Chapter 6: Run the World

Jet was arguing with Azula about something stupid, something that had started innocuously enough but diverged into something far more heated than it was worth, when Ty Lee torpedoed into him out of nowhere.

"Jet!" she shouted, pushing a scowling Azula aside to cling to his arm.

Ty Lee seemed fearful of something, though he couldn't detect any nearby danger. Perhaps this was just another one of her acts for attention. "What's wrong?"

She lowered her voice. "Someone's following me… can I walk with you?"

"Huh?" He started to turn his head, but Ty Lee stopped him.

"Don't look!"

Azula surreptitiously peeked instead. "I've seen him around before. Guy's a creep."

So this wasn't an act. This was genuine fear. "Are you okay?" Jet asked.

"I don't know…"

"Want me to take care of him?" Azula smirked.

Ty Lee gave no response.

"Hey, don't you ignore me while you drape yourself all over him," Azula spat.

"Uh, Azula, now's not a good – "

"I'm scared, Jet!" Ty Lee clung tighter to him.

"Ugh." Azula rolled her eyes. "You think he's going to do anything about it? I'm a master firebender, I can take him – "

"You're right," she acknowledged, linking her arm with Azula's. "Pretend we're besties, okay?"

"You mean we're not already besties?" she asked sarcastically.

"Look, I… I know you don't like me…"

"Well fortunately for you, my discontent for creepy stalkers outweighs my discontent for you."

"Yay feminism," Ty Lee whispered.

Azula stole another glance over her shoulder. "Okay, looks like he's gone now."

Ty Lee released a sigh of relief, letting go of Jet and Azula.

"Okay, what was up with that weirdo?" Jet asked. "You like, know him or something?"

"Oh, well, not really. He's just a fan who likes taking pictures of me. Models have to deal with people like that all the time."

Jet didn't know what to say, but he suspected the disgusted look on his face said enough. He never had to deal with a stalker before, well, minus some overly clingy girls.

"Are you on your way to class right now?"

"Y-Yeah, why?"

"I'm scared of running into him again…"

"I'm done with classes for the day and my dorm is right around the corner," Azula said. "Why don't you hide out in my room?"

Jet was surprised Azula would offer her room to someone she didn't like, but he didn't question it. Maybe Azula had had a similar experience, though he doubted it since she was so intimidating.

"Really?"

"Mmhmm."

"Thanks, Azula," Ty Lee smiled.

She smiled back.

Perhaps they had a shot at becoming friends after all. Wouldn't that be something.

"Oh, Jet, before you go, I agree with you – "

"Hmm? About what?"

"I couldn't help but overhear your conversation, and I agree – a hotdog is a sandwich." Ty Lee grinned.

"Hah!" Jet sneered at Azula. "In your face!"

Azula glowered at them. "You're both out of your spirits-damn minds!"

Well, so much for their budding friendship.

Ty Lee followed Azula to her dorm room like a lost little deer-dog. While Azula wasn't exactly thrilled to spend the afternoon with the overly peppy attention-seeker, she would put up with it for the sake of women helping women.

Mai was lying down on her bed, sketching something for class. "Umm…" She put down her pencil, looking up at the girls, perplexed.

"Hi, Mai!" Ty Lee greeted with a charming smile.

"Hi…"

"You must be surprised to see her here," Azula said.

"Well, yeah."

"Some creepy stalker has been following her around taking pictures of her on his phone."

"Ew."

"I'm gonna hide out here for a bit if that's okay with you!" Ty Lee chimed.

"Y-Yeah… of course. Uhh, sorry to hear that."

"It's okay, it happens. Men, am I right?"

Mai chuckled.

"I really can't stand them sometimes," Ty Lee sighed, crossing the room and sitting down next to Mai on the mattress.

"For someone who can't stand men, you sure do flirt with them a lot," Azula derided, taking a seat on her own bed.

"Yeah…" Ty Lee said, laughing softly to herself. "I guess I do. It's just… I've always had trouble talking to boys – I don't know what to say to them. Flirting is my only way of making guy friends. It's stupid, I know."

Azula couldn't tell if she was being sincere or if she was trying to evoke their sympathy.

"And it's different with girls?" Mai asked.

"Yeah, it's just easier! There's so much to talk about, I could talk and talk and talk all day."

"Really wish you wouldn't," Azula muttered.

Ty Lee ignored her. "I mean, sure, sometimes I have to deal with jealousy, but I'm just used to being around girls and having girlfriends. Maybe because I model or because I have six sisters, I don't really know!" She turned to Mai. "Hey, how 'bout that makeover?"

