"Mina! Grandpa is here, come down stairs please" My mother yells up the stairs.
"Tell him I say hi, I'm busy" I reply
"Mina you need to stop hiding in your room so much, you need fresh air"
"The last time I had fresh air, my brother was killed!"
Silence for a while. She knocks on my door and I roll my eyes.
"Mina, please, Mina, Mina" Her voice is soft, so soft, I consider opening my door. She was always a kind mother, why do I shut her out. I'm going to make things right, I'm opening my door.
"Mina!" She's screaming now. "MINA!"
"Mina, wake up, we're here" Katara kneels next to me and shakes my shoulder. I notice she's wearing her fire nation clothes"You really need to stop sleeping in so late"
"In my time, I sleep in till noon, this is early for me" I say as I sit up. I look around and see I'm in a room, even though I fell asleep on Appa. She hands me my Fire nation clothes and I take them.
"Where is everyone?" I ask her.
"Zuko and Aang are training and we're just watching them" She stands up to leave but I stop her.
"Katara, how did I get in here, I fell asleep on Appa"
"Aang carried you in here, he insisted on letting you sleep"
She leaves my room and I smile. He does like me, he really does like me. I take off my air nation clothes and put on my fire nation outfit. Suddenly, I hear a knock at my door. I only have my skirt and bra on. I'm about to yell "I'm changing" but Zuko just walks in. He looks at me in embarrassment as I cover my chest with my arms. He quickly turns away from me.
"Katara told me you were awake" He speaks awkwardly "and I was wondering if you wanted to train with me and Aang"
He runs out of my room, face completely red. I take a deep breath and put on my shirt. That was embarrassing. I leave my room and head to an open door. I see Katara and Toph watching Zuko and Aang train. Aang looks at me and smiles.
"Hey Mina, we were practicing the sun moves, do you know it?" He asks me. I look at Zuko and his face is pale.
"Yeah I know it, can I join in?"
"Sure" Aang replies. I didn't even notice until now that the boys have no shirts on. Their sweat makes their six packs shine. I stand next to Aang and stand in the first position. I take off my skirt and underneath I have leggings. We start firebending in perfect harmony together. I go a little easy on the high kicks on my left side because my leg isn't completely healed up yet. Katara gives me a healing session twice a day and my leg is healing quite quickly. We finish and bow to each other. I sit down next to Katara and she hands me a towel.
"Am I the only one who thinks its weird we're hiding from the firelord in his own house" Says Katara.
"No one has stayed here since my family was happy"
Suddenly, Sokka and his girlfriend, Suki, run into the yard.
"Guys, guess what! They made a play about us" Sokka cheers as Suki opens up a poster revealing a picture of Aang, Katara, and Sokka with Zukos eyes in the background. They explain to us about the play and who wrote it.
"Ugh, the Ember Island players are horrible. My parents used to take us to see them" Zuko complains.
"We need to see this, its litterly a play about us. This is the do nothing goofing off I missed!" Sokka says.
"I want to see it" I say. Everyone turns to me. "I always wanted to see your guys' adventures before I came here, I think it'll be fun"
... (I'm just going to skip the rest of the play and just go to when Mina comes in)
Its the second intermission and I sit with Zuko on the floor.
"Sorry about earlier" He says to me.
"Its ok, you didn't know I was changing" I reply and he nods.
"Hey, where's Aang, the play is going to start any minute" Sokka asks us.
"I saw him on the deck outside, I'll go get him" I say as I stand. I open the curtain that leads outside and see Aang and Katara talking.
"...I don't know Aang, I'm so confused-" Katara starts but is interrupted when Aang kisses her. Wait! He kissed her! Aang, my Aang, kissed her!
"Aang" I say. They turn to me and Aangs eyes grow.
"Mina, I-" He starts but I shake my head.
"Don't talk to me, EVER!" I turn and leave the room. I see everyone pile back into the theater and I follow. I sit next to Zuko and cross my arms. Why did he do that? I thought he liked me! He kissed me first, he liked me first! Wait, no he didn't, he liked Katara long before he liked me. Does he still like her? No, he likes me now...or does he?
