Aching. Her body ached with every breath, and her mind pounded as she tried over and over again to refocus on her homework. What had professor Tenzin said about the nervous system? Would it be on the test?
"Excuse me, is this seat taken?" a soft voice behind her broke Korra out of her trance, and she tilted her head towards the sound, taking out one of her airpods.
"Oh," she mumbled, lifting her head out of her hand. "Nope, it's all you." She looked up to see who the voice belonged to, shifting her legs to half-cross in the uncomfortably hard library desk chair. Her mind and body were begging to rest if only she could finish her overwhelmingly difficult anatomy homework. She had stopped in the library-hoping the quiet would make her focus-with no such luck.
"Thanks!" the owner of the voice, a captivatingly beautiful woman, slid gracefully into the chair next to Korra, setting her expensive handbag down on the desk in front of her and rifling through it. Korra peeked over into the bag, watching as the woman sifted through random items before finding a tube of lipstick. Rolling her eyes, Korra stuck the airpod back into her ear and restarted the song she hadn't been paying attention to, adjusting in her seat again. She leaned forward, attempting to refocus from the mental detour of her daydream and get her brain back on her homework, but the constant movement of the girl that occupied the seat beside her was making it impossible.
The woman, with her long painted nails clacking away on the keyboard of her phone and her thick, curly hair swishing side to side as she tossed it about, was louder than Korra's quiet headphones. She turned up the volume a few notches, shaking her head slightly again to clear it.
What a priss, Korra thought to herself, twiddling her pen between her thumbs as she watched the girl check her makeup in a compact mirror before reaching into her bag and pulling out her day planner.
"Excuse me," the girl suddenly turned to face her. Korra removed her airpod once more, catching the girl's chartreuse eyes in a silent prompt to continue. "Sorry to bother you, but I was just wondering if you could tell me where you got your backpack? It's so cute." She pointed her well manicured hand to the beat up bag on the floor, a once blue laptop bag with cartoon polar bears stretched across, now dirtied almost to the point beyond recognition.
"Oh, um...I got it on Amazon," Korra muttered, blushing in embarrassment at the rattiness of it.
"The polar bears are adorable." The woman flipped open her dayplanner and scribbled something in it. "I'm Asami, by the way. You're Korra, aren't you?" She grinned politely, swishing her hair back behind her shoulder and extending her hand. Korra quickly paused her music and removed both of her ear buds, shifting them to one hand and weakly grasping Asami's with her free one. Asami gave it a firm shake and smiled politely again.
"Oh, um yeah." The other said shyly, placing the headphones back into their case.
"It's nice to meet you! You won all of those MMA awards for our school, right? What's your major?" Asami's smooth voice fell on deaf ears as Korra looked at her. This girl was a head turner: flawless pale skin and bright green eyes, expertly applied makeup and styled hair. Not to mention her fashionable co-ords, which Korra estimated to be worth more than a semester's tuition from the brand logo she spotted on the side of the girl's leg.
"What? Sorry," she snapped out of her daze.
"I asked what your major was," She said with a knowing smile. Korra was sure that Asami knew she was staring.
She's probably used to it, being so beautiful.
"Um...exercise physiology. You?" Korra knew she was being short, but Asami's intimidating beauty and general nicety made her a strange mix of nervous and jealous. Although grateful for the distraction, she really should've been doing her homework.
"Wow, that sounds really interesting. I'm doing mechanical engineering. So do you have to work out a lot?" Asami asked, responding to a message on her phone.
Mechanical Engineering? So she has beauty and brains...damn...
"Mhm. So... how do you know about me? Do you go to the matches or something?"
"Oh! it's actually because I'm a huge fan of MMA fighting!" Asami said excitedly. "The pro's are already pointing to you as the next big thing. Plus, my boyfriend is on the team with you."
"Oh yeah? Who's that?" Korra asked, ignoring everything else the other had said.
Please don't say Mako, please don't say Mako, please don't say Mako.
"Mako!" of course.
Mako: captain of Republic City University's taekwondo team and Korra's longtime one-sided crush. She didn't know that he had a full on girlfriend, but looking back on every time they had seemed to take a step in the right direction- and Mako pulling back or stopping before things could start- was beginning to come together in her brain.
"Oh yeah, we're pals." Korra forced a grin, her heart dropping knowing she hadn't been worth mentioning.
He had a full on girlfriend and hadn't bothered to mention it?
"Mako talks about you all the time," Asami said casually, clacking away on her phone.
oh?
"Oh, yeah?" Korra tried to hide her excitement at the girl's words. Asami merely nodded, apparently oblivious.
"Mhm! I bet you guys will go pro together. Oh sorry," a call from Mako popped up on her phone. Korra leaned back in her chair.
"Speak of the devil," Korra mumbled, pulling at her right ponytail anxiously.
"Sweetie, I can't really talk right now, I'm at the library. But you'll never guess who I just ran into!...Haha how'd you know?" Asami flashed Korra a kind smile, which she returned with unease. "Oh she does? Haha. Oh yeah, good idea. Okay. I'll talk to you later. Okay. Bye, sweetie." She clicked her phone off, glancing at Korra through her thick lashes. "Well, I gotta go meet my study group. It was super nice to meet you, Korra! I'm sure I'll be seeing you around." She stood up and gathered her things.
"Oh, um...yeah! It was very nice to meet you, Asami." Korra's flustered voice choked out. Asami flashed her a kind smile and a cute wave as she walked away, her designer handbag delicately grasped with one hand and her phone in the other.
Korra breathed out heavily, watching until the girl disappeared around the corner. Of course. Of course Mako would go for the prissy, elegant rich girl instead of the rough-around-the-edges hothead on his sports team. Suddenly, her phone buzzed with a notification from Snapchat.
