Wow...I almost posted chapter 7 for you guys. I really thought I'd already put up chapter six...Ain't that just sad?
Anyway, this is all repeats for you guys. Please, if you haven't put your twenty cents into my poll yet, please do (and if you didn't pick two options, please go back and pick your other one...there's the pairings options and there's the story-themes options, and you can pick one of each...or you can pick the star, which means you want to see me write something other than a Chipmunk fic). Sign my petition if you haven't yet...Spread it to others if you haven't yet...
Here's something new though: I'm working on a picture for this story! Sort of like a title page, much like they had at the Seville Library. I just sketched that out today so be looking for it on my DA in the next week or so (as soon as I finish my 'Beauty and the Beast' spoofed picture for Simon and Jeanette....).
And...How about an art opportunity for you guys (if you so desire)? If you want, you can try to draw either side of this chapter (I mean when the girls go home and Eleanor and Jeanette are talking to Dave or when the boys go home and Simon and Theodore are talking to Miss Miller). I'm curious to see how you guys interpret it. You don't have to if you don't want to, but the picture Charisma drew for The Lessons They Teach really warmed my heart (I litterally squealed when I saw it) and when Simanette drew Koda...Oh, I was so happy! So if you want, give it a try. But most important, HAVE FUN.
Hmm...I might just make a contest out of this...
Sure! Why not? If you draw me a picture from any of my stories (from here on out...sorry Charisma, that means you have no advantages since I just came up with this) until I get around to writing 'Hero' (working title...I don't want to copy Narf with his 'Unlikely Hero' title), I'll try to fit you into that one (that's the one with the most OCs, most of them around the ages 9-12, just so ya know). So go ahead and try that if you're interested!
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 6: Bickering
"So…" Brittany started as she stared at Simon's paper. All six of them were in the park working on their homework, since they weren't allowed to go home and of course libraries forbade talking. The temperature outside had them all in jackets, but there was no wind so it was quite comfortable. Jeanette had completely given up on her older sister and turned to help Theodore and Eleanor. Alvin seemed to be doing just fine on his own…At least, he hadn't said anything since they'd sat down.
"So what?" Simon finally asked, annoyed with the feeling that her word had left in the air.
"Never mind." He rolled his eyes and glanced over to h is elder brother. It was so un-like Alvin to remain silent for so long. But they were all having trouble keeping their mouths shut about home life. They wanted so badly to talk about how Dave and Miss Miller were doing, but the camera men were watching them like eagles. Which also brought up the point that they'd have to be careful with their words. Who knew what the camera could pick up?
"That's it!" Alvin finally yelled as he threw his pencil at his paper.
"Trouble with homework?" Simon asked.
"No."
"Then what's wrong?"
"I'm just so…frustrated! Do you even realize that the most we've said to each other all day is 'let's go to the park to do our homework'?" He was looking straight into Brittany's baby-blue eyes as he said that, but the look in his own eyes kept her from speaking.
"We're just trying hard not to say something that's against the rules," Eleanor finally said for her. "I want so badly to ask how Sunday chores went, but we can't."
"I want to know what you did yesterday," Theodore replied. "That's not off-limits, right? Seeing as you guys probably went out…Dave always lets us go do something on Sunday afternoons." All six glanced over to see if the camera men were coming to break them up.
"We got ice cream," Jeanette said. "And Brittany took us window shopping."
"Just window shopping?" Alvin asked as he finally diverted his eyes.
"We put the last of our money together to get the ice cream."
"There was such a gorgeous necklace in that one store," Brittany said, playing with her hair a bit as she used her eyes to hint to Alvin. "It would look just perfect with my new dress…But I suppose I can get that any time." Her hinting eyes turned to accuse Jeanette. "What surprised me was that Jeanette found something that she adored."
"Brittany!"
"What? Is it a crime to tell the boys that you liked a lovely necklace?" Jeanette squirmed on her spot on the bench. It was quite clear that she'd caught Simon's attention. "It would be perfect for our Christmas concert with the boys…but knowing you, you'll never, ever buy it for yourself. And I'm quite sure you'd never just ask anyone for it…"
"So why don't you get it for her?" Alvin said as he kept his eyes from glancing at Brittany. He was not going to be convinced to buy her another anything. He'd wasted too much money on her fashion-diva needs already. They were only ten years old and she was already hogging up all his money like they were married rock stars!
"Because I'm saving up for that necklace to go with my dress. I just wouldn't feel fully dressed without it. Of course, if someone were to buy me the necklace, then I could get my sweet little sister something for the concert."
"Forget it! You've borrowed too much of my money already."
"Borrowed?"
"You had money for her to borrow?" Simon asked his brother, laughter in his voice.
