Not Another…
Avatar Highschool AU!
"Yeah, uh…buzz off…" The small girl brushed her skirt out of habit. The motion took a few seconds longer than expected, given that her right hand had already grabbed a handful of Sokka's collar. Her pale, almost bluish-green eyes shimmered with mischievous glee, and her wide toothy grin reflected similarly.
The taller high school freshman was genuinely taken off guard by the smaller sixth grader's strength. More accurately, repeating high school freshman and soon to be seventh grader, respectfully.
"Toph, could you let go of my brother please?"
The small girl happily obliged, but more importantly, she was secretly growing tired of holding up the dimwitted high schooler.
"It's just a bit sad that today's the last day of summer." Katara ignored the thump of her older brother onto the dusty ground. "Sokka and I'll be going to the same joke of a high school, and on top of that we'll be in the same grade."
"Hey…we'll only be in the same health class!" Sokka quickly interjected. He brushed himself off and tidied his mussed appearance.
"And History, and Math, and English…" Katara mockingly began to list. Toph quickly joined in the girlish laughter with her own vicious cackle, one she picked up from the wrestling shows that she so enjoyed. The girls began to walk along the sidewalk, leaving Sokka on the ground.
After picking himself up and rushing to catch up with the girls, Sokka gave the small girl the evil eye then turned his attention to his sister. "I'll have you two know; I took all of those classes over the summer…and passed. It's just that they didn't offer health so late in the summer." He added with a smile.
"Uh huh…I'd love to have a battle of wits with you, but I see that you came unarmed." It was Katara's turn to laugh hard, and Sokka couldn't choose who to ignore anymore. "Besides, this is my stop." The three 'friends' stopped in front of a large white iron gate, and two astonished gasps broke the five second silence.
A long hedge wall about ten feet high barely reached the height of the gate, although it managed to completely block off any outsiders view. From the one entranceway and through white metal bars, all three could see a massive house in the distance.
"Wow…" Sokka said stunned
"I'll never get used to seeing that." Katara admitted happily.
"Yeah…it's magical." Toph said in a jaded tone. She walked straight for the metal barrier looking down. The gate security guard nodded at the small green eyed girl and opened the gate with a press of a button. "I guess I'll see you when I see you."
"Have fun in private school!" Katara waved to her young friend. "I'll be sure to visit you!"
Without looking back, the small girl continued down the tiled path as a white golf cart began its drive towards her. "Oh, before I forget!" Toph turned towards the voice that addressed her.
"Is your dad going to the meeting tonight?"
"I don't know…I'll try asking him again." Toph shrugged.
"Well make sure to tell him that 'Mayor Ozai' plans to make an appearance there." She admonished with a devious grin.
Standing where she was, Toph's wide grinned smile could have been seen from a mile away. "Sure thing Katara, and have fun in high school tomorrow!" She made her way towards the golf cart with a jump in her step.
The siblings on the other hand, still had two more blocks to travel to get back to their home. Unlike the district where their school was, Sokka and Katara had a relatively comfortable lifestyle thanks to their father and "uncle". Although nowhere near as fabulous as Toph Bei-Fong's residence, the blue loving siblings lived in a nice four bedroom, two story house, inside a nice and safe development. From the look of their home alone, it would be a surprise to learn that their main source of income, Katara and Sokka's mother, had died when Katara was younger. Hakoda, their father, was forced to take up two jobs to pay for the rent of their old downtown apartment.
Since then, their "uncle", Bato, had moved in and helped Hakoda get his job in the Bay City Police Department. After minutes of walking, the two kids finally reached their household. Katara opened the front door with the key, and Sokka stumbled straight to the bathroom.
"Hey, Sokka! I already called shotgun for the downstairs one!" She angrily yelled.
"Yeah, but you're not the one in here, are you?" Sokka's voice echoed from inside.
Growling, Katara quickly dashed the flight of stairs to the upstairs, much farther bathroom. As soon as she reached the door with a gasping breath (she jumped three stairs at a time), the downstairs bathroom door opened and the sound of flushing reverberated along the white and high walls.
"Whoo, you're not going to want to go in there for a while!" he exclaimed loudly. He stepped out with a step of pride, but he quickly jumped back into the bathroom to flip a second switch on the wall. A vent turned on at the flip of it, and he then trudged his way downstairs to his basement "bachelor pad".
"And what's this? The Steel Toe is put into submission! Three…"
"Three?"
"Two…"
"Two?!"
"One…he did it! The Boulder is the king of the ring!"
"Yes! Yes! Yes!" The small girl jumped up and down with supreme glee.
"Boulder, Boulder, what's your secret?"
As the mindless jargon of the deep voiced wrestler droned on the television, the bed 'foofed' loudly under the jumping assault of the now squealing and excitedly shrieking girl. Any regular spring bed would have crumpled from such a cruel test of durability; of course, such bed designs were too inferior for a Bei-Fong's posterior.
"Miss Toph, are you alright?" A maid, dressed in classic maid-wear frantically rushed through the large oak doors.
"Get out!" Toph's shrill voice commanded and whipped a pillow at the face poking through the crack of the door. The young twenty or something Puerto Rican just barely evaded the assault, and closed the door just in time. "Where is it, where is it?" The small girl jumped off of the bed with a thump. Groaning in pain, Toph lifted her lithe body off of the plush light green carpeting and stumbled onto her feet. Searching around the general area, she squinted extremely hard and brought her round face close to wherever she looked.
Her small digits fumbled around the floor close to the bed until finally she felt the plastic object. Eagerly placing it back on her face, Toph felt a strange mix of relief, and torment. The immensely wide black rimmed glasses that adorned her face were what she figured must have been the sole source of embarrassment for her entire life. Because of how ridiculous she looked, the small green eyed maiden kept to the family estate for most of her day.
