Grab your tissues, Alvittany fans. This one is gonna be ROUGH. I love writing angst and drama, especially when it's over-exaggerated angst and drama.

You have been warned. It only gets more bittersweet from here.

Genius Alvin's POV

The next morning, before school, I walked into the dining room holding a really thick sci fi novel. It was called Across The Universe: Braving The Cosmos. It was one of my favorites to read since I had turned into a major bookworm.

"Hey, Simon, wanna see a magic trick?" I asked, leaning against the leg of our dining room table.

He rolled his eyes. "No." I could tell he was still tired. I wonder why he didn't sleep well.

I took the thick book and riffled through the pages at hyperspeed. Then, I closed it with a loud SNAP! "Done. Quiz me." I smirked.

"You cannot possibly read that fast." He responded with his usual skepticism.

"Quiz me." I repeated.

He folded his arms. "You're messing with me. Also, I haven't read that book. How am I supposed to quiz you?" He pointed out.

NUTS! I hadn't accounted for that variability in response. "Aw man. Okay, yeah that time I was messing with you. I've read this like a dozen times." I tapped my head. "Locked and loaded."

My brother in the deep blue shirt breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh thank goodness."

Theodore toddled into the kitchen and started defrosting waffles in the toaster. "Morning, guys." He said in his friendly way.

Dave followed Theodore, but made a detour to the dining room since it was nearby. "Good morning, fellas."

"Morning, Dave!" My tail wagged. "I'm ready for another riveting day of school." I actually was. It felt so good to show everyone my new talent!

Because this was out of character behavior for me, dear ol dad got suspicious. "What did you do this time?" He asked, narrowing his eyes.

I frowned. "Nothing! Can't a guy just be excited for school for once?"

Simon came in to defend me, by half-lying to Dave. "He's just really enjoying that Music Appreciation class." My brother in blue shot me a "you better tell him soon" look.

"Yeah! Yeah!" I added, grabbing one of the fresh toaster waffles from Theo. "I find the subject matter fascinating."

Theodore growled at me softly and I pushed the box of frozen toaster waffles toward him. He could always toast another one. I needed this to fuel my brainpower.

"Fascinating?" Dave looked suspicious, before smiling at me. "I guess this means you can look forward to a surprising report card this marking period."

I chuckled nervously. "You'll be surprised for sure." I murmured. Yeah, in both a good way AND a bad way. Why can't anything overwhelmingly good happen to me? Why is there always a catch?

We finished our breakfast, Dave packed our lunches, and then we started the walk to school. The Chipettes came out of their treehouse and ran up to join us.

"Walk faster." I whispered to Simon.

He scowled. "You can't avoid the girls forever."

"I'm not tryin' to avoid all of them. Only Brittany." I said, watching the 3 girls get closer.

"But Brittany is your friend." Theodore reminded me with a sad expression.

"Can you be friends with someone who doesn't understand you?" I questioned aloud.

"Uh…yeah." Theo nudged me playfully. "I'm friends with you and Simon. And Eleanor, Brittany, AND Jeanette and I don't really understand any of you."

"But you appreciate us." I pointed out. "I just want Britt to appreciate me. She doesn't have to understand me to appreciate my magnificent mindpower? Does she?"

"No, but it's BRITTANY you're talking about." Simon cut in again. "And be quiet. She'll be able to hear us soon. I cannot handle another spat between you two."

"Hey, boys." Eleanor greeted us.

"How are you feeling today, Alvin?" Jeanette put a comforting hand on my back. I loved how much she actually gave a munk's behind about my feelings. Not that Britt didn't care about me. I could tell she did. She just was going about it all wrong.

"I….uh…." How was I feeling? Still awkward, pretty much. "I'm better…ish."

The girl in purple took her hand away. "That's good."

Eleanor frowned. I didn't understand why she was so upset. "How are you guys feeling?" She asked my brothers. "Because everything isn't all about Alvin."

"I'm good." Theodore squeaked.

Simon slumped his shoulders. "I've been better."

I noticed Brittany staring at me with those overly concerned eyes again. Maybe I should try and hang with her again? Just like old times. "Britt…" I mustered out. "Sorry about….you know….makin' ya pass out yesterday." Good good. "Do you wanna….maybe….uhhh….get some ice cream after school?"

Her expression grew cold. "As long as you don't talk about the physics of why ice cream is frozen. Maybe."

