Chapter 5: Partners

A/N: I'm not dead, I promise. Just have writer's block. I'll try to update more regularly but school has dumped a sky-high pile of HW on me...

ALSO, since my beloved readers have been waiting so long, I thought I would announce the new story I'm planning on starting officially! It's called Out of a Dream, or OOAD for short, and is another high school AU Kataang fic with other ships (Sukka, Maiko, Teoph) also in the story, but not as important. Can anyone guess the basic plotline? First one gets a cookie!

Last time: "Aang and..."

"...Katara!"

Aang POV

My eyes widened in disbelief.

Her? Goth girl? The social reject was going to be my partner. No no no, this can't be happening!

I stole a quick glance at my 'partner' and saw that she looked just as dumbfounded as me, if not more so.

I then turned to Mr. Iroh, regaining my composure.

"Mr. Iroh, come on, is there any way we can switch partners?"

I threw my best puppy dog face at him.

Chuckling, he shook his head.

"I'm sorry, but my decisions were made for a reason and are final."

He glanced at the clock.

"But, since we do have some time left, take the remainder of class to get to know your partner for the next few weeks."

I groaned.

Was he trying to kill me?

Katara POV

"But, since we do have some time left, take the remainder of class to get to know your partner for the next few weeks."

This cannot be happening. He is my most despised nemesis! Quite frankly, he's a jerk and an asshole; How am I going to survive 5 freaking weeks with him? Never mind the fact that I have a crush on the real him, because spirits knows that would never work. There's out reputations and our lives and our masks and our-

My thoughts were interrupted by a soft tapping on my desk. I looked up to see Aang staring down at condescendingly.

"Are we going to 'get to know each other' or what?" he asked mockingly.

There's that mask again...

I smiled sweetly at him.

"How about 'or what'?"

He glared at me for a few seconds before crossing in front of me and sitting in the seat to my right.

"Look," he started, gesturing with his hands, "I'm not happy about this either, but we should at least try to make it look like we're doing something."

I raised my eyebrow, my confusion at his politeness evaporating once I heard his next words.

"I know, you probably can't handle all this raw muscle," Aang gestured to himself, "but you'll have to restrain yourself because this," he moved his hands between the two of us, "will never happen." The asshole smugly smiled.

I gritted my teeth.

Pull yourself together, Katara, it's only an hour 6 days a week for 5 weeks. That's not even 1/24 of 5 weeks. That's only 30 hours. That's not even a half percent of a year.

I took a deep breath before turning to my 'partner'.

"Look," I started, smiling sickeningly sweetly, "I do not like you, nor will I ever, nor have I ever."

Lies...

"You, quite frankly, are an overconfident, selfish, asshole who doesn't work hard, gets the lowest grades this school has ever seen, and has done nothing for someone other than himself who doesn't deserve the oxygen that could be going to others in need."

For a brief second I thought I saw a flash of hurt in his eyes which was quickly masked by nonchalance.

He scoffed.

"Whatever, Mizu."

RRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGG!

The bell had rung.

I quickly packed up my stuff and went to my next class, perhaps imagining the hurt expression on Aang's face when I glimpsed behind me.

For the next few days, school pretty much went the same way, although the gossip about the project had escalated. Apparently, there were a few rumors going around that I had bribed Iroh to get Aang as my partner and so the words 'slut' and 'whore' were a few that I heard quite often.

Finally, the fateful day, Monday, arrived. 1st period was pretty much just about the project: signing a contract of confidentiality, receiving our journals that we would be using, and going over discussion topics and ice breakers.

Our class had the last few minutes to discuss when and where we were going to have our conversations and so once again, I was seated next to Aang.

"My house after school?" I offered, extending a temporary olive branch.

He thought about it for a few seconds before slightly nodding, "Your house."

Aang turned to me.

"72718 Tui and La Court, right?"

I nodded, surprised.

"Sokka's house," he answered simply while shrugging his shoulders, seeing my shock.

RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGG!

This afternoon was going to be quite interesting.

After school, as I was driving home, I was surprised to see a certain bald-headed, tattooed airbender in the car behind me.

I looked at him in the mirror and saw him wink at me, leaving me with a pink hue on my face.

The two of us rode down the long winding path that was my driveway before opening the door and silently walking up to my room.

I sat down on my bed cross-legged, taking off my leather jacket, and gestured for him to sit next to me pencil and journal in hand.

"Shall we begin?"

A/N: Next chapter will (hopefully) be up next week! Also, anyone who can guess the significance of Katara's house number gets a virtual cookie!