Toadette's Story: Book 1

Chapter 43 - Minh T.'s Limit Reached

Screw heading for the hotel. While Minh T. initially tried to direct us there, I went where my feet would carry me. This brought us to a place called Shine Park. From its name alone, you could smell the grass and dated park equipment. But nevertheless, the expansive land made for good running grounds for Penelope. No worries. I could keep my eye on her while discussing these critical matters with Minh T. The gigantic oak ensured the sunrays wouldn’t add to my frustration.

“So,” I set my hands on my lap, “how’d he recognise you?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Do I look like I was born yesterday?”

“Well, you’re about as cute as a baby, Toadette.”

“Playing ignorant won’t help. Why, and more importantly, HOW did my brother recognise you back there?”

Minh T. played with her fingers, more content to stare at her hands than my growingly concerned face. But I wasn’t gonna loosen up on her. Any leeway would let her slip out of answering the question.

“We’re going to that apartment Thursday, right? You can tell me now, or I’ll find out then. Your choice.”

“…”

“Jeez, no one chooses the delayed option in this situation!” I grabbed her wrist. “Why are you acting so stubborn when this was all your idea anyway?”

She blinked rapidly. “Thursday’s not that far away. Why are you so mad?”

“I swear, if you don’t start speaking sense, I will absolutely spread word about your secret around Toad Town.”

Finally, a gasp. Minh T.’s face softened, so perhaps she was finally learning to cooperate. Getting the girl to cough up secrets was like a dice roll. Sometimes you could trick her into revealing something, and other times she was like a bank safe. Her lips finally opened.

“That’d hurt.” And she tucked her head into her knees. “That’d hurt a lot, Toadette.”

“Try me.”

After seconds of silence, I sighed. “Continue being unhelpful.”

“You’re not the only one under pressure!” Her spastic shriek made me jump, and seeing the red ooze from her cap where her nails dug made things tenser. “What’ll ever make you stop thinking this world revolves around you!?”

“It’s my family situation, you dumb bitch!” Now my panting ramped up. “The least you could do is be honest and stop making things worse!”

The only sounds coming from Minh T. were crying mixed with hyperventilation. It was quiet enough to not attract anyone else’s attention, but boy, did it bring down my mood. Hmph. What’ll ever make you stop thinking this world revolves around you!? Apparently, wanting an understanding of what’s happened for years counts as the world revolving around myself. Stupid.

Some light came to the park in the form of Penelope. Surprisingly, she got along well with the other kids. It was like watching a recess period in school, only without all the name-calling and fistfights. The girl crossed the rusting monkey bars faster than others, spent an eternity spinning those tic-tac-toe objects, and gave every slide a taste of her butt.

“Hey, unless you got a P Balloon, don’t do that!” That was the only time I yelled at her, right after she jumped off the tallest slide. Yeah, Peach would beat the white off me if her daughter returned with a broken leg.

But Penelope gave me a thumbs-up. Unlike Minh T., she knew better than to add to my list of problems.

“Ready to head back?” I grabbed her once an hour passed. “The Sun should’ve sapped all your energy quicker. Your endurance is something else.”

“Sorry. Can’t remember the last time I played with kids my own age,” the girl chuckled. Her laughter drew a giggle out of me, as rather than simply tired, she sounded like she was high as a kite.

“It’s okay.” And returning to the realm of sadness, I turned to Minh T. “We’re leaving.”

She finally exited her Koopa state. However, getting her to say a word proved unfruitful. Did I really expect a response? …Kind of. Her silence brought down the whole walk to the hotel. Whenever I’d look at Penelope to listen to her excitedly describe her playtime, Minh T.’s miffed mug tailed right behind.

And it pissed me off.

Penelope couldn’t ignore it, especially with me squeezing her hand so tightly that my veins appeared. “What’s wrong with Miss Minh T.?”

“Too daft to tell me a secret she’s kept for years,” I said loudly enough so there wasn’t a chance in Hell that she’d miss it.

“Secret?”

“It’s about me and my family. Nothing you need to know.”

