Getting to Know You
The Chipmunks and Chipettes story
Part XI
THERE SEEMS TO BE SOME CONFUSION ABOUT MY CHARACTERS AND HOW THEY LOOK. LET ME SIMOLY STATE THAT ALL CHARACTERS ARE, IN FACT, HUMAN IN APPEARANCE. ALTHOUGH THEY SING AND ACT LIKE THE CARTOON AND CGI CHARACTERS WE KNOW AND LOVE. TO REITERATE, HUMAN APPEARANCE, EVERYTHING ELSE IS THE SAME. EVEN THE VOICES, WHEN THEY SING THAT IS. THANK YOU, NOW FOR THE FEATURE PRESENTATION.
"You want me and Jeanette to do what?!" Simon asked dramatically when he was done hearing Alvin's plan.
"I just want you two to come along to monitor and make sure everything is safe. You guys would be on your own date; we just need some insurance that she won't try anything funny. And besides, isn't it about time that you guys went out for a night? You've been dating for what, two weeks now?" Alvin replied.
"Yeah, but that's beside the pint Alvin." Jeanette said, taking Simon's side in the matter, "You need to talk this out with Susan and try and find some common ground so she'll cooperate." She offered.
"I tried that already." Alvin answered, "All it did was get me in this fucking date with the psycho." He said glumly, staring down at the floor.
"Okay," Simon started after a while of silence, "What exactly are you expecting to happen again?"
"Okay, here's the plan," Alvin started, appearing to perk up instantly, "I go on this date with Susan, but instead of going alone where she could try something, you and Jeanette come along for your own date and keep an eye on things. If stuff goes down you can back me up, and if she leaves the pictures unattended, you can help me steal them and run the hell away."
"Uh-hunh, no to the last part, but okay to the first; if it's okay with Jeanette, I'll go with you." He answered looking to his girlfriend who was staring off into space thinking.
When she came down from wherever she was at, she looked Simon dead in the eyes and said, "As long as you're in, I'll be there too."
"Thanks so much you guys. I don't think I could go through this if you wouldn't be there." Alvin said, breathing a sigh of relief.
"And just what am I supposed to do?" Britney asked in a huff. She hadn't liked the plan but had agreed that it was the only relatively safe way to go.
"I want you to stay at your house with Theo and Ellie." Alvin instructed.
"Whoa, whoa, you say all this like the date you have to go on is tonight. Don't we have a week to figure everything out?" Eleanor asked from the small table in the corner where she was sitting, Theo on the floor at her feet.
"Yeah, what if we want to go out that night?" Theo questioned, raising his eyebrows expectantly.
"Well, I would hope that you would want to help your siblings Theo." Alvin answered sarcastically.
"Uh-hunh, and what about all those times we needed you and you weren't there?" Simon pointed out.
"I already made up for the times I missed the school performances, and the pranks, and the spotlight hogging…" Alvin started, building up to a tangent before deciding that he wasn't helping his case.
"In any event, I need you guys to help. This is something I can't do on my own." He finally admitted.
The fact that he had just admitted that he needed help to his brothers and his friends was huge. He was notorious for being the one with the ego. Not to mention the fact that he had never accepted help for anything before. Now he was begging for them to help him. If there was anyone left in the room that was unconvinced before, their opinions settled in his favor after his admission.
"Okay. Count me in." Simon said, grinning at his shorter brother and putting his arm around him protectively.
"Yeah, count me in too." Jeanette chipped in, wrapping her arms around Simon's waist from behind.
"Well, if you are all cool with it, I guess me and Theo can stay in Friday night." Eleanor said from her seat, Theo nodding his head in approval from the floor.
"Are you sure about this though Alvin?" Britney asked hesitantly, getting off the bed to walk closer to him across the carpeting.
"If there was any other way open Brit, I would take it, but this is the only path that doesn't hurt anyone." Alvin said, moving out from under Simon's arm and pulling her close to feel the heat radiating off her petite frame.
When the others saw that they needed a moment, they got up silently and left the room, making sure to close the door behind them so that they would have their privacy.
"Do you think we're doing the right thing by not telling Dave and Miss Miller?" Jeanette asked Simon over lunch on Thursday, just a day before the fateful day.
