Chapter Seven
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Again, apologies for the wait. Thanks to animemistress1 for her interest in the fic! Hopefully there's some surprises in here, of the pleasant and interesting kind. Apologies if any of you are offended by the content, but I like to keep things controversial for the fun of it. More to come soon hopefully! Thanks for reading!
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The bell rang, and as usual, Hesper stalked out of the school, completely scorning everyone and everything around her as she made her way towards the corner of the road where she met all her high school aged siblings to walk home. Harper's class was across the parking lot, so she couldn't walk with her at the end of the day as she normally did from class to class. The violet Who kept her purple hair swinging in her face as she tried to make her way out of the school without attracting much attention. It was harder than it looked.
"Hey, weirdo, come over here!"
Hesper clutched her sketchbook closer to her chest, ignoring the voice and walking as quickly as she could, but before she could get out of range, a large form blocked her path. She ducked her head and stepped back, looking at the ground to avoid eye contact with the Who in front of her.
"Whatcha got there?" the voice sneered. She recognized him; Jim, one of football players on the Who High team, was standing before her. His lemon fur and white hair stood out glaringly in the afternoon sun. "Gimme that!"
"HEY!" she exclaimed in outrage as he plucked the book out of her hands. "That's mine! Give it back!"
"Whoa, what the hell is this stuff, freakazoid?" Jim sneered, turning the book this way and that as he held it out of her reach. Hesper's heart raced as she saw the pages flipping this way and that. She had drawn some very personal things in that book. "This is some seriously-"
"Give it back." The authoritative words took them both by surprise. Hesper turned and looked up into blue eyes framed by orange fur. "Stop being such a douchebag, Jim," Max said, snatching the leather-bound tome from the surprised boy's grip and standing between them, "She's just trying to get home."
"Why do you care?" Jim asked angrily, letting him take the sketches nonetheless. "Is she your little freakazoid girlfriend?"
Max just frowned menacingly at him, and Hesper found herself inching closer to the older Who's back unconsciously as though for protection. "Leave her alone," he ordered, pointing in the direction of most of the other Who's who made up the football team and cheerleader squad. "Get out of here."
Glaring traitorously, Jim scoffed but walked away.
"Are you okay?" Max asked quietly when Jim was out of earshot, looking into her eyes.
Hesper felt her cheeks go red, immediately on the defensive. "Of course," she asserted, turning from him and holding her sketchbook out of reach. She felt the warmth of his body behind her, only inches from her back. "Your idiot friends could never-"
Large hands closed over her upper arms, and he spun her about to face him. "Jim is not my friend," he said, "We're just on the same team, that's all. That guy's a huge douchebag. I would never-"
"Whatever," Hesper replied scathingly, wrenching herself out of his grasp. "Just... leave me alone!" She ignored his burning gaze as she strode purposefully away, her heart pounding in her chest.
Yeah. High school sucked.
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Ned was frozen, hand resting on Horton's trunk, his lips pressed against Horton's warm mouth, or at least the edge of it. The action had seemed so natural, so inevitable, but now he trembled with trepidation as he waited for the elephant to push him away.
A puff of air sighed out of Horton's trunk, ruffling the fur of his lower leg, and the large head moved back slightly. Heart pounding, Ned tried to escape the spiral hold of the trunk around him. "Ned? ...What is this?" the innocent voice asked curiously.
The honest words, spoken by his blameless friend, made everything desperately worse for the Mayor. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!" he gasped out. "I shouldn't have- I didn't mean-"
Horton tightened his hold on Ned, shifting the tip of his trunk to rub the Who's back gently. "Don't be sorry. I liked it."
Somehow, this simple admission made the Who feel a million times worse. "You don't understand, Horton," he whispered, stroking any gray skin he could reach with an intensity bordering on reverence. "I don't want it to stop here, I... and I'm married, and you're..." Ned managed to stop himself before he said anything unkind about the fact that they were completely different species, worried that this would make Horton feel inadequate. "I shouldn't have kissed you. It's not fair. To us, to Sally..."
Horton seemed to droop, and Ned successfully fought his way out of the elephant's grip, tripping on his own feet. He wrung his hands and backed away. "But..." Horton whispered, "Sally said... Is this why she didn't like me?"
Ned sucked in a breath. "She didn't what?" he asked, horrified.
"I felt the distance, until recently. Why wouldn't Sally like you kissing me? I liked it." The elephant sounded genuinely surprised.
Once again, the Mayor's heart was racing, a feeling of dread coming over him. How could Sally have known; the idea that she knew about his romantic designs on Horton left him with a feeling of ice in his chest, but at the same time his heart leapt to hear that the elephant felt the same. "Oh... Horton... I can't... we can't do this. Please... please forgive me."
Suddenly, the Mayor of Whoville was fleeing his own office, leaving behind a very confused pachyderm.
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Hesper never played with Horton like her sisters did, and neither did Jojo. They just weren't the playing type; they never had been. They had a tendency to seek out each other amidst the chaos of their family, and just sit quietly, she sketching, he composing. She liked to listen to him humming the melody and harmonies under his breath, and sometimes she felt him watching her drawing, like they were each inspiration for the other.
They sat together under the back porch, a secret spot they had liked to go to since they were children. Her muse seemed to be missing today; all she had drawn was a strange looking cat with snake tails for legs and a cobra hood, and even that wasn't as creepy as she had hoped. She stared out, eyes slowly focusing through the latticework to see Horton laying on the grass, his trunk stretched out and looking despondent. Her disappointed sisters were still around him, but seemed to have formed their own groups playing tag or leap frog in the yard. Elbowing Jojo, Hesper pointed into the yard, indicating the sad elephant.