Penelope got closer. “Oh, you said something about that when we were in the desert’s inn. I almost forgot. You don’t ever really talk about them, Miss Toadette.”

“Had no reason to until recently, thanks to your mother inviting me to Mushroom City.” I pointed to Minh T. “She’s been telling me to see them again.”

“Okay… But can’t you just ignore her? You don’t have to—”

“Penelope, if you wanna talk, do it with her.” I released her hand. “I’m not mad at you. I really need some solo time, though.”

The yellow-haired child stared for a couple of seconds. “Yes, ma’am.”

Thank you. You know, this city was getting easier to navigate. Or perhaps it was just that I could see the obnoxiously tall hotel alongside the other skyscrapers. It stood several blocks away, reflecting sunlight like a giant mirror, but good nevertheless that my familiarity with Mushroom City had increased. If only I hadn’t left long ago, I’d know it better than Minh T.

But as a trade-off, I would’ve never met her in the first place. And not meeting her would’ve meant I’d never be homeless in Toad Town as an adult, winding up as a slave for Princess Peach. Hmm… All this because some random new girl walked past my front door.

☆ Age 7 - Second Grade ☆

“She’ll be in our class for the rest of the year. She moved here from MC two years ago and is confident she’s adjusted to Toad Town’s climate. Anything you wish to add, Minh T.?”

Hey, Ms Cookie, I’d probably care a bit more about the new girl if I wasn’t so sleep-deprived from your vocab list. Thirty words in a week were more than enough for a second-grader. Did we really need to know how to spell “cooperate” correctly? If someone read “ko operate”, they’d know what I meant. Just speak if writing is such a problem.

“Pick where you want to sit,” our loving teacher told this new girl. Already, her smile crept me out. She wouldn’t stop. And it was so wide…

I crossed my fingers that she wouldn’t plop next to me. Please, no. Dang it, stop getting closer!

…Phew. She squeezed between other students in the middle. So, my island of peace in the back continued undisturbed. Yep, every desk around me was empty. All nine of them. Three grade levels of this made me used to having no one around me. I liked it this way, okay? There was comfort in not having the entire world chatting me up.

DING! DING!

As the day ended, hours later, I got ready to head home. First, papers… Just force them in the bag, Toadette. Those folders were so useless. Now, zip up the—

“BOO!”

“KYAA!”

Five dull pencils rolled out my backpack, accompanied by students’ laughter. While grabbing my utensils frantically, I glanced at the girl who snuck up on me. Ugh, it was that new one.

Why wouldn’t she stop smiling like a killer clown in a movie? Seriously, seeing her face this close made me scared to blink.

“Hi-ya. You’re the only one I didn’t meet.” She held out her hand. “I’m Minh T. Ya know, like minty-flavoured ice cream.”

In a rush, I slapped her hand and dashed out the classroom. Great. Not only did she get a look at my disorganised, stained backpack, but my response made me look like a weirdo to the whole class. Well, even more of a weirdo. Guess nothing was really new, huh?

Ouch. Ouch. Okay, this would be the last day I’d wear these paper-thin sneakers. The soles gave no protection to my feet whatsoever, making every step an exercise in pain. But somehow, like every other day, I made it home by 2:40.

The smell of cheap incense and baby powder still lingered from this morning. For a second, I confused the dust raining on me from the doorframe to be excess baby powder.

“I’m home,” I announced, kicking off my shoes at the door.

“How was your day?” Mommy was still in the baby’s room.

“Fine.”

How bored she must’ve been to receive that answer every single day from her only talking child. It was my safe answer to not discuss anything that happened at school. But really, how else would I describe it? Wow, a new girl appeared, and we went over the same stupid vocab and math. Not to mention, I spent all of P.E. jogging in loops like always.

My mom was too occupied with Dane T. to give one darn about anything I was going through. As evidenced by the endless giggles and rattle shakings coming from that room.

“Hmph.” Mean as it was to despise an infant, our new family member was doing too good a job making me feel pointless. Why was I even here when Mom would rather play with DT all day?