"Trust me, the crap Alvin puts Dave through at home, he just doesn't need this on his plate. And Miss Miller would kill Britney if she found out what Alvin and Britney had already done." Simon replied.
"Do you think they've, you know, done it yet?" Jeanette asked nervously. She was always shy about things like sex, except when she was alone with Simon; then it was like someone threw a switch.
"Nah, though it's not for lack of trying, I just think that their schedules don't allow it. Remember, last week was packed and with everything happening, I don't think they can get in the mood anyway." He answered knowingly, looking off into space through Jeanettes eyes.
"Oh…how do you know all that exactly?" she asked, this time more curious than anything.
"Uh, I may have listened to one of Alvin's phone conversations a couple days ago." He admitted sheepishly.
Jeanette smiled slightly and looked down, sometimes forgetting for a minute or two who exactly was supposed to be the troublemaker in the Chipmunk's family, Simon or Alvin.
When the silence stretched out to several minutes, Simon cleared his throat and asked her if she had heard anything about where exactly the fateful night was supposed to take place at.
"Nothing, and I've tried, you're not the only one listening in on their siblings." She said grinning slightly at his look of surprise.
"Well now, I do believe that was rather sneaky on your part now wasn't it Jeanette?" he taunted, wagging his finger at her playfully while laughing.
While they were in the courtyard laughing to themselves, Alvin and Britney were enjoying a quieter lunch in an abandoned classroom next to their art class next period.
"So have you heard anything yet about where you're going to go?" Britney asked, not showing the anxiety she was feeling about the proximity of the dreaded date to the present.
"Not a peep, she hasn't called the house and I haven't seen her around the halls at school. I think she'll call tonight or tomorrow though. In any case, I know that it starts at eight, so she has to tell me where to go, and when she does, I'm going to make sure that Simon and Jeanette are in the backseat keeping an eye on things." He answered rather wordily by his standards.
Not for the first time, Britney thought about how lucky she was to be who she was. She had wonderful friends, sisters who were the nicest people on the planet, not to mention the fine example of masculinity she had for a boyfriend. Alvin was strong and yet tender, he could be crass around the guys and switch to the caring, gentle soul she knew and admired. But her luck had its downfalls, Susan being but one of them. She had never once mentioned the rumors that were constantly being updated, revamped, and recycled about her and her supposed promiscuity. Those damn things had gotten her sent to the principal's office more than once because she defended her honor the only way she knew how, by punching the person who asked about them and got a little too in her face.
While she was thinking all this to herself, Alvin was similarly going over his life in his head. A habit he had formed when things had been tough during certain tours and he had needed a little reality check and found himself utilizing more and more frequently during the last few weeks. He was glad that Britney had been there with him for it all though, despite the harm he had brought her, he was glad to have someone who knew what it was like to be in his situation. But he wasn't ignorant in the least when it came to the special position she was in. if some guy had blackmailed her into a date, he would have broken him in half. Yet she took it all in stride, he was glad that she could be so strong, even when he was weakening emotionally and physically as the last few nights had left him with a total of four hours of sleep. Every time he shut his eyes, he had the same dream.
Finally not being to stand the silence and the tension so thick you could cut it with razor, Britney surprised Alvin by quickly leaning in and, taking hold of his face with her soft hands, pulling him in for a deep and desperate kiss. She needed that sensation like she had needed air after diving under the water for three minutes.
Alvin started when grabbed hold of him, but when he felt the soft velvety caress of her lips across his own, he melted in her embrace and let her lead the trip down the path of passion she always seemed to elicit from him with the barest of efforts. He got so lost in the senses she awoke in him that when she suddenly pulled away he crashed, quite literally, back to earth. As he got up and dusted himself off from his temporary meeting with the floor, he noticed that Britney's usually reserved face had given way to streaks of tears running in rivulets down the skin of her cheeks.
"Britney…" he began, stepping forward to comfort her from whatever it was that was hurting her, "what's wrong babe? Do you want to talk about it?"
"Alvin, do you have any idea how much you're killing me right now?" she asked, laughing through the now drying tears on her face, "What did I do to deserve you?"
