The Good Girl

Summery: Sari didn't know why everyone was so hard on her, she tried hard every day to stay out of trouble. Was it her fault she didn't want to fall into line? Just because she did a few bad things that didn't really make her bad, did it?

Dude, How Bad can I Be is so good that I can't write while listening to it because I'm jamming to hard... It's amazing! "How ba-a-a-ad can I be? I'm just doing what comes naturally!" is the greatest lyric ever.

Warning: This chapter has a LOT of profanity in it because the main character and her friends have unbelievable potty mouths and are dropping F-bombs like it's hotter than hot, hot, hot! This fiction contains mature themes and this writer doesn't publicly condone any of action that can be considered illegal in any way, shape, or form (especially around any figure of authority).

This Counts as a Disclaimer: I hope this fiction doesn't make Dr. Suss spin in his grave... But it probably will. v.v I'm sorry, Dr. Suss, I don't mean to dirty up the pure children's story we all know and love so well... But I've caught a serious case of Once-ler Fandom and am thus unable to help myself.

The ringing of the alarm jerked Sari Meadows awake from a sound sleep and, as she struggled to turn the hellish blaring noise off, she knew it was going to be a bad day. Her head pounded and she groggily reached around the side of her bed and grabbed her purse, lugging the heavy thing into her lap and searching for the pain reliever she'd stored in the lining only the night before. She could smell the heavy sent of pancakes and sighed, her fingers finding the small baggie she was looking for and pulling it out to see only the left over shake that she and her friends had failed to finish off the night before.

Scratch bad, it was bordering on terrible already.

With a sigh, she shook her head and pulled her small pipe out from her bedside drawer and made quick work of loading the bowl with the remaining broken brownish green leaves before lighting up and taking a large puff. She could hear the sharp voices below and knew that her mother had found something to be upset with again, not surprising. Pulling out the stiff toilet paper roll filled with laundry sheets she blew into it and took another hit from the pipe before snuffing it and poking it back under her bed for later use.

Breathing out into the tube again she slipped it back into her bag and slid out of bed, her headache already fading away to the background before she'd even reached her closet. By the time she'd slipped into a simple white t-shirt and pair of faded blue jeans with the holes worn into both knees she already felt the pleasant fog settle around her and sighed in relief. More yelling alerted her that leaving her room and making a break for the front door was probably her best option if she wanted to leave the house with her high intact.

She'd only made it to the bottom of the stairs when her mother called her name sharply and she was forced to slowly turn to the tall angry brunette standing in the living room, a plate of pancakes in one hand and a cigarette in the other, "Where do you think you're going?"

Sari considered just running out the door and not looking back, but seeing as she'd eventually have to return she decided against the impulse, "The park." she answered simply. One worded answers were the best, didn't take too much to think up and couldn't be mistook as an indirect insult to the listener. Her mother curled her lip and stared, obviously waiting for an extended answer and Sari mentally cursed her luck as she struggled to come up with one.

"Your eyes are red, did you know that?" She turned and seen her father stretched out on the couch with a plate of pancakes on his stomach and beer can close at hand. "You might wanna put some sunglasses on-"

"Are you encouraging her?" Her mother nearly screamed causing Sari and the older man to jump at the sudden loud invasion of their eardrums, "All she does already is sit around smoking that stuff-"

"Leave her alone, Judy, she's a good kid." Her father defended and Sari mentally thanked the man for his defense, "If she wants to go to the park let her, kids should go to the park more instead of sitting home all day; it's good for 'em."

She watched her mother's face slowly turn red before she turned angry eyes to the younger woman and shaking her head, "Not even ten in the morning and you're already starting arguments with your attitude."

That was unfair. It was eleven, she knew because the clock on top of the television said so in bright light up red numbers, but she figured she'd apologize anyway to smooth things over, "Sorry, Mom, just had a headache this morning." she excused.

"Well I wish I could wake up and fry my brain first thing before coming downstairs and starting fights while my mother made my breakfast!" Her mother snapped, turning around to slam the plate of pancakes onto the coffee table. "When I was your age I wouldn't dream of treating my mother that way-"

"Run while you can, kid, I'll hold her off." Her father joked from the couch, stumbling up and letting the plate on his stomach fall to the floor. Buttery syrup covered pancakes hit the floor and silence took over the entire house, even the television seemed to understand the severity of the mess for a well-timed commercial came on, 'Ever have one of those days where nothing goes right?'.

