Brittany and Eleanor were playing cards in their bedroom, when they heard what sounded like someone throwing up down the hall.
"Jeanette." They both said, having a bad feeling about the night, and their sister.
Brittany and Eleanor dropped their cards, and caused the others to scatter across the floor from the breeze from their feet. The two darted down the hall, and cracked the door open, just to be sure it is Jeanette, they think, before they go in there. When they saw Jeanette leaning forward, while sitting on the toilet, they knew they had to get in there.
"Are you alright, Jeanette?" Brittany asked, almost vommitting at the sight of her little sister's stomach acid on the bathroom floor.
"Uh..." Jeanette groaned, "I think I threw up..."
"Oh my God," Eleanor whispered to Brittany, "she's drunk!!!"
"Oh, this isn't good..." Brittany moaned, still on the verge of vommitting herself.
Finally, Jeanette apparently finished emptying her bladder, and she breathed a big sigh of relief, towards her sisters, causing them to hold their noses.
"What is that?" Brittany said, sounding sick.
"Like... some kind of combination of... liquor and... cheap coffee?" Eleanor deduced.
"Oh, hi girls..." Jeanette mumbled, when she looked up. "What are you two doing here?"
"Let's get her cleaned up, and quickly..." Eleanor said, as she gagged to clean up the vomit from the bathroom floor, while Brittany helped Jeanette off the toilet.
"Oh, hi Brittany..." Jeanette mumbled, almost falling over Brittany, while Brittany grimmaced at Jeanette's foul-smelling breath. "I love you..."
"I love you, too..." Brittany grunted, as she walked Jeanette over to the sink, to brush her teeth for her.
"You do?" Jeanette mumbled.
"Yes, now open your mouth, and shut up..." Brittany stuck the toothbrush into Jeanette's mouth, and started brushing her teeth.
"Tha's goo, huz I uv oo doo..." Jeanette said, through the toothpaste, foaming in her mouth.
Eleanor finished cleaning up Jeanette's vomit, while Brittany finished brushing Jeanette's teeth. Downstairs, Miss Miller was awaken, by what she thought she heard some kind of commotion from upstairs. Miss Miller looked at the clock, and saw it was well after Jeanette was supposed to be back, having fallen asleep, Miss Miller wasn't aware whether or not Jeanette was home. She walked to the foot of the stairs, keeping her ears open to hear if there's anymore noises coming from upstairs.
"Girls?" Miss Miller called upstairs, waiting for a response.
Brittany and Eleanor gasped, while they still had Jeanette in the bathroom.
"Miss Miller!" Eleanor shout-whispered.
"We can't let her see Jeanette like this!" Brittany shout-whispered back.
"What are we going to do?!" Eleanor panicked.
"Rod, we're out of chips again..." Jeanette mumbled, while Brittany covered her mouth.
Miss Miller ascended the staircase, then walked down to the chipettes' bedroom, pressing her ear against the door, listening for anything. Quietly, she tapped on the door. "Girls?" She slowly, and quietly opened the door to poke her head in. There were her girls. Eleanor, Brittany, and Jeanette. All sleep in their beds. Miss Miller smiled, assured that Jeanette got home when she was supposed to, before she closed the door again. Eleanor and Brittany shot their eyes open, but waited, until they heard Miss Miller's footsteps faded, and when they did, the two of them hopped out of their beds. Brittany flipped on the lamp on her nightstand, while Eleanor went over to Jeanette, who was out like a light.
"I'll get her jammies," Brittany said, while Eleanor began to undress her big sister.
"Boy, oh boy, Jeanette is going to get it, if Miss Miller ever finds out about this!" Eleanor said, as she continued to undress Jeanette.
"I can't believe this... I can't believe that crock got Jeanette drunk!" Brittany barked, as she walked over to Jeanette's bed, with her nightgown.
"This is the final kick in the butt!" Eleanor said, as she folded up Jeanette's outfit. "We can't continue to let her see this guy!"
"Tell me about it!" Brittany replied, as she slipped Jeanette's nightgown on her. "What I want to know is what he might have done to her while she was drunk!"
