Brittany reached into her pink purse. She hastily pulled out her mascara wand, eyeliner pen, and eyeshadow palette while in the tiny bathroom of her doctor's office. As the teenager was doing this, she took a look in the mirror to examine the damage.

Just as she had suspected, her mascara and eyeliner were smudged. The dark streaks running down her face were very obvious. But other than her messed up makeup, there was something else that was really bothering her about her appearance.

It wasn't a full-length mirror, so she couldn't get a good look at her body right now. But her face seemed to look even more fat than it did just a few days ago. How could this be possible?

She'd been consistently weighing herself in the mornings. While it was slower than she would have liked, her weight was steadily going down. It would give her a feeling of satisfaction that only lasted temporarily.

Brittany sighed, convinced that she'd see better results if she could just stop eating altogether. But she couldn't do that. And it made her feel so weak. A feeling she hated so much.

The auburn-haired Chipette was feeling so overwhelmed, her ice blue eyes were glistening with unshed tears again. She was experiencing the urge to purge right at that very moment. Except that there was literally nothing for her to throw up. She had emptied all the contents from breakfast out of her stomach this morning, skipped lunch at school, and went straight to her orthopedist appointment after school ended.

Brittany then shook her head and tried to focus on the task at hand. She finished freshening up her makeup and fixing her hair. Once done, she exited the bathroom with her head held high. She had to gather everyone together for a meeting to share the good news.

Later that day, the Chipettes went over to the Seville house. The three girls had gathered in the living room, along with the Chipmunks and Dave. Brittany wanted to make sure she had everyone together in one place as she made this particular announcement.

The teen Chipette smiled widely as she held up the clearance letter up high for the whole group to see.

"Guess what, guys?" Brittany started out in a cheery voice, hardly able to contain her excitement. "Dr. North finally cleared me to perform again! He did say I've got to be careful not to push myself too much, and start off with simple choreography. But still, I can go back to performing with you guys!"

The Sevilles' living room then erupted with claps and cheers from all corners. Everyone got up from their seats and took turns congratulating and hugging Brittany. Though the eldest Chipette had been avoiding eye contact with them all. She didn't want to fully reveal everything that was currently on her mind.

"That's wonderful news, Brittany!" Dave said as he beamed. "And to celebrate, why don't you girls stay over for dinner tonight?"

The three Miller sisters looked at each other, smiled, and nodded in agreement.

"Great, I'll go order a pizza then. Theodore also baked an apple pie we can have for dessert."

Although, despite her smiling and nodding along with her sisters, Brittany was having some serious reservations on the inside about staying for dinner with the Sevilles. Just like on Thanksgiving and Christmas, she knew it was going to be extremely difficult to hide her secret from everybody. She hoped that this time around, nobody was going to notice her barely eating.

"I'll tell you what else," Dave continued. "After I order the pizza, I'll make some phone calls and see if I can get a gig for a joint show. I know a few venues that would be so excited to hear that The Chipmunks and The Chipettes will all be on stage together once again!"

Dave left the room to enter the kitchen and use the phone. As Jeanette went to join Simon to work on their homework together and Eleanor ran off to help Theodore take the pie out of the oven, Alvin looked over at Brittany. She was now sitting on the couch, staring off into space. She looked so lost.

Alvin couldn't help but wonder what was up with that. He would have expected Brittany to be jumping up and down, bursting with joy over this news. He was certainly happy for her. He really was. Still, he felt the need to approach her and attempt to clear the air. After all, he didn't want things between them to continue being super awkward if they were going to be spending more time together while practicing and performing for joint shows.

"Hey, Brittany." Alvin said as he approached his former girlfriend.

The auburn-haired teen looked up.

"Oh, hey Alvin." She muttered under her breath. She looked as if she had been shaken from deep thought.

"So..." The red-clad Chipmunk started out hesitantly, doubt evident in his voice. "I just wanted to know... are we cool now?"

"Yeah, sure." The pink-clad Chipette replied with a hint of annoyance while rolling her eyes. "Why wouldn't we be?"

"Well... I was just worried about it, because of... well... you know. All the stuff we've been through the last few months..."

"Whatever." The oldest Chipette stated dismissively. "We broke up about a million years ago. So yeah, I'm over it."

For some reason, Alvin was feeling skeptical of her response. But he decided to accept it for now. At least she wasn't yelling at him anymore.