"I can't promise that." I stated honestly. "I can't control this stuff. It just keeps slipping out. I go to say something normal and then BAM! Genius!"

"Oh, I wanna bam the genius, alright." Eleanor held up her fist.

Simon groaned. "Alvin, stop." He commanded. "You're contributing to the devaluation of the word "genius."

"What Alvin's trying to say…" Jeanette translated for me. "Is that his mind is oversaturated with what he's learned. Without practice controlling it, he's slipping into a more loquacious dialect." I'm pretty sure that didn't help, Netta. But nice try!

Brittany stomped her foot on the sidewalk. "CAN EVERYONE STOP USING GIANT WORDS FOR ONE MEASLY MINUTE!?" She covered her ears. "I can't take this anymore!"

How do you think I feel!? I'm the one who's suddenly Mr. Dictionary Man! Now that the Brain Juice has kicked in, I can't turn it off.

Fun fact: I got the Brain Juice analogy from the Goosebumps 2000 book called Brain Juice. It's about two kids who are seen as dumb by their classmates drinking alien brain juice that suddenly makes them the smartest people on earth.

Hmm. There seems to be a theme here. When I watched that Creepy Teacher From The Lagoon movie, that was about a teacher who drained the brains of students to become the smartest person on earth.

Add that to My Teacher Fried My Brains, and Ernest Goes To School, AND The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes. And I watched and read all this stuff BEFORE I became smart. It was definitely true. I, Alvin Seville, had ALWAYS wanted to be as smart as Simon. And now, now I was. But, if I couldn't find some way to handle it, I was in for a lot of trouble.

It didn't take the trouble long to locate me. It must have a GPS system or something. I was about to walk into Miss. Smith's class when Derek and his goons blocked the door.

"Greetings, gentlemen." I said, carrying my history and math textbooks. "Please step aside because you're obstructing my path."

"Make us, nerd." One of the bullies taunted.

I snapped out of scholar mode instantly. "I am NOT a nerd." I insisted. "I'm nerdY. There's a big difference. I'm still cool, I swear."

"Yeah." The bully on Derek's other side, his name was Ray Ray I think, grumbled sarcastically. "Real cool."

Derek threw his head back and laughed. "Oh this'll be fun. He doesn't realize what's happening to him."

"We're gonna teach you a lesson, nerd." The other two boys raised their fists. Were they gonna pound me?

Not on my watch! Calculating the predictive trajectory, I threw my math book as hard as I could. I was pumped with adrenaline, so that was pretty far. It connected with Ray Ray's head. YES! Thanks to the domino effect, the rest of the bullies fell sideways onto the floor.

I leapt over them and into the classroom. I was here plenty of time before the bell rang, but so was….Brittany! She seemed lost in her own thoughts.

"Britt! Did you see that?" I jumped around excitedly. "I just took down three bullies with a math book!"

She sighed and then laid her head on her desk. "Awesome." Her heart wasn't in those words.

"Can we….talk?" I asked.

She sneered at me. "Can you take off those glasses?"

I decided to try and butter her up. "But if I do that, I won't be able to see your beautiful face."

"It's a sacrifice you have to make." She reached out and took my red glasses off my face. Then she combed through my hair fringe with her fingers. "The longer you wear these, the worse your condition gets."

"It's NOT the glasses." I repeated forcefully. I highly suspected it was the love of science worsening my Nerdification process. I didn't tell her that.

Her blurry face stared at me. I wished I could see her expression clearly. "You're losing yourself, Alvin."

Maybe, yes, but maybe that was a good thing! "Sometimes, you have to lose yourself in order to find out who you were truly meant to be." I squeaked. I meant every word I said. Because THIS was who I WANTED to be. Well, aside from the sudden overly awkward wordiness.

"This isn't who you're meant to be." She cried. "You're meant to be…."

"A troublemaker?" I finished for her. "Yeah, well, maybe I don't WANT to be one anymore."

"You're meant to be fun, exciting, suave, sporty…." She went on.

The other students started to file into class, but I didn't realize it. I was still puzzling out how to assure Brittany that I was still Alvin enough to be her friend. "And I am. I've never BEEN this excited before. I've never appreciated sports so much before." I insisted.

She let out another heavy sigh.

I continued talking, letting my thoughts spew out like lava from a volcano. "Brittany, right now...when I'm like this...it feels like we're two electrons repelling each other every turn. I don't want to be an electron. I want to be a proton. Because protons and electrons stick together."

