Chapter 3
Fa Xian High: the School of Discoveries
"Good night Toph, night Suki. Thanks for dinner!" Sokka said as he made his way out their front door.
"See ya later Sokka!" Toph called from the living room. "Come back whenever you want your butt kicked again!" After dinner Sokka and Toph played video games. Sokka still couldn't believe he lost a video game to a blind girl.
"I told you, my controller was broken!" Suki chuckled as she walked behind Sokka ready to close the door after him.
"The sooner you accept the fact that I'm better than you, the less painful it is!" Toph yelled smiling.
"I'll see you tomorrow." Suki said giving Sokka a goodnight kiss.
"Take care." Sokka walked outside and looked up at the night sky. He smiled and continued his way home.
…--…
Zuko woke up in his room just like all the days before. He was still tired from coming home late, but he knew he had to get up for school. He got dressed and packed his bag and went to the bathroom just like all the days before. There he washed his face, brushed his teeth, and brushed through his hair with his fingers. He expected to walk into the kitchen to see his Uncle happily making morning tea and breakfast for the two of them, just like all the days before. What he didn't expect was that this morning would not be like all the days before. He walked in to find Uncle sitting at the table with only a cup of tea.
"Sit down Zuko." His voice was hard.
"I don't have time. I'll be late for school…" Zuko grabbed a roll off the kitchen counter and turned to walk out the kitchen. He would've made it out if it hadn't been for a fireball that sailed past his head, hitting the door frame of the entrance to the kitchen leaving behind a burnt hole.
"I insist." Zuko was stunned. Uncle never shot fire at Zuko, not even during training. He put his bag down and sat down in the chair opposite of Uncle.
"What."
"You tell me. You were supposed to help me hire someone at the tea shop yesterday, remember?"
"Something came up—"
"And even after that you leave me to close the shop by myself—"
"Uncle I—"
"—And sit here to worry all night long." Zuko bowed his head and gritted his teeth. He didn't come back till 2am last night. "Where were you?"
"I was out…"
"Out where."
"In the city—"
"Doing what?"
"Just walking around—"
"—Why?"
"I was frustrated!" Zuko looked up at his Uncle and saw his expression had not changed. He still looked crossed and stiff. "I tried being nice to Katara and she makes me take this stupid class with her as like, a punishment and…" Zuko caught sight of the clock. "Uncle I have to go, I'm going to be late."
"I'll write you a note saying you went to the doctor's." Zuko sighed; there was no way he was getting out of this.
"Katara made me sign up to take a class with her, and it's being taught by Jun." Uncle's eyes widened.
"Jun? As in the bounty hunter Jun?"
"Yeah. Her." Uncle thought it would be a good idea, for Zuko's sake of course, to schedule a parent-teacher conference soon.
"Oh ok." His expression hardened again "Go on."
"Well yeah, so now I'm stuck taking a stupid gardening class with the last two women I'd ever want to be left alone in a room with. And Katara's stupid brother wouldn't sign up so I could get out and he's taking all these great classes that I want to take. And his girlfriend's there like, 24/7 just to rub it in my face that my girlfriend is cranky all the time and lives 500 miles away and never writes to me and is easily jealous and just overall is a big blah!" Uncle shook his head.
"Zuko, I know those things must aggravate you, but do you really expect me to believe you stayed out all night because of girl troubles?" Zuko bowed his head. Finally the truth was coming.
"I went out to try to find my mom." Zuko really didn't want his Uncle to know the truth behind him moving away from home. He wanted his Uncle to believe it was because he missed him and wanted a simpler life. Sure those things were true, but the real reason was finally out there.
"Do you truly believe your mother is here?"
"Yes, I do."
"Where did you get that idea?"
"Azula told me." Uncle sighed. His nephew was still the brash young man he knew long before the summer. What was worse was he was still letting Azula control him.
"Zuko, I understand your determination to find your mother, but I wish you would think things through."
"I have thought it through Uncle. I'm here aren't I?"
"Yes you are, but now what? What will you do the rest of your life? Wander the streets vainly looking without a plan for a woman who has a slim chance of even being here?"
"It's not a slim chance! I know she's here, Azula—"
"Azula is a liar. How do you know she was telling the truth?"
"I really don't think she has a plan to—"
"She always has a plan!" Uncle was furious that Zuko seemed to learn nothing from his experiences. "What will it take to get you to learn that?" Zuko opened his mouth, but nothing came out. "You need to stay one step ahead of her. But since that's obviously beyond your reach at the moment, you should at least try to stay on the same page."
"But how—"
"Think about your weakness. That's how she controls people. You care most about your mother and she knows that."
"But why would Azula want me gone? Out of all the places she could have said, why here?"
"I don't know, but you should think about that. Don't leave your issues for someone else to solve." Zuko was furious with himself. He couldn't believe how stupid he was.
"So what do I do about gardening?"
"Give it a shot. Gardening builds character and patience. I'm sure you will learn to appreciate it." Zuko got up to go.
"Thank you Uncle. And I'm sorry about staying out and not helping you. It was very selfish of me, and I'm very sorry."
"No I don't think you are." Zuko looked shocked at his Uncle. "When school is over I want you to come straight to the shop. I'll have a list of things for you to do so you will know how sorry you are." Zuko dropped his head defeated. This week was going to be hell. He picked up his bag to go. Uncle was busy writing a fake doctor's note for him. "Don't forget this." He said giving the note to him. Zuko grabbed the note and was almost out the door, "And Zuko. For the time being I must ask that you hold off on finding your mother and focus on your own life." Zuko nodded. "Also, please find a better outlet for your frustrations, and try to keep an open mind, and an open heart."
…--…
Ty Lee was warming up with stretches in gym class. Although most kids would hate to start the day with gym, Ty Lee loved it. It was a great way to wake her body up and be ready for the day. Even before school had started Ty Lee had made her self busy. She had enrolled in several dance classes and begged her mom to let her take additional classes at the local gymnasium. She also had gotten into drama and was excited about auditions for the school play next month. Ty Lee loved being the center of attention. She loved shinning above the rest and she secretly enjoyed competition. Her dreams and ambitions were as countless as the stars as well. She could do anything. She could be a gold metal gymnast at the Olympics, the prima ballerina of the most prestigious dance troupe, an award winning actress, or even the main spectacle in a world traveling circus. Her future could never be brighter.
"Looking good Lee!" One of her classmates said passing by. Ty Lee smiled.
"You too!" Although Ty Lee was only a freshman, she was already quite popular at school.
There was nothing that could stop her, except maybe Azula. Although they had been close friends since childhood, Ty Lee couldn't help but be just a little scared of Azula. Azula could break a person in an instant if they even looked at her wrong, and Ty Lee knew that, which is why she made it her priority to not get on Azula's bad side and go out of her way to make Azula feel like she worshiped her.