"Great, just great, another mess just left to sit for your house slave to come wipe up!" Her mother started shrilly, her hands coming up over her head and her father motioned for her to leave before it got to bad. Sari gave a salute of understanding and sprinted for the door, "Just where the hell do you think your going?"

"Park, love you, bye!" Sari answered quickly, shutting the door loudly behind her and continuing to run down the street. She heard her mother jerk the door open and start screaming for the neighbors to hear but paid no attention to it and kept going, not stopping until she rounded the corner and made it another block before taking a break on the curb, breathing heavily with her heart pounding harshly against her chest.

After she was able to breath normally once more she stood back up and walked the rest of the way to the park leisurely, her thumbs hooked into her belt loops as her neon pink and yellow shoes soundlessly crossing the grass towards the gazebo where she usually met up with her friends before work. If she was lucky her friend Alex already had a joint rolled and waiting, if she wasn't she'd offer to de-seed since she had nothing to share other than her witty personality and fabulous self.

When she got to her precious gazebo what she seen inside wasn't her circle but, rather, a strange guy wearing a pink scarf and carrying an S5 Sweetie Pie black and white special edition Mellow Ride guitar. Her feet froze as she looked at the high quality guitar that had obviously seen better days despite the highly polished sheen. "Hey! Chee! Over here, you gotta check this shit out!"

Sari blinked away from the guitar and looked over to the back of a growing crowd that was forming around the pink scarved man before spotting a group of three young men waving frantically at her. She returned the wave and jogged over, "Do see that guitar?" she asked once she was close enough, pointing at it in shock, "Is that Sweetie Pie or did my mom's most recent freak out finally scramble my brain?"

"No shit, dude! I don't even think he knows it, look at that dopey looking face; he's just some country boy who got lucky." Day-day muttered, glaring at the grinning man strutting around in the gazebo and, apparently, setting up a show, "I bet he sucks worse than Vance Rizen."

"I like Vance Rizen, the way he plays behind his back like that blows my mind." Aaron claimed, smiling happily as he looked down at the joint he was finishing up, "You're just hating 'cuz your poor ass can't afford to pay attention to the music."

The two started arguing and she turned to the third, "Seriously, I've never even seen one outside of a maggie before."

"You wouldn't, would you? There's only four of them in existence; two of which are in the Rock-of-Fame museum. Mellow himself kept one so that has to be-"

Aaron snorted, "Sweetie Pie was buried with him, Flop." he cut in before his friend could finish and Sari nodded in agreement. "If that was his guitar then he would have had to dig him up and pull it out of Sweetie Pie's cold, dead, fingers." He laughed at his own pun and everyone groaned at the poorly chosen joke before he held up a completed joint pinched between his thumb and index finger, "Now, if you don't mind my language, smoke the fuck up."

"You're the only person I know with his own catch phrase, Aaron." Sari told him seriously as she took the joint and inspected the craftsmanship before licking her thumb and smoothing it over a small gap in the middle and lighting it up, "Look, shut up! He's starting!" she elbowed Flop in the stomach on accident and he clutched his stomach over-dramatically and started groaning. "Shut. Up."

"Bitch." Flop muttered, snatching the joint from her and taking a long hit; she rolled her eyes and watched the man stroke out the first note. It was smooth and crisp, floating through the air and wrapping around the four shocked people in the back of the crowd, "Whoa, he might have dug up Sweetie Pie."

He started off strong, his fingers slipping across the strings in confident strokes, "Everybody needs a Thneed-" someone near the front shouted something and he paused for a moment, before trying again. But the notes sounded weaker, "Yeah, everybody needs a Thneed-" another shout interrupted she watched him curl his fingers nervously into his palms.

"He's choking." Day-day observed loudly, "Mello's Sweety Pie is in the hands of a choke artist." Sari, Aaron, and Flop all turned their glares on him and he shrugged, taking a large puff and saying through tight breath, "You gonna disagree?"

"You're such an asshole, Day-day." Sari snapped, jerking the joint from his fingers and taking a hit herself before shoving it at Flop once more, she couldn't really argue against him, though; even now the man was standing still before the now loudly heckling crowd and she bristled.

