Afterward (A Veneer prison story)

Viva

Ritz and Veneer walked to the police station. Veneer's stomach was flipping, he didn't want the trolls to be mad at him. 

Veneer was nervous "What do I even say?"

"You're going to walk in there and tell them that this Viva girl assaulted you." Ritz looked like he really cared about getting justice.  

"Ok, but it still feels weird. I did try to grab her." 

"Yeah, but you were just picking her up so she wouldn't get stepped on." 

"I guess" Veneer shrugged. It felt good that Ritz believed in him. 

They walked inside and up to the front desk. "Hi, umm... I'm Veneer and umm.." Veneer couldn't speak. 

Ritz looked over at Veneer and then to the lady at the desk "Sorry. I'm Ritz and this is Veneer. He wants to file a report." 

The woman looked over to Veneer. "What do you want to file?" 

Veneer felt a little better. "Umm.. assault." 

"What type of assault and against who?" 

"Umm.." Veneer didn't know anything about law "Normal? And against Viva, she's queen Poppys sister." 

"Do you know a last name?" She looked board 

"No, sorry." 

"That's okay. You said she was queen Poppys sister?" 

"Yeah." 

The woman went into a small room behind the desk. Ritz turned to Veneer "Good job!" 

"Thanks." Veneer smiled. Ritz grabbed his hand and squeezed it, Veneer felt his face get red. 

Just then the woman returned. "Okay, so I found a file. Does this look like her?" 

She showed a picture. "Yeah, that's her." 

"Ok, so I can file the report, but eventually you might have to go to court, and you'll need to have a parent present." 

Veneer hadn't even thought about asking his parents. He glanced over at the clock on the wall, it was almost 5:30. His parents got home at six. 

"Okay, I'll talk to them." 

"Would you want to wait for me to file the charge until you talk to them?" 

Veneer looked over to Ritz, Ritz nodded. "Sure." 

"Okay, so you'll just need to come back within a week, preferably with a guardian present." 

"Okay, thank you." 

"Yeah, hopefully you get this sorted out." 

Veneer nodded. He and Ritz left. 

They walked to Ritz's house. "Thank you for coming with me." 

"Yeah, but if you don't want to do this you don't have to." 

"I don't know. She hurt me, but I don't want her to be mad at me." 

"Yeah, we could go talk to her instead if you want." 

"Maybe, I want to talk to my parents though. We still haven't really talked about any of this yet." 

"Okay, goodnight." Ritz gave him a hug, Veneer felt his heart flutter. Ritz turned around, blushing, and went inside.

"Goodnight."

Veneer walked back to his house. His parent's cars were in the driveway. He went inside. 

Veneer walked over to the kitchen. "Hi mom." 

"Hey Veneer. Where were you at?" 

"I was with Ritz, but I need you're advice about something." 

His mom looked up from her cooking. "What do you need help with?" 

"Well, when Velvet and I were fighting the trolls, there was this one trolls and she like kicked me down. When I was talking with Ritz he said that I could file that as assault, but I don't know if I want to. I don't want to make the trolls more upset, but I also want to get her in trouble. And when I was there it just felt wrong. I just don't know what to do." He sighed. 

"Well, maybe you could talk to her?" 

"I guess, but I'm kinda scared. They probably hate me." 

"They don't hate you." 

"Yeah, but we did kinda torture them." 

"I still think you should talk to them, and if it doesn't fix it then file it." 

"Okay, maybe I'll go tomorrow." 

"Okay, do you want me to come with?" 

"It's okay, I think I should go by myself." 

"Okay, but can you come to the living room quick?" 

"Sure?" Veneer didn't know what was happening. He hoped that they weren't mad at him. 

His dad was sitting on the couch with a box in his hand. Veneer sat down in the chair that was next to him. "Veneer, your mother and I have been thinking, and we wanted to get you this so you can stay in touch with us when you go out." 

He handed Veneer the box, it was wrapped in red paper. Veneer unwrapped it and saw a phone box. "Wait, is this what I think it is?" 

His mom smiled "Open it." 

Veneer opened the box and took out the phone. "Thank you!" He stood up and went to hug his mom. 

"You're welcome. We wanted you to be able to keep in touch with us. Especially if you're going to see the trolls, so you can stay safe." 

"Thank you!" Veneer smiled 

His dad stood up. "Yeah. Why don't you set it up so you can get our numbers in it?"

Veneer sat down and started to set up the phone. He didn't really have too much to put in, only his parents and Ritz's phone numbers. It felt weird to not have Velvet's number. 

After dinner, Veneer went up to his room to text Ritz. He didn't know what to say. 

Hey Ritz

He felt weird, it felt creepy to just say that. Ritz texted back right away. 

Hey Veneer  

Veneer smiled, of course he knew it was him. 

How did you know? 

You're the only person who has my number that doesn't have a phone 

Veneer smiled, he loved talking to Ritz. 

Ritz sent another message 

Would you want to meet my other friends tomorrow?  They've been dying to meet you. 

Sure! I'm busy in the morning, though. I can come in the afternoon if you want. 

Yeah, just text me when you're coming 

Ok :) 

Veneer was excited. Seeing Ritz would help cheer him up after seeing the trolls. Hopefully things wouldn't go too badly with them.