'Ohmygosh!!' Amber shrieked.

'Ribbit.'

'I am sooo sorry Elizabeth!!' Amber wailed as she stared down at her friend jumping around manically in front of her. 'I honestly didn't expect that spell to work!!'

'Ribbit.'

'Of all the spells I've tried… This had to be the only one that worked...' Amber sighed helplessly. 'Look, I'll… I'll go get help! I'm sure there must be a book with a counter-spell in the library. I'll have you fixed up as soon as I can. I hope…' she muttered as she ran up the path which led from the pond up to the Witches' Academy.

'Stupid witch.' Elizabeth muttered to herself as she sat on the log Amber had left her on. 'Useless little-'

Elizabeth looked at her surroundings, bored.

The pond wasn't exactly the most interesting place to be stuck in. It was just a pond. It was surrounded by trees and bushes and the log she was sitting on seemed to be of an unusually and extremely large size, but that was it.

She saw the shimmering silvery sheen of the water and decided to have a look at herself, and see what damage Amber had managed to make of her.

'Ribbit!!!'

But- but- but… Aaaaaaaaaargh!!!

'I'm a frog!!'

Her long curly blonde hair was a thing of the past. Her previously clear and porcelain white skin was now green, mottled and Ellen bet that, if she were to touch it, it would be disgustingly slimy to the touch. Her clear blue-grey eyes were now plain black, they didn't seem to have any white or colour. They just looked like small black beads. And her body! It was in the shape of a frog!! Small flat head, no nose, two front legs and two back ones all bent and strangely shaped. What had that stupid witch done?!

'I can't be a frog.' Elizabeth wailed. 'I won't be a frog!! I refuse to be one!'

'I'm afraid you're stuck like this.' A voice croaked.

Elizabeth jumped (literally. Those bendy back legs were no joke…)

'Who are you?' she croaked back in what she hoped was a scornful tone.

'I'm Peter.' The young jumpy said cheerfully. 'And you must be Grumpy.'

'Humph.' Was all she had to say to that.

'You'll have to wait until your friend comes back to help you get out of this one.'

'She is not my friend.' Ellen said huffily. 'At least not after this.'

'I don't think she meant to do it.' Peter said reasonably.

'I don't care if she didn't. She did it and that's what's important.' She proclaimed. 'How am I ever going to look at the girls at school again once it gets out that I, Lady Elizabeth of Forrest was turned into a frog of all things?'

'Being a frog isn't necessarily a bad thing.' Peter said jumping around her. Ellen wished he would stop. It was making her dizzy.

'Oh yes?' She said in a disbelieving tone. 'What's good about it?'

'Well there's swimming in the pond!' Peter exclaimed, jumping in the water to demonstrate. 'Haven't you ever swum in here before?'

'Of course not!' She said scandalised. 'The water's disgusting! It's all germy and scummy and horrible!'

'It isn't!' Peter insisted. 'It's just got pondweed and animals living in it that's all. And it's lovely to swim in!'

'It's horrible!'

'Honest it isn't!' He kicked his back legs lazily. 'It's lovely and fresh, it sort of feels like you're slipping through very slippery and flowy air. It feels all soft and delicious, and it's lovely and cool at this time of year!'

'If that's the only good thing about being a frog I'm drowning myself right now.' Elizabeth said wrinkling up her nose. Or, at least, she tried to anyway. Wrinkling up one's nose was sort of hard when one didn't actually have one.

'Of course there are more good things about being a frog!' Peter crawled out of the pond and sat by her side. 'There's catching flies.'

'Flies!' Elizabeth exclaimed disgusted. 'Everyone knows that you can't eat flies. They'll give you a fever or a terrible disease or something.'

'You can if you're a frog.' Peter said wisely.

Elizabeth's ugly frog face looked disgusted. They both sat in sailence for a bit, and just as Elizabeth was starting to wonder what he was waiting for, Peter's long elastic tongue flipped out. When he brought it back, Elizabeth saw there was a fly caught in it.

'Yum.' He grinned froggily at her as he swallowed the flying insect.

'That is the most repulsing thing I have ever seen.' Elizabeth stated shuddering.

'Anything else? Or can I go drown myself now?'

'There's always playing with the baby frogs and the frogspawn.' He suggested with a grin.

'Ugh!' Elizabeth exclaimed. 'That's it! I am officially never speaking to Amber ever again.'

'Ellen!!!! I'm coming!!!'

'Well maybe this one last time…' She thought as she heard Amber's approaching footsteps.

'Looks like you're friend's back.' Peter grinned again.

'Not too soon, and thankfully, this means I will never have to see, hear or speak to you ever again.' Ellen retorted unkindly.

Peter just looked blankly at her and jumped back into the water, leaving her on her own, exactly where Amber had left her.

'Oh there you are Ellen!' Amber appeared by the side of the log, out of breath, her black curly hair escaping from its hair-ribbon. 'I was so afraid you might have hopped off somewhere. It didn't occur to me to bring you up with me to the castle until I was already there…'

'Dumb witch.' Ellen thought, darkly imagining the things she would like to do to her ex-friend.

'OK, I looked up the counter-spell. It's kind of hard but I think I can do it.' Amber said with more confidence than she felt. Both of them shut their eyes, Amber from concentration, and Ellen from the fear of seeing herself turn into something even more repulsive than a frog.

'Eleka Puella,

Puella, Bella,

Eleka Bella,

Puella Bella!'

Had it worked? Ellen opened one eye apprehensively and saw Amber staring at her with her mouth open. Elizabeth's heart plummeted, as she imagined what terrible and digusting thing Amber had probably turned her into now.

A snake? Or maybe a fly...Knowing her luck she'd probably get eaten by the horrid little Peter frog...

She turned towards the pond, opened her eyes and saw…

'It worked!!' Amber squealed. 'I actually did a spell that didn't go wrong!!'

'And that is the only reason I am not hurling every single curse I know at you right now.' Elizabeth snapped, turning to her. Amber's face fell.

'I'm really sorry Elizabeth.' She looked dejectedly at the floor. 'You know I didn't mean to…I was just practising my-'

'Whatever.' Elizabeth said, her eyes daggers. 'I'm out of here. You tell anyone about this episode and I will personally make sure your life is a misery.'

With that heartless warning, she turned and went up the path. As she got to the top, she turned round,

'And if you fancy showing off your amazing magic skills again,' Elizabeth said sarcastically, 'why don't you try transforming that annoying little Peter frog in the pond? Maybe you'll turn him into pond weed or something and his life will be the misery he deserves.'

And with that last horrible remark, Lady Elizabeth of Forrest departed up to the castle.

'I'm never going to use magic again.' Amber said quietly.

Then she sat down on the log and burst into tears. She sat there crying for many minutes, until, suddenly, she noticed a frog sitting in front of her, his beady blackeyes fixed unblinkingly on her. Amber stared back, and then sighed.

'You must be that poor frog Ellen was talking about.' She picked him up gently. He was a bit slimy, certainly, but his skin was cool and calming to touch.

'You know, I could try and transform you, you know. I just promised not to ever do magic again, but doing this wouldn't be magic, really…' Amber sighed again, 'It's just feels a bit…weird, though.'

Her big blue eyes stared into his black beady ones, and she shivered.

'I can't believe I'm about to do this.' She sighed.

She closed her eyes and kissed him.