An hour later, the pizza had arrived and everyone sat down to dinner around the table in the Seville kitchen. They all started eating the slices they had grabbed and put onto their plates. Jeanette was chatting away with Simon, just like Eleanor was with Theodore. But Alvin found himself unable to take his eyes off of Brittany.

He watched the pink-clad Chipette carefully as she was eating her slice of pizza. Well, you actually couldn't call what she was doing eating. Not really. She was taking a few small nibbles out of the pizza here and there. Then she would periodically put her slice down and randomly pull at the sleeves on her pink sweater.

Suddenly, he was overcome with concern. This felt like deja vu, bringing his mind right back to the dinner they all had together on Christmas Eve. When Brittany was pushing all the food on her plate around, but not taking more than a few bites here and there.

What was the deal with that? Why is it that every time the Sevilles and Millers had been sitting down to meals together over these last few months, his beautiful ex-girlfriend had barely been eating? Granted, she often did avoid sweets and would decline to have dessert in the past. But skipping out on meals entirely was not exactly like her.

However, Alvin decided not to confront Brittany over it this time. He remembered how she had freaked out and snapped at him when he tried to ask her about it on Christmas Eve. He definitely did not want a repeat of that!

Alvin continued to think as he chewed on his pizza silently (and it was highly unusual for this normally super lively Chipmunk to be so quiet during a family dinner - he'd typically be at the center of some conversation by now). He knew one thing for sure. Even if he and Brittany appeared to come to some kind of mutual understanding, he still needed to try and get back on speaking terms with the two remaining Chipettes now.

If his own ex could forgive him, why shouldn't they? He was sure they wouldn't want things to be uncomfortable for joint performances either.

After dinner was over, everyone went into the living room to watch tv. A few minutes into the movie that was playing, Brittany got up and excused herself to go to the bathroom. What they didn't realize was that she took a slight detour to the kitchen.

Once in the kitchen, the oldest Miller sister approached the counter where the pizza box and apple pie were sitting. She sighed heavily as she opened up the white square box. The one slice she had taken earlier when they were all at the table for dinner before was now in the garbage, less than half eaten.

She turned down dessert as well. Thankfully, nobody questioned her over any of this. She hoped this meant it had gone unnoticed for this meal.

Needless to say, the blue-eyed teen was starving by now. As she tried desperately to ignore the sharp pains in her stomach, Brittany took a peek inside the box. There were two uneaten slices of extra cheese pizza left. She then looked in all directions around her. Once she saw the coast was clear, she started devouring both of those slices, eyes darting all over the place the entire time.

After wolfing down and barely tasting the cheesy pizza slices, Brittany then slid over to the dish the pie was sitting in. Just like before, the teenager glanced hastily all around her to make sure no one was about to walk in there.

When she was sure nobody was coming, she grabbed a clean spoon from the drawer. It was amazing how she knew exactly where everything in that kitchen was by now. This was from being over at the Seville's house so frequently over the years.

Half the pie was still left since Theodore had made such a huge serving. She shoved as much pie into her mouth as was physically possible for her. It was still warm. She also appreciated how fresh the apples Theodore used had clearly been.

He and Eleanor were both literally the best cooks she knew. She almost envied their skills, honestly. Even though she knew she'd never had the kind of patience baking requires.

After eating the entire dish of leftover apple pie, a wave of panic immediately washed over Brittany. She looked at the empty pie dish. Then her eyes moved over to the square box. Even though she had closed it after eating, she knew the box was now empty too.

What if someone figured out she had eaten all that food? Especially one of the boys. She would absolutely die of embarrassment! She had no clue how she would explain it away either.

As if it was second nature to her, Brittany rushed into the bathroom right by the kitchen. She locked the door and hurriedly turned on the sink. She proceeded to purge and then cleaned up the mess when she finished. She reached into her purse and pulled out the perfume she had been carrying around with her, predicting something like this could happen in the near future.

Once she had finished spritzing the perfume and basically flooded the Seville bathroom in the aroma of Eau de Dream, she fixed herself up as best she could. Finally, she opened the door. The Chipette let out a relieved sigh when nobody was there. They were all still in the living room, their eyes glued to the television.

Still, she could not believe she had just binged and purged at the Seville's. She was usually so careful about that. But to be honest, she was becoming less and less aware each time she got into this state. Like she was possessed and no longer in control of her actions. It was super scary.

