Join me once again, as I continue to throw a wrench in the ol Seville family dynamic.

ALVIN: Ready, Theo?

THEODORE: This is gonna be hard. I don't like some of these moments.

ALVIN: I know, but the readers will find them funny.

THEODORE: If you say so.

Theodore's POV

It's been a couple more days since Alvin got his voice back. Things are going okay, I think. Jeanette and Simon have been spending more and more time with Alvin as he continues his quest to be an inventor. I'm not sure he's gonna be able to do it. He and I tried to invent stuff before to prove we could and that didn't really end well.

I guess things are different now. Different is supposed to be good. I'm glad Alvin's finally decided who he is and who he wants to be, but I'm confused about why he wants to be more like Simon. Maybe it's just because he's still jealous of Simon.

Brittany and me hang out together now. We're both equally confused about everything. Well, actually, I think she's more confused than me. School's been, uh, I don't think there's any other word to describe it besides weird. It is SO weird.

Eleanor is still going through some kind of phase and she's been acting rougher than usual. I'm really worried about her. I don't wanna tell her that I miss the old Eleanor though. I know Alvin doesn't like it when we tell him we miss the old not-scientist Alvin. I guess I just have to deal with whatever anarchy is going on. (Alvin and Jeanette taught me that word, by the way.)

It's really really hard. Sometimes, it even makes me a little mad. But I don't like being mad, so I cuddle my plushies and try to forget how much the family is falling apart. Our roles are all mixed up. Who could have seen this coming?

Anyway, after school today, I met up with Eleanor as she was leaving the detention room. She'd been in there a lot since the year started. It was not very good. Her behavior and acting out got amped up every day.

"Are you feeling okay, Eleanor?" I asked, hoping she'd want to talk about her problems causing her to act this way.

"Yup. I am awesome!" She skipped down the hallway wearing her skull backpack…that used to be Alvin's backpack.

I frowned. "But you've gotten so much detention this week…and last week too."

She shrugged. "Least I'm getting recognition. They still don't know my name, but cool crazy chick beats trash can girl or blondie or pigtails."

"Oh…okay." I opened up my cookie shaped backpack. "Would you like anything to snack on?"

"Totally. Whatcha got?" Her big green eyes fell on a bag of banana chips. "Can I have these?"

"Sure!" I squeaked, handing them over. I am always ready with snacks for people. If you're ever in an emotional emergency, a good snack or drink can get you through it.

She crunched the banana chips. "So how are things going with you?"

I frowned, thinking back to the last spat Alvin and Simon had a day ago.

"ALVINNN!" Simon had shouted, running into the living room waving an empty box. "Did you use all my nuts and bolts!?"

"Uh…." Alvin took a little while to answer, as if he was thinking about whether he should lie or not. "Maybe….yes. My bad."

"And the screws too!?" Simon got pretty angry.

"I needed them for my prototype, err, third prototype." Alvin squeaked.

Geizmo, Simon's robot kid who is really adorable but also kind of a brat sometimes, came into the room holding a flat rectangular container. "Here, daddy. Can use my screws. They okay. I say it okay." Awww, how sweet.

But Simon didn't think those were good enough. "Lovely gesture, Geizmo, but right now I am trying to teach uncle Alvin not to take my things without ASKING!"

"I did ask!" Alvin replied strongly. He climbed on the chair as Simon threw a pillow at him. "You said no and "buy your own," but I don't have any money! I asked Dave what I can do to earn money and he ignored me. What else was I supposed to do!?"

"I don't know, maybe STOP trying to make a flying skateboard!? You have PLENTY of other things to focus on!" Simon practically roared with rage.

I stepped in and offered my suggestion. "Yeah! Like recording a new song! Do you wanna hear my idea?"

"Not until I have a working prototype that doesn't explode!" Alvin snapped at me. I know he was really mad at Simon, but if you ask me, only Simon had the right to be mad at him. Alvin should have just been mad at Dave.

"Kabooom!" Geizmo added. "It go KABOOOM!"

Simon whacked Alvin with a pillow again. "You! Will! Never! Have! A! Working! Prototype! The idea is flawed on a fundamental level."

"Says WHO!?" Alvin shouted.

"Says your pal PHYSICS!" Simon shouted back.

Alvin's face got red. Even redder than the videogame controller on his black T-shirt. "How DARE you turn physics against me!?"

"Oh, I dare." Simon smirked. It looked very much like the way Alvin smirked, or used to smirk. That wasn't a good sign.

"Frack off, Simon!" Alvin declared.

Then, Simon jumped on him and they both tussled around on the floor.

"Stop it! Stop it! You guys!" I begged.

And that's when Geizmo hit me with a pillow and a fight broke out between all of us. Well, mostly the other three. I wasn't fighting back. I was just getting pillow smacked until my face hurt.

I finished telling Eleanor the story about what happened. She looked sympathetic and then touched my arm in her gentle-est way.

"That blows." She murmured. "Want me to smack them with pillows for you?"

I shook my head. "No. No. That's okay. I just…want my family to be nicer. I'm sick of all the arguing. I have always wished that Simon and Alvin had more in common, so they wouldn't fight so much. But now, they have a LOT in common, and all the fighting is worse than ever."

The girl with the faded grey-ish blonde hair just sighed. She didn't know how to make me feel better. Neither did I.

I noticed Eleanor's hair wasn't pitch black anymore. The dye was starting to fade out. I hoped she didn't re-dye it. I missed the pretty blonde hair. Her new look reminded me of some kind of monster. I'm not sure which monster. Vampire? Maybe. Yeah, with all that black. I wonder if Alvin thought she was turning into a vampire. Probably not. I don't think he thinks about much besides inventing at the moment.

"Theodore,.." The scary looking Chipette said, breaking the silence. "If Alvin and Simon are gettin' ya down, you can always hang with me. Kay?"

"Thanks." I walked into another hallway with Eleanor by my side. Then, she just vanished. It's really creepy how she can disappear like that. I took a look around at all the hustle and bustle through the hall.

There was Brittany in her cheer uniform, talking with her squad. Cheer practice must have just ended. Across the hall from her was Simon, hanging out with the Mathletes. Kevin and Warren were saying something about inter-gers or whatever. Cheesy was hanging around behind them, chomping on an ice cream bar. Mmmm. Wish I had an ice cream bar.

I saw Jeanette and Alvin standing together as Alvin carried a giant stack of textbooks, almost as tall as he was. It didn't last long. He tripped and the books went everywhere. Jeanette tried to help pick up a few books, but she tripped over her long flowy skirt with all the flowers embroidered on it and fell down too.

They needed me! "I can get those for you." I offered, picking them up one at a time.

"Thanks, Theo." Jeanette did the same thing, helping gather the books and shove them in Alvin's locker.

"Wish Simon let me use his shrink ray to miniaturize these things." Alvin grumbled, picking up a textbook.

I knew something that could fix his problem! "Did you know all the textbooks are available online?"

My older brother with the red T-shirt with a yellow lightning bolt nodded. "I did, but…Dave took my laptop away."

"Alvin!" Jeanette said sharply. "Tell him why. If you don't tell him why, you make Dave sound worse than he actually is."

Alvin stuck his hands in the pockets of his favorite cyan jacket that he wears a lot. He looked guilty. "Fine. Fine. He confiscated my laptop because I took Simon's stuff without asking."

