Chapter 7
Like I said, the attention doesn't stop there. By Friday, the majority of the students at West Eastman High are insane about Jeanette. At lunch, at least twenty new girls are added to Jeanette's table each day! The guys wink at her and try to flirt; this she slyly rejects, leaving everyone laughing and nudging Jeanette's unlucky target.
Jeanette's personality is slightly altered by the whole thing. Well…ok, it's not altered. It's just that Jeanette starts to become who she truly is: confident, funny, cute, sweet, and over all incredible. She somehow manages all this while still maintaining a very innocent persona.
During lunch on the Monday of the second week, Alvin finds Simon while he is choosing his lunch. He follows Simon's eyes to Jeanette, who is the center of the overly-crowded table, giggling and twirling around like a cute little princess. Alvin looks at his nerdy brother, smirking.
"So…Jean's looking pretty hot today, huh?" Alvin asks slyly. He knows Simon tends to be more open when he's not paying attention.
"Yeah…I-I mean, um…aw, nuts!" Simon stutters as he snaps out of it.
Alvin laughs at his brother's embarrassment. "Come on, bro! Why don't you just go talk to her?" The red-clad Chipmunk says, nudging Simon in the arm.
"A-are you kidding me? Look at all the girls over there! I can't just walk up to her and start a conversation!" Simon exclaims.
"Si…do you like Jeanette or not?"
"I…yes."
"Well, if you really like her, then you'll at least try!" Alvin states. Simon can't argue with that. It is a shame that this has to be one of the rare times where Alvin actually knows what he's talking about.
"Alright, fine. But if I get publicly humiliated, you're gonna pay!" Simon says, his face inches apart from Alvin's.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Now go!" The Chipmunk with the letter pushes Simon forward. Simon trips slightly. He stares back at his brother with an annoyed look on his face, turns back around, and breathes deeply.
"Ok…here goes nothing."
Simon slowly makes his way to his crush's table. Alvin and his pals watch closely from the jock table. Alvin crosses his fingers, hoping for the best.
As Simon reaches the table, Jeanette is the first to spot him. Her eyes widen in fear. "Oh no!" She mutters to herself. Of course, what she fears ends up happening: Chelsee, another fan of Jeanette's, follows the Chipette's gaze to the blue-clad Chipmunk behind her. Her eyes widen as well.
"Simon!" Chelsee exclaims. The others turn and also call out his name. Simon jumps at the sudden exclamation.
"Uh…hi. Would you girls mind if I …maybe…sat with you?" Simon asks shyly, trying to ask the question in a way that didn't sound weird.
"Sure!" Before Simon could blink, Raechelle carefully picks him up and places him in the middle of the table with Jeanette. The purple-clad Chipette explains to Simon that she is not the only one that the girls have been talking about…they've been talking about him as well! Simon finds himself being hoarded with questions.
"Simon, where did you get your glasses?"
"Oh, well I-"
"Is it true that you will be soloing in your next concert?"
"Actually-"
"SIMON!" Simon cringes, and his fur stands on ends when a girl behind him screams.
"I love you!"
"Oh, uh…thank you," Simon blushes a little. He looks over at Jeanette, who is giggling at all the chaos. Simon's blush deepens when she looks at him with a smile. Jennifer notices this.
"Aww! You two are adorable!" She teases the nerdy chipmunks.
"JENNY!" Simon and Jeanette yell at the same time. In unison, they look at each other, chuckle, look at Jennifer again, and narrow their eyes. Everyone cracks up, including the ever-blushing chipmunks.
Alvin and his friends are now laughing along with them. The red-clad Chipmunk smiles proudly at his brother. He likes it when things turn out the way he plans them to…especially since they hardly ever turn out the way he'd planned them.
At the end of lunch, Alvin runs after Simon as he walks out. "Hey, Si!" He calls to him.
Simon stops and waits for his brother to catch up. "Yes, Alvin?"
"All I've got to say is…I told you so!" Alvin continually pokes Simon as the blue-clad Chipmunk rolls his eyes and chuckles.
"I honestly can't believe I'm saying this, Alvin…but for once, you were actually right about something," Simon says. Alvin beams at his brother.
"That doesn't mean you don't still drive me crazy!" Simon quickly adds. He laughs as Alvin groans loudly and walks away. Jeanette then comes up from behind Simon without hesitation.
"Hey," Jeanette says. Simon jumps at the sound of her voice.
"Oh, uh…hey," Simon responds.
"So…those girls are pretty energetic, huh?"
"Energetic? They're insane! I'm still a kid and I thought I was going to have a heart attack!" Simon exclaims. Both of them crack up. After a minute, Simon speaks up.
"Hey, uh, Jean…you don't happen to have a free now, do you?"
"I do actually. Why?"
"Well, I…um…I was kind of wondering if…maybe…you wanted to hang out or something?" Simon face is now almost as red as Alvin's hoodie.
"I'd love to!" Jeanette suddenly blurts out. She immediately follows it up. "I-I mean…yeah, sure…I guess."
Simon chuckles. "Cool. You want to go to the library? I've actually got a load of History homework to do."
"Me too! The library sounds fine to me!" Jeanette bounces on the heels of her paws as she tries to contain her glee. Simon pretends not to notice, though he smiles when Jeanette isn't looking.
The two head for the library. As it turns out, neither of them have classes for the rest of the day, so they plan to spend it together in the library.
While the be-specked pair start their History homework, two pairs of eyes watch them with fascination. These eyes belong to Raechelle Sparks and her boyfriend, Mitchell Anderson. Mitch is the captain of the Basketball team. Raechelle's Cheerleading squad always practices in the gym, so the two are practically inseparable.
After a while, the behavior of the two chipmunks noticeably changes. The two start chatting, and eventually start horsing around. Simon crumples up pieces of extra paper and tosses them into the recycling bin from different distances. Jeanette tries to block them by jumping up and kicking them off to the side. At one point, to both of the chipmunks's surprise, Jeanette actually jumps up, catches the wad of paper, backflips, and lands perfectly balanced on the edge of the recycling bin. Simon cheers and laughs as Jeanette bows and blows kisses to an invisible crowd.
Raechelle and Mitch are in awe. "Did you see that? Jeanette was totally incredible!" Raechelle whispers.
"And what about Simon? Not a single person on my team has an aim like that!" Mitch exclaims quietly.
A thought comes to both of their minds. The couple looks at each other, nods when they realize they've got the same idea, and slowly approach the giggling chipmunks.
"Hey, you guys!" Raechelle says. The chipmunks stop moving.
"This is my boyfriend, Mitchell. You guys have met before, correct? Well, anyway, we just so happened to notice the little game you two were playing," Raechelle says.
Simon and Jeanette look up at the two humans standing in front of them with embarrassment; they hadn't realized someone had been watching them.
"So anywho, the two of us were just wondering…" Raechelle whispers into the chipmunks's tiny ears.
They can't believe what they're hearing. Who would have thought that someone would actually invite a nerd onto the Basketball team, and a klutz onto the Cheerleading team?
