Aggghhh. I know its not Friday…day late I'm sorry :P fell asleep on the couch. But here it is anyway so smiley faces all around

Chapter 9: The game plan

'AAALLLVVVIIIINNNNNNN!' Dave yelled at the top of his lungs. Alvin froze like a statue on the couch. He tried to slowly edge his way off the couch, but he didn't get far before Dave had walked around to stand in front of him. Alvin looked up at him and forced a smile

'Dave!' Alvin exclaimed excitedly 'when did you get back? Did you have a good trip, how were the suits?'

'Alvin' Dave grunted through his teeth 'what happened to the kitchen?'

Alvin looked left and right before looking back at Dave, putting a nervous smile on

'Well' Alvin chuckled 'you see, there was this-'

'You know what' Dave interrupted 'I don't want to here it'

'I was just about to clean it up' Alvin reassured

'You bet you are' Dave ordered. He took a breath and continued 'but first I need to talk to all of you' he said as he looked around the room 'where is Brittany and Simon?'

'Over here' Brittany said as she and Simon both ran out of Dave's music room and into the living room.

They both jumped up onto the couch with the others. Simon gave Alvin a light elbow to the chest to say he was right that Dave would catch him out. Alvin quickly glared at Simon before looking up to Dave.

'Ok everybody' he began 'how was your night without me?' everyone looked at each other with a smile as they remembered the performance from last night.

'Great Dave' Eleanor said

'Yeah' Theodore added 'Toby brought food over'

'And miss Ortega' Simon added with a smile to Theodore

'That's great guys' Dave said 'I knew I could trust you all…mostly' he said with a glare at Alvin.

Alvin smiled at him and he just rolled his eyes. Suddenly his expression changed to a more serious one as he looked at Alvin

'And how do you feel Alvin?' he asked. Alvin looked up at him with a crooked smile

'I feel fine' he said 'just like I told you I would be'. Dave just looked at him flatly. He moved his gaze across to Brittany

'Well Brittany' he asked 'how is he?'

Brittany suddenly felt everyone's gaze. Her eyes widened and she bit her lip. She wasn't really ready to make a decision.

'Oh wait!' Dave exclaimed 'I forgot there's more'

Brittany felt herself sigh as everyone looked away from her and back up to Dave.

'More' Jeanette asked 'more to what?'

'Well' Dave begun 'I met up with the record heads yesterday afternoon, and they have only one condition with distributing the new Album'

'What is it?' Simon asked

'We have to do a small tour' he said with a breath.

Everyone's eyes lit up with excitement

'Oh score!' Alvin yelled as he jumped around the couch

'Oh my god' Eleanor said to her sister

'Our first tour' Jeanette replied. Theodore looked up to Dave

'Where are we going?' he asked

'I managed to negotiate it down from the scope they originally wanted' Dave said 'so now we just have to do here in Los Angeles, Phoenix, Chicago, Denver, Philadelphia, and finish the tour in New York city'

'Oh' Brittany gasped 'New York city' she said in a daze. She had never been there and always wanted to go ever since she was very young. She let the mental picture of New York City fill her mind. The lights, the rush, the people. It was all fantastic in her mind.

'Brittany' Alvin said slowly, bringing her mind back to the moment. Suddenly she realized she had been staring right at Alvin 'What are you looking at?' he asked in a slightly nervous tone. She quickly looked away

'Sorry' she said quickly. Alvin just rolled his eyes.

'The dates have already been set and the advertising has already started going round the country' Dave said

'When do we leave?' Simon asked

'Tomorrow, right after you finish school' Dave answered

'What' Alvin exclaimed 'cant we just miss school that day'

'Sorry Alvin but you still have to go to school to pick up your assignments to do while you're on the road'. Alvin groaned and fell onto his back.

'Even on the other side of the country I can't escape homework'

Brittany moved over to stand over Alvin. He looked up at her with a roll of his eyes, and this made her smile.

'B-but what about Alvin?' Theodore pushed out. Everyone looked across to Theodore

'What about Alvin?' Alvin said as he lifted his head to look across to Theodore 'I'm doing fine' he said confidently

Once again Brittany felt everyone looking over to her, Even Alvin looked up at her. She started to bite the tips of her fingers as she tried to avoid everyone's gaze.

'Well Brittany?' Dave asked 'do you think he can handle it?'

'Uh' She stalled as she started to scratch her neck 'I-I don't know'. She could feel everyone looking at her with a confused looked, except for Alvin who looked up at her with a glare.

'Well has he shown any problems?' Dave asked slowly, breaking down the question. Again Brittany stalled.

She didn't know what to say. Though he had been fine for most of the weekend, the talk she had shared with him last night kept coming back to her mind. Not to mention the fact that it caused him to almost collapse. But she knew that if she said anything about it Dave would blow it right out of proportion and cancel the show and the tour, and this would mean the CD wouldn't come out on the release date. She knew everyone would take that hard. But after hearing what she just did from Simon she knew that no one would take it harder then Alvin. Canceling the show could very well make things worse.

She had no idea what to say

'I' she chocked 'I can't tell at this point' she finally spat out 'I need just a little bit longer'

She bit her lip and crossed her fingers. She knew Dave would find it to be a bit of a weird request

'Well I'm going to need to know soon Brittany' Dave said 'we have to be at the pavilion by eleven, and it's already…' Dave looked down to his watch 'Ah! It's already that time'

'What's wrong Dave?' Theodore asked

'We need to get moving' he said in a panic 'everyone get ready. Uh Brittany'

'Yeah?'

'You have until two to give me your opinion on Alvin' he said in a fluster as he looked left and right around the room 'Everyone lets get moving, let me just find my notebook'

Alvin stood up next to Brittany and elbowed her in the ribs. She agitatedly looked over to him and he looked back at her with a half confused half angry look

'What?' she whispered to him. He made a gesture to say "what was that all about". She made a silent gesture back at him to say "what was I suppose to say". Alvin gave her a desperate look and she looked back at him in an apologetic way.

'Alright everyone lets go' Dave muttered as he held his notebook in his mouth whist he threw his jacket over his shoulders. They all shot off the couch and ran towards the front door.

Alvin kept looking at Brittany, and every time she looked back at him he would silently beg her. He did it right out the house and into the car. She made sure he sat in the front seat so she could sit in the seat directly behind him. If he kept looking at her with those sweet, sad brown eyes, she was going to burst into tears.

She had no intention of Making Alvin unhappy in any way. But she couldn't help but worry for him. So she knew she would have to make a decision…but what?

Once again sorry about the late post, but its here so at least that's that. Next chapter has a bit of good old backstage stuff going on. See ya next Friday