Brittany remembered exactly when it all started. The exact moment her life had changed for the worse and there was absolutely nothing she could do about it. She hated feeling so powerless. As the oldest of her sisters, she was supposed to be in charge of everything. She was supposed to fix all the problems they faced. And she couldn't help but feel like she had somehow let Jeanette and Eleanor down. Big time.
It all started about a year and a half ago, at the beginning of their sophomore year in high school. It was on that fateful fall morning that Brittany had been pulled from her history class and told to report to the principal's office right away. Of course, Brittany immediately went into panic mode and her heart was racing the entire long walk over there. But not because she had any idea what the real reason for it was. At first, she thought for sure that somebody had ratted her out for cutting math class the day before to make out with Alvin (who was still her boyfriend at the time) under the bleachers on the football field. She was totally expecting to see Alvin sitting on one of the benches outside the office when she got there (and Alvin Seville being called into the principal's office wasn't exactly anything new or unexpected).
She was not at all prepared for what awaited her when she finally arrived at her destination. Instead of seeing her partner in crime sitting there, she saw Eleanor and ... Jeanette? That was when she knew something was up. Jeanette was absolutely the last person Brittany ever expected to see in the principal's office (aside from maybe Simon).
Brittany sat down between both her sisters and the three of them started to talk among themselves while they waited. None of them had any idea why they were told to go there. But they were all very worried. They just knew it couldn't be anything good.
Eventually, Principal Talbot (who had recently been relocated to the high school) poked his head out of his office and called for the Miller sisters to come in. Once the three of them were seated in front of his desk, they noticed he had a very solemn look on his face.
"Girls," he started off in a very serious tone. "I'm afraid I have some bad news. Your mother was in a car accident on her way home from driving you to school this morning. She was pronounced dead on arrival when she got to the hospital and they believe her death was instantaneous. I am very sorry for your loss. Since Dave Seville is listed as your emergency contact, I have notified him and he will be picking you three up shortly. You are all excused from attending the rest of your classes today. And if you don't come to school for the next few days either, we will understand."
Honestly, Brittany barely even heard anything that was said after she was pronounced dead. She felt totally numb. She wanted so bad to jump out of her chair and scream at Principal Talbot that he was lying. That Miss Miller was not dead and was at home right now feeding the cat and he didn't know what he was talking about. But she found herself unable to even speak. This was definitely a first for Brittany Miller.
All three Chipettes were still in disbelief when they met Dave outside the school. Dave pulled all three into a group hug.
"I'm so sorry, girls." Dave whispered.
They could tell he was trying to keep it together for their sake. After all, the Sevilles and Miss Miller had been neighbors for years. Long before The Chipettes had even entered any of their lives. And she was a good friend of his. It only made sense that he would be affected by her death too.
He had decided to take Alvin, Simon and Theodore home for the rest of the day as well. He figured the girls could use some support from their boyfriends and longtime childhood friends.
When the boys arrived to meet Dave and the Chipettes (who were all in tears at this point), they were beyond confused until Dave explained what had happened. Each Chipette was given a hug by her Chipmunk boyfriend. Brittany by Alvin, Jeanette by Simon, and Eleanor by Theodore.
That night, the Chipettes sat in their living room and remembered Miss Miller. It was so weird to be in their home, knowing their guardian was gone. It felt so empty and lonely.
"When we first moved in with Miss Miller, I was totally convinced it wasn't going to work out. I thought I could never get used to taking orders from someone else. Having a bedtime, having to do chores... all that stuff." Brittany said through sobs. "But, it turned out to be the best thing that ever happened for us. For once in our lives, we actually had a mom."
"I remember you were actually the first one to let her know how much we loved her when that social worker tried to say she wasn't suited to be our guardian." Eleanor stated, as she rubbed her eldest sister's back and gave her a weak smile; in spite of her own tears.
"I remember how she thought she was the one who taught me how to play the piano." Jeanette began as she removed her glasses to wipe away her tears. "I didn't have the heart to tell her the truth."
"We also wouldn't have won that talent show if it wasn't for her. The whole dance routine she taught us for I Wanna Be Loved By You turned out to be genius." Brittany added. "Not only did we beat the boys in the talent category, but we also won for best costumes. Who would've ever thought those tacky outfits she made us wear were exactly what we needed to steal the show?"
The three sisters gathered in a group hug, leaning on one another for support. It felt like they were back on the streets in New York all over again, so alone and afraid. But they were grateful they all had each other.
And they knew they would get all the support they needed from Dave and the Chipmunks, which they were thankful for as well. The Seville family had always been there for them since the day they all met and the bond between the Millers and the Sevilles had only gotten stronger over the years. Especially once the Chipmunks and Chipettes each paired off with their counterparts. So despite how they were feeling at that moment, the girls would never truly be alone.
On top of dealing with Miss Miller's death, the sisters also had to worry about the possibility of being split up and sent to different foster homes. So they needed to come up with a plan to avoid this. Thankfully, they were able to find a solution to this problem.
With some help from Dave and tons of research from Simon, they learned Brittany could legally be emancipated in the state of California since she was 15 now. Once she got emancipated, she was declared a legal guardian over Jeanette and Eleanor. This allowed the Chipettes to stay together and continue living in Miss Miller's house, which they had inherited from her.
