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Guess who's back? Me! I apologize for the long wait, this past week has been crazy. First, my sinuses and allergies decided to attack me, causing me to become sick and lose my voice. (I started writing the first part when I was sick, so if I sound like I'm high, it's because my mind wasn't working correctly lmao.) Then, when I finally recovered, I had to get my braces off. Now I have to wear a retainer for two months straight. Let me tell you, I have never wanted to take something off my teeth worse. This thing is so uncomfortable, and it gives me a slight lisp. (Nerd alert) 😭😔 Also, I wanted to state that most of the dialogue I use is directly from the script, except for the tiny changes I make to include (Y/N).  Anyway, here's a new chapter. Enjoy!

Total Word Count: 2875

!𝑻𝑾!: 𝑺𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝑴𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒑𝒖𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏, 𝑴𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝑩𝒆𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒚𝒂𝒍 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑰𝒏𝒔𝒆𝒄𝒖𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒚, 𝑨𝒍𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝑮𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑬𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒏 𝒃𝒚 𝒂 𝑳𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝑴𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓, 𝑩𝒂𝒅 𝑴𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝑯𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒕𝒉

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"You'll change your name, or change your mind

And leave this fucked up place behind

But I'll know, I'll know

I'll know, I'll know

I'll know, I'll know

I'll know, I'll know"

"Christmas Kids"- Roar

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You were never someone's first choice, barely even considered an option. Just a convenience when someone was bored, and when you weren't needed anymore, they threw you away.

Always walking behind the group, sitting alone, and being ignored when their other friend was present.

It started during middle school.

You never knew why things were this way, but no matter what you did, it never seemed to stop.

They promised to stay. But in the end, that was just a lie. One of the numerous lies you were fed to keep you situated for the time being.

How could they do this to you?

After all those years, all that time you wasted comforting them, losing sleep over their issues and masking yours.

All of your problems are hidden behind a smile. Afraid to vent, worried they'll somehow find out.

At Least with them, you felt more confident, despite your numerous insecurities. But when they left, those insecurities consumed you.

No talking, keep your head down, don't make any noise, don't look at people, always focus on work, don't ask for help. Those were just some of the rules you had made for yourself.

What had been tolerable had caged you up, keeping you stuck in a repetitive loop.

Hiding behind layers of makeup and jewelry, wearing baggy clothing, practically bathing yourself in lotion and body spray.

It had been months, yet you always think about them.

Why couldn't they have just left you alone? Instead of leading you on and wasting all of those years, just to leave you like you don't exist. You couldn't get that time back...

And you never would.

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A scream had startled you awake from your slumber. You drowsily rubbed your eyes as Anne started yelling nonsense.

"Guys, guys, guys. I just had the craziest dream. I was trapped in a world of frog pe-"

She freezes when she notices the Plantars standing in the doorway.

Her arms tighten around your waist as you sit up, remembering your predicament. "Right."

Sprig approaches you and a currently tense Anne, who is now clinging to you. "Hey, Anne, and other Anne. Sleep good?"

'Lmfao. Other Anne?'

"Careful, boy! They could be hungry."

Polly finishes Hop-pop's warning but with a dramatic twist. "For your guts!"

You and Anne grimace, disgusted by the thought of eating an unhygienic frog.

"Dude, relax. I am not gonna eat something that clearly doesn't bathe."

Flies buzz around Hop-pop's head and he eats one.

'Omg- Gross.'

"Fair point."

Sprig nods his head. "See? Told you it was harmless."

"Hmph. For now."

Polly glares at both of you, suspicious, "Just give me an excuse to use old Doris here."

You and Anne look at each other, then back at the Plantars.

'I think the little one wants to kill us.'

"Yup. So, you two must be so excited to be trapped in another world. Very jealous."

Anne chuckles. "It's not all that. I miss my home and my stuff and especially... my other friends. Without them, I just feel kind of lost. You know?"

"Well, then, why don't I be your friend and other Anne's friend in the meantime?"

"You?"

"Me!"

"You?"

"Come on. It'll be fun! What did you do together?"

"Everything. Marathon dumb TV shows, drink boba till we vomited, hung out at the beach."

