Author's introduction:

So, here's the lowdown on the fic. Basically, this is going to be an AU, high school Legend of Korra fanfic; so yes, it's in our world, and yes, Korra and the gang are all high schoolers.

I'm hoping that you guys will find this to be one of those rare AU fics that don't stereotype, that seems realistic, and that is overall entertaining. My goal is NOT to make you cringe at a terribly written jocks vs. nerds thing, so no worries.

I really thought out the characters' backgrounds- my one thing is that they keep their personalities, but they seem like average American teenagers (note that this means everyone is somewhat culturally diverse, since everyone in America has some sort of culture, yeah?) For example, the 'water tribe' culture of Korra translates into her indian heritage of this story. I found ways to incorporate everything into an AU

I hope you guys enjoy. So without further ado, let's get this thing on the road! There are further notes on how this story will work at the end of the chapter.

Korra furrowed her eyebrows as she examined her class schedule.

They made art class her elective. She had specifically asked to be put into the P.E group.

Sighing, the senior stuffed the schedule into her bag and slung it over her shoulder, leaving the table that she had rested it on. It was her first day in her new high school, and currently, she seemed a little…off-put.

Not that she was scared. Korra was never scared of a challenge. It was just that this school was so much bigger than she was used to. Her junior class had about 80 people in it- but in this school, the average was 300.

"You love people," Korra thought to herself. "Nothing to fear here."

As she turned the corner of the stairs, a body came slamming into hers- and tackling them both to the ground.
"Watch it!" Korra scathed, whipping around. She found herself face-to-face with possibly the most infuriated face ever.

"It's not my fault that some of us decide to get to class on time," the guy tossed back, glaring at her. "We've got a minute until the bell rings. Hurry it up." And with that, he was gone.

She huffed, staring after him in distaste. Some people were just so annoying, and this school seemed to have plenty of those types.

"Uh, the bell rang about 10 minutes ago."

Fumbling with her locker once again, Korra scrunched her face up in frustration and glanced again at the code she was given. "Tell that to the front desk," she answered, stuffing the code in her pocket and turning to the speaker. "They screwed up my combination or something."

The person she was facing had a kind look to him- welcoming green eyes, with charming hair that reminded her of Superman, oddly. He was a bit taller than she was, but not too overpowering- everything about him screamed 'friendly'.

"Weh-hell, locker buddy," he exclaimed, "it just so happens that I am the king of breaking into lockers." Winking, the guy ushered towards Korra's locker. "May I?"

Korra shrugged. "Go for it."

And, in less than five seconds, her locker was propped open and her buddy was grinning. "Wow, I'm impressed," Korra commented as she took out the books she needed.

"I'm here all week," the guy joked. "Name's Bolin," he added as he took out whatever he needed from his locker. "I'm a junior here." Turning towards her, he stared at her expectantly.

"Senior," Korra replied, shutting her own locker.

"Oh, my brother's a senior!" Bolin informed, choosing to walk alongside with Korra as she made her way down the hall. She took note of his way of making everything feel so comfortable. It was something she liked. "I'm headed that way," she said, pointing to the hall to the right.
"So am I," Bolin responded. "In no rush, though. Math class," he added, rolling his eyes.

"I feel you," Korra laughed, making her way down the hall.

As they talked, Korra learned that Bolin and his brother were both half-chinese and half-japanese. "Mako -that's my brother- he takes mainly after my mom's Japanese side, but dad always said that I have a tad bit more of China in my blood," Bolin commented. "Where are you from?"

"My parents are from northern India," Korra said, turning to see Bolin's puzzled look.

"The eyes?" she smirked, knowing that it was those that usually confused people about her heritage. They were blue, which wasn't that common for indian people.

Bolin nodded, but held up a finger. "Wait- I think I have an answer for that. Alexander the Great's invasion of the Indian lands, way back when. You've got the light eyes because of that, yeah?"

Korra raised her eyebrows in surprise. "You know your history!" she responded.

Bolin shrugged. "What can I say- I'm a history geek. This is my stop," he continued, pointing to a classroom down the hall, "But I'll catch you at lunch?"

"Sure thing," Korra smiled. "See you later."

"This is such bullshit," Korra groaned under her breath, copying down the chemistry notes that her teacher had written on the board. It was only the first day of school, and already they were jumping on empirical formulas. Korra didn't even remember what a 'mole' was.

"Regret choosing this class, too?" A voice responded from her left.

"You don't even know," she smirked, allowing herself to glance at her partner for a moment. "My name's Korra," she added, giving the girl a smile.

"Asami," she replied, giving Korra a sweet smile.

Giving her a second look, Korra was shocked a girl like Asami would even give her the time of day to respond to her unimportant comment. Asami was dressed in ankle boots, with stylish clothing that probably cost more than Korra's car. She was also really pretty, with a perfect make-up scheme to top it all off. Her raven-dark hair cascaded over her shoulders in just the right way, ending down the lower half of her back.