"I don't follow you." He answered, confused as much by her actions as her words
"Do you know why this whole blackmail situation hurts so much Alvin?" she asked, looking at him dead into his deep hazel eyes.
"No, but I'm guessing you're going to tell me." He replied, laughing a little himself as he returned the gaze into the crystal gaze of her icy blue irises.
"I hate it all because, even if it works out, the only one whose status was at risk was yours." She told him quietly.
"What do you mean? If it doesn't work out, then we are both hurt. If it were just me in danger, I wouldn't care. But she threatened you, and that means that I have to stop her at all costs." He responded, holding her close as she listened to his heart beating through his ribcage.
"But if those pictures get out, you could go to jail." She said anxiously.
"So I risk a little jail time, for you babe, it's worth it" He said, grinningly roguishly at her.
"Oh, you just make sure you're careful okay? I don't know what I'd do if you got hurt."
She told him.
"Hey, you're talking to a guy that flew around the world and survived being a captive of a tribe of cannibals. I think I can handle a date." He assured her as the bell rang to signal the start of fifth period.
Sure enough, just as he had thought, when he got home from school on Thursday, he found a message from Susan on the message machine that outlined exactly when and where they were to meet for the "date" they were going to meet at a small restaurant on the other end of town, and he was supposed to show up no later than 8:10.
"I see that your instructions have arrived Mr. Bond." Simon joked from behind him as he walked in on the tail end of the message.
"Yeah yeah, ha ha, very funny." Alvin responded sarcastically, not in the mood for jokes.
"Now in all seriousness Alvin, I need to know when we're leaving to pick up Jeanette so I can let her know." Simon said.
"Tell her to be ready to leave her house at 7:40, I've been to this restaurant before, it won't take us long to get there from the Chipettes house." Alvin answered, walking up to his room to brood.
When Alvin entered his room, the first thing he did was cross the floor to the phone to call Britney. Now that he knew where they were going to be, he wanted her to know just in case something went wrong.
The phone rang on her end a couple times and she finally answered on the fourth dial tone, "Hello?" she asked.
"Hey Brit, it's me Alvin, just letting you know that she want me to meet her at the little Italian restaurant about six miles from your house. Do you know anything about it?"
"No, but I've eaten there, she can't make a scene there and expect to get away with it, when I was there, this drunk guy three booth over tried to start a fight and these two waiters picked him up and dragged him out. You'll be safe, but you should still bring Simon and Jeanette with you." She answered
"Okay then, hey, you doing alright?" he asked.
"Yeah, I'm holding up fine. And Alvin,"
"Yes?"
"If this all goes well, I've got a surprise for you." She said silkily.
"Okay, well you just keep that to yourself and I'll let you go get some rest, you looked fit to drop like a stone today in class." He joked, wondering what sort of surprise she could be planning.
"You should take your own advice," she teased him, "you looked like death during the slideshow. And we don't want you tired on Saturday if this all goes down like you planned, I can guarantee that you'll want to be rested up." She said, further teasing him before hanging up.
Alvin shook his head as he hung up the phone and muttered to himself, "Girls, one minute they're weepy, the next they're acting stranger than Simon after a messed up experiment."
Nevertheless, he decided to at least try and get some sleep like she had suggested. As his head hit the pillow, his eyes closed of their own volition and he drifted off into the deep, dark, dreamless, sleep of the dead.
He woke up to something poking him awake, "Go away!' he growled, "I just fell asleep!"
"Actually dude, you fell asleep yesterday afternoon. It's Friday morning. Time for school" Simon said, stepping back after Alvin bolted up in bed, looking incredulously at the clock on his nightstand.
"You guys let me sleep through dinner?" he asked, stunned that he had slept that hard and that long.
"Yeah, Theo wanted to wake you up, but Dave told him you must have been exhausted to sleep right after school. It looks like it did you some good though, those bags under your eyes have almost disappeared." Simon summed up, standing back laughing as Alvin got out of bed and grabbed his towel as he rushed into the bathroom to get his shower.
