The next morning, Jeanette walked down the stairs for breakfast after waking up. Her nose led her to the kitchen, drawing her in with the delicious aroma of fresh strawberries, pancakes, and scrambled eggs being cooked. Her baby sister had already been up preparing Saturday morning breakfast, most likely for hours now. This lifted the middle Chipette's spirits a little bit, as it felt like there was still some semblance of normalcy left in their lives.
However, one of the Chipettes was noticeably absent from this scene. The oldest one. It had just occurred to Jeanette that she had walked right past Brittany's room on the way down there. But as far as the tallest Chipette had known, no one had seen or heard from their big sister since she ran out on them last night after the two younger sisters had confronted her about her bulimia. Still, the middle Miller sister had been holding onto hope that Brittany had somehow snuck in before she woke up and was somewhere in the house right now. She decided to ask Eleanor if she had seen Brittany.
"Good morning, Eleanor." The taller girl greeted her younger sister politely before jumping into what could possibly be a lengthy discussion about their eldest sister.
The blonde Chipette was standing in front of the stove, flipping a golden pancake with her back turned to Jeanette. But when she heard her older sister say her name, she whipped her head around, which caused her platinum French braid to swing over her right shoulder in the process. She forced a small smile, but there was a blatant look of pain and worry in her big brown eyes. This was a stark contrast to Eleanor's sunny, cheerful demeanor.
"Morning." The younger Miller sister responded to the purple-clad Chipette solemnly, instead of the usual perky and upbeat manner she would have normally greeted her in each morning.
Eleanor then went back to focusing on the task at hand, clearly distracted by thoughts about Brittany herself.
"H-have you... w-well... do you know if Brittany got in last night?" Jeanette stuttered and then said that last part very quickly, her voice a mix of anxiety and hope. "I mean, is there a chance she could be sleeping up in her room right now?"
Eleanor shook her head no, making her braid sway behind her as she did so. She continued to speak to the bespectacled teen as she turned off the oven with the spatula still in her hand.
"Nope, she's not there. I checked everywhere already. It doesn't look like she's been home at all. And she's supposed to have physical therapy this morning. Who knows if she'll even show up?"
Jeanette let out a long and heavy sigh. She then pushed her glasses up to the bridge of her nose and gently started rubbing her temples after that. Her concern for their big sister grew even more intense.
"M-maybe we should file a missing persons report with the police?" The brunette teenager frantically suggested. "I mean, she's been gone all night! What if something horrible happened to her?"
Eleanor set the spatula down next to the stove and fully turned around this time. She shook her head, but gave her sister a sympathetic look. She then walked over to Jeanette and gingerly placed her hand on her older sister's shoulder.
"It hasn't been twenty-four hours since Brittany took off. So it's too soon. We should call Kristina first, at the very least. Find out if she's been to PT today, but we have to wait until she's scheduled to be there. Besides... I have a hunch where Brittany might've gone last night. And if I'm right, she's perfectly safe."
Jeanette's green eyes brightened as the words that had just left Eleanor's mouth quickly connected the dots in her mind. Neither sister had said where they suspected Brittany went. They didn't need to. But they both instinctively knew. It was a spot that was extremely familiar to all three of the Miller sisters and a place where they would sometimes still go when they needed to get away from everything.
The girl in purple reluctantly sighed. However, she ultimately agreed to give it some time before sending out a search party for their oldest sister. Eleanor handed her a plate stacked high with fluffy pancakes that were topped with strawberries and served with sunny-side-up eggs on the side, just the way she liked them. Jeanette gratefully accepted the scrumptious-looking meal and put her plate down on the kitchen table.
As Jeanette began squirting maple syrup out of a squeezable plastic bottle over her strawberries and pancakes, Eleanor joined her at the table with her own plate of breakfast, sitting right across from her. However, neither sister said a word throughout breakfast that morning. They both simply sat there in silence, knowing each of them was preoccupied with their own individual thoughts about their sister.
After breakfast was over, Eleanor had started cleaning up the kitchen. In the meantime, Jeanette decided to get to work on her own chores for the day. The first task on her list was the laundry. She decided she would begin with the bedding first.
With that, she stepped into her and Eleanor's shared bedroom, carrying a large white laundry basket in front of her. Jeanette started with her own bed. She stripped the sheets, blanket, quilt, and pillowcase (all in purple, naturally) off of the bed and pillow respectively.
She then did the same when she got to Eleanor's bed. Though this time, she got herself tangled up in Eleanor's spring green bed sheet and tripped. This little mishap caused her to land backwards into the basket she had set down on the floor. The brunette Chipette carefully lifted herself up out of the laundry basket, using the edges of it to balance herself. Once she made it back up on her feet again, she carried on with her assigned job as if nothing happened.
