In the weeks to come, Brittany and Eleanor both felt like they were wearing masks, because they both were working very hard to not face reality. What was so bad about reality, was that Jeanette had changed, yet again. When Jeanette first going out with Rodney 'Rod' Griffin, Jeanette was so happy with him, that she became very hostile towards her sister, if they ever said anything about him that made him sound bad. Recently, however, Jeanette hadn't felt quite as happy with Rod as she did before. She couldn't put a finger on it, but her sisters were sure it was because Rod had begun to treat Jeanette like she's a slave. Jeanette always aimed to please Rod, always telling him she'd do anything for him, and pretty soon, he began to take advantage of it. Jeanette's top priority was to make Rod happy, but at the same time, she was making herself feel miserable. Brittany and Eleanor tried time, and time again to come clean to Miss Miller about their feelings regarding Rod, but they kept chickening out, because their biggest fear that Jeanette would become destructive-to-self-destructive if Miss Miller forced her to call off her relationship with the guy she loves. Brittany and Eleanor made a pact with each other to simply tune it all out, dismiss reality, pretend none of this is really happening. So frustrated were Brittany and Eleanor, that they began to take it out on other people, more recently, Brittany had been grounded for telling Miss Miller to shut up, when she was trying to explain something to her, meanwhile, Eleanor had actually gotten herself in detention for a week getting into a fist fight with a boy in gym class, making comments about her weight. Miss Miller had no idea what to do with her girls anymore, she knew the girls would probably become a bit on the hormonal side in their teens, but she never knew how she would approach it. So bad, were Brittany and Eleanor's frustration, that one night, at the dinner table, all hell broke loose.
"Eleanor." Brittany said. "Pass the mashed potatoes!"
"They're right there," Eleanor responded, "get them yourself!"
"I can't quite reach them! They're closer to you, just pass them to me!"
"I'm no dog waiting to play fetch!" Eleanor snapped.
"No, you're just a hippopotomus with a bottomless pit of a stomach who won't share the food!" Brittany snapped back.
"Girls!" Miss Miller snapped.
Eleanor smacked the bowl of mashed potatoes off the table. "You call me fat one more time, and you're going to get it!"
"Fatty, Fatty, eat a sausage patty!" Brittany said.
"That's it!" Eleanor yanked Brittany by her ponytail, and wrestled her to the floor.
"Girls, girls, girls," Miss Miller screamed, "that is enough!" Miss Miller grabbed the two fighting chipettes, and pulled them apart from each other. "I have had it with your bickering! If you don't cut this out, and soon, both of you are going to be in the worst trouble, ever, and I mean that!"
Brittany and Eleanor both shot each other nasty looks.
"Eleanor, you go to the den," Miss Miller instructed, "Brittany, to your room, and neither one of you come out until I say so!"
Miss Miller released her oldest, and youngest daughter from her grip, and they both stormed out of the dining room, and to their separate punishment spots. Jeanette sat quietly, picking at her food.
"Are you not hungry, Jeanette?" Miss Miller asked.
"Not really..." Jeanette mumbled.
"Then you're excused!" Miss Miller snapped, wanting Jeanette to leave the room as well, so she can try to regain her composure. Miss Miller grabbed the dishes off the table, and dropped them in the sink, before leaning over, and squinting her eyes shut. "I swear to God, those girls are going to be the death of me yet..." she mumbled.
For a brief moment, Miss Miller began to wish that Alvin never introduced her to her future, adopted daughter. But then again, had she not adopted them, they would have been sent back to an orphange, for who knows how long, and if and when they were adopted, what kind of person would adopt them? Miss Miller beat herself up inside for thinking such a thing. She loves her girls, they mean the world to her, she just wish she knew how to deal with them these days. Never before had there been so much tension in the Miller house. Miss Miller tried to trace it back. She realized the madness all began once Jeanette began dating Rod... when she started changing herself... and once she changed, her sisters began acting strange... and when her sisters began acting strange, that's when it all went south. Miss Miller thought about how when she once asked Brittany and Eleanor if they knew anything about Rod that Jeanette was keeping a secret, but they evaded the question as well.
No more.
Miss Miller stormed up to the girls' room, and had Brittany come with her into the den, where Eleanor was sitting. As soon as that happened, both Brittany, and Eleanor, assumed Miss Miller was about to scold them for their behavior in the dining room, but that wasn't the case.
"Brittany? Eleanor?" Miss Miller began. "There has been way too much tension under this roof lately, and quite frankly, I'm getting pretty sick, and tired of it."
Brittany and Eleanor eyeballed each other, before Miss Miller continued.
