Will You Love me?

Chapter Thirty- Four: Search Party

Branch ran into Poppy's room, panting heavily. He looked around the room, his eyes searching for any possible place the invitation could be. Floyd came in after him, and bent down trying to catch his breath.

"Have you found anything?" he gasped, brushing his bangs out of his eyes.

Branch shook his head worriedly, as he started to open the drawers on Poppy's bedside table. He threw a bunch of junk out, and groaned in frustration when it had been emptied.

"Not here," He said, bending down to check under the bed.

Floyd bent down too, and winced as he saw nothing under the bed.

"Where could it be?!" Branch exclaimed, grabbing a fistful of hair.

"Did you see where she put it?" Floyd asked, putting a hand on Branch's shoulder.

"Damn it!" Branch exclaimed, slapping his forehead with his palm. "I think she took it with her! I totally forgot!"

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door.

"Come in!" Floyd shouted over the loud groans of frustration coming from Branch.

Clay and Viva ran in, both of them breathless.

"Why did you guys run off like that?" Clay asked.

"We're looking for the invitation Poppy got. We need to find out if it was real or fake, and where she is," Floyd explained

"She's not here?' Viva's face fell. "I need to apologize!"

"You will," Floyd said. "Because we're going to find her!"

"Yeah we will!" Clay exclaimed, pumping his fist in the air.

"But how are we going to find her without the invitation?" Branch asked, rubbing his temple.

"We could look outside for it? Maybe she left it in the bar." Floyd suggested.

"Floyd, we've been over this." Branch sighed. "She took it with her."

"You don't know that," Viva piped up. "Maybe someone found it and brought it to the lost and found!"

"I don't know..." Branch mumbled.

"We're checking," Floyd declared, grabbing Branch by the wrist and dragging him out of the room.

Viva and Clay followed behind, but all four trolls were stopped in their tracks by two pairs of feet. One pair was wearing a pair of makeshift sandals, while the other was wearing white lace sneakers. Viva looked up and squealed.

"Bridget! Gristle! You're here! How was the honeymoon?!" She asked, bouncing up and down.

"It was amaz-"

"We were tied up and almost eaten by a plastic clown," Gristle interrupted, crossing his arms.

"Heh heh... sorry. I did apologize, though!" Viva said.

"That's true, Grissy," Bridget whispered, rubbing Gristle's back.

"It's fine, it's fine, I already said I won't press charges." He joked with a wave of his hand.

Viva laughed. "Why are y'all here?" She asked.

"We're looking for Poppy," Bridget explained. "I'm... pregnant, and I want her to be the godmother for our son."

Viva gasped. "OMG! That's amazing! Congrats girlie, you're going to make an awesome mom!"

"Thanks, girl," Bridget said. "So where is she?"

"Actually, we're looking for an invitation that might tell us where she is," Branch said. "It was apparently inviting her to a girl's night out on Rock Troll Island. But she should be back by now, so we think she's in trouble."

"Oh no!" Bridget gasped, covering her mouth with her hands. "I'll help you guys look!"

And with that, Bridget scooped up Viva, Clay, Branch, and Floyd, and began running to the bar.

King Gristle scratched his head in confusion.

Veneer, who had been lost this entire time, especially considering the fact he had no idea what had taken place in the closet with Dr Clay, ambled towards Gristle, hoping he might be able to explain.

"Hey man," Gristle said, nodding his head, when he saw Veneer.

"Hey," Veneer replied, shaking Gristle's hand. "I'm Veneer."

"Gristle," Gristle grumbled.

"So um... do you have any idea about what's going on?" Veneer asked nervously.

"I think... Poppy's missing or something? They said something about an invitation," Gristle replied, bending down to scratch his toe.

"Oh, um, thanks," Veneer gave Gristle a scrutinizing glance, before running into the bar.

Back in the bar, the trolls were trying to explain what was going on to Bruce, who was desperately trying to keep his kids under control.

"I see," He grunted, trying to push Bruce JR off of him. "Did you check the sand? She could have dropped it, there are pretty strong wind gusts here,"

Branch practically did a 360 as he turned and ran to the shore.

"Thanks, Bruce!" Floyd chirped, turning to follow Branch.

"Ugh, I'm tired," Clay mumbled, trudging after them.

Branch bent down and started to dig the sand with his bare hands.

"Ew, you're gonna get a bunch of sand in your fingernails!" Viva gagged. "Use your feet or something."

Branch looked up at her in annoyance, before standing up and kicking sand in her direction.

"The beach is so big, we're never going to find it!" He groaned in frustration.

"What color was the invitation?" Clay asked.

"Black," Branch mumbled.

"Okay, that should be easy!" Floyd exclaimed, clapping his hands. "Everyone, look for something black!"

"I-is this it?" Bridget asked, pulling a torn up piece of black paper out of the sand.

Branch jumped up and used his hair to grab it out of Bridget's hand. He scanned the writing and felt his heart drop.

"Girl's night," He said sadly. "She should be back already."

Floyd looked at the note and gasped. After two months, he could recognize that handwriting from anywhere.

"I'll go get John!" He shouted, quickly running towards Rhonda.

"John," He sputtered, when he had arrived.

"What's wrong, Floyd?" John Dory asked, popping his head out of Rhonda's window.

"I need the letter you got from Velvet, RIGHT NOW!"

John Dory nodded and began to dig through the glovebox.

"Here it is," He said, handing the letter to Floyd.

"Thanks John," Floyd replied, grabbing it, and running to Branch.

"Here's the note John got from Velvet," He said.

Branch held the two papers up, side by side, and felt his heart nearly split in two. The writing was identical, which could only mean one thing: Poppy wasn't with Barb, she was in the hands of the one and only Velvet.