Jet

"Tall, dark, and handsome, ten o'clock," Toph says with a mouthfull of scrambled eggs, rather loudly. For a minute, I wonder what she's talking about. That is, until I catch sight of him. She seems to sense my anxiousness, as Toph tends to be skilled at picking up, and crosses her arms. "Don't worry, his footsteps are far enough away that I doubt he's within earshot. We can still talk about how we're going to get your diary back."

"Ah, okay," I say, lamely, eyes still drawn to him, he was still lingering by the coffee machine. He was chatting with some other trainees animatedly.

"Stop staring, you're going to catch his attention," Toph advises me. How did she even know?

"I wasn't - "

"Yeah, okay. Save it, Sweetness."

I want to argue further, but something tells me that being my usual stubborn self with Toph is going to get me absolutely nowhere. It hasn't yet, after all. "Alright, so do you have a plan?" I ask, tepidly.

Toph uncrosses her arms and leans onto the table, misty eyes thrown in my direction, unseeingly. "We could sneak into old Pakku's office."

"That would never work. He's always there," I mutter darkly.

This brings a smile to Toph's face, which kind of admittedly creeps me out. Her smiles rarely mean anything good for me. "We could get help from the inside."

"The inside?"

"He's getting closer," the younger girl hisses, and I panic. No. No, no, no, no. She couldn't mean - !

"Toph, no - "

"Hey, Katara."

Jet. I swallow back the sort of sound that would sound more appropriate coming from an extremely angered cat.

"You wanted to ask me something?" Jet smiles; all handsome, all dangerous. I'm going to kill Toph. I'm going to kill her and then bring her back to life because she's actually the only kind of friend I have here and she's tolerable sometimes; when she's not forcing me to try and convince pretty boy trainees into breaking the rules, that is.

Right. Pretty boy trainee. Jet. I can do this.

His brown eyes crinkle in amusement.

I can't do this.

"Uh," I cough a bit, fighting back the heat rising to my cheeks. "Right, yeah. Um. That's...That's why I asked you to take a walk with me. I, uh, wanted to ask you something."

How am I supposed to do this?

Being capable of forming actual, complete sentences would be a nice start, Sweetness.

I shut my eyes tightly. She's in my head. How did she get in my head?

"Well, go on," Jet encourages me, still smiling. Why is he always smiling? Who thought having him exist was a good idea - him and his stupid smiles?

I feel myself blushing again. I'm hopeless. Someone please stop me before I do something stupid.

My prayers are answered in the form of a grumpy, scarred patient donning a menacing scowl barreling into us. Not exactly what I was hoping for but it would do, I think, as I try to regain balance from the collision. I feel Jet's hands guide me to my feet again.

"Do you make a habit of never watching where you're going?" The boy barks.

"Maybe, I'm two for two now." I answer, before realizing this was the exact opposite of what he probably wanted to hear. "Uh. Sorry," I apologize, meekly, tugging at my braid.

"It was an accident," Jet's hands are still on my back. "And she's apologized. Let's all just move on."

The boy glowers, and I'm surprised to find it's not directed at me, but Jet.

"Lee," Jet's lips are in a firm line. "Don't you have an appointment with Doctor Mushi?"

"His name is Iroh," Lee replies, icily.

Jet quirks an eyebrow. "Still on about that, huh?"

I glance between the two, feeling extremely uncomfortable. Maybe I should just leave. That would probably be best, but as I struggle to find a way to excuse myself, I find that Jet's hand is still resting on my lower back. I'm going to scream, probably.

"It is," the boy sniffs indignantly. "You're just disrespecting his honor by referring to him as anything else."

I try to subtly remove Jet's grasp on me but it simply gets tighter. "Jet," I begin, however, I'm promptly cut off.

"I'm leaving," Lee says, narrowing his eyes at Jet. "And you," his gaze switches to me and I freeze. Something feels off about his stare. It might be my imagination, though, I think he can feel it too. He stiffens. "Pay attention to where you're going from now on, Katara."

"He knew my name."

"Everyone knows everyone's name here, Sugar Queen," Toph waves this off dismissively. "Did you get Jet to agree to help?"

"I didn't know his," I reply, feeling annoyed, and completely ignoring her question. I stare up at the ceiling, my stomach curling uncomfortably.

Toph sighs heavily and I can hear her rolling onto her side on her bunk. "Yeah, and now you do. So what's the big deal again?"

"I don't think that's his real name."

"Not this again."

"Toph, please, out of everyone here that thinks I'm insane, don't tell me you do too."

"Listen, Katara." There's more shuffling. She's moving again. "I understand you like to live in your own little world of ice cubes and fire breathing jerkbenders, whatever they're called. I understand that, I do. We've all got to find ways to cope with the bad hand we've been given but this is getting a little ridiculous, y'know?"

"Toph," I say, and I hate how it sounds resigned.

"Let's just go to sleep. You can go on another date with Jet tomorrow and we'll get your stupid diary back and I'll have my cookies. Happy ending for all."