(EDIT: This chapter was redone on the 21/12/2014, with only a minor update with some dialogue changes. If you have the time, could you please comment on this edited version?)

I HAVE FINALLY FINISHED ACT 1! YIPPEE!

After 16 chapters (and 1 prologue), I am finally a third of the way through this story, which is the end of Act 1. Of course, I still have a long way to go, but I am just so glad I have made it this far, with all those who have supported/reviewed to guide me.

Speaking of people who have helped me out, I would like to give a big shout out to Trixygirl/Gabriella, whom without, this story wouldn't have even existed. From the word go, she has put up with my craziness and helped me at every turn, even editing a few chapters for me. And so, that being said, I would like to dedicate this chapter to her.

I would like to thank Guest for reviewing (Thank you for those kind words, I'm so glad you like this story) and to all those people who don't review, please do! Even if it is just a 'update soon' notice, I love all comments, even constructive criticism.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything to do with Seuss or Seussical the Musical, all of which belongs to Lynn Ahrens, Stephen Flaherty and Dr Seuss Enterprise. I only own Kirsty and the Bird Girl's first names.

Hold on tight; this crazy ride is only just getting started,

~ Sophie

Chapter 17: Caught In The Act

"Hmm, how about this...?"

For the past ten minutes, Horton has been musing to himself, figuring how on earth to get up the rickety tree which now had to mind, the elephant now half way up it. Putting his foot onto a nearby branch, he wobbled, the brank quickly snapped. Shocked by the sudden lack of support, Horton teetered to one side, trying to grasp at another branch with his trunk. Kirsty, with snake-like reflexes, rushed to him and, by acting as an act of support, helped him to get high enough so he could sit awkwardly on the nest. "Maybe that is why elephants and tree don't get along…" he mumbled with embarrassment, his eyes full of gratitude toward his friend. Kirsty shook her head, laughing slightly and agilely climbed up the tree, using her tail for balance.

Suddenly, they heard a soft rustling coming from nearby. It turned out to be the Bird Girls, who had been hiding behind some foliage ease dropping. They came out of their hiding place, just as the jungle's beat started up again.

"Then carefully, tenderly, gently they crept. Up the trunk to the nest where the little egg slept," they sang. "Then Horton the elephant smiled:"

"Now that's that," he said firmly, now comfortably sitting in the nest with Kirsty right beside him, the egg in her hands.

"And they sat and they sat and they sat and they sat." The girls quickly left, leaving Kirsty, Horton and their egg alone. Soon after they left, Horton turned to his friend, whose gaze was placed on an insignificant point.

"They're taking me tomorrow."

At first, Horton had no idea what Kirsty was talking about, especially in that grave tone, until realisation hit him. "The military school," he whispered dejectedly. His friend nodded in reply, giving out a little sigh. "Oh, Kirsty. I'm so, so sorry. I thought you were joking when you said that."

"It's hard to believe, isn't it?" she said, exchanging a quick glance with him. "I never thought they would send me there. Another thing I failed at- staying out of trouble. Part of me still can't believe that I would be the first girl to be accepted there, after all; they do seem extremely 'man' orientated. Maybe I am such a threat to the community as they believe I am…"

Or that the council has some involvement other than economic support with General Schmitz's school. I wouldn't be surprised if they did. They sure do have an awfully big imprint on Whoville for a city council…

Hastily, to avoid any questions from Horton, she moved her attention to the egg in her hands. "Anyway, until I go to the academy, you should get some rest, get something, maybe even talk to Gertrude-" she paused to give him a meaningful look. Horton didn't catch on- "I don't care! Just relax, I'll look after the egg for you. No argument. "

"You never give up do you?"

Kirsty smiled at him, just as the Bird Girls re-appeared, in their hands delicate umbrellas. It was then the two of them noticed that many hours had passed and the weather had started to take a turn for the worse.

"They sat all that day and they kept the egg warm... And they sat all that night through a terrible storm…" the girls narrated, as the rain suddenly came down onto the jungle. All the creatures, including the Bird Girls, squealed, and ran for cover against the torrent of droplets, none offering Kirsty and Horton protection from the storm.

"We're cold and we're wet and we're catching the flu. Oh, Mayzie, please hurry! We've got to save Who! Oh, Mayzie, please hurry! We've got to save Who!" Horton and Kirsty lamented, trying their best to keep each from the water.

As the rain pelted down, Kirsty went to her bag and got out the cloak she had gotten from Horton, pulling it over her friend to cover him up from the rain. "Here you go," she told him. "We don't want you catching a cold."

A small smile appeared on Horton's face; looking at his friend, water slowly dripping from her hair, the light from the sunset reflecting off it like glass. "You know, Kirsty, I think you look really pretty in the rain."