Ohhhh. That makes a lot more sense. "Do you need help carrying the books home?"

Alvin nodded.

So me, Jeanette, and Alvin all carried his textbooks out to Dave's car. Now he could use them for studying. Before we reached the car though, Alvin got made fun of again.

"Hey! Bracefaced spacecase! Is studying all you do now!?" Someone I didn't know taunted my brother.

Alvin turned his head and attempted to say something back, but stopped. "Homeworking is import…." He cringed. "No. I can't say that. I really don't believe it's as important as teachers do."

"Leave my brother alone!" I shouted. "You meanie bobeanie with fettuccine!" I didn't have the best insults, but I was proud of that one.

That only made the rude kid and his friends laugh harder. "Oh wow! He's so pathetic and weak now, he has to have his baby bro fight his battles FOR him!"

My fur stood on end. "Don't call me a baby!" I snapped.

Jeanette looked at me with an encouraging smile. "Don't listen to anything they say. They only want to get a rise out of you. I'm not sure they even believe anything they say."

Alvin stared down at his rainbow sneakers with all the fun designs. "I'll try."

I know he doesn't take rejection well. He started this school year with so much hope. But all the bullies had whacked the hope out of him, kinda like Simon did with the pillow…only the bullies had invisible pillows that hurt worse.

We made it to Dave's car and we piled the books inside. To my surprise, Jeanette buckled herself in to my usual seat.

"Are you riding home with us?" I asked.

The girl in the loose fitting lilac shirt nodded.

"She's gotta help me with my homework because my supplies of Nerds keep disappearing." Alvin scowled.

Dave turned around to glare at Alvin. "You can't keep conning nerds into helping tutor you. I can call Mr. Kooky and you can have the actual help you need."

I wasn't really following the conversation that well, until Jeanette explained things.

"He's talking about Nerds candy, Dave." She said cheerfully. Then she hesitated and looked at Alvin. "You are talking about the candy, right?"

"Yes!" Alvin folded his arms, giving Jeanette an "are you kidding me?" look.

"No more candy, Alvin. It makes you anxious and jittery and I don't want you addicted to it." Our dad said strictly.

Alvin huffed and buckled himself in. "Theo's addicted to candy!" He pointed out.

I got a little bit mad. "I am not! I just really really like it! I don't eat nothing but candy."

"If I don't have candy and videogames, I don't have motivation." My brother complained. "If I don't have motivation, it takes me 6 hours to finish my homework, and if I spend all that time on homework, I don't have time to do anything else!"

"No, Alvin. You have convinced yourself that you need candy and videogames to focus. You don't." Dave insisted. "Go without them for a while and you'll see that you can do all that work on your own."

"Dave, I really don't think…" Jeanette spoke up.

My dad cut her off. "Don't let him trick you, Jeanette."

"So this is it then?" Alvin sulked. "This is what I improved for? So that I could spend the rest of my childhood on school, chores, and homework!? Not an inkling of free time to decompress so I don't break out in that hideous rash all over again?"

"Welcome to the real world, Alvin." Simon opened the car door and hopped inside. Since Jeanette was in my spot, I was in his. He accepted that, even though I could tell it made him upset. He sat next to Alvin on the side Jeanette wasn't on.

"I hate the real world. It's broken and it traumatizes everyone and everything in it." My red capped brother started to sob. "I want to have fun again! Please! Just let me play my games!"

"Stop whining, Alvin. You can have your games back once you learn not to borrow Simon's things without asking." Dave's eyebrows furrowed. He was getting very angry now.

"Borrow them?" Simon gave Alvin an equally powerful glare. "More like blow them up!"

"But he never lets me when I ask!" Alvin repeated what he told us all yesterday.

"Then buy your own things." Dave and Simon snapped at the poor kid together.

"I don't have a job or money! And I don't have time for a job with all the chores and homework!" My oldest brother sobbed.

"You've only been doing 1 chore a day!" Dave gripped the steering wheel and I watched his tan colored face start to turn red with rage.

"Yeah! And it takes me 2 whole hours without my candy and videogames!" Alvin pounded his fists on the car door.

"That sounds like a "you" problem." Simon sure was irrationally angry at Alvin. Probably because Alvin wanted to do his thing. Science is a Simon thing and also sometimes a Jeanette thing, but Alvin isn't a scientist. He wants to do something he's got no talent for. It's frustrating.

Dave started up the car and Simon climbed out of the backseat and into the passenger seat. I assume that was to get away from Alvin's whining.

Jeanette secretly handed Alvin her phone. "Here, you can play some tetris. I know it's not much, but it's something. Hopefully it'll stimulate you enough."

I could have tattled to Dave about that, but Alvin looked so much happier once he was playing the game. The volume on it was silent, so Dave and Simon didn't notice.

Was Alvin right? Did videogames and candy really help him concentrate better? Learn faster? Remember stuff? If that's the case, then he needed candy as soon as possible. I'd have to help him find a way to sneak it in without Dave knowing.

Of course, I could do nothing. Then, the old Alvin would come back and he might stop working late hours in the lab. Maybe we'd play some more, like we did over the summer. But Alvin really didn't want the old Alvin back. To force him back wouldn't be fair to him. It would be…wrong.

That night, I shined a flashlight in Alvin's eyes to wake him up. He squinted at me, reaching for his red glasses. His red-orange hair with a touch of brown was a total mess.

"Theo? What is it? Did you have a nightmare?" He asked.

I shook my head. "No. I just…want to do something and I don't want Dave to find out."

He looked paler at the thought of that. "No, no, Teddy boy, please. Don't go rogue like Eleanor. You're such a sweet little guy. You don't have to act like me to bring me back. The old Alvin's not…not fully coming back. And I know that hurts to hear, but it's the sad truth."

"I'm not going to be a bad kid or anything." I promised. "I just wanna get you candy…so that you can be happy again."

He smiled. It was a nice smile. He did look like he had a bicycle chain glued to his teeth though. I wasn't used to seeing him like that. "Oh phew. Okay, so, how do we do it?"

"You can have some of my secret candy stash." I offered him some tootsie rolls and kit kats and Dum Dum lollipops. They were hidden inside one of my plushies. It was a grey tabby cat plushie. "Here." I said, unzipping the opening and handing him the candy.

"Thanks, little bro. Do you have any Nerds on ya?" He put the candy I gave him inside his backpack.

I shook my head. "No, but, you can order some and have it delivered to the Chipettes' house." I winked. That was what I did to get candy past Dave sometimes. He's a real health nut. I get it, but it's kinda unfair to his non health nut kids.

I got out my laptop, since Alvin's was still constipated…err…confiscated and typed in Nerds candy. A bunch of results came up. "Wow! There's a lot of flavors of these things."

"Bigger boxes than what Jeanette gives me too." Alvin attempted to lick his lips, but gave up because of the braces. "Look! They have ones in my favorite colors!" He pointed to a box called Surf and Turf flavor where half the box was red and the other half cyan. The flavors were Totally Tropical Punch and Road Rash Raspberry.

"Oh wow! You're right! That's almost too perfect." I called up the site and ordered him a box that would be delivered in 4 to 5 days.

"Like it was meant to be." Alvin said.

