Chapter 6- Setting the Jett Record Straight Part I
Monday
December 31st, 2012, 11:30 pm
New York City was restless as it usually was every night. But this particular night almost every soul was wide awake to watch the ball drop in Time Square in celebration of the coming new year. Among the lit up streets and towering skyscrapers in Manhattan were two small chipmunks wrestling over a TV remote in a hotel room. "Come on, Carol! I want to watch the ball drop on NBC! They got better angles!" cried the little maroon chipmunk.
"Are you kidding me, DJ! You can't watch the ball drop without watching Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve" argued the small magenta chipette "that's like eating vegetables on Halloween!" The twins continued to play tug of war with the remote as they kept switching between the NBC and ABC broadcasts as they failed to notice that the expensive flat TV was starting to glitch. "Mom and Dad aren't here, so that means I'm the oldest, which makes me the adult." Carol protested.
"You're only older by five minutes" DJ objected "plus you been using the tv all day!". DJ and Carol pulled harder until they both lost their grip. The TV remote went flying until it hit the television, causing it to fall over and break.
The two children stood there in silence until it was broken by the sound of an opening door. "Kids, we're back," called their mother, Brittany. She and her husband Alvin entered their hotel room. Both of the adults eyes then landed on the broken TV.
"DAAVIIID!" Alvin yelled with smoke coming out of his ears.
"It wasn't me, dad!" the boy denied "it was Carol, she wouldn't give me the remote and she threw the remote at the TV!"
"What, you threw the remote!" Carol defended herself "All because you wanted to watch the ball drop on NBC, isn't that dumb, mom and dad?"
"Do you have any idea how much money we'll have to pay the hotel?!" their father cried.
"The two of you need to stop fighting each other!" their mother demanded "see what happens! How are we supposed to watch New Years now?"
"It's all DJ's fault" Carol pointed at her brother.
"No, it's your fault!" DJ fought back.
The two twins continued to throw the blame on one another until their father cut in. "It's both of your fault!" Alvin exclaimed "Your mother is right, the two of you need to stop fighting all the ti…" The red capped chipmunk stopped talking when he felt his phone vibrating in his pocket. He then took it out "It's a text message from Mr. Hawke, he wants me to run down to the New Year's party and help him swoon the local record companies into merging, I gotta go!".
Alvin was about to run out the door when Brittany blocked it. "Oh no you don't," she glared at her husband "You've been working the entire time we've been here! Now that our children our fighting, you're going to leave while I deal with them alone?"
"If I don't run down there, my boss will throw us onto the streets" Alvin protested "This is supposed to be a business trip, anyway. I have to please Mr. Hawke, or he'll make me regret it! You have no idea how much trouble I go through to support this family!"
"Oh don't pull that crap again, Alvin!" his wife said, getting sick of him always making excuses "It's almost the new year, for Pete's sake. You can't just leave your family!".
Their children then looked at themselves as their eyes began to water. DJ and Carol felt like it was their fault that their parents were arguing. They then began to hug each other as they teared up. "Mom, Dad, stop!" DJ wept "Me and Carol love each other again!"
"Yeah, so please start loving each other again too, Mommy and Daddy!" Carol sniffled.
The two adults stop fighting once they heard the two little ones. Alvin and Brittany stared at each other, feeling extremely guilty. They both nodded at each as they approached their crying children. Alvin picked up his son while Brittany picked up her daughter. Then the both of them walked over to each other, bringing the whole family into one big hug. "Don't be silly, you two" Brittany said softly "Daddy and I could never stop loving each other". She then kissed the twins on their foreheads.
"That's right, and we could never stop loving you" Alvin added "Daddy just got a stupid boss and it makes mom upset".
The two twins started to giggle, feeling a lot better already. "Stupid boss" DJ repeated with a smile on his face.
Alvin and Brittany gave their kids one more squeeze as they divided off with holding their same sex child in their arms. "You guys want to hear my favorite new year's tradition?" Alvin rhetorically asked his family "leaving stupid bosses in the cold". They all started to laugh, knowing this meant that he wasn't going anywhere.
Brittany grinned widely and walked over to Alvin to give a big ol' kiss, "Come on, let's watch the new year arrive on the balcony".
