Frog Meets Girl

Chapter 23--Sweaty Hands and Other Awkward Moments

            “Ahem,” said the tutor. He was wearing an even deeper frown as he peered over at her..

            “Yes, um,” Gabby said, “I think that Isabella is right. Apollo had no right to take from Daphne what was only hers to give. Daphne had to run away because she wouldn’t be able to win if she stayed to fight.”

            Under their noses, Will let out a sigh. “Sounds like the story of my life,” he muttered. No one heard him. He spent the rest of the morning pondering the truth that if the god Apollo couldn’t get the girl, there was no chance at all for him.

            Yesterday while he researched with Gabby, they’d found the story of Sleeping Beauty. It hadn’t been a magic handshake that had woken her, it had been the very thing that Lance obsessed over more than girls: kissing (which could be considered just a subset of girls, as it was something he did with girls, but based on the allocation of Lance’s brainpower toward it, kissing deserved its own listing).

            Around age thirteen, Lance had discovered the sport of kissing and it had quickly leapt to the top of his list of favorite activities, surpassed only by eating and hunting. Witnessing the fuzzy-brained aftermath, Will had decided to give it a shot as well. Lance made it sound completely awesome and easy to boot.

            After his first lame experience, Lance gave him some pointers and sent him off to try again with someone else. The awesomeness eluded him through at least three more girls before Will decided to give it up before he made any more female enemies. Clearly there was something else he was missing.

            Listening to Gabby read the story of Sleeping Beauty aloud in her soft, lilting accent, he finally understood why he never enjoyed kissing those girls and why kissing Gabby would leave him breathless with or without a transformation at the end.

            He’d tried to respond to her suggestion about adding ‘kissing’ to their list, but for a long time he couldn’t decide what to say about it. One kiss had changed everything for this Aurora lady and it could change everything for him, but he wasn’t sure he wanted it to. As soon as he was human again, he would have no reason to stay. Besides that, what was his humanity worth when he would still have to walk away knowing Gabriella was married someone else?

            Yet, he could still get a kiss if he wanted one, and he wanted it.

            Indecision left his brain and heart warring, spinning around in fierce circles until he no longer remembered the pros and cons, only that it would be a serious thing for him to kiss Princess Gabriella Persephone Almondine Jane.

            Thus, Gabby had finally given up trying to get an answer from him and had read a book about history until dinner.

            After Greek, they all headed toward the ballroom for more dancing lessons. Gabby didn’t really need them anymore. Since tapping into her reservoir of confidence, she had evolved into a stunning dancer, even outshining Isabella’s gentle grace on the dance floor. As for Acantha, well, there was absolutely no comparison any more.

            Rounding a corner too quickly, Isabella nearly careened into Seniore Machiavelli.

            “Oh! Sorry!” she said.

            He bowed deeply. “Oh, no my lady. It is I who should be sorry.”

            “You were lurking again,” said Will. “You deserved it.”

            Niccolo’s lips twitched as he looked down at Will. “You mood does not seem to have improved over the last few weeks.” He looked up at Princess Gabby. “Your frog has been out of sorts. I do hope he gets over it soon before his tongue lashings begin to leave physical marks.”