As he let the water flow off his body, Alvin found himself thinking ahead to the date he was supposed to go on that night. What would happen if I skipped out on it? He wondered to himself. He debated back and forth for a while about the pros and cons of going out that night instead of playing sick. Eventually, he realized that he would have to finally bite the bullet and go. Besides, he reasoned, it wasn't like he was doing this alone and without good reason. Simon and Jeanette were going to be there and he was doing it to keep Britney from harm. As he reached this conclusion, someone pounded on the door of the bathroom.
"Alvin!" Dave called in irritably, "Will you hurry up, you guys have to be AT school in twenty minutes and it takes five to drive there."
"Okay dad, I'm finishing up now." Alvin hollered back, used to Dave's intense attitude. It had once scared him when he was little, then he figured out that he only used that tone when he was scared for the kids for one reason or another. In this case, he was scared that they'd be late.
When the guys arrived at school with three minutes to spare, they were pleased to find their girlfriends at their group of lockers. That is until they saw that they were cornered by three of the guys from the lacrosse team.
"So like I was saying, me and my boys here need dates for this little party we're having at my house tonight, and we were wondering if you three would be so kind as to accompany us." The leader of the pack said oily.
"How about you turn around and walk away ass hole." Alvin said, not thinking before he spoke, per usual.
"And what are you going to do about it if I don't pipsqueak?" the greasy kid replied, "The way I see it, it's us three against one mediocre football player, a field athlete, which is a joke by the way, and a geek."
"Well you also forgot about the fact that the girls you're hitting on are with us," Simon butted in, looking suddenly intimidating as he pulled himself up to his full height of 6'3" and sneering menacingly
"Not only that, but our girlfriends are also black-belts. So I suggest you back the fuck off before we floor you." Theo added, looking smug as realization crept into the faces of the three pompous teens and they hurried away before they got hurt.
"Thanks guys, I didn't want to get suspended for kicking their asses." Britney said as her sisters ran into their boyfriends arms.
"Hey no problems" Alvin responded, grinning slyly at Britney as she collected her books for class.
"What were they talking about anyway?" Theo asked Eleanor, "I've never seen those guys before, are they new or something? I thought everyone knew better than to mess with you three since you took out those three perverts freshman year."
"Well, they moved schools recently when they were expelled for sexual harassment." Jeanette supplied.
"Hunh, they must have wanted to get out of this place pretty bad if they tried to make a move on you three." Simon said, mildly impressed at their guts.
"Simon, are you trying to say something about us?" Eleanor challenged jokingly.
"Not at all Eleanor, I just think that we need to keep an eye on those three for a while at least." He answered.
"Whoa there dudes, one problem at a time okay?" Alvin said to the group, "Now does everyone know about tonight?"
"Yes, they all know." Simon replied quickly, not wanting to think about the double date he would have to go on later. He had wanted his first date with Jeanette to be special, not some recon assignment for Alvin.
"I'm a little confused." Theo admitted sheepishly.
"It's easy sweetie," Ellie supplied, "You and me and Britney are going to be at our house tonight while Alvin, Simon, and Jeanette are going to be out on their little "date" with Susan. And Alvin will drop you off at our house when he picks up Jeanette at 7:40."
"Right." Alvin affirmed, smiling at his friends, "What could go wrong with that?" he asked sarcastically.
"Please don't say that Alvin, whenever you say that, something goes wrong." Simon said as his head in his palm in frustration.
"Relax, I got this." Alvin assured everyone as the bell rang for first period and they parted ways in groups of two. Alvin and Ellie going to English, Britney and Simon heading for gym, and Theo and Jeanette headed off to math.
Unfortunately for Alvin, the day's schedule, which normally went at a crawl of a pace, decided to fly by in what felt like an instant, and before he knew it, he was back at the house with nothing to do but steel himself for the night's events. After throwing an outfit together, not too nice, and taking a quick shower, he went to his room to get dressed while Simon and Theo took their turns making themselves presentable for their girlfriends. When they were all ready to leave after having a quick snack, Alvin saw to his dismay that for the first time in his memory, his brothers were better dressed than him.
"Okay, you guys ready?" he asked, scooping his car keys off the side table near the couch.
"Yep, I can't wait." Simon said unenthusiastically.
"Well, I'm ready to go. I'm even bringing a few movies so the girls and I don't get bored." Theo answered.
