Chapter two! Enjoy!

I forgot the disclaimer in the first chapter: I do not own Alvin and the chipmunks or Dave or any of that. I do, however, own the plotline and Adam is mine, so back the heck off.

:D Thank you!

Jeanette looked one way, and then another. No one was watching.

She closed her eyes and rubbed her gem slightly. She got that feeling, the feeling that she was slowly being filled up with something sparkling and sweet.

Slowly, slowly, she began to rise off the floor. She floated up, up, all the way to the top of the cupboard to grab the textbook that had previously been out of reach. Then she made herself horizontal against the ceiling, clutching the textbook to her chest and giggling. Then she swung her legs back down so that she was vertical and slowly drifted back down to the floor.

"Ahem."

Someone cleared their throat behind her, and she whirled to see Brittany step into the room.

"That textbook was pretty high up, wasn't it?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

Jeanette tried to look cool and disinterested as she brushed past her sister. "No, not at all."

"Jeanette, you were cheating, weren't you?" The term was used in reference to their powers—Brittany knew full well that her sister would never cheat in schoolwork.

"No!" Jeanette said quickly. A little too quickly.

She sighed at the smug look on her sister's face. "All right, all right. I did. But it was just to get a textbook, nothing else. I don't use my powers for bad."

Brittany snickered and strode off.

Jeanette rolled her eyes and hurried to her locker. The chipmunks had all been finding out that their powers could still be used without their jewels, but in limited ways. She couldn't fly without her wings, but she could gently float up to an extent. She couldn't steer or go anywhere else, but she could float up and down like an elevator. Helpful when, for instance, there was a textbook that she couldn't reach.

Dave had sternly told them not to use their powers at all since they'd gotten back from their ship adventure, but sometimes, they couldn't help themselves.

Jeanette gulped slightly. They were getting their report cards back today, though. And Dave would soon know if they had been cheating or not.

"Guys."

All the chipmunks on the couch winced simultaneously. They knew what was coming next.

One by one, they slid off the couch and scampered into the kitchen. They all clambered up onto the table to face Dave, who was sitting in a chair and had their six report cards spread out in front of them.

"All right, let's go over grades," he said, his voice slightly stern.

He consulted the report cards. He slid Simon's and Jeanette's forward first.

"Simon. History, A+. Science, A+. Math, A+. English, A. French, A. Home Ec., A-. And P.E., D."

Simon blushed slightly.

"Well, aside from the gym grade, this all looks good," Dave continued. "Try to bump up that Home Ec. Grade."

"It was just because I burned that lasagna," Simon hastily explained. "She took points off for that."

Dave suppressed a smile.

"Er…any…any comments?" Simon tried to force his voice to be casual.

"We're going over all the comments last," Dave said, his voice grave and stern.

Simon wilted.

"Jeanette next," Dave continued. "Let's see. History, A. Science, A. Math, A+. English, A+. French, A+. Home Ec., A-…" He frowned at Jeanette in confusion.

"Simon and I were working together on that lasagna project," she hastily explained.

"And gym…B-."

Jeanette blinked in astonishment. She had been positive that her gym grade had been just as terrible as Simon's.

"I'll explain why in a minute," he said dryly, and moved on. "Theodore and Eleanor, you both had the same exact grades, so I'll just read them both off to you. History, B+. Math, B. English, A-. German, A. Home Ec., A+. Gym, B-." He looked up at both of them. "Science, A+."

They both fidgeted. They knew exactly why they had gotten such a good grade in science this term.

"Brittany," he said, "your grades were fairly good as well. Let's se…History, English, and Spanish were all A-. Math was a B+. Home Ec., B. And you didn't have gym, you had a selected physical course, which was swimming." He leveled a glance with her. "A+."

Now it was Brittany's turn to fidget and blush.

"And Science was an A-."

Then he turned to Alvin and raised an eyebrow.

Alvin smiled weakly.

"Let's see, Alvin. History, C. Math, F. Science, D. Spanish, D+. Home Ec., C+. English, D. Gym…A+."

He glared at each one of them in turn, and lingered especially on Alvin.

"F in math," Simon snickered to his brother under his breath. "Nice."

Alvin shot a glower at him.

"Now, let's go over the comments," Dave said in a falsely cheerful voice.

He picked up Simon's report card. "Simon is doing very well in all of his classes," he read. "He's a smart student and is willing to learn. Whenever he goes near a certain group of football players in my class, though, I sense that he has a bit of an aversion to them. It's almost like he just disappears whenever they go near him."

He gave Simon a look, and Simon refused to meet his gaze.

"The only thing I saw in his performance level that was concerning was in gym class. He isn't very athletic, I don't think, and doesn't seem to enjoy the class. He was, however, very good at dodgeball. It was the strangest thing—some of the balls seemed to just be bouncing off of him."

Simon was still fidgeting.

Dave sighed and picked up Jeanette's report card. "Jeanette is a very enthusiastic learner," he read. "She's smart and inquisitive and willing to learn, which is something we look for in every student. She doesn't seem to enjoy physical education very much, except for the gymnastics unit. She is really quite splendid at it. She goes so high when she's leaping or flipping, and she's so graceful that it almost seems like she's floating across the mat."

Jeanette coughed slightly and stared fixedly at the table.

