Creek watched as his mother paced back and forth as he ate his breakfast knowing that the longer Branch stayed away, the more he was going to be punished when he did show up. "When I get my hands on that brat he is going to wish he was never born….."she said coldly before looking back towards her son "Are you sure that she hasn't seen him?"

"I've already asked Poppy many times if she has seen him, but she keeps telling me that she hasn't seen or heard from him," he replied, "and Poppy is the most honest troll I know."

Hazel nodded and sighed at the same time "I was just so sure he would have reached out to her."

"Don't worry Mum, we'll find him." Creek said giving his mother a reassuring smile as he stood up and walked over to give her a hug.

"I know we will," Hazel replied trying to hide the anger she felt towards her absent nephew "it's only a matter of time."

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

As Creek walked towards school his mind was racing trying to figure out the best way to help his mother, he knew that Branch needed to be found but how? Then it came to him, if he could somehow convince Archer and his gang to help him finding his good for nothing cousin then his mother could go back to being her old self and make the little worm pay for causing his family so much trouble.

When the school pod came into view Creek quickly scanned the area for any signs of Archer or any one of the bully's close friends. The purple troll let out a heavy sigh at first he did not see any of the bullies then just as he was about to give up to go find his own friends he spotted Buck sneaking in the bushes. Creek inhaled deeply before hurrying off behind the taller troll. It was now or never….

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Poppy sat in a slight daze with a tiny smile on her lips as she ran her fingers on a flower hair clip just about her right ear, sure she had many hair accessories but this one was special. Branch had made just for her and had given it to her as a surprise, it was small and yellow just like the flower he had picked for her a while back. As she continued to touch the small clip her smile grew, she remembered how he acted when he presented it to her.

-FLASHBACK-

"Um Poppy," he said sounding a bit nervous one afternoon when she came to visit him.

"Is everything alright Branch?" she asked giving him a worried look when she noticed that his eyes were avoiding hers.

He nodded slowly as he took a few steps towards her "I made something for you," he replied in a almost whisper as he held out his right hand with a horribly wrapped object.

"Aww!" she exclaimed giving him the biggest smile and causing his cheeks to light up with a pinkish glow. Poppy took the small gift and opened it, inside was the small handmade yellow flower hair clip. "You made this?" she asked as she carefully took the tiny object and how much detail he had put into it. He nodded again; she could have sworn that his cheeks were even a darker shade of color than they were just a few seconds before. "I love it!"

"You d…do?" he asked getting his own tiny smile.

"Yes of course!" she replied happily before carefully placing the flower in her hair then turning back to her friend wrapping her arms around him giving him a hug. Just as Branch placed his own arms around her, she quickly turned and kissed his cheek. "Thank you," she whispered in his ear.

"Your welcome," he replied shyly and slowly bringing his hand up to touch his cheek.

-END of FLASHBACK-

A soft sigh escaped her lips thinking about him, Branch was nothing like what the others said about him and she wished that they would see him the way that she saw him. Almost two months had gone by since he had come to her asking for help and in that time she swore he wasn't as dull colored as he once was. She worried about him though because for reasons unknown he would still have bad nosebleeds and that scared her, she knew the doctor would be able to help him but asking for help would risk his aunt finding him and taking him away.

"Hey Pops!" her friends greeted as they joined her at the lunch table.

"Hey guys," she replied focusing all her attention on them and not the flower.

"Sorry I'm late," came Creek's voice as he hurried across the way and sat down beside Poppy.

Everyone greeted him minus Poppy who just gave him a nod of the head which did not go unnoticed by the purple troll. "Are you feeling alright?" he asked placing his palm against her forehead.

"I'm fine," she replied feeling slightly uncomfortable from his touch. She wondered how a troll so nice make up such terrible things about someone else, it was because of those things Creek had said that everyone treated Branch so horrible and it broke her heart.

"You sure?" he asked in a concerned tone.

Poppy moved away from him slightly "I said I'm fine," she said trying to reassure him and her friends who were now all giving her a concerned look.

"So, any luck finding your cousin yet?" Biggie asked deciding it was best to change the subject.

Creek shook his head "No, not yet," he sighed "but mum is still hopeful that he'll come home."