Compare all that to a hoodie-and-jeans Korra, with converse that were who knows how many years old and dark brown hair tied up in a definitely unstylish, everyday way.

"Wanna partner up?" Asami asked, tearing Korra away from her thoughts. "I don't think I can do this homework without someone else to complain with."
Korra laughed, shrugging her desk closer to Asami's. "Sure," she replied.

Funny; Korra always thought that the gorgeous girls were supposed to be the mean ones. Asami, however, seemed different.

"So, let me get this straight. You skipped a grade, but apparently it was like pre-k or something so it doesn't matter to you that much. But hey, you're the same age as me, which is totally cool. And then you went to a small private school in some small town your entire life. And then you took a dip in the real world when you came to this place. Welcome, by the way. The real world's version of high school sucks ass."

Bolin had demanded basically Korra's entire life story in the 10 minutes that she had sat with him during lunch. Rolling her eyes dramatically, Korra nodded her head. "For the millionth time, yes," she answered, faking her annoyance. Although she had just met Bolin and Asami, she felt like they were close enough to know when each other was actually annoyed versus to when they were faking it.

Asami put down her soup, reaching into her lunchbox for something else. "Cool life," she commented, meeting Korra's eyes. "I was actually about to go to some posh boarding school, myself- had to force my dad to let me go here."

"Anything's better than a boarding school," Bolin agreed. "So what- Hey! Mako!"

Korra pouted in curiosity, turning so that she could face the way Bolin was facing. Immediately, her pout turned into a scowl.

"You," she muttered with disgust, narrowing her eyes at the senior that Bolin had excitedly invited to their table.

It was the kid that she had run into in the morning.

Mako didn't even glance at Korra. He instead diverted his attention to Bolin. "What is it?" he asked, taking a peek at his cellphone's clock.

"Mako, I would like you to meet my new friend Korra. Korra, this is my brother," Bolin introduced with a flurry of his arms.

"You guys have any classes together?" he awkwardly asked when Korra and Mako just glared at each other.

"Not that I know of," Mako responded, crossing his arms. "Look, Bolin, I've got to go talk to Coach Welks. I'll see you later." With that, and a nod to Asami, Mako left.

"What a jerk," Korra said once he left. "No offense, Bo- I know he's your brother and all- but seriously!" Propping her head on an elbow, she frowned.

"Mako is a bit of an iceberg, but he's not that bad," Asami commented, laying a hand on Korra's shoulder. "I've known him for a while."

Bolin nodded. "I'm sure you two will hit off just fine," he added, stuffing his mouth with his hamburger.

Korra wasn't so convinced, but it wasn't like Mako mattered all that much, anyway. Something about him just got her irked up abnormally, though. Shrugging it off, she resumed to her conversation with Asami and Bolin.

Turns out Mako and Korra did have a class together.

English.

Otherwise known as the easiest subject (besides P.E, of course), Korra wasn't really sweating it all that much. But given that the only seat available was one right between Mako and some sleazy-looking dude, Korra knew that this class was going to be a real challenge.

She said nothing as she plopped into her seat, focusing on taking her books out.

"Hey," Korra breathed to Mako as she sat up. He acknowledged her with a small glance- it wasn't much, but it was at least something.

"You new, sweetheart?," The voice from her right commented.

Sleazy voice to go with a sleazy looking guy.

"Yep," Korra responded, opening her book. She didn't look up, mainly because she had no interest in starting a conversation with the guy.

"Looks like our high school got a real exotic prize, then," he commented, giving her a weird smirk. "Name's Tahno," the guy added. "I'm available anytime, by the way," he whispered, his smirk growing.

Korra was just about to quip back when the teacher walked in and the class started.

Korra walked into the gym, decked out in her basketball gear with her headphones blaring the Strokes. Popping them out, she placed her ipod on the bleachers while she took her ball out of the bag.

No one was around for the basketball team meeting just yet, so Korra decided to shoot a few rounds. By her 5th (net only) three-point shot, people started filing into the gym and grabbing the spare balls.

Two official-looking adults strolled in- probably the coaches. "Girls," one of them commanded, her voice uptight and strict.

The other coach was bald, and it was obvious that he was the guy's coach by the way they crowded around him.

"My name is Lin," the female coach said once all the players were surrounding her, "and this is my colleague, Tenzin. You refer to us as your coaches." Taking out a clipboard, Coach Lin scanned the list and rested her pen on a name. "Korra Tareen? Is that someone new?"

Korra cleared her throat, stepping up. "Yeah, actually. That's me," she said, smiling at the totally unfriendly-looking coach.

"Hm." Arching an eyebrow, Lin wrote something down on the board, giving Korra no further comment. Korra pouted, stepping back into the crowd.

"So today, we will split the teams evenly and play a couple of games. You won't be marked based on if your team wins or not, but how you play," Coach Tenzin announced in his calm but powerful voice. "It will be co-ed for today, but Lin and I will eventually split it off. Some of you will make the cut, and some of you will not."