He looked out the lattice as well, squinting into the brighter light for a moment, then shrugged. Neither knew what could be bothering their guest.
They both went back to their activities after that. They didn't talk a lot, even to each other, but that was why they got along so well, Hesper thought. She listened to him humming a major sixth back and forth several times before scribbling away at his sheet. Staring at her own paper, blank except for the cat-cobra, she felt her creativity was sapped. With a sigh, she closed her book and crawled out, heading back inside the house.
It was obvious something was up with her father, too. He wasn't really paying attention to any of them, and hadn't been all night. Her own minute of interaction had been even blander than was typical. Hesper walked through the kitchen for a soda, stopping near her mother. "What's up with Dad and Horton?" she asked bluntly, sucking down the sugary liquid.
"I don't know, sweetie," she said, pulling an outrageously huge pan of lasagna out of the oven. "Why don't you grab your sister's and Jojo and tell them dinner is ready?"
Hesper rolled her eyes and sat her can of soda down, deciding to stop by the bathroom first. At least with the fair warning she could wash her hands in peace and not have to stand in line.
She opened the door without knocking, her mind preoccupied, and was confronted with the strange sight of mixed up limbs and mashed up lips. Some were violet, like hers, and the others were a peach shade. Suddenly the tangle of multi-colored fur jerked apart, and she recognized her twin sister and Whitney, their lips making a popping noise as the parted.
"Oh, Hesper," Harper said breathlessly, flushing brightly. "I... I can explain-"
"Holy crap, you're- mmfph!" Hesper's words were cut off as Whitney clapped her hand over her mouth, and Harper closed the door.
"Please don't tell anyone!" Whitney asked, her voice high with anxiety. "My parents would have a cow, I swear, I can't-"
Ripping the girls hand of her face, Hesper hissed, "Calm it down, I won't say anything, but you need to stop shrieking." She listened for a second to see if anyone was coming, then locked the door. "There, that's something you two should have done from the start. What were you thinking?"
"I thought- everyone is in and out of our room constantly, and this seemed-" Harper clearly couldn't finish a sentence, nearly magenta from the blood rushing to her face, and she grabbed her glasses from where they were sitting on the counter. "Oh, God."
"Look, I don't care who you mess around with," Hesper said, her voice still low, "but you need to be smarter about it if you don't want anyone to find out! You really thought I'd give a shit?"
"I... I wasn't sure..."
Hesper raised her eyebrow. "Well, that's ridiculous."
Whitney was smiling nervously, but Harper looked ashamed. "I'm so sorry," she said solemnly.
"Look, it's cool. I'm just here to wash my hands. Dinner's ready." It was clear that it wasn't cool, but Hesper washed her hands and walked out to the backyard, shaking her head. She didn't care that her twin sister was gay; what bothered her was that Harper didn't trust her.
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After Hesper headed inside, Jojo heard her call that dinner was ready. He wasn't hungry at all, so he stayed hidden until his sisters had headed inside, then emerged quietly, hoping to leave unseen.
"Heya, Jojo," came Horton's voice suddenly, and the small Who cursed under his breath.
"Hi, Horton," he said quietly.
"Your mom said it was time for dinner," the elephant offered helpfully.
"I heard."
Huffing again, the elephant slumped down under his pavilion. "I'm not really feeling the the vibe either," he said sadly.
Jojo watched him for a moment. "You...you wanna talk about it?"
"No," the elephant, his voice almost petulant, and he curled up on his side in the grass. "Have a good night, Jo," he said quietly.
Jojo walked reluctantly out of the yard, feeling there was definitely something serious going on with Horton, but it was something he couldn't pinpoint, and the elephant definitely didn't want to talk about it. Besides, he had a previous engagement.
He walked quietly down the street, head low, until he came to a small park. It wasn't often that they chanced their encounters, but their parents would easily overlook the absences on occasion as long as it wasn't too many nights in a row. He slowly made his way to the small cluster of trees that would hide them from the rest of the world, feeling his heart racing.
"Oh, Romeo, Romeo! Where for art thou, Romeo?"
His head turned toward the voice, sweet and melodic, the most musical voice he had ever heard. "Helen," he whispered, pulling the slightly smaller girl into his arms. He brushed her fire-engine red hair out of her face, kissing her gently, reverently. "My love..."
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It was well past midnight and Ned found himself staring out into the yard, watching Horton morosely plucking grass out of the yard, blade by blade. He couldn't sleep either; his mind kept returning to their interaction early that day. It wasn't fair, for anyone, that they were finding themselves in this predicament. He was miserable, Horton was miserable. Sally would be miserable, if she wasn't already, when she found out, and his wife was far to intelligent to fool for long, that he knew for certain. Besides, based on what Horton had said, she was already well aware of his feelings for their visitor.
He looked down at the paper in his hands. He still hadn't told Horton about the alternate living arrangements he'd approved yet, but he would. In the morning he would tell him to move our until this thing could be reversed. Of course his friend was feeling uncomfortable here, and he couldn't ask him to stay when the tension between them would be a constant drain. He could put up the funds, if necessary, to help Horton move until he could find employment, which would probably be easy for him. The whole city knew who Horton was, and he couldn't imagine there was a business in town that wouldn't love to have the elephant on their payroll.
Tomorrow, he thought. Tomorrow.
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TBC