Alvin's Point of View

Two weeks. Two bloody weeks at the very least until we could even set foot into to steal more of that oh so precious formula. My blood boiled and if it weren't being blocked off, I'd have run straight into that lab no matter what infectious disease it carried. I couldn't wait two weeks! Things were already bad enough and it's barely been a day! What if we never got back to normal? What if all the chemical in the world was gone and we'd be stuck like this forever? I'd never get Brittany looking like this! And he'd totally ruin my reputation. I could sense my friends, despite being stubborn and even more brainless than I, were noticing the changes Simon was making in my personality. He did NOT know how to be me and that so far, and that was my biggest problem. If he couldn't be me now how could I expect the dance to go?

Simon's schedule was so tightly packed, every second today at school I was forced to move around and attempt to act like him. I was lucky to have enough time to breathe. I got through most of the talking situations by pretending I was sick, but by the looks everyone gave me -not to mention Simon's own reputation of being extremely hygienic- they weren't convinced. Lunch, despite being the only break I got throughout the day, was definitely the worst part of the day; not only did I have to do he hard part for Simon by turning down Jeanette's invitation for him to the dance, but I also discovered the whole lab incident.

"Alvin, did you touch ANYTHING?" Simon demanded to know everything I did while we were first stealing the formula. After forced to replay everything for him in excruciating detail, he attempted to change the subject. I knew what that meant. If I didn't do it, then clearly he was at fault. He and I both knew it. While leaving the cabinet, he must have accidentally knocked over the bottle. Ha! It was his fault the two chemicals collided. It was sort of a hollow joke for me, seeing as now I had to wait in Simon's body even longer than planned. Plus I was way too tired to haunt him with anything. Now it was the last period of the day and according to the schedule Simon wrote up for me, his last class was "Physical Education", in other words: gym. Finally something I was good at! I couldn't believe some of the other things Simon was signed up for. What the heck was a polyatomic ion or trigonometry?! It may not fry his mind like it did to me, but I think I found the cause of his uptight attitude. That's gotta be what advanced teachers are really trying to teach you: be uptight and funless.

I entered the gym and the pungent aroma of sweat filled my nostrils. The coolness of the gym, along with the size made it an ideal place for any sort of training, other than mental. The rest of Simon's class had already shown up and the phys-ed teacher, Ms. Shnook, noticed my late entrance.

"Simon!" She screamed like only a gym teacher or coach could, "you're late! That isn't like you." He pointed me in the direction of a bench and I sat there until she was done chatting with another student, "You know the rules; if you come late to my class, you run five laps around the gym. After you can join the others in dodge-ball." I quickly got to running, losing myself in my own thoughts.

"This is so unnatural." I began, "We can't survive in the others body, it just doesn't work like that! I'm Alvin! I'm supposed to be having the time of my life and having fun, living MY life MY way, not Simon's. Brittany's probably gonna vomit at the dance with Simon. He doesn't know how to have fun. I don't want him to go anywhere with Brittany -save the real fun for me- but he doesn't need to push her away like what he's making me do with Jeanette." With everything going on, I wondered how we managed to make it this far. My thinking time was up as I reached my final lap.

Normally, I'd be really excited about a fun sport like dodge-ball, but today I obviously had other things on my mind. Simon was stuck in my body and would later on in the week be going on a date with Brittany to the dance. What a crummy time to switch bodies. Now Simon got to enjoy Brit's company while at the same time, ruin everything between us (not that we had much to begin with.) I was stuck doing who knows what while Simon got to live it up, although I don't think he actually enjoyed what everyone else thought was fun. We agreed that whenever Simon was working on the transmitter, I should be making sure that nothing, or no one, would disturb him. But how could I do that in his body?! Everyone would expect him to be working on his machine, not me! Even as brothers, we practically lived two separate lives, and his was impossible to live unless you were actually him.

The five laps were easy, not tiring in the least. It was actually pretty easy moving in his body. His height, although it wasn't much, made me feel slightly superior, but his glasses were a major setback. How did he ever live with these? There were definitely more cons than pros to being in my brother's body.

I ended up missing the whole first game of dodge-ball and I was placed on the losing team. Typical. The second game started and I was forced to move back as the students on the other team, big and bulky, reached the six rubber balls first in no time flat. However, I easily dodged each ball with a hop, skip and jump, which must have surprised the other team, allowing some of the students on my team to get in a few shots and actually land a hit. The enemy team, flustered with disbelief, only stood there, giving me time to pick up a heavy ball and throw it, landing it in the gut of one of the bigger students. The rest of the match went like this, along with the next match and the match after that and even the match after that. Class ended before I knew it and I though to myself that maybe I could have some fun after-all. I could sense everyone's eyes seeping into me as I left the gym, making me uncomfortable in an indescribable way.

"Alvin!" Simon hissed behind me as I made my way to his locker, "What are you doing to me? Word has it that you, quote, "smoked everyone in dodge-ball," unquote. Is this true?"

"Well, yeah." I said, wondering why he was so upset over this. "What's wrong with that?"

"What's wrong?" He raised his voice, "What's wrong?!"