"Uhh, sure – "

"Maybe if I looked tougher, I wouldn't have to deal with stalkers."

Mai got up to get her makeup kit.

"How do you two deal with unwanted attention from men?" Ty Lee asked.

"Oh, they learn very quickly not to mess with me," Azula answered with a pompous smirk.

"Oh that's right, you're a firebender."

"She's not just any firebender," Mai added, starting to work on Ty Lee's eye makeup, "she's one of the best in the world. She can even generate lightning."

"Wow, that's so cool! Can I see?"

Azula shook her head. "No lightning demos in here I'm afraid, but…" She sparked a small blue fire orb in her hand.

"Whoa…" Ty Lee looked mesmerized. "That's beautiful, I-I had no idea fire could be that color!"

She smiled with self-satisfaction.

"And what about you?" she asked Mai. "Are you a firebender too?"

"No."

"Mai has her own unique talent."

"What is it?!"

Mai set down the eyeliner, reached behind her head, and pulled a decorative hair pin out from one of her pigtail buns. "See the post-it note on that corkboard over there?"

"Mmhmm."

In one swift motion, Mai threw the pin across the room, where it punctured the post-it note smack dab in the middle.

Ty Lee's eyes doubled in size. "Remind me never to mess with you!"

Mai laughed gently.

"You really ought to learn some self-defense," Azula urged. "Especially with all your stalkers. People won't always be around to help you."

"Yeah, you're right. I think I will!" she grinned before adopting a more serious demeanor. "Hey, Azula, I… thank you for letting me hide out here. I know I'm probably the last person you wanted to hang out with."

"What can I say, I'm just a caring, magnanimous person," she said flatly.

"And I'm sorry for flirting with your boyfriend so much – "

"Boyfriend? I don't have a – "

"You're not dating Jet?"

"Ugh, no! We're just friends, for spirits' sake – "

"Sorry, I just – your auras are compatible, that's all."

"Well," Azula huffed, "he's not my boyfriend. I don't like him like that – you can flirt with him all you want."

"Great!" she smiled. "He's a real cutie."

Azula felt a pang of… something, something unpleasant she couldn't quite identify. She didn't like Jet that way – she had a huge crush on Sokka after all – but for some reason, she didn't like the thought of Ty Lee flirting with Jet. Maybe it was because Ty Lee would distract from Azula's mission of getting Jet and Mai together. Yeah, that must have been it.

Jet awoke with tension in his head. His eyes refused to open. Why the hell was Sokka's alarm going off at 7:30 AM on a Saturday?! "Ugh," he groaned, rolling over onto his stomach and covering his ears. "Turn that off, will you?"

Sokka lazily rolled out of bed. "But we have that thing today, remember?" he yawned, stretching.

"What thing?"

"Today's the student council's annual community service day for underclassmen, you know, the day when the juniors get to boss the freshmen and sophomores around?"

"Why didn't you say anything about it yesterday when we were up all night playing videogames?!"

"Would it have made a difference?"

Jet sighed. He had a point. "Do we have to?"

"It's mandatory, I'm afraid."

He groaned again and rolled onto his back. "Let's just get this over with."

Azula wasn't exactly looking forward to her day of community service, manual labor was not in her repertoire, but she could think of worse ways to spend a day than painting the local elementary school's playground with Sokka. She sat in a three-seater with Mai and Ty Lee toward the front of the bus with Sokka, Jet, and Zuko sitting right behind them. Katara, who had recently joined their little friend group, had decided to volunteer her time at the local children's hospital since she was pre-med.

Overall Azula was in high spirits. She had slept well, it was a beautiful day, and Sokka was right behind her. However, she could really do without Suki being there. She didn't even see Suki often, but every time she did, the girl really got on her nerves.

The bus came to a stop and Suki stood up to address everyone. "Okay, underclassmen! If any of you slack off, you're gonna have to deal with me, so get fired up!"

"Yeah!" Sokka, Ty Lee, and a few other students simultaneously cheered, while Azula quietly fumed.

"Is that all you guys got? Come on, show me some enthusiasm!"

"YEAH!" all but Azula shouted. One student got so psyched up, he was nearly foaming at the mouth.

"Now go get your gloves on and your paint brushes ready!"