She had to get out of there before somebody figured out her secret! Brittany slowly walked into the living room, abruptly shouted over the tv something about wanting to go to bed early, and went to her own house. Thank God the Chipettes lived right next door to the Chipmunks!

After the other two girls had left, the Seville brothers and Dave were all cleaning up the kitchen. As Theodore was clearing away the dishes from the counter, he turned around and gave the rest of his family an odd look. Then he spoke up.

"Hey, wasn't there half a pie left here? Any idea what happened to it?"

Theodore, Alvin, Simon, and Dave exchanged glances with each other. It was as if they were all silently asking one another if they were the one who ate the rest of the pie. They then all simultaneously shook their heads no.

"Well..." The youngest Chipmunk responded hesitantly. "Maybe I'm wrong about how much pie was left. One of the girls probably had an extra slice or two. No big deal."

That was typical Theodore Seville for you. Always giving everyone the benefit of the doubt. Alvin was not as sure though.

The oldest Chipmunk started thinking. Jeanette and Eleanor had stayed in the living room watching tv with him and his family for the rest of their visit. The only one who seemed to disappear almost immediately after dinner was Brittany, saying she needed the bathroom. And she had been gone for a long time too.

Of course, nobody ever thought twice about Brittany taking a million years in the bathroom. Ever since Alvin had known the Chipettes, trips to the restroom for the oldest sister had always included brushing her hair, styling it and reapplying all of her makeup. So yeah, taking forever in the bathroom was all just part of his ex-girlfriend's usual diva behavior.

But still, this didn't change the fact that Brittany was the only one who's actions after dinner were unaccounted for. So could she have been the one to...?

Alvin then laughed out loud at how ridiculous the idea of that was, needing to grab onto the counter as he practically fell over in the process. The rest of the Sevilles then shot weird looks in his direction. But he didn't care.

He really needed to laugh like that so bad. Especially with all of the drama that had been in his life for the last year. It felt like it had been forever since he actually had a good laugh.

It really was the most insane thought he had ever had. And that was saying a lot. Brittany would never eat that much of any kind of sweet in one sitting. Especially with the way she had been eating like a bird lately. Something he still couldn't help but feel a little worried over.

He also noticed how fast she ran out before either of her sisters did. She seemed to be taking off early almost every time she had been over at their place the last few visits. Granted, he figured her early departures during the Christmas and New Years gatherings were probably his own fault. He knew she ran off immediately after he had made her uncomfortable on both occasions.

But this time, he didn't even do anything. In fact, he hadn't even spoken to her for the rest of the night after she told him she was "over" their breakup. So what went wrong tonight? And why did she seem so tired all the time recently?

In any case, Alvin didn't actually see how much pie had been left for himself. So he figured his youngest brother was probably right. After all, math had never exactly been Theodore's best subject. So he probably did simply miscalculate how much pie really was still there.

The Chipmunk in red went right back to loading up the dishwasher, just as he had been tasked with. He refocused his thoughts on how he was going to make amends with Jeanette and Eleanor. He eventually decided he would talk to Eleanor first. It made sense because she was the one he was going to have more trouble convincing.

Jeanette had always been the most forgiving out of the Chipettes. So if he could get back into the good graces of both Brittany and Eleanor, he might not even have to talk to the middle Miller sister at all. She would quickly be willing to forgive and forget once she saw both of her sisters had. This way, Alvin could spare himself one more awkward conversation.

And he would have the perfect opportunity after school tomorrow. As the captain of the boys' soccer team, he knew the practice schedule for the soccer field at their school. And the girls' team had the field reserved for tomorrow. He would confront the youngest Chipette during her practice and try to reason with her.

However, a part of him was starting to have doubts if this approach was the right one. He began absentmindedly staring into the ceramic plate he was about to place into the dishwasher.

He then gazed around the kitchen, noting that he was surrounded by family. But just like when he had broken up with Brittany, he was not about to ask for their advice this time either. Because that would require having to explain why the two younger Millers were so upset with him to begin with. Although a part of him wondered if they already had told his brothers, since they were dating and all.

The young Chipmunk took a deep breath and collected himself. He reminded himself he had this in the bag. After all, he was Alvin Seville. If anyone knew how to persuade a member of the opposite sex, it was him. With his natural charm and charisma, he was capable of anything.

The next day after school, Eleanor Miller had walked onto the soccer field. She began stretching with the rest of her team right before practice. The blonde Chipette was engrossed in a conversation with one of her teammates as they were both warming up.