Alvin sighed, hoping that at least one of them could have come up with a reason to at least be late, "Alright then, let's go." He said dejectedly as he held the door and locked it behind them as they stepped out into the dusky light and headed for the car.
When the troop of guys arrived at the doorstep of the Chipettes house, they were greeted, as usual, by Miss Miller who gave her usual rant about using their heads and staying safe. She also threw in a new part describing in vivid detail what she would do to all three of them if so much as one of her girls ended up pregnant. Theo took the threat in stride, he always used protection after all, but Alvin and Simon were more than a little intimidated by the open threat.
As soon as they had Jeanette in the car and Theodore was waving from the front window, Eleanor hanging onto his shoulder trying to drag him away from the glass so that they could start their small party, Alvin felt more than a little saddened by the reminder that while his brothers would be having at least a decent time tonight, he would be stuck with quite possibly the last person on earth he wanted to be near.
Meanwhile, back at the Chipettes house…
"Britney, what are you still doing here?" Miss Miller questioned.
"Uh, Alvin and I are taking thing a little slower this week and decided to do our own things tonight." She lied, hoping that Miss Miller would buy the unusual excuse.
"Wonderful!" she exclaimed, her matronly face lighting up at her daughters explanation, "I'm glad to see that you are using your brains! At least now I can go back to fretting over just Eleanor now. It was exhausting keeping up with two of you."
"Wait, you were worried about me?" Britney asked.
"But of course. Ever since I found out that Theodore and Ellie were "involved" shall we say; I worry constantly about one of you girls coming home with the news that I'm going to be a grandma." She joked halfheartedly, peeking in the living room at Theo and Ellie, sitting on the couch watching a movie and feeding each other popcorn.
"Oh. But if you were worried about Alvin and me, aren't you worried about Simon and Jeanette?" she asked, continuing to pry into her mother's thought process.
"Well, I worry about them much less than I do Theo and Ellie. I mean, I once asked Jeanette what second base was and she said that it was kissing. I don't think Simon and her are going to get into any trouble for a while at least. Besides, they're both so shy." Miss Miller said almost wistfully.
"Well what did you think of Theo and Ellie when they started going out?" Britney questioned, suddenly becoming intrigued.
"Oh, I thought that they were too young for such things. Luckily, Dave didn't and they were at least prepared. And I will tell you this, at least they are still together, so I know they genuinely love each other. some days I don't know what to make of it all, one minute I see two sweet innocent kids and the next I remember that they aren't innocent anymore." Miss Miller sighed to herself, getting up from the stool she had been sitting on at the counter.
"Where are you going mom?" Britney called after her.
"Oh, I'm just going upstairs sweetie. I'm starting to get tires and figured I'd turn in early. You kids can stay up till the others come home but after that I want you all in bed understood?" she instructed, wagging her finger at Britney playfully, as if she was going to cause trouble.
"Got it, I'll tell the others" she started before being struck by an idea, "Hey mom, since tomorrow is Saturday, can the guys stay the night on the couch if I get Dave to go along with it?"
"Well I don't know dear. I mean, where would you girls sleep?" Miss Miller responded hesitantly.
"We'd sleep in our sleeping bags of course. And there wouldn't be any fooling around either, you'd be upstairs after all right?" she reasoned, trying to get Miss Miller to say yes.
"Well, when you put it like that, I guess if David said okay that I could go along with it…"
"Oh THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!" Britney squealed interrupting her mid sentence.
"BUT," Miss Miller said loudly, trying to regain control of the conversation, "If I so much as suspect that any of you are messing about, I will personally make sure that the parties involved do not see each other outside the walls of school for a very, very long time. Is that understood?"
"Yes ma'am" Britney answered respectfully, while at the same time skipping out into the living room to give Dave a call.
Susan was standing outside the restaurant when they pulled up to the curb. Her smiling face creeped Alvin out more than any horror movie he had ever seen. Luckily, for Alvin that is, her insane grin fell as soon as Alvin opened the back doors and let his brother and his date out of the car. When she saw that they would not be going solo this evening, he could swear that he actually saw sadness flit across her face. That cheered him up a little inside.
"Hello Alvin," she greeted robotically, then turning to the others, addresses them, "our table is ready but I'll see if I can get another one scooted up to make room.'