We heard a creaking noise and I hid my laptop and hopped in bed. Alvin took off his glasses and hopped back into his bed, pretending to be asleep. Phew, it was nothing. Probably just the wind and a tree branch. Dave didn't know anything and we would keep it that way.

A few more days went by, Alvin was in a better mood. I baked some cookies with chocolate chips and macadamia nuts. Eleanor caused more trouble at school, but people had gone back to not noticing her now. She wasn't even getting detention anymore.

Dave ungrounded Alvin. He was allowed to invent stuff again, as long as he had supervision from Simon or Jeanette. Simon was acting…a lot more mischievous than usual. That was pretty suspicious.

This morning, he pranked Alvin. Yeah! You heard me! Simon pranked Alvin! With his words. And without Alvin being the first one to start it. In fact, Alvin was just minding his own buisness!

He strolled into the kitchen wearing his usual letter A shirt but with the cyan jacket overtop and the shiny alien pin on it. "What to have for breakfast today?" He said aloud. "I know!" He picked up something from the fruit bowl and held it up. "I could go for a banana. Gotta get that potassium in my diet."

"Did you know that potassium is highly explosive?" Simon asked, sounding very serious.

Bananas are EXPLOSIVE!? HUH!?

Alvin was so scared, he spit the deadly banana right in my face. "You mean my head could explode!?"

I wiped my face with a napkin. "WHAT!?" I asked. I liked bananas! I didn't wanna stop eating them.

Simon laughed super hard. "I mean, it is true that it's explosive, but the amount in bananas is too small to cause harm." He explained. "I totally got you though. Haha! You should see your face."

This was exactly what I was afraid of. Simon had rubbed off on Alvin, and now Alvin's old personality was rubbing off on him.

"Oh Simon?" Alvin held up a long and skinny loaf of french bread.

"Huh?" Simon turned his head to see Alvin.

The angry chipmunk in red and cyan started to chase Simon around the dining room, waving the baguette like a sword. "Run!"

"Ahhhhhh!" Simon screamed as he was eventually chased out of the room.

"One breakfast." I moaned. "I just want ONE nice breakfast." Having two "genius" brothers was hard. I think I'm finally starting to get what Eleanor said when she explained that the smarter someone is, the dumber they also are. Alvin and Simon acted REALLY dumb.

It was almost like Simon was stepping headfirst into the role Alvin was kinda abandoning. He'd always been impulse-y. There was this one time Simon built a weird thingamajig in the washing machine that flipped parts of our house upside down. But now it was like…uh…how do I put this…like Simon was actually enjoying his life for the first time. It sure beat him walking around in the Too Sad To Function bathrobe!

If this wasn't such a big change, it was almost natural. The only bad part was they left me out more than they used to. I just couldn't keep up with either of them….not that I could very well before. I wished I could talk more about it with Britt, but she didn't wanna hear about how much they were doing science stuff or teasing each other.

Alvin and Simon are like a see-saw. If one changes, the other changes in the opposite direction. They balance each other out. They always have. So I kinda was expecting this to happen. I just didn't really want it to happen.

Another day, when we were walking home from school, I finally got the chance to talk out loud about my fears to Eleanor and Brittany. "I just don't know where I fit in now." I said. "I'm always left out."

"Maybe you should change your personality and get them to worry about you?" Eleanor suggested.

"Oh right." Britt added sarcastically. "Because that worked so well for you." The strawberry blonde girl had a brand new outfit. It was a fuschia off-shoulder top with a matching colored belt around her waist. She also had on jeans? Or were they leggings? They were a dark blue, but much more vibrant than any of our jeans.

She also had a brand new necklace with a red heart pendant on. I was curious about it. "Nice necklace." I squeaked. "Where'd it come from?"

"Urgh!" She groaned angrily. "Next question."

"Hey, people DID worry about me." Punk Eleanor told her older sister. "They still didn't remember my name, but for a couple weeks they at least noticed I exist."

I frowned. "Yeah, but you missed soccer practice a lot cuz of all the detentions. And you're the coach. You can't afford to do that."

"Face it, Eleanor." Brittany flipped her ponytail. "It's time to retire this whole punk phase."

"Not on your life, diva." The pigtailed Chipette sassed.

"Did anyone else notice that Simon's been acting as weird as Alvin lately?" I asked.

I listened to the conversation my brothers were having, further up the sidewalk, while Jeanette looked at them like they'd both gone nuts.

"Up to 15 tries and still nothing! Every single time I test it, something goes wrong. Or catches fire." Alvin moaned desperately.

"Do you agree you aren't inventor material yet? Or would you like to fail…" Simon calculated on his fingers. "Approximately 200 more times?"

"I can do it! I know I can do it! I just need to re-evaluate everything…again." Alvin seemed super confident, but was his confidence hiding his insecure-ness? It does that sometimes.

"By all means" Simon was being sarcastic but in a much jerkier way than usual. "Please do! And when you finish, you'll realize that Jeanette and I are the only scientists that this family needs."

"Simon…" Jeanette was about to speak up, but then was cut off by Alvin screaming at his brother instead.

"Not all of your inventions have worked the way you wanted them to either! Just admit that you're upset that someday I might be smarter than you! Or at least as smart as you! You're sabotaging my inventions on purpose!" The red capped geeky guy clenched his fists.

"The only thing sabotaging your inventions is your lack of understanding and your ego!" Simon shot back with ferocious-ness.

Alvin got even angier. "My ego!? My ego!? My ego still has a hole in it! It's basically on life support!"

"Doesn't seem like it." Simon sassed.

"What about your ego? What about your overblown confidence that I'll fail? What about you thinking that you rule the ding dang universe!?" Alvin went on.

"Hypocrite." Hissed the chipmunk in the blue sweater.

"You're afraid I'm too much like you?" I saw the fur on Alvin's tail bush out. It looked real spiky. I've never seen it that spikey before. "Well, let me tell you buster, I will never be like you! You're a condescending gatekeeper who wouldn't know a good invention idea if it bit him on the butt!"

Oh no. This was gonna get ugly.

Something in Simon broke. I could almost sense it. The chipmunk in the blue shirt "accidentally" tripped Alvin with his sneaker, causing him to fall to the ground and his glasses to fall off his face.

Simon picked up the glasses and handed them back to Alvin. "You're lucky I made these things indestructible." He smirked. He faked a gasp. "Guess that proves my invention ideas are better than you think."

"Simon, wait, I didn't mean it. I still want to be science buddies with you!" Alvin chased after Simon again, only this time it wasn't to smack him with a loaf of bread or a pillow.

"This is really sad, you guys." Jeanette came to join the rest of us while the two genius brothers ran off. "They used to fight before, but it wasn't to this degree."

I nodded. "It's all the time now."

Brittany looked like she stubbed her toe on a rock, but I didn't see any rocks around. "Alvin used to fight with me like that." She wasn't crying, but she sounded like she might any second.

"Did you guys know that Simon put a giant airbag in Alvin's locker to scare him?" Eleanor asked us.

We all shook our heads.

"They're basically turning into each other. I shared detention with Simon a few days ago. He made me swear not to tell." She laughed. "Oops." She added sarcastically.

Oh no! This was just like that episode of Winnie The Pooh where Pooh loses his appetite and then all the characters start acting like each other. Alvin liking science was wrecking EVERYTHING!

