Brittany wiped her mouth clean, threw the toilet paper in, and flushed. She then hastily opened the door of the stall, hoping she had misheard who she thought the voice on the other side belonged to. But there was no mistake about it.

It had been Shelby Cassidy, her former friend from the cheerleading team she used to be a part of. The very same Shelby who told her to sit with Eleanor and her soccer team instead of at the table with the rest of the squad after Brittany had been approved to go back to school following her knee injury. The same Shelby Cassidy who failed to defend Brittany against Missy Snootson or make any effort to reach out to Brittany in all this time. The same girl she used to consider one of her best friends on the squad.

Brittany's heart began to race as she felt the panic rise. Did Shelby hear her? Had she seen anything that happened before the Chipette had run into the bathroom? And if so, would she say anything to Missy or the rest of the cheerleaders? Her thoughts were racing faster than her heart was.

Shelby had always been a very sweet girl back when Brittany was still head cheerleader. But then again, so had Erika Sheridan. But Brittany had heard rumors about how much of a nightmare Erika had become after taking Missy's place as co-captain while Missy replaced Brittany as captain. Missy's influence, she was sure. But she had to wonder how much this change in leadership had affected Shelby's kind personality.

Finally, the teenage Chipette responded to her old friend.

"Shelby... hey. What's up?" Brittany softly greeted her.

"I was just wondering... are you ok?" Shelby cautiously asked, her green eyes lighting up with concern. The blonde teenager then pointed to the bathroom stall Brittany had been in.

"It's just..." Shelby continued. "It sounded like you were..."

Brittany felt as if her heart was about to stop at that very moment. Guess this answered her question about whether or not Shelby had heard her puking in there.

But the auburn-haired teen quickly regained her composure and tried to play it cool.

"Oh, yeah," She answered abruptly. "I'm fine. I'm just not feeling well tonight. I think it was something I ate earlier."

"Oh..." The young blonde's voice had trailed off.

Was she buying Brittany's story? She was having a hard time telling from her ex-friend's reaction.

"Listen," The teen Chipette said as she carried on with her attempt to seem calm and collected, in spite of her nerves. "Would you mind not saying anything to anyone about this whole incident? If my sisters think I'm sick, they're going to end this show early and force me to go home. I've been waiting forever for this moment and tonight's performance here means so much to me. So can you not tell anyone? Please?"

Shelby carefully scanned all corners of the room and tucked a strand of wavy dark blonde hair behind her ear. She seemed very reluctant, which was making Brittany practically sweat.

"Well..." The blonde girl hesitantly replied.

Brittany shut her eyes tightly. What was Shelby going to do with this sensitive information she had?

"Ok." the wavy-haired teenager finally agreed.

The Chipette's eyes fluttered open as she let out a huge sigh of relief she had been holding in. Once again, it looked like her secret was safe. But the question still stood. How much was Shelby actually aware of?

"Good." Brittany said as she forced a smile and walked off to the sinks.

The blue-eyed girl proceeded to rinse her mouth out with water. She then reached into her huge purse to search for a piece of gum to get that smell of vomit off her breath. She dug around her purse for her gum pack, as well as the makeup products she knew she would need since there was no doubt in her mind that her makeup would have to be touched up before she went back out there to face the rest of her peers at the dance.

Finding everything she needed in her bag was no easy task with all the numerous napkins and wrappers she now had to navigate around in there. She desperately hoped Shelby was not going to see any of that or that she would not accidentally pull something out she did not want to be seen.

Luckily, Brittany was extremely skilled at figuring out how to maneuver through her own purse. Once she spread out all the beauty products she intended to use on the bathroom counter, she unwrapped the stick of minty sugar-free gum and popped it into her mouth. After that, she assessed the damage as she looked at her face in the mirror.

Mascara and eyeliner were both running down her face, as usual after a purging episode. And of course, the layer of pink eyeshadow she had applied before was now vanished by the tears that had been brought on when she had forced herself to throw up. Her eyes were bloodshot and puffy.

Brittany exhaled deeply as she washed her face so that she would be able to reapply her makeup on a fresh canvas. Once she got all her smudged makeup off, she wet a paper towel with warm water and pressed it down against both eyes for a minute each in an attempt to bring the swelling down. That was when she noticed the dark, heavy circles under her eyes. When exactly did she get those?

