She should have seen it coming.

In all honesty, she kind of figured it would happen. But still, always being the optimistic one, there was a smidgen of hope inside of her that just simply would never go away, no matter how hard she tried to repress it. So, after finally admitting defeat against the bubbling feeling, she allowed herself to let it grow.

What a mistake.

Of course he wouldn't feel that way about her. She wasn't a normal girl. She wasn't the dainty, pretty little thing that young women are supposed to be. She was an unusually strong, reckless, dirt-in-her-skirt, type of girl. One of the boys. And apparently that's all she'll ever be. Becoming a frilly girly-girl was something she had never allowed herself to be. In fact, the only girly thoughts had been about her crush on him. She was right to have never gotten to girly. Her current situation proved how much it sucked.

However, she knew that not being girly was the reason she felt this way. She not being one of those women was the reason he didn't see her as more than a friend. Hell, she didn't think that he even considers her a friend! And now, she was as close to heartbroken as she would ever allow herself to be. Only allowing herself to go on a typical rampage to herself for about ten minutes, she was now lying on her bed, staring at the ceiling simply wallowing in self-pity.

She felt stupid.

She was the Avatar for Spirits' sake! A boy should not affect her in this way. But she was technically a teenage girl, too, and she was hurt. And thinking of her being the Avatar only made it worse. It was just another reason to why he didn't care for her. Who in their right mind would willingly become involved with the Avatar, platonic or more? She was too much to handle. She made it too complicated for people to get in. She knew it was her fault that he didn't like her, much less think of her as a friend.

But it still hurt.

Unbelievably bad. When she walked through the doors of the gym for training, the first thing she saw was him with one of the dainty, pretty little things hanging onto his arm like her life depended on it. Somewhere in her chest, she felt a pounding sensation; and in the pit of her stomach, a sinking sensation. Though similar, these were definitely not the sensations that went through her like the time they had accidentally fallen asleep on each other. So, not knowing or even realizing what to do, she backed right back out of the gym and as soon as the two were out of sight, she ran. Ran right back to the way she came from. She vaguely remembers hearing him call her name, but she didn't care. All she cared about was getting out of there and away from them. Her eyes stung, but she wouldn't allow herself to cry over something so stupid; so she focused on her feet pounding the ground until she found a window that was facing the water towards Air Temple Island.

That was how she ended up here, attempting to keep her emotions intact. She didn't need him and he would be better off without her. She'd stay on the Fire Ferrets, but she would spare him the annoyance of her attempted friendship and spare herself the added heartbreak of getting closer to him. She'd rather stay acquaintances than put herself in the friend zone. She wouldn't hang around the boys' apartment any longer, either. This might actually help them, too. Having them be less involved with her, the Avatar, would take danger away.

It would be better off this way.

Yeah, right. No matter how many times she repeated this in her head, she couldn't find herself to completely believe it. So, she tried other coping mechanisms. Attempting to bash the girl who was gripping to him, she felt bad. She'd always been a physical fighter. Not a girl who makes catty remarks. Plus, she didn't even know the girl. The girl actually looked like she could be nice. She realized that she would never be good at being a catty female.

Later, she would find it in herself to stand up from her spot. After all, the world still went on despite her horrible feelings. She would find Ikki and Jinora and tell them to never like boys because they would just make them emotional wrecks and leave them high and dry. She would eventually have to face the boys, most likely tomorrow, and make up some foolish excuse for her running out on them. She would eventually have to be formally introduced to the girl. She would eventually have to face the world again. She would eventually have to do many other things. But for now, she was perfectly content with letting herself be girly about her feelings, even if it be just this once, because although she should have seen all of this coming, she was still hopelessly blindsided.

A/N: So, I wrote this a long time ago. Episode 4 maybe? I'm not sure. Either way, I wanted to show that even though Korra is the Avatar, she is still also a teenage girl ruled by her emotions. I know that if a situation like this were to happen to me, I would want to punch a wall in and then bawl my eyes out. I was just basing Korra's feelings on the interaction between her and Mako in the episodes that I had seen at that point. Which was not much besides Mako occasionally being a jerk, Korra being Korra and a little actual friendly interaction. And I know, I know, time space in between episodes, but whatever.

Don't own or something.

Love&Dinosaurs, Matildalynn.