The 4 of them did just that, hearing distant cheering from the humungous crowd in Time Square. At that moment they weren't thinking of any broken TVs or stupid bosses, they'll worry about that next year. They just observed the beautiful lights of New York enjoying each other's company until the last minute of 2012. Then they started to count down:
"10...9...8...7...6...5...4...3...2...1!"
"DJ, wake up!". The maroon clad chipmunk then shot up from his sleeping bag. He had reawakened in the year 1990, dreaming of a precious memory that wouldn't even take place for another 2 decades. Theodore was the one who had shook him.
"What is it, Theo?" he asked as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. DJ looked over to the clock and saw it was 7:00 am, the time they were supposed to wake up. "Oh I see" DJ then got out of his sleeping bag. DJ then noticed something felt off as he touched his ears. "Wait, why am I able to touch my ears?". His headphones were missing! He frantically looked around the room but couldn't find them "Where are my headphones?"
"I took them, DJ" said a voice behind Theodore. The no longer headphone wearing chipmunk looked over and saw Simon holding the thing that was missing from his head.
"Simon, why would take DJ's headphones?" Theodore asked.
"Theo, can you give me and DJ some privacy please?" the bespectacled chipmunk requested.
"O-okay?" the short chipmunk then left the bedroom, feeling quite confused.
Simon made sure his brother was out of ear shot before he continued talking "DJ, put these on". He then handed his nephew some new clothes.
DJ put them on reluctantly and then looked in the mirror by the closet. He was now wearing a blue jean jacket, maroon class-5 vest and a pair of red Nike sneakers with white slashes. "Simon, this isn't really my style" DJ remarked, wishing he had his old clothes back.
"Well your style is too ahead of its time" Simon said "You have to blend into this time period or you'll stick out like a sore thumb!"
"But what about my headphones? I feel naked without them" DJ whined. Those headphones were as important to DJ as the red cap was to Alvin. Very rarely does a day come where DJ doesn't wear them.
"I'm sorry, DJ, but you can't wear these, they're too futuristic" Simon noted "Though I must ask, why you do wear headphones that don't have a cord?"
"They're Bluetooth, Si" DJ explained.
Simon looked at him puzzled "but they're obviously maroon"
The teen just rolled his eyes, not feeling like explaining it to his uncle "Can I please have my headphones back?"
Simon sighed "Look, I think I got something that'll be a good compromise". The blue clad chipmunk then took out a yellow Sony Walkman with wired grey headphones plugged in and handed them to DJ. "I know it's not the same but it's the closest thing to you're headphones in the current time" Simon spoke.
"Alright" DJ sighed as he put the Walkman in his pocket and placed his "new" headphones on his head. He kept his shirt with the D on it on, but other than that the chipmunk looked like any other teen in the present time. DJ also felt like he had seen a character from a movie wear similar clothes to his.
"Now" Simon coughed "I think it's time you start to get to work".
DJ didn't understand what his uncle was talking about until he pointed to the bed in the middle. There laid Alvin, who had face planted Himself into his bed and was using his pillow to cover his ears. It was pretty apparent that the chipmunk dreaded getting out of bed. DJ thought about his approach as he went to stand next to his young father's bed. "A-Alvin…" the teen said softly, "it's time to get up, don't you have a pretty important recording session today?".
Alvin groaned as he turned to face his doppelganger "I know, I just… don't want to face the world today".
DJ recalled that yesterday he accidentally stopped his parents from falling in love when he got in the way of his dad trying to save his mom. Now everyone except him and Simon believed Alvin had put Brittany in danger to save his own skin. "I know that you're worried, Alvin" DJ comforted his father "But I'm sure if you carefully explain what happened, Brittany will forgive you".
The rockstar thought about what his guest had said "DJ, I know I just met you, but can you help me tell her? You were the only other person there, you saw what happened, right?"
DJ nodded "Sure did, I know you're innocent".
Alvin lit up, finally someone was on his side. "Great, then you can tell that drama queen that I did nothing wrong!" he pronounced, in an annoyed tone "Some guy pushed me before I could save her. You wouldn't happen to see who it was, DJ?". The 21st century chipmunk pondered to tell Alvin what really happened. "I swore he yelled "Dad, stop" Alvin added "I know it sounds strange. I wondered why he said that?".