"So if Alvin's Simon now and Simon's Alvin, am I still Theodore? Or am I Eleanor now?" I asked, since the punk girl didn't look much like the Eleanor I knew. "I did kinda like that werewolf movie she showed me. BUT I DON'T WANNA LIKE ALL HORROR MOVIES!"

"Calm down, Theo." Eleanor put a hand on my shoulder. "All we have to do is make Alvin and Simon miss their old selves. Or actually, just Alvin. I'm pretty sure if we get Alvin back to being Alvin, this whole mess can end."

Jeanette forcefully shook her head. "Alvin is STILL himself. Yes, he's taking this scientist thing much too quickly, but things will even out again. Just give them a chance."

"No, Jeanette." Brittany's ice blue eyes didn't hide her pain well. "We've done this your way long enough. We can't let Alvin continue down this path. It only ends in disaster. It's NOT what he wants."

"But…but…" I protested, along with Jeanette. I liked her idea of everything evening out again.

"No buts!" Brittany went on what my brothers call a tirade. "He's hurt me, he's hurt Simon, he's caused Eleanor to go completely off the rails! He's also hurting himself! And hurting Theo with all that fighting they do around him. The only reason that you think Alvin's so great…is because he hasn't hurt you…yet." The Chipette in pink pointed at Jeanette. "But he will. He always does."

"Great conversation as usual, everyone." Eleanor got all snarky.

I didn't know whose side to take. Everyone seemed to make a lot of good points. I decided to talk to Dave a little and see if he had any helpful advice.

When I got home, I found him in the music room. He was working on editing some more commercial jingles.

"Dave?" I squeaked. "We used to be such a big happy family. What happened?" I climbed up into a chair so I could get closer to his height. "I feel like things are being torn apart and I don't know how to make them better. Any time I try and make my brothers happy, it fails. Then, they go work on inventing stuff and leave me out. I think they're both miserable, but I don't know how to fix it. I need some good dad advice. Do you have any good dad advice?"

"It has been hard." Dave picked me up from the chair and sat me on his knee. "I don't know what's gotten into either of them."

"Alvin has two personalities now." I told Dave how I interpreted it. "One that Simon can get along with and one that he HATES. I don't think either one is really Alvin."

My dad thought about everything for a second. "This is going to sound…crazy."

I tried to focus on what he was saying, but my too-good ears picked up the sound of Alvin and Simon fighting upstairs.

"That's it! I am FINISHED! I don't care what Dave says, I'm not helping you anymore!" Simon shouted. "I have HAD it!"

"You have to!" Alvin begged.

"No I don't!" Argued Simon.

I heard a loud wheeze and then Alvin whined some more. "But you're the missing piece! I know you know what I'm doing wrong, but you won't tell me because you don't want me to be a genius anymore."

"And whose fault is that?" The deeper voice of Simon replied. "I was fine with you being a genius until you decided you want to break the world record for blowing up skateboards!"

Alvin whimpered more. "That could happen to anyone!"

"No! No, Alvin. It could only happen to YOU!" Oh man. Simon was being really hurtful.

"You're such a pain in the asteroid!" Alvin cursed.

Simon sneered. "Amoeba."

"Repugnant individual." Alvin stopped whining and put on his "smart guy" voice…which made him sound…like Simon.

Simon laughed. "Spell repugnant."

"R-U-P…"

"Wrooooong." Simon laughed.

"Fine! Fine! I'll go invent my amazing skyboard elsewhere." I heard Alvin stomp out of the room. Then, all was quiet.

"Did you get all that, Theo?" Dave asked, bringing my attention back to him.

"Uhhh." I decided to be truthful. "Can you repeat that? I got distracted by the fighting upstairs."

"You can hear them?" My dad asked. "All the way down here?"

I nodded. "Superears."

"Okay, well, what I was saying is that maybe you could talk to both of them and make them remember how much they need each other? Help them see things from your point of view instead. Right now, they both are tired, angry, and not thinking straight." Dave explained.

"So they're thinking nonstop, but not thinking straight?" I jumped down from the chair. "I think I understand. Thanks, Dave." I had almost run out of the room when I realized I had no idea how to start. "Wait…but, what do I say to them?"

Dave shrugged. "Follow your instinct? You've always been good at stopping fights."

That was true, I was kind of the heart of the family. Alvin was the guts and Simon was the brains. Only now there was no guts and two brains. Or now Simon was the gusty one? And Alvin was the brains? Or they were both half of each?

I watched some TV and then looked up some good therapy advice on my computer. The computer had a lot better advice on what to say than what Dave could tell me. In another hour, I was ready to find Alvin. I figured I'd have a better time getting through to him than Simon. Simon was too defensive. Alvin was still soft cuz Jeanette cooked him.

Unfortunately, I ran into Simon first. I guess he'd have to be my first patient. "Hi, Simon. How are you feeling?"

He just looked at me with very angry eyes. Then, he noticed something about me that confused him. "Why are you wearing glasses now?"

I adjusted the mint green leprechaun glasses on my face. "Alvin says that wearing glasses makes people take you seriously. Is that not true?"

"I don't think that applies to novelty glasses." He pulled them off my face.

"Ohhhh. Oops." I clutched the clipboard tighter. "Anyway, I want to know…what's on your mind?"

"You wanna know? You wanna know?" He laughed in a creepy way. "Well, listen up, because it's a doozy. I ruined Alvin's life! I've ruined my life! And, I have created the most annoying person in the entire world! Nothing will ever be the same! Alvin's just going to continue to deteriorate! Our lives are over! Everything is over!"

"You kind of sound like you're overreacting." I told Simon honestly.

"I'm not! Believe me! I'm not!" He paced back and forth. "And if this keeps up, I am going to SNAP!" He laughed like a supervillain again.

"Simon, have you been sleeping enough?" I backed away from him.

"It's not about not sleeping." He collapsed on the couch. "It's about Alvin's entire transformation being MY fault."

"Nuh uh." I climbed up and gave him a hug. "It's nobody's fault. Or everybody's fault. But it doesn't matter anymore. What matters is that we support Alvin and accept this whole mess. Cuz Jeanette says it'll even out. You just gotta stop being so defensive and Alvin's gotta stop taking your stuff."

Simon just sighed and then started to sob into my shoulder. It was weird. He usually doesn't cry, but I sensed he needed to cry, so I let him.

I found Alvin later in the basement. He was wearing his cyan lab coat over his Classic Alvin letter A shirt. He looked tired, beaten down by all those failed attempts at inventing. His hair was a mess and it was practically standing on end.

"Whoah!" I said bluntly. "What happened to you?"

"I electrocuted myself." He replied, gesturing to his hair. "Nothing to see here."

"It's not going well, is it?" I stood far enough back from the possibly explosive device he was building. It was unsettling seeing Alvin look like a mad scientist.

He sighed as he tightened one of the screws holding the wheels in place on the shiny silver skateboard. "Let me put it this way, Theo. If I fail again, I'm gonna have to scrap my hot rod for replacement parts."

"All because Simon won't let you use his stuff and Dave won't give you enough allowance to buy your own?" I asked, taking a seat at Simon's basement desk.

The chipmunk in the red shirt nodded.

"Well, he was really generous with his stuff before you blew everything up 50 times." I pointed out. Maybe Alvin Einstein didn't realize that.

