Chapter Text
Sasha was laying sideways, head against the cushion, feet on the arm rest of the Boonchuys couch. She kicked her shoes off on the floor next to the couch.
Marcy was sitting, legs crossed, in the armchair next to the couch.
Then, Anne was seated on the floor on the opposite end of the couch from Sasha. Domino was curled up next to her, and Anne gently stroked her fur.
The girls were rather quiet. It was the first time they had a chance to hang out since returning from Amphibia. No one really knew what to say, or that’s what it seemed like.
“Did you hear them at school trying to figure out how I got the scar on my face?” Sasha asked. “Yeah! The theories are kinda crazy.” Anne exclaimed. “I know right!” Sasha replied. Marcy laughed.
“It’s honestly been so hard not to just turn around and say something. Like, everyone knows we’re right there and hearing everything they’re saying.” Sasha continued.
“Literally! The amount of people who have walked up to me and asked me to use my cool anime powers is insane.” Anne replied. “What do you tell them?” Marcy asked.
“Depends on my mood. Some times I just say I can’t talk right now, or pretend I didn’t hear and walk away quickly. Then it’s kind of fun to make them feel crazy and answer with what anime powers?” Anne laughed.
“That’s genius! If people ask me about my scars I just tell them to mind their own business.” Sasha responded with a smile.
“What about you Marce?” Anne asked. “Oh, uh, I do a pretty good job of blending in, but usually I’ll awkwardly stand there until someone notices or the bell rings, that or attempt to change the subject.” Marcy replied.
“Do you think it’ll always be like this?” She asked. “Nah, I think the second something else relatively interesting happens in LA people will start obsessing over that and forget about us.” Sasha answered.
“No, I mean us.” Marcy clarified. “Oh, um…” Sasha trailed off. “No. Things are gonna change, it’s inevitable at this point. But we’ll face it together. After everything, there’s no way Im loosing you two again. You’re stuck with me. Forever.” Anne replied.
“That was extremely sappy,” Sasha laughed. “I already lost one best friend, I’m not gonna loose the other two!” Anne exclaimed in her defense.
“Don’t worry Boonchuy, we’re not going anywhere.” Sasha answered, slipping off the couch and onto the floor next to Anne. She gave Anne a tight hug from the side. She slightly shook Anne, held tight within her embrace.
Marcy frowned to herself, but quickly covered it up.
“Ok, so first actual weekend back, what are we gonna do?” Anne asked, having finally been released from Sasha’s hug.
“Um, anything and everything!” Marcy exclaimed. Sasha laughed. “I don’t think we can fit anything and everything into one weekend, Mars.” She smiled.
Sasha looked to Anne, sitting beside her on the ground against the couch. “Anne, what do you think we should do?” Sasha asked.
“I don’t know, anything and everything sounds pretty good to me.” Anne answered with a smile. Marcy’s smile immediately grew.
“Ok, and what exactly does anything and everything include?” Sasha questioned.
“Whatever we did before. Like, old times.” Marcy responded.
“You know what we used to do all the time? The mall.” Sasha smiled.
“YES!” Marcy exclaimed, full of excitement.
“We should sleep over at my house after!” Anne replied. “I’ll go ask my parents!” She added. “K, sounds good.” Sasha answered. Anne ran off further into the house, leaving Sasha and Marcy sitting in the living room.
“Ok, spill it Marce, what’s going on?” Sasha asked, the second she knew Anne was far enough to not hear the conversation. “What?” Marcy asked, acting as if she had no idea what Sasha was talking about.
“Come on Mar-mar, I saw that little frown or whatever.” Sasha continued. “Oh, um,” Marcy began, but trailed off. Sasha would have continued to ask about it if Anne hadn’t run back in. Marcy sighed in relief, feeling lucky to have gotten out of the conversation.
“My parents said we could have a sleepover tonight!” She exclaimed excitedly slipping back to her spot on the floor next to Sasha. “Yay!” Marcy replied. There was an immediate shift in Marcys emotions from seconds ago. “Perfect, then the sleepover is on” Sasha responded, standing up and pulling her phone out of her pocket.
Anne hopped up to her feet, pulling Marcy up from the chair. “Ready to go to the mall?” Anne asked.