Once she finished stripping both of their beds, she picked up the big white basket that was now filled with their bedding and walked out of her own room. As soon as she made it out into the hall, she found herself staring at Brittany's (formerly Miss Miller's) bedroom. The door had been left wide open, so she could see that her elder sister obviously was not in there.
This sight made her heart feel even heavier. Her adoptive mother's old bedroom was now feeling emptier than ever, despite being filled with a ton of Brittany's possessions. It was a painful reminder that Miss Miller was never coming back and that Brittany was gradually slipping away from them emotionally. And worse, possibly even in the same way as their deceased mother if they didn't get her the help she needed for her eating disorder immediately.
Just the mere thought of it was enough to practically bring her to tears. However, she held back. After all, she had a job to finish up. And she knew Eleanor also needed her to stay strong now more than ever.
She stood there for a few minutes debating whether or not she should even bother going into Brittany's room to get her bedding. On one hand, she felt uncomfortable about going into her big sister's room without her knowledge or permission. She knew how Brittany was about her stuff being touched.
But then again, she was only going in there to retrieve the laundry. Right? This was something she did all the time when Brittany was home and the eldest Chipette never seemed to mind it then. In fact, she was usually just happy she was not the one on laundry duty that day.
Besides, she was sure Brittany would appreciate having nice, clean sheets and covers on her bed when she returned home (and she was clinging to her faith that she would be back, just as Eleanor kept on reassuring her). And it was not like the girls were still eight years old and reading each other's diaries behind one another's backs. This was not an invasion of privacy. She was simply entering Brittany's room to do a chore her older sister would rather not do herself.
With all that taken into account, the green-eyed Chipette walked right into the bedroom. A room it still felt weird to be in, even a year and a half after Miss Miller's death and despite having been in there multiple times since once it became Brittany's room. There just seemed to be this unsettling sense of doom and gloom that lingered in the air. Perhaps even more pronounced now with the newfound knowledge of their oldest sister having an eating disorder.
Upon walking in, she noticed that the walls were still painted in the same faded shade of pastel pink from when Miss Miller was alive. The room had been that color since the day Miss Miller had welcomed the girls into her home. It was interesting to Jeanette that her adoptive mom and older sister both favored the color pink. This meant Brittany did not even need to have the room repainted when she moved into this bedroom.
The air in the room was still thick with Brittany's Eau de Dream perfume and the sweet scent of vanilla candles as well. A clear reminder that Brittany had been occupying the room not very long ago at all. Jeanette's hands trembled slightly and she tightly clutched the edges of the laundry basket, sighing deeply as a hollow feeling ran deep in her heart. She tried to get her mind back on track by focusing on what needed to be done.
She proceeded to walk through the subtle pink glow illuminating the room, which was being cast by the morning sun peeking through Brittany's pink curtains. She slowly made her way over to Brittany's pink-adorned bed. Once she reached it, she put the laundry basket down. She then cautiously lifted up Brittany's pillow and removed the pink pillowcase that was covering it. After getting the pillowcase off, she balled it up and tossed it into the basket without giving it a second thought.
However, the brunette Miller heard the perplexing sound of something crinkling as she was setting the pillow back down on the bed. Wondering what this could have been, she instinctively lifted the pillow up again. Her green eyes widened in alarm at the sight that sat in front of her.
There was a considerable stash of open and empty candy wrappers covering the section of Brittany's bed where the pillow had been, taking on that exact shape. Even though they were mostly crumpled up, she could vaguely make out one that read Cadbury. She assumed this meant that this particular wrapper once held a Cadbury Creme Egg inside it.
A few of the other wrappers also looked like they could have been from chocolate candy eggs. She could see a couple of jelly bean bags as well. Signs of Easter. This was evidence that Brittany had gone on a recent binge. Jeanette blinked back the tears pricking the corners of her eyes and threatening to fall. She knew this binge was likely followed by Brittany purging afterwards.
Before the middle Chipette set the pillow back in its proper spot, she picked up a tiny pink plastic wastebasket that was sitting in front of Brittany's nightstand next to her bed. She then swept all the wrappers and bags that were in the spot where Brittany's pillow would normally be into the wastebasket with her hand. She knew very well that the whole reason Brittany had hid them there was an attempt to prevent Jeanette or Eleanor from catching on to her problem. She winced as she realized how upset her older sister would be knowing that one of them had found the wrappers.
Jeanette then moved on to stripping the covers off of Brittany's bed. When she was ready to get the final sheet off, she lifted the edge of the mattress up slightly. As she did so, more candy wrappers spilled out onto the pink shaggy carpet of Brittany's room.
The purple-clad girl's breath quickened as she felt her heart pounding faster and faster. She was shocked at the rate these crumpled wrappers were popping up everywhere in the eldest Chipettes' bed, just like weeds in a garden. She thought she recognized a Three Musketeer candy bar wrapper there, but no additional Easter candy showed up so far.