Day-day laughed, "I may be an asshole but at least I'm not a," he pointed his index finger up and Sari's eyes widened just as he finished in a loud yell, "Choke artist!"

Aaron, Flop, and Sari stared at him open-mouthed in horror as his call incited others to shout direct insults at the poor man whose face was slowly growing redder and redder by the moment. "You prick!" Sari snapped, "How could you actually do that? How could you stand there in front of me and do that?"

"That was wrong, man, what's the matter with you?" Flop asked, shaking his head sadly and Sari nodded her agreement, "You know these people have that mob mentality." that was an understatement. The vicious pack of hounds hardly shared the combined individuality of maybe one normal person anywhere else.

They continued shouting names at him and Sari couldn't take it, reaching into her shoulder bag and pulling out her wallet she counted out three bucks, "Quick, how much do you guys have?" Aaron dug in his pockets and pulled out some silver coins and Flop shook his head and raised his palms to show he didn't have anything. "HEY!" She shouted over the hecklers, turning around and waving her cash in the air. She had to repeat herself and jump to get the man's attention, nearly flinching at the puppy gray-blue eyes that caught hers, "How much?!"

The question seemed to shock him and he blinked at her in confusion, "How much?" she shouted again, pushing through the crowed as rudely as she could. She could tell by the annoyed grunts that Flop and Aaron had decided to join her, and as the three neared the gazebo she cleared her throat and offered the man what couldn't have been more than four dollars, "Here, I want one."

"You want to buy a Thneed?" He sounded so hopeful that it nearly broke her heart and she doubted her voice wouldn't tremble so she just gave a firm nod of affirmation. She was sure it wasn't his fault he looked so shocked, after all he had just been the one and only target to the criticisms of about thirty odd people. He cleared his throat and nodded, tugging at his collar, "Do you know what it is?"

"It's a Thneed, isn't it? I want one, hand it over." She could feel the confused glares of the hecklers on the back of her head and swallowed, not enjoying her spotlight moment in the slightest. It was making her anxious and killing what little of a buzz she'd been working on, "Can you hurry up, please?" the question snapped him to reality and he nodded quickly, taking the money from her hand and pressing a light blue Thneed into her now broke as a joke palm.

She closed her fist around it and nodded a quick thanks before looking down at his guitar and gesturing to it, "Take care of that." turning back around she seen Aaron and Flop standing at the bottom of the stairs glaring out at the crowed and flipped her hair over her shoulder, slipping between them and through the crowed.

When her feet hit the side walk across the street of the park her shoulders sagged in relief and she stopped to inspect her new purchase. It was long, fluffy, and smelled like she could eat ten of them, "What's this thing supposed to do, anyhow?"

She heard Aaron snort behind her, "Well it's a Thneed, so I suppose it does whatever it is a Thneed is supposed to do." he took the furry looking thing and held it up by two of it's four strap things, "Why do you suppose there's a hole in the middle?"

"Maybe it's a toilet rug?" Flop asked, joining them and Sari shrugged, "It kinda looks like a toilet rug, you think maybe it's scented like that to mask other odors that comes from the toilet." he gasped in amazement, "That's fucking awesome."

"How's a toilet rug awesome?" Aaron asked, shaking his head, "It looks like a fashion belt to me, probably the newest rage in Whoville, you know the weirdness that goes on over there." he sniffed it and gave it a lick before jerking it from his face, "Ugh, tastes like grass."

"Idiot, just because it smells good doesn't mean you can eat it." Sari laughed, pulling it from his hands and inspecting it herself before remembering the fluffy scarf around the mans neck and laughed, "Wait, no, you're both wrong. It's a scarf." She wrapped it around her neck and pulled her hair free, "See? Perfect fit, how do I look?"

"Like an idiot wearing a Thneed." She looked over to see Day-day join them and flipped him off, "Don't be mad at me, I was just having a bit of fun."

"Yeah, just like Sammy and them, huh?" Sari snapped back before smiling stupidly and mocking in her most scathing voice, "Let's all poke fun at the weird people! They don't look or act like us so it's okay, right?"

"That's not what I meant-"

Aaron coughed, "Let's just drop this, we've been friends for to long to let something stupid like this get in the middle of it."