"….and there you go talking science again." Her voice was even more bitter. She handed me back the glasses. "Whatever. Enjoy your new life. I really REALLY hope this is a phase and when it ends you realize how crazy you were acting."

She didn't understand my analogy. Crap! "What I'm saying is, can we still be friends?"

"Only if you don't make me call you Alvin." She opened her history book and started ignoring me.

I put the glasses back on and noticed the bullies by the door waking up. I held up my history book and waved it at them in a threatening way. They slunk back to their seats and I smiled to myself. At least they knew I wasn't a nerd to be messed with. Cuz I wasn't a nerd! I was only half a nerd! There was no way in heck I was going to become some stereotype.

ALVIN: And I'm still not a stereotype to this day.

BRITTANY: But you DO almost become one as you were "becoming 2.0."

ALVIN: Right, but that's still a few stories from now. And also pretty much your fault.

BRITTANY: I was handling your insanity the best I could. Anyway, on with the emotional rollercoaster that is my life.

Brittany's POV

It's just a phase. I told myself over and over and over. It HAS to be a phase. He's done things like this before. Although, he's never changed this LONG before. What was it about being all geeky and dorky that was so appealing to Alvin? Why couldn't he just SNAP OUT OF IT!?

Was it my fault? It was my fault, wasn't it? I had pushed him into this without realizing it. My idea to save him from having the mother of all identity crisis-es had failed. Now, he was trapped in a cycle of trying to re-invent himself and he was purposely turning into Simon without REALIZING that was the goal. I broke him. I broke Alvin.

I still loved the little guy, but there was no way I was going to date him while he was so unstable. He even ADMITTED he was unstable. He called himself an "unstable isotope" in class today. The nerdy behavior kept ramping up. It was like I was watching the boy I loved fade away into nothingness while I was POWERLESS to do a dang thing about it.

At lunchtime, I slapped my cafeteria tray down on the table. I had called my sisters, Simon, and Theo here for another meeting. We were once again discussing that red capped stranger who had moved in to Alvin's body and wouldn't leave.

"I can't take it! I can't take it!" I pulled at my hair, which I never did unless I was very upset. It took me a long time to do my hair. "How do we snap him out of this?"

Jeanette's dark blue eyes stared at me. "We don't, Britt."

"He'll snap himself out eventually." Theodore, always the positive thinker, claimed.

"Well, he is DRIVING me NUTS!" I fumed, sticking a fork into my sweet potato so firmly that it broke through the cafeteria tray.

Unfortunately, the red capped menace saw us all grouped together and walked over to join us. "This seat taken?"

"That depends." I retorted angrily.

He tilted his head, looking confused. Some "genius" he is. "On what?"

"On whether or not you're going to ramble about YOU KNOW WHAT." I explained.

"Uhhhh….okay." He sat down and then opened his lunch box and began to quietly eat the sandwich inside. QUIETLY. Alvin never does things quietly.

Theodore leaned over the table and waved a bag of carrot sticks in Eleanor's face. "I'll trade you these for your cupcake. Whattya say?"

My sister in the mint striped shirt chuckled. "Theo, you can get a cupcake too." She pointed to her lunch tray. "Just get in line."

"But…it's a really long line." The cutest of the three Seville boys pouted. Alvin used to be the cutest, but now…something about him seemed a lot less cute. Looking at him only made me feel bad for him and annoyed at him.

Eleanor unwrapped the beautifully frosted chocolate treat. "I'm not giving you my cupcake."

The boy in green then turned his attention to me. He smiled with those big brown puppy dog eyes. "Can I have yours, Brittany?"

I shoved the cupcake in my mouth and swallowed. "Oh no." I said sarcastically. "I wish you had asked me sooner."

"I'd offer you mine, Theodore." Jeanette said quietly. "If I had gotten one." My sister is vegan, so cupcakes are a no go. They have ingredients she doesn't eat inside them. That means more for me and Eleanor though! It's fabulous.

"Simon, you're patient, right?" Theodore poked at his brother's elbow.

The Chipmunk in the blue sweater fumed. "Not today. Someone kept me up last night."

Theodore let out a heavy sigh. It was clear he wasn't getting that cupcake.

Or was he. "I'll go wait in line." Alvin stood up from the table. "I owe ya for the waffle I snatched this morning anyway." He winked at Theo. Then, he was back on his science rambles. "Did you know that, in a cupcake, sugar crystals help form the structure of the product by making small holes that get filled with CO2 and react with the leavening agent?"