That comment made her stop in her tracks. She remembered Jojo saying those same words to her, a few months ago. It reminded her of him, of how much she missed him. When she went into the academy, would he be the same as she remembered him to be, or would Schmitz have already made a dent on him? And how could she forget that…kiss?

While she had been thinking, Horton, realising what he had just said, started to stumble with his words. "Where did that come from? I just meant to say-" Seeing his friend was still staring at him, he started to wave his trunk in front of her eyes. "Kirsty? Are you alright? You're gazing off into space."

She quickly snapped out of trance, only giving him a small smile, before she moved closer to him, putting her head on his shoulder. "I'm sorry. I just…I just realised that I am really going to miss moments like these…" she murmured.

Horton's smiled faded as he wrapped his trunk around her shoulders. "So will I, Kirsty. So will I…" the elephant murmured, watching her eyes slowly droop until they were shut. He didn't fall to sleep for a long time afterward, not wanting to let the morning come where he would have to say goodbye to Kirsty. And all during that time, he never took his eyes off of her.

The next morning, the rain drifted away and the sun rose over the mountains like a glowing orb, its heat bringing joy to all the jungle, except two creatures, who were feeling anything but happy. Kirsty looked out to Mount Nool, the peak dominating the horizon. A sickly feeling churned in her stomach. The day she had been dreading had finally arrived; her last day of freedom. She picked up her new uniform and hurried off to change into it.

Poor kid. Just when we thought everything was starting to get better.

Horton watched her from the nest, noticing that his friend's face was expressionless. He wondered how she was feeling; he wished he could understand her emotions better. From when they had first met, Kirsty had always tried to keep her true self from anyone else. Unlike himself, she wasn't that easy to read. Even though she was getting better, she still was wary of other people and didn't like asking others for help, one of her flaws. "You okay?" he asked her, as she was fixing her jacket. When she didn't respond, he forced himself not to argue. Today was a big day for Kirsty; he didn't want to make it harder for her.

What Kirsty did do was clamber back up the tree, a small, glinting object in her hands. Horton bit his tongue so he didn't comment; she would speak when she was ready. Kirsty settled down next to her friend in the crown of the tree, before Horton settled his trunk on her shoulder in an encouraging sort of manner.

"Horton…" Kirsty whispered, turning to face him. "Can you do something for me?"

He nodded. "Anything for you, Kirsty. What is it you need me to do?" He tried to keep a positive attitude, smiling every so often, attempting to lighten the mood. She said nothing as she brought the metal object back into sight and placed it on her friend's lap. The smile wiped off Horton's face, his eyes studying the scissors. "What do you need these for?"

"I want you to cut my hair off."

Gasping, Horton passed the scissors back to her, shocked. He must have heard her wrong. "B-but why?" he stuttered.

She sighed, passing them back to him. "The council told me in a private meeting that I had to cut it so it was above my collar. They also said that if I didn't cut it, that they would personally shave it off. I don't want them to go near me, especially not near my hair, so I figured that you should be the one to cut it. Please Horton, please…"

After refusing many times, Kirsty finally convinced Horton to do it. With a shaky trunk, he managed to shorten, her new style half way up her collar. The moment he did, she felt the difference. Horton led her to a small stream of water right next to the tree, trying to avoid her gaze. It looked a bit scraggly and messy, but she assured him it looked fine. She would learn to get used to it eventually.

Horton looked his friend over one last time, now right below the nest. Without her long hair and her beautiful smile, she looked so sad, so frail, so…lost looking, not to mention even more like a male. "You look great," he said, his positive attitude wearing thin, almost ready to cry.

"It's okay, Horton," Kirsty told him, rushing up to him. "I'm going to miss you too." Pulling him into a hug, tears began to fall from Horton's eyes, finally letting go to his pain. She slowly let him go, smiling, trying to hold back tears. "Now look what you've done, you're going to make me cry too."

Horton managed to laugh, wiping the tears from his eyes. "Take care of yourself, Thinker. Promise me you'll catch up whenever you get time and tell me how both you and Jojo are doing, alright?"

She nodded, giving her friend one last hug, also handing him her bag. Tipping her cap, she slowly disappeared to Whoville, leaving her best friend and the egg alone in the silence.

After Kirsty's exit, the seasons progressed quickly, the warm autumn days soon becoming cooler. September had long gone, and October was just about to end. One of those days, while Horton was having a stickybeak through Kirsty's bag of belongings- which was a lot larger in the inside than he expected- something purple caught his eye. Looking up, he saw it was Gertrude, who was holding a blue knitted scarf in her hands. Unknown to Horton, her tail had grown even longer, most of it still lost in the foliage of the jungle.

A smile grew wide on her face, as she saw his eyes meeting hers. "Horton, I brought you a scarf," she called up to him, handing it up to him.