Sari rolled her eyes, but did as he suggested, "Who had the joint last? Day-day's playtime ruined my buzz and I've got to get to work in," she looked down at her watch and rolled her eyes, "less than twenty minutes."

Day-day gave a sarcastic laugh before producing the remaining half of the joint, "You're lucky I waited."

The strange girl with the red tinged eyes had left before he could thank her for the purchase, and as she disappeared into the crowed with her two large bodyguards or whatever they were several others stepped up to hold money out to him as well. He took the money and gave out what Thneeds he had, handing them to the now interested consumers who had not more than two minutes before had shouted out insults he'd never even heard before.

Soon the crowd had dispersed and gave him a clear view of his very first customer trying to hide herself in an ally with her bodyguards and the jerk that had started his misery as they passed a cigarette between them before she gave the others a wave and started walking towards an ice cream shop. When she stepped inside he hesitated and looked at the bored looking mule wearing an advertisement sign over it's back, "Want an ice cream, Mel?"

The donkey stared at him and flicked his tail and Once-ler skipped down the steps and gave him a quick pat on his head, "Okay then, buddy, you wait here and I'll go get you a strawberry." he spun around on his heel and stuffed his hands in his pockets, his long legs getting him across the street and into the small shop with enough time to spot the girl slip a long orange apron over her head.

She wrapped the apron strings twice around her middle before giving it a quick tie in the back as she walked up to the counter and he put a large smile on his face, "Welcome to Mr. Swirlie, we give you more in whirl in your swirl, how can I help you?" she must have remembered him because her wide business smile was quickly morphed into an amused smirk, "Ah, Thneed-Man, finished selling already?"

He shrugged, "I didn't have that many to sell today." he confessed and she leaned onto the counter with a nod. Her eyes were a clean white now, however slightly watery and he wondered if she was about to cry for some reason. She didn't look upset, though, in fact she looked the exact opposite, "Do you like your Thneed?"

"Love it, best Thneed I'll ever own." she flicked at one of the straps and it bounced up and over her shoulder, "Kinda strange, smells good, not edible. Two out of three ain't bad." she laughed at her own joke and Once-ler grinned, not completely understanding why it should be edible aside from the delicious scent it gave off; but who knows, maybe it was. He'd check on that later. "So what can I get for you?"

"A strawberry cone." He answered promptly, feeling maybe just a little too pleased with himself as she nodded unsuspectingly and turned to make the cone. "I'd also like to thank you for helping me out back there, I really appreciate it."

She shrugged, "Don't think too much about it, all I did was buy a Thneed." she answered him, turning back around with a large ice cream before grinning, "Here, I'll give you a discount on that as a reward for letting me see that beauty strapped to your back up close." she offered, punching a few buttons before looking up and holding her hand out, "That'll be thirty-five cents for a children's cone."

Once-ler put a dollar in her hand and she counted out the change, putting the coins into his waiting palm and holding out the ice cream for him to take. He did so, but stayed at the counter, "You play?" he asked conversationally, not really understanding why she'd call his guitar a beauty but still feeling a bit of pride over it. It was the one thing his father had actually left to him by name when he died and as soon as he could do it he planned on fixing it up.

"Just started a few months ago, but the one I play on isn't electric. I'm saving up for one, though, half way there." She gave a fist pump and Once-ler laughed, nodding his head in understanding before silence settled over. Before it could become awkward he wished her luck and left the shop, dropping his change into his pocket as he crossed the street.

As he neared the donkey he chanced a look behind his shoulder and seen that she had already diverted her attention to anther customer and grinned. She was cute, with softly curling light brown hair that went down her back and ended just above her elbows and large gold speckled green eyes; didn't seem all that brilliant, but was obviously witty enough to make up for it. More importantly, she was the only friendly face to even look at him since he'd found the Truffula trees aside from the adorable faces of the forest animals that he'd had to bribe with marshmallows and pancakes.

He gave Melvin his strawberry cone and once he finished with it gave a large smirk and grabbed the mule's reigns, strutting back proudly to his camp. It took nearly half an hour of walking, but when he got there he was able to cockily look down at the unamused little Lorax and fan himself with bill's he'd gotten from customers that had bought his Thneed. "I take it you sold a couple."