Even though a huge part of Jeanette was screaming at her on the inside to respect Brittany's privacy, her concerns for her sister ended up taking over. She kneeled down, lifted up the pink dust ruffle, and looked underneath the bed. What she saw under there shook her to her very core. It was like hitting the jackpot of candy wrappers there.
Jeanette reached underneath the bed to pull some of those wrappers out, and examined them. None of them were from Easter. However, she did see a tiny heart-shaped box that looked to be from Valentine's Day. She also discovered some green and red foil wrappers, indicating that they were bought around Christmas.
And some of this also appeared to be the candy they had given out to trick-or-treaters on Halloween. Discarded wrappers that undoubtedly belonged to Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and Kit Kats, now scattered all around. The vibrant orange and red packaging on them was now faded, dulled, and torn up. This was all the stuff that had disappeared the morning after Halloween, when Brittany claimed to have given the rest of their candy to a group of late night trick-or-treaters.
And there were some more wrappers from other candies and even an empty bag of pretzels in the increasing pile. Who knows how long all of these had been there for? Jeanette's heart sank and she gave up on holding back tears as they poured out of her eyes.
It was true. Brittany was sick. And it had been going on for far longer and was much more dire than either she or Eleanor had ever imagined.
"Brittany..." Jeanette murmured softly through her sobs.
The purple-clad teenager tried very hard to pull herself together, but failed miserably to do so. It was no use. She was devastated beyond belief. But she knew she had to tell her little sister about what was going on with their eldest.
"Eleanor! Eleanor! Come here, please!" Her voice quivered as she choked out between her cries while firmly gripping a few stray wrappers in each of her fists.
The blonde Miller sister immediately came rushing into Brittany's room the instant she was called in there.
"Jeanette!" she exclaimed, as panic laced her voice. "What's wrong?"
As she set foot in the room, she saw that Jeanette was kneeling on the floor and found it baffling. It was also weird that she was surrounded by a sea of empty candy wrappers that littered Brittany's otherwise pristine carpet. But just as the realization dawned on the younger girl, Jeanette pulled even more wrappers out from under Brittany's bed and a few from under her mattress as well.
"Oh my God..." was all a stunned Eleanor could respond with in disbelief, her voice barely above a whisper.
"How did we miss this?" Jeanette asked in a wavering voice, as the tears continued streaming down her face. "And why didn't Brittany feel she could tell us?"
Eleanor shook her head slightly with tears filling her own eyes. She had no answers to these weight of this revelation pressed down on both of them. Nevertheless, she walked over to her older sister, got down to her level on the floor, and embraced her tightly.
"We'll get Brittany through this, no matter what." She stated with a sniffle, as she stroked Jeanette's messy brown hair, which was nearly coming out of its bun, and soothingly rubbed her back.
After several minutes of sitting in the middle of the floor of the room that now belonged to Brittany, Eleanor eventually cooked up an idea. Not being one to just sit back and wait for things to happen, she decided to move forward and take action. She spoke up again.
"Listen," She started out as she looked into Jeanette's eyes. She could see all her older sister's tears through her purple-framed glasses. "Just keep cleaning and doing the laundry like you planned. Stay home in case Brittany comes back. I'll go next door and update Alvin. Maybe he's got a plan by now. I'll also try calling Kristina. If Britt went to PT, she should be there."
Jeanette nodded as she lifted up her glasses to wipe away some of her tears. Finding all this evidence that Brittany had been binging on sweets and other junk food would have been enough to set off red flags with anyone who knew her. But for Jeanette, it confirmed her worst fears.
She was aware that it was a symptom of a much larger problem, which made it all even more difficult to process. She truly hoped Eleanor was right in her confidence that Alvin would convince Brittany to seek treatment. The sooner, the better.
Back at the Chipettes' old treehouse, Brittany was just waking up from a full night's sleep on the couch. As she woke up, she let out a big yawn and stretched. She then slowly started to sit up, only to be greeted by an unwelcome stiff and sore feeling in her neck. She grunted at this unfamiliar discomfort setting in.
Apparently, that hideous old couch was not great for sleeping on. It was every bit as uncomfortable as it was ugly. And just as she had been fearing since waking up, the couch had not been too kind to her knee either. She tried to do some of the stretches and leg raises Kristina had shown her and instructed her to do at home during physical therapy. And for her neck, she tried to remember some stretches she saw Kristina demonstrate for other patients who were there for that particular issue.
Speaking of Kristina, Brittany was supposed to have therapy with her today. She slowly turned around, taking extra care of her neck, and looked behind her at the old-fashioned plywood grandfather clock that rested against the wall. It was nearly ten o'clock AM. This meant that there were only a few minutes left of the session that she was not there for. She had overslept.
