Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar

"Yeah," she said for the 3rd time, nodding to herself. She sighed as she finished loading her last luggage before slamming the tailgate shut.

"And please promise me that we will facetime at least twice a week."

As Katara was about to respond, he spoke again. "Annnd remember, don't let any boy look at you funny."

"Babe," she heard a nervous chuckle on the other line and sighed again, "Aang, you are acting as if I'm traveling to another country. I'm just moving into halls. With Sokka."

"Hehe, I know. I was just… just trying to look out for you, sweetie." Aang trailed off. As he always did when he knew he was pushing it.

Katara winced at the 'sweetie' and felt her throat throbbing, knowing that it was time to end this call. In a shaky breath she said. "You stay focused on your studies, now, okay?"

"Y-"

*Clank*

She made her way to the passenger seat with Sokka on his phone texting Suki, his girlfriend. She exhaled audibly.

"Trouble in paradise, sis?" Sokka started the engine.

"Don't."

Sokka chuckled. "Can't believe it's happening, already. University. Who would have thought?"

Katara grinned. "Yeah, who would have thought you would make it this far without any help from a certain someone."

Sokka side-eyed her, earning him another chuckle from Katara. "Yeah, haha, very funny."

"But really, Katara. Time to show the world who we are and make our parents proud." Sokka backed up. "Especially ma'."

Katara's shoulders dropped at the mention of their mother. A tear threatened to fall before Sokka caught it, smiling at her. "Let's do this, Katara."

Both Katara and Sokka stared at each other before giving each other a high-five. A signature move that their family did whenever they made a resolution to prove themselves. "Let's do this, Sokka."

"Come on, sis." Sokka said from behind Katara who was heaving her backpack from the backseat.

"It wouldn't be so hard if you hadn't shoved it so tight in between the seats, you- oh," Katara fell back when the force of the backpack as it came off pushed her into something-

"Hey!"

-or someone.

Katara turned quickly and was about to apologize until the person spoke again.

"Watch where you are going!"

"S-Sorry." Katara said, stuttering with her next words as she marvelled at the smoothness of her silky skin. It perfectly contrasted her jet black flowing hair. Her two earlobe piercings were blinding against the sun.

"You better be, I could have gotten-"

"Hey, what's going on?"

And there came a man with the same silky smooth skin as hers but what stood out the most was the scar on the left side of his face. Katara knew it was rude to stare but she wasn't grossed out, rather… it complimented him. He was kinda cute.

He rested his palm on the woman's shoulder, and gave her a gentle stare. The woman huffed and walked away, towards the car. Oh, he was cute alright.

"Sorry, she's just having a bad day."

His voice was so sweet yet hoarse, in a way that made her senses tingle. Her cobalt eyes were absorbed into his golden, nearly losing herself in them had it not been for the narrowing of his eyebrows. Crap.

"Oh, yeah! Oh.." Katara's eyes darted everywhere, but him, "I'm the one who bumped into her. I was trying to get my backpack from the seat and then it just…" she made the mistake of looking at him again. This time noticing how his black shirt hugged his slender yet toned figure. She rubbed her elbow, a sign that she was nervous. "I just.."

"Hey, it happens. If you need any help, I can-"

"ZUKO!"

They both looked over at the woman who was previously there. The corner of Zuko's mouth twitched into a nervous smile as he pointed at the woman. "I.. gotta go."

Oh he was so… Katara shook her head. "Yes!" No.

Zuko gave her another stiff smile before heading in the woman's direction. Katara heard him call her 'Mai'.

When Katara threw her backpack on and got her luggage rolling, she thought it best to get a final view. A view she wished she hadn't seen. And that view was of Mai hungrily devouring Zuko, with her hands entwined behind his neck pulling him closer as she was pressed against the car.

Sigh.

"There we go." Katara said as she adjusted the framed picture of her mother in the corner of her desk. Moving into student residence had gone smoothly, well… except for that little incident with Mai and Zuko who, for some reason, excited her. Not the sexual kind.

She hoped.

She heard a knock on her door.

"Sis! It's me."

Katara scoffed. "Take a hike, Sokka."