"Oh there's no need for that." Simon answered quickly, it was bad enough that he had to come along on this sham of a date when he had planned to make his and Jeanette's first night out together something much more memorable.
"Are you sure?" Susan asked, sounding momentarily both concerned and excited at the thought that she could have a night together with Alvin after all.
"Sure, you two take whatever table you have reserved, Jeanette and I don't mind waiting a little for a seat, do you Jeanette?" he asked looking hopefully at his date, praying that she would go along with it.
"Not at all." Jeanette replied accommodatingly as she seemed to understand Simon's desire for privacy.
"Great!" Susan replied cheerfully, "In that case, let's go find our table Alvin." She instructed, fairly dragging him along into the restaurant.
As they disappeared into the small crowd of people waiting for their tables, Simon couldn't help but chuckle a little out loud as he saw Alvin's expression.
"What's so funny Si?" Jeanette asked, looking up at him a little expectantly
"Nothing," he replied, "It's just that for the longest time, I wore that exact same look whenever Alvin dragged me along somewhere and now I get to see what it looks like on him."
"Oh," was all she said as she thought about that statement for a second, "But don't you also feel a little sad for him and Britney? That something like this would all happen to them?"
"Kind of, but then I remember that they have put the rest of us through hell in the past and I see this as karma getting back at them. You shouldn't worry too much about them though." He told her as he thought about what she had said.
"Why aren't you worried?" she questioned him.
"Because if this is karma, they'll turn out all right, after all, no matter what they put us through, we always came out of it okay." He said confidently
"I guess you're right." Jeanette said smiling a little at his words of encouragement as they themselves went up to the host and ordered a table for two near the more secluded part of the restaurant floor.
"So tell me something Alvin," Susan started, trying to get Alvin to open up a little, "Why did you ask me out in the eighth grade if you just left me two weeks later?"
"Ah shit, are you still mad about that?" Alvin asked irritably, "Is that what this is all about?"
"No, I'm just trying to start a pleasant conversation, I figure that even if you're here unwillingly, we can at least enjoy the night in our own ways. And I prefer a good talk to silence any day, as for the subject, we haven't exactly seen each other much since eighth grade now have we?" she answered smartly.
"Oh," Alvin replied, feeling about as stupid as when Simon tried to explain something to him about school, "well, I guess you could say that I needed space and you were getting too close."
"Ah, so I was too intrusive." She surmised
"Well, that and the fact that you kept telling people that we were going to get married." He continued.
"Yes, sorry about that, I was young and rather, ah, protective." She tried to justify, though her face still turned a little red.
"Well, I'm protective of people too, but I don't freak them out." He retorted, hoping that she would get the hint about Brit.
"I noticed. You always were protective of your siblings." She answered, apparently missing the hint entirely, whether on purpose or not was unimportant.
"Well then, riddle me this," she continued, trying once again to pry Alvin's mind open, "Why did you leave me and now you're going out with Britney?"
"What I do is none of your business, and if it makes any difference, the reason I left you was because you were being highly possessive and creeping me out." He replied coldly.
"Oh come on Alvin, I was acting like that because you were always flirting with the other girls." She reasoned.
"Well, in any case, I'm with Britney and I'm happy now. What about you?" he asked
"Oh, well, after you broke my heart, nobody managed to live up to you and I eventually just gave up dating." Susan answered, put out by the callous way he had asked.
"And you're out here with me tonight why?" Alvin queried, genuinely interested as to what could have got her to become the person she was now.
"Well, about a month ago, I saw you in the hall and I realized that the last time I was truly happy with any guy was when I was with you. That's when I decided that one way or another I would have you to myself again, even if it killed me." She said quietly, realizing for the first time how he could interpret that as possessive and creepy.
"Well, I hate to disappoint you, but I'm happy with Brit and I don't see us ever going out." Alvin replied, suddenly feeling a little cruel himself
"Yeah, I kind of figured that out when you agreed to go on this date. But that doesn't mean I can't at least spend a night out with you." She said, looking at him hopefully.