"Thank you, Gertrude," Horton told her, as he put the scarf on, not even noticing the tail.

Gertrude blushed, her cheeks going a light shade of pink. Suddenly, she noticed that someone was missing. "Uh, Horton? Where's Kirsty?"

"Her parents enrolled her into this military academy about a month ago," he whispered to her, his expression sagging.

She gasped, completely shocked. Like Horton, Kirsty had told her of her double life, and she had heard a bit about the academy Horton had mentioned. "Oh dear. That's awful! How's she going?"

"I don't know. She hasn't come back; they must be working her really hard, cause she told me she would catch up with me when she had the chance." Horton's ears drooped, looking out into the distance. "I just wish I could talk to her, and then I wouldn't have all this guilt on my chest. I just want to make sure she doesn't get hurt," he told Gertrude, before turning back to her. "Anyway, enough about my problems. Have you heard from Mayzie?"

"She sent a card from some place called Palm Beach," Gertrude told him, passing him a postcard. As Horton read it, she frantically tried to straighten and clean her tail, so Horton would notice it. This was the last chance she had; she had to get this right!

Horton nearly dropped the note, as he finished reading it. "Palm Beach! I never heard of a place like that before. Oh, Gertrude, what if she never comes back?"

"Don't worry, she will," Gertrude reassured him, moving closer to the tree, a portion of her tail in her arms. "Um, Horton, notice anything different?" Gertrude asked hopefully, spinning from the tree and doing a fancy pose, putting the tail right in front his face.

He looked at her for quite some time, wondering what she meant. "Yes, it's g-g-g-getting colder," Horton shivered and looked down at the egg, now trying to find a way to keep it warm.

Gertrude let out an exasperated sigh, and tried to gather up all twenty three metres of her tail, which, of course, didn't working. Eventually, she stormed off, her tail dragging behind long after she left. Before she did, she took one last longing look at Horton, who hadn't even noticed she was gone.

In the later hours of the afternoon, Horton put Kirsty's cloak around the egg, noticing it had begun to freeze up. It was early December, and the jungle was already covered with snow. It was going to be a long and rough winter. As he carefully brushed the snow off its top, a snowball hit him on the head. His head whipped around, to see a group of young jungle animals running in the opposite direction, laughing.

What is it with everyone? I have enough trouble looking after this egg with this terrible weather, without everyone in the jungle mocking me dawn until dusk. Why can't they just leave me alone for one minu-

Unfortunately, his thought was interrupted, as the Bird Girls appeared again, now in furry coats. They were huddled together, trying desperately to keep warm. "And then came the winter…the snow and the sleet, and icicles hung from his trunk and his feet," the girls managed to sing, as a huge breeze whipped past them. They quickly left, rushing back to the comfort of their nice, warm tree.

"It's so cold here. I wonder if it's like this on Who, where Kirsty is. I so do hope she is alright. I just wish I could see her, and tell her-" Horton said to himself, but was interrupted again, by the person in front of him.

It was Kirsty, but not as he had last seen her.

For a start, her brown uniform which he had seen her in a few months ago, wasn't there, in its place was a much swankier, cleaner green uniform. The other noticeable thing was her various facial injuries, broken finger, bruised arms and bandaged leg, however the most notable thing was her stature, which was incredibly thin.

The two stared at each other for quite a few minutes, until Kirsty took one step forward. "Hey, old friend. Long time, no seeeeeeeeeeeee-" her voice broke off as she slipped on the ice like ground, sliding into a tree and eventually landing flat on her face. "Ouch…why do I have to be such a massive klutz?"

Horton let out his trunk, helping her up. "Because you wouldn't be yourself without your clumsy accidents," he told her, jokingly. "So, what brings you back here?"

She adjusted her uniform, brushing the collection of snow off her shoulders. "I got the afternoon off for good behaviour. Surprising, since I'm not the general's favourite cadet."

"Are you sure you're alright? Why are you in such a state?"

"Just some guys at the academy giving me a piece of their mind. Personally, I don't want to talk about it, so if we could please-"

"Giving you a piece of their mind? Kirsty, what-"

"I don't want to talk about it."

Horton flinched. Even though he wanted to know why some boys had treated her so badly, he didn't want her to break down. He still didn't know the full extent of what the academy might have done to her, both inside and out. "So, how's Jojo? Is he alright? Did you catch up with him?"

"Yeah, he's okay. Even though he hates to admit it, the academy has changed him a bit." Kirsty sighed, sadness filling her up. "For a few weeks, he was ignoring me, acting like I was some stranger to him. But then, after an incident in training, I finally managed to get him to talk to me. Turns out he was avoiding me because of the day at the observatory. He told me at that moment it happened, he had made it his duty to protect me and keep me from harm, as he felt like he had a debt to pay to me."