"No….I didn't." Theodore looked puzzled as his oldest brother walked away. "And I still don't." He frowned.

Simon sighed and rubbed his forehead. "And now I also regret teaching him how chemistry and physics are connected."

Eleanor looked amused, although still worried. "Man, He is like a dog that got a brand new chew toy."

"It's a phase." I said, hoping if I said it enough it would be true. "He acted kinda like this back when we took the Mystic Mates test. He's upset he lost his popularity. This is a new cry for attention. It's a phase. IT HAS TO BE!" My throat was dry from shouting, so I took a sip of apple juice.

Simon gripped the table with his fingers. "It better be a phase because if this continues forever I might need to lock myself in the loony bin." SAME, Simon! I feel the SAME!

For some reason, my middle sister was STILL defending the obnoxious kid. "Brittany, you say everything Alvin does is for attention."

"Because it is!" I replied.

"Is it, though?" She asked. She didn't understand why people did what they did. Luckily, I had social intelligence. It's better than science intelligence.

Simon was lucky enough to be gifted both forms. He knew what Alvin was doing and why as well. "It's clearly for attention and I'm not sure he's as good at physics as he thinks he is."

"What makes you so sure?" Jeanette looked angry now, well, angry for Jeanette…which meant maybe slightly unhappy.

"You would think that, since Alvin's gotten "smarter-er", his words by the way, he'd actually start making some good, rational decisions. But no." Simon went on, gesturing wildly with his arms.

My youngest sister finished her chocolate cupcake. "Intelligence doesn't have as much impact on personality as you think, Simon." She stated. "He's still the same Alvin in that way."

Simon nodded. "Oh, I have figured that out. And do you know why?"

"Why?" Theodore asked, nibbling his carrot sticks.

And that's when it became REALLY obvious that Simon and I were the only ones who really really wanted the old Alvin back and SOON. "Because he won't SHUT UP about physics. It is incessant, unrelenting, every minute of every day and it's DRIVING ME CRAZY! He wakes me up at 2 in the morning to discuss a new harebrained theory, he…"

Jeanette interrupted him. "He's just excited to finally be good at something school related." No! There was more to it!

"Yeah." Eleanor wasn't taking anyone's side. She was basically just there to observe and add things to fuel the argument. "Like Britt said. It's a phase. It'll wear off and he'll go back to not caring about science."

Jeanette fidgeted with her fingers and looked down. "Well….uh….I dunno about that…"

"He better." The only Seville brother that SHOULD be smart exclaimed. "Otherwise, I'll grow to hate physics!"

Theodore tried to cut the tension. "I think we all need to calm down and watch a funny movie." He suggested. How were we supposed to do that at school? "At home tonight." He added. "It'll make the stress melt away."

"I could use a laugh." My youngest sister agreed.

Simon finished the last bites of his sandwich and opened a bag of pretzels. "I'd take that over another study session with Alvin Einstein."

"I'll pass." Jeanette looked uncomfortable.

"Brittany?" Theodore, Simon, and Eleanor all looked at me.

Did I have time after school to watch a movie? "I'm not really feeling it." I answered honestly. "I think I'll just take a nice bubble bath and listen to music."

"Well, as long as you're relaxing." Theodore squeaked. "That's the important part."

"Cupcake delivery!" Alvin announced, returning to the table. He handed a chocolate cupcake to Theodore. Then, he held out another chocolate one for Simon. "I got ya one too, bro."

His brother in the royal blue sweater looked surprised. "….Thanks."

"And one for me!" The red capped boy said, biting into a vanilla flavored cupcake with bright blue frosting that matched his irresistible eyes. "Oh man, this is good stuff."

The frosting also matched the accents on the collar and sleeves of his shirt. Was that color blue becoming his new favorite color? Alvin likes RED! and YELLOW! Not blue. Not this weird neon blue.

Don't think about it, Brittany. It's just a phase. Just a phase.

Back at home, before I could run my relaxing bubble bath, I lost it. I took out all the fliers I had printed with Alvin's face on them. He hadn't been interested in them. Since when did his OWN FACE not interest him? I threw the fliers around my room in a tizzy. I was having, well, a temper tantrum. I'd been pushed too far past my limits.

Still angry, I dug a red colored pencil out of Jeanette's art drawer. I took one of the fliers and sat down at my beautiful pink vanity. Miss. Miller, my mom, had bought this vanity especially for me. Whenever I was at my lowest, I would sit at my vanity, put on makeup, and tell myself things would get better.

