Camp Avatar: Chapter 2
Don't forget; this is a modern day AU! NO BENDING!!!
Thanks to my wonderful reviewers!
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Zuko stormed into his bunk after his cleaning duties were done. How dare Uncle offer him advice on respect? He obviously didn't know how women were.
He found Jet still awake, sitting on his bed and reading a book. He grunted in his direction before flopping on his bed in despair at the thought of staying at Camp Avatar another minute.
"Dude, what happened in the mess hall?" Jet put down his book and curiously glanced toward the brooding teen.
"This girl and I got in a fight and we had to clean the tables." Zuko said. He didn't want to divulge too much.
"She was a looker though. Is she single or not?" Zuko saw a gleam of interest in Jet's eyes.
"How the hell would I know?"
"I don't know." Jet lay down on his bed. " 'night." Zuko didn't even respond.
She's a LOOKER? Is he on crack? Zuko mentally shook his head. He didn't even recall what she had looked like. She had brown hair, tan skin, she was wearing blue…..big deal. It was then he realized he didn't even know her eye color.
It must be really ugly, he decided, falling asleep.
The next morning the campers were woken up by the same bell that had been used to call them to the mess hall the previous day.
Katara yawned and stretched. Her bunk was so soft and warm and she slept like a baby. She sat up to see Suki already dressed and doing her hair.
"Hey!" she said cheerfully. Katara grinned.
"Morning. What are you doing up so early?" Katara asked. Suki shrugged.
"I don't know. I'm a pretty early riser."
"You're the exact opposite of me! I sleep in, and stay up late."
"You like the moon then?"
"You could say that." Suki jumped on Song's bed.
"Hey girl, wake up. Rokku will be pissed if you're not in the mess hall in a half an hour!"
Song blinked sleepily and yawned.
"I had the best sleep."
"So did I." Katara said. She pulled on jean shorts and a Camp Avatar tee.
"Hmmm, Suki, could you do my hair? I'm sick of wearing it in a braid." Katara tilted her head in the mirror. Suki agreed, and piled Katara's thick hair into a messy bun on top of her head.
She laughed.
"You know, I can never do messy buns. They're so hard!"
"I've had a lot of practice with the other girls in my Gatka class." All three girls were dressed and sitting on Katara's bed.
"What are we doing today?" Song asked.
"It'll probably be something inside; most likely team-building." Katara rolled her eyes as she thought of her team and who was on it.
"That'll be fun!" Suki said, blushing.
Katara widened her eyes.
"Suki, do you like someone on your team?" She grinned.
"Well, there is this guy who has a ponytail and wears blue. His name starts with an 'S'….oh, what's his name?" She tapped her lip.
"Is it Sokka?" Katara widened her eyes in shock.
"Yes! Thanks." Suki grinned.
"Omigod, he's my brother!" Katara gasped.
"Oh no, is that a bad thing?" Suki's grin vanished.
Katara laughed. "No! It's so funny!"
Song joined in Katara's laughter while Suki blushed. Suddenly, the bell sounded again.
"Uh-oh, that's the five-minute warning bell! Come on!" Katara grabbed her roommies and bolted for the mess hall.
When the girls ran inside, they found everyone already situated into their teams. Katara quickly walked over to a corner of that hall where hers was and sat down.
"Hey Katara." Yue waved. "Did you oversleep?"
"No, I was talking a little too long." She admitted. Glancing around, she saw Teo and Longshot practically asleep on the floor.
"Did you guys get any sleep last night?" she asked.
Teo shook his head.
"Some guys in the second bunkhouse had a party or something. We couldn't sleep at all."
"Ha, my brother and friend are in that bunk! They would have a party. I'll talk to them; sorry about that."
Longshot shrugged, silently telling her it was ok.
Rokku walked to the middle of the cafeteria before Katara realized Zuko wasn't there. As soon as Rokku opened his mouth, he burst through the doors with two other guys.
"Late, mister Zuko." Rokku shook his head in disapproval.
"Sorry sir." Zuko slunk over to his team and tried to make himself as small as possible.
"Ok, today is a teambuilding day." Rokku said.
