~December 23rd~
Jeanette looked out her window at the snow falling. She was wracking her scattered brain for a gift to give Simon. He already was getting al the academic stuff from Dave, Alvin and Brittany were getting him a bunch of "cool stuff", and Theodore and Eleanor were giving him edible things. She was thinking so hard she didnt hear Brittany say "Jeanette I need help with my science project." in a rather whiny voice. Brittany didnt like that Jeanette wasn't listening so she went up behind Jeanette and lightly pressed on her arm, just to get her attention but this rather startled Jeanette and she screamed and rolled off the window seat.
"Oh Jeanette are you OK?" asked Brittany
"yeah" Jeanette said rubbing the back of her head "I was just trying to figure out what to get Simon for Christmas"
"Oh, Well, Here you help me with my science project and I'll help you find something for Simon"
For the next hour Brittany and Jeanette were working on a science project classic: the vinigar and baking soda volcano.
"So," said Brittany after she had put the last villager at the bottom of the clay volcano.
"What?" asked Jeanette putting the last tree in.
"Simons Christmas present! What sorts of things does he like?"
"well he likes science, he loves books, music and ~~"
"well now we're getting somewhere, what sort of music."
"he likes jazz, old pop, classic rock, classical, country, but not rap he cant keep up with it"
"he really likes the old school stuff doesnt he?"
"yeah well i dont blame him i'm not too fond of the newer stuff either."
"well thank heavens alvin and i just got him an i~tunes card... you said he likes country? well lets find a country christmas song or two and see if they give us any ideas."
they spent the next two hours searching youtube for country christmas music. they couldnt find a single thing that would work and they were just about to give up when eleanor came in.
"are you two still working on that science project?"
"no we finished that 2 hours ago"
"jeanettes having trouble with figuring a christmas gift for Simon."
"oh thats easy... here pass me the keyboard"
brittany slid it over and eleanor typed in something into the search bar and in a few clicks the screen had two windows open one with simons facebook page and the other was a youtube video.
"did you just hack into simons facebook page?!"
"yeah it's quite easy, i dont do anything with it i just look and see what theodore wants for his birthday, he shares those things with simon. it's perfectly alright simon gave me the password, not that its a hard one to figure out"
she clicked on a few things and it took her to simon's online journals.
"he is very smart but he cant hide his journals very well." said Brittany.
"oh no he does quite well these are the journals that only he can see."
"you can see them..."
"thats cause i am logged in to his account"
"oh..."
"anyway here... he was tagged by alvin, and this is where he answered the questions honestly."
Brittany read it quickly and then took the mouse and pressed play on the youtube video and put it in full screan before jeanette and eleanore could get past the first line.
they listened to the song and brittany had a perfect idea for all of them to do for the boys. she ran downstairs and returned with wrapping paper, ribbon and a telephone.
"what are you doing now?"
"calling Dave"
"what for"
"well if we are going to do this we have to do it right" she said and she dialed the all too familiar number.
~ring~ring~ring~ring~ring~
"hello?" it was simon.
"hi simon it's brittany, is dave there?"
"yeah just a minute." simon said and brittany heard footsteps then simon say "Dave it's Brittany i think alvin pulled another prank." then she heard Dave say "not again..." and then "what did alvin do this time brittany?"
"no nothing, Jeanette Eleanor and I need your help for the guy's christmas present." she said "we need boxes that we can fit inside"
and she told him the plan she had.
~December 24th~
dave came by with the boxes and left the girls to wrap them and put doors in the back of them. this took them several hours to do and it was very late when they finally got into their boxes to make sure they fit.
"i wont fit in mine" said jeanette rather flustered
"Well we will have to do something different for you then" brittany said
"i thought you two already got alvin and theodore gifts?"
"we did, but i thought this would be a great idea to do as well."
"the only reason we have this idea is because Jeanette needed a gift for simon so lets just put our boxs together to make them tall enough for her" said eleanor
"well, alright... but we need to have her someplace where she could get in and out without being noticed...what about the tree house?" asked brtny
"No!"said lnr quickly
"I have a better idea," Jeanette said "why dont we just forget about it! it isnt like simon will be getting me anything for christmas anyway." and she ran up to her room crying.
it was already christmas eve, and she still didnt have a thing for simon. she couldnt believe she couldnt think of anything for him that others already hadnt gotten for him. she looked at her clock 11:00 PM. in about 10 hours they would be heading over to the seville's house for christmas to exchange gifts.
downstairs Brittany and Eleanor were trying to figure something for Jeanette to do for Simon for Christmas.
~ring~ring~ring~ring~ring~
"hello?"
"hi eleanor, its dave. the boys are asleep now do you want me to come get the boxes?"