"Just as long as you're not expecting anything to come out of this, I don't see the harm in spending an evening with you. But I'm not going to forgive you for what you're doing to Brit." He told her
"I know," she replied sadly, suddenly ashamed of herself as she imagined what it must have been like for them over the last week, "But I have to know, what do you see in her anyway?"
"Well, to be honest," he began, his eyes glazing over as he thought back in his memories, "I guess the first thing I noticed, was that she was a great singer. Then I began to realize how nice she could be, and then finally, I noticed that no matter what happened, she was there to help, even if she had caused it to happen."
"What do you mean?" Susan asked; her expression turning from one of mild guilt to one of apprehension as she began to realize just how deep Alvin and Britney's connection had been. Until she came along
"Well, like, when I would cause trouble or play a prank, I would run away from the consequences or try and brush it all off. Brit would stay and take the punishment and try and make everything better again. I guess I respected that and wished I could be stronger like her. Somewhere down the line, I stopped running and started to fix the stuff I broke, or helped the people I hurt by accident."
Susan's eyes started to tear up as she realized that the boy she loved was actually created by the girl she had come to loathe. She had called Britney a slut and a whore when she hadn't realized just how good of a person she was. Britney had certainly never been openly cruel to her, even after all she had done to hurt her; she had never sought revenge.
"Besides that," Alvin continued, missing the look that was slowly shadowing over Susan's face, "Brit was always there if I needed someone to talk to, she was an example for her sisters while I used to always use my brothers. I guess you could say that Britney is everything that I wanted to be while still being fun and able to take a joke." He summed up.
By this point, Susan had a thin trickle of warm tears running down her face and though she tried to hide them, they were fast becoming apparent to Alvin.
"What's wrong with you?" he asked, getting a little concerned, "Are you okay?"
"Why are you doing this?" Susan asked
"I'M doing something? I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm here because of you and your inability to leave things in the past where they belong." He answered angrily, not understanding what she was asking about.
"Not the date, why are you being so fucking nice?" she specified, "Even after everything I've done to you, you still play along, you could have gone to the cops, I never had any pictures and you probably knew that. You could have said no and taken the pictures from me by force, why aren't you giving me what I deserve?"
"Whoa, whoa, first, I didn't know what you did or did not have. Second, you're right, I wanted to do all that stuff and give you your comeuppance, but you know what?" he asked looking her dead in the face, "If I had done any of that stuff, I would have been the bad guy and in the end, it still wouldn't have solved anything. Sure, the immediate threat would have been gone, but ultimately, you would have showed back up, angrier and even more bitter."
"But why are you treating me like I'm worth your time?" she sobbed into her arm as she put her head down on the table.
"Because, no matter what you do to me and Britney, you're still human; still worth the time to at least find out why." He answered
"So you want to know why I did everything?" she asked, her face shifting suddenly from an emotional one to an expression of stone.
"Yeah, that would be nice." He replied
"I did it because I wanted you to notice me okay? I guess part of me wanted you to remember me, or at least forget a little about Britney. Have you seen yourself in the hallways? It's downright sickening how openly you guys are about your affections. Some days it's all I can do not to hurt one of you." She told him angrily, a fire coming to her eyes.
"Chill out Susan, what we had is gone and it's not coming back, and definitely not like this. I love Britney. Plain and simple, if you don't like it, then get out of the school and out of our life."
"I guess I will then," she said, getting up from the table suddenly, throwing down a manila envelope she had hidden in her bag.
"Where are you going?" Alvin asked nervously, he had seen behavior like this before right before one of his friends had tried to kill himself
"Like you care." She said coldly as she grabbed her bag, spun on her heels and started to walk towards the door.
Alvin opened the envelope as she walked towards the door and saw that inside was a gig stick labeled BLACKMAIL as well as several sizes of pictures that had been printed off of a regular home printer. When he saw them there in front of his eyes, he realized that whatever she was going to do, she didn't plan on following through with her plan. And for some reason he couldn't explain, this worried him more than anything.
He got up from his seat and ran towards the Host's stand. On the way, he saw Simon and Jeanette sitting and chatting happily and ran over to drop the small parcel off with them. When they took it hesitantly, he turned around and bolted outside, into the night where he saw Susan sitting in her car with something small that gleamed with a metallic light.
