CHAPTER 2

"We're finally here!" Katara said, gazing up at the building with dreamy eyes. It had taken a little over an hour from their house on the outskirts of town to the school in the middle of the city, but Katara didn't mind the drive, especially since she knew what was waiting for her.

"Yeah, well it wouldn't have taken so long if we hadn't stopped at the hair salon," Sokka said, eyeing Katara in a disgruntled fashion. "I can't believe you kept such a major detail from me!"

Katara sighed. She knew that Sokka would have this reaction, which is exactly why she hadn't told him until they'd gotten thirty minutes away from the house. That way he wouldn't turn the car around and also so she could make him stop off at Judy's Beauty Salon. "Well, I couldn't show up with my long hair. And if I'd told you, you never would've agreed to it."

"Exactly!" Sokka said. No one was around to hear his outburst, but Katara still shushed him.

"You're the one who suggested it," she replied.

"Because I didn't know this was an all-boys' school!" Sokka said, refusing to speak quietly. He grabbed a lock of Katara's hair, which had been chopped off into a wavy, layered cut that fell over her forehead and covered half of her ears, and tugged at it. "You look like a boy, Katara!"

Katara slapped his hand away. "That's kind of the point," she said. "And I told you to call my Kalan from now on."

Sokka looked like he wanted to scream. "No! I'm not calling you that, because I'm going to take you home. I can't let you go to a school with all boys! You are a girl. Do you see the problem?"

"No one's going to know that," Katara said. "I make a pretty convincing boy."

"Fine, I'll trust you on that," Sokka replied. "But I still don't like this. Some of the guys here are probably so starved for girls that they'll go after feminine guys too. And you're definitely a pretty boy!"

She rolled her eyes. Now his arguments were getting plain idiotic. "Please, none of the boys in our old school spared me a second glance. What makes you think they'll like me better as a boy?"

"They never spared you a second glance because I always scared off the ones who stared at you too long!" Katara's eyes narrowed at that, but Sokka didn't notice as his panic grew. "And what about me? What am I gonna do without girls? I'm gonna go crazy here—we've gotta go home—"

Katara tried not to laugh at him. "There's a girls' school right across the street, Sokka. And we are not going home, not after I went through hell and back to forge those papers."

Sokka stared at Katara in disbelief. "I can't believe this—are you really my sister? You, Katara, faked papers, cross-dressed, and lied to Gran Gran? How could you come up with such a scheme?"

Katara turned red. "Quit being so dramatic. And I didn't lie to Gran Gran, I just… didn't tell her everything… and she trusted me enough not to do her own research."

Sokka's eyes widened. "Man, maybe I'll let you off the hook. You must feel guilty enough—I mean, even I don't have it in me to trick Gran Gran like that."

"Shut up," she replied, feeling the familiar ache of guilt in her heart. She really did feel awful, mostly because of the actual lie she'd told (no, she didn't lie, just withheld essential information), but also because this was the first time she'd ever been dishonest with Gran Gran. Not only that, but the moral correctness she'd prided herself on her entire life was now tainted.

"C'mon, let's go," Sokka said a little more gently, able to see the disheartened look on Katara's face. "Do we have to go to the office or something?"

Katara nodded. "Yeah. I think we can get or room keys there, too."

The two of them headed toward what looked like the main school building, as they designated by the tiger statue and flagpole that stood out front. The closer they got, the more students they passed. None of them spared either of them a second glance—not even at Sokka with his stubby ponytail and the sides of his head shaved—and Katara took that as a good sign. She was honestly a bit worried, because she was only 5'6, and her facial features were all rather soft and, well, girly. Thankfully she was rather thin with a somewhat boyish body, and the binder she'd bought with her savings worked well. She prayed that this would be enough to pass her off as a boy—who knows what would happen if she got caught.

As Katara started to open the door, she said to Sokka, "Let me do the talking, okay?"

"What?" Sokka said. "Why? What do you think I'm gonna do?"

"Use my real name," Katara said, eyebrow raised. "Refer to me as 'her.' There's a lot that could go wrong."

Sokka huffed. "Yeah, because I'm sure it'll go so much better if you talk. It's not like you have a girl voice or anything."

"I've been practicing," Katara said, though Sokka saying that did make her doubt herself. What if practice hadn't been enough?