Well if DJ was planning on telling his father his truth, there was no way he was going to now. If he told Alvin it was him who pushed him down, then he would question why he called him "dad". "It happened so fast that I didn't catch him" DJ lied nervously "sorry… he he". Alvin snapped his fingers in disappointment and then started to get ready for the day himself.
Simon had observed the entire thing as pulled DJ over to the far corner. "DJ, I must warn you that your parents can get quite nasty when things are this tense between them" the bespectacled chipmunk warned "I'm not going to lie, it's going to be difficult to get them to forgive each other".
DJ didn't listen to his uncle "How bad can they possibly be? I've seen them fight in the future, it doesn't take much to get them to stop".
Simon shook his head "They may be like that in the future, but the Alvin and Brittany of the present haven't matured to that level yet".
DJ continued to shrug off his uncle's comments when they heard Dave yell from the downstairs "Breakfast is ready!".
For breakfast, the four males had waffles with syrup. Everyone had a modest amount except Theodore, whose pile towered over the dining table. Alvin was still silent as DJ and Simon stared at him, thinking up ways to fix the boy's relationship with his future wife. Then there was a knock on the door. "That must be the girls" Dave said as he got up "Remember what I said, Alvin. You're going to apologize to Brittany and hopefully we can put this behind us". Alvin just responded by grumbling as everyone walked to the front door.
Dave opened it, and there stood Ms. Miller and the chipettes. "Teddy!" Eleanor cheered as she rushed in to hug Theodore.
"Good morning, Ellie!" the green clad chipmunk hugged the light green clad chipmunk back with a big ol' smile "Excited about the recording session, today?"
"Mmm hm!" the blonde nodded "We always have so much fun, I can't wait to sing with you!".
DJ looked onward to his aunt and uncle with a relieved smile on his face. "It looks like I don't have to worry about Franklin disappearing" he whispered to Simon. "Those two get along like peanut butter and jelly" Simon chuckled.
"Good morning, girls" Dave greeted as the rest of the Millers entered, with a particular pink chipette dragging behind.
"Good morning, David" Ms. Miller greeted back.
"Oh, there's someone I want you all to meet!" Dave announced "the boys' cousin has come to visit!".
Dave then presented DJ, and the Millers looked in shock. "DJ?!" Ms. Miller, Jeanette, and Eleanor yelled. Brittany seemed pretty shocked too.
"Oh, you guys met already?" Theodore asked.
"Yeah" Eleanor answered "We found him lying on the ground at the skating rink and thought he was Alvin. We were worried and took him home to patch up".
"I-I didn't know you were the boys' cousin, DJ" Jeanette remarked.
"Yeah" DJ sweated as he scratched the back of his head "I was going to tell you but your sister kicked me out".
"Oh yeah, sorry about her behavior" Jeanette apologized, looking down to the floor.
"It's alright" DJ assured. Simon walked over to his counterpart leaned in "Hey Jeanette, how's Brittany doing?".
Jeanette shook her head, "I'm assuming you heard what happened. She's not doing so hot, she hasn't said a word all morning. I can't believe Alvin could do such a thing to her".
DJ then joined his uncle and aunt's private conversation "I was there, Alvin's innocent, he was tricking the gang and was going to save her but someone stopped him".
Jeanette gasped "Really? Then he must be pretty mad too, seeing how much blame he has gotten".
Simon nodded "Precisely, Jeanette. We both know how stubborn our siblings are, and if they continue the way they are, things are going to get ugly. Me and DJ are going to try to patch things up between them before things get too out of hand".
"Good, and you can bet I'll help too" the bespectacled chipette answered "but how are we going to tell them it was all a big misunderstanding?"
Before the three of them could come up with a plan, Dave coughed loudly to get everyone's attention. "Now Alvin" Dave looked at his red clad son while tapping his foot "Don't you have something to say to Brittany?"
Alvin shoved his hands in his pockets and slumped over to the similarly emoting chipette. Brittany glanced at him for a moment before then turned her head away, sticking her nose in the air with a sour expression "hmph!".
This seemed to set off the red capped teen "Brittany, I was trying to save you!"
"I don't want to hear it, Alvin!" the chipette spat "You're nothing but a jealous two faced coward!"
