branch angst

sad book club

clay's pov:

sometimes i can't stand being around my family. they're always finding new ways to get on my nerves. don't get me wrong!! i love them to death..- but that doesn't mean they can't be annoying.

like john dory, for example. always getting pissed off for no reason. never using his head. i swear that troll never takes time to think things through. with a square head like his, i'm not even surprised.

bruce. good 'ol bruce. there isn't much to complain about, actually. but sometimes he's just way too childish y'know?? he's and adult with 13 children for crying out loud!! you'd think he'd grown up by now. nope.

floyd. gosh. it hurts to say this but that troll is way too emotional. don't get me wrong, i'm glad he's expressing his feeling and all, but it's a constant thing. but i don't blame him. i don't know many trolls who have been through as much as he did.

except for branch. poor guy. i still feel bad for leaving him all those years ago. but when he starts acting up it's kinda hard to take his side on things. he's been too much work lately and it's just a pain in the neck. i do feel bad though. i truly wish the best for that guy.

i'm saying all this knowing that i have my own problems too. i'm sure i get annoying, or emotional, or hard to handle sometimes. and i'll accept that. but my brothers have to as well.

god that must have been boring to read. just how i like it!! :)

but enough talking about my brother's problems. i've got to worry about my own.

like jules.

something is off about that troll, i just can't put my finger on it. branch clearly has come to dislike her for whatever reason. although i know he isn't the right troll to trust for this kind of stuff; i can't help but side with him.

when she's around john dory the only expression i can gather from her face is pure disgust. which is odd, because their supposed to be in love. but maybe i'm just bad at reading faces.

i can read books all day, ever day. but read faces?? yeah no.

i needed to gather info on that troll. i wasn't going to let her toy around with my brother like that!! not on my watch.

and i knew branch wouldn't either. he's the only other troll who has a bad feeling about jules. at least i think he is??

but with that stated, the only reasonable thing i could do was recruit branch to come and figure out what jules' real goal was. smart, right?

branch's pov:

i was sitting alone in my room; cradling my legs on top on my bed. there really wasn't much to do. i thought of texting poppy a couple of times but i stopped myself. i didn't know if i was still mad at her. those pills literally suck out all your emotions. but i'll learn to live with that.

i wonder if poppy is mad at me. she hasn't made any effort to text. and i should have been out of jail hours ago. (if i didn't escape)

my ears raised in alert as the door to my room creaked open. they fell back against my head when i realized it was just clay. thank god it wasn't jules.

"hey." he whispered while shutting the door shut behind him.

"hey?" i sat up in my bed; inviting him to sit next to me. "whats up?"

he looked nervous; his ears were twitching pretty badly.

"it's jules." he whined while taking the seat next to me.

i nodded my head slowly. "what about her?"

he looked at me; hesitating before replying. "she seems off.. don't you think?"

my eyes widened. was he being serious??

i hoped so. i really needed another troll to talk about this with. and with poppy scratched off that list clay is the perfect candidate.

"i know." i sighed.

he chuckled awkwardly. "i thought you were crazy for thinking something was wrong with her."

"yeah, i don't blame you." i rubbed the back of my neck.

clay's eyes darted to the half empty pill bottles laying on my bed side table.

"it's almost empty!!" he scoffed.

"yeah.. you can blame jules for that." i grumbled while tapping my fingers against my lap.

"so.. what do we do?" clay tilted his head.

i sighed. "what is there to do? we can't just tear her away from john dory.."

"i hate this." he groaned while sitting back on the bed.

"join the club." i giggled before laying back with him.

he turned to me; a solemn expression on his face.

"i'm sorry branch." he huffed.

i gave him a smile. "it's okay."

clay leaned in for a hug; i accepted it thankfully. i really did need a hug.

after a while clay got up. "you want to come to my sad book club?" he looked at the hesitant expression on my face; so he continued. "just this once."

i sighed; giving him a smile. "sure."

i got up too and followed him out the room.

into the kitchen.

onto the elevator.

outside.

and to the book club.

we chatted the whole way there. (no awkward silence!!)

that made me really happy.

i could tell, because some of my color had returned to to my right hand.

short chapter sorry!!

anyways i drew a sketch of how jules looks (i want to say it's for visual reference, but i kinda just did it for fun.)