It's been a while since I updated...Anywho, I'm falling behind. I started posting this when I was on chapter seven. I am currently on chapter eleven. I've been slacking. But no surprise. Scapino rehersals are every day (and opening night is just over a week away). Today we practiced carrying Cody to the stage. It was kinda hard because he had his elbow wrapped up and we had to be careful because he gave blood today and he (as well as the rest of the cast that's over 17) was a little dizzy/woozy/ect/ect/ect. That light-headedness. Although a couple kids had issues because the people couldn't find their veins. One person had both elbows wrapped. One of the cast members was going to give blood and fainted so they told him that he couldn't. There were so many stories...quite interesting actually. It makes me wonder...If the Chipmunks, Chipettes, and Dave ever gave blood, who would pass out? Who would merely be woozy/kinda sick for the rest of the day? Who would be PERFECTLY fine with it? Ah, just something to think about. Why don't you guys tell me? (No, it's not a story idea...It's just one of those...character analasys things...Something that writer like me does. We tend to get into the inner workings of the minds of who we're writing for, be that our own characters or someone elses. At least, that's why I always try to do).

Oh, and please keep me in check. Let me know if the characters are getting out of character (mainly keep an eye on Dave and Miss Miller...Miss Miller is the hardest character for me to work with).

(PS: Is anyone else annoyed with the new layout of the Fanfic profiles? I had a little trouble finding anything...I suppose I'll get used to it eventually, but the old set-up was so much simpler and easier to navigate.)

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 7: Breaking the Rules

Jeanette leaned against Brittany as the girls sat in the doctor's office. She'd been feeling under the weather since Monday afternoon and normal cold medicine hadn't been helping at all, so Dave had gone ahead and scheduled her for an appointment. Brittany's frustration with Alvin had cooled off as her sister had gotten worse, and now she was rubbing Jeanette's shoulder as the smartest of the Chipettes burst into a coughing fit.

Eleanor was explaining to the secretary (that obviously didn't watch 'Switched') that they'd been picked for a little exchange program, so that was why Dave hadn't filled out that he was their guardian on the paperwork. It took a lot of convincing, but a nurse finally came by and assured the secretary that the story was completely true. Eleanor hurried back over to her elder sister's side, reaching up to push some of Jeanette's hair out of her face. While Jeanette's hair was still in its usual bun, it was extremely messy. Brittany had tried to put it up for her sister that morning, but she'd found out that she wasn't so great at buns.

"Jeanette Miller?" the nurse called and instantly both her sisters leaped up to help her. Dave watched for any signs that they wanted him to follow, but they didn't even glance back. Everything seemed perfectly fine. He merely pulled his coat closer and closed his eyes as the bell rang to signify someone else coming in. There was certainly plenty of sneezing coming from whoever it was…

"We're just going to make sure…" he heard a familiar old voice calling and his eyes snapped open. Standing up at the counter was Miss Miller and his boys. It was quite obvious they hadn't noticed him yet, and the people with the show hadn't interrupted yet. He was pretty sure that this was all legal by the rules.

"It's just an allergy," Alvin said, only to get a glare from Simon.

"I'm not sick and I don't have any allergies!" Simon declared.

"You keep saying that yet you keep sneezing…" Alvin shrugged his shoulder as Simon sneezed twice more. "See?"

"It's just..."

"Don't even try to tell me that that's normal! We're brothers Simon, I live with you. You don't sneeze this much at home! You, dear little brother, are allergic to something in Miss Miller's house!" Simon sneezed again, only this time the sneeze turned into a cough.

"It's that cough that's got me worried he's getting sick," Miss Miller said.

"I'm fine!" Simon insisted. He turned away from the three, crossing his arms defiantly. He knew he wasn't sick and he'd never been allergic to anything before in his life. Why would that just suddenly change? His ears picked up snickering from someone in the room and he glanced over to a man in a brown coat. As soon as that man's hands dropped, Simon ran over and leaped up to hug him.