'Funny. I don't remember any of that.'

"Oh, we've got a lake. Would going there with me make you feel less homesick?"

Anne looks at the photo of your friend group and then looks back up at Sprig.

He makes a funny voice, "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Is gon' be great."

You and Anne giggle at his antics.

"I like your moxie, frog child. Let's do it!"

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You and Anne burst out of the bathroom, now wearing swimsuits. And boy were you gay panicking. You had to fight the urge to not look at her every two seconds.

'She's so pretty lord.'

Sprig jumps up with excitement, "You ready to go?"

"Yeah-ah!"

The three of you run to the door, but before you can open it, Hop-pop stops you.

"Hey, hey, hey! And where do you three think you're going?"

"We're going to the lake."

Anne grins, "Why? You want in? You wanna come?"

Hop-pop rushes to close the blinds. "Absolutely not! Look, Anne, and ...other Anne. You're a new, unsettling, strange, bizarre, gangly, horrifying–"

You deadpan and Anne frowns.

"Thanks. I got it."

Hop-pop peeks through the blinds suspiciously, looking at the unsuspecting townsfolk.

"Point is, the frogs in this town can be pretty small-minded." He closed the blinds as someone noticed him. "And paranoid. We just need to give 'em time to get used to ya. I think it's best you stay put."

He grabs a key and locks the front door, trapping you and Anne inside.

"But–"

"No buts. Now I'm gonna go into my study to get a little reading done."

Sprig attempts at getting his attention, but fails. Hop-pop walks over to his room and slams the door after yelling, "Don't do anything stupid!"

'Awww...maybe another time then.'

Anne groans and rolls her eyes in irritation.

"Ugh! Adults are all the same. Curfews. Rules. Old."

You nod in agreement, "Real."

Sprig notices both of your mood changes and tries to change the subject.

"Yeah, looks like we're stuck here. Ooh! I know what'll be fun. Let's try some of Hop Pop's pain peppers. So hot, they'll make you wish you were dead."

He runs to the bin containing the peppers and tries one, rolling around in pain after, then holding out peppers for you and Anne to try. "Someone just kill me, please! Bleh. Your turn."

You reach out to try one but are stopped by Anne.

'Aw.'

"No, thanks. I'd rather go to the lake."

You and Sprig look up at her in confusion.

"Ahh-- What? But Hop Pop said, uh–"

"Sprig, you wanna know the best thing about friendship? When you got your friends by your side, anything is possible. Whatever you want, a real friend will help you get. And you know what I want?"

"The lake!"

"Yup. Now let's go rob an old man!"

'LOL.'

You snort at her words.

"Ew."

"Yeah, that didn't sound as cool as I wanted it to."

You follow Sprig and Anne, who are now staring at Hop-pop from the doorway.

She stops and thinks for a second. "Any ideas?

In the process of formulating a plan, Sprig almost knocks off a vase in a clumsy ninja reenactment.

"Ooh! What if we use fishing line to lower me from the ceiling? Then I grab the key right out of Hop Pop's pocket. I'll move like a shadow."

You gasp and catch the vase, letting out a sigh of relief when you realize Hop-pop didn't hear you.

"Shadows knock things over sometimes."

'Lol.'

"Do you hear that?"

You stop and listen for a second. A sound similar to snoring was coming from the far side of the room, where Hop-pop was seated.

'There's no damn way.'

Anne quietly walks over to Hop-pop, looking at his currently open eyes.

"No way. This might be the creepiest thing I've ever seen."

You nod.

"Happens all the time. He makes a great scarecrow."

'Wow.'

Anne sticks her hand in his pocket, feeling around until her fingers touch something. She pulls it out of his pocket with a smug face and then sniffs it.

"Know what this smells like?"

Sprig begins to sniff the key, and even licks it.

"A key that's been in an old man's pocket?"

"Freedom!"

"That was my next guess!"

You grin as Anne wraps her arm around your shoulder and leans on you. "This is great. Three pals beatin' the odds to have some fun."

