Mai sat quietly in the back seat of her father's car doing nothing but looking out at the unfamiliar place she was now forced to call home. It was quite bigger than her old town and it obviously had way more people. Mai's old home was nice too, but it was small and friendly. Mai sighed as she looked away from the window. Sitting next her was Tom-Tom, her two year old little brother, he was sound asleep. Poor child was probably all worn out from crying for a whole hour. 'Even Tom-Tom knows that this move is going to suck.' Mai thought bitterly. She couldn't believe her father was making her move away from the only place she's ever known just so he can be closer to his work place. Sure Mai wasn't popular in her old school, in fact, she only had one friend. Poor Ty-Lee would be lonely also, considering the fact that Mai was her only bestfriend. Mai also thought of her ex-boyfriend, Jet. They'd just broken up a week ago, but it wasn't because of her family's relocation, it was because of the fact that he was a player that Mai thought she could change; boy was she wrong because it turns out he was cheating on her for about a month. That was the only bright side of her move to RepublicCity; she'd never have to see Jet again. The pain was still there, but just not being able to see his asshole face made Mai a little happy inside. Mai felt the car slow down and turn and heard her mother's annoying high-pitched voice say:

"Here we are everyone; our new home!"

Mai took one look at the house and had the urge to smile which she forcefully held back. The house was bigger than her old house and was a beautiful shade of kaki or tan, parts of it were made up of stone. It was adorned with beautiful trees and plants in front of it and the windows were so clean it looked like you could just walk through them. The house looked absolutely beautiful especially with the glow of the evening sunset. The family got out of the car. Mai un-buckled the sleeping Tom-Tom and started towards the house with her the two year old in her arms. When they were finally at the front steps, Mai's dad opened the door and they all stepped in. The political family were surprised to see that there furniture was already neatly in place.

"Wow the moving van guys did all of this in one day?" Mai's mom asked.

"Well I did pay them to, but I didn't think they'd do such a good job, now those are hard-working boys." Mai's father said in satisfactory. Mai's mother went to go see the kitchen as her father turned to her.

"Well Mai," he said gesturing to the house "What do you think of it?"

"It's nice." Mai said nonchalantly. She saw her father's face fall. Mai couldn't let him know that she was a little bit satisfied with this move or else he'll miss the point that he took her from her old life.

"Look, I'm going to take Tom-Tom up stairs and get him ready for bed." Mai said before walking past him.

"Wait," Mai's father said. His voice was less pleading, but more demanding "I want to show you something."

'Geez old man, give it a rest.' Mai thought, but instead of saying it out loud she followed him out of the living room then into the dining room which was where her mother was admiring the features then to the kitchen. The kitchen was beautiful, but what caught Mai's eye was the glass door that gave her a perfect view of the back yard. Mai opened the door and stepped into the backyard. It was huge and Mai imagined herself teaching a knife throwing class out here. What got her the most excited was the blue sparkling water of the regular sized pool. Suddenly Mai realized that she was grinning from ear to ear and her father was looking satisfied with himself. Mai stopped smiling instantly.

"The house is beautiful father, but you don't understand the fact that this will never be home." Mai said looking away from the pool.

"Mai this is your home now and you should get used to it. I know you'll miss Ty Lee, but I'm sure you'll make all knew friends."

Mai knew that getting into an argument with her father was not a good idea; it was always his way or no way. Why were politicians so stubborn? Ever since Mai was a little girl she was always told to behave and that her parents were always right. She knew it would be stupid to keep up this attitude for it was already wearing her out.

"Whatever," Mai mumbled before turning around to go back in the house. Suddenly she heard a car park in the front of her house. Mai being curious followed her father to the front yard. When they got there they saw Mai's uncle step out of his car and walk towards them. The last time Mai saw her uncle was last Christmas when they visited his house. Her uncle had 2 children who were already off to college so it was just him and his wife.

"Hello brother," he said shaking Mai's fathers' hand. He turned to Mai and smiled "And Mai, you've grown so much since the last time I saw you."

Mai gave him a fake smile considering the fact that he told her this every time he saw her. Her uncle's eyes turned their attention on Tom-Tom who had just woken up and had his head on Mai's shoulder. The two year old just looked at his uncle with blank eyes.

"Hello there Tom-Tom, I see you've grown quite a bit also." Mai's uncle said. Tom-Tom just buried his face in the crook of Mai's neck.

"He is tired after a long car ride and it's almost time for him to get to bed." Mai said smoothing out her brother's hair. "So uncle, I see you've got a new car."

Her uncle and her father smiled at each other which made Mai slightly uncomfortable.

