AN: It has been half. a. year.

The first document for this chapter auto-deleted, so I had to redo it. Anyone following Punky's Log knows that due to some issues with a pm-er I'm putting that story's posts on hiatus, so I thought no would be a great time for this story to come back.

By lunch, the whole school seemed to know about Blondie and Arcus' fight. Blondie shrank in on herself on the lunch line, hiding her eyes behind her curls. Everyone was sitting with their project group, and her stomach sank at the prospect of sitting with Arcus. As she stared at her tray, someone tapped her from behind. When she turned, she let out a breath she hadn't known she was holding when she saw it was only 'Greta'.

"Hey, d'you wanna have lunch outside with me?" Blondie glanced out at the Castleteria and shrank further as other fairytales whispered to each other.

"Yeah. That's probably best." Blondie hurried out of the Castleteria with 'Greta's' hand on her shoulder. They walked in uncomfortable silence into the Enchanted Forrest, where they placed their trays in the gazebo and sat down. Neither girl knew what to say; the same thing that drove them from the Castleteria sat like an elephant in the gazebo, and as much as they wanted to avoid it, everything else paled in comparison.

"How did you know you liked Hopper?" 'Greta' sighed.

"How do you know I like him," she asked evasively. Blondie smiled.

"It's obvious. Has been since the first time I saw you with him." 'Greta' shook her head and stabbed at her food. "You know he got over Briar, right?" The green-haired girl chuckled bitterly.

"Doesn't matter. Just because he doesn't like her doesn't mean he likes me." 'Greta's' eyebrow cocked as she grinned over her sandwich. "Why do you ask?" Blondie went quiet, and 'Greta' waited silently and ate her sandwich. She was nearly done by the time Blondie spoke.

"I like my story as it is. As it was, before legacy day. I never minded that I wouldn't be marrying a prince like Apple, or becoming a queen like Ashlynn. I just never thought about it. But Arcus... he's not a prince. He's not kind or chivalrous or charming or sweet or sincere or, or, I don't know! He's frustrating."

"Then why are you bothered? You told him off, and it looks like he's listening to what you said." Blondie went quiet once again.

"I miss him popping up and bothering me," Blondie said softly. "I liked it when he called me 'princess', even though half the time I thought he was mocking me for saying I'm a royal. I never heard him call anyone else that. Not even Apple. I just... I just wish he wasn't so cocky. I'd believe all the things he says if he wasn't so cocky."

"You wanna believe him," Ingrid asked, disbelieving as she thought back on all his crude innuendo and the way Blondie brushed him off. Blondie nodded, looking bashful. "Well, he's not cocky now. Ask him if he likes you."

"I can't just ask him! I just verbally broke into his house and wrecked the place!" Ingrid laughed.

"Do you know how ironic it is that you're upset about that?" Blondie grimaced.

"It's not lost on me."

"How about this, if you talk to your problematic anthropomorphic fave, I'll talk to mine." Blondie's eyes widened.

"You'd tell Hopper how you feel? Really?"

"Only if you talk to Arcus! As much as you said he's insincere, I think he really does like you."

"Okay, but I need a while to think of how to ask him just right!" As the two girls talked, a curled smile appeared to float above a branch.

After lunch Ingrid sat on her bed, kicking her feet and wondering what she could possibly do to show Hopper how she felt. It can't be extravagant, she thought to herself, anything too big will make me chicken out. She tapped her lip with a pen as she stared vacantly at the assignment sheet for their project. Suddenly, she jumped up and smiled at Greta, who had been trying to figure out how to hide her lack of magic in her Evil Sorcery class in an hour.

"A picnic! It's perfect!"

"Whoa, perfect for what?" Ingrid hugged her friend and flopped down beside her.

"Telling Hopper how I feel." Greta abandoned her book and turned to her friend.

"You're really gonna do it? I thought you were too scared."

"I made a deal with Blondie. She'll talk to Arcus if I talk to Hopper."

"I thought she couldn't stand him? It certainly seemed that way, if the rumors are to be believed..."

"Feelings are a...complicated matter, Greta." Greta laughed and tackled her friend.

"Don't you pull that wise crap with me, Ingy," she said as she laughed, "You're just as confused as the next fairytale!"

As the two girls went to class, Ingrid admitted to herself that she was not only as confused, but probably more so. As soon as she saw Hopper outside of the first of two classes where they had always sat together, Ingrid felt panic well up in her guts. Should she tell him during crownculus or geografairy? She knew the sooner she told him, the more the both of them would stew, and the more likely Hopper would want to ask questions she would have to refuse to answer. They would be painfully awkward once she told him to meet her, but she couldn't think of anything else to talk about. Ingrid sat stiff in class to keep from fidgeting, answered when she was called on, and tried her best not to worry Hopper with her behavior. After their crownculus class, Hopper wrapped his hand around her arm and gently pulled her aside in the hall.

"Greta, are you alright? You've been acting wried since lunch." Ingrid blushed as he rubbed his hand up and down her arm in an attempt to comfort her, something he didn't even seem to realize he was doing. The care and concern for her distress, even without knowing the cause, that Hopper showed made her want to kiss him or curl up in his arms.

"I'm fine. I just... I was wondering if you could come with me to the swamp after class? I know it's dinnertime, but I have food and-"

"Sure, of course! Whatever you need." Hopper's eyes widened. "I- uh, I mean with the, uh-" Hopper poofed! into a frog, and immediately Ingrid caught him. Before she could catch herself, Ingrid kissed his lips like she'd wanted to before to change him back. Realizing what she'd done, Ingrid dashed to class, leaving Hopper stunned behind her.