Honolulu Hassle Part 3

“Woohoo!!”

Alvin made a running jump onto the king sized bed in his gigantic hotel room, Simon, Theodore, Brittany, Jeanette, Eleanor and Cody were all still standing in the doorway of the presidential sweet in awe.  Mike had the key card and was sticking in inside his jacket pocket as Alvin started to bounce around on the bed.

“Common guys!  You’ve got to try this!”  Alvin said as he did a somersault in the air.

“Oh oh!  I wanna bounce too Alvin!”  Theodore said as he grabbed Eleanors hand and began running over to the bed.

“Yeah me too!”  Brittany said chasing after them.

Soon all four of them were jumping all over the bed, the once neatly made bed was now a mess of sheets and pillows.  They had been in the room for all of one minute, and had already succeeded in making a mess.

“Alright guys settle down,” Mike said as he walked inside and shut the door behind him.

“Oh but Mike!  Look at how much fun we’re having,” Alvin said as he bounced on his back.

“Yeah, I can see that,” Mike said shaking his head, “But as much as I hate to ruin your fun, your father gave me instructions to make sure you rehearsed the lyrics to your new song.”

Alvin grimaced and stopped bouncing, landing on his side and getting in everyone else’s way so they had to stop too.  Theodore was quick to get off the bed, but Alvin remained where he was while Brittany sat at his side.

“Now don’t you give me that look,” Mike said as he took the folded papers Dave gave him out of his inner jacket pocket, “Now off the bed and over here.”

Alvin rolled his eyes and then rolled off the bed, he slumped his shoulders and dragged his feet all the way over to where Mike was standing.  When he got there, Alvin stuck his hands in his pockets and looked up at Mike all depressed like.

“Not gonna work on me Alvin, I’m immune,” Mike said as he pushed Alvin along and into the living room area of the suite.

“Drats, and just when I thought I had perfected the perfect heart melting look to defeat your stone cold heart,” Alvin said snapping his fingers.

Mike rolled his eyes, Simon and Theodore fallowed them in.  Mike unfolded the papers and looked them over quickly.  Each of the stapled stacks had one of the boys names on it, and the lyrics they were to sing in bold.

“Alright guys, here we go,” Mike said as he separated the papers, “Simon here’s yours...And Theodore here is yours.  And finally here is yours Alvin.”

The boys took their respective sheets and started to look them over, the lyrics weren’t exactly like the songs they had sung before.  In fact they were all very different, and music behind it was also very different, it had a very modern twinge to it.

“Well this is odd,” Simon said as he read through the song, “Are you sure these are the music sheets Dave handed to you Mike?”

“Yup, positive,” Mike said with a nod, “Now each of you take a seat and read through them, in approximately 1 hour I’m going to come back and we’re going to run through this once.”

“Oh man, I can’t believe that we’re in Hawaii and we have to work,” Alvin said as he turned and walked over to the couch.

“Your telling me,” Theodore said as he just plopped down right there on the floor.

“Well at least we don’t have anything to distract us,” Simon said as he hopped up on a large arm chair.

Just as Simons butt hit the chair, the yelps and yells of excitement echoed in from the other room.  Each of the boys looked up from their papers and leaned to look past the doorway that led into the bedroom, the Chipettes were all bouncing on the bed with Cody in the middle of all of them.  Their moving the bed was enough to make him bounce into the air without trying, they were all laughing and having quite the good time.

The distraction was soon removed from the equation when Mike closed the large stain glass doors that separated the two rooms, “There, distraction gone.  Now get to reading boys, you’ve only got 58 minutes aannndd...38 seconds left.”

The boys all groaned, there was no way that any of them wanted to do this right now, but its not like they had a choice.  Mike was the last person you wanted to try and bargain with, he always ended up taking everything and giving you nothing in return.


About half an hour later, the boys were still cooped up in the living room, while Mike and everyone else were sitting out in the den area of the suite, in front of the large sliding glass doors that led to the balcony.  Brittany was doing the best thing a girl knew how to keep herself busy, combing her hair for about the 10th strait minute now.  While Cody was looking through a book he had pulled from a large book case that lined one of the walls in the den.  Mike had engaged himself in a battle of whits with Jeanette, the hotel had provided them with a chess board, which provided Jeanette with a great way to assert her intelligence over Mike.

Mike reached up and moved a piece forward, then returning his hand to his chin were he continued to think and wait for Jeanette’s next move.  Jeanette looked the board over quickly, then grinned and moved one of her knights into position.

“Check mate,” Jeanette said happily.

“Huh!?  How on earth did you?”  Mike said as he looked the board over, “I didn’t even see even see you!?”

“Its all about tactics and stealth, a lot of big moves do nothing to bring attention to yourself.  But combining those big moves with a bunch of small strategic ones can almost ensure victory,” Jeanette explained as she pushed up her glasses.

“Ever consider the Army?”  Mike asked as he leaned back in his chair.

“Hey Mike,” Cody suddenly said as he looked up from his book, “Hasn’t it been an hour already?”

