Em...I don't think anyone mentioned if I've managed to keep all the characters actully in character or not, so I'll ask again for a review in that respect.

Second: If you haven't voted in my poll, get your booty over there NOW before you read this (or you shall feel guilty all through reading this...it will hurt your very SOUL).

Thirdly: Thanks to everyone for the support with the play (and for anyone who said good luck...(I don't remember if anyone did or not, but here's something to always remember)...NEVER say good luck. It brings bad luck. Always say 'break a leg' or else someone will do so...and someone almost did. Of course, she turned into our little star for not letting the pain show until she was backstage, but she did almost break her leg because someone wrote good luck on the board in the band room).

And...Now, last but not least: For anyone that hasn't figured it out by now, I'm a writer (doh!), but not just of fanfics. I've been working here and there on several different, ORIGINAL novels for the last four years, and now I have finally decided to pull out a few old ideas that I gave up on two years ago. That means...as soon as I get my laptop for Christmas (they HAVE to get me a laptop...if they don't I think I shall die) I'll finally start up on my novels again, now that I'm starting to really get everything squared away. It seems that there are two themes that always run with me: History, and adventure. Romance bores me, modern day bores me, and...well, a lot of stuff bores me. It's probably why I try to put so many twists in these little stories. Twists are fun to write and read, agreed?

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 9: Saturday Morning

Brittany was exhausted as Dave poured milk over their cereal the next morning. She almost dropped her head in the bowl, but Jeanette grabbed her by the shoulders to prevent that. Brittany hadn't been able to get back to sleep after that little nightmare, and it was up to Dave and her sister's to figure out how to wear her out enough to get her to lie down for a nap before the concert that night. There was no way she'd survive that long without sleep.

"What are we going to wear tonight?" Eleanor asked, trying to pick a topic that Brittany understood. "It's not too formal, is it?"

"I guess you could wear whatever you like," Dave said. "Maybe dress up a little extra. The boys don't know it, but there are a lot of big names that are going to be there tonight. Actors and actresses and producers and…" Every word was catching Brittany's attention. Her back straightened up and her neck was suddenly more able to hold up her head.

"How'd you get them all?" Jeanette asked in amazement.

"A lot of them were complaining about their work and how stressed they were, so I just went ahead and invited them. I think I started back August with the idea, and finally I had enough of them. It's just a relaxing, fun night for all those people."

"They are paying, aren't they?" Brittany asked.

"They're putting the whole thing on. It didn't cost us a cent. And the best part was that I didn't have to advertise the concert because it was already booked without trying."

"Oh no!" Everyone turned to stare at Brittany at her sudden outburst. "All our good dresses are back in our closets! We have nothing to wear!"

"Brittany," Jeanette said gently. "You brought everything except our most special dresses."

"And we'd have to wear some of those dresses to fit in with the crowd!"

"Somehow I doubt that," Eleanor whispered. But an idea was already forming in Dave's head. And this idea would kill three birds with one stone.

"Well, since Miss Miller has to buy the boys' outfits for tonight," Dave said, almost too aloofly for Jeanette to buy it, "I think it'd only be fair if I got you three some new dresses, just for the occasion."

"Really?" Brittany exclaimed with glee.

"You know that dress comes with shoes, make up, a trip to the hair salon…" Eleanor started rambling off, only to be hushed by her sister.

"Just dresses," Dave said firmly.

"Of course!" Brittany agreed.

…X…

"Miss Miller, not to seem ungrateful or anything," Simon mumbled as the boys dug through the racks of clothes in front of them.

"Yes?" she said, drawing out the word until it made Simon even more uncomfortable.

"Shouldn't we have done this Monday or Tuesday?"

"Shouldn't we have had the opportunity to run over our songs?" Alvin added.

"Why would you want to run over them?"

"To make sure we hit all the right notes…"

"But you wouldn't be able to read them if you ran them over." Theodore cracked up, the only one getting the joke. Well, Miss Miller wasn't meaning to make a joke with that, but it was still funny.

"Huh?"

"She thinks you want to run over the music with a car or something," Theodore giggled.

"Even I missed that one," Simon snickered. It was kind of funny.

"Look, Miss Miller?" Alvin sighed.

"What?" she replied.

"Please let us handle this. We know all the perfect places to get the clothes we need for tonight."

"Oh, I won't bother you with that. There's plenty of nice things here."

"No, there's not." Simon wanted so badly to muffle his brother's words, but he couldn't lie for the sake of Miss Miller's feelings. Not this time…There was a concert at stake, and there really wasn't any clothing for them in this store.

"Oh?"

"Miss Miller," Theodore said sweetly, "we've been doing this for a very long time. You're just going to have to trust us."

"You boys sure there's nothing here?"

"Trust us," Simon mumbled. Their temporary guardian sighed dejectedly and turned to head for the car.

…X…

"I love this street!" Brittany squealed. It was a cute little street, filled from end to end with everything a young star could dream of. If the gift Simon wanted for Jeanette wasn't here, then Dave had no clue where to look. Either way, Brittany had finally gotten over her nightmare and all the girls seemed to be enjoying themselves. Brittany grabbed her younger sisters' hands and pulled them into the first dress shop that she noticed.

"We were just in here last Sunday," Jeanette hissed, only to be elbowed by her elder sister.