The teenage Chipette sighed, knowing this had been the second consecutive PT appointment she had missed. She felt guilty and missed Kristina so much. But at the same time, maybe she was better off. Not so much physically, as she knew her knee still needed treatment. But Kristina had been asking way too many questions about Brittany's overall health the last couple of visits, obviously wanting to know about more than just her bad knee.
Kristina was starting to become just as bad as her sisters. And it was really annoying and not exactly making her want to go back to see her anytime soon, even though she had considered her to be a good friend. Why couldn't everyone just leave her alone? Couldn't they all see that the best thing for her right now would be to give her some space and mind their own business?
Brittany sat around for a bit, gathering her thoughts as she tried to contemplate what she was going to do next. A massive part of her wanted to stay holed up in the treehouse forever. However, she knew she had responsibilities she could not just turn her back on.
Even though she was still angry at her little sisters for teaming up on her the way they did last night, she couldn't just abandon them either. She was still their legal guardian, after all. And as pissed off as she was, she still loved her sisters and there was no way she would leave them at the mercy of the foster care system.
Before taking any further action, the auburn-haired Chipette decided she could use a hot bath to help soothe her achy muscles. Without hesitating, Brittany got up from the couch and made her way over to the treehouse bathroom. Though she also took care not to aggravate any sore muscles in the process.
Once in the bathroom, nostalgia for her childhood washed over her again at seeing the pink floral wallpaper decorating the walls. It was surprisingly still in very good condition too. Of course, Brittany had insisted on painting little pink hearts and butterflies on the bathtub to match the wallpaper.
Although the circle-shaped rugs with hearts in the center that had green around the edges which sat in front of the tub and the sink were chosen by Eleanor. Brittany didn't care for those, as expected. But unfortunately, she had to compromise on some things since this living space was for all three Chipettes and not just her, as bitter as having these rugs in the house made her.
Before proceeding, Brittany first looked around to make sure she had everything she needed for her bath. There were fresh, fluffy white towels sitting in the corner. Again, she had Eleanor to thank for making sure this place was well-stocked at all times.
She took her hair out of its ponytail, placed her hair tie down on the bathroom counter, and then rummaged through the drawers. In there, she located several of the soap bars and mini shampoo bottles she and her sisters collected from hotel rooms whenever they traveled. A tradition that started with their very first gig in California. But even after going to live with Miss Miller, they continued to take hotel toiletries at Eleanor's insistence.
The youngest Chipette said they should keep the treehouse stocked with them in case of an emergency. Brittany had previously rolled her eyes at Eleanor's idea to hoard hotel toiletries in the past, as she was not able to fathom what kind of emergency they could possibly need all those for. But now, she was very glad she had listened to her baby sister.
She recognized these soaps and shampoos from their hotel gigs in Florida and New York. This meant they were not that old and should still be good to use. She knew Eleanor would have thrown out anything that was too old anyway.
Brittany exhaled deeply as she grabbed a bar of soap and a few shampoo bottles out of the drawer. These were a far cry from the usual luxurious products from Bath & Body Works she always used at home. But for the time being, it would have to do. She would manage. After all, she survived being on the streets of New York with a lot less.
She put the hotel products up on the shelf above the bathtub. Then she turned on the faucet as she waited for the tub to fill up. As the bathwater was rising, she took great pleasure in shedding her too-tight clothes, which she believed hugged her curves in all the wrong ways.
It was as if she was getting rid of all the stress she had experienced throughout yesterday. And once she stepped into the tub and sat down in it, she could wash away everything she endured yesterday and events from the day before as well.
Things started to go from bad to worse the moment she read that fictitious article full of blatant lies about herself in the drugstore two days ago. And it all escalated from there. Later that day, she got into a huge fight with Eleanor over eating her muffins (which she knew wasn't helping her case if she wanted her sisters to believe she didn't have an eating disorder).
But at school yesterday, that's when everything really started to snowball. From the moment she walked in and had to deal with Missy and Erika tormenting her over the rumors about her being a druggie. Then she passed out in front of what was probably about half the school.
Nurse Webber practically backed her into a corner in an attempt to get her to admit to having an eating disorder. Then on top of everything else, Jeanette and Eleanor flat out accused her of being bulimic last night and refused to believe any excuse she gave them to deny it. She was pretty sure Shelby stabbed her in the back too, even though her sisters refused to name her as the source.
Not to mention that Alissa girl ringing her up at the drug store who was supposedly a fan of hers had the nerve to ask her if the rumors about her being on drugs was true. And she had been so distracted by her urge to buy candy, she totally forgot to purchase the makeup she actually needed and was supposed to be her sole reason for going there. And now she was here in the treehouse. Hiding away from her sisters and the rest of the world.
