Dear diary, it's me again. Today is June 20th. Yup, today is the anniversary of the birthday that changed a lot of people's lives forever. I'll get back to that and explain what we did. The Pride parade was a couple of weeks ago and the Boonchuys partook in it. I wish we could go into more detail so I'll just explain the highlights. Gus loved the flags even though he had no idea what they actually represented. Since Anne and I briefly dated, we were curious about her sexuality. She says she wasn't sure herself but we dubbed her as a LesbiAnne. Plus, Grime threw Darryl of the Thai Go parade float when he tried to sing a love song to Anne. Man, I wish I could relive that day. Now let's talk about today is not just the anniversary of getting trapped in Amphibia, but it's also the anniversary of Anne's life. Don't know why I phrased it like that. What I mean, is it's Anne's 14th birthday! Happy birthday, Anne. The party is nothing special. Just a simple get together with family and friends which includes me. But I am worried for Anne because her parents told me that the subject of her birthday seems to make her uncomfortable. Don't know why but maybe she's terrified of aging. I mean, she isn't growing wrinkles. Wait, is she? Oh well. Right now, she's out getting milk as a distraction while her parents get every guest together. Hope Anne loves it.
Anne Boonchuy, now 14 years old, was walking down the street with a carton of milk in her hand. She was currently talking to herself as she thought about things.
"Kind of strange that Mom and Dad would send me to get milk." Anne remarked to herself. "I mean, it's my birthday. You'd think I'd probably get special privileges. Knowing my family, definitely not. Man, I can't believe I'm 14. Before long I'm going to be in college. I'm going to college. Me, Anne Boonchuy." At the mention of her name, Anne hung her head down in shame as she walked towards the front door of the home. "Anne Boonchuy. That's who you are."
She opened the door where she saw how dark it was. "Huh, it's dark." She remarked before she got hit by a bright light and the sound of party horns being blown.
In front of her were her parents, Sasha, Gus, Grime, Dipper, Mr X, Hunter and Willow holding a laptop. "Surprise!" They all cried in excitement.
Anne was surprised by this surprise party and instantly dropped the milk. "Ahhh! The milk!" Anne screamed.
Her parents walked up to her and gave her a massive hug. "Don't worry, Anne." Mr Boonchuy said.
"We just needed a distraction while you got out of the house." Mrs Boonchuy explained. "Or otherwise you would have seen who was coming."
Anne walked up to Dipper, Hunter and Willow, surprised by the fact that they were here. "Guys?! You're here?! Did you drive all the way down to Oregon for me?"
"Not drive, teleport." Willow said.
"Dipper wanted to test out his teleporting device but we ended up having are body parts mixed up." Hunter said. "Willow's arm was on my body."
"It was strange." Willow said. "We even swapped torsos. So, that was a lot of weight to carry with his skinny legs."
"Hey, I'm still trying to get my legs more muscular." Hunter retorted while nudging his girlfriend in the shoulder which Anne smiled at. A strong girl and a socially awkward boy who's hardly had friends before, dating each other. This reminded her of a certain frog couple that she hopes were still together. She then frowned as she remembered but then quickly turned to Dipper.
"Hey, Dipper." Anne said. "You still got the shard?"
"Yeah. It's close by." Dipper replied while tapping his false hand on a laptop. "Oh, there were some people who couldn't make it but wanted to say happy birthday." Dipper opened the laptop and turned the screen on to reveal Luz, Amity, Vee, Masha, Marcy and K on screen.
"Happy birthday, Anne!" They all exclaimed.
"Awww! Thanks guys!" Anne said. "By the way, who's the weird guy with the fuzzy hair."
"This is K, my cousin." Masha replied. "He works with Mr X from time to time."
"You mean this shut-in lookalike is an FBI agent?" Anne asked with a hint of skepticism.
"Yes." K replied bluntly. "I just don't like wearing fancy suits."
"Oooookay." Anne said.
"Oh Anne!" Marcy shoved K out of the way. "Did you get my gift?! It's an art book!" Marcy groaned in annoyance. "Nooooooo! I told you!"