"I gave the matter a great deal of thought, and it seems to me, this all started when Jeanette began dating that Rodney character, what do you think?" Miss Miller asked.
Brittany and Eleanor both stood their quietly for a moment, pulling at their fingers, behind their backs, shuffling their feet, eyeballing each other, waiting for the other to speak. Finally, they came out with it.
"Yes." They both responded, sadly.
"Alright, girls," Miss Miller continued, "I want you to tell me everything you know about this fellow. What has he been doing to Jeanette? What are you trying to keep secret from me?"
Both Brittany, and Eleanor, let out long, loud, sad sighs, before Eleanor spoke up. "Well... in the first place... he's obviously making her change her image for him... I mean, when Jeanette went for contacts, and started wearing her hair different, and started wearing different clothes... it seems to me that if he really loved her the way she was, she wouldn't be changing herself like this."
"You remember that night he was wanting to introduce her to his friends?" Brittany asked.
"Yes..." Miss Miller responded.
"Well..." Eleanor resumed, "Jeanette came home... well... um... she was... you know..."
"What?" Miss Miller asked, looking upset. "She came home what?"
Brittany and Eleanor both looked at each other, before they both told Miss Miller, "she came home drunk."
Miss Miller leaned furthur back into her chair, her eyes bulging. "Jeanette came home drunk?!"
"We found her in the bathroom," Brittany continued, "she was peeing like there was no tomorrow, she threw up all over the floor, she couldn't stand straight, she couldn't see straight, she couldn't talk straight, and the next morning, she woke up overhung!"
"Overhung?" Miss Miller asked.
"She means hungover," Eleanor said, "Jeanette had a massive headache the next morning..."
"Jeanette knows better than that!" Miss Miller said, nearly yelling. "What does she think she's doing drinking at sixteen?!"
"I bet he gave her something other than punch to drink," Eleanor said, "because she said he had a punch bowl set up, but her breath smelled like liquor!"
"And he's been treating her like she's a slave lately!" Brittany added, "she's doing more favors for him now, than she's done for anyone all her life, because she wants to make sure she keeps them bum happy! I mean... I... I think some of those favors might have even been... on the sexual side..."
"I've heard enough." Miss Miller said, standing up from her chair.
"Now we're in for it..." Brittany said.
"No, you're not..." Miss Miller said, "Jeanette is. She's calling it off with her boyfriend, right now."
"Like I said," Brittany responded, "now we're in for it."
"Yeah," Eleanor agreed, "if Jeanette hears about this, she'll go through the roof!"
"No she won't," Miss Miller said, heading upstairs, "I'm going to be firm with her, she's going to call it off with this guy, and that's the end of it!" Miss Miller stormed down the hallway, and into the chipettes' bedroom, where she found Jeanette, sitting like a bump on a log on top of her bed.
"Jeanette Miller!" Miss Miller said, loudly, as Jeanette slowly looked up to face her. "There's a few things about this boyfriend of your's that you haven't told me about..."
Jeanette's facial expression was completely blank, her eyes looked completely lifeless.
"Now, you tell me, young lady, some of the things that's been going on..." Miss Miller continued, "like him having you change your appearance for him? You coming home drunk one night... you coming home drunk! Jeanette Miller, I thought you knew better than that!"
Jeanette's still sat there, looking blank, and lifeless.
"And," Miss Miller finished, "as I understand it, this fellow is taking advantage of you, in more ways than one... treating you like a slave... having you do countless favors for him, because your top priority in life is to please this joker, and make him happy!"
Jeanette's expression didn't change.
"Well, come on, out with it!" Miss Miller pressed. "Let's hear what you have to say about all of this!"
Jeanette remained silent.
"You better answer me, young lady!" Miss Miller yelled.
Jeanette still sat there, motionless, while Brittany and Eleanor poked their heads in the doorway, to see what was going to happen to Jeanette. Miss Miller shook her head, and sighed. "God, I don't know what I'm supposed to do here..." she mumbled, in reference to her tomb-of-a-daughter. "Well," Miss Miller said, aloud, "you've left me with no other choice, Jeanette... you're just going to have to call it off with this boy."
Brittany and Eleanor grabbed each other, and squinted their eyes shut, afraid to see Jeanette erupt like a volcano.
"No more phone calls, no more dates, no more going to his house, you may not even be permitted to eat lunch with him at school," Miss Miller continued, "you're prohibited from having anything more to do with this boy, and that's final. I want you to tell him it's over between the two of you, and that's the end of it."
"Okay." Jeanette said, softly.
