Chapter 5

Pink with Envy

It was the dawn of another day in the Boonchuy household. Sprig Plantar hopped up from his cot in Anne's room, ready to greet another morning of adventure and discovery. "Rise and shine, bestie!" he said, hopping up on Anne's bed, upon which the teenaged human girl was sprawled, still enjoying those blissful first few moments when you're not asleep but not truly awake, those moments when you're still just starting to realize that that dream that felt so real made absolutely no sense.

"*groan* …five more minutes…" she whined, trying to swat away reality.

"I was just wondering what we're gonna do today? I've heard things aout this place called a zoo, where there's wild animals that can't eat you. Sounds like something you might like."

Anne yawned. "Right… zoo… what time is it… and day… and where am I…" She forced herself back to consciousness. "Uggghhh… did you just wake me up at 6:30AM on a Saturday morning?"

"I'm just really excited to get a start on the day is all," he apologetically admitted. It was sometimes hard to remember that Anne was not a morning person.

"They didn't really have weekends back in Wartwood, did they," Anne realized. "*sigh* Well, I guess there's no way I'm getting back to sleep now…" She sat up and stretched.

"Sorry, sorry. I'll get used to your world's calendar eventually…"

"It's fine. You didn't know." She got up and stretched. "I can actually get first crack at the shower."

"Then I guess I did a good thing."

"Let's not push it."

"So, uh… now that you are up, what's on the agenda for today? There's a whole city out there just full of potential adventure…"

"Um… actually…" Anne admitted, a guilty look on her face, "I kinda made plans to hand out at the mall today with Maggie."

"Oh, cool! I can finally experience this 'mall' that you've told me so much about. Arcades, shopping, the food court, which I assume is where they prosecute food that's committed crimes against society…"

"Sprig… how do I put this…" Anne interrupted, having difficulty looking Sprig in the eyes, "It's… it's gonna be just the two of us…"

"Oh, did Maggie cancel? I was looking forward to getting to know more humans…"

"No…" Uh oh. Anne was doing that thing where she nervously rubbed her forearm. That was never good. "I mean just me and… *eyes dart back and forth* …Maggie…"

"…ohhhhh…" Sprig realized. "Is… this about me waking you up early? Because I said I was sorry…"

"No, no!" Anne protested. "It's not because I'm mad at you or anything, it's just… Maggie and I are in the very early stages of our friendship. The 'You used to pick on me but now maybe we can hang out?' stage. We kind of have to build up to the whole 'Oh, by the way I had all these crazy adventures in another dimension and also talking frogs are real' stage. You… understand right? I can't really introduce her to you yet."

"I… guess that's fair," Sprig replied tentatively.

"I knew you'd understand," Anne said, giving the young frog a hug. "Don't worry, I might be hanging with someone else today, but you'll always be my number one, right? Spr'Anne against the world!"

"Spr'Anne against the world," Sprig echoed half-heartedly.

"…hey, the mall doesn't even open 'til ten. How about after I shower I'll make us some breakfast and we can watch some epic fails on YouTube? Just the two of us and maybe Polly if she wants to get up-"

"Not on your life," muttered Polly from her bucket.

"Yeah, she's even less of a morning person than you," Sprig explained.

"Gotcha."

Hours later, Anne was headed down the 110 on Bessie Two, still rationalizing.

I can always make it up to him later, right? I mean… it's not like I have to spend every waking moment of my life with him, right? Time apart is good for a relationship. Okay, sure, he's been forcibly uprooted from almost everything and everyone he knows and thrust into a world he doesn't understand with only me for guidance and I've just basically abandoned him and wow this really isn't helping. Oh, he'll be fine. This is Sprig we're talking about. Mr. Optimsm Personified. He'll come around.

"Whoa, boss scooter," gushed Maggie as Anne puled into one of the motorcycle-sized parking spots near the entrance.

"Thanks. Late birthday present," explained Anne. "So.. what do we do first?"

"Is there even a question?" Maggie asked in return. "It's Love Choice 2's opening weekend!"

"OMG, that's actually out? I'm so out of touch…"

"No kidding. It's all anyone's talking about. So… you on Team Hunter or Team Alastair?"