…--…
The class was well into the lesson when the door opened. The class all turned to find Zuko standing in the doorway.
"Well, Zuko. Glad that you decided to join us today." Zuko walked to the front and handed Uncle's note to the teacher.
"Sorry, I had an early morning Doctor's appointment." He walked back to his desk and took his notebook out.
"Well you made it just in time for our group activity. Class, please divide yourself into groups and I'll walk around and give you each the worksheet." Great, busy work to start the day. Zuko thought. As the class began to get into groups Zuko saw the group of girls huddled together, no doubt trying to see which one had the guts to ask Zuko to join them. Before he let them figure it out, Zuko ran to the other side of the room, jumping over desks and shoving kids out of the way to do so. As soon as he got to the other side, he causally strolled up to Sokka and Suki.
"Hey, can I be in your group?"
…--…
Toph and Aang were once again bunched up in gym. They were getting picked for new kickball teams and the teacher picked out new team captains.
"I want Toph." Toph smiled wide.
"First pick? Alright! I actually was picked first for a sport team!"
"See? This isn't such a bad class." Aang was happy that Toph was giving gym a second chance.
"Wait, that team picked first last time! That's not fair, I should be able to pick first!"
"That doesn't matter since its completely different teams!" Once again, a fight broke out over whose team Toph would be on; however it was a fight that Toph enjoyed.
"Let's just let Toph decide!"
"Toph, whose team do you want to be on? Mine or his?"
"Hey, don't bring me into this fight. I'm just gunna sit this out and let you boys handle it." Toph leaned against the bleachers and watched the fight start back up again. This is how gym became Toph's new favorite class.
…--…
The bell rang for lunch and Katara made her usual way to Sokka and Suki.
"Is Zuko still MIA?" Katara asked.
"No, he's here." Sokka said lying back in the grass.
"I thought you were going to ask him to sit with us."
"We did. He just said that he had stuff to do." Suki said starting to eat her meal.
"Huh, I wonder what it is." Katara said taking a sip of her water.
…--…
Zuko sat at his normal spot, roof top of building 3. He was touched that Sokka and Suki invited him to sit with them for lunch, but he preferred the roof. Sure it would be nice to have someone to talk to, but he really didn't want to be eating with a group of girls watching his every move giggling.
…--…
Mai sat on the fountain again. This time she had brought a lunch and something else with her, wrapped in a little pink bag with a pink bow.
"Do you have a lunch today?" Ty Lee said as she plopped down next to Mai. Mai raised a little plastic zip lock bag with a sandwich inside. Ty Lee smiled. "I'm so proud of you!" She took out her own lunch.
"I also have something else." She raised the pink bag up. "This is for you." Ty Lee looked shocked.
"For me? But it's not my birthday." Ty Lee took the bag.
"I know. I went shopping yesterday with Azula and didn't see anything I liked." A huge smiled spread across Ty Lee's face.
"Wow, thank you!" She untied the pink bow and reached inside the bag. She pulled out two tissue paper-wrapped clumps. The first one was a bracelet. One strand was a silver charm bracelet, another was pink rhinestones set in little silver squares, and the third was a strand of pink pearls. The three strands of the bracelet were held together by a little pink ribbon tied in a bow. The second clump was a little set of cute fuzzy animal hair clips. "Awww Mai!" Ty Lee hugged her. "You know me so well!" Ty Lee put the bracelet on and stuffed the tissue paper back into the bag.
"It's nothing." Mai smiled. She looked around. "Ty Lee, I want to talk to you about something, but I really don't want Azula to know." Mai looked around again and Ty Lee did the same. Mai didn't see Azula anywhere, but she knew it probably wasn't a good idea to talk about it here. Knowing Azula she would just pop up at the wrong time. "Can you get online tonight?"
"Maybe. Cheerleader try outs are today."
"Well try anyway." Ty Lee nodded and noticed Azula walking their way.
"Do you think I have a good shot at getting a spot on varsity?" Mai gave her a questioning look then realized Azula must be coming.
"Of course you do. You're probably the most spirited girl here. You're definitely the loudest." Mai and Ty Lee laughed.
"A good shot at what?" Azula said standing in front of Mai and Ty Lee.
"The varsity cheerleading team. The try outs are today." Azula noticed Ty Lee's bracelet.
"That's a very pretty bracelet. Where'd you get it?"
"Mai gave it to me. She also gave me these." Ty Lee showed the hair clips.
"Well that was sweet of you Mai." Azula said, "Did you forget her birthday?"
"No. I just saw those yesterday and thought she'd like them."
"I see…" Azula looked at Mai. Ty Lee noticed this and quickly pulled out one of the hair clips.
"Here Azula. You can have this one!" Ty Lee held out a little lion clip. "The lion reminds me of you." She smiled.
"That's very thoughtful of you Ty Lee, but I'm afraid fuzzy animals aren't really my thing." Phew! That one was my favorite. Ty Lee thought. "So, tryouts are today huh? Mind if I come out and cheer?" Ty Lee froze.
"Oh…well of course you can Azula. I wouldn't want anything else!" Azula grinned.
"Mai, are you going too?"
"I'd rather get my teeth cleaned than watch cheerleader tryouts." Ty Lee shot her an angry glance but soon went back to her happy self clipping the lion pin in her hair.
"Actually, that lion pin looks really cute. Mind if I have it?" Azula said sitting down next to Ty Lee. Ty Lee smiled and removed the clip.
"Of course you can Azula."
…--…
Katara walked briskly to her next class, gardening. She was a little late because she had gotten lost, but no matter, she was just excited to see how it would be. She opened the door and stopped from shock. Zuko was sitting in the middle of the room. The eight other girls (four of which were in Zuko's class) who had signed up to take the class were occupying the seats in front of Zuko, behind Zuko, on either side of Zuko, and the remaining corners. The tenth desk the school provided for the class was sitting far away from the clump on the right near the door. The teacher's desk at the front was empty. Jun wasn't here yet.
"Ummm…" Katara said, looking at the irritated Zuko (eyes closed, head down, arms crossed, right eyebrow twitching) and feeling a pang of guilt. "I guess this is my seat…" she said inching over to the lonely desk. She sat down and rested her hands on the desk and twiddled her thumbs. The only sound in the room was the murmur of the girls talking amongst themselves. Katara looked at the clock…Jun was late for her own class. She looked up at the ceiling and rolled her eyes around. She caught sight of Zuko who had his eyes squinted at her. She starred at him as he shook his head slightly and went back to his position. Katara blinked and looked back at her thumbs.
