10. Breakout Star

Chapter 10: Breakout Star

It was bound to happen eventually. All this dirt and stress and slime and stress and stress… so much stress… sooner or later, puberty's second-worst joke was going to strike. The worst is… well.. you know. The monthly guest. My dear aunt. You know the one. But only a little less bad is is that scourge of teens everywhere… acne.

And let me tell you, I was not looking forward to it. I'm enough of an outcast around Wartwood as is, imagine if they knew I could spontaneously grow big gross skin pustules?

Well, I don't have to anymore, because it's happening. And judging by the Plantars' reaction – they were ready to lock me in quarantine before I explained that this was just a human thing – I should probably just stay away from people until this goes away. Unfortunately, dear old Mother Nature decided to wait until the weekly Market Day to inflict this on me, so I'm being dragged to the market to sell scream beans. Beans that scream. What even is this world. This is gonna suck.

Well, the weirdest thing happened.

I was in the market, failing to sell anything (no one wants to buy from me on a good day, let alone when I'm even grosser than normal), when a couple of kids knock me over and the hat and scarf I've wrapped myself In fall off revealing my acne for all the world to see.

Which, it turns out, is the best thing that could have happened!

You see, I failed to take into account that I live in a town of frogs, and frogs consider warts a sign of beauty… heck, the name of the town is Wartwood, so how I didn't see this coming is inexcusable…. And here I am, my face covered in them, and they're bright red to boot! Just like that, I'm the town darling. Yay me! Everybody's been fawning over me, and giving me tons of gifts. Which is great for me, and by extension the Plantars, but mostly me!

And if that wasn't enough, Mayor Toadstool's taken an interest in me, which I'm sure is in no way a cynical ploy to exploit my sudden popularity to shore up his own crumbling reputation. Things are looking up for this teen girl in a frog world…

The mayor's been keeping me really busy ever since I signed It's just one event after another… public appearances, rallies, openings, dedications… I even had to go to a dedication for a statue of myself! It's kinda surreal…

Well, fame may be more exhausting than I anticipated, but you can't argue with the perks. Mayor Toadstool put me up in my own suite at the Moist Arms. I've got a queen-sized bed with 300 thread-count Newtopian cotton sheets, a private bath, a hot tub, all the butter I can rub on my face…at last, I'm living the life of luxury I've always dreamed of…

So why does it feel so hollow?

Well, it might have something to do with what I overheard earlier.

I had invited the Plantars over for the afternoon and was showing off my new place to them, but with my busy schedule, I really didn't have all that much time for them, so, I kinda shuffled them out the door after only a minute or two.

For a luxury suite, the walls are surprisingly thin, so I was able to hear Sprig in the next room, going on about how much I'd changed, and Hop-Pop assuring him that he should be happy for me, because I'm still the same… deep deep down.

Have I really changed all that much? I keep going back over the brief conversation I had with them, and… I guess I did come off as conceited, self-absorbed… I was like those rich girls back at school. The ones we all hated, but secretly wanted to be.

I… guess I'm one of them now…

No, this is different! After so many setbacks, fate has finally handed me a red, greasy brass ring, and I'd be a fool not to ride this gravy train (oooh, gravy would probably really help feed my hungry face-babies) for as long as it lasts.

I'll find a way to make it up to the Plantars somehow. After all, an in with the Mayor's gotta be good for something. Better to be in a position to hep them than not, right?

I'm ruined. My life, as I know it, is over.

Somehow, despite all the butter and gravy I've been rubbing al over my face, my acne has completely cleared up overnight. This is horrible! Without my zits, I'm nothing. A nobody. They'll run me out of town. Curse this glowing, flawless complexion!

What am I going to do? I can't go back to how things used to be. Being the town freak People running whenever I approach. Tadpoles bursting into tears at the sight of me. I can't go back. I won't. There must be something – The Plantars! They'll help me! HP did say that when a friend makes it big, you support them, no matter what! Well… "no matter what" just happened, so they have to help me!

I managed to get the Mayor's weird little assistant to get the Plantars here. I figured Hop-Pop might know a way to get my zits back… or at least fake them convincingly enough to get by.

Sprig figured that swampberries look enough like pimples to pass, but the problem was actually getting past my legion of F'Annes (my fans have their own name, how cool is that? I'm like the Lady Gaga of Frogworld) so that I could get my hands on a swampberry bush.

They tried sneaking me past in a fake plague towel cart (at least I hope it was fake), but the crowd figured out it was me pretty quickly. That's when HP sacrificed himself (non-fatally! He's fine!) to distract my F'Annedom long enough for the rest of us to get away.

Well, I got the swampberries. And they're perfect. A little smelly, but what isn't here? All that matters is they'll fool people into thinking I still have zits.

And to think, the Plantars did this for me, even after I've been blowing them off all this time. I have to make sure they get the credit they deserve.

Well, the gravy train's over. For real this time.

I had just gotten back for the day's public appearance. And I let slip to Mayor Toadstool how much the Pantars had done for me.

And his response? That they would just drag me down and hold me back.

And I'm thinking, where were you when I was just the town oddity? Trying to run me out of it, that's where. You only started caring about me when you could exploit my beautiful zits.

Come to think of it, none of the rest of my so-called F'Annes cared about me before either. I've been here the whole time, but until I broke out they never gave me the time of day. Was any of this even worth it?

Well, enough. The Plantars accepted me back when I was a smooth-skinned weirdo… if the rest of the town can't, well, I didn't need them. T

Though, I thought as I brushed the swampberries off my face after a heartfelt speech to the crowd, maybe, after getting used to me, they'll accept me… lack of warts and all!

…nope. I'm the town freak again.

But at least I've learned who really cares about me. Who'll stand by me in my hour of need.

Who'll take advantage of the fact that I still have the key to the hotel suite and raid the honor bar with me before the staff remembers to kick us out…

Schweenieboy: Yay you!

Team Gophers: If Domino's the alpha and omega, then Bessie's at least some of those other letters.

Jose: She'll get there.

Next: Sprig vs. Hop Pop