The day before the rally had finally arrived and the Once-ler was in his room debating on what suit he should wear.
"Why don't you just go in your pjs, people like a guy with a sense of humor." The Lorax, who was sitting on the Once-ler's bed, was inhaling a plate of oatmeal cookies that Mrs. Wiggins made for him.
The Once-ler groaned. "Yeah, and after that I'll do a musical number with dancing squirrels." He snapped sarcastically.
"People want someone serious as there mayor who can make money."
The Lorax stared at him. "Make money? Don't tell me your doing the Thneed thing again."
The Once-ler jumped to his own defense. "Well excuse me, do you think I haven't learned my lesson? Sorry, I didn't mean to exactly make money, but to spend it wisely."
The Lorax popped another cookie in his mouth. "Ok beanpole, your off the hook. But if you even think of doing something stupid like that again-"
The Once-ler cut him off. "Yes, I am well aware of the consequences and outcomes of defiling nature."
He held up two suits. One was plain black, and the other was a greyish color with faint darker grey stripes on it. "Which one?"
The Lorax pointed to the grey one. "That one. The other one looks like something you'd see in a James Bond movie."
The Once-ler turned to the mirror and held the grey suit in front of him and nodded in satisfaction. "Yeah, this one will do."
He hung the suits back in his closet and The Lorax finished his plate of cookies. He placed the empty plate on the Once-ler's nightstand and jumped off the bed. His small feet padded across the carpet as he approached the Once-ler. "So, how's that Stella girl?"
The Once-ler rolled his eyes. "Whiney and arrogant. Oh my gosh, you can smell her ego, she thinks she's little miss popularity!"
He slammed the closet doors with anger from thinking of her. He turned to face the Lorax. "Did I have that bad of an ego when I made the Thneeds?"
The Lorax tapped his chin. "Well, you had the right to brag, everybody loved your invention, but you were still pretty bad."
Once-ler sighed. "Well, I'm better now aren't I?"
The Lorax shook his head. "Do you think you are better than her?"
Once-ler shrugged. "Yes."
"Then your no better than she is."
Mrs. Wiggins set the egg casserole in the middle of the table. Everyone seemed delighted by the sight of the dish except for Ted.
"Mom. Seriously? We had this yesterday!"
Mrs. Wiggins mimicked Ted's moaning. "Well I guess you will be hungry until lunch because I'm not making anything else."
Her lower lip protruded in an over exaggerated manner.
"Ok mom, I get it!" Ted grabbed his spoon and dished some of the casserole onto his plate.
The Once-ler laughed and checked the time. His smile dropped to a frown. "Shoot." He stood up and grabbed his bag. "I'm gonna be late for work!" He said as he left the house.
Ted pushed his unfinished plate in front of him. "That means I gotta get to school."
He grabbed his bag and headed out the door. "See ya guys!"
The three left at the table waved until the door shut.
After a few moments of silence, the Lorax pulled out some cards. "Alright, now that the boring one's are gone, who wants to play Poker?"
Stella and Jeremy sat across from each other at an extravagant restaurant the Jeremy had booked for them. They clicked wine glasses together.
"For luck at the rally!" Jeremy toasted, beaming.
"For luck." Stella repeated.
"And our upcoming marriage." Jeremy wiggled his eyebrows.
Stella set her cup down. "Uh, well. You know, our engagement is kind of…"
Jeremy smiled proudly. "Amazing? We've been dating since ninth grade."
Stella rubbed her hands together nervously. "Yeah, because we got homecoming king and queen."
Jeremy's smile sobered. "What are you trying to say? That our relationship is just for show?"
Stella gulped. "Well, we only dated because we were always on homecoming together, and I won sweetheart and you won heartthrob. And our engagement-"
"What about our engagement?" Jeremy was growing angry now. "Are you calling it off?"
"It was all in vain! We never loved each other, I don't think I have ever had a crush on you! I cant marry you!" Nearly everyone in the restaurant turned and stared at Stella in shock.
Jeremy's eyes narrowed. "Well I loved you."
Stella shook her head. "You only loved the idea of being the mayor's husband." She stood up and weaved in between the tables to the exit.
"So you break up with me the day before your rally. Way to go, now no one will vote for you!" Jeremy shouted after her. But Stella pushed the door open and left followed by the stares of everyone in the restaurant. A chill crept over the street and she pulled her coat tighter over her body. She waved at a taxi and got into the car silently. The only words she uttered was her address.
It was a long ride and so many things blew around in Stella's mind. The truth of her high school years. It was a fake life that came with a phony boyfriend. It was a popularity contest and so was the seat as the mayor. But she didn't worry about it too much, the only people that knew of her break up were the people in the restaurant.
She stepped out of the taxi and handed five dollars to the driver who took it and drove away. She stood at the street for a while staring into space. She snapped out of it when a car drove up to Audrey's house and the door opened and Audrey stepped out. "Bye Ted, bye sler!" Stella barely made out what she said. Slur? Stella shrugged it off and walked to her door. She pulled her keys out of her pocket and walked into her house closing the door behind her. She put her purse on the table and went strait to bed. She didn't play her guitar, and she didn't even change clothes.