"Sorry I'm late." Jun said barging in and slamming the door. "Traffic was rough." She took her jacket off and flung it on a counter while walking to her desk and sitting down in the chair. She set her motorcycle helmet down and put her feet on the desk. "Is everyone here?" No response. "Good. My name is Jun and I'll be your teacher for gardening. If you wish to learn it there are textbooks in the back along with the key to the supply closet. Any questions?"
"Can we change seats?" Zuko asked.
"Sit wherever you like." Zuko got up, grabbed his chair, and held it over his head as he squeezed past the girls. He then dragged the chair to the back and took the keys to the closet and unlocked it. He opened the closet door and dragged his chair inside. Once inside he turned the light on and closed the door. The class went silent. Jun smiled.
"That's funny, my mood just picked up."
…--…
"Ok class, welcome to Modern Dance." Suki and Sokka were sitting on the ground of the dance studio along with their classmates. It was a relatively large group for a dance class. There were about 15 of them. The teacher stood in front of them, one foot in front of the other, a dead giveaway that she was a dancer. "Now Modern dance is not only about having fun, but about expression and being able to release your inhibitions…" Sokka burped. The teacher looked sharply at him.
"What? I was releasing my inhibitions." A hushed giggle spread throughout the class. Great, a class clown that no doubt only took the class so he could be surrounded by girls… the teacher thought rolling her eyes. Just what I need to put a damper on my art… She was used to guys signing up for her dance classes who couldn't dance and only gave her head aches trying to teach them simple steps just for the sole purpose of meeting girls.
"I am curious to see how your dance skills are like so I know what I have to work with and what you can work on." She said this more towards Sokka than any other person there. "So we will stretch and then I'll play music. When you hear the music I want you to move with it as you see fits."
…--…
Mai was waiting in the girl's bathroom in the lower 300 hall. Ty Lee had slipped her a note before lunch ended that said to meet her there at the beginning of 5th period. The door opened. Mai turned expecting Ty Lee, but instead it was another girl who smiled and walked into one of the stalls. As soon as Mai turned back around Ty Lee burst through the door looking for Mai.
"Why aren't you coming to my tryouts?" Ty Lee looked angry, a rare sight for Mai.
"Because I'm not interested."
"You KNOW Azula's going to do something to mess it up! You should make it your interest to help your friend by being there to prevent anything from going wrong."
"Ty Lee, I know Azula's up to something. She knows how much I can't stand that sort of thing and it would be out of character for me to go."
"So it's in character of you to not care about the well beings of your friends?"
"Of course I care about you. You know I want the best for you. But if I went, Azula would know that something's up between us."
"So let me take the fall while you get away free huh?" The girl got out of the stall and walked over to wash her hands trying hard to be invisible. "She already took my lion clip…"
"You need to stop being selfish—"
"Oh I'm being selfish?!" Ty Lee was so upset she picked up a soap dispenser and flung it at the back wall, almost missing the other girl's head. "This isn't fair!"
"I'm just gunna go…" the girl said sliding past the two of them and running out the door without even rinsing the soap off her hands.
"Control yourself Ty Lee!" Mai said grabbing her by the shoulders and shaking her gently. "It's ok. No matter what Azula does today there's no way it can affect your performance. I know you, and I know how talented you are." Ty Lee was still upset and trying to hold back tears. "You'll do fine—" Ty Lee brushed Mai off and ran out the door just as a janitor was coming in to clean. She looked back at Ty Lee running down the hall before entering the bathroom. She looked at Mai, and then at back wall. There was soap splattered over the wall and glass on the ground.
"What happened in here!?"
"I don't know," Mai said walking past her. "But you should probably clean it up."
…--…
They got done with the stretching routine and the teacher began to walk towards her stereo. Sokka was surprised he had survived the stretches.
"Wow, I had no idea how stiff you were. You should stretch more." Suki said doing an extra stretch for her legs.
"Hey, when I dance, it's not about the flexibility. It's about style." Suki smirked at him.
"Well, I'm looking forward to see it."
"Now remember class! Move with the music. Hear it, and feel it flow through your body. Let it consume you…"
"Ten bucks says she's been hitting the cactus juice…" Sokka whispered to Suki.
"Sokka!" Suki said trying to control her laugh. The teacher pressed play and odd belly dance like music began to play with a woman bellowing in the background. Sokka crossed his arms rather smugly.
"Told ya…"
…--…
"Zuko?" Katara knocked on the closet door. "It's Katara, can I come in? I need to get a few things from the closet." Katara had tried to get past the ordeal and focus on teaching herself gardening from the textbook. The only problem was that she needed supplies that were in the same closet Zuko had locked himself in.
"Is it just you?" she heard a voice from inside say.
"Yes, it's just me." The lock clicked and the door opened just a crack. All the girls were shocked. They had tried the same excuse but Zuko didn't open the door. Why was this girl so special? Katara opened the door. Zuko was doing homework and organizing his notes. She got her supplies together as fast as she could. "Ok I'm heading out now." Zuko got up to lock the door behind her. Katara went over to the table in the back she was working on with her supplies.
"Why does Zuko like you so much?" One of the girls asked her. Some of the other girls began to move around Katara.
"Well for starters I don't force myself on him and make it obvious that I'm whispering about him when he's sitting 3 feet away."
"Oh come on, like you haven't gawked at a boy before?" another girl said sitting down on the table.
"I have, but not to this extreme. You guys are blowing it out of proportion. Why do you all like Zuko so much?"
"Yeah I wanna know that too," Jun said peaking up from her magazine. "He's a rude little bugger if you ask me. Half his face has been burned off too…" She mumbled the last part. Jun didn't respect Zuko, at all, but she wasn't cruel enough to make Zuko's scar the worst part of him.
"He's different from the other guys." The girl on the table said.
"How so?" Katara asked a bit intrigued.
"Well he doesn't go out of his way to show off. In fact he doesn't show off at all." One of the girls sitting down at a desk said.
"Yeah, plus he's really shy. I think shy modest guys are so cute." Her friend added sitting across from her.
"And he's the best dressed guy in the whole school." Everyone in the room, even Jun, agreed.
"He's really quiet and distant, which makes him seem really mysterious. Like, you wonder what he's thinking about and where he disappears to at lunch." A girl sitting on the counter by the window said. "Plus, he's really smart."
"Yeah, you should hear him in class. He's a pretty clever guy." Her friend said.
"And he transferred from a top private school so he must be rich!" All the girls turned to look at the youngest girl leaning against the table. "What? I see it as a perk!"
"But what about his…" Katara lowered her voice so Zuko couldn't hear her from the closet, "…well, you know…" The girls knew she was referring to his scar.
"What of it?" One of the older girls said. "It's really not that bad. Besides it only adds to make him look dark and intriguing…" (Just then somewhere in the world, two men clutched their hearts. "Did you feel that?" the one with glasses asked his friend as they recovered. "Yeah…my zutara senses are tingling…" :sorry, just had to add that XD: )
"Besides, the other half of his face is so beautiful that it makes up for it." A girl said smiling and sticking out her tongue as the girls, including Katara, laughed.