Mike looked at Cody and then got to his feet, he stretched his back and looked at his watch.  It had been almost exactly an hour now, which meant it was time to release the boys from their prison and see how far they got with learning their lyrics.  Mike walked over and slid the stained glass doors open, the three boys inside picked their heads up from their reading as he did.

“Oh well its about time,” Alvin said as he hopped off the couch.

“Didn’t seem that long time me,” Mike said as he walked in the room.

“Yeah well you weren’t locked in here having to read the same three pages of music for an hour, do you know how repetitive that gets?”  Alvin asked as he stretched his back.

“Not to mention the kink you get in your neck from reading that long,” Simon said as he rubbed the back of his neck.

“And how hungry you get,” Theodore said as he sat on the floor.

“Okay okay, I get the picture,” Mike said as Cody and the girls walked into the room behind them, “But do you guys think you can recite the first few lines for me?”

Alvin raised a brow, he could probably recite the entire song for him by this time.  A whole hour of reading wasn’t bad when you had more than 3 pages to read, but that last hour was like torture.

“Well, I think I’ve got my lines down,” Theodore said getting up.

“Mine too,” Simon said as he took his place next to Theodore.

“Excellent you two, I’m happy to hear it,” Mike said as he pulled up a wooden chair that was up against and old desk and sat down in front of the boys, “What about you Alvin, you think you can manage just a few lines?”

“Pisshhh, if I’ve got to,” Alvin said as he dragged his feet over to his brothers.

“Yes, you have too,” Mike said as he waited impatiently.

Alvin slouched next to Theodore and waited for Mike to give them the go ahead, but first he grabbed the music sheets Theodore left on the ground and handed them off to Cody who was standing just to his right.

“You can read music, right Cody?”  Mike asked.

“Yeah sure,” Cody said as he looked over the music.

“You think you can provide the boys with a tempo then?”  Mike asked as he looked down at Cody.

“I don’t see why not.”

Cody read through the music for a second, he quickly picked up the beat and then started to tap his foot on the wooden floors.  He sped the taps up, and then slowed them down a few times before he got it just right.  Cody gave Mike a nod when he felt he had it.

“Alright then, boys go ahead and start when your ready,” Mike said as he looked back to Simon, Theodore and Alvin.

Sighing one last time, Alvin listened closely to the taps that Cody was providing him and his brothers.  Soon he picked up the beat and started to play the music as he read it in his head, Simon and Theodore picked up on the same thing and the boys quickly harmonized with their sways.

“Woah-o-woah-o-whoa-o-woah yeah yeah...We're Coast to coast!”  Theodore sang out.

“We've been all around everywhere....Let's rock the town...East coast, to L.A. And all thats on the way yeah ...Don't want flashy things, Fancy cars Diamond rings... Let's go rock the town... That is all we need too!”  The boys all sung the parts together as Mike watched on quite impressed.  “Get you goin!'  Keep you rockin'!  Start the party!  Never stoppin'!  Get you movin'!  Get you feelin'! Nothing stoppin'!  All for dreamin'!”

The boys stopped just after a few lines of singing, that was all they could really get off the top of their head.

“Oh great job guys!”  Mike yelled out when the boys stopped singing abruptly.

“You really think so?”  Theodore asked not exactly happy with their first performance of the new song.

“Yeah it really was good for your first time around, wasn’t it you guys,” Mike said as he looked back at Cody and the Chipettes.

“Oh yes, very good,” Cody said smiling and nodding.

“I really liked it,” Eleanor said as she clapped.

“Eh, I thought it was kinda flat,” Brittany said as she shrugged.

“That was Alvin, he’s always flat,” Simon said gesturing to his brother.

“Hey!  Why is it you always choose to yell and me when something sounds flat,” Alvin shouted feeling quite insulted.

“Because you are always are flat...kinda like your head,” Simon said patting Alvin on the top of the head.

“Why you!”

Alvin went to lunge at Simon for the insult, but Mike caught by the back of the shirt before he could get to far.  Mike sighed as Alvin struggled against him in a rather vain attempt to get free.

“Okay, I can see that we’ve had enough practice for one afternoon,” Mike said as he picked Alvin all the way up with his hands under his arms, “How about we go out.”

“Oh oh!  Where are we going!?”  Theodore asked excitedly.

“Well I dunno,” Mike said thinking about it for a second.

“Hey I’ve got an idea, why don’t we rent a limo,” Alvin said as he hung there in mid air, “And cruise around town for awhile!  You know, grace the fans with my presence.”

“Oh, please,” Simon said rolling his eyes.

“You know Alvin, I don’t think that’s exactly what I meant when I said...go out,” Mike said as he set Alvin Down.

“Well then what do you suggest we do then,” Alvin said folding his arms and raising a brow.

“I’ve got an idea, why don’t we go out for some ice cream,” Cody said quietly, “I saw a place on our way here.”

“Ice Cream!  Alright!”  Theodore shouted as he threw a hand into the air.

“Yeah, I could really go for some ice cream about now,” Simon said nodding.

“I’m game for ice cream,” Brittany said as she filed away at her nails, “Besides, Alvin still owes me one.”

“I think that’s settled then, we’re going for ice cream,” Mike said as he nodded.

