Chapter 2: Eleanor's Troubles Worsen

Eleanor didn't eat much of her chicken and potato dinner that evening, chiefly because she thought that part of the plan she had been giving would involve smaller portions. Moreover, she surprised Miss Miller and her sisters by convincing them to let her have her evening bath first. When she was in her pajamas, Eleanor stashed the corset Janice had given her in her nightstand drawer before Brittany and Jeanette came in ready for bed. Though Eleanor slept soundly until morning, she woke up early to get ready and then went to breakfast with her sisters.

At school, Eleanor did her best not to notice the stares at her and for a moment, she hoped that this was all Janice and her friends were going to make her do. But still, fate was not kind. Eleanor encountered Janice, Tina, and Pansy outside the cafeteria and Janice said, "Doing your best with the plan, Eleanor?"

"Did I have to wear this corset exercising?" groaned Eleanor. "It nearly cut into me when I was doing crunches yesterday!"

Janice simply said in a pretendedly grown-up way, "Well, that's because you don't exercise enough. But we do have something that can help speed this business up."

Eleanor's ears perked up and she said, "All right, then. What is it?"

Pansy handed her another slip of paper and Eleanor's eyes bulged out. It was a diet plan that detailed only green salad leaves and dried fruit and nuts, with plain fruit, soups, and bread sparingly. Eleanor couldn't believe what she was reading and said, "Okay, Janice. What's the deal giving me such a restrictive diet?"

"Well, if you keep eating the way you usually do, you'll stay the way you are now," Janice answered in a smart-aleck way.

"I said I wanted to get in shape, not starve myself!" Eleanor said hotly.

Then Janice and her friends gave Eleanor a snooty look and Tina said, "Are you saying you want more weight?"

That was all it took for Eleanor to give in. She wanted to look good, but it seemed she would just have to stick with their plan, and the youngest Chipette said, "All right. I'll try."

"Good girl," grinned Janice.

With that, Eleanor went in to join her sisters and the Chipmunks for lunch. However, she surprised them when she sat down to a single plate of salad leaves with only a few tomatoes to add a filling quality to her meal. Jeanette noticed it and asked, "Eleanor, are you sure you'll be all right on just a salad?"

Eleanor looked up and quickly replied, "Of course, Jeanette. I'm just trying to eat better is all."

Theodore noticed it too and asked, "Are you sure you won't want a little more, Ellie?"

"Of course I'm sure, Theodore," Eleanor said hastily. She finished her meal in only a few minutes and then hurried to wait for her next class, but only so she could avoid being questioned further and likely give away what Janice and her friends were putting her through. Eleanor was feeling pressured to lose weight, but she was afraid of what Brittany and Jeanette or the boys might say if they knew what she was dealing with.

…

When Eleanor had finished her homework that afternoon, she resumed the exercise plan, only now she was doing it with a partially full stomach and she had to do more exercises with her midsection toward the floor to avoid pain. Unfortunately, when she was done, having only dried apricots didn't fill her. When Eleanor came downstairs, Brittany noticed that her figure looked quite different. She could clearly see that her little sister still had her full cheeks and her rounded legs, but her usually tubby belly had somehow shrunk quickly in just two days.

"Even exercise doesn't get one that slim-looking," Brittany said to herself. "Something's not right about this."

That same evening, Miss Miller prepared a delicious dinner of meatloaf and sweet potato for the Chipettes. Brittany and Jeanette enjoyed it, but Eleanor only ate small portions because she was worried about what Miss Miller would say if she ate nothing. However, when dinner was done, Miss Miller asked her, "Is everything all right, Eleanor? You usually have a full plate finished."

"I… just want to try eating less this week," Eleanor replied. She didn't want to lie, but she was scared to tell the whole truth. When Miss Miller wondered why, the blonde Chipette simply said, "I want to lose a little weight, that's all."

"Well, that's all right, dear," the kindly Miss Miller replied.

With that, she and Jeanette remained behind to clean the kitchen while Brittany went to the couch to watch her favorite cartoons. But Eleanor simply went upstairs to her shared bedroom and pulled off that terrible corset. She rubbed the sore spots on her belly and sighed, for all she could do was wonder how long Janice and the other girls were going to make her endure this.

…

The next day at school, Eleanor was very hungry, having had only a single toast slice with no butter or jam. She was also tired and sore because she was exercising with so little energy and the corset was still making it hard for her to breathe or even feel comfortable. Eleanor tried to make it through the day and when lunch came around, she was almost praying not to meet Janice, Tina, and Pansy. But luck wasn't in her favor, for Janice and her two friends approached Eleanor again and asked if she was doing anything special that weekend. And when Eleanor mentioned that it was movie weekend at the Chipmunks' house, the bigger girls thought up something to make Eleanor hurt worse.

"You know, Eleanor, I suggest avoiding those snack treats from Theodore if you want to get thin," Janice grinned. "You don't want to waste all the hard work you've done, right?"

"What?!" Eleanor cried. "You want me to reject friendly snacks from my best friend?!"

Pansy grinned, "You know you can't help it, Ellie. You taste one treat from him, and you'll never have enough. You'll only want to have more, and they'll just ruin your figure more than they already have. Trust me. It happens all the time."

