Chapter Text
Sasha was pretty sure she’d throw up if she had to finish this assignment.
Apparently, Sasha had just found her way home from a “spontaneous camping trip gone wrong” that she and her friends took on Anne’s 13th birthday. That was the story anyway, and frankly, it was dumb as hell, but it’s not like anyone would believe the real story, so Sasha just smiled and nodded while the policeman told her everything about what she had gone through. That meant when she returned, she had six months’ worth of make-up work to do if she ever wanted to graduate middle school. Of course, because the universe hates her, that meant the first assignment on that list was that fucking frog dissection she and Anne had regrettably decided to skip the day of Anne’s party.
Six months of radio silence and then the sudden appearance of two dirty, ragged, partially traumatized middle school girls on a random highway in LA apparently did not warrant any kind of permanent exemption from schoolwork.
Sasha absently twirled her pink glitter pen around her finger, trying to avoid the untouched Biology work on her desk. She’d never really been the academic type, but she still managed a B most of the time without trying too hard. Still, as she stared at the empty page, nothing came to mind.
The only consolation from this assignment is that the dead frog kinda looked like Hop Pop, which first made Sasha laugh so hard she thought she broke a blood vessel, but then she realized how hard Anne was probably taking all this–this was an assignment they both missed, after all–and she shut her mouth. It can’t be a good feeling to look at everything you missed and left behind bolted into a piece of wet cardboard, lifeless and small and undeniably dead. Distantly, Sasha was grateful Grime was a toad and not a frog.
Undeniably dead. Sasha pushed the thought to the back of her mind. Her gel pen felt heavy, scribbling words on the biology worksheet that Sasha didn’t care enough to fully read. There’s no way they’d judge her for not being totally academically back yet, right? She’d been missing for six months! And this was middle school anyway. Nothing mattered. To the chagrin of her teammates, she’d been able to push off cheerleading practice for a month, citing the mysterious back injury she’d had when she returned–courtesy of King Andrias slamming her against a wall–but Sasha knew she couldn’t avoid it forever.
There were truths like that which she knew but couldn’t bring herself to say.
People asked and asked, poked and prodded–Jesus, nobody ever stopped asking questions –and Sasha said things sometimes, but just like during the police interrogation, Sasha had this wall between her body and her mind.
Her story didn’t match up (probably because it wasn’t hers to begin with, it was the stupid police chief’s), her injuries couldn’t all be explained (how the hell did she get a type of bacterial infection that was usually only restricted to toads?), and most of all–(in Sasha’s mind at least)–, there was still no concrete explanation for where she could’ve gone. She couldn’t believe the camping story was so easily accepted, as if Anne Boonchuy the family girl who begged to go home to mommy and daddy in time for her stupid party would just skip it all to go fucking camping with a girl who hates bugs and another who–
Sasha had no idea how she’d never realized before that all the adults in LA were really stupid. Actually, pretty much everyone was really stupid. Did nobody ever think about it for more than two minutes?
I mean, she wasn’t expecting everybody to come to the conclusion that she’d been magically transported to frog hell, somehow survived for six months, and again been miraculously teleported back, but Jesus, was it that hard to believe their disappearance wasn’t intentional?? All of them had people to go back to, lives to live, and everyone (even Boonchuy’s parents) just believed it was a couple of dumb teenagers who decided to go on some dumb trip on a whim and got lost in the woods for a while but oh, it’s okay because they’re back now. And something was glaringly, obviously missing, but nobody seemed to point it out, and it made Sasha’s head hurt so much she didn’t know how to deal with it, so she didn’t, she just ignored it like everybody else. And tried to forget.
God, Hop Pop’s face was going to make her vomit.
-
Monday morning rolled around again, and Sasha stared at her painted white ceiling with no real focus, ignoring the alarm that blasted incessantly in her ears. She had a talent for tuning things out these days, and she wasn’t sure what exactly to do with this new power of hers except tune things out.
She unwillingly pulled herself up, her pink comforter scrunching at her waist and her pajamas feeling too comfortable to change out of. She half-wanted to beg her mother to stay home again, but knew with another absence her coach would send an irritating, faux-concerned email about her “worrying absences that could regrettably jeopardize her place on the cheer team,” and that was more exhausting than going to school another day. So she put on her Saint James Middle School uniform with gritted teeth, brushed her hair (ignoring the photo on her nightstand), ate pre-prepared breakfast in a quiet house, and caught the bus.
By the time she arrived at school, she had already exhausted a quarter of her energy (didn’t she run out of energy awfully quickly these days?) by talking to seatmates about things she couldn’t remember by the time she stepped off the bus. Wasn’t she supposed to be an extrovert? Sasha felt a lot of things had changed about her recently, felt this weird writhing mass of something in her core, strange and unfamiliar.