Mike quickly corralled the kids as the excitedly ran around at knee height, since the Ice Cream shop was only a couple blocks down the street, he figured it would be easiest just to walk there.  Though trying to keep track of them all on a busy street would be challenging to say the least.

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The sounds of construction work filled the air around one of the Big Islands most popular beaches, the source of the sound was coming from the nearly completed stage that was being built for the boys concert in only 4 days now.  Work on the stage had started early the previous morning, and the workers had really outdone themselves, the stage construction was way ahead of schedule.  Each day as the stage got closer to completion, fans who had heard about the concert and even bought tickets had started to gather just outside of the caution tape, hoping to catch even a glimpse of the boys.  But unfortunately for them the boys were miles away now, and the only one there worthy of noting was Dave, who had taken up a spot in the center of the stage.

Dave had been looking over the stage for about an hour now, making sure that things were going smoothly and according to plan.  So far everything was spot on, and he was rather pleased that at least this part of the job was proceeding without a lot trouble.

“Mr Seville!”  Tal shouted as he came out running from back stage, “Mr Seville your needed back stage!”

“What is it this time Tal?”  Dave asked as he started to walk towards him.

“We’re having a problem with the computers again, they wont boot up,” Tal said as he stopped running and took to walking by Dave’s side.

“Again!?  But I though the tech guy said he fixed them?”  Dave said rolling his eyes.

“Yeah well, apparently he didn’t know what he was doing because now we can’t even get them past the start up screen,” Tal said shaking his head in frustration.

The two walked behind the black curtain that hid the controls behind the main stage, wires and cords ran everywhere as about 5 or 6 people focused on 3 flat screen computer monitors.  Dave moved some people to the side as he pushed his way to the side of one of the younger stage hands who was pouring over the computer screens.

“What’s the scoop Lenny?”  Dave asked the stage aid as he typed away.

“Well, two of our primary lighting and effects computers are down, and the third seems to be running fine now but it took about 15 minutes to boot up,” Lenny said as looked over about 15 different windows that were running system diagnostics.

“You know what the problem is?”  Dave asked as he watched the screen with Lenny.

“Not a clue sir, the system diagnostics isn’t telling me a thing,” Lenny said as he looked at one particular window.

“You have a time frame on getting the problem solved and the computers up and running again?”

“Ummm, at this point in time Mr Seville it is looking like it could take up to 24 hours to just find the problem,” Lenny said as he stopped typing and sat back in his chair, “And even when we find it...if we find it...There is no telling weather or not it will be something we can fix.”

Dave took a deep breath and then stood up strait, this was one of those decisions that never came easy.  Yes they had 4 days to find and solve the problem, but even if they did find it and fix it, it may keep other important tasks from being completed.  Dave knew that they had two spare computers packed up in a truck out back, but he didn’t want to have to break into them if he could avoid it.

“Keep working on it for another couple of hours, if you can’t get anywhere in that time than I want you to go ahead and hook up the two back ups,” Dave said as he turned to leave, “I don’t want to waste a lot of time trying to trouble shoot something that might not even work if we do find out the problem.”

“You got it Mr Seville,” Lenny said as he cracked his fingers and went back to work.

Dave put his hand on his forehead and proceeded to walk back out on stage, Tal right behind him scribbling something down onto a clipboard.  Dave’s cell phone that was clipped to his belt suddenly began to vibrate, after awhile Dave had gotten tired of listening to his phone ring every 5 minutes.  Dave un-clipped his phone from his belt and looked at the caller ID, it was Robert.

“Hello,” Dave said with the phone to his ear.

Dave began walking again while he kept his phone to his ear, Tal watched him closely as he fallowed.  Tal couldn’t help but think about how different being Dave’s aid was from being an aid for all those other stars and bands, he was actually asked to work as opposed to just cater to his every whim.  He actually kinda liked it, Dave had even been bouncing idea’s of him.

“I think I could get to like this job,” Tal said as he looked back down at his check list he had been working on.

“Yes sir, of course Robert....no its just that I don’t think we’ll have enough time too...”  Dave was getting frustrated on the phone as he tried to persuade his boss, “But Robert the boys wont...Yes I know that we could just have them lip sync, but that’s not how we do things....Isn’t their anyway that you can push it back a day?”

Tal watched Dave closely as he loosened his tie, he could tell that Dave was starting to get very upset.  This was the side of Dave that the boys never had the unfortunately pleasure of seeing, Dave was pretty good at keeping his composure around the boys, but when they weren’t around he often times got very upset when things went wrong.

“Alright...yes consider it done then...Yes I know...Thank you Robert...Yes goodbye.”

Dave hung up the phone and let his arm fall to his side, he let out a deep aggravated sigh as he tilted his head back and almost seemed to growl at the man upstairs.

“Everything okay sir?”  Tal asked cautiously.

“No, everything’s not okay,” Dave said as he rested his hand on his forehead again.

“Did the concert get cancelled?”  Tal asked as he started to dig around in his pocket.

“No, it got pushed up,” Dave said as he looked over at Tal as he walked over with a couple Aspirin and a bottled water in hand.

“Pushed up?  But why would Robert want to do that?”  Tal said as he handed Dave the medicine and water.