He gave a disinterested laugh, shrugging slightly, "Try eight." he bragged, leaning on the annoyed looking mule he tauntingly counted out the money in his hand dollar by dollar before fanning it in front of the guardian's face, "That's thirty-two dollars, Mustache, what do you think about that?"

"Congratulations, Beanpole, you found eight suckers to give you money for a useless product; you should be real proud of yourself." The Lorax replied caustically, sorting the cards in his hand in a thoughtful manner, as though the conversation was below his standards.

Once-ler frowned, "Just so you know it's the exact opposite of useless, you can do so much with it that it makes nearly everything else useless." The Lorax waved a careless hand at him and he fumed, "You're only upset that I might hurt your precious trees, well I'm a man of my word, Lorax!" He jabbed a finger in the air, "I won't harm a single tree in the making of any of my Thneeds, and when you're satisfied that I'm keeping my end of the bargain, you to leave."

Spinning around he stormed over to Melvin's feed bag and slipped it over his head before taking off the saddle bags and home-made sign, throwing them over his shoulder to bring inside and drop beside he door. "Don't misunderstand me, Beanpole, if you're successful with your frivolous creation then that's all well and good; just not at the cost of my trees." He spun around to see the fuzzy annoyance sitting at the table with his arms folded before him, "You have to keep the important things in perspective."

Once-ler rolled his eyes and walked over to his bed, tossing his fedora onto mattress as he picked up his phone, "I always keep the important things in perspective, Lorax, soon you'll see that for yourself." pressing speed dial he rang his mother up and told her the good news. She seemed nearly as excited over his sales as the Lorax had, but he knew once he sold more she'd be proud, "Just wait, Mom, in another week or two my Thneed will be the most popular product in town."

"Just wait, Mom," Sari tried saying soothingly, holding her hands out peacefully at the angrily gaping woman in front of her, "I get paid next week, if I got paid this week I'd just give you the money-"

"Then how did you get one if you don't have any money?" Her mother demanded, pointing at the blue Thneed around Sari's neck forcefully and the younger woman hissed out an annoyed breath. Apparently her mother's friend had been at the gazebo and had purchased one of the Thneeds shortly after she'd made her stand and was raving about the many uses, who would have known it had a thousand uses?

She took it off her neck and held it out, "Here, you can have this one if you want it; but I really and truly don't have any money-"

The Thneed was jerked out of her hands and thrown behind her mother's shoulder and Sari had to bite her tongue to keep from screaming out of frustration, "I don't want yours. I want my own, do you believe for a second that Laura wouldn't be able to see that you'd just given me yours? Do you know how that would look?"

Probably like she'd thrown a fit to get what she wanted.

"Laura's children buy her gifts all the time, just last week Veera bought her a new Whatzit that peels a hundred potato's in three minutes, and just a few days before that Ceera bought her that new oven with eight burners, eight!"

"Veera and Ceera are lawyers, Mom. I serve ice cream." Sari explained tiredly, walking around the raging woman to pick up her Thneed from the floor, "Just tell Laura that I bought it for you as a gift, she didn't see me wearing it so it won't be an issue." she held the Thneed out again and gave the woman a large smile, "Really, I want you to have it anyways."

It took a moment for her mother to consider her words before giving the younger girl a large smile and accepting the Thneed happily, "Oh, well if you insist, dear! You're such a good daughter." a kiss on the cheek and a pat on the head accompanied the compliment before she ran out the door to show her friend what she'd gotten.

That matter handled Sari walked into the kitchen and looked to see if there was anything in the fridge to munch on before decided on a large glass of soda. Taking it up stairs she went into her room and set the glass on her table before across her bed and digging out her pipe. She'd just taken a large hit when her phone started ringing and she picked it up off her night stand, "Hello, who is it?" she asked, blowing out a steady stream of smoke over her head.

Her father answered and she sighed, "Hey, Dad, sorry but Mom just went over to Laura's... Yes, I'm aware that she wants a Thneed... Nah, he wasn't there when I got off work but I gave her mine so everything's cool." she took another hit as she listened to her father explain that he wouldn't be able to make it home that night and she rolled her eyes. Lucky bastard was probably going over to Flop's father's house to drink all night, "Want me to tell Mom or are you wanting to keep this a surprise?" she nodded, "Yeah, so I'll just go to bed early tonight.. -no I'm telling you not to worry about it, you let me ditch you this morning. It's not even a big deal."

