Alvin sighed as he walked into the high school building one morning. It had been six weeks since the first day of school for the year. He couldn't believe it. Six weeks.
How is it that those six weeks felt like they had gone by so fast, and yet it felt like time was dragging at the exact same time? He just could not wrap his head around it. It was fall now! Even though it still felt like summer outside.
He had also just been announced as this year's class president last week. But to be honest, it actually felt rather bittersweet to him this year. In previous years, Alvin would always get excited whenever the results of the class elections were about to be announced. But not this year. Because one major thing was missing from it all this year. Brittany.
Ever since the notorious class election in third grade when the Chipettes first started school with the Chipmunks, Alvin and Brittany competed against each other as class president every year for the school elections.
While Alvin won that third grade election, Brittany actually ended up becoming the class president the next year in the fourth grade. Then in the fifth grade, Alvin reclaimed the position. For the sixth grade, it was Brittany's turn again. And so on and so forth.
It might seem odd that it worked out that way, but they just happened to alternate as class president every other year.
He even had a little bet going with Brittany each year to see if that year would be the year that broke the pattern and one of them would be president for two years in a row for once. Then when they would both eagerly await the announcement of the results for the year, Alvin would either end up being really stoked that he won or super disappointed that he lost. And while the winner would always gloat and rub it in the loser's face, causing some bickering between him and Brittany, they both knew that there was never truly any hard feelings between them.
But because Brittany's knee was still healing and also because her plate was just full in general right now, she didn't run this year. And Alvin was left with so many unanswered questions as a result. Brittany had actually been last year's class president, keeping up with the consistent alternating streak. So if that pattern was anything to go by, Alvin would've won this year anyway.
But he still couldn't help wondering. If Brittany had run this year, would she have beat him? Would this have been the year that broke the streak? Sure, it would've meant losing the election to and bet with Brittany. And he wouldn't have been too happy at first. But he couldn't help but be curious about it all.
And the fact is, winning the presidency this year had been almost too easy. In fact, he had won the election by a landslide. Not surprising at all, considering who his competition was. Some nobody who he was sure half (or maybe even most) of his classmates had never even heard of.
Alvin scratched his head underneath his signature red baseball cap as he tried to remember what the guy's name even was. What was his name again? Max? Mark? Mike? He was pretty sure it was something that started with an M. Or was it? And that was exactly his entire point. He just couldn't remember at all. And he was sure that was the case for the rest of their class as well.
Alvin was the most popular guy in school. So naturally, it was only right for the most popular girl in school to run against him every year. And despite Brittany having to quit the cheerleading squad, she was still pretty damn popular. Even with the rest of the squad shunning her.
At least, he remembered Brittany telling him that is what had happened. But he believed her because he knew how some of those girls on the squad were. But he also knew that they were just jealous of her and he really hoped his ex could see that too.
Speaking of Brittany, she was actually a worthy candidate for competing against him. And that's precisely what he needed. Some strong, healthy competition to keep him on his toes. To make the win feel all the more satisfying because he would know that he had truly earned it. To make life more interesting.
Having the victory just handed to him like this felt so unrewarding. It was like beating Theodore in basically any sport. There was just no fun in it. He needed to compete with someone who he knew had a strong chance of beating him. He needed Brittany.
He really did miss her so much. As a rival and, more importantly, as a girlfriend. And worst of all, he wasn't even sure where he and Brittany stood as friends right now. He would give anything to be able to pass her in the halls of school or see her outside the house right next door to his own and not have everything be so awkward.
And on top of all that awkwardness with Brittany, he now had to deal with getting the cold shoulder from Jeanette and Eleanor as well. This was definitely not a desirable situation for the oldest Chipmunk.
It made things extra uncomfortable for Alvin since Jeanette was Simon's girlfriend and Eleanor was Theodore's girlfriend. This meant the two younger Chipettes were over at the Seville house pretty often. And it was so awkward to have one or both of Brittany's little sisters glare at him every time he'd pass them in his own house. Let's just say, the oldest Seville brother has been spending a lot of time hiding out in the bedroom he still shared with his younger brothers lately.
He was also captain of the boys soccer team, while Eleanor was captain of the girls soccer team. This meant that the two of them spent a lot of time on the field practicing at the same time. It sucked going to soccer practice and having the blonde Chipette either glare at him or simply pass him by without even looking at or speaking to him.
It was bad enough that Alvin lost his girlfriend, best friend and rival. But on top of that, he now felt like he had lost his other two good friends as well. It just sucked so much that words couldn't even describe it.
But at the same time, he wasn't really surprised to be receiving this kind of treatment from Jeanette and Eleanor. The Miller sisters were nothing if not extremely loyal to each other. They always had been ever since Alvin and his brothers had known them.