Dave quickly took the pills and then chugged down a good amount of water, his head was throbbing at the thought of having to speed things up.

“The National Weather Service just notified Robert that a large storm with gale force winds, heavy ran and severe lighting is moving in on the islands.  Its suppose to hit the day of the concert,” Dave said as he whipped some water of his chin.

“Oh, well I suppose that’s a good enough reason to move the date,” Tal said nodding, “So when did he reschedule it for?”

“Tomorrow night,” Dave said as he handed Tal his water back and started to walk off.

“Tomorrow night!?  But that’s not enough time to get everything ready!,” Tal said as he ran after Dave.

“Yeah I know, which is why I need you to go backstage and tell Lenny to stop messing around with those computers and just change them out with the spares,” Dave said as he stopped at the edge of the stage, “Also let the construction manager know about the new time line, we need this thing done by tonight.”

“Yes sir, I’ll get right on it,” Tal said as he turned to start his tasks.

“Hey Tal hold on one second,” Dave said as he quickly turned around.

“Yes Mr Seville?”  Tal asked as he skidded to a stop.

“I just wanted to tell you that your doing a great job,” Dave said trying to smile, “And that you also can call me Dave from now on too, Mr Seville makes me feel old.”

“Thanks Dave, that means a lot,” Tal said smiling back, “Don’t usually get that compliment from my clients.  Usually to busy dumping soda on them.”

“Haha, well myself and the boys aren’t exactly the ordinary Liberty Records Client,” Dave said chuckling.

“Haha, no I guess not,” Tal said rubbing the back of his head.

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Mike sat on a bench out in front of the ice cream shop that he had just brought the kids too, he had assigned Simon to do the actual buying of the treat and just sat back so he could keep a close eye on them.  It took about 15 minutes for Simon to get all the orders correct, Theodore had changed his about 10 times before he finally decided on something.  The clerk at the front of the ice cream shop also had to get the boys autographs, which then led to everyone at the small ice cream shop to want autographs.  Which meant that it took an additional 15 minutes before they could get going again.

As Mike sat there, his arms spread out across the back of the bench, another man seemingly appeared out of nowhere and took a seat next to Mike.  Mike didn’t even look at him, he just moved his arms to his lap.

“Hello there Jerry,” Mike said with a sigh.

“Hiya Mike,” The man to Mikes side said as he started to dig around in his camera bag.

“I see it didn’t take you guys too long to find us, weird considering we didn’t release our arrival date or anything to the press,” Mike said as he reached up and took his sunglasses off.

“Well you know how it is Mike, us entertainment press folk are always coming up with new ways to track down our prey,” Jerry said pulling out his camera.

“Like a pack of wild Hyenas,” Mike said as he stuck his sunglasses in his jacket pocket.

“No need for name calling now Mike,” Jerry said as he put his camera up to his eye and focused on the kids over at the ice cream stand, “I’m just trying to do my job.”

Mike quickly reached over and put his hand over the lense of the camera, Jerry sighed and looked over at the security guard as he waived his other finger at him.

“And I’m just trying to do mine,” Mike said as he lowered his hand from the camera lense, “You know the rules now Jerry, ask first, take pictures later.”

“I can never get one past you, can I Mike,” Jerry said lowering his camera.

“Nope, you can’t,” Mike said as he leaned forward, “Hey boys!”

Alvin heard Mike call and turned his head, Simon and Theodore fallowed suit and both looked towards Mike and his new guest sitting next to him with a camera in hand.  They had seen the man a few times before, and knew he was a photographer for one of the big entertainment magazines.

“What do you say guys, yes or no?”  Mike asked.

The brothers all turned and looked at each other, they didn’t share any words but they all had the same thought and nodded to it.  Alvin, who had long since been designated the group spokesman of sorts, was the one to turn back and give the answer.

“Not a chance ya photo shark!”  Alvin shouted smugly.

“Well my nine year old lingo is a little rusty, but I think that means no,” Mike said looking over at the defeated photographer, “Butter luck next time champ.”

“Hm, guess next time I’ll have to try and be less direct,” Jerry said as he laughed and put his camera back in its bag.

“Yup, guess so,” Mike said as he looked back over at the kids.

“Well Mike, once again its been a pleasure doing business with you,” Jerry said as he got to his feet.

The photographer quietly and without a fuss walked off down the street, Mike watched him until he was out of sight just incase he tried to turn around a snap a quick picture.  But he didn’t, which for a member of the press was very strange.  Jerry was one of the more tame ones, he had enough respect for the fact that they were just kids, and to not take pictures of them if told not to.

“Hey Mike, you just gonna sit there all day or are we going to have to just go off on our own?” Alvin asked as he popped up in front of Mike.

“Well now I don’t think that’s going to make your father too happy, so I think I’ll accompany you,” Mike said with a smile as he got up.

“So where to next Mike?”  Theodore asked as he looked back, a mess of ice cream around his mouth.

“After we find a place that sells napkins,” Mike said as he dug around in his pocket for a rag to clean Theodore’s face off with, “I was thinking along the lines of a movie.”

“A movie, if I wanted to see a movie I would have just stayed at home,” Brittany said rolling her eyes.