As Brittany started to reapply her foundation, that was when she noticed Shelby was still staring at her from the other side of the bathroom. Seriously? It's bad enough that one of the girls who was partly responsible for her misery had seen her looking like a hot mess with her wrecked makeup after hearing Brittany do something she never should have heard. Did she really have to stand there and watch her while she fixed her makeup?

The irritated Chipette whipped herself around and rolled her eyes. She then shot her old friend a look that silently asked, "What do you want now?"

Shelby cleared her throat, then finally spoke up.

"I just wanted to tell you that..." She started out sheepishly. "I miss having you on the squad as our captain. A lot of us do, actually."

"Really?" Brittany responded while raising an eyebrow.

Now she was intrigued. She turned back around to face the mirror and began applying her eyeliner, but still listened as Shelby spoke. She was super curious to hear where this discussion was headed.

"Yeah. I'm not sure if you heard, but Missy is making all of us miserable."

"I heard." Brittany confirmed, not even attempting to hide the grin that was now taking over her face.

It had been one of the very few consolations Brittany had left in her life. Knowing that those backstabbers were each suffering without her on the squad. Serves all of them right!

"It's like she thinks she's the queen and the rest of us are all her servants or something." Shelby continued. "I mean, you might have had your moments. But still, you were never even close to being like that. You actually understood what it meant to be part of a team and tried to be fair to everyone. And your cheers and routines were way better than hers too. We used to have fun with you as our captain."

Brittany simply shrugged before she opened up her mascara wand and started applying the black mascara to her long lashes.

"Well, sucks for you guys. Too bad you all didn't appreciate me more when you had me there." She responded smugly, desperately wanting to hide how much their actions had truly hurt her deep down.

"I'm really sorry, Britt." Shelby sincerely apologized. "I did feel really bad when you got hurt. And cheer camp just wasn't the same without you this summer. Same for all the games and competitions we've been performing in."

"Then why didn't you stand up for me?" Brittany angrily retorted. "When I was cleared to come back to school after being placed on bedrest and tried to sit with the rest of you at our usual table, why did you go along with the other girls in claiming that all the seats were full and when Missy excluded me from doing anything with the rest of you?"

"Because I was afraid of Missy. We all were. She said anyone she caught associating with you wouldn't have a spot on the squad next year. Then she reminded us that we could still be kicked off at any time, even after making it."

"So you decided to betray a friend just to make sure you wouldn't lose your place as a cheerleader. Good to know where your loyalty lies."

Brittany gave off her usual snooty reaction of turning up her nose while opening up her lip gloss wand and smoothly spread the sparkly pink gloss over her lips.

"Look, I understand if you still don't trust me or aren't ready to forgive me. But I just wanted to let you know all that."

Shelby looked as though she was about to put her hand on the knob of the door to exit the restroom, but then turned back around.

"So, think you'll come back to the squad next year? And maybe be our head cheerleader again?"

"Well," Brittany responded with a smirk, as she pulled her hair tie out and started brushing her hair. "I've already been cleared to perform with my sisters and The Chipmunks. And my physical therapist says I'm progressing fast. So, my doctor says I should be good to go by September. If I still wanna be a cheerleader, that is. I've actually been thinking about starting my own club up for next year. I think maybe this school could use a dance squad. Or drill team."

"That sounds like fun." Shelby stated with a small smile. "Maybe I'll join that if you start it up. Cheerleading has just been kinda lonely for me this year. You know, Erika has been my best friend since kindergarten. But ever since she became co-captain, I feel like I don't even know her anymore. She's almost as awful as Missy is now."

"If you don't mind," Brittany began, clearly growing bored of the conversation. "Our break's almost over. I have a show to get back to."

"Of course." Shelby responded with a nod.

She started to head out the door, but turned back to give the preoccupied Chipette one last look.

"I hope you feel better." She said sincerely.

With that, the young blonde finally walked out the door, leaving the Chipette alone in the school bathroom to put the final touches on her appearance.