His baby room was all fresh and pretty. Meanwhile, my room had the same scratchy mattress and stinky carpet. Eventually, my body adjusted to the sick climate, but I’d never be in total harmony with this horrible paint job. The walls should’ve been white, yet the paint yellowed over time in random spots. Just…HOW!? Once I dropped my bookbag, I sat in the pile of dirty clothes, whipping out my reading book. More studying for a test.

Though I sure wished the kids outside would shut up. Could their playing get any louder? Their laughs distracted my attempt to memorise the correct spelling of “perspiring”.

My feet sure were gonna perspire tomorrow. With or without footwear, the temperature during September in Toad Town could make a desert feel like Shiver City. Okay, maybe that was infrequent. But the point is that my feet would boil since the Sun was very angry.

That following day, I plucked another shirt from the pile, grabbed yesterday’s skirt and panties, and went into the bathroom. I squirted the toothpaste on my finger and began to brush up and down. Finally, my ten fingers brushed my crimson-red hair as best as they could. In a minute, it looked tidy like any other girl’s. What do you think of my skill level? I know, I’m talented.

Down the stairs I went. I opened the cabinets in the kitchen, met with the same cans of beans and little more. I swear, I always opened them even when knowing that nothing new was there.

“Leaving, Mommy,” I called, walking to the front door lighter than yesterday.

“Hold up.”

Oh-no. When she said that, it meant it was inspection time. There she was!

The tall woman ran to the kitchen in her pyjamas, with the same mess of red hair covering her brown eyes. No matter how much it should’ve blocked her vision, somehow, she saw through every inch of me. EVERY inch.

“Come on, now. You can’t keep re-wearing the same things, TT. Especially panties. That is sick.”

“…”

“Do you like getting teased? Did you even shower last night?” She sniffed my hair. “TT. You’ll just go to school late, okay? Upstairs.”

“I only have three shirts,” I managed to say. “We haven’t been to the laundromat in a week.”

She groaned. “Yes, I did. So you mean you didn’t put all your clothes in the hamp— Why do you keep that pile in your room? Just stop being lazy, and I could’ve had them washed!”

“Or you could buy me some more clothes.”

“Don’t get smart. I could have you go to school without clothes if I wanted. Be grateful I’m not one of THOSE parents.”

There it was! Always with the threats. I could never escape those. Arguing with my mom was always pointless. Because just like every adult, she’d never admit that kids made good points. So, I did what any intelligent girl my age would. Rolled my eyes, scoffed super loudly, and left my house.

“TT!”

“Bye-bye!”

“Get in here! Where are your shoes!?”

“Get me a pair that’ll last me more than a month!”

So what if I stunk? It was the norm since our soap never lasted long. And walking to school barefoot sucked, especially since the dirt was getting stuck between my toes. Yet it beat the heck out of walking with worn-out sneakers. My feet were delighted to have some relief. The school already knew of our desperate financial situation, so they gave me some leeway in breaking uniform; typically, everyone was to wear closed-toed shoes. I’d likely attract a couple eyes, but people already gazed since I sat in the middle of empty desks.

“I don’t think she bathes,” one student whispered to Minh T. Clearly not quietly since I could still pick it up.

“Why?”

“You smell anyone else in here? Look at how dirty she is. She has naturally stinky feet.”

“Aw, that’s not nice.”

The other student snickered. “Dare you to lick ’em for ten coins.”

CLAP!

“No talking during a test.”

Oh, so finally our teacher decided to jump in, two minutes of insults later. We filled the air with scribbles, hurrying to finish this vocab test. It contained 30 questions, but 15 were multiple-choice, giving me an edge. Why hadn’t someone made it illegal to create non-multiple-choice questions? Maybe if I sent a letter to Her Highness, she could make that dream come true.

Hmm… The right way to spell “friend” is “frend”, right?

DONE! As long as I got a C or higher, my mom wouldn’t care one bit. Now came the moment I was waiting for: P.E.

Unlike most the girls, I enjoyed this time. It let me be free rather than stuck in a small classroom all day. And the best part was that we second graders got P.E. right before lunch, so we didn’t need to worry about Toads puking on the field. Mostly. Occasionally, I’d get a little too speedy for my own good.