"Uh-uh. Not taking sides. I have seen the dark side of shipping wars and I no longer want any part of it."

"Yeah, I guess Ramblr can get pretty intense."

"Oh, you have no idea how intense it can get," Anne replied, a haunted look in her eyes."

"O…kay… clearly this is bringing up issues for you and I won't pursue it further, but one of these days we have got to talk about what the heck you were up to the last six months."

"We will… in time. For today, can't we just hang out and have fune?"

"Sure." Maggie conceded.

The truth was, Maggie had originally agreed to this strictly to see if she could goad Anne into spilling the details of where she had been for the last six months, and why she had returned but Sasha and Marcy hadn't. Not that she particularly Sasha; she was forced to treat her with respect because she was the queen of SJMS, but that didn't equate with liking her… and it was really annoying how she was always calling her "Margo" as some sort of Middle School Girlboss maneuver; the old "I'm so important that I can't even be bothered to remember your name" play. As for Marcy, she didn't have anything particular against her other than the roles of bully and nerd stratified middle school society had placed them in; in truth, they probably shared a few interests but appearances had to be kept up.

But the small amount of information Maggie had been able to tease out of Anne had put things into perspective. What had happened to Anne wherever she'd been had had a profound effect on her, something that didn't deserve to be spread all over the school.

She still wanted to know, but Anne would share when she was ready.

"You get the tickets," Anne suggested. "I'll cover the snacks."

"Extra butter on mine," Maggie requested.

"Feeling dangerous today, huh? Gotcha."

Anne headed to the concession stand. "Two large popcorns, one with extra butter, two Bladder-Buster cups, and one box of chocolate-covered ants, please…"

"…you uh… you mean raisins, right?"

"Ew! No! I mean ants."

"Uh, we don't… have those? Nobody does?"

…right… people don't eat bugs here… "Did I say ants? Silly me. I meant peanuts."

"Hey, Chew Toy…"

Now, there was an unwelcome voice. Danica Gray, one of the many bullies that had roamed Saint James Middle School's halls. Maggie occasionally played sidekick to her before she'd graduated. Was that what this was? Had Maggie agreed to hang out with her just so she could set her up to be ambushed by her old bullying sensei? Could she go just a month without someone betraying her? Was that so much to ask?

"Hey Chew Toy, I'm talking to you! Listen to me!" Danica demanded, poking her in the back."

Anne groaned. "Go away, Danica," she growled. "I don't have time for this."

"Sure you do. The movie doesn't start for twenty minutes. Plenty of time for old friends…"

"Your popcorn," the concession clerk interrupted.

"Whoops!" Danica said, knocking it over. At least it was Maggie's, so Anne didn't feel particularly bad about it… other tha once again being a lousy judge of character.

"Really?" Anne asked, rolling her eyes. The old Anne would have been intimidated. The old Anne would have needed Sasha to come to her rescue. The old Anne hadn't spent six months in anther dimension dealing with things that made middle school bullies look like toy poodles. "Dude, you're in high school now. Aren't you past this?"

Danica did a double-take. "Excuse me? Anne Chew Toy is actually talking back to me? So that's where you were for the last six months… getting an operation to put in a backbone." She cracked her knuckles. "Guess I get to have the fun of being the first one to break it. Waybright ain't here to protect you, Chew Toy."

"Don't need her," Anne replied, fist clenched. Anne wasn't one to seek out a fight, but she did feel a shameful satisfaction in knowing she would get to see the look on Danica's face when she fought back.

"Hey, Anne, got the tickets," Maggie interjected, interrupting the potential concession-stand rumble. Danica whirled at the voice, looking genuinely surprised. Well, that puts the kibosh on my "Maggie set me up" theory, realized Anne, feeling a wave of guilt at believing the worst of her.

"Mags? Don't tell me you're hanging out with this loser," sneered Danica, jabbing a dismissive thumb in Anne's direction.

"I can hang out with whoever I want, Danica," Maggie replied defiantly. "Do you have a problem with that?"