"She should really look into a gymnastics course, or perhaps cheerleading."

Brittany scowled.

"Theodore. Theodore is a very bright young man, and he has great potential. He particularly enjoys his Home Ec. Class and his science class. He has a sunny disposition, and his surroundings almost seem to match his emotion. The room always seems just a little bit brighter whenever he's in our class and ready to learn, and he almost seems to be under a little blanket of darkness whenever he's upset." Theodore stared at the window as if it were the most fascinating thing he'd ever seen. "Eleanor is very similar, and she enjoys science a lot. She and Theodore worked together on our plant project, and their plant grew to be higher and healthier than all the rest of the class. It was getting all the nutrients and light that it needed, and Theodore and Eleanor got a spectacular science grade because of it."

Eleanor stared at Theodore, and their faces both had panic and guilt on them.

"Brittany. Brittany is a charming young lady—,"

Alvin began to laugh so hard that he fell onto the table. Brittany growled and punched him in the stomach, hard. He let out a little "oof" and fell silent.

"Brittany is a charming young lady who enjoys her classes and enjoys her friends even more," Dave continued as if nothing had happened. "She is a bit chatty at some times, but it is nothing that is unmanageable. She has great potential to go far one day, and her grades are at a proficient level." He looked up at Brittany. "And your swimming coach left a note too, Brittany!" he chirped with sarcastic enthusiasm. "He says that you are the best swimmer that he's had on the team in a long time. He's amazed at your stamina to swim long distances without tiring, and he is astounded that you can go so far underwater without even having to come up for air."

Brittany blushed hard.

"And Alvin."

Alvin stopped laughing instantly and stared guiltily at the table.

"Alvin's work is not as satisfactory as it should be. His grades are faltering, and he has great potential to lift them up if he just wanted to. Still, he his an enthusiastic young man and could go very far with his time…which he chooses now to, unfortunately, spend mostly cracking jokes with his jock friends and flirting with the cheerleaders."

Brittany snickered right back at Alvin.

"His gym teacher," Dave continued, still in that cheery voice, "says that he is an astounding athlete, however. Apparently, he is stronger than most of the football team, despite being only a chipmunk. He is very strong, and does well in the weight training and lifting area of the gym classes. Also, his track work has improved greatly. He is the fastest runner in the class. He ran his mile in only four minutes! He is a great gym student."

Dave set the report cards down and surveyed the six chipmunks before him who were all blushing and squirming and avoiding his eye.

"Well," he said at last. "This is something that we must discuss, guys."

"Dave—," Jeanette began, but Dave held up his hand.

"Guys, listen to me," he said sternly. "If you can't learn how to handle your powers, I'm going to need to take your gems away."

Instantly, there was an uproar at his words.

"Please don't, Dave!" Jeanette begged.

"Dave, we'll be better about it, honestly!" Simon cried.

"Dave, you can't!" Theodore was aghast.

"No…don't take them, please!" Eleanor wailed.

"Dave, you don't understand!" Brittany cried.

"We won't use them, honest!" Alvin insisted.

"Guys, you promised that at the end of the year!" Dave snapped. "I just don't think you're responsible enough to handle this. If you're not, then I have to take them away so that you don't use them."

The chipmunks and chipettes stared at one another desperately. If he took their gems away…

Jeanette stepped forward and cleared her tiny throat. "Dave," she said in a voice that was barely above a whisper, "please don't take them. We need these gems. I know it doesn't make sense to you, because, well…you don't have one, but it's like they're a part of us. We get so uncomfortable when we don't have them with us…please, we won't use them. We can't stand the feeling of being away from them. Just give us another chance. We won't use them, honest, if you just let us keep them."

Dave leveled Jeanette with a glance, but her eyes were open and sincere. He knew that he could always trust Jeanette to tell the truth.

"All right," he said at last, rather reluctantly. "I'll give you guys one more chance. But if I get any more comments like this, then I'll be forced to take them away."

They all breathed a sigh of relief. "We won't use them anymore, Dave," Theodore said earnestly.

"Promise," Eleanor added eagerly.

"All right," Dave sighed in a resigned tone of voice. "There's one other thing that I have to talk to you about." He glanced at each of them, blew out a huge huff of breath, and continued. "I'm going to Europe—,"

"WE'RE GOING TO EUROPE?" Alvin and Brittany shrieked at the same time. Brittany clasped her hands together in delight, and Alvin twirled her around.

"Europe? Wow!" Theodore breathed.

"No, guys," Dave said, interrupting their celebration. "I'M going to Europe. There's a record deal here that I have to seal for you guys with some other people from Europe, and I'm going to be away for two weeks." He sighed and rolled his eyes. "Toby is going to come and watch you the second week, but he wasn't available the first week." He pinched the bridge of his nose. "I know that I'm going to regret this, but—,"

"You're leaving us home alone?" Brittany cried, unable to mask her delight.

"YEAH!" Alvin cried, picking her up and twirling her around again.

Dave glared at them.

Alvin quickly put his counterpart down and put a serious expression on his face. "But we'll really miss you," he added.

Everyone rolled their eyes.

"All right, we're going to go finish our television show," Simon called. He grabbed Jeanette's paw and they hopped off the table and scampered into the living room. The others quickly followed.

"Wait, Alvin," Dave called. "We need to discuss these grades of yours…"