When Simon finally got home, he was completely miserable, he felt like he had betrayed his best friend, the best friend whom he didn't realize admired him, the best friend he admired as well. Simon trudged into his room.
"How'd it go, Simon?" Theodore asked.
Simon didn't respond. He simply walked into the closet.
"Did you have a good time?" Theodore asked.
Again, Simon didn't respond. He walked out of the closet, in his underwear, walked over to the dresser, and got into his pajamas.
"Did you and Jeanette have a nice dance?" Theodore asked.
Still, Simon didn't respond. Simon got into bed, and rolled over.
"Say something Simon, you're makin' us think you've gone deaf!" Alvin demanded.
"Good night." Simon said, wanting to go to sleep.
"Did you not have a good time at the dance, Simon?" Theodore asked.
"Good night." Simon said, again, more annoyed.
"I think we can take that as a no." Alvin said.
When Jeanette returned home, she was in a different mood. Miss Miller tried to wait up for Jeanette, but in her old age, couldn't stay up as late as she used to, and had fallen asleep in her chair in the living room, and Jeanette didn't bother to wake her from her slumber. Jeanette skipped upstairs, where her sisters did wait up for her.
"Well, you certainly look a lot happier." Eleanor said, noticing the glow in Jeanette's cheeks. "Did you have a good time?"
"I had a great time!" Jeanette squealed, as she stepped into the closet. "I wish it never ended."
Eleanor and Brittany exchanged smiles, think that she got to dance with Simon, since Miss Miller mentioned that Simon stopped by to take her, after she left. Jeanette stepped out the closet in her purple housecoat, with her lilac-colored nightgown draped over her shoulder.
"I think I'm in love..." Jeanette said.
"That's nice." Eleanor said.
"Thing of it is, I've seen him everyday, yet I didn't know he knew I existed." Jeanette said.
"How could he not know you exist?" Brittany asked.
"Because he never talked to me before, and I never talked to him." Jeanette replied.
Her sisters were confused.
"Who are you talking about?" Eleanor asked.
"His name is Rod, he's in my reading class." Jeanette said.
Brittany and Eleanor did all they could to keep their jaws from dropping. They never expected Jeanette to get over Simon so quickly, and for another guy.
"Oh... really?" Eleanor asked.
"Yeah," Jeanette said, "and you know what? I think he likes me, too!"
"Why?" Brittany asked. "Was he blind in one eye, and milky in the other?"
"Brittany!" Eleanor snapped.
"No." Jeanette said. "But he danced with me for a long time... I think we danced through at least fifteen different songs... and he even gave me his number, and said he wanted to get together again, sometime."
"What about Simon?" Brittany asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Well..." Jeanette began, "I still like him... as a friend... but he obviously doesn't like me that way... but Rod does..." Jeanette left for the bathroom, to wash what little bit of make up she had on, and change into her nightgown.
Eleanor and Brittany had a bad feeling about this.
"Rod... Rod... why does that name sound familiar?" Eleanor asked.
"Well," Brittany responded, "she just said he's in her reading class!"
"I know..." Eleanor replied, "but I mean... why does the name sound familiar to me..."
"Beats me..." Brittany said, "you got any classes with him?"
"I'm trying to think..." Eleanor said, "not that I recall..."
"Well, anyway, so what's the big deal?" Brittany asked. "Jeanette likes this guy, she says he likes her, she seems happy..."
"Yeah, but..." Eleanor began, "this doesn't seem like Jeanette... she's liked Simon for so long, and then all of the sudden she falls for someone else who dances with her at the party..."
"I told you Jeanette had no taste!" Brittany said.
"What are you girls talking about?" Jeanette asked, as she walked back in, draping her housecoat over the foot of her bed.
"Uh, nothing..." Brittany lied.
"Yeah... uh, we weren't even talking about you, we were talking about another Jeanette..." Eleanor lied.
"You know another Jeanette?" Jeanette asked.
"I know a couple of other Brittanys as well..." Eleanor lied.
"Hmm..." was Jeanette's simple response, before she went to sleep.
Brittany and Eleanor both knew they had to tell Jeanette something about her new crush, but how are they going to tell her? Especially since she's so anxious about going out with him. When Monday came around, Jeanette looked forward to reading class more than ever. Rod was already in class, talking with another friend of the female persuation.
"You creep, she's really into you?" The girl asked Rod.
Rod chuckled. "Yeah, just wait till she gets here, you'll see..."
"Whatever..." She said, as she took her seat.
Shortly later, Jeanette strolled into the classroom, making eye contact with Rod, who smiled, and gave a nod to her, as she blushed, while walking to her desk. While Jeanette went through her bookbag, Rod turned around to face his other friend, raising an eyebrow, and smirking as he did, while she simply rolled. For the first time in her life, Jeanette had trouble concentrating in class that day, because she was constantly sneaking peaks over at Rod at his desk. At one point, Jeanette's lack of concentration was interrupted, when a note was passed to her desk. She opened the note to write "Lunch?" scribbled on it, and signed by Rod. Jeanette began to blush, as she wrote down "Absolutely!", and passed it back to him. When lunch came around, the chipmunks and chipettes all felt awkward, watching Jeanette have lunch with someone else.
