Back again! I'm working hard to make this story the best it can be.

The following chapter contains one of my favorite "making fun of the Alvinnn TV show" moments. See if you can spot it.

Also, again, sorry in advance to Alvittany fans. Alvin/Alvin 2.0 is a clueless little guy sometimes.

Britt's POV

After Jeanette's little cafeteria stunt, which I have to admit was way more fun than it should have been, I got ready for the most frustrating class of all. Science class. Now, I have never had much interest in science, but before all these crazy changes to my life, I could at least tolerate that class. Now, I had to watch Simon and Simon the Second go head to head trying to out-smart each other. It was painful.

Before the class started, Jesse Sorbel (she's one of the nicer popular girls) leaned over my desk to ask me a question. "So how's your sister?"

"Which sister?" I muttered.

The friendly blonde girl with a curly ponytail raised an eyebrow. "The black haired one?"

I was confused for a bit. "I don't have a….ohhhh. You mean "punkanor?" I had forgotten Eleanor dyed her hair to get noticed. I was trying very hard to forget. Both my sisters could be so embarrassing. "She's fine."

Yes, I know I went through a punk phase once too, but that was only because back then I didn't want to be Alvin's soulmate. Now, I wanted to be his one and only more than anything! But not if he was going to become a clone of Simon!

"You sure?" Jesse set her notebook on her desk.

I folded my arms. "Absolutely. She's trying to get people to remember her name."

"Punkanor is a very unique name." The human girl tapped her chin.

I cringed. Was this what my poor baby sister put up with all the time? "Her name is ELEANOR." I stressed. "Eleanor. I was using Alvin's stupid pun name….ah forget it." I opened my science textbook.

Simon motioned for me to meet him in a corner. I assumed we were going to discuss all the craziness going on lately. I got up from my seat, but before I could reach Simon, Annie rudely tapped my shoulder.

"So, like, why is Alvin so scrawny now?" She asked.

"Did all his muscle mass relocate to his brain?" A muscular girl with dark hair, whose name was Alyssa, added.

I took a glance at Albert, who was busily working on science EXTRA CREDIT. He was so far gone. At least, now I knew why. It didn't make the situation any easier to cope with though. "I hope not. But I am afraid he's going to lose his athletic ability eventually." I told the mean girls.

Amber chewed a tootsie roll. "So sad. He was so much more charming before."

"Simon and I are trying to find a way to undo this." I assured them. "We'll get the old Alvin back, somehow."

And with that, I scurried away to meet Simon. We didn't have a lot of time before class started.

"Have you decided what you're going to tell the newborn nerd yet?" I whispered to the boy in the stylish dark wash jeans, medium blue T shirt, and royal blue jacket.

He shook his head sadly. "I don't know where to start. How do you tell your own brother that he's not who he thinks he is? That his identity crisis stems from the fact that you accidentally erased half his brain and substituted your own. That his worst fear of becoming you…is reality."

I was losing my patience with the guy. If he let this go on too long, more and more of the original Alvin would be overwritten. We had a chance to STOP it. If he would tell Albert, the nerdy guy would BEG to be changed back. Maybe he'd never be EXACTLY back to who he was, but whatever he became would be better than the insufferable genius stereotype!

"Just tell him WHATEVER. And do it soon! Because otherwise, he'll want to stay a scientist and you'll lose your thing." I warned him.

Simon's fur started to bristle. "I know that. It's just…a very delicate subject. Alvin's in no shape to handle it. I can't thrust him into disarray again so suddenly after everything that happened over the summer."

Oh, right. I wasn't even thinking about that. "So do we have to wait until he has another identity crisis? Or something?" I tapped my foot impatiently.

"I'm afraid so, yes." Simon sighed. "I don't like this any more than you do, but it's the only way."

He led me back to my seat and I took another glance at Albert. This time, Jeanette was feeding him more Nerds candy as he worked on his extra credit. Urgh. Maybe Simon's invention had changed Alvin, but Jeanette was making those changes a lot more pronounced with her magical candy. I had to get that candy away from him.

Class started and Simon and Alvin were raising their hands left and right, answering questions on the homework. Jeanette also answered a few and Eleanor answered one, though her answer wasn't really a science answer.

"Chemical compounds? The only thing I'm pounding is anyone who messes with me."

Come to think of it, she did the same thing in math class earlier today.

"The answer is X times this is stupid divided by the square root of nobody cares."

And history class.

"I call for a new American Revolution! Us vrs Miss. Smith! Embrace the chaos!"

And in English.

"Media literacy is dead. May it rest in peace…until it becomes a ZOMBIE! Now, if we're talkin' zombie literature, that's something I can get into."

Some students found her funny, but they still couldn't remember her name or who she was, no matter how many times she told them.

Miss. Smith stomped over to glare at the Chipette. "Did Alvin Seville put you up to this, young lady?"

"You're still blaming him for my bad behavior? Wow." Eleanor put her feet up on the desk. "And don't call me a young lady!"

"Do you want detention?" Our teacher had quite enough of all these changes too. "Because it can be arranged."

"Detention sounds like a blast." Eleanor stood on top of her desk. "Detention party! Whooooo! Who's with me!?"

"No parties! Detention, after school, with me. I have my eye on you, pigtailed girl." Miss. Smith handed my whacky sister a detention slip. Then, she made another and handed it to Alvin. "You can join her too, Alvin. I don't know what you're up to, but I know you're up to something."

Okay, now, I hated nerdy Alvin/Albert as much as the next person, but this was just wrong on so many levels. The redheaded chipmunk looked downright depressed.

"I….I didn't d..do anything!" He replied. "I've changed. I promise I've changed! I mean, LOOK AT ME!" He gestured to his disgustingly chunky glasses and mouth full of metal.

"Dressing like that isn't fooling anyone, Alvin." The stubborn old woman said with a frown. "I know you're up to no good. I have a sixth sense about that sort of thing."

"Miss. Smith, no." To my surprise, it wasn't Jeanette who was standing up for Alvin first. It was Simon. "Alvin didn't put Eleanor up to this. He really HAS changed." Simon glanced at me nervously. "A lot."

I stood up from my desk too. "He basically isn't even Alvin anymore." I added.

The nerdy boy in the red baseball cap glared at me.

Well, excuse me for being helpful!

"You can't prove he did anything." Jeanette squeaked timidly, but with a little bit more power than usual.

While they were all distracted, I took the opportunity to walk by Alvin's desk and remove all the boxes of Nerds candy from his backpack. I stuffed them in my purse. Nobody saw anything.

"He's got ALL of you fooled." Our teacher snapped coldly. "He's playing mind games with us."

Alvin gave up the fight and slunk down in his chair. "I don't know why I even bother trying."