Actually, there was something strange and unfamiliar walking the halls-- a stranger to Saint James Middle School since the disappearance.
-
Anne Boonchuy had never been a very remarkable person. Sasha wasn’t trying to be mean this time–it was just true, and everybody knew it. Anne and Sasha had established their dynamic years ago; Sasha always took charge.
She knew Anne better than anyone. Anne needed someone to lead her, to push her into decisions she was too pensive and forceless to make, and sure, sometimes it ended… unfavorably, but it was never really Sasha’s fault, right? She never got in trouble for any of it– Anne always took the fall, that was just how it was. Sasha was objectively stronger, and Anne needed Sasha to push her just as much as Sasha needed to take control. That was what she always believed.
So why were the past months so…confusing?
The fight Sasha and Anne had on Toad Tower cycled in her mind more than she’d like to admit. The conversation they’d had in the throne room replayed like a broken record, sneaking its way into her head. So did the way Anne looked at her when they fought on top of the city wall, the way she…looked at her like she’d never trust her again.
It twisted something in Sasha’s stomach. Slimy and rotten, squirming and writhing like too many tadpoles in a bucket too small. Sometimes, in the dead of night, she lied awake in her bedroom, like those shivering nights in her cell when she first got to Amphibia except instead of burning plots of world domination, there was just Sasha Waybright and this pit in her stomach that didn’t go away.
Whatever. The point was that Anne was super weird now, she’d been walking around with this crazy weird aura and it pissed Sasha off. And surprisingly, it wasn’t that teal aura that turned her hair blue and made her look like an anime character, which Sasha was still unsure if she had hallucinated.
Anne didn’t talk to her like she knew her anymore.
She probably should’ve noticed it when they were taken to the police station together. Anne sat through the whole car ride in silence with her head turned toward the window, staring out with glassy eyes, while Sasha ranted and raved to the police officer. They’d just been through a (literally) wild six-month-long experience, one where Sasha hadn’t exactly always done the right thing, so Sasha didn’t think much of it. And their friend was—
Sasha wasn’t dumb enough to not realize how much the Plantars meant to Anne, she literally chose them over her, and now there was no certainty she could ever see them again. Duh, she’d be upset.
Since then, Anne was probably busy making up for lost time with her parents, who clearly hadn’t stopped thinking about her since she disappeared, so it was understandable she sent clipped responses to Sasha’s messages. They’d probably go back to normal soon enough. But then there was Biology class.
They went back to school, they still sat next to each other in their assigned seats, still had maybe the facade of friendship. But plainly, there was a gap that wasn’t there before Amphibia, a fucking cliff that Sasha didn’t realize would be so damn uncomfortable. It was like the dinner party, like their reunion at the Third Temple, except this time Sasha didn’t have some conniving plot to follow so it was somehow even more awkward because the blonde had no idea what she was supposed to do because this time Anne wasn’t even pretending to get along with her. Fuck, she might as well just switch seats at this point because one more class with Anne ignoring her would–
An arm wrapped around her shoulder, jolting Sasha from her thoughts.
“You need to watch where you’re walking,” chastised a voice from behind.
Oh.
Sasha didn’t even realize she almost just rammed straight into the closed classroom door.
“Thanks, Hallie,” she said sheepishly.
God, if you're listening, please kill me.
“You’re lucky I was here. You might’ve died.”
Sasha turned to face her.
Hallie had a lopsided grin that exposed her bright pink braces. Her long brown hair was tied back in a ponytail today, like Sasha’s, but a few wispy hairs stuck out to frame her sleepy eyes.
Hallie Davidson was one of those people Sasha wasn’t sure gave a shit about anything. She showed up late, left early. She wore her school uniform a size or two too big, hanging off her loosely like she was wearing pajamas. Her socks were mismatched in color and length; one was pulled up to her knee and the other pooled down near her ankle. Honestly, Sasha had no idea how Hallie was even allowed to stay in their private school for the abomination of her uniform alone, never mind how Sasha had never seen Hallie do anything resembling schoolwork.
Despite this, she was quite a popular girl. Hallie was on Sasha’s cheer team, after all, but she wouldn’t say they were friends. Hallie probably thought they were, like most people who thought they were friends with Sasha, but Sasha didn’t care one way or the other.
Which begs the question…
Why was she here? Sasha raised her eyebrow.
“Hallie, what are you even doing here? Your first class is on the other side of the school.”
Her brown eyes twinkled. “Awww, you remember,” she giggled before pushing out a sigh. “Sasha, I’m so boreeeedd…” she groaned, dragging out the last syllable of the word.
Oh, great. Sasha frowned. “I don’t really know what to do about that.”
“Ouch,” she feigned, her lips pouting, but changed the subject. “You’re coming to cheerleading practice today?”
“No.”
“You know Coach Marly is gonna kick your ass.”
