Chapter 13: Party Munk

FIFTEEN MINUTES LATER

"Hey, guys!" Simon called out as he came into Tom's backyard.

"Hey, Simon!" Tom said with a smile.

"How's it going? Glad you made it!" Renee added cheerfully.

"Thanks. I'm doing good, I guess." Simon answered. After he looked around the yard and to the house behind them he turned back to older friend. "Hey, Tom, where's your dad?"

"Ah, he left to catch up on some business at his auto shop. He's going to be gone most of the night. That is why I have invited you guys over tonight." Renee and Simon gave each other a knowing look. They both understood that Tom is not a big fan of being alone for too long. "Well, shall we get started?" Tom said as he clasps his hands together in anticipation.

Simon, Tom and Renee threw their uniforms into a burning barrel then Tom added a bit of gasoline into it. Simon lit a match and tossed it into the barrel. All three chipmunks watched in awe as the flames ate up their old clothes. A big smile grew on their faces.

"Oh, yea! Burn baby, burn!" Renee sang as she made a 'voodoo' curse at the barrel with her hands.

They kept watching the uniforms burn in an almost hypnotic way. Each of them didn't have to say what was on their minds; they just knew what the other was thinking…they could hear each other's thoughts. It was clear that they wished that they could have Brian and Brenda here too. The million thoughts that use to run through their minds have been so quiet lately that it has almost scared them. After being on a place and getting use to hearing a lot of chatter from everyone on the Island, especially from their friends, then suddenly they were all quiet. It just felt strange. The five chipmunks had become inseparable for the last five years. The, now trio of the five, really began to feel so awkward to suddenly not be able to see Brenda and Brian. They are so far away from them now and even though they can't hear their thoughts the three chipmunk teens can still sense their presence. It was hurting them to know that Brenda and Brian were suffering as bad, if not worse than they are.

"Oh, I received an email from Brenda today!" Renee said, bringing a more cheerful thought to the situation.

"Really? What does she have to say?" Simon asked with great interest.

"Well, she was saying that she is glad to finally be home, but also missed us terribly. She also wondered if Brian was all right and that she is very concerned for him. He hasn't been responding to any of her emails. I'm also worried about him too. I emailed him the other day and still no reply."

"Perhaps he is a little busy? You know, maybe he's spending a lot of quality time with his family?" Tom asked hopefully. Simon and Renee nodded in agreement.

They know all too well that Brian might not be ok by himself. When they had to say good-bye to him at the airport in Canada, he almost had a distant look on his face. He of course was very glad to be home again, and to see his twin sister, but a part of him didn't want to be apart from his friends. When they were at the London airport to say goodbye to Brenda, Brian seemed ok. That is until he had to say goodbye to her. He started crying and didn't stop till they were half way to the Ontario airport.

They all were emotional, but he seemed more so then the rest of them did about it. It is certainly clear to Simon, Tom, and Renee that Brian had a crush on Brenda from the very beginning. When it was just the three boys, he'd be almost wild. But when Brenda was around she would act out as his anchor. When he first arrived on the Island, however, he was a shy and quiet chipmunk. He'd sometimes pretended that he had no special feelings, especially in front of the Founders. The chipmunks could tell though – it showed all over his face. Out of the five Brian would feel more lost to be without his friends. This worried the others that he may do something that he would regret. Brian is indeed that ticking time bomb.

"So, ah... How are you guys holding up?" Simon finally said.

"You mean by getting dizzy spells all time, and feeling nauseous when I am near food. Not to mention headaches first thing in the morning. Oh, yeah. I'm peachy…" Tom answered sarcastically. "How about you?"

"That's what I thought. Me too," Simon sighed.

"How about you, Renee?" Tom asks.

At first she doesn't respond, just looks into the dying fire with a vacant expression on her face. She had her arms rapped around herself as if she were feeling a chill. She then realizes that someone had just spoken to her and snapped back to reality. "Huh? Oh, I'm fine."

Both Tom and Simon looked at each other they had a suspicions feeling that she wasn't telling them the truth. Either Renee managed to shut down her thoughts and was just relaxing her mind or she had found a way to block the boys from her mind entirely. The question is, why? She did have the look that she was thinking about something, but for some reason the boys could hear nothing from her mind. Back on the island the chipmunks kept nothing from each other. They would always leave their mind open to each other. With practice the five chipmunks were able to block the Founders and other students in that school from hearing their thoughts. Simon and Tom figured that Renee could be just worried about Brian and Brenda and could possibly in no mood to have other thoughts distracting her. The three of them just stood there quietly as they watched the flames eat up their old uniforms.

Before they realized it, the flames had almost stopped burning, the nightmare was finally over they all thought. Tom turned around and opened a cooler and pulled out three bottles from it.

"Now that that's over, shell we celebrate!" Tom said as he held up three bottles of beer, which Simon and Renee accepted eagerly. With a twist of the cap they quickly opened their bottles. "Here's to freedom!" Announced Tom as he held up his bottle.