Anne laughed. "It's okay Mar-Mar. I think I'll love it."
"By the way Anne, can you believe it's been a year since we first came to Amphibia?" Marcy asked. "I mean, I feel like the first day was yesterday!" At the mention of Amphibia, Anne felt a hint of sad nostalgia as she remembered everything about Amphibia and the day she died and was replaced with a copy. She didn't want to talk about it at all so she had to think of something. "I mean, first day I fell down a flight of stairs."
"By the way Luz, how are things?" Anne interjected.
"Yeah Luz, how are things?" Dipper asked with a hint of concern in his voice.
"Well, I spent the first day of Pride month explaining to Amity about labels." Luz replied.
"Yeah. Me and Sasha tried to explain them to Gus. But he really liked the flags." Anne explained.
Luz chuckled. "Thought he would."
Gus then popped out of nowhere holding some pride flags. "They're so colourful." He waved them about before one of them snapped. "Awww!" He groaned sadly.
"He's been waving them about a lot." Grime explained. "Oh Anne, Sasha wants a word with you. Something about a gift or just a talk."
Anne began to walk towards Sasha while K stared at Grime with a perplexed look. "I just noticed a humanoid toad. Okay. That happened."
Anne walked towards the couch where Sasha was sitting down chatting with Darryl. "Look Darryl, we're giving you a chance. No love songs, got it?! Just a birthday song with no romantic undertones."
"But….That's what I wrote." Darryl argued.
"You're a songwriter who steals from existing work! Find something!" Sasha tossed him aside just as Anne arrived.
"Did Darryl write me another love song?" Anne asked.
"You mean copyrighted?" Sasha retorted before the two shared a laugh together.
"Grime said you wanted to talk." Anne said. "Is everything okay?"
"I just wanted to know if you were okay." Sasha said. "Every time the question of your birthday came out, you seemed on edge. Is everything okay? Is it too much that we have a lot of guests?"
"No, I like that a lot of people are here." Anne assured her. "And I'll like Darryl as long as he doesn't try to make a move on me."
"He won't." Sasha assured her. "Grime promised he'd throw him out the window. I hope he doesn't because that means Dad would have to pay."
Anne laughed before she began to reminisce. "It's just, it's been one year since we first arrived to Amphibia. I'm just feeling nostalgic. I miss it, Sash."
Sasha stared at Anne with sympathy before looking sadly at Grime, whom was talking about Cosmic Frontier with Gus, Mr Boonchuy Hunter and Willow whom were all geeking out while an annoyed Mrs Boonchuy was preparing the candles. The human toad lieutenant knew that Grime couldn't stay in the Human Realm forever and would have to return to Amphibia as soon as they get the box from Lilith.
"Yeah….Yeah…." Sasha wrapped her hand around Anne's shoulder. "You're wishing the Plantars were here?"
"Mmm hmm." Anne quickly stood up. "But, that's all in the past. I should move on and decide my career. Maybe as one of those frog doctors. I wonder what they're called? Maybe Dipper might know! Hey Dipper, do you know the name of the frog doctors that work at zoos and aquariums?" She began to walk towards Dipper while Sasha stared at her best friend with a worried expression.
"Oh Anne, what's going on?"
Mrs Boonchuy then whistled. "Alright everyone, it's time for the gift opening!" She declared. "Anne pick whatever gift you want from the pile. But if you want to go with Darryl's first, we all understand."
Darryl sighed. "It's just a guitar."
"Open mine first!" Hunter exclaimed. "I worked super hard on it."
Anne then noticed three gifts with a label that each had Hunter's name on them. "Okay then, Hunter. Since you worked super hard on them." She quickly unwrapped the gifts that Hunter wrapped for her, excited to know what they are. But when she fully opened her gifts, she had the shock of her life.
They were none other than stuffed versions of the Plantar family. In front of her, covered in stitchings and filled with stuffing, was Polly, Hop Pop and Sprig, her best friend. Separated from each other in another universe.
Anne was completely speechless about this gift and more sad than she realised. It reminded her that she couldn't see her friends ever again and the fact that she died and felt like an imposter.
