Chapter Two

"Why Not Press Pause"

As Alvin got in his car he thought about how he needs to keep an eye on time while trying to prove to Simon that he does know responsibility. "He's gonna try and tell ME that I'm some kind of tool…HA I got something for him…I'll show him," he said out loud to himself as he backed out of the driveway while putting in the CD to play the song that's sweeping the country right now.

Meanwhile Brittany, her sisters along with Theodore we're hanging out at the tree house giving their thoughts about Alvin. "I can't believe that he was watching wrestling instead of being with me…at least lie and say h was doing homework or was just sleep…that little slithering snake," she shouted while huffing and puffing around the tree house. "But Britt…I understand your frustration but…he's Alvin…you know he loves you…he just has a lot to do…," Eleanor said as she passed out oatmeal raisin cookies to everyone as Theodore spoke up.

"She's right Britt…he mentions your name all the time…and he has been a bit busy than normal," he said as he took a bite of his cookie. "RIGHT…LIKE THE TIME HE FORGOT TO PICK YOU AND ELLIE UP FROM THE BAKE-OFF…people may think of me as being a bit of a brat…which I'm not…I just play mind games, but I DO have feelings and he's NOT gonna mess with it," Brittany added as she went off on her rant of Alvin.

"But Brittany…maybe he's trying to change…not that I'm going against you, but it's not like him to stand you up like this…maybe something DID happen," Jeanette said as she sat there looking at her locket with a picture of Simon in it. "I know that Jenny," she sighed. "But you have problems of your own it looks like…how could Simon not take you to the ball instead of focusing on that stupid science bowl. "Well…he's been working on it all year…he said it would look good on his ULA college application," Jeanette said shyly.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME…IS THE ONLY SENSIBLE CHIPMUNK AROUND HERE IS THEODORE," Brittany screamed as she sat down and sighed. "This is unbelievable…my Alvin…put two guys throwing each other around over me…I outta break up with him right now over that," she said frowning and balling her fist up.

Meanwhile downtown at the studio Alvin just parked his car in the parking garage and proceeded to the entrance of the record company up to the 34th Floor. When he walked out of the elevator Cubby met him on the other side of the elevator door with a press packet containing the stats of his current single that's burning up the charts.

"Hey Alvin it's about time you showed up we gotta get busy…the more time we spend the less time we have to make big bucks," he said as they walked into the recording studio and sat down at the table to listen to his current song again to get ideas. "Hey guys," Alvin said as he acknowledged the engineers and production guys in the room. "I gotta go in a little bit because I have a date with Brittany," he announced to make sure they understood him. "Okay guys, lets get to work," Cuddy said as Alvin assumed that he understood the time restrain he was under. By then the music was playing and the room was quiet except for the song playing as Alvin grinned and bobbed his head gently with excitement that he made another hit song.

When the song finished playing Alvin was now in the zone to work on a remix. "Okay fellas maybe we should tweak the beat of the song just a bit…I know a cool DJ who can help create a awesome beat for that I think…I know I have him on speed dial," he said as he looked at his phone before dialing just to check the time.

"Okay it's 5:45...I gotta get out of here before 7:00 since our date is 7:30," he said to himself as he called Chris Classic to see if he can help out on the song but he only got his voicemail. "Hey C.C., it's me Alvin I'm here at the studio we were wondering if you could give us a hand sometime you can call me back on my cell or at home if you get this message after 7:30, see ya dude," he said as he left a message and hung up. "Okay he's not answering but he's awesome he did our CD for our first movie," he said with a laugh.

Thirty minutes later they were hard at work re-doing the song for a remix as Alvin was now in the zone as he was in the recording booth recording some extra vocals then later on he was on the control board watching the engineers change and add effects to the vocals and the song and before he knew it was 6:55.

When he looked up at the clock on the wall and noticed the time before he could do anything his cell phone rung thinking it was Chris Classic calling him back. Without looking at the called id he answered on the first ring and got an unexpected voice on the other end.

"ALVIN WHERE ARE YOU…I WENT OVER TO YOUR HOUSE AND SIMON SAID YOU'RE NOT THERE," Brittany shouted over the phone as Alvin pulled the phone away from his ear and cringed in nervousness.

"B-Britt…I had to go to the studio real quick…the guys wanted me to see what I thought about remixing one of my tracks to put on the radio behind my current single…honest," he said as he told her the truth.

"DON'T PLAY GAMES WITH ME ALVIN…YOU ARE SKATING ON THIN ICE AS IT IS…I SWEAR YOU HAVE YOUR PRIORITIES WRONG," she kept shouting at him. "THIS DATE IS AT 8:00 WITH OR WITHOUT YOU," she added as she hung up without even saying bye.

Alvin gulped and hung up his phone and began to start wrapping up his music session as the producers kept working on different beats in case Chris Classic wasn't able to show up. "Alvin before you go I need another vocal sample from you because some of the vocals came out a little distorted it'll only take a few minutes," Cubby said as he was on the computer listening to the other voice samples. "But can it wait though…I really gotta meet up with Brittany…there's a lot at stake here," Alvin pleaded with Cubby. "I'm sorry Alvin but I need these samples…I'm gonna be out of town tomorrow.

"Can't we like press pause or something," Alvin mumbled and frowned as he walked into the recording booth and slammed the door and put his headphones on. "Ready…at the top…three, two, one, hit it," Cubby directed as Alvin belted out a couple vocal sounds and samples as Cubby recorded them on the computer.

