Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender
I wake up early on Monday. I'm so excited for school. It's the first day jitters all over again.
Wanting to look good for my first day, I put on a long sleeved blue shirt, dark blue scarf, a pair of cute jeans, and boots that make me look taller. I put my wavy hair up into a high pony tail, letting my bangs fall to the side of my face.
I run to the kitchen to grab something quick for breakfast, noticing that Toph already left for the day. I grab a jacket and run out the door.
I didn't need a map to get to BSSU because I found out the night before that it was surprisingly close to where my apartment was. As I was driving, I passed the orphanage.
I remember my shift from two days ago. As soon as I had gotten out of my car I heard the sound of children. They are a very rambunctious group. When I walked in, they all run to the door to greet me, immediately asking what I was going to make for them to eat that day.
Lena, who runs the orphanage, then shoos the kids away before they can jump on me. Lena, is a kind, selfless woman. She loves every single one of the kid like they are her own. I am the only person who knows why she started the orphanage in the first place. Lena isn't able to have kids, so she likes to think of the orphans as her own. She must trust me a lot, because I know that she's never told any of the other volunteers that.
Before I know it, I'm in the school parking lot. I sit for a moment, staring at the school. Huge is an understatement for this place.
It's a very beautiful school, with bright green grass surrounding grounds and flowers everywhere. There also seems be a garden behind it.
I check the time, and I'm not late. I grab my massive book bag and head inside the school. Waking in, I can immediately point out the cliques. They all are so different, but the one thing that they have in common is that they are all staring at me, clearly out of place. It's just like high school all over again. I walk down a massive hall, decorated with paintings of past headmasters, and find myself in a large sitting room, filled with students. Man, there are tons of people at this school!
I look at my printed out schedule, looking at my first class that starts in about 10 minutes. Biology, with Mr. Bumi in room 206. That must be on the second floor, so I better hurry. As I round the corner to get to the next hallway, I slam into something. Hard. I look up and realize that it wasn't a something, but a someone.
A guy looks down at me, smiling. He has dark brown eyes and equally dark brown hair. He's actually kind of cute. He must be really tall, because I feel very short next to him, even with my heeled boots.
"Hey-" he starts to say, but I interrupt.
"Where's room 206?" I ask quickly. I need to be there on time.
"Oh, um, down the hall, up the stairs, and to the left," he says.
"Great. Thanks!" I say, dashing down the hall. I might have to look for him later. He seemed nice. Too bad I didn't get a name.
I burst into the classroom, clearly the last one there. I blush, and walk towards the nearest empty seat.
We all sit there, nobody talking. Minutes pass, and pretty soon everyone is getting antsy. We're all wondering the same thing. Where is the Professor.
Just then, a figure bursts through the door. It's a man, clearly old, with snow white hair on the sides of his head with a beard to match. Strangely, he's wearing long green robes, but the most startling thing of all was his hat. If you would even call it a hat. Long horns, each about 3 feet long, come out from the side. What is going on with this man?
He doesn't greet the class. Instead he walks towards the front of the room and starts talking. From listening to this man, he is clearly crazy. He talks fast, leaving all of the students taking notes to scribble furiously on their papers, trying to keep up with him. He's a good teacher, but clearly has lost a few marbles in his days. I hear people whispering behind me, calling him a mad genius. More mad than genius, I think silently.
When the class ends and hour later, I'm the last one left. As I'm about to walk out the door, I hear "Miss Kuruk, is it?"
I slowly turn around. Professor Bumi is sitting crossed legged on his desk, his hands up in the air, as if meditating.
"Yes," I reply. "Katara Kuruk."
He nods his head. "You must be the student who was let in just a few weeks ago."
He studies me. "Yes," I say. " I just transferred from another school. How did you know?"
"It was very hard, you see. I walked in and looked around the room, and noticed a young lady whom I have never seen or met before." He starts laughing after he says that.
I blush at my own idiocy. Of course I'd be noticeable. It the middle of the semester!
He clearly finds himself hilarious, because he is still cackling away. I turn and walk towards the door silently, hoping to make a quick getaway. I'm just out of the door when I hear his voice.
"Oh, and Miss Kuruk?"
I take a step back and clear my throat. "Yes?"
"Make sure to keep your brain open to all possibilities."
He laughs again as I walk out of the room for good. Yep, I think. Clearly mad.
I'm back on the first floor, thinking about what Mr. Bumi told me. "Make sure to keep your brain open to all possibilities." Crazy, old man! What does it mean?
I walk through the hallways making random turns until I come to two big doors at the end of the hallways. Feeling adventurous, I push them open. I'm at awe from what I see inside.
Books. Thousands of books. It must be the library. I walk forward, going past shelves all filled with a variety of reading material. It's amazing.
