Here's the second chapter of my story! Hope you enjoy it. As always, your review and favorites are truly appreciated. You will clearly see differences in this chapter compared to the other chapter in the older version. But I hope this revised version flows a lot better :)
"Great! We made it, Gate F. Okay boys, you guys can go ahead and sit down. I'm just hoping Miss Miller and the girls get here soon." Dave says as he scans the sea of travelers rushing to their gates.
"I'm sure they'll be here soon, we still have time," Theodore says as he checks his wristwatch.
Right after Theodore made that comment, Alvin, Theodore, Dave, and I noticed the Chipettes walking towards us with Miss Miller slowly walking behind them. The Chipettes had to constantly wait for Miss Miller to catch up to them but eventually, they caught up to us at the gate, where we were waiting.
"Oh hello, Dave! So great to see you! It's been quite a crazy day. Had to pack for my trip to Florida and get the girls all ready for their tour." Miss Miller explains.
"It's great to see you too Miss Miller. We are excited to have the girls join us in this very exciting tour." Dave excitedly explains.
"I'm excited for them too! Thanks, David for organizing this."
"My pleasure."
Miss Miller directs her attention to the Chipettes.
"Take care of yourselves girls, I don't want you three getting into any danger so don't go anywhere by yourself. Okay?" Miss Miller says.
"Of course, you got our word Miss Miller" Jeanette responds for her sisters.
"Don't worry Miss Miller, I will not leave the girls out of my sight. They are safe with me." I overhear Dave talking with the nervous Miss Miller while my brothers and I patiently sit on the airport chairs.
"Okay, David please take care of my girls, I don't want anything to happen to them." Miss Miller says.
"Of course, I promise they will not leave out of my sight," Dave responds.
With a nod and a smile, Miss Miller switches her focus to the Chipettes.
"Here are your passport girls, and have fun in Mexico. I will be in Florida, relaxing next to the ocean." She hands each Chipette their passport, "I'll see you girls in a month, now I have to catch my plane and leave for sunny Florida!"
Miss Miller gives them a big hug, "Take care girls, I love you!"
"We love you to Miss Miller!" Brittany exclaims. And with that, she grabs her luggage and heads off to her gate.
"Bye, Miss Miller." The girls shout to her. Miss Miller waves back to them and then in a hurry she speedily walks away from us.
Intercom: Boarding has started for the flight to Mexico City, Mexico
"Okay guys, let's go. Looks like they are starting to board." Dave explains as he grabs a hold of his carry-on.
My brothers and I stand up and we grab our carry-ons while the Chipettes join us by our side.
Dave goes to the counter and gives the employee our tickets and once we get the okay from the employee, Dave ushers us into the tunnel. As we were walking, Brittany started talking to us, clearly irritated.
"Why is Miss Miller going to Florida and we are going to Mexico!? I rather go to Disney World, or Universal Studios, or do my favorite thing of all time...shopping!"
"Brittany, this is a tour meaning that we are going to Mexico to perform in front of people." Alvin explains, "and getting that fame and being awesome is why we are going there, except the awesome is for me because I'm clearly the one with the letter."
Unexpectedly, Brittany grabs Alvin's hand in a tight grip. With a yelp, Alvin desperately tries to set himself free, but Brittany has a tight hold on him.
"Oh Alvin, you think you are sooo awesome but..." Brittany explains but is unable to complete her question.
I notice the commotion and before Dave notices the escalating situation, I hurry to stop the two arguing Chipmunks as Alvin is desperately trying to free himself.
"Okay guys, let's not fight in the airport, we do not want to be kicked out of our flight. Oh and Alvin, nobody cares!" I said to my obnoxious brother, "and Brittany, let go of Alvin! You're stopping his blood circulation from his arm!"
Brittany notices how tight he is holding on to Alvin's arm and quickly lets go.
"Oh my, I'm sorry Alvin. It's that you were really getting on my nerves because you are just so selfish sometimes but…everybody knows I'm the superior one." Brittany explains.
We all sigh while Alvin walks in front of the group, ignoring Brittany. Well, this is going to be a loooong trip.
"Okay fellas, please get along okay? We are going to be on this tour for a while" Dave explains as we reach the entrance of the plane.
When we arrived at the hatch of the plane, the captain and the co-captain were standing by the door, ready to welcome us. As we walk onto the plane the captain gives us a warm hello and a smile. We find four empty seats on the side of the plane and four seats in the middle. I sit next to Jeanette on the window seats, followed by Alvin and Brittany, crazy enough. While Eleanor, Theodore, and Dave sit down in the middle row, next to us.