Alvin got all red in the face "I tried to help you for once and this is how you repay me, you ungrateful brat?!"
Brittany was starting to fume "You were going to let a bunch of crooks take me away! Alvin, you're the biggest jerk in the world!"
"And you're the biggest idiot in the world!" Alvin fired back. The two of them harshly stared at each other as their noses touched.
DJ looked in absolute terror, his uncle was not over exaggerating when he said things could get nasty between his parents. The others looked uneasy too, worried that the two chipmunks would rip each other's throats out. Their smaller siblings then got between them and tried to talk sense into them. "Alvin, Brittany, stop!" Eleanor cried, getting rather upset.
"Yeah, don't fight! You two are friends!" Theodore pleaded.
"Please, Theodore!" Alvin spat "Brittany is not my friend, never was, never will be!"
"Yeah, who would want to be friends with you?!" Brittany fired back.
"You two, stop now!" Dave demanded "We don't have time for this, we have to be at the studio by 8. You two either make up or stop fighting!"
"Fine!" Alvin and Brittany yelled as they tried to get as far away from each other as possible. Dave sighed, he didn't know what he was expecting but he knew this feud would prove to be quite troublesome.
"Will you be alright handling those two?" Ms. Miller asked all worried.
"I'll be fine, Ms. Miller. Thank you for your concern" Dave assured.
Jeanette then walked up to her mother "Yeah don't worry. Me, Simon, and DJ will make sure they stay out of trouble".
Ms. Miller was pleased to hear this "Well isn't that so responsible of you three?". She then hugged the three "responsible" chipmunks. "Well, good luck with the recording, see y'all later" Ms. Miller said. She then gave Jeanette and Eleanor a kiss on the forehead. The old woman then bent down to her last bruiting daughter "I know Alvin hurt you, Brittany, but you two need to have a more civil discussion about what happened. You can't act this way with one another forever". Brittany just humphed. Ms. Miller sighed and gave Brittany a hug before heading out the door.
"Bye, Ms. Miller!" everyone waved.
Once Ms. Miller was out of sight, Dave and the seven chipmunks made their way to the garage because his minivan was there. Once they entered, everyone's eyes landed on the covered Tesla. "Dave, what's that" asked Eleanor.
"Oh, that's Simon's latest science experiment" Dave answered the small chipette.
"You didn't tell me you were working on a new experiment" Jeanette remarked "it must be a big one if you need to leave it in the garage". Jeanette was planning to peek under the covers when Simon ran in front of her.
"It's nothing huge but it's extremely fragile, so please stay at least 10 feet away!" Simon stammered, sweat running down his brow.
"What is it?" Jeanette asked curiously. "Like I said, nothing!" Simon lied. Jeanette was suspicious but decided to press no further as they needed to leave for the city.
Dave sat in the driver's seat as Theodore and Eleanor entered the backside first. Alvin and Brittany tried to enter next but at the same time. They pushed and shoved, giving each other dirty looks. Finally Dave had enough "Alvin, sit with me in front!". Alvin complied, but not before sticking his tongue at the pink clad chipette, which she promptly returned the gesture.
Simon rolled his eyes "15 years old and they still act like little kids. I have no idea how those two will manage to raise…". The bespectacled chipmunk almost slipped up before correcting himself "...themselves! You know, when they become adults. '' Him and DJ let out a sigh of relief, Jeanette however, grew more suspicious. Finally everyone was seated. Dave and Alvin at the front, and Theodore, Eleanor, Brittney, Jeanette, Simon, and DJ sat in the back in that order (though the extra person did make it a bit cramp).
As Dave drove to the city, plenty of things were happening in the minivan. Theodore and Eleanor were playing I spy with each other, Alvin kept glaring at Brittany through the mirror and vise versa, and the remaining chipmunks were discussing how to patch things up between the two. "Maybe we should offer something to both of them" Jeanette through out "Brittany wants these new shoes she saw in a store window"
"We've done that before" Simon shot down "if we want Alvin and Brittany to stay on good terms, we need to do something more effective.''
An idea popped in DJ's head "How about we lock them in a room alone, then let them out once they finally make up?!"
"That's too drastic, DJ" Simon said quite shocked "jeez, he really is Alvin and Brittany's kid".