“Push-ups, GO! There you go, there you go!”

One, two, three… The longer I exercised, the more the lack of protection on my feet began to hurt. Because we did all these exercises on a rocky court used for both basketball and running, the Sun cooked my feet like they were delicious ribs.

“Toadette,” a female classmate asked, “where are your shoes?”

“…”

“Yeah, put your toes away.” A boy plugged his nose. “They’re nasty!”

“Are your feet not burning?”

“I never knew your feet were so big, Toadette.”

“Be careful with those nails, Toadette. You’ll poke someone’s eye out.”

And it went on and on and on and on and on and on. I couldn’t do jumping jacks in peace, play a brief game of dodgeball in peace, or just breathe in peace. Someone somewhere was determined to mock me. Man, I go barefoot for one day, and this is what happens?

“Wash your feet, hobo!”

BOP!

The coach blew his whistle. “She’s in! No hits to the face!”

Served the student right. Although, when he walked to the out section, he would continue to hurl insults at me.

No matter how much they mocked me, I wasn’t allowed to fight back. After all, I’d get detention or even worse for simply returning fire. Luckily, P.E. offered me a way to expel the rage from my body. A nice run always did the job, and once we were allowed to pick our own activity, I returned to my home.

“Hello, track,” I whispered, tapping the ground with the ball of my foot. “I’m thinking eight laps so we can get two miles in, how about you?”

“Hi-ya again, Toadette.”

…Why? What did this girl want this time? Reluctantly, I brought my head up to see her disturbingly cheerful face.

“You can talk, right?”

I nodded, folding my arms. Everyone here thought my vocal cords were snipped out, including the teachers.

“Phew. Thought they were mocking someone disabled back there.” She took a step closer. “So, don’t feel bad about your feet, okay? They’re normal.”

“Hmm?”

“Lemme see ’em up close for a sec.”

Before I had a chance to retaliate, she spun behind me and lifted my leg. Don’t freak out, Toadette. You don’t want another reason for your class to laugh at you. But why was she dusting off my foot in the middle of a track? After the sixth time she rubbed her hand across my sole, I got the point. My feet were dirtier than if they’d been walking around in a barn. Duh. Even a dude from space could see that. Could we—

“Hehehehe…”

SMACK!

Pant… Pant… She should’ve known what to expect if she wiggled her finger between my toes. Maybe that kick to the face got the gears turning in her brain again.

When she rose, a faint footprint was on her face. But that smile remained as if it was firmly stamped into her.

“Yeah, they’re not like boy feet. You don’t got ugly nails or anything, so you get a passing grade on the foot test, Toadette. Congrats!”

She took my neutral expression as a pass to keep talking.

“But I think you need a massage. You have way too much stress in your feet.”

I cocked my head.

“My mom works in that reflex…ology field. She practises on me and my dad all the time.” And right then, she gasped and let her irises extend past her sclera. “I’ll ask her to give you a massage.”

Nope! Stranger danger! I shook my head, but in response, the pink-spotted Toad nodded. Her grin never looked as creepy as it had now.

“It’s not scary, I promise. I’ll show you how it feels right now if you want.”

More head shaking and walking back.

“Don’t be shy.”

My grunts got louder. I shook my head so much that it was about to snap off.

“My magical hands are here to save the day.”

“NO!” I jumped back, panting and grasping my cap. Could she not get the hint that I didn’t want a weirdo touching my feet!? Only one girl was allowed to touch these toes, and her name was Toadette.

“You talked!” The new girl pointed at me, trembling as if she’d seen a Boo. “You just said a word!”

Grr… Now if I went back to giving the silent treatment, she’d keep probing me further. This idiot needed directness in a way most my other classmates didn’t.

“Do not touch my feet.”

Finally, her smile disappeared. “Aw, I just wanted to help. You sure?”

“Yes!” Without taking a single stretch, I left her in the dust. I didn’t care what city she came from. That extra fat could only slow her down.

