Edit: I was very unhappy with this story but I didn't want to disappoint anyone who still may want to read it so I decided to rewrite it and hopefully that will encourage me to update more often. I know I used to have the names and ages, but I would much rather let the story tell itself so I got rid of all of those things. The class schedules are gone as well. Sorry if you don't like the new version, but I can't keep writing this if I can't take it seriously. I will try to save the old version in case anyone hates this new version and wants the old one back. But I do want to tell a clear, coherent story here which I don't believe I accomplished in the previous version. I will keep old Authors notes, for old times sake, but just know I wrote them a long time ago. If a chapter doesn't have one of these Edit notes at the top, I haven't edited it yet, lol. I am so sorry for the delay and I hope you enjoy!
Welcome Readers, to my brand new story, Love of Highschool. So, why am I not updating The Great War of Avatar right now? Well that's because I have had this idea for a LONG time, and it WILL. NOT. LEAVE. ME. ALONE. So I decided to ease my mind by giving in to the will of the plot bunnies, and writing this story. I will still continue to write The Great War of Avatar, but I will just be writing this as well. I know, I know, most of the time, authors say they will write two stories at the same time, then they get really into the second one, and completely abandon the first one. I PROMISE not to do that. One way or another, The Great War of Avatar will have an ending! (though, I would be more determined if I had more reviews!) Anyway, hope you like Crazichi123's very first...AVATAR HIGHSCHOOL FIC!
Disclaimer:- I will say this one time, and one time only, I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender. See? I even wrote out the full name so you could see I was serious.
Katara was fast asleep, deep in the bliss of slumber. The rays of sun streaming in through the small crack of her curtain harmlessly left a spot of light on her neck, doing nothing to disturb her rest. She dreamed of water parks and canonballs, all the fun one can have in a summer packed into one night of sleep. She let out a content snort and a little more drool to add to the stain on her pillow when she was suddenly awakened, not by her alarm clock, not by a gentle shake of her shoulder accompanied by the alluring smell of bacon, but by the sting of ice water, soaking her in her previously warm bed.
"AHHHH!" she shrieked in pure shock arching her back as cold droplets ran down her spine. Katara sat ramrod straight in her bed, lifting her dripping arms away from her body in disbelief and very much awake.
"Rise and shine, kiddo!" said the overly cheerful voice of her father as he ripped open her curtains causing her to squint as her room filled with light.
"Impossible!" She yelled still frozen with her arms held away from her body. "I set my alarm clock a half an hour early!" she yelled looking over at the offending machine surprised to see a black screen instead of the usual green number display. She angrily swiped it off the counter only to see it void of batteries causing her to turn a glare towards her brother who stood slightly behind their father with a satisfied smirk and an empty bucket.
"Cheater!"
"All's fair in love and war, sis." she growled at him and looked about ready to lunge when she felt the touch of her father's hand on her shoulder.
"Come now Katara. How about you get into a nice, warm shower before you're late to school or you catch hypothermia." ordered her father with a small squeeze of her shoulder and a comforting smile that filled her with begrudging affection.
The girl let out one more frustrated sigh before ripping away her soaked covers, sending one last glare to her beaming brother as she passed him on her way out of her room.
"Don't think I won't get you back for this." she growled leaving him no room to respond as she stomped her way to the bathroom down the hall. Of course her brother who slept until 3 in the afternoon all summer, would wake up early on a Wednesday morning just to pour freezing water on her.
She slammed the door shut behind her. Thinking about their bucket tradition. That every year, on the first day of school, the first one to wake up got to pour a bucket of icy water on the other to wake them up. Katara was the reining champion for years until Sokka started getting sneaky, and for the last three years, this one included, his tricks had worked. A shiver ran through her as she remembered the last two icy awakenings she'd suffered.
Katara quickly stripped off her wet pajama's and eagerly turned on the warm shower water. Katara stopped in front of the sink and looked at her reflection in the mirror that hung above it. Strands of wet hair clung to her face, framing her puffy, tired eyes and slightly swollen lips where a patch of dried drool hung in the corner. She quickly licked her thumb and wiped it away despite the fact that she was about to wash her face in the shower. After taking her hair out of its messy braid and gently applying a face cleansing mask, she stepped towards her shower and stuck her hand into the running water to make sure it wasn't too hot or cold. After playing around with the water's temperature, she finally felt the water was satisfyingly warm and hopped in. Her body immediately relaxed as she stepped into the stream. The water had always made her feel safe. Like she was connected to it in some way.
