HEY GUYS!

SO, I GOT A LITTLE EXPERIMENTAL IN THE LAST CHAPTER TOWARDS THE END WITH THE DREAM SEQUENCE, I'D LOVE TO KNOW WHAT YOU GUYS THINK OF THAT. THANKS ONCE AGAIN TO THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE REVIEWED, THAT MEANS A LOT TO ME AND I TAKE YOUR PRAISE, SUGGESTIONS, AND CRITICISM VERY SERIOUSLY. I HOPE YOU GUYS ARE ENJOYING READING THIS STORY AS MUCH AS I AM ENJOYING WRITING IT! WELL, WITHOUT FURTHER DELAY, LET'S GET TO OUR NEXT CHAPTER! SORRY THIS ONE TOOK A LITTLE LONG, I HAD A VERY BUSY WEEK. THIS WASN'T MY BEST CHAPTER, I PROMISE THIS IS GOING TO GET OFF THE GROUND REAL SOON, AND IT'S GONNA HAPPEN FAST! INTO THE CHAPTER WE GO!

Chapter 3

ALVIN'S POV

Ugh, my eyes… I can't stand waking up in this room, the sun is always shining directly on my face when I wake up. I sat up and wiped the crust off my eyelids, I still felt a little foggy and had not fully waken up yet. I looked to the beds that were on either side of mine and noticed both of my brothers were still sleeping. I looked at the clock which read 7:15 AM. Damn, that's a little early for me, I usually sleep for another two hours at least. Well since I'm up and thinking now, I might as well get my day started. I quietly rose from my bed and headed out of my room. I headed towards the bathroom to wash up. I stared in the mirror for about ten seconds, not in some deep introspective way, but in a more absent-minded way. I really hate the morning; I always feel so tired and involuntarily waking up early didn't help either. I finished washing my face and brushing my teeth and began my walk down towards the kitchen. The house was quiet, I guess no one is up right now which is mildly surprising. Simon and Dave were usually early risers, but whatever, I guess I could use some alone time.

When I got down to the kitchen I hopped onto the counter and into one of the cupboards. I saw a package of muffins, and then I saw… cheeseballs. Oh my, cheeseballs… Everyone on planet Earth knows I love cheeseballs. For once, I declined the humble cheeseball and opened the muffin box. I picked out a good blueberry muffin and jumped down back onto the counter and from there I jumped over towards the table. I took a seat at the head of the table and began eating. As I was eating my breakfast my mind began to wander a little bit. Slowly, last night's dream came back to me. I have never had a dream like that before, it was so… good. I felt a way I have never felt before in my life, there was this fuzzy feeling throughout my body that I never knew existed, and I wanted to feel that again. I also felt a little embarrassed with myself because I don't even know if Brittany feels the same way I do and yet I'm having dreams like that? That seems almost wrong, but it's not my fault, right? Was my dream creepy or messed up? Unlike before this is not something I can bring up to Dave, it's too private. I started to lose track of time I guess because I looked up from my half-eaten muffin and realized it was already 8:30! I got so lost in my thoughts that I didn't even realize an hour had passed.

Within a few minutes I began to hear movement upstairs, it wasn't loud enough to be Dave so it must be my brothers. I got up from the table and threw away the rest of the unfinished muffin and went into the living room. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Simon coming down the stairs.

"Hey Alvin, you're up early," Simon said. He sounded a little surprised.

"Yeah, the sunlight is constantly shining on my face in the morning, literally right on my eyes."

"Well Alvin, it doesn't take a genius to close the blinds…"

Oh, wow… I'm stupid. I feel like such an idiot. Why didn't I close the blinds?

I looked at Simon with a sheepish grin, "Well Simon, you know me sometimes… Logical thinking doesn't always apply."

Simon chuckled, "Oh Alvin, believe me, I know that better than anyone on this planet."

