A/N: I'll try to post every Saturday night, I think. Not the final schedule for this fic though.
"I think she likes you."
Kai shook his head, shocked. "She does not!"
Jinora snickered. "Well, you obviously like her," she countered. "You've been staring at her for like, the past twenty minutes. And you talked about her non stop this morning."
Kai flushed, poking at the dumplings in his canteen with his fork.
"So you won't say it's not true? You do like her?" Jinora teased, bumping him on the shoulder.
"And I won't say if it's true."
"It is true!" Jinora teased. "You like her, you like her!" she sang victoriously.
"Stop, you're making a scene," Kai hissed.
Jinora rolled her eyes. "Ask her out, stupid. To the Winter Festival Dance!" she suggested loudly.
Kai shook his head. He looked up from his noodles and caught sight of her again. Her name was Li Mei, one of the prettiest girls in the grade in his opinion, and one of the slower track members. But she was so nice, and he couldn't get him out of her head since last week at track practise.
Jinora had been absent from practise, since her dad had some stuff for her or whatever. They were doing 50-metre sprints, and it was Kai's turn. He stood at the starting line, taking deep breaths to prepare himself. Even at practise, he tried his hardest. He hadn't been so passionate about something since he gave up comic books.
Coach Tonraq blew the whistle, and he was about to go, when he heard somebody call, "Watch out!"
Kai stumbled over his shoelaces, faceplanting into the pavement. "Oomph!"
A couple of the kids laughed, and he sat up. He felt a stab of pain in his had scraped his knee, and dust and dirt covered his legs.
"Are you alright?" asked Tonraq, approaching the fallen runner.
Kai groaned, staggering up. "Yeah."
"Korra, go get him some antiseptic and a band-aid," he told his daughter, who obeyed. Korra helped Kai up, and they walked off the track slowly, Kai wincing every so often due to his injuries. He'd taken the rest of practise off, watching the runners and completing his homework..
Later, when he was waiting for his mom to pick him up, a girl took a seat next to him. Her dark hair was tied up in a ponytail, and her green eyes focused on the ground. Kai recognised her as Li Mei, a girl he sometimes worked with in group projects in science and language arts, and one of the slower freshmen who'd just joined this year.
"Hey," she greeted.
Kai gave a shy wave, not the most sociable around girls.
"Is your knee okay?"
Kai nodded. "It stings, though," he admitted.
She looked down at it. "Sorry you fell."
"Yeah, well, I'm not graceful." They laughed.
"Do you like track?" asked Kai.
Li Mei shrugged. "It's alright. Korra's pretty fun. You're really good at running," she said.
Kai blushed. "Uh, thanks." This was the longest conversation he'd ever had with a girl, besides his mother, Korra, Jinora, or her siblings.
Li Mei rose as a Satomobile pulled up. "Hey, I gotta go. Nice speaking to you," she said, then left, Kai staring after her.
"Kai," Jinora suddenly said.
Kai snapped out of his daydream. "Wh-what?"
"Kai, Li Mei's trying to talk to you," Jinora said, giggling. Li Mei stood there by the table, holding her books and grinning down at Kai. Jinora rose, packing up her lunch. "I'll give you two some space."
Kai cleared his throat. "Hey, Li Mei," he greeted.
"Kai," she smiled. "Just came by to say hi."
Kai glanced over at Jinora, who was standing far away on the courtyard, watching closely. She nodded encouragingly.
"Uh, d-do you wanna hang out sometime? Just you and me?" he stammered.
Li Mei turned red. "Yeah, sure!" she nodded excitedly. "I'll text you or something."
"O-okay," grinned Kai. When Li Mei left, Kai flashed a thumbs up at Jinora, who smiled at him in congratulations.
"How's your ice cream?"
Li Mei shrugged. "It's alright," she said softly. "You?"
Kai grinned. "It's great."
Li Mei smiled. "You have some ice cream on your lip."
"Oh." He licked his lip. "Better?"
She giggled. "You made it worse." She reached out with a napkin to dab away the ice cream on his face. "Now it's better."
It was the pair's fourth date, and they were strolling down the street with ice cream cones in their hands after watching a movie even though it was the dead of winter. Li Mei was Kai's first actual girlfriend, and for the past two weeks there was a bubbly feeling in his stomach that made him very, very happy.
Li Mei pulled out her cell, checking the time. "Uh oh. I gotta go, or my mom's gonna get pretty mad."
"Do you want me to walk me home?" he offered.