As Brittany gathered her hair up and started to put it back into her signature ponytail, she thought about how her talk with Shelby was somewhat satisfying. All those cheerleaders who betrayed her last year were now suffering under Missy's reign! It was so great to have it all confirmed for her. At this rate, they would all be begging her to come back next year! And she would be able to enjoy making them sweat by telling them she is not so sure she wants to come back.

But her concerns from earlier still stood. How much had Shelby really seen? Did she actually see Brittany shoving all the food into her mouth in the hall right before she ran to the bathroom? She was pretty sure she was careful about being discreet, but now she was starting to doubt herself.

However, the blue-eyed teenager quickly brushed off those thoughts and reassured herself. All Shelby had heard was the sound of Brittany barfing. That was it. She never mentioned anything else.

And of course she believed Brittany's story about eating something that bothered her stomach. Why wouldn't she? After all, the Chipette was an extremely talented actress. She could convince anybody of anything.

Once she was as happy with her look as she could possibly be, Brittany promptly swept all her beauty supplies back into her bag. Then she spit out her gum into the wrapper and threw it out. After that, she left the bathroom. The pink-clad Chipette was ready to go back out there and face everyone.

As the ponytailed Chipette made her way down the hall on her way back to the gym, that's when she felt a strange sensation in her throat. It suddenly felt sore. As if she was getting a cold or something.

Right before she had to get back out there to sing. This was not good! Brittany desperately tried clearing her throat to make that feeling go away. She picked up her pace as she dashed back to the gym, but had to slow down almost immediately when she started to feel a wave of dizziness wash over her.

Oh, God! She could NOT faint again! No way was she going to let a little bit of dizziness ruin her big comeback. And especially not with all those reporters out there watching.

When Brittany finally got back to the gym, she made her way over to the snack table and picked up one of the unopened water bottles on it. She twisted the cap off and then practically gulped the whole thing down in one breath. Although the water had helped her feel better, she was still anxiously hoping no one noticed how long she had been missing for.

Technically, their break between sets was over. Alvin was already back up there, performing I'm Too Sexy, also from their Club Chipmunk album. Brittany couldn't even remember if that was the first or second song for The Chipmunks in this set. She had not really been paying attention to any number that didn't involve her when Dave went over the set lists with all of them.

After searching the room for a bit, Brittany eventually found Jeanette and Eleanor off to the side of the performance area. She hurried over to her younger sisters, while also praying that they would not make a big deal about her delayed entrance. Not like being late was really uncommon for her anyway, right?

"Hey guys." Brittany said breathlessly as she sneaked in between her two sisters. "I'm back now!"

"Where were you?" Eleanor questioned the eldest Chipette. The expression on her face was a mix of half annoyance and half concern.

"We're on next." Jeanette informed her gently as she adjusted her glasses. "We were seriously worried you weren't going to make it back in time. Is everything ok?"

"Where were you anyway?" The youngest Miller asked again.

In spite of how every nerve in her body was on fire over fear that her sisters would figure out the truth, Brittany simply played it off and scoffed in response to all this.

"Like I'd be caught dead performing with my hair and makeup looking anything less than fabulous? You guys should know that by now. It takes me longer to prepare than you two because I actually care. I owe it to my fans to put all my time and effort into looking perfect for them! Even if it does make me late for some shows."

This caused the blonde Chipette to roll her eyes while Jeanette bit her bottom lip, but decided not to pry any further.

Just then, the girls all heard Alvin hitting his final note.

"I'm too sexy for this song!" The red-capped Chipmunk sang into the microphone as the crowd went wild in cheering for him.

Once he walked off, that was The Chipettes' cue to enter.

Brittany, Jeanette, and Eleanor all took their spots. They were positioned with Brittany at the center front, Jeanette standing only a couple of inches behind her on the right, and Eleanor on the left.

Brittany maintained her composure on the outside. But on the inside, she was freaking out. What if her voice came out all scratchy? Or what if she lost her voice in the middle of the song? What if she passed out? And then all this ended up in the papers and every gossip magazine?

All scenarios the teenager could not stand to think about! As she was getting lost in her thoughts, she heard the song Girls Just Want To Have Fun start up. A song she knew very well. The Chipettes had sung this one about a million times before.

On her cue, Brittany started singing into the microphone.

I come home in the morning light

My mother says "When you gonna live your life right?"