"Simon?" Eleanor asked.
"Hmm?" Simon responded.
"Are you going to try to win Jeanette back?" Eleanor asked.
Simon glanced over at Jeanette. "Why bother? She seems pretty happy with that guy."
"Oh please," Brittany said, "you know you still want her, and I bet if you showed it, she'd still want you."
"I don't know..." Simon said.
At the other table where Jeanette and Rod were having lunch, Jeanette was beaming.
"I really did have a good time, Saturday night." Jeanette said.
"Yeah so did I," Rod agreed, "I really would like to get together again."
"Me too!" Jeanette squeaked.
"You busy this weekend?" He asked her.
"Nnnnnno... I don't think so..." Jeanette said, trying to remember if anything was planned for her or her sisters this weekend.
"Maybe we can go out then, over the weekend?" Rod asked.
"Sure!" Jeanette squealed, before she began to blush.
"Great, great..." Rod said.
Simon continued to watch from a distance. For some reason, Simon suddenly wondered if this guy was right for Jeanette. Jeanette knows how to choose her friends, and she knows which crowds she should hang out with... but does she know who she should or shouldn't date? Simon knows he shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but he had to admit, he didn't have a good feeling about this guy. Was he suspicious? Or, was he jealous? Or, was he both suspicious and jealous? Either way, Simon wanted to keep an eye on this guy. Science class was a bit tense for Simon that day, if he didn't know any better, he'd think Jeanette was ignoring him, she barely made eye-contact with him, except when the science professor extended his congratulations to Simon and Jeanette for winning the science fair, and the two exchanged smiles at each other. After school was over, Simon met up with Jeanette at her locker.
"Hi, Jeanette." Simon greeted her.
"Hey, Simon." Jeanette responded, casually.
"Awkward, you not having lunch with us today..." Simon commented.
"Oh, I was eating with a..." Jeanette began to hesitate a little. She didn't know that Simon knew, but she didn't want him to think she found someone else. "A... a new friend I met..."
"Oh, really?" Simon asked, knowing Jeanette was bluffing.
"Yeah... a new friend..."
"Well, then, maybe tomorrow the two of you can have lunch with us, I'm sure we'd like to get to know her."
"Oh... um... it's... not really a her..."
"It's not?"
"No..."
"A him?"
"Yeah..."
"Oh, I see. Well, still, why don't both of you have lunch with us tomorrow? I bet we'd all like to get to know him."
"Simon... you don't get it..."
"Don't get what?"
Jeanette struggled to explain to Simon, but she was being stubborn. And blaming Simon. "Why is it so hard to talk to you?"
"Excuse me?" Simon asked.
"Forget it..." Jeanette grabbed her bookbag, and headed for the school exit.
Simon followed her. "Jeanette?"
"What, Simon? What?" Jeanette snapped.
"Jeanette... why can't you tell me about your new friend?" Simon asked.
"What do you care?" Jeanette said.
"What?!" Simon said, aghast. "Jeanette, how can you say that? You know I care about you!"
"Oh, really?"
"Of course!"
"Alright... fine... I have a new boyfriend, okay?!"
"Okay, okay. So you have a new boyfriend. What's he like?"
"Simon, I really don't feel comfortable talking about this to you."
Jeanette began walking faster, while Simon stopped, dead in his tracks. Why couldn't he understand the nature behind her asking if he'd like to go to the dance? At home, however, Jeanette's disposition towards her sisters was quite different.
"So, Rod asked me to have lunch with him today!" Jeanette said.
"So, that's why you didn't eat with us today..." Eleanor said.
"Yeah, sorry about that..." Jeanette said, "but... I've never been asked to lunch like that before... and what's more, he asked me out for the weekend!"
"That's... that' nice, Jeanette..." Eleanor said.
"I knew he liked me... I guess it's a good thing I went to the dance Saturday night!" Jeanette said.
"Yeah, yeah, real good thing..." Brittany said.
"Jeanette, can I ask you something?" Eleanor asked.
"Sure, go right ahead!" Jeanette said.
"Are you sure you're not rushing into anything?" Eleanor asked.
"What do you mean?" Jeanette asked.
"She means, you just met the guy, and already you're going out with him! I mean, whatever happened to getting to know each other first?" Brittany added.
"Well, we danced a long time the other night," Jeanette reminded them, "we got to know each other a bit then, and over lunch today... not to mention we've had the same reading class all this time..."
"We're just concerned, is all." Eleanor said.
"That's right," Brittany said, as she walked up to Jeanette, "Jeanette, you're my little sister, and I want to make sure you know what you're doing."
"You don't have to worry about me, Brittany," Jeanette said, "I can take care of myself."
"You can't blame us for caring for you." Eleanor added.
"I know you care for me," Jeanette said, "and I appreciate that, but trust me, there's nothing to worry about... Rod's just so... so... perfect... I didn't think anybody would ever be interested in me like that... then all of the sudden I go to the dance, and there he is... asking me to dance with him... and all I did was just be myself..."
Brittany and Eleanor both silently sighed.