Branch lay in his bed staring up at the ceiling thinking about what had happened between him and Poppy, he could still feel the goofy smile on his face. For the first time in a long time his skin tone wasn't as grey as it had been, looking closely at this good arm he noticed the hint of his original teal color slowly returning. He let out a long sigh as he thought about their kiss, her lips tasted just like vanilla frosting which he figured was because all of the cake and sweets they had eaten prior to it. The longer he thought about her the faster his heart began to beat, she was the most important troll in his life and he was happy that she was there. His mind began working overtime as he started to think about how angry his aunt would be if she found out what had happened or how the other trolls would act towards them. And it worried him what they would think or say if they knew that Poppy and the 'Weird troll' kissed. The longer he thought about it the more his color began to fade away again.
Poppy on the hand had thrown herself onto her bed and happy screamed into her pillow the moment she returned to her room. She blushed as she turned over thinking how was just too excited to sleep, she couldn't wait to tell her friends what had happened to her.
The next morning the two trolls bumped into each other when they both tried to exit their rooms at the same time.
"Good morning Branch," Poppy greeted giving him the sweetest smile before gently wrapping her arms around him and giving him a warm hug.
Branch could feel his face already heating up as he hugged her back with his one arm. "Good morning," he replied taking in a deep breath and catching the smell of frosting and berries.
Peppy greeted them as they entered the dining area separately each wearing a blush and a tiny smile. Branch and Poppy quickly took their seats across from one another and ate their breakfast in silence. Poppy stole a couple glances at Branch noticing how in just the couple of days he was with her and her father his color seemed a bit brighter.
"Branch!" she said happily "Your color is a little bit brighter!"
Poppy was happy to see his colors slowly returning but she also knew that it was going to take some time before his colors returned fully. Her smile began to fade when she realized what the others were going to say when they saw him at school. She knew their words could be pain, and it saddened her to think that would even say such terrible things about him. Well at least her friends would never say anything like that. Why couldn't the others see Branch was like she did? A sweet misunderstood troll that had been hurt by the ones who were supposed to love him. She couldn't begin to imagine what he had gone through even though he told her many things, she was sure he still kept a few to himself.
After breakfast Poppy and Branch began their trek across the village to get to school but just as the giant pod came into view Branch stopped staring down at the ground afraid to go any closer.
"What's wrong?" she asked in a concerned tone.
"I don't know if I can do this," he whispered knowing what awaited him the moment he stepped foot in that pod.
Poppy gave him a small encouraging smile before gently placing a tender kiss on his cheek. "I'm going to be right here beside you."
Branch returned the smile and was about to say something back when one of Poppy's friends called her name from across the way.
Poppy quickly grabbed him by his wrist she pulled him in the direction of the voice until they reached the troll whose bright smile faded the moment she saw who was with her. "Hello Poppy," the troll said giving the pink troll a tight hug.
"Hey Suki," Poppy replied as she returned the hug.
Suki smile returned as she stared at her friend "Is something different about you?"
"No," Poppy replied trying to hide her big smile and glancing back at Branch "why do you ask?"
"It's just that something seems different about you," Suki replied giving her friend a weird look knowing something was defiantly different with Poppy, she just couldn't put her finger on it.
"I'll tell you what's different about her," Creek said as he came walking over with the rest of Poppy's friends.
"What do you want Creek?" Poppy asked folding her arms across her chest not wanting to hear anything he had to say. She did not like how he was the one responsible for spreading all those nasty made up stories about Branch, it was the reason why the others treated Branch so differently.
"I saw you last night!" Creek said smugly as he glared at his cousin wishing so much that his mother was around to punish him. "You two seemed to be pretty cozy when you two were slow dancing together."
Branch heard all of Poppy's friends gasp making him feel like ashamed. "Poppy is that true?" one of her friends asked giving Branch a dirty side glare.
Poppy looked shocked and hurt by her friend's reactions "Yes it's true!" Creek exclaimed "And it's because she has listened to all of dirty lies and has made her believe that he is the one who is innocent. When he will just end up hurting her in the end. He's nothing more than a liar."
"I'm not a liar!" Branch quickly defended feeling himself becoming angry by Creek's words.
"I'm not the one lying Branch," Creek said shrugging his shoulders wanting so much to just shove him away "you are."
"Creek stop it!" Poppy scolded knowing very well that he was trying his best to upset Branch in front of their friends.
Creek ignored her and turned to face the others "It's because of him that my mom went crazy and he knows it." Branch started to slowly back away from Poppy and her friends knowing that they would believe Creek over him any day, even with Poppy trying to convince them otherwise. He knew no matter what Poppy told them he was still going to be unwelcomed in their group.
"Guys you have to believe me," Poppy said, "Branch is not like any of those things Creek is talking about, he is sweet and kind-hearted."
"Don't you get it," Creek said gently taking Poppy's hand into his own "That's what he wants you to believe… love."
Poppy quickly pulled her hand away from him and shook her head "You know that's not true and you need to stop spreading lies about him!"
Creek stared at her in disbelief "Why do you believe HIM a LYING no good troll over me when we have been friends since we were small trollings?"