Kevin, Warren, Cheesy, and Bruce exchanged glances with each other.

Then, Kevin, being the ringleader of all of them, stood up. "No, he's not. He's genuinely trying to be a good person."

"Yeah! And punk girl is just trying to be funny." Cheesy added. "Liven things up a bit!"

Bruce and Warren raised their fists in agreement.

Even Derek decided to say something on Alvin's behalf. "No one could fake being that nerdy."

"Yeah!" We all chorused.

Vanessa and Anita also came to Alvin's defense. "You can't give him detention for doing nothing."

Theodore, who had been watching everything going on, trying to decide what to say, finally spoke up. "If you give him detention for doing nothing, you might as well give all of us detention for defending him." DANG IT, THEO!

So, at the end of the school day, none of us who stood up for Alvin got to go to our extracurricular activities. We were all stuck in detention. This was a major pain in the butt. Why is this school so unfair?

"Nice going, Theo." Eleanor grumbled sarcastically.

Theodore sighed and then looked at her angrily. "You started it."

"Miss. Smith started it, if ya ask me." Cheesy added into the conversation.

Derek pounded his fists on the table. "Why doesn't anything make sense anymore?"

"Because of Albert." I said, staring at all the people that were gathered around the detention room.

"It's Alvin." The dorkiest chipmunk ever replied with a hiss. "Alvin! A-L-V-I-N!"

"Then act like Alvin." I poked his side with a neatly manicured finger.

Vanessa scolded me. "Calling him that is not making the identity crisis any better."

"The identity crisis is pretty much over." Anti-Alvin lied. "I found myself over the summer. Really, I did."

Bruce gasped. "Are you saying all this is permanent?"

The geek living in Alvin's body slumped his shoulders. "I…I…think so."

"We'll get used to it." Vanessa promised him.

"Brittany won't." Eleanor laughed.

I crumpled a piece of paper and threw it at her. "STOP TALKING, SIS!"

"I'm sorry Ellie and I got us all detention." Theodore whimpered. "But please don't fight."

"This is ridiculous." Simon announced, getting up from the table. "I should be at chess club, but instead I'm stuck here because I defended my brother from unfair punishment."

"And I'm missing cheer practice!" I wailed.

"QUIET DOWN!" Miss. Smith barged into the room. "This is not the time for your discussions." She took her seat at the teacher's desk in the detention room. "Now, if I hear another peep out of any of you, it's detention for a month! Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes ma'am." Warren replied, before covering his mouth. "I'm sorry! I was just answering your question. You can't give me a month's detention! My parents would disown me!"

"It's fine, Warren." Miss. Smith groaned. "Don't let it happen again."

The dark haired Asian kid sat down and busied himself working on his homework. The rest of the group followed, except for me, Eleanor, and Derek.

I figured I had better get started. I shuffled through my neatly organized backpack to find everything I wanted to get accomplished. I was still very upset about missing cheer practice. Very upset.

I noticed Derek pass a note to Eleanor. Then, I found out she had passed the note to me. It said "Cool look, crazy chick." I stared at it. Did Derek have a crush on her? Or did he just want to be friends with her? This was shaping up to be the weirdest school year ever.

Eleanor wiggled her eyebrows at me before she too started working on her homework. It was worse than I thought. Alvin's changes were inspiring other people to change. Horrific when Alvin's changes weren't even what Alvin truly wanted.

I looked at Jeanette. I had to figure out where her candy stash was and destroy it, before she could use the candy to taint Alvin more. Could I just…ask her? Would she tell me? She never has been good at keeping secrets.

After detention ended and we all went home, I searched around the treehouse for the stash. It HAD to be here! I looked in cupboards and under things and even in weird places like behind Jeanette's vase full of irises that Alvin bought her. Nothing. Nothing at all. Not even a tiny box.

Jeanette wasn't home yet. She likely wouldn't be for a while. Detention made her uncomfortable, so she told me she was heading to the library to calm down. I picked up my cell phone and called her. Predictably, I got her voicemail.

"Hi, You've reached Jeanette Miller. I'm currently not able to come to the phone right now, but I can't wait to hear your lovely message. Have a wonderful and magical day!"

I slammed the phone down and threw myself on the couch. Pippi came around to try and comfort me. She brought me a chocolate bar. That little mouse was so cute. Wait, that's weird. Why wasn't Pippi with Jeanette? Jeanette didn't take her to school today? I thought she took Pippi to school every day. Hmmm. Maybe I was wrong.

"I wish I had Jeanette's power, so I could understand you." I told the little mouse in the cute yellow dress and matching sunflower hair clip. "Why did I have to be cursed with superstrength?" I moaned.

It wasn't the most feminine power. I prided myself on my femininity. I wanted to be the most feminine girl alive. Plus, I felt a lot more successful as a strong, independent, woman before I found out that I had basically cheated to be this strong. Without powers, Eleanor would be the strongest one. So unfair!

I heard a knock on the door of the treehouse. If that was my sister in those disgusting fishnet leggings, I was gonna give her a piece of my mind. She was acting worse than the old Alvin ever did. It was embarrassing to be associated with her.

I opened the door and saw my other least favorite person. His braces gleamed in the sunlight as he smiled awkwardly. "What do you want, Albert?" I asked.

"Alvin." He repeated. "Please, call me Alvin."

"I'll call you Al." I sassed.

He shook his head. "It sounds like an old grampa name."

I felt my lips curl into a grin. "How about Alvie?"

He groaned. "Fine. Fine. I can live with Alvie."

"So what brings you here, geekazoid?" I asked, allowing him to come inside. "Looking for Jeanette?"

"A…Actually, I came to talk to you." He reached into the pocket of his red and style starved bubble vest that made him look kinda like Marty McFly from Back To The Future….if Marty wore galaxy leggings.

I let my protective wall of anger fall. "Me?"

"Yeah. I feel bad for outing your superpower when it clearly makes you uncomfortable, so….I got you a little gift to apologize." He squeaked. "Close your eyes, now. No peeking."

I humored the poor little sap and closed my eyes. He slipped something into my hand. It felt like jewelry.

"Now, open them!" Alvie waved his hands theatrically.

I peered at the shiny necklace in my hands. It was made of a funny metal, one that turned from golden colored to silver colored, depending on how you held it. An optical illusion. The most surprising thing about it was that the pendant on the necklace had a beautiful red gemstone in the shape of a heart. I flipped the heart pendant around and noticed a white gemstone on the back of it also in the shape of a heart. The necklace was reversible. It would go with every outfit.

"Oh, Alvie, it's beautiful." For a small moment, I forgot all about Alvin's changes. My future boyfriend had given me a gift to prove his undying love for me. "So, does this mean what I think it means?" I asked coyly.

