Poll time! What kind of QUIRKS should the families have? (Please, keep your ideas appropriate for my story/style of writing...I know there are some people out there who could come up with some really twisted ones, and if you're one of them...keep the twisted ones to yourself.)

AND DON'T FORGET: Sign my petition to let Ross and Janice know that we want to see more of the cartoon Chipmunks (and not just the old episodes either...the Chipmunk Adventure needs to be shown on TV as well as the fact that they need to make more).

Switched

Chapter 3: Laying Out the Rules

"Oh, so you're all here?" the lady announcer said as Dave let her in the house. The girls had come over after school.

"We're close friends," Jeanette told her.

"Hmm." She walked carefully and professionally over to the couch and sat down, perfectly poised in every way. "Well, as you must know by now, I'm Jillian, one of the hosts of the show that you guys are all going to be on. But there's some extra rules in place with you guys, since you all live in the same town."

"Practically on the same street," Alvin complained.

"Well, that's the luck of the draw for you. Anywhere from California to New York, from Alaska to Florida. Or just right down the street."

"Down the street is right," Brittany mumbled. Their siblings quickly hushed the two, stepping up to at least pretend to be excited.

"Well, because you're just two blocks away from each other, we're going to have to ask that you don't confer with some sort of game plan or explain anything about the little quirks of your homes to each other." Dave backed out of the room, suddenly feeling a tiny bit uncomfortable. They didn't have any strange quirks as a family, did they? "If we have to, we'll have hired hands stay near you at all times to make sure you're not talking about home life to each other, is that clear?"

"Yes ma'am," they all echoed. She'd said it in an almost military voice, but still somehow soft and gentle (and, on top of it all, professional).

"Now, on to business. The whole point of this program is to give kids the opportunity to see what life is like in other houses besides their own, to branch out a little. In some cases, even see other cultures. So, in case you haven't noticed, on the last day you'll all come down to the station for an interview to talk about your experiences. Until then, refer back to the first rule. No talking about anything as much as you can help it. Now if you're working on a school project together, that's allowed, but in general, we'd like it if you could stay separate for the two weeks."

"So…If the girls have a question about something around the house, they can't come ask us?" Simon asked.

"No. If you were from different states they wouldn't be able to ask you, would they?"

"No."

"Exactly. Now, the bed arrangements depend on the house, but I'm going to assume that there's only enough bedroom space in each house for all of you?"

"We share a room," Theodore and Eleanor said together.

"So…"

"Two bedrooms in this house," Alvin told her.

"And two in ours," Brittany said.

"So basically you girls will be staying in the boys' room and vise versa?" Jillian summed up. "Well, you don't need to take your bedding and such, but if there's anything that you simply can't sleep without, don't be afraid to bring it. Once the program starts, you won't be allowed back on your own property." Theodore glanced over at the stairs. He loved his teddy, he really did, but no one outside of the Seville family knew about it (not even Eleanor). The TV crew wouldn't violate that, would they?

"What if we run out of clothes?" Brittany said. "We're not allowed to bring more than we'd be able to take on a plane, right?"

"Those are the rules."

"I don't like to wear the same clothes more than once every other week."

"That's a lot of yellow legwarmers…" Alvin said as he stared at her.

"Legwarmers are different. I have five pairs of those. Fourteen pairs of tights, of course, and fourteen…"

"Of the same outfit?"

"They're all different!"

"I can't tell the difference."

"That's because you're a boy." Her sisters snickered. "And what about you? Make sure you take enough sweaters. You are not allowed to borrow my clothes." That got the two girls outright laughing as Alvin blushed deep enough for the red to show through his fur.

"I'd never borrow your clothes! I'm not a cross-dresser."

"That never stopped you before," Simon couldn't help but whisper though his own barely-contained snickers.

"Simon!"

"Hey!" Eleanor scolded. "Be quiet or you'll miss the rules and get in trouble and get us kicked off the show!"

"We will not!" Alvin and Brittany replied together, getting everyone to crack up. Even Dave couldn't help but laugh from the kitchen as he listened in. Alvin was probably the only one who heard him, but Alvin turned his head to see if he could catch a glimpse of his dad.

"Now I hope you made note of what I said," Jillian tried to hold on to the professional tone in her voice. "Boys, you won't be allowed to set foot on this property, let alone in this house, for two weeks. Girls, same with you for your home. Now…what have we covered already?"

"No conferring," Jeanette said.

"And no trespassing," Simon added.

"It's not exactly trespassing, but that's a good word to use. That's against the law and coming home is against the rules. That is, unless you forfeit or fall ill. Then of course you're allowed to come home. But there are some restrictions on the illness too. If it's a head cold or allergies or a sprain then you have to stay there. But if it's a broken bone or the flu or something like that, then you can come home. But that won't lead to you or your siblings forfeiting. If you were singles switching, the kid you switched with would still stay here for the remainder of the time. Since you're just going to be two blocks away you can probably return once you feel better…but no ones ever had to pull the illness card yet in the short history of our show, so we probably won't have to deal with that."

"Forfeit isn't the best word. We're not competing."

"True."

"There's someone running up your driveway," Jeanette said as she tugged on Simon's sleeve. Jillian glanced out the window and giggled to herself.

"That's Andy." Alvin ran over and let Jillian's co-worker in.