“Yeah, besides there’s nothing good playing right now anyways,” Alvin added.

“Okay than, no movie,” Mike said as he knelt down and cleaned off what ice cream he could from Theodore’s face, “Well since this is your vacation of sorts, what do you guys wanna do?”

“Oh!  I heard about this great club that should be right around here somewhere,” Alvin said as he started to look around the busy streets, “I heard that the place is just packed full of girls!”

“Alvin!?”  Brittany shouted as she punched Alvin in the arm.

“What did I say?”  Alvin asked as he grabbed his arm.

“Ahhh okay, Alvin’s got no more say in this decision,” Mike said as he peered over at Alvin, “What about everyone else?”

“Hey!?”  Alvin protested.

“Um, I have an idea,” Cody said raising his hand from the back of the group.

“Okay than, Cody what’s your idea,” Mike said pointing to the shy Cody.

“Well, on our way over here I noticed an arcade,” Cody said as he dug the tip of his shoe into a crack on the sidewalk.

“Hey that sounds like a great idea!”  Eleanor hooted.

“Yeah!”  Simon said throwing a fist up into the air.

“I love arcades!”  Brittany said nodding happily.

“Okay its settled then, by popular vote we go to the arcade,” Mike said as he patted Cody on the shoulder.

The whole group gave a cheer and they started to make their way down the sidewalk in the direction that Cody saw the arcade.  That was for everyone except for Alvin, who walked much slower than everyone else and kept his arms folded, his ice cream melting as it sat there uneaten.  Mike looked over his shoulder and saw Alvin trailing, Mike quickly fell back and walked next to Alvin for a minute.  Alvin didn’t say a word, he just kept his arms folded and walked.

“Everything alright Alvin?”  Mike asked as he looked down at Alvin but kept one eye on the rest of the group in front of him.

“Yeah, just ducky,” Alvin grumbled.

“Your starting to fall behind you know, kinda makes my job a lot harder when I can’t see you all the way back here,” Mike said as he stuck his hands in his pockets.

“Than I guess you should grow some eyes in the back of your head then,” Alvin said as he turned his head to look in the other direction.

As Alvin looked off into the distance, he didn’t even notice as Mike bent over and went to scoop Alvin up.  Grabbing Alvin around the waist, Mike threw him up into the air and set him on his shoulders.

“Hey!  What’s the big idea!?”  Alvin shouted as Mike held onto Alvin so he wouldn’t fall off.

“Just giving you a lift there Alvin, you were starting to look tired,” Mike said with a smile as he picked up the pace to catch up with the others.

“I don’t want a lift now put me down,” Alvin said as he tried to pry Mikes hands from his ankles.

“No can do buddy, your just gonna have to stay up there until we get to the arcade,” Mike said with a big grin.

“I swear if you don’t put me down I’ll drop this ice cream right on your head,” Alvin threatened as he held his ice cream up.

“Ha!  You don’t have the nerve,” Mike said in a very similar cocky tone to Alvin’s.


Mike stood in front of a mirror with a rag and tried to whip off the rest of the ice cream that Alvin had dumped on his head.  He had underestimated Alvin’s resolve earlier, which led to him standing in this old arcade restroom.  He had also managed to get a large amount of ice cream all over his jacket, Mike had done his best to get the ice cream out, but it left a rather large milky looking stain around the neck and down the front of it.  For anyone else it wouldn’t have been a problem, but because of Mike’s job he was required to carry a firearm with him.  He didn’t like to announce that to anyone, nor did he like it when the boys saw it hanging in its leather shoulder holster.

“Well, at least I had the smarts to keep my hair short,” Mike said as he ran his sticky hands under the faucet.

Mike reached over and grabbed a few paper towels and then his jacket, drying his hands as he walked out of the restroom.  Opening the door let the sounds of the packed arcade flow past him.  Tossing the used paper towels into a nearby waste basket, Mike took about the task of locating the kids.  He had stumbled across a local patrol officer and asked him to stay with the boys while he cleaned up, it wasn’t something he liked to do, but the officer was more than happy to help.

With his jacket folded and resting in one arm, he finally found the officer standing next to a rather large crowd of chanting children.  He knew that somewhere in there were the kids, well all of them except for Alvin.  He had gone strait to a small soda bar and sat himself there the moment they arrived, where he proceeded to drown his sorrows in cream soda.

“Still sulking I see,” Mike said as he walked up next to Alvin and took a seat.

“How observant,” Alvin said removing his lips from his straw for just a second.

“Now don’t be like that Alvin, why don’t you go over there and play with your brothers,”  Mike said as he looked over at the center of the crowd of kids, where Simon and Theodore were challenging each other to a game of Dance Dance Revolution, “They seem to be having a blast.”

“Pifff, they’ve found themselves a replacement,” Alvin snorted as he pointed at Cody, who was laughing on the sidelines of the Dance battle.

“Who, you mean Cody?”  Mike said as he leaned over to see where Alvin was pointing, “Why on earth would you think that they would replace you with Cody?”

“Because he’s an attention hog that’s why, the second we met him he’s done nothing but veto all my decisions and come up with better ones,” Alvin said as he slammed his soda down on the counter, “That and he’s been getting way to chummy with Brittany!”