She then pulls Sprig closer to you and takes out her phone to take a photo. "Here. Smile!"

Anne looks at the photo and smirks, seeing Sprig's shocked face. (More like flabbergasted.)

"Whoa. Hey, that turned out great."

"I don't know what's crazier, that you just stole my soul in a tiny box, or that we all look so incredible. I gotta say, this friend business is amazing!"

You raised an eyebrow. "Didn't you have friends before we showed up?"

(Insert chaotic Sprig flashback scenes.)

"Uh...Kids around here don't really get me."

'Tell me about it.'

Anne punches Sprig's shoulder and wraps an arm around your waist. "Well, hey, they are missin' out. Come on."

"So, is punching part of friendship?"

"Absolutely."

"What about that other thing you're doing?"

Sprig points to Anne's arm, the one currently wrapped around your waist.

"..."

(Insert gay panic)

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"We made it."

Sprig jumps up and down with excitement as you marvel at the beauty of the lake."Woah, it's beautiful."

Anne looks over at you after you say this, nodding in agreement. But she wasn't looking at the lake, rather, at you.

Snapping out of her trance, Anne decides to make a cannonball into the water. "You ready, dudes? Yeah! Whoa-ho!"

She stops right before jumping, noticing a weirdly rushed sign.

"Oh. This was not here last week."

Anne frowns and shakes her head. "Huh. Hmm. I know exactly what's going on here. Some jerk just wants this beautiful lake all to themselves. Well, forget that."

"Ah, I don't know, Anne. Whoever wrote this wrote it in a hurry, like they were scared to be here."

"Or maybe they just had bad handwriting. Come on. Don't be a buzzkill."

She dips her toe into the water, "Ooh, that's nice. Hey, what are you doing?" Sprig catches her wrist with his tongue.

"Something's not right here. Let's just go back."

You decide to step in, not wanting to endanger your friends.

"Yeah, Anne. Something isn't right. We should go back, just to be on the safe side."

Anne walks up to you and grabs your wrist, then directs her attention towards Sprig. "Ugh, I thought you were trying to be my friend."

"I am."

"Well, this is what friends do. Remember? They help each other get the things they want."

Sprig gives Anne a confused look, while you stare at the ground, guilty. Anne's hand around your wrist tightens, and you look back up at her with a worried expression.

"Look, if a friend likes a pencil case, you get it for them. If your friend likes your new shoes, you give them to her. And if a friend wants you to steal a crazy music box from a thrift store, even if you don't really want to, you do it, okay? Because if you don't, they might not want to be your friend anymore."

"Fine."

He frowns and walks away, and Anne looks the other way, "Fine."

Before you and Anne are even able to move, Sprig comes running back and cannonballs into the lake.

"Whoo-hoo!"

Anne's mood immediately turns 360, and she laughs. "Ah, yeah! That's what I'm talkin' about!"

She guides you by your wrist and you jump into the water together.

The three of you laugh, having fun being chaotic.

You play different games in the lake, and as Anne is about to take a picture of Sprig, a huge monster rises from out of the water behind him. Your eyes widen in shock.

"I was blinking, wasn't I?"

Anne rushed to grab your hand as Sprig swam beside you both.

She groans in frustration. "Stupid non-webbed human hands."

Sprig jumps onto a large lily pad, and helps Anne onto it, as she grabs your waist to bring you with her.

'Wow, she's really strong.'

You blush at the contact.

"Anne! Other Anne! Ah. That explains the sign."

"Sprig, we're just slowing you down, buddy. Get out of here. This was my fault anyway. I should have listened to you."

Sprig punches her arm in retaliation.

"Friend punch!"

"Ow! Hey."

"Never! I'm not about to let my first real friends get eaten. We're in this together."

"Uh, any ideas? Ah! What are you doing?"

Sprig begins to get into position, confusing you and Anne.

"I have a plan. Stand up!"

You and Anne nod, listening to his plan.

"When I count to three, duck."

You gasp, "What? Are you crazy?"

"Just trust me. All right. One, two... three!"

Sprig jumps up into the mouth of the water snake as you and Anne duck.