Danica hesitated, a bully suddenly outnumbered. "Well, looks like you lucked out, Chew Toy. You've got a new protector. A'course she won't be around all the time," she added ominously. "Enjoy the movie. We'll 'talk' soon." She gave a half-wave and departed.

"Sorry I took so long," Maggie said regretfully. "If I'd known someone like Danica was here, I would've stuck with you."

"It's fine," Anne assured, now feeling twice as bad that she'd suspected Maggie. "I could've handled her. Don't worry about it. Sorry she spilled your popcorn, though. We can split mine."

"Fair enough," Maggie agreed. Her first thought was that Anne was just lying about the encounter to placate her, but something in her expression suggested that she truly hadn't been scared at all. The girl who had always needed someone else to stand up for her now stood on her own. Once again, Maggie asked herself what could possibly have happened to Anne that had changed her this much.

"AUGH!" grumbled Polly, flipping through one of Anne's school science books. "You'd think there'd be something in here about fixing a robo, but it's all just 'physics' this and 'astronomy' that. Where's the practical applications?"

"Whatever," grumbled Sprig.

Polly perked up. "Hey, what gives? This is the part where you're supposed to give assure me not to worry, that we're gonna get Frobo all fixed up before we know it."

"Yeah, and then he can ditch you to go hang out with all the other robots and leave you here all alone," Sprig replied ruefully.

"*groan* So you're gonna be a sad sack today. Juuuuust great," groused Polly. "So Anne made a new friend. Big deal. That's gonna happen. What's stopping you from doing that?"

"Oh, I don't know… the fact that I'm a talking frog and nobody's supposed to know I exist…"

"It's always something with you," retorted Polly, scooting off, leaving Sprig to his sulking.

Not that he wanted to sulk, but Anne hadn't given him all that many options, had she? He wasn't supposed to go anywhere without her, and she wasn't here. For the time being, his world was this house. Anne's parents were off at the restaurant preparing for the lunch rush, and Polly and Hop-Pop had found their own things to do, so, there was basically nothing left for Sprig but to wallow in his resentment.

"Oh, hey, Sprig" Hop-Pop interrupted. "You looked board, so maybe you'd like to hang out with your old Hop-Pop for a bit?"

"*groan* I guess…"

"Great! I just found out this world has its own version of Newtopoly. They call it Monopoly here… probably 'cause they're monkeys instead of newts, but the basic idea is the same…"

"Wow. Fun," Sprig remarked sarcastically.

"..okay, what's wrong, Sprig? You're not due to become an angsty teenager for a couple of years yet."

"You wouldn't understand," Sprig dismissed.

"Just walk away, Hop-Pop," advised Polly from a room over. "He'll get over it when he gets over it."

"Now, hold on, Sprig," Hop-Pop replied, ignoring Polly's advice. "I was young once. You think I'm not 'hep' or 'chill', but I've been around the block. Lay it on me. Let's rap."

"*sigh* Fine, if you promise to stop trying to talk cool."

"Heh heh. Works every time."

"Anne ditched me to go hang out with that Maggie girl."

Hop-Pop chuckled. "Is that all?"

"I'm glad you find this funny," Sprig remarked indignantly.

"I'm not laughing at you, Sprig… well maybe a little." Hop-Pop replied. "Sprig… it's not like Anne's abandoning you forever."

"I don't get it. What does Maggie have that I don't?"

"Well, for one thing, she's Anne's age. And species."

"I don't see what that has to do with anything." He harumphed. "What does she need human friends anyway? The last two she had stabbed her in the back. What makes this one any different?"

Hop-Pop eyed Sprig. "Now, that's not fair, Sprig. She may have had her problems with those two, but when push came to shove, they had our backs. I seem to remember you owe your life to Marcy in particular."

That was true… without Marcy, Sprig would be nothing more than a mess spread across Newtopia's cobblestones, a fact he didn't particularly care to dwell on. Maybe he was being unfair, maybe he was letting his resentment over Anne choosing someone else's company over his get to him. "It just feels like… now that's she's back in her own world, does she even need me anymore?"

Hop-Pop sighed. "Sprig… of course Anne's going to hang out with other people. It's not as if you didn't have other friends either, right? And… someday, she's going to find that special someone that she wants to spend the rest of her life with, and so will you."