They walked inside and entered the main office, where a man in a light blue button-up and navy blue tie sat at the secretary's desk, typing at something on the computer. He looked up when he heard them enter.

"Hello. Can I help you?"

Katara gulped. "Um, yes," she said. She could hear Sokka snort behind her at her "boy" voice. She didn't think it was that bad, because she'd recorded it and listened to it herself, and the secretary didn't seem to falter upon hearing her. She pegged it up to Sokka just being a jerk. "I'm Kalan, and this is my brother Sokka. We're transfers."

"Ah, yes," the secretary said, pulling out some papers from under a stack. "We've been expecting you. Here's your papers. Have you seen the counselor already?"

Katara nodded. "I talked to him over the phone."

"And you both have a week's worth of uniforms?"

"Yes," she answered, and she was pretty proud of herself for how well she was handling this. Her nerves, as well as her shaky hands and pounding heart, were finally starting to calm down.

"Looks like everything's in order," he said. "I've got both of your room keys right here." He reached under the counter and pulled out two keys, glancing at the numbers and handing one to Katara. "This one's yours, Kalan." He handed the other to Sokka. "And here's yours."

Katara glanced at the number to her room—319—and then at Sokka's—612.

"Sorry," she said, "but I asked the counsellor if Sokka and I could share a room, and he said we could."

"Right," he replied. "But there was a bit of a—uh, problem—between your roommate and his previous one. They had to be separated, so you have to share a room with him, and Sokka gets to share a room with his old roommate. There are no more rooms available in your building, so you won't be able to share a room together. Sorry."

He doesn't sound sorry at all, Katara thought as panic built in her chest, a pressure that threatened to suffocate her. All her previous worry and nervousness crashed down on her in waves, which was ridiculous considering she'd been so calm earlier. She couldn't share a room with Sokka but had to be with some other random boy, which could totally blow her cover, and she didn't know what she was going to do because she was panicking and breathing really shallow and fast—

"Could we move to a different building?" Sokka asked.

"No," the secretary said as he started to pull out other paperwork, losing interest in them. "Most people don't get to pick who they room with anyway, so you're lucky the counsellor even considered it in the first place. You'll have to stay in those rooms."

He returned to his desk and started typing again, an obvious dismissal. A few moments passed, and Katara wasn't moving, so Sokka had to guide her outside with a hand on her back.

When they exited the building, Sokka pulled away from her.

"Sokka—What am I going to do?" Katara said. "I don't know if I can keep this up with someone I don't know as a roommate."

"We can still go home," Sokka suggested, but Katara shook her head.

"No, not after all that trouble I went through." She groaned. "This wasn't in my plan, but I'm just going to have to deal with it. I need to do this."

Sokka sighed. "You're so stubborn," he said. "But on the bright side—"

He didn't finish, because suddenly a short, bald-headed boy in puffy orange sweatpants and a yellow t-shirt jumped up in front of them, a huge grin on his round face. "Hey!" he said cheerily, waving at both of them. "Which one of you's Sokka?"

Sokka raised his hand warily. "That'd be me…"

The boy's hand shot out for a handshake, which seemed a bit strange in Katara's opinion, but she didn't say anything. "I'm Aang," he said. "I'm your roommate! I saw you guys walking in and hadn't seen you around before, so I figured you were the new kids and decided to say hi since I was going to be sharing a room with you."

Sokka nodded and took Aang's hand. They shook, and then Aang turned to Katara. "Are you Kalan?" She nodded. "Man, I feel sorry for you. Really… I'm sorry. But I just couldn't share a room with that guy anymore, no matter how much I tried to get along with him. Now you have to deal with him, so… sorry."

He seemed sincere to Katara, so she internally accepted his apology, but she got nervous from the way he talked about his old roommate (and her new one). "Who is this guy exactly?" Katara asked in her slightly-deepened boy voice. "Like… what's so bad about him that you had to get a new room?"

Aang scowled. "Well, he's a huge jerk. He acts like he's better than you and stuff just because he's the headmaster's son. Everyone calls him Prince Zuko, but not to his face. They're way too scared to do that, because he's pretty intense and intimidating."

"Lemme guess, you called him Prince Zuko, and you guys got in a fight. Is that why you were separated?" Sokka said.

Aang nodded. "Yup! Boy, you catch on fast."