"no dave there's been a change in plans, Brittany and I are going to use the boxes to carry over the gifts, we will even have them presorted for the boys. Jeanette couldnt fit in her box so she isnt gunna do it. she cant find a gift for simon and thats why Brittany came up with the idea in the first place."
"well what did she get Alvin and Theodore?"
"a hundred homework help tickets each. she knows how much they need it, and it gives Simon a break now and again."
"poor Jeanette, is she alright?"
"well i'm not sure she ran up to her room crying about an hour ago, and brittany and I have been down here trying to think of something for her to give Simon"
"why not give him some of those homework help tickets?"
"we tried that already, she said and i quote 'can you really see Simon needing homework help?'"
"fair point, does she know she doesnt need to worry about getting him anything? Simon is just happy that she is going to be here."
"she dosnt see things that way. she wants to get him someting really special, she just cant thi~~"
then eleanor heard a a loud hollar, some running and then dave saying "What are you doing up?... eleanor? i have to go i will see you tommorrow alright?"
"um... ok... see you then... bye."
"what was that all about?" brtny asked
"i have no idea..." lnr replied
~~~at the seville's house~~~
"What are you doing?" dave asked more concerned with why his tall middle son outside on a short ladder then why he was up so late on christmas eve.
"I am trying to get ready for tommorrow, I want Jeanette's christmas to be perfect."
"why are you waiting till now to set it up?"
"because the 'love doctor' and his assistant would probably want to help with it"
"why didnt you do it earlier when we went to the mall? i would have let you stay home."
"I had to get something from the jewlery store at the mall. you didnt notice i had gone because Alvin was... well.. being Alvin"
"what were you doing at a jewlery store?" dave asked.
simon climbed down and pulled a small but long rectangular box out of the tree house "Getting this, What do you think?" he asked handing the box to dave.
"oh simon, she will love it, but how much did this cost?"
"113 dollars"
"WHAT?! Simon how did you pay for it?"
"The school had a tutoring program for the football team. they returned the 20$ in lunch money they had taken out of gratitude and then there was Alvin's summer allowences"
"how did you get Alvin to give up his summer allowence?"
"blackmail... back at the end of April, one of his many plans got way out of hand again. unfortunatly that plan almost got the six of us killed so after setting it right, i promised i wouldnt tell you what he did in exchange for his summer allowence May thru August."
"May is not one of the summer months Simon."
"it was on previous world calenders anyway Alvin is too lazy to look up anything and he tends to believe me when i say that things are 'official'. I just did what you would have done, it was worth more than 4 months allowence but i was controling my temper."
Dave started laughing and then tried to be serious again "Simon, you know i cant condone what you just told me... but it is very funny..." and he started to laugh again
Simon remained very straight faced as he climbed up the ladder again with a bit more decorations and said "the sad part is that its true. when i say things that are of a scientific nature he is quite gulible..."
dave held onto the ladder "you boy's birthday was in May, you didnt take his birthday money did you"
"i was very tempted but that really would have been low even by alvins standards. no..." simon continued stringing more lights accross the tree house "birthdays, holidays, and fair cash was his to keep i just got his regular dallowence oh and the double he asked for in June and July to try and cheat his way around our deal. that extra 40 dollars is hidden away in your stocking... merry Christmas by the way..." and he got down and went over to the side of the house. "right then lets see if this works," and he plugged in the extention cord.
then Dave stood in aw. there was the tree house outlined in blue and lavender lights.
"Simon, how on earth did you make this work?"
"i bought 37 dollars worth of extra bulbs and went through several hours of sorting them and replacing the ones on the strand that were not blue or purple" Simon siged as he sat down at the picnic table. "then i had to put them into a pattern and that took nearly a day itself. i also have a silver Christmas tree in there with blue and purple ornamants on it"
"You really are very clever..." dave said and he sat down across from simon, then his mind went back to the phonecall just before he saw simon outside. "um Simon, you dont expect anything out of this do you?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well you just spent around 200 dollars on jeanettes christmas, when alvin does something like that... well... he expects things in return..."
"it was only 150 dollars te other 50 went to a 25$ salon gift card for brittany and a pair resturaunt theater tickets for theodore and eleanor and anyway I already know Jeanette doesnt know what to get me for christmas, i just like her being around. she doesnt have a lot of money just lying around and a 24K gold heart locket is not on my wish list"
"i dont mean those sorts of things."
"well then i guess theres a first time for everything because you've lost me."
"simon, i um i think it's time we had 'The Talk'"
"Uh... before you go any further, dave, please try and remember that i'm not Alvin"
"no I know that, and thats why i have waited so long for this... Simon i dont want you to do something you will regret and cant fix."
"Dave, if you are implying what i think you are i am slightly insulted, and i want to make it clear hear and now that that sort of thing at my age is absolutly unthinkable. i'm only 16."
