Chapter 1: First Day
Update 8/28/11: ok, its been quite a while since avatar ended and I just saw a few episodes of the show, making me nostalgic, I decided to give this another go, see if I can't at least get a plot going, so here goes nothing…
The alarm in Katara's dark room sounded off like a car alarm, jarring the girl from her covers. She let out a short yelp of surprise as she shot upwards, all traces of her dreamtime slumber snatched away by the noisy dawn. Blinking a few times at the muted darkness around her, Katara soon realized what morning it was and a wide and toothy grin spread across her face.
"The first day of High School." She hummed merrily to herself. At that Katara leaped out of bed and grabbed the previously laid out clothes on her dresser. She practically flew down the hallway to beat her zombified older brother to the bathroom. Sokka was only inches form the door when he was shoved out of the way by Katara.
"Hey! I was here first, Katara!" cried Sokka pounding his fist on the door.
"You're too slow!" Katara yelled back with a mouth full of toothpaste.
"You better look out on Friday, freshman! It'll be the trash can for you!" Said Sokka, frowning and leaning impatiently against the opposite wall, pouting. For him, the first day of school was not all that exiting, he found it difficult to even remember a time where he was as excited as Katara about, school, of all things. He didn't have that many friends as it was, for as long as he had come to live with his Gran-Gran he only had one real one. Thinking on it at the moment Sokka figured the fact that he would have to take care of his little sister wouldn't make things much easier. Katara would just be a burden and a girl repellant. What girl would want to go out with a guy who had to let his sister tag along on a date? What interesting group of friends would want to come to his house after school to play babysitter with him? Sokka let out a self-pitying sigh just as Katara bursted out of the bathroom, still full of energy, dressed in Capri's, a blue tank top.
"I hope you know, you're going to get dress code for that." Sokka called after her heading into the lavatory. But Sokka's warning fell on deaf ears as she flew down the stairs to greet their grandmother who was smiling over a pan full of scrambled eggs.
"Good morning Gran-Gran." Katara sang cheerfully as she sat down for breakfast. Her Gran spooned a hearty spoonful of eggs onto the waiting plate, a small smile aimed at her youngest grandchild.
"Good morning Katara, all dressed up the first day of school I see. Are you going to walk with Sokka?"
"Maybe, he'll probably ditch me anyway." Katara sighed as she began to quickly shove copious amounts of egg into her mouth.
"Oh no he wont, not if I have anything to say about it." Jested the old woman just as Sokka trounced into the kitchen, his attire haphazardly tossed onto his slumping form.
"C'mon Katara, we're going to be late." He said tossing Katara her backpack.
"What about breakfast?" she protested, beginning to spoon the food in at a slightly faster pace. Sokka only shrugged and swung is our bag across his back, grabbing a piece of toast.
"Bring it with you." He mumbled, giving his Gran Gran a brief hug, hardly breaking his speed as his continued towards the door. At that Katara reluctantly got up and hugged her grandmother good bye.
"Good luck today, Katara." Gran-Gran said as the two left. "And try not to fall asleep on the first day, Sokka!" her grandson groaned at the jab and shut the door firmly behind him. The old woman looked out after them from the window and hoped that Sokka would keep an eye on his sister as they headed down the street. They were a few steps down the street when Katara noticed that they were going in the opposite direction of the High School.
"Where are we going Sokka?"
"To pick up Haru, we always walk to school together, just because you're here it isn't going to change that." Katara's eyes widened slightly.
"I didn't say anything, I don't mind getting Haru, and he's not as annoying as you."
"You only say that because you have a crush on him." Mocked Sokka making a kissy face causing Katara to blush profusely.
"I do not!" she argued pushing her laughing older brother.
"Do too! Every time he comes over you come into my room and stare at him while we play video games. And I hear you when you sing at night and put Haru's name in those sappy love songs you like to listen to. That's right, I said it, you have a crush on Haru alright, I can see it in your eyes when you drool at him." He retorted, Katara's face was so red at this point she could have been mistaken for a stop sign.
"Shut up!"
"I rest my case." They then walked in silence the rest of the day, Sokka still grinning ear to ear about his verbal victory over his sister and Katara seething over her defeat. It was soon after that they noticed a third set of footsteps behind them, following their every turn. Katara nudged Sokka and tilted her head backwards to indicate that someone was following them, Sokka nodded. The two then turned around to face their stalker and came face to face with a young boy. He was bald with big gray eyes and an oversized orange sweatshirt.
"Hi, I'm Aang!" He chirped abruptly, with a large smile plastered on his face round face.
"Why are you following us?" Demanded Sokka stepping slightly in front of his sister in an unconscious movement.
"I live next door to you and I was following you because I-uh- forgot which way the high school was." He replied a-matter-of-factly still with that smile still plastered on his face. The siblings exchanged twin looks of confusion as the small boy stood in front of them.
"Wait, how old are you?" Asked Katara, finally realizing just how small the boy actually was.
"Oh, I'm 12, but I got to skip because of some test I took. Now I'm a freshman." He responded with a shrug, barley visible under his shirt. Sokka's eyebrows instantly shot to his hairline in recognition.
"Hey, you're that genius kid everyone's talking about!" Sokka exclaimed stepping forward.
"Well, I guess so, I wouldn't say genius." Aang said modestly rubbing the back of his neck, which was turning slightly red from the attention.
"Well, I'm Sokka, and this is my sister Katara." He said holding out his hand, Aang shook it vigorously, mimicking the same action with Katara.
"Well, are we going or what?" Asked Katara, impatient to get to their destination.
"Yea, we're going, don't mind her Aang, she just wants to ogle my best friend." Stated Sokka as he started walking passed Katara, who swiftly held out her foot causing Sokka to crash to the ground.
"Oops." She said simply stepping over his fallen form, Aang laughed along with her. Grumbling, Sokka pulled himself from off the floor and headed forward, careful to watch out for stray feet.
"Zuko, it is time for school, get up and have some tea to start the day." Said Iroh as he knocked at the door of his nephew. Zuko sighed heavily as he turned over in his bed and looked over at the unset alarm clock. The last thing he wanted to do was go to school in this dinky little town.
"I'm coming uncle." He growled as he got out of bed and threw on his robe. He trudged out of his bedroom and down the hall into his uncle's Kitchen. He still hadn't gotten used to how small this house was, compared to his home in China with his father and sister.
"Good morning Nephew! How was your sleep?"
"It was fine." He mumbled sitting and taking the tea his uncle offered to him. The warm liquid soothed him, and momentarily eased his tension.
"Are you ready for your first day of school in America?"
"I have been in American schooling almost my whole life." Zuko grumbled, setting down the cup with more force than he meant to.
"Ah, but not public Schooling." Iroh said with a good-natured smile across his face, choosing to ignore the loud clatter of the tea set. Zuko scoffed at his Uncle's attempts to cheer him up. There was no being cheerful when in this situation, disowned and rejected by his father.
"Well, you had better get dressed then, you do not want to be late for your first day, I'll get ready as well." Iroh got up and hobbled to his room and Zuko remained in his seat, peering into the streaming caramel colored liquid and recoiling just as quickly. He knew the kids would whisper behind his back, and point after he's past; he was not ignorant to the cruelty of his fellow man. After all, it was his own father's cruelty that had disfigured him in such a repulsive fashion. Grabbing hold of the table he pushed away and went back to his room to get dressed, Zuko was not looking forward to the day, the thought of anything going well in his life from now on seemed particularly absurd.
TBC
Update: I tried to fix some things and make the chapter seem a bit more readable.