"You will make a cheer for your team to use during competition days. There's posterboard to present your team name, and you will give the cheer to us all right in here. We should finish by lunch and we'll break. Afterwards, I have a surprise for you."
Everyone nodded at his words. Katara knew the drill very well; it had been the same for the past three years.
"Alright, get to work!" Rokku announced. Katara and Yue got up and fetched some posterboard and markers.
"Ok guys, let's brainstorm some cheers." Katara said.
"Well, it has to be about fire, since that's out team name." Teo said.
"And sorry, I don't think I can do cartwheels or pyramids or anything." He continued, patting his wheelchair.
"We are NOT doing anything like that." Zuko spoke up for the first time.
"You will do whatever this team comes up with." Katara spoke calmly to him. She then turned back to business, not wanting to get into a fight.
"Ok, let's think of theatrics. Can anyone do gymnastics? I can do a bit."
"I can." Yue volunteered.
"Great! Ok, so me and Yue can cartwheel or something, and the guys can actually say the cheer." Katara made a note on the back of the posterboard.
"Any ideas for the words?" Teo asked.
"What rhymes with fire?" Katara asked absentmindedly.
"Wire? Sire? Higher? Dire? Mire? Acquire? Attire?" Teo listed words rapidly.
"OK THAT'S GOOD!" Yue interrupted him.
"Let's come up with the first line." Longshot quietly said.
"What about… 'Don't mess with fire'?" Teo asked.
Katara nodded. "That's good; I like it!"
"Second line?" Yue asked.
" 'Admire from afar as we climb higher' ?" Teo asked.
"You're good." Said Katara, who was scribbling furiously on the posterboard.
"And then, 'No one can acquire our desire to transpire'?" Teo volunteered.
Zuko mentally face-palmed himself. This was so gay it wasn't even funny.
"TEAM FIRE!!!" Teo finished, flinging his arms in the air.
Yue and Katara laughed.
"That's fine Teo. Are you a poet?" Yue asked.
"Sometimes I write poetry…" he admitted.
Zuko couldn't take it any longer.
"This is horrible. We'll be the laughingstock of the whole camp!" he said, looking straight at Katara.
Her face twisted.
"Zuko, this is for fun. Do you know what that word means?" she asked.
"That doesn't matter." He spat.
"Look, if you don't want to do this, you can hold the poster and JUST STAND THERE." Katara gritted her teeth in an effort not to slap the guy. Why did he have to be so negative?
"We should come up with a new cheer."
"Alright then, if you can come up with one, we can vote on which one we like best; yours or Teo's." Katara said. Zuko gaped at her.
"I can't write poetry!" he whined.
"Any other suggestions?" Katara whipped around in fury.
Zuko simply glared back at her. "We'll go with Teo's idea then." Katara said.
Zuko crossed his arms and skulked while everyone else worked.
"Longshot, do you want to recite the cheer?" Katara kindly asked. He nodded.
"Alright then. Katara and I will do gymnastics while Teo and Longshot recite, and at the end we'll all jump in and say 'team fire'! Oh, and Zuko will hold the poster." Yue said.
"Perfect!" Katara nodded. "Everyone in agreement?" Everyone nodded.
"How should we do the poster?" Teo asked.
"Let's just write the cheer down." Zuko said.
"That's boring." Yue pouted.
"We could actually do that." Katara mused. Yue gaped at her.
"You like Zuko's idea?"
"HEY!"
"It's not bad……an elaborate poster will distract from out performance." Katara said.
"Can we at least make a border of flames?" Teo pleaded.
"Go ahead. Boys, you work on the poster while Yue and I think of a routine." Katara and Yue stood up and pushed a table out of the way. Zuko watched them secretly as he began writing.
"Katara, can you do a backflip?"
"Whoa, that's kinda dangerous!"
"I can do one without a mat."
"Alright. I can bend over backwards. Would that be good to do?"
"That's fine. Ok, spot me." Yue got into a squatting position before flipping over to land neatly on her feet.
"Good job!" Katara said.
"Thanks. Ok, do your backbend." Zuko peered at Katara out of the corner of his eye. She bent backwards until her slender body formed a bridge, and she stayed in that position before pushing her feet of the ground. She now stood on her hands.
Yue clapped.