When Simon and Jeanette had sat down at their table, Simon was pleased to see that Alvin and Susan were within sight and outside of hearing range so that they could talk in private.
"So Jeanette, what do you feel like eating tonight?" Simon asked politely.
"I don't really feel like eating, I'm more concerned about Alvin right now. I heard at school today that Susan once tried to attack one of her ex boyfriends. I'm seriously worried about Alvin's safety"
"I heard the same story, but from what I gather, the guy in question had tried to rape her. I say he got what he deserved." Simon replied coldly, it was no secret that he detested the violators of society.
"Oh," Jeanette exclaimed shocked, "Well that's different then, but I still can't shake the feeling that something big is going to happen tonight. I don't like it Simon." she said worriedly.
"Just relax Jeanette, let's try and have a good time okay. After all, tonight is technically our first date." Simon said, smiling at her, he may have a frosty persona around everyone else, but he relaxed around Jeanette, someone who had been put through much of the same things as him through her own life.
"Ha ha ha" she giggled, "First base right?"
"I'm not really sure," Simon admitted, "I never got the hang of the whole base system."
"So what happened to you today in your classes" he asked after she was done laughing to herself, though still smiling in delight.
Her eyes lit up when he asked about her school life, other guys she had tried to date in the past just glazed over her intellectual side and thought of her as a piece of meat, but not Simon. he too had known the pain of unnoticed strengths. And she launched into a detailed recount of her day and all the interesting things she had done in her Science, English, and Social Studies class. She was just getting started on Math when Alvin came over to the table and practically threw something at Simon and ran for the door.
"What is that?" Jeanette asked concernedly
Simon opened the top of the envelope and peered inside, "I think these are the pictures." He replied, his face turning crimson with the embarrassment of what he had fleetingly viewed. He closed the top, tried to push the image out of his mind and went right back to listening to Jeanette's day. When she was done with her retelling, her tone having changed from excited to a more preoccupied one during the interruption, they sat in silence.
"You want to know what happened, don't you?" Simon guessed.
"Yes, I have a bad feeling about all this." She answered immediately.
"Well, just let me get the bill and we'll go follow them okay?" he said, looking at her worried, she had a knack for finding trouble whenever she got a bad feeling.
While they waited for the waiter to show up with the bill, Simon asked Jeanette what else she had heard about Susan that would have her so worried.
"I heard from a couple of the guys in Science class that she tried to kill herself once. That and that she has bipolarity and that's why she has these intense mood swings." She answered.
"Then in that case, I hope Alvin knows what he's doing." Simon said worry creeping up into his voice.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN WILL CONCLUDE THE CONFLICT WITH SUSAN AND I WILL THEN LEAD THE STORY IN A NEW DIRECTION THAT FOCUSES MORE ON THE BUDDING FEELINGS BETWEEN SIMON AND JEANETTE. I WILL ALSO INCLUDE A CHAPTER HERE AND THERE THAT TOUCHES BACK ON A+B AS WELL AS LOOKING INTO THE LONG STANDING RELATIONSHIP OF T+E. ANY REQUESTS FOR SPECIFIC CONFLICTS, SCENARIOS, OR CHARACTER TYPES MUST BE SENT TO ME AS A MESSAGE NO LATER THAN THE END OF APRIL 2010. ALSO, I HOPE YOU ENJOYED THIS CHAPTER AND I LOOK FORWARD TO ANY REVIEWS OR IDEAS YOU WONDERFUL PEOPLE MAY HAVE. QUICK QUESTION THOUGH THAT I WANT YOU TO ANSWER IF YOU ARE SO KIND AS TO LEAVE A REVIEW…
WHAT SHOULD HAPPEN TO SUSAN? I WANT TO KNOW WHAT YOU THE READER WANTS TO ULTIMATELY HAPPEN TO HER AFTER SHE HAS RUN OUT OF THE RESTAURANT AND WHAT SHOULD ALVIN DO?
I LOOK FORWARD TO HEARING YOUR OPINIONS.
Happy Reading,
Musicalreader
PS. I will also be writing a one shot tragedy/comfort/hurt piece about Simon and Jeanette as well as involving all of the families. I hope you will all read it.