“Hurry up mutt!” Lilac was fluttering through the low treetops, her bright blue jay wings flashing over Blu’s head.

She had taken to the nickname Mutt, giggling on the grass for a while after she thought of it, gripping her sides with gasps of “half-breed” through her mirth.

Blu wasn’t really comfortable with the name, but Lilac found it funny, so he didn’t say anything about it.

“I know! I’m coming!” He called back from the ground. They were playing a game Lilac made up, where they raced to the edge of the island, but only Lilac was allowed to fly. ‘Kind of unfair’ Blu thought, but he pushed it aside, because his legs were getting tired, and Lilac didn’t like it when he lost spectacularly. She said it made her feel like he was letting her win. Blu was honestly beginning to be afraid of what she would do if he did.

Finally, after his lungs began to burn and his knees began to wobble, Blu made it to the edge. Lilac was waiting.

“Heeeyyyy Bluu,” She wiggled her fingers at him as she stretched out her words and Blu knew that he had done something wrong.

“You really were behind this time Blu! Might want to go faster next time!” She cackled at this and Blu clenched his fists, nails digging in to stop his anger from boiling up.

“But it’s not fair!”

Crap. He didn’t mean to say that.

“Excuse me? Are you… questioning me?” Now Lilac fluttered down from her perch on a nearby tree growing on the edge, and approached Blu like a cat hunting a mouse. Even at thirteen she was taller and definitely more threatening than him, and Blu couldn't help but take a step back.

“Oh no! You can’t run now Mutt! I want to talk about this!”

When Blu went home that night, he told his mother that the bruises on his face were from a bad fall.