Modern AU. Enjoy :3

"For the last time, Sokka, this is a terrible idea! We're gonna get into so much trouble!" Sokka snorted, standing up taller than usual, so much it was almost comical.

Only it wasn't. Because all this wasn't funny in Katara's opinion.

"Kat, I've done this at least ten times. If you're doubting-"

Katara officially lost it then.

"At least ten times?! Are you kidding me, Sokka?! Do you even realize how-how dangerous this is? You can get caught so easily! You-"

"Geez, relax. Nothing happened, did it? Why would anything happen this time?" He rolled his eyes. "I'm telling you, it's so much fun once you get over the pissing your pants par-"

"I'm not going anywhere! And you, Mr. Adventurous, are staying here, too!"

Ten minutes later Katara was watching the automatic doors of the bus close, her brother barely able to contain his excitement in the seat opposite her, and she in turn sick with anxiety, her foot bouncing up and down on the beige plywood flooring.

Sokka kept chuckling quietly under his breath whenever he looked at her.

By the third time he did this, her nervousness briskly turned to anger.

"I swear, Sokka, shut up, will ya?", she muttered, looking around in mild panic. That only made him release another hearty chuckle.

"You gotta chill out some, Kat. I tell ya. This is really nothing. The chances of us getting caught are smaller that aliens finding our planet."

Slowly but surely, the bus was leaving the suburbs, the scenery changing into something more rural. Big lawns and bigger corn fields were passing by, the lush green Hei Bai forest not far from their house visible in the background. Lone tractors made their way over the fields from time to time.

He sighed. "Katara, it's five PM. The time most people return from work. Do you see how crowded the bus is? There is no way-"

"Hey, you two over there!"

Katara was sure she was having a heart attack.

Sokka, the picture of calm, turned to the police man that had approached them through the crowd.

"Hello sir. Can we help you?"

Katara was sure she wouldn't have been able to speak even if she had decided to do so.

"Show me your tickets. Now."

Now she was sure her heart wasn't beating at all. She saw something akin to fear wash over her brother's eyes as well, before he schooled his features, raising an eyebrow at the cop.

"I didn't know they checked your ticket on the bus. Was it always like this?"

The cop grinned malevolently, his dark sideburns stretching with the movement of his face, dark brown eyes twinkling in greedy delight. It took all Katara had not to shudder at the sight.

"You ain't the first idiots to try this little stunt, the city's sick of this, so here I am." He smirked. "No chance of talking yourself out of this one, little bastard! You're coming with me."

Her heart ran cold as she saw hairy arms reach for her brother's collar and she was on the verge of interfering, when Sokka held up his hands in protest.

"Please, sir, let me get out our bus passes from school.", he said, making the cop back off grumpily. Katara held her breath.

Reaching into an inside pocket of his navy blue leather jacket, Sokka produced two cards, her library card and his canteen card, showing them to the cop.

Her heart sank into her stomach. She had the urge to simultaneously face palm and slap her brother so hard he would be seeing stars.

As she found her voice, however, and was about to confess to the official, Sokka spoke again.

"We go to different schools, so they look a bit different.", he lied smoothly.

To Katara's utter surprise and amazement, the cop only nodded dumbly, making no effort to hide his disappointment.

"Alright, then,", he said through clenched teeth after a minute of staring at Sokka's face of stone, "have a safe trip."

Noticing another bunch of kids their age, he proceeded to ignore them, instead making his way over to the other group.

The siblings sat in tense silence until the bus arrived at the next stop, which was where they made their hasty escape. Thankfully, the cop was still busy tormenting the other students.

When they were standing safely at the bus stop, Sokka's facade finally shattered to pieces as he started laughing harder than she had ever heard him laugh before.

Katara was shouting at him with all her might about what an idiot he was and how she couldn't believe she had let that happen, while he was giving uncontrolled exclamationa of "Oh my God!" and "Oh I was so scared!" and "Christ, that was so fun!" and "I was so damn sure this moron would be illiterate, I mean, did you see him?!", the latter earning him a little rant about him simply being a lucky idiot and how cops being uneducated was another stupid piece of prejudice.

She was slapping and hugging him at the same time, joining into his contagious laughter out of anxiety and relief.

They laughed like madmen for another few moments, then, after she had more or less regained her composure, Katara said to Sokka, who was clutching his stomach with mirth:

"I swear, Sokka. 'Why would anything happen this time?'! Why would anything happen this time! Because, duh!"

"Look, sis, I get it. I'm sorry...?"

"Promise me, right here and now, that you are never gonna do that again!", she hissed, "no matter where, no matter , no matter with whom! Mom and Dad would have killed us if the guy had found out-"

"But he didn't, so they won't.", Sokka reasoned in a singsong voice in his infuriating Sokka way.

"Besides: We've got some spare cash now seeing as our bus ride was free!" He was grinning at her from ear to ear. "Last one to the kebab shop is a lame sea prune! I'm starving!"

"Child.", she muttered under her breath.

They took off into the direction of the shawarma smell.

"Where the heck are we to begin with?", Katara shouted, trying to catch up with her brother.

"No idea!", Sokka confessed over his shoulder, running on.

And thus, Katara never got her promise.