"NOOOOOO!" Mr. Rochelle had just the same reaction when Dave came to tell him that Alvin couldn't be in the play anymore.
"I knew he wasn't gonna like this..." Darla and Amber said together as they stood by and crossed their arms.
'Well, at least things aren't going to get worse.' Atticus thought.
"Poor Alvin." Theodore remarked.
"I know, he really wanted it, who could be Hyde and Jekyll now?" Eleanor wondered.
"Well, I could be the doctor, I always wanted to be one." Simon remarked.
"No offense, Simon, but I don't think you could be that scary as Hyde." Darla pointed out.
"Hate to say it, Simon, but Darla's right." Atticus said.
"Maybe it could be a duo role?" Darla suggested. "Simon is Dr. Henry Jekyll and someone else is Mr. Edward Hyde."
"Darla, that's brilliant!" Rochelle praised her.
"We actually used to do it in my first movie before I got greedy and selfish," Darla blinked a little as she remembered. "We had this girl Shirley fill in for me sometimes."
"Really?" Amber asked her.
"Yeah, you just had to pay close attention," Darla remarked. "Before I got arrogant, I didn't mind it, but after Little Dickens, I was the star with almost no one else involved... My butler Max was the genie in my Aladdin movie though."
"Yeah, but who do you think they'll choose to play as Mr. Hyde?" Atticus asked.
Rochelle looked over to the other kids who worked backstage.
The teacher who was new this year came in, Darla never really noticed it, but she had a great resemblance to Queen Athena in Atlantica, not knowing that that's who she really was, but living as a human in a reincarnated afterlife.
"Oh, hello, Mrs. Seacrest," Rochelle greeted her. "What can we do for you?"
"Pardon me, Mr. Rochelle, but I just thought I'd visit my students." Mrs. Seacrest told him with a smile.
'She must be from somewhere none of us have been to yet.' Atticus thought.
Mr. Rochelle allowed Mrs. Seacrest to do so.
"You must be the new third grade teacher, nice to meet you." Cherry said to the woman.
"Nice to meet you too," Mrs. Seacrest smiled, then sat on the edge of the stage, then looked down to the youngest boy chipmunk. "I hear you need new actors for Jekyll and Hyde."
"Yes, how did you know?" Rochelle sounded astounded.
"Call it intuition." Mrs. Seacrest giggled.
"Just like me with my detective skills." Atticus said.
Mrs. Seacrest giggled. "Yes... You could say that..."
"You don't have any ideas, do you?" Rochelle asked the new teacher in school.
"Well, some of you need strength you need to use out and be someone you're not sometimes," Mrs. Seacrest. "Like Theodore as a bad guy."
"Oh, I couldn't do that, Mrs. Seacrest." Theodore whimpered at her suggestion of him being in the play.
"He's right," Nathan shoved him. "I'll do it."
"Oh, please they need an actor, not a jerk, Nathan." Atticus said.
This made all of the other students laugh. Even Jeanette was laughing, even if she believed Nathan was only a bully because of a possible abusive family at home. Nathan scowled at them and folded his arms.
"Theodore, I really think you should give it a try," Mrs. Seacrest insisted. "Besides, Eleanor is our leading lady."
Eleanor nodded with a smile. "We can recite our lines together!"
Theodore blushed to the blonde chipmunk girl he secretly crushed on. "Well... I guess I could give it a try."
"Great." Atticus said.
"We'll start rehearsal with him tomorrow, give him some time to get true into his character." Rochelle suggested.
"That should be just fine," Mrs. Seacrest smiled. "I do have an eye for things like this after all."
Rochelle saw Dave leaving and decided to have a word with him.
Mrs. Seacrest smiled to Atticus and Darla when they were alone. "Hello, my special boy and girl..."
"You look so much like our Aunt Athena." Darla whispered to her.
Mrs. Seacrest let out a giggle. "She sounds like a beautiful person then."
"She is." Atticus said.
"We really miss her..." Darla frowned. "I wish we could tell her..."
"I have a feeling she already knows..." Mrs. Seacrest winked to them.
"I have the same feeling, Mrs. Seacrest, or should I say Aunt Athena?" Atticus asked.
Mrs. Seacrest chuckled, revealing she was their mermaid aunt. "I was wondering how long it'd take you."
Darla smirked. "I knew from day one."
Athena laughed, then hugged them both. "I missed you all so much."
"We've missed you too, Aunty." Atticus said.
"How'd you let this happen to yourself?" Darla had to ask, it felt like a dream, but it was all too real.
"Well, after I died, I had been watching over you all in your adventure to help bring music back to Atlantica," Athena explained, crossing her legs slightly. "After you got your Uncle Triton to bring it back, I decided to help Ariel reward all of you. She sent those presents to you both and Jessica, and I decided to visit your mother. It was also agreed in my temporary home that I'm allowed to come down and do what I've always wanted to do, become a school teacher, even if I'm human now. I do miss my family, but I still let my voice be heard to them in their sleep when they all go to bed, even to Ariel when she spends her evenings now on land too with her husband Eric."