*Insert Amphibia Theme Song*
The three girls stood on the second floor of the mall looking across. The three of them were silent for a moment. The only noise was the loud chatter of everyone at the mall.
“It is so much like I remembered.” Marcy mumbled. “Yeah.” Sasha answered.
“Come on!” Anne grabbed Marcy by the hand and pulled her forward. Marcy grabbed Sasha’s hand, dragging her along with them onto the escalator.
They’d reached the lower level, and Anne continued forward. Sasha was just going along with it, happy to let Anne and Marcy pull her around all day.
They quickly reached their favorite clothing store. It wasn’t hard to find, the location was drilled into their brains by now.
“Whats the plan? Split up and meet back up at the fitting rooms like old times?” Sasha asked. “No, lets shop together.” Anne whined playfully. Marcy laughed. “I want to do whatever you guys want to do.” Sasha answered. “Yes!” Marcy exclaimed. “Wow Sash,” Anne added.
Sasha visibly blushed. “K, come on!” Marcy smiled.
The three of them spent the next hour at least shopping, trying on clothes, trying to just have fun and ignore everything else.
“Ok, Anne’s getting the blue dress top with the leaves. Marcy’s getting the black sweater with the embroidered design edges…” Sasha began.
“And the matching sun dresses!” Marcy interrupted excitedly. “Yeah, we have to get the dresses! They’re in each of our colors!” Anne added.
“Of course we’re getting the dresses.” Sasha answered, grabbing the three dresses from the rack in the fitting room. “Here, let me take your stuff and go check out, meet me up front.” Sasha continued.
“No, Sash. I couldn’t let you do that.” Anne responded. “It’s no problem Anne. I want to pay” Sasha laughed.
“Ok, I guess if your sure. But, lunch is on me.” Anne answered.
“Sounds good.” Sasha smiled. “I’m gonna put some stuff back real quick. But, I’ll meet you up front.” Anne replied. “I’m gonna tag along with Sasha, help carry stuff.” Marcy said, linking arms with Sasha.
Sasha and Marcy set off to the checkout. That left Anne by herself. She carefully hung the clothes hangers up on the rack outside the fitting room.
She turned to walk through a few isles for the quick lest route to meet up with Marcy and Sasha.
“Hey you’re that girl from the news!” A voice came loudly from behind her. Anne slowly turned around. There were two girls standing a few feet away from her. They were clearly older than Anne, but still in school, maybe sixteen or seventeen.
“Umm,” Anne didn’t really know what to say or what to do. It was one thing at school, because she knew those people, but this was a random stranger. “I knew it!” The other girl began. One of them turned to tell their friends, calling more attention to Anne.
Anne wasn’t listening, she turned and quickly began to walk away. She felt like she was being followed.
She turned to look back behind her, checking to make sure no one was actually following her. It appeared for now she had escaped the attention that followed her.
Before she had time to look forward she crashed into something, or someone. “Anne?” She backed up to see that luckily she’d only ran into Sasha. “Sorry Sasha,” Anne replied, glancing behind her one more time. “What’s going on? Is everything ok?” Marcy asked, clearly noticing that something was bothering Anne.
“Uh, yeah. Lets just get out of here.” Anne answered. She almost sounded dazed. It was as though Anne’s mind was in a different place.
“Ok,” Sasha responded, clearly sounding suspicious of Anne. “Come on, let’s go get lunch.” Marcy said, grabbing Anne’s hand.
“Yeah.” Anne forced a rather convincing smile. “K, let’s go.” Sasha replied. She tossed the shopping bag to her other hand and grabbed Marcy’s hand. Marcy smiled at Sasha, then turned toward Anne.
As the three walked away, Sasha glanced back, still wondering what Anne was so riled up about.
***
Anne quickly seemed to snap back once they gotten to the food court and bought lunch. The three of them were seated at a four seater table in the far left corner.
Marcy was sitting next to Anne, and across from Sasha. The bag of their new clothes was placed on the chair next to Sasha.
Marcy took the paper that had been under her fries and crumpled it up. She smoothly tossed it into the trash can sitting a few feet from the table. “Yes! Made it!” Marcy exclaimed. Both Anne and Sasha laughed.
There was a second of silence between the three of them. “I wanna get my ears wanna get my ears pierced.” Anne stated, completely shifting the conversation. It seemed rather out of the blue.