"i'm sorry Simon, i just had to be sure the idea wasnt even considered."
"actually alvin had considered that jeanette and I ... well... Anyway, Alvin thought it would be a good idea and he said as much 3 days ago when he and i were talking about what we were getting the girls for Christmas. I deceitfully told him i couldnt think of anything to get Jeanette and he in an Alvin like fashion started going into the 'Hey Hey' bit, then the 'boy did i steam last night without telling you' bit. so in all honesty it was considered but rejected immediatly with a polite 'no thank you' and the pressure of asking what he was getting Brittany for christmas."
"he forgot didnt he?"
"he went white as a sheet and then left in a hurry."
"well it's time you got to bed..."
"just a minute I have one more decoration to put up" and simon pulled tiny box from his pocket and showed it to dave.
"Simon..." Dave said sternly.
"Dont worry Dave, it's just for the song." simon said as he climbed up to the tree house
"What song?" dave called
Simon poked his head out the window "will you stop worrying please?"
"i cant... i know what alvin might have said to you."
"Alright well you keep worrying if you like" said Simon climbing down "I'm going to bed Good Night" and he walked into the house and tossed his letter jacket on the counter
"Good Night" Dave said and for a brief moment he thought about taking that last decoration down, but decided to leave it be. 'this is Simon' he thought and he went in the house
~~~!Christmas morning!~~~
"I'm not going!"
"jeanette you have to!"
"why?"
"because you cant be left here alone!"
"why ever not?"
"because its christmas now get your dress on and let's go!"
"No!"
about an hour later Brittany Eleanor and Jeanette were walking down the street each carrying a box with a lot of little boxes in it.
"what am i going to say to simon?"
"jeanette just stop worrying about it will you?"
"I cant, i really want Simon to be happy, but i havnt gotten him anything!"
"just go with the flow and stop worrying!"
Brittany set down the box she had and rang the doorbell. Dave answered.
"Hi girls, come on in have you had breakfast? theres Chocolate Chip Pancakes in the kitchen."
Brittany picked the box back up. "thank you" she said and walked in followed by her sisters. they set the boxes by the tree and went into the kitchen.
"The boys will be down in a minute or two" dave said.
not two seconds later alvin simon and theodore were downstairs each in a plaid buttonup(red, blue, and green respectively) and black jeans.
"Do we get to open our gifts now?" alvin asked
"after breakfast" said theodore and eleanor together
"agreed" said dave, "now sit and eat while i get the rest of the gifts down and sort them out."
after about half an hour alvin was getting board and asked if dave was ready yet.
"just go watch tv will you? this will take another 30 minutes" dave called back. So Alvin lead them around to the tv room.
Simon grabbed Jeanette's hand "come with me" he said and he handed his letter jacket to her.
"where are we going?"
"outside to the tree house"
"why"
"just come on"
simon pulled back the curtains to the back sliding door to reveil the blue and lavender outlined tree house, then he pulled her outside and over to the tree househe climbed up and then extended a hand and helped Jeanette up as soon as she was in the tree house she heard a song begin to play in the background
"oh simon, it's lovely" she said and she started to cry.
"why are you crying?" he asked "i thought you would like it."
"i do simon i do it's just..." and she leaned on him and cried on his shoulder.
"Jeanette whats wrong?"
"i couldnt find anything for you for christmas" she cried
"oh jeanette your here thats all that matters." and he hugged her tighter
"simon youve made this look so beautiful" she said "and i dont have anything to give you"
"you will in a minute" he said and he took her over to the tree in the corner and picked up a hair barette made out of a silver bow and some blue and lavender curling ribbon and placed it in her hair. then he handed her the long rectangular box. she started crying again imediatly when she opened it and saw the inscription. then simon got down on one knee.
"i know we are young, i know it's illogical, i know we would be going against the odds, and i know there are many more reasons why i shouldnt do this, but there is one that cancles out all the others. Jeanette, will you marry me?"
she looked at the locket and unable to speak she nodded and he helped her with the clasp
"oh Simon i feel aweful i didnt get you anything" she said holding the heart
"now there's a lot of things you could buy for me, coloured boxes with fancy presents are all good and well, but all those things just cant compare and they wouldnt mean as much as you standing by that tree" and he danced around the tree house with her "Jeanette, chrismas day the greatest gift i know would be having you to hold underneath the mistle toe"and he pointed up at that last decoration right in front of the window. simon dipped her and leaned in. they were 2 inches from eachother when Dave shouted out the backdoor.
"come on you two! Alvins about to attack the tree"
Simon looked out the window to make eyecontact with dave then looked at jeanette. If he kissed her, he would be out of Dave's sight and he knew that full well. jeanette's simplistic beauty overpowered any restraint that being "the responsible one" might have had on him. His lips gently touched jeanette's...