Right now, however, I was dealing with my feelings in a different way. I scribbled a pair of round red glasses onto Alvin's picture. No, wait, that's not stereotypically nerdy enough for him yet. I added braces to his perfect teeth with a silver colored pencil. Still angry, I took the red pencil and gave him a ton of red spots that resembled acne.

I held up the picture, satisfied with my work. It was what he wanted to be anyway, right? The biggest dweeb. King Geeknerd. It's only fitting that his appearance would match it. I felt much better now that I had had my meltdown. I folded up the photo, stuck it into a drawer of my vanity, and basically forgot I ever drew on it. (Until years later. Like, literally. YEARS)

I don't always remember what happens during my meltdowns. It's like I enter an entirely different mode. If other people are around, they can tell me what I did. I was alone in the house then, so the fury of the meltdown quickly disappeared…and so did most of my memory.

I picked up all the fliers, feeling awful for scattering them around. Then, I began to do something else that helped me process my emotions. I sang.

"It was so easy that night

Should have been strong

Yeah I lied

Nobody gets me like you"

If only I had told Alvin I wasn't over him that night he thought I was an alien bodysnatcher. We would be DATING by now!

"Couldn't keep hold of you then

How could I know what you meant?

There was nothing to compare to"

I could feel the tears coming again, but I held them back. I wanted to sound fantastic and crying would only make me sound broken up.

"I know everything changes

All the cities and faces

But I know how I feel about you

There's a mountain between us

But there's one thing I'm sure of

That I know how I feel about you"

I ran downstairs, stood on the couch, and sang into my hairbrush. It felt so cringey, but I didn't CARE!

"Can we bring yesterday back around?

'Cause I know how I feel about you now

I was dumb, I was wrong, I let you down

But I know how I feel about you now"

I really DID. I knew exactly how Alvin made me feel, but it was too late. I'd lost him. He wasn't interested in me. All he wanted was stupid SCIENCE!

"Not a day passes by

Not a day passes by

When I don't think about you

And there's no moving on

'Cause I know you're the one

And I can't be without you"

I danced into the kitchen and through the hall, back to the living room. I didn't want the song to end. But it had to if I was going to take my relaxing soak.

"Can we bring yesterday back around?

'Cause I know how I feel about you now

I was dumb, I was wrong, I let you down

But I know how I feel about you now."

A knock at the door grabbed my attention. I wondered if it was Jeanette, home from her walk through the park or wherever she had gone. Maybe it was Eleanor, back from the movie with the boys already. Did I want to answer the door? No. I wanted to eat some double fudge ice cream and then take a bath. That was my plan. Who was messing with my plan?

"Hello? Brittany?" That was Alvin's voice. OH MY GOD!

I slid across the floor and opened the door. Wait, did my hair look okay? I touched my ponytail with my hands. "What are you doing here, weirdo?" I greeted Alvin. If I was too nice, I would scare him off.

I noticed he wasn't wearing the glasses, but he still had his gym shirt on. He had probably forgotten to change out of it. He also held something behind his back.

"I'm sorry I kept this whole genius thing from you so long." He showed me his hands. He was carrying pink plastic ROSES and and a HEART SHAPED box of chocolates. Maybe Alvin DID love me after all! He held the gifts out to me.

"Oh my gosh! How romantic!" I took the items and hugged them to my chest.

"What? No!" I was crushed when he said that. He chuckled nervously. "I'm just…not sure what to get my best friend as an apology gift, so you know, can't go wrong with roses and chocolate."

My tail drooped, but Alvin didn't notice. "Oh…"I replied sadly. "Well, I accept the apology and you did get my favorite chocolates." Chocolates with cherries inside. Yum!

"Yes! I knew those were your favorites!" He seemed pleased with himself.

I furrowed my brows. He was so ANNOYING! "You're so….nice, now. I can't even stay MAD at you."

"I know. It weirds me out too. A plethora…err lot of things do." He leaned against the doorway of the treehouse and then lost his balance.

I helped him to his feet. "I guess this means we're still….friends." I responded, hiding my pain.

He hugged me. "Of course! Why wouldn't we be?"

"Thank you for coming here." I said. DON'T CRY! DON'T CRY! DON'T CRY! "I needed this tonight." I invited him inside. "Would you like to stay for ice cream?"