Simon walked into the kitchen for some breakfast, and I sat down on my favorite spot on the couch and turned on the TV. I flipped through the channels until I landed on ESPN. I sort of sat there and zoned out. My eyes started mindlessly wandering through the room and eventually landed on a picture of me and my brothers with the Chipettes. In the middle of the photo was me with my arms around Brittany, gosh I miss her so much. Luckily the girls come back tomorrow, so I get to see her soon! You know what, I think it's time I let Simon know what's going on in my world right now. I'm sick and tired of hiding it from him and who knows, maybe he'll have some advice for me.

I looked over into the kitchen and called out, "Hey Simon, can you come here for a minute?"

Simon looked over at me, "Sure thing Alvin, be over in a second just let me throw out this plastic cup."

Simon entered the living room and sat near me, "What did you want Alvin?"

I took a deep breath, ready to come clean after burying my emotions from my brother, "Well Simon, you've probably noticed that I've been acting a little odd lately, and well, I've been going through some things lately."

Simon looked at me with a somewhat puzzled complexion, "That's very vague Alvin, what's going on?"

"Well Simon, I think I've fallen… in love."

Simon's eyes widened, "Love, Alvin?"

"Yes Simon, Love."

Simon looked very surprised as if he never thought the words would never come out of my mouth.

"Well Alvin, I am, surprised to say the least… May I ask whom you have these feelings for?"

He wants to know, should I tell him? How will he react? My hands grew clammy, and I had a little knot in my stomach. Well, I guess I already told him this much, so he might as well know the rest.

I looked Simon directly in the eyes and came clean, "Look Simon, I'm going to tell you this and you cannot say anything, ok?"

"Of course, Alvin, you can trust me with anything."

No turning back now, I have to tell him.

"Ok Simon, it's Brittany, I have a crush on Brittany."

Oh my God, that doesn't get any easier. Simon doesn't look fazed at all, in fact, he looks almost vindicated. I saw a grin start to form on his and I became a little confused.

"I knew this was going to happen, I just knew it, Alvin."

"How did you know Simon?"

"Well, Alvin it isn't that hard, when you look at the facts it becomes pretty clear. Both us and the girls are starting to enter adulthood, and there are only six talking chipmunks on the planet, at least that we know about. Out of all the girls, Brittany matches up with you the best, she is literally you in a female body."

I thought about it for a minute and everything he said was true and made sense. I feel a little better and less like a creep now than I did before.

"So, I'm not weird, or a creep or something, right Simon?"

"Not at all Alvin, what you are feeling is 100% normal. You know you can always talk about this stuff with me, there is no need to hide your emotions from me or Theodore for that matter."

"Thanks, Si, I really appreciate that," I said to him with a smile.

Not more than five minutes later I heard Dave come downstairs and head into the kitchen.

DAVE'S POV.

I didn't get enough sleep last night, thankfully dinner with Claire and the boys went very well so that is a real positive. Boy, I am starving, so I entered the kitchen to make myself some breakfast. Just as I opened the fridge to grab the eggs, I realized Alvin and Simon were both sitting in the living room.

"Hey boys," I called out, "you two are up quite early today."

Alvin jumped up onto the table next to the couch and said, "Hey Dave, yeah I know we are up early. I was stupid last night and forgot to shut the blinds, so I woke up this morning with the sun blaring directly into my eyes."

"Classic Alvin, eh Dave?" Simon said jokingly.

That is the most Alvin thing I've ever heard. We have a busy day today, so the boys better not be tired.

"Well, you two, I hope you guys got enough rest because we are gonna be heading to the recording studio in a few hours. We still have a lot of work to do before the new album is released. I take it your brother is still sleeping?"

Alvin looked at me, almost looking a little annoyed, "I don't know Dave, he isn't down here so where else would he be?"

"Clam it Alvin, no need for an attitude," I said sternly. I'm not at all in the mood for BS right now.