While Brittany was more than used to being the leader of the trio and was doing it before Miss Miller had taken them in, she couldn't help but feel that being officially named guardian over her sisters was too much pressure for her. Sure, she had always been bossy. But while she loved being in control and had no problem telling her sisters what to do, she just wasn't sure how she felt about being in the role where she was almost considered a mother.
And this was the starting point of when Brittany felt everything was spiraling out of control.
Another major blow in Brittany's life happened about six months later, when it was early spring. She would never forget that day at cheerleading practice, when it all literally came crashing down for her.
This practice started off no different from any other cheer practice that took place after school. Brittany was there wearing her cheerleading uniform with pride, as always. She had always been the flyer for her squad, due to being smaller than the other girls. She loved it and they had always caught her. Until that day, when a stunt went horribly wrong.
The squad had tossed Brittany up in the air, like always. But on that day, one of the base cheerleaders who was supposed to catch her had stumbled, taking Brittany down with her. Her knee twisted awkwardly beneath her, causing a sharp, searing pain to shoot up her leg. The teenage chipette had never been in so much pain in her entire life. She knew right away that something was seriously wrong. Unable to get up from the gym floor or even move at all, an ambulance had to be called to take her to the hospital.
Even though Brittany was emancipated and no longer had a legal guardian, she still made sure the school notified her sisters. Almost immediately after Brittany arrived at the ER, she saw Jeanette, Eleanor and Alvin rushing towards her. Alvin had heard about what happened from his basketball team and actually ran out in the middle of practice just to make sure his girlfriend was ok. Dave had dropped them all off and had been outside looking for parking. He would be with them soon to see if Brittany and her sisters needed help with anything.
Jeanette, Eleanor, Dave, and Alvin sat in the waiting room while Brittany was taken in for an x-ray. It turned out that she had a torn ACL. She was told that she was going to need crutches for the next twelve weeks, which was the rest of the school year. This meant she would be off the squad for the rest of the semester and would also have to quit the school play. It would be at least a year before she could participate in cheerleading or a school play again. She was so upset over this because she was supposed to play Sandy in Grease with Alvin playing the role of Danny. And now her understudy, Lindsay Piper, would be starring as Alvin's romantic opposite.
Brittany barely even knew Lindsay since she had just started at their school a few months ago, but couldn't help being suspicious of her. She could tell from the way she looked at Alvin that she liked him. Sometimes, Lindsay would even flirt with Alvin. And Alvin, not wanting to compromise his reputation as a lady's man, would flirt back. This was not unusual in Alvin and Brittany's relationship. Alvin would flirt with a girl who was flirting with him, Brittany would get pissed, scream at him over it, and swear she was through with him. But then Alvin would sweet talk his way into forgiveness and they would kiss and make up. The truth was, no matter how much he annoyed her, Brittany truly did trust Alvin and knew his interactions with these girls never went beyond meaningless flirting. She knew Alvin had always been totally faithful to her and would never really cheat on her. But she definitely didn't trust the other girls.
She was also told she was going to need to wear a knee brace for a while after she got off the crutches. She just hoped and prayed that she wouldn't go under the knife. Surgery was being brought up as a possibility if her knee wasn't making enough progress in the time they gave her.
Eventually, Brittany was sent home. She was placed on bedrest for a week, followed by intense physical therapy for the next few months. She was hoping all the physical therapy she was receiving would help drastically speed up her recovery. She was also given painkillers to take as needed.
She was so grateful for her sisters and the Sevilles as well.
Jeanette and Eleanor made sure Brittany stayed off her feet as much as possible for the first few weeks. Jeanette had even provided her with a bell to ring whenever she needed anything. Though admittedly, the blue-eyed chipette did take advantage by ringing the bell a little too much and asking her sisters for way more than she actually needed. Even basically being in the role of Jeanette and Eleanor's guardian didn't make Brittany's diva attitude fully go away. Eleanor was ready to strangle both her sisters after about a week. Brittany for ringing the bell so much, and Jeanette for giving their oldest sister the bell in the first place.
Dave came over every day to help the girls out while Brittany was healing, with Simon and Theodore pitching in when they could too.
Alvin was the best, though. This guy, who Brittany once thought was totally selfish and obnoxious when they were kids, was really going out of his way to be there for her. He came over every day after whatever extracurricular activity he had to try and cheer his injured girlfriend up. He'd bring over movies and snacks and would make her laugh. Sure, he would still deliberately get under her skin, just like when they were younger. But she actually found it secretly endearing these days. She loved Alvin for it and hoped he never changed that about himself. After all, they wouldn't be Brittany and Alvin if there wasn't some amount of bickering in their relationship, regardless of the status.
Now that they were both sixteen, Brittany was seriously considering taking her relationship with Alvin to the next level. She never could have imagined the turn their relationship would end up taking at the end of the summer.
A/N: This was a sad chapter to write. I'm sorry for killing off Miss Miller. I know I'm not the first fanfic writer to do it, though. I understand that it's not very realistic for Brittany to be granted guardianship over Jeanette and Eleanor when she's only a few minutes older than them, but I need it to be this way for the purpose of this story. So I'm asking for a little willing suspension of disbelief here.
Huge thank you to everyone who has reviewed, favorited and followed my story so far, as well as everyone who has favorited and followed me as an author. You guys have made me so happy! Hope everyone enjoyed chapter two. For those of you who have been waiting on it, the next chapter is Alvittany centered! Hope to have that one up soon.
Please review and let me know what you think so far.