"Yeah, I hope one day we get to meet him." Atticus said.
"Maybe..." Athena smiled to them.
It was now time to go back home and for Cherry and Atticus to take the Chipmunks and Chipettes home. But when Atticus and the Chipmunks got home, Theodore a lot of lines to learn and rehearse. Before the Chipettes got to Ms. Miller, Eleanor promised she would come visit tomorrow and help him with his lines since they were a couple in this play.
"See ya guys later." Cherry said as she got herself home.
"See ya later, Cherry." The Chipettes said as she left.
"You girls okay now?" Ms. Miller asked her foster daughters as she walked in with them, shutting the door after them.
Cherry smiled, then got herself home.
"Yeah, I guess." Brittany said, still mad that she had to play as a weeping willow.
"Beatrice, I'm gonna go over to the Chipmunks' house tomorrow afternoon to help Theodore with his lines." Eleanor told her foster mother.
"Well, that's nice of ya, I bet you'll be great in it." Ms. Miller hugged her for her genorousity.
"Thanks, Beatrice." Eleanore said as she hugged her back.
Cherry went off, she was about to go to her front door, but she saw Forte on her family's new porch swing.
"What are you up to now?" she folded her arms, aggravated with him already.
"I need to talk with you about something important, Cerise," Forte said to her urgently, ignoring her rudeness toward him. "It's about werewolves..."
"They're fictional."
"That's what you thought about me, remember?" Forte pointed to his fangs.
Cherry rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah... What now though?"
"An ex-student of mine has wandered into this neighborhood..." Forte explained to her. "I need your help to get him away from the innocent grade school children."
Cherry still didn't believe in werewolves, but was going to hear of who the werewolf was anyway. "Who is he?" Cherry asked.
"Lawrence Talbot," Forte revealed. "Have you heard of him?"
"He's the Chipmunks' new neighbor, I haven't actually seen him, but how do you know he's a werewolf?" she asked.
"He's actually a wolfman," Forte replied. "His mother was a she-wolf and his grandfather was the alpha wolfman."
Cherry saw that he was serious about this. She sighed. "Can't YOU do something about it?"
"Just warn your friends to be careful about going off after dark, there's a full moon out and he's likely to be out... He could bite anyone... Especially if they're innocent." Forte warned her sharply.
This made Cherry very concerned now.
"Okay, bye, see ya!" Cherry went to head inside now, taking out her house key since her parents weren't home. She quickly opened the door and rushed inside, mostly to get away from him than to avoid any 'werewolves or wolfmen'.
Meanwhile back at the Chipmunks' house, The next afternoon, it was the weekend. Darla and Eleanor were on Theodore's sides of the couch.
"Look at all these lines!" Theodore cried.
"That's why Mr. Rochelle is having me play Dr. Jekyll," Simon walked in then. "And you the evil Mr. Hyde!"
"Uh, Darla, what do you think?" Theodore looked to the curly blonde haired girl. "Do you think I can do it?"
"Sure, if I can be sweet and lovable on camera and mean-spirited off screen, though not anymore of course, then you can be evil and cruel as a man like Dr. Hyde." Darla assured, her actress mode breaking out.
"Don't worry, Theodore, I'll help you." Eleanor promised.
"Yeah and everything will work out in the end." Atticus assured the youngest chipmunk.
"Are you sure Alvin's okay with this?" Theodore asked them.
"Let's just saying he's doing as well as can be expected." Dave answered as he walked in.
"Come on, let's get you two to practicing a little." Darla said to the chipmunks, then handed their scripts.
Eleanor smiled, she was really looking forward to having scenes with her favorite chipmunk.
"I'll go and check on Alvin." Atticus said.
"Thank you, Atticus." Dave said to the boy.
Alvin was in his bedroom, holding his knees and rocking back and forth like he was on the borderline of sanity. "All alone... No friends... No family... No monsters... The walls are closing in around me!" he grew hysterical then. "I-I can't breathe!" he gasped. "I can't think! What do I do? What am I going to do? How am I going to survive!?" he then looked down and saw a candy on the floor. "Ooh, candy mint." he picked it up and ate it, instantly calming down.
The bedroom door opened and Atticus came in to see how Alvin was doing.
"Hey, Alvin, how you doing?" the boy asked.
"I guess I'm okay..." Alvin sighed as he finished his mint. "Simon says I'm suffering from... 'With Draw'..."
"Well, maybe things will get better." Atticus said.
Alvin sighed and looked out the window as Eleanor left to go back home and Theodore waved her off. There then came a delivery truck with a package, handing it to Theodore.
