Hey, everyone!

I am so, so sorry! I know that it's been, like, months since I updated. School really hit me hard this year, and I've been scrambling to keep up with my hectic life, so I didn't have any time for writing. Things have calmed down a bit now, and I shall continue with the Case of the Missing Bracelet, because I do not give up on stories. I postpone them occasionally, but I do not give up.

Enjoy the next chapter!

"Jeanette, go!" Eleanor was bouncing excitedly on the counter. "It's your turn!"

Smiling at Ellie's antics, Jeanette picked up where she had left off in her story.


"WOO-HOO!" Alvin skidded through the door, pumping a fist in the air. "We did it! We made it! We're alive!"

"And lucky to be!" Simon yelled, popping his brother's bubble as he stormed in after him.

Brittany hurried up to the two brothers. "Alvin? Simon? What's the matter?"

She paused, hesitant. "Er…and…why are you all covered in mud?"

"Because Alvin decided to be an idiot," Eleanor groaned, coming in after the two brothers with Theodore right on her heels.

"Hey!" Alvin protested.

She shot him a look that was half-annoyed, half-apologetic. "Sorry, bro. It's true."

"We're all okay now, though, and that's what's important," Jeanette called as she hurried through the door. Her hair had fallen out of its bun, and it was sprawled messily all over her head. It was also filled with sticks, leaves, and dirt.

"OH!" Brittany shrieked.

They all tensed. "What?" Simon yelled. "What is it?"

"Jeanette, your HAIR!" she wailed, dashing over to her sister.

Jeanette rolled her eyes as Brittany swiftly began to remove the debris piece by piece.

"What HAPPENED?" Brittany demanded, her eyes wide and horror-struck as she realized that the others were muddy and leafy, too.

"I'll tell you what happened," Simon growled. "Alvin decided to be an idiot, that's what happened!"

"I did not," Alvin interjected, his eyes narrowed.

Brittany raised an eyebrow. "Tell me exactly what happened," she insisted as she completely dismantled Jeanette's hair. "But could you tell me upstairs?"

She grabbed her sister and hauled her all the way to the bathroom.

"All right, get undressed," she instructed.

Jeanette blushed so furiously that it looked as though she'd dyed her fur red. "Brittany!"

"Oh, stop it," her sister snapped. "They've seen us without clothes on before. It's not a big deal."

"Turn around!" Jeanette hissed at the boys, who quickly obliged.

"All right, what happened?" Brittany asked, hopping up to the sink. She plugged the drain and turned on the hot water faucet, adding some bubble bath mix to it. The sink, the chipmunks' bathtub, began to fill.

"Well—," Alvin started.

"I'll tell what happened, thanks," Simon snapped at his brother.

"Jeanette, get in," Brittany instructed, turning the faucet off.

Her sister knew better than to argue. She climbed up onto the sink and slid into the hot, soapy water.

"All right, go ahead," Brittany said briskly as she began to completely dismantle her sister's hair.

After making sure that Jeanette's body was concealed with the bubbles, the boys turned around.

"Alvin, like the idiot he is, was following Jessica around all day," Simon growled as Brittany vigorously shampooed Jeanette's head, causing her sister to wince. "We caught up to him at the park, where Jessica and Ryan were having some sort of picnic. And then somebody," he said sarcastically, shooting his brother a fierce look as Jeanette ducked under the water to wash the shampoo out of her hair, "had the brilliant idea to get in the picnic basket to follow Jessica home."

"And you didn't, right?" Brittany asked warningly.

"Actually, we did!" Simon said in a fake-happy voice. "And guess who went running off before we could say a thing and stupidly climbed into the basket before we could do a thing about it, and guess who had to follow him?"

"I'm guessing Alvin," Brittany muttered as Jeanette resurfaced, her fur now clean. Brittany squirted some conditioner into her hand and began to lather her sister's hair in sharp jerks, causing Jeanette to wince.

"Yeah, we got in the picnic basket," Simon snapped as Jeanette was dunked under again. "And guess what? The picnic basket didn't belong to Jessica! It belonged to Ryan!"