"15 times." Alvin corrected me. "15!"

"Did you ever tell him thanks?" Fingers crossed that this helps my brothers repair the shattered bonds of their relationship.

"I don't….remember." Alvin scratched his head. "I must have."

"Maybe he needs to hear it again." I suggested.

"You're absolutely right, Theo." He squeaked.

Suddenly, KABOOOM! Alvin's flying skateboard thing exploded again, sending bits of scrap metal everywhere. I ducked under the lab table to save myself from getting hit with them.

"Not again!" Alvin hurled the wrench so hard that it stuck into the wall. "That's it! This thing is cursed! There is no logical reason for it to keep catching fire and exploding!" His hair looked worse now, and I noticed it had three pale grey streaks in it.

"Don't give up, Alvin." I climbed out from under the lab table. "You'll get it to work eventually."

"This is a nightmare." Alvin gestured to his hair again. "I'm starting to go grey from the stress! See?"

"That's what those are from?" I responded. "I thought they happened from all the explosions. I thought it was dust and stuff."

"Nope. Grey hair. My hair cannot choose a color and it's driving me crazy." He walked around the lab. "I thought I knew who I was again, but now I'm not sure this is what I was made for either. This is impossible!"

"It'll be okay. Some people just weren't meant to build stuff." I told him, hoping that was helpful. "But I'm sure if you and Simon work together, you can make your idea a reality."

"And everyone will think I did nothing and Simon's the real genius and I'm taking credit I don't deserve." Alvin's voice cracked.

"Oh." Now I was stumped again. Maybe Alvin just wanted to complain. He didn't want a solution given to him that involved Simon, that's for sure.

Unfortunately, Simon decided to pick that moment to come into the basement to check up on him.

"So, how's inventing going?" The chipmunk in the blue glasses asked, sounding less irritated and mad.

Alvin was the opposite. He was SUPER irritated. "As you can see from the fact that I've been at this for three hours and all I have to show for it is various bits of scattered scrap metal, it's going great! Lovely! Couldn't be better!" More sarcasm. Goody. Did I sarcasm right? "I'd ask for your help, but you refused to help me because you think you're the ONLY scientist around here, so….just go! Leave me to my mess!" So dramatic. There was some real old Alvin energy there.

"Actually…" Simon handed Alvin a box. "I found some components and spare parts that I wasn't using and I thought, well, since you're still working on this, you might…like them."

Alvin quickly became a whole lot less mad. "Thanks, bro. Sorry for all the insults and for saying you weren't a good inventor. I was just, you know, projecting."

"It's okay, Alvin. I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have been so stingy about lending you my extra things." Simon admitted.

Alvin frowned. "And I shouldn't have taken them without asking."

"Now hug each other." I ordered, playfully. It was nice to see them getting along.

They gave each other a small hug and I joined in.

Just like that, the fighting ended. Simon and Alvin were back in harmony. The only problem was, now that Alvin and Simon weren't fighting, they were STILL leaving me out more than they should have been. Two lab obsessed brothers was really, uh, "harshing my mellow" as Eleanor says.

This one day, I asked Alvin if he wanted to hang out. He didn't look busy. I was hoping for the best. "Do you wanna play….a videogame with me?"

He pushed up his red glasses. "I'd love to, Ted, but Jeanette and Simon are teaching me all about mechanical engineering today. Ohoho! Soon I will know what went wrong! I'm going to make history!" He ran away from me, into the closet lab and closed the door.

I decided to visit the Chipettes. Only Brittany was home. Bummer. I really wanted to talk to Eleanor. I'd have to make the best of this.

"Is it bad to want the dumb Alvin back sometimes?" I sighed as I ate a bag of fruity flavored marshmallows.

The Chipette in the fuschia off-shoulder top shook her head. "Not at all. I want him back too." She confessed. "But I'm afraid we're too late. He's one of THEM now." Them meaning "the nerds?" I guess.

I frowned. "He did say he still likes videogames though." I was starting to regret giving Alvin the candy that helped boost his brainpower.

"For now. The days are numbered, Theodore." Brittany warned me. "Pretty soon, he'll be spending all his time working on science projects. He won't have time to hang with us anymore. He'll leave everything he used to love behind."

I gasped. Was that true? Had I wrecked everything by making Simon and Alvin get along? "Oh no!"

"I've seen this happen before. It never ends well. What I still don't understand is….why him? Why of all people did HE have to change?" She wiped her eyes with a light pink handkerchief.

"I dunno." I offered her the mini marshmallows. "Would these help you feel better?"

"Not the green ones." She took the bag and started picking the green ones out. "But, yes, thank you."

I grinned. "That's alright. Green is my favorite flavor anyway, cuz they're lime."

After we ate the marshmallows, we watched a funny romance movie. Britt calls those Rom Coms. This one was about a couple of high school dropouts who are trying to go back to school to get their diploma. The hijinks were super hilarious.

When I went to sleep that night, what Brittany said was still racing through my mind. What if Alvin and Simon stay mad scientists forever and start using me as their test subject? Ahhhh!

My usual dream of skipping through the gingerbread houses in Candyland was cut short by Alvin and Simon hopping out of nowhere to abduct me. They were wearing funky lab goggles and Simon had a mohawk while Alvin had the same messed up red hair with three little grey streaks in it. They strapped me down in a chair that looked like the one from the dentist.

"Let me go!" I screamed. "Please!"

Alvin touched his fingers to my head. "A little soft, but you'll do nicely. What do you think, Simon?"

Simon licked his lips in a creepy way. "When we're done with him, he'll be the most remarkable specimen."

"I'll tell Dave!" I tried desperately to free myself from the chair.

"Good luck." Alvin cackled. "We soundproofed this entire lab. We might as well be in outer space where no one can hear you scream. Mwahahaha."

Simon cackled along.

I felt my lip quiver. "What are you going to do to me?" I asked, even though I wasn't sure I wanted to know.

My tallest brother smirked. "Hmmm. Should we tell him, boss?"

Wait? Alvin's the boss? Since when?

"Mwahaha! I see no harm in it." Alvin got very close to my face and grinned at me with his metal covered teeth. "We're going to turn you into a frog and then.." His speech was interrupted my another evil cackle. "We're going…TO DISSECT YOU!"

Simon held up a glowing green test tube and Alvin put on a flowing red cape. He looked ridiculous. I would have laughed if I wasn't so scared.

Simon dripped the glowing green liquid all over me. "You're going to be our biology project." He said.

"But it needs 2,000 voltz to take effect." Alvin said, still sounding mad with power.

Alvin and Simon both slipped on black colored gloves and Simon rubbed his hands together. "I am ready when you are, boss."

"Pull the lever, Simon!" Alvin commanded. Boy, he sounded like a character from a movie I'd watched. I wish I could remember which one.

Then, in slow motion, another Alvin appeared, wearing his Dark Shadow superhero costume and his usual red glasses. He knocked out the mad scientist Alvin and Simon and then grabbed me. He touched the chair I was stuck in and it disintegrated.

"Let's get out of here." He said, opening a glowing portal that we could jump into.

I nodded and then followed him into the portal. Anything was better than being trapped with the mad genius bros.

Soon, I was back in Candyland. Dark Shadow Alvin rose into the air and gave me a salute as he vanished into a bunch of particle-y things. Dreams are kinda insane sometimes. I wonder who he was. How could there be two Alvins?