She looked down into her pipe and frowned, she had one hit left and an entire nights worth of bitching to look forward to. "Just be back before eight, I'm opening tomorrow and can't be late for that... Yep, love you too, bye." hanging up the phone she took the last rip and decided on scraping if she got desperate even if it was three days early when her phone rang again. She let it ring, though, after seeing Day-day's number come up on the caller ID and stuffed the pipe back between the mattress and box springs.

Settling back onto her bed she reached for her remote and switched her television on, flipping through channels until she got to her favorite music video network. Thinking back to the start of her shift she kind of regretted not getting the country boy's number, though he did look a bit straight-laced he hadn't seemed that bad; and if she'd made good enough friends with him maybe he might have let her play his guitar. She itched to try it out, to strum the strings at least once.

Sighing she watched a group of women stamp onto a disco dance floor wearing sexy little cheetah costumes and snorted, not knowing exactly what it had to do with the romantic lyrics aside from 'like a kitten meows', and that was strictly on a species only basis. What was so wrong with a simple love song that they had to sex it up to the point that it was just another booty call ring tone downloaded on a thirteen-year-old's cellphone?

Once-ler awoke early and immediately set to work harvesting Truffula leaves so he could make more Thneeds after he sold the rest from the day before, if people were willing to give his song enough time to be sang they would know just how amazing the Thneed actually was aside from just simple scarfs and belts. He didn't know if it was their limited imagination or just the simple fact that he'd decided to wear his that made them all just assume it was a simple fashion accessory.

It took him several hours to finish harvesting enough leaves so that he could sit back and knit for a few days, but when he looked at the clock on his way out of his tent after stuffing the bags alongside an empty wall he figured he had plenty of time to sell more Thneeds and swing by the ice cream shop. If not he would stop by the ice cream shop, first, and see if he couldn't make at least one new friend before he became a big shot.

When he got to the park it was nearly three in the afternoon, several hours later than when he'd got there the day before, and he quickly set up shop and stepped up the gazebo stares when a hand caught at the back of his vest and gave a tug. He looked back to see a smiling woman who was holding out five dollars with an expectant look on her face, he blinked at her before accepting the money and handing her one of the few remaining Thneeds he had on him when another person took her spot.

"If you think you're going to have to go back up there and sing for profits then you've got to be new in town." He heard a voice pipe up and spotted one of the bodyguards the girl had with her yesterday already in the back of the gazebo. The man straightened from the railing and walked over, reaching a hand out, "I'm James, but everyone calls me Flop."

Once-ler smiled at him, accepting the handshake, "Once-er; yeah I'm new. I set up shop outside town a few days ago." taking his hand back he adjusted his guitar strap and looked over his shoulder at the growing crowd that stood outside the gazebo, "So that girl from yesterday is your friend, right?"

"Yeah we go way back, my mom swears we were potty trained together." He laughed and shook his head, "Doesn't seem to matter to her that I'm two years older than Chee at all." he must have made a weird face because Flop laughed, "The girl from yesterday that bought your Thneed." he explained and Once-ler nodded. "Well I'll mosey on out of here and let you do your thing."

Once-ler watched him stroll away, hands deep in his pockets with long steps that teetered occasionally and had him stumbling into someone. Shaking his head he ran his fingers over his guitar strings and grinned to the supportive and enthusiastic crowd around him that jumped and clamored with green notes clutched in their fists.

It was only four hours later when he sold the last one, but he was pleased to see that now people were using them in all sorts of ways. He watched as one person tied their Thneed onto a tree branch to use as a swing and grinned, no doubt the popularity of his very useful contraption would sky-rocket. He'd have to bring the whole family down to help him keep up with the demand and he was looking forward to seeing the love and respect in his mothers eyes.

Packing up he looked over to the ice cream shop just in time to see Chee walk out of the shop and hollered over to her, waving a long arm in the air to get her attention. She looked over at the sound of her name and gave him a little smile before walking over with her thumbs looped into the bright orange and green stripped belt that kept her large patchy jeans in place around her hips. "Well if it isn't Mr. Thneed come to peddle his wears again." she joked as she came up to him, laughter dancing in her eyes as she nodded to a couple of kids using a Thneed to toss a plane back and forth, "Looks like there's about to be a pandemic, congratulations."