Of course, it was possible for her extremely weak retinas to be repaired, but if she had to go through any more treatments and operations, she'd just as much rather stick with her "super-focals". It was also because of her poor eyesight and general health problems during early childhood that made her father—Doctor Bei Fong that also kept her on the family estate for most of her day. If it wasn't for a small inconvenience called "Child Services", she would never have been let out of the house to go to private school. Still, Dr. and Mrs. Bei Fong were happy of the strict code that the school placed, and that her private "tutor", Mr. Yu kept an eye on her during school hours while the more than capable head of security, Xin Fu, kept his on the premises.
That's what they think anyway.
It was just a plain miracle that she had some sort of a social life, even if it was just one girl…and technically her brother. Toph never would have met Katara if it wasn't for a freak fishing accident. Sokka had two fishing hooks in his thumb, and he tried to get the first fishing hook…with another fishing hook. Toph just happened to be playing receptionist while the regular one had left to deliver some files, and both the young raven haired girl and the taller brunette heckled the brother…and didn't do a thing to help him.
Wait…what time is it? Toph snapped out of her reverie and asked herself. She quickly checked the Hello Kitty analog clock that her mother had so "thoughtfully" got her for her birthday last year to see that it was six o'clock. Her eyes widened in surprise and she quickly bolted for her computer.
"Oh no…I'm late!" She panted out loud to herself. Desperately rushing in her movements, Toph uncharacteristically tapped her finger on the black wireless keyboard repeatedly while it loaded. "Finally…" She sighed, and frantically typed up her password on the Online Quick Talker, a.k.a. the OQT. "Where is he….where is he?" Her magnified eyes skimmed through the several hundred names of online people to find the name. "Why didn't I save it to a separate category? Geez…"
A window suddenly popped up and blocked her view of the messenger options bar, followed by a loud meowing sound.
BoomerangGuy: Hey
xxxGreenEyedBanditxxx: Argh, I had the weirdest day…
BoomerangGuy: Me, oh, I'm fine…thanks for asking…
xxxGreenEyedBanditxxx: Sorry…it's just that…just, argh…
BoomerangGuy: If it's really that bad, you can stop writing correctly, if you want…
xxxGreenEyedBanditxxx: That's sweet of you hon, but you just persuaded me to do this, didn't you?
BoomerangGuy: Yeah, but…you know. You want to talk about it?
xxxGreenEyedBanditxxx: I don't know…
BoomerangGuy: …Insert smiley face here…
xxxGreenEyedBanditxxx: Nice
xxxGreenEyedBanditxxx: So anyways,
BoomerangGuy: Thanks
xxxGreenEyedBanditxxx: Anyways, Mr. Annoying was at it again, and he tried to listen in on me and my friend's private conversation…
BoomerangGuy: Sucks
xxxGreenEyedBanditxxx: Yeah, it's just too bad that someone as sweet as you isn't around to help me out…
BoomerangGuy: Heheh
BoomerangGuy: I'd be there in a heartbeat!
xxxGreenEyedBanditxxx: Awww, you're just too cute. Still, there's still that last "thing" that I'm still dealing with…
BoomerangGuy: Speaking of which, did they ever catch the guy?
xxxGreenEyedBanditxxx: No, but hopefully internet predators will learn not to mess with the princess.
BoomerangGuy: Nice
xxxGreenEyedBanditxxx: Wink
"Iroh, tell me again why I'm going to this… 'Group meeting'?" A single man asked while looking out the car window.
"Well 'sir'," the driver mockingly started, "With your upcoming election, I felt that it would be great for you to get to know some of the voters. You know, let them see that you're not as cold as they think…"
"Alright…" the shrouded man continued to watch the dark road through his passenger side window, "let's say I meet them…what's next, a public apology to Zuko?"
"Ozai, he's right here…" the bearded driver said annoyed.
"Don't worry uncle. I'm used to it." A soft voice spoke out. The surprised Iroh looked through his rear view mirror to see the shadowy right side of his young nephew's face. Deciding that now wasn't the time, Iroh chose to ignore such a cold comment made by his younger brother.
"Anyways…" he sighed out, "It would also be best to thank the doctor who saved your son. Doctor…uh…"
"Bei Fong…" Zuko added. Iroh looked back towards his nephew again, then to his own shrew of a younger brother.
No matter how much they deny it…they're definitely father and son. Iroh quietly surmised. They even brood the same way… this little factoid managed to stretch his wrinkled face into a slight smile as he pulled the old Cadillac into the driveway.
After turning off the engine and pulling out the trick ignition, the three men stepped out of the vehicle and made their way to the front door. As soon as they stepped foot onto the white concrete walkway that branched out from the black paved driveway, a flood light cut through the darkness and illuminated everything in a ten foot radius.
With the Mayor-incumbent in front, Iroh and his less-than-social nephew brought up the rear.
"Uncle, why did I have to come and not Azula?" He quietly murmured, making sure that his dear father didn't hear.
"Well, nephew..." the wise sage began, "Unlike you, Azula has friends to have a sleep over at. Of course, your dear old Uncle is here to help you with that." He put his left arm around the younger boy's shoulder. "It's been so long since rehabilitation that you've left your old school, but I hear that Hakoda has a son and daughter who attend the high school that you're going to tomorrow. So why not make some friends, huh?"
Iroh rushed to his brother's side at the top of the three step stairs. Not even seconds after the press of the doorbell did the wild haired Bato open the plain white doors.
"Iroh! You old dragon, how've you been?" The dark skin of his hand clashed with the paler one of Iroh's as they pounded each other's knuckles and embraced each other in a hug. "Come on in. Oh, you must Ozai…how are you sir?"
"Hello there Mr…"
"Just call me Bato, sir." He modestly chortled.
"Well then, nice to meet you Bato." The mayor returned. He used his fake interested smile that he wore whenever he was out in public. It looked quite genuine though, but Iroh and Zuko knew better.
"Iroh, hey there!" called another deep voice.
"And you must be—whoa! Umph…" Hakoda quickly nudged his dear friend in his side before he could say anything stupid.
"You're Zuko, right?" Hakoda greeted the short haired teen. "Well, don't mind us, just go downstairs and meet Sokka. He's probably on the computer or something."
The bandaged teen eagerly took the command in earnest and made his way as far from his father as possible.
