After a few days had passed, we were ready to go visit the other kingdoms. My mother thought that I couldn't handle it if we were the only two trolls that went on our little road trip, so she made Katheryn come along too.

"I'm not going to babysit her!" Katie stated while stomping her foot. "You can't make me!"

"I didn't say you had to," my mother said. "This will be a good opportunity for you to think about potential allies for when you become queen. Do you understand?"

Katie groaned. "Yes, mom," she said blandly.

"Where are we going first?" I asked as I began to pile up the angler bus with books. "Classical? Pop? Techno? Where are we going first? Ohhhh I can't wait! I'm so excited!"

"Hold on there, pumpkin. Calm down!" My mother said while placing her hands on my shoulders. "We can actually only visit four of the five nearby kingdoms. The Pop kingdom never responded to my messages so we won't be visiting them. Ok?"

I sighed. "Ok..."

"Now get in, girls!" Mom said while hopping into the bus. "We are visiting the funk trolls first!"

I clapped my hands with joy and followed my mom into the bus.

"This is going to be a long day," Katheryn sighed before getting in as well.

——————

"Now remember, Roxy. I want you on your best behavior. Don't leave my side, ok?" My mother asked me.

"Ok mom!" I replied gleefully while hopping up and down in my seat.

I don't really have to go into detail here. I was an energetic and rambunctious kid. Of course I was going to disobey.

When the funk trolls beamed us up to Vibe City, we were immediately transported to the King and Queen's throne room, where we got to meet them and their son, Prince Quincy. He actually gave me a high five!

However, like I said, I got into mischief. While Katie was asking the King and Queen about potential future alliances, Prince Quincy and I snuck off to have some fun. I think it may have been almost 15 minutes before they realized I had disappeared.

When they finally found me, without thinking, I told Quincy, "Follow my lead," and before he could say anything, I grabbed the nearest female funk troll and pulled her over to us.

"Roxanne! There you are! What are you doing? I told you to stay by my side!" My mother asked with a worried expression on her face.

"I know, mom. But, Prince Quincy here was just dying to show me around and he wanted to introduce me to his new girlfriend!"

Quincy's jaw dropped at my statement. I gave him an eye roll that meant just roll with it, and surprisingly, he did.

"Yeah," he said. "I did!"

"Oh really?" The king said, immediately suspicious. "I didn't know you had a girlfriend, Quincy. What's the lucky lady's name?"

"Essence!" The female funk troll said quickly. "My name is Essence, your majesty."

I stayed silent. Well that just happened.

——————

"The Country Trolls are next. The town they live in is called Lonesome Flats." My mom said with one hand on her head as the angler bus bumped along the road.

"And don't run off this time," said Katie while giving me a playful nudge.

"I'll try my best," I joked back.

Oh sure! I was gonna stay by their sides...until something distracted me and I ran off again.

I met the leader of the Country Trolls, Beta Bart, and his daughter, Delta Dawn. Delta and I chatted in view of the other adults while my sister talked about alliances again. When they had all turned the other way, I pulled Delta around the other side of a shack that was standing nearby.

"So I read that you guys have these large pits that you scream into about how lonely you are. Can you show me where that is?" I asked her.

"Oh! The Lonely Gorge? Sure! It's this way, follow me!" Delta said as she grabbed my arm and pulled me away from the village.

"Hey! Where are you two going? Get back here!" A voice chimed from behind us.

"Crap! We better hurry then!" Delta said as she began to run faster.

A few minutes had passed until we finally made it to the gorge. It was even deeper than it looked in the pictures of my books.

"Have you ever read about what to do here?" Delta asked me.

"Yep! I must declare my loneliness to the gorge, and then all of my sorrow will disappear."

"Exactly! Now I'm gonna give you some space. Just release all of those sounds that are trapped in your mind. I'll just be back here waiting 'till your done, 'Kay?"

"Okay!"

As I looked down into the gorge, for the first time in my life, I suddenly realized exactly how lonely I really was. My father never talked to me, my sister was my only friend, and I did nothing but read books and play guitar in my free time.

I really am alone...all alone...

I took a deep breath, and then with all the strength my vocal chords could handle, I screamed.

"I'M LONELY! I HAVE NO FRIENDS! AND MY DAD HATES ME!"

And then I proceeded to scream at the top of my lungs until I heard a rumbling noise coming from the bottom of the gorge.

It was a landslide! Oh no!

Yeah, I think it's time to go to the next kingdom.

——————

"Next stop...Classical," my mom said as she rubbed her temples. "SymphonyVille is a beautiful and peaceful place, so for the love of all things, don't disturb that peace, okay Roxy?"

"Ok..."

I didn't disturb the peace at all when we got there. However, what I did do though was much worse.

Let's just say I found a way to sneak one of the Classical trolls' violins into my bag to bring home with me so I could temporarily borrow it. It was no big deal. I don't think anybody found out it was missing, either...

As I placed my bag behind my chair, my smile grew even wider as I remembered where our last destination was going to be.

"Last stop...Techno Reef!"