"The girls aren't…there because they're here," Andy said as he slowly calmed down. "Well, I went over everything with Miss Miller…"

"I was just about to turn the kids loose and finish up going over some other stuff with Mr. Seville. Do you kids think you could go start packing or something?" They glared for a second, but the boys bid the girls farewell and hurried upstairs while the girls headed home. Little details and the signing of a contract between the family and the show was all that was left, so that wasn't what bothered them. It was Jillian's professional, 'brush the kids off' tone that annoyed them. Any adult that talked to kids like they were babies was a pain.

"Man!" Alvin finally exploded as he threw his suitcase down. "This is such a waste! We're packing two weeks worth of our stuff just to go two blocks away!"

"Shh!" Simon said.

"Why?"

"You never know weather or not they've hidden cameras already."

"Why would they have done that?"

"Well…Just watching Dave since we got home from school, maybe they've already been here and gone already."

"Then what are they talking about downstairs?"

"Anything that wasn't covered already. Maybe they're just going into details about what he's supposed to do if he sees us around town or whatever…Or maybe they had to check a question. What if he had planned a concert? Or what if someone calls telling us they'd love to see us perform for them? Or…"

"No more 'what if's'!" Theodore shouted. "It's making my head hurt." To make up with his brother, Simon went over and helped Theodore pull his big suitcase out from under his bed. Alvin kept on grumbling quietly as he started to empty his drawers. Sweaters, pants, socks, and so on...It didn't take more than fifteen minutes to pack the clothes he'd need. His brothers were the same way. They were all sitting on the floor at the foot of Alvin's bed as the thought over what they'd have at the Chipette's house and what they'd need besides their clothes.

The first thing they came up with was shampoo and body wash. Obviously they weren't going to be using whatever the girls used. That stuff smelled, well, extremely pretty they had to admit. But they were boys. They did not, by any stretch, want to smell like girls. So that was the first thing on their list. But other than that, they weren't anywhere near as sure on what they'd need. They wouldn't need towels or food or any of the things they always packed when camping, but there was certainly more that they'd need besides what they had.

"Hey fellas," Dave said as he just walked in, not even bothering to knock this time.

"So what were you talking about?" Alvin asked.

"Well, I told them earlier that I'd planned a concert for you three and, well, it was going to be a surprise. It's next Saturday."

"A surprise with just a week to prepare?" Simon said.

"You guys know all your songs, you don't need to do much more than figure out what you want to wear. But when your names were pulled, well…Of course I had to ask them about that. They said that I can work out the details with Miss Miller, but she's going to have to take you to that. I can still manage it, but…" The boys looked sick already.

"She'll drive us there…and make sure we're ready and…" Theodore started.

"We're doomed," Alvin said as he dropped his forehead to Simon's shoulder. Simon merely pushed his elder brother away, but there was certainly a hint of fear in his eyes too.

"Besides that," Dave tried to divert their attention, "since we're so close, they've been debating on Thanksgiving for us. Jillian thinks that it'd be alright if we all have Thanksgiving dinner together…that is, us and Miss Miller and the girls. Like a big family thing."

"With grandma and grandpa?"

"Of course."

"Where then?" Simon asked. "We won't be allowed to come here; the girls won't be allowed to go home…"

"The station is debating on the details. They've actually already posted a poll on the website to see what the audience thinks…" The boys ran out of the room and down the stairs before Dave could finish. A long while ago, Dave had asked them which they wanted in their room more, a computer or a TV? It was Alvin and Theodore for the TV, Simon for a computer. So Simon didn't mind going downstairs to get on the computer. He'd just wanted it for homework anyway. And the TV had turned out to be the better choice in the end. They loved putting in a movie almost every night at eight to unwind before bed. Of course, on school nights they had to cut their movies in half because their bedtime was nine.

"There it is!" Simon was saying as Dave slowly walked down the stairs. The boys were on the site, reading the poll. "Should the Chipmunks and Chipettes be allowed to have Thanksgiving with their families, together?"

"Check yes!" Theodore yelped at the oldest Chipmunk, grabbing onto Alvin's arm and shaking it until Alvin let go of the mouse.

"I can't pick anything if I can't use the mouse!" Alvin scolded. They watched intently for the poll results once Alvin had clicked. Dave picked up his pace when he heard them howling with unhappiness.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Sixty percent so far have said no!" Simon blurted, sitting on the floor right there. He leaned his back against the chair as Alvin checked out some other details on the site.

"Well, you've got almost two weeks. Hopefully more understanding people will vote between now and then." He watched as Theodore did what Simon had just done on the other side of the chair. "It could be worse. It could be eighty percent. What are the numbers?"

"The 'no' number was around six thousand," Alvin said as he glared at the screen. After about five minutes he just closed out of the browser and hopped over Simon and started to head for the kitchen. "Fellas, come here for a second." They all looked over at him as he kneeled down and reached out his arms for them. At first they didn't budge, but one-by-one they hurried over to him. "If they don't let us have Thanksgiving together, we'll just have a little feast of our own after you get back, ok?" He held them close as they all nodded.

"I was hoping for a time slot in January," Simon whispered.

"I was hoping for a trip to New York," Alvin added.

"I was hoping we'd be staying with a professional chef," Theodore finished. His two brothers snickered as they lovingly nudged their baby brother.

"You're always thinking about food," they teased.

"Well, food is yummy…and speaking of food, I'm hungry." The entire family cracked up as Dave grabbed two hands (that just happened to be Alvin and Simon's) and led his boys to the kitchen to have them help him with dinner.