'I can't believe its the first day of school already. It feels like summer went by so fast.' She remembered Toph pushing Aang down the waterslide at the waterpark and batting away flies at picnics where the weather was hotter than they thought it would be, and going on their first camping trip with Sokka making up a ghost story and then freaking himself out into believing it was true, and Aang looking at the crusty brown of the marshmallow in his first s'more with disgust, until he tried it and he couldn't stop eating them. Katara smiled solemnly at the memories of a season that had passed.
'Well, now we can make new memories.' she thought with a smile, always having been one for hope. She reveled in the feel of the water streaming down her body.
'I wonder what it will be like going to school with Aang and Toph this year.'
Katara has been going to school with most of the same people since kindergarten. The private elementary school she had attended, Bending Minds Primary Academy, was connected to Bending Minds Secondary Academy, so all the kids that went to the elementary school would go straight to the high school. This system benefited her greatly as she would always have her friends by her side.
"Katara! Hurry up and get out the shower or we're gonna miss the bus!" she heard her brother yell through the door. "Why do girls always feel the need to take forever in the bathroom." she heard Sokka say to himself.
"I just got in here Sokka! And maybe you should have claimed the bathroom this morning instead of soaking me!" Katara yelled back. She shut off the shower water and stepped onto the towel on the floor by the tub as she heard a distant "Worth it!" and footsteps walking away from the door. She rolled her eyes grabbing a freshly washed lavender towel from the white shelf on the right wall. She dried herself off, and wrapped the towel around her before placing a hand on the door knob and bracing herself for the rush of cold air that would meet her when it opened.
As the door flew open, the pictures of her and her family that lined the walls of the hallway were a blur as she ran back to her room, feeling the chill of the cool air on her damp body. She came back into her room to see new, dry sheets on her bed.
"They can be sweet when they want to be." She said to herself with a grateful smile. She contemplated the clothes in her closet and eventually decided on a blue, knee length dress that clung to her on top while the skirt portion billowed around her as she spun in circles.
"May as well dress for the summer while it lasts." she thought out loud as she combed her hair. Honestly, it was simple moments like this one that she really missed her mother. Even going over the events that took place earlier that morning, she thought of how her mom would've shaken her lightly from her sleep while softly whispering in her ear to wake up for school. Then she would have had the bathroom already set for her to use, and helped her pick out her outfit and do her hair when she came out. Katara's hand automatically reached up to stroke her mother's necklace. She hated the fact that she was so sensitive about things so simple! Her brother and father were only joking, and she even enjoyed joking along with them, there was no reason to be sad. Yet still...
Her thoughts were interrupted by banging on the door, followed by Sokka threatening to leave her if she didn't hurry up.
"Geez, Sokka! I'm coming right now!" she lied through the door.
Katara let out a shaky breath as she gently laid the comb back on her dresser in front of her vanity mirror. Looking over her appearance, she decided to leave her hair out of its usual braid simply pinning her hair loopies to the little bun she'd created.
After some mascara, lip gloss, and a bit of foundation, the brunette checked over her appearance and decided she was ready for the day.
She grabbed her book bag and ran out the room immediately getting hit with the intoxicating aroma of freshly baked pancakes causing her to rush t,o the kitchen even quicker. She sat next to Sokka, who had already managed to scarf down more than half of his plate and, after drowning her own pancakes with syrup, she eagerly followed her brother's example filling her mouth with sweet, fluffy pancakes.
"So you kids excited about any of your classes this year?" she heard her father ask as he entered the dining room from the kitchen with a bottle of apple juice. He acknowledged Katara's presence with a small wave as he sat at the table and poured himself a glass.
"School and excitement don't exactly mix, dad." the blue eyed boy stated through a mouthful of food while reaching for the bottle of apple juice.
"Well I'm pretty excited about my Child Development class this year!" Katara exclaimed excitedly before taking another bite of her breakfast.
"The only reason anyone should be excited by such a lame class is 'cuz it's such an easy A." Sokka interjected mouth still filled with pancake, ignoring the glare he received from the girl at his side.
"Be nice to your sister, Sokka. You may want to stay on her good side until she gets her revenge on you for plugging out her alarm clock this morning." Hakoda said eliciting a devilish grin from his only daughter.
"You better sleep with one eye open." Katara threatened with a smirk, lifting another forkful of pancakes to her mouth.
The blue eyed boy only responded by glaring at her suspiciously as he ate his last bite of pancake, never taking his eyes off of her as he walked backwards to the bathroom to brush his teeth.
Katara and Hakoda chuckled at his antics turning back to their breakfasts with amused smiles.