"Nah, I'll take the bus," she said. "It should be at that stop soon, anyway." She pointed at a bus stop, where a few people were crowding around. Kai nodded. "You should go home too," Li Mei said.
"I'll walk home. I don't live far."
She smiled. "I'll call you later."
"Wait," Kai said. He'd been planning to ask her this the entire date, but the right words never seemed to form. But this was his last chance to ask her the question in his mind. "D-do you wanna go to the WInter Festival Dance with me? This Friday night?" he asked, words stumbling out his mouth.
Li Mei smiled. "That'd be really fun, Kai. I'd love to."
Kai grinned. "Great!"
"I'll see you at school tomorrow." She pressed a kiss against his cheek. "Bye."
"Bye!" he called, butterflies fluttering around in his stomach. He'd never felt like he was soaring like this before.
Halfway on the way home, he finished his ice cream cone and pulled out his cell phone.
17 missed calls.
He read through the missed calls, all from Jinora. He shrugged. She probably wouldn't mind, and would probably understand him being on a date with Li Mei.
Jinora was his best friend, after all.
"You've reached Kai's cell. If I didn't pick up I'm probably really, really busy. Catch me later," said the pre-recorded message. Jinora groaned in frustration, hanging up the phone.
Since Kai had gotten himself a girlfriend, Jinora saw almost none of him over the past two weeks. Of course, Kai wasn't her only friend at school. She still had Skoochy and some of the other girls, but nobody as close to her as Kai.
She slumped on the sofa, where nearby Mako and Korra were sitting closely together. Of course, she was way too old for a babysitter, but Korra was still a close friend of their family's, welcome anytime.
"What's wrong?" Korra asked. She was sprawled on a couch, head resting on Mako's lap.
"Kai's busy with his new girlfriend. Again."
Korra shrugged. "He adores her."
"Yeah, but isn't it a problem that we haven't seen each other in, like, two weeks?" Jinora's voice rose in desperation. "We're supposed to be best friends, after all."
"When you get a girlfriend, you're not supposed to see other girls," Mako shrugged.
"Something you're clearly not good at when you were dating Asami," teased Korra. Mako flicked her forehead irritatedly, and she only laughed.
Jinora sighed, returning to the subject. "I-I just wish that he would stop ignoring me altogether."
"Then talk to him," Korra said. "Simple as that."
"But-"
"No buts. Just talk it out. He's not an idiot."
"That's what you think," Jinora muttered under her breath. She didn't understand why he kept ignoring her after she kept trying to reach out to him.
He was her best friend, after all.
"See ya later," Kai said, and Li Mei pecked a kiss on his cheek. She spun around and walked away, leaving Kai with a fluttery feeling in his stomach. He sighed, staring after her.
"Eugh," muttered Jinora in disgust, standing by her locker.
Kai turned angrily at his friend. "What?" he challenged.
"Nothing. Just, you two were being really gross and mushy," Jinora said nonchalantly as she pulled out her thick science textbook from her locker.
"I don't believe you."
Jinora closed her locker, then straightened her glasses.
"If you have a problem with my girlfriend, just say so."
Jinora shrugged. "It's nothing, really."
"Jinora."
She muttered a curse under her breath. "I'm going to class."
"I'm taking her to the Winter Festival Dance, tomorrow night," he suddenly spat out.
She blinked, surprised. "Oh." Jinora looked at the ground then back up at him. "But we made plans that night." She fought to keep her voice steady.
"We can postpone those plans, right?" Kai shrugged.
"That's what you've said every time, with every plan we've made, ever since you started dating Li Mei!" Jinora yelled suddenly. Even she was surprised by the volume of her voice, but it got drowned out by the hubhub in the hallways.
"It was your idea to take me to the Winter Festival Dance," he defended. "And anyway, what's so wrong with hanging out with my girlfriend?" Kai demanded.
Jinora narrowed her eyes. "Nothing's wrong with hanging out with Li Mei. Something's wrong with ditching me to see her every moment of the day."
"Well, I'm not supposed to see other girls when I'm dating somebody," defended Kai.
"Isn't being your best friend an exception?" Jinora asked, face red. She then turned, leaving Kai speechless by the lockers.
Kai wasn't very happy.
There was loud music around him, and a pretty girl holding his hand, and he had a bottle of his favourite soda in his hand, but he really wasn't feeling that great.
