“Azalea, it’s almost eleven! You’re going to sleep the weekend away!”

Her mother was hammering on the door. Azalea groaned and pulled the sheets off of her. Sitting up, she looked down and smiled. She still hadn’t gotten used to getting to wake up in her new pink bunny pajamas. It felt good.

“I’m up, Mom!” she cried.

“Don’t lounge around in your pajamas all day!” her mother called through the door.

Azalea got out of bed and stretched, then opened up her dresser and grinned. It had taken nearly a month to replace all her old boy clothes, but it had been worth it. Now it took so long in the mornings for her to figure out what she wanted to wear.

Changing her clothes and name was about all they had done so far. Her hair was growing, but Azalea was too young to begin using the magic that would give her a more feminine body. They’d already talked to her doctor, though, so a plan was in place.

Once she was out of the bath and dressed in leggings and a tunic, Azalea walked out of the bathroom and right into Poppy.

“Zee!” Poppy exclaimed. “I wanna play!”

“Alright, alright.” She grinned and ruffled Poppy’s hair. “Let’s go.”

Poppy took her by the hand and led Azalea down the hall, letting go once they were in Poppy’s room. Azalea’s heart sank a little and she sighed. Poppy’s room was definitely a girl’s room, while her own room still looked mostly the same as it always had. It would be a while before she felt like her life was on the right track.

“Zee?”

“Hm? What do you want to play?”

Poppy shoved a couple of pixie dolls into Azalea’s hands, then knelt down.

“You be Dawn and Meadow. I’ll be Blossom and Dove.”

Azalea chuckled and sat down on her knees to play.

“Remind me what happened last time,” she told Poppy.

Things settled into a familiar rhythm. According to Poppy, Azalea was actually getting pretty good at playing with dolls. It was high praise from her younger sister. And it was an awful lot of fun getting to play with Poppy now.

They heard movement out in the hall. Both turned to look out the open door, spotting Indigo. He was carrying a stack of new comics.

“Hey, Indigo,” Poppy said, “do you wanna play too?”

Indigo shook his head.

“Um, no thank you. I’ve got a lot of reading to do.”

He walked off and Azalea put down the dolls.

“Poppy, can we end it here for the day? I’ve got something I need to ask Indigo?”

“Aww, but we were just getting started.”

“I know.” Azalea ruffled Poppy’s hair. “We’ll play more tomorrow, I promise.”

Indigo’s door was already closed and locked. Azalea knocked, but got no response at first. She was about to knock again when the lock clicked and the door opened just a crack.

“Yes?” Indigo asked.

“Do you have it?”

Indigo narrowed his eyes and closed the door again. Azalea sighed and was about to knock again when it opened just a crack and Indigo shoved a comic book through the slot.

“Bring it back when you’re done,” he muttered, not looking directly at Azalea.

She took the Jinx comic and smirked.

“Enjoying the series?” she asked.

Indigo’s face started to turn red and he nodded briefly before closing the door in her face. Azalea chuckled. It wouldn’t be long before she’d have him watching the show, too.

Azalea returned to her room and plopped down on the bed, opening the comic. In this issue, Jinx was fighting two supervillains from the show who had teamed up, forcing Jinx to team up with her rival and love interest Miss Mayhem. The comic ended on a cliffhanger with Jinx and Miss Mayhem being trapped in a villain’s dungeon.

“Dang it,” Azalea muttered. “Now I have to wait until next month to find out what happened.”

A knock on the door interrupted her.

“Azalea,” her mom said through the door, “There are some girls at the door who want to see you.”

Azalea’s wings fluttered excitedly.

She flung open the door and asked, “Who is it?”

“Clementine and Amber, I think their names are.”

Azalea rushed past her mother and toward the door, skidding to a stop when she saw the two girls standing in the open doorway.

“Hey, what’s up?” she asked.

“We were going to go play by the rose garden,” Clementine said, running her hand through her short orange hair. “You wanna come, Zee?”

“Yeah, let me grab my shoes.” Turning away from them, she called down the hall, “Mom! I’m going out to play!”

“Just be back in time for dinner!” her mom replied.

“I will!” Azalea called back, slipping into her new sandals. Turning back to her friend, she grinned and said, “Let’s go.”

QuillRabbit

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