Chapter 21: Dance, Dance (Part 2)

The student council did not disappoint. The dance was lit. Strands of curtain lights dangled from the ceiling, which contrasted against all the blue lights set up around the perimeter, giving the atmosphere an ethereal glow. The buffet was filled with foods Jet imagined only wealthy people were accustomed to eating. Students were lined up to take photos against the shimmering silver backdrop, as well as the electronic photobooth. The DJed music, while out of place given the formal nature of the dance, was doing its job hyping everyone up.

Sokka and Suki were among the first to hit the dance floor, with Azula and Ty Lee jumping in shortly after. After a quick photo, Katara was pulling Jet onto the dance floor as well, and the six of them ended up dancing together in one group. Everyone looked spectacular, especially the girls. While Jet made sure to pay extra attention to his date, it was hard for him not to look at Azula in that gold dress of hers. She looked like a shining star piercing the night's sky.

The energy of the room was buzzing. With the fall semester finally over, students were cutting loose, dancing like maniacs. Everyone was in such high spirits, it was contagious. But eventually, the mood shifted when the first slow song of the night started playing and several of the students without dates left the dance floor to the couples.

Katara was gazing into Jet's eyes with giddy anticipation.

"May I have this dance?" he smiled warmly at her, offering his hand.

"Why, of course."

Jet pulled her into a closed ballroom position and began to sway with her to the music. She immediately rested her head on his shoulder. It felt nice to be with someone who admired him so much. Katara was a beautiful young woman too, as well as a graceful dancer. The purple hue of her long, flowy dress accentuated the blue of her eyes.

But something was off. Something just felt… wrong. As he swayed with Katara around in a slow circle, he could see Sokka and Suki dancing happily together, and he could see Ty Lee dancing with someone Jet couldn't recognize by the back of his head, but Azula was nowhere to be found. She wasn't at the buffet or sitting down to eat, and he didn't think she'd go and take photos by herself. He wondered where she could have gone. Maybe seeing Sokka and Suki together was too much for her to handle…

"What's wrong?" Katara whispered, pulling back into an open position with a concerned expression.

"Hm?"

"You seem distracted."

"Oh no, i-it's nothing. Don't worry about it."

"You can tell me." Her eyes begged for an answer.

"It's just… I can't find Azula anywhere."

"Hm." She took a quick look around. "Maybe she didn't want to slow dance with Ty Lee?"

"Yeah. That's probably – "

"Talking about me?" Ty Lee cut in as she slow danced with someone Jet now recognized he had met a handful of times.

Haru smiled awkwardly. "Hey, Katara."

"Oh, hey Haru! You look… different. In a good way! N-Not that you looked bad before. Oh, spirits."

He shrugged, chuckling softly. "I shaved my moustache…"

"Yeah, that's it," she smiled. "I like it."

"Thanks – "

"Isn't he a cutie?" Ty Lee asked, grinning.

Katara laughed nervously. "Don't go breaking too many hearts tonight, okay?"

Ty Lee giggled.

"Hey, Ty Lee," Jet said. "Where's Azula?"

"Oh, she left."

His stomach dropped. "What do you mean she left?"

"She said it felt weird to be here without Mai and Zuko and she wanted to try one last time to convince them to join us, you know, so the whole group could be together."

"And you didn't try to stop her?"

"Why would I? I want Mai and Zuko here too – just think of all the fun pictures we could take!"

"Don't you think there could have been another reason why Azula wanted to leave?" Jet questioned incredulously, glancing quickly at Sokka and Suki.

"Oh," she said looking over at them. "I didn't think of that."

"Think of what?" Katara asked.

"I – " Jet sighed. "I can't tell you. Azula's just… going through something."

She nodded. "You want to go after her, don't you."

"N-No… no, I want to be here. With you."

"Jet…" She took a deep breath. "It's okay for you to want to look after your friend. That's one of the things I like most about you." She smiled weakly. "So I'd understand if you wanted to check up on her."

"Really?" He couldn't believe it.

"Really."

"Wow, t-thanks Katara." He stopped dancing with her but held onto her hands. "You're really something else." He gave her hands a quick squeeze and turned to leave.

