Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Author's Note: I've been feeling a bit discouraged about my other story (We're off to see America!) lately so I decided to take a break from it and write a new Alvin/Brittany letter. I'm just not having as much fun writing as I have been. I haven't been getting very many reviews on my stories as I used to, which is a little discouraging. I used to get annoyed when I'd see writers complain about not getting many reviews for their stories, but now I kind of know how it feels; it feels like you spend all that time writing something and no one wants to read it. It's a bit of a downer. Anyway, sorry to get all emo on you there, I'm just being honest letting you all know that I haven't been as motivated to write lately. But don't worry, once I get some newer ideas, I'll probably be back in the writing mood. So… enough crying from me, go on and read the story already!

"Here's your mail, kid."

Bobby, one of the band's assistants, handed a sports magazine and a few white envelopes to Alvin. Alvin flipped through the envelopes; they all had return addresses that he didn't recognize stamped on the corner. He never thought he'd be disappointed in getting fan mail.

"Is this all, Bobby?" Alvin asked.

"Yeah, I think that's… oh, wait a minute." Bobby dug through the bag again and pulled out a pale pink envelope with familiar delicate handwriting on the front.

Bobby chuckled as Alvin snatched the letter out of his hands.

"I take it that letter is from someone special," Bobby said in his gruff voice.

Alvin's face turned red. He didn't realize until then how excited he had gotten over Brittany's letter.

"Uh, yeah," Alvin said. "It's from… my mom."

Bobby laughed and pointed to the doodled hearts and X's and O's on the back of the envelope. "You and your mother must be awfully close."

Alvin sighed. "Okay, fine, it's from my girlfriend."

"I didn't know you had a girlfriend."

"Yeah, well, neither did I until a few weeks ago."

Bobby wrinkled his brow in confusion and thought it best not to ask about what Alvin meant. He shrugged his large shoulders and walked away, leaving the chipmunk alone to read his letter.

***

Dear Alvin,

Sometimes you make it really hard for me to love you, you know that?

Stop giving me all this garbage about how "happy" you are to not be in school anymore. In your first letter you said you regretted not finishing school and now you're acting like it's the best thing that's ever happened to you. Well nice try Seville, but you can't fool me. I know you wrote all that because you're trying to convince yourself that you're not upset about dropping out (at least that's Jeanette's explanation for it… and yes, I showed her the letter. She's my sister; I have to tell her about these things). So cut the crap and just be honest with me and yourself: You wish you would have stayed in school.

And another thing, quit going all Alpha-male on me and telling me that you aren't going to grow up and change for me. It's not like I wanted you to suddenly ditch all your comic books and video games and start wearing suits and ties. Quit being so defensive! I don't want you to totally change, Alvin. I like you just the way you are. I was just saying that for this relationship to work, you should try to be a little more mature. I don't want you to completely turn into someone else, because then you wouldn't be the guy I fell in love with.

God, you're so dense sometimes.

Anyway, I've gotten over my issue about you not calling me. I've thought about it, and writing letters to each other is a lot more romantic. I do miss your voice though.

To answer your question, everyone here is fine. Nothing has changed much. Jeanette got accepted into some brainiac college and Eleanor just started softball practice. Simon is working on some lame experiment as usual. I don't know what Theodore has been up to, but I'm sure it has something to do with food.

Ms. Miller is going to a 50's music festival this weekend in L.A. (she's been playing oldies music all week to get ready for it) and Dave is, well, being Dave. He seems a lot less stressed since you left, but I can tell that he misses you. We all miss you. I think even Simon would have to admit that it's been really boring around here since you've been gone; I never in a million years would have thought that I'd actually miss you're dumbass schemes, but I'd give almost anything for you to be here and drag us all into trouble again.

As for me, I hate to admit it, but I've been pretty bored. It's almost like I don't know what to do with myself now that you aren't here. I don't feel like going to any parties anymore, because the main reason I went to them in the first place was because I knew you'd be there. But now the idea of going to a high school party just seems unexciting to me. They're all the same; people dance around to loud, overplayed music, get tipsy, and usually end up doing something they regret. Maybe all that was interesting for a while, but now it just seems so juvenile.

I also realized something: For the past ten years, I've put so much effort into my looks; I always spent so much time doing my make-up, making sure my hair looked pretty, and picking out the perfect outfit. But lately I figured out that the main reason I did all that stuff was just to impress you. I mean, don't get me wrong, I still spend almost two hours every morning getting ready trying to look my best. But I think I just do it out of habit now, not because I care about impressing anyone.

You may not realize it, but when a girl spends all that time and money on beauty products just to please a guy, that means she really likes him.

I obviously can't say the same about you; it's not like you've ever made an effort to look nice for me (or anyone else for that matter). You still wear the same hat you've worn since you were a little kid and your clothes are baggy and outdated. But somehow you still manage to look cute, so I guess all that doesn't matter. Guys are so lucky that way; girls are always thinking about how they look, but boys can just put on some ratty jeans and t-shirt and still manage to look great.

Oh, and I've been trying to tell Jeanette that Simon likes her, but she just doesn't buy it. She's all, "Simon and I are just friends, bla, bla, bla." Yeah right. I see the way he looks at her; it's obvious that he has feelings for her. He just can't admit it for some reason. Hmm, that sounds familiar.

You and your brother are more alike than you think, Alvin.

And Jeanette totally has a thing for Simon too. She's actually been wearing her hair down and wearing... get this... perfume! Usually she smells like whatever she spills on herself during lunch, but lately she's been smelling like an actual girl for a change. And she always does this on Mondays and Wednesdays, when she and Simon meet to work on their science projects. Coincidence? I think not.

Anyway, I'd better go; Jeanette is going to help me study for my big history test tomorrow. So while you're off touring Europe with rock stars, I'm stuck here reading about The Great Depression from an old, smelly text book.

Life is so unfair.

Love,

Brittany xoxo