Among Trolls

Chapter 4

"Ok, so here are the letters," Poppy informed, holding out a piece of paper she had written all the letters on. "C, L, K, R, O, A, C, B, L, K."

     Everyone looked at the paper closely, trying to unscramble the letters, so they could find out how to get to the party.

     "I give up..." Barb said after only a few second, crossing her arms as she backed away from the group. "I have no idea what this says..."
"I'm dislexic," Mandy admitted, backing away from the group with Barb.
"Yeah... I give up too, y'all," Holly stated.

Soon, everyone had backed away, leaving Poppy alone with the paper.

"Come on, guys," she whined, somewhat disappointed in all of her friends. "We can't just give up! We need to figure this out so we can go to the party."
"I could figure it out," a familiar voice suddenly said from behind her.

Everyone turned towards the sound, seeing Branch standing there with his arms crossed.

"You can?" Biggie asked, doubtful about the blue troll's statement.

"Of course," Branch shrugged, stepping forwards to take the paper from Poppy, beginning to unscramble the letters. "I used to do word scramblers all the time during my bunker years. You just need to take each letter and..." He paused, suddenly realizing what he was doing. "And... I'm doing it again!" he yelled out, pulling his ears angrily. "I need to stop talking!"

     "No, Branch," Poppy said with a smile, seeing how much process he had made on the puzzle. "Keep going. You're on to something!"

     He looked over at her, letting go of his ears as she gave him the puppy dog eyes.

     "Pwease..." she begged cutely, her eyes sparkling with pleading tears.

     "No..." he denied firmly, crumpling up the paper and throwing it to the ground. "I choose life..."

     Without another word, he turned stomping off.

     "Come on, Branch!" Poppy yelled after him, beginning to get angry. "We need you!"
"Nope..." he denied, not even looking back as he continued off towards his bunker.

     Poppy glared at him angrily, an idea suddenly popping into her head as she smiled.

     "Ok, than," she called out to her boyfriend with a mischievous smirk. "I'll just figure it out on my own." She bent down, picking up the paper as she un-crumpled it to look at. "And when I do..." she continued. "I'll go to the party without you being there to protect me..."

     Branch stopped dead in his tracks, his eyes wide at the sound of his girlfriend's words.

     "Psh..." he finally scoffed, turning  back to her as he crossed his arms again. "Doesn't matter. You'll never figure it out."
"But won't I..." she said with a smirk. "You know as well as anyone that once I put my mind to something... there's no changing it..."

     He gulped, his eyes wide again in realization.

     "You... you're bluffing," he said, not taking even a single step towards her.

     Poppy shrugged, turning away from him.

     "Come on, guys," she said to the group. "Let's go figure this out... without Branch..."

     They all began walking away, Branch watching after them in fear.

     What if she did figure out that puzzle? What if she went to that party and ended up never coming home because he wasn't there to protect her!? It would be all his fault...

     His heart raced, as several horrible thoughts swam through his mind. He remembered their trip to Bergen town... if he hadn't been there... she would have died... what if something happened at this party? He'd never be able to live with himself... he had to protect her...

     "Poppy, wait!" he yelled out, quickly running off after her.

     She smirked at the sound of his voice, turning back to face him.

     "Yes, Branch?" she asked smugly.

     Once he reached her, he stopped, reaching out to take the paper from her.

     "Ugh... I guess..." he groaned. "I'm coming with you..."

     He started to walk away, grumbling angrily to himself as he worked on solving the puzzle.

     Poppy smirked, watching him go as she crossed her arms smugly.

     "Manipulate Branch into helping..." she chuckled. "Check..."