tugged her tail again, hard, just to be annoying. He looked up at her black stained face, smiling back, and cocked his head. Brittany stared back, a confused look on her sticky face.
"What?" she asked.
"Well," Alvin said softly, "It's just…this crud really brings out your eyes."
Brittany pulled back slightly in surprise, but the reaction only gave Alvin a clearer view. Her eyes seemed to sparkle even brighter than normal, looking like pieces of a bright and cloudless summer sky against the sheer black paint. For a moment in time, she was beautifulto him.
"Wha-? Alvin?"
The chipmunk quickly cleared his throat.
"Uh, close your eyes, Brit," Alvin said, wringing out another fresh rag. The chipette did as she was told, and the chipmunk began to gently scrub his friend's furry face, wiping over her closed eyes and pursed mouth. Because the fur was short there, it took only minutes for Brittany's fluffy cheeks to be returned to their natural puffiness, save for a grayish tint. He gently pulled and cleaned her bangs and ears as well, pulling strips of paint from her long, well-groomed hair.
Finished, Alvin stepped back for a moment to admire the results.
"Ah, oops," he said, leaning in, "Missed a spot."
Brittany kept still as the chipmunk used a small, clean portion of the rag to rub a black dot off her little pink nose. It tickled; she could not help but smile.
Alvin looked her over again, and he felt something blossom inside him: a warmth, like a flower opening to show its petals to the morning sun. As he looked at Brittany, his deep brown eyes lingered on her beautiful face, the glow of her freshly cleaned orange-brown fur like a distant sunset. What the heck was happening to him!?
"What?" Brittany asked, beginning to feel shy.
"Well, uh," Alvin cleared his throat, offering her a new rag while he took his own. "Let's finish this, Brit."
"Watch your hands," Brittany cautioned, "Or I'll bite 'em off."
Next came the chipette's lower body. Most of her longer fur was on her head, tail, and chest, and with all of those clean already, it was back to the slow process of pulling the paint out of the short hairs.
"At least you've been sitting with this end in the water," Alvin said sheepishly as he lifted one of Brittany's little feet to scrub between her toes and claws, "It'll be easier."
"Easier the better," Brittany muttered, picking at her thighs.
The little door opened again and Eleanor's head poked inside. Her pigtails were down and she was wearing a flowery blue nightgown, preparing for bed. Rubbing her eyes, she gave Alvin and Brittany a funny look.
"Alvin, you're not big on privacy, are you?" she asked.
"He's done a good job, Ellie, look," Brittany defended, sitting up higher in the tub.
"Wow, Brit, I was worried we would have to shave you."
"Told you," Alvin snickered.
"Shut up," Brittany swatted the back of Alvin's head, "Ellie, you and Jeanette can go on to bed. We'll be done pretty soon, hopefully."
"Oh alright. Goodnight, you two!" Eleanor said, "And Alvin, if you ever do this to my big sister again, I'll make her a fur coat out of you!"
"Ellie!" Brittany giggled, "You'll have to beat me to it."
"Don't I get a say in this?" Alvin pretended to plead, smiling.
"No!" the girls said in unison.
"Go on, get out of here, shorty," Brittany joked, shooing her little sister away.
Eleanor stuck her tongue out, but closed the door and left the two alone once more. Alvin and Brittany chuckled together, right before Brittany promptly swatted the chipmunk across the head again.
"Ouch!" he yelped, "What'd I do?"
"Quit pinching me!"
A short time later, Brittany's lower half was also freed of the paint. The smell of girly soap and the coolness of the night air through the open window was refreshing. Alvin was busy piling the many gray washrags into a basket, while Brittany finished picking away at the final few dark spots in her fur.
"All clean, I guess," she said, her fur still feeling sticky and stiff. The chipette reached down, undoing the bath-plug so that the tainted, grayish water could drain away. She stood, feeling a bit exposed, and turned so that Alvin could look her over completely. "How do I look?"
"Like the hothead I used to know," Alvin chuckled, and Brittany huffed, playfully swatting him with her soaked tail. "You still look a little grayish, though. Go ahead and rinse off in the shower, I'll leave you alone."
"Oh I can finally breathe again, and I feel a lot lighter! Thank you, Alvie!" Brittany exclaimed. She clapped both paws over her mouth.
"You're welcome," Alvin said. He blinked. "Wait, what was that?"
"I'm getting in the shower now, Alvin!" Brittany said frantically, throwing the shower curtain between her and her red-clad counterpart, "P-Privacy please!"
