Another Day in the Life
"Su! I made your lunch!" a 17 year-old Lin called as she scooped some rice into a bento box that also contained stewed komodo chicken and sauteed greens. Lin brushed her long, black hair away from her face as she finished packing up their food for the day and placing them in bags.
The teenager was in a hurry. They had already woken up late and since their mother had work so early in the morning, it fell on Lin to get her sister ready for school.
"Come on, Su! It's time to go!" She shouted across the house and yet received no response. Lin rolled her eyes and sighed; the youngest Beifong was never on time or ready for school. "SU-YIN! Get your lazy butt out here right now! I mean it!"
Lin listened, but when no one responded again she groaned and stomped to her sister's room, ready to drag Su out of bed if she had to. Her bedroom was messy, as usual, but when she looked at the rumpled sheets on the bed there was no one to be found.
"Su?" She called again, but with a more concerned tone before she noticed the open window. Her eyes widened with fear as she ran to the window muttering "no, no, no" to herself. "Suyin!" She bellowed as she leaned on the windowsill, craning her head outside to see a very empty yard.
"Not again." Lin said under her breath as she climbed out of the window to pursue the little runaway. She sprinted down the road, hoping to catch sight of her. Briefly, she wished that her mother was there because she would be able to find Su in two seconds flat. Lin was still in the process of mastering the use of her seismic sense and could only "see" within a 6 yard radius.
When she arrived at the fork in the road, she frantically looked both directions unsure of what path to take. Sitting on the front porch of the house to her left was their wrinkled old neighbor rocking in her chair.
"Excuse me, Mrs. Cho! Have you seen my sister?" Lin asked with urgency.
"Su run off again?" Mrs. Cho responded in an amused sort of tone.
"Yes. Did you see where she went?"
"She went right – about two minutes ago."
Lin thought for a moment and looked down the road that was paved to the right. That is where her delinquent friend Chey lived.
"Thanks again, Mrs. Cho!" Lin called back as she took off running again.
Chey was that friend of hers from school that always seemed to be around when Su got in trouble. Neither was the leader or the instigator, but they certainly were a tag team for trouble. This was really not the day for Su to run off; Lin had a presentation at school for her World Affairs class and if she was late again, she would receive detention.
Once she reached Chey's house, Lin sped up the steps to the front door and knocked on it rapidly. She usually tried to avoid contact with this place because Chey's mother was a nasty woman; she never had anything nice to say and always looked at Lin with disgust. But, desperate times call for desperate measures and Lin was in no position to wait around.
As she was waiting for someone to answer the door, she heard a rustling sound on the side of the house. Lin's eyes narrowed and she went to investigate. She crept silently toward the corner of the front wall and closed her eyes to feel the vibrations of the earth. She could feel two sets of feet tiptoeing slowly along the wall. It was definitely them.
Lin stepped into the alleyway next to the house and crossed her arms as she laid eyes on her sister. "Busted." She said flatly.
Su groaned and turned around slowly.
"It's time for school. Come on or we'll be late." Lin said calmly, conveying that she was not amused by her behavior.
"But I don't want to go!" Su called back to her.
"Why?"
"Well – I didn't exactly finish my project for Social Sciences this week." Su responded without remorse, seeming to find hilarity in her shortcoming. "Come on, sis. Just let me off the hook this once?" She asked with a mischievous smirk, trying to appeal to their sisterly bond.
"Yeah, just let her off the hook." Chey chimed in, causing Lin's anger to rise.
"Beat it, kid." She said through gritted teeth and held up her fist. Running scared, he scurried quickly into his house.
"Nice try, but no." Lin said, redirecting her attention to Su. "You need to start taking responsibility for your actions. You are going to school and you are going right now. Let's. Go." She said forcefully, her patience waning.
"What if I say no?" Su asked defiantly and crossed her arms.
Lin reacted immediately and walked toward her. "Su, I don't have time for this. You're coming home with me right now."