"Okay, never-mind." I quickly stated, "I don't want to know now."

"Alvin, I suck at dodge-ball!" I got the feeling that he was angry at me, so I just decided to go along with whatever he said, though I only listened to a brief amount. "You can't go around beating people at sports in my body! People will sense something's up."

"Look around!" I blurted, "People are already suspicious!" I shook my head at his desperateness at keeping things low, "Wait, how'd you find out so quick?"

"Everyone in this school has a cell phone, Alvin! News gets around pretty fast." We reached his locker and collected our things, passing a dance flier on the way.

"I wonder what it's going to be like." I thought out loud and Simon caught me staring at the flier.

"If you didn't mess up, you'd know." He stated.

"Are you sure you don't want me to go with Jeanette?" I asked.

"Positive. If I was in my own body, I'd gladly say yes, but she has no clue that the one she asked isn't even the one she meant to ask."

"Are you jealous that I'd get to go with her?" I questioned his motives, "Because I'm jealous that you get to go with Brittany." I admitted that I wasn't exactly thrilled that Brittany's first dance with who she thought was Alvin wasn't going to be with me, but at least she still got to go. What was keeping Simon from letting me go with Jeanette?

"Now isn't the time, Alvin." Simon said through gritted teeth. He pushed me out the school door and to the awaiting car, already filled with Theodore and the chipettes.

"Are you guys okay?" Dave asked suspiciously as we jumped in, "You've been acting very unusual lately. Simon, you're usually the first one here, and I got word that you were late for most of your classes, what's up with that?"

"How'd you find out?" Simon asked.

"I have a cell phone." Dave replied, "News travels pretty fast."

"We're fine, Dave," I answered, hectic to get home, "What's with all the questioning?"

"No reason." Dave answered slowly, "I'm just worried." The conversation was over, replaced by most of the usual chatter of Theodore, Eleanor, and Brittany. It wasn't the same without my two-cents, but I wasn't me, and I controlled not breaking into the conversation. The ride home felt long and lasted even longer as we got stuck behind two trains. I watched Simon sit away from everyone else, ignoring Brittany's attempts to get his attention or Theodore's feeble attempts to actually bring him into the conversation. This wasn't good, he wasn't acting like me at all!

"Simon," I flinched as Jeanette touched my shoulder. "I think it's easier to answer things truthfully without everyone glaring at you," She moved her mouth closer and whispered meekly in my ear, "Do you… um… Do you want to go to the dance with me?" Oh, come on! This sucked! It already sucked that I had to turn her down once already, but now I had to do it again?! I wished I could accept, just to spare her feelings, but Simon was against it for some reason, and since he was my ticket to getting back to normal, I followed his plan. Doing it twice just sucked more.

"I'm sorry, Jeanette, "I whispered back, "I want to, I really do, but I just can't. I'm busy." Her eyes watered and were filled with hurt strong enough to scare me. She quivered, holding in her tears and if I ever had to do this a third time, I'd kill Simon. He owed me BIG time for making me do this. He owed Jeanette even bigger.

"You don't have to lie." She muttered under unstable breaths, "If you didn't want to, a s-simple no would have been enough." She sniffled and quietly shuffled over to the door; between everyone's chatter, and the volume of the radio Dave had playing, I could barely hear her single weep.

Home wasn't sweet home, and the minute we arrived I did my best to get alone with Simon to talk about his crisis. He started towards our room and he left as soon as he entered. Rather than following him down the hall, I peeked in to what was going on in the room. Brittany was sitting next to Jeanette and the two of them spoke.

"He still doesn't want to go with me." Jeanette softly cried into her sister's shoulder, "What am I doing wrong? Am I coming on too strong? Being too pushy or needy?"

"You're not doing anything wrong," Brittany cooed, "You want me to go talk to him? See what's up?" Jeanette didn't answer, or if she did, I couldn't hear it, it was so muffled. I heard a small thump; one of them had jumped off the bed and was coming this way. Uh oh… HIDE! I swerved my head to and fro, but in the middle of a hallway, there really wasn't anywhere to go. "There you are!" Brittany exclaimed and grabbed me by the collar of my hoodie and dragged me into the washroom, slamming the door behind her. "Okay, Simon, what's up?!"She said, infuriated, "Not once in my life have I ever seen you turn down Jeanette for anything, and now all of a sudden she asks you out and you say NO?! And because you're too ''busy'!Well I have something to say to that," She suddenly froze and I could tell she hadn't thought this intervention through. "What's up with that?" She added, trying to keep the seriousness in her voice.

"Look," I said, wanting to get today over, "I want to tell you, but I can't. Something really important has come up and-"

"More important than Jeanette?" Brittany cut me off.

"Yes!" I said, "I mean no!" I fumbled for words, "Any other time and I'd be all for it, but I can't go that day!"

"Does this have anything to do with that stupid science fair?" She asked and stared at me, squinting as if trying to peer into my soul.

"Kind of." I replied. It wasn't the truth, but I wasn't lying either.

"Simon!" She was angry and was probably doing her best to calm herself down, "Look, we've had heart to heart talks before, right?"