I asked the boys if they were hungry and they said they had already eaten, so I made myself an egg omelet and sat down at the table with my laptop to start reading emails. All my emails are nowadays are either people looking for endorsement opportunities for the boys or junk. After I finished eating and reading, I told the boys to get ready to leave in about an hour and made my way upstairs. I woke up Theodore and went back to my room to get ready. As I started to shave, I briefly thought about what Alvin talked to me about last night. I wonder how he is handling his feelings for Brittany. Maybe later today I'll pull him aside for a little while and ask him if he needs any more advice or if he just wants to talk

After everyone was finished getting ready, we all got into my car and started to make our way to the recording studio.

ALVIN'S POV.

I'm still so tired, I'm really in no mood to do any recording, but I know that the first thing they're going to make me do is work on that solo. Good God, this has been a weight on my shoulders for weeks now. It all started when we were writing the lyrics, the sound engineer and I had this great idea to have this really awesome vocal and instrumental breakdown right after the second chorus of the song, leading into a little vocal solo. The plan was to showcase my range, similarly to how I did in "How We Roll", the breakdown went perfectly, but I just can't seem to get this one part right. It's highly frustrating honestly because I never really struggle with vocals. I want this album, and particularly this song, which we think will be one of the real hits on this record, to be amazing. Dave and my brothers have been telling me that it's more than likely a mental thing, probably because I am a total perfectionist in the studio, and I tend to agree with them. It's just not like me at all, not to say that I'm a perfect vocalist, even though I may act like it at times, but I've never had trouble like this, and it's been getting on my nerves.

As we started to enter the metropolitan area it began raining, which made me think back to when we first started our musical careers. It's hard to wrap my mind around the fact that it all started on that tree stump right outside Dave's window after he threw us out of his house. I remember standing there, with Simon and Theodore, in the freezing cold rain. We were shivering our tails off, I stood there with my two brothers, huddled up to keep warm the best we could. I felt dejected. In such a small window, we lost our tree, which was our home in the woods, and now we were stuck outside with nowhere to go. At the time I was angry at Dave, for not giving us a chance, but now I completely understand, I mean animals talking isn't normal, so his reaction was completely justified. Pretty soon it dawned on Simon that there was only one thing we could do, to make us forget about the cold, wet rain and maybe gain Dave's trust, and that was to sing. Up to this point, the only songs we knew were from a family who consistently went camping in our forest, close to our tree, we decided that "Only You" was fitting. I still remember starting the song and listening to my brothers harmonize perfectly, internally wishing for Dave to notice us, which luckily for us he did. Our relationship really got off to a rocky start, but that day turned out to be the greatest in our lives. Without Dave, I don't know what we would have done after losing our home.

This daydream of mine was cut short when the car stopped and we arrived at the studio, and I'll tell you, there is nothing better than this… even on a day when I don't totally feel like being here. I enjoyed nothing more than entering through those big glass doors and looking around at all the large album covers on the walls. I started to forget about my fatigue from earlier on and started to get into the mental headspace I liked to be in while recording.

Our party of four entered the elevator and Dave spoke up, "Alrighty boys, we're gonna be here for a long time today. There is a lot of work to do, Simon and Theodore have some touch-up work to do for some backup vocals, and Alvin, you'll continue to work on your solo for Zephyr. We all nodded in response.

Simon looked over to me and said, "Don't get too worked up about the solo Alvin, you're a very talented vocalist, you'll make it as perfect as you want soon enough."

I looked over at him with a smile and thanked him. We were finally reaching the floor we wanted, floor 11. Just before we arrived, Dave looked down at me and said, "Oh Alvin, I almost forgot, I had someone come to the studio today to help you out a little with the solo."

I shrugged my shoulders, "That won't be necessary Dave, I don't need anyone else's help."

"Very well Alvin, you'll just have to tell them that yourself."

That was an odd thing to say, is he hiding something? The elevator came to a stop and the screen over the door said "11". The elevator doors opened and 3 of us exited, everyone except me.

I stood completely frozen…

There she was…

Brittany…