I do not own the Chipmunks, Chipettes, Miss Miller or David Seville. Bagdasarian Productions does. Mr. Ratburn is based on the teacher from Arthur. I do not own him either. All the other characters depicted in this story were created by my sister or myself and are owned by us.
Chapter 7
Monday was one of those wet, foggy, cold days where you just wanted to stay curled up in the covers and never get out. It had been difficult for Dave and Miss Miller to get the Chipmunks and Chipettes up. Dave was able to get Brittany up before Miss Miller could wake Alvin. Normally, to wake herself up, Brittany would wash her face and fiddle with her clothes. She decided that Alvin's clothes would be a good substitute. She saw everything he had from suits to socks. She laid out several different outfits on his bed and mixed them up. Theodore was watching her curiously, but she didn't care. She picked out one of her favorite outfits Alvin wore: a t-shirt, black jacket, and his Chipmunk jeans. When she was done, Brittany put Alvin's clothes neatly away.
"Simon, do you think Alvin is going through an identity crisis again?" Theodore asked his brother after Brittany went into the bathroom. "He just matched up outfits on his bed and put them away, neatly."
"No, you're worrying too much, Theodore. I'm sure he's fine." Simon went back to studying his matter compacter notebook. Jeanette had helped him successfully fix two of the smaller pieces, but two other parts needed replacing, and he was missing vital parts for the motor. If only he could find the right piece of copper to help fix it!
Alvin couldn't be woken up until 20 minutes before the bus came. It was barely enough time to do half of the stuff he was supposed to do. Jeanette and Eleanor helped him, and he was able to fix Brittany's hair in an acceptable style. Alvin was wearing another new outfit. It was a red sequined empire waist blouse with matching jeans that had embroidery on the back of them, another outfit Tiffany helped him match. He ran out of the house to make it on the bus in time. Brittany had already reached the bus. She took a deep breath as she started her plan that she had made Friday night.
"When will you ever learn that 'A' always comes before 'B'?" she said to him with a cocky grin.
"I need to talk with you!" he hissed to her as he sat down.
On the bus, Brittany ate up all the attention everyone was giving her. She sang a few words for Alvin's adoring fans, smiled, inhaled all their praise like it was oxygen, and accepted 5 lunch dates. Brittany was even able to talk to Alvin's friends about some new level she unlocked in the video game that they always talked about.
"What is she doing?" thought Alvin. "On Friday, she acted like me because she had to. Now, it seems like she wants to, and she's doing too good of a job."
Brittany could tell that Alvin was jealous. "My plan is working."
"Did you guys watch the new episode of 'Ninja Boys' last night?" she asked Alvin's friends.
"Oh, yeah, wasn't it awesome?!!" Roger exclaimed.
"It was amazing after Todd pulled out his new secret weapon!" Ron added.
Alvin strained to hear their conversation. He wanted to watch that! He tried texting her again, but she still ignored her phone.
For the rest of the bus ride, Brittany was a replica of Alvin. It was like Alvin was looking at himself in a mirror. The uncertainty everyone had felt about Alvin acting like himself was gone. In school, as the students were at their lockers getting ready for their first class, Alvin tried to squeeze his way through the crowd to get to her. So many girls were surrounding Brittany, talking about him, and Brittany was stealing all of his praise!
"Alvin! Alvin!" he called to Brittany in the throng. "I need to talk with you! Alvin!"
She was too busy talking with his fans to hear him. By the time he was able to get next to her, the bell rang.
In their classes, he passed her several notes and even made some into paper airplanes. Not looking at the notes, she crumpled them up in the desk and threw them away at the end of each class. However, she read the notes that his admirers passed to her. He was getting really frustrated! Mr. Ratburn even gave him double homework for passing notes in class.
When lunch came at school, Alvin was sure that he'd be able to talk to Brittany when they ate in the auditorium again. But, to his shock, she sat down at his usual table with a girl on either side of her and three in front of her. He didn't know what to think!
Determinedly, Alvin strode right over to Brittany. "Excuse me, ladies. I need to talk to him."
"No way!" one girl said.
"We were here first. Wait your turn."
"Alvin, I NEED to talk with you," he said with urgency.
"I'm sorry, Brittany, but you'll have to wait. I'm busy," she answered as she pushed Alvin's sunglasses higher on his nose. "Now, what were you saying, Veronica?"