"That has to be my book!" Alvin gasped then and he opened the window to get Theodore to give him the package without revealing what it really was and convinced Theodore that it was a book on how to live in a world without monsters as part as his therapy.
Theodore believed it and went to bring the book to the bedroom.
"I can't believe that you lied to him." Atticus said to the oldest chipmunk.
"Hey, it's the only way to get what I want without Dave knowin'." Alvin scoffed.
Theodore found a way to get the package up without having to take it right upstairs with Alvin's hook and it surprisingly worked. Alvin laughed as he tore it open to find his Madame Raya book, he then took out the amulet which was said to not really do anything, so he tossed it out into the yard, hitting Theodore's head accidentally.
Alvin hugged the book. "This is my ticket!"
Theodore smiled at the amulet.
"That's pretty, Theodore." Darla smiled to him.
"Thanks, I'm gonna give it to Eleanor, I know she'll love it." Theodore smiled as he put the amulet in his pocket, thinking it was a beautiful necklace that was precious enough to give to the girl he loved.
"Alvin, look into the book, maybe it can tell us something about that neighbor." Atticus said.
Alvin went to sit on his bed with Atticus on the other side.
Cherry came down the street to see Theodore and Darla in the yard. "Hey, have you guys seen your brothers? I have to talk to them about something."
"They're inside and Alvin's in our room with Atticus keeping him company." Theodore said.
"What's wrong, Cherry?" Darla asked.
"It's something very important I need to tell Atticus... It's big kid stuff." Cherry said, she didn't want to risk giving the two younger ones nightmares because of what she was told, so she said that to cease their questions. She ran into the house to tell Atticus and Alvin what she learned.
"Really?" Alvin asked.
"How did you find out?" Atticus added.
Cherry rolled her eyes. "Forte told me..."
"Well, with how old he is, of course he would know." Atticus said.
"How old is that guy?" Alvin asked.
"384." Cherry replied.
"No, really, how old is he?" Alvin didn't believe that was possible.
"I'm not kidding, he's been alive since the French revolution, he's seen all sorts of things." Cherry insisted.
"I want proof." Alvin glanced at her.
"What proof do you need?" Atticus asked.
"There's no way a guy could actually be alive that long." Alvin rolled his eyes as he flipped to the pages about wolf subjects.
Cherry shrugged and put her hands in her pockets.
Jessica walked down the hall as she ripped off a golden heart-shaped locket that was worn around her neck and looked angry. "Stupid boys! I don't know where he moved to, but Dustin can keep this crummy old locket!" she growled as she threw down the jewelry and stormed off, growling.
"Drama~" Cherry rolled her eyes again. She then saw Simon going to the bedroom where Alvin and Atticus were in.
Simon picked up the locket. "Jessica?"
"Give it to Jeanette or something, that's old news..." Jessica scoffed as she went off to find her mother to talk to about this.
"What's up with her?" Simon asked Cherry, hoping she would know what was going on.
"I don't know for sure, but based on her mood swings, it's probably a bad break-up," Cherry shrugged honestly. "Jessica's never had a real boyfriend before."
"Oh, my... Well, anyway, I'm on patrol to make sure Alvin doesn't have anything monster-related." Simon said before he made his way into the room.
"Uh-huh..." Simon seemed doubtful, luckily the book was hidden as he frisked Alvin like airport security, then checked Atticus just to make sure. "Shoes."
Alvin grumbled as he removed his shoes with Atticus.
Simon checked them, then let them alone. "That will be all..." he said, then went off out of the room, shutting the door behind him.
"Oh, wait, you forgot a piece of my heart!" Alvin cried, looking dramatic until he heard the door click shut, then took his book back from under his bed.
"Sucker," Atticus whispered. "Great hiding spot, Alvin."
"Yeah!" Alvin grinned.
Cherry sighed. "I'm outta here..."
"Anyways, Alvin, if you need me, I'm gonna go and see what I can get Mo as a gift so I can surprise her." Atticus said as he began to exit the room.
Alvin rolled his eyes slightly at the mushy romance stuff. "Have fun with that..."
Theodore decided now would be a good time to go to the Miller's residence and take the amulet to give to Eleanor as a present and hopefully become her boyfriend. He was allowed to go before it would get too dark. He was on his way to go off on his own, but then he saw Atticus making his way over.
"Atticus?" Theodore turned to him.
"Oh, hey, Theodore, where are you going?" Atticus asked.
"I was just about to give this to Eleanor..." Theodore blushed as he said the chipette's name, then took out the amulet to show him. "A-As a present to umm... Thank her for helping me with my lines..."
"You want me to walk you there?" Atticus asked.
Theodore shrugged. "Okay."
And the two were off, they were getting to Ms. Miller's house. There were passing a tree house though were there were other girls who were around Mo and Atticus's age, but went to a different school than Atticus did.
