Chapter II: Fact in Fiction
"Well, Alvin, it's not my fault that you're the one who wanted to see the fortune teller in the first place. As far as I'm concerned, you got what you paid for." Simon folded his arms across his chest and glared at Alvin, who seemed to match Simon's glare equivocally. Alvin had been in a foul mood since receiving his fortune from Melina earlier that evening. Mrs. Miller, their babysitter, cooked dinner in the kitchen as they waited for her to bring their plates accordingly. Dave hadn't returned home from work yet, so they all figured it would be a late night for him.
"Easy for you to say! You got a great fortune."
"I got a great one too!"
"Way to rub it in, Theodore." Alvin rolled his eyes and adjusted the cap on his head.
"Sorry." Theodore frowned and traced his left foot in a circular motion, under the table.
"Don't blame Theodore in all this. You're taking it far too superstitiously - fortunes aren't real. And you called me the scaredy cat."
"I'm not scared! But Melina wouldn't say something like that if it wasn't something to it. I mean...if she wanted to be mean, why did she give us all lollipops? And she apologized to me like a billion times afterward."
"I haven't figured that out yet." Simon said, seeming to note Alvin had a point. "But still, we're not going back there again. Knowing her, she probably gave you that fortune just to bring you back - then you'd have to pay her more."
"I wanna see Melina again." Theodore said. "And she did ask Alvin if he wanted to hear it before she said it, so it's not like she wanted to hurt his feelings."
"Oh, you two are way too gullible." Simon sighed, placing a hand on his forehead. Mrs. Miller came in that moment, with all her usual smiles.
"Hello boys, I've made your favorite chicken noodle soup tonight. Eat it all up, along with your vegetables now. I've cooked peas and green beans, and I have some broccoli with cheese too! Once you eat it all up, then you can have some ice cream for dessert."
"Can we just skip the vegetables and go straight to ice cream after the soup?" Alvin asked, a cross expression on his face at the mention of green beans.
"I'll eat your share, Alvin, if you want!" Theodore grinned.
"Oh no, Alvin, you have to eat it all. You're a growing boy." She pat his head a few times. "You must eat every last bit, or else you're not getting any ice cream. And don't think about giving your share to Theodore. He'll want seconds and thirds, I know." She made the latter note with a light laugh. Alvin groaned under his breath.
***
"Man, did Mrs. Miller know how much green beans she put on my plate? I had to eat the whole thing and now I feel sick. Not even the ice cream took the taste out of my mouth. Bleh." Alvin lay on his bed, reading a magazine instead of doing his homework, thinking he'd do it later since it wasn't due for another few days. Simon was at his desk working on a few math problems, while Theodore was on his own bed trying to think of a story to come up with for their English assignment.
"I think Mrs. Miller was trying to prove a point to you, Alvin." Simon said as he caught a break between his thoughts.
"I figured that." Alvin held his stomach with one hand. "I hate vegetables."
"I love them!"
"Yeah, you love everything about food, Theodore." Simon noted, rolling his eyes.
"I probably should have just gave my share to Theodore anyway." Alvin noted. "Too bad Miss Miller was watching the whole time. She would have seen me if I didn't eat them. Ugh. I hope we have something different for dinner tomorrow. How about pizza? That would be nice."
"I would love pizza!" Theodore said excitedly.
"Fine, we should probably ask Dave tomorrow if we can. Though Miss Miller will probably say she will try making the pizza herself. And Dave will likely say yes to that, versus takeout, since she's babysitting us tomorrow evening."
"Okay, trust me, I usually like Miss Miller's cooking, but she does NOT make good pizza." Alvin said matter-of-factly. "It doesn't have the same gooey cheese or pepperoni with just a little zest. Even the slices aren't as big. I need my Guido's Pizza!"
"Guido's does have the best pizza in town, but it's usually packing in calories. And ever since Miss Miller went on her health diet, she's been insisting that we get on board too. She'll probably say no to Guido's knowing that, but if we're going to convince her to get take out, we'll have to suggest something else."
"But you don't understand!" Alvin grabbed Simon by the collar, unexpectedly because Simon had turned back to his work and didn't notice Alvin jumping from his bed. "I need Guido's. We haven't had it in a long time. I mean, what other pizza place could beat Guido's?! Nobody, that's who!"
"All right, Alvin." Simon shoved Alvin away from him and adjusted his glasses. "Why don't we go through the menu tomorrow and tabulate the smallest number of calories we can get from a meal at Guido's, and then show Miss Miller before tomorrow evening when she comes by again?"
"Sure, but how do we do that?"