"Best apology gift ever, am I right? I saw it and thought, hey, Britt's gonna love this! She loves hearts! They're like her favorite motif." He rambled.

My fantasy came crashing down around me. "So it's not…romantic?" I set the heart necklace down on the kitchen table. I didn't even want to look at it.

"What? Of course not! Why would it be? We're just friends." He insisted. "Totally platonic best buddies. Not that you really act much like a best buddy anymore."

I was now furious. How dare he pull the same stupid stunt he did with the roses and chocolates!? He was toying with my feelings! It may even be on purpose!

"Yeah, well maybe we'd still be best buddies if you hadn't flipped from Bart to Millhouse!" I shrieked with rage.

Albert took a step back. "Of course you would watch a show I like only to turn around and use it to make fun of me." He mumbled.

"I'm sorry. I just….I miss classic so much, Alvie. You have no idea how much." My nerves were fraying faster by the minute.

"It's not like classic Alvin's gone." He rubbed the sleeves of his cyan T shirt with the lightbulb on it. "He's just encased in a…protective shell of…nerd."

"He might as well be gone." I sulked. "Your dreams are all about being a famous scientist now."

He looked shocked. "How did you know that?" He glared at me. "Stay out of my dreams!"

I couldn't come up with a better comeback than. "You stay out of mine!"

"I didn't go in your dreams!" He insisted. "At least, not on purpose."

I growled back at him. "You must have! How else could we both have the same dream!"

"I share dreams with Theo and Si a lot." He shrugged. Then, the full nerd took over AGAIN. "Fun fact: Did you know dreams are basically just electricity zapping around in your brain?"

"Say one more thing about brains and I will brain you!" I raised my fist. If I had this stupid superpower, I might as well use it.

Alvin tapped his red dorky frames. "You wouldn't hit a guy with glasses!" He taunted.

"Don't test me." I snapped.

He backed away from me and tripped over a chair leg. "You can't hit a guy who's had 8 concussions!" He sounded more genuinely afraid now.

I lowered my fists. "Oh come on. Yeah, okay, you're right. Last thing I want to do is make you even smarter." I felt a cold chill up my back. He was just going to keep getting smarter regardless of what I did….Until he was nothing but another Simon.

"Speaking of superstrength." Albert babbled on. "Why do you hate your power so much?"

"You wouldn't understand. You aren't a girl." I fumed.

"I'm a lot more open-minded. Remember? Try me." He insisted. "Also, what does being a girl have to do with superstrength?"

"EVERYTHING." I wailed. "Most people naturally think girls are weak. It is a fight to be seen as someone capable, yet feminine. I have worked really really hard to prove to people that I am strong and independent! But now that you blabbed about me having superstrength…" I covered my face with my hands as I sat down. "It doesn't even count. None of my hard work matters anymore."

He looked upset at my words. "That's like saying Simon's intelligence doesn't count. Theodore's sense of taste doesn't count. Eleanor's stealth doesn't count. Jeanette's understanding and compassion doesn't count. Do you realize how STUPID that sounds?"

I just looked up at him with sad eyes. I felt pathetic.

He patted my back. "Superpowers aren't random, Brittany. They're usually based on personality. If you got superstrength as your power, it was because you were already really strong!" He walked in front of me and looked into my eyes. "You'd still be a strong, independent, woman without it. It's who you are. Your true strength comes from your love, and, well, heart is an awesome power." He picked the necklace up off the table and held it out to me. "Get it? Heart is an awesome power? Heart necklace. Hoho, TV trope references are the best."

I felt myself smile a little and then clasped the necklace around my neck. It may not have been the romantic gift I wanted, but I guess it DID still represent love. It represented my love for my family and friends.

Alvin was so nice. It's like he knew exactly what to say. Maybe giving him half Simon's brain was an improvement? No! Ew! What am I saying? It's ruined him. Alvin was sweet before, but now he's got it…like intensified. I want him back to the half-sweet half-bad boy he was.

"Thank you, Alvin." I touched the necklace around my neck. I wore it with the red side of the pendant facing out. Then, I decided to ask another question. "So what you said, about this all being…p…permanent. Is it really true?"

"I dunno. It feels permanent." He touched his wild red hair. More proof he was cursed. Curses almost always change hair color in some way.

"You….actually like being a stereotype?" I recoiled in horror in my mind, making sure to seem sympathetic on the outside.

He frowned. "I'm not a stereotype."

"You could have fooled me." I sassed out of habit.

"I know I look like one, and sometimes sound like one but…. I'm still me." He furrowed his brows. "Besides, It's kinda your fault."

I felt my fur bristle. "No. It's actually not my fault you turned into this. All I did was make you realize you weren't as popular as you thought." I blurted out. "You're the one who went all "gee, I guess I'm going to be a total dweeb now. Oh well, goodbye old life!"

"You were the catalyst." Alvie pointed a finger at me. "Your decision resulted in a chain reaction that caused all this. Face it, Britt. You created this mess. It is ALL on you."

Oh how clueless he was. "Wrong again! You know, I actually know how you became a genius." I told him with a sneer. "It's a doozy. Would you like me to tell you?" If Simon wouldn't, someone had to.

Albert glanced at his watch. "Nah, I'm a little short on time right now. Jeanette needs me for a chemistry project." Urgh! I bet he thinks they have great chemistry. They probably do, now that he's Simon-ized.

"But….but…" I squeaked. He couldn't leave! Not yet! I was enjoying our argument!

"Enjoy your new necklace." He opened the door and walked out. "I'm sure whatever whacky theory you have concocted can wait." With that, he shut the door and raced down the treehouse steps.

I came out onto the patio and shouted down at him. "SIMON FRIED YOUR BRAIN!" I don't think he heard me.

My best friend was trapped inside his own mind, watching another person who was a fusion of himself and Simon live his life. Things could only get worse from here. I needed to find a way to get classic Alvin out of there! I liked Simon's idea of separating the two. Albert could have Jeanette and I could have THE REAL Alvin. It would fix EVERYTHING! But unfortunately, things weren't so simple.

I sulked up to my room and turned on the music app on my phone. My voice came out of it, along with my sisters. It was one of my favorite songs, but now it took on a different vibe.

"All on me.

Nothing like how it used to be

Everything will go differently

Gotta step it up now that I know the things that I know"

I sobbed into the pillow in front of me. Why was this becoming a pattern? Crying felt nice, but I was supposed to be the rock of this family. I wasn't supposed to get so hysterical over this!

"I can't go back

Gotta keep the train on the track

And I'm learning now as I go and go

I keep saying to myself now"

Visions of me and the old Alvin drifted through my mind. I missed him so much. Why had this happened? What kind of cruel joke was this?