“Oh I see how it is then,” Mike said as he leaned back and smiled, “Your jealous of Cody, aren’t you?”

“Umm, no!”  Alvin said picking his drink back up and quickly sticking the straw back in his mouth.

Mike sighed and leaned back so he could rest an arm on the counter, there were quite a few things that he was going to need to explain to Alvin about Cody.  The young superstar didn’t quite understand that Cody never had the life that Alvin did growing up, and that he also didn’t know what it was like to have so many friends around him all at once and so suddenly like this.  That all had to wait however when Mikes phone began to ran, the ring tone was a small part from one of the boys early songs, Alvin’s Harmonica.

“What is that?”  Alvin asked sarcastically when he heard the old song.

“This would be a cell phone,” Mike said as he held it up for Alvin, “See, this here is the antenna, and this is where you talk into.”

“Very funny,” Alvin said as he spun around in his chair.

Mike laughed as he put his phone up to his ear, “Hello?......Yes sir, right away....We’ll be back at the hotel in 20 minutes....Yes sir...Yes goodbye.”

Mike hung the phone up and stuck it back in his pocket, he looked back over at where the others were playing.  Simon had beaten out Theodore and now Cody was challenging Simon.  Mike could see how Cody’s sudden appearance would make Alvin jealous, but he was going to have to explain that a little later.

“Well, its time for us to get going,” Mike said as he got to his feet, “Your dad wants us back at the hotel right away.”

“What for?”  Alvin asked as he hoped down off his bar stool to fallow after Mike.

Mike walked up behind the girls, who were cheering Simon and Cody on jointly in there competition.  But Mike, doing his job, walked up onto the dancing mats and put a hand on either of the boys shoulders.

“Okay guys, time to stop,” Mike said as he turned them around.

“But we weren’t finished yet,” Simon said as Mike led them to the front door, the others quickly fallowing.

“I know I know, but we’ve got to get you all back to the hotel,” Mike said as he stopped to nod at the police officer who stopped to watch the kids.

“Why?”  Theodore asked as he stood behind Mike.

“Well, your father just called me and informed me that there has been a change in date with the concert.  And he would like all of you home so you can do some more practicing.”

“Oh man,” Alvin said letting his shoulders droop.

“I know I know, but its gotta be done,” Mike said as they walked out onto the sidewalk, “So lets shake a tail feather and hurry back.”

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Dave was sitting back at the hotel suite, he was on his laptop typing away at an e-mail.  He was frantically trying to get the word out to everyone who needed to know about the change in date for the concert.  He also was frantically trying to locate someone to open for the boys, with the sudden change to date for the concert, the band that was originally suppose to open had to back out.  Now Dave wasn’t sure what he was going to do, he was hoping that Tal would find a replacement soon.  He had sent him into one of the other rooms with the other aids and concert staff to start making calls to other Liberty Records clients and see if they could either make a detour from their tour, or fly out tomorrow to be here.

“Oh what a mess,” Dave said as he reached for his cup of coffee, his fifth to be exact, “I should have never of agreed to this concert in the first place, now the boys are going to be so stressed trying to learn the new lyrics that the rest of their stay will probably be miserable.”

Dave leaned back in his chair and swivelled around, all this stress was too much.  But it was like this every time the boys had a concert, things would go wrong and Dave would end up a big ball of stress.  It was almost to much to bear some times, and this concert was especially bad with the horrible time constraints.  When the door flew open, Dave quickly leaned forward in his chair.  He could already hear the boys clamoring as they came in.  This was at least one thing that could cheer Dave up, having his boys around.

“Dave!”  Alvin shouted when he spotted him.

Alvin leaped into the air and landed right on Dave’s lap, Dave let out a little oaf as Alvin landed.

“Alvin, what’s with all the enthusiasm,” Dave asked as Alvin reached up and gave Dave a big hug.

“Oh no reason,” Alvin said with a smile.

Without warning, both Simon and Theodore also jumped up onto Dave’s lap.  Dave smiled and gave the boys a hug, that was just the thing he needed to calm him down.  But before he could let go, the boys quickly squirmed there way out of his grasp, they jumped off his lap and hit the floor running just as Mike came in.  The Chipettes were right behind them, which clued Dave into why maybe they didn’t want to be seen hugging their dad when they walked in.

“So you guys, there is something I need to tell you,” Dave said as Mike leaned against the door jam and the girls watched from behind.

“Yeah yeah, we know, the concert got moved up,” Theodore pouted.

“I’m really sorry about this fellas, but there isn’t any way around it,” Dave said as he put a hand on Theodore’s shoulder, “The concerts been rescheduled for tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow!?  But we wont be able to learn those lyrics in 24 hours!”  Alvin shouted in protest.

“Our chances of messing up on stage go up exponentially with such a time constraint Dave, we need at least 72 hours or more to properly learn those lyrics,” Simon said as he pushed up on his glasses.

“Not to mention we need to rehearse, I haven’t even had a chance to pull my drum set out,” Theodore said as he joined Alvin in protest of the new concert date, “I don’t think we’re going to have enough time.”