"Why do you think I'm broke all the time?" Alvin hissed back. "It's her fault." It was all Simon could do to contain his laughter. He'd always assumed that his elder brother was out buying new toys or something, and he'd never really bothered to check. When he really thought about it, Alvin rarely brought anything home for himself.
"Aw, Alvin," Brittany said as sweetly as she could manage while still not going over-board. "You know you always want to look good on stage, and of course when I look good, so do you. You know, since we're such a tight-knit group."
"We are not a group, Brittany. We are we, the Chipmunks, and you are you, The Chipettes. We sing together sometimes because we're helping you on your rise to fame. You really should be more grateful!" Alvin leaped off the bench and started to walk towards home, ignoring anything else Brittany was about to say to try to sway him. She was a very ungrateful brat! At least he knew how to say 'thank-you' when people gave him stuff. He'd rarely heard her utter any of those words (please, thank-you, or sorry).
"Alvin!" his brothers were calling as they tried to stuff all of their papers into their bags and still hold onto his. "Alvin! Don't go home!"
"Why not?" He spun around and glared at them.
"Because we're not allowed to!" Theodore squeaked. His glare weakened as he remembered that rule. But the glare that Brittany was giving him forced him to turn around.
"Then I'll see you at Miss Miller's house! You don't have to follow me you know!"
"Oh yes we do," Simon countered. "Without Dave, you need someone that understands you perfectly to keep you from getting into trouble." The boys caught up with him, hurrying to get him out of the park before Jeanette and Eleanor lost control of their sister (they were holding Brittany back from chasing after Alvin).
…X…
The boys all dropped their bags by the door as they walked into the house. There was the smell of dinner in the kitchen, but no way to tell where Miss Miller was. Still, as if on cue, Simon sneezed as soon as Alvin shut the door. "That's it Simon!" he scolded.
"Alvin…"
"You haven't been sneezing all day and just suddenly when we come into this house you start up again?"
"I'm not allergic to this house Alvin!"
"Simon, I've noticed it for a while but I never thought much of it. Every time we come here to visit the Chipettes you start sneezing! Don't tell me you've suddenly become allergic to cats?"
"That's impossible? Remember Cookie?"
"How can I ever forget Cookie? Simon…You're allergic to something. What else is here that isn't at home?"
"A lot. She uses different cleaners for her windows and counters, she has perfume, different air fresheners, and who knows what else? Alvin, it could be anything that's just tickling my nose. I'll be fine. We've been here two whole days already and the worst of it is still just sneezing. I think I'll manage."
"Manage what?" they heard Miss Miller say. They glanced around in the other rooms, unable to find the old lady. "Over here, dears!" The boys hurried into the kitchen, finding her in a pantry tapping her chin with her finger. "I can't decide what vegetable we'll have with dinner tonight. Beans maybe?" Alvin and Simon made a point of making a 'yuck' sound.
"I like beans," Theodore chirped.
"But we don't," Alvin said.
"Well, all I have left are beans," Miss Miller said, then entirely changed the subject. "Dave dropped off your stuff earlier."
"Our…stuff?"
"Your guitars and that drum set. So you can practice for that concert of yours."
"Did he drop off the music? The order?" Simon leaned against the door frame, amazed at how well Alvin was taking charge.
"Of course he did. Oh! And I gave him the tickets he'd given me earlier for the girls."
"Huh?"
"The backstage tickets that he'd reserved for the girls before all the rest of the tickets were sold…"
"Wait!" Simon interrupted. "Has he been advertising this already? How did we not notice?"
"He's as sly as you boys are you know."
"So we're gonna see Dave Saturday?" Theodore asked. "It'd only be fair because the girls would be able to see you."
"We'll see boys, we'll see." All three hearts dropped at the sound of that.
"The girls will be there…" Alvin whispered. Then, without warning, he turned around and stormed out of the room.
"Alvin!" his brothers called to him.
"What's wrong?" Miss Miller asked them.
"He had a fight with Brittany today," Simon explained. "Not that I blame him…she was way out of line."
"What was she doing?"
"Trying to get him to buy her something."
"More stuff? Alvin has gotten her so much already…"
"That's what he said," Theodore added.
"Well, you must remember the world Brittany has come from. She spent most of her life dreaming of having what she has now, and now so much is dangling in front of her nose and she doesn't want to miss a second of it. She's certainly not used to getting everything she dreams of having…and getting all that makes her expect to get even more. It's right of him to say 'no' to her. She needs to know that she can't have the whole world just by batting her pretty little eyes. They'll both get over it by Saturday, I'm sure."
"We can only hope," Simon said. "Otherwise the entire night…well, it won't be normal. Alvin always performs better when he and Brittany are on good terms with each other. The last time I can remember them being mad at each other through a concert…eh…" A sneeze ended up cutting off whatever he was about to say.