"The whole world on your shoulders

It's your turn to be strong

They'll get it when they're older

Just keep going on and on"

I turned the music up louder and sang along through my tears. It was the emotional release I needed since my entire life had spiraled out of control.

"All on me and it's okay

Cuz we'll all see another day

I will pick us up when we're low

Be right there wherever you go."

Pippi came to hand me a box of tissues. I blew my nose into one and continued to cry. Growing up sure was a pain in the tail. 10th grade hadn't gone according to plan so far. It was only the first day, but the first day pretty much set the tone for the rest of the year. What a nightmare!

Speaking of nightmares. It was weird that Alvin and I had shared a dream. Did that mean we were soulmates after all? I know dream sharing is common in soulmates. Oh no! Did that mean nerdy Alvin was my soulmate and not classic? Ewwww! Are you kidding me? No, no. It has to mean something different.

I petted Pippi's head as I waited for my emotional outburst to end. I was very tired and still very very angry about missing cheer practice. I made up my mind. If Simon was too scared to tell Alvin what's really wrong with him, I would pester Simon until he realized I was right. We were RUNNING OUT OF TIME TO SAVE HIS BROTHER!

ALVIN: You're gonna hate me for this, but we are once again stopping with you crying into a pillow.

BRITTANY: I swear you keep doing this on purpose.

ALVIN: Really, I don't! Honest!

BRITTANY: Whatever you say, weirdo.

ALVIN: We now return to my interpretation of the story! Get ready for more of me and Jeanette bonding!

BRITTANY: (sarcastically) Oh joy.

ALVIN: Come on! Admit it! We are cute together!

BRITTANY: Fine. Okay. You both are pretty adorable.

ALVIN: And Adorkable!

BRITTANY: URGH.

Genius-Alvin's POV

Well, that wasn't a total disaster at least. I managed to have some of a conversation with Britt before she went back to insisting I wasn't me anymore. I didn't understand why. Character development was a good thing! Couldn't anyone besides Jeanette see that? Sure, okay, maybe I was jumping into this whole scientist thing too fast? But the other option was to let the flying skateboard idea cook in my brain endlessly without doing anything with it. THAT felt torturous.

I slipped off my vest and slipped on my labcoat. Then, I hurried into our basement at home. Jeanette was already there in her purple labcoat with one of the toys she bought me as a reward for all my hard work. It was a junior mad scientist's kit! We were gonna use it to make some magic and chemistry!

"Ohoho! It is slime time!" I grinned. "What's the secret recipe?"

"One half cup of glue, one half teaspoon of baking soda, a couple drops of food coloring, one tablespoon of boric acid and sodium borate from Dave's eye contact solution, and a teaspoon of baby oil." Jeanette recited the instructions from memory. "Mix it all together in a bowl and then you get slime!"

"What color should we make it?" I asked, feeling my tail wag. I was EXCITED!

"What color would you like to make it?" She adjusted her round purple frames as she started to add ingredients.

"Hmmm. Can we make it red and cyan?" I asked.

She giggled. "That would make it purple."

"Ah, okay, not that purple isn't a super cool color, but…are ya sure we can't get it red and cyan swirled?" I was indecisive. How could I pick between those? They were both my main colors now!

"Yeah. I'm pretty sure it's gotta be one color. It must be mixed very thoroughly or it won't be the correct consistency." She twirled the spoon in her hand.

I looked at the red and blue food coloring. My hand grabbed the bottle of red. "Then I choose red." I squeaked. "But we're gonna need a lot of red, otherwise it'll be pink."

She giggled again. "And what's so bad about pink?"

"Reminds me too much of Britt." I added the contact solution of Dave's to the bowl. I'm sure later he would wonder where the solution went. I totally intended to put it back, so he could use it on his contact lenses. That's right! Theo's the only lucky duck in this family who doesn't need glasses. I'm so jealous.

"Did Brittany hurt you again?" Jeanette squirted some glue into the mixture. "Don't take it too hard. She's only upset she missed cheer practice. I sent Pippi home to look after her. I know Pippi is very good at cheering people up."

I felt my fur start to bristle. "It wasn't about cheer practice. It was about, you know…" I pointed at my face. "All this."

"I don't follow. Is she mad you got braces?" My beautiful friend inquired.

I shrugged. "She's mad I embraced looking like a total dweeb."

"Are you sure there's not anything else that upset her?" Jeanette stirred the bowl faster. "Ready for food coloring now."

I squirted the red food coloring in. Five drops instead of two. The mixture still looked pink, so I added five more. "Uh….maybe one more thing." I sighed. "Brittany got all upset when I gave her a heart necklace."

Netta was as confused as I was. "But….but she loves everything heart shaped!"

"I know!" I threw my arms in the air, causing the red food coloring to drip out of the bottle and splash on Simon's table. "Apparently she thought it was a romantic gesture and went all angry madwoman when I said it was just another apology gift. I gave it to her because I saw it and thought of her. That's all! I didn't realize what it would seem like!" I wiped up the spill, but it left a pink stain mark on Simon's lab table. Oh no.

"Why would she think it was romantic?" Jeanette handed me the box of baking soda and pointed to the stain as she pondered the insanity of her sister.

I didn't know if the baking soda would actually take off the stain, but if Jeanette had faith in the idea, it was worth a shot. "Apparently hearts equal romance." I rolled my eyes.

Netta was befuddled. "Hearts symbolize love, but love comes in many many MANY forms." She reasoned.

"THANK YOU!" I shouted. "See!? You get it! Why is your sister like this!?" I was happy to have SOMEONE who saw the situation the same way I had.

Jeanette handed me the mixture to stir once I cleaned up the pink stain. "Perhaps she watches too many soap operas."

I could feel the mixture taking on a slime-like consistency. Awesome! Who knew chemistry could be so FUN!? "Yeah! She's always got romance and growing up on the brain. Oh, and being homecoming queen."

"She would make a good homecoming queen." The Chipette in purple said, looking off into space. "She has several of the qualities that make her objectively the best candidate."

"Yeah. She's a popular and stuck up Witch with a B." I muttered. LIKE I USED TO BE! Granted I wasn't the B word. I was the bad A word. The one that means donkey. But not anymore. Those days were all in the past.

"Alvin, no. That isn't what I mean at all." Jeanette's midnight eyes stared lovingly at me, with sadness behind them. "She's hurting. She lashes out when she's hurting. It's her defense mechanism. She's a very sweet person. Please don't call her a stuck up witch."

"Come on, Jeanette. I mean stuck up witch in the nicest way possible." Classic Alvin said very loudly in my brain. "Tell her that, nerd boy."

"No. You're just going to make the situation worse." My "Albert" side warned.

Classic Alvin was adamant. "She'll understand you're joking." I could feel him taking control. I shoved him back as hard as I could.

