Disclaimer- I don't own, nor do I claim to own Avatar: The Last Airbender
So, basically each chapter is based on a theme. This theme is "Intro". It's all from the 100 Themes Challenge on Deviantart.
The classroom looked pretty typical. A few desks scattered around. A whiteboard with the professor's name written on it, a Mr. Ken Hopkins. Zuko slunk in, trying to tell if he was the first person in or not. He couldn't see anyone besides the presumed Mr. Hopkins absorbed in his computer screen and let out a breath he had been holding. As he walked towards the back corner, his messenger bag caught on something. Turning, he saw that he hadn't been the only student in the room. A tan, brown haired girl had been crouching on the ground, under the desk. He saw she was now standing and frowning at a broken pencil. She looked up and he tried to flick his overly long bangs in his face.
"Hi!" the girl exclaimed, extending a hand. "I'm Katara Pak. I'm the T.A. for this class." Zuko looked at her hand as though it would bite him, and then shook it, briefly, before returning with a slightly less excited "Hullo." He stuffed his hand into his jeans, trying to find any words to say. "I'm, uh, Zuko."
She nodded happily and then waved towards the front. "That's professor Hopkins, but you can just call him Mr. Hops. Welcome to Creative Writing." Zuko bobbed his head, wishing desperately that someone else would walk in to save him from continued conversation. He gave a vague "'Kay," in farewell. His shy nature was pushing him towards the corner slowly.
Katara gave a smile that wasn't quite as bright as before and returned to her desk near the front. She couldn't help but feel like she had gotten a terrible class to T.A. No-one actually cared about gen-ed classes, especially the kids like that Zuko kid who probably were taking it as a Junior because they had forgotten about it. As the rest of the people filed in the class in clumps, she tried to tell herself that just because they hated the class didn't mean it was her fault.
Zuko leaned into the corner and tried to fluff his hair over the scarred left side of his face. The redness of the burn was bound to draw attention to him that he hated. Being at the fourth school in five semesters, Zuko was tired of having to deal with staring each time his uncle moved.
The class began without a hitch. Professor Hops was a straightforward type of professor who didn't tolerate his class getting out of hand. That shouldn't be a problem with me Zuko scoffed, trying to pay attention to figure out exactly who would be a problem and that he should probably avoid. He saw a younger-looking freshmen couple that giggled like little kids. Another doodled boomerangs on his paper. His gaze, however, kept being drawn back to the Katara girl. She didn't look as chipper as she had been. He frowned. Had something upset the T.A.? He didn't think so, but he wasn't so sure.
Zuko was wrenched from his thoughts when the first in-class assignment was given. "Write me an intro about yourself. Please, please, please don't start with "Hi." I've been teaching this class for about ten years and generally those who began their intro paper with "Hi" got an F on their final exam. This is creative writing people, not History Writings 101."
Zuko stared blankly at his paper. An intro? How was he supposed to write and interesting intro about himself? This class was going to be insane.
Katara sighed and pulled out her notebook. Mr. Hops was going to tell her to read hers just after he had made a complete fool out of some poor shmuck. He had done the same thing last year when she was a student, and that poor shmuck had been her. She looked around the class and glared at her brother, who was doodling, to get back to work. He met her glance with a smug grin and returned to his work. 'Sokka…' she internally scolded him.
She glared at her paper and started to scratch out a story, partially fiction, partially from her own life of traveling, being an army brat.
Zuko gave a final look around the class and retuned to his own beginnings of an intro. Rather than letting some crazed rumor about him as some sort of arsonist, he'd try to set the record straight by seizing this opportunity…
"Zuko Kai? Front and center, if you would please? We'll start with you." Professor Hops barked, scanning the crowd after looking up from his paper. Zuko slid his chair back and hoped that his scar wasn't showing too much through his hair. Once he had woven his way through the backpacks in the aisle, he turned to face the class. He began to read in a rough voice.
"I'm not that different, I swear. Sure, not too many people besides myself are like me but I swear to you that I'm not who you're looking for. What do you want from me? Are you on a witch hunt, because I can tell you that that's not who I am."
He continued in a stressed voice, feeling his way carefully through the hastily written words. "I'm not the one you want to crucify or the one that you want to stone. That fire that happened by accident? Yeah, that's all that it was- an accident. I'm no arsonist. I didn't do anything wrong. Why won't you believe me?"
He flicked his hair absently out of the way and could hear a few people shifting around. Glowering, he pushed onwards forcefully to the end. "I know that people you loved died- I loved them too- but I didn't do it. I'm just Zuko. Zuko, the one in the background. The one who writes poetry in the margins of his notes. Zuko, your son, dad. Why won't you believe me? Why won't you love me?" Clearing his throat he finally glanced over at Hops. The professor was nodding gravely.
"That was decent. You can go back to your seat," he said, looking over at Katara. Nodding to her, the relaxed-looking professor added, "Katara, our T.A., will go next to show you what a graduate of this class is expected to have the ability to do by the time I'm done with you."
Zuko scuffed his way to his seat. He barely twitched a nod to Katara who had given him a bright smile at him to acknowledge he'd done a fine job. Her smile kept more watts than it had lost when he nodded to her. Maybe he was just shy or something. Thrusting Zuko from her mind, Katara read from her own notes.
"Ohmygosh! I haven't seen you in forever. I can't believe it's really you! How've you been? You know what, never mind. I can tell some things have been tough for you. Me too. Didn't you hear? Yeah, dad got sent to Iraq. Don't ask me why. Everyone who wasn't anyone was sent. Oh mum? Well she was sick, you remember? Yeah, so my older cousin's been caring for us.
"Wow, so much has happened. When was the last time I saw you? Last year? No way, it couldn't have been three. You were…oh no, you're right. It was senior year. So is that your girlfriend? I'm Katara, his friend. Ex? Oh nope. We were just friends. I don't really want to go into it. You have to go? Oh, I'm sorry. Can I have your number? Oh…you're living together, how nice! Well…it was nice seeing you. And meeting you."
She looked over at Hops, who was once again clicking something on the computer. He made a vague comment about how that was just one example and that the others should have been paying attention. Katara sat back down and listened to her brother read his about himself introducing himself to an AlAnon group. She hadn't looked up much in her short monologue, but she could have sworn she had seen piercing gold eyes meeting her each time she looked up.