…WHOA! H-How did she catch up with me!? She was skipping, not even running with the proper form. …Of course. Those clean, cushioned sneakers on her feet gave her luck. Eventually, after two minutes of hearing her brag about her much better life and so-called healthier feet, I snapped.

“What will it take for you to leave me alone?”

“Promise you’ll swing by my place.”

“My mom’s not cool with me going to strangers’ homes.”

“But I’m not a stranger,” she panted. “I’ll go to your house, okay?”

“She doesn’t want that either.”

“Now I know you’re just messing with me.” For now, she chuckled. In seconds, her little body gave out. These two laps knocked all the wind out of her, so she drifted towards the water fountains. Now I could think clearly for the rest of P.E. For example, I had time to guess which punishment I’d receive when I walked through that door later.

Iron burning on my thigh? A chance. Getting my ass beat the old-fashioned way? Very possible.

If only things had ended there. When we wrapped up our finally period—it was science, and we were still learning about how a Yoshi could hover against all odds—the talkative devil snuck up behind me. But this time, she wasn’t subtle about it. And I also had an ace up my sleeve, as my backpack was already stuffed before she could utter a peep.

I dashed out the door and made a beeline for home. From the school, it was 20 minutes away at walking speed.

While my heart raced, and the jolt of energy gave me confidence that I could make it, reality had a cruel way of knocking down my expectations. Just within a minute and a half, that pain happened. You know the one. You’re running nicely, feeling the hot breeze against your skin, and suddenly that stabbing sensation happens around your stomach. Right side, left side, it doesn’t matter.

These side stitches put an end to my sprint. But I smiled looking back. Minh T. wasn’t anywhere in sight to bother me. Now—

“WHAT THE HECK!?”

Breathing like a stalker, she wiped sweat off her forehead. “You make a Toad work hard to keep up with you. How do you do it when you’re barefoot?”

“Ways and means.”

I shuffled past her, but she held onto my arm to weigh me down. Well, there was clearly no way of getting her off my back. She could dip her toes in Hell first-hand if she wanted to come home with me. Thinking about it, she’d be a perfect asset to the underworld’s boss. This would motivate anyone to be a good person before their games are over. Imagine dying and being forced to listen to some maniac blab on without even so much as a pause.

“I can tell you’re from Mushroom City. People don’t know how to shut up there.”

“You are 100% right.” Her proudness angered me. “My mom always said my vocab list was longer than Santa’s nice list. That city’ll get your brain big one way or another. You know, I also can’t deny your feet would be way worse off walking there since the streets are—”

“If you’re so focused on my mucky feet, why don’t you go ahead and lick them?” I stopped on the sidewalk and put my hands on my hips. “Right now, kiss ’em.”

Minh T. put her hands over her mouth, yet I saw her cheeks puff out.

“That’s so disgusting,” she said. “I’m not licking your dirty feet, Toadette.”

After waving my foot for a few seconds, I continued onward. “You seem to want to. Every other second, it’s some comment amount my feet or how I’m barefoot. As if I don’t know.”

“Only some creepy old man would wanna lick a girl’s feet.” She grabbed my bookbag, adding gruffness to her high-pitched voice. “Come back ‘ere, lil’ missy. I ain’t had a good meal since 70-something years ago, and I’m tryin’ to suck on them there feets of yours.”

For the first time in a long while, a classmate managed to make me laugh legitimately. Not from receiving karma, either.

“You keep looking at mine, and you’ll end up being that creepy old guy.”

“I’m just trying to make you feel better. Everyone else just wants to make you sad.”

I checked out my unpainted toenails. “If someone ever got their tongue on my feet, I’d probably kill ’em.”

Minh T.’s eyes shrunk. “Wow. Straight to the point. You wouldn’t let them say they’re sorry?”

“Anybody who licks feet isn’t gonna be sorry, alright?” I turned around the block to get us to my house. “That’s just so obvious.”

When we got to my overgrown lawn, sweat dripped down my forehead. Not only would Mommy be steaming from this morning’s incident, but for me to bring someone uninvited here would mean certain punishment. Yet Minh T. wasn’t going anywhere, and this wouldn’t be the first time I’d have a date with Sir Extension Cable or Mr Hanger.