"'Okay'?!" Miss Miller responded.
"Okay." Jeanette repeated, just as softly. She was in no mood to fight with Miss Miller, besides, Rod was wearing her out. She wasn't a machine, she was a living being. She had no more desire to do countless little favors for Rod, not to mention, she was still sick and tired of having to listen to Brittany and Eleanor complain about him. Jeanette then got off of her bed, and walked out of the room.
"Now, where are you going?" Miss Miller asked.
"To call it off..." Jeanette said, still soft and lifelessly, as she trudged downstairs.
"Jeanette," Miss Miller called after her, "I'd much rather you did this over the..."
Jeanette shut the front door behind her.
"... phone..." Miss Miller finished.
At that moment, Simon came walking out of his house, carrying a stack of library books, he planned on returning. As he reached the sidewalk, and turned to walk down the street, there he saw Jeanette outside her house. Simon couldn't help but wonder what she was up to, she just stood there, shuffling her feet, leaning from one side to another. She almost looked like she was lost, or like she didn't have a clue in the world of what she was doing. Jeanette finally sighed, and began walking furthur down the sidewalk. Something inside of Simon told him he should follow her, so he placed his books behind the picket fence boardering their front yard, and quietly pursued who was once his best friend. After a few moments of walking, Simon watched a midnight-blue convertible pull up to Jeanette up in the distance.
"Hey, Jean!" Rod said, calling out to his girlfriend. "I tried callin' you, but you never answered."
Jeanette just stood there, not making eye-contact with him.
"Well, come on!" Rod called. "Hop in, let's go!"
Simon watched as Jeanette got into the convertible, and when that happened, he began to chase after the speeding vehicle, on foot. Back home, Brittany and Eleanor couldn't believe what had just happened.
"Can you imagine Jeanette giving in so easily like that?" Eleanor asked.
"Something tells me that idiot won't give in quite so easily when Jeanette tells him it's over." Brittany responded.
"Brittany?" Eleanor spoke up.
"Yeah?" Brittany replied.
"I'm sorry for taking my frustration, and anger, out on you..." Eleanor apologized, with a tear in her eye.
Brittany gulped, loudly. "Same here, sis, same here."
The two sisters walked over to each, and embraced one another, as tight as they could. Eleanor burried her face into Brittany's shoulder, while Brittany gave Eleanor a gentle kiss on top of her head. Slowly, things grew back to normal. They hoped. Simon was nearly out of breath, by the time he reached Rod's house. He watched as Rod led Jeanette into the house, so he snuck around back, hoping maybe he could see inside some window, to get an idea of what was going on. Simon peered through three different windows, in one, he saw what looked like a ransacked kitchen, another was a filthy bathroom, and the third, the blinds were closed, but the best Simon could peer inbetween them, it looked like a large bedroom, where a man, and a woman, were asleep. Simon smirked, and began to walk back around towards the front, but he paused as he was around the side of the house, when he saw a smaller window, close to the ground. Simon had a hunch. He got down on his hands, and knees, and peered through the small window. It looked like a basement bedroom of some sort, and sure enough, here came Rod, down the staircase, pulling Jeanette behind him as he did. Jeanette, on the other hand, looked like she was dreading what was about to come to her. But why, Simon thought, doesn't she love Rod? Doesn't she love being with him? He watched them sit on the couch, Rod appeared to be trying to engage in coversation with Jeanette, though she looked like she had no interest in it whatsoever. Simon crawled as close to the window as he could, so he could try to hear what was being said, which was difficult, but Simon could pretty much make out every other word.
"What's the matter, Jeannie?" Rod asked. "You haven't been yourself, lately..."
Jeanette just sat there, resting her elbow on the armrest of the couch, and resting her face on the palm of her hand. Letting out silent sigh.
"You know what your problem is?" Rod said, placing his arm around her shoulders, and pulling her close. "You're tired... you're not in your right frame of mind... you've been concentrating too much on school and crap like that..." Rod began to massage Jeanette's shoulders. "You need to loosen up, Jean, just relax... forget about school for a while... what's it going to hurt to skip a few classes every once in a while?" Rod turned Jeanette around, and began to snog her, while Simon cringed, watching from outside the window. Rod stopped making out with Jeanette. "Come on, Jeannie, let's get back to normal around here... let me put you at ease... let's just go back to the way we were... okay?" Rod smiled, as he stood to his feet, walking over to his stereo, to tune in some adult contemporary music, while he walked over to his dresser to pull out a pack of condoms, but as he did...
"No..." Jeanette said, softly.