"Well let's hope that that ugly freak never shows his ugly face here again," Archer said loud enough as he and his gang walked past Poppy and her friend's table "because if he does, he'll be sorry."

"You're nothing more than a bully who enjoys hurting someone who is smaller than you!" Poppy snapped as she quickly got to her feet "My only question is why are you like that?"

Archer turned back to her with a smirk "You're right, I do enjoy it." he said folding his arms across his chest "Besides why do you even care about that loser anyway, after what he did to you at your party awhile back I would think you would careless about what happens to him."

Poppy glared up at the bully as her friends remained quiet behind her "I don't think Branch is the problem but you and every other troll who treats like he's poison."

"Whatever," Archer replied with an eyeroll before turning and walking away.

"Poppy why are you sticking up for my cousin?" Creek asked narrowing his eyes "I told you before he was not a good troll."

"Just stop it!" she scolded "I don't think Branch is as bad as you say he is."

"And how would you know?" Creek defended "You don't know him like I do, he likes to lie and make up stories."

Poppy knew it was best to drop it because Creek would figure out that she knew where Branch was and he might follow her, which she certainly did not want to happen. She knew Branch was counting on her to keep his secret and she was not about to blow it, this meant that she would have to avoid sneaking off to her club house for the next few days because she did not need Creek or anyone else following her to where Branch was. She did not want to see him get her because of her.

"I think I'll head to class early," she said grabbling her stuff and walking towards the exit "I'm sure Ms. Petal could use the extra help setting up the arts and crafts."

Poppy's other friends soon followed leaving Creek all alone at the table deep in thought, was his mom, right? Was Poppy hiding something about Branch? The purple troll looked over at Archer who was sitting at his own table now with crooked smile on his face and he gave him a nod to which Archer slowly nodded back.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

A few days had passed since Branch had last scene Poppy and he was beginning to wonder if it had anything to do with the flower he made her, maybe she was avoiding him because of it? She seemed to like it when he gave it to her, he remembered the way her face lit up when she saw and how it made his heartbeat faster. He let out a heavy sigh before a tiny smile appeared then she stepped in only this time something was different about her.

"Poppy?" he questioned when he saw her just standing by the doorway with her head down "Are you okay?"

"Branch I…" she half whispered as she slowly slid down the wall until she was sitting on the floor.

He was by her side in seconds and when he got there he saw what was wrong with her, she large mark forming on her cheek almost like some had hit her. Branch could his anger starting to build up inside him "Who did this to you?" he asked as he gently placed his hand on the side of her face. Poppy leaned her face into his hand as a couple of tears fell "Archer got upset the other day at school when I defended you, so he did this to me today," she explained.

"This is all my fault," Branch whispered as he took a seat next to Poppy on the floor and lowered his head.

"What? No," she said turning to face him "none of this is your fault."

Branch opened his mouth to reply but was cut short when the door was quickly shoved open and stood Archer and his gang. Before either troll had time to react, they were being yanked to their feet. "How did you…..?" Poppy started to say but Archer cut her off "Followed you a distance, I knew you would be to distracted after getting hit to notice that we were not too far behind you." Archer then turned all his attention to his intended target "Did you think you could hide forever?" he asked getting a wide grin "because now you're going to be in so much pain from all the months you missed."

Everything happened in a flash, one second Branch and Poppy were standing close to each other and the next Buck had Branch on the ground while Archer watched. He could hear Poppy begging them to stop but it only seemed to make Buck hit harder then she somehow managed to get away from the troll holding her, she rushed to try and stop Buck but he shoved her away hard knocking her out. Buck then raised his fist high above Branch only to have the gray troll stop him from hitting him again. Branch used all his strength to shove the bigger troll off him he had to make sure Poppy was okay, this only angered the bullies and soon they all joined in on the unfair fight. Buck was ruthless and he showed no mercy as he beat the smaller troll. "Remember when I did this?" he asked as some troll covered Branch's mouth and Buck grabbed a hold of his arm, Branch knew what was going to do but he didn't have the strength anymore to stop him and so the bully snapped it back again. The pain was as he remembered it and they just laughed. Soon everything went dark…..