"Ohoho boy WOULD I EVER!" He walked in excitedly and then frowned. "But I do have a lot of homework tonight."

"It's still early." I reminded him. "You'll have plenty of time. Besides, Ellie bought…" I opened the fridge and pointed to a container of red, yellow, and blue ice cream. "Superman."

"Mmm. My favorite." He took a seat at our kitchen counter. "Okay, I'll stay."

That night, we both ate our ice cream and talked for a while. Alvin tried hard not to bring up science stuff. I appreciated that. He still couldn't help slipping in a fun fact every now and then. I could tell it was weirding him out.

Then, eventually, he left to return to being Supernerd. I put the plastic roses into a vase and collapsed on the couch. Alvin didn't want to date me. It was obvious. I was stuck forever in the friendzone. It HURT! I sobbed into the couch pillow wondering why life was so cruel.

ALVIN: Drama queen.

BRITTANY: Drama king.

ALVIN: My turn again.

BRITTANY: Really? You're just going to leave it with me sobbing in a pillow?

ALVIN: It's a good ending! Now, step aside! I've got some more things to cover before this chapter wraps.

Genius Alvin's POV

I returned from the treehouse with several conflicting feelings. I wanted to stay there and talk to Britt longer, but my new passion was calling me. I didn't have time to hang with Britt as much. I needed to A: Learn to control my brain. B: Figure out how to break the news about my report card to Dave. C: Decide whether or not I wanted to take another extracurricular next marking period.

There was so much to THINK about. Also, I felt a little embarrassed about the flowers and chocolates. I sure hope Britt didn't get the wrong idea. I didn't have a crush on her or anything. I hadn't actually crushed on a girl since crushing on physics.

Oof. Now that I say that out loud, it sounds kinda lame. The old Alvin would never. Moving on, before that thought concerns me too much. Simon, Theo, and I all did our homework together. I stepped in to help Simon explain stuff to Theo. Then he and Si said that they were gonna go watch Talking Teddy, which I had no interest in. Great! That gave me more time to look up TV tropes on my computer.

TV tropes were slowly becoming another obsession of mine. The scary part is, after watching all those episodes about people who suddenly become smart, something occurred to me. They all usually revert back to exactly what they were before in the end. In other words, they lose their smarts.

I didn't want to lose my smarts. What could I do to prevent that? Or was there NOTHING I could do? Say my life worked sort of like a TV show, was this really a phase…like Britt kept saying?

I also figured out, from the same wonderful website, that there's a lot of TV shows and movies and even books where a nerdy character becomes popular and ditches their nerdy ways forever. There are FAR FAR less examples of that trope in reverse. And again, if it DOES happen in reverse, it usually wears off.

My family must have had the same thought process, because the next day, they started trying to convince me I would lose my intelligence.

It began with Simon, of all people. I was at my locker, re-organizing it because it was basically like an atomic bomb went off in there. Simon walked up and teased me. "Well, well, well, if it isn't Algernon."

Yeah. I had never heard that name before. "Who?"

He frowned, mad that I didn't get his reference. "A character from a book we read last semester."

"Uh huh? And?" I asked, lining up my textbooks only to watch them fall over again. Gravity is really mean sometimes.

Simon cleared his throat to grab my attention. "He was a mouse who was part of an experiment to increase IQ."

"Right, well, I'm a chipmunk." I retorted.

What Simon said next chilled my very soul. "And then his intelligence wore off."

Then the pigtailed demon child added something even MORE frightening. "And he died a gruesome death."

"ELEANOR!" Simon grabbed the Chipette's arm.

I finally stacked the books horizontally instead of vertically. "Guys, I am fine. I know it seems like a superpower, but Theo says it's just my Simon genes kicking in late." I didn't know if I was fine or not. Would I really lose my intelligence just like Algore what's his name?

"Genes don't work like that." Simon started to help me clean crumpled papers from my locker.

I shrugged. "Maybe there should be more research done on them." I suggested.

Simon's hand touched a gnarly piece of chewed up bubble gum and that was the end of him helping organize my locker.

Eleanor helped me finish it, luckily. "Thanks, Ellie." I squeaked.

We had almost gotten it looking decent when a group of hot girls came up to me. Yes! Haha! I thought they were hot. Physics hadn't shut down my girl-craziness after all.

"Hey, Alvin." This blonde with a pink streak in her hair batted her eyes at me. "Can you come over tonight and help me with my homework?" She sighed. "History is just so hard."