Sprig was reminded of Ivy, left behind in Amphibia while he was stuck in this strange new world. Some nights, he would go up on the roof and gaze up at the shooting stars (Anne told him they were actually airplanes, but he pretended they were shooting stars) and wonder if she was gazing up at them, thinking of him too.

"But no matter what, the two of you have a bond that can't be broken, The bond of family," continued Hop-Pop. "Friends come and go, but family always comes back."

"Mom and dad didn't."

The words hung heavily, and Sprig wished he could take them back as soon as he said them.

"Ouch," Polly commented, poking her head/body into the room.

"I'm sorry, Hop-Pop, I didn't mean-"

"It's all right. We all say things we don't mean sometimes."

"No, it's not all right. Feeling bad doesn't mean taking out all those bad feelings on everyone else."

"Exactly. When Anne comes home, let her know how you feel. Yu might find she feels just as bad about things as you do."

"Thanks, Hop-Pop. *shrug* So… I call the snail."

Hop-Pop opened the box. "There's no snail. They must have lost it."

"Aw… well, I guess I'll be the car then."

"As long as I get the ship. Heh heh heh. Hey Polly, wanna get in on this?"

"Unfortunately, I don't have anything better to do," the tadpole relented. "I call the cannon."

"Well, that was anticlimactic," Maggie critiqued as the two exited the screening room. "I can't believe she just picked that third guy that showed up with like ten minutes left."

"Yeah, well, I can't believe he was a vampire samurai centaur." Anne remarked. She was feeling guilty that she had seen the movie without Sprig and Polly, though no doubt both would have been disappointed by the ending.

"I know, right? Cliché much? *chuckle* The internet must be on fire."

"Ooof, speaking of on fire, the Bladder Buster's really living up to its name. I'm gonna hit the girls' room."

"This is why I pace myself," Maggie noted. "You want me to-"

"Nah, I never really subscribed to that whole 'going to the bathroom in groups' dealie. I'll be fine."

There was only one occupied stall in the womens' room. Not that Anne particularly cared. She wasn't there to socialize. She was there to do what needed to be done, wash up, and get out.

The resident of the other stall had other ideas, however.

"Figured I'd run into you here, Chew Toy."

Anne rolled her eyes. "Were you seriously waiting here in the bathroom the whole time?"

"I never stay for the credits," Danica explained.

"You missed the teaser for Love Choice 3."

"Eh, I'll watch it on the Internet. It was worth it to get the drop on you."

Anne sighed. "Please get out of my way, I need to wash my hands…"

Danica grabbed her by the shirt. "I'm not done with you yet."

"Yeah, well, I disagree. You're done and you're going to let me go."

Danica snickered. "Oh, right. You're 'brave' now all of a sudden. Well, I don't see your new protector, so right now there's nothing keeping you from an appointment with a swirly."

It was Anne's turn to chuckle now. "Oh, Danica… you actually think I'm still intimidated by you." Calmly, she grabbed the bigger girl's wrist and squeezed, forcing her to release her shirt. Danica stared back, more shocked by the act of defiance than by any pain Anne was causing her.

"You think I'm scared by the threat of a swirly?" she continued, her eyes boring into Danica's. "Do you have any idea what I've been through in the past six months? I've been through things that would make you collapse into a pile of jelly. I have seen vegetables scarier than you. Honest-to-god vegetables."

Not used to anyone talking back… let alone with this level of intensity… Danica found herself unable to meet the smaller girl's gaze. It didn't help that, for a moment there, she could have sworn her eyes had gone from brown to an unnatural, glowing sapphire blue. "Y-you're crazy."

"Maybe," Anne replied, smiling eerily. "There's a saying where I came from: 'frog around and find out.' Do you want to find out?"

Without another word, the bully bolted out of the bathroom. Anne calmly walked over to the sink. Y'know, maybe there is something to this acting stuff, she mused as she washed her hands.

"Hey, what happened in there?" asked Maggie as she exited. "Danica just ran out of there like a bat out of hell."