"Mr. Mayor, sir…how are you?" Hakoda directed his attention to the taller youthful man.
"I'm good…Hakoda, isn't it?" He shook the dark bearded man with a look of interest.
"Why, yes sir." He chuckled in surprise.
"I believe that you provided escort security for my last election win….bang up job. Men like you make the Bay City Police Department shine with professionalism. Keep it up." The mayor smiled his cheery smile and shook his hand with excessive force.
"Uh…thank you sir…the others are waiting around in the living room."
"Well Ozai, let me introduce you to the others, huh?" Iroh gingerly placed his hand on his brother's shoulder and led him through the hallway decorated with picture frames and hunting memorabilia.
"You're lucky…" Bato scoffed to his best friend. "If the chief hadn't placed me on parade duty…" He shook his clenched fist wildly yet jokingly. Hakoda pushed him away and made his way towards the living room.
"Yeah, but then you still would've been given an even more embarrassing detail." Hakoda's deep laugh irked Bato to new heights, forcing him to resort to…prankish methods…
xxxGreenEyedBanditxxx: Wink
BoomerangGuy: Haha, nice…
xxxGreenEyedBanditxxx: Isn't it? Hey, do you want to come over one of these days?
BoomerangGuy: I guess my dad's thing is starting now…
BoomerangGuy: Wait, what?
xxxGreenEyedBanditxxx: You heard, uh…read me…
BoomerangGuy: Yeah, but…why? Haven't you learned from that whole…thing?
xxxGreenEyedBanditxxx: Nah…So what do you think?
BoomerangGuy: Uh…I'm going to have to think about it…do your parents know?
xxxGreenEyedBanditxxx: My dad's gone out tonight, and he has some convention meeting to go to next week.
BoomerangGuy: No wonder you're on so late…you'd usually be gone by now
xxxGreenEyedBanditxxx: Look who's talking 'snoozles'…
BoomerangGuy: Yeah, yeah…anyways, I better go…my dad wants me to take care of his friend's kid or something
xxxGreenEyedBanditxxx: Really…you want to leave such a marketplace of knowledge…
xxxGreenEyedBanditxxx: And a cutie like me?
BoomerangGuy: Sorry…
BoomerangGuy: Oh, I hear someone coming downstairs…I guess I'll talk to you tomorrow?
xxxGreenEyedBanditxxx: Sure, Sure…
…BoomerangGuy has signed off…
xxxGreenEyedBanditxxx: Sigh…
After signing off of the OQT, Sokka returned to searching for quick-notes for the summer book report. He'd searched high and low with Gaggle, Yeehaw, and RequestJim, until finally he found the perfect search engine to use. Using FastNotes, he not only found a quick summary for Harriet Beecher Stowes' "Uncle Tom's Cabin", but the site also provided things such as themes, characters, motifs and even plot conclusions.
The creaking of the stairs finally halted, and the pitter-patter of sneakers on the tile floor alerted Sokka to a visitor. "Hey, you must be…uh…Zuko! Yeah!" The blue eyed teen swiveled around on his computer chair to face his guest. "What's up?" He offered his hand for a quick handshake towards the guest.
"Hey" the dark haired teen returned the gesture with less enthusiasm. Both teens were quickly enveloped in an awkward silence. One stood on the carpet-wooden floored in-between while the other sat in his plush black computer swivel chair.
"So…uh…you an Al Pachino fan?"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"You know…" Sokka quickly stuttered out, "Ocean's thirteen…Dick Tracy…The Godfather…uh, Giggly?"
"Don't you mean Gigli?"
"Yeah…" He jumped onto his feet. "I managed to scrounge up a PS3…want to try it out?" Sokka just narrowly avoided conflict with the slightly taller guest. It was his sarcastic and satiric sense of humor that always took him perilously close to danger and hurt, but luckily he was smart enough to always use reference jokes to break the ice.
In other words, "Scarface" as an ice breaker might not be one of the classiest or politically correct things to use to describe the dark haired teen.
"Come on, how did you beat that level?" Sokka screamed in disbelief.
"I have a copy of 'Resistance' at home…besides, you're playing on easy mode…wuss…" Zuko managed to crack a small smile with only a minute show of pain when his left cheek moved. His faint yellow eyes quickly returned to the seventeen inch screen as Nathan Hale streamed a barrage of Auger bullets into the Chimera onslaught.
Only a few feet away, a second pair of amber eyes that peeked through the wooden banister quickly disappeared and moved back upstairs. Iroh was happy that his nephew had made a new friend.
Now only if his own brother could lighten up and have some fun with the other adults…
No more than a year ago, Hakoda had finally managed to buy the very house that Iroh was now navigating through. With the help of Bato, his college roommate, as well as most of the Bay City Police Department, Hakoda and his children eagerly moved out of the shack of an apartment that they lived in downtown, and into the house of their dreams.
Iroh himself was there during the moving in, since at the time Hakoda could barely afford to pay professional movers to bring their scarce amount of worldly goods into the two story dream house. Before his retirement, the badgery old man prided himself on being the Chief of the BCPD.
In order to repay his friends' hospitality, Hakoda and Bato celebrated with a party…and a loud and rambunctious one at that. It was quite ironic for the neighbors to call noise complaints and when the police arrived at the white light-filled house, they brought beers and more food. Luckily for Sokka and Katara, their grandmother happily took them in for the weekend at the nursing home for the night.
The following week, Bato brought home some of his high school friends to the house in jest with a keg in tow, and with now famous words, Hakoda simply said "Where's the tap?"
Since then, the first week of every month made Hakoda's house party central, but the celebration was for an entirely different matter. Believe it or not, some of the men had a very deep bond of similarity ran between them. Hakoda, Tyro, Bobby "Mechanist" Lee, and even Iroh himself found that each of them had lost their wife in one way or another. Ozai had recently lost his wife in a messy divorce, and with Iroh's prodding, the mayor himself was a prospective member for their fun little club. Although several other frequenters don't share the same link, they were always welcome as long as the rest approved of it.
