Zuko stood rather perplexed, staring from the parking lot at the main entrance to Elements High. The whole front wall had been taken out and ash and debris littered the whole place. Everything was cut off by yellow caution tape and guards were posted everywhere. The fire nation flag was gone, replaced by a white flag proudly saying, "Long Live The Earth King". Small devices that looked suspiciously like home-made grenades hung at the top of the flagpole. Zuko guessed that was why no one had removed it yet.
A guard ordered him to make his way to the back teacher entrance while the main entrance was still under 'maintenance', he guessed that was what they had decided to call the terrorist attack. Everyone around Zuko seemed either confused, scared, excited, or angry, but everyone had definitely been affected by the proof of the attack. Obviously it had happened over the weekend and the school must be paying some big money to keep the media quiet. Despite the fact the news stayed off the TV and newspapers, it was already spreading like wildfire on the internet. Zuko was getting notifications every minute or so about a new article or youtube video concerning the attack. He kept informed about all recent attempts of rebellion since the avatar returned. He could be anywhere, and Zuko was excited, and scared, that maybe, just maybe, he could be here.
People gathered in groups to gossip quietly and turned stone quiet whenever a staff member came by. A new feature had apparently been added to the security, now guards stood at the end of every hall. When Zuko opened his locker he immediately knew something was wrong. Someone else had been there and moved his things around, and they hadn't been neat about it either. He looked around and saw other people looking shocked and angry at the state of their lockers. Zuko got his books and slammed the locker shut. So now they had searched his things, that could only mean he was a suspect.
He went on to his first class of the day. Dr. Jeong Jeong looked over his class with a frown. In front of Zuko, Ty Lee sat with her feet on her desk talking furiously with a fellow cheerleader. "It's terrible! We'll have to walk all the way to the back entrance for weeks now! And you know they haven't found who did it? Well I heard that they have some suspects, and get this, they're supposed to arrest them today in school!" Zuko's eyes widened. "No, I don't think anyone was hurt. It was Saturday so they only had to evacuate the kids in detention. I know because my friend Mai's uncle is the principle and she told me. I heard they're thinking about canceling sports for the next week because of it!"
Zuko got out of his desk and started to walk to the back door of the classroom. Just as he turned the doorknob, the bell rang and Ming Jade's voice sounded over the intercom. Dr. Jeong Jeong spoke over the noise while the other students all stood up. "Mr. Royal. Please return to your seat for announcements."
Zuko thought for a moment, then released the doorknob and glared briefly at the teacher before returning to his seat. They said the fire nation pledge as always and sat down. Ming continued with the regular announcements for the day, sports and clubs were canceled for the rest of the week, much to the displeasure of the class, the lunch special would be fried chicken and potato, and finally an announcement delivered by the school headmaster.
Headmaster War Den's voice spoke loudly over the intercom. "Hello, students. As some of you may have realized, our front entrance is unfortunately in need of 'maintenance'. Until the main one is restored you are expected to use the back one. We will fix this problem as soon as we can, until then …"
He paused and the whole school seemed to be holding its breath, waiting for the truth to be acknowledged. "I know none of the good, fire nation citizens of this colony would ever think of violating fire nation property, that includes all of you who proudly wear the fire nation emblem on your uniforms and speak the fire nation pledge each morning in honor of your nation." He paused and still the school held its breath. "As for the rest of you …" Here it came. "We know that among the colonists we have graciously allowed to be part of this fine school, some of you have betrayed our trust and generosity. I suggest that the guilty confess now while I am in the forgiving mood. Anyone who chooses to share information on these traitors will be greatly rewarded. Anyone withholding information will be severely punished. Until this school has been properly weeded out, the government has gifted us with official fire nation guards, to protect the innocent, and bring justice to the guilty. Good day, students."
The intercom turned off and the students started whispering. Dr. Jeong Jeong yelled over them and demanded everyone take out the homework.
Sokka turned a corner and saw Jet and Katara talking alone by a locker.
"Wow, he sounds like a real jerk."
Katara scoffed. "You have no idea, he won't even let me go to the pool."
Jet put a notebook on his locker shelf and smiled. "Show it to me."
"What?"
"The pool. I've never been down there, and you seem to like it a lot. I want you to show it to me."
"O-okay."
Sokka stormed up the hall and interrupted them. "Sokka, what are you …?"
"There is no way you're going down there!"
Jet shoved Sokka away from Katara. "You can't tell her what to do!"
Sokka looked around hurriedly and spoke low. "There are guards crawling all over the school right now. How would you like to get caught and spend the rest of your life staring at the world through iron bars?"
"They can't arrest me for being in the pool. Now go away." Katara turned her back on her brother.
Jet crossed his arms and smiled at Sokka. "Sorry, I don't think she wants to be around you right now." He walked next to Katara, his arm over her shoulder.
(A/N: Just so everything's clear, the banging sounds that Katara, Jet, and Haru were running from in chapter 8 was actually the setting off of the homemade bombs used to blow up the main entrance of the high school. I'm trying to add Zuko in a bit more but I'm unsure of how to do that considering the fact that if it becomes known that Aang is the avatar he wouldn't be able to go to the high school without getting caught and that would ruin the whole point of this fanfiction. sigh. I guess I'll just have to figure it out.)