“What?” Sasha asked sounding slightly confused as she took a final sip of her strawberry milkshake. “I want to get my ears pierced” Anne repeated, still sounding light airy and happy.
“I heard, but how come? You never really seemed interested before.” Sasha questioned.
“I don’t know. I guess after everything, it just doesn’t seem so scary anymore. Besides, new me right? Anyway, I texted my parents earlier and they’re fine with it, so.” Anne answered. “I think it’s a nice idea, if that what you want.” Marcy replied. Sasha smiled “ok then,” Sasha laughed.
***
Anne pushed her hair back behind ears. As always, it didn’t want to cooperate. She lightly brushed her fingers over her newly pierced ears, feeling the small round silver flower shaped earrings.
“What do you think?” Anne asked. “I think you look beautiful as always AnnaBanana.” Marcy smiled. Anne somehow smiled even bigger. Sasha laughed.
The three of them were back at the Boonchuys house. They were sitting in Anne’s bedroom.
Sasha was seated on the bed, leaning against the backboard. Marcy was leaning against the wall on the end of the bed and Anne was seated between Sasha and Marcy, also leaning against the wall.
The shopping bags had appeared to multiply from earlier. They were all piled on the floor at the foot of the bed.
The three of them were messing around with new accessories they’d bought from the ear piercing place. It was one of those stores that almost always had crazy sales in everything, but really it was just a ploy to get customers to spend more money. They sold cute stuff though, lots of jewelry, hair stuff, purses, makeup, and small décor.
Sasha had purchased a headband that reminded her of the red heron head-piece she had worn in Amphibia.
Marcy had purchased a number of things, having somehow gotten sucked into the Buy 3 Get 3 free sale.
She had purchased a new keychain, which she intended to clip to her messenger bag. Marcy also had purchased a new phone case, it was a shiny metallic green and reminded her of her calamity gem. It was funny, she was proud of it but at the same time didn’t want to think to hard about it. Then, she’d also purchased a new lip gloss, it smelled nice and tasted sweet to. It was kind of soothing actually, just to feel it on her lips.
Marcy was trying her best to conceal her other purchases from Anne and Sasha.
Anne had bought a few different hair accessories, mostly cute hairpins to hold the hair over her ears back.
There was a common trend in the jewelry and the hair accessories she had purchased, they were almost all nature themed.
The sun was shining through the window, not quite ready to set. It Was just a bit passed 7:00pm.
“Ok, Movie time!” Anne sprung up. “What already?” Marcy asked, as usually at their sleepovers they didn’t start a movie until late at night, that or they watched a movie of Sasha’s choice first then Marcy turned on War of the Warlocks because they weren’t doing anything else.
“Yeah, we’re gonna need to start this movie earlier, just to make sure no one falls asleep before it’s over.” Sasha replied.
“Ok, what are we watching?” Marcy asked.
Anne and Sasha exchanged glances. Marcy looked back and fourth between the two of them, with a confused smile. “We were thinking, maybe, War of The Warlocks.” Anne smiled.
Marcy practically burst with excitement. “Wait really?!” She exclaimed loudly, springing up. “Of course really. It wouldn’t be an official sleepover without it.” Sasha answered, smiling.
“And you can have the remote to pause it talk about the movie as much as you want.” Anne added. “Also, Anne and I promise to stay awake the whole movie, and actually watch.” Sasha finished, placing her phone down on Annes desk so it wasn’t a distraction. Marcy quickly pulled both Anne and Sasha into a tight hug.
“I love you guys! Thank You!” Marcy exclaimed. “Love you two Marbles!” Anne laughed.
***
Anne’s room was dark, but some light shined in through the window. The alarm clock read 12:59a.m. She had been asleep, but only for a little over an hour. Now she was awake again.
She hadn’t been sleeping much the past week and a half.
Marcy glanced over at Anne, who was sound asleep on the floor to her left. Then, Sasha was on her right, tightly squeezing the pillow that was half under her head. For some reason, Sasha was also clinging to a pen. Marcy noticed something at Sasha’s feet, that hadn’t been there when she’d fallen asleep.
Marcy quietly and cautiously snatched it up. It was a black composition notebook with three words written in red ink across the front, Book of Losers.