A little while later, everyone was in their teams. However, the coaches seemed to be waiting for someone.

Finally, whoever they were waiting for strolled in. Two people, actually.

"Korra!" Bolin said in surprise, giving her a wave. "I forgot you said you played basketball." He put his stuff down, giving Coach Lin a note.

Mako made his way to the coaches. "Which team?" he asked, apparently familiar with the starting activity's format.

"Both of you will be placed on team A," Tenzin responded, pointing towards Korra's area. Korra smiled, glad that she was paired with a familiar face.

In two hours, Team A had won 5 of the 6 games played.

Apparently, Korra, Mako, and Bolin really made the power trio.

"Really good game, guys!" Korra announced as she pulled her bag over her shoulder. She was sure that they would all make the cut- after all, they whopped butts on the court.

Bolin grinned. "I'm glad we have so much in common, Korra," he said. "I'll see you outside in a bit?"
"Okay," Korra responded as Bolin walked out.

Korra faced away awkwardly; it was now just her, Mako, and the coaches in the gym. Lin and Tenzin were huddled in the corner, comparing clipboard notes.

"…You played good," Korra complimented, turning towards Mako.

"It's expected. I'm the guy's captain," he said, pulling his gym bag across his shoulders.

"Really? Well, watch out, Team Captain," Korra joked. "I'm really a bit of competition when it comes to basketball."

For the first time she had seen that day, Mako actually cracked a bit of a smile. "We'll see," he commented, before he turned to leave.

"…So since Mako goes to work right after this, I have to hitch rides with friends," Bolin finished, done telling Korra about his lack of having a car.

"I'd offer to give you one, but you live a bit away from my place," Korra responded apologetically.

"Oh no, it's fine!" Bolin responded quickly. "I got a ride with Coach Tenzin today, but thanks for- shit."

" 'Shit' what?" Korra asked, glancing up from her car's trunk to Bolin. She turned to face where he was looking at.

"Hey, jockheads!" Tahno was shouting, ushering Bolin and Korra over to him and his crowd of cronies.

"What type of nickname is 'jockhead'?" Bolin muttered in annoyance. Louder, he said, "we should just ignore him."

"No," Korra said, closing her car's trunk. "I'm going to deal with that guy."

Korra began walking towards her classmate, with Bolin catching up.

"Korra- I don't think you understand- this guy is really trouble- he doesn't respect-"

Korra had already reached Tahno. "What do you want?" She spat, maintaining her usual strong eye contact.

"Well ya see," Tahno started, "I said I was available anytime, and I really wanted to spend some of that time with you." His friends urged him on as he came closer and audibly said, "without clothes on."

Korra's fist jabbed out and hit Tahno square in the face. His friends shrugged back automatically, letting out sounds of surprise.

Tahno took a moment, turning his head towards Korra as he wiped his face on his sleeve. "Okay," he sneered. "You're missing out."

With that, he left, and Korra turned to go walk back to her car.

Bolin was staring at her in awe. "That was- wow. You're wow."

Korra smiled.

Getting in her car, Korra gave herself a moment before starting the engine. It had been her first day of school, but it was already so full of action.

Two taps at her window got her attention. She turned towards the noise, seeing that idiot Tahno and…was that her ipod?

Rolling down the window, she grabbed the item from his hand.

"…Thanks," she said, giving him a look that wasn't completely full of contempt.

Tahno winked. "Anytime," he said. "Guess you owe me one, if you don't count the punch."

"Yeah, well, you deserved that," Korra responded, preparing to roll the window back up.

"The Strokes are great," Tahno randomly commented. "Happened to see what was playing. Take it Or Leave It is their best song, according to me. You should check it out."

He walked away, leaving Korra slightly surprised that he even knew what the Strokes were.

"My favorite's the Arctic Monkeys," she shouted after him for no reason at all.

He turned around and smiled, before walking away again.

Weird.

Alright, long first chapter.

You're probably confused that there's no one love interest. And it's true; I kept it open-ended. That's where the readers come in.

See, I know reviews are hard to come by. But when the readers actually have a chance to decide the outcome of the story- that's when they'll interact.

So what does this mean? Well, you guys can 'vote' for your favorite love interest- and keep in mind, it's not really a 'vote' as it is a popular voice throughout the story. So if the majority of you guys were interested in Mako throughout the story, then in the end, Mako will be the winner.

Though I am Makorra-biased, I will be neutral for this story.

Let me know who you like. It could be anyone from Asami to Tahno to even Coach Tenzin. It's whatever you think is cool.

Please no anonymous votes (though I do accept anonymous praise and constructive criticism )

Also, I'm sorry this chapter was slightly more towards Tahno! That may occasionally happen with characters, but I'll balance it out in the next chapters.

Next chapter, I'll introduce Iroh and Amon. Rate of updates depends on popularity of the story.