“And besides, barely anyone will be there,” Alvin pointed out quite logically, “No one had any time to buy tickets.”

Dave shook his head, he figured he would get these kinds of responses.  But being so used to things like this, Dave had already foreseen each and every complaint.

“I know, which is why we are going to have to spend most of the night tonight, and all day tomorrow practicing and rehearsing,” Dave said as he got up from his chair and walked over to the living room doors, “I’ve already had your instruments moved up to the room, and was assured that the room is soundproof, so we wont be keeping half the hotel up.”

“That’s all well and good Dave,” Simon said as he cleaned his glasses, “But for once Alvin is right, there’s no point if nobody will be at the concert.”

“Normally yes, but things are different this time around,” Dave said with a sigh, “The second the date change hit the internet, and notices were sent out to all ticket holders.  Any tickets that were freed up, were instantaneously bought up.  The concert completely sold out in a matter of hours, and I’ve heard rumors that those who couldn’t get tickets will be crowding the beach as close as they can get to the stage.”

“Any particular reason as to why this concert is becoming so popular?”  Mike asked out of curiosity.

“Not a clue,” Dave said shaking his head as he slid the doors open, “But I have a feeling it has something to do with the marketing tactics Robert is using, he has an uncanny ability to draw the masses in to a concert when he needs too.”

“Ah, I see, well that’s Robert Gallangine for you,” Mike said as he pushed off the door jam, “Always one step ahead of the client, and two ahead of the fans.  Well I’m heading off if you don’t mind sir, I’ve got a few things I need to take care of.”

“Of course Mike, I’ll walk you out,” Dave said he fallowed after Mike and the boys headed into the living area.

The Chipettes fallowed the boys in, Cody as per usual was heading up the back of the crowd.  He seemed to have found something of a place among the others there, which for him was very strange.  He wasn’t used to having so many friends all at once like this, it felt really good.  But as he watched Alvin, Simon and Theodore all go to their instruments, he couldn’t help but ask himself why Alvin had so far been so cold to him.  He was trying to be nothing but nice, but for some reason Alvin didn’t want anything to do with him.  Maybe he just wasn’t trying hard enough, he had heard that Alvin was difficult to get along with, but he never imagined it would take this much effort just to get him to talk to him.

Brittany quickly moved towards the couch and grabbed the TV remote, while Eleanor and Jeanette wondered over to Simon and Theodore.  So far their stay in Hawaii had been anything but glamorous, they hadn’t even been able to go to the beach yet.  Brittany was obviously distraught by this lack of tanning time, and she didn’t even say anything to anybody as she flicked the TV on.

“So do you guys think you can learn this song by the end of tomorrow?” Jeanette asked as she hopped up on the arm chair that Simon was standing in front of with his guitar.

“Its highly unlikely,” Simon said as he checked his finely tuned instrument over, “We’ve always had at least a week to practice a new song before we had to perform it in front of a live audience.  This is kinda pushing it.”

“The whole thing just bites,” Alvin said as he jumped up onto the couch next to Brittany, his guitar in his hands.

“We haven’t even had lunch yet,” Theodore said rubbing his belly.

“Which also bits,” Alvin said as he lightly strummed his guitar.

“Not to mention we haven’t even been shown the choreography for this song,” Simon said as he walked over to the speaker to turn it on, “We don’t know if there is any dancing that goes along with it, for all we know we could be doing a waltz.”

“Well, usually if your playing your instruments, there isn’t much dance to it,” Jeanette pointed out.

“That’s true,” Simon said scratching his chin, “But you’d at least think they would tell us that.”

“Did I mention that this all bites?”  Alvin said looking up from his guitar.

“Oh shut up,” Brittany said as she threw a pillow at Alvin’s head.

The pillow knocked Alvin upside the head, knocking his hat off.  Alvin glared at Brittany and then grabbed the same pillow, throwing it back and hitting her in the side of the head.  The hit frizzed up one side of Brittany’s hair, Alvin proceeded to laugh at her new hair due.

“Think its funny do ya,” Brittany said as she tried to flatten her hair back out, “Do you know how long it takes me to get my hair just right in the morning.”

“At least until noon, since that’s usually when we first see you,” Alvin said still snickering.

“Oh!  That’s it funny boy!”  Brittany said as she stood up on the couch, “Its time I teach you a lesson.”

“Bring it girly,” Alvin said as he set his guitar on the floor and stood up to match Brittany.

Brittany screeched as she lunged at Alvin, the hit knocked Alvin back, he landed on his butt and his back his the pillow that was leaning up against the arm chair.  Alvin quickly counter acted by crawling out of Brittany’s grip and grabbing one of her arms, he spun her around and let go just resulting in her flying across the couch and landing in the same why she had just pushed Alvin down.

“Geez, these two are ridiculous,” Simon said as he covered his face with his hand.

“Alvin, we’re supposed to be practicing,” Theodore said as he walked over and tried to break up the feuding.

Cody watched from a chair on the other side of the room, he wasn’t quite sure how to take in this scene.  Originally he was under the impression that Alvin and Brittany were boyfriend and girlfriend, but the way that they had been picking on each other since they got here made it seem like they were rivals.  Cody slipped off his chair and walked over to Simon and Jeanette, they both opted to stay out of the fight.