"No! You can't tell me what to do."
"Excuse me?!"
"You are not my mom, so stop acting like it!" Su shouted.
"Well, mom's not here and somebody needs to make sure that you do the right thing!"
"Chey and I are going to the mall."
"Uh, no you're not."
"I'll see you later." Su said, waving her sister off.
Infuriated, Lin charged after her sister and grabbed her arm hard. She began to pull a struggling Su back toward the street. "You're going to school whether you like it or not."
"Ow! Let go! Get off of me!" Su protested loudly. She dug her heels into the dirt, using her earthbending to slow her older sister down, but Lin was freakishly strong. In a different effort, Su made a stomping motion with her foot and knocked Lin to the ground with a slab of rock that she jutted out of the grassy lawn. The young earthbender pulled free of the death grip and proceeded to run away again.
"You're gonna fail your classes, you know!"
"I don't care!" Su screamed with fury in her eyes as she turned around for round two.
"Well you should!" Lin said and righted herself.
"Mom doesn't!
Lin was taken aback by this statement. "Of – of course she cares. She's just too busy putting food on our table to deal with your idiotic behavior problems!" Lin paused and sighed. "It's my responsibility to keep you on track. She'll take it out on me if she finds out."
"If she finds out?" Su asked, lowering her voice.
"Look, I don't want to have to call mom because you know you'll be in much more trouble if she has to send officers out after you. So just – please come with me." Lin pleaded in one last effort to make her sister cooperate.
Su sighed, finally giving in. "Fine."
"Fine… I'll take it. Let's go." Lin sighed and gestured for her to come. Su's arms were crossed and she reluctantly walked back toward the street. Lin waited patiently until they were able to walk side by side. She glanced down at Su's forearm, which was red in the place where her hand had gripped. Lin reached out to examine it gently. "Did I hurt you?"
"Just leave me alone." Su snapped and jerked her arm away.
They walked back to the house without speaking. They quickly picked up their book bags and Lin handed Su her lunch. The silence was so deep that it lasted the whole walk to Su's junior high school. The building was still; there were no children or teachers milling around because they were now incredibly late.
"Have a good day." Lin ventured.
"Whatever." Su responded and took off toward the front door.
Lin sighed and walked over to the entrance of the high school next door. As she reached for the door, she glanced over to see if her sister was still outside. Sure enough, she was running in the opposite direction back toward the neighborhood. Lin almost took off after her again but thought better of it. She wouldn't be able to do anything about it at this point and she was already going to be in trouble with her teacher for being late. Furious, Lin quickened her pace to get to class.
Carefully, Lin reached for the knob and opened the door to her classroom, hoping that she could just slip in without causing too much of a disturbance. Unfortunately, she was wrong in her assumption. As soon as she entered the room, she was flooded by silence and the entire class was staring at her including their stern teacher Mrs. Bansu.
"Well, if it isn't young Miss Beifong. How lucky for us that she has graced us with her presence." Hissed Bansu in her smooth and condescending voice.
A few girls snickered from the back of the classroom, which only added to the angry heat rising in Lin's cheeks. As she turned to walk to her desk, Bansu grabbed Lin by the back of her collar.
"Since Miss Beifong so carelessly missed her presentation, she will be receiving an incomplete until her attendance has improved. Let this be a lesson to all of you the next time someone thinks about showing up late to my class."
Fuming, Lin took a deep breath, wishing she wouldn't get expelled for punching her teacher in her stupid face. When the snake-like instructor finally loosened her grip, the young earthbender wasted no time getting to her assigned seat. Red faced from embarrassment, Lin proceeded to pull out her books, notes and writing utensils.
The student sitting to her left cleared his throat, hoping that his friend would notice. Lin glanced sideways to see Tenzin's concerned face. "What happened?" He mouthed as the lecture began.
Lin shook her head and set her eyes back on her work – They could talk later… She was not interested in getting into any more trouble on this day…