“A lot of grass, but I can’t see the flowers,” Minh T. remarked as we crossed the porch.

“They’re there. Somewhere.”

Creak!

“I’m home,” I mandatorily yelled. Then, swiftly, I grabbed Minh T. “No shoes in the house. Get them off.”

The girl stripped to her ankle socks, but it was too late. In ten flat seconds, the scent of incense was replaced by the recognisable scent of my mother. Her shadow covered both of us, and I gulped upon seeing the wavy cable.

“Who’s this?” she asked.

“I’m Minh T., ma’am.” The girl kicked her shoes to the front door. “Toadette’s new best friend.”

…That was never said.

“Sorry, but you gotta go home, honey. If Toadette can’t even clean her pigsty room, I don’t think she needs another girl in there.” She pushed me onto the staircase, causing me to fall over. “Go clean your room. We’ll talk later.”

“But she’s already here.”

“I don’t care.”

“But—”

“Are you deaf!? Go upstairs!”

“Fine!” I yelled at the top of my lungs, punching the wall. My fist stung from the impact, and the dated plasterboard received a new pain mark.

“TT, I swear, if you don’t get rid of that attitude—”

“You’ll what!?”

Mommy wanted to slice me so badly, I could feel the anger vibrating in the staircase. Finally, her grip on the cable tightened, and then…

SMACK!

Instantly, I grabbed my burning cheek, failing to notice the tear going down my face. One scream later, Sir Extension Cable delivered five more blows all over my body. Face, body, legs, wherever it hurt most. For such a cheap-looking invention, it always gave me heaps more pain than the hanger. Like always, the aching took its sweet time to set in, but once my leg was hit, this was no longer crying. I was sobbing. Ow!! Why wouldn’t she just stop!?

“Why do I even put up with you!?” She tossed the cable onto me, then stomped down the remaining stairs. Soon, baby crying came from the other side of the house. “I hope your brother grows up with some common sense.”

“Miss, please stop!”

“Look, she’s been a pain in the ass for the last few weeks. This wasn’t random. Go home, okay?”

While tears continued to spill, Minh T. stood over me. “I can help her clean her room. She gets made fun of a lot in school. That’s why she’s acting weird.”

“Honey, you don’t know her like I do. She pulls this garbage every other week.”

“Please?” Her despicable generosity showed no signs of disappearing as she wiped my face on her clean shirt. “She can’t fix up her room if she’s sad all day.”

My mom slapped her own forehead. Just as I had failed to get through Minh T. earlier, she found herself equally stumped. The girl’s determination to help someone else was second to none.

“Good luck not killing yourself trying to make her listen to a single word,” she sighed before attending to the baby’s whines.

“You okay?” Minh T. embraced me in a suffocatingly tight hug. When was the last time my mom hugged, kissed or expressed love physically in any way? I burst into more tears trying to recall that moment.

My classmate kept telling me everything would be fine, even after visiting my monstrous room.

“You’re not the only girl whose room is dirty. I have grown-up cousins, and there’s always candy and stuff on the floors. Banana peels, Princess Peach dolls, those cigarette thingies—”

“And do they get hit?” I dabbed my eyes.

“I’ve never been hit.” She looked down. “Sorry, I don’t know what to say.”

I threw my bookbag on the ground. “It’s not your fault. You didn’t have to tell her you’d clean my room, though. Really.”

“But I want to,” she said with a touching smile. “The more you tell me not to help, the more I’m gonna.”

A major task lay ahead of us. In addition to the dirty clothes, there were cups of mouldy orange juice from weeks ago. My mattress had no cover since the sheet had long been at the bottom of the filthy laundry. As if this wasn’t awful enough, there was enough dust to stuff a Cobrat. And the less said about my closet floor, the better. Yet Minh T. looked at all of this and rolled up her incredibly short sleeves. Somehow, through my sniffling, I managed to burp out a little chuckle.