"Actually Mai," her uncle said "This car belongs to you."

Mai searched his face to see if he was messing with her, but when she turned to her father he just nodded. Mai instantly dropped her starchy act and gave her father a one armed hug. She pulled away smiling before running to the silver Chevrolet, Tom-Tom still in her arms. She ran he hand across every length of it.

"How did you guys do it?" she asked turning back to them.

"Your father was the one who made the connections, I just dropped it off." Mai's uncle said.

"Oh thank you father!" she exclaimed before getting inside of the car. The car had a nice feel to it and it had grey leather seats.

"This car is awesome isn't it Tom-Tom?" Mai asked her brother who was now sitting on her lap.

He smiled at her and said "Yeah!"

In all her excitement, Mai did not notice what was in the front seat, but when she did, she took it by the hanger and looked at it with distaste. Mai got out of the car with one hand holding Tom-Tom's hand and one hand holding something that looked like a uniform.

"What is this?" she asked walking up to the two men. Mai's father spoke up first.

"That is what you're required to where to your new school tomorrow." He said blankly.

"It's a private school?" Mai asked quietly.

"Yes you'll be attending 'The Four Elements High School', I've made some connections with the school principal and you'll be expected there tomorrow."

"Just like that," Mai asked

"Just like that," Her father said.

And 'just like that' it was. Mai was up and ready by 7 o'clock. Mai had to admit, the uniform made it quicker for her to get ready, but it was so heavy and it made her feel a little clammy. Mai looked at herself, she didn't look bad, but she felt ridiculous. She was dressed in a white blouse, a khaki skirt, a black blazer, knee high socks, and black mary-jane shoes. To top it off she had a red tie around her neck. What kind of school was her father making her go to? At least I still have my car. Mai thought. Suddenly she heard her cell phone ringing. The dark haired girl smiled when she saw it was Ty Lee calling.

"I have so much to tell you." Mai said after picking up her phone

"Wonderful because the curiosity is killing me!" was Ty Lee's bubbly response

"The house is gorgeous and so is the pool."

Mai heard Ty Lee gasp "You lucky gal, you!"

Mai giggled and knowing Ty Lee would bust her ear drums, she said "I got a car"

Mai was right; Ty Lee's high pitched scream forced her to pull the phone away from her ear. 'Oh Ty, you are always getting excited about everything.' Mai thought.

"What kind?"

"2012 Chevrolet Cruze- Silver" Mai said trying her best not to squeal. Ty Lee, on the other hand, had no problem squealing. Squealing was her specialty.

"I told you the move couldn't be that bad!"

"You didn't let me finish," Mai said feeling her mood turn sour "My dad is making me go to private school."

"You went to a private school here."

"A private school with uniform"

"Ugh!" Mai heard her friend groan in disgust. "Wait is it the minor uniform with just a polo and a skirt or the full blown prestigious kind?"

Mai rolled her eyes as she looked down at her uniform "The prestigious kind with a blouse, blazer, and tie."

"A tie too? Oh Mai that is awful!" Ty Lee cried "At least you still have your car."

"I guess" Mai sighed before realizing she was about to be late. "I have to go or else I'll be late."

"Okay, but call me to tell me how it went."

The friends said their good-bye's before Mai hung up. She thought about what would be happening in her actual home. She and Ty Lee would probably be at the bus stop talking or writing songs together then Jet would come along and kiss her- wait a minute, she and Jet were over. Mai shook all the home-sickly thoughts out of her head and rushed downstairs.

The school looked clean and well-groomed as did all the students. It was school for rich kids and Mai, being a rich kid didn't feel so out of place, especially because most of the people were dressed the same. Mai did see some people dressed in cheer uniforms. 'Maybe if I joined the cheer team I can get out of this heavy uniform.' Mai took another look at the cheer outfits before noticing that is was way too skimpy for her liking. 'Never mind' Mai walked further into the school while ignoring the stares people were giving her. 'Great, one of those types of schools…' Mai thought bitterly. Being a person with good intuition, Mai had no trouble finding the main office in such a large school and she would have been able to make it to her first class in a snap if only the secretary hadn't taken so long to print out her schedule. Mai heard the first bell ring and rolled her eyes as she watched everyone getting to their classes while she just waited for this woman to work the copy machine. 'Is it her first day too?' Mai thought sarcastically. If there was anything Mai hated the worst in this world it was being late…to anything… even bedtime. After what felt like a whole twenty minutes, the woman finally walked over to Mai and handed her the sheet of paper.

