Chapter 7: Date Night

Ivy had recently finished helping her mom and decided to visit the Plantars. She was about to knock on the door when she suddenly had a fun idea.

"Ooh. I bet I can ambush Sprig in his own room." she said. "He'd never see it coming. Heh-heh-heh."

Ivy leapt up to the lower roof of the house and slowly crawled to the window. She peeked into the room to see if Sprig was there. What she saw was a complete surprise. The frog she knew as Fran was wearing a new yellow long-sleeved dress with frills and Sprig was there with her.

"So, how do I look?" Anne asked.

"Ready for a date." Sprig answered.

Ivy hopped back down to the ground and left the property with a strange feeling.

"Sprig... and Fran... are dating?" she said to her self. "I should be happy for Sprig, but for some reason I'm starting to not like Fran."

Had she stayed near the window a little longer, she would've heard those two say more.

"I really wish I wasn't doing thiiiis." Anne whined. "You two just had to tell Herb that I could date him, didn't you?"

"Oh come on, Anne. At least you'll be able to move freely." Sprig said.

The door opened and in came Polly.

"Good news." she said. "Hop-Pop said he'd be busy with his toy boat for hours and doesn't mind if the rest of us eat out. He'll never know a thing."

"Perfect." Sprig said. "While Anne dates, we'll do what we want."


Night time came which meant it was time for Anne to reluctantly go on her date. She arrived at Stumpy's where Herb waited for her at the entrance all gussied up in a brown suit.

"Hi, Fran. That's a nice dress." Herb said.

"Thanks." Anne said, feeling a little uncomfortable. "Shall we go in?"

Herb opened the door and let Anne enter first. They found a table and sat on opposite sides. By the time they agreed on what they wanted from the menu, Stumpy came over with appetizer bugs and a couple mushrooms in the middle, similar to the bouquet Herb gave Anne earlier.

"Welcome to Stumpy's. Tonight, pairs on a date get the lover's appetizer and half off whatever they order." Stumpy said. "What'll it be?"

"We've decided on the Basil and Kraken special stir fry, please." Herb answered while handing over the menus.

"Coming up." Stumpy left for the kitchen.

While they waited and enjoyed the appetizer, Anne and Herb simply chatted.

"Did you find your spider?" Anne asked.

"Yup. Billy was sleeping on the roof the whole time." Herb said. "So, what do you like to do, Fran?"

Anne had to be careful what she said to avoid blowing her cover.

"Well uhm... climbing, sports, dramatic stories." she said.

"Really? I'm more into art myself. I could show you some of my work sometime."


As they kept on talking, someone was spying on them from a random roof. It was Sprig who brought his telescope from his room and Polly who was as annoyed about the whole thing as the last time she took part in this.

"Why are we doing this?" Polly asked.

"Payback of course." Sprig said while looking through his telescope. " I know she did the same to me. Besides, I thought you'd want a reason to keep teasing Anne."

"Let me see that!" Polly demanded.

Sprig gladly let her have a turn with the telescope.


Back in the restaurant, Herb and Anne were having their dinner. Anne was happy to have a meal that reminded her of her real home(Even if she is the reason for said reminder). As they were nearly done eating, Herb was finishing up a funny story.

"Then Billy leapt onto my head and made me spill half my jar of paint. The next thing I knew, my painting of my Ma had a beard."

"Hahahahahahahaha! She must've been confused when she saw it." Anne said.

"For a moment. Then she laughed too." Herb said before hearing music from outside. "Ooh, there's a dance going on out there. Would you like to take part?"

Anne hesitated, but decided not to be rude.

"Sure. Why not?" she got up with Herb who payed for their dinner and they went outside.

Luckily for Anne, the music was meant more for a party than a romantic dance which she didn't have much knowledge on. She and Herb danced with all the other frogs who were there. Both of them were having fun, but at the same time, Anne was feeling a little uncomfortable again.


Back with Sprig and Polly, the latter let the former have his telescope back as they kept on observing.

"Huh, that's weird." Sprig said. "Anne keeps switching between happy and upset."

"Ah, she's probably just embarrassed." Polly said.

"I guess you're right. When the dancing's done, let's head back."