The Once-ler woke to his alarm. He smacked the off button and sat up, stretching. Today was the day of the rally. He suddenly gained more energy and ran into the bathroom to take a shower. It was a strangely designed bathroom. Two sinks were in the room where the two bedrooms joined and it had another two joining rooms. One room had a toilet, and the other had the shower. The sound of the shower woke the Lorax. He yawned and rubbed his eyes and turned to the bathroom smileing menacingly. He jumped off of his bed and tiptoed to the room with the toilet where he laughed and flushed it. The sound of the gurgling water was followed by a shrill scream and the Lorax ran out into the living room to find the Wiggins family staring at him.
"Is everything alright?" Mrs. Wiggins asked with a concerned expression on her face.
The Lorax shifted his feet. "Well, when beanpole gets out here, he hasn't been sunburnt." He grinned and the Once-ler ran out of the bathroom already in his suit he had picked out for the rally but his hair was still dripping.
"Ok, who did that!" He glared at the Lorax and rolled his eyes. "Do I even have to ask." He turned around and walked back into his room to finish prepping for the rally.
The Wiggin's family exploded into laughter when the door closed behind him. The Lorax held his hand up and they all slapped him high-fives. Or low-fives.
The Once-ler finished drying his hair and he sat on the couch with the newspaper. He turned to the politics section to get some info on the campaign and on the front page were huge words:
STELLA OLSON BREAKS OFF WITH FEONCE
He became puzzled and read more of the article.
"Stella Olson, a favorite in the campaign for the Mayor's seat was dinning with her feonce, Jeremy Branson last night when she suddenly called off their wedding. Not a very smart move the night before the rally. She is expected to get very few votes on tomorrows voting and even if she makes the final three, she wont make it past that."
Once-ler closed the newspaper and smirked. "That's what she deserves." He muttered. But he then changed his mind. He felt slightly sorry for her. He pushed the thought away and called for Ted.
"Are we ready to go to the rally?" Ted answered sliding down the stair railing.
The Once-ler nodded and motioned for him to go to the garage. Once-ler hopped into the drivers seat, and Ted crawled into the back. The drove down the street to pick up Audrey and headed down to the center of town where the first tree was planted. A stage was set up with four podiums in front of the tree and the soft, pink fluff dangled down over the stage. The others were already at their podiums and they stared at the Once-ler as he walked up to the stage and stood behind the podium marked "Robert". Chandler spoke first using flattering words, and cheesy visions for the city in his speech. His "dream" was to make the city the cleanest place on the planet Earth. The others looked as though they were going to die of boredom and the old man, Kevin, actually was asleep. Once-ler couldn't help but think that he could be in that condition at this moment. After Chandler, it was the Once-ler's turn to speak. His speech went a lot smoother than he had planned. He seemed to catch the attention of the audience better than Chandler did. Maybe it was because he was telling the truth. He would never let anyone chop down another tree, and would strive to find ways to keep the water and air cleaner than it was for the previous years. When he finished, a few groups teenage girls screamed and held up posters saying things like, "We love you Robbie!" and had hearts all over them. He felt the piercing and jealous gaze of Chandler and turned to look the other way. When the noise calmed down, it was Stella's turn. She opened her mouth to speak and a tomatoe flew over the crowd and hit her in the face, busting and splashing red all over her face and shirt.
"Hey Stella! Where's your ring at?" People taunted throwing more tomatoes at her.
Stella backed off the stage and ran down the street to the back of the court house with tomatoes flying after her. Once-ler didn't know why, but he ran after her. When he got to the side of the court house, he peered around the corner to see Stella sitting on the back steps wiping her face. The Once-ler walked over to her and stood in front of her.
Stella looked up. "Oh Robert, what do you want?"
She tried to sound perfectly fine, but her nose was stuffed and her face was puffy from crying. The Once-ler sat down next to her and pulled out the handkerchief from the shirt pocket of his suit and handed it to her. She looked like she was going to protest, but sighed and took it. She wiped her face clean of the red fruit but she was still covered from head to toe. "Why did you come back here with me?"
"Because no matter how much someone alienates you, when they need help, you should still be a friend." He laughed. "Cheesy I know, but one of my best friends taught me that. I made a promise and didn't keep it so I pushed him away." He looked down at his feet. "But even then, he still had faith in me, and after I fixed it, he came back. Now we are best friends. Of coarse, he did prank me this morning."
Stella sniffed and smiled. "What kind of prank?"
The Once-ler reddened. "What happens to the shower while its on and someone flushes the toilet."
Stella laughed. "Really? Whats his name?"
The Once-ler froze. What is a good name for him?… "Steve." He said quickly.
Stella smiled. "Sounds like something a guy named Steve would do." She turned to face him. "Thank you Robert."
Once-ler shrugged. "Its alright."
They stood up and Stella looked down at her outfit. "I don't think any bus or taxi will accept me like this."
"Well, we take your cousin home, and there is plenty of room in my car." The Once-ler offered.
Stella brightened. "Okay."
When the rally was over, Once-ler and Stella rounded up Ted and Audrey and they got into the van. Ted and Audrey sat in the back, and Once-ler and Stella sat up front.
When they reached Stella's house, she opened the door and stepped out. "Thank you so much Robert."
Once-ler shrugged. "We have the same job, I'd be happy to carpool. It would be cheaper than taking taxis and buses all the time."
Stella nodded. "That sounds great." She waved. "Bye!" And shut the door.
They continued driving and dropped Audrey off. As soon as she shut the door, Ted jumped up front. "So? What's up with you and Stella?"