The big lump in my throat made swallowing a challenge. After this gulp, I asked her one thing. “When we’re done, could you just teach me a bit of that reflex thing?”

“No problem. And I won’t even touch your feet to explain it.”

I hugged her again. “Thanks.”

…

And here I was in the present, giving myself a foot massage in our room while Minh T. stayed somewhere else within the hotel. As the thought of our first encounter flowed back into my mind, some of her techniques reintroduced themselves, such as stretching the toes back and pinching the big one to relieve head pain. Sometimes, I thought reflexology was nonsense. It honestly sounded like a scam the older I got. But it at least felt like it was doing something, and it cost nothing.

I’d already reported to Her Highness, and she told us to stand guard tomorrow. In other words, we’d likely have another mission. But that’d have to coincide with my eventual reintroduction to my mother and brother.

“Dumb Minh T.,” I muttered, rubbing extra lotion into my toes. “What stress were you ever under? You lived a perfect life. You had a dad, your parents loved you, you were never hit, you were happy in whatever city you lived in, you had friends, you had everything.”

In fact, she wasn’t even wholly loyal. She’d gone behind my back and was clearly interacting with my family for some time after I vanished from Mushroom City. Just…why? Why would she do something that stupid? Did she tell them I was back in Toad Town? That was the one thing I made her promise not to do. She cast promises on me like they were unlimited, but I rarely put heavy weight on her shoulders. And yet she betrayed me in this instance.

How else would she have recognised DT? A little boy doesn’t grow into a teenager and look the same. Furthermore, he certainly didn’t know her language when I knew him. That’d be something he’d pick up exclusively in Mushroom City.

Where was the Minh T. who would happily help me in my time of need!?

In a flurry, I kicked the lotion across the room. “They should think I’m far away, not in a town near Mushroom City! I could’ve been taken from Toad Town at any point!”

“Yet you weren’t.”

I yelped, turning to see Minh T. close the door. She folded her arms, and her regular voice was replaced with her slower one—the voice when things weren’t allowed to have a bit of levity. Raw seriousness.

“I did visit your mom and Dane T. sometime after your escape. But don’t you think you would’ve been back in Mushroom City during high school if I gave up the game?”

Before I could respond, she put her hand up.

“I love you, Toadette. More than you care to know. But you’re one of the worst sisters I’ve ever met.”

I could feel my heart in my stomach. “I love him.”

“Do you? I don’t remember you being in the boy’s life for the past six or whatever years.” Her lip quivered, and she closed the distance between us. “Don’t tell me you were just afraid of going home. Because after senior year, you had time to make amends. You were an adult. Your mom couldn’t force you to live under her roof, and Dane T. wouldn’t need to spend the rest of his life alone, thinking his big sis died. Also thinking he had a hand in her want to escape. Jeez, Toadette, just ’cause you forget about other people and the consequences of your actions doesn’t mean they poof away.”

“Died?”

She groaned. “Yet I’m the stupid one. Of course, he thinks you’re dead. Same goes for your mom, probably the rest of your extended family. I’m very curious to know what you thought they believed.”

No, that couldn’t be true. They believed I was in another place, living my own life. They had to. I mentioned so in the note I left them. Minh T.’s words were just words, nothing more than that. She had no proof that they thought I was rotting away.

“Liar!” I yelled. “You’re just mad about something and want me to feel like garbage. Just because it comes out your mouth doesn’t mean it’s true! He knows I’m alive—”

“What do I have to be mad about, Toadette?”

“You tell me.”

She tapped her foot slowly. “And how could anyone here possibly think you’re alive?”

“Oh my gosh, don’t ask me how. I don’t wanna think about that.”

“Because you told yourself they’re perfectly fine, that’s how. You wanted that perfect fantasy where you ran away from home, and everything went well like some fairy tale.”

“No, I didn’t.”

“And I know you know I’ve loved you since I knew you, so you know I’m not angry at you for anything small. I’m mad that you wanna pretend reality’s completely different.”

I shook my head. “I don’t.”

Minh T. sighed. “Just ’cause it comes out your mouth doesn’t mean it’s true.”