It was just four minutes until it was time. All the Chipmunks and all the Chipettes were excited. Especially Eleanor. She had been waiting to do this a long time and now, it was ALMOST time. She couldn't wait! Finally, the announcer called their names. The Chipmunks and the Chipettes rushed outside and there was Harold. Eleanor rushed up too after them, but suddenly, a man walked up to her. "Hey, kid," he said. "Could you please help me carry my groceries?" Eleanor cringed a little a let out a small whimper of panic as the other chipmunks came aboard Harold. "Please?" said the man. Eleanor was about to protest. After all, she had never been on a helicopter before, but she knew she'd be in trouble. "Fine," she said with a sigh, trying not to complain. Eleanor picked up the heavy bags, which made her sweat and she nearly dropped them. Then, she'd be in even more trouble. The man wouldn't stop frowning at her until all the groceries were properly put away. Finally, he smiled at her. "Thanks, kid," he said. "No problem," said Eleanor, exhausted. Eleanor went back to the helicopter stop, disappointed. She knew she had missed her one chance to ride a helicopter. To make matters worse, everyone seemed to be laughing at her. Just at Eleanor thought her troubles were over, however, she spotted an old lady just across the street. Cringing, she went right up to her. "Um... hi," she said, shyly. Eleanor felt rather embarrassed, for she was sounding just like Jeanette. This just didn't seem like her to be shy. But, she was so disappointed that she couldn't ride a helicopter. In fact, she took a quick peek at the sky, then sighed despite the fact it had stopped raining. Eleanor turned back to the old lady who seemed to be struggling. "Um... are you okay?" she asked, nervously, being careful in case the lady would bite her unless she did something good for her to get rid of the bad feeling in her stomach. "I'm fine, my dear," said the lady. "Sweetie, would you mind walking granny across the street?" Eleanor just nodded, took the lady's hand and slowly walked her across. It took her a whole hour to get her across, but finally, the lady smiled and kissed the top of Eleanor's air helmet. "Thank you, my dear," she said as she walked away. Eleanor ran back in the building and hid under a chair. Then and only then did she allow herself a sigh of relief. It wasn't easy to be nice around old people, but she did it and now the bad feeling was very weak, but her disappointment was so strong, Eleanor thought she would burst! As time passed, Eleanor did more and more good deeds and her disappointment got stronger and stronger. Finally, at the end of the day, as Eleanor was crying under the bench, the Chipmunks came back. "Eleanor, where have you been?" asked Theodore. "Didn't you want to come with us?"
"Oh, I tried, Theodore! Oh, how I tried!" sobbed Eleanor. "But, everybody needed my help today." Simon wanted to give Eleanor a lecture about how rude she was being, but he could see that she was sad. "I think your problem is that sometimes, you need to learn to say 'No,'" he said. "No?" said Eleanor, confused. "But, Simon, you're supposed to think of other people too."
"That's not the point," said Simon, trying not to be angry. "Yes, you should think of others, but there's a time and a place for that. You just happened to pick the wrong time and place, that's all."
"What he's saying is that you need to stand up for yourself," said Alvin. "You're even worse than Jeanette. No offence."
"None taken," said Jeanette. Eleanor sighed. "You're right, guys," she said. "I do need to stand up for myself, but how?"
"Maybe, this will help," said Theodore, holding up a small green mask made of leaves. "We found it in the forest when Harold ran out of fuel."
"What does it do?" asked Eleanor. "It's a magic mask," said Theodore. "Harold says that it gives you the power to be assertive, but before he could warn us about it, Harold was all fueled up and we had to come back to you."
"Aww... thank you, guys," said Eleanor with a giggle. "Go on," said Alvin. "Try it on." Eleanor took off her air helmet, so she could put the mask on. "It fits!" she exclaimed. "But, how does it work?" Suddenly, Eleanor's eyes turned red. WHY DON'T YOU JUST SCRAM, YOU RATS! "Well," said Alvin when Eleanor's eyes went back to normal. "At least we know it works." He smiled. He was satisfied. They all were. Finally, Eleanor had a way to stand up for herself and be assertive. She couldn't wait to see how the magic mask would help her.
