Once in a Lifetime
"You make me feel like I'm living a teenage dream." Katara opened her eyes blearily, shutting off her alarm. After laying in bed for a few seconds, her eyes snapped open and she jumped up. It was the first day of school! She was excited because this was her junior year. She was finally an upperclassman!
She quickly ran downstairs and scarfed down some breakfast. After that, she spent a lot of time choosing the perfect outfit. She finally decided on a simple blue dress with black tights. She put on some mascara and eyeliner.
"You ready yet?!" Sokka called. "If you don't hurry up, we're going to be late!"
"I'm coming!" Katara yelled back. God, sometimes Sokka could be annoying, she thought. She came down the stairs, and Sokka was waiting by the door in blue jeans and a dark blue hoody.
"Let's get going," Sokka said, going out the door and getting into his 2002 Ford. Katara slipped into the passenger seat.
"Don't forget to pick up Aang," Katara reminded her brother. This would be Aang's first day of high school, as he was a freshman. They were family friends with him and had promised to help him out at school.
"Don't worry, I wasn't going to forget the little guy," Sokka said. He spent the rest of the car ride trying out all of his new jokes on Katara. Some of them were really bad, but others were pretty good.
They pulled into Aang's driveway and waited for him. He was waiting for them outside and quickly ran into the car.
"I'm so excited for the first day!" Aang said the second he got in the car. Sokka just laughed at the kid.
"Don't act like you're going to the carnival," he said with a chuckle. "You have to play it cool, or you'll never make it at high school.
Bzzzz. Katara heard her phone vibrate and checked it. She smiled when she saw that it was from her best friend, Zuko. Have you left yet?
Yeah. Had to pick up Aang. We'll be at school in about 10.
See you soon.
Katara finished her quick texting conversation with Zuko, still smiling. She and Zuko had been friends since she was in the third grade. He was a senior, like her brother, but his sister, Azula, was a junior, like Katara. During lunch in the third grade, Zuko would always come in to check on Azula. He had quickly struck up a friendship with Katara, as she was the only one brave enough to even try talking to Azula.
Katara's phone vibrated again. This time it was from her other best friend, Suki. U ready 4 our first day as upperclassmen?
Of course! Super excited!
Can't wait 2 c u!
Suki had been on vacation all summer and had only gotten back the day before. Katara and her had kept in contact, but it would still be great to see her friend again.
"Who're you texting?" Sokka asked, peering over at his sister while at a red light.
"Zuko and Suki," Katara replied.
"Ooh, Zuko," Sokka said, wiggling his eyebrows. For some reason, he always thought that Katara liked Zuko as more than a friend.
"Yes, Zuko," Katara said, not breaking eye contact. She didn't want to give him any ideas.
"Who's Zuko?" Aang asked from the back seat as the light turned green.
"One of my best friends," Katara replied. Aang looke slightly confused, but Katara didn't feel like elaborating.
After a few minutes of silence in the car, Sokka couldn't take it. He went to the one topic that he could easily make fun of Katara over.
"So, how's your secret I. doing?" he asked. Katara stared blushing, and Sokka knew that he was making her feel awkward. That's why he had asked the question.
"He's doing good," Katara responded, looking out the window so that Sokka couldn't see the giant smile on her face. Whenever she talked about her IM conversations with FireBoy87, she started to smile and blush. No, she didn't know his real name or what he looked like, but she still knew him. He didn't know any personal information, either. Just in case.
"Have you met him yet? Learned his name?" Sokka asked, being slightly over protective. He didn't want his little sister to get hurt, and didn't want her secret to be found out.
"No, but I will soon," Katara said, trying to calm him. Sadly, that didn't really work.
"Just be careful," he said. "You can never know who these guys on the Internet are. And you don't want anyone to get too close incase the find out." It was just like Sokka to be so blunt about that subject.
"You've been talking to a guy over the Internet?" Aang asked, his eyes wide and a shocked expression on his face. "Isn't that really unsafe?"
"It's over the school cite, so, no, it's not unsafe. He goes to our school," Katara explained to Aang.
"Oh," Aang said, a slightly hurt expression on his face. Katara didn't know what that was about, but she decided to brush it off for now. It was probably nothing.
"We're here," Sokka said, pulling into the school and parking in his spot. Katara quickly got out of the car when she spotted Zuko waiting for her by the door to the school.
"See you later," she said to Sokka and Aan g before taking off. "Hey, you," she said to Zuko when she was within earshot.
"Hey," Zuko said with a smile. He opened up the school door for Katara and they walked inside. He opened his mouth to say something more when he was interrupted.
"Flirting with the juniors now?" Zuko's best friend, Jet, said to him. He walked over and fist-bumped Zuko. "Good to see you, man," he said with a grin.
"Good to see you, too," Zuko said with a grin.
"I'll see you later," Katara said to Zuko, spotting Suki at the other end of the hall.
"Suki!" she called as she got closer. When Suki heard her, a giant grin spread across her face.
"Katara!" she said, running up and hugging her. "I missed you so much! How was your summer?"
"It was great," Katara said. "How about yours?"
"Amazing!" Suki responded. "Kioshi island is amazing in the summer! And I got to visit my grandparents, which is always nice."
Katara continued to talk with Suki as she went to her locker and got her books for the first few classes. Luckily, she and Suki had an almost identical schedule.
"We get to start the year off with precalculus. Oh joy!" Suki said sarcastically. Just then, the warning bell rang, signaling that it was time to get to class.
"Come on, we better get going," Katara said to Suki as she started walking to class.