So the Chipette washed away all those bad memories and bad feelings she had in that bathtub. Simply scrubbing them all away with a small rounded bar of hotel soap, while simultaneously wishing it was one of her sweet-smelling body washes instead. After letting herself soak in the tub for a bit, she moved on to washing her hair. She squirted some shampoo out of one of the miniature bottles into the palm of her hand and applied it to her hair. She repeated this action a few times with several of those little bottles until she finally had enough for her hair.
She felt a little more relaxed as she gently massaged her scalp and combed her fingers through her wet hair. But when she started rinsing the shampoo out under the bathtub faucet, that's when she noticed strands of auburn hair floating in the water. More than there should have been. She felt a few tears spring to her eyes at the realization that she was losing even more of her hair, which was once so beautiful.
Deciding that she had been in there long enough, she drained the tub, stepped out onto the tacky rug, and grabbed two towels from the shelf. She wrapped one towel around her body and used the other to dry her hair. As she was toweling off, she wondered if she had left any makeup or clothes behind the last time she was there.
She often liked to wear clothes that Miss Miller didn't exactly approve of when she went out to parties or dances. And even though she could get away with hiding her outfits under long jackets or sweaters when it was cooler out, it was a bit harder to pull that off on hotter days. This was particularly true for California summers, when temperatures would often exceed ninety degrees.
So what she would do for those days is put on some outfit that she knew would pass Miss Miller's outdated standards. Then she would take a detour to the treehouse to change into the outfit she actually planned to wear. She often did her makeup there too, as she would occasionally want to try out looks for parties that she was aware Miss Miller would question her about. Sure, this meant that she would always end up being late. And even though Alvin would complain about it at first, he stopped caring as soon as he saw how hot Brittany looked after primping one hundred percent of the time.
Brittany started combing through various drawers in the bathroom with determination. Sure enough, she came across one that contained an abandoned collection of her foundation, concealer, blush, eyeshadow, mascara, eyeliner, lip gloss, and lipstick that she had left behind. She smiled, actually feeling genuinely proud of herself for the first time in a while. She always wanted to make sure she had a sufficient supply of it for going out. And now she could put some on so she would not have to risk being seen in public without her makeup again.
The first thing she did was layer on foundation and concealer, trying desperately to cover up the gigantic dark circles under her eyes. She did the best she could, but it seemed like nothing could hide them entirely. She frowned as she moved on to brushing on some blush in an attempt to put some color back into her cheeks.
She decided not to overdo it with the rest of her makeup. She added some soft pink eyeshadow that was subtle, but brought out her ice blue eyes, along with a touch of mascara, and some clear lip gloss. And with that, her makeup was finished!
When she looked at her reflection in the mirror, she still was not totally satisfied. She could only see problem areas, scrutinizing every flaw that stood out to her. The chubbiness of her face, dark circles, her paler complexion, and her thinning hair. Regardless, she realized this was as good as it would get at this time.
Now it was time to style her hair. It was back to searching through the old bathroom drawers again, as the auburn-haired Chipette sought out a hairbrush. She really hoped there was one here. She usually carried her own brush in her purse, so it was not exactly something she would leave behind at the treehouse. And the one she had as a child (that had been replaced several times since because of how often she brushed her hair) was actually one of the first things she grabbed to bring along with her when they all moved in with Miss Miller. But maybe one of her sisters had a brush they left behind?
After a minute or two of rifling through drawers, she finally found a purple hairbrush. She immediately recognized it as Jeanette's. The oldest Chipette rolled her eyes at the memories of constantly having to remind Jeanette to brush her hair before going to sleep at night and in the mornings before school. Even in the present, Brittany swore that Jeanette would still never brush her hair if she didn't have her big sister to constantly bug her about it.
Brittany felt her heart begin to sink as she thought about sweet Jeanette. She knew she had not been fair to her over the past couple of days. Harshly telling her to go away when she not only wanted to help, but was even offering to cater to her every whim and give her a bell again. And then she lashed out at both Jeanette and Eleanor after they expressed concern for her.
But still, she couldn't allow them to take away the one thing she had control over. Seriously, why didn't they know better than that? Why couldn't they understand? But alas, they were just not under the same kind of pressure that she was. So it was obvious that they would never get it.
Just as quickly as these feelings of guilt came on, Brittany then abruptly tried to dismiss them. She went back to concentrating on fixing herself up. She cleaned Jeanette's old brush off in the sink and then proceeded to run it through her damp hair. But as she was brushing, she was welcomed by even more strands coming loose.
She could feel the frustration and anger bubbling up inside her now. Why was this happening to her? Why was everything that defined her slowly vanishing bit by bit? Why did she literally have to lose everything?
Life just sucked so much for her! When would everything start to go back to normal? But could things ever be normal for her again, really? She just wasn't sure about anything anymore.