And their bond had only gotten stronger after the death of their adoptive mother. The two younger Miller sisters were both extremely grateful to Brittany for stepping up as their guardian to keep them all from getting separated after Miss Miller's death.
Jeanette and Eleanor were now both fiercely protective of their big sister as a result, since they now all needed each other more than ever. So of course they were both going to hate the guy who broke their eldest sister's heart.
The red-capped Chipmunk sighed. He never meant for any of this to happen. He never wanted to hurt Brittany so much or make her younger sisters so angry at him. He would do anything to take back the breakup with Brittany now. But he just didn't have the courage or the words to.
Suddenly, the red-clad Chipmunk's thoughts were interrupted by someone who's voice he really did not want to hear right now.
"Hey Alvin!" He heard the shrill voice say with a giggle.
He turned around to face the blue-eyed bleached blonde with the dark roots blatantly standing out near her scalp. Yup, he knew it. Lindsay Piper was standing right there. God, why did she have to giggle so much? It was seriously grating on his last nerve. And her voice was like nails on a chalkboard to boot.
He had no idea how he ever made it through all those rehearsals for Grease when Lindsay took on the role after Brittany had to drop out last spring. Not to mention the play itself.
He spent every second of the rehearsals and the play wishing that Brittany had been the Sandy to his Danny instead. That's the way it was supposed to be.
On top of that, he had to deal with Lindsay asking him out on a daily basis. Sure, he always loved it when she (or any girl, honestly) flirted with him. He expected it, really.
He was Alvin Seville, after all. Big time rockstar and a lady's man. He'd had girls hitting on him even when he was only 8 years old.
But it would get annoying when he had to keep reminding Lindsay that he couldn't go out with her, because he had a girlfriend. Despite his reputation and the fact that he was guilty of flirting back, his loyalty lied with Brittany. He loved her way too much to ever cheat on her.
Alvin sighed and forced a fake smile on his face.
"Hey Lindsay." He replied in a fake cheery voice, while speaking through the gritted teeth of his smile. Not that Lindsay noticed he was talking through his teeth, of course. She was way too oblivious.
Lindsay then removed the wrapper from a purple lollipop and started sucking on it. She always seemed to have a lollipop with her, for some reason. Alvin couldn't help but wonder what was up with that.
Lindsay started stroking Alvin's arm with her red manicured index finger of the hand she wasn't using to hold her lollipop with.
"So how's your little girlfriend doing?" Lindsay asked, as she slid the purple lollipop out of her mouth, "I haven't seen you and Britta with each other lately. Are you still together?"
Alvin raised an eyebrow at the bleached blonde girl in front of him.
"You mean Brittany?" He asked, correcting the blonde girl. Then he hesitated to answer her. "Um... we're sort of ... on a break right now."
Lindsay's innocent-appearing blue eyes lit up at the moment she heard this. She let out an annoyingly high-pitched squeal that caused Alvin to instinctively cover his ears.
"That means you can go out with me now! This Friday night. Please? We'd be so perfect together, Alvin! I just know it!"
She then fluttered her eyes at him the way Brittany used to whenever she wanted something from him.
Brittany. He was thinking about her again. Could he really do this to her? They weren't together anymore, so it wasn't like he'd be cheating on her if he went out on a date with Lindsay.
Alvin then looked Lindsay over. He couldn't help but notice her low-cut black spaghetti-strapped top that left very little to the imagination and tight low-riding jeans. He had to admit, she was hot. Not as hot as Brittany, of course. But still, she was pretty easy on the eyes.
She was also a pretty decent singer. Again, nowhere near as good as Brittany. Nobody was a better singer than Brittany. Well, except for him, of course. But even he had to admit Brittany's singing voice came really close to being as good as his own was.
It was funny how he actually preferred Lindsay's singing voice over her speaking voice. How was he supposed to make it through a whole date with her when he couldn't even stand to listen to her talk?
But he also couldn't deny the huge hole in his heart that had been there ever since he broke up with Brittany. As hard as he tried, he just couldn't get over her. She seemed to be over him, based on how she'd been acting since the day school started up again. Why couldn't he do the same?
So maybe this was just what he needed. To jump back into the world of dating. Sure, Lindsay was kind of annoying and a little bit of a ditz. But she did seem pretty easy. Not in a slutty way though (although he had heard some rumors about her indicating that). But in a non-complicated way.
The whole reason he ended things with Brittany was because he felt like she had too much baggage and he just didn't know how to handle it. But he got the feeling this wasn't going to be the case with Lindsay. So why shouldn't he give her a chance?
But still, he knew he wasn't going to be ready for another committed relationship like what he had with Brittany anytime soon. He knew he should be honest and up front about that much, at least.
"Listen, Lindsay..." Alvin began. "Brittany and I were together for four years and only broke things off very recently. I'm really not looking for anything serious right now."
