Branch had switched driving with John at the halfway point to Vacay Island. John grouped with Poppy in the back. "Poppy!" he whispered urgently. "I have a serious problem!"
"What is it?" Poppy asked. "If it's about Branch, just give him time and he'll warm back up to you. He warmed up to me in three days so he should warm back up to you in about three or four days."
"No, that's not it!" John replied. "This is gonna sound crazy but...I. Can't. Lie."
Poppy stared at him. She blinked a few times them laughed. "You've got to be joking!" she snorted. John narrowed his eyes at her. "I'm serious!" he replied.
Poppy stopped laughing. "Oh. You mean it." She giggled awkwardly. "I'm sure you can lie but you just didn't want to from the guilt?"
"No!" John cried. "I literally can't lie!"
"You have to be joking..." Poppy said, smiling awkwardly at him. Rhonda took a sudden stop. "We have a problem."
John walked to the driver's seat and stared out the window. "I got this." John pushed Branch out the seat and took over. "Hang on, everyone! And trust me, Rhonda's mostly waterproof!"
"Waterproof?" Branch asked. "Mostly?"
John cheered and drove Rhonda right over the side of the cliff. Branch screamed while Poppy cheered alongside John. Rhonda splashed into the water, the water orbs flying into the air.
Rhonda popped back out above the water, opened her doors, and the Trolls, and water orbs, flooded out. Branch and Poppy spat out water orbs while John sat on them. "I said mostly, didn't I?" John exclaimed.
"I don't care," Branch said.
John wandered ahead of Poppy and Branch, while they argued about him, to prevent any more truths to come out of his mouth. John have never told this many truths before and it's starting to concern him. Is he dying? Is this what happens to a Troll before he dies? Was he cursed? Did he run through any cursed palaces or temples? Or did someone wish on a shooting star about him? Was that the reason? Is that why he's cursed?
After a rather long introduction with Bruce, Spruce's new name he took after he had kids, and a short musical number, that Branch actually joined in, John pulled Bruce aside.
"Spruce!" he whispered.
"Bruce," Bruce corrected.
"I have a really big problem," John ignored him. Bruce sighed, rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "What is it? What can be worse than your relationship with your brothers, huh?" John stared at him for a second. "I can't lie."
Bruce held back laughter. "Isn't that a good thing, John?" he asked.
"Normally, it is, but sometimes, I have to!" John said. "You know...isn't there some things you don't tell your kids? Don't you lie to to them sometimes?"
"Well, yeah, but they're just kids," Bruce said. "Some things they shouldn't know."
"Yeah, same for me!" John cried. "Some things, I have to keep secret to myself! But they just keep coming out!"
"Yeah, sure," Bruce said.
"I'm serious!" John retorted, offended.
"Fine, then tell me something you've never told anyone about me," Bruce said. "Something you don't want me to hear."
"Like...what?" John asked. Bruce raised an eyebrow at his brother. "You know, it's really hard to trust you after you abandoned us for twenty years!"
"Okay, okay!" John said, waving his hands. "Um...I caught you kkk...kkkkkkkk..." John strained to speak. "Kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk-"
"Okay, okay, stop! Please!" Bruce cried. "This is painful!"
"You believe me now?" John asked, relieved.
"No, but it'll do," Bruce replied.
"Uncle John?" one of Bruce's kids asked, tapping him on the shoulder gently. "Why is Uncle Branch mad at you?"
"Because I left him and your other uncles behind when we were kids and never talked to them again until today," John said plainly.
Bruce's kid stared at him. "MOOOOM!" he yelled, running away. John sighed and face palmed himself. "Wow, okay," Bruce said. "You are not kidding."
"I told you!" John cried, throwing his hands into the air. "But it's getting worse! It wasn't this bad when I met Branch!"
"Guess we better solve it then, huh?" Bruce asked.
"Yeah..." John sighed.
Author's Note
The Blue Pen scene is fast approaching! Also, John can't tease his brothers if it's a lie so he has that for him. :)