Saturday, December 5th, came faster than expected, and it came along with more snow on the ground. Much to Zuko's discontentment. And it was soon time for the party. Zuko knew Suki from his Karate classes that he used to take back in middle school. The two were never really good friends, but Zula hooked him up with an invitation. So he got dressed in his party clothes, which included some cologne and a silver chain and drove over to the party. Of course, he had to pick out a small gift for Suki to be able to go. That was the hard part. He hadn't spoken to Suki for years, so he just got her a pair of earrings and wrapped it up.

He arrived at the party an hour late, because he had to melt away the ice from his tires and brush off the car…more reasons to hate winter in his book. But he made it around six o'clock. Suki let him in and took his coat and he placed his present in the pile with the rest of them. He grabbed a cup of fruit punch and walked around, saying hello to the people he knew. There was music blasting, and people were dancing all around. Some were sitting on the couch making out. It was a typical high school party, without parents being there. Suki's parents had let her throw her own party in exchange for not being able to make it back from a business trip for her birthday, so the party was wild.

Zuko was standing, watching the people on the couch. There was a girl on a boy's lap and another couple kissing. He felt a twinge of seclusion and then it saddened him. If it wasn't for his scar, maybe he'd have a girlfriend. He had the cool car, the kind that all the girls wanted to be in, and he raced which girls found more attractive…but that scar ruined everything. And then that's what made him think about Christmas. Maybe he didn't like it because he always spent it alone. He was taken from his thoughts when someone spoke up to him.

"Hello Scar Face!" he heard over the techno music playing from the stereo. He turned and saw Zula.

"Hey Zula." He said.

"I almost thought you wouldn't show." She taunted. He gave her a sarcastic smirk.

"So, where's your friend? Or did you come here alone?" Zuko asked. Taunting her right back.

"My date is in the bathroom."

"I was talking about Celeste." Zuko said.

"Anxious to meet her?" and Zuko gave her a look. "Okay, okay, she's over near the snack table. Follow me." And Zula lead him over to the table and up to a girl.

Zuko had never seen the girl before. She turned and looked at him and Zula. She had wavy black hair that went down to her mid-back. Then she also had skin a bit darker than his, but lighter than his friend Katara's. Hey eyes were a bluish silver color. She had pink lips with lip gloss over them. Her curvaceous body was dressed in a school girl outfit with a blue plaid skirt. On her eyes was silver glitter and on her cheeks some blush. Two sets of silver hoops dangled from her ears. Zuko exchanged looks with the girl and she smiled at him. Her name seemed to fit her very well. He was silent, but a million thoughts seemed to buzz in his head. He couldn't seem to take his eyes off of her face. For a sophomore, she was really pretty.

"Isn't her outfit so cute?" Zula asked. "I hooked her up!" Zula placed her arm around Celeste. "Zuko, this is my friend Celeste. Celeste, meet my older and dense brother, Zuko." Zula did the introductions. Celeste giggled and held out her hand.

"Nice to meet you." She said. She had a pretty voice. Zuko shook her hand, and they were very soft.

"The pleasure is mine." He replied. "Zula tells me you're the best singer in the world." Celeste giggled again.

"I don't know about the whole world. In face I don't think I'm all that good." Celeste spoke to him.

"She's just being modest!" Zula said. Zuko smiled and looked back at Celeste, who was staring at his scar.

He felt a surge of emotion go through him when her eyes fell onto his scar. It was the thing he was most insecure about. And she had found it. Not like it was invisible. It covered his whole eye, and it was rather noticeable. He felt embarrassment more than anything. Here was this cute girl in front of him, and he didn't have the looks to compare to. But instead of her making a face at his scar, she just smiled. It calmed him a bit and he was able to focus on other things. Maybe she didn't care about the scar.

"So, Zula tells me you're a racer." Celeste inquired. Zuko nodded. "Sounds like real action."

"I guess."

"You should really be careful doing that. A lot of people get badly hurt."

"I race safe." He said.

"Well, now that we all know each other," Zula started, "Zuko, we'd like to discuss the deal."

"Go ahead."

"Okay, we were going to give you 20 percent, but Celeste insisted on giving you 25 percent." Zula said with her arms crossed, looking at Celeste like she was crazy.

"It's the least we could do." Celeste stated.

"Now, if she's going to hit it big she's going to need proper advertisement. I'm talking about a website and flyers." Zula said, "And maybe even a CD. You have the tools needed to burn songs from a cassette to a CD."

"Take it easy, Zula!" Celeste laughed. "I don't think we need all of that."

"Don't you want to get big?" Zula asked.

"Well, yeah…but we don't want to push Zuko to do too much. Let's try not to take advantage of him."

"Whatever." Zula said, and then a boy walked over to her and placed his arm around her. Zula looked up at the boy and smiled, "My boyfriend's here. We're gonna leave and go back to my place…if you know what I mean." Zula said with a grin. "You two sort out the rest." And Zula left with her boyfriend.

Zuko and Celeste watched her leave. The two of them were silent. They looked around them, and even at the floor and ceiling. Celeste pulled some hair behind her ear and Zuko swirled the ice cubes in his drink. They didn't speak for a moment or two. Zuko didn't like the silence, and decided to break it. "So, what else is there to discuss?" he asked. She shrugged.

"Nothing I guess." She answered, "Oh! Zula wants you to use your video camera to record me singing in the auditorium on Monday. We asked the principal, and he let us borrow it for ten minutes."
"Sounds good."

"I'm just gonna sing one of my numbers and all you have to do is record it and put it on the website."

"No problem." Zuko replied.

"Oh, gees, look at the time." Celeste pointed to her watch. "I have to get home. But, I'll see you on Monday."

"Yeah, Monday it is."

"It was nice meeting you."

"Nice meeting you too." And Celeste began to weave her way through the people.

"Bye Zuko."

"Bye…" he said as she walked way, "Celeste." And he watched her walk until she was out of the house. He had to admit, he was looking forward to Monday.