The longer they stood the more Branch began to notice all the angry looks he was getting from the other trolls as they walked by to get to school. Some of them whispered to each other and though he could not hear what they were saying he knew they were most likely talking about him. Then the sound of all of Poppy's friends gasping again pulled his focus back to the small group.
"You kissed!" they all exclaimed at the same time.
"Yes," Poppy said bravely as she took a hold of Branch's hand.
"Well isn't that the grossest thing you ever heard?" a voice from behind asked sending shivers up and down Branch's spine. Both Poppy and Branch turned to see Archer and his gang standing there each wearing evil grins. "I can't believe you let this Freak kiss you," Archer laughed when he saw Poppy grip tighten on his hand.
Archer shook his head as he started walking away "Don't worry Buttercup….your little freaky friend is safe, for now anyway."
Creek continued to glare at his cousin hating him for turning Poppy against him and making his mother go away for a while, he knew Branch was going to have to pay for what he has done. Creek wanted nothing more than to see his cousin get hurt. The school bell rang letting them know they had to hurry to class, they all hurried off in the direction of class.
As the day went by Branch tried his best to block out the other troll's hurtful words. "Why'd you even come back," he heard one say as she passed him by and then there was one troll who thought it was funny to keep poking him the side with a stick that he had hidden in his hair. At morning break, he and Poppy were just had just sat down to enjoy a small snack when something came flying through the air hitting him hard on the back of his head. Both he and Poppy turned to see what had hit him and saw a fist sized rock laying on the ground. "Come on Branch," Poppy said quickly packing up their snack and getting to her feet "let's go eat somewhere else."
Branch followed her lead but not before getting pelted by a few more smaller rocks and laughed at. Poppy led them to the side of the school pod where no other troll was at the moment "Here," she said sitting down and getting their snacks back out "we'll just eat our snack here."
A small smile appeared on Branch's face as he sat down beside her carefully taking one of the sandwiches had she made for them. "Are you okay?" she asked giving him a worried look.
"Yeah," he replied with a heavy sigh looking down at the sandwich in his hand before placing it back down "maybe we shouldn't be friends."
"What…why?" she asked giving him a sad look.
"I don't want to be the reason your friends stop being your friend," he replied sadly knowing that it would hurt him a lot not having her for a friend, she was the only thing making him feel like a normal troll again.
"Don't worry about them Branch my friends will come around," she replied.
"But what if they don't?" he asked feeling his heart sink, "And they end up hating you because of me?"
"That won't happen," she said leaning forward and wrapping her arms around him embracing in one of her gentle hugs. "I don't want to lose you as a friend."
"How can you hug him?" Archer asked as he and his gang came walking over.
"Go away!" Poppy snapped turning back and glaring up at the gang of bullies "We're not bothering anyone over here."
"You're right you're not but he is," Archer replied with a smirk and with a quick finger snap his friends began stomping all over their food.
"Hey!" Poppy shouted, "Why did you do that for?"
"Felt like it," Archer replied with a smile as he bent down picking up a bit of squished sandwich and wiping on her face. Poppy let out a tiny gasp from the shock of getting sticky food all over face causing the bullies to all start to laugh.
"Leave her alone!" Branch hissed quickly standing up feeling a sudden urge of bravery come over him.
Archer turned all of his attention to his intended target knowing that messing with Poppy would upset him. "And why should I?" the bully asked folding his arms across this chest and giving Branch a crooked smile.
Poppy wiped off her face and stood up beside Branch quickly looping her arm around his, she was afraid of what they were going to do. "Let's just go," she whispered gently tugging his arm in the direction she wanted to go in. The two trolls turned to leave but Archer stepped in front of them stopping them in their tracks.
"He's not going anywhere!" he growled right before doing the unthinkable and hit the pink troll right across the face knocking her off balance and to the ground. Poppy tried her best to hold back her tears as she cupped her sore cheek.
"POPPY!" Branch exclaimed reaching out to her with his good arm to help her back to her feet. The sound of Archer's laugh filled his ears as anger started to boil under his skin, he turned to face the group of bullies. Within seconds he had the laughing bully on the ground from a sudden rush of adrenaline that was now surging through his veins.
Archer stopped laughing and shouted to his friends "Get him off me!" The other bullies quickly yanked Branch off their leader by grabbing a good amount of hair. Once the struggling troll was off of him Archer stood up straight and glared at him. "You know what to do," he said coldly.
"STOP IT!" Poppy cried out but they just ignored her as they knocked her friend to the ground. She tried her best to pull one of the bullies away from him but one of Archer's friends quickly pulled her back again. "LET ME GO!"
"THIS IS FOR SHOVING ME!" Archer hissed punching Branch two times in the face and was going back for a third time when Branch stopped him with his one hand. Branch struggled to hold his attacker's hand back while bullies continued to punch and kick him all over, he could feel the stickiness on his face from his nose. One bully decided it would be funny to stomp down as hard as he possible could onto the defenseless troll's soft belly. Soon after Archer decided it was enough and called his gang off leaving a very beaten grey troll.
Poppy tried to get the other trolls to help but they all ignored her, so she went back and helped Branch to finally to get to his feet. As they walked past the others they did something that just broke Poppy's heart, instead of offering any assistants or asking if he was alright, they just laughed and pointed at as well as cheered at the injured troll as he slowly walked past them holding his belly.