"Well," Jeanette gasped, spluttering as she resurfaced, "to be fair, not a lot of guys are secure enough in their manliness to even have a picnic basket, let alone use it. It was an honest mista—,"

Her words were cut off as Brittany pushed her under again. She paused, and then pulled her sister back up. Jeanette coughed fiercely as her sister pulled the plug on the sink and hauled Jeanette out of it. Brittany wrapped her in a towel, and they both hopped to the floor again as the water drained out of the sink.

"Please, continue," Brittany said sweetly, switching on the hair drier and aiming it at poor Jeanette, who had to grab onto the side of the towel rack to keep from being blown away. After a few quick seconds, Brittany turned the drier off. Jeanette was so tiny that she had been completely dried off.

Brittany pulled her over and began to brush Jeanette's fur in quick, smooth strokes.

"Well, the picnic basket did belong to Ryan, so we got taken to his house instead," Simon continued, glowering at his brother. "Then, when we were trying to find a way out of there, Alvin decided to be stupid AGAIN and go down a dark, abandoned hallway, and dragged Theo with him—,"

"Excuse me," Alvin interrupted. "But Theo followed me, thank you very much."

Simon shot him a dark glare. "Fine. Whatever. So they went down a dark abandoned hallway, and it turns out that Ryan's room was at the end of it."

"Britt, you should have seen it!" Alvin interjected, his eyes wide. "There was jewelry EVERYWHERE! You weren't the only one that he stole from."

"Wait just a minute," Brittany interrupted. She turned to Jeanette, holding out a bundle of clothes. "Put these on," she instructed her sister, and then turned back to Alvin, her hands on her hips. "You mean to tell me that Ryan was the one that took my bracelet? Not Jessica?"

"Yeah!" Alvin said excitedly. "We found it right in the middle of all the other jewelry!"

Brittany let out a squeal, clapping her hands together. "Yes! That's wonderful! And you got it back?"

Alvin fidgeted. "Er…well…not exactly."

Her eyes narrowed. "What do you mean, 'not exactly?'"

He sighed. "Look, I tried, I really did! But…it just…"

Jeanette stepped out cautiously. She was now wearing a ruffled turquoise shirt with a flowery belt, black leggings, and silver ballet flats.

Brittany grabbed her again and dragged her over to a stool. She pushed her sister down on it and began to weave strands of Jeanette's hair together. "Tell me what happened," she demanded, glaring at Alvin.

"Take it away, Si," he squeaked.

Simon sighed. "That was when Jeanette, Ellie, and I realized that they were missing. We followed them and caught up to them just as Ryan found us. He was going for Alvin, but Jeanette got in the way and saved his sorry tail, and Ryan grabbed HER instead. Ellie jumped on him—,"

"Wow, El, way to go!" Brittany exclaimed, clearly impressed.

"—and he dropped Jeanette—,"

"WHAT?" she shouted, dropping her sister's hair.

"I caught her, I caught her!" Simon rushed to assure the frantic Brittany, who, glowering, began to style Jeanette's hair again. "Anyway, he dropped her, I caught her," he hastily added at Brittany's dangerous look, "and she, Ellie, and Theo high-tailed it out of there. Alvin kept being an idiot and going after the bracelet, but I got his sorry tail out of there, too. Then he found a cat flap, and we all climbed up a tree. When we thought Ryan was gone, we got down and began to head home, but it turns out that he was driving around the neighborhood in his car looking for us. When he saw ALVIN jumping on a parking meter because he thought it was 'broken,' he began to chase us. We had to cut through the park a few times and go into the woods to get away from him. Then ALVIN claimed he knew where he was going, but he wound up getting us all hopelessly lost, and we wandered around the woods for HOURS before finally making our way back here—that's why we're all dirty and muddy," he added.

"Well, Jeanette certainly isn't anymore!" Brittany exclaimed triumphantly, finishing off the French braid in her sister's hair with an elastic on the end and displaying her freshly scrubbed, cleaned, conditioned, dried, groomed, dressed, and styled sister.

"That's true," Jeanette said grumpily. "Are you done with me now?"

"Yep," Brittany chirped, letting go of her sister and beaming cheerfully. "Well, I'm certainly glad that you all got back safely."