"Wait, I got it!" Jeanette announced "how about we each talk to them individually and make it sound like the other is really sorry for what they did, but are too shy to do so? Then they'll apologize and feel like their being noble ". DJ and Simon liked the sound of the chipette's plan.
"Great idea! Impeccable as per usual, Jeanette!" Simon complimented.
This caused the violet clad chipette to blush "Thank you, Simon. Y-you're pretty impeccable yourself". Then the two nerds turned red and faced away from each other, embarrassed what they said to each other but also filled with joy from what the other had said. DJ couldn't help but chuckle at his uncle and aunt's behavior.
The maroon clad teen decided to nudge Simon playfully, getting his attention. DJ then whispered in his ear "I saw that, you two love birds".
Simon almost turned red as Alvin's clothes "W-what could you possibly mean?!".
"You know, you have never been the best at hiding your emotions, Si" DJ smirked "I saw how you looked at Jeanette when she called you impeccable. You two are so sweet in the nerdiest way".
Simon groaned "You're just like your father. There's nothing between me and Jeanette. Remember you're only trying to get your parents together, so don't think of doing squat behind my back".
"Whatever you say, Si" DJ chuckled.
Eventually they manage to reach Jett Records on time. Dave parked the minivan in the parking lot and everyone started to walk towards the building. Near the entrance there was a crowd of paparazzi, everyone wondered why they were here. They haven't publicly announced they were working on a new album yet. "Mr. Seville!" one reporter nudged "Rumor has it that your son, Alvin Seville, allowed a notoriously dangerous gang take Brittany Miller with them, is this true?!".
Dave ignored the reporter's question but it did bring him worry. The crowd of reporters then started to bug the leader of the chipmunks "Alvin, are the rumors true?!"
"Alvin, did you do it because you wanted to eliminate your opponent?!"
"Alvin, how do you defend yourself?!"
Alvin lowered his cap, the paparazzi was trying to eat him alive.
But they didn't end with him, as they started to harass Brittany as well "Brittany, how scarred are you by the incident?!"
"Brittany, what did the gang do to you?!"
"Brittany, what are your current opinion on your music collaborator, Alvin of the Chipmunks?!". The pink chipette stared at the ground feeling quite uncomfortable by the attention she was getting (which is pretty ironic considering the person we're talking about). DJ hid behind Simon and Jeanette as hard as he could to make sure no one could see his face. Theodore and Eleanor just comforted each other. Security guards manage to hold back the imposing paparazzi as Dave and the seven chipmunks entered the headquarters of Jett Records.
Once they were inside, DJ looked around in wonder. He had been to Jett Records in the future, Alvin would become the secretary after all, but it was neat for him to see it what it looked like 30 years before his time. Alvin took notice of the headphone wearing chipmunks behavior and it cheered him up a bit. "I know, this place is amazing," he began to say to DJ.
"Yeah" DJ nodded.
"You know, I may be a famous rockstar but I'll admit I still feel like just a visitor. Man, I'll never get sick of this place". DJ couldn't help but find his father's last statement morbidly humorous, knowing how ironic it was.
The group walked up to the front desk and Dave talked to the woman receptionist "Hi, it's us. Today we have a family member with us, is it alright if he comes up as well?".
The receptionist took a gander at the new furry face, well somewhat new. "Woah, I can certainly see the family resemblance, he looks exactly like Alvin! Of course he can come up!" DJ rolled his eyes, he seemed to never be able to get out of his father's shadow.
They entered the elevator and took it all the way up to the recording studio. DJ looked around and saw it looked pretty prestigious. There were multiple seats, couches, and even a mini fridge. On the wall were many of the Chipmunks and Chipettes' hits. "Alright, guys. We'll get recording in a second, we have to wait for Ian to arrive" Dave announced.
Chills ran down DJ's back, he recalled who that first name belonged to. He backed up until he bumped into someone. "Oh, who do we have here?" the person said in a joyful yet sinister tone. DJ looked up and saw the person who was casting a shadow over him "Hello there, I'm Ian Hawke, the producer of the Chipmunks and the Chipettes".
I've decided to split this very big chapter into two as it's way too long. I hope you found the beginning cute, and they'll be plenty of more cute moments throughout the story. Next chapter you'll get to learn about the infamous Ian Hawke...