"I know it's not perfect." Hunter said. "But I have a photographic memory of them. Especially the stuffed toy back at the palace who strangely looks like Sprig."
"And strangely enough, there are some books in the Demon Realm where Hop Pop is on the front cover." Willow remarked.
"And I found some thumbtacks at the convention that look like Polly." Grime said.
"Do you like my gifts Anne?" Hunter asked. "I mean, you must. You have tears of joy falling from your eyes."
In that moment, everyone saw that Anne was crying towards the gifts. Her parents looked concerned, Dipper looked sympathetic, Willow looked saddened, Hunter had a mixture of sadness and confusion, Grime looked baffled, Gus looked saddened, Masha looked sympathetic, Vee didn't know what to say, Luz looked saddened, Amity had her hands over her mouth, Marcy looked saddened, K was just giving off a deadpanned look, Sasha instantly knew what was wrong while Darryl was pulling off a dumb smile.
"Anne?" Sasha tried getting through to her but she said nothing.
"Anne, khuṇ s̄bāy dī h̄ịm?" Her mother asked.
Anne stared at everyone with tears falling down her eyes before she swallowed a sob and ran upstairs toward her room.
Everyone saw the stairs with saddened looks on their faces. They knew that Anne missed Amphibia but the fact that it was also the anniversary of Anne arriving into Amphibia and meeting the Plantars.
Darryl looked confused. "Why is Anne crying? They're just stuffed frogs."
Everyone narrowed their eyes at Darryl at his insensitivity. "He doesn't know." Willow whispered to Grime.
"Yeah, but it's still insensitive." Grime said before marching towards the boy.
Then, the obnoxious teen got thrown out of the house by the toad, followed by his guitar hitting him on his head, causing it to shatter.
"Ow!" Darryl exclaimed. "Do I at least get cake?" Grime reopened the door and threw a slice of cake at Darryl's face. "Thank you!"
In Anne's bedroom, the future deity was on her bed looking at some polaroids of the Plantars that were taken while they were staying. From their ugly reactions to the camera flash to the perfect photo of them with the destroyed robo Santa that was controlled by Andrias and that was it.
Anne then looked at her mantle piece and saw the miniature figurine of herself that Sprig gave to her as a special Christmas present. She really missed them and really could have used them to be with her right now.
She then heard a knock on the door. "Hey Anne." Sasha said. "Can I come in?"
Anne sniffled. "Yeah, go ahead."
Her best friend and would have been lover entered her room with a sympathetic smile. "Hey."
"Hi." Anne greeted back. "Why are you here?"
"Am I not allowed to comfort my best friend?" Sasha retorted as she jumped on her bed. "I offered to talk to you first."
"I'm sorry." Anne said.
Sasha sighed. "Anne, don't be."
"But I am!" Anne exclaimed. "Especially, Hunter. I must made him feel crappy about his hard work."
Sasha sighed. "Yeah. He's pretty worried that he hurt you and his girlfriend's trying her best to give him some reassurance."
Anne groaned. "Ohhh man!"
"I need you to tell me, are you okay?" Sasha asked her ex girlfriend with concern.
Anne's lips shook before she instantly latched her best friend in a hug. "I just miss them so much, Sasha. I miss Polly's psychotic tendencies, I miss Hop Pop's strict rules and I miss going on crazy shenanigans with Sprig! I miss the Plantars so much Sasha! It's been a year since we first arrived in Amphibia and I met the Plantars. It might have taken me a while….But they were essentially my second family. They were there for me when I was down, they comforted me during my moments of emotional turmoil, we argued, we laughed…They were my family, Sash."
"Oh, Boonchuy." Sasha sniffled. "I miss the Plantars as well."
"But that's not all." Anne said. "I don't deserve this."
"What?" Sasha asked. "This hug?"
"Everything." Anne replied. "My friends, my family, these gifts, I don't deserve this. Because I'm not Anne."
"That's bull crap, Boonchuy." Sasha said.