"It was bad," Theodore said for his brother. "Alvin was really flat the whole time."
"Mmhm. He even forgot some of the words, remember?" Theodore nodded.
"Hmm…." Miss Miller hummed. "Perhaps if they haven't made up by Friday I'll intervene. I know what she likes after all…" Simon and Theodore stared at their temporary guardian questioningly, but they figured that Miss Miller knew best when it came to Brittany's temper tantrums.
…X…
"Grrrrr-aaah!" Brittany howled as her sisters tried to walk calmly into the house.
"Brittany, it's not that bad!" Eleanor tried to say, but her sister seemed to be deaf. She merely stomped up the stairs, leaving her sisters staring up at her. Eleanor calmly sat down on the bottom step while Jeanette used the bottom three steps to lay down.
"What's wrong?" Dave asked as he came in, rubbing his hands with a towel. From the looks of him, he'd been washing dishes. Poorly. It was quite obvious that the boys were more used to it than he was by now, considering how soaked he was.
"Brittany's just grouchy," Jeanette whispered, almost adding that her sister just needed a nap. Like anyone else that acted like a toddler, perhaps a nap would cure Brittany's crankiness.
"But she was way out of line," Eleanor added, crossing her arms. "She really needs to stop it. Every time she wants something, it's always 'this will look so pretty on me…and then we'll look good together!' or…"
"Or 'we won't be complete without this.' I love that one."
"She uses that whenever she wants to get a new hat." Dave stared at them, completely confused. "She needs to stop it! I mean sure, they are both immature, but Alvin is so much more mature than she is!" Now there was something that Dave could understand. Brittany and Alvin had had a fight. Nothing new there…But it left him to wonder if this was how Brittany always acted whenever the two fought. Alvin sure didn't show too many signs that he was upset after fights, but Brittany was upstairs screaming.
"She'll grow out of it, I think…"
"When did she grow into it?"
"When we started making money…When we made enough for her to spoil herself. You know, if she didn't waste most of our extra money on herself then we'd probably have ended up spoiling ourselves too?"
"I doubt it. She's always loved herself first." Jeanette closed her eyes, content to just rest there on the steps. The carpeted stairs were much more comfortable than the hard-wood stairs that the two always sat on back home.
"Dave? How did you get Alvin to be so…eh…" Eleanor stumbled for the right word. He certainly wasn't 'good,' but he was a far cry better than Brittany.
"Not too sure. I just know that when the chance to do the right thing comes up, he usually takes it out of the goodness of his heart," Dave replied honestly. But then he figured that they'd probably need an explanation for that, especially since 'the chance to do the right thing' had once been ignored when Alvin had dragged his brothers around the world in a hot air balloon. "One time he was trying to save up money for a really expensive new toy, and I made him get a job rather than begging money off us. So he went out and got a job at the zoo. Of course he didn't tell us that he was working at the zoo. Anyway, he got paid the amount he needed, but he didn't quit. He was determined to help the manager fix up all the problems within the zoo, probably because of how attached he'd grown to the animals."
"How'd he do that?"
"Oh, random things. He had an animal car wash and he organized a small concert. Of course he didn't let us in on that either, who knows why. Eventually he managed to raise almost enough money, and the money he didn't raise…well, he gave back the money he'd earned in order to finish off what needed to be done. But enough about Alvin…Brittany has her perks too."
"Like what?"
"Like…remember the Celebrity Circus? Didn't she decide to participate in that to save that circus?" Eleanor nodded, glancing over to her sister. Jeanette appeared to be asleep already. "And what about when you girls volunteered at the hospital? I'm sure there's plenty other times…"
"Yeah…Her determination kept us from starving to death when we lived in New York…and she was the one that actually got us to America in the first place."
"See? She is good. She just needs…guidance, I suppose."
"Miss Miller tries, she really does…But she's a little too air-headed to notice all the little things."
"Isn't that where you two come in?"
"Yeah…But Brittany doesn't usually listen to us."
"She may not listen, but she does hear you." Eleanor smiled, wishing that Miss Miller could manage deep conversations like that. The old lady was fun and caring, but sometimes the modern world was just too far above her head.
"Jeanette…" Eleanor started shaking her sister's shoulder. "Jeanette…?" She put on a mischievous grin and leaned in close to her sister. "Hey, Jenny-Jeanie? Time to wake up!"
"Don't call me that!" Jeanette complained. Those were both random nicknames that fans sometimes put in their letters. Half the population called her Jenny, the other half called her Jeanie. And she didn't like either nick name.
"We've got homework to finish, remember?" Jeanette sighed and sat up, smiling at Dave as her sister dragged her upstairs.