Her friend smiled at her. "Well, I'm glad you are still friends. It will make your time at the academy a lot easier."

Kirsty was just about to agree, when she saw small white flakes falling from the sky. She tightened up her shoulders, scared by the strange ice shards. "What's this stuff?" she asked him, timidly.

"It won't hurt you, it's just snow." Horton explained, blowing some of the icicles out of his trunk like water. "Haven't you ever you seen snow in winter before?"

"No. Where I came from, we got rain instead of snow in winter," she told him, climbing up to the nest. When she got there, she gazed at him, motioning for him to move. "Well, now I'm back, the least I can do is giving you a break from sitting on Mayzie's egg, as I assume she is still on vacation." When her friend didn't move, she rolled her eyes. "Stop being stubborn for once, Horton. We agreed to this, that we would sit on this egg together. It's time for me to do my end of the deal. Are you scared I'll break it or something? I swear I'll be careful. Cadet's honour."

Horton sighed, and eventually let her sit on the egg. He sat beside her, not leaving her side. After a few minutes, the weather started to get extremely rough, a blizzard breaking out. They both held onto each other tightly, as the tree started to sway violently. Rain also started to fall, a lightning bolt lit up the sky and thunder crashed violently , making Kirsty become anxious, huddling into Horton, who hugged her.

"We can't leave this nest. No, we meant what we said," Kirsty sang, looking to Horton.

"This egg might get frozen but the Whos might be dead!" Horton sang, also a tiny bit scared.

"We couldn't say no when we heard Mayzie beg. Now we're caught between a dust speck and an incubating egg!" They both wept, just before they heard a large sound. Before they could even react, a group of humans came out of the bushes, long stick like objects strapped to their belts. Kirsty's eyes widened, knowing the true meaning of the sticks.

The humans quickly spotted Horton and Kirsty, and surrounded them, causing Kirsty to start hyperventilating. "Help! Someone help! Hunters! Help!" Kirsty yelled out, as loud as she could. Gertrude heard her cry and tried to help them, but she kept tripping over her tail and falling, and when she tried to fly, she was stuck to the ground, her tail too heavy.

"Horton! ... Horton!" she screamed, as the hunters aimed their 'guns' at Horton and Kirsty's hearts. The moment they did, the scene froze, Kirsty again the only one able to move. Without even question the universe, she stepped out of the tree, signally the familiar tune to start up again, as a spotlight lit him up on Horton, bringing him back into life.

"When your life's going wrong and you're wondering why," Kirsty shrugged, taking the situation as it came. However, this time, she felt much more into it, her heart much more in its spirt.

Next, a light went on Gertrude, who also was released. "When your tail is so long you're unable to fly!" she sang to her, Gertrude looking at Horton with a confused look.

"Tell yourself how lucky you are," the three sang, Horton and Gertrude not entirely sure what was happening. Next, a larger spotlight went onto an empty part of the clearing, Jojo and General Schmitz now visible, their figures like a shadow.

"When you land with a thud and you're bumped and you're bruised," Jojo sang, his appearance rugged and torn.

"When you're trapped," Horton beamed, starting to get into the moment.

"And you're grounded," Gertrude shrugged.

"And lost and confused!" Kirsty added, laughing slightly.

"Tell yourself how lucky you are!" the four sang together.

Suddenly, a spotlight appeared on a damaged and dejected Who, their image similar to the General and Jojo. "Why rehash a nasty crash. Why call a hearse or curse the universe! My philosophy is simply: Things could be worse!" the Whos smiled, just before a thrash of lightning came pelting down.

At that, the citizens of the jungle came out of their homes, the Bird Girls now caring the extra amounts of Gertrude's tail, all of them singing. "So be happy you're here. Think of life as a thrill! And if worse comes to worse, as we all know it will, thank your lucky star you've gotten this far."

"And tell yourself..." Kirsty declared, beckoning a moment of dance, the entire jungle as active as the storm. The only ones who stayed frozen were the hunters, the magic of the jungle too impossible for their minds to handle.

"How lucky you are!" everyone sang, some belting the words out a little too hard. Eventually, everyone started to move out of the clearing, returning to their original positions. "How lucky! How lucky! How lucky you are... How lucky! How lucky! How lucky you are... How lucky! How lucky! How lucky! How lucky! How lucky!" Soon enough, Kirsty had made her way back to the tree, almost everyone either gone or disappeared. Sighing, she took one last look out, like an emcee to an audience just before the final moment of an act.

"How lucky you are!" she smiled, before looking to Horton, a scared look now on her face. They grabbed onto each other, both petrified. Next thing she knew, she was hit with a strange red bullet, it landing on the side of the next. "What in the world…." She tried to say, just before she slipped into darkness, her mid closing its own curtains.