"That's ok!" Lindsay exclaimed with a huge smile on her face. "Neither am I! I just wanna have fun!"
She then linked her arm with Alvin's and forcibly made him skip off to their first class together with her. Alvin sighed and rolled his eyes. Why did he get the feeling that Lindsay's idea of fun was not exactly the same as his idea of fun?
In the meantime, Brittany was heading for her own locker. Just as she was almost in front of it, she stopped in her tracks as soon as she noticed the sight in front of her. Lindsay and Alvin were linked arm in arm. They were both skipping together in the hallway, seemingly without a care in the world.
Brittany felt as if her heart was breaking into a million pieces. She remembered a time when that used to be her and Alvin. So did this mean Lindsay was his new... girlfriend now? She simply couldn't stand the thought of it happening so quickly. How could he have moved on to someone else so soon?
Of course, maybe it shouldn't have shocked her as much as it did. This was Alvin Seville we were talking about here. Before he and Brittany became exclusive in the seventh grade, he went out with other girls all the time. Guess now that they were no longer together, he was back to his old ways.
She studied Lindsay. The first thing she noticed was the black roots at the top of her head. Brittany rolled her eyes at the sight of that. If Lindsay was going to pretend she was blonde, she should at least consider touching her roots up!
And then she noticed the purple lollipop in the hand of the arm that wasn't linked with Alvin's. She remembered Lindsay always seemed to have lollipops with her during the rehearsals for Grease as well.
What was the deal with Lindsay and all those damn lollipops anyway? And how is it that she managed to stay so skinny when Brittany saw her with a different lollipop several times a day? And yet Brittany was practically starving herself, but still hadn't reached her goal weight? It just wasn't fair!
"Whatever!" Brittany thought to herself. "I hope sucking on all those lollipops catches up to her one day. We'll see how attractive Alvin will think she is then!"
Brittany hobbled away from the scene, unable to tolerate watching another second of it. It was bad enough that she had been subject to seeing the two of them flirting at the rehearsals for the play she didn't even get to be in last year.
The one she was supposed to play the lead role along with Alvin in, but was forced out because of her knee. And it was bad enough that she had to watch Lindsay steal the part she should've been playing. But now she was actually going to succeed in stealing Alvin? This was all just too much for her!
Soon, the pink-clad Chipette found herself near a vending machine. Out of sheer curiosity, she took a look at the snacks the machine had to offer. It had been weeks since she had a proper meal.
She sighed and put her hands over her stomach as she felt the hunger pangs again. This was getting harder and harder to deal with as each day of her diet passed her by. Not to mention, how loud her stomach would growl throughout the day. She was surprised nobody in any of her classes seemed to notice.
Without even thinking about what she was doing, Brittany suddenly reached into her pocket. She pulled out a few coins and inserted them into the machine. She watched as the potato chips she selected whirled around in the machine. When she heard the bag of chips drop, she reached into the compartment on the bottom and pulled it out.
The auburn-haired teenager then opened up the chip bag, immediately taking in the scent of the salty snack. She took about three or four chips out and was about to start munching on them, but then froze as soon as she brought them up to her mouth.
Wait, what was she doing? She was supposed to be on a diet! Not eating junk food like this! She couldn't believe she almost just lost control and blew her whole diet like that!
Brittany threw the uneaten potato chips back in the small bag they belonged in. She found the nearest trash can and threw the whole bag of chips out in there. She then wiped the grease the chips had left on her hand onto her jeans.
Brittany then let a small smile cross her face. Even though she was disappointed in herself for almost giving into temptation, she also couldn't help but feel proud of herself for resisting. For taking back control, once again.
She had proven to herself, yet again, that she was in control of her body and what she ate. She could do this. She'd get to her goal weight very soon, as long as she continued holding herself back in situations like this.
The determined Chipette headed back to her locker, hoping Alvin and Lindsay were long gone by now.
A/N: So what do you guys think of Lindsay? It looks like Alvin might actually go out on a date with her. Do you think it can really get serious when he clearly is not over Brittany at all?
As for Brittany, looks like it's getting harder by the second for her to stick to her restrictive diet. How much longer do you think she'll be able to keep it up? Will it get more difficult when others around her begin to notice?
Unfortunately, we already know she isn't headed in a good direction. :(
Sorry if this chapter seemed a little bit uneventful. I wanted to set up the whole thing with Lindsay and Alvin. Also more of Brittany's struggle with food and control.
But I promise, there is going to be some heavy drama in the next chapter! We'll see Brittany's downward spiral progress even further. So hopefully that makes up for this chapter being a little boring!
A huge THANK YOU to everyone who has been reading, reviewing, favoriting, and following this story! Your support means the world to me. Keep the feedback coming. I love hearing all your thoughts and opinions!