"Sorry I took so long, it's my first day here too." The woman said with a sheepish smile. Mai blushed as she mentally kicked herself for the callous comment she'd made before.

"It's okay" she said meekly before turning around and hurrying out of the office. When Mai was halfway to her first period she suddenly realized that she forgot to get a pass. She rolled her eyes at her own stupidity. 'Oh well, I'll just say I got lost'

When Mai walked into her class room she felt everyone's attention on her accept the only person who wasn't aware of her presence was the teacher and she was supposed to be the only one minded her. Mai ignored all of the curious eyes on her and cleared her throat. The teacher finally looked up from the board and turned to Mai.

"And who might you be?" she asked walking towards the new student.

"I'm Mai," the younger girl said as she handed her teacher the schedule. The woman took the sheet and observed it before handing it back to Mai.

"Well Mai, I'm your teacher Mrs. Khan, you may call me Mrs. Khan"

"Ooookaaaay" Mai said eying her teacher oddly.

"Take a seat anywhere you like, but choose wisely because you'll be stuck there for the rest of the year." Mrs. Khan said while going back to her teaching perfectly aware of the fact no one would be paying attention to the lesson after this. Mai sighed and even though some of the guys in the class room were trying to coax her into sitting next to them, her intuition told her to sit next to a boy who had his head down and appeared to be sleeping, if he was sleeping he wouldn't be staring at her and asking her questions all period.

"Okay class open up to page 239 in your textbooks and follow along with me." Mrs. Khan said "Oh, and Mai, try to keep up with us, okay?"

Mai almost laughed at her teacher's words; in fact if Mai wasn't the type to respect her elders, she would have walked right up there and started teaching the class herself. It was a civics class and Mai knew everything about government, considering the fact that her father was a politician, and the section Mrs. Khan was 'teaching', Mai knew it like the back of her hand. Mai smirked and thought about how amusing the period would be for her.

Mai's next period was study hall, so she'd just decided to spend it in the library. So here she was sitting on one of the cushioned library chairs writing some lyrics down. The library was basically empty there were a couple of students there, but that was it, and luckily for Mai they were too busy studying to look at her and ask questions. Mai continued to do her homework in silence until she heard someone say in a cheery voice

"Hi there!"

Mai looked up from her sheet of paper to see a boy wearing a friendly smile. He looked a little too young to be attending a high school and he had blue arrows on his head instead of hair. Mai would have thought he had cancer if it weren't for the pure and healthy essence his face had.

"You must be the new girl, I'm Aang." he said holding out his hand to her.

Mai took his hand and shook it. Aang sat down across from her. "I hope you don't mind me sitting here." he said.

Mai shook her head "I don't mind at all; I'm Mai by the way."

"Nice name, are you a fire bender?" he asked noticing her appearance.

"I wish," Mai scoffed "My father and brother are, but I missed out on the trait."

Aang gave her an apologetic look "Well I'm an air bender, the only one in the world actually."

Mai looked at him with a half impressed half blank look. "Cool," was all she said before focusing on song. The two stayed quiet until Mai's curiosity got the best of her.

"I don't want to be rude or anything, but aren't you a little too young to be attending this school?" Mai thought her choice of words were a little indecorous and she'd expected Aang to be offended, but he just smiled at her and answered.

"I skipped a couple times and now I'm in the 9th grade, I try not to brag about it." he said.

"Hmm," Mai said nodding her head "Well I must admit Aang you are one cool braniac, how old are you anyway?"

"I'll be 13 in a few months." he said in a cheery tone. Mai wondered if he was always going to be this cheerful. She wouldn't really mind, she needed some optimism in her life.

"Tell me something, Aang," Mai said smoothing out her skirt "Is it normal around here for everyone to stare at the new kid?"

"Well, yeah, but by the end of the week the stares will die down, so don't sweat it."

Mai hoped he was right because she was already upset about the move she didn't need people staring at her and starting rumors. Mai shrugged and continued to write her song. Anyone who's known Mai for a short period time wouldn't believe this, but Mai sang, sometimes. It's not like she wanted to become a famous singer or anything, it was just a type of stress reliever for Mai. Sometimes she'd vent her feelings into a form of poetry and turn into a song. Writing down the words made her relax and adding a beat to it made her feel happy. The only people who knew about Mai's stress reliever were Ty Lee and Jet, and maybe Tom-Tom considering the fact that she'd sing him lullabies from time to time.

"Hey what are you writing?" Aang asked interrupting her flow. Before Mai could answer, he took the sheet of paper and began to read it. A minute went by before Aang looked up at her and said "That was kind of sour, where did you find all the anger to write this?"