"Sorry sorry." I rasped out loud, my voice cracking oddly. "I won't call her that anymore. I promise, Netta."

Britt's self defense mechanism was lashing out angrily. Theo's was losing himself in baby shows. Eleanor's was….uhhh….I have no idea. Simon's was making sure everyone else felt dumber than him. And mine? Well, mine was holding classic Alvin back with the protective shell of nerd.

"So, uh,…" I took the finished slime from the bowl and started to play with it. "What qualities do you think make the best homecoming queen?"

Jeanette sat down in Simon's lab chair and fidgeted with her necklace. "Leadership for one." She replied. "Also school spirit, involvement in many school activities, helpfulness, poise, grace, and integrity."

She must have had a pretty warped view of her sister. Brittany? Helpful! Who does Brittany help? Brittany! That's who. I on the other hand, err paw, or whatever, suddenly have the desire to help everyone. I hypothesize it's the combined result from Jeanette inspiring me AND a nice distraction from the constant crisis-es and self doubt that plague my mind. (Our mind? Pretty sure there's now three of us in here.)

"I see. Plus, I bet Britt would look really hot in a homecoming dress." I added.

Jeanette giggled. "I don't see how anyone could spend time with you and think that your personality is gone. Especially when you say things like that."

"Maybe I gotta start letting classic Alvin out more in front of more people than you." I squeezed the slime. "Then they'll see I'm not so different. It's just really hard to let him out at school, you know, given my reputation."

"Yes. You do. But don't worry so much about ruining your reputation. I have complete faith in you." She hugged me. "The training has worked. I promise."

I felt my cheeks heat up again. Why does that happen every time she's around me? Because I am CERTAIN! I don't have a crush on her.

Jeanette and I hung out in the lab a little longer, talking to each other and infodumping more to each other, doing homework together. That last thing was really hard because my mind was wandering all over the place. All my Nerds candy ran out and I had grown accustomed to using it to focus. Regardless, time just flew by. Eventually, Netta went home and I went upstairs to prepare for dinner.

I bumped into Theodore as I entered the dining room.

"Hi, Simon." He quipped.

"Alvin!" I shouted. "Did Brittany put lies in your head?"

"Sorry, Alvin." My little brother's brown eyes blinked. "You're not wearing much red."

Oh? I looked down at my outfit. Without the red bubble vest, all I had was the cyan shirt with the gold lightbulb and lighter cyan labcoat. The only red was on my cap and my shoes. "Oops." I took the labcoat off and threw it in the laundry hamper, grabbing my red hoodie from the hamper instead. It was a bit smelly, but it was red. I needed to wear red in order to prove I was still Alvin!

"This better?" I asked, pulling at the unzipped sides of the red hoodie confidently.

"Still missing the A, but I guess it's better." Theodore frowned. "How are you feeling?"

"Uhhhh…" Come on, brain! Think! "W…Well, you know, at least everyone in school is talking about me, even though it's not all good things. At least I'm not ignored like the wannabee Punky Brewster."

"I don't think Punky Brewster actually dressed like a punk." He squeaked in his childlike tone.

"She didn't? Must have her mixed up with someone else. Anyhulahoop…" I had entirely lost my train of thought. I'd been eating a few Nerds candies every now and then for so long, that without them, I was out of practice dealing with my wandering mind. "What were we talking about again?"

"School. How you felt about school." Theodore frowned. "Is Brittany still being a meanie to you?"

"Yeah, she is. Kinda." I thought back to what Jeanette said about Britt's defense mechanics or whatever it was called. "Cut Brittany some slack, okay? She thinks she's lost her best friend, and, well, if she keeps acting this way, she's going to." I stated in my scholarly sounding voice.

"I'll talk to her and ask her to be nicer to you." My sweet as pie brother offered. "Do you think that would work?"

"Anything's worth a shot, Theo." I took out my phone. "Hey, do you remember where I wrote down Dr. Wilson's email by any chance?" I asked. I had a feeling I had told him or Simon, but I couldn't remember which one. I had been meaning to email Dr. W. for a while. I wanted to ask how his summer went.

"Yeah! It's in your notes app on your phone." Theodore said, climbing up into one of the kitchen chairs.

Simon joined us, wearing his bathrobe once more. We were all ready for whatever Dave cooked for dinner tonight.

I would have helped, but I was very busy creating slime, which was far more important.

"Simon…" Theo poked at the boy in the bathrobe. "Are you okay?"

"Does Alvin still want to be a scientist?" Simon asked.

"Yes." I replied, while I located the email for my beloved teacher and started typing out a friendly message for him.

"Then no." Simon answered, resting his head tiredly on one of his hands. He looked beat. I couldn't have possibly tired him out that much. Could I?

Eh, I didn't have time to worry about it. I looked over the email I was about to send to Dr. Wilson and proofread it. I had to make sure the grammar and spelling were on point.

"Salutations, Dr. Wilson! It's me, your favorite student. Alvin!

I've been having a lot of struggles since you left. The summer was particularly daunting. You see, I kind of went through a whole identity crisis. I think it's over now. I've realized that I want to become an inventor! I have my very first invention idea for a super cool skateboard that can turn into a flying machine. I haven't gotten to build it yet, but I'll keep you posted.

I hope that you're doing well at your new school. I hope the kids appreciate you as much as I do. I think you're stupendous! (That's a word my friend Jeanette taught me.) You've really changed my life for the better, even if my family is having a rough time adjusting to it.

Hope to hear back from you soon. I think about you a lot, especially every time I crack open a physics book or put my knowledge to good use. I will continue my quest to improve myself. I don't know exactly where it'll lead yet. Every day is a surprise. But, hey, I love surprises.

Sincerely,

the brightest young scholar you know,

Alvin Seville"

I hit send and then decided since Simon was still in a funk and Theo was trying to hopelessly get him out of the funk, I would check more of the stuff written in my notes.

There wasn't a lot. Some stray song lyrics, a couple equations for calculating the perfect soccer plays, and some funny jokes I'd accumulated to memorize and use when a good situation called for them. Weirdly, there was also something written that said URGENT! at the top.

I opened the full note.

"URGENT!

This is classic Alvin, as you call me. I'm writing this to you because I'm not sure how much longer I have left to exist. Your nerd side is overtaking you and you're continuing to let it. I've pretty much lost the battle. I understand that. I'm not going down without a fight though. When I'm gone, please…don't forget how awesome I was. Don't forget how talented I was. Don't forget that you can stop all this whenever you want to. You can regain your popularity! You have what it takes! Seek out Brittany! She knows how! Please, do it before I fade away into the depths of your mind never to resurface again. I'm begging you."

Ooookay, now this is getting weird. It was already weird, but now it's weird-der. Who wrote that? Was it Classic? Was it Brittany? Eleanor? Me during the identity crisis? I'm gonna guess it was option number four.

