The Adventures of Azalea and Twig (book 6)

Chapter 34

     Barb, Molly, Branch, and Poppy walked along the desert road, as the sun began to set off in the distance.

     Suddenly, Molly's phone began to ring.

     She pulled it out of her pocket, seeing it was her mom.

     "Oh sh..." She stopped herself from saying the word she was about to use, as she looked down at the trolls, who where looking up at her, confused. "Shhhhhhhhhugar?" she finished, thinking she was changing her phrase to something harmless.

     The trolls gasped at her language, and she blinked at them, wondering what she had said wrong.

     "What is that sound," Branch finally asked, looking around at the sound of the phone ringing.

     "My phone?" Molly said, as if it where obvious.
"Phone?" Poppy questioned.

     "Don't you guys have phones?" Molly asked. "How do you communicate with each other, when you're far away?"

     "We have snail mail," Branch answered.
"And I have my pet bat Debbie," Barb added, smiling at the thought of Debbie. "I miss my hairy little baby."

     "Ooo...kay..." Molly said, slowly, looking down at her phone again, worried, as it continued ringing.

     "Aren't you going to answer it?" Barb questioned.

     "Um... no... I don't... I don't think so," Molly said, declining the call, but it immediately began to ring again.

     "Who is it?" Poppy wondered.
"My mom," Molly replied, declining the call again, but again, it began to ring immediately after.

     "Ugh..." Molly groaned, declining again.

     "Why are you ignoring your mom?" Poppy asked.

     "Cuz... she's gonna ask where I am, and what am I gonna tell her? 'Oh hey, mom. Sorry I didn't tell you before, but I'm out with a bunch of trolls in the middle of nowhere. Oh... and there's a crazy guy after us, who wants to throw us in jail. Oh... how did I get here, you ask? Well I also stole the money out of your pocketbook. Love you.' Yeah... that would turn out 'great'."

     She rolled her eyes, crossing her arms, as she continued to walk.

     Her phone rang again, and again, she declined it.

     "Just lie," Barb said with a shrug.

     Poppy gasped at Barb's suggestion.

     "Barb! She can't lie to her own mother! Lying is wrong!" she yelled.

     "Oh please, Pinkie. You lie all the time," Barb objected, rolling her eyes.

     "What!? No I don't!" Poppy said, offended by the accusation.
"Uh... yes you do," Barb sassed.
"Really? Name one time I lied."

     "You lied to your dad, when he told you not to run off to join my world tour, and then you did it anyways."

     "That... uh... doesn't count," Poppy objected. "I thought I was helping unite the world."

     "Ok... than what about the time you lied to Val about Demo playing music with the classical trolls?" She smiled smugly at Poppy.

     "That doesn't count ether! I was helping a friend!" Poppy yelled, crossing her arms, as she looked away in anger.

     "And then there was the time, when you lied to all the ambassadors to make them agree to Trollstopia."

     "None of these things count! I did them to help the community," Poppy said, stubbornly. "Branch... help me out here. Tell Barb I don't lie."

     "Sorry, Poppy," Branch said with a shrug. "But I gotta agree with Barb on this one. You do lie quite a bit..."
"What!? You two, Branch!?" Poppy yelled, looking at him in shock.

     He nodded, beginning to name examples of when she lied.

     "You lied to Smidge to make her think she had magical powers... you lied to me, when you stole my last slice of fluffleberrie cake... oh... when you wanted to build that Greygon to help Biggie get over his fear, you told me you where borrowing a few things from my bunker, when really you where taking a bunch of stuff... which I still haven't gotten back by the way. You lied about..."

     "Ok! Ok! That's enough!" Poppy yelled, annoyed. "You're no better you know! You lie to me all the time!"

     Branch shrugged.

     "I'm not the one who said I never lie," he said, looking away from her.

     "Oh really... remember that song you sang when you taught your bird babies how to take care of themselves? 'I never lie, believe when I say'..." She smiled, smugly at him, crossing her arms.

     "Like I said..." Branch said, calmly, shrugging. "I never said it. I sang it. Not the same thing." He smiled, smugly back at her, knowing he had won.

     "Ugh! You're so annoying!" Poppy complained.
"You know you like it," Branch replied, walking up ahead, proudly.