Once we are seated and ready to go. We are advised to put on our seatbelts, warning us that we are about to take off. I quickly put on my seatbelt and sit back as we take off, into the blue and clear sky.
Once we are in the sky and we are allowed to roam around the plane, I take out my 'History of Mexico' book from my backpack, an intriguing subject. Theodore, on the other hand, takes out his Mexican cookbook and Brittany takes out her favorite celebrity teen magazine, searching for pictures of herself. Finally, to my surprise, Alvin starts reading his "Famous Mexican Stories" book.
"Ohhh that looks interesting Simon, the Mexican history especially the revolutions is just so fascinating, the culture is absolutely beautiful, and there is just so much to learn," Jeanette said, peeking into my book, "Uhm... can I possibly... you know... read with you?"
"Um...sure Jeanette," I say to her, "I'm starting on the section when the Mexican revolution began."
My heart starts pounding rapidly as she joins in to read the book with me. I always get really shy around Jeanette, it's because I really like her. Every time I talk to her I blush and stumble on my words.
"Wow, that is cool," Jeanette says in between sections. I give her a look and we both just smile.
Not too far away, I can hear Theodore and Eleanor having a conversation relating to food.
"Yummy that looks good, we should bake this someday, Eleanor." I overhear Theodore talking to Eleanor. Eleanor, with a smile, nods in agreement.
"Wow, I look so gorgeous like always. HEY! Why that background oh well at least I look stunning." I hear Brittany say, admiring her self portraits that were published in the latest edition of teen's magazine.
"boring, boring, boring, and boring." Alvin says as he flips through the pages not even giving a chance to read the words, "Ugh! Why did I forget my iPod at home? Reading is so boring!"
With an eye roll, I ignore Alvin's remarks and go back to reading my book with Jeanette.
I was calmly enjoying my book until the name 'Simon' came out of Alvin's mouth.
"Look Simon!" he leans towards me, crossing over Jeanette, and flashes the page of the book straight at my face.
"Ah! You scared me, Alvin! What do you want?!" I ask, clearly annoyed.
"Just listen.." He begins reading, "'La Llorona or in English the Weeping Lady is one of Central America's famous ghost stories. La Llorona, also known as Mary, met a beautiful man who she loved unconditionally. She wished to be with him all the time but her kids made it difficult for her to accomplish her wishes. So, one night she took her two children to a lake, where she, unknowingly, pushed her kids into the lake where they drowned.'"
Alvin paused and looked at me, the little synopsis that Alvin read was definitely interesting but I know Alvin was trying to convince me that this is actually a real story, but clearly it's folklore. He soon continues with the synopsis.
"'She waited and waited for her fiance to come back so they could both spend all eternity together, but he never came back. Mary was tormented by the memories of her children's screams and became guilty of her actions. In desperation, she searched for her kids every night. Hoping for a miracle that her children somehow survived but unfortunately, her kids have already perished.'"
Theodore and Eleanor started eavesdropping on Alvin's reading, while Dave was asleep.
"'She couldn't bear the sadness, so she threw herself into the lake where she drowned and sadly perished. Today, it is said that The Weeping Lady's spirit still roams the lands of Mexico and Central America calling for her lost children. Many who encounter her spirit report hearing her famous and well-known line ' Donde están mis hijos?' which in English it translates to 'Where are my children?'. Wait I have more, on this page, it has all the proof of sightings that people have reported." Alvin says as he finished the story, he turned a couple of pages until he reached a section where photos and paragraphs after paragraphs of writing are shown.
"Listen to this," Alvin says. As of right now, the Chipettes and Theodore are now sucked in into the reading, "A woman in Jalisco mentioned hearing eerie and frightening screams that happened late at night. She went outside to check for the source of the scream but there was nothing outside. She took out her camera and snapped a few pictures to see if she can catch something invincible that she can't see. What she caught was chilling. She caught a figure of a woman in a white dress who was slouched and clearly in distress. She could not explain who this woman may be and for that reason, she was convinced she caught La Llorona." Alvin says as he shows us the picture of the ghost. The ghost did look like the shape of a woman but the figure was almost mist. Although, her face was easy to decipher.
"Wow that-that is scary," Theodore frighteningly says.
"I can't believe people have seen her and that picture looks so real," Brittany explains.
I couldn't believe this, this is definitely fake and just folklore, "Seriously guys, this is just a popular Mexican folklore, anybody can take a picture and modify and edit it to look like they caught a ghost. Especially with the use of computers and editing software nowadays, it's basically a person edited into a ghostly figure." I explain to them.