Katara paled and even felt a little lightheaded. Great, so not only was this some total stranger, but apparently he was also some kind of bratty prince. And worst of all, he was the headmaster's son. So if he found out about her—if he even suspected her—she was a goner.

Katara thought she was going to be sick.

"Hey, are you okay?" Aang asked, looking at Katara with concern. "You don't look so great. You need to see the nurse?"

She shook her head. "No. I think… I think I'm just nervous. New school and all."

"Probably, but at least you have your brother with you," Aang said. "Where'd you guys go before?"

"Southwest," Sokka answered.

"Oh, never heard of it," Aang said. "Must've been pretty small. You're probably just in shock, but don't worry. Everyone here gets used to it after a while. And the homesickness isn't so bad after a week. At least that's what I've heard."

Katara didn't ask him about that last part, but she nodded.

"You guys should take your stuff to your rooms," Aang said. "I can show you to the building. I don't think Zuko will be around, Kalan. He's probably down at the track."

Hm, so he's in track, Katara thought, but then she realized she didn't care. She was going to do all she could to ignore this Zuko kid and keep her distance from him. She did not need him knowing anything about her.

"Are you guys in any sports?" Aang asked.

"Nah, not me," Sokka said. "I spend my time charming the ladies, not running around in circles for hours. That's he—his thing." Sokka jabbed a thumb at Katara, and she threw a sharp glance at him. This wasn't good—Sokka had nearly messed up by using "her."

Aang didn't seem to notice. "Oh, do you do track?"

Katara nodded. "That's why I came here."

"Awesome! I do track, too!" Aang exclaimed. "After we drop your stuff off, I can show you guys to the track. There'll be a ton of people down there practicing since tryouts are tomorrow."

They went back to Sokka's car and got their bags before following a chattering Aang to the dorms. "And you can play soccer and swim and stuff even if you're not on the team! As long as they're not practicing, obviously. We should go swimming sometime. The pool here's awesome."

"I didn't bring swim trunks," Katara said with no intention of ever going swimming here, for obvious reasons.

Aang shrugged. "You don't need one. People skinny dip all the time."

Sokka made a disgusted face. "…Gross."

"Anyway, here we are," Aang said as they pushed inside a bustling building filled with students. "Over there's the commons. You can play pool or air hockey or buy snacks and stuff. People like to hang out there a lot, but besides the rooms that's all that's really in this building." The area Aang had pointed to, the commons, was to the left of the elevators where they currently stood. It was packed full of teenage boys laughing and talking and messing around. Katara decided that she would stay away from there—there was a lot of tackling going on, and she was going to avoid close contact.

They got inside the elevator, where Aang looked at the numbers on their keys and then pressed the buttons for the third and sixth floors. He kept talking about all the cool things the school had to offer until the elevator stopped and the doors opened to the third floor.

Katara stepped out.

"Hey, shouldn't I come with?" Sokka asked.

"No," Katara answered. "I'm a tough guy, remember? I can go on my own."

Aang laughed before Sokka could reply. "Sorry, you just don't look like a tough guy. I guess I can't judge, though, because I'm a tough guy and I don't look like it."

Katara smiled. "Right. But I can handle myself, Sokka." She sent him a warning glance. He had to remember that she was a boy, so there was nothing weird about going on her own to her room. It would be weirder for Sokka to escort her.

"Yeah, yeah," Sokka said, lifting his finger from the button that kept the elevator door open. He didn't look happy (and Katara wondered when he would quit pouting), but he listened to her anyway.

The doors shut after a few seconds, and then Katara was by herself in an empty hallway.

She looked at the number on her key again—319. According to the small sign mounted on the wall in front of her, rooms 311 to 320 were to the right.

She walked in that direction, glancing at the numbers on the doors as they got higher and higher. It was strange, because the more she walked, the longer the hallway seemed to become—the nervousness must've really been getting to her.

Absorbed in her thoughts, she nearly passed the door marked 319. Her hand was twisting the key in the doorknob before she knew it, and then she was gently nudging the door open, stepping a tentative foot inside.

The first thing she noticed was that the light was on. She almost scoffed at how much electricity this Zuko kid was probably wasting by leaving the light on while he was gone, but then she noticed that the room was not empty.

There were two beds, and essentially two sides of the room, the one closest to the door being very clean and plain and vacant while the one on the far side was messy with items on the floor and was most definitely occupied.