"There's a little something called the internet. I think you should use it more often before you ask questions."
"I know what the internet is, Simon."
"Yeah, when it comes to playing games and reading comics. But you could use it for a lot more than that. Do you though? I don't think so."
"I'm really tired, you guys, so I think I'm going to sleep. Night Simon, Night Alvin." Theodore quipped, breaking the argument between Alvin and Simon. They both sighed.
"Night, Theodore." They said simultaneously.
***
The next morning, Alvin, Simon and Theodore all had the usual meal for breakfast. It was just their choice of cereal, sunny side up eggs, and toast. They had their preferences, but usually Theodore had the bigger share of the meal.
As Theodore poured his usual Fruity O's, he saw something fall out of the bottom of the box and into the bowl.
"I wonder what this is...oh my gosh!"
"What is it, Theodore?" Simon noted, while buttering his toast.
"I won! I really won! A hundred dollars! They've had this promotional contest on Fruity O's all month and it's almost over. Third place, you get a hundred dollars! I don't believe it!"
"You're kidding me." Alvin looked over Theodore's shoulder at the slip of paper, an official document that noted a winning ticket towards a check good for $100.
"Wow, congrats Theodore. What are you going to use it on?" Simon looked over Theodore's other shoulder at the ticket.
"I don't know yet, but I have to call the number on this, and then I can go to the place to get the prize. It's a good thing we're taking the limo to the recording studio - we can go by there on the way!" Theodore left the room quickly to call the number on the ticket.
"He sure started off this morning lucky..." Alvin started, but then his face fell at the recognition. "Wait a minute...what was it that Melina said...something about finding a treat out of something sweet? She knew this was gonna happen!" Alvin said, grabbing Simon by the collar. "The fortune came true!"
"You do know the odds of that happening are a gazillion to one, right?" Simon duly noted.
"Actually, it's 1 in 500,000! That's what it said on the back of the box!" Theodore called out from the other room, returning with his cell phone and hanging up after the automated prize claim call was complete. Simon shook his head.
"I'm not talking about the odds of you winning the contest, Theodore. At least, that's more tangible. I'm talking about Melina actually predicting your chances of winning something from a cereal box."
Theodore thought about it for a moment, looked at Alvin's expression and a lightbulb seemed to go off in his head. "Oh my gosh! Melina was right!"
"See what I mean?" Alvin sighed. "I'm in trouble!"
"Just because it happened to Theodore doesn't mean anything will happen to either of us, Alvin. You're being unreasonable."
"Morning boys, are you guys ready to go to the studio?" Dave walked in with a dress shirt and green straight legged pants, his brown shoes clattering on the kitchen tiles. "I'm sorry I came back so late last night - I didn't even have a chance to tell you good night."
"Dave, look, I won a contest!" Theodore held up his winning ticket as Dave scooped him up into his arms.
"That's great, Theodore! So what did you win?"
" A hundred dollars! Can I go pick it up before we go to the studio?"
"Sure! We can all go together."
Alvin sighed and left the room, heading to the front door.
"What's wrong with Alvin?" Dave asked.
"He just woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning, Dave." Simon noted, shaking his head as they all left for the limo, which waited for them outside the house.
***
In the studio, Alvin, Simon and Theodore went through another song recording, strong and poised as usual. That afternoon, Dave suggested that they spend their time writing some new material, so the three of them were in the writing room trying to think of things to write about.
"How about...fruits, or chocolate, or marshmallows?"
"How about we do something that doesn't involve food, Theodore?" Alvin shook his head.
"Oh...sorry, but that's the only thing I can think of. It's already past lunchtime and we haven't eaten anything."
"Well, maybe we should take a break. I can't think of anything either on an empty stomach." Alvin noted, and jumped from his chair to walk into the hallway. On his way to Dave's office, he nearly ran into someone turning the corner. He realized exactly who it was when he blinked a few times.
"Brittany?!"
"Oh, it's just you, Alvin." Brittany, one of the Chipettes, looked at him with an annoyed expression. "You're not using the studio right now, are you?"
"Actually, I'm using Set B right now - Simon, Theodore and I are using it to write some new songs. You can use the main studio, I guess, since we aren't." He folded his arms and gave her a smug expression.
"Fine. Just don't let the door hit you on your way out. Although I think if something can knock some manners into your head, then it would be well worth it!" She strolled past Alvin non chalantly, as he saw Eleanor and Jeanette walking out of one of the offices - probably from one of their managers.
"Sorry, Alvin. Brittany's in a bad mood." Eleanor said, clasping her hands behind her back and looking down to the ground, a little embarrassed.
