Miss Croaklyn Toad's Arc

Chapter 2 of 3

The morning after registration, Croaklyn discovered the flyers. They covered the lamp posts near the gazebo—bright pink paper with bold black letters. SEVENTEEN LOSSES. ZERO WINS. Some even included a list of every pageant she'd entered. Priscilla Peacock's signature curled across the bottom. Croaklyn marched to the announcement pillar in the town square, where more flyers hung from the vine-wrapped stone. A wooden scoreboard stood beside it, painted numbers stacked high—seventeen brightly colored digits for seventeen failures. Beyond that sat a canvas tent sheltering a printing press, stacks of fresh flyers waiting beside it. Priscilla's campaign headquarters. Croaklyn ripped down three flyers and stuffed them in her pocket. Evidence. She would take these to the pageant officials and expose this sabotage. The officials' office occupied a small building behind the gazebo. Croaklyn pushed through the door and slapped the flyers on the desk. The coordinator looked up from her paperwork. Croaklyn explained the situation—the cruel scoreboard, the lies about her record, the obvious conspiracy. The coordinator studied the flyers. Nothing on here violates competition rules, she said. The loss count is accurate. Contestants can run their own campaigns however they choose. Croaklyn walked back past the printing press tent, past the scoreboard, past the pillar covered in pink paper. Priscilla had turned the truth into a weapon. The seventeen losses weren't lies—they were facts displayed where everyone could see them. For the first time, Croaklyn couldn't blame faulty mirrors or bribed judges. The evidence stood in public, undeniable. She would need more than a special mirror to win this pageant. She would need to prove those seventeen numbers wrong.