"And if you think he's a jerk now, think of how much worse he would be without his scar." Katara looked puzzled.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, judging by his good side if he didn't have that scar he would be way too good looking. Too much for his own good…"
"Yeah, and he would know that too."
"And a guy's ego seems to be a very dangerous thing to mess with. There are very few guys who won't let their drop dead gorgeous good looks go to their heads." Katara thought about Sokka…
"See, we don't see it as a flaw." Katara looked at the girl sitting on the table. "It's just a simple characteristic, we all have one."
"Yeah, it's his signature look."
"Which is still sexy fine!" The girls began to laugh again. Katara felt ashamed. She had allowed herself to focus solely on the outer appearance rather than even consider overlooking it. She came into this class thinking all these girls were idiots to realize the only idiot was her…but even though they had good points, she knew Zuko better than any of them and could come up with thousands of bad things about him. And even then, that still didn't make it right for those girls to harass Zuko.
"Alright, I get it. Zuko's the "perfect" guy. That still doesn't make it right for you guys to bother him so much."
"We just want to be his friend and make him feel loved."
"And maybe get something in return…" one girl whispered to her friend. Katara heard this.
"Well I hate to break it to you, but he has a girlfriend. She just lives far away." To her surprise this didn't kill the Zuko fan club. In fact it actually helped spark the interest.
"That makes it all the more fun!"
"Yeah. Competition is a great motivator."
"And since his girlfriend's far away she can't fight off our advances."
"Unlike Suki. We tried to go for Sokka on the first day but she fought us off."
"That girl's a warrior."
"A warrior with a strong grip!" Katara laughed. Thank Yue for Suki. She didn't know how she could handle Sokka flaunting the fact that he had a fan club.
"So, can you please go talk to him?" One girl nudged Katara.
"Yeah, he trusts you, and we'd be honored if you could represent us."
"I really don't think…."
"Please??" She looked around the room. All the girls were pleading for her to just go in and talk to Zuko. Katara sighed. Peer pressure, works every time…
"Alright…" Katara wondered what she could say to make him even consider unlocking the door. What if he heard everything they said? What if he heard everything she said? She started to come up with good excuses to tell him if he asked her why she let them, and even participated, in talking about him. She knocked on the door. "Zuko?" No response. Her heart froze. He must've heard… She knocked harder. "Zuko!" Still nothing. Her heart started to race. "ZUKO!!" her heart started beating up to her throat. She pounded on the door. "ZUKO! I KNOW YOU'RE THERE!! ZU—" The door swung opened and she almost hit Zuko.
"Take it easy I was listening to music." He had his headphones hanging around his neck and Katara could hear the music blaring out of them. Katara hit her forehead feeling stupid, yet also relieved. "Need more potting soil?"
"Actually, can we talk for a second?" Zuko looked at her. He bowed his head and let her in.
"Fine…but only for a second." Stubborn, zero patience, and unwilling to forgive… Katara thought as he locked the door behind her. The first fatal marks against Mr. Perfect…
…--…
Sokka looked around the room. The class was mainly girls but there were still five guys (including Sokka), and they were all skilled dancers (excluding Sokka). They all looked graceful dancing around the room to the music. Suki was the most beautiful to Sokka of course. She had a clear edge over anyone in his mind. She was moving very smoothly like water through the room. Suki also incorporated some fighting moves which gave her dance a dangerous feel.
"You! Why aren't you dancing!" The teacher was pointing at Sokka.
"Just admiring the view—"
"THIS IS A DANCE CLASS, SO DANCE!!" Sokka gulped and began to move with the music…horribly. He put his arms up half way and began to move them about in a circular motion while bobbing his head. Some of the dancers slowed down their movements to watch him, some stopped completely. He then started to rock his hips in a semi circle and reversed the motion. Everyone stopped. He continued his odd dance by spinning in a circle, jumping, and then landing on one foot while he wiggled the other one before doing a half turn and shaking his butt. The teacher stopped the music which revealed that Sokka was making sounds to go along with the song. Some singing and some sound effects. He continued to dance until he realized the music had stopped. He opened his eyes to see the whole class starring at him.
…--…
"Do you think Appa would like this picture I made of him out of noodles?" Aang and Toph had art once a week. This week was macaroni art.
"Won't he try to eat it?" Toph said eating her chocolate pudding.
"No," Aang said looking at his picture, "Momo might, but I don't think Appa will. He can respect culture." Aang thought about this. "You don't think Momo will be jealous that I made Appa a picture and not him, do you?" Toph pulled out her picture and passed it to Aang.
"You can give Momo mine then." Aang looked at it. It was just a big blob of noodles everywhere.
"Thanks Toph."
"I was gunna give it to Suki, but she'll understand." Aang looked at her picture again.
"Why don't you send it to your mom?"
"Cause I'd rather give it to Momo."
"Do you send her anything?"
"Nope."
"Not even a letter?!" Aang was shocked.
"The occasional phone call to let her know I'm still alive is sufficient I think." Toph's parents were very overprotective of her. Toph couldn't stand it so she convinced her parents to let her stay with Suki. That way she got to be free while staying close to her friends. "They haven't called have they?" Toph's parents had given her a cell phone, but Toph didn't really see the point since she didn't need it and she couldn't really use it so she had given it to Aang.
"No, not yet." Every time they called Aang would either answer if he was near Toph or he would wait till he saw Toph again to call them back. Aang looked at his food. "Still, a letter would be nice every now and then…don't you think?"
"I'll think about it." Toph continued eating her pudding. Toph secretly did miss her parents, but she didn't want to talk to them if they weren't going to listen to her.
…--…
"You want me to what?"
"Just come back outside and sit with the rest of the class. They're actually very nice girls once you get to know them."
"Look Katara, I understand you want to help and make everyone act like one big happy family, but those girls are crazy. You talked me into taking this stupid class for you which I am. But if I'm going to be taking this class I might as well enjoy it, which means I'm going to be calling this closet home every weekday from 12:20 to 1:25." Trying to persuade a stubborn hermit to come out might be harder than she thought.
"Zuko, you don't have to stay in here to enjoy the class. You can enjoy it out there too…"
…--…
The girls were pressed up against the door on the outside of the closet trying to hear what was going on. For a supplies closet, it sure had a thick door. Finally they could hear a muffled part of a very angry conversation.
"YOU HAVE TO COME OUT OF THE CLOSET!"
"NO!"
"YOU ARE GOING TO COME OUT WITH ME AND YOU ARE GOING TO LIKE IT!"
"YOU CAN'T MAKE ME!"