Now the matter was really bad. Eleanor didn't want to force herself to do anything, and she certainly didn't want to hurt Theodore's feelings. But she also didn't want to make the situation any worse, so she simply decided to go along with their plan.

Saturday eventually came and the Chipettes went over to Alvin, Simon, and Theodore's house for movie night. Simon selected Disney's Robin Hood for the film as it was one of Alvin's favorites, Brittany and Jeanette used paper cutouts so they could pretend to be in Sherwood Forest, and Theodore prepared a large popcorn bowl.

That evening, the Chipmunks and the Chipettes sat together in front of the movie and had a wonderful time. Dave let his boys sit on his legs while the girls sat as close as they could. Eleanor had to politely decline having any popcorn just so she wouldn't hurt Theodore, but inside, she was hurting. In fact, she was feeling a little sick. When she and her older sisters came home that evening and got ready for bed, Jeanette noticed that Eleanor wasn't looking like her usual happy self and she said, "Eleanor, are you all right?"

"I'm fine, Jeanette," Eleanor said in a voice that said she didn't want to talk about it. "It's nothing."

Jeanette knew better than to push Eleanor to talk, but she could tell that something was wrong. As Miss Miller read to the Chipettes before they went to sleep, Eleanor's shoulders were slumped. She flashed a weak smile when Miss Miller kissed her good night and when Brittany and Jeanette wished her good night. But in the night, while Brittany and Jeanette were sleeping soundly, Eleanor was still awake. All she could think about was how Janice and her friends were making her do things to get in shape that were too much, even telling her to refuse treats from Theodore. Then Eleanor said, "I wish I could just be beautiful like Brittany."

A short time later, Eleanor fell asleep, and she had a strange dream.

Eleanor's Dream

Eleanor woke up and approached the mirror in the bedroom, and as she did, she saw something happen that both surprised and excited her. Her plump frame began to slim down, her pigtails became one big ponytail, and her eyes changed from brown to blue. In a few moments, Eleanor was practically unrecognizable. She had become beautiful, like Brittany. In fact, she was Brittany, and she liked it.

"I'm beautiful!" she said to herself.

Then Eleanor- now Brittany- stepped closer and closer to the mirror until she walked through it and found herself up on a stage before an audience that had gathered for a photoshoot. She heard a man say, "Ladies and gentlemen, Ms. Brittany Miller!"

"You look gorgeous, Brittany," came a familiar voice.

"Jeanette!" Eleanor said happily, giving her sister a hug.

A photographer approached them and prepared to take a few photos, and Jeanette said, "Miss Miller's going to love this, Brittany. The two of us together in one picture."

Then Eleanor became confused as to why she (as Brittany) and Jeanette were the only ones there, and so she asked, "Wait a minute. We're the only ones here? Where's Eleanor?"

What she heard next was entirely unexpected. Jeanette said, "Eleanor? Who's Eleanor?"

"Our youngest sister," Eleanor replied. She had to say it outright because she had turned into Brittany, but Jeanette replied, "Brittany, I'm the only sister you have."

"But don't you remember?" Eleanor insisted. "She's about as tall as Theodore. Blonde hair, chubby all over."

Jeanette said, "Are you all right, Brittany? We can head back to the hotel if you want."

Eleanor was now afraid. As she had turned into Brittany, any knowledge of her real self- Eleanor- had disappeared. She had never been born in this dream, and it scared her so much she began to cry out in fear.

"No! No, please! Let me out! I want to go home!"

Eleanor woke up with a shriek and then felt herself all over. She was relieved to know that she wasn't Brittany. She was Eleanor, and Brittany and Jeanette were right there in the bedroom with her. Brittany was curled up in her blankets with a smile on her face, and Jeanette was cradling her favorite doll in her sleep. Suddenly, Eleanor heard a voice like her own say, "Eleanor." She looked around and then saw the last thing she expected to see: her conscience. The physical manifestation of her inner good side.

"What have you done, sweetheart?"

Eleanor hung her little head and said, "I don't know. I just wanted to stop being teased for my weight. I just wanted to be beautiful like Brittany, or Jeanette."

Her conscience then told her what her dream was really about. "You wished yourself away, and lost so much more. Alvin, Simon, and Theodore wouldn't have been so happy to know you if you had never been born. Theodore liked you the very best, remember?"

Eleanor whimpered slightly and said, "I'm sorry."

Her conscience only replied, "You doubt how much your family and friends treasure you, Eleanor. Don't run from who you are."*

Eleanor was left sitting there for some time after this little encounter, and she felt even more hurt, scared, and confused. She didn't want to be tormented by Janice and her friends forcing her to lose weight and she didn't want her sisters, Miss Miller, or the Chipmunks to give her a hard time over not telling them. With tears in her eyes, Eleanor hugged her teddy bear and said, "Oh, Snow Bear. What am I going to do?"

A/N: Eleanor's nightmare was inspired by Lucy's dream from The Voyage of the Dawn Treader when Lucy uses the spell for beauty and turns herself into Susan because she wanted to be beautiful like her. Also, the scene with Eleanor's conscience is a callback to when the Chipmunks have their good and bad sides come out.

Hope you got a little surprise from this chapter. Feel free to let me know your opinions, and keep an eye out for Chapter 3. It's coming real soon.