Right as the brown-eyed Chipette was in the middle of stretching her hamstrings, she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around to see it was a certain chipmunk with a red baseball cap. She was about to tell him to go away because she needed to focus on practice right now. But then she noticed a serious expression on his face that she wasn't used to seeing from the oldest Chipmunk.

Eleanor started wondering if Alvin had known anything about what was going on with Brittany. She had been extremely worried about her eldest sister over these last few months. Even though she was no longer skipping family meals, they pretty much would not see her for the rest of the night after the three Miller sisters finished having dinner together. She was always insisting she had to study or do homework.

She had been taking extra-long baths as well, which she claimed was to help the muscles in her knee. And she seemed to be taking more naps, in addition to going to bed earlier. Even sleeping in on days when she didn't have school or physical therapy. Brittany's recent sudden exhaustion was definitely alarming.

Another troubling trait Brittany had been exhibiting was withdrawal. She used to be the biggest social butterfly out of all the Chipettes. Now she would mostly hide up in her room all the time. Yes, Eleanor knew about her falling out with the squad after she was forced to drop cheerleading. But it still didn't explain why her once exceedingly extroverted sister never seemed to want to go out at all anymore.

"What do you want, Alvin?" Eleanor asked coldly.

Sure, she was very concerned about her sister. And she did hope that was the reason he wanted to talk to her. But still, she hadn't exactly forgotten about how much he had hurt Brittany either.

"Can we talk for a second?" He asked, sounding as confident as always.

"I'm listening." Eleanor responded, but she still sounded somewhat distant.

"Look, I know things didn't really end well with me and Brittany. But I've known you and your sisters forever and I miss you guys. I would really like us all to be friends again. I just want things to go back to the way they used to be. When we were all friends."

"You broke Brittany's heart, Alvin. She was already going through so much and you left her when she needed you the most. Do you even care? Or is it all about you?"

"Of course I care!" Alvin replied, trying very hard not to feel insulted by what Eleanor was asking him. "I never meant to hurt Brittany like that. You gotta believe me, Eleanor!"

"You really didn't think it was gonna hurt her when you dumped her right after sleeping with her?"

Alvin froze as his eyes widened in surprise.

"She told you about that, huh?"

"I'm her sister." Eleanor stated, matter-of-factly. "She tells me everything."

Although in reality, Eleanor wasn't so sure how true that was anymore. Anytime she or Jeanette would try to question Brittany over her recent behavior, she would brush them off. Sometimes even get defensive, yelling at them both to leave her alone. Their big sister had always had a temper. But she had been moodier than ever lately.

"That had nothing to do with it, though. I didn't mean for things to go down that way. I just thought it would be best if we went on a break. She kept unloading all her problems on me and it was just... really intense."

"Oh, well sorry we can't all have such a perfect life like you do." The blonde teenager sarcastically snapped. "Must be nice not having any problems."

"Hey, I got plenty of problems too!" Alvin's voice started to rise slightly.

He closed his eyes to calm himself. He knew getting over-defensive was only going to hurt his case, not help it.

"Look, I know how loyal the three of you are to each other. Mad respect for that, seriously. But, you know... Brittany forgave me! She said so herself yesterday. Right before dinner."

The irritated blonde turned around and raised one eyebrow at the red-capped Chipmunk.

"Really?"

"Yeah, really!" Alvin answered a little too fast.

What he didn't mention was that Brittany was still basically behaving hot and cold towards him the day before. But he knew her very well. Saying she was now cool with him was about as close to forgiveness as she would get over something like this. Even if it did come with a side of attitude.

"Look," The red-capped Chipmunk continued. "Maybe I wasn't there for Brittany back then, but I'd like to be there for her now. As a friend."

The Chipmunk took a deep breath and then continued.

"I just don't want things to be awkward between us. Between any of us. Dave says he thinks we'll all have an upcoming gig together real soon."

Eleanor sighed.

"Ok, I guess we can call it a truce for the sake of our bands."

The Chipmunk in red was now grinning wide.

"Awesome! I knew you'd come around eventually. So, I guess I'll see you around then?"

"Sure." The youngest Chipette responded, sounding somewhat distracted.

"Cool! See ya, Ellie!" Alvin called out as he swung his red backpack over his shoulder and ran off.