"ZUKO! WOULDN'T YOUR UNCLE WANT YOU TO HAVE AN OPEN MIND?! NOW GET OUT OF THE CLOSET!"
"What on earth are they talking about in there?" One of the girls said. Jun flipped a page in her magazine.
"I knew it…"
…--…
Zuko wanted to say something back to her, but she was right. He hated that. Uncle would probably be ashamed of him if he were here. Zuko wasn't learning anything new, and he wasn't dealing with his problems. Instead he was just running away and acting like a spoiled child.
"Alright. I'll give it a shot…" Katara smiled. Zuko unlocked the door and opened it. Three girls fell into the closet and the rest of them smiled and backed away. Zuko gave a sharp look back at Katara. She just crossed her arms and gave him a "go on" look. Zuko sighed and continue into the classroom and walked to the nearest desk and sat down. The girls had huge smiles on their faces and mouthed 'thank yous' to Katara. Katara just smiled and went back to her flower pot.
"So Zuko…" one girl said sitting a desk next to him, "What made you take gardening?"
"She did." Zuko said pointing at Katara. The girls couldn't believe it. How could a girl, not even interested in him, have so much power over him?
"Why do you trust Katara so much?"
"Because she's an honorable and kind person..."
"So why do you do what she wants?" Zuko glared at the girl, there was so much he wanted to blurt out, but instead he thought about his Uncle. Zuko took a deep breath in and out.
"She's my friend." He looked back at Katara, she was smiling at him. He smiled back. "And I value her opinion of me." The girls noticed the exchange of smiles. They were already jealous of the fact that Katara had so much influence on Zuko, but now this? This girl was going down…
"So you value her opinion of you?"
"Yeah." One of the older girls walked causally up next to a desk that was next to Zuko's and sat on top of it.
"Then you should know she has a lot to say about you."
"Yeah, she led a whole discussion about you while you were in the closet." Zuko and Katara froze. Katara started frantically making "cut it out" motions to the group. They just smiled at her. Zuko turned to see what they were looking at and caught Katara in the middle of a motion. As soon as she saw Zuko looking she stopped immediately and went back to her pot.
"What did she say?" Zuko said turning back to the girls.
"First, she doesn't understand how anyone could like you." Zuko's face flushed from anger. He knew he probably wasn't the most likeable person, but for her to say that…
"She didn't defend you either when Jun started bashing you. In fact it seemed like she was agreeing…" Zuko got up. He knew he wanted to leave, but he was so angry he didn't know where.
"What?! Zuko don't listen to them…" Zuko turned and glared at Katara.
"She also thinks you're hideous with that scar." Zuko starred at Katara and blinked. He was no longer angry, he was hurt. Zuko suddenly became aware of his scar and turned away from her. He always knew it was there, but over the years he had come to accept it and move on. Sure there was the occasional question about it from strangers, but he didn't think his friends had let it bother them. He closed his eyes and put his palm over his left eye. Katara looked horrified.
"Zuko I never said that! I didn't—" Zuko raised his right hand to silence her. "…I'm sorry…" There was silence in the room. The only sound was the flipping of magazine pages from Jun. One of the girls walked up to Zuko and hugged him.
"It's ok Zuko." Zuko was still in shock and just stood there. Another girl noticed this and she too went up to hug him.
"I think you're beautiful." Still no response from Zuko. The other girls made a mad dash to glomp him. The weight of all the girls rushing in to hug Zuko brought him back. The group hug was starting to collapse on him.
"Ahhh!! What are you doing?! Get off!!" Zuko struggled to get out of the group deflecting their hugs with his arms. It was the straw that broke the camel's back. "That's it! I'm transferring out of this stupid class!!" He stomped angrily over to the door and flung it open.
"Calm down." Jun said still reading her magazine. Zuko stopped and looked at her. "She's probably not the only one who thinks you're ugly, I'm sure thousands of people do. I know I agree with her." Zuko was enraged even more.
"HOW IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MAKE ME FEEL BETTER!?" Jun looked at him.
"It made me feel better." Zuko growled at her and walked out of the room slamming the door behind him. Katara squatted down under the table bowing her head, her hands clenched in fists and next to the top of the table. She was gritting her teeth trying not to cry. She was so angry at Zuko, the girls, and herself. Why was she acting so stupid today? The girls looked at each other.
"Well there's always tomorrow." One girl said. Just then the door flung open, Zuko was back.
"I have something I want to say to you." The girls perked up and huddled around Zuko. Zuko smiled at them. "I think you all need to find a better way to pass your free time. You obviously don't know this so I'm telling you right now that your advances on me are in vain." Zuko chuckled and the girls looked at him, some puzzled, others heat broken. "I would never date any of you…EVER!!" He slammed the door in their faces and continued his way to the guidance consular to change his elective. The girls stood there in silence. Katara smiled, serves them right. One of the girls still standing crossed her arms.
"What a jerk!"
…--…
"What kind of dance was that?!" The teacher asked. She took his dance as his way of mocking her class.
"Hey I was just doing what you told us to do. I let the music flow through my body and that's what it produced. If you don't like it you should play a better song." The teacher was outraged.
"Do you know nothing of dance!?" Sokka was about to say yes when he remembered something.
"Well…I do know one dance…"
"What?" The teacher was puzzled, but then realized if he knew a dance then it probably didn't exist.
"Yeah. But it was a while ago..."
"What kind of dance is it?" The teacher asked. Sokka tried to think back.
"A waltz…I think." The teacher didn't believe him.
"Show us then." Sokka flushed, he didn't expect to give a demonstration.
"Well…it was a really long time ago and I don't know if I remember it and…"
"Show us!" Sokka looked at Suki hoping for help. She just shrugged. She didn't know what to do.
"Ok…" Sokka tried to remember how to even start it. He stood and lifted his arms to take the position with…a nonexistent person… "Wait, can I have a partner?"
"A real dancer doesn't need a partner…" The teacher crossed her arms. She was trying to make this as painful as she could for Sokka.
"Right, right…" Sokka breathed in and closed his eyes. He resumed the position. "Well…here we go…" He tried to think back to that night. He remembered sneaking out at night and meeting a white haired girl under a bridge. Sokka took his first step and started the dance. The only light was the moon and there was a faint sound of music floating through the cold air. She took his hands and helped guide him through the steps. The class watched as Sokka began to move across the room in a simple waltz box step. They turned for the first time. He was happy he had gotten it and she laughed. They continued to dance and he spun her. They turned again but this time he had stepped on her foot. Sokka faltered for a second and then resumed the dance, his eyes still closed. Suki could hear him humming a song. The class watched as Sokka's simple box step turned into an elaborate waltz with turns, a dip, and what looked like several spots for his partner to add their own flourishes and spins. "I'm so happy when I'm with you." She whispered in Sokka's ear. They continued to dance. They were happy yet he could tell she was still upset. She stopped dancing abruptly. "What's wrong?" he asked. She bowed her head, "I'm sorry Sokka…" Sokka stopped dancing and opened his eyes. The music vanished, the cold air blended into the room's air conditioning, the moon turned back into a florescent light, and the girl was gone. Sokka looked down at the floor, "I don't know how it ends…"
"That was beautiful!" The teacher exclaimed as the class began to clap amazed. So he did have some talent, she thought. Suki ran up and hugged Sokka as the other kids gathered around patting him on the back telling him how amazing he was.
