Chapter 18: The Choice

A/N: Welcome back to another chapter! I haven't done the date thing in a while so let me just establish that the project is over (it ended during the school day of February 8th) and the start of this chapter is the evening of Friday, February 8th, 2019. My math and science competitions have been kicking my butt so I apologize for the late update. 'Tis my new school year's resolution to develop a schedule that lets me keep my straight A's as well as update at least once a week, but again, this year will probably be my hardest year yet because of NHD (National History Day which every kid in my grade has to do if they're in GT Social Studies, which I am).

However, I would like to address something. I am very thankful that I am able to make people happy reading these stories, but I am not your story slave.

I recently received this guest review:

"I swear that is aang cheats on latara I will stop reading this story and remove it from my favourites. I have read all of your stories and have been waiting patiently for this story to continue. Please it is my request to not decided that aang shod cheat on katara or I will stop reading and following you and your stories and keep in mind that I am extremely loyal to you and your stories and you don't want to lose me. Thanks for reading this."

Guys, first, I've already decided where this story is going. Threatening me by saying that you will 'remove it from [your] favourites' is not going to do anything. Second, with all due respect, you, guest, have no business trying to tell me what to write in such a rude manner. If I write something that's not your cup of tea, then by all means, stop reading, remove it from your favorites, whatever- but at least try and be respectful for the effort I put out writing these chapters for the world to see and don't have the cowardice to leave the review as a guest review. Quite frankly, if you're going to be that petty and immature, I don't want you to read my stories or anyone else's for that matter. I've approved this guest review to serve as an example for the future, but I will delete such reviews through Guest Moderation if it continues.

Now, to end this A/N on a positive note, I would like to thank the readers that are not as petty and immature as the aforementioned guest and expressed their want of Aang not to cheat on Katara in a kind, respectful way, such as AirLightning5 and Ashley Barbosa.

With that, let's move on to the story, shall we?

Last Time:

"Aang," Azula prompted, "truth or dare?"

Aang, keeping up with his reputation and not wanting to look cowardly as everyone had done or agreed to do at least one dare so far, replied, "Dare," gulping since it was Azula.

"I'll play nice this time," she said disinterestedly, picking at her nails, "make out with Ty Lee for at least two minutes."

Aang's heart and lungs stopped for a second as he processed what she said. Toph and Suki also visibly tensed on the other side of the room, thinking of Katara.

"I mean, it's just one kiss, right? It's not as if Katara will ever-" Aang abruptly stopped his train of thought. How could he even think that? This was the girl of his dreams for goodness' sake! He couldn't betray her like that! But, his reputation...

The airbender froze, unsure of what to do.

"Ty Lee's waiting, Airhead," Azula said snarkily.

Suddenly, perfectly timed, Aang's phone started to ring, and Aang looked to see who it was, stalling.

"Katara," he read silently before accepting the call, making sure the speaker was as low as possible.

"Dad?" he said a little bit too loudly.

"What?" answered the waterbender on the other end. "it's not-"

Aang gasped as convincingly as possible.

"What happened?! Oh no! I'll come as soon as possible!"

He cut the phone and turned to his friends, shrugging.

"Sorry, guys. My dad said it was an emergency, requiring my attention immediately."

And, before anyone said a word, Aang grabbed his things and rushed out the door and into his car, making it look like he was in a hurry.

Sighing in relief, he started the ignition and started to head in the direction of Katara's house but then turned, thinking the better of it considering his treacherous thoughts only mere minutes earlier.

Ring...ring..

Aang looked at his phone and swiped decline at the image of his girlfriend's smiling face, not wanting to have to face her.

With that he ran inside his house and collapsed on his bed, covering his eyes with his arm even when his dog and cat, Appa and Momo, came to greet him.

He groaned, petting the two animals.

"What kind of mess have I gotten myself into, guys?"

Aang had a dilemma.

A rather big one, this time.

His past had finally caught up to him, and he had to make the choice he hoped he would never have to make.

On one hand, he could make out with Ty Lee, make sure that Katara never found out, and everything would be alright.

"But," the airbender thought, "that would just invite Azula or even Ty Lee making that happen again, and again, and again. Not even to mention what that would do to Katara if she found out! Spirits know that I can't lie to her, especially not about something like this."

"On the other hand, I could just say that I don't want to do the dare, but that would pretty much seal my fate by defying Azula, and it's not as if Sokka, Suki, and Toph would risk their popularity to keep mine. Only Zuko and Teo would really do anything to keep him in the Popular group, but it wouldn't be enough. After all, this was Azula."

"I guess the question is, do I want to keep my relationship with Katara a secret for the next two and a half years, or do I just want to rip off the bandaid and be with her publicly?"

By his side, Appa barked at him, as if to tell him that it should be an obvious choice.

"Easy for you to say," he muttered to the white and brown dog, "you were never in high school."

Katara frowned, staring at her phone.

She had called Aang just about 12 times along with numerous texts but he hadn't answered or responded to any of them.

They were supposed to watch a movie at her house after the meetup with his friends at Azula's but at the last minute, Aang had canceled through text, saying he 'wasn't feeling well' when he had been fine at school with no further explanation.

And then, of course, there was the whole situation about her calling her 'Dad' and telling her vaguely about some emergency.

The waterbender put her head in her hands as the frantic insecurities burst free from the depths of her mind.

"Is he avoiding me? Has he decided that he doesn't want me anymore? That he doesn't want to risk his reputation for me?"

Katara lay down on her side looking at the photo of the two on her nightstand.

"No," she shook her head at her silliness. "He wouldn't do that. He loves me and wants to be with me."

"And yet..."

A sinking feeling filled her stomach.