As Alvin was recording his vocals, Brittany is already waiting for Alvin to pick her up, "Ugh…where is he," she said impatiently. "I'm sure he's on his way Britt," Eleanor said as she put her hand on her shoulder. "My patience is just about out with him…I'm losing a lot of faith in him right now if he doesn't get his butt over here," she growled.

Back at the studio Alvin finally finished his vocal session as he looked up at the clock and noticed that it was 7:15.

"OH MY GOD I GOTTA GO," he said as he grabbed his coat and ran out the door and to the elevator while he pressed the down button frantically over and over, "c'mon, c'mon, C'MON OPEN UP" he screamed as the door finally opened and he ran in and while doing so two kids ran in with him who were playing in the building and pressed all the buttons on the elevator and ran out laughing.

"AWWW C'MON GIVE ME A BREAK," he shouted as the elevator went down floor by floor before he ran got off on the 30th floor and ran down the hall to the other elevator and got on one that took him down to the ground floor and ran off to the parking garage and got in his car.

While Alvin hit the highway to get back over to the Miller's, Brittany is sitting on the couch still looking at her watch. "It's 7:26 and he's DOING IT AGAIN," she complained as now Simon came over to see what happened to Alvin."He better not be distracted again…he left here a couple hours ago without even telling me…I should call Dave and get him in trouble…," Simon was saying until Brittany cut in. "Oh he's not in trouble yet…I swear if he's late he's gonna get it," she promised to Simon who was sitting on the love seat with Jeanette while going over a study guide as Jeanette just looked off into the distance and sighed.

Theodore and Eleanor then walked in the door and sat down on the couch with Brittany and looked at each other when they noticed the expression on Jeanette's face. "I wonder what's the real reason why Simon won't ask Jenny to the ball Teddy," Eleanor whispered to him as he nibbled on a blueberry muffin.

"I'm not really sure Ellie…I'm pretty sure he has some feelings for her…they really have a lot in common," he whispered back.

"So Simon…how's the studying going," Jeanette said as she tried to smile while starting up a conversation hoping to loosen him up a little. "Oh it's going okay…I just got to the part about negatrons and positrons…the building blocks of good and evil," he answered with a little smile on his face.

"Oh I remember Mr. Parker discussing that in class one time," she said trying to build his interest. "Yes and a very intriguing topic that will come in handy at the science bowl…I might even do my dissertation on the subject as well for part of my final exam," he added while writing notes and listening to her.

"You know it might help to take a little breather from studying too Si…you know I do it all the time…just to refresh my mind of all the stress and WORRIES going on," she pointed out to him hoping he'd pick up on it. "By what do you mean Jeanette," he replied without looking up.

"Oh nothing…maybe you can check out the dance coming up Saturday night or something," she sighed without trying to make it obvious. "Well…perhaps…I might think about it," he replied back as he pushed his glasses up on his face. "Oh…okay," she answered back as she hopped down off the love seat and went upstairs.

By then Eleanor spoke up, "Simon…didn't you catch on to what Jenny was trying to tell you…you gotta learn to take a break and look at what's going on right in front of you…I'll be right back Teddy I'm going to check on Jeanette," she said as she got up to go upstairs.

"Wait Eleanor…maybe I should check on her…I didn't mean to get too engrossed in my study guide…but Jenny is on the right track to being the academic scholar of the year…and we want our college applications to ULA to be as good as possible…please…let me check on her," he said as he folded up his study guide and put it in his book and got up.

"Well…maybe…I guess she's not too upset, but okay then," Eleanor said with a little frown on her face. "I understand Ellie…and thanks for letting me know," Simon replied as he walked upstairs to her room.

Meanwhile Alvin is about to enter the neighborhood and is literally minutes away from the Miller's…until he gets caught by a train crossing. "OH GOD PLEASE WHAT DID I DO TO DESERVE THIS," he screamed as he pounded his fist on the steering wheel a couple times and lays his head on it.

He looked at his watch as it showed 7:55. "Oh my god, I'm not gonna make it," he said as he pulled out his phone to call Brittany to let her know he is nearby.

Brittany looked at her phone as she saw "Incoming Call: Alvin Seville (7:56)", as she answered she didn't even give him time to say anything. "ALVIN, you have four minutes," she said as she hung up and folded her arms.

"Jeez," he said as he turned his car around and went down a opposite side street to catch up with the end of the train to a intersection and turned down that street to take a shortcut.

Eventually he made it on to the street the Seville's and Miller's lives on and sped down the street until he made it up to the Miller's house and pulled up in the driveway quickly got out and walked up to the door and rung the doorbell.

Then after a few seconds Brittany opened the door showing her face and stepped up to him. "Why hello Alvin, I see you made it…," she started saying as Alvin reached out to take her hand until she pulled her hand back and frowned. "TWO MINUTES LATE…YOU CAN ENJOY YOUR DINNER ALONE," she screamed as she slammed the door in his face.

"But Brittany I ran into a lot of roadblocks along the way…it really wasn't my fault you gotta believe me," Alvin pleaded as he spoke through the door. Moments later Brittany's window opened up, "Alvin…I can't take your excuses anymore…I really can't…every time it's one after another and I'm tired of it…call me when you grow up okay," she told him as she slammed her window shut.

"But…," he started to say as she walked away from the window and he sadly walked back to his car to go down the block to the Seville's and pulled in the drive way to go inside.

"Boy I really blew it…I was only two minutes late if it wasn't for that stupid train blocking me…god I'm a loser," he said as he stood at the doorway and opened the door to go up to his room.

-End of Chapter-