"I wrote it, doofus!" Classic said, materializing as a hallucination in the chair next to me. "Because you don't see what's happening to you. You're all caught up in the thrills of science junk."

"Jeanette said I'm still me. I still feel like me. Therefore, I am still me." I reasoned to him, whispering. I didn't want Simon and Theo to see me talking to an empty chair.

"Yeah, for now. Until you throw away everything else to pursue science!" Classic huffed. His entire transparent body started to glitch wildly. "See? Look at this! I wouldn't be all glitchy if I wasn't fading away! For a genius, you don't notice stuff that's right in front of your nose."

I folded my hands as I tried to stay calm. I was terrified, but I recognized that this had to be an illusion based on my fears. It wasn't actually going to happen. Jeanette promised Classic Me would never go anywhere. "I have absolutely no intention of throwing away everything to pursue science."

"Well, mister wannabe inventor, I can't believe a word you say." Classic's form glitched with a pixely flicker again and he crossed his arms. "Everything you claim to hate, you wind up falling in love with."

He had a point there. "Fine. I'll start letting you influence me more. I promise."

"Again, your words mean nothing. But if you can stick to that promise, then hopefully you won't become a full nerd." He vanished from the chair.

I was beyond irritated now. I was hungry, my mind was STILL wandering, and now I had an upset stomach from reading Classic's warning.

"Who wants some veggie lasagna?" Dave asked, shaking me back to reality.

"I do!" I squeaked.

"Always!" Theodore added.

Simon raised his head off the table and gave an unenthusiastic thumbs up.

The veggie lasagna was delicious. I finished eating it before my brothers, since Theo asked for a second helping and Simon ate his very slowly. Without being able to leave the table until everyone is finished, due to Dave's ridiculous rule, I was bored.

I got my phone out and ran through my texts, seeing if any new ones had come through. There was a string of random emojis from Jeanette. An alien head, a test tube, a red heart, and her signature smiling kitty face. Awww. She was saying she had fun making alien slime with me. At least, I hoped that's what she was saying.

There was a new text from Brittany that provided me with a link to a website about signs of Nerdification. Despite my skepticism, I found myself clicking on the link anyway. I was curious what it said. I really am a doofus genius.

"Signs you're becoming a victim of a Nerd-ification

Phase 1: Curiosity about the world around you. You begin to feel all questions must have answers. You're fascinated by everything."

Okay, that did sound uncomfortably like the new me. I had clicked on this website out of sheer curiosity. There wasn't anything I didn't want to know. That didn't make me a full nerd. Did it?

"Phase 2: Expanding vocabulary! You suddenly take great joy in using enormous words where small ones would suffice."

Yikes! That one was definitely accurate. Since my vocab words of the day during Jeanette's lessons, I was a walking dictionary. Of course, I'd always been sorta wordy before. I did read the dictionary for fun while I was grounded, since there wasn't much else to do.

"Phase 3: Need To Read! Sudden interest in books of any kind. It's a craving that cannot be ignored. Sci fi and fantasy can lead to an accompanying geek transformation."

Ever since I got my reading glasses, I had become a reading machine. Brittany was beginning to sound less and less crazy. Could I actually have doomed myself to becoming a complete nerd stereotype by trying hard not to be one?

"Phase 4: Intellectual humor! Science and math puns galore. You become sharp witted and sharp tongued."

FRACK! That fit me too well. This is FREAKY!

"Phase 5: Awkwardness! Feeling like a social outcast and acting accordingly. Your attempts to be charming or suave no longer work. You may also become clumsy in extreme cases."

NO NO NO NO! I HAD traded in my charm and charisma for awkwardness.

"Phase 6: Shifting Ambitions! You dedicate as much time to your new hobbies as possible and immerse yourself. You discard anything that isn't conducive to your new nerdy ambitions."

Discard things that don't fit my new persona? Did she mean things like sports? Playing guitar and harmonica? Uhhh…shoot, what ARE my other non nerdy hobbies? I'm pretty sure videogames and comics are considered geek stuff.

"Nohoho! Shifting Ambitions! That's the last phase and then you're fully him." Classic Alvin was back. Again.

"Fully who?" I asked.

"ALBERT!" Classic Alvin gulped. "We've gotta stop this!"

"How do I stop it if I don't want to be popular again?" I responded.

"Sing. Sing, man! Recapture your passion for singing. Re-ignite the spark!" He told me.

"Stupendous." I smiled. "I'll sing to myself while I work on my invention."

He groaned loudly and then retreated once more to hide out, wherever it is he goes when he's not scolding me for destroying our lives.

After dinner, Simon followed me into his closet lab to help me put together a prototype for my flying skateboard. I was giddy! All the thoughts of what I'd read earlier had left my mind. It was only focused on making this flying skateboard work the way I imagined it would.

"So, I was thinking…" I showed Simon a revised blueprint. "Instead of bird-like flappy wings, I can go with something more similar to an airplane."

"Oh?" He looked surprised. "That's…not actually a bad idea."

"But wait, there's more!" I smiled.

"You have some cheese stuck in your braces. You really oughta clean those better." Simon remarked.

"Yeah, yeah, I will." It didn't seem that important at the moment. "Anyway, strapping the rocket boosters to my skateboard was a totally dumb idea. You were right. I'll admit that. So, I have decided that I will make the rocket boosters fully attached. They'll be part of the mainframe! This way, I won't have to sacrifice my favorite skateboard for tests. I'll be building an entirely brand new one."

"Won't it be too clunky to ride if the rocket boosters and wings are attached?" Simon asked, taking my notebook that contained my concept art.

"Not if the rocket boosters are small! And the wings can slide in and out. You know, they can come out the way you unfold a pocket knife!" I demonstrated with my arms. "And it can be activated by a press button."

"Hmmm." He rubbed his chin.

I ran off and then rolled into the lab on my usual skateboard. You're still not getting it. I can tell. "Imagine it like this…" I waved my arm in an arc and then skated through his lab on the skateboard. "You're just skating along, and then…you push this button and the wings go WHOOOSH! They slide out from inside the board, giving you the power to glide. The rocket boosters activate and suddenly, bam! You can not only glide, you can FLY!" My physics hallucinations kicked in and I swerved out of the way seconds before I would have slammed my hip into Simon's lab table. I jumped off the board and flipped it up, catching it in my hands without even really needing to think much about the physics if it. That was pure muscle memory.

Simon looked at me with a hint of awe. Just a tiny hint. "It's not as bad as your previous idea. I'll give you that."

"Do you think it'll work?" I dropped the skateboard on my toe. Curse my excitement getting the better of me.

My brother in the royal blue jacket shook his head. "Absolutely not. I don't think what you described will be practical."