"No way, Sabrina." The other girl said. "He's gonna help me with this week's vocabulary words. Right, Alvin?"

"I need advice on my biology assignment." A third girl added. This one was really tall and had dark black hair in a long braid.

"Ladies, ladies." I smiled at them in my adorable and irresistible way. HELLO EGO, NICE TO SEE YOU BACK AGAIN! "I'll find a way to help all of you. Alvin Einstein doesn't leave his fans hangin.'"

When the girls walked away, chattering about how great I was, Eleanor grabbed me and shoved me against a wall.

"Wow. You know nothing." She told me. "It's kind of sad."

I struggled to break free of her grasp. "I know more than I did before."

"Oh really?" Her green eyes glared at me. "Why do you think those girls were nice to you when everyone else ignores you?"

"Because they still love me." I boasted. "They're crazy about me."

"No. They don't care about you at ALL." Eleanor revealed, shaking my world again. "They want you to do their homework for them. That's it."

Oh no! She was right! It was the kind of thing I did. Manipulation. I can't believe I almost fell for it. "They just wanna use me for my brain?" My ego deflated once more. Back to feeling like a nerdy nobody.

"Yep." Eleanor let me go.

I was furious. "Well, the jokes on them because I am failing literally everything except physics." I fumed.

The blonde Chipette's eyes went wide. "Even art and GYM?"

Oops. Why had I said that? Oh well, no hiding it now. "I have a D in gym. Technically passing, basically failing."

"In gym!?" Eleanor repeated.

I sighed. "I am NOT good at budgeting my time!"

"Dave is gonna be so freakin' pizzed." She reminded me.

"I know!" I grumbled. "My first A in a class and I can't even enjoy it because I got too involved and forgot about everything else."

She put a hand on my back. "Do you see now why Simon told you that you need a break from physics?"

I glumly nodded. "I'll figure it out somehow."

I walked away from her. It had not been a great day. Most of my days were like that now. Physics was ruining my life. How could I make myself shut up about it? How could I make myself stop thinking about it? But WITHOUT losing my intelligence and bouncing back to plain ol classic Alvin. That was important.

I needed a scheme. No, That was classic Alvin thinking. I needed a plan. I pondered possible plans as Britt sat down next to me in the cafeteria. What to do? What to do? What could motivate me to stop talking about physics?

"What should we talk about today?" Theodore asked our entire lunch table.

I waved my hand in the air and the others ignored me. Finally, I blurted out. "Let's talk music."

Brittany looked content with that idea. "Finally."

I took my glasses off the brim of my cap where I'd started storing them when they weren't in use. I wanted to see my friends' and brothers' faces.

"Dave's working on another jingle." Theodore squeaked.

Simon rolled his eyes. "This one's about bananas."

"It's a catchy song." My brother in green insisted.

"When do you think our next concert will be?" Brittany asked, picking at her mashed potatoes.

"No clue." Simon shrugged. "Dave hasn't scheduled us anywhere that I know of."

The science mojo hit me BAD again. Before I could stop myself, I blurted out. "Did you know that soundwaves can generate heat? My singing is literally hot! How cool is that!?"

"OH MY GOD! I will give you 20 dollars to stop talking about physics!" Britt hollered.

Suddenly, I had the GREATEST idea! "Ohoho! Deal."

Brittany handed me 20 dollars! 20 whole dollars! I knew what I had to do! I knew what could motivate me to shut up about science and get me a TON of cash as a bonus! Here's what I was gonna do. I would walk around the school and babble physics facts to everyone. When they asked me to stop, I would say "of course I'll stop, for a small fee of course." It was the most BRILLIANT OF ALL BRAIN BLASTS!

"Why are you smirking?" Eleanor asked, looking worried.

I fanned my face with the 20 dollar bill. Should I tell them? Should I keep it to myself? I would wait until lunch was almost over and mull over the pros and cons of each decision. That's what a genius would do.

Academically inclined or not, Alvin sure can scheme! The feels this chapter probably hit hard, right? I feel so bad for Brittany.

There's a fun song coming up in the next chapter! Also, Alvin gets to learn just how absolutely stupid his idea is. He's gonna face some steep consequences.

It'll be up soon! Unless I get distracted lol.

Also: Special Thanks to my friend Torchu212 for this part

JEANETTE: Brittany, you say everything Alvin does is for attention.

BRITTANY: Because it is!

JEANETTE: Is it, though?