"I don't deserve that name." Anne said. "That Boonchuy died saving Amphibia. That Anne Boonchuy specifically. She died and she was cloned to take on her life, to have her friends, to have you until they breakup, to miss the Plantars!" Anne cried. "I'm taking everything away from her! I'm an awful clone, Sasha! I'm so sorry." Anne sobbed even harder into her best friend's shoulder, whom was now sobbing as she understood what was going on.
The reason why Anne was worried about her birthday wasn't just due to the Plantars, but also due to the fact that she didn't even feel like Anne Boonchuy, but an imposter of her.
Sasha sighed and shushed her friend. "Anne, I know you're suffering an existential crisis right now, but let me assure you, you are you. Look, you might doubt it but to me, every word that has come out of your mouth, every interaction we have had and every aspect I have seen from you, I do not see or hear an imposter, I see Anne Boonchuy. My Anne Boonchuy. 'The' Anne Boonchuy. Ask everyone else here and they'll say the same thing."
Anne, despite having some doubts, smiled at Sasha's words of affection that made her a tiny bit more comfortable about being her. "Thanks Sash. I still miss the Plantars though."
"I know." Sasha said.
"Then again, I guess change can be difficult, but it's how we grow." Anne said. "It can be the hardest thing to realise you can't hold on to something forever. Sometimes... you have to let it go. But of the things you let go... you'd be surprised... what makes its way... back to you."
Sasha smiled. "Wow, that's a nice little message. Did you make that up?"
"Yeah. Too cheesy?" Anne asked.
"Perfect to be engraved on a tombstone." Sasha replied. "Mind if I steal it?"
Anne laughed as she let go of Sasha. "I think I'm ready to head down. Do you think Darryl has a dumb song for me?"
"I think Grime threw him out." Sasha replied. "He would have thrown him out regardless of what he did."
"Makes sense why he'd hate him." Anne remarked.
When Anne returned downstairs, she apologised for her actions earlier and opened the rest of her presents. She got a herpetology book from Dipper, a plastic replica of her sword from Sasha, some manga from Luz, a lesbiAnne shirt from Grime, a picture of Darryl being arrested from K which Anne instantly threw away because it was just messed up which made he realise that K probably didn't have a lot of friends and many more.
A few hours into the party, everyone was having some cake to feast on. The cake itself was designer cake made by a good friend of Mr X of her, Sasha and Luz in their calamity forms which made Marcy slightly jealous that she never got the chance to use those powers.
Anne saw that Hunter was chatting with Willow and thought that she needed to have a word with him. She walked up towards the Grimwalker with a smile. "Hey dude."
"Hey Anne." Hunter said. "Listen, I'm so sorry for making you those stuffed versions of the Plantars. If you want I can just give them to Willow."
"Hunter….I told you I don't want them." Willow said empathetically.
"She's right." Anne said. "Listen Hunter, I love your gift. I was just….Overwhelmed. You might not know this…"
"It's okay." Hunter interjected. "Sasha filled me in on the details. I mean….Wow! I can't believe Marcy did that to you."
"I can hear you!" Marcy yelled from the screen.
"Sorry!" Hunter yelled.
"Listen Hunter, I am really grateful you did this. I really am." Anne said. "I may miss the Plantars but now I have something to always remember them by. Thank you." She pulled him in for a hug which caused the Grimwalker some panic and confusion.
He turned to his girlfriend. "Willow! I swear! I have no attraction to her! I am and still will be loyal to you."
She chuckled at her boyfriend's silliness. "It's okay, I don't mind you hugging a friend."
"Again, really sorry about all this." Anne said. "I guess I knew this day was coming but I just wasn't prepared for it. Like death." She chuckled. "Don't know why I compared an anniversary to death. Weird, huh?"
Grime looked out the window to see if Darryl was still there, but instead, he saw Death standing by the mailbox with his pocket watch out with the big hand now on the three, meaning Grime now had three months left to live.
"Not much time." Grime said. "Not much time. I need more time. I need more time!"
"Did you say you needed more Thai?" Mr Boonchuy asked while holding a tray of Thai food.