I woke up and hugged Talking Teddy tighter. That nightmare was really bad. But my brothers would never try and turn me into a frog or dissect me, would they? No. It was just my imagination running away with me. Britt has some real powerful words. They really got in my head. Alright, now, Theodore. Back to sleep. Cuz sleep is good for you. Hopefully, I won't have any more nightmares.

THEODORE: That's enough remembering stuff for now. Your turn again.

ALVIN: You're a great bro, Theo. I don't think I tell ya that enough.

THEODORE: You do, actually. You're a great bro too. So how are the memory supplements working? Are there any side effects?

ALVIN: No headaches or other craziness. No. Funny how they don't cause that when you don't take a human size dose by accident. 1/4th of a pill is all I need. i still don't intend to take these for much longer, because remembering so much all at once is frustrating. However, for this story I NEED them so I can access all the key points in my development.

THEODORE: Is my favorite song coming up?

ALVIN: If it fits in this chapter, yes. Yes it is.

THEODORE: Super duper!

Genius-Alvin's POV

Simon and I were FINALLY getting along! Theo had talked to both of us and somehow saved our brotherly bond before it broke down. Hey, do you think brotherly bonds are covalent or ionic? Haha! Physics and Chemistry humor! Oof! That was so cringe, wasn't it? Sorry, my nerdiness has been pushed to the max lately.

I have been trying these past few days to prove to Classic Me that I can be a complete geeknerd without losing my Alvin spark. That means, I gotta be as comedic and fun as possible. That means I gotta practice that song that Theo wants us to sing. That also means I get to give Dave some attitude again, on purpose. Oh how I missed giving him attitude!

My weird cyan equation hallucinations had kicked in as I was watching a football game on TV with punk rock Eleanor by my side. I was enjoying spending time with her immensely.

"Ya think he's gonna be able to score a touchdown?" She asked me.

"Only if he succeeds in kicking that ball at a 45 degree angle." I replied. "Although…" I looked at the cyan numbers floating all over the screen. "40 degrees might also work. 60 is definitely too much. The ball will arc and fall just short of the goal."

"Whoah." She was fascinated by me. "Why is 45 degrees the magic number?"

I fidgeted with the cuffs of my cyan jacket. "As the angle of the kick gets steeper, the ball hangs longer in the air and goes higher. The higher it goes, the less far it goes. A football always follows a parabolic path. Basically, as long as you know the angles, you can predict exactly where the football will land. The perfect angle is 45 degrees. Exactly half of 90!"

"Your powers are so cool." Eleanor said. "Wanna trade? You can be the unnoticed one so nobody will pick on you."

I sighed as I looked at her. Besides the equations glowing all around her courtesy of my superpower, I noticed her hair was almost blonde again. "I don't think superpowers work like that." I frowned. "Unless Simon could make an invention that switches them."

"Or you could, mister inventor." She elbowed me.

I started playing with the container of red alien slime Jeanette and I made while I watched the game and talked to Eleanor. The more things I was doing at once, the better I could focus on each one. "I'm only half a scientist, Ells. I can't even make a skateboard that flies without it exploding."

"How many tries are you up to now?" The Chipette in the mint and black outfit asked.

I slumped into the couch. "23." I muttered. "Although, the last one didn't explode. It broke a window. I just can't get it to fly how I want. Even Simon and Jeanette are stumped as to why it won't work."

I thought back to something Simon had said to me in the lab at least five failed prototype attempts ago.

"Clearly, the material you've been using isn't insulated enough to avoid combustion." He held a fire extinguisher in his hands and wore his royal blue labcoat.

I wanted to cry. This was taking a huge toll on my already slipping sanity. "I used exactly what you told me to use."

"Maybe there's a problem with the motor that lets the wings come out." Jeanette suggested. "It might be overheating and that's what's causing the fires and explosions."

"Okay, well, where do I get a motor that doesn't overheat?" I asked.

Both Simon and Jeanette exchanged glances and then giggled.

"Ya wanna let me in on the joke?" I asked impatiently.

Simon leaned against his lab table and then glanced at me with a smug grin. "Well, if you hadn't destroyed it, you could have taken apart the existing motor to see what went wrong. But, of course, that requires the understanding of how an alternating current motor works in the first place."

"It works using magnets and coils and spinny thingamajigs, smart guy." I retorted.

"Yes, but how?" Simon tapped at my forehead.

"Don't antagonize him, Simon." Warned Jeanette. She looked at me with a hopeful face. "Come on, Alvin. I know you know this. You've read the book on mechanical engineering. The information was in there."

"Uhhhhh." Come on, Alvin, think. You instinctively know how it works. How do you explain how it works? Time for another boost of brainpower because I had literally no clue what to say. "I gotta take a quick bathroom break." I squeaked.

"Hurry back." Simon sighed.

I didn't go to the bathroom at all. I went to the hiding place inside my nightstand and grabbed a box of Nerds candy. Theo had so generously taught me how to buy my own candy online and have it shipped to the girls' house. Jeanette was confused when all these half red and half cyan candy boxes showed up, but I was able to explain everything.

I was being super good about not eating too many at once. I just ate a small handful every now and then when I needed that sweet sweet dopamine to help me tap into my genius.

Carefully, I shook out a medium sized handful of cyan colored Nerds. They were raspberry flavor. Yum! I ate them as fast as I could and then hid the box back in my nightstand with the 16 other boxes I had accumulated. Theo had ordered an entire case of them.

I could practically feel my synapses tingling! Ohoho! This was working. I crept back into the basement lab slowly, wanting to eavesdrop on Simon and Netta once more.

"You see what's happening, don't you?" Simon was grumbling. "He got tired of copying you, and now he's copying me. If he joins chess club again, I will lose it. He is HORRIBLE to play chess with. He kept getting up and walking around the board and then he wouldn't shut up about what a strategic mastermind he is. I can't take it!"

"I don't think he has any plans to join chess club." Jeanette assured him. "And even if he did, he would likely be different now."

"If you say so." My brother didn't look convinced.

I walked back into their view, my genius brain firing on all cylinders. "I'm ready to answer your question now." I declared. "The motor works by the stator and the rotor producing rotating magnetic fields. The winding of the stator that causes the rotating field is created by alternating current. When the stator is connected to an AC supply flux." I paused to giggle. "I like that word, flux." an air gap is formed rotating the flux at a fixed synchronous speed, whiiiich…" I dragged out that word, I dunno why. My speech is funny like that sometimes. "produces voltages."

I don't think I've ever seen Simon's eyes open that wide in my life.

Jeanette gave me a cute half smile.

"You may now applaud." I took a bow, really hamming it up.

The most supportive person in my life clapped her hands and cheered. "Way to go, Alvin."

Simon looked disturbed. "Okay, uh, I guess you know more than I expected. Unless you looked that up just now."

"The mechanical engineering book is riiiight over there." I pointed to his desk. "I couldn't have looked it up. Face it, bro. I may be half a scientist now, but I won't be one forever. Someday, I'll be a full scientist. Because, as you know, I started out as half a nerd too." I reminded him. "And now…full on poindexter, baby!" I bragged, laughing with a small snort.

We had worked down in the lab a bit after that, trying all together to get the AC motor and rocket boosters to function properly. It seemed like a lost cause.

