Winter break had come to an end, and all the children were returning to school. Alvin had tossed his bookbag into his locker, before he grabbed his science book, and slammed his locker shut.
"I hate school!" Alvin exclaimed. "Usually, I just can't stand it... but this is it... hatred... the real thing... actual hatred... against the school."
"And, you feel this way, because..." Simon prompted.
"Well, it cuts into my freetime!" Alvin said. "I had a whole bunch of new songs I needed to work on... now, I'm stuck with long-division, gum stuck to the bottom of the desks, crappy cafeteria food... and worst of all... books!"
"Oh, books aren't so bad, Alvin," Jeanette said, as she left her locker with her textbooks, "reading is such an enjoyable pass time."
"Yeah, if you're a dork." Alvin said.
Brittany slammed her locker shut, and stormed over to Alvin. "What'd you call my sister?"
"Aw, come on guys, quit fighting, please?" Theodore asked.
"Indeed, you're making a scene." Simon added.
Alvin sighed through his nose, but then, he noticed a student, slowly walking down the hallway. A student he had never seen before. A student that seemed a little unusual.
"Who's that?" Alvin asked, pointing the student out.
The others turned around for a better look.
"Never seen her before." Eleanor said.
"Looks like she just crawled out of Hot Topic." Brittany said.
"Maybe she's new here." Simon said.
"Aw, we don't need no new kids!" Alvin said. "This school's crowded enough as it is... can you believe the principal is saying that if the increase in students continues, we're gonna have to double-up and share lockers?"
"What?" Brittany shrieked. "There's no way I'm sharing my locker with nobody! For all I know, I could end up sharing a locker with some jealous girl, who'll steal all my makeup and jewelry!"
"But... you don't wear your jewelry in school, Brittany." Jeanette said.
"That's so no jealous girls will steal them!" Brittany said.
The others groaned at Brittany's logic. Eleanor took a look at her watch. "Gee, we better hurry, we'll be late for homeroom."
The group made their way down the hallway, while Alvin continued to mumbled about his hatred for school. Moments later, the kids rowdily settled down in their desks in their homeroom, while the teacher held her forehead, from the headache the kids gave her. At one point, an associate principal stepped into the classroom, to confer with the teacher. Shortly afterwards, the associate principal stepped out, and the teacher addressed the class.
"Okay class," the teacher began, "it would seem that we will be adding a new addition to our homeroom class, we have a new student who has just transfered here from Sacramento."
The students expressed their usual couldn't care less response.
The teacher opened the door. "Come on in, dear..."
The new student slowly walked into the room, and it turned out to be the same new girl Alvin pointed out earlier. The girl was a chipmunk, about the same age as the chipmunks and chipettes, but she looked significantly different than they did, her complexion was extremely pale, and pasty, her hair was dyed a jet black, with red, blue, and green highlights. Her clothes were also black, as well as her fingernails, while she had piercings in her ears, her nose, and her bottom lip.
"Class, this is our new pupil, Cydra." The teacher introduced her to the class, though none of them responded. "Now, since Cydra's schedule hasn't been finalized by the faculty, she's going to have to spend the day with one of you... let's see... Simon, would you care to allow Cydra to shadow you today?"
"Not at all, ma'am." Simon said.
The teacher was satisfied, Simon was just about the most responsible, studious student in school, surly spending a day with Simon would greatly benefit Cydra her first day at a new school. Cydra simply stared at Simon with her unusual eyes, one eye was brown, the other was green, and they seemed so lifeless. After the bell rang, Simon approached Cydra at the head of the class.
"Nice to meet you..." Simon said, extending his hand, though Cydra didn't respond. "Um... I'm... I'm Simon Seville... I hope you like it here at our school."
Cydra still didn't respond.
"Um... well, my first class today is history... do you enjoy history?" Simon asked.
Cydra eyeballed Simon, before she shrugged.
Simon nodded. "I can understand if you're shy... I can be shy myself, at times..."
Cydra looked Simon in the eye. "Are you serious?" Was her soft, almost whispery response.
"Very." Simon said.
"Wow..." Cydra responded.
Simon was a little confused by Cydra's behavior, it was almost as if she was surprised that someone else could share a characteristic with her. For some reason, Simon sensed there was something unusual about Cydra, but he knows he shouldn't judge a book by its cover. He also knows he should be polite, and help a new student on her first day of school, since it's his responsibility. "Well... shall we go?"
Cydra paused. "Okay."
"Right..." Simon said, "if you'll just follow me, my history class is just upstairs..." Simon lead the way out of the classroom, while Cydra watched him walk out.
"Wow..." Cydra repeated.
Later that morning, Simon was going over the lesson of the week with Cydra. "You see, we're learning the Spanish explorer, Francisco Pizarro... he conquered the Incan Empire in 1533."
"Why?" Cydra asked.
"Well..." Simon began, "you see... um..."
"If the Incan Empire was there first, what gives him the right to conquer them?" Cydra asked.
"Well..." Simon tried again, "why don't we just read the text about it?"
Cydra darted her eyes toward the book, and proceeded to read. Simon shrugged it off, this was going to be a rather interesting day. By the time 12:30 rolled around, Simon walked Cydra over to his usual lunch table.
"Now," Simon spoke up, "these are my brothers, Alvin and Theodore... you guys remember Cydra?"
"'Sup?" Alvin asked.
"Hi Cydra..." Theodore said, nervous over Cydra's outer appearance.