"Hey!" Dave said with a smile, hugging his son back. As soon as the other two heard that, they ran to his side too.

"Hey yourself!" Theodore chirped. "We've missed you."

"What are you doing here?" Miss Miller croaked.

"Jeanette's been feeling sick lately," Dave explained.

"She has looked pretty awful lately," Simon agreed. Then all of them glanced around, checking to see if they were violating any rules. There wasn't even a camera in sight.

"Must be taking a coffee break," Alvin whispered as he tried his best to hold onto the window ledge (which he was holding onto so he could see out the window) while looking out for them.

"So how have you three been?" Dave asked them.

"Great," Theodore giggled. "Miss Miller is a much better cook than we though she was."

"Thank you Theodore," Miss Miller said, not even noticing the last part of his sentence. "And how have the girls been?"

"Just fine," Dave replied. "Well, other than Jeanette's cold." Suddenly everything felt a little awkward, and none of them could quite explain why. Perhaps it was just because the rules had forbidden them from doing this and now they were breaking them. But the air was broken as a nurse called for Simon. He glanced at Dave, knowing full well Dave couldn't do anything, then over at Miss Miller, not really wanting her to come with him to keep him company. It wasn't too hard for his brothers to pick up on that hint, so they latched onto him and pulled him through the door.

"This isn't normal," the nurse whispered to them.

"Well, a doctor's appointment with Miss Miller is more than a little strange," Alvin replied.

"I saw that you guys were picked. Kinda stinks that you only switched with your friends. Find out anything you didn't know before?"

"The girls do a lot of housework," Theodore mumbled.

"Miss Miller doesn't seem as senile when you put up with her like she was your mother or something," Alvin added. Simon just stayed quiet, glancing around to see if there was any trace of the girls in the halls. He was really worried about Jeanette. Even if it was a natural part of life, Jeanette never seemed to get sick.

"Wait!" Simon said suddenly, pulling away from his brothers. "You guys wait here. I'll be right back…there's something I have to ask Dave."

"What could it be that we'd have to wait here?" Alvin asked.

"I just…don't want to trouble you." Simon put on his best face, but Alvin still cracked up.

"Simon, you are a terrible liar. I mean, sure, you can come up with some good ones…but when it comes to the simple stuff, you just can't lie, can you?"

"I suppose it's more like I can't lie to you two. Just wait here." Simon spun around and ran back to Dave, glancing back to make sure they hadn't followed as he hopped up in the chair.

"What's wrong?" Dave asked.

"I…I want to…Um…Well…" He took a deep breath, letting everything come out at once. "Brittany was talking about how the girls went window shopping and how Jeanette liked something and I really want to get something for Jeanette but I have no clue where to look because I don't know where they went and I don't know what it was that she liked so could you possibly maybe figure out some way to find out what it was?" Dave blinked, Simon's eyes dropped to the ground.

"You're lucky I understood that…" Simon glanced up, almost cracking up in laughter himself. "I'll think of something, don't worry."

"Hey!" they heard someone calling from the door. "You guys aren't supposed to be talking…it's against the show rules…What are you doing here anyway?"

"You guys lost us, didn't you?" Simon said.

"Well…my partner wasn't feeling too well so he only got a shot of you guys breaking the rules…I…em…Never mind."

"Jeanette's sick and Miss Miller doesn't know what's up with me. We both had appointments around the same time. Happy?"

"So why are you breaking the rules?"

"Personal matters," Dave said, giving Simon a nudge toward the door. "Now go on before the doctor gets mad." Simon nodded and gave Dave one more hug before hurrying back to his waiting brothers.

"Well?" Alvin said, tapping his foot.

"We're in trouble," Simon said. "The camera guys caught it on tape...I don't know why they didn't say something earlier, but that's probably going to be on TV and in that last-day interview."

"And then we're going to get all sorts of mail complaining about that…great. Just because we wanted to hug our dad." Alvin shook his head. "That's just unfair."

"Those are the rules we signed to."