"Mr. Mayor, it is an honor to meet you!"
"Well looky here, it's the good doctor himself!" laughed Bato. The door chimed as two new people entered the house.
"If I don't believe it…the Mayor and his one man fan club in the same house! How did you manage to do that Hakoda?!" A deep resonating voice boomed loudly with pride.
"Tyro, I didn't know construction workers had such a long life span!" Hakoda joked back. "Hey there Haru, Sokka's downstairs in his room." He placed his dark hand on the bandanna wearing teen's shoulder and pointed out the way. As the brunette boy made his way to the basement, the booming figure of the man named Tyro presented yet another batch of alcohol. "Geezem crow…" Hakoda mumbled to himself. Suddenly, the bearded man flashed a trademark grin.
"Alright, I have an idea." He took the glass bottle of Jaegermeister out of the brown paper bag and quickly rushed off to the living room. "Hey Iroh…want to show us that trick? C'mon, for old times sake?"
Upstairs in her room, the poster decorated walls just barely filtered the men's raucous laughter into a faint droning enough for Katara to hear her own thoughts. It took her a little longer than she thought, but the blue eyed honor roll student had finally finished her summer reading assignment.
"Mark Twain's 'Huckleberry Finn' and Voltair's 'Candide'…" She sighed to herself. "Why did I have to take Honors English and French Literature at the same time?" Exhaling once again, the long haired girl took solace in flopping onto her bed without a care in the world. The springs pushed back with equal force and Katara bounced up and down with slowing inertia until finally she rested peacefully on her soft 'Chappy Rabbit' covers. "I wonder what high school will be like." Soft breathing soon replaced the dead silence of the dimly lit room.
If only the guys knew how loud Katara snored…
"The classic bell toll…In the great words of Edgar Allen Poe… 'The bell tolls for thee!' Mwahahaha!"
"Sokka, will you stop being so dramatic?" Katara immediately smacked her 'older' brother. "Besides, Edgar Allen Poe is famous for 'Quoth the Raven,' remember?"
"Really? I thought Mark Twain said that…" Sokka thoughtfully placed a finger on his bottom lip. Katara could only groan in regret of her relation and smack him again.
After only a few minutes walk, the two siblings had arrived to their first day of school. The large red bricked bell tower of the Bay City High School pierced the blue sky and acted as the single distinguishing facet of the architecture from other schools. Of course, the only other school within the city, would be the inner city's P.S. 309.
"Hey there Sokka!" a voice called from behind them.
"Hey Zuko, what's up?" the two teens greeted each other with a knuckle pound and smiles on their faces. "So you ever manage to beat the game?"
"Nah…I'm too busy beating down 'noobs' on multi player!" Sokka laughed.
"So you're Zuko, huh?" Katara spoke out. "You're the one who Sokka's been howling damnations to at three in the morning?"
"Yeah." he suavely responded. "And you must be Katara." He offered his hand in greeting. "We didn't get to meet last night, huh?"
"Nah…she was too busy with the immense amount of academic torture she's placed upon herself." Sokka quickly took the chance to flick his dear sister's nose with his finger. "How'd you manage with the English assignment, Mr. Montana?"
"First off, any more 'Scarface' jokes out of you and you'll look a lot like a Chimera…" Sokka chuckled nervously at this, but the three continued walking toward the school at a slow pace. "But it was surprisingly hard to answer those questions and make that essay. I didn't know why they'd ask for slavery references for 'Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'."
"Dude…that's because you were supposed to choose from the list…" Sokka dryly told the other teen.
"There was a list!?" Zuko stopped in his tracks. His eyes bulged out in shock and he grabbed onto his head for good measure. "I'm screwed!!"
"Here, you can have mine if you really need it." The panicking teen opened his eyes to see a manila folder held up in front of him. Following the hand holding it, down to the arm, Zuko found that it belonged to a small bald boy. He wore a nicely pressed brown business jacket, and a yellow and orange tie that centered a white pressed shirt. The boy's gray eyes sparkled with childish glee, and the wide smile reminded him of his younger sister Azula…at least, if she ever did smile…
"You're going to want to read through that a bit…I doubt Mrs. Wu would automatically think that you've read 'Thirty Years a Slave'." Zuko happily took the folder and began to skim through its contents. He came across the purple summer assignment sheet, and quickly analyzed the list of books.
"Aang!" Katara squealed. Without warning, she jumped towards the small bald boy and hugged him tightly.
"Hey baldy, what are you doing here?" Sokka aggressively rubbed the boy's head.
"Well I just got back from Tibet yesterday, and today's kind of the first day of school, right?" Aang gasped aloud, as he rubbed his sore sides.
"That's not what I meant…" the blue eyed boy exhaled, "I mean what you are doing here?" the small bald boy only stared. "You're twelve…and this is you know…high school?"
"Sokka, didn't you hear?" Katara flicked her brother's nose, "Aang's a modern day Doogie Howser!" It was Sokka's turn to stand and stare blankly, and Katara's turn to exhale loudly. "He's teaching here…"
"What? No!" Aang exclaimed. "It's more of a teacher's aid thing. I still have to give in homework and pass the midterm and final exams until they O.K. my application."
"Where have I heard something like that?" Sokka mumbled to himself.
"You're kidding me." Katara smacked her brother's head. "This isn't one of your 'anime' cartoons, Sokka. In fact, they're probably going to make a cartoon based on Aang because of this. It might even be a Nickelodeon show!"
"What I want to know," Zuko interrupted, "is why this whole list is based on slavery-toned books?"
"By the way, this is Zuko." Sokka introduced the black haired boy.
"That's because every year, the school board discusses a certain topic through its English classes." Aang explained. "This year is slavery, while last year was on Inuit literature. And hi." He waved to the teen.
"We totally aced that one!" Sokka exclaimed. He turned to his sister, and they happily high-fived each other.
"Are you sure about giving Zuko your report Aang?" Katara asked, "What are you supposed to give in?"
