Trolls 3.0

Out of the Zone

"Why are you acting like this?"

The question came out in a combination of frustration and exasperation, the teal Trolling in sunglasses who had uttered it flinging his arms out at his brothers. To him, they were being entirely unreasonable out of nowhere. To the others, this was not the case.

"Because I'm tired of it, JD!" Spruce exclaimed. "You're always mentioning that you're the leader - "

"Uh, that's because I am," John Dory cut in. He shut his mouth when Spruce held up a finger.

"SHH! I'm not finished," the purple Trolling said harshly. "Like I said, you're always mentioning that you're the leader. Well, you know what? A 'leader' listens. A 'leader' lets the group make decisions to-ge-ther." He enunciated each syllable of the last word. "You're just one Troll, and you're not the boss of everything!"

"Yeah?" JD said, getting annoyed. "Well, someone has to be the boss. Somebody's gotta remind you guys why we're in this band. Somebody's gotta show you the ropes!"

"Yeah, well, if ya ask me, you're showing us more of your uptightropes," Clay said, snickering at his own joke and nudging Spruce so that he could laugh along with him.

The purple Trolling did not find the joke funny, however, and whirled on the yellow Trolling. "You pick the worst times to joke about stuff, you know?" he grumbled. "Can't you take something serious for once?"

Clay frowned, not appreciating his dismissal. "Wow, okay. As if you're Mr. Perfect. The guy who's more concerned about what girl's heart he's gonna break next!"

Spruce glared at him. "No, I'm the guy who's more concerned about what the future of our band is. Maybe if you're not so busy with your silly pranks and actually got your head in the game, you'd see that!"

Clay shook his head and crossed his arms, not liking how his usually chill brother was behaving. "Like you haven't laughed at some of them," he muttered, making note to get back at Spruce with one of his so-called 'silly pranks.'

Unable to help himself, Floyd spoke up. "Well, some of them aren't really that funny. I hated that time you did what you did with my eyeliner." The magenta Troll shuddered to even recollect the horrible, bright neon green that had been on his eyelids.

Clay rolled his eyes. "Whatever! It was funny to me. And as long as it's funny to someone is what counts."

JD ignored the little scuffle between the Trollings, wanting to get clarification. "Why is it that you're backing out of the dream, bro?"

"Dude, he never said that," Floyd piped up, trying to show support.

It wasn't met positively however. "I can answer my own questions, thanks," Spruce said, a little annoyed at his brother's interference.

"I'm just trying to help," Floyd said.

"Well it's best you don't," Spruce snapped.

Floyd frowned. "This involves me just as much as you guys. I write a lot of the songs here, in case you forgot! Like you always like to forget about me," he said spitefully and crossing his arms. "Just because you're older doesn't mean you can think that you're better!"

"We don't think we're better," Clay said, "we know we're better!" Not at all meaning it, he laughed, hoping Floyd would laugh at this joke too, but the magenta Trolling shot him a dirty look. Clay rolled his eyes. When did his brothers become such party-poopers?

"Cry me a river, Floyd! You seem to be real good at that, too!" JD snapped, annoyed. "And if you're talking about that one song you showed me the other day, I already told ya we can't do it. Not all of us have that vocal range!"

"You mean you don't have that vocal range," Floyd muttered, knowing very well that he could hit the required notes, and knowing that JD likely didn't want to feel like he was being upstaged.

"What does it matter if we're all singing songs and everyone likes them, anyway?" JD challenged. "As long as my band is popular, why does it really matter?"

Spruce gawked at him. "YOUR band, huh?" The purple Trolling shook his head. "I knew it."

"I mean our band, ours!" JD quickly tried to correct himself. "OURS. Geez, Spruce, I thought Floyd was the sensitive one here!"