"Whats wrong?" Zuko asks me.
"Nothing" I reply. Katara sits next to me.
"Mina?"
"What!" I yell and she jumps.
"I just want you to know I don't like him that way. I know you and him have a thing, I would never betray you, you're like a sister to me"
I look at her and take a deep breath.
"It doesn't matter, from what I've seen in this play and how he acts around you, I think he likes you more" I reply.
"What? No, he-"
"Katara stop, obviously you two have more chemistry than him and I. Yeah, him and I kissed a few times but maybe he's just using me to move on from you" A tear rolls down my face as I speak.
"Mina stop, he really likes you, he won't stop talking about you" She wraps her arms around me.
"Really?"
"Yes, he likes you Mina"
The lights dim, meaning the play will begin. Katara lets go of me and I wipe my tear.
"You ok?" Zuko whispers to me.
"Yes" I whisper back. The actress playing Aang stands on a cardboard ship with the other actors.
"Where am I? And why do I have a boo boo on my back?" She over acts.
"We snuck onto a fire nation ship, it gave me so much hope" Actress Katara sobs. Suddenly, a barrel falls over and a girl wearing a small, tight shirt and short shorts fall out.
"Like, Er mer gerd, I snuck onto this, like, totally fire ship and I'm from another, like, planet" The girl speaks in an annoying voice. She has lipstick and eyeshadow smeared all over her face.
"Whats your name?" Asks Aang.
"I'm, like, Mina"
I stare at the girl with wide eyes and Toph laughs. Thats me? She's wearing an inappropriate version of the outfit I came in and a horrible makeup job. Katara looks at me and pats my back.
"I now know your pain" I say to her and Zuko. I stand up and leave. If I'm going to be this insulted, I need to leave. I walk around the hallway and bump into Aang. I look at him roll my eyes and walk away.
"Mina wait" He grabs my shoulder and spins me around. He looks at me and I can see it in his eyes, I see it all in his eyes. He talked about me to Katara, only kissed me when she wasn't around, I see it all. He likes her, but she doesn't like him. He was using me to forget about her, stop loving her, but it didn't work. He still likes her.
"Mina, i-"
"Tell me the truth, me or Katara"
"What?"
"Don't say anything but the truth. Do you love me or Katara?"
"Mina, I love you-"
"Stop it Aang! Tell me the truth!"
He looks at me for a while. He's thinking, hard. He looks away from me.
"Mina, I'm sorry. I've liked Katara for a long time. I just feel more...connected to her. Mina, you are an amazing girl, but when we kissed, I didn't feel that...spark that I have with Katara"
I shake my head and fight my tears. I heard what I needed to hear, the truth. Of course it hurt, but it was for my own good.
"Ok" I say and walk back to the theater.
...
The play continues and I cringe at every word the actress playing me says. The scene comes to me Aang, and Zuko ride Appa to the market.
"Maybe we should not fly in this weather!" Yells actor Zuko.
"I think we should! Did I mention I don't usually think things through" Actress Aang giggles. Aang growls at her words. Actor Zuko suddenly stands up and "falls" off the fake bison. My character also "falls" shortly after. They sit on the stage floor and rub their heads.
"Aang, like, come back!" The actress yells as they both stand
"He can't hear us"
"So what do we do? He may, like totally never return"
"We will explore this land"
"But the sun is, like, setting."
They nod and sit on the floor. The girl looks at Zuko.
"So do you have, like, a girlfriend?" She asks him.
"No, do you have a boyfriend?"
"Well, Aang and I did have a thing, but I think you're totally hot" Then, she jumps onto Zuko and they kiss. Me and Zuko look at each other embarrassed. I look over at Aang and he looks betrayed. I don't care about Aang anymore, he betrayed me first.
...
The play finishes and we walk back to the house.
"Horrible"
"You said it"
"But the FX were decent"
I didn't even realize it, but I was crying. I love Aang, I thought he was the one for me, but I was wrong, I was so wrong.