"And you're an idiot…" Ty Lee muttered before addressing her roommate. "Hey, you don't need him to have a good time! Come dance with us."

"Ty Lee, I don't – "

But it was too late. Ty Lee pulled Katara in for an awkward three-way slow dance with Haru.

Haru grinned. "I'm perfectly okay with this."

Jet: Where are you?

Azula: Don't worry about it. I'll be back soon.

Jet: You didn't answer the question.

Azula sighed, rolling her eyes at her phone.

Azula: Heading back to my room.

Jet: Stay where you are.

Jet: Don't move.

She sighed out loud again, this time more exasperatedly. She really didn't want to cause any drama by leaving – it's not like she thought anyone would notice. Especially Jet.

"What are you doing?" She folded her arms, looking at him with disapproval as he caught up to her. "You should be at the dance!"

"What are you doing leaving the dance?!"

"I asked you first!"

He scoffed. "I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"I don't know… I thought maybe seeing Sokka slow dancing with Suki would be difficult for you."

"Well…" She exhaled sharply through her nose. "I suppose seeing them together was harder for me than I anticipated. But I'm fine! Really."

He gave her a skeptical look.

"Suki's graduating! By next semester, I'll have Sokka all to myself," she grinned. "The least I can do is let them have one magical night together. Sokka deserves it. It's… it's nice to see him smile again." Realizing she was getting sentimental and off-topic, she straightened up. "And I didn't leave because of them anyway."

He waited for her to explain.

"I just wanted to check up on Mai. She seemed… really out of sorts when I left for the dance. Like really really sad. I've never seen her like that before. She's usually so robotic."

"Oh. Do you know what's bothering her? She's been acting weird since before finals."

"I wish I knew," Azula said, shaking her head. "But she won't open up to me."

He frowned.

"But I can guarantee it's more than accidentally breaking my gift." She cast her eyes down for a moment. "There was something she said when you were all in my room earlier that really stood out to me."

"What?"

"She said, 'It happened because I wasn't paying attention'. Mai always pays attention when she's practicing her knife throwing – it's not like her to mess up. Something was clearly distracting her." She shook her head. "If only I knew what it was."

"That's a really good point. I… I didn't even think of that."

"Anyway, I thought I'd try one last time to get her to come out tonight. I think she'd feel better hanging out with her friends rather than wallowing in whatever she's going through alone in her dorm room."

"Well then, come on." He offered her his elbow. "Let's convince her together."

"I can handle this on my own. You should go back to the dance! You know… with your date."

"There's power in numbers," he argued. "And besides, I can be quite convincing…"

"You couldn't convince Mai to be your girlfriend," she teased.

"Touché."

Azula linked her arm with his as they started walking back to the dorms together.

"You do realize that by leaving, you've completely ruined your shot with Katara, right?"

"Yeah," he muttered. "You're probably right."

"You don't seem particularly bothered by that."

"I guess I'm not," he shrugged. "I mean, Katara's great. She's beautiful, kind, thoughtful, positive, nurturing – "

"Overbearing, self-righteous, a total buzzkill, humorless, motherly – "

"Yeah, a bit," Jet chuckled. "But she's way too good for me, and I don't mean that she's out of my league. Obviously. She's super into me." He gave Azula a pompous smirk.

She rolled her eyes.

"I mean, she always sees the good in everyone. I just know how our relationship would play out if it turned into anything serious. She would always be trying to change me, to make me better. And I'd inevitably disappoint her. Just like I did tonight…"

"Are you sure you're not just making excuses? You don't still have feelings for Mai, do you?"

"You know, at this point… I think I'm over her." He smiled softly for a second, but then his expression fell. "But the spark I used to feel when Mai was around… I don't feel that with Katara. I never have, not even when we kissed on Ember Island."

Azula looked at him with sympathy, but inside she was surprisingly relieved to hear this revelation of his, a completely illogical and confusing feeling indeed. "Well, for what it's worth, I don't think having a partner who's constantly trying to change you is a healthy partnership at all. While we're all capable of change and we should all strive to be the best versions of ourselves, a partner should accept you for who you fundamentally are on in the inside, flaws and all. I think that with the right person, you'll naturally want to change for the better, the right person will make you want to be better and allow you to grow at your own pace. Does that make any sense?"