"Don't even think about it, Brittany..." Eleanor said, as she snuck out of the room, to drop Jeanette's clothes in the hamper in the bathroom. Eleanor met an unexpected fate, when she walked back towards her room, and Miss Miller came upstairs for the night.
"Eleanor?" Miss Miller asked, startling her youngest daughter. "What are you doing up?"
"Uh..." Eleanor struggled to say, "I uh... I... had to go to the bathroom..."
"Are you sick, darling?" Miss Miller asked, bending over to feel Eleanor's face.
"No..." Eleanor said, "I was feeling a little funny... maybe I ate too much supper... I feel better now..."
"Are you sure?" Miss Miller asked.
"Yeah..." Eleanor said, slipping passed Miss Miller.
"Well, okay... good night, dear." Miss Miller told Eleanor.
"Good night." Eleanor said, closing the door right behind her. Eleanor breathed a sigh of relief, and turned around to see Brittany sitting on Jeanette's bed, holding onto her, and crying.
"What's wrong?" Eleanor asked.
"This wasn't supposed to happen..." Brittany said, through her tears, "I wasn't supposed to let stuff like this happen to my little sister..."
"Oh, Brittany, it's not your fault..." Eleanor said, "Jeanette made some bad decisions..."
"But I wasn't supposed to let her make these decisions." Brittany cried. "Look at her Ellie! This isn't Jeanette... this isn't Jeanette... Jeanette would never do things like this..."
Eleanor looked at her slumbering big sister. "And Jeanette would never let me make the decisions she made, either..."
"Neither would I..." Brittany said, "what are we going to do, Ellie? What are we going to do?"
Eleanor sadly sighed, as she climbed onto bed with them. "I don't know, Brittany... I just don't know..."
Jeanette was still asleep when her sisters woke up the next morning. Brittany did walk over to Jeanette's bed, and tapped her slumber sister's shoulder.
"Jeanette?" Brittany asked. "Jeanette."
Jeanette groaned. "Stop... yelling, Britt... I have a headache..."
Eleanor shook her head, as she slipped out of her own bed. "I knew it..." Eleanor groaned, "Jeanette has a hangover..."
Jeanette rolled over, facing the ceiling. "What?" She mumbled.
"She said you're overhung, Jeanette." Brittany said.
Jeanette covered her ears. "Quit screaming, Brittany!" Jeanette then moaned in ache from the extra volume of her own voice, echoing in her mind.
"I'm getting tylenol... aspirin... anything..." Eleanor said, as she left the room.
Jeanette grunted, lying in bed, with a massive, killer headache.
"We told you that boyfriend of your's is no good." Brittany said, in a strict tone-of-voice, to her little sister.
"What are you talking about?" Jeanette asked, with a moan.
"Do you remember what happened last night?" Brittany asked.
Jeanette tried to recollect her thoughts about the night before, but she just couldn't remember anything. "No... I don't..."
"You know why?" Brittany asked. "That bum got you drunk!"
"Oh, Brittany..." Jeanette moaned, trying to sit up straight, but having difficulty doing so, "I'm so sick and tired of you and Eleanor always thinking so low about my Rod!" Jeanette placed her hands on her forehead, in pain.
"Okay, Jeanette," Brittany grew annoyed, at her little sister's stubborness, and denial, "then you explain to us why you came home last night with slurry speech, and bodily waste coming out of both ends, and now you wake up this morning with a massive headache, and you can barely function!"
"Stop... yelling... you're piercing my ear drums!" Jeanette barked.
Eleanor walked back into the room, with two tylenol pills, and a plastic cup of water, handing them to Jeanette.
"What's this for?" Jeanette asked.
"Your headache." Eleanor said, with most emotionless voice ever.
"Thanks..." Jeanette said, as she popped the pills into her mouth, and washed them down with the water.
"Jeanette?" Eleanor began. "Brittany and I love you... Brittany and I love you very much... we care about you... we don't want you getting in any kind of trouble, which is why we strongly urge you to call it off with your boyfriend, if he's going to get your drunk, and..."