"Alright, alright," the chipmunk chuckled, "I'll wait for you, though!"
Alvin turned to leave, and was about to shut the door, when he heard:
"Thank you…Alvin."
"No problem, Brit."
A few minutes later in the hall, while Alvin was still leaning up against the wall, waiting for Brittany, Eleanor poked her head around the corner, pulling the girls' cellphone behind her.
"Hey, Alvin?" she said, "Dave's on the phone, he's uh, not happy."
"I'd expect that," the chipmunk replied with a nervous smile. Knowing that his counterpart was still rinsing off, he knew he had time to head back to the living room to answer the phone.
Alvin cleared his throat as he picked up the small corded phone. "Uh, hello?" he said nervously, "Oh, hey, Dave…"
Alvin and Brittany sat in the moonlight, down in the girls' living room. It was late, easily past ten, and Jeanette and Eleanor were already in their beds upstairs. It was peaceful and quiet, with the slight smell of paint and shampoo lingering in the air around Brittany and her little bath towel.
For once, Alvin and Brittany did not say a thing. They did not fight, or compete for something silly, but instead sat on the little doll couch, quietly enjoying each other's company. It was a huge thing, for them.
"Well," Alvin whispered, "This was an interesting way to spend a late afternoon, eh?"
"What?" Brittany said, smiling, "Getting Alvin Seville to say he's sorry for the first time in his life? Or also getting him to scrub me off after his dirty little prank went one hair too far?"
"Hey, it was not the first time!" the chipmunk replied. A sly smile crossed his face as he continued, "I actually like the part where I got to see Brittany Miller naked."
Alvin chuckled again as Brittany's face turned deep red.
"Alvin, if you tell anyone about-"
"Relax," Alvin interrupted, "I didn't mean anything by it. I-I mean I did, I liked- I mean, I didn't do it just for that but- you're pretty, and I like that, b-but…"
"Alvin," Brittany said sweetly, laying her hand on his.
"Uh, yeah?"
"Shut up."
"You know the funny thing," Alvin said with a laugh, "Is that even after all this sweet-talk, we're still gonna be at each other's throats about something really stupid tomorrow."
"I'll bet five bucks you'll be the one to start it," Brittany snickered.
"I'll take that bet," Alvin replied, "Well, it's getting late. I should get out of your hair. I have to get back to being grounded."
"Thanks again, Alvin," the chipette said as her counterpart headed to the front door, "You didn't have to come here."
"Yeah, well," he replied, "For a little bit, I didn't think I needed you. So, we're both wrong."
Brittany watched, feeling peaceful, as Alvin stepped out the pretty double-doors and into the night. She was calm as she quietly waved goodbye to him, her towel rippling in the cool nighttime breeze that nipped at her damp fur. Still, however, she felt empty.
Alvin looked back as he started down the spiral staircase at the far end of the porch, noticing that Brittany still stood there in the doorway, her eyes reflecting the moonlight as she waved to him. She almost looked sad.
'Alright, that's it,' he told himself, 'I'm doing it.'
Alvin ran back across the moonlit lawn, up the wooden steps, and before his counterpart could respond, into the treehouse. He quickly grabbed Brittany's wrists, gently twirling the startled chipette around behind the doors. Her towel fell right to her feet, but the chipmunk did not even notice.
He held her gently, not letting go of her wrists.
"A-Alvin?" she asked, in an oddly content voice, "What the heck?"
"It's…I was just…I…I saw you, and I…" he stuttered…but then stopped.
Something about Brittany's sparkling little eyes mesmerized him. They were sharp, deep, and intelligent, but soft and kind and unafraid. They stared unfalteringly back into his own, like she was challenging him. Everything about her was always a challenge, and Alvin was always the one to take her on.
Without further hesitation, Alvin quickly leaned in, and, before Brittany could even react, the red-clad chipmunk planted one soft, fuzzy kiss on her pink, button nose. Brittany blinked in surprise, as Alvin quickly looked away, at the hardwood floor under his feet. He let out a quick laugh, and turned to leave.
Brittany grabbed Alvin's arm as he turned to scurry away. She pulled him back inside, whirled him against the wall by the door, grabbed his furry cheeks, and kissed him.
Their hearts stood still until they finally separated.
Alvin looked into her eyes, and she looked into his. Without a word, he smiled, and scurried out the door. Brittany watched him until he disappeared down the spiral staircase towards the base of the tree. The bare chipette quietly shut the door, casually flipping every little lock back in to place.