Marcy noticed a fold in a page toward the end, which she didn’t remember putting there the last time. Marcy flipped opened to that page. She smiled as she read over the page.
Sasha had written it. She must have done it within the hour her and Anne were asleep. That explained the pen in her hand.
It was the page after the one that had Sprig, Polly, Anne, and her own name.
There was a note written across the next page over, reading…
I was never as brave as you thought. you give me strength and you’re the reason I never give up, the reason I’m persistent. ❤️, Sasha.
Pt. 2
“I can’t believe this!” Anne began. She was leaning against the counter of the Thai Go, her homework spread out across it. Her mom was standing on the other side of the counter, her dad was working in the kitchen. Ned wasn’t working today, as delivery orders were rare as of the Thai Go’s reopening.
“We’ve been open for three days now, and we’ve hardly had a single customer!” Anne finished. “I know Anne, it’ll sort out. People are probably still recovering from the invasion. Business will pick up again.” Mrs. Boonchuy answered.
“Anne, why don’t you gather your homework while we close up.” Her mom continued. “K, on it!” Anne exclaimed, springing up and snatching her backpack.
Mrs. Boonchuy quietly walked into the kitchen.
As Anne was gathering her worksheets, writing supplies, and any other article of homework she heard her parents talking in the kitchen. They were whispering in Thai. She knew that was probably a sign that they didn’t want her to hear the conversation, but it wasn’t exactly avoidable. Anne froze, listening to their conversation.
“จะทำอะไรกับร้านอาหารดีล่ะ? ถ้าธุรกิจไม่ดีขึ้นเราอาจต้องปิดตัวลง
” Mrs. Boonchuy whispered. “ฉันรู้ที่รัก. เราจะต้องคิดออก เรามีพอที่จะเก็บไว้อีกสองสามเดือน มีเวลาเหลือเฟือ”Mr. Boonchuy replied, also at a whisper.
“สำหรับตอนนี้เราจะต้องดูเกี่ยวกับการโฆษณา แต่ที่มีความเสี่ยงเพราะ สัตว์ครึ่งบกครึ่ง สถานการณ์. เราไม่ต้องการที่จะดึงความสนใจเชิงลบใด ๆ ให้กับแอนน์ สิ่งนี้ยากพอสำหรับเธอแล้ว” Mrs. Boonchuy continued, whispering. “เธอไม่รู้ว่ามีความเป็นไปได้ที่ร้านอาหารจะปิด เธอมีพอที่จะกังวลเกี่ยวกับ” Mr. Boonchuy finished.
It was quiet for a moment. Anne took a deep breath in and continued to push the last few things into her backpack, zipping it shut. Her parents entered the main room. “Ready to go Anne?” Her dad asked.
Anne took a deep breath in, disguising the frown on her face and pushing down her worry. “Yeah,” She replied, forcing a cheerful tone, continuing to pretend what she had just heard never happened.
***
“Are you sure you wanna do this Anne?” Sasha asked, glancing at the phone in her hand. “Yeah… I have to.” Anne answered. She didn’t however sound so sure of that. “If your sure AnnaBanana.” Marcy replied.
The three of them were standing in the living room of Mrs. Waybright’s apartment. Sasha was staying with her mom again this week, as she had been living with her dad last week. Her mom wasn’t home from work yet, since it was still early afternoon.
Anne brushed her fingers through her hair, took a deep breath in, and stood up as strait as possible “Ok, I’m ready.” She said. She was standing in front of the glass sliding door to the balcony. Marcy sprang up from the couch and stood next to Sasha, across from Anne. Marcy leaned her head on Sashas shoulder.
Sasha slowly lowered her finger down onto the record button on her phones camera. “Ok, recording in 3, 2, 1” she stated, giving a thumbs up to Anne as soon as the recording had begun.
Anne took one more breath and began speaking. “สวัสดีคะ, I’m Anne Boonchuy. I just wanted to take a moment to talk about my family’s restaurant, the Thai Go. We reopened this week, and haven’t had many customers. The Thai Go means so much to my family. My parents came here from Thailand and opened the restaurant. I’ve grown up there and it’s a big part of our culture and our lives. My parents have worked so hard, this year we had finally made it into the Christma-Palooza parade and everything. The point is, I cant imagine loosing the Thai Go. So, if anyone has extra time or is looking for good food stop by the Thai Go. I promise you wont regret it.” Anne smiled when she finished talking.