"I'm so, so sorry, Britt," Alvin said sincerely. "I tried valiantly to get your bracelet back, but my bonehead brother stopped me. I wish I could have done something about it."

Brittany giggled, blushing and looking down. "Well, I think it was a job well done anyway," she said shyly. "You sounded like you were magnificent."

"Excuse me?" Simon was indignant. "Did you not hear a word I just said?"

Brittany was still giggling and staring into Alvin's eyes.

Simon threw his hands in the air in exasperation. "I give up," he snapped. "You're welcome, by the way, for keeping your pet jock safe." Before they could respond, he stomped out of the bathroom to go change his clothes.

"Well, at least I'm clean…but I'm still glad that's over," Jeanette sighed, adjusting her new clothes and picking up her old dirty ones to put in the laundry.

"Better you than me," a cheerful Eleanor agreed.

But she froze when she heard Brittany call to her, "Eleanor, you're next!"


"All right, guys!" Alvin exclaimed, pacing back and forth in front of Simon and Theodore later that night. "We know where Brittany's bracelet is, and we know who took it! Are we going to stand for this? NO! Are we going to let Ryan get away with it? NO! Are we going to sneak out tonight and go to Ryan's house to get her bracelet back?"

"That would be another NO," a stern voice said from the doorway.

They whirled guiltily around to see Dave standing in the doorway with his eyebrows raised.

"Uh…hi, Dave," Alvin squeaked. "How much of that pep talk did you hear?"

"I didn't hear anything but the fact that you were planning on sneaking out tonight, and the answer is NO, you may not," he said just as the girls scampered in. A grumpy Eleanor had her fur washed, conditioned, and brushed, new clean clothes that were somewhat more fashionable than her other ones, and freshly styled hair just like Jeanette. It was clear that Brittany had just finished with her.

"You can go and see your friend Ryan tomorrow," Dave continued. "Claire and I are having a nice dinner tonight, and you all are staying home."

"But Ryan isn't our friend," Theodore protested. "We want to go over because he sto—OOMPH!"

Alvin had just thrown his elbow into his brother's gut. He blinked innocently up at Dave.

Dave regarded them with a suspicious look for a moment. "You heard that, right, girls? You're not to leave the house tonight at all."

"All right, Dave," they answered glumly.

Dave left the room.

"What was that for?" Theodore snapped almost immediately.

"We don't want Dave to know that Ryan stole the bracelet, or else it'll get to the police and all the grown-ups will be involved!" Alvin snapped. "I don't want any adults stealing my glory! Brittany will never go out with me if DAVE is the one to save her bracelet!"

"Well, I hope you're not plotting anything," Simon snapped. "You heard Dave. No funny business!"

He gave them all the evil eye before stomping out of the room. After a slight hesitation, Jeanette followed.

"So…we aren't going to do anything, right?" Theodore asked nervously, turning to Alvin.

Alvin gave his brother a rather evil look. "Oh, Theodore, you novice."

Brittany grinned. "Excellent! My bracelet is within our reach!"

Eleanor raised an eyebrow. "Yeah. Um, one flaw in your big master plan. HOW ARE WE GOING TO GET OUT OF THE HOUSE AND SAVE IT WITHOUT—,"

"WOULD YOU KEEP IT DOWN?" Alvin bellowed as if they were on opposite sides of the country.

"Oh, you're one to talk," she grumbled.

"BOTH OF YOU, KNOCK IT OFF!" Theodore screamed.

"WHAT IS WITH ALL THE YELLING?" Simon roared, poking his head back into the room.

There was an awkward silence.

Alvin decided to go with Old Reliable. "Uh…nothing?"

Simon rolled his eyes. "Whatever. You guys are so weird sometimes." He stomped back out of the room and upstairs.

Alvin turned to Eleanor with yet another sinister smile. "Oh, Ellie, of course there's a plan. There's always a plan."

"Well, goodbye, Dave!" Alvin called cheerfully, waving a paw innocently at his guardian figure as he left.

As soon as the door shut behind the tuxedo-clad Dave and Claire, his date, Alvin whirled around, rubbing his hands together mischievously.