"Shut up, Eleanor," Jeanette interrupted, "just shut up! If you two don't stop talking smack about my Rod... I'll... I'll... so help me, I'll do something! Rod is a wonderful guy! He loves me! He wouldn't get me drunk!"
"Then why did you come home last night, peeing like there was no tomorrow, and throwing up at the same time?" Eleanor asked.
"You're making that up!" Jeanette claimed.
"Why do you have a headache, this morning?" Eleanor asked.
"Probably from stress, from having to listen to your crap all the time!" Jeanette snapped.
Miss Miller walked into the room. "Girls, girls, girls! What's all the commotion in here?"
"They're getting on my nerves!" Jeanette cried. "They just hate Rod so much, when there's nothing wrong with him! They're jealous, Miss Miller! They're just jealous!"
"Calm down, calm down, Jeanette." Miss Miller said, growing even more concerned over her daughter's mood swings. She expected things like this from her daughters once they reached their teenaged years, but she didn't expect Jeanette's would be so severe.
Jeanette sat there on her bed, her face red with anger, breathing heavily from her outburst.
"Come downstairs for breakfast, girls," Miss Miller said, "we'll talk about this later..." Miss Miller walked out of the room.
Jeanette glanced at her sisters, with hate in her eyes, as she hopped out of her bed, and left the room.
"Think we should tell Miss Miller?" Brittany asked.
"Well Jeanette sure isn't, that's for sure," Eleanor said, "she's in such denial!"
Downstairs, Jeanette stormed up to the dining table, and took her seat. Miss Miller kept growing more, and more curious about Jeanette, so she began to question her.
"So," Miss Miller began, "I think I fell asleep before you got home... how was your date last night?"
Sadly, since Jeanette was drunk most of the time, without realizing it, she didn't remember. But, she was sure it was great. "It was just great, Miss Miller!" Jeanette squeaked.
"Really?" Miss Miller responded. "What all did you do? I understand Rodney was wanting to introduce you to some of his friends?"
Jeanette tried to remember what Rod's friends were like, but couldn't. She did know that his friends were cool, and that Rod was wanting her to be one of them... "Yeah, they were really cool!"
"That's nice..." Miss Miller said, "what did you all do?"
What did they do? Jeanette couldn't remember... she remembers Rod having punch and chips out for a party... "We had a little party!"
"Party, huh?"
"Yeah, chips and punch!"
Brittany and Eleanor walked in for breakfast, and immediately, Jeanette's facial expression went from being relaxed, back to being defensive.
"Just in time, girls," Miss Miller said, "we're having omlettes this morning!"
Breakfast was quiet, and tense that morning. Brittany and Eleanor both knew they had to say something to Miss Miller, but they both were afraid of being snitches... and they were now a little afraid of the new Jeanette, if she carries on so over the way they simply speak of Rod, imagine the chaos that would erupt in the house if they told Miss Miller what happened, and she got punished? Brittany and Eleanor hoped that they could somehow get Jeanette to realize just how horrible Rod really is, so that she'll see the errors she's made in becoming his girlfriend, and hope she'll dump him. It wasn't going to be easy, and they couldn't do it by themselves. They need help. They need Simon.
"Why should I care?" Simon asked, when Brittany and Eleanor met up with him again. "Look, I don't want to get involved in Jeanette's personal life anymore, it's her fault for making bad choices, I don't want any part of it!"
"But Simon," Brittany whined, "Jeanette came home last night completely drunk!"
Simon had begun to head for home, but when Brittany said that, he stopped dead in his tracks, and turned around to face them again. "What?!"
"Yeah," Eleanor told him, "when she came home last night, she was in the bathroom, peeing like she had held it in for weeks, she threw up all over the floor, she couldn't stand up straight, her speech was slurred, and when she woke up this morning, she was hungover!"
"Yeah," Brittany agreed, "anytime we'd say something to her, she's hold her eyes, and say 'Stop shouting, I have a headache!'!"