Rod stopped what he was doing, and slowly turned around to face Jeanette. "What did you say?"
"No..." Jeanette repeated, "no... I can't... I can't go on with this Rod... I'm sorry... but... it's over... I have to call it off..."
Simon's eyes nearly left his sockets. He couldn't clearly hear it, but from what he did hear, it sounded like Jeanette was dumping Rod.
"You do that Jeanette," Rod said, walking towards the couch, "and you're going to be sorry."
"I am sorry, Rod..." Jeanette said, as she got up from the couch, backing towards the staircase, "I'm sorry... this has to come to an end, Rod..." once Jeanette knew she reached the staircase, she turned to leave, but ended up bumping into two of Rod's friends, one of whom, was his accomplise, Tom.
"Where do you think you're going?" Tom said.
Simon shot to his feet, to collect his thoughts. He couldn't believe Jeanette was actually breaking up with her boyfriend. He suddenly felt like he was somewhat proud of Jeanette. He knew Rod was bad for her, and so did her sisters... Jeanette finally made a smart move by breaking up with Rod. Miss Miller watched the clock on the mantel of the fireplace tick minute, by minute.
"What's keeping that girl?" Miss Miller moaned. "I swear, that girl is going to be spending her summer vacation living an Amish lifestyle!"
Even Brittany and Eleanor was beginning to wonder what Jeanette was doing all this time. They then grew sad at the thought that Jeanette probably couldn't bring herself to tell Rod it was over... and he was probably getting her drunk again or something. Rod's basement bedroom had no adequet ceiling, all you saw above your head, when you looked up, was indoor plumbing, and pipes. Hanging from one of those pipes were two sets of handcuffs. Hanging from those handcuffs was a pair of wrists. Simon saw Jeanette hanging by her wrists in handcuffs, from the above pipe, when he started tapping on the window. Jeanette slowly rose her tender, beaten face to see what that she was hearing, fearing it was the footsteps of Rod, and his goons, coming back downstairs. Jeanette didn't see anything, until she heard the tapping, a little louder. She glanced over at the window, and saw Simon.
"Simon?" Jeanette mumbled.
Simon began waving his hands, making sure Jeanette could really see he was there.
"Simon..." Jeanette moaned again, before she gasped. "Help me, Simon..." she said, softly, "please help me, before they come back!"
Simon tried to open the window, but it was locked, so he pulled a paperclip, from his sweater pocket, unfolding it, and biting down on one end, before he used it to pick the lock on the window. Afterwards, Simon did his best to slip through the window, but ended up landing on a tabletop, knocking over an assortment of empty, spray-paint cans, as he did.
"What the fuck?" Simon and Jeanette heard from outside the door at the top of the staircase.
"Hurry, Simon!" Jeanette pleaded.
"Where did he put the keys?!" Simon asked.
"Top drawer of the dresser!" Jeanette squealed, as Simon ran over to dig the keys out.
Simon grabbed the keys, and they grabbed two empty milk crates to get to Jeanette's wrists to unlock the cuffs. No sooner had he inserted a key into the lock, when he heard the door open. Tom slowly walked downstairs, to see what was going on, but was made with a rude awakening, when Simon brought a metal baseball bat to Tom's head. Tom fell to the ground, unconscious, when Simon ran back over to Jeanette, and unlocked the cuffs, allowing her to fall to the ground.
"What's the deal?!" Rod's other friend called down the stairs.
More minutes passed by, while Miss Miller, Brittany, and Eleanor, continued waiting for Jeanette to return home.
"If she isn't home in another half-hour," Miss Miller began, "I'm going out for her, and when I find her, she's not going to be able to sit down until she's twenty-eight!"
Brittany and Eleanor both grew very concerned about what Jeanette was up to, to be gone for so long, but they really needn't worry. The handcuffs were occupied again, but this time, Rod's two buddies were hanging from them, completely unconscious, from having a metal baseball bat to the head. Jeanette made it to the top of the stairs to leave the house, but no sooner did she open the door, when she slammed it shut again, and locked it.
"Rod's coming back!" Jeanette cried.
"We need to get out of here!" Simon exclaimed, as he jumped onto the table below the bedroom window, followed shortly by Jeanette.
"What's going on down there, Jeanette?!" Rod called out, as he tried breaking down the door.
Simon extended his arms, for Jeanette to reach, as he helped her out the window, just as Rod broke the door down, raced down the stairs, and tried to grab Jeanette. Simon got Jeanette out the window, and Rod tried to go after them, but he wasn't as small as the two chipmunks were, and couldn't fit through the window, allowing Simon and run off with Jeanette.