"Who cares if it's practical!? It's for ME! It's just for me!" I sat in a chair and rubbed my achy toe.

He sighed again. "Okay, if you're really passionate about this idea, I suppose I have no choice but to help you."

"Because I'm your brother? And you love me!?" I grinned. I knew I was pushing it, but I did promise to engage my classic Alvin impulses more!

He started gathering materials for us to work with. "Mostly because Dave told me I have to."

"Wow, Dave made a good decision for once." I commented. "That's actually shocking."

"We don't want you to fall back into the crisis you had over the summer." He explained. "But I should warn you, your invention idea may still not work. Because you're new at this. There's a whole process…."

"Called the scientific method." I finished for him, grabbing some rocket boosters from a bin of his. "I know. I'm very familiar with it."

"You're not using my rocket boosters." He snatched the bin away. "If you want to have rocket boosters, you have to create your own. I will teach you how, but I can't have you stealing my supplies to create your inventions. Understand?"

I guess that was fair. Still pretty much sucked though. "Yes. Okay. Fine."

A few days later, after a grueling school week and lots of crazy mishaps and more shenanigans from Eleanor the punk goth rocker chick, Simon and I had built a fully functional flying skateboard prototype. Well, I had, actually. Simon was mainly there to give advice and make sure I didn't set myself on fire or blow myself up.

"Ready for the test!" I beamed, holding my prototype proudly. "Where should we test it?"

"Outside, definitely outside." Simon replied, leading me out of the lab. "And nowhere near the pool."

"I know that, Si." I groaned. "Mechanical devices and water don't mix. Have you forgotten I know physics inside and out?"

"Forgive me. I'm a bit confused. Yesterday you asked me if it was possible to grow your own money tree. It's as if you alternate between being too stupid for your own good and too smart for your own good." He said dryly.

"Ohoho! I know! I'm unpredictable!" I did a small victory dance. I know it was premature, but I was just so HYPED. I tied my cyan jacket around my hips, fully revealing the red T shirt with a rocket on it underneath. I had chosen to wear jeans today instead of leggings. "Are ya ready to have your expectations shattered, Si?"

He rolled his eyes and then seated himself in a lawn chair. He was wearing a plain blue T shirt and darker blue shorts. "Clean your glasses, bro. They are filthy." He told me.

"Huh?" I pulled my red glasses off my face. "They are? Wait, is cleaning glasses something that we actually have to do? I thought it was just an expression that meant, "look closer and see what I see."

He took a tiny spray bottle and a circular bit of fabric from his pocket. Then, he cleaned my glasses for me and put them back on my face. "You have so much to learn about being me. I almost feel sorry for you."

"What do you mean being you? I am very much myself." Wow! I could see even clearer than before. No more fingerprinted lenses!

He looked frightened. "Oh, uh, yeah. Yeah you are. I just meant, uh, being more like me." Nope. Nuh uh. I didn't believe it. He was hiding something. Something huge.

But did I have time to care about that? No! This scientist, err, half-scientist was about to prove himself. I strapped on my helmet and started riding down the driveway on my new shiny sliver skateboard.

"Ready to see what this thing can do?" I asked Simon.

He still looked visibly worried.

"Activating wings and rocket boosters in 3…2…1!" I counted down. "Blastoff!"

Blastoff indeed. The board blasted off and right out from under my feet. The wings didn't pop out. Oh, wait, no. One of them did. And then it flew hazardly through the sky and landed in a tree in Ms. Croner's yard. My invention was a flop.

I picked myself up off the concrete and Simon was there to help me regain my balance. He was smiling and I could tell he was trying hard not to laugh.

"I told you inventing is tougher than it looks." He repeated for the thousandth time.

We scrambled over to retrieve the dud of a prototype from the tree in Ms. Croner's yard. "Maybe I just need to make sure that the take off isn't as fast. I mean, it was accelerating at a higher rate than I expected it to."

Simon looked up at my invention. A slice of silver shining from within the bright kelly green leaves. "At least it didn't explode." He remarked.

I knew exactly what would happen next. I started counting down on my fingers. "In 3…2…1."

BOOM! The prototype skateboard exploded, sending debris flying in all directions. There was now a very large smoking hole blasted through several branches of the tree. The leaves around the hole were charred.

"Just couldn't keep your mouth shut, could ya, Simon?" I asked, gesturing up at the site of the explosion.

"We can't let Ms. Croner see that!" Simon frantically paced back and forth. "How do we fix it?"

"You, don't say or do anything. I have to explain it. It's my frack up. I claim full responsibility." I hung my head in shame.

"You what now?" He blinked.

"Running away from the problem and trying to hide it will only make it worse." I started to climb up the steps to Ms. Croner's front entryway.

"You're….you're right." He looked even more worried. Why was me being a better person worrying everyone? "Also, frack up? Dave told us not to swear."

"It's not a swear word." I said, smirking. "I'm not sure exactly what it means. It has something to do with the environment and it's bad. But it sounds like the famous F word and I can say it without being censored, so it's my new go-to. FRACK FRACK FRACKITY FRACK!"

Simon sighed and joined me on Ms. Croner's front porch.

I rang the doorbell nervously. What was I doing? Classic Alvin would NEVER do this until he'd first tried to hide the problem, distract our neighbor from noticing, and fix the tree. How the heck do you fix something like that anyway? I guess this proved I was drifting far from Classic Alvin. A lot farther than I felt great! Why did it feel great!? I didn't want it to feel great!

"Seigfried, Albert!" Ms. Croner came out onto the porch. "What are you doing here?" For those of you who aren't familiar with her. She's a skinny old lady with a dress that went out of style 100 years ago and she always wears boots. She's best friends with the Chipettes' mom, Miss. Miller. Oh, and she has cats. A lot of cats. Far far too many cats.

"Okay, uh, I know you can't remember our names, but that name in particular has some…really complicated connotations that I don't particularly wish to invoke right now. So, if it isn't too much trouble, can you call me something OTHER than Albert? Please?" I rambled.

"Oh alright, Melvin." She responded.

I forced a smile. "Close enough." Time to tell her why I was here. "Okay, uh, what we're doing here is, err, well, we, you know, I, not we, I sort of accidentally blew a giant hole in your tree."

"What? How on earth did you do that?" The old lady wasn't taking this well.

"I made an invention and it didn't really work the way I hoped. I will pay for the damage and I promise I'll be very very careful from now on."

"I thought Seigfried was the only inventor." Ms. Croner raised a grey colored eyebrow.

"So did Seigfried." Simon remarked, sounding annoyed.

I felt myself start to sweat. The awkwardness took over, full force. "W…W…Well, the thing is…I decided to turn over a new leaf and re-invent myself."