“Um, Simon,” Cody said as he slowly walked up beside him, “I’m getting kinda confused, I thought that Alvin and Brittany were a couple?”

“Couldn’t tell by looking, that’s for sure,” Simon said with a sigh.

“So wait, does that mean that they are?  Or arent?”  Cody asked scratching the top of his head, “Because I’ve never seen a couple act like that...well except for maybe Mr Gallangine and his wife.”

“To be honest with you Cody, we haven’t been able to tell either,” Eleanor said as she turned to look at Cody.

“They are both kinda too proud to admit to anyone else that they have feelings for each other,” Jeanette said pushing up on her glasses, “Its not uncommon for youths under the age of 13 to form relationships with the opposite gender, but still not socially admit it.”

“In laments terms...they’re embarrassed,” Simon said with a grin, “They haven’t reached a level of maturity to where they can admit to having feelings for another person, its rather childish really.  Feelings are feelings, and they shouldn’t be something to be ashamed of.”

“Oh I get it,” Cody said nodding his head, “So what your saying is they aren’t ready to admit their feelings for one another, like you and Jeanette are.”

Simon choked on his own breath, his glasses fell to the tip of his nose.  Jeanette turned a very bright shade of red.  They both looked at each other and grinned, and then looked back at Cody and smiled.

“Yeah, like I said...Alvin and Brittany aren’t ready to admit their feelings for one another,” Simon said as he tugged at his collar.

“Hey, will you guys stop talking about us already,” Brittany finally grunted as she sat on Alvin’s back, his hands held tightly together behind him, “It’s not like we can’t hear you.”

“And its not like you can talk Simon,” Alvin said as he turned his head to the side so he could actually speak, “You’re the one who fainted when Jeanette gave you a little peck on the cheek, to this day you still get all red in the face when someone even mentions it.”

“I do not!”  Simon shouted as his face got all red.

“Hahaha, see what did I tell ya!”  Alvin said laughing, “Ouch!  Hey do you mind not sitting on my tail bone like that?”

“Oops, sorry,” Brittany said as she got up and let Alvin’s hands go.

Alvin got up as Brittany moved over and sat back down, once again he had been beaten by his other half in a sport that normally he dominates in.  But for some reason it seemed that Brittany always knew how to get the upper hand on him.  As Alvin started to straiten his clothes out, he happened to glance up at the TV.  It was muted, him and Brittany must have hit the button when they were scuffling on the couch.  But the headlines were quite clear ‘Chipmunks in Paradise’ is what it read.

“Hey guys, look at that,” Alvin said as he pointed at the tv.

Everyone turned to look, the headline was a big red letters.  It was Entertainment Tonight, and they were usually the first ones to pick up on the boys if they happened to be doing a concert anywhere.  They had what looked like a video of them from earlier when they were out getting ice cream.  Alvin quickly started to rummage around the couch to try and find the remote to un mute it.

“Hey Alvin, turn the volume up or something,” Theodore said.

“I’m tryin, give me a break already,” Alvin said as he dug into one of the cracks between the cushions, “Aha!  Got it!”

Alvin looked over the remote and found the mute button, he pointed it at the TV and hit it.

“...It looks like Thomas Edison Elementary isn’t the only place that Alvin and his brothers are heating up, these images were taken earlier today of the musical trio and they’re three female companions the Chipettes.  Liberty Records had announced that the rock band would be holding a concert at the end of the week along some of the Big Islands hottest beach front, and it looks like they wasted no time in hitting the streets and having some Chipmunk Fun!”

“Ugh!  They totally got me on my bad side,” Brittany said as she cringed at the way she looked.

“Don’t worry Brit, its not like anyone’s going to be looking at you anyways,” Alvin said in his classic cocky tone, “Not when they’ve all got me to stare at.”

Brittany punched Alvin in the arm, which got nothing more than and dirty look.

“Will you guys be quite already, we’re trying to watch,” Eleanor snapped as she shushed the two.


“...since they’re last concert last year at the Madison Squar Gardens in New York City.  But the real buzz that’s stemming from this concert, isn’t one of the boys or their new song, but instead a new addition to the Chipmunk gang.  This new member was sighted earlier today accompanying the others down town for some ice cream and a quick stop over at a local arcade.”

“Hey, that’s me!”  Cody said as he pointed at the screen, a blown up picture of him standing behind Mike on the screen.  The caption ‘Mystery Munk’ under the image.

“Astute observation there Einstein,” Alvin said rolling his eyes.

Alvin’s rude comment justified another punch in the arm from Brittany, this time Alvin felt it and quickly grabbed his arm.

“Hey, will you stop punching me already!”  Alvin hissed.

“All calls to Liberty Records went unreturned today, leaving the question begging to be answered.  Who exactly is this new friend of the Chipmunks?  Is he exactly what he appears to be? Or an obsessed fan with ties to the Hollywood make-up crowd?  Either way, this concert so far looks to be full of surprises.  So stick with us here at Entertainment Tonight, or visit us online for all your munk updates.”