This time it was garbage. Which was better than shit.
"Fish face!" A boy yelled at her.
"Toad sucker!"
"Frog fucker!"
Their name calling, wasn't creative, Azul thought to herself. She was at the back of a restaurant, standing at the edge of a wall, as five children through garage from the dumpster at her face. Rotten fruit and vegetables, nothing enough to hurt her. She recalled something her parents had told her, sticks and stones may break my bones, but word can never hurt me... Do vegetables count?
"You're mom shouldn't have had you, you useless faunus!"
Azul took it. She stayed quiet as she waited for them to run out of ammunition. They can't do this forever. She told herself. Eventually, one of the boys told the other bullies to stop. He was the leader, well known in the ninth grade class for his athleticism. Black hair and tan skin, he walked up to Azul standing at equal height of her. "You know why you have garbage on your face?"
Azul didn't say anything, fully aware that her words would make it worse. The boy went on, "because you're a fucking animal. You're better off eating from a garbage bin, like a stray."
Azul was adopted. She hated being called a stray. She punched him in the face. The boy immediately stepped back and screamed, "she punched me! she punched me!"
Immediately, a group of adults passed by the alleyway. There were three of them. Two looked to be a married couple. Newly wed with black hair making them look well matched for each other. The third was blonde older man, accompanying them as a friend. They looked at the group of boys bullying Azul. The blonde asked, "did that toad hurt you?"
The punched bully began to cry, "she hurt me."
The three adults glared at Azul, not caring that she was eleven years old. The husband grabbed Azul from the arm, and began dragging her out the restaurant alleyway, "animals like you need to be muzzled and caged."
Azul stayed quiet as the man dragged her off. He yelled, "guardsman! Guardsman! This Faunus girl just attacked this boy!"
The blonde followed behind them, speaking low enough for Azul to hear, "she deserves a shock collar. Needs to be leashed a wild mutt."
The wife softly took the punched bully by the hand, and then followed after Azul and her own husband. Looking back, Azul noticed the crying boy grinning from the end result.
XXX
"What did I tell you!?" Azul's foster mother hit her across the face. She was home again, but not safe in her own bedroom. Her mom grabbed a leather belt and began hitting her at the sides. "Never cause trouble. Always keep your head down. Don't even think of touching a non-faunus!"
"They were throwing trash at me!" Azul cried out. The belt hurt, but it wasn't the worse kind of pain she'd felt. At home, at least she could speak freely.
"Then let them throw trash!" Her mom retorted. "I've told you again and again, never hit them back! If they treat you like dirt, you take it! Never give them reason to attack you, they already have enough reason as is!"
The beating only lasted five minutes. The words hurt Azul more than anything else.
XXX
That same night, Azul walked out of her bedroom, and headed to the roof. She laid up there for fifteen minutes before her friend joined her. Crystal layed to her side, "I heard you gave Charleton a bruise," Crystal commented. Half smirking, Crystal asked, "was it worth it?"
"No it wasn't," Azul replied. "They're going to press charges against my dad. They said I caused him 'psychological' damage. Now we owe his family reparations."
Crystal clenched her fists. Nothing she said could make things better. Instead, Azul said, "have you noticed that the moon has always been the same?"
It was cracked, scattered across the sky like broken glass. Azul continued, "its like, everyone has seen the same moon. Everyone. it doesn't matter what part of the planet we're from, what year it is, it doesn't matter whether its now or a hundred years ago. We've all seen the same moon, no matter what. Its always the same, exactly the same now as it was back then... Isn't that cool?"
Crystal let out a long breathe, "yeah, that's pretty cool."
XXX
Five years later
"He's cute for you," Azul whispered to Crystal in the library. They sat across from each other on one of the studying tables. Azul pointed to various boys in the library for Crystal to see. "Or him... Or him.. Or that guy... The librarian is pretty good looking too."
"You are trying, far too hard," Crystal commented, not staring away from her book. When Crystal finally did look up, she noticed that Azul was specifically picking out people with glasses. "Wait, are you assuming all people with glasses are bookworms like me?"
"Um..." Azul let the sentence hang.
"That is so racist."
"Wait, glasses isn't a race."
"It's still prejudiced."
"Is it racist if I hate all the races equally?"
Crystal squinted at her friend. She replied, "yes."
"Oh damn, and here I thought that made me a fair opportunist racist."
Crystal's face scrunched from Azul's absurdity. Ignoring their own conversation, Azul pointed to another cute boy with glasses. "What about that guy?"