"To freedom!" Simon and Renee chimed at once. The three bottles clashed gently together making a soft clang sound. Then the three chipmunks pulled back the bottles and took a swig of the fluid it contained.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Hours have past and Dave looked at the clock for the eleventh time with an angry stare. It now read 2:21am. Needless to say Dave was getting worried. 'Simon has never been late before. What could've happened to him?' He thought with knots in his stomach. Something was defiantly wrong. Dave reluctantly came to the conclusion that Simon had changed. He had been so use to the younger Simon; so responsible and careful in what actions he took. Now, being that his son should have been home hours ago and no phone call to let him know what he'd be late, Dave wondered more closely on what his son may have become. He read about troubled teens, but never expected it to happen to any of his boys, especially Simon. Again, he looks up at the time. "When he gets home I'm going to kill him!" He growled.

As he kept thinking about this situation, he wondered what kind of friends Simon was hanging around with. Were they the ones that turned him into a rebel? Dave thought of what kind of living conditions he endured on the island. Who were these people that took his son away in the first place, and where did they go when the detectives found the missing children? Why was this happening? His anger again turned to worry.

Dave began to pace the living room for the seventh time. "Where is he?" Dave began to think out loud in frustration.

Just then he heard the front door open slowly. Dave saw Simon, ever so hard, trying to be quiet as he sleeked in. He used all his focus on not making a sound that he doesn't notice that someone is standing in the darkened living room.

"And where have you been?" Dave said in a stern and angry tone.

Simon nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard Dave's bellowing voice. "Oh, hi Dave!" The young teen chipmunk said trying to look innocent. He knew that he was late, but forgot the consequences for not calling in. Simon could sense the anger fuming from his dad and tried to avoid eye contact with him. Simon felt a sudden rush of guilt he knew he was in trouble for lying and not being home when he said he would be.

"Do you know what time it is?"

"Ah, not really. I'm not wearing a watch!" Simon replied as he reached his hand behind his head to scratch it nervously. He was also trying to hide the smell of alcohol on his breath, so he only focused on the floor and not up at Dave.

"It's almost two thirty in the morning!" Dave yelled as he pointed towards the living room. Simon recognized this motion and walked himself to the couch and sat down in a slumped position. "You could have called to let me know you were going to be late or had me come to pick you up!" Dave added in a more furious tone.

"I'd thought you would all be sleeping by now. I didn't want to wake you." Simon said with a hint of slur in his speech.

"What th...?" Dave reached over and turned on the light next to Simon and was in shock to notice his son was drunk. 'So much for the sensible, smart one of the three.' He thought as he was beside himself at the sight of Simon trying to block the bright light from his eyes.

"Have you been drinking?" He asked the obvious.

"Maybe. Just a little!" Simon replied as his sight got sort of got use to the light. He figured that he might have over done it on his limit on the alcohol intake.

"I don't believe this!" Dave growled as he leaned over to hold up Simon's head. He was able to tell how drunk his son and not only that but he smelled smoke on Simon's cloths. "Is that cigarette smoke I smell from your jacket?"

"Yeah," Simon said after taking a whiff of his own jacket.

"You're not smoking too. Are you?" Dave was almost afraid what the answer might be.

Simon was quiet for a bit. He wasn't sure how to explain why he started to smoke. The words seemed too complicated. Simon sighed heavily. Perhaps the simplest answer would be best. "Yes," he replied in a low tone.

"Simon, this doesn't sound like you! What else are into doing besides piercing your ear, getting drunk, and smoking? Hmm? You're not into drugs, are you?"

Simon thought about that for a moment. He remembered a time when Mary-Anne and the others brought a strange substance back to the island that absorbs in their mouth it had a weird affect on all of them. The substance tweaked them so bad that they couldn't sleep for at least three days afterwords. However, they sure impressed the Founders when they completed a lot of their 'studies' in an incredible rate. Simon couldn't think of how to say any of that to Dave, he decided not to tell him about it. So without looking up at his dad, Simon replied, "No."

Dave let out an exhausted sigh, as he had to lift his hand to his face to support his tired head. For the first time he was not sure if he could believe in Simon's answer. Feeling tired himself; he decided to continue this discussion in the morning.

"Well, I'm just so disappointed in you right now that I don't know what to say." Dave said. "You're GROUNDED for the rest of the weekend! I want you to march yourself upstairs and go straight to bed! I want you up bright and early to do some chores. Maybe that will teach you not to go out all night to 'party' with your friends."

"Whatever," Simon scoffed. He shrugged his shoulders and slid off the couch. Then slowly he made his way to the stairs and walked up to into his room. He was too tired and drunk to continue this conversation any further. Besides, being grounded by Dave would just be a walk in the park compared to what the Founders would do to him when he and his friends were caught not following their rules.

Dave watched with a worried expression as Simon staggered into his room. In truth Dave thought he'd be going through this with Alvin. It felt too strange to be going through this with Simon. With another heavy sigh, he locked the door and walked up to his room.