Chapter 11
After school, Dr. Rubin met up with the munks in Julie's classroom. "Hello, everyone." "Hey, Doc." Alvin said. "I heard your performance earlier, Cash and Katrina. You two sounded amazing." "Well, thanks, doc. But how'd you hear us? We weren't that loud." Cash said. "I heard over the P.A." 'But how…" "I guess one of your classmates must've accidentally hit the P.A. button and your song spread all over the school from there." "So, everyone heard then…" Katrina said, becoming embarrassed. Brittany saw her sister's embarrassment. "Hey, there's no need to be embarrassed, sis. You and Cash sounded amazing. I'll bet all other kids in school are wishing they could sing that good." "You think so?" "I down right know so." "Well, in that case, I didn't mean to make anyone envious." Brittany cocked her head back and groaned. "You've lived a sheltered until now, haven't you?" 'What makes you say that?" "What you just said. Kate, when you've got a gift like you do, and you use it, there are bound to be people who are jealous. And there's nothing you can do about it. All you can do is put your gift to work, and enjoy every minute of it." "Is that what you do?" "Naturally. I know that some people will always be jealous of the fact that I'm a good singer and they're not. I know there'll always be haters. But, as you constantly hear rappers say, you've got to learn to ignore the haters if you plan to get anywhere. Forget about the people who can't or won't accept your gift for what it is. Focus on those that do appreciate it, and focus on yourself, on what you feel about your gift. What I'm saying is, when you use your gift, do it for yourself and for those that don't hate. That way, you'll always have fun and you'll entertain people." "Brittany…" "I'd listen to her if I was you." Dr. Rubin said. "I'm no singer myself, but I do have a keen ear. It helps me chose good music, and hear when someone is laying down the truth. And that's exactly what I heard from Brittany. And think about this, Katrina. Think about some of the greatest performers of all time. Mozart, Elvis, Hendrix. Some of the all time greats. And you know what made them great? They didn't waste time getting bogged down in worrying about the people who didn't like them. They just kept on doing what they did best, and I'll bet that made them happy, and it definitely made lots of other people happy. So, tell me, Katrina. Do you want your name to one day be in the 'pantheon' of great performers, or not?" "Well, I guess I do." "Then shed this shy stuff and do what the great ones before you did. Do what Brittany told you." Katrina was taken aback. "Oh, I'm sorry, was I too forward?" "No, I think your right. All my life I've been sort of shy and reserved. Heck, it took me a ridiculously long time to open up to any other member of the Choy family, other than my adopted mom, Macy. And thinking back on that, I feel stupid. There's no logical reason for me to be this shy. I'm fifteen years old now. I'm supposed to be outgoing and adventurous. It's about time I changed. I don't think I can do it all at once, but starting now, I gonna work at it." "Thata girl, Kate!" Brittany yelled. Dr. Rubin smiled. "Okay, now that that's out of the way, I've got the paper you need right here." Dr. Rubin pulled the talent contest sign up sheet out of her pocket and presented it to the chipmunks and chipettes. The groups quickly looked it over. "Hey, look. They allow us to have one alternate, in case one of us gets hurt or sick and can't perform.' Jeanette said. "Well, we know who our alternate is. Let me see that." Theodore said. He quickly wrote down his, Simon, and Alvin's names. Then, under the alternate portion, Theodore happily scribbled in Cash's name. 'And, Cash Seville. There. Here you go girls." Theodore passed the sheet to the chipettes. Brittany wrote down her and her sisters' names, and then turned to Katrina. 'You okay with being our alternate, Kate?" "Sure." "Hey, Brittany." Jeanette called. "What is it, jean?" "I over looked something. I curse my near sightedness. But, anyway, look. I saw this once I got a closer look." Brittany read the portion of the sheet that Jeanette pointed out. "Let's see. If felt necessary, alternate can perform with all other members of group present. I guess that means that, if we feel like it, we can have Kate perform with us, or the guys can have Cash perform with them, whether any of us are sick or not." "Cool. Hurry, write her name down, Britt." Eleanor said. "Right." Brittany quickly wrote down Katrina's name and then handed the sheet back to Dr. Rubin. "Alright. I'll go turn this in for you. The people running the competition should contact you in a few days. But, I want you to start practicing tonight. After you get done with your homework of course. And I want you to do that every night until the competition is over." "You got it, Dr. Rubes." Alvin said. "And, hey, I'll even let you guys stay and practice in here after school, so you can use the instruments in here. I know you guys can't keep all the instruments you might need at home, so feel free to try here. And I'll help you." "Cool, thanks, Julie." "Alright, then. Thank you, Miss Otega. But for now, get out of here. I'm pretty sure Mr. Seville is outside waiting for you and wondering where you are." 'Right. Later!" Alvin called as he lead the others out of the room and out to the car. Dave was standing outside the car, waiting for them. 'There you are. I was about to come in and look for you." "Sorry, Dave. We were talking to Dr. Rubin about something." Brittany said. Dave looked down to Alvin. "Alvin." He said. "I didn't do anything." "For once, he's telling the truth, Dave." Simon said. "Hey, what do ya mean 'for once'?" Simon ignored Alvin's yelling. "Well, if Alvin wasn't in trouble, what were you talking about?" Dave asked. "Well, Dr. Rubes has got us lined up to save the school again." Alvin said. 