"He loves me," she told herself again.

"Right?"

After a weekend that passed much too quickly, Aang had finally decided what to do.

He sighed, now having second thoughts.

"Is it really the best thing to do?"

He bit his lip in thought.

"And then the fact that Katara doesn't know about it either..."

"No," the airbender shook his head as if to shake the unsure thoughts from his head.

"It'll go perfectly, without a hitch, and everything'll end happily ever after."

Putting a brave face on, Aang grabbed his backpack, got out of his car, and headed for the school's main doors.

Upon entering the school and arriving at his locker, Aang spotted Katara coming towards him, disappointment in her eyes.

"Where were you on Friday, Aang?" she muttered in a low voice to deflect potential eavesdroppers.

Aang replied back in the same low voice, "It's a long story but whatever happens today, just go along with it? I'll explain tonight. I have to go."

Before Katara could voice even a single word of protest and question, the airbender shut his locker and scurried off to class, which he should've known was pointless given the fact that they had the exact same schedule but, conveniently, had momentarily forgotten, leaving the waterbender stare longingly after him.

"So, Aang," Azula said disinterestedly to the airbender while they worked on the sheet Iroh had given them.

"You still have yet to fulfill your dare from Friday of making out with Ty Lee. When are you planning to do it?"

Hearing these quiet words from the other table group, Katara froze, dreading her secret boyfriend's answer.

Aang took a deep breath, not expecting the question he had been anticipating all day to come so soon.

"I-I can't," he stuttered, looking up to gauge Azula's reaction.

The firebender's normally calm countenance changed to one of slight amusement and surprise.

"And why is that?"

Aang, now very aware of Katara listening in as her pencil and eyes had stopped moving, replied in the quietest voice he could muster.

"I have a girlfriend."

Azula raised an eyebrow, not noticing the frozen, gulping waterbender.

"A girlfriend..." she repeated slowly. "Not just your flavor of the week but a girlfriend?"

Aang quickly caught Katara's eye and looked straight at her, smiling softly, as he answered, "Yeah, a girlfriend."

The lightningbender was silent for a moment.

"And pray tell, why haven't we met said girlfriend?"

The airbender froze, not sure how to respond.

"You will," he said hesitantly.

"When?"

"...at the Valentine's Day Masquerade Ball."

"Hmm," Azula hummed disinterestedly, jotting down an answer on her worksheet.

"Did you hear? The Avatar has a girlfriend!"

"I know! But who could it be? Who woudn't gloat at the chance of being the Avatar's girlfriend?"

"Who knows? But I heard that she might be pregnant, which is why they're telling everyone now!"

Katara scoffed internally at the last urgently whispered comment from the gossip mill as she hurried through the hallway to lunch.

Word around school had spread at lightning speed, and with it, the rumors started. In just the past hour alone, she had heard that they were long lost siblings keeping their incestuous affair under wraps until they were outed by their parents, that he had been waiting for the right moment to dump and humiliate her, and of course, the ever popular (false!) notion that she was pregnant.

Of course, none of said rumors were referring to her specifically, but rather, her character, 'the Avatar's girlfriend'. Within 4 hours of their announcement, there were already bets going around on how long they would last, most of them demeaningly low.

Sighing in relief as she finally arrived at her narrow, grey locker, the waterbender shoved her binder and pencil boxes in, grabbed her lunch, and started walking towards the cafeteria.

Katara proceeded to sit down, alone, at her normal table and pulled out her phone, raising her eyebrow at the text notifications from Aang.

"He could've at least given me some warning..." she mumbled to herself as she opened their chat.

"Hey..." the first text read, sent during 2nd period, when they had been using their phones for Kahoot!.

"You're probably mad that I didn't give you much notice..."

Despite herself, Katara smiled. He knew her so well.

"It's a long story, and quite frankly, one I'd rather do in person. I'm sorry though. :( Could we maybe meet up this weekend?" the last text said.

"It's fine, and okay," she typed back, "but you owe me a lot of kisses for the lack of notice, Airhead. ;)"

Reviewing her message once, she clicked 'send', turning her head discreetly towards the Popular table to gauge his reaction.

Back at the Popular table, Aang's phone 'ping'ed unceremoniously loudly.

He checked it, grinning as he saw who sent him a text as the others started teasing him.

"Aang's got a girlfriend, Aang's got a girlfriend," Sokka sing-songed around him.

"Oh, shut up," the airbender blushed, snickering internally as he imagined Sokka's reaction to who his girlfriend was.

"Come on, man. Did you see how fast he grabbed his phone and how his face lit up?" Teo chuckled. "Dude's whipped. She says 'jump', he says 'how high'."

The airbender shook his head at his friends and read the text message, smiling as he read what he owed her.

"It's a deal. 3" he texted back, very aware of his friends reading over his shoulder.

"So what if I'm whipped?" he asked, directing the question at Teo.

Aang smirked.

"At least I have someone to be whipped by," he said knowingly as the other guys burst into laughter at Teo's expense, aware of his crush on a certain blind earthbender.

"Not cool, man, not cool."

The conversation continued on, not really drifting back to Aang and Katara, and the airbender zoned after a while, reflecting on the past 6 hours.

He hadn't cheated on his girlfriend, his friends now knew about his girlfriend, Katara wasn't mad at him, and he owed her a lot of kisses; it was going to be a good day.

A/N: YAY! They're finally (kind of) out to their friends. Now, in case you didn't catch it, the Valentine's Dance (planned for Friday, 2/15) will be a masquerade dance, so Aang's friends will meet Katara but not know who she is, but everyone takes off their masks at the end so the following Monday will probably be the most epic chapter of all chapters. Review!