"All in a days work." He replied smoothly, crossing his arms and tilting his head cockily to the side a bit, "You're not curious how I know your name?"

She shook her head, "Nah, I'm pretty well-known around these parts, the questionable part is who told you and what story they told you with it." laughing she nodded her head to a middle-aged brunette walking out of a bakery with a bright yellow Thneed wrapped around her neck, "That one, for instance, would happily tell you as many horror stories as you'd please over the things I've done to her yard." the proud way she said it made him laugh.

"Afraid I didn't learn much past your name and your potty training buddy." He hinted, looping Melvin's lead around his wrist before leaning down to add in a quiet voice, "Despite him being two years older than you... I'm wondering if you weren't potty trained very early or if he was potty trained very late."

She laughed and brought an index finger to the air, "Ah, Flop, that man's got too many issues if he's still talking about the adventures of potty training at his age; but he's a good guy." she nodded. "I think you should know, however, that my name isn't really Chee, they just call me that because their idiots."

He blinked at her before giving her an amused look and leaning in, "Well then, if you're not Chee who might you be?"

She grinned and shrugged her shoulders, "I've gotta go, Mr. Thneed." she stepped back and gave him a wave before turning and walking across the street to disappear around a corner. He watched her go before looking at Melvin with a confused shake of his head, the mule shrugged and twitched his tail impatiently.

Once-ler frowned, then dropped the lead, "Stay here, Mel." he commanded quickly before running off down the street where he'd seen her turn. She hadn't gotten far and it was easy to catch up and step in time with her, "I don't want to call you Chee if it's not your name." he informed her as though it was a good enough reason to chase her down.

She blinked up at him in surprise and shook her head, "Not even if I really, really like cheese?" she asked, looking behind her shoulder to see if he'd brought his mule, "Did you leave your stuff back there?"

"Yep." His simple answer made her laugh and he grinned, "So, Not-Chee, where are you going?" she shook her head and he sighed dramatically, "Do you live around here?" she shook her head again and his lips twitched with amusement. "Do you have a cat?" she shot him a funny look and he shrugged, "A dog? What about bird?" she shook her head, trying to fight a smile and he continued, "What's your cat's name?"

"I don't have a cat." She laughed, "Why are you asking me all that?"

"Just wanted to see if you could answer, which you apparently can." He informed her, laughing as she shoved him away from her, "Now if only you knew your own name, then half my problem would be solved."

She stopped and shook her head, "Don't worry about my name, Mr. Thneed; go back to your mule. Believe me, I'm saving you some real aggravation."

"But I like to be aggravated, it's one of my hobbies." She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest, "Like rolling your eyes is one of your hobbies, one you're very good at, by the way. Not sure if anyone's ever told you but you've got it down to an art form."

She laughed and gave a long slow eye roll twice, "I'm going home, now do me a favor and please leave me alone." she paused, first tilting her head slightly before shaking it and widening her stance, "That may have sounded like I did that intentionally as a joke, but I didn't. I really need to get home and I'm not allowed to bring strangers to the door step."

"Then how about I wait for you to come back to the gazebo?" He asked, stuffing his hands into his pockets and giving her a grin. She looked at him oddly and he shrugged, "Or, I suppose you could leave me waiting there for the next..." he paused and thought for a moment, "two hours, do you think? Which would be terrible of you after stringing me along like this."

"I don't make plans, Mr. Thneed, and I always show up late." She said this cautiously, looking at him seriously and shaking her head, "So don't expect me to be there in two hours." he shrugged and backed away a few steps before turning to wander back down the street. "I'm not showing up in two hours!" she shouted after him, but he kept walking.

Two and a half hours later Sari was running as quickly as her feet would let her back to the park despite knowing that Mr. Thneed would no longer bet there. The stupid man was probably already at home making more of his stupid Thneed and laughing about the girl he'd tricked into running all the way back to an empty gazebo. Even if he had waited for the promised two hours there was very little doubt that he wouldn't wait for an extra thirty minutes; not that she hadn't made the effort to meet the two hour deadline.