"Don't worry about it. I have a whole bunch of them in my briefcase." The small suit wearing boy lifted up the black briefcase for all to see. "Anyways, I better rush to the faculty room before school starts. The principal wants to run me through some rules!" Aang began to run towards the school building.
"And Gyatso said he'd be there next week!" Aang's voice was heard from the distance.
"Ok, see you later, Aang!" Katara called back to him.
"Later baldy!" Sokka added into the long distance conversation.
"Nice meeting you!" Zuko distractedly ended the conversation, as he continued reading through the folder.
"C'mon Tony, we should show you around before you trip and fall down the social ladder…" The brother/sister team dragged their new friend closer to the school. Arriving closer to the building, Zuko saw several groups huddled on the lawn and pavement steps waiting for the school bell to ring.
"In no specific order, we're going to introduce you to the 'groups' of Bay City High. Katara, if you may?"
"I'd be happy to stop you from talking." She said while Sokka scoffed at his sister's joke. "Anyway Zuko, over there by the track field, are the cheerleaders."
In the distance, a group of six girls practiced acrobatic moves and dance steps.
"No Myn, you were supposed to cartwheel, not backflip! Sumei, could you please help her out!?"
"Hey Kikyo, help me out with this one move?"
"What do you need, Akemi?"
"Help me with my leg like what Sai's doing!"
"Much better Myn; thanks Sumei!" Feeling eyes watching the back of her head, the cheerleading captain quickly turned around. "OH! Hey there snookums!" she squealed.
"Well, hello Suki!" Sokka waved back.
"C'mon Romeo, let's keep the tour going." Katara sighed and grabbed her brother's earlobe to drag him away. They continued walking until they arrived at the basketball court. "And over there is some of the basketball team." She pointed out three boys practicing drills just below the basket rim.
While one of the boys sat in a wheelchair, it was obvious that he was the best player of the three. The second player wore a wide green headband to hold back his hair, while the third was a light skinned boy who looked like Fabio's protégé.
"Hey there Haru, I never thought that you were on the team!" Zuko called out to the players.
"Well it's better than being cooped inside playing video games!" the brunette returned, and shot the ball from the free throw line. "Ha, respect that, Hahn!"
"Hey, those girls are new…" Sokka pointed out nearby the chain link fence.
"I guess the 'populars' decided to raise some new followers…" Katara said coldly.
"Who are the 'populars'?" Zuko saw the group of girls near the fence.
"If you ever saw 'Mean Girls', they're the one's who the movie's based on…" the girl answered.
"Once when Katara and Toph were coming home from the spa-"
"Let's just go…" she pulled on the boy's arms and avoided the girls altogether.
Azula?
Zuko spotted his sister and her friends as the three 'followers'. He lost sight of the three freshman girls as they rounded one of the portable trailers used to store the school band's instruments, and suddenly bumped into Sokka in front of him. "Hey, what?"
A group of five kids stood in their way, six if you counted the large behemoth of a boy as a 'kid'. "Hey there, Katara…how you doin?" the lead boy said in a 'joisey' accent. A smart-ass grin appeared on his face which moved the toothpick apparently lodged into the side of his mouth. "So when are we going out?"
"Hi Jet…" she said flatly.
"Jet?" Zuko took a closer look at the boy's attempt at being Casanova. Upon further inspection, it was plain to see the green and white jersey and the big number ten proudly stitched into the silky cloth.
"Or you could call me Robin Hood…" he continued his smile. "I take from the smart, and give to the needy."
"That doesn't make any sense at all!" Sokka said annoyed. "And please, enough of your codenames." He continued on.
"I'm guessing that you guys don't like each other, huh?" Zuko guessed.
"Since last summer's water war, no…not really." Katara shot the evil eye at the six kids.
"Jet tricked Aang into filling up all of their water balloons and water guns, of which they used on us and him." Sokka finished. "Isn't that right, Jet?"
The long awaited school bell finally rang, and interrupted the two feuding groups. "I'd love to continue this 'Monsieur', but we've got some school to do." The messy haired boy made his way to follow the crowd into the building, closely tracked by the other kids. Two kids in particular stood where they were, one the long faced boy known simply as Longshot, and the tomboyish girl, Smellerbee.
"See you around, guys." The small girl said, while the boy gave only a nod. They rushed to join the crowd and disappeared amongst the countless bored expressions of high schoolers.
"Well, I got English first." Sokka sighed.
"It's French for me." Katara exhaled.
"I have history." Zuko said, and tried to suppress his happiness.
"Wait, seriously? First period history? Who's the teacher!?" Sokka in all of his odd-ball glory, screamed in the midst of the crowd entering the building.
"Uh, my schedule didn't say." Zuko admitted. Looking around him, the teen realized that he had long been separated from his friends by the crowd of students. If there was a mirror in the crowded hallway, the yellow eyed boy would see, not a wise high school sophomore, but a confused freshman desperately looking for his class.
"Hey, need some help?" Zuko immediately spun in his place and bumped into someone in the crowd.
"Oh geez," Zuko said embarrassed. "I'm so sorry!" he dropped down to the floor and began picking up the books and papers that flopped from the impact. When he finally stood up, he saw two green eyes look him over as if they were inspecting him.
"Don't worry about it. By the way, the name's Jin."
And so, after the morning announcements, the students of Bay City High School began the academic part of their year. Every class was full with students, to the point where desks began to bump into each other. Teachers, forced to hold classes for up to (sometimes) thirty kids at a time, found their job difficult to accomplish even as it was the first day of school.
It was lucky that the school board had instituted the use of teacher's aids to assist (as well as groom) future teachers. Of course, because of a shortage of teachers, many aids have found themselves thrown into the fray directly.
"Well Aang, I believe that's all that I have for you today." Three men sat around in an empty classroom just fifteen minutes before the end of the first period. All three were like a microcosm, since each of them was either young, middle aged, or old.
"Well no matter, thanks a lot Mr. Pathik." The child said.
"I have to admit kid, whether it was Mr. Pathik who's been helping you out, but you are pretty talented at teaching already." The middle aged man admitted.