Mai blushed in embarrassment, now this boy probably thought she was some angry psycho. Mai decided to come clean so he wouldn't get the wrong impression of her.

"My ex-boyfriend, Jet…he cheated on me." Mai admitted shyly. She wasn't used to talking to strangers about her relationship problems. When Aang didn't answer Mai covered her face with her hands in embarrassment "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have told you that I was just-"

Mai cut herself off when she felt scrawny arms around her. Mai was shocked; she didn't even hear him get out of his seat and now he was hugging her up out of no where.

"I am so sorry, Mai." Aang said letting go of her and going back to his seat.

"I-it's okay, I'm over it." Mai said. It was the truth, in fact right after writing down those feelings she'd had bottled up, Mai felt better.

"Well good because a nice girl like you shouldn't be hung up on some two-timing loser." Aang said reassuringly. Mai couldn't help, but smile at the young boy. He was so adorable; he had to have a lot of friends.

"AANG!"

Mai looked toward the library entrance to see a little girl who looked about Aang's age walking toward them. The librarian glowered at her and hushed her which made the girl glower back and keep walking.

"I knew I'd find you in here, twinkle toes." the girl said as she sat down in the chair next to Aang. Mai felt confusion all over again. Why was this girl attending the school? Did she skip along with Aang? Suddenly Mai noticed that the girl's eyes were clouded, she was blind. Mai has never met a blind person before and she was feeling kind of nervous because she didn't know how to present herself to a blind person. She looked over at Mai and then back at Aang.

"Who is she and why is she so nervous?" The girl asked. 'What?' Mai thought. Did she look nervous? Wait, even if she did, how would this girl be able to tell?

"Toph this Mai, and Mai this is Toph." Aang said. "Mai is the new student."

Toph turned towards Mai, almost convincing Mai that she could see her. "A new girl, huh?"

"Yes I just got here yesterday." Mai said in her usual monotone voice.

"And how do you like it?" Toph asked

"Eh, it could be better." Mai said.

"Yeah this school really is a bore sometimes. That's why I'm only here for half of the day."

"Half of the day?" Mai asked the little girl.

"Yeah, Toph is at a higher level math and science class so she comes here to take the courses." Aang explained

"And for the rest of the day I go back to the junior high, leaving Aang all by himself." Toph said in fake pouty voice. Aang just rolled his eyes.

"But of course he's too busy drooling all over Katara all day to even notice I'm gone." Toph said making Aang blush.

"Who's Katara?" Mai asked eyeing Aang with a sudden interest.

"Only the most beautiful girl on the planet." Aang said dreamily while resting his chin on his palm. Toph rolled her eyes.

"Not to forget the most annoying, she is always walking around putting up this 'perfect' act."

"She is perfect." Aang said. Toph just rolled her eyes. "The only problem is that she doesn't even know I exist."

Mai saw Toph roll her eyes again and she suddenly visualized them getting together in a few years when Aang finally realizes that this Katara girl will never like him.

"I am so sick of you moping about that snob." Toph snapped. The blind girl got out of her seat and stormed off angrily. Then Mai was positive that Toph was jealous of the way Aang thought about this girl.

"I wonder what her problem is." Aang said in huff. Mai debated on whether she should tell Aang or not, she'd decided against it. It was probably best for him to figure it out himself.

"Just forget about it for now." Mai said waving her hand dismissively.

"Toph always hated Katara." Aang said "She doesn't even know her."

"And you do?" Mai asked.

"Well…" Aang drawled. He didn't know much about Katara considering the fact that she never spoke to him except during cooking. All he knew was that Katara was the most beautiful and talented girl he's ever laid eyes on. "She isn't a bad person, I can tell you that."

"Well I don't know her so I'm not going to argue or agree." Mai said.

"Did you meet anyone else besides me today?" Aang asked changing the subject. It was a drastic subject change, but Mai barely even paid attention to it.

"No it's just you and that Toph girl." Mai said blankly.

"Really," Aang said "Well it seems like I'm your first friend here."

"Friend?" Mai said eyeing the 12 year old. She wasn't expecting him to refer to her as a friend, but she should have. The kid was obviously the type to befriend any old stranger. Mai wasn't going to say that they weren't friends; he was nice to her after all.

"I guess so." the hazel eyed girl said shrugging.

I know this chapter kind of sucked, but it's basically an insight on what is going on. I promise that the next chapter will be better and more interesting. I made Republic city a pre existing place because it kind of fit into the context, you know where everyone from different tribes and nations come together in this oneschool called the Four Elements. Please review and tell me what you think. Again I promise the story will get better.