Eventually, Simon told me that thing that this whole flashback scene was supposed to be about before I went off on a wild tangent. Oops.

"I think you need to take a break from inventing for a bit." He suggested.

I was instantly hurt and annoyed. "Still mad there's another scientist in the family, I see." I grumbled.

"I'm not saying it has to be a break forever." He clarified. "Just, for a small bit. If you focus on something else, perhaps a breakthrough will come to you."

Jeanette nodded, taking Simon's side instead of mine. "Sometimes, inspiration and insight come from the most unlikely places."

I shook my head. "Nohoho! No breaks until I have something that doesn't destroy itself!" I had said.

And I kept good on that promise. As soon as I made a flying skateboard that didn't fail quite as spectacularly as the last ones, I took that well deserved break from inventing. That was why I was spending some time with Eleanor today.

"Helloooo! Earth to Alvin!" The Chipette shouted in my ear. "Mission control to Spacecase. Come in, Spacecase. Over."

"Heh heh." I chuckled nervously. "Got lost in my thoughts, again."

"That's all you do!" Classic Alvin complained, glaring at me from a nearby chair. Strange. This was the first time both of my hallucinations were happening simultaneously. "Think, think, think some more. When are we gonna do something fun!?"

"Quiet down, please, Classic. I'm trying to spend time with Ells." I begged. I intended to say it in my head, but that was out loud. Oops.

"Do you actually see him over there?" Eleanor pointed in the direction I'd been looking.

"Mmm hmm." I nodded. "I've gone nuts. Completely nuts."

"Eh, so have the rest of us." She said sympathetically. "I don't think anyone created to be half one species and half another would be able to stay sane."

Classic Alvin made a funny face and stuck his tongue out at me.

I had had enough, so I closed my eyes and he and the accompanying physics hallucination were both gone.

That's when Dave barged into the room. "Eleanor, you're going to have to go home. Alvin has a history test that he needs to study for and a book report to finish. It's due tomorrow and he hasn't even started."

I folded my arms. "How do you know I haven't?"

"Simon told me." He turned off the TV.

"But I wanna see how the football game ends!" I cried.

Eleanor slid off the couch and hurried away. "That's okay, Alvin. I'll text you the scores."

Dave ushered me into the dining room and then sat a history book and the book I'd chosen for my report in front of me. "Come on, now, Alvin. Let's get to work."

"I already did PLENTY of work today. I can calculate it all in Joules for you." I insisted.

He wouldn't budge. "Just do it. No fussing and NO excuses. Being an inventor does not mean putting off schoolwork."

I opened the history book. "Okay, father." I said in a purposefully haughty version of my scholar voice.

He seemed satisfied with that and left the room. I tried to motivate myself to work on the work, but eventually I had to turn to my secret crutch.

Out poured the Nerds candy and I ate a handful of each of the two colors. I stuffed the box back into my cyan hoodie. I'd been keeping it there. I wondered if anyone noticed the shaking sound of the candies moving around in the box as I walked. Eh, not important right now.

My hyperfocus mode kicked in and I blazed through studying for my history test. I read a total of 4 chapters. That was probably more than I needed to read. Oops. Oh well, at least it was kind of interesting. It was all stuff about the Civil War.

Then, I switched gears and skimmed through the Animorphs book. This one was book 3, titled The Encounter. It was all about Warbie's favorite character named Tobias. He's a boy who was trapped in the body of a red tailed hawk, with hawk instincts too. He's slowly becoming my favorite character too. Though I have a soft spot for Rachel and Cassie because they remind me of Brittany and Jeanette in some ways.

I'm rambling again, ahhh! Okay, no. Back on topic. I was feeling a little worn out after all the history reading. I needed another boost, but if I boosted myself too much, I knew I'd face the consequences. What would win out? My common sense or my impulses?

It's a no brainer, isn't it? Before I could stop myself, I had downed the entire box of Nerds candy, both sides and both flavors. Keep in mind, this box was much larger than the Halloween candy sized ones Jeanette trained me with.

It worked though! My mind sharpened instantly and I was prepared to write a 5 page book report all about the Animorphs! I threw away the empty candy box and sat down with my pencil to the paper.

Thoughts flashed through my head like lightning. I grabbed a hold of each thought before it could get away from me. The thoughts gathered on the paper and in less than two hours, I had written out 5 full pages. This was practically a month's worth of agonizing work, done in a single night. Excelsior!

I walked into the music room and slapped the papers down loudly on Dave's desk. "There! Finished! Proofread, AND I made sure my grammar is as good as can be." I said forcefully. Sure, it was probably not perfect grammar, but I was going to score a B or higher for sure. The nerd in me knew it.

"Good work." Dave patted my head. "Why are you so jittery?"

Was I jittery? Oh shoot, from the candy, probably. "Just super excited to turn it in tomorrow and see the look on Miss. Smith's face!" I squeaked.

"Keep this up, Alvin. I'm…" Come on! Say it! Say you're proud of me! "Sure she'll be impressed."

FRIGGITY FRACK! I don't CARE if Miss. Smith is impressed! I want you to be impressed! I want you to be proud! I want to be a good kid! I want to be as much like Simon as possible without losing the best parts of the old me!

The next day, I was trapped in full nerd mode and creeping people out left and right. I couldn't help it. The candy overdose had allowed the "Albert" part of me full control. He was a hoot! All the best science jokes! All the best math jokes!

"Why should you never insult a paleontologist?" I asked Brittany as all 6 of us walked through the school hall.

"Can you PLEASE stop it with the science jokes!?" Brittany begged. "PLEASE!"

"Just this last one! I swear!" I meant that too. I was starting to feel less shaky, but I was feeling super strange.

"I dunno, why?" Eleanor humored me.

I grinned. "Because you'll get Jurasskicked."

"Did you just actually swear?" Brittany asked, looking absolutely floored.

I shook my head. "It's a pun. Made out of Jurassic. Because the Jurassic period was…"

"From a movie!" Theodore interrupted me cheerfully.

"Yeah." I decided the science fact could wait. "From a movie."

A kid I didn't know too well walked past us and waved. "Hey, Simon. Hey, Theodore, Hey, Simon Jr."

Eleanor cracked up laughing and Brittany and Jeanette both looked uncomfortable, though I surmise it was for different reasons.

"I'm not another Simon!" I shouted.

"Yes you are." Brittany told me sadly. "A slightly more extroverted Simon."

It did sorta feel like, by crunching that entire box of candy, I had traded my Alviny soul for Simon's brain. This sure didn't feel like the soul of an Alvin at the moment, but maybe that was just my anxiety talking because people won't stop gaslighting me.

"Please don't call me that." I whimpered in a small and pitiful voice.

Simon made a weird moaning noise that sounded like he wanted to say something, but he didn't.

By the end of the school day, I was ready to get home. We were gonna work on that new song Theo picked. The final recording session for it, then we could release it. Ohoho! It was gonna be positively splendid!

I was walking out to Dave's car with the other five of us, when suddenly everything just stopped…and went completely dark. I didn't realize it then, but my candy binge caught up to me. I had fainted.

When I awoke, Dave and the others were with me in the living room at my house. They all looked varying degrees of concerned. I was fine now. The fainting was a good sign. It meant the full nerd mode was wearing off. I'd go back to being half nerd and half classic.

