"Woke up in the morning light... today is the day that I do everything right," Poppy sang cheerfully, jumping out of bed as the sun shone beautifully through her bedroom window, waking her up in an instant. "Now that I'm queen, I've got a kingdom to run. 'Cause trolls, they wanna have fun. Yeah, trolls just wanna have fun!"

     She jumped out her pod window, hairachuting safely down to the ground before beginning to dance around the village happily, everyone quickly joining in on the song, as they each climbed out of bed as well.

     "They just wanna, they just wanna!" the village of trolls sang along happily with their new queen. "They just wanna... Trolls just wanna have fun!"

     Two trolls lifted Poppy into the air, throwing her up into a beautiful twirl, before she landed back on the ground with a massive smile on her face, looking around to see the entire village singing and dancing together, having the best time of their lives. The entire village... except one troll... Where was Branch?

     She looked around in confusion, searching the crowed for the blue troll, but he was nowhere to be seen...

     Maybe he just wasn't ready for this yet... I mean... he did go twenty-one years without singing a single note. Maybe the thought of joining into the morning song just brought up too many painful memories for him...

     Poppy was ok with that. She respected his decision fully. If he wasn't ready for this, then he wasn't ready. That was his choice. Besides... she would see him at dinner...

     She was just overly excited for tonight. Her first date with Branch! It was going to be the best night of both their lives. She was sure of it... 🥰

     "That's all they really want... some fun..." the village continued singing happily, pulling their queen back into the song and dance number. "When the working day is done. Oh, trolls, they wanna have fun. Oh, trolls just wanna have... fuuuuuuuuun!"

—————

     As Poppy made her rounds through the village that morning, she suddenly noticed a group of fuzzlings pulling a large Caterbus out of the lagoon, the poor fluffy trolls seeming to struggle with the weight of it.

     "Just a little farther!" an orange troll wearing a hard hat instructed, watching the fuzzlings do their job from a safe distance.

     "Hi, Jeremy," Poppy greeted with a small smile, heading over to see the orange troll.

     "Good morning, Queen Poppy," Jeremy greeted back, as he looked over at the approaching pink troll. "It's nice to see you on such a lovely morning."

     Poppy looked at the fuzzlings struggling to yank the Caterbus out of the water, and then turned back to Jeremy with a confused look. She had lived in this village her whole life, and never once saw an occurrence like this... what had happened?

      "What's going on?" she asked out of curiosity.
"Oh... some idiot drove a Caterbus into the lagoon some time last night," Jeremy replied with a slight eye roll. "I swear... the ignorance of some trolls..."

     Poppy gasped at the news, looking back over at the Caterbus bus in fear.

     "Was anyone hurt?" she asked, concerned about her people's safety.

     "We aren't sure yet," Jeremy answered honestly with a slight shrug. "But it doesn't look like there was a driver. Someone must've just forgot to put on the emergency break or something."
"Well that's good," Poppy sighed with relief, glad to hear the news that no one had been seriously injured. As far as anyone was aware...

     "Come on, guys!" the orange troll suddenly shouted, turning back to the fuzzlings. "Get that bug out of the water!"

     Finally, the little trolls were able to haul the large Caterbus out of the lagoon, pulling it up onto shore as Poppy and Jeremy went to inspect it.

     "Hugh... there's blood..." Jeremy informed the queen, noticing a bit of blood splattered on the windshield. "Maybe hit an animal or something..."

     "Well..." Poppy said, a bit worried about where the blood had come from, fearing that someone in the village could possibly be hurt. Or worse... "Maybe we should have someone do a roll-call of the village. Make sure everyone is safe..."

     "Will do, Queen Poppy," Jeremy agreed with a slight nod, taking off his hard hat to reveal his frizzy green hair. "I'll get right on that after..."

     'Ding!'

     Everyone looked down at their hug watches, smiling wide as the sound rung out through the entire village, distracting them all completely from whatever they had previously been doing.

     "Hug Time!"

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     That night, Poppy took great care in getting ready for her date with Branch, making sure to get to the restaurant a full half hour early, so she wouldn't keep her boyfriend waiting too long.

     Knowing Branch, he would probably show up early as well. She always knew him to be a very punctual troll, sometimes spotting him in bushes or behind trees a few hours before a party actually started, just to make sure he could observe the whole thing without being noticed...

     But when she got there... the blue troll was nowhere in sight... strange...

     "Well... I am early..." Poppy told herself to calm her nerves, as she walked into the restaurant with a huge smile on her face. "He'll show up. I know he will..."