Bolin my bitch is typing…
New Message
Bolin my bitch
Wanna hit up Narook's? I'm craving noodles :3
Now that he mentioned it, Korra was pretty hungry. Her homework would just have to wait.
Who else?
She replied.
Bolin my bitch is typing…
New Message
Bolin my bitch
Just us :) M is busy.
She replied that she would be there soon and jammed all of her things into her bag. She had known Mako would obviously be busy, but she was hoping at least one other person would be there, feeling awkward at the thought of hanging out with her friend alone over dinner.
Nevertheless, she trudged down the street, watching the sun set peacefully as she made her way to Little Water Tribe Village. Lost in thought once again, she almost didn't notice when her phone buzzed rapidly a few times in a row.
asamisato started following you
asamisato wants to send you a message
Curiously, Korra tapped on her profile. Asami had cultivated an overwhelming amount of followers with an impeccable feed; cohesive photos of various trips, restaurants and charity events she had been to. Korra quickly followed her back and continued to scroll through the posts, before landing on one of Asami and an older man cutting a red ribbon together at some sort of event.
"Oh my spirits…" the realization finally hit her. Asami Sato. Her dad was Hiroshi Sato, the owner of Future Industries. She was an heiress.
If there was still any hope of somehow stealing Mako away from her, they were dashed immediately. Korra wanted to cry; her pipe dream of Mako eventually reciprocating her feelings officially dead.
asamisato: Hey Korra! It was really great to finally meet you today. I'm throwing a little get together at my penthouse on friday and I'd love it if you could make it!
Korra thought carefully as she typed out her reply. Was Asami seeing her as some sort of threat or competition she needed to scope out? Let me not get ahead of myself. She's probably just making an effort to get to know Mako's friends. She doesn't know I like him.
Korrathelegend: Hey Asami! That sounds dope. Thanks for the invite! I'll see if I can!
The setting sun cast a warm glow over the cityscape, and the evening lights began to turn on as Korra rounded the last corner to the restaurant. She let out a deep breath, pushing through the noren at the restaurant opening, and was delighted to see that Bolin had her order ready for her when she practically fell into her seat.
"Thank youuuuu…" she practically sang, snapping her chopsticks apart and shoving as many noodles as she could into one mouthful.
"Did you finish your anatomy homework?" Bolin asked cheerfully, poking at a piece of seal jerky at the edge of his bowl.
"No," Korra gulped. "My brain was melting out of my ears. But holy light spirit you will not believe who I met today."
"Who who who!" Bolin said excitedly.
"Asami fuckin' Sato! I didn't know Mako was officially seeing anyone, let alone an heiress!" she shoved another bundle of noodles into her mouth. She wanted to frame the information as casual, her desire for any knowledge Bolin had on the subject masquerading as mild curiosity.
"Oh yeah, did he not mention it? Asami is great. She's so pretty, and nice, and charitable, and-" Korra frowned as she usually did when Bolin went off on one of his tangents. Noticing his faux pas, he snapped his mouth closed and blushed. "I think Mako told her to-"
"Can we get some more dumplings over here?" Korra yelled to the bar, a waiter catching her eye and nodding.
"-invite you to her house party." Bolin finished, watching uneasily as Korra scarfed down the last of the dumplings as the waiter brought another plate. "Are you...okay?" He asked, cocking his head to the side.
"Yep! Just super hungry!" she nodded, chugging half of her mug of beer. "How kind of him," she muttered quietly.
"Anyways, are you going? I was thinking maybe we could-"
"Oh fud." Korra's cursing was muffled by the food in her mouth that she struggled to swallow as an unwelcome, yet familiar face began to stroll over to their table, dramatically flailing his arms outward. His friends stood up from the table with him, stopping directly in front of Korra's frowning face.
"I thought I smelled something," Korra groaned, shoving another dumpling into her mouth.
"Nice to see you too, Korra. Still stuffing your face?" One of the girls that stood further back sneered.
"I sure am, Ga Eun!" Korra replied to the snarky comment with a large fake smile before washing it down with another swig of her beer. "You don't get muscles like these without eating a LOT." She grinned cheerfully, shoving another bite of her meal into her mouth and chomping loudly. Ga Eun turned away in disgust, rolling her eyes and checking her phone disinterestedly.
"Relax, Korra. We just came over to say hello." A sultry voice slithered out.
"Hi Tahno," Korra replied, unamused. "Bye, Tahno."
"Don't be so mean... " He pouted dramatically, flipping his curls out of his face. "I just wanted to see if you still wanted those...private lessons...you know, like before." His voice dripped down his lips like poison, and Korra's skin crawled at the idea.
"Um...I think she's good, bro," Bolin chimed in, disturbed by Tahno's boldness. Tahno merely scoffed, barely acknowledging Bolin's existence as he waited expectantly for Korra's reply.
"Like I said last time, pretty boy. I need someone that can last…" she paused to slurp a noodle. "Longer than that in 'practice," she bent her fingers in quotations. "Capiche?" she shoved a dumpling in her mouth and grinned. Tahno's lips curved into a snarl and his sallow skin darkened in embarrassment.
"Whatever, bitch." he turned around dramatically and his gaggle of friends followed closely behind, muttering insults directed towards Korra under their breaths.
"Later, Tahno!" she mocked, waggling her fingers as they exited the restaurant.
"Who was that?" Bolin whisper-shouted.
"He's nobody. Just forget it," Korra muttered, finishing her bowl. Bolin decided it was better to not press the subject, although he had a pretty good idea what had happened between them.