"Kai, are you alright?" Li Mei asked softly. They had taken a break from the dance floor for some soda, and spoke quietly by the walls of the stuffy gym. A couple to their right was getting handsy, kissing each other everywhere. Kai tried not to look at them.
Kai shrugged. "I'm alright." The phone in his pocket had stayed silent, and it seemed to weigh a thousand pounds. No chirp, no vibration of any text messages, which was unusual. Jinora always texted him. He tried to ignore the hollow feeling in his stomach.
"Kai," Li Mei chided, staring at him with intense green eyes. "You've been moping around the whole dance."
"No I haven't!" protested Kai. Li Mei raised a brow, and Kai blushed. "I guess you're right," he admitted.
"Is it Jinora?"
Kai grinned for the first time since the fight with Jinora. "You know me too well, Li."
She shrugged. "It comes with spending almost every second of my day with you." They shared a brief smile. "Look, I've been meaning to say this for a while. I think we shouldn't see each other so much."
"Oh, no," Kai groaned. "You're breaking up with me. I knew it. I did something wrong."
Li Mei took his hand. "I'm gonna play the 'It's not you, it's me' card. I really like you. I just can't hurt your relationship with Jinora."
"Jinora and I are just friends," he objected. "She doesn't have to get in the way of us."
"But I'm getting in the way of you and her. And I've also been missing my own girlfriends," she admitted. "It's just-it's just not working."
"Li Mei-"
"I still really like you, Kai. But we're only in high school. We only met this year. We'll get over it," she said, managing a sad smile. "But you and Jinora, you guys are best friends. You can't get over that so easily." She pecked his cheek with a final kiss. The pair had never actually kissed each other, on the lips.
Li Mei backed away from Kai. "I think-" she pointed backwards at the dance floor. "I'm gonna look for my friends."
Kai blinked. "Okay."
"You should go after her. Stop sulking," she smiled, then left Kai alone with his drink to keep him company in the crowded, sweaty gym.
"Jinora, could you get the door?" called Pema from the kitchen. Somebody was knocking loudly and repeatedly, and Pema's hands were full with little Rohan.
Jinora groaned as he sat up on the couch. She hated to be so rudely interrupted from her Saturday evening television. It was the only time in the week where she could peacefully watch television, since her siblings were all out with Tenzin, except Rohan, who was too small. She wondered who would be at their door at eight on a Saturday night. Maybe it was Councilman Tarrlok who wanted to speak to her father, or Korra coming by to chill. Their house was like Korra's second home, Jinora's family Korra's second family.
Jinora opened up the door, cold air from outside rushing over her, goose pimples rising on her skin. "Who-Kai?"
There he was, standing at their doorstep, shivering in the cold. Pema came from the kitchen to see the guest. "Kai! It's nice to see you. Come on in, it's cold outside," she said, gesturing at him to enter.
Kai smiled. "Thanks, Pema."
"Do you want something to eat, drink? We have leftover egg tarts, and-"
"Mom," Jinora groaned. "We'll be alright."
Pema smiled. "Okay. Jinora, be polite to your guest."
"Mom, Kai's been over almost as much as Korra!"
She laughed. "Alright. If you need me, I'll be in the kitchen with Rohan." She then trotted away.
Kai nodded. "Thanks again," he called.
Jinora shut the door, then rested her hands on her hips. "What are you doing here?" she asked quietly, no edge to her voice.
"I'm here to see you, silly," he replied, trying a smile.
"You're supposed to be at the dance. Did you stand up Li Mei?"
Kai pursed his lips. "We...we kinda broke up."
"Oh," Jinora said. "I'm sorry."
"It's alright." He shrugged. He then paused for a moment, then said, "She told me to stop sulking at the dance. I came back for you right after we broke up."
Jinora felt colour run to her cheeks. "Oh," she said stupidly.
"Yeah. I mean, it's just a short-lived high school relationship." He shrugged again. He shrugged a lot when he was distraught.
"Yeah." Jinora cleared her throat, then said, "I'm sorry I got so mad."
He stuck his hands in his pockets and stared down at the floor. "I think I should be apologising. I'm sorry I kept ignoring you for Li Mei. It's just...I was being an idiot for ignoring you."
Jinora grinned. "It's okay."
"You're my best friend. You'll always be an exception when it comes to girls," Kai said. "Are we good?"
They met each other's eyes for a moment. Silence loomed over them for a moment like a heavy stormcloud. I missed you seemed to be communicated unspokenly.
"Yeah." She pursed her lips. "I think we'll be okay."