Anne yells, taking your waist and steering you behind her. "Sprig! Vengeance!"

She charges at the beast, punching it.

"Take this and this! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa, whoa! Whoa!"

The both of you fall into the water as the monster knocks the lily pad over.

You fall into her arms as you're both thrown into the lake. Anne gasps when the water snake appears above both of you, only to start emitting smoke from its mouth and spitting a screaming Sprig out.

"You're alive. What did you do?"

Sprig pulls out one of Hop-pop's hot peppers from his shorts. "So hot, they'll make you wish you were dead."

You grin and pat him on the head. "You little genius, you."

"And it looks like he couldn't take the heat."

You all laugh until the monster begins to re-emerge and you all run away screaming. However, you didn't get the opportunity to use your legs as Anne was still holding onto you tightly.

When you had gotten to safety, you blushed and tapped her shoulder.

"Thank you for carrying me, but you can put me down now."

Anne's face erupted in red and she immediately let go of you.

"Sorry, (Y/N)!"

Sprig, who had been watching this entire thing go down, only looking at you confused.

"Is that your name, other Anne?"

You laughed and nodded with a sweet smile.

"Sure is, frog boy."

The three of you began to walk back to the house, but not without Sprig asking more questions on the way.

"Hey, Anne?"

Anne looks up at Sprig. "Yeah?"

"You must like doing that friendship thing with (Y/N)."

When Anne realized what he was talking about, her face which had finally cooled down from the previous incident, became tomato red again.

"...I don't know what you're talking about."

"But you just-"

She covered his mouth with her hand before you could hear. Sprig laughed at her embarrassment.

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Hop-pop had finally awoken from his nap. He reached into his pocket, only to find out the key was gone.

"I'm up! I'm awake! The key. It's gone! Oh, no. Did they get out? Is the town rioting? Are they dead? Has Anne and other Anne eaten the kids, THE WHOLE TOWN?"

Hop-pop rushes over to the front door, attempting to open the door in a hurry.

"What's this now? It's still locked."

.

"Come on. Mama needs a new pair of shoes. Seriously though, I do need new shoes."

You're laying across Anne's lap as she plays a board game with Sprig, contently reading a fantasy book you had stuffed in your backpack before school one morning. (Not the gem book.)

"You guys been here all day, huh?"

You look up at the door to see Hop-pop, who was now making his way down the stairs.

"Yeah, dude. I'm on a winning streak."

"I owe her my first-born child."

Anne reached into her pocket and pulled out the key.

"Oh, by the way, Hop Pop. We found this on the floor. You must have dropped it."

He feels his pockets, only to find a very large hole in them.

"Dang shallow pockets. Well, you get what you pay for."

As Hop-pop leaves, Polly jumps out from the doorway, ready to attack.

"Aha!"

"'Sup, Polly?"

"You're not gonna eat us, are you? You're not even gonna try. Dis... appointing."

She sighs dramatically and hops away.

When it's only you three, Anne turns back to you and Sprig.

"Hey, sorry I almost got us killed today."

"Are you kidding? That was the most exciting thing that's ever happened to me! My heart was beating faster than a dragonfly on a sugar rush. In fact, I'm feeling a little... sleepy."

Sprig falls asleep quickly, croaking in his slumber, and you giggle about it. Anne takes a blanket and covers Sprig with it as you put away the board game.

Anne looks at the photo of your friend group and frowns.

"Sasha, Marcy, I hope you guys are okay, because I am."

You walk across the room towards her and wrap your arms around her waist to hug her from behind, chin resting on her shoulder.

"They'll be okay, Anne. I know they will. They're strong after all."

She nods solemnly, yet you didn't notice the faint blush coating her cheeks.

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Meanwhile, in Toad Tower.

"Take a look at this please, Sasha. It was found far from here, in the South Forest. Now we know that you've been lying to us."

The toad holds up a yellow shoe and (an item of your choice) to show to an imprisoned Sasha.

"Now we know that there are more of you."

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"I was tired of being the second choice until I realized I wasn't even an option."

-Unknown

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