Don't Kiss a Frog

         Summer was at its peak.  Scorching heat drenched her forehead as she walked to the nearby pond.  Around her beautiful flowers crowded the garden.  She sat beside the pond and looked into her reflection.  The crown on her head was tipped slightly and her yellow curls clung to her face like a fabric sheet clings to clothes.  She pushed the crown trying to straighten it, but the efforts were lost as the crown splashed into the water.
         The princess reached over to retrieve the crown, when she noticed a frog sitting at the edge of the pond.  She heard the fairytale many times when she was a child.  The princess kisses the frog and he turns into her dream prince.  She watched as the frog seemed to be looking her over.  Did she dare?  The princess picked her crown out of the water and placed it on the ground beside her.  It was covered in slime from the ponds surface.  Carefully she stepped towards the frog for a closer look.  For a moment, her eyes deceived her and she was sure that there was a crown on that frogs head.
         The frog turned its head sideways to glance at her.  She felt as though the frog was trying to communicate with her.  Perhaps, the head was getting to her.  The frog let out a low ribbit.  Now, she was sure the frog was talking to her.
         It had been a long summer.  The princess’ mother had found her twenty princes, none of which met her standards of the ideal prince.  Perhaps this is why she was tempted by this frog.  Could her childhood fantasy come true?  The princess leaned forwards and planted a big juicy kiss right on the frog’s wet slimy head.  She placed the frog back on the ground and waited.
         A moment past and the frog lifted into the air, a cloud of purple and pink sparkles surrounded it.  All of a sudden, a princess stood in her place.  The princess had long red hair that curled.  She had pale delicate skin, and a smile that seemed to light up the world around her.  Her eyes twinkled when she smiled.  She shone one of her smiles at the princess.
         “For ten years I’ve been a frog waiting on the side of a pond for a prince to kiss me, instead I get a princess?”
         This couldn’t be right, the fairytale told of a princess and the frog, not the other way around.  Frankly the princess looked for a way to undo this magic, but to her surprise, the new princess leant over and kissed her on the forehead.
         The last think the princess saw was the red haired girl strolling away towards the castle.  The princess went to follow when she leaped into the air.  Startled the princess looked back towards the pond to find she had become the frog.  The princess called for help, but all she mustered was a “ribbit.” 
         The princess hopped after the red haired girl.  She needed to get to her mother.  Perhaps her mother could undo the spell.  When she got to the castle, her mother placed a kiss on the red haired girls cheek.  Her mother didn’t seem to notice it wasn’t her.  She escorted the girl to the next room where a handsome prince was waiting.  The princess croaked loudly, trying to get the attention. 
         The prince picked the frog up.  The frog’s heart raced.  She knew she was saved.  The prince would kiss her and this whole mess would be sorted out.  But, instead the prince tossed the frog out the doors.  The princess could see the ground rushing towards her small body.  Just then, she woke up.
         The princess looked around the room, glad it was just a dream.  She went to her dressing mirror; just to be sure she was no longer a frog.  Satisfied she placed the crown on her head and went down to meet her mother.  Her mother was waiting with a new prince.  He was tall, with dark greasy hair and pimples across his forehead.  He wasn’t an attractive prince.  In fact, out of all the princes she had met, he was probably the ugliest.  The princess didn’t care.
         “He’s perfect,” she declared.
         That evening the two were wed.  They took a walk in the garden under the moonlit sky.  As she leaned over to kiss him, she caught a glimmer a frog sitting on the edge of the pond.

Word Count: 748