"Hey!" He swung the door open. "What's with the attitude?!"

"Attitude?! Says the brother who left his sister to herself while she was fixing yet another one of her brother's screw-ups."

Sokka dramatically pointed all fingers at himself. "Screw?!- I'll have you know that if it weren't for my genius-"

"Idiotic." She said, fiddling through her bag.

"Genius packing skills, we would be making 3-"

"-2."

"I don't appreciate how you cut me off at every turn."

She smirked at him. "Oh, like your sense of driving?"

"Oh, you're gonna get it!" As Sokka went on rambling, Katara noticed that he had changed into a black t-shirt, which reminded her of a certain someone from earlier.

Zuko.

"And you are- hey, why are you blushing?"

Katara squealed. Before Sokka could retaliate, Katara had shoved him out her door, yelling: "This is your fault!" before slamming the door in his face.

. . . .

"Oh yeah, well this is your fault, too!" Sokka yelled back before slamming his own door.

The third and final door in their hall opened and Suki, Sokka's high school sweetheart, popped her head out. "It hasn't even been a day and they have already had their first fight."

She quietly closed her door and spent the rest of her day in her room since Katara and Sokka certainly won't be leaving theirs.

The next day saw Sokka and Katara avoiding each other's existence with Suki as their middleman.

"So, what classes do you have now?"

"Social Science."

"Political Science." Sokka eyed Katara from the corner and saw as she huffed and looked in the other direction. He huffed as well and copied her.

"Seems like you can't do anything yourself, huh."

Sokka scoffed. "What?!-"

Katara spoke in a high pitch tone. "Oh, look, my seminar room. Bye," she looked at them, "Suki."

Katara swung the door open and walked in while making grimaces at Sokka. When she bumped her thigh into the corner of a table, she dropped her stuff on it and took a seat and huffed as Sokka and Suki were finally out of sight.

"Stupid sibling, who needs them?!" She muttered under her breath. When she oriented herself on her sitting, she realized that she had taken a seat in the far left on a table only meant for 2 people. With her sitting away from the wall.

Okay… she slid her eyes over to the person sitting next to her and he slouched over the table, with his face laying flat... sleeping.

Great, a slacker. Just what she needed. Though her nostrils were loving the sandalwood scent coming from him.

When the lecturer walked in, she eyed him quickly again. She hoped she wouldn't have to wake him up but when the lecturer introduced himself as Bumi and introduced the course she couldn't help it.

Katara discreetly brought her arm on the table. She then slid her forearm over to his face. She kept her look on Bumi and his slides. She aimed her fingers at his shoulder blade and kept it moving until her fingertip felt a rather soft, yet warm, sensation. As her mind was elsewhere, her finger continued to dig until-

"Mind stopping that?"

"Oh, I..." Fluffy yet slightly ruffled black hair, "was" Golden eyes, "just…" Scar on the left side of his perfectly sculpted face. A scar which her fingertip was digging into.

. . . .

"I'm-!" Katara said, flustered and ready to sink into a wormhole and never emerge again.

Bumi cleared his throat and both Katara and Zuko looked up. "As I was saying, this group project starts from our next seminar class and spans over this entire semester. Why? Because I said so."

While whispers and sighs washed over the room, Katara scolded herself internally for missing everything the lecturer said. Her first day and she had no clue of what was going on because she was trying to wake a certain someone up. That someone being Zuko. A very cute someone.

"Oh," she looked up again, "did I forget to mention that it is to be in pairs. I suggest that for the students sitting on a table for 2 to team up to make life easier for us both. While the rest figure it out, I will go around and write the names down."

She watched Bumi grab a pen and a paper and she felt her heart beat against her ribcage. Pairs. And she was sitting on a table for 2. With Zuko. Oh, she couldn't do this. She-

"So.." Her shoulders hitched at his cool tone. She nervously led her eyes to his, a mistake she knew she was committing.

"You and me, right?" He said with the corner of his mouth slightly risen.

Katara nodded, feeling her voice lose all confidence. "R-Right."

Just, right.

Hey! Hoped you enjoyed the appetizer that was CH1. Any thoughts on the characterisation or my writing overall would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for reading.