Truth is, Eleanor was hoping Alvin could be an extra set of eyes as to what was going on with Brittany. She knew that despite the tough exterior her big sister put up, her feelings for Alvin were still there. And she wondered if maybe the same had been true for him. And since Brittany wouldn't open up to either her or Jeanette, maybe she would for Alvin.

Eleanor looked on the field and saw that practice had already started without her. The blonde Chipette dashed back onto the soccer field, hoping her coach wouldn't notice her tardiness. She tried to clear her head for now and concentrate on soccer. Only time would tell what would happen with Alvin and Brittany.

In the meantime, Dave came through for them all. He had secured them a gig! At their own high school, no less. They were going to perform at the upcoming spring dance. Their groups used to perform together for school events all the time, so it would normally not be that big of a deal.

But since it was the big comeback show where all six of them would be performing together, the whole school was buzzing with excitement. The Chipmunks and The Chipettes were the talk of their high school now. So this show had to be good.

A week after Alvin and Eleanor's reconciliation on the soccer field, the six friends were using the music room to rehearse for the upcoming dance after school one day. They were mostly working on the choreography for now. Brittany's moves in particular had to be modified for all of their numbers. This was something the teenage Chipette had not been happy about, but it was still better than not performing at all.

They were all practicing their steps to The Girls and Boys of Rock N Roll. Brittany was doing fine at the beginning of rehearsal. But as she continued dancing, she felt another one of those dizzy spells she had been getting since her problem started coming on.

She did eat breakfast that morning. But as was routine now, she did not keep it down. And she also ditched lunch, which had become part of her current regimen as well. So on top of the lightheadedness, she had been trying really hard not to think about those painful cramps in her stomach as she attempted to keep up with her dance steps. However, she knew she was failing miserably.

In the middle of her spin, Brittany paused as another wave of dizziness washed over her. She took a minute to catch her breath. Then she felt a hand on her shoulder. She realized right away it was Alvin, who had been dancing right next to her like he always had when they performed that song.

"You ok, Britt?" Her former boyfriend asked.

Was that concern in his voice? Probably, but it was getting harder to hear him or anything else.

"We can take a break now, if you need it." The Chipmunk gently offered.

"I'm... fine!" The Chipette responded in an aggravated tone between heavy breaths, struggling to speak. "Just... haven't ...done this... in a while. No break... just because... you feel threatened... by me."

Did Alvin just roll his eyes at her? It was hard to tell, as the features on his face started to blur and he was now looking like a big red blob. She also thought she heard him mutter something like "Well excuse me for caring!", but it sounded very faint. In fact, everything around her seemed to be fading out.

The teenage Chipette shook her head and tried to shift her train of thought back to her dance routine.

"You can do this!" Brittany told herself in her head. "The song is almost over. Just keep pushing through."

But that was much easier said than done, of course. She didn't understand. She was used to doing much more intricate choreography than this before her knee injury. And her knee wasn't even bothering her at this moment. So these moves should have been child's play for her.

The more Brittany persisted in her attempts to keep up with the dancing, the more lightheaded she got. Her vision became increasingly blurry. Now the whole room appeared to be spinning all around her. The familiar music was growing progressively distant. Her heart was racing faster and faster.

Suddenly, Brittany's legs (which now felt like jelly) started giving out. The Chipette in pink then noticed what looked like the floor beneath her seeming much closer. That was when Brittany realized what had been happening in that moment. She was going down.

A/N: Left off on a major cliffhanger there, huh? I'm actually surprised it took me 12 chapters to finally have one. What do you think will happen next?

I would like to give a special shoutout to my amazing reader and reviewer, Jessica A. Mays, for giving me the idea for Brittany to binge and purge at the Seville house. Thank you so much, hon! You've had some fantastic ideas for this story. Hope you enjoyed the way this one played out.

And also thank you to everyone who's been reading and especially reviewing this fic. You guys are all amazing! Hope you enjoyed this chapter too. Look forward to your feedback, as always.

By the way, I sent out a couple of PMs in response to last chapter's reviews on this story yesterday. However, I've been informed that many people have not been receiving email alerts regarding PMs due to some site glitch on FFN. So if you reviewed the chapter before this one, but have not received an email letting you know I replied to your review (assuming you're setup to receive PMs so I can contact you), please check your inbox on the FFN site itself.

Sorry, just felt the need to inform everyone about this issue. I just don't want you guys to think I didn't reply to your reviews. I try to respond to all reviews if I can. Hopefully, this is a glitch that gets fixed soon.