"All right, it's time to come up with a plan," he muttered anxiously.

"MY EARRINGS!"

Theodore and Alvin jumped at Eleanor's distressed cry. They both darted up the stairs as fast as they could.

"What's this about earrings?" Alvin questioned.

Eleanor was nearly hysterical. "My earrings are missing!" she wailed. "I had them yesterday, and now they're GONE!"

"AHA!" Alvin shouted. "Ryan again, I expect!"

"And we'll deal with him LATER, as in NOT TONIGHT, correct?" Simon glared over his book at Alvin.

"Of course, Si," Alvin responded, chuckling nervously. "Why would we attempt anything TONIGHT of all nights?"

Simon shot him a suspicious look before returning to his book.

And it was then that Alvin came up with a plan.

He grabbed Theodore by the arm and yanked him into the bathroom.

"I've GOT it! The CAR!" he cried excitedly, slamming the door shut behind him.

Theodore blinked. "Pardon?" he said at last, puzzled.

Alvin was nearly jumping up and down with excitement. "The remote control car that Dave got me for my birthday!" he cried. "You and I can take that to Ryan's house, bust him, get the jewelry back, and apprehend the criminal!"

"Wait a minute, wait a minute," Theodore interjected. "WE? Who is this WE that you are referring to?"

Alvin groaned. "Oh, come ON, Theo, you're starting to sound like Simon!" he complained. "Nothing bad is going to happen! Since when do you chicken out when there's a chance at adventure?"

Theodore frowned. "When Dave specifically told us that we shouldn't go, and that we'd be in big trouble if we did!"

Alvin tried his last resort. "Theodore, think of ELLIE!"

That stopped his little brother right in his tracks.

"Her earrings are missing, right?" Alvin asked urgently. "She REALLY loves those earrings. I see her wearing them almost every single day. If you got them back for her, she would think that you were a HERO! She might even go out with you!"

A fresh sparkle lit Theodore's bright green eyes. His fists clenched and his teeth gritted in determination.

"Let's do this," the little chipmunk hissed.

"All right, here's the plan," Alvin whispered to the four huddled in the bathroom. "Jeanette and Simon CANNOT KNOW about Operation Jewel-Thief-Bustage—,"

"I still think we need a new name for the operation," Brittany interjected, her arms crossed in annoyance.

Alvin waved a hand impatiently in her direction. "The name of the mission isn't important, Britt! We just have to focus here, all right?"

She pouted, but remained silent this time.

"Okay. Simon would never go along with it, and Jeanette will likely take his side rather than oppose him. The first order of business will fall to Brittany. She has to keep the two older kids occupied so that they don't know that we've gotten out of here."

Alvin's instructions ringing in her ears, Brittany tiptoed down the hallway. She took a deep breath before poking her head into Jeanette's room.

"Hey, Jeanette!" she chirped, trying not to sound guilty or overenthusiastic. "Wanna play a game?"

Jeanette nodded, putting her book down on the bed. "Sure, Britt! What do you want to play?"

Brittany flashed her sister a big smile. "I don't know! Anything! Why don't you pick this time?"

Jeanette brightened considerably. "All right! How about backgammon?"

Inwardly, Brittany cringed fiercely, but she kept the smile plastered on her face. "Sounds great!" she said cheerfully. "I think that one's in the closet. Want to go and get it?"

Jeanette obliged, putting her book down and heading down the hall with her sister.

The closet door was already open a crack. Jeanette opened it further and peeked in.

"I don't think it's in here, Britt," Jeanette called back.

"Oh, it is!" Brittany insisted. "I saw it just the other day! I think it's in that shadowy part in the back—why don't you get a closer look?"

"Well, all right…" Jeanette stepped into the closet fully, heading to the back.

Waiting until her sister's back was turned, Brittany firmly bumped the closet door with her hip. It shut with a THUD.

In an instant, Jeanette was hammering on the outside of the door. "HEY! Britt, the door shut!"

"Oh!" Brittany cried, feigning anxiety. "Oh, my gosh, I bumped it by mistake! Hang on, hang on, I'll get it open!"