I walk around for a bit, looking through sections to find something that appeals to me. I find the romance section, and practically run to it. I'm a real sucker for a good love story.
I round the shelf and-for the second time that day- I run into a person. The force of the impact must have been great, because I found myself on my back on the floor, with a body on top of me.
"We have to stop meeting like this," a voice says, clearly amused. I faintly recognize it. I tilt my head and look at the face of the person on top of me. Brown eyes.
It's the boy that I ran into in the hallway. How embarrassing. I must seem like such a klutz.
I blush as he climbs off of me and holds a hand out to help me up. I let him pull me up.
We stand there, looking at each other for a moment. I break the stare and start to stutter.
"Oh, uh, um..I'm really sorry about running into you. Twice actually-"
He holds a hand up to stop me. "It's fine, but I'm going to need a name in repayment," he says with a smile. A really cute smile.
"Oh! Katara. My name's Katara," I say holding out a hand.
He grabs my hand and shakes it. "Jet," he says, drawing out the name slowly. I blush again.
"So, are you new here?' he asks, leaning against a book shelf.
"Yeah, I just transferred."
"Interesting. Usually that's not allowed. I guess you're special."
He looks me up and down as he says that. I flush even more.
"Well, I've got to go," I say. "See you around?"
"Definitely," he says, giving me a final glance and a nod before walking away.
I went to my second class of the day, one that had a teacher that wasn't insane.
When class was let out, I decided to go explore some more, wanting to be well acquainted with the school. I mentally memorize the hallways and rooms, and every turn I take.
I feel myself being pulled back to the amazing library. My hands itched to get a good book. Deciding that I was done exploring, I made my way back to large room filled with thousands of books.
I look around the room at the other students. The library seemed to be a popular place. Almost every table was filled up with groups of people, all of them reading or writing notes down. I instantly felt a wave of pride come over me from being able to be among the ranks of these dedicated students. After all, this school was the best.
I made my way through the aisles of wooden shelves, as I found just what I was looking for. Cookbooks! I gleefully picked one up, opened it and turned pages, looking for new recipes.
As I engrossed myself in reading, I didn't notice the figure that leaned against the the shelf just to my right.
"Can't stay away from the food, can you Sugar Queen?"
I jump and drop the book. "Jesus, Toph, do you have to do that?"
She shrugs. "It's not my fault you scare so easily."
I lean down to pick up the book while rolling my eyes. I look at her in confusion. "How did you get in here? You don't go to this school."
"This place isn't just for the school's use." she says. "I thought that the people who looked like they were over 50 would have told you that much." I could hear the duh in her voice.
I looked away and scanned the building for a second time, and sure enough, I saw some people who clearly didn't go to school here.
"Whatever," I say. "What are you doing here?"
"What?" she says, mocking hurt. "I can't visit my best friend while while she wastes her time reading cookbooks? Especially in a library?"
"No, you can't. Plus, you hate books."
"Alright, fine. Truth is, I got a call from Aang. He wants to meet up for lunch. He says that he really wants to talk to you."
"Well I don't want to talk to him," I snarl.
She holds her hands up in front of her in self defense. "Hey," she says, "don't shoot the messenger. Besides, I think it would be good for everyone if you would just let him explain."
"I don't want to talk to him," I repeat. I plucked a few more books of the shelf and moved to a table in the corner of the library. I roughly sat down in a cushioned seat while Toph followed suit.
We sit in silence for a moment. Then: "Please, just give him another chance,"she says gently.
This surprises me. I don't understand why Toph is so concerned about all of this. It's mine and Aang's business. Ours alone.
"You're not Aang's only best friend. I am too. We all are. And friends don't like seeing each other hurt." I thought I heard a bit of distaste at the word 'friends', but I didn't think much of it.
We are both silent again. I think about what she said. Maybe I'm overreacting. No, I'm not. He deserves it, I think to myself, but I'm still filled with the awful sense of guilt.
"I met someone today," I blurt out. Way to go, Katara. That was a real subtle way of changing the subject.
"Oh?" she says, a sly grin forming on her lips. She leans forward on her elbows. "Well," she says, "tell me about him. Was he cute?"
I instantly went into girl mode, explaining in great detail what Jet looked like.
"So," She says, "you like him?"
I sigh. "I don't know. He seemed a bit full of himself. And I don't know if now would be the best time to start relationship, considering..." I trailed off. We both knew very well what I was talking about, but neither of us wanted to go down that route again right now.
She gives me a quick nod in understanding, and then stands up. "I've got to go," she says but doesn't tell me any reason why.
She starts to walk away, but turns her head to give me a hard look. "Really, though,"
she says, "at least give what I said a thought." And with that, she walks away, leaving me in silence with my precious recipes.
A/N: Questions? Comments? Concerns? Hate it? Love it? Sick of my comments? Yeah, me too...See you next chapter!