"We have?" I said, confused, and she looked at me, "We have!" I repeated, thinking that it was better if I just went along with whatever she said.

"Remember? Whenever I have I problem and my sisters are busy, I come to you. I even told you first about my feelings for Alvin. I've told you a lot actually, but now it's my turn to be the therapist."

"She's talked to Simon about me?" I thought, and my heart fluttered, "Why didn't he ever tell me?"

"What's bothering you, Si?" She asked, "What's keeping you from the best thing that could ever happen in your life?" I forgot I was Simon for a second as the question sunk in. Brittany would be the best thing in my life, but what about Simon? I had to wonder if he thought the same way about Jeanette. The same thing was keeping us both from our chipette.

"A mistake." I whispered.

"Come again?"

"A stupid mistake that I made." I repeated and hopped up to the doorknob, turned it and left the washroom. Was this entire thing really my fault or was I over-thinking? I made the mistake of putting the formula into the wrong section, and now Simon was just trying to fix my mistake again. Only this time, rather than getting him into trouble, it was costing him Jeanette. He agreed to go to the dance with Brittany so I could still have my chance when we switched back. Jeez, even in my body he still acted more responsible than me. Perhaps too responsible. I couldn't let him do what he was doing, could I? Where was he now?

"Simon?" I whispered, searching through the house, hoping no one caught me calling out to myself. I circled back to our room and sure enough, there he was. No sign of Jeanette, no sign of Brittany, just him working on the transmitter. "Simon?" I questioned and he lifted his head up hitting it on the piece he was under.

"Ow!" He howled, "What do you want, Alvin?" I wanted to be back in my own body, but that was more of a long term goal at the moment, plus I had a few questions of my own to ask him.

"Why didn't you tell me you had talks with Brittany?" I asked the first question.

"Oh…" He silenced himself, or tried to anyway, "She wanted them to be a secret. She really likes you, Alvin, you have a real shot once we're back to normal."

"Thanks." I said and moved onto my next question, "Do you ever think about just dropping everything and having a little fun?"

"You mean like mathematical equations?" I slapped my hand against my forehead, only Simon would think that math was fun.

"No, I mean like real fun."

"Balancing chemical equations?"

"No!" I resisted kicking him while he lay on the ground and worked, "I mean like partying or dancing or even a video game!"

"That doesn't sound very fun."

"What do you like that's fun, then?" I asked, "That won't make me want to kill myself." He thought about this for awhile, was that honestly the look I got when I thought?

"Everything I like will either kill you or requires me to be in my own body. Alvin, I really just want to work on the transmitter. I'm making progress faster than I thought." Music to my ears.

"Just one more question," I stated, "Why are you pushing Jeanette away? Are you really jealous?" He stopped working and just lay there, thinking. With the see-through plastic being the only thing covering him, I could tell he was thinking about what to say.

"In a way… I guess you could say I'm jealous." He answered, "But not in the way you probably think. You see, I think that you only get one chance to show the girl of your dreams who you really are. And I don't want it to be you in my body being shown to Jeanette. I want her to see me for me, not you in my body. You could say I'm jealous, but only because you have the power to show not only Jeanette your side, but Brittany as well. I'm doing my best to act like you, Alvin, I really am, and I want you to have the best chance possible with Brittany. I don't want to go to the dance because it won't be you going to show Brittany who you are, but I'll go anyway, casually, so you'll still get your one chance, but I'll be there." Thinking about it, what he said makes sense… but what made him think like this? Simon was full of surprises.

"Why is he doing all of this for me?" I thought. I drive him as insane as I drive Dave and I realized that I was probably the root cause of his stress.

"Alvin?" Simon asked.

"Yeah…?" I said, stuck thinking about everything he'd said.

"Do you think Jeanette will forgive me?"

"Probably." I lied. I didn't know what to tell him, "Why don't you take a break from work? I can show you how to play a video game."

"If I do that, nothing will get done." He said and mumbled to himself, "These wires get connected here, and now I just simply hammer this here."

"I don't care." I said, the words flowed out of my mouth without me intending to say them, "You need to relax."

"You really want to put this on hold?" He asked and gave me the look only he could give, but with my facial features, which didn't work very well. I nodded, "Okay, but how could you ever find those fun?"

"How could you find math fun?" I joked.

"How could you mess up so bad that we end up in each others body?" He joked back. I'd never hear the end of that. Touche, little brother, touche.

"Alvin!" Brittany exclaimed breaking into the room, "There you are… Er, are you working?" I watched Simon about to answer when she broke in, "Anyway, come with me, I need your help." She ripped Simon out from under the transmitter and dragged him out the room.

"Help me!" He screamed as if being dragged to his death. I smirked and left him to deal with Brittany alone. I stood there, gazing at the work he's done so far and ignoring his pleas for help. It already looked half done! How on Earth did he ever get the materials for it all? Oh well; a day and it was practically put together meant things were finally starting to light up. I touched the piece that he'd been working on, admiring how stable it was, when it dropped to the floor, spilling out all the wiring and making a mess.

"Aw, man." I I grumbled, running out of the room and hoping he wouldn't notice when he got back from his torturing with Brittany.