Willow began to doubt the plan when Bridget panicked before entering the bib store. Her confidence in Poppy's plan was gone after she heard her suggest Bridget tell the king he looked fat. It didn't matter that she corrected it by saying P-H phat. "Of all the words you could have used, you went with phat?" She whispered, incredulous.
"What would you have suggested?" Poppy asked, annoyed.
"Anything!" Willow crossed her arms and started ticking off words. "Amazing, sublime, attractive, royal would have even worked." She rolled her eyes. "You just had to use phat, though."
Poppy smiled sheepishly. "Alright. Those could have worked too." But she gestured to outside the hair disguise. "But it worked at least. Bridget and the king are going on their date now." Willow crossed her arms and sighed. It was true, the king and Bridget were going on a date. They hadn't made it to the skating rink and arcade yet, so they felt safe discussing the plan.
"Fine," Willow allowed. "But you have to admit, these guys don't flirt and talk like we do. You could have her accidentally insult him without meaning to." She narrowed her eyes. "And you don't know how to flirt to save our lives."
Branch snorted. "What, and you do?" When Willow didn't respond, he looked up, surprised. "Willow? You know how to flirt?"
Willow smirked and looked back at her brother. "Don't worry about it." Truthfully, she didn't know how to flirt, but she loved messing with her brother, so she let him believe it. She did know how to compliment people though, and she figured that was close enough.
Willow leaned forward and got her face next to Bridget's. "Remember, while on this date, he's not a king, and you're not a scullery maid. You are a beautiful, attractive woman, and he's a guy you like." She patted the girl's forehead. "You can do this."
Bridget smiled and stood up straighter. "I can do this." She eyed the Troll. "Thanks, I needed that."
Willow smiled and stepped back to the other Trolls, who looked at her, a little surprised. "What?" She asked, nervous. "Like I said, she just needs a little confidence."
Poppy smiled. "That was great," She encouraged her friend. She thought for a moment. "Maybe you should take over with telling Bridget what to say." At Willow's dubious expression, she nodded, excited. "Yeah! You know just what to say." She took her friend's hand. "You can do it."
Branch sighed and stood up behind his sister. "Give it a shot, sis. You can't do any worse than anyone else."
"Fine," Willow sighed and walked over to the front. "I'll do my best." She watched as Bridget and the King walked into the restaurant and sat down. "You're doing great, Bridget," she encouraged.
The pizza the two ordered arrived and Bridget smiled. "Ooh, so fancy. Good thing I brought my appetite." She reached for a slice of pizza and touched the king's hand as he reached for the same piece. Willow watched concerned as Bridget smacked the king's hand away and scarfed down her pizza. It looked like she didn't get to eat much with her job as a scullery maid.
The King grinned. "You are fantastic!" He said, looking at Bridget.
"You should compliment him back now," Willow suggested, leaning forward.
Bridget smiled and leaned forward. "I like your back."
"No!" Poppy groaned, standing next to Willow. "She meant you need to say something nice about him."
"But I do like his back," Bridget said confused. She froze and started stammering when the king looked up from his pizza, confused.
"Poppy, help her," Branch said, panicking.
"Tell him what you like about his back," Willow said, ignoring the panic rising in her. They were going to get caught, she just knew it.
Poppy and the rest of the Snack Pack started tossing out ideas of what she could compliment, but it wasn't working since they didn't say a single complimentary thing. When it looked like the king was going to stand up, tired of the possibility of Bridget insulting him, Branch spoke up. "You're eyes. They're like two pools, so deep, I fear if I dive in, I might never come up for air." Willow smiled as she listened to her brother speak. "And your smile. The sun itself turns jealous and refuses to come out from behind the clouds, knowing it cannot shine half as bright."
The king sat down, suddenly bashful. "I kinda do have a nice smile, don't I?"
"Yes, you do," Bridget said, copying Branch. Branch smiled, looking at Poppy.
Willow sighed and rolled her eyes. "Should have had Branch take over," she muttered, nudging Poppy.
"I can't believe I'm about to say this," Bridget started. Biggie started panicking about her going rogue. "But being here with you today, makes me realize that true happiness is possible."
"It is!" King Gristle said, scooting closer to Bridget. "True happiness is a lot closer than you think." He held up the gem on his fur cape.
Bridget was not impressed. "That's pretty, I guess." She gasped in surprise when he opened the gem and a Troll popped out.
"Creek?" Branch said, surprised. Willow peered out of the hair in shock. He was alive. She sighed in relief. At least he hadn't gotten eaten yet.
"I knew he was alive!" Poppy said, relieved.
"I've been savoring this little guy," Gristle said, holding Creek up. He put Creek away and leaned forward. "Tell me, my lady. Will I be seeing you at the Trollstice feast?"
"Well duh," Bridget laughed. "I'll be working." She perked up. "It," she said, repeating Poppy. She waved her hands in the air. "Working it. You know," She got out of the booth and started dancing, "working it."
King Gristly laughed. "Yeah! You're not kidding, you will." He climbed out of the booth. "Because you're gonna be there as my plus one." He got nervous. "Assuming you'll say yes?"
"Yes!" Bridget grinned.
Willow cheered silently and leaned back in relief. They scored Bridget a second date. She frowned after a moment. "What are we going to do?" She asked her brother. "There's no way we can do this again. And she's not going to be confident enough to do this date without us."