Sasha grimaced. “I know.”
She saw a head of curly brown hair in the distance. Hallie opened her mouth and Sasha knew she was still talking, but suddenly she couldn’t hear a word anymore. Why did her first period have to be Biology? It ruined her day before it even had a chance to begin. She saw the teacher approaching, keys in hand. Fuck my life, here we go.
“...wanted to say I’m here,” Sasha barely caught the tail end of whatever Hallie was telling her.
“Thanks,” she said absently. Part of her hoped Hallie didn’t notice, but another part really couldn’t care less.
Her stomach growled, despite the fact she ate breakfast.
Sasha gave a half-hearted wave. Hallie can find somebody else to bother, because Sasha literally can’t be bothered to deal with her right now, not when Anne was about to walk in.
-
Sasha sat nonchalantly in her assigned seat–- or at least she hoped she looked nonchalant–- trying to ignore her heart beating in her ears. Her knee bobbed up and down under the table. And–
There she was.
Pretty brown curls that looked lonely without the characteristic leaves and twigs that practically became part of her character design in Amphibia. Stainless yellow converse. Clean white socks. Sasha’s heart skipped a few beats. She covered her face with her sleeve uselessly, as though she could just pretend to be invisible, but Anne saw her anyway. It was obvious with the way Anne’s shoulders bristled, her face scrunching up, though she tried to hide it.
Fuck.
The first day of class, Sasha made the mistake of greeting her with an enthusiastic “Hey, girlfriend!” like she would’ve before everything happened, but Anne physically recoiled, her eyes wide. Like ooookayyy I kinda forgot you hated me. God, that was mortifying. She never said anything to her after that. It made her too guilty. Why did Sasha think anything changed after she betrayed her for a second time?? “I’m done trusting you,” is what Anne had tearfully lashed out at her, and Sasha tried to pretend like everything was fine? What an idiot. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
So, Sasha didn’t say anything, hoping if she made herself small enough in her seat Anne would forget she existed at all. She deserved it. Her stomach ached, but she bit and swallowed the feeling.
Anne seemed like she was trying the same thing, her shoulders hunched over in her chair.
This sucks ass. It would’ve been better if we never met at all, Sasha thought glumly. Maybe if she never met me at all.
Thankfully, the teacher seemed to be coming toward them with some kind of purpose and papers in his hand, so Sasha’s torment would be over soon enough, and she could just focus on whatever make-up Biology bullshit he wanted her to do.
“Sasha, Anne, do you guys have your anatomy labs?”
“Right here, teach,” Sasha said, grateful she had ended up writing shit down on that frog thing, even if that frog did look disturbingly like Hop Pop.
Anne looked sheepish for some reason.
“Um, sir. I think I was absent last class. Could I have that paper?”
He nodded. Sasha felt sorry for her, as Mr. Whogivesafuck had ambushed her last week with a stack of make-up papers. Most of which were still sitting untouched in her room.
“Sure,” he said. “And Sasha, if it’s possible, could you have some of those missing assignments in by next week?”
She grinned, her voice dripping with charm. “Absolutely.”
There’s no way I’m doing those, buddy, but hopefully I can get away with this if I just smile.
He raised his eyebrow. “Okay. Anne, we can talk after class about what you missed.” He walked away.
So Sasha locked in on her work, annotating and going at a pretty good pace–
Anne stiffened abruptly. The air suddenly had an edge to it. What was wrong now?
Sasha peeked at her through the corner of her vision, seeing a glimmer of wetness in her eyes–
What?
Anne stood up so fast and so violently Sasha didn’t even have time to blink. Her shoulders were heaving, and Sasha was pretty sure Anne’s hands were shaking. Her chair made a clack sound as it hit the floor, drawing attention from their classmates. What the fuck–
Suddenly, it all hit Sasha like a bat to the head.
There was a dead fucking frog on Anne’s paper that looked like her found-family grandfather oh my god–
Oh god and now Anne was crying. In the middle of Biology. God fucking–-
Anne beelined for the door, her pushed-over chair abandoned on the linoleum. Sasha looked around helplessly, panic rising in her chest.
I’m the only one who knows what’s going on.
Why is everything shit.
She made eye contact with the teacher. His eyes widened, his gaze following Anne to the door.
Then, he met Sasha’s desperate eyes again.
He gave an almost imperceptible nod.
She got up and raced after Anne as the only other girl in the world who understood.
-
Anne didn’t understand anything anymore. Everything was bubbling up and exploding into a million pieces all the time and she couldn’t escape any of it. Frogs, rain, bugs, dirt, anything and everything reminded her of Amphibia, and that just reminded her of everything she lost, everything she left behind. Her eyes were too blurry to see through, but she didn’t care where she was going anyway. She stumbled past corridors, through hallways and classrooms full of kids who had no idea of other worlds or missing friends or missing… well, everything.