Brittany relaxed a little as she heard those first few lines come out of her mouth. She sounded great! No one could tell she was dealing with a sore throat right now. And she no longer felt dizzy either. Once again, water had been a lifesaver for her.

Brittany continued with the song. Even smiling slightly and getting into her performance a bit as she followed her new choreographed routine to the song.

Oh mother dear, we're not the fortunate ones

And girls they wanna have fun...

Finally, The Chipmunks and Chipettes wrapped up their spring dance show with a joint performance of Joyride. After they finished, all students at the dance exploded in applause and cheers. There were even calls for encores.

Despite her discomfort and anxiety about her secret potentially getting out, Brittany managed to look and sound confident throughout the remainder of their show. She was incredibly relieved to know she pulled it off so well. And that yet again, her secret remained safely hidden.

Once the six chipmunks all left the area they were performing in, that is when a swarm of reporters mobbed them. The Chipmunks and Chipettes soon found themselves surrounded by the press. A whole sea of cameras were flashing in their eyes and microphones basically being shoved in their faces. Each reporter was dying to get an exclusive interview or story about their big group reunion performance.

And of course, Brittany Miller was the hot topic of the night. With being the one who had been injured and forced to halt all performances for a full year. Not to mention the fact that she was lead singer of The Chipettes.

The history of Miss Miller and her passing was well known too, including how Brittany had to step up and become legal guardian of Jeanette and Eleanor. Her story was considered inspiring. So it was no surprise that the eldest Miller sister was the one the press wanted to talk to the most. This was the kind of stuff the public ate up!

"Brittany! Over here!" One reporter called out to her in the distance.

But Brittany could barely hear them and was not even sure exactly what direction they were coming from. It was getting harder and harder to navigate through the crowd of paparazzi that was gathered around the six.

Then a tall, blonde male reporter who looked to be in his mid-thirties got near the auburn-haired teenager. He spoke into his microphone and started with his round of questions.

"How does it feel to be back in the spotlight after all the things you went through this year?" The man further pressed. "Getting hurt right after losing your adoptive mom? Then on top of that, having to be responsible for your sisters? How are you handling all of this?"

Internally, Brittany was panicking so bad. She did not want to have to answer all of these questions about her personal life. She wanted to run right out of the school, all the way back to her house.

But, she knew how important it was to keep up appearances. She could not let anyone catch on to how much she was actually struggling on the inside. That would only lead to gossip and rumors being spread about her. She had to keep up the confident and composed exterior she was famous for.

Suddenly, Brittany felt a squeeze in each of her hands. Jeanette got her right hand, while Eleanor had her left. With this sisterly support being given to her, the blue-eyed Chipette felt as though she could carry on with responding to all these rapid-fire questions.

"It feels... amazing." Brittany replied with a forced smile. "I mean, me and my sisters live for performing and we always have our whole lives. So it's great to be back to doing what we love. We miss our mother every day, of course. But I know Miss Miller would be so proud of us all tonight."

Just then, a petite female reporter came charging towards Brittany. She had bright red hair and appeared to be in her early twenties.

"I have a question for you and Alvin." The red-head stated excitedly. "Are you two still a couple? I saw Simon spending time with Jeanette and Theodore and Eleanor looked happy together. But it looked like you were getting awfully cozy with some unidentified blonde, Alvin..."

The Chipette was starting to panic on the inside again. What could she say? What would he say? Was he going to admit he dumped her? She would be so embarrassed if that got out! Alvin better not publicly humiliate her or she was going to make his life Hell!

But then she noticed the eldest Seville brother looking at her from across the room with sympathetic eyes and giving her a nod of approval. She knew what this meant. Alvin was going to let Brittany handle this one. Guess he realized he owed her that much, at least.

"We've mutually decided to give our relationship a break right now and agreed we can see other people. As you all know, I've got a lot going on in my life now and really just want to focus on healing and getting my career back on track. But Alvin and I both agreed to continue supporting each other as friends."

The oldest Chipette then looked back in the direction of the eldest Chipmunk and saw him smiling at her. Did she actually manage to impress Alvin? The thought of that warmed her heart a little bit. But also made her somewhat sad, because it served as a reminder of everything she had lost this past year. In fact, all these questions did.