When she was through with brushing (or rather, when she decided she couldn't take seeing even more hair loss), she gathered what was left of her once gorgeous locks and scooped it up into her signature ponytail. Only now, it barely stayed in place. It was like watching a beautiful flower that was dying due to lack of water. Just sitting in some vase all alone and withering away.
And at last, it was time for her to try to put together some kind of outfit. She really did not feel like getting back into the same unflattering clothes she was wearing yesterday, so she hoped she had left some of her old party clothes in the treehouse. She prayed whatever options were available for her would suffice.
She exited the bathroom, taking her discarded clothes from the day before with her just in case Eleanor felt like doing laundry the next time she came by to keep up with the maintenance of this place. She then headed for the bedroom she shared with Jeanette and Eleanor in this little treehouse. But when she entered their old room, she started feeling sad again. It was a reminder that she wasn't even sharing a room with her sisters anymore.
She had her own room now. Miss Miller's old room. Sure, she had fought Eleanor tooth and nail to get that room. She had always wanted her own room her whole life. But now that she had it, it somehow just felt... wrong.
But then again, Jeanette and Eleanor probably would have caught on to her bulimia a lot sooner if they were still sharing a room this whole time. Plus, it did come in handy during the intimate moment she had shared with Alvin over the summer. Even if that one did wind up ending in heartache for her.
Whatever. She didn't have time to list all the pros and cons of having her own room right now. She needed to pick out her outfit for the day. Or at the very least, just something she could wear on her walk back to the Miller house until she could pick out some clothes from her current wardrobe that were more to her liking.
Bingo! She instantly eyed a pile of some of her party clothes, which had been neatly folded up and stacked into a little corner in the bedroom. She wasted no time heading straight there.
She dropped her old clothes down on the ground next to the organized pile. After that, she let the damp white towel that had been covering her body fall to the floor and immediately got to trying on some clothes. She could tell they had been cleaned since the last time she wore them too. Again, she had no doubt in her mind that this was all courtesy of Eleanor.
First, she went for a pair of distressed denim booty shorts and an eye-catching sequined silver tube top. Conveniently, she even happened to find a strapless bra with a matching thong in her stash that would work with this outfit (and most of her other party clothes as well if this outfit didn't work out). She checked herself out in the full-length mirror over in the other corner of the room that she was so familiar with.
Right away, she vetoed that first outfit. She absolutely hated it. She just felt like the shorts made her butt look huge, even though she used to think they made her look hot and gave the illusion of legs that went on forever when paired with high heels (which she could no longer wear anyway). She tugged at the shorts while grimacing at herself in the mirror. They clung to her in all the wrong places, making her feel exposed and uncomfortable.
As for the tube top, well it turned out to also be a crop top. Yeah, no way was she going out with her stomach showing while she was still carrying so much weight in that area. She thought about how this one was even more unflattering than yesterday's attire as she pinched at her perceived belly fat.
Her next potential ensemble was a denim micro-mini skirt that was scattered with silver glitter that caught the light in the room and a satin pink top with spaghetti straps that featured a low-cut cowl neck and ruching down the sides ending in tied bows. She quickly ran over to the mirror to see how this one looked on her.
Just as she feared, she suffered the same problem with the skirt hugging her hips too tightly. And while this top was not a crop top, it was way too tight and she was bothered by the way it clung to her body and emphasized how fat she was now. She scowled at her reflection as she tried to adjust that too-clingy top, which was highlighting all her insecurities. She pulled at the sparkly skirt as well. But nothing could make this apparel work for her.
She huffed, realizing she was going to have this problem with pretty much all of her party clothes. After all, it had been over a year since she had worn any of them. This was back when Miss Miller was still alive and before she hurt her knee. She had not been to a high school dance or party since those events had occurred. And she had been a totally different body type back then.
But the teenage Chipette was not ready to call it quits yet. There were still a few wardrobe options left. The next item she pulled out was a white halter dress that tied around the neck. It was a minidress that she always felt screamed summer so perfectly. But maybe it could still work for now even though it wouldn't be summer for another couple of months.
However, she wasn't feeling this dress either. Even though she didn't normally hate the way white looked on her as much as green or black, she did not like what this dress was doing to her figure. She felt as though the see-through fabric of the white dress was accentuating every inch of fat all over her body.
She literally felt like she couldn't breathe in this one. The material constricted her and somehow felt itchy, a sensation she never recalled being an issue with this dress before. She promptly untied the halter straps and let the dress drop to the floor, feeling she couldn't get it off of her fast enough.
Just when she wondered if she was going to be stuck in this treehouse with nothing to wear for the rest of her life, she spotted another dress in the stack of party clothes. She cautiously scooped it up, not quite knowing what to expect with it.