"Really, you don't have to say that!" Aang modestly tried to deny. "I mean, it really was thanks to Mr. Pathik, Mr…"
"I'm not much for formalities, even if the old 'Guru' here is. Just call me Hue." The middle aged man scratched the brown beard the stretched out from his bush head of hair. "I ain't much for titles, you know." His deep southern voice cracked as he laughed heartily and took a bite of a sandwich he held.
"Now Hue, you shouldn't be eating so early in the day!" the elder teacher said.
"Oh yeah? So what's that there bowl in your hand, then?" The elder Pakistani man was indeed holding a bowl in his hand. Using the spoon in the other, he dunked a spoonful of yellowish mush through his bushier white beard and into his mouth.
He paused when his peer pointed out the hypocrisy in his criticism, and hurriedly took a huge gulp of his food. "My food is healthier than yours." He said simply. The end of period bell rang, immediately halting the ridiculous debate over food.
"That's our cue." Pathik said as he replaced the plastic cover for his Tupperware bowl. "Good luck Aang."
"Wait, guys, don't tell me I have to teach health already!?"
"Well," Hue swallowed the final piece of his catfish sandwich, "Technically not until the beginning bell for second period rings."
"We would gladly help you on your first day, Aang, but we have classes to teach." Pathik said apologetically.
"Even with our own teacher aids, our hands are full with students." Hue sadly admitted. "We're just too understaffed at this point."
"If you ever need help, you're always welcome in the math office." Pathik said to the young teacher's aid.
"And if you're ever around the social studies office, drop in for some debates." Hue added. The two teachers opened the door that separated the quiet classroom from the chaos that was a high school hallway. They were basically sucked in by the sheer amount of students rushing off to their next class, most of whom were nervous freshmen unaware of the beginning of their trivial pursuit of knowledge.
"By the way, Aang!" Hue's head popped back to look into the classroom with strained fingers holding on for dear life. "Really sorry about this whole situation, kid. If you ever need taxes done, I'm your economist!" With a wail of surprise, the bearded southern teacher was reclaimed by the wave of students and disappeared once again into the hallway.
Sighing to himself, Aang proceeded with setting up for his first class ever…and health of all subjects.
In the metal beamed ceiling of the Bay City High School gymnasium, a large green and black tapestry hung down for all to see. A long list of years decorated the eye catching tapestry, and just at the top were the letters "BCHS" superimposed over a large white "W".
Below on the wooden gym floor, the squeaky sneakers and claps of sandals and boots scuffed around towards prearranged seating spots. In their homeroom, every student was told to sit according to their grade in order to facilitate the first day's attendance. Skipping locker designations, everyone was told to change into their gym clothes, and if they didn't then they were to sit on the bleachers after attendance was taken. The floor was divided halfway by a prominent line that changed wooden flooring into a purple mat where the gymnastics equipment was set up. Nearby the vaulting horse, a group wearing karategis practiced what were obviously martial arts moves.
"Wow" an amber eyed boy unwittingly eavesdropped on a conversation. "Check it out, it's the school martial arts team! I hear that they're the state champions, right?" The eavesdropper turned his head slightly so his right eye could see the group, and indeed there was a team.
"I'd love to get to know them, right?" The two boys laughed at their innuendo, and quickly exchanged high low and middle fives.
"Hey Sokka, aren't those the cheerleaders?" Zuko tapped on the shoulder in front of him. They both sat cross legged in line on the wooden floor, and the blue eyed teen looked back in surprise.
"Hey 'Tony', I didn't know you had second period gym, too? That's weird."
"Uh, yeah…but aren't they?" Zuko kept on track and pointed to the judo flipping girls. Sokka finally overcame his disbelief and looked into the distance to see the group of girls now bowing out. The dark skinned teen waved happily to one of the black belted fighters and he nearly forgot his friend's question. After several nudges, his attention popped back to reality.
"Yeah, why do you ask?"
"I don't know". Zuko realized that it wasn't really that big a deal. "It's just weird to see cheerleaders doing actual sports."
"Well I'm not sure about the other girls, but Suki's been doing that kind of stuff since she was little."
"And how do you know that?" the yellow eyed teen grew interested.
"I first met her when I used to go to the same dojo. My mom used to take me there…"
"Alright kids!" A confident voice caught everyone's attention. "Just in case you don't know me, my name's Suki." Everyone who sat on the floor looked up to see a short haired brunette standing cross armed and with a cheerful smirk on her young face. "You might know me as the head cheerleader during games and pep rallies, but in here, you'll know me as the phys-ed teacher's aid!"
"And sorry snookums, but you won't get any special treatment…"
Everyone glanced over to the embarrassed blue-eyed teen whom the T.A cutely waved to. "Anyways, my 'helpers' right now are handing out sign up sheets for phys-ed activities that you can choose from. Listed is track and field, basketball, and the rest of the usual stuff. What's new to the roster however is that the school board's allowed martial arts to be part of gym. It's different from the Martial Arts Club, and the Martial Arts Team, but you'll get serious bonus points come tryout time if you get good grades."
"Unlike other sporting events, martial arts designates its captain solely based on experience or skill, so if you want to suck up, don't talk to me, talk to Sumei." Suki pointed out to the tallest 'helper' who was busily handing out sign-up rosters to kids sitting in the bleachers.
"Ok then…" the black-belt T.A placed her hands on her hips. "That's all I have for gym, and you have about fifteen minutes left for the period." A loud wave of groans surged through the students who took effort to dress up. Those on the bleachers however, just sat lazily and waited for the class to end.
Haven filled out, signed and returned all of the sign-up sheets in less than ten minutes, the students spent the rest of the class sitting around idly, or chatting up a storm. The end of second period finally arrived with the Pavlovian ringing bell, and the students dutifully made their way out of the gymnasium via the doors.
"Make sure you guys get to your third period class right away!" Suki tried to call over the murmuring mass of students. "There's supposed to be some sort of district wide announcement—and you're not listening to me…" The T.A gave up before she strained her voice too harshly and simply walked to the locker room to change followed by the 'helpers'.