She pretended to struggle for a moment before saying, "I can't reach the knob! Let me go get Simon!"

She scampered off, silently giggling to herself.

Composing herself before she went into Simon's room, she hurried in.

"Simon, I need your help!" she cried. "My hairspray is on the top shelf in the bathroom, and I can't get to it!"

He heaved a sigh of great annoyance, as if she had asked him to work overtime on Christmas.

"All right, fine," he grumbled. "I'm coming."

They went to the bathroom, and he stepped in.

"Which shelf?" he called in a longsuffering voice.

"That one at the very top," Brittany called back cheerfully.

SLAM! When his back was turned, the door shut on him as well.

"Oh!" Brittany squealed. "Oh, Simon, I'm really sorry! I hit the door by accident—hang on, I'll try to get you out of there!"

She pretended to make an attempt.

"Oh, it's no use! I can't reach the knob!" she called, distressed. "Hang on! I'll try to find Jeanette!"

She dashed off, grinning madly to herself.

Her part of the mission was accomplished.

"I can do that," Brittany said with a firm nod.

"Excellent," Alvin nodded. "While you're doing that, Theodore and I will get down the stairs and ready the car. Eleanor, you're going to be our Mission Control. Your first job is to find Jeanette's cell phone. You can use that one. Brittany, Theo, and I will use Britt's."

Eleanor felt almost dirty about what she was doing, but she knew that if they had any hope of getting the bracelet back, some snooping was going to be required.

She snuck into the girls' room on tiptoe. After carefully hunting around in the closet, on top of the dresser, and in the filing cabinet, Eleanor finally discovered a dusty box that was underneath the bed. She pulled it out and opened it.

Bingo.

All of Jeanette's most secret, most private things were in the box. There were photo albums, magazine covers, and even her diary. Eleanor was careful not to look at anything that she didn't have to—she still wanted to respect her older sister's privacy to SOME extent—but she had to look at quite a few magazine clippings with pictures of Simon on them and red hearts drawn around him before she finally found Jeanette's chipmunk-sized SmartPhone. She pulled it out, made sure that Brittany's cell phone was in the contacts list, replaced the pictures (after making a "gross" face), and put the box back where it had been.

She scampered out of the room.

Her part of the mission was accomplished.

"Theodore, Britt, and I will go to Ryan's house in the remote-controlled car—I have the remote, Eleanor, don't give me that look—while Eleanor remains here. We'll give her updates through text about our progress. At the right time, she'll contact the principal and Ryan's parents and have them drive to his house so that he'll get busted."

"The principal?" Brittany frowned. "Why the principal?"

"Because," Alvin said impatiently, "we're trying to get Ryan in trouble, aren't we? Calling the POLICE is a little drastic for a childish prank like this, but the principal said at the assembly that she was on the lookout for the person who was stealing all the girls' jewelry. He'll probably be suspended, or maybe even expelled!" Alvin cackled evilly. "And who better to get him in trouble than his own parents?"

"There was an assembly?" Theodore muttered to Eleanor under his breath.

"You were in the Home Ec. Room trying to salvage your burnt lasagna," she explained back in a whisper.

"I didn't know that the oven was set too high!" he said defensively. "My lasagna is usually fantastic."

"Anyway, we'll barge in and bust Ryan, and hopefully his parents and the principal will arrive at the crucial time and be there to witness the whole thing. We'll get the jewelry back, Ryan will get in trouble, and then Brittany—,"

"Brittany what?" Brittany asked suspiciously, looking over at him.

"Er—Brittany—will—," Alvin fumbled around for an excuse not to tell her his Girlfriend plan. "Will finally get her bracelet back!" he said quickly. "Brittany will finally get her bracelet back."

"Nice save," Theodore muttered under his breath.

"Shut it, Theo," Alvin hissed back.

"Okay, are we all ready?" Eleanor exclaimed, darting into the boys' room. Then she frowned. "Wait, where's Brittany?"

"There's been a change in plans," Theodore said breathlessly. "Simon was about to get out of the bathroom, so she went to stall him longer."