Branch frowned, concerned. "I don't know." He looked out as the two Bergens ran to the skating rink. "Try not to think about it now, though. We need to get through this date." Willow sighed and nodded. He was right, they needed to focus on the date. The two Bergens were roller skating and having a good time when Bridget spun and the Trolls flew off for a moment. They grabbed a hold of each other and Bridget spun Gristle to give Poppy a chance to bring the Trolls safely back onto her head.
Willow groaned and sat down in the middle of everyone. "That's enough excitement for me," She muttered. She stayed there until she heard the Chef speak.
"Your majesty," she said. Willow moved up to the front of Bridget's hair. "It looks like you're having fun."
"I am," Gristle said, smiling. "Meet, the lovely Lady Glittersparkles."
The chef looked at Bridget. "You remind me of someone."
The Trolls shook in fear before King Gristle smiled. "She's gonna be my plus one."
"Oh, I see," the chef said, folding her hands in front of her. "For a moment there I was concerned you were changing the plan." The Bergens laughed, Bridget nervously. "Well, this won't be a problem at all, Your Highness. I'll just get my worthless scullery maid to get another place setting ready for the lovely, Lady Glittersparkles."
Willow patted Bridget on the head. "Run, now while you have the chance," She urged. Bridget nodded and took off, losing a roller skate down the stairs.
Bridget rolled into her room and flopped onto her bed with the Trolls landing above her. She grinned and sighed. "I think the king really likes us!" Cooper said, excited.
"I know, right?" Biggie agreed.
"That was the greatest day of my life!" Bridget said, grinning. She rolled over and looked at the Trolls. "Thanks, Poppy. Thanks to all of you!" She looked at Branch. "Even you, I guess." Branch frowned, offended. "I just never thought something like that could happen to me." She rolled onto her back. "And it just did! I'm so excited I could just scream." She gave a small inaudible scream.
Poppy jumped into the air. "Oh, I could scream too! Creek is alive!" Everyone started cheering at the idea of Creek being alive. They stopped when they heard Branch scream. Poppy looked at him concerned. "Branch, what's wrong?"
"Nothing," Branch shrugged. "I thought we were celebrating." Willow grinned and wrapped an arm around her brother's shoulders.
"That's your happy shout?" Cooper asked, concerned.
Branch let his arms down. "It's been a while," he admitted, annoyed.
Willow shook her brother's shoulders. "That's the most excited he's been in a while," she confirmed. "Gonna have to practice those cheering muscles some."
"Well, you're gonna have plenty of practice," Poppy said. "Because we're gonna save Creek, and life will be all cupcakes and rainbows again."
Branch grinned and held out his hand. "Up top." He pulled his hand away when Poppy tried to slap his hand. "Too slow."
Poppy grinned. "Okay, everybody! Let's go save Creek." The Trolls started walking off the bed before Bridget closed the door, stopping them.
"You can't leave," Bridget said, desperate. "Lady Glittersparkles is gonna be the king's plus one at dinner."
"The dinner where they're serving Troll?" Branch scoffed. "Yeah, I think we're gonna have to skip that one."
"No!" Bridget denied. "No, you have to help me be Lady Glittersparkles." She fell to the floor. "I need you."
"You don't want to pretend to be someone you're not forever!" Poppy insisted.
"Then how about just for tomorrow?" Bridget tried to bargain.
Willow grimaced. "You had to know we weren't going to be able to go to the Trollstice feast with you." She motioned towards her brother and Poppy. "We wouldn't be able to just be in your hair and watch you guys eat Trolls."
"Bridget, you don't need us, anymore," Poppy said, walking up to Bridget to place a comforting hand on her friend. "You and the king can make each other happy!"
"That's impossible!" Bridget stood up. "Only eating a Troll can make you happy. Everyone knows that!" She ran to her bed and hugged her shrine "I wish I'd never gone on this stupid date!" Willow wilted at the look on the Bergen girl's face. This had gone worse than she thought it would. Poppy started to walk to Bridget in an attempt to comfort her. "Just go!" Bridget shouted. "Get out of my room and leave me alone."
Willow sighed and walked to the door, waiting for everyone to join her as the Chef yelled down to Bridget about cleaning an extra plate for the king's plus one. She followed the Trolls to the king's room to grab the gem from his bed.
"There it is!" Poppy shouted. They crawled under the blankets to get to the gem. "Creek! We'll have you out in a second."
Branch pulled on the gem. "It's stuck." Everyone turned around when they heard growling to find the king's pet glaring at them.
"Run!" Poppy shouted and everyone ran from one end of the bed to the other before jumping off and smashing a television. They made it to the chandelier to escape the gator before it fell to the floor. They then made a break for the door. There was a crash, and some fire, before they made it to the roller skate and managed to get launched out the door and down the hall.
The group managed to get launched out of a window, the gem was swallowed and spat back out before they were finally safe. Well, safer anyway. They crashed through another window, and three floors before they landed on the floor. When they finally stopped, Branch and Poppy were able to open the gem to find...no Creek.
"Guys," Willow said, nervous. "Where is Creek?"
"No!" Poppy said, horrified. "He can't be gone."
"I'm sorry, Poppy," Branch said, "We're too late."
"Actually," Chef said, holding a cage over her head. "Your timing is perfect." She slammed the cage over them, capturing the Trolls.
And here's the next chapter guys! Hope you enjoy it. The next few chapters will come out fairly soon and I can't wait to share them with you. Thanks for reading and I'll see you next time!