"I know. Why do you think I dragged you two back here? Let's try something on!" Jeanette signed and lingered behind a little as Brittany went around and started pulling down all the little dresses, each one seemingly tailor made for her. Eleanor didn't feel quite as comfortable in the shop, but she still checked out some of the dresses herself. But it was obvious that Jeanette was feeling the most shy of the three about spending Dave's money. Eleanor was tentative about it, checking every price tag before looking at the dress, but Jeanette couldn't even bring herself to reach out and even look at what her sisters were looking at.

"What's the matter?" Dave asked her.

"I just…Eh…" She glanced over at him, readjusting her glasses. "I'm sorry. It just feels so weird, having someone else buy something for me."

"The boys get you girls Christmas presents, don't they?"

"Yeah."

"And how do you suppose they get that money?"

"You give them money because they're professional singers and it'd be wrong to keep it all from them." Dave laughed at that.

"Well, I could put it all in a bank account to double-ensure their futures, so I don't have to give them money from their concerts. In fact, I don't give them more than ten dollars above lunch money for any given week. And ten dollars is usually when they do extra chores because they want extra money…well, usually for gifts for you girls."

"Really?" Dave nodded.

"Besides, remember what I said? I forgot to get them something for the concert so Miss Miller has to buy them something. Naturally, it's only fair that I get you girls something since she has to spend extra money on them."

"You don't have to do that! It'd be fair even if you didn't!"

"I wouldn't feel right. Go on, enjoy yourself…Look over there. I think Brittany found something for you." Jeanette glanced over at her older sister and could have blushed. She disliked strapless dresses, but Brittany was holding a purple one up and glancing from it to Jeanette.

"No Brittany!" Jeanette scolded as she hurried to her sister's side, tripping over her feet in the process.

"Jeanette!" Brittany whined back. "You'd look so gorgeous in this. At least try it on?"

"No!"

"Brittany," Eleanor interrupted, "we can't wear strapless dresses anyway." She raised her eyebrows in that secretive kind of way, reminding her sister of something that Dave could easily guess at. They were preadolescents after all.

"Why don't we try the next store Brittany?" Jeanette said in a tone that she thought was quiet and demanding enough to get the point across to her sister.

"Why?" Brittany said bluntly, putting the dress back and grabbing ahold of a glittery pink one with straps around the shoulders, a cinch at the waist, and a cute flare out for the bottom. Jeanette sighed and grabbed the price tag, holding it out for her sister.

"Because there's nothing here suitable for tonight." Brittany's eyes almost bugged out as she read it. A hundred dollars for a child's dress? She checked the tag and realized why. It was a designer dress. Although she had assumed designer dresses, even for kids, sold at closer to three hundred or something. Either way it didn't matter. Even Brittany knew that that was way too much to ask of Dave.

"You're right. Anyway, the next store had those adorable necklaces we liked."

"Stop bringing that up!" Brittany giggled, dragging her sisters as she hurried out of the store.

…X…

"This is more like it!" Alvin cheered as he leaped out of the dressing room in a full rock-out outfit.

"Alvin!" both of his brothers yelled at him, causing him to almost fall over backwards. That got Miss Miller running, and she let out a little yelp of her own when she saw him.

"You are not going in that," she said in a tone that made him want to completely melt through the floor. She had more than perfected 'no.' No surprise, seeing as she probably had to say 'no' to Brittany more than any other person in the world ever had.

"It was just a joke," he said meekly. "I wanted to see your reactions…"

"Dave would have done the same thing," Simon hissed. He and Theodore were sporting comfortable white suits, each with trim in their own color. Alvin had to admit that they did look incredibly snazzy. He had his own hanging in the dressing room, although his hadn't looked anywhere near as good on him. He was not going to wear that to this concert.

"Alvin, hurry up and get your real outfit so we can get going. We're going to be late as it is."

"Late?" Alvin yelped, running back in and ripping off the outfit as fast as he could. It took him all of five minutes to finish getting dressed and snapped the suit up and threw it at Miss Miller. "Just let me find the perfect hat."

"What's wrong with the top hats?" Theodore asked innocently.

"Me? In one of those?" Alvin instantly ran over to the rack that had caps galore, picking one that was just slightly lighter than his usual cap. It would also be in perfect condition, where as his usual one wasn't exactly something he wanted to wear on stage with Miss Miller in charge of them. He wasn't sure why he felt like it was inappropriate to wear his usual hat now. There wasn't anything odd with Dave…But a lot of things felt different now.

"You always have to stand out, don't you?" Simon scolded. He glanced out the window and his eyes almost bugged out as he saw the girls walking down the street in front of Dave. His brothers didn't notice, and maybe it was better if they didn't. This wasn't the best time to break the rules by running across the street in mid-day traffic just to see their dad. He quickly adverted his eyes, but not before seeing Brittany drag Jeanette into a store. His heart sunk because it was a complete chick store. If that was where the necklace that Jeanette liked was…He'd just have to take Alvin. Alvin always went into chick stores to get gifts for Brittany.

"What's with you?" Alvin mumbled as he sucked on a sucker. Simon jumped, but quickly regained his usual demeanor.

"Why do you have a sucker?"

"Miss Miller got some for us. Here's yours." Simon looked at it like Alvin was holding out a dead rat. Purple. Grape. He hated grape suckers.

"Here," Theodore said sweetly, giving him the apple flavored one and taking the grape one that Alvin was offering. "I love grape!" Theodore glanced out the window, squinting as he saw two blond pig-tails, and he accidentally blurted out the exact thing that Simon had been avoiding all day. "I can't wait to see the girls tonight." Simon watched as Alvin's eyes lit up in new anger just at the thought of seeing Brittany after their concert.