"Theo and I are leaving now in the remote control car," Alvin called from the window. He was holding the control in his hands, fiddling with the steering stick and squinting out through the glass. "I'm steering it to the sidewalk right now. Once Simon's been subdued, Brittany will come down and join us."

"What about me?" Eleanor asked.

"You're still Mission Control," Alvin told her. "You have to remain here and make the calls, and also make sure that Simon and Jeanette don't get out."

"Guys, I'm not so sure about this!" Eleanor cried nervously. "Why can't we just wait until a different night instead of all this sneaking around? Or tell Dave or Claire or someone else?"

"No way!" Theodore said fiercely. "Ellie, we can't back out now. Not when we're so close! We've already planned this all out. Come on, don't you want your earrings back?"

Eleanor bit her lip. "I guess so…" she said nervously. "Yes. Yes, I really, really want them back. But still…"

"Well, the remote control car is at the sidewalk," Alvin called. "If we're backing out, then we have to do it now."

"Well, I suppose if Ellie isn't comfortable with it—," Theodore began.

"Heck, no!" Alvin interrupted. "We're not backing out now! I just said that to be polite! Ellie, how many phones do you have?"

"Well, I've got mine and Britt's," she said uncertainly, "and here's Jeanette's." She tossed it to him.

He caught it. "Great. We'll text you. Come on, Theo, let's go!"

He grabbed his brother and they both scampered out of the room.

Upstairs in the closet, a loud banging noise could be heard.

"Brittany?" Jeanette called desperately. "Britt, are you still out there? Where's Simon?"

There was no answer. Brittany was, at the moment, tying a complicated lock system to the bathroom door so that Simon wouldn't be able to get it open.

"Brittany, you know I'm afraid of the dark!" Jeanette whimpered. "That's not funny! Let me out!"

Still no reply.

"BRITT!" she screamed, pounding on the door.

It swung open.

She blinked as light streamed into the closet.

"The latch must not have caught all the way!" she said to herself. "BRITTANY!"

There was no sign of her sister upstairs, so she scampered down. To her surprise, the door was open.

Back upstairs and leaving their room, Theodore and Alvin scampered along down the hallway. Theodore had Jeanette's phone in his sweater pocket, and Alvin clutched the remote control in his paw as they ran.

"I'm not so sure about this," Theodore gasped to Alvin.

Alvin stopped and seized his brother's shoulders. "Ellie, Theodore! Think about Ellie! Do it for Ellie!"

Slowly, the uncertainty faded from Theodore's eyes, replaced by a steely determination.

"All right," he said firmly. "Let's do it!"

They scampered down the stairs and headed for the door…

…only to stop dead.

"Jeanette!" Alvin squeaked.

She whirled around and saw them. "Guys! What are you doing? Have you seen Simon anywhere, because I can't…"

Her voice died as she took in their appearance. They had on dark black sweaters and hats.

Her violet eyes narrowed in suspicion behind her glasses. "What are you doing?"

"Er—ninja training!" Alvin said quickly. "We were just practicing…"

The glare that she gave them told them that she wasn't buying it.

"I don't think so," she said slowly. "You're sneaking out, aren't you? After Dave told us not to! Where's Simon?"

"Simon isn't coming, Jeanette," Alvin snapped at her.

Her eyes widened. "What did you do to him?" she cried.

"Oh, he's fine," Theodore said impatiently. "He's in the bathroom! Now get out of the way!"

Determination took over Jeanette's expression. She stepped between them and the open door.

"No," she said, slowly and deliberately.

Theodore's eyes narrowed. "What?" he asked in a dangerous tone.

There was a flicker of fear in her eyes, but she stood her ground. "N-no!" she repeated, her voice squeaking slightly. "You heard me! I'm not letting you go out there!"

"Aw, Jeanette, come on!" Alvin shouted. "You're really going to choose NOW to grow a backbone? Move!"

"No!" she shouted back at them. "Dave said not to—,"

Theodore wasn't listening. He was thinking furiously.

They had to find some way to evade her. But even if they managed to duck around her, she would still know. She would find Simon and let him out, and the mission would be compromised.

There was only one thing to do.