"Alvin, are you alright?" Jeanette put a hand on my forehead.

Theodore looked the most worried. "We don't have to do the song yet if you aren't up for it."

"I'm fine. I promise." I sprung up from the couch quickly. "Are you kidding me? I have been waiting to sing without sounding all off key and lame for AGES! Bring it ON!"

Simon looked skeptical. "You just fainted and Brittany had to lift you into the car. You are in no shape to record anything. You need to rest."

"Nah, I'm fine." I put my hand over my quickly beating chipmunk heart. "I just got too excited. I fainted from the excitement. If you don't let me sing, I'll keep fainting until you do." Ohoho! Thank you excuses brain!

"Well, okay then." Dave led us to the music room.

We were all set up to record and play our instruments in no time. Theo on drums, Simon on base, and me on my trusty guitar.

"This song is by The Bare Naked Ladies who aren't naked or ladies. That's just the band name. They sing the theme song of that science sitcom Simon and Alvin like." Theodore explained. It was GO time!

I started everyone off, with my newly enhanced extra rockin' and extra emotional vocal sound.

"Trying to get away

From banging on the tabletops, screaming at the top of my lungs

Did it in a day

When any other person would have taken off for most of a month"

OHOHO! I missed this so much! I was back where I belonged! This was who I was! Well, part of who I was anyway.

"Then I had to pay

I was shaking from the aftershocks, never thought I'd steady again

Now I'm going grey"

This was a surprisingly good song choice given all the current events. Holy smokes! Theo must be psychic or something. Or he just thinks this song is just all about cake.

"Cuz Alvin's got a doppelganger playing in his own rock band!" The other five Chipmunks chorused.

Aha! Clever! They were poking fun at me being a Simon knockoff, but to any clueless fan listening, it was like they were only changing the lyrics. No deeper meaning to be read into. No siree!

Theodore took the lead for the chorus, with the rest of us as backup. That was the plan. My voice was good, but Dave still didn't want me pushing myself too hard.

"It was piece of cake

But making cake's not easy

Sometimes the one you take

Can make a mess as we'll see"

Then, Theo took it solo! Eleanor the punk, with her blonde hair basically fully back now, took over playing drums for Theo while he danced around to get more feeling injected into his solo.

"Never wanted out

I was leaning on the door when the whole thing fell to the ground

Thought I was about

To make it go away and maybe tuck it where it's safe and sound"

Hmmm. Maybe he did actually know this song was more about making bad decisions that backfire than it was about actual cake.

"If ever you're in doubt…"

Brittany cut in with some sweet vocals. Her singing voice gave me a chill up my spine, just like Netta's.

"You never want to cut twice never having measured at all!"

Eleanor joined in with Brittany. The two of them made for a unique blend without Jeanette's voice there too.

"Had to leave it out

'Cause whether I had wanted to never really mattered in the freefall!"

Simon sang with Jeanette. I was a little jealous, but then I remembered that I sang a few full duets with Jeanette. It was okay. It wasn't like Simon actually liked her. He told me he didn't.

Back to the chorus with Theodore as lead singer once more. The rest of us were harmonizing to the best of our ability. My throat felt fantastic!

"It was piece of cake

But making cake's not easy

Sometimes the one you take

Can make a mess as we'll see"

I belted out a small solo part after the next chorus finished. "Everybody knows, but no one knows what went wrong!"

I could have sworn Britt and Simon exchanged uncomfortable looks at each other during my solo part. Did they know what went wrong? Did they know why my identity crisis was still lingering?

"So the story grows; you never let truth get in the way of a good song" Simon and Theodore sang.

Then it was time for a super rad bunch of guitar riffs from me. Boy, there were a ton. Like the energizer bunny, it kept going and going and going. Until, at last, we were back at the chorus for the last time.

"It was piece of cake

But making cake's not easy

Sometimes the one you take

Can make a mess as we'll see"

The key changed slightly for the very last part of the final chorus and my voice hit every note absolutely flawlessly! I was totally unstoppable!

"It was piece of cake

But making cake's not easy

Sometimes the one you take

Can make a mess as we'll see!"

The song ended and we all grabbed a drink. Gotta keep those vocal cords hydrated so they continue to work correctly. I had already experienced what happens when you don't.

"Great session, you guys." Dave said, saving the recording to edit and touch up.

"Awesome song choice, Theo." Eleanor fist bumped him.

"Thanks." He squeaked.

"You should sing the lead more often." The Chipette in mint and black and teal continued.

I coughed. "Let's not go getting carried away. I'm still the lead singer."

"Yeah, of course. It just never hurts to let someone else have the spotlight for once." She told me in a voice that made her sound like a nagging mother.

I thought about what she said. Could I really put someone else in the spotlight more often? I'd always been the lead singer, but everyone else was pretty good. It's only fair to let them sing too.

Who am I kidding? The spotlight is mine! I gotta keep up classic Alvin as an act for performing. If the truth got out, it would ruin EVERYTHING. My life was pretty much a ticking time bomb that could explode as violently as my prototype flying skateboards!

But, dearest readers, as you know, my life can never go smoothly for long. The sugar crash was looming and eventually it hit. I was down the entire weekend almost. Sick. In bed. Headache, nausea, the works. I didn't actually puke, thankfully, but the feeling was intense.

Then, with my brain depleted of that extra dopamine, I made a really dumb decision on Sunday night. I was browsing the web when I came across a fun quiz. Now, since the nerdiness had invaded, I was very into internet quizzes…about everything that excited me. I thought this would be a nice way to prove I wasn't Simon! Then, maybe everyone who was still suspicious of me would change their tune.

Now, I'm sure that every single one of you knows what result I got. Everyone except me was likely expecting it. The result made me start to weep uncontrollably.

"Why is Alvin crying this time?" Simon asked, entering the room in his super dark blue PJs with the robot design on them.

"He took a Which Chipmunk Are You Most Like? quiz on the internet." Theodore, clad in his mint green vertical stripe PJs, answered cheerfully.

Simon came closer. "And?"

Theo looked worried. "He got you."

I shut down my laptop and folded my arms over the glow in the dark alien head on my pajama shirt. "This is outrageous." I declared. "Even buzzfeed is against me!"

"Maybe it just got confused because you said you like science." My baby bro suggested.

Simon looked at me and then came over and climbed up on my bed. "Alvin, there's….there's something I have to show you."

He seemed really scared to show me this mystery thing. "Is it bad?"

He nibbled his lip. I knew that meant he was nervous. "You be the judge of that."

"There's something wrong with me, isn't there?" I asked.

He didn't answer. He just wordlessly led me into the closet lab, punching in the passcode without even looking me in the eye. Whatever he was about to show or tell me, I had a feeling it would only shake up my life more.

OH NO! What will happen now? I left you on a big ol cliffhanger once more. Sorry!

Favorite parts of this chapter? Let me know in the comments.

There was a lot of Alvin and Simon interaction this time around and not much Alvinette. I promise I'll make up for that in the next chapter! Though some of it may be Alvinette angst. You've been warned!

I think it's pretty obvious what Simon's going to show Alvin. How do you think the reveal of something that may or may not actually be as it seems will impact our budding science kid?

Shall update ASAP! Keep on being amazing, readers!