A boy sat on the far bed, the sheets crumpled at the end like he couldn't be bothered to make them. He sat with his legs crossed, book and paper in his lap and a pencil and calculator in his hands. He hadn't changed yet, so he wore the school uniform—black socks, gray slacks, short-sleeved white button-up, dark red sweater vest with the school's emblem on the right chest, and a red, black, and white plaid tie underneath.

Katara took a step back, startled. Zuko was in the room, not at the track like Aang had said.

Of course now she realized she shouldn't have put so much faith into Aang's words. What were the chances that he would've actually been correct in his assumption that Zuko was practicing for tryouts tomorrow? She scolded herself—she should've used her brain more.

Zuko turned his head toward her, and suddenly she wanted nothing more than to run out of the room. He had black hair that covered his forehead and ears in waves. His eyebrows were thick and, along with his sharp nose and thin lips, set in what looked like a permanent scowl. His eyes were golden and almost seemed to glow under the light. Most notable, though, was his left one, which was stretched almost shut and surrounded by a burn mark that covered a quarter of his face.

And he was attractive. Very, very attractive, which surprised Katara because she'd decided before she'd even met him that she was going to hate him and avoid him for her own sake, so why did her heart beat out of her chest when he looked at her?

She supposed that physical attraction was something you couldn't control, unfortunately, no matter what you thought of a person.

Maybe running away would be for the best, Katara thought as she continued to stare at him. Finding her roommate attractive was not something she'd planned for (especially since she'd originally thought her roommate would be Sokka), and adding this to the fact that he was the disagreeable son of the headmaster, this reeked of trouble for Katara.

He raised an eyebrow at her, probably able to sense her uneasiness. This was so unlike her—getting nervous like this, especially over some boy. She was better than that, and she shouldn't be letting thoughts of what could go wrong bother her. Besides, she'd decided she was going to avoid him, right? So what should it matter if she thought he was hot?

Despite calming herself down a little with these words, she jumped when Zuko spoke to her.

"Don't just stand there," he said, looking at her as if she were stupid.

Katara stepped inside, deciding not to say anything back to him and leaving the door open behind her. She set her bags on her bed, prepared to drop them and bolt back out when one of her uniform vests fell out of a duffle that hadn't been zipped up all the way.

She pursed her lips and picked it up, stuffing it back in her bag and turning around—

"It fell out again," Zuko said, sounding bored, and it irritated her.

She looked back, and sure enough, it was on the floor. She grabbed it and decided to just put it on the bed, but then her entire duffle fell over and spilled its contents onto the ground.

Katara sighed, setting the bag back without putting anything back inside, mostly because she was getting sick of picking stuff up but also because she really wanted to get out of the room and away from him as quickly as possible.

He raised an eyebrow. "Do you talk?" he said condescendingly. She really wanted to say something to him—a snide remark or something similar, but she restrained herself.

Instead, she scowled. "Yes, I talk," she said. He really wasn't making a great impression on her so far—not that she'd expected him to, and not that he cared. She was just surprised by how superior he was acting right off the bat—who did he think he was?

Oh, yeah, the headmaster's son.

He grunted dismissively and turned back to his homework, punching something into his calculator. Katara wasted no time leaving the room.

She shut the door with more force than she should've, which was the result of having to keep her admittedly short temper in check. Usually she wouldn't have been as bothered by him, but she was already irritated by the news that she couldn't room with Sokka, plus she'd unnerved herself thinking about how much trouble Zuko was going to be for her. With this and the way he talked to her, he'd rubbed her in just the wrong way.

She punched the elevator button with her index finger. He was lucky she'd been able to keep herself in check, because otherwise she might've gone off on him. Maybe she could've gotten a new roommate that way, like Aang did.

Or she could get detention.

The elevator door opened, and she saw Aang and Sokka talking about something with wild hand gestures. They stopped when they saw her, and Katara stepped on.

Aang stared at her for a moment, reading the scowl on her face. "Zuko was there, wasn't he?"

AN/ Yeah there wasn't much Zuko in this chapter like at all so… sorry. But there'll be more interaction between him and Katara in the next chapter and like the entire rest of the story, so. I'm finally getting things set up, so the next chapter should be the start of the actual story.

Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed, favorited, or followed! Thanks to you I decided to continue this!

P.S. I won't be able to write for the next few days, so the next update will take longer.