"So, Brittany," A brunette female in her early forties approached Brittany with her microphone. "Alvin Seville appears to have a new girlfriend now. What about you? Do you have a new guy in your life too? I mean, look at you! You're gorgeous! And so thin and famous. I bet you have boys lining up at your locker, waiting for a date with you."

All of a sudden, a certain red-capped Chipmunk jumped right in front of his ex-girlfriend. It seemed that he was trying to intervene. Brittany was a little confused by this, but she just went with it.

"Hey, Lindsay!" Alvin shouted over the noise. "Lindsay! Come here!"

"Coming!" The bleached blonde squealed so loud, Brittany was surprised she didn't blow out all the microphones in the room.

As Lindsay eagerly ran up to Alvin's side and swung her arm around him, Alvin introduced her to the press, then started answering all the new questions they had for him. Although the two of them might have had their differences, Brittany was extremely grateful Alvin was running damage control for her tonight.

While a couple of reporters were still hassling Brittany by asking questions about if she had a new boyfriend or was enjoying the single life, Jeanette and Eleanor both tried to help their older sister by fielding them. This had led to the two younger Millers being asked about how they were holding up since Miss Miller's death and what it was like to be in the care of their sister, who was only a few minutes older than each of them. Simon and Theodore then stepped in to help out their respective girlfriends, while Alvin seemed to continue managing everything just fine with Lindsay.

With the remaining paparazzi all busy talking to Jeanette, Eleanor, Simon, Theodore, and Alvin, it appeared to Brittany that she had finally slipped through the cracks. Her sisters and The Chipmunks had done a good job at distracting the press for her. She decided that she would use this opportunity to sneak away and head back home at last.

As the pink-clad teen moved away from the crowd, she could feel herself getting lightheaded again. She grabbed one of the few water bottles left at the snack table and crammed it into her purse. She would drink it on the way home so she wouldn't pass out while walking there. Thank God she would not have to walk very far to the Miller house.

She finally made it into the paparazzi-free hallway. She took a few deep breaths to try to calm herself down, but still was unable to ward off that lightheaded feeling. Maybe having a few sips of water before going would not be the worst idea.

Brittany found a nearby staircase and sat down on a step. She pulled the water bottle out of her bag, unscrewed the cap, and took several tiny sips. She just sat there nursing her water and trying to relax as much as she could. Hopefully, she could make it out of the school without anyone else trying to talk to her.

It seemed like she was not going to get her wish, though. She had no clue how long she had been sitting on those steps for, but it must have been long enough that Alvin and Eleanor managed to escape the chaos in the gym. Just her luck, they had both spotted her and were heading over as they called out to her. As Brittany looked up at them, Alvin took a seat next to her on the stairs, while Eleanor rested her hand on the wall with the banister, slightly leaning against the banister.

"Hey, Britt." Alvin started out. "Just wanted to tell you, you killed it in there. Awesome job with all those tough questions."

"Yeah," Eleanor agreed. "Some of those reporters were really getting all up in our business there. But you kept your cool the whole time. So proud of you, Britt."

While Brittany did smile at all this praise, she also rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"Please! You think I don't know how to handle these people? It's not like this is the first time we've done this."

The pink-clad teenager paused for a moment, then continued talking.

"I guess I owe you a huge thank you though. Both of you. Thanks for stepping in when their questions started touching on sensitive stuff."

She then turned her attention over to her ex-boyfriend and beamed at him.

"And thank you for letting me answer the question about our relationship status, Alvin. Thanks for not... well... spilling all the details about how our breakup went down."

"No problem." The red-capped teenager replied, looking into his former girlfriend's eyes and returning her smile.

The two former lovers then found themselves reaching for each other's hands and squeezed. For a moment, it felt like they were back together again. It didn't last long, of course. They both soon realized what they were doing and pulled away from each other. Once more, things were back to being awkward between Alvin and Brittany.

Naturally, Alvin decided to attempt to lighten the mood after that.

"Looks like you're the star now. Guess you finally beat me there, huh?" The Chipmunk joked with a smirk. "Better not get used to it though. Because next time we're surrounded by press, every reporter there is only gonna want to talk to Alvin Seville again. The focus never stays off me for long."