"So, what class do you have next?" Sokka asked his peer amidst the crowd of students. Zuko shuffled through his crumpled schedule paper and ran his finger down the timeline. Blue eyes caught a quick glimpse of red at the top of the sheet, perhaps numbers…and a name?
"I have health next." Zuko finally answered.
"Again, strange coincidence, but not too weird; I have health too, but I'm stuck doing freshman health…again." Maneuvering through the throng of students, both teens found their classrooms. "Alright Tony, I'll see you later." Sokka waved and entered the room and looked to see if he recognized any of the freshmen. "Uh, Zuko…what are you doing here?"
"This is room two-oh-nine, right?" Zuko asked. "My schedule says to come here."
"Let me see that." Sokka grabbed the sheet of paper, and strangely enough, Zuko was in the right classroom. Taking his chance, the blue eyed teen also quickly glanced at the red writing at the top of the sheet. Seven numbers were crudely scribbled with three digits and four digits separated by a hyphen. On top of the numbers was the name "Jin" with a cutely drawn heart replacing the dot atop the 'i'. "Maybe I'm in the wrong classroom…"
"No Sokka, your name's on the list of students." A young voice announced from the teachers desk. "Hey there, Zuko!"
Why do I do this to myself? The chestnut haired girl thought as she moved through the hallways. What difference does it make whether I take honors classes or regular ones? The chestnut haired girl thought as she moved through the hallways.
Finally arriving at her locker, her blue eyes focused carefully on the numbers of the combinations written on her schedule. Quickly exchanging textbooks and notebooks for her next class, the girl gently closed the metal locker door and rejoined the hallway stream of students.
It's so stressful, worrying about grades…but what about Aang? This comes so easily to him that he managed to become a teacher's aid! What am I thinking? She lightly slapped her own head. I'm getting jealous again…
Her thoughts would be cut short however, as Katara accidentally bumped into someone as she turned into her third period class. "Oh, sorry…Sokka?"
"Hey sis" the taller blue eyed teen patted his sister's head. "I'm stuck in your health, remember?"
"Ok, but what's Zuko doing here?" she asked curiously, although it went unanswered; the beginning of class bell rang, and the three plus other students standing idly outside the room went to take whatever arbitrary seats were available. After taking her seat, Katara busied herself with taking out her books and pencils and erasers and neatly placed them on her slightly slanted desk.
"Alright class, instead of the usual schedule for today, the school district has something planned for everyone to watch during third period." Assuming that these echoic commands came from the teacher, Katara glanced up from her front row seat to find the area empty. Looking around quizzically, she and everyone else in the room looked out the door when squeaky wheels approached. Some would call it "sucking up", while others would just call her a "teacher's pet", but Katara jumped at the chance to make a good first impression with her teacher. A large television tray popped into view, and the blue eyed honors student took the front part and helped wheel it into the room.
"Thanks" A small voice cheered from the other side. Happy that she did her duty, Katara returned to her seat without so much as glancing at the teacher. The light was suddenly turned off, and the only illumination left on, were those of the hallway that peeked through the door's window—and that of the television, showing nothing but a snowy screen. "Oh man, I almost forgot. Uh, you may be wondering why there are sophomores as well as freshmen in this class at the same time, but uh…" The teacher's voice mumbled and furniture moved around in the dark. "Oh no, I'm going to be late…" the silhouette rushed back to the television and the channel speedily changed until Video-1 was found. The white fuzzy light suddenly turned blue, and the silhouette of the teacher casually sat at the dark corner of the teacher's desk.
After a few seconds of waiting in the dark, the students began to talk amongst themselves about their classes, their summer, and general teenage topics. A fine whining sound caught their attention, and the letters "BCHS SNN" appeared on top of a grassy background. The "Colbert Report"-like music began to play, and the letters swirled around and swooshed off at the drum intro.
A peppy young girl appeared behind a desk on screen, sitting in front of a tapestry displaying the school colors and letters. "Hey there students of Bay City High School, Ace Anchor-girl, Meng here, and welcome to the first official broadcast of the Student News Network for the school year!" Her young voiced sang as peppy as she was dressed, and the girl straightened a group of papers with the help of her oak desk, and the camera quickly changed to a different view. She turned with the camera change, and looked ahead as a graphic appeared to the left of her face. "First off, on behalf of the Journalism class and club, I'd just like to say 'thanks' to the Board for funding this for us!" A group of claps were heard in the background, and some kids in the class mockingly clapped as well.
"Now onto some real news..." The graphic changed from saying "Thanks" in pink bubble letters to an outside shot picture of the school. "As incoming freshman and even some returning students may have noticed, some of our classes are handled by teacher's aids, rather than just plain old teachers! That's because budget cuts have severely drained funds out from schools, leaving BCHS understaffed. But thanks to the mayor's administration, who came up with the 'T.A' program, the Board has been able to recruit several T.A's from nearby colleges to intern and help in this crisis."
"Of course, we shouldn't forget some of our own who've been honored internship offerings like Suki…uh, and Aang…geez Teo, why didn't you get me last names?" She suddenly called to off-screen in a bout of frustration.
"Sorry!" an off-screen voice called back and the news anchor sighed, but still kept her cool.
"…Anyways, congrats to you two, Aang and Suki! And now to local news…" The graphic changed once again to show the local township flag and flower; a panda lily flowing in the breeze just below the Bay City name.
"…former District Attorney and mayoral candidate, Jeong Jeong Xiu plans to visit our high school in a couple of days,"
"Yeah granddad!" a girl cheered from a rear seat in the classroom.
"Hey quiet down Shan, you're making me miss this." A boy who sat nearby said. His bushy broom-like hair swiveled when he planted his chin on top of the desk.
"Hehe, don't worry shrimp, Chin just wants to watch his girlfriend!" A boy on the other side of the girl snickered. He made smooching sounds with his lips, and received a well deserved smack. All three couldn't help but chuckle.