'Save the school?" "He means raise money." Simon said. "What happened this time? Don't tell me the music department is trouble again." "No. It's something else." "Well, what happened?" " Alvin ran and jumped into the open passenger side window of the car and sat on the edge. "We'll tell you about it on the ride home. Hmm. Hey, Cash!" "Yeah, Al?" "Who, first time I've been called Al." "I can call you Alvin instead. Whatever you prefer." 'You know, it actually feels pretty good to have a nick name. let's go with Al." "Okay. So, what do you want, Al?" "I wanna test you one more time. See, if you gonna be a member of the chipmunks, then you have to be able to jump. High. Cause we do a lot of acrobatic moves in our performances. If you can't even make the jump from there to this window, your in trouble. So, let's see your jump." "Okay." Cash ran and jumped, like a rocket being launched, at the window. However, he jumped too high and it looked like he would collide with the top of the door. Thinking quickly, Cash stuck his hands out and pushed off the top the door. He landed on the roof of the car with a series of back flips. The rest of the Seville family clapped wildly and Katrina swooned. "Hmph, show off." Alvin said. "Funny. Don't we usually hear that said about you, Alvin?" Simon asked. "Oh, just shut up and get in the car, Simon." Alvin plopped down into the seat. Dave opened the door and the rest of the munks climbed in. Cash jumped off the roof and into Dave's hand. Dave then set Cash down in the seat, next to Katrina. He then pulled the seat belt across the munks and buckled it. He noticed that Alvin looked upset. "And so the sibling rivalry begins." He thought. He then shut the door, walked around the car, got in on the driver's side, buckled himself in and started the car. He then pulled away from the car and began talking to Simon and Jeanette, who were seated closest to him, about what they had talked to Dr. Rubin about. Meanwhile, Brittany was trying to cheer Alvin up. "Ah, don't be mad, Alvy. After all, you did ask him to show you how high he can jump." "First of all, britt, Alvy…actually, I kind of like that. Keep calling me that." 'Okay." "As for Cash's jump, he didn't have to jump so high. Or the do the back flips." "Well, the back flips were probably just for show but, the jump, well, maybe that's how high he jumps naturally." "That jump? Natural? What is he? The bionic chipmunk?" "I doubt it. Look, Alvy, all I'm saying is that we don't know all there is to know about Cash, or Katrina, yet. Give it some time, and we'll know everything. But, since they're bound to surprise now and then, you've gotta stop getting upset when Cash proves that he might be better at something than you." "You won't get mad Katrina if she proves that she's better at something than you?" "She already has." "Huh?" "She's already shown that she's better at admitting her feelings for somebody than I am." "Again, huh?" Brittany didn't answer. She fidgeted for a moment and then took Alvin's hand in her own. Alvin immediately took the meaning of this gesture. "You mean?" Alvin said quietly. Brittany nodded. "You'll have me, right?" "Absolutely." Brittany smiled ear to ear. "But, see, Alvy? You and I have known each other for a year and we just now admitted what everybody else already knew. Katrina on the other hand. She knew she wanted Cash, probably from the moment she met him. And she wasn't slow about becoming his girlfriend. Or did you forget that they hooked up the very night of the day they met?" "No, I didn't forget." "Well, see, Kate's already proven that she's better at admitting her feelings than I am. Even though she's supposed to be shy and reserved, that was one instance where she proved she was better than me. But, you know what, I'm cool with that. In fact, I'm happy for her. If being with Cash makes her happy, then I'm happy. I mean, look at them talking to Theo and Ely. They're so happy to be with each other and to be talking with their siblings that they can't hear us." "Yeah, they are pretty wrapped up in their conversation and each other. You know, Britt. I think Dr. Rubes was right." 'About what?" "Well, she said us being together would make us happy, and you know, the longer you hold my hand, the happier I'm getting." "And who else is right?" " 'sigh' You are. Your right. If we're ever gonna live together, then I gotta learn to not get jealous when Cash proves he's better at something than me. So, I'm gonna try to the learn that." 'Good. And, I'll understand if it takes some time. After all, your still you and old habits die hard. But, I'll be with you every step of the way." "Thanks, Britt." Brittany leaned in towards Alvin's ear and whispered 'I, I love you, Alvin." Alvin's eyes went wide. "Boy, that was fast." They heard Dave say. They thought Dave was talking about them. They quickly broke apart. "What was fast, Dave?" Alvin asked. "How fast you agreed to help the school. So selfless. I'm proud of you guys." "Thanks, Dave. Um, you know Dr. Rubin wants us to start practicing tonight, right?" "Yeah, and I'm fine with that. So long as you do your homework first." "Of course. That's what Dr. Rubin told us to do." Simon said. "And thankfully, we don't usually get that much homework." Jeanette said. "So we'll be able to practice a lot. We should start thinking about what we're gonna sing." Meanwhile, in the school basement, Ian had just finished shaving. "There, now I look presentable. Tomorrow, I work a little of that Ian magic and sign those two. And then, it's back to the top."