"I didn't know you could dance!" Suki said.
"I didn't know either."
…--…
Ty Lee was warming up with the other girls before try outs. She had checked in and had the number 17 taped to the front of her shirt. She looked around. No Azula yet. All the other girls looked just as good and just as pretty as she did. Stupid Mai, Ty Lee thought, the only way I'll even get considered is if Azula…
"Hey Ty Lee! Getting ready?" It was Azula.
"Oh good you came!" Ty Lee smiled.
"Of course. I wouldn't be a friend if I didn't come to cheer you on." Ty Lee saw the lion clip in Azula's hair.
"Yeah, I guess you wouldn't be…" Azula smiled and looked around.
"Are those the judges?" She pointed to three girls sitting at a table talking amongst themselves along with a teacher.
"Yeah, that's the head cheerleader, the two co-captains, and the coach." Azula grinned looking at the three girls.
"I see." She smiled at Ty Lee. "Well good luck. I'll be sitting in the bleachers cheering you on."
"Great!" Ty Lee said going back to her stretches trying not to look at Azula.
"Oh, and Ty Lee." She looked up. "Here, consider it a good luck charm." Azula dropped the lion clip in the grass in front of Ty Lee before walking away. Ty Lee picked the clip up and examined it. Nothing unusual, it looked exactly as it had when Ty Lee got it. The only difference was that there was a strand of Azula's hair on it. She plucked the hair out. What was all that about? She shrugged and clipped the pin into her own hair smiling. At least I got my clip back.
…--…
"Katara, what's wrong?" Sokka asked as they were walking home from school together. Suki had a volleyball meeting to go to after school today.
"I said something really stupid, and it came back and bit me in the butt." Katara looked down at the ground. Karma was such a jerk.
"Well, what did you say?"
"I told Zuko's fan club that I didn't understand how they could like him…and I kinda mentioned his scar. They took it all the wrong way and told him. And now he hates me."
"Oh, I'm sure he doesn't hate you."
"He's transferring out of the class…"
"So? He hated that class anyway." Sokka looked at his sister. She was still upset. "Look, you know Zuko's unreasonable sometimes. But he always comes around. Just talk to him. I'm sure things will get better." Katara smiled at Sokka.
"You're right." Sokka put his arm around his sister.
"Now guess who dazzled his dance class with his dashing moves?"
…--…
"Number 17!" The head cheerleader called. Ty Lee walked out onto the mat.
"What will you be doing for us today?"
"I'll be doing a tumbling combination along with a spirited chant."
"Go Ty Lee!!" Everyone turned to see Azula sitting in the crowd. Ty Lee just smiled nervously and waved.
"Alright, show us what you've got." She started by standing up straight her hands down tightly at her side her head down. She picked her head up smiling. She started clapping her hands together at an upbeat tempo to go with her chant.
"We're dynamite! We're dynamite! We're!" She went into her combination. She did four backhand springs while screaming "Tick-tick, tick-tick, tick-tick, tick-tick," to go with each one. After, she ended with a back 5/2 twist front punch, during which she yelled "BOOM!" the first time she hit the ground and ended the move by sticking the landing perfectly and standing straight up her hands in fists. Her left hand was on her hip and her right hand was up in the air. "DYNAMITE!!" Ty Lee stood there smiling. Smiling was the most important part at a cheerleading tryout.
"Wow!" One of the co-captains said applauding. The rest of the spectators joined in. Ty Lee's smile widened. She started to look around. Everyone was cheering, including Azula. So far nothing went wrong.
"That was quite nice." The head cheerleader said. "Now we're going to give you a set of combinations to do." Ty Lee held her breath. No doubt Azula told them to give her the hardest and probably the most impossible combination to do. "We'd like to see you do an aerial cartwheel, whip back, followed by a round off, and end with a back twist please." Ty Lee just stared at her.
"Is that it?"
"Yes." Ty Lee was stunned. That wasn't challenging at all. Her combination was more difficult than that. Ty Lee just shrugged and smiled.
"Ok."
…--...
Zuko had taken his bike to school and locked it up to a fence next to the back entrance of the tea shop that led to the kitchen. He walked in and made his way to the curtain that divided the kitchen from the dinning room, greeting the cook who was cooking small dishes for the customers. Once in the dinning room he took a sharp right to the door that led to the locker rooms, employee lounge, and the staircase to his uncle's apartment. He walked up the stairs and opened the door to the small living area. He walked to his room to change out of his school uniform and into his work clothes. He then went to the kitchen and found the long list his uncle prepared for him. First on the list was to fix the hole in the wall. Zuko would have to go to hardware store for that, so he just skipped to the second thing which was to clean the entire house before his shift started at 4. Zuko look at the clock. He only had an hour.
…--…
"Appa! I got a surprise for you!" Aang said bursting into his room. Aang lived with the other monks in the dormitory upstairs. His room was right on the northwest corner of the temple. He had a nice view of the city and of the temple gardens. Appa was curled up on Aang's bed sleeping. Appa was a miniature air bison with six legs, shaggy fur, and a wide paddle like tail. He was a very strange creature that normal people would be freaked out by, which was why he stay in the temple. Sure the monks questioned Aang's taste in pets, but they decided to comply as long as Aang made sure Appa stayed out of trouble. "Hey where's Momo?" Appa grunted towards to the window. Aang had left it open. "OH NO!!" Aang ran to the window and stuck his head out. "MOMO?! MOOOOOOOOMOOOOOOO!!" He felt something land on his head. Aang stuck his head back inside and closed the window. "What are you doing buddy? You know you're not supposed to fly around by the city during the day. What if someone saw you?" Momo was a batish-lemurish…thing…that would also probably freak normal people out. Momo eyed the noodle picture Aang brought for Appa and started to pick at it. "No Momo, that's Appa's. Here, Toph made you one." Aang dug Toph's picture out of his bag and handed it to Momo. Momo grabbed it and tried to pick at it. "No don't do that!" Aang took the picture away and taped both noodle arts on the wall next to the door. "There we go. Now let's get something to eat. I think the monks baked rolls last night." Momo sat on Aang's head while Appa flew off Aang's bed and landed on the ground. He began to walk follow Aang down the hall.