"And, these are our friends... this is Eleanor, that's Brittany, and this is Jeanette." Simon continued.
"Nice to meet you." Eleanor said.
"Welcome to our school, Cydra." Jeanette said.
"Where did you get that awful ensemble?" Brittany asked.
"Brittany!" Eleanor and Jeanette snapped at their sister's rudeness.
"Kohls," Cydra said, "what's your excuse?"
"Ooooooooooooooh!" Alvin said.
Brittany's face turned sour. "That's it... you've officially been added to the Brittany Miller Blacklist of Bad Seeds".
"Oh Brittany, don't be so rude!" Eleanor jabbed.
"How's your first day been?" Jeanette asked.
"Okay, I guess." Cydra said.
"It's hard to adjust to a new school... I'm sure Simon's been of great help." Jeanette said.
"He has been." Cydra said, staring at Simon.
"Well," Simon said, "it's been my pleasure."
"Yeah... pleasure..." Cydra mumbled.
A strange feeling suddenly took over the table.
"Gee... is anyone else feeling a little chilly?" Eleanor asked, with a shiver.
"I've been freezing all day!" Brittany whined. "I hate winter! It's so hard to accesorize winter outfits."
Theodore sunk in his seat.
"There's something wrong..." Alvin said, "Theodore dropped his fork, and there's still food on it."
"I suddenly don't feel well..." Theodore mumbled.
"I feel a little queasy myself..." Jeanette said.
"I'm tellin' you, they're putting something in the food!" Brittany said, shoving her tray away from her.
Simon chuckled. "I don't know about the school you've come from, but you have to exercize caution with our cafeteria food."
"I've had worse." Cydra said.
"So... what brings you down here, Cydra?" Jeanette asked.
"Job change." Cydra said. "Dad used to work in San Francisco, he works here now."
"I thought you were from Sacramento?" Eleanor asked.
"What did I say?" Cydra asked.
"San Francisco." Eleanor pointed out.
"Slip of the tounge." Cydra said.
"Well," Simon said, "after this, I have art class, followed by science and english."
"Oh," Jeanette said, "I'm in the same science class, you can work with Simon and myself in our projects today."
"Okay." Cydra said, before she stared at Simon once again, and those senses fell over the others again.
"There must be something wrong with the heater..." Eleanor said.
"Don't worry, you're covered." Cydra said.
The others paused.
"Excuse me?" Eleanor asked.
"You're extra padding," Cydra pointed out, "that should keep you warm."
"Did you just call my sister fat?" Brittany barked.
"Not at all," Cydra said, "I simply pointed out her generous proportions."
"I think I'll just go now..." Eleanor said, grabbing her tray, and walking off.
"That really wasn't nice, Cydra." Theodore said.
"Yeah, how about I call you out on some of your faults?" Brittany said.
"Now, now..." Jeanette said.
"Like, why don't you try getting out more often?" Brittany said. "Spending too much time indoors, no wonder you're so pasty!"
"Brittany..." Jeanette said.
"And what's with all those studs? Can't go flying, those metal detectors will short circuit from all your metal." Brittany continued.
"This is rather uncalled for, Brittany." Simon said
"Thank you." Cydra said.
"You stay out it, freak." Brittany said.
"Don't talk to him like that!" Cydra growled, frightening the others.
Theodore quickly grabbed his tray, and ran off, while the others sat there, speechless.
"Um... perhaps you could work a little on your social skills, Cydra." Jeanette suggested.
Cydra simply glanced at Jeanette. The gang suddenly felt that Cydra was going to be more trouble than she's worth. Brittany whipped out the memo pad from her pocket, and wrote down Cydra's name on the page she had for her 'blacklist'. Simon wished the day was over already, but he screwed a smile on his face, because he knew he still had three more classes he had to let Cydra shadow himself in. Cydra eyeballed Brittany, and felt her guts wrenching. She fought back the urges to attack. Later, in science class, Cydra sat somberly, as she watched Simon and Jeanette work together on their project, both having a good time, and enjoying each other's company. Somehow, this didn't sit well with Cydra, and when Simon excused himself to sharpen his pencil...
"You and Simon pretty close, huh?" Cydra asked.
"Yeah, pretty much..." Jeanette said, blushing. "He's a great guy, I'm sure you've noticed that today, huh?"
"Yeah... you're sure..." Cydra said.
Jeanette felt that sudden chill and energy loss again. That seemed to be happening quite a bit lately, she hoped she wasn't coming down with the flu or something, it's that time of the year again. After school that day, as the chipmunks and chipettes walked down their residential street from the busstop, they discussed their first day back to school.
"Ugh... this semester is gonna suck because of that new skank!" Brittany said.
"She's not so bad, Brittany," Simon said, "she's just shy, and it's hard to adjust to a new school."
"I didn't have a hard time adjusting when I came here." Brittany said.
"Not everybody is like you, Brittany," Jeanette said, "some people don't adapt to change as well as others."
"I hate to admit it, but she is kinda scary..." Theodore said, "she likes those 'golf' kids that Dave says he'd rather us not get mixed up with."
"That's goth, Theodore," Alvin said, "and goth's pretty trendy these days."
"Would you go goth, Alvin?" Simon asked.
"I'm a trend-setter," Alvin said, "not a trend follower."
"Well, all I can say is this..." Brittany continued, "when her schedule is finalized, she better not be in any of my classes."
"I'd rather not have any classes with her either." Theodore said.
"Me neither." Eleanor agreed.
"Very supportive, you guys." Simon said.