Eventually the music ended as did the date.

"I hope you had a good time, Fran." Herb said as they left together.

"This was actually a lot better than I expected." Anne admitted. "But there's something I need to tell you."

Herb stopped and waited to hear what she was going to say. Anne struggled, but let it out.

"Don't get me wrong. You've been a complete gentlema-frog the whole time. It's just that... I have a type... and it just isn't you. I'm sorry, Herb."

"Oh. Well that stinks." Herb glumly said. "At least you were nice enough to humor me."

"Hey, don't give up hope. With a charm like yours, you're bound to find the right one."

"You really think so?"

"You bet."

Herb gave Anne a big hug and said "Thank you, Fran. I guess this is goodnight or goodbye or something."

"How about 'See you later?'"

"I like it. See you later."

And so they split off to their own homes.


Anne was happily walking back to the Plantar residence, but then she saw Sprig and Polly waiting at the front door with big smirks. She knew where this was going.

"Sooo, how was your date?" Sprig smugly asked.

"If you must know, it was more fun than I thought." Anne said.

"When are you gonna tell Hop-Pop about your boyfriend?" Polly joked.

"He's not my boyfriend."

"Sure he's not." Sprig sarcastically replied.

"Will you two please just stop?" Anne was getting annoyed.

"Hmmmmmmmmm... nope!" Sprig and Polly then started singing. "Anne's got a boyfriend. Anne's got a boyfriend. Anne's got a boyfriend. Anne's got a boyfriend. Anne's got a boyfriend. Anne's got a boyfriend. Anne's got a boyfriend."

The more they teased, the more annoyed Anne became. She tried to ignore it, but she finally snapped.

"WILL YOU JUST SHUT UP! WE ALREADY BROKE UP! I'M NOT EVEN INTERESTED IN BOYS ANYWAY!(GASP!)" Anne covered her mouth, but she already messed up.

She had forgotten that she wasn't in a modern human city anymore. As far as she knew, nobody in Amphibia could even think of such a thing. Sprig and Polly were confused which only added to the fear Anne already had. In her mind, there was only one thing she could do. She ran away.

"Anne! Wait!" Sprig grabbed Polly and chased after Anne.


Poor Anne ran faster, then started hopping away. It didn't matter to her where she went as long as she got away from the Plantars. She hopped into the nearest forest and looked for a place to hide. She then spotted a cave and rushed inside. Fortunately it was empty, but Anne didn't care right now. She sat down at the inner end of the cave and cried. Anne was alone in the woods again.

That is until Sprig and Polly came in and found her. The moment Anne saw them, she backed up against the cave wall as if a predator had her cornered.

"Anne, I promise we won't hurt you." Sprig assured. "We just wanna know what you meant."

Anne still had doubts, but she reluctantly opened up.

"In my world, some people are attracted to their own gender or maybe both. In my case... I... I'm saphic. It... it means that I... I... I love girls. I can't help it. I haven't even told anyone before because some people hate people like me for it. And now so do you."

"That is very weird." Polly said.

"Yeah." Sprig agreed.

Anne felt the need to cry again. Then she was hugged on both sides.

"But so is everything else about you." Sprig added.

Anne hugged back and let out the rest of her tears.


It didn't take long for them to get back home again. Along the way, Anne explained to her friends all about LGBTQA+.

"Wow. I never knew any of that was possible." Sprig said. "I wonder if we have anyone like that in our world too?"

"Hey, guys." Anne nervously said as they reached the front door. "Do you think you could keep what I told you just between us?"

"Sure thing." Sprig promised.

"We won't tell anybody." Polly said. "Not even your boyfriend."

"That's it. Come here, you." Anne chased Polly into the house.

"Stop. You'll wake Hop-Pop." Sprig warned.

The girls stopped since they didn't want him to know anything about tonight. So instead, they all bid each other goodnight and went to their rooms. After switching back to some casual clothing, Anne was still a little frustrated by the teasing, but happy to not be misjudged again. Before going to sleep though, she made a promise to herself.

"I swear the next time someone talks to me about boyfriends, I'm gonna let 'em have it."


A.N.: Yes, I've seen the entire series. I'm not stupid. What I wrote just seems like something that could've happened.