The anxious feeling returned as the red-clad Chipmunk watched the teacher behind her desk, calling everybody's name out from the class roll so they could come up and get their report cards for the year.
Alvin hated report cards. His grades were always so poor that he could barely maintain a C average.
He watched a boy in his class get up from his seat to collect his report card. The boy must've gotten good grades because when he reached his friends he gave them each a fist-bump or a hi-five.
Alvin nervously tapped the beat from one of his favourite songs on the desk before him with his fingertips, waiting for his name to be called.
"Alvin Seville," his homeroom teacher called.
Alvin gulped and stood up. He was never nervous about anything before in his life. Why couldn't he stop thinking the worst about receiving his report card?
He sighed as he reached the front desk; Alvin took the sheet of paper that had his name printed in large, capital letters and with his teacher's comments below. As his eyes trailed further down the page, he frowned.
His grades weren't good.
He felt his shoulders slump forward, and his head hang low. He bit his lower lip as he walked slowly back to his seat.
He had actually tried this year. Alvin had really tried to bring his marks up, and for what? Just to fail another class again? To see the disappointment in Dave's face when he saw his grades?
Alvin felt his heart plummet. He was definitely not looking forward to showing Dave his report card tonight.
The rest of the class flew by faster than Alvin wanted it too. Soon enough, the bell had rung for the end of the day. Everybody else rushed to pack their bags quickly so they could start the weekend, but for once, Alvin took his time.
"Excuse me, Alvin. Could you stay behind for a moment? I need to have a word with you," Miss Price, Alvin's teacher, said.
Alvin nodded and walked over to the teacher's desk, not sure what Miss Price wanted to ask him.
"I forgot to tell you something earlier on when I gave you your report card. Since your grades were barely a C average, I think that it is best for you if you attended Summer School." Miss Price explained.
Alvin gaped at her in shock. Summer School?
"B-but—" he began to say, but Miss Price held her hand up to silence him.
"No buts, Alvin. This isn't a matter for discussion. You can't get out of it. I need you to take this note home to your guardian for him to sign and give it back to me by Monday morning."
Alvin took the note carefully that Miss Price had given him and folded it up and put it in his bag. He then left the room to meet his brothers and the girls out the front of Thomas Edison Elementary.
"Brittany, how on earth could you get a C in PE?" Jeanette Miller was peering at her older sister's report card as they, as well as Eleanor and the Chipmunks, walked home from school together later that afternoon.
"Yeah, all you have to do to pass PE is show up," Eleanor piped up.
"Well I didn't want to get all sweaty!" snapped Brittany, snatching the report card back from her sister's hands. "It ruins my hair." She shrugged as she put the piece of paper away.
Eleanor rolled her eyes.
"Way to go, Theodore! You got five B's! Guess all that studying payed off, huh?" Simon congratulated his younger brother's effort as Theodore grinned.
"Yeah, it did! I can't wait to show Dave my report card! Maybe he'll even put it up on the fridge!" said Theo excitedly; glancing down at his report card and reading the wonderful feedback he had gotten from all his teachers.
Alvin wasn't paying attention to his brothers' conversation. His report card dangled aimlessly from his left hand, and he seemed oblivious to everything around him, which to Brittany, seemed very unlike Alvin.
Brittany got an evil grin on her face as she saw Alvin's report card in his hand, so she leaned over behind Simon and snatched it from him.
"Hey! Give that back!" Alvin snapped out of his thoughts as he saw Brittany steal his report card. He tried to reach for it but Brittany held it high in the air.
"Nope! I have to read it first! And maybe Eleanor might want to read it, and also Theodore, and Jeanette, and I just know how much you want Simon to see your grades!" Brittany taunted.
Alvin glared at her, his hands balling up into fists.
Brittany started laughing when she read Alvin's report card. "Oh my gosh, this is too funny!" she giggled, wiping fake tears from her eyes. She passed the piece of paper onto Eleanor, who didn't think it was her place to look at someone else's grades, she then passed it onto Theodore, who also just passed it along to Jeanette, and Alvin tried to snatch it away from Jeanette's grasp as she handed it to Simon.
"Well, there is one A on Alvin's report card." Simon said.
Alvin perked up. An A? How come he didn't spot it before?
Brittany stopped laughing and her head snapped up. "What for?" she asked Simon eagerly.
"It stands for absent," Simon said, thrusting the sheet of paper back into Alvin's hands. "I'm sure Dave will be very pleased to see your improvement, Alvin."
Brittany dissolved into a fresh wave of giggles as they reached the Seville residents. Eleanor and Jeanette said goodbye to the boys as they continued walking back to their house.
"Dave! We're home!" Theodore announced as they stepped inside their house, Simon closing the door behind him.
Alvin sighed and braced himself for what was about to come.
Dave came out of the kitchen, wiping his hands on a small towel he was holding. "Hello, boys. How was your day at school?" he asked, looking down at the three Chipmunks.
Theodore grinned and handed Dave his report card.
"What's this?" Dave asked, turning the piece of paper over so he could read it.
"Report cards!"
"Nice job, Theodore! Five B's! That's wonderful!" Dave grinned down at the youngest, "I think this deserves to go on the fridge!" Theodore gasped gleefully.
"Simon—straight A plus's, as usual," Dave smiled warmly down at Simon.
"Alvin?" Dave prodded the eldest Chipmunk, who had said nothing in the past five minutes. "If Simon and Theodore got report cards, I'm sure you must've gotten one as well."
Alvin had one of his guilty smiles on his face. "Well, you see Dave, the funniest thing happened—" he began, trying his best to look as innocent as possible.
"Save it Alvin, hand it over!" Dave ordered him.
Alvin hesitantly handed over his report card to Dave.
It only took a few seconds of reading time before Dave's face filled with disappointment.
"Someone's in trouble," Simon muttered to Alvin as he headed into the kitchen with Theodore to get a snack. Alvin glared at his brother. Like it wasn't obvious enough already.
"Alvin, I'm very disappointed in you," said Dave. "This is the worst report card I've ever seen!"
"But I really tried this year!" Alvin protested.
Dave wasn't hearing any of it. "Oh, sure you did Alvin. If you tried this year, then how come so many of your teachers wrote 'could try harder'?" he said, folding his arms across his chest. "Did your teacher say anything to you when she gave you your report card?"
Alvin then pulled the note that Miss Price had given him earlier on that day out of his schoolbag and handed it to Dave.
"I was expecting for this to come," Dave said, reading through the teacher's note quickly. "Summer school..." he said like he was thinking. "I think it would be the best thing for you, Alvin. A way to bring your grades up and make up for this year's terrible performance."
"But Dave! I can't waste my summer in school!" Alvin groaned at the mere thought of having to go to school during the summer while his brothers and the Chipettes would be outside having fun all day.
"Well maybe you should have thought of that when you were sleeping during class and watching TV while you were supposed to be doing your homework, Alvin." Dave said simply.
Alvin felt defeated. Dave did have a point there.
But he truly did not want to spend his summer vacation in school.
He sighed and walked past Dave and went into the living room where the TV was and joined his brothers on the couch.
"Don't worry Alvin, I'm sure summer school won't be that bad." Theodore tried to lift Alvin's spirit.
Alvin sighed.
If only Theodore was right.