While this did earn a small smile from the blue-eyed girl, Brittany mostly just wanted to get out of there. Performing again really had not brought Brittany the kind of joy she was hoping it would and she really just wanted to get back home now. Maybe take a bath and go to bed early. And try to avoid binging and purging for the rest of the night.

"I should head home." Brittany eventually announced.

But as the ponytailed teen stood up, the dizziness from before took over and she felt her legs wobble. Fortunately, she was able to catch herself on the banister of the stairs before she fell over.

Alvin and Eleanor each gasped as they noticed this, both recalling the way Brittany fainted during that one fateful rehearsal. While Brittany was hanging onto the banister, Eleanor also put her hand on her eldest sister's shoulder to help steady her.

"Brittany! Are you ok?" The brown-eyed Chipette asked her big sister.

"Yeah, I'm fine." The older Chipette responded abruptly. "I just stood up too fast. That's all. Now if you'll just let me be on my way..."

"Brittany," Eleanor started protesting with a frown on her face. "I really don't think you should be walking home like this. Especially with it being dark out now."

"I'll be fine, Ellie." Brittany said with a huff, as she rolled her eyes. "Our house is literally less than a block away."

"I can give you a ride home." The teenage Chipmunk hesitantly offered.

"Don't you have to get back to Lindsay?" His ex-girlfriend snapped at him.

She then picked her purse up from the stair she was sitting on and stormed off.

Alvin and Eleanor both shared worried glances with each other. Immediately after that, Eleanor ran to catch up with Brittany. She felt obligated to follow her sister and make sure she was all right.

Though the brown-eyed teenager still was not exactly sure what was going on with her oldest sister, her concern for her was growing every day. With her recent dizzy spells, the way she had been acting, and even her appearance.

One of the things that stood out about Brittany to Eleanor in particular tonight was the dress she had chosen for the dance. Even though it was pink, it was totally not Brittany's style at all. And the dress was practically like a potato sack on her with the odd way it seemed to be hanging off her body.

Eleanor could not tell if that was because the dress itself was a couple sizes too big for her, or due to Brittany's significant weight loss. Possibly a combination of both. But the weight loss brought the blonde teenager back to questioning whether or not her sister was being truthful about how much she had been eating when she and Jeanette were not around.

When Eleanor left to chase after Brittany, Alvin stayed seated on the step and just stared after both of them. He even continued gazing in the direction they took off in long after they were gone for several minutes. He had no idea what to make of what just happened.

One minute, he and Brittany were having a moment. She actually appeared to be letting her guard down a little, and even thanked him for helping her out when dealing with the paparazzi. Then the next minute, she would lash out at him when all he did was show concern for her and offer to be helpful. It seemed he could never do anything right these days, as far as Brittany was concerned.

Meanwhile, Brittany sipped from her water bottle as she was walking just before Eleanor caught up to her. Even though she was sure she would be getting the third degree from Eleanor for the rest of the night, she was very relieved that the spring dance was over. Same for their performance and having to speak with the press.

She was also thankful nobody commented on her weight tonight. Well, except for that one reporter who commented on how thin and gorgeous she was. But the teen Chipette knew the reporter had just been sucking up to her, hoping to get something out of Brittany. It was pretty common practice for many of these reporters.

But regardless, the night was almost over. And she felt safe assuming that whatever the press wrote about her, her weight was not going to come up in the tabloids. At least, that's what she thought.


A/N: So now we know who heard Brittany in the bathroom last chapter! Do you think Shelby knows the full extent of what Brittany's going through? Or did she believe her excuse about "not feeling well"? Do you think she'll end up blabbing to someone? Hopefully not to Missy, right?

What are your thoughts on Brittany's interaction with her ex-friend Shelby? Do you feel Brittany was too harsh with her? Or was she perfectly justified?

And what about the press at the dance? What kind of headlines will they come up with for The Chipmunks and The Chipettes next chapter (especially for our girl, Brittany!)?

How about the little Alvittany moment in there? I wish these two would stop being so stubborn!

This will probably be my last update until January. But I did do as promised in the last chapter by getting in one more update before 2024!

I can't thank you guys enough for all your amazing support and positive reviews! I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this chapter as well.

Merry Christmas to those who are celebrating! And Happy New Year!