Theodore's eyes narrowed. He was a 'munk on a mission, and he was not going to let anything get in the way of impressing Eleanor.

Crouching down, he sprang off the floor. Remembering the gymnastics that Eleanor had tried to teach him, he soared through the air, reaching down to nab the controller out of Alvin's paws, and flipped right over Jeanette's arm.

He landed in a crouch on the other side.

Without hesitating, he yelled over his shoulder to Alvin, "GRAB HER!"

"Wait, what?" Jeanette cried.

Then she let out a shriek as Alvin grabbed her around the waist with both arms and yanked her off of her feet. He turned and dashed after Theodore, carrying Jeanette almost effortlessly.

"You can't do this!" she yelled. "Put me down! Simon! SIMON!"

He dragged her out the door and slammed it behind him.

"Hurry up!" Theodore bellowed from the curb. Alvin ran down the driveway, Jeanette kicking and screaming the whole way.

Upstairs, Eleanor heard a commotion. Frowning, she dashed to the window and peered out.

Before she could make out what was happening, she got a text on her phone. She lifted it up. It was from Theodore.

Problem, it read. jeanette got free. had 2 take her w/ us. tell britt 2 get downstairs w/ her phone and take the bike and we'll meet her at ryans

What?! Eleanor texted back, frantic.

Then Brittany burst into the room.

"That should hold Simon," she said breathlessly. "Where are the boys?"

"There's been a change of plans," Eleanor told her urgently. "Jeanette got out somehow, and they had to take her with them."

"What?" Brittany shouted.

"I don't know the details; I just got the text from Theodore!" Eleanor yelled. "Just get down there. There isn't any room in the car, so you have to take the motorcycle. Here's your phone. I've got mine, and they've got Jeanette's. Just go ahead of them, and they'll meet you there."

Brittany nodded, looking paler than normal and very worried as she caught the phone. She turned and scampered out of the room.

She ran all the way down the stairs and into the garage, where she found the toy motorcycle and her shiny pink helmet. She remembered all too well jumping from Ian's limo onto the bicycle, and how Alvin had saved her and her sisters riding on it.

She yanked on her helmet and climbed onto the bike, immensely grateful that Alvin had taught her how to drive it the instant the girls had moved in.

She jumped it over the cement step and out of the garage. She zipped down the driveway and onto the sidewalk. Behind her, the door opened. She heard Theodore and Jeanette shouting and saw three dark figures moving down the driveway, but she didn't have time to stop and see what was going on. With a quick wave to Alvin, she shoved her phone into her pocket and took off, passing the remote controlled car and speeding off down the sidewalk.


Simon hammered on the bathroom door. "Brittany, I don't know WHAT is going on, but you had better open this door right no—,"

Before he could finish, he heard a terribly familiar and muffled voice from downstairs.

He dashed over to the vent and put his ear to it, the vent that was connected to the one by the door downstairs.

He heard Jeanette's frantic voice. "…put me down! Simon! SIMON!"

Then there was the sound of a door slamming.

"Jeanette!" he yelled. "Jeanette!"

There was no answer.

His fists clenched almost involuntarily.

He grabbed the side of the sink and began to climb up, inch by inch. When he finally got to the top, he planted his paws firmly.

He got on one end of the toothpaste. Then, with considerable effort, he managed to lift the extremely heavy bottle of soap.

With a grunt, he threw it as high in the air as he could.

"I'm coming, Jeanette!" he shouted.

The soap slammed into the other end of the toothpaste, and it sent him flying. He soared all the way across the room.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" he screamed.

He slammed into the doorknob so hard that it knocked the wind out of him, but he managed to wrap his arms around it so that he didn't fall. He hung there for a moment, caught his breath, and twisted the doorknob.

The door opened, and he fell to the ground, landing on the plushy foot rug.

He scrambled to his feet, unhurt, as he heard the latch click. He shoved against the door with all his might, and it swung open.

He could hear muffled cries and yells from the driveway outside.

"Jeanette!" he yelled again. "Hang on! I'm coming! Jeanette!"

He scrambled down the stairs, but he lost his footing. Bonking and slamming his way down each stair, he landed on the hard wood floor at the bottom of the stairs with the wind knocked out of him.