"Told you I can handle myself," Anne commented.

They spent the next couple of hours window-shopping, playing arcade games, and continuing to roast the movie. As time wore on, though, Anne continued to feel pangs of guilt at leaving Sprig and Polly behind. The thought of them stuck in the house while she was out having fun gnawed at her. Was it really fair for Anne to be making new friends when Sprig's were in another dimension and Polly's had been reduced to a high-tech paperweight?

"Think I'm gonna call it a day," she decided.

"Oh," Maggie replied, disappointed.

"It's nothing personal," Anne assured, immediately picking up on the mood; "I just promised the folks I'd help with the dinner shift. That is when the good tippers eat, after all." Partially true. She did have plans to do the dinner shift, but she didn't have to leave this early. That was entirely related to her guilt. Hopefully Maggie bought the excuse; the last thing she wanted was to have Maggie thing this was about her.

"You get big money?" asked Maggie.

"Sometimes. We get the occasional famous person. They tip pretty generously. You want a ride home?"

"Mmm… I sometimes get carsick, and the back of a scooter seems like it'd be even worse… nah, I think I'll just hang out a little longer here and then call my dad."

"Probably a good idea," agreed Anne. "I'll see you around, OK?"

When she got back home, she found Sprig lounging in the kiddie pool out back. Her dad had set it up so the Plantars could keep hydrated; as a bonus, the standing water attracted tons of insects to supplement their diet.

"Heeeey, Sprig," she greeted hesitantly. "How'd the day go…?"

"It was all right. Had some time to myself… to think…"

There was an awkward pause as Anne tried to figure out what to say next. Finally, she just decided to bite the bullet. "I'm sorry," she said… at the exact same time Sprig said the same thing. "Wait," she said. "What do you have to be sorry for?"

"I'm sorry I was jealous of you finding a new friend," Sprig admitted. "It… wasn't fair of me. You shouldn't have to spend every waking minute of your life with me. You're allowed to have your own life."

"Well, thanks… but… I still feel really bad about ditching you and Polly for the day. I'm kind of your only link to the outside world and I need to take that into account." She held out her fist. "Spr'Anne against the world?"

Sprig smiled back. "Spr'Anne against the world. Forever," he replied, meeting her fist bump.

Polly suddenly surfaced in the kiddy pool. "For the record, I was totally okay with it. Buuuuut it's nice that you thought of me."

"Thanks… that helps a little with the guilt over seeing Love Choice 2 without you."

"You WHAAAT?" gasped Polly.

"I promise I'll sneak you guys in to see it somehow… though I'm not sure you'll be happy since –

"Whoa, no spoilers!" warned Sprig.

"Sorry, sorry… I just need to vent about that movie!"

Her guilt assuaged, Anne returned to the question of whether to let Maggie in on this part of her life. It was a risky move… but Anne had been in her share of dysfunctional friendships. This was a chance to build a new one from the ground up, and the foundation of a good friendship was honesty. The next time she saw Maggie. She didn't know why, exactly… but she had a hunch the redheaded girl was someone she could trust.

A few miles away, a stationwagon was pulling up to the curb outside the San Fernando Mall.

"Thanks for coming to pick me up, Daddy," Maggie said as she took her seat.

"No trouble at all, pumpkin," the driver said. "So… had a good time with your new friend?"

"Actually… yeah," Maggie replied. "I think things are working out really nicely."

"Good, good." Agent Rupert Paulsen smiled gently at his adopted daughter. "So… what's this girl's name?"

A.N.: DUN DUN DUN! Plot twist! Who could have seen this coming? Well, me. I'm writing it. But who else? And yes, Agent Rupert Paulsen is named after RuPaul, since he's been announced as a VA for the upcoming season and people have noted this particular character's resemblance to him out of his drag persona.

Jose: Thanks, as always!

OcelotGamer: If and when I get back to Sasha, I will be taking that into account, after all Toady would likely be interacting with the town's protector on behalf of the Mayor…

WE21: I was going to also have Gloria dreaming she was Sasha in my BCG fic, but the opportunity never came up.

Floofy floof: Welcome aboard!

Next: Maggie meets the family.