Simon's expression was frightening. His eyes grew wide, Brittany and Eleanor could even see the veins in his eyes popping, his mouth turned crooked, with his teeth clenched, one his eyes began twitching, while he raised one eyebrow. Simon almost looked like his brain was short-circuiting, and was having a mental shut down. "I did not just hear that..."
"It's true Simon, we saw it with our own eyes!" Brittany said.
"I had to clean up her vomit, while Brittany brushed her teeth," Eleanor told him, "then we got her to bed, I took off her clothes, while Brittany helped her into her pajamas."
"Jeanette knows she's still too young to drink!" Simon yelled. "What has gotten into her?!"
"She said all they had to drink was punch," Eleanor said, "but her breath smelled like some kind of liquor, and coffee..."
"It must have been some kind of wine cooler..." Simon deduced, "still... this guy is destroying Jeanette!"
"We can't get her to see the light..." Brittany said, on the verge of tears, "she's in complete denial!"
"And she's so anal lately," Eleanor said, "you say something bad about her boyfriend, she goes through the roof!"
"Yeah, she's been letting all hell break loose!" Brittany added.
Simon shook his head in disbelief. Jeanette had to be saved, but what were they going to do? They couldn't get Jeanette to believe the truth, meanwhile, Jeanette felt like the rest of the world was out to get her. Later that afternoon, Miss Miller sat with Jeanette in the living room.
"Jeanette, I've been wanting to talk to you about something..." Miss Miller said.
Jeanette knew where this is going. "It's about Rod, isn't it?"
"Well," Miss Miller began, "yes, it is."
Jeanette groaned, "I don't know what Brittany or Eleanor told you, but none of it's true! Rod is a wonderful guy, he makes me feel special, and he treats me like I'm the most important person in the world!"
"But Jeanette..." Miss Miller said, "you've... you've changed a lot since you met him..."
"Huh?" Jeanette replied. "I haven't changed... I'm still me..."
"Jeanette..." Miss Miller said, sounding a little strict. "The contacts? The new hairstyle? The new fashion?"
"I'm just experimenting," Jeanette told Miss Miller, "Rod says he likes to be able to see my eyes... he says they're extremely beautiful..."
"I know, Jeanette, you have the most beautiful, green eyes I've ever seen," Miss Miller said, sincerely, "but..."
"And he likes to be able to run his fingers through my hair," Jeanette interrupted, "but he can't do that if I constantly wear my hair up in a bun, and without brushing it!"
Miss Miller sighed.
"And... well, he kind of likes this look on me better..." Jeanette said, "I just want to make him happy."
"And you don't think he's trying to change you?" Miss Miller asked her, prompting Jeanette to really think about the question.
"Of course not," Jeanette said, "all I did at the dance, when we met, was just be myself, and he loves me the way I am."
Miss Miller sighed again. "Well... I just hope you know what you're getting into, Jeanette. And I hope you're not going to spend too much time with him, and start neglecting your schoolwork..."
"Oh, that won't happen, Miss Miller!" Jeanette said.
"Good." Miss Miller said, letting Jeanette head back upstairs to her room. "Brittany? Eleanor?"
Brittany and Eleanor walked into the room.
"Girls?" Miss Miller addressed her other two daughter. "Tell me... exactly how do you feel about the situation with Jeanette?"
Brittany and Eleanor hesitated to answer their mother. Should they tell her Jeanette came home drunk last night? Should they tell her about Jeanette throwing up on the bathroom floor? Should they tell her they suspect Rod is no good?
"Well..." Brittany began.
"We, uh..." Eleanor added.
"Yes?" Miss Miller asked.
"We just..." Brittany continued, "we just... uh... well, we..."
"Nothing..." Eleanor said.
"Yeah... forget it..." Brittany said, as she and Eleanor started to walk out of the room.
"Girls!" Miss Miller got their attention. "Are you trying to hide something from me?"
"Nnnnnoooo..." they mumbled.
Miss Miller raised an eyebrow at her daughters, thinking they are. "Alright then," Miss Miller said, sounding disappointed, "you may go now."