As the three of them walked to the kitchen Aang remembered the first time he brought Appa and Momo home. The elder monks were frantic and told him how pets weren't allowed while the younger monks were curious about them and wondered where Aang had even found them. In the end the monks accepted the two new residents into their temple, after all Aang was quite the trouble maker so they expected no less from him than to bring home two strange animals.
Aang, Katara, Toph, Zuko, and very few others all had a secret, they could bend the elements to their will. Katara was a waterbender, Toph was earth, Zuko was fire, and Aang was air. They could only control that element along with others who were born with that talent. Aang was special though, not only was he the only airbender in the entire world, but he was also the avatar so he had control over all the elements. He was also the bridge between the real world and the spirit world. The monks knew this, which was why Aang received special treatment from them. Being the avatar was like being the Dali Lama. He was the spiritual leader that possessed all the knowledge and gifts of the avatars before him. Unlike the Dali Lama though, he wasn't quite as famous or even known by anyone outside the temple world except his friends. He was still just a kid so the older monks had the spiritual leader responsibility. The monks were the only ones who knew about benders, beside their family and close friends of course.
Aang got to the kitchen and started raiding the cabinets. Momo sat on the counter and was picking at grapes in a bowl. Appa was sitting patiently for Aang to find him something.
"Hey Aang, Momo, Appa." One monk said walking by. He was older than Aang and was on his way to his room.
"Hey Jinju! Do you know where the monks put the rolls they baked yesterday?" Jinju thought for a second.
"I think they're up here." He crossed into the kitchen and opened the cabinet next to the oven. Inside were racks of freshly baked goods.
"Wow thanks!" Aang took two for himself and one for Appa. "You want one?"
"Sure." Aang handed one to Jinju. "You might want to skip meditation today." He said taking the roll. "Monk Abbot has been handing out work left and right. He made me water the gardens because I sneezed during prayer." Monk Abbot was one of the elder monks. He was very strict and normally conducted the meditation sessions.
"Eek, well thanks for the heads up." Jinju smiled.
"And thanks for the roll." He continued to his room.
…--…
Zuko finished as quickly as he could; he was still 10 minutes over. He ran downstairs to find his Uncle serving tea and laughing with two customers at a table. Uncle came back and smiled at Zuko.
"You're late." Zuko bowed his head,
"It won't happen again."
"I want you to clean the place up when you're not busy with customers. Also when you close please wash the windows and vacuum. I'll think of other things for you to while in my office." Zuko groaned. "Also!" Uncle turned around, "I want you to train our new employee. They start tomorrow at 5." Zuko nodded. Uncle just looked at him. "Well, what are you standing around for? As you can see we're very busy and you have a lot of work to do tonight." Uncle walked to his office to take care of paperwork and catch up on sleep. Zuko started tidying up before the bell rang.
"I've got table five, two, and ten's orders ready." The cook said pushing trays out the little window that went to the kitchen. Zuko looked around. Two other waitresses were working, but it looked like Uncle had told them to relax as soon as Zuko got there. Zuko quickly began taking the trays to the tables when the front door opened and new customers came in waiting to be seated.
"Please sit where you'd like and I'll be with you in a moment." He said walking by to get the last tray to bring it to the table. The door opened again with more customers. Zuko was about to say the same thing to them when he heard the kitchen bell ring again. Great…
…--…
"Ty Lee you were great!" Azula said after tryouts had ended.
"Thank you Azula." Ty Lee was a little weirded out. Nothing had gone wrong in fact everything went great. I guess Azula just came to give her support after all, she had even given Ty Lee's clip back.
"So, when do you know if you made the cut?"
"They'll post the results tomorrow." They walked by the three cheerleaders who judged the tryouts. They were headed to the bathroom.
"We should celebrate." Azula said, "Let's go some place really nice to eat, my treat!" Ty Lee was stunned. Azula acting nice? It was definitely a change, but it was a change Ty Lee could live with.
"That's sounds great!"
"You go get your stuff together, I'm gunna run to the bathroom."
"Alright." Azula left and Ty Lee did some cool down stretches. She thought about what Mai said, about Azula being up to something. She couldn't figure out what though. Azula was being really nice to her, she was actually acting like a friend, so was this just part of her plan or was she just being nice? Ty Lee decided not to dwell on it and just enjoy the nice Azula as long as it lasted, but she also wouldn't let her guard down either. She got her gym bag and put her stuff in. Azula came back.
"Ready to go?"
…--…
"Hey you two." Hakoda said coming back from work and seeing Katara doing homework at the table and Sokka lying on the couch watching TV.
"Hi dad." Sokka said.
"How was your day?" Katara asked still a little down from her day.
"Mine was good." Hakoda could tell she was feeling down. "How was yours? Not as good?"
"I made Zuko angry and he transferred out of gardening. So tomorrow's the last day and if no one transfers I'll have to pick a new elective during the class on Friday."
"What about all those other people that signed up for the class?"
"They all signed up because of Zuko, and since he transferred out they didn't see a point in staying in."
"I'm sure things will look up. Who knows, maybe someone else will decide to take gardening."
"Yeah, I doubt it." Sokka said from the couch. Hakoda shot him a 'shut up' look.
"So how was your day Sokka?" he said walking over and scooting Sokka's feet off so he could join him on the couch.
"It was alright."
"Apparently Sokka can dance." Katara said bending water from the sink and into her empty glass.
"Really? I didn't know you could dance."
"Yeah, I'm pretty much a master."
"Well master, how's your homework coming along?" Katara teased.
"I'll get around to it."
…--…
Suki had gotten back home a little while ago and was watching TV. She was excited to be starting volley ball soon. The position for team captain was open too, so she was considering tryout for that.
"Suki?" Toph walked in the room holding a piece of paper.
"Yeah?"
"Does this look pretty to you?" She held up her paper. On it was a picture Toph drew with crayons. It looked like a picture of a house with two people but I was a bit off. The colors were strange too. The sky was orange, the people were purple, and the house was black and green. There was a grey square like thing with a yellow spiral in the middle of it in the sky above the house.
"It's lovely. But what's this thing?" Suki pointed to it and Toph felt where her hand was. She felt the wax of the crayon on the paper.
"Oh, that's the sun. Does it not look like that?" Suki looked at it again.
"Not really…to me it's like a circle. But then again, I've never actually looked at the sun…" Toph got angry.
"UGH!! Aang lied to me!!" Suki tried to not laugh. Then she remembered something.
"Can't you tell when people are lying to you?"
"Aang was flying around on his air ball thing when he told me that. I couldn't feel it." Toph crumpled up her picture and tossed it in the trash can. "It doesn't matter, I'll just start over." She turned and walked back to her room. Suki picked up her picture from the trash and uncrumpled it. She wondered who the people were. Was it her and Toph? Or some one else and Toph. Was it even Toph? She smoothed it out and decided it was up to interpretation and put it on the fridge. Toph stuck her head back into the room.