"That's all for now kids!" the news Anchor-girl's voice resumed. "Tune in to our regular broadcast time every Friday night on the Bay City school district channel. Until then, this is your Student News Network anchor, 'Cute Meng', signing off!" A final graphic appeared at the last minute saying "Happy two months Chin!" and the screen returned to blue.
"That's about it, I guess." The teacher's voice spoke out. Footsteps could be heard traveling across the room and with a flip of a switch the light blazed and the whole class erupted in groan of pain. A few were lucky from the blast of filament induced pain, Katara included. Upon opening her blue eyes, a pair of curious gray ones stared right back.
"Aack!" Katara jumped back in her seat. As everyone in the class had their laugh, others were more relieved when the bell rang, signaling the end of the period. The students quickly made their way out of the room as fast as they could, while Katara embarrassingly approached the small and bald teacher.
"We'll see you around, guys." Sokka waved off his sister and Aang, and subtly dragged Zuko before he could say anything.
"So Aang, uh…" she stuttered with a slight blush.
"Uh, Katara…" Aang tried to politely interrupt.
Remember Aang, Mr. Pathik's voice echoed inside his head, "As a teacher, you must realize that you cannot have the same kind of relationship with your students as you thought you could. Even if you're younger than us..."
"Granted…" Hue jokingly added
"You're young Aang, but it's still against school policy to have any interests in your or any students at this school…"
"I'll see you tomorrow." The young teacher's aid exhaled. Without looking up to his friend, he grabbed his suitcase and rushed off to the faculty room, hoping that Katara didn't see the pathetic look on his face. The rest of the day passed by without many more interesting events, but the young chestnut haired girl was too preoccupied with her thoughts to care.
"I haven't seen your sister anywhere…" Zuko asked as he opened his locker. Just three doors away, Sokka sifted through what he would leave at school, and what he wouldn't take home.
"What does it matter to you?" he asked carelessly.
"I don't know" the other boy moved slightly to the right as another student tried to get to his own locker, "I'm just wondering is all."
"Well I don't know either." Sokka mused. "But this is where I leave you." Zuko glanced at the blue eyed teen, who now was wearing a sports jersey of some sort. "Coach Bumi wants every athlete to stay after for something."
"I didn't know you were on a team." Zuko admitted, "What sport do you play?"
"Lacrosse." The mohawked boy answered. "I probably won't be online at all today. You know, for an old guy, the Coach is really buff." Sokka waved to the other teen and taking his book bag, set off for the track field.
I guess I'm on my own then, Zuko thought to himself. As he walked towards the exit, he took one final look at his schedule. He managed to survive through his first day of school without too much trouble, and even got a phone number in the process. She looked familiar though…
I could've sworn that I saw her somewhere before…
"Zuko, you ok?" a soft hand was placed on his shoulder. Scared over nothing, the teen jumped and nervously shoved the paper into his pocket. "Oh, watch out!" His hair caught on something, Zuko forced himself to calm down and peered up to see Katara's chin. "You're caught on my necklace." She tried to stifle a laugh. Using her dexterous fingers, the girl carefully detached the strands of dark hair from the necklace's chain link.
Feeling her breath on his face, Zuko couldn't help but bat an eye a few times as his head was bent to the side. If Jet was caught in this position, he would definitely have taken advantage of the view by looking down, but of course Katara wouldn't have minded simply pulling out his hair harshly. So instead, he tried to keep his view upwards... to stare up at her lips? No…her blue soft eyes? Also no…her eyebrows? Alright…that'll work.
"Alright Tony, you can stand up now" She laughed out loud. Zuko's stare sparked a simple memory in her banks. "Oh, sorry Zuko…that just came out!" she couldn't help but laugh again.
"It's ok" he said, calming himself.
"C'mon" she unpredictably wrapped around his arm, "I'll walk you home."
"Huh?"
"Your bus stop is in front of my house, isn't it?" Katara suavely reminded him. Zuko leading the way, the two walked towards the exit in the nearly bare hallway. Making sure that she didn't notice, Zuko placed his hand into his pocket, and grasped the paper schedule inside.
Slamming the huge brown oak doors, the small green eyed, huge-rim glasses wearing girl, made her way towards the large almost oversized bed. Throwing her bag and school mandated barf-green vest onto it, she immediately changed her vector towards her computer table.
"Ow…stupid things…" Toph rubbed her eyes as her computer started to boot up. Much to her father's glee, she finally gave in to trying contact lenses—new ones that were designed specifically for her situation. She wouldn't know it, but they actually burned a lot more than regular ones. Of course, Toph would just blame the sensation on her dopey little fingers.
"Finally!" Toph sighed out, and quickly imputed her password. "I…luv…Boomerang…Guy…" she said out loud to help her spell it out. She wiped away a tear from under her eye and then signed on to OQT when the computer finally loaded. Scrolling quickly through the list of people online, Toph was disheartened when she couldn't find the name.
She sat around for a few seconds, until she jumped out of her comfy computer chair and dug through her book bag that lay on her bed. "There you are…" she took out a rectangular plastic object, with the press of a button, a flash of light lit up her face, thus annoyed her eyes just a bit more. "Eww…no…" she took one or two more pictures until she finally took one that she liked, then rushed to upload it to her computer.
Upload complete!
The computer screen flashed those words. Typing in the last few things into the Yeehaw email service, Toph nervously moved the mouse cursor over the Send button. With one final click, BoomerangGuy would know what she looked like. Well, as soon as he checked his email anyway.
"I wonder what's on TV?" Toph asked herself, flipping the remote to 'on' and getting comfortable.
I really want to thank my Beta, Jesus.Lives...on vacation, and still has enough patience to read through all this! I really want to know what you guys think of this story, cause a lot of my stories have been tossed to the side because of lack of interest...Still, I'll be sending in my "Three Merchants" story nevertheless, and those who've read my "Restaurant" story, the ending is a sign of things to come!
I have to give a shout out to MormonMaiden, Piezo, Avatarwolf, RLnaruhina, Almostinsane, and Jesus.Lives for things that they'll know...
P.S. read their stories...or die...(not a threat, just want to see if you'll notice the secret message...)