Alvin replies, "Oh Simon, why do you always have to be such a downer about everything, of course, this is real. Have you forgotten that we've proved many supernatural things to be real for example, Mr. Talbot being a Werewolf.."
"And Frankenstein coming back to life in our very eyes..." Theodore joins in.
"And Theodore becoming a Werewolf!.." Brittany adds.
"And meeting Dracula! You became a vampire, Simon! WE had to prevent your bloodthirsty self from changing all of us!" Alvin says to my face.
"Alvin, do not that use that tone of voice on me," I say, pushing Alvin away from my face. I look at everyone else and say, "Okay, I know these events have happened and I, myself, was involved in it. So for that reason, I believe those supernatural beings do indeed exist. But a spirit who cries for eternity, that's just folklore and a myth."
Jeanette looked at me, indifferent about the conversation. I wasn't sure if she was on my side, nonetheless, I just gave her a shy smile.
"Okay fine. Go ahead and believe that Simon, but I will change your mind as I did in the past." Alvin said.
I just gave him an arrogant "okay" and went back to my reading.
The rest of the flight was spent in silence. Alvin was busy ready his supernatural book, Brittany was reading all the gossip and stories on the teen magazine, Eleanor and Theodore was reading about all the delicious cuisines in Theodore's Mexican cookbook, and Jeanette and I were reading about the fascinating historical events that have happened in Mexico.
"15 MINUTES TILL LANDING TO MEXICO CITY!" I hear the captain from the speaker announce. The announcement wakes up Dave from his light sleep.
"Looks like we are almost here fellas." Dave says, "The seatbelt light is on, put on your seatbelts, and put away your books."
We did as we were told and I put my book inside my backpack and securely placed it under my seat as we started to descend to Mexico City.
We a "thump" signaling that we've landed, we make our way to the airport.
"WELCOME TO MEXICO CITY. BIENVENIDOS A LA CIUDAD DE MÉXICO" A female voice announces from the speaker.
Once we reach the gate, we all get up, grab our carry-ons, and walk out of the plane. Dave leads us to the luggage pick-up area to grab our luggage and once we have everything we need we make our way outside to wait for our bus. On our way outside, we notice a tall and black-haired man with a tuxedo holding a poster with the name The Chipmunks and Chipettes printed on it.
"Nice! We have our own designated driver, now this is what I call good service." Brittany mentions.
"You must be The Chipmunks and Chipettes, I will be your driver to your hotel today, welcome to Mexico City." The driver kindly explains to us. By the looks of it, he doesn't look much older than 30 years old.
"Hi, my name is Dave Seville, I wasn't expecting a designated driver to drive us to the hotel," Dave says, shaking the man's hand.
"The manager of the stadium where the kids will be performing assigned me to take you to your destination on our limo." The driver mentioned.
A limo, a limo, really, just to take us to our hotel, wow this manager seriously knows us or has incredible hospitality. I think to myself.
"Oh yeah! A limo, now we're living!" Alvin yells making everybody look.
"Alvin! Please!," Dave says, giving him a serious look, "Sorry about that, oh wow please give my thanks to the manager."
"Of course. Well everyone please follow me to the limo, it's right outside." The driver says as he starts to lead us to the location of the limo.
We follow the driver to the location of the limo. Parked outside in the designated parking area I see the luxurious and expensive limo. I was shocked, I was not expecting to get a limo just for a ride to our hotel. The driver opens the door for us and we all hop in. Inside the limo was even more spectacular, amazing blue lights arranged in wavy forms decorated the ceiling. The seats were of black leather with wavy-like designs. Below the counter was a small fridge with refreshments and the floor glowed with an array of colors.
"Wow, this is insane, this limo is beautiful," I say as I look around and explore everything that the limo has to offer. Once we are all good to go, the driver drives us out of the airport's parking lot and into the city.
As everyone is busy chatting, I look outside and admire the tall buildings and ancient buildings passing by. Who knew Mexico was so beautiful.
"Okay fellas, once we get to the hotel, there may be reporters asking you a multitude of questions. You can answer some of them but don't let them entertain you for too long. Also, there may be a possibility of multiple paparazzi coming in, avoid them at all cost. Rather not risk public humiliation." Dave says, we nod but Alvin is somewhat angry because he can't get his "well deserved" fame. Seriously?
"Don't spend too much time on the interviews. We have to check-in into our room, understand." Dave explains.