"Man, these pancakes are really good, dad." the brunette girl complimented shoveling more of the delicious food into her mouth.
"The secret ingredients are love and human guts." her father teased earning him an amused eyeroll.
"You're so corny." she retorted affectionately.
"Wouldn't have me any other way." he smiled at his daughter, ruffling her hair causing her to giggle.
She put down her fork, finishing her meal, and stood to make her way to the bathroom just as Sokka ran out frantically hopping from foot to foot, mouth still filled with toothpaste.
"We go'ah go or we iss uh buh!" he exclaimed quickly through a toothpaste filled mouth before running back into the bathroom. Katara's head shot towards the clock on the wall confirming that, yes, they were going to miss the bus if they didn't hurry. Right before running to the bathroom, Katara noticed a solemn look on her father's face, immediately stopping her in her tracks.
"Dad?"
"I wish I could drive you kids to school so you don't have to rush for the bus every morning." Katara hated to see her father like this and forewent running to the bathroom to instead reach across the table to grab her father's hand.
"Maybe if you weren't the world's greatest father I would agree." she started rarely seeing him so openly stressed about his lack of a car. For years he had worked at Fire Nation Enterprise. A world famous company that sold and installed solar panels. They were arguably the most famous Solar Panel company in the world. Yet to boost revenue they laid off millions of workers, and overwork the few workers they have left. Unfortunately, my dad was included in the workers that were let go. After he lost that job, it got a little rough for us, but he never let us feel the brunt of it. He even sold his car so he could pay for our Bending Minds Academy private school tuition. "But I think having the best dad in the world more than makes up for not having a stupid car." she said, earning a small grin from her father.
"Thanks babygirl." he lifted her hand that he was holding and kissed it his eyes soft as he looked at his child with appreciation.
"Come on!" Sokka said, appearing out of nowhere as he grabbed his backpack and ran towards the door. "Bye Dad!" he yelled over his shoulder.
Katara picked up her own bag and ran around the table to give her father a kiss on the cheek before running after her brother out the door.
"Bye Kids, have a great day!" Hakoda yelled after his children, waving goodbye.
The blue-eyed siblings ran to the bus stop, praying they weren't too late! She was especially excited for this day of high school because this was the first year that she was going to be sharing her high school experience with her two best friends, Toph and Aang. They just graduated from Bending Minds Primary Academy, and were starting their first year with Katara!
Katara and Sokka reached the stop just in time to see the silver bus pull up. Sokka and Katara walked into the, plush, air conditioned bus, and Katara rolled her eyes as Sokka tripped where it said 'Watch Your Step'. They sat down in the front and Katara let out a relieved sigh as she sunk into the comfortable seats.
"We made it on time!" Katara smiled excitedly. Sokka frowned.
"Well, we wouldn't have had to rush if you hadn't taken so long in the bathroom." Sokka stated. Katara's smile fell.
"Well we made it on time and that's all that matters!" Katara crossed her arms with a huff and started to pout. "Gosh. You can be such a jerk sometimes." she muttered under her breath.
"I'm sorry, what did you say, I don't think I heard you." Sokka insisted. Katara turned back towards him having no qualms with repeating herself.
"I said-" Katara was cut off by her own fit of giggles as Sokka began to mercilessly tickle her! "S-Sokka! Nooo!" she gasped between laughs.
"Oh, no! I'm too much of a jerk to stop!" Sokka said as he continued to tickle his defenseless sister.
"Y-you're-not a jerk!"
"What?"
"A-hahaha-you're n-not a jerk!"
"And?"
"Y-you're -snort- the best big brother e-ever!" Katara said, gripping her sides in pain from laughing so hard, still giggling after Sokka released her.
"Really? Aww shucks. Thanks Katara!" Sokka said with sarcastic modesty.
"You're such an idiot." Katara stated, admittedly fondly, rolling her eyes and smiling at her older brother's antics. Slightly embarrassed at her forced outburst, she looked around to see who had taken notice of the raucous laughter.
Just as she was giving a small apologetic wave to two girls across the aisle that were giving her strange looks. The siblings slightly lurched forward as the bus pulled to a stop. They hopped off the bus to see the familiar building of their high school and many familiar faces.
Katara saw one familiar face that was definitely not welcome.
The face of Zuko Noaya Mana.
Wooo! There goes chapter one! Boy am I happy to update this!
I REALLY hope you liked the first chapter, and if you didn't, I promise things will start to speed up in the next chapters! This was mostly introducing Katara and her relationship with her family. Anyway, please Please PLEASE REVIEW!
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Thanks, and Merry Christmas!