It was a pink spaghetti-strapped dress that had a bow in the center at the neckline. She remembered this dress well and was never sure why Miss Miller had a problem with this one. Sure, it was a little on the short side, since it was another minidress. Though she did relax a little more as the Chipettes got older, she probably still held onto the ridiculous notion that "A young lady's skirt must be three inches below the knee", as she would often say.
Brittany wiped away a stray tear that sprung to her eye at the memory of Miss Miller's voice when she said this. She missed her mom like crazy, even if she did strongly disagree with a large chunk of her rules. She actually wished Miss Miller was around to criticize her outfits now, even though Brittany would always argue back that she was being unreasonable.
And she really had been unreasonable over this dress. It wasn't even low-cut or backless. Hell, she had worn far more revealing outfits for performances on stage. So she still couldn't comprehend why Miss Miller wouldn't let her go to Missy Snootson's last day of school/first night of summer break party at the end of their freshman year in this dress.
Not to mention, it was even weirder that she never even bothered to ask if the party would be supervised by an adult. Missy's parents had been out of town for the night (the only reason she got away with having hundreds of high schoolers in that nice house), which meant it was totally unsupervised and there was a lot of underage drinking. Brittany didn't even have one drop to drink that night. But somehow wearing this dress there would have been a problem? As much as Brittany loved her adoptive mother and would give anything for her to be alive right now, Miss Miller had seriously been way behind the times.
She held the dress up by its skinny straps and looked it over. Then she held it up against her body as she gazed into the mirror and decided it was worth trying on. She slipped it over her head, sliding her arms through each tiny strap.
Brittany carefully examined how she looked in this dress in the mirror. She turned around a few times, checking it out from all angles. While she still felt it was too tight and thought it made her look fat, it was the option she hated the least out of all of them so far. Therefore, she decided to go with this dress instead of torturing herself with any more unflattering clothes that belonged to the old, confident Brittany who was so much thinner.
For her shoes, she simply slipped on the gold ballet flats she was wearing the day before, since she still was not approved for high heels. She definitely didn't want to trigger a relapse with her knee. Although, she hoped missing so much physical therapy wasn't already doing that.
So with her outfit picked out, her shoes on, and her hair and makeup complete, the teen Chipette was ready to go. She headed out the door, unsure if she would come back later or not. But she guessed she would decide on the walk back home if she would just be going to get some clothes that she felt comfortable wearing and then sneak out or if she would stay and just try to ignore her sisters if they refused to drop the subject of her supposed eating disorder. Only time would tell.
Back at the Miller house, Eleanor had just gotten off the phone with the center where Brittany went for her physical therapy. One of the receptionists picked up. She then put Kristina on the phone when Eleanor asked about Brittany. Kristina confirmed that Brittany was a no-show for today's appointment.
She sounded worried, but didn't specify why. Eleanor also felt she shouldn't share what she and Jeanette now knew about Brittany. At least not yet. She was aware that Brittany and Kristina had gotten close since she started going to PT last year. However, she had a feeling she didn't know about Brittany's eating disorder and realized that Brittany would only feel even more betrayed by her sisters if she thought they were blabbing to everyone.
The oldest Chipette was unquestionably going to be angry enough when she found out that Alvin knew. Speaking of the oldest Chipmunk, Eleanor decided it was time to pay him another visit. He should probably be aware of recent events with his ex-girlfriend before he went to talk to her. And getting him to talk to Brittany about getting help felt even more urgent now.
So, Eleanor simply ended the phone call with Kristina by asking her to tell Brittany to get in touch with her or Jeanette if she did happen to see her today. Kristina agreed to this.
The green-clad Chipette then bolted out the door so fast that the cool brass of the handle against her palm, along with the scent of blooming flowers announcing that it was spring, barely registered with her. For the youngest Miller girl was on a mission with only one goal in mind.
But just when she was about to walk up to the Sevilles' doorstep, she paused when she saw a bright red BMW pull up in the driveway. She knew who it had to be. Right on cue, she soon saw the red-capped Chipmunk exiting his car. He closed his door and then opened up one of the backseat doors to grab what looked like a bunch of bags from their local food store. Probably stuff Dave made him go out and pick up, she figured.
Eleanor approached Alvin just as he was about to walk up to his house.
"Alvin!" Eleanor called out as soon as she was within inches of him. The hint of anxiety flickering in her brown eyes was visible.
"Eleanor?" He asked in surprise, nearly dropping the grocery bags. "What's up?"
"I need to talk to you about Brittany again. More stuff has come up since yesterday." Eleanor began, her tone becoming increasingly somber.
"Is it bad?" Alvin asked, as concern clouded his blue eyes.
Eleanor nodded her head and her shoulders slumped as if they were being weighed down. She took a deep, shaky breath before she started explaining.