"Sorry, wasn't listening," he teased, feigning a yawn. "Can you say that again?"

She punched him lightly on the arm.

He laughed. "Hey… how do you even know Mai is in her room right now?"

She raised an eyebrow.

"Because if I were Mai, I'd use this opportunity to spend some alone time with Zuko." He smirked. "I bet they're over at the house having an all-night sex marathon – "

She punched him on the arm again, this time a little harder.

"Ow! What was that for?!"

"For making me think about my brother having sex, you asshole!"

"Yeah, okay," he snickered. "I deserved that."

"Holy shit," Mai gasped, dropping her phone onto her lap.

A voice recording was playing through the speaker. Jet could barely make out the words, but he recognized the voice immediately. It was Ty Lee.

'You really have to come! I promise it'll be fun – '

Mai scrambled to pause the message. "What the hell are you two doing here? Wait… you two weren't about to…"

Azula and Jet looked at each other with shocked, borderline disgusted expressions. "NO!" they shouted at the same time.

"No way," Jet exhaled.

"Ew," Azula said with a scrunched nose.

"'Ew'?" Jet asked. "Really?"

She gave him a wry smile.

"Well then what are you doing back already?" Mai questioned. "Was it boring or something?"

"No!" Azula answered. "Quite the opposite. It's so much fun, you have to come with us!"

"You guys…" She sighed. "I'm already in my pajamas – I'm not going out – "

"You have so many cute dresses, I can do your makeup in five minutes, and your hair already looks beautiful down – "

"We're not taking 'no' for an answer," Jet cut in.

"Sorry…" She shook her head. "I just want to stay in tonight, I'm exhausted from finals – "

"Mai…" Azula said with concern. "What is going on with you?"

"Nothing! I'm just not in the mood, okay?!" she snapped.

Jet was taken aback. He had never really heard Mai yell before.

"I'm sorry," she murmured, collecting herself. "I know you guys are just looking out for me, but… I'll just bring everybody down. I've already… never mind. You two should go back to the dance. Go have fun and tell me all about it. Sorry for wasting your time."

Azula looked down, defeated. "If that's what you really want…"

"It is," she assured.

But Jet wasn't buying it. It was clear Mai didn't want to go to the dance, but he could tell she didn't want to be alone either. She was definitely holding something back, and from her volatile outburst, it seemed she was just about ready to explode. 'It happened because I wasn't paying attention.' That jarred Jet's memory of something else Mai had said, the day Sokka bleached his hair. She had called herself 'a phony'. But why?

"Okay," Azula said softly. "Guess we'll leave you alone." She turned to Jet. "Come on, let's go."

"Y-You go on ahead."

She gave him a peculiar look.

"I'll meet you there. Promise."

"Okay…"

Azula left and Jet couldn't help but feel like absolute crap. He had walked out on Katara, his date, and now he was abandoning Azula with possibly hurt feelings. He was just fucking up left and right. But he had to know what was going on with Mai, he just had to.

"Jet, you should go," Mai whispered.

"I will, but… not before you tell me what's wrong."

"I… I can't."

"Are… are you and Zuko doing okay?"

Azula couldn't believe it. Why in the world would Jet want to stay behind? What could he possibly get out of Mai that she couldn't?! Mai was supposed to be her best friend. Did Mai really trust Jet more than her? Azula had grown accustomed to Mai choosing Zuko over her, but now Jet?!

Jet… how dare he leave Azula to walk back to the dance alone?! What was he thinking?! It just didn't make any sense. He said himself that he was over Mai! Was he lying? Was he just trying to convince himself it was true? He wasn't going to try to make a move on her, was he?!

She abruptly stopped walking. She was way too worked up to go back to the dance now. What would be the point anyway? She couldn't possibly stomach seeing Sokka dance with Suki again. But she couldn't go back to her room…

Fortunately there was one more safe space she could go. It was time to pay her dear brother a visit.

Author's Note: There will be a Dance, Dance (Part 3) - this is not the final part!