Somehow Ty Lee had managed to rope Jet into painting a weathered swing set with her. She was talking to him about something, but he wasn't paying attention. His focus was primarily on Mai. She almost looked out of place dressed all in black on this sunny day, but watching her paint, she looked so peaceful. Off in the distance on the blacktop, Jet could see Azula painting a basketball pole with Sokka… and it seemed Zuko was there third-wheeling it with them. He laughed to himself, imagining what Azula must be thinking.

"You know, painting this playground isn't so bad after all!" Ty Lee said, giggling. "But then, maybe it's cause I'm with you."

Her flirtatious comment brought his eyes back toward Ty Lee. It was then that Jet spotted a large spider crawling down the metal siding of the swing set, heading straight toward Ty Lee's hand. "Yeah… actually, Ty – "

"Ew, what the hell?!" She looked down at her hand and screamed. "SPIRITS DAMN IT, GET IT OFF ME, GET IT OFF ME!" She smacked it off her hand, but it landed on her shoe. "IT'S CRAWLING UP MY LEG!"

"I got it!" Jet swatted the spider off her and shooed it away.

"Thank you, Jet," she panted, "That was so scary."

"Calm down, it's okay."

"I hate creepy crawlies, I hate them, I – " She suddenly stopped talking, her eyes widening.

"What's wrong?"

She took off full sprint, heading toward the blacktop.

"Hey!" He took off after her. "Ty Lee!"

He followed her behind the building. "Spirits, what are you – "

"Shh!" she hushed. "Look!"

He peaked around the corner and saw someone who made his blood run cold. It was her stalker. Oh fuck. He wondered how they had missed him on the bus – he must have sat in the back. To make matters worse, Azula noticed them hiding out and ran over to them with Sokka and Zuko. Even Mai made her way over.

"What's going on?" Azula asked.

"Her stalker is here." Jet nudged his head in the direction of the creep with his phone out.

"Oh, that's it? Don't worry, I've got this." Without consulting anyone, Azula started walking directly up to the stalker as the rest of the group remained hidden behind the building.

"Azula!" Jet called after her.

"Be careful!" Ty Lee cried.

"Are you taking pictures of my friend?" Azula demanded.

"Whoa, no way! You're Ozai's daughter, aren't you?!"

"What of it?"

"Your dad's a monster. That must make you a mini monster," he sneered. "And a cute one at that."

"Did you just call me a monster?"

"It must be my lucky day!" He snapped a photo of her.

"I did not give you permission to take my picture, you creep! You're going to regret that."

"What? I'm just taking pictures. I'm not hurting anyone."

"Let me tell you what's going to happen. You're going to sit back and watch me smash that phone of yours into little pieces, and YOU WITH IT!" She formed a massive blue flame in her hand.

"Whoa," Jet whispered. "Should we, um, should we stop her or something?! She could get expelled – "

"I'll handle this," Mai said calmly, reaching down and picking up a rock. She jumped around the corner and hurled the rock directly into the stalker's phone, knocking it out of his hand.

Oh shit. Jet couldn't believe his eyes.

"What the fuck?!" the stalker yelled in anger, now looking at Mai. "How did you – where did you – "

"That's my friend, Mai," Azula smirked. "We're both friends of Ty's. And we won't allow you to bother her any longer." She launched a fireball down at the phone on the blacktop.

"Are you crazy?! Oh, you're so busted. I'm telling – "

"That's it!" Ty Lee shrieked, jumping out from behind the building.

"Hey, wait!" Zuko shouted.

"Ty Lee, don't!" Sokka urged.

But Jet didn't try to stop her. It was time she stood up for herself.

"No more hiding. I refuse to be anyone's victim ever again!" She marched up to her stalker, looking him square in the eye.

"And what are you gonna do, cutie?" the stalker taunted.

Screaming and swearing, she began jumping up and down on his phone. The screen cracked, and before long, the device completely gave way beneath her feet until his phone was nothing more than a small pile of broken plastic and electronics.

"You freak!" he screamed. "You're nothing like the cute Ty Lee I know! This whole time I've been taking pictures of a raging bitch!" He sprinted away from them.

"Wow, those girls are really something," Sokka said with admiration.

Jet nodded. "I'll say."

"And this is why I learned at an early age not to mess with my sister," Zuko added.

"Hey, should we report this to Suki?" Sokka asked. "The stalker I mean, not the violence."

"Yeah," Zuko said. "Let's go."

While the girls celebrated, the boys reported everything that happened, well, minus a few details, to Suki, who reported it to the school. Fortunately, BSSU took the incident seriously and suspended the student. Turned out he was a sophomore named Hahn.

The following Monday, Ty Lee signed up for women's self-defense. She vowed to never miss a day.