She brightened up a little at that. "Well, good for you. And thank you for not lying or trying to fix it and make it worse. Accidents happen."

"Yeah, heh heh." Simon tried to play it cool, sounding suspiciously like the old me. "At least it wasn't your precious rosebushes, am I right?"

"Don't even joke about it!" Ms. Croner warned.

Simon chuckled nervously.

"Anyway, uh, we should probably get going." One of her cats gave me evil eyes from in the window and then hissed at me. I fought the urge to hiss back.

"Yep. Yep." Simon grabbed my arm. "We have quite a bit of debris to clean up."

We hurried off, leaving the poor old woman looking confused. Was I gonna confuse everyone forever? Would they ever grow accustomed to Genius Inventor Alvin?

Later that day, I was in the basement lab, working hard on my second prototype test for the flying skateboard. Who cares that my first invention attempt was a dud? I got further than I ever could have dreamed before. This next test would run smoother, and maybe by the third, it would stop exploding!

While I worked, I made good on my promise to Classic and sang a song from one of his, err, my favorite artists. It was my go-to song for lab work currently, despite having nothing to do with science at all. Man In The Mirror, by Michael Jackson. Classic wanted Bad or Beat It, but Classic wasn't fully in charge of this brain anymore. But, you know, technically Classic Alvin was the man, err, munk in the mirror I was singing this to.

"I've been a victim of a selfish kind of love

It's time that I realize

That there are some with no home

Not a nickel to loan

Could it be really me pretending that they're not alone?

A brother deeply scarred

Somebody's broken heart

And a washed out dream

They follow the pattern of the wind, ya see

'Cause they got no place to be

That's why I'm starting with me

I'm starting with the man in the mirror

I'm asking him to change his ways

And no message could've been any clearer

If you wanna make the world a better place

Take a look at yourself and then make a change

Nah nah nah, nah nah nah naah naah naaah."

"Alvin's singing again!" I heard an excited shout. Theodore scampered into the basement, followed by everyone else.

"Uh, ever heard of privacy? I'm working on a top secret project." I replied.

"Top secret?" Eleanor scoffed, still dressed like she watches too many Avril Lavigne music videos. "You've been blabbing about that flying skateboard nonstop."

"Oh. Yeah." I rubbed my head. Why was my memory so cruddy? I swear, my brain is like a computer where none of the folders are labeled and every document or picture inside is a random keysmash. I'm PACKED to the brim with information, but it's all impossible to find when I want to find it. It just randomly pops in my head sometimes and then I go back to forgetting it.

"I love the song choice." Jeanette remarked sweetly. "It's one of my favorites."

"I thought so." I grinned a bracefaced smile. "It was inspired by you."

"You were actually on key!" Theodore told me excitedly.

Huh? I hadn't paid any attention to whether it sounded okay or not. I was just singing for the fun of singing. "I was?"

"You can sing again!" Brittany looked like she'd just seen someone rescued from terrible odds. I guess in a way, she had.

"How do I sound?" I asked, feeling my throat with my hand nervously.

Simon tilted his head. "A little strange. I'm not sure what to make of it."

"You sound STUPENDOUS!" Gushed Jeanette. Okay, but she was clearly bias. I needed everyone's opinion.

"It sounds different." Theo squeaked.

"Different? Different how?" Oh no! Had my voice changed? Was that why it went all nasal and weird? I heard that happens during teenage years, but I was only 9! I mean, wait, can putting a younger child in high school force them to hit puberty sooner? Is that a thing? I hoped my voice didn't change. I liked my voice the way it was pre-nerd phase!

"It's like you're singing with emotions you never had before." Exclaimed Theo.

"That's a good way to describe it." Dave mentioned.

Jeanette nodded. "Or emotions you never felt like expressing before." She theorized.

Oh phew. Puberty crisis averted. For now, anyway. "It still sounds good, right?"

"Well, it is a tad raspy in places." Brittany pointed out. "But some singers can make that work."

Eleanor took my cap and gave my head a noogie, which messed up my hair quite a bit. "Heck yeah, dude! You're ready to lay down some mean vocals!"

"Indeed." Simon finally figured out how to describe my weird voice upgrade. "It's raw and rich and powerful."

"I told you resting your voice would do you good." My father said, solely focused on me for a reason that wasn't to yell at me.

"Heh heh." I squeaked. "Maybe I should listen more often."

"You know what this means?" Theodore jumped up and down. "We can release a new song! And it's my turn to choose the song we do!"

"I know you'll pick a good one, little bro." I told Theo encouragingly while everyone besides Jeanette stared at me strangely.

It felt so good to finally have my voice returned to me. Sure it wasn't exactly the same as it used to be, but it was ALMOST the same. I could live with that. This week had been weird, but also kinda fun. I accomplished a lot! I am fairly certain as soon as I re-stock on Nerds candy or, well, any sort of candy basically, I will have my brain fully back to being able to remember important stuff.

Do classic Alvin and Britt's warnings still ring through my head at inopportune times? Unfortunately, yeah. I'm not sure why I have a trend of getting so obsessed with one thing that I let everything else fail. It's kinda frightening and frustrating.

But I'm also glad I have it. For a long time I had very little ambition to do anything except be a rockstar and a pro videogame player. Lately, I had ambition for much much more. I could be a rockstar and an inventor on the side. Maybe even a karate master? Someone proficient in every sport! Big goals, I know. Let's just stick to rockstar-inventor for now. Although, I could take karate classes after school to build my strength back up. And ballet, for conditioning. I gotta fight the wimp-ifiying of my body somehow.

Ohoho! I am a man with a plan. Correction: A man with several plans. I am going to see these plans through and everything is gonna be AWESOME, uh, wait, am I still allowed to say that? Yeah. Yeah I am. Gotta remember that just cuz it's Eleanor's catchphrase now doesn't mean I can't use it. I just can't use it OFTEN. The only problem with being a man with a plan is that, well, plans tend to go awry. I had no idea how many more obstacles were about to be thrown my way.

Oooh. What do you think will happen next? This is getting really crazy now.

One thing I love the most about this story is that you can see the progression from typical Alvinnn! plot beats to totally new plot beats that still make sense in context, but that move Alvinnn! out of the usual formula.

Alvin's the heart of the TV show. The main character. His shifts in character literally change the entire show in ways that no one is prepared for. It's freakin' fantastic.

Please read and review and I shall update again soon. I have like seven other ongoing projects in addition to this. I can't tell you how soon it'll be. Hopefully, less than a week. Ideally, maybe 3 days. I make no promises.

Also, this chapter was meant to have a Theo POV in it too. He didn't fit, so catch him in the next chapter! He's seeing what's happening to his brothers and maybe he'll finally make sense of it? Or not? Who knows!