She missed a lot of things. She never thought she would, but she missed eating bugs and waking up with soggy socks and getting soaked in mud with Sprig and waking up every morning in that dingy basement and eating breakfast with Polly and Sprig and Hop Pop. She missed it so much that it ached like a physical wound. And she knew it was irrational, but that frog just… looked so much like Hop Pop. As if that was even possible. And as much as it made her sick to see something like that it made everything come up again. And Sasha was there, and that just reminded her of--
She tripped on her shoelaces, smacking her face down on the pavement. Sharp pain hammered in her surroundings. She didn’t remember running out of the school, but now the world was brighter, and she could see the parking lot. Her eyes stung. She was shaking, her shoulders wracking with tremors she couldn’t stop. She wanted to be strong, but sometimes she couldn’t stop herself from falling apart.
She thought about her parents. Seeing her parents again two months prior would’ve made her cry from joy, but when she met them at the police station a month ago after falling through a portal, it just felt… wrong.
She knew she was supposed to be meeting them with someone else by her side, the people (frog people?) she’d really spent the six months with. And someone else that wasn’t a frog person that for some reason nobody ever acknowledged was there to begin with-–
She felt a hand on her shoulder and flinched, whipping around.
Familiar cerulean eyes stared into hers.
A pink scar firmly sliced on her cheekbone, healed and faded but still clearly visible and permanent. A beauty mark under her eye.
“S-Sasha,” Anne stammered out, her voice shaky and hitching with the word.
“Hi,” Sasha replied.
-
“Hi,” Sasha said, dumbly.
Weird that this is the first time they’ve spoken reciprocally since the night at Andrias’ castle. Sasha had thought this moment would be a lot more cathartic than it actually was. Anne finally acknowledged her, great.
But, now what the hell was she supposed to do?
Hey, I know your surrogate frog family was super important to you–-sorry for trying to kill them multiple times by the way–- um sorry you had to see…something that reminded you of it? And sorry I’m still trying to talk to you?
Sasha wanted to die. She swallowed even though her mouth was dry.
Ironically enough, Anne was always better at this than she was, even though Sasha was supposed to be the most socially apt out of the group. Sasha would never admit this, but at the end of the day, she wasn’t really all that socially conscious; she was just good at making people do what she wanted.
She remembered back before Amphibia when Anne was crying over some fucker that said something nasty to her. Sasha didn’t remember his name. They were just about to be late to a movie, so Sasha sat her down on her bed, rubbing circles into her back and whispering gently into her ear. She watched as Anne’s chest rose and fell, rose and fell, until it slowly evened out. She pretended Anne was a puppy, scared and stupid with emotion. It worked.
Sasha’s heart was beating too fast. The memory made her chest feel tight.
Anne was looking at her with these puffy brown eyes, red-tinged but not as wide as they were before. For the first time Sasha noticed just how tired she looked; her eyebags were deeper than Sasha had ever seen them. Despite this, she seemed calmer. Oh fuck, did I zone out again?
Sasha cursed herself. How long was she just standing there thinking of something to do?
The silence was deafening. A cool breeze fluttered by. Anne’s curls danced in the wind. For a moment Anne just sat there, staring up at Sasha.
Then Anne sighed, turning her back to Sasha while she sat on the curb.
Sasha didn’t know what to do. So instead of opening her mouth and saying something dumb, she too just sat down in silence.
She didn’t know how much time had passed. She was just staring at the back of Anne’s head, clenching and unclenching her fingers. Both Sasha and Anne jerked up when a female voice yelled, “Girls! Everything alright?”
“Yes, ma’am!” Anne said, loud and clear.
Sasha noticed how her shoulders rose and fell evenly now, her voice strong without any hitch.
Sasha quickly stood up, frantically dusting off her pink skirt and jean jacket. Anne was already getting up as well, heading back towards the school. She couldn’t help but smile at how Anne had recovered from her breakdown so fast—she really had been improving.
Thinking of something else, Sasha automatically put herself in front of Anne like they used to walk in the old days.
The crisp air turned thick. Oh shit.
Embarrassment burned through Sasha’s face as she slowly fell back behind Anne, her Mary Janes dragging on the concrete.
-
Sasha was still reeling from her mistake when they re-entered the classroom. She made eye contact with the teacher, flashing him a weak smile. He wore a look she was surprised to see appeared like actual concern.
She really hoped the class would end soon because she was super exhausted. She sat down next to Anne, whose shoulders bristled.
Okay, something was still wrong. Was Anne hurt or something from when she fell? Did the frog still—
Oh. Sasha realized it dumbly. She’s still afraid of me. She’s uncomfortable with me.
When the bell rang, she walked as quickly as she could out the door, shoving down the rising dread in her stomach, and forgetting her folder behind her.