"Yes, Dave." we all reply.
We arrive at the hotel and park right at the front of the luxurious 5-star hotel. Without hesitation, our driver opens the trunk and a bellboy comes in to take out our luggage from the back. The driver later opens our door and we step out into the outdoors, once we are all out of the limo we get a warm welcome from the bell hopper.
"Welcome to Las Alcobas Hotel." The bell hopper says professionally.
"Thank you." I kindly reply.
The bell hopper proceeds to put all of our luggage on a trolley and takes them all inside. We make sure we have all of our backpacks and belongings and make our way inside.
What an amazing hotel, the building itself has a very modern-like and tropical aesthetic with the inside designed with square-like furniture and decorations to match the modern look of the building. My view only lasted for a while because just as we walked inside a mob of reporters rushed to where we were standing, eager to ask us "important" questions.
A set of reporters went to where the Chipettes were standing and some where me, Alvin, and Theodore were located. About seven reporters crowded around my brothers and I. Thankfully, I am accustomed to this, I had to handle a handful of reporters back when we went to Australia.
"Simon, how has your experience in Mexico City been so far?" a young woman asks me.
"Well, so far it's been amazing and Mexico is such a marvelous place. The culture, history, architecture, and language are absolutely beautiful." I answer.
The questions never ended, some of the questions were great and easy to answer but some were very uncomfortable. For example, one of the reporters asked me, "Simon, do you think you will be better off living without your brothers?"
"Um, I would rather not answer that question. Next please." I couldn't answer that question. I have a hate and love relationship with my brothers, but I will not let the public know about that, it's a personal topic.
Soon the reporters left, finally! And to our surprise, no paparazzi. What a plus!
But I spoke too soon, they quickly came in through the front door with their cameras flashing.
Oh why!
"Hey!" The front desk attendant yells, "This is private property! You are not allowed to take pictures unless you have specific permission! Leave the hotel immediately!"
Many listened but some stayed to take some quick pictures of us.
Dave quickly comes by with our room key and we run to the elevator. The flashing of the cameras is so bright I almost trip on my way to the elevator, but I manage to keep my balance and reach the elevator on time. The elevator doors close and the cameras disappear from our sight.
Soon, the elevator door opens to a long corridor, we get out of the elevator and make our way down the long corridor to find our room.
"That was an adrenaline rush. There were so many cameras, Mexico is insane for us." Jeanette says between breaths.
"Yeah, crazy but that is the life of a celebrity Jeanette. Anyway, it's been a long day and now I'm tired, we should go to bed." Brittany says tiredly.
Dave stops at our suite where all of our luggage has been neatly placed next to the door. Dave opens the door and we walk in, with our luggage on hand. Apparently, we didn't just get "a suite" we got a whole apartment!
"That's right Brittany, you all have rehearsal tomorrow and it's 10:00 pm," Dave explains as he checks his watch. We walk into our suite and Dave turns on the lights.
"Girls you can stay in that room over there." Dave points at a room down the hallway, "and boys you can stay in this room, while I'll be staying in the master bedroom." Dave says as he points to a room across his room.
"Oh and don't worry, each room should have three twin size beds and closets for your belongings," Dave adds.
"Oh and straight to sleep, no wandering around and no noises, okay," Dave says, directing his attention to Alvin.
"Okay, Dave." We all reply.
"Okay, off to bed, I'll go ahead and lock the main door and turn off the lights, good night," Dave says as he makes his way to the living area.
"Good night, Alvin," Brittany says.
"Good night, Theodore," Eleanor says.
"Good night, Simon," Jeanette says.
"Good night, Brittany," Alvin says.
"Good night, Eleanor," Theodore says in his quiet tone.
"Good night, Jeanette," I say in my most confident tone possible.
The Chipettes enter their room and close their door. I join my brothers in our room, get into my blue pajamas, and settle into my bed.
"Rehearsal tomorrow, I can't wait! I wonder where we are performing?" Alvin says as he starts laying down on his bed.
"I'm guessing we'll find out tomorrow," Theodore says.
"Okay, I'm turning off the lights. Good night." I say.
I turn off the lamplight and close my eyes, soon after unconsciousness quickly pulls me in.
Later that night...
This is what Alvin told me and I wrote it in my story.
Dónde están mis hijos? A faint and ghostly voice fills the room, Alvin wakes up wondering what it could be.
Well, this revised chapter is SO much better in my opinion. Crazy how much your writing changes over time. Anyway, what did Alvin just hear and what is he going to do? Find out in the next chapter soon to come.