"But-" Alvin started. Veronica droned "Brittany" out with expressing how much she loved the beat in one of Alvin's songs.
Alvin looked at Brittany in one futile effort to talk to her. It was as if he didn't exist. He couldn't get her attention on the bus ride home either. She listened to his Ipod all the way home and didn't take the earbuds out as she walked towards Alvin's house. Alvin wasn't letting her get away this time. Not waiting for the bus to pull away from in front of their houses, he ran after Brittany and tackled her.
"What's wrong with Brittany?" Walter asked from the bus.
"I don't know, but she's going crazy!" Ron responded as he stared at Alvin and Brittany getting smaller and smaller.
"Poor Alvin!" commented Roger.
"Boy, I wish I could see what they're doing!" Tiffany lamented.
"Put a sock in it," Roger said.
"She's my friend! I can talk if I want!"
"Well, I'm older. I'm telling you to stop!"
"Here we go again," muttered Mr. Walker as the bus turned the corner.
Alvin and Brittany were rolling around on the ground, hitting at each other. Their siblings, surprised by the fight, tried to pull them apart.
"Brittany, what's wrong?" Eleanor asked after got them apart.
"Yeah, Alvin, what happened?" asked Theodore.
"Nothing!" they both answered.
"Eleanor, " Jeanette pulled her sister gently, "I think we should let them talk out their differences."
"Come on, Theodore. Jeanette's right," Simon commented.
As soon as they were alone, Brittany yelled, "Why did you do that?"
"I should be asking you the same question! I haven't seen you all weekend, and then you ignore me all day. It was like I was invisible! Why'd you do that?"
Brittany answered him with hurt in her eyes, "Now you know what it feels like to be ignored."
"What?"
"You always pick on me. You act like I don't exist, like you're the only one who's the best singer. All you do is spend time with your fans. I never have time to talk to you. Ever since you released that new album, you act like your king. I can never talk to you anymore. I thought we were friends."
"I've tried talking with you!"
"When? When was the last time we had a decent conversation or did something fun together?" She crossed her arms waiting for his response.
"I asked you to see that movie with me a few weeks ago."
"I was going to the mall and then a sleepover with my friends. We'd been planning it all month. You would have known that if you would have listened to me. Besides, it'd already seen that movie with Jeanette and Eleanor after you rejected my invitation to go. You decided to have an autograph signing instead."
Alvin tried to argue one more time. "I thought you liked our race to get on the bus."
"Not when I never win!"
Quietly he responded, "I never realized that I paid more attention to my fans than I did you. I didn't mean to ignore you. I'm sorry, Brittany. But," he continued, "You've been treating me awful too, and I don't mean today. You've been talking to me with an attitude. I'm sure it's partly because you're mad at how I treated you, but I think something else is bothering you."
Brittany knew exactly what else it was. She was jealous of his fans., but she wasn't going to tell him that. She contemplated what he said a moment.
"I forgive you. I've just been mad that you ignore me and not your friends, that's all. Now, I need you to do something for me."
"What?" he groaned, afraid she'd make him do her chores for a year.
"I kinda want your help with singing. If Dave asks me to rehearse again, I know I'm going to fail."
"Sure! You need all the help you can get."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
She was giving him an angry look again. Even though it was coming from his body, he could see her look right through it.
Tittering, he added, "Not that you're a bad singer. You need practice with instruments and singing my way."
"Ok."
They stood in front of each other in front of Alvin's house, unsure of what to do now. Alvin shifted his feet, and Brittany looked at Alvin's nails. They both looked up, their eyes meeting. Brittany smiled at him. Her eyes spoke of true forgiveness. Alvin reached over and gave her a hug. As he pulled away, he smiled back too.
"Do you want to get a bite to eat or something? I'm starving!"
"Well," thought aloud Brittany, "I am pretty thirsty. We can go inside and get something to eat."
"I was actually thinking of the ice cream parlor."
He licked his lips, and you could see the "chocolate" look glaze over his face.
"Alright," she laughed. "And you can tell me where you got that cute outfit you're wearing. I don't remember buying it."
"You didn't. I bought it, with your money."
"You picked it out?" Brittany thought for a minute. "With my money?!"
"Well, we're sharing everything else."
"But my money!"
Alvin tittered again and ran in the direction of the ice cream parlor, Brittany close on his heels. The argument was soon resolved, and Alvin and Brittany shared a triple chocolate banana split as they exchanged their weekend stories.