"Hey Suki. Can you tell me what clouds look like too?"
…--…
Aang was lying on some pillows that were in the sitting area next to the kitchen. Appa was curled up next to him in a big fuzzy ball and Momo was still eating whatever he could find in the kitchen. An elder monk came up the stairs with a young monk, a little older than Aang. He saw Momo sitting on the counter and tried to shoo him away. Momo ran and jumped on Aang waking him.
"Aang, please keep a closer eye on your pets." The monk said walking over to Aang. Aang sat up and smiled at the monk. The monk's face was still stern. "And why are you napping? Shouldn't you be with the other monks meditating?" Aang remembered what Jinju said and tried to change the subject.
"Well what about him? Why isn't he there?" Aang said pointing to the young monk who was now in the kitchen.
"Monk Abbot asked him to clean the kitchen, I was told to escort him here because some of our younger ones have been running off lately avoid chores." Aang knew who the monk was talking about. He tried to worm his way out of it.
"Well you see—" Just then Aang's phone began to ring. He could hear it faintly from down the hall. "Oh someone's calling me! It's probably really important, I'll just take this and be right back!" Aang dashed down the hall and into his room. The younger monk picked his head up from cleaning the cabinets.
"How come he gets to have a cell phone?"
…--…
"Hello?"
"Hey Aang it's me!"
"Hey Katara. You just saved me from doing chores!"
"Glad to hear it." Katara was making dinner while she had the phone resting in between her head and her shoulder. "Anyway, I wanted to talk to you and hopefully get some of your infinite wisdom." Aang smiled as he lay on his bed.
"I'll see what I can do."
"Well, I kind of upset Zuko and I feel really bad about it. I mean I really didn't mean to. I was talking to these girls who are completely obsessed with him…" Katara continued to ramble. Aang heard scratching at his door and opened it for Appa and Momo to come in. Katara was still recounting her events while Aang said the occasional "uh huh, really? oh, I see" Aang started to yawn wanting to go back to his nap. He waited for a break in her rant.
"Look Katara. I know you didn't mean what you said. Zuko obviously thinks highly of you which is why he reacted like that. I think what you need to do is just apologize to him and explain how what you said got taken out of context."
"Your right Aang, I should do that. Sokka told me that too but I just really wanted…" Oh come on… Aang thought as she started back up again. At least listening to Katara rant was better than cleaning the bathrooms.
…--…
Zuko was swamped. The telephone kept ringing, people kept coming in, tea and food just poured through the window ready to be served, and some customers were getting impatient. As Zuko ran back to bring out orders he passed the two waitresses.
"Can you guys give me a hand? I'm really swamped right here." The women looked at each other and one got up to help. As if on cue Uncle popped his head out.
"If you take one order you're fired." He closed his door. Zuko looked at the woman and she sat back down.
"Sorry Zuko." She said returning to the card game they were playing.
"Hey! Where's my food? I've been waiting for hours here!" Zuko felt like he was going to pass out as he quickly got more trays to serve.
…--…
Sokka was lying in his bed. He had just gotten his homework done. As he lay there he turned to look out the window. He could see part of the city from where he was and the night sky above it. The city's lights made it impossible to see any stars but the moon was still visible. He started to think about Suki, which led to thinking about sports, with led to his mind wandering. He smiled still looking out the window. He then began to hear the faint sound of music as he drifted off to sleep.
…--…
Finally, it was closing time at the tea shop. Zuko was beat. He had managed to run the entire place by himself with the exception of the cook. He began to clean up, by himself, and started to wash the windows. Uncle walked out of his office.
"Busy day?" He asked Zuko. Zuko just glared at him.
"Yes, it was very busy."
"I'm sure it was." Uncle began to walk towards the hallway. "Oh Zuko, when you're done come knock on the door and I'll see if things look like they're in order." Zuko couldn't believe it, Uncle was locking him out of the house until he had cleaned everything. "Make sure you clean the outside part of the windows too!"
…--…
Mai had gotten her homework done and had nothing else to do all night except read, watch TV, or go on the computer. Zuko still hadn't sent her anything and she was thinking about calling him. She then realized that he hadn't left her a phone number. She got on her computer to see if Ty Lee was on yet. It was starting to get late. She checked her e-mail and other online accounts. She thought about sending Zuko an e-mail, but she realized that his Uncle didn't have a computer.
Mai sat back in her chair and rested her feet on the desk. Still no Ty Lee. She started throwing darts at a picture she had of Zuko and her on the wall. Every time hitting Zuko someplace that looked very painful and she secretly hoped he could feel it. She checked the computer again. Ty Lee still hadn't gotten on and it was getting close to midnight. She was also down to her last dart.
Mai figured Ty Lee was still mad at her about today so she went ahead and turned her computer off. She threw her last dart at the picture. Instead of hitting Zuko though it hit her in the chest.
"Jerk," she muttered and got up to get ready for bed. As she lay waiting for sleep she hoped that Ty Lee didn't have any problems at try outs, and that wherever Zuko was he was miserable.
…--…
Zuko went back to the kitchen to put away some dishes. He looked in the sink and saw it was overflowing with dirty dishes. The cook hadn't done his job. He went up and knocked on the door.
"Uncle everything's in order." Uncle came out and looked around.
"Very good, very good." He nodded approvingly.
"The cook left without finishing up his job though." Zuko said. Uncle gave him a questioning look.
"What do you mean?"
"It doesn't look like he washed any dishes today. Or even clean up his work area." Uncle started walking back to the apartment.
"I know, I told him not to." Zuko starred at him in disbelief, his punishment still wasn't over. "Come back when you've finished in the kitchen."
…--…
Ty Lee came back home late after spending the entire time with Azula. She was tired. They had gone shopping, then went to dinner, then stayed and did karaoke (to Ty Lee's surprise) at the restaurant. Ty Lee went to her room and laid down on her bed. She still had homework to do. She got up and started it.
In the middle of homework she hit her mouse by accident which sparked her computer to come back from hibernation. As the screen turned on Ty Lee remembered something.
"Oh shoot! Mai!" Ty Lee quickly signed on to her account. Mai wasn't on. Ty Lee figured Mai was upset with her because of what happened today and went back to her homework.
…--…
Zuko was dead tired. It was well past midnight and he still needed to get his homework done. He walked up the stairs and knocked on the door.
"Uncle, everything's clean." He waited. "Uncle? Are you there?" He knocked again, harder. Still nothing. "Uncle?!" Uncle had fallen asleep and couldn't hear Zuko. "Aww crap…" Zuko said resting his head on the door.