Sasha stopped the recording. “Anne! That was great!” Marcy exclaimed, giving her another tight hug. Sasha handed Anne’s phone back to her. “Thanks guys.” She responded, sitting down on the couch.
Anne opened her social media account and and cautiously posted the video, with the caption “Please and thanks for watching, liking, and sharing”
Marcy pulled out her phone, opening her social media, and liked the video. She then shared it to her story. Marcy didn’t have many followers, just some kids from school before Amphibia, but any and all support helped.
Sasha reposted the video to her own account with the caption “Share it up!”
Then, following that she posted a selfie of herself, Anne, and Marcy in front of the Thai Go, prior to Amphibia, with the message “Please share and help! I can’t even begin to explain how much this means to so many people, including myself! #SaveTheThaiGo”
Sasha had more followers, a lot actually. It was a prop of formerly being the toxic yet popular girl who everyone knew. The hope was that that would work to their advantage and their message would spread like wildfire.
“Now we wait.” Anne said, letting out a sigh of both relief and worry. It was quiet between the girls for a minute. All three of them were sitting on the couch now.
“You really think there’s a chance your parents loose the restaurant?” Sasha asked.
“I don’t know for sure, but, I heard them talking about it. They don’t think I know.” Anne answered.
“Don’t worry AnnaBanana, it’ll be fine. It’s always worked out before.”
***
Anne was sitting on the couch scrolling on her phone when the front door opened. It was evening now, about 5:30ish.
She heard the front door open and sprang up. Her parents had just gotten home. “Hi, how’d it go at the restaurant? I was kinda worried when you texted me not to come after school.” Anne said, smiling.
“The restaurant was pretty crowded today.” Mrs. Boonchuy answered. “Some people showed up asking about you. You want to explain what this had to do with you?” Mr. Boonchuy asked.
“Oh, um, I made a video of me talking about the Thai Go yesterday and posted it online. Sasha and Marcy shared it on their accounts too, and it kind of spread from their. People probably saw it and recognized me or my name or something. But that was the point, they’d come to the restaurant.” Anne replied, the smile on her face refusing to fade.
“Anne, why did you do that? You knew it would bring more attention to you.” Her Dad asked.
“Because this is kind of my fault.” Her voice started out in the same happy tone as before, but it faded into an emotional mess.
“If I would’ve just not taken the easy way out for once and stood up to Sasha for once then we never would have gone to Amphibia. Even in Amphibia, if I would’ve just woken up and stopped being so naïve and seen Andrias for who he was then the invasion never would have happened. If I would’ve just been ok with saying goodbye to the Plantars and bringing Sasha and Marcy home, and leaving Amphibia to deal with Andrias after Christmas this wouldn’t have happened.” Anne took a sharp breath in, tears in her eyes beginning to roll down her cheeks.
“But I just couldn’t let go, and I couldn’t see how stupid I was, and All my dumb mistakes shouldn’t be effecting everyone else but they are! Because of my mistake Marcy and Sasha got hurt and they still are and it’s my fault. And now my stupid mistakes were gonna cost you guys the restaurant and I couldn’t let it ruin anyone else’s lives, because that’s all I can seem to do.” Anne sniffed.
“Anne, you haven’t ruined anyones life. Sasha and Marcy are ok, and they would tell you if something was wrong. None of this is your fault. Everyone is just happy to have you all back and safe. Does that sound like anyones life is ruined?” Mrs. Boonchuy answered.
Anne wiped the tears from her eye “What about the Plantars? I got their home destroyed and then left with no way to come back?” She continued. “Anne, think about it. Does it sound like the Plantars to resent you for everything you did? You four are like family.” Mr. Boonchuy replied. “No.” Anne answered, smiling through the tears.
“I think they would laugh and Hop Pop would tell me that’s what family does, mess up each others lives but make them better at the same time. And then Sprig would say that I was his best friend and I’d smile and say you to dude. Then Polly would act like we were ignoring her and we’d all laugh.” Anne smiled, slightly laughing, the tears from her eyes slowing.
She tightly embraced her parents.
Anne liked the idea of talking to the Plantars. She hoped they knew she was always thinking about them. They were in her heart, forever and always. She wished they knew that.