When she came up to the corner she slowed to a walk and turned it, spotting the gazebo and crossing the street to curiously look inside, seeing nothing but a forgotten penny laying on the step. She crossed over to it and picked it up, examining it before slipping it into her pocket and going over to sit on the white bench to catch her breath before going back home. She couldn't really be annoyed that he hadn't continued to wait, how many times did she say she wasn't going to show up? She didn't know, but she knew it was more than once and usually only once would cover it with anybody, including herself for that matter.

She could be frustrated with herself, though, for having ignored her own words and slipping out of her window to try and be there. She could have just went to bed and saved herself from a night long bitch-fest that was no doubt brewing in her living room as she sat there looking up at the gazebo ceiling wishing she had a blunt. "Stupid man." she muttered.

"Now that's just mean." she blinked and her eyes darted to the gazebo entrance where Mr. Thneed stood with his arms crossed over his chest and a mock glare on his face, "I leave to go to the bathroom for two minutes and come back to find you insulting me when you're half an hour late."

"I told you I wasn't coming, so I'm not 'late'." she defended herself slowly, "What are you still doing here, I thought you'd be long gone by now."

He shrugged and leaned against the railing, "No, you said you wouldn't be here in two hours. I took that to mean you might be here in three so I decided to stick around." he explained and she nodded her head, it was a good enough answer. "Why are you calling me stupid if you didn't expect me to be here."

"I didn't call you stupid." she denied and he arched an eyebrow, "I called you a stupid man."

"Oh, well if it was only that then I guess I don't have any room to complain." She laughed and he came over and sat beside her, stretching out long gray striped pant legs. "So how are you using your Thneed? I see that you're no longer wearing it for a scarf."

Sari froze for a moment and considered which answer to give before shrugging and giving him a quick smile, "As a gift for my mom, she loves it." he seemed to like the answer and she congratulated herself on managing to scrape it up, "I'll have to buy myself one when I get paid in a couple of weeks, I came home today and she was using hers as a chair."

"They make excellent chairs." He informed her and she nodded, studying his cheerful looking face and feeling like a bitch for giving into her own greed and befriending him for his guitar. "Something wrong?"

Yeah, she was far to sober and her conscience was far to loud. "Nah, I'm okay." He fidgeted a bit from her staring and she grinned, "Sorry, I tend to like looking at people." he nodded and stuffed his thumbs into his front pockets and looking around like he expected a topic of conversation to just fall out of the sky for him. Having pity on him and soothing her own prickling guilt she nodded at his Thneed, "So how does one come up with making something with over a thousand uses, anyway? I can hardly come up with finding a single use for myself half the time."

He didn't seem to want to answer her question, however, and instead grinned at her, "I like your shoes, it's the only stars I've seen since the sun set in this town." she looked down and grinned at her shoes, nodding, "Doesn't really match anything you're wearing, though."

"Pink and yellow go with everything." She stated gibly, sticking a foot out to examine her own shoe, "Aaron, one of my friends, says that if you get far enough away from town you can see the real ones in the sky, but I'd rather sit on my butt and look at my shoes." he laughed at that and she gave a shrug, "I'm not going to walk that far for stars unless there's a huge bag of-" she cut herself off, nearly saying weed, "money waiting for me."

Yeah, money worked. She'd walk that far for money, too, who wouldn't? "I've got a dollar." He offered, pulling it out of his pocket and waving it in front of her face. She pushed it away with a grin and he shrugged his lanky shoulders, "Guess you'll be needing a higher bribe, then."

"Without a doubt." She laughed, standing back up from the bench and giving him a nod, "Nice talking to you, Thneed-Man, but it's time for me to wander off and disappear into the night." he gave her an amused nod and she walked out of the gazebo, not entirely sure why she'd bothered showing up aside from the guitar she no longer wanted to take advantage of him for anymore.

"Hey, what's your name?" He suddenly shouted after her, but she lifted a hand and gave him a wave as an answer; his little Thneed invention was going to be a smashing success and he'd soon forget about her anyway.

Authors Note: So everyone say hi to Sari! She's not exactly what many people would use for a main character, but I'm fond of her myself and that's what really matters. What I love about her is that there's just so many different ways I can go with her; fresh and exciting possibilities! Yay!