"Jeanette was cleaning Britt's room and found a ton of candy wrappers under her bed. And... I think she's been secretly binging for a while. Jeanette probably already cleaned some of it up by the time I got there but... I swear I saw a box of Valentine's Day chocolates in that whole mess. Well, I guess it's empty now. But yeah, I just can't wrap my head around this being the same Brittany who used to lecture me about how eating too much junk food was bad for me..."
"Damn..." was all the teenage Chipmunk could manage to mutter in response.
He couldn't remember ever seeing Brittany eat candy since he had known her. It felt so bizarre. Especially considering how she would never eat in front of him these days. But he had some idea of what was probably going on with Brittany and all that candy. But once again, he preferred not to picture that.
"There's more." The blonde girl continued. "When I got home, I told Jeanette about Brittany, just like I said I would. We decided to confront her together. We told her we know and want to help. She didn't take it well. She felt attacked and said we were both ungrateful and she didn't need help. Then she ran out of the house and we haven't seen her since."
"Wait... Brittany's missing?" Alvin asked as his ocean blue eyes widened in fear.
The Chipmunk tightly gripped all the grocery bags he had, feeling the thin handles cutting into his palms. Probably the only reason he didn't drop them at that moment. Either way, he knew that was sure to leave some red marks.
"Well... not exactly. As I just discussed with Jeanette, she hasn't been gone long enough to report it. Plus, we think we have a pretty good idea where she stayed last night. So I believe she's safe."
Alvin let out a small sigh of relief after hearing this. Without any more words exchanged, he knew what place Eleanor was referring to as well. Just then, a light bulb went off in his mind.
"I just need to put all this away before Dave flips out." The Chipmunk said as he held up the big brown bags in his hands. "Then I'm gonna get back in my car and find Brittany. And when I do, that's when I'll talk to her."
"I'll go with you." Eleanor offered, as she started following Alvin into his house.
The eldest Chipmunk stopped in his tracks for a moment, giving it a thought. Then he shook his head and raised a hand in protest.
"No," He responded firmly. "Not a good idea. I mean, if she got so pissed at you and Jeanette last night that she ran off, imagine what will happen if she sees you looking for her with her ex in his car. I think I should talk to her alone. Just be there for Jeanette right now."
Eleanor reluctantly nodded, realizing that what Alvin was saying made sense. She sighed and headed back to her own house, dragging her feet along the way.
"Don't worry," Alvin called out to the blonde Chipette one last time as she was walking away. "I'll find her. I know I will. And I'll make sure she knows we all just want her to be ok."
With a determined look in his ocean blue eyes, Alvin held the grocery bags high in his hands, threw them behind his shoulders, and walked towards the door. He knew exactly where he would go after he stored all these groceries in the fridge. What he still wasn't sure of was what he was going to say to Brittany. But he'd figure it out. Thanks to Simon, at least now he had some idea of what to expect when dealing with Brittany's bulimia. So now he could just improvise when he talked to her, in his typical Alvin way.
A/N: Ok, so I hope you guys don't totally hate me after this chapter! I know I promised to have the confrontation between Alvin and Brittany this chapter in my last update. I'm so sorry it still hasn't happened yet. I know so many of you have been waiting forever.
I do have that scene written out. However, I'm not completely satisfied with it. It was actually one of the scenes I had in my head before I even published it (which means it's been living in my head for about a year and a half now). But the story took a slightly different turn from what I had originally anticipated, which meant the scene had to be reworked to fit the events currently taking place in this fic.
I'd like a bit more time to perfect the Alvittany confrontation. But it'll take another couple of weeks for me to have it ready and I didn't want to hold back on chapter 22 any longer. So, I decided to just post what I have so far and save the Alvittany scene for chapter 23. Besides, this chapter is definitely lengthy enough at over 8K words (officially my longest so far).
Don't worry, this scene will be worth the wait! Hope you guys understand and can bear with me while I continue to work on writing it. I'm a bit of a perfectionist. :)
As you can see, I've already set the last scene up for the confrontation in the next chapter. Alvin has made it clear where he's headed this time! We'll see if he can successfully get through to Brittany and save her. Although we know how stubborn she is!
So I hope you guys still enjoyed this chapter, even if it might not have been what you were expecting. Definitely feel free to let me know your thoughts with a review. I'm always happy to hear from you guys!
I want to thank everyone who's read, reviewed, favorited, followed, and PMed me about this story again! Your support means so much to me. That's why I'm determined to make sure I write to the best of my ability for you guys. You all deserve the best!
So the next chapter will have the long-awaited Alvittany showdown! I won't post the next chapter until I have that scene finished this time. But don't worry, I still plan on updating late September. So you won't be waiting that long. I just don't want to disappoint you guys again.
So I hope you can all forgive me for delaying the showdown again. If so, I thank you for your patience and understanding. Look forward to hearing from you all!