She reached up with one small, delicate paw and touched her little lips. Suddenly, Brittany began to feel bubbly inside. The unclothed chipette clasped her hands together, letting out a laugh of pure joy, bouncing on her feet. She was happy, and the empty feeling was absolutely gone.
Brittany was so happy, in fact, that she did not even notice Eleanor and Jeanette standing on the stairs, watching their big sister dance up and down, her towel at her feet, giggling to herself as if she were being tickled with a feather.
"Um," Jeanette started, clearing her throat, "Brittany?"
Brittany shrieked in surprise, tripping over her own tail and falling right on her bottom on the pink towel. She looked up, eyes wide. "U-Uh, girls! Wha-what are you doing up?"
"It's Friday night," Eleanor said, confused, "And not that late. What the heck did Alvin do to you?"
"Do to me?" Brittany snapped playfully, grabbing her towel and rolling it up, "Nothing like what I'll do to you for scaring me! Yah!"
Jeanette and Eleanor squealed and darted up the stairs, Brittany right behind them, snapping the towel at their heels. They wrestled and played as siblings and friends, just like the Seville brothers often did.
So ended in peace what could have been a night of sadness and regret.
"Alright, Alvin," Simon said as he slipped into a blue sweater, "Tell me, please, that everything was settled, and that you didn't do something stupid to make it worse."
"Oh, relax, Si!" Alvin defended, swapping his signature red 'A' shirt for a dark red pajama one, "I didn't do anything stupid. I even think me and Brit are tighter than we were before!"
"Wow, really?" the middle chipmunk asked, "I was expecting you to come back with your tail missing."
"How'd you get her to be your buddy again, Alvin?" Theodore asked from the far bed. The little guy had actually done a good job of keeping Alvin covered, until he just snapped under Dave's fatherly 'hard-stare.'
"Well, uh," Alvin stammered. It was not going to be pretty, if he revealed that he had practically given Brittany a bath, followed by a kiss on the nose. "We…I…ugh, just drop it. We're friends again, and that's all that matters, right?"
"I suppose so, Alvin," Simon said, adjusting his black-rimmed glasses. The middle chipmunk watched as his older brother hopped off of his lower bunk, striding over to the window. Alvin hopped onto the windowpane, staring out at the flowery tree in the distance.
"You know…" Simon added, "Dave was…very proud of you, Alvin."
"Yeah," the chipmunk said, scratching his head nervously.
Simon made a face. "You kept the paint, didn't you?"
"Yep."
"…And Dave will discover this when?"
"Well, in about three…two…one…"
Sure enough, the group of three heard a short, muffled 'clunk' from somewhere below, followed by an all-too-familiar sound:
"AAAAlVIIIIIN!"
Despite this, Simon could only chuckle.
"I suppose you can't beat the master, now can you?" he asked with a smile.
Alvin looked out the window, into the perfectly clear night sky, where sparkling stardust marked great entities far above that he would never see in his life. The beautiful, silvery moon reflected in his liquid brown eyes, and he realized: he was happy.
"Yeah," he said softly.
"You can't beat her."
Alvin's favorite hoodie, the one Brittany had ruined by pushing him into a mud puddle, disappeared from its usual spot in his dresser one day. Though he searched and searched, the little red hoodie was nowhere to be found. Glum, he continued on without it, eventually concluding that Dave had tossed it when he realized it was so stained beyond saving.
A few days later, it reappeared, folded neatly on his bed, while the window hung open nearby. His usual 'A' hoodie had been totally redone. To cover up the stains, the fabric had been dyed with light and dark shades of red to create a wide, mottled tiger-stripe pattern. The big yellow 'A' was thinner and darker with artistic shading giving it a 3D effect. The elastic around the bottom of hoodie and the end of the sleeves was black studded with bright yellow, and the hood's pull-ties were tipped with pretty silver beads.
Alvin studied the unique handiwork in awe, and glanced up at his bedroom window, where one of the swinging latches hung wide open. He smiled.
It was not until a very rainy day that Alvin found the final detail. Pulling his hood over his head, it was not until a flash of sunlight reflected off the rain beneath him that he saw a sparkle of pink. He looked up, and smiled. It was a detail that had been added for one reason: he would only see it on the darkest and messiest of days, when he needed it the most.
Embroidered in glittering pink just under the hem of the inside of his hood: a pretty, cursive letter 'B.'
ooo
THE END
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7hank you all for reading and have a lovely night!
I'd love to hear what you thought of this tale,
so please, go right ahead and comment below.
Every word is fuel to my fire!
~R~