After he managed to catch his breath, he got to his feet and ran to the door, but it was too late. He saw a remote controlled car speeding off into the night.

Simon gritted his teeth.

Alvin.

But where is he taking her?

Simon, who hadn't heard any of the plans for going to Ryan's house, had no idea where they had gone.

Brittany! She put me in the bathroom on PURPOSE!

Then he thought he heard someone talking upstairs.

Someone is still in the house!

Simon darted up the stairs and approached the end of the hall.

He pushed the door open.


Eleanor nervously watched her sister dash out of the room.

Peering out the window, she watched dark shapes on the sidewalk. Alvin appeared to be dragging Jeanette down the driveway, who was fighting tooth and nail to get away from him. Theodore was on the curb next to the remote controlled car. A second later, Eleanor saw Brittany roar out of the garage on the motorcycle. She hopped onto the sidewalk and zipped out of sight.

Without wasting a second, Eleanor picked up her phone and dialed Jeanette's number. Theodore picked up quickly.

"Hello?" she heard him squeak.

"Theo!" she snapped without preamble. "What the heck is going on? Where's my sister?"

"Oh, she just left on the motorcycle—,"

"MY OTHER SISTER!" Eleanor barked. "Jeanette!"

"Well—er—we had to take her with us," Theodore said nervously.

"WHAT?"

"We didn't have a choice, Ellie!" he defended himself. "She got out of the closet somehow and she was blocking our way, threatening to tell Dave. If we'd left her here, she would have gotten Simon out and ruined the entire operation!"

Eleanor tried desperately to find an argument, but she couldn't come up with anything. Finally, she sighed.

"You had better take really good care of her!" she insisted. "You let her get hurt, and I will be EXTREMELY upset, do you understand me, Theodore Seville?"

"Alvin's got her," Theodore insisted. "He won't let anything happen to her, I promise."

"Right, because THAT makes me feel so much better," Eleanor muttered, then spoke louder. "All right, all right. Just…take care of yourselves out there, all right? ALL of you."

"Thanks, Ellie." Theodore sounded relieved. "We'll text you when you have to call the principal and Ryan's parents."

"Will do," she answered. "Hurry, okay?"

"Okay. Bye."

Eleanor hung up. She peered out through the dark window again and saw the blurry figures on the sidewalk through the glass. Theodore hopped into the car, clutching the remote tightly. She watched Alvin force Jeanette into the car and then get in himself, slamming the door behind them.

The car roared off down the sidewalk, and then they were gone.

"Be careful," Eleanor whispered after them into the rapidly darkening night.

Then someone cleared their throat from behind her.

She whirled around, her green eyes wide and alarmed.

There, standing in the doorway, was—

"S-Simon!" she squeaked. "I—there you are! I've been looking for you…"

Her voice trailed off. His narrowed, icy blue eyes clearly told her that he didn't believe a word of it.

"Have you really?" he said quietly.

Eleanor didn't respond, pressed up against the window. She managed to subtly drop her phone into her pocket.

"You seem awfully concerned, Eleanor," he said in a low voice. "What's the matter? And why are you talking out the window?" He glared at her. "Is someone OUT there, by any chance?"

"I—I don't know what you're talking about," Eleanor squeaked.

Simon took a step forward, then another. Eleanor sidled along the wall, away from him.

Then she hit another wall.

She looked desperately around as Simon advanced, but there was nothing to be done, nowhere to go. She was, literally and metaphorically, trapped in a corner.

"All right, Eleanor," Simon said slowly. "If you're so innocent, then where's Jeanette?"

Eleanor gulped.

"Where are any of them, for that matter?" he continued. "Britt? My brothers? Have any elaborate cover story for them?"

"I—,"

"The game's up, Eleanor," Simon snapped. "I know that you four are up to something. WHAT IS IT?"

"I'll never rat them out!" Eleanor exploded, her green eyes narrowing defensively as determination took over. "Not in a million years! Not in a BILLION years!"

Simon looked slightly surprised at first, but he quickly recovered. "All right, then," he growled, stepping forward again. "It looks like we're going to have to do this the hard way."