"That was good too!" she giggled. "And look, you had an audience." She pointed to Zuko.
"Did you like that Zuko?" Katara teased as he turned tomato red.
"I wasn't even watching."
"Whatever. Let's do that again Yue."
They kept practicing until Longshot tapped Katara on the shoulder.
"Ooh, you're done with the poster?" He nodded.
"Great job team fire!" she high-fived Yue.
The poster turned out ok. No, better then ok. The words were written in boy scrawl, but the flames on the border looked really cool.
"Those look nice." Yue said.
"Who drew those?" Katara asked.
"Zuko!" said Teo.
"Those are really good!" Katara grinned at him. He used every muscle in his body to keep from smiling back at her. Damn, she has a nice smile…..
Just then, Rokku strode back to the center of the mess hall.
"Hopefully everyone is finished." He said.
"Who wants to go first?" Katara raised her hand, knowing it was better to go first and get it out of the way.
"Alright, team fire please get up here." They carried their poster up to the center of the room as the 3 other groups sat down to watch the cheers.
Zuko held up the poster as Katara and Yue got into position. Longshot and Teo took a breath, ready to recite.
"Don't mess with fire. Admire from afar as we climb higher. No one can acquire our desire to transpire!"
Katara did her backbend as Yue flipped.
She landed next to her group and screamed with everyone else:
"TEAM FIRE!!"
The groups clapped as the team exited.
"Yay Sugarqueen!" Toph cheered.
Katara grinned as she sat down.
"Good job guys!" she high-fived everyone, even Zuko. When she hit his hand, something shot up her back, and she was surprised to find out how strong his hand was. She looked into his eyes.
"I didn't know you were such a good drawer."
"I didn't either." He pulled his hand from hers, and she turned back around.
Startled, he realized her eyes were a beautiful blue. Not ugly AT ALL.
Just then, Sokka's team took the floor. Sokka was obviously the leader of his group, since he was in front clutching a microphone. Katara saw Suki behind him and giggled.
"Hello ladies, I'm Sokka. Let me tell ya, I'm here to rock ya!" Suki giggled.
"Go team WATER!!!!" he screamed, and everyone on his team started dancing maniacally. Katara laughed out loud along with everyone else.
Toph and Aang were on the same team, earth. Their cheer was just as short as Sokka's, but funnier since they performed a little skit.
Team air went next, and Katara only knew Song on that team. Theirs was ok; not as funny, but still faithful to their team.
When everyone was done, Rokku collected their posterboards and stood in front of them.
"That was very good. Congratulations to all the teams. Now for the surprise."
Katara sat up a bit straighter as she strained her ears.
A surprise? They haven't done this before. She thought.
"We have another team building activity. Only this time, there are stakes involved."
"Everyone is to go outside and find tent materials with their team's colors. Set up the tent with your team, and the first to do so wins. This challenge is about communication and cooperation."
What? Usually they just let us swim in the lake after this. Katara thought.
"Ahhh, but what are the stakes? Well, the team to set up their tent first gets the surprise, and the losing teams have to sleep in their tents the way they are when we call stop time."
Great surprise. Zuko thought to himself.
"START!" Rokku thundered. Everyone sprang into actions as they raced for the door to the mess hall. Katara got outside and glanced around, her eyes adjusting to the bright summer sun. She saw a pile of red materials about 100 yards away. She turned to her team behind her and motioned for them to follow her. They reached the camping equipment.
"Ok guys, we have to communicate and work together to win. We can do this!" She grabbed a pole and held it up.
"What connects to this? It looks like the main pole!" Zuko raced toward her with some rope and two smaller poles.
"Here. This might be the framework." He said. Katara paused for a moment in surprise. But she let it pass over as she accepted his help.
Making a tent was tricky, and required careful precision and concentration. After a while, Katara stopped to take a drink of water. She glanced over at the other teams, and saw with surprise that the earth team was practically done with their tent. And Aang and Toph were on that team!
She hurried back to work, but to no avail. As the earth team finished Rokku called stop on everyone, leaving Katara with a half-finished tent and a heavy heart.
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The next chapter is going to be all about the night! Ha, Katara and Zuko have to sleep together! Muahahahaha!
Please review!