"I kind of had that impression. Nothing more than usual, I guess. What are you guys doing here?"
"Recording a few songs, actually." Jeanette cleaned her glasses with a towelette before placing them back on her eyes. "We're just waiting for our manager to give us clearance. Brittany wants to go ahead and start recording so we can go ahead and get it done, though."
"Do you know if Dave's anywhere around here?"
"I think he's still in his office a few doors down. Why?"
"Well, we're thinking about ordering pizza, since we're working on empty stomachs."
"Ooh! Jeanette, we should get some pizza too! I'm starving." Eleanor quipped.
"Well, can you ask Dave if he can provide pizza for all of us, Alvin? It'd be awesome if you could."
"I guess so. What place you wanna order from?"
"Guido's definitely!" Eleanor said enthusiastically.
Alvin smiled mischievously. "Now you're talking!"
***
It wasn't long before Dave had the pizzas ready for both the Chipmunks and Chipettes, as they all met in one of the board rooms to eat. Dave didn't object, and thought it would be a good chance that the Chipmunks and Chipettes could meet after some time.
"Well, looks like we're having this meal a little early - and we didn't even have to do any calorie counting, Simon." Alvin said as he bit off a piece of pepperoni and sausage pizza.
"You love to rub it in, don't you Alvin?"
"You're not complaining, are you?"
"No."
"Then don't worry about it."
"Just so you'll know, even if you finish writing the song you're working on, Alvin - we'll be using the recording studio for the rest of the day. So you'll have to plan your schedule around us!" Brittany noted, matter of factly as she finished a bit of cheese pizza.
"Fine by me. Because our next single is going to be epic, whether you like it or not." Alvin challenged.
"Oh yeah?!"
"Yeah!"
"Cut it out, you guys." Theodore noted as he bit off a piece of pizza.
"Actually, I did have an idea in mind for a song that I wanted to run by Dave, but I haven't seen him since he brought in pizza." Simon noted. "I guess if he likes it and runs it by the panel, we can start recording it whenever."
"Sure, as if he'll like your idea more than mine." Alvin boasted. "I already have an idea in mind for the music video too. Lots of lights, crazy artwork, some great guitars, and the works."
"That sounds like overkill - I don't even have to hear the song to figure out how bad of an idea that is."
Alvin gave Brittany a look out of the corner of his eyes, but couldn't speak as a large piece of pizza was stuffed in his mouth.
A little bit after they ate, Alvin and Theodore returned to Set B to continue writing some ideas down. Alvin played a few notes on the guitar in the room, playing around with the melody in his mind and singing a few bars, but realized it wasn't coming together.
"Something's definitely missing here. I was sure it sounded great in my head, but I don't know what it is."
"What are you trying to do, Alvin?"
"I think seeing Melina yesterday made me want to record a song about fortune. I know it's a weird inspiration, but still...I wanna run with it." Alvin cleared his throat and began to sing.
"As fortune smiles, she's watchin' you..." He paused. "I can't come up with the next line though."
"That's a great opening! You should go with it."
"I never thought I'd say this, but thanks Theodore." Alvin smiled. "So what was Simon's idea?"
"I don't know, he kinda just went off to talk to Dave. He didn't share it with me. Come to think of it, he's been gone a while..."
"Boys, I have great news!" They heard Dave's voice down the hall, and he entered the doorway with Simon. "We just met with the panel and we can go ahead with the recording of the next single!"
"Really? That fast? What song did they choose? One of the archived ones? Or a cover?" Alvin asked.
"No, actually Simon came up with a great song he introduced in our meeting. They want us to start recording it."
"What?!" Alvin and Theodore said simultaneously, as they looked to Simon.
"Don't look at me; the idea kinda just popped into my head. I told them we haven't even had a chance to rehearse it yet, but they said if it's a little rugged, we'll be okay. They want us to start practicing it now."
"I'll get back to the panel and let them know you're practicing - but this is great news. I'm surprised they green lit something so soon!" Dave marched back into the hallway.
"Talk about a streak of good luck." Simon noted. "It usually takes them days, even weeks to get a project approved and agreed upon."
"No kidding, and usually they want us to have everything worked out in advance. What the heck is going on?" Alvin said, but recanted as he thought about the news. "Oh no..."
"What's wrong, Alvin?" Theodore asked as Alvin turned a shade paler than usual.
"Don't tell me that you think..." Simon began, but Alvin cut him off frantically.
"Don't you see - everything Melina predicted in your fortunes...it's all coming true!"