"Mo, isn't that your boyfriend?" one girl giggled.
Mo stuck her head out upside-down. "Hey, Atticus!"
Theodore and Atticus stopped instantly.
"Wait, was that Mo?" Atticus asked as they began to look around. "Mo, where are you?"
"Guys, turn the light on!" Mo said, then a light came from the tree-house. "Hey!" she climbed back up, standing by the edge and waved to him.
They both looked up and saw Mo and her friends.
"Mo, what are you doing here?" Atticus asked with a smile.
"Just hanging out with some friends," Mo chuckled as she stepped aside, showing them. "Their moms are friends with Elizabeth at our private school." Even though it was hard on both Mo and Atticus and due to James and Elizabeth being of high class, Mo went to a private prep school while Atticus only went to a public school.
"Hiiiii!" the girls greeted, giggling as they saw him.
"Hello." Atticus said, waving to them.
Mo jumped down, then came over to the boy. "What're YOU doing out here?"
"They're gonna make out." the girl with glasses whispered, making the girl next to her laugh and the girl with braids in her hair shushed them with her finger.
"Ignore them." Mo rolled her eyes, but smiled back to Atticus.
"Well, I'm taking Theodore over to Ms. Miller's house so he can give Eleanore a gift, a thank you present for helping him with his lines," Atticus said and then brought out a necklace. " And I was going to buy you something, but then remembered I got this for you."
It was a necklace with a beautiful pendant hanging on to it.
"Oh, Atticus, thank you!" Mo took it, her eyes glowing with the shine of the gold on the locket. "It's so lovely... No one's ever given me something this nice before."
Atticus then placed around Mo's neck and where it fit perfectly. "Do you like it?" he asked.
"Like it?" Mo sniffled as she had joyful tears in her eyes. "I love it!" she wrapped her arms around him, hugging him rather tightly. "Thank you so much..."
"Ooh, it's late..." one of the girls noticed.
"Yeah, we better head inside." the braided-haired girl added as she checked her watch.
"I'm glad you love it, Mo," Atticus said. "Well, it's getting rather late."
"He's right, Mo and I still need to give Eleanor her gift." Theodore added.
"Okay," Mo smiled to him. "Good night, Atticus." she said before going off to get herself home.
Theodore went with Atticus to Ms. Miller's house and knocked on the door.
"Yes?" Eleanor opened the door, then looked very happy to see Theodore more than Atticus. "Oh, hi, Theodore!"
"Uhh... I wanted to give you something..." Theodore was nervous, but smiled as he blushed, taking out the amulet. "Thanks for helping me practice my lines today."
"Oh, Theodore!" Eleanor gushed. "It's beautiful!"
'Perfect choice, Theodore.' Atticus thought as he smiled at Theodore.
Eleanor held it close to her chest with an in love smile. She started to loosen her tie that went with her outfit and put the amulet around her neck to try it out. After goodbyes, Theodore went with Atticus to get back home as it was getting dark very quickly. And where it quickly also got scary. This night felt like unlike any other night.
"Simon? Alvin?" Theodore asked nervously.
"Jessica?" Atticus then asked. "Darla?"
However, a big wolfish dog came up to them with glowing yellow and slit eyes came to them and bit them both on the hand instantly. And it painful for both of them and also a little painful for the werewolf because of Atticus's incredible strength. Before the two could see the canine again, it was already gone into the darkness. Theodore did his best not to cry, but he was in pain and wanted Dave now more than ever. Atticus then picked up Theodore and decided to be brave for both of them and began to make their way for the both of them back to the house so Dave could bandage them.
"Did you recognize the dog?" Dave asked the little chipmunk.
"No." Theodore shook his head with a frown as he was being catered to.
"You're being very brave." Dave admired that, he thought for sure Theodore would be a little sensitive about this.
"Oh, poor baby..." Emily looked concerned.
"It's just a bite, but it still hurts." Atticus said.
Emily hugged her son, a tear dropping from her eye. She was glad he was okay, but she was still deathly worried about him. Both Emily and Dave began to bandage Theodore's and Atticus's hand's that got bitten.
"That should do it." Dave soothed.
Emily smiled as she wiped a tear. "I know you're okay, but I'm a mother... It's my job to worry about you."
"Me and Theodore will be careful next time." Atticus said.
"Good..." Emily smiled, then gently kissed his cheek. "I'd hate to have anything happen to you..."
"*yawns* But, right now, I think me and Theodore are gonna head off to bed." Atticus said.
"Good night, honey..." Emily whispered.
Theodore and Atticus nodded and made their way for bed. There was no strangeness happening yet, but Alvin woke Simon up to go on a mission and search whether by day or moonlight. They had to watch for a mysterious mark of the wolf, which unknown to them so far, was the wound on Atticus and Theodore's hands. And where the next day and the days after that were going to be very surprising.