"Ursa told me you're having some troubles at school?" Dr. Lawton said, smiling warmly at her from across the dining table. She could feel his eyes wandering to the bandages that still wrapped firmly around her fists,

"If that's what you'd like to call them." Azula sighed, staring off towards the wall. She was exhausted. Unlike Sokka she wasn't allowed the luxury of sleep, instead she was rudely awoken by her dumb older brother. He insisted Dr. Lawton was here to see her despite her many complaints,

"I thought you might want to elaborate," He shrugged, folding his hands and placing them on the table, "Things are not always as they seem, and I want to think the best of you."

Azula stared at him for a second, her eyes barely staying open. She hadn't expected him to say something like that. Ursa certainly told him what had happened, but he seemed to be more understanding than her own mother. She sighed as she looked away from him, "Someone hurt my friend so I made sure they regretted it. There's not that much more to the story."

"Loyalty, is that something important to you?"

"I suppose, does it matter?" Azula asked, raising her eyebrow,

"I think so," He nodded in return, "I hope you understand violence isn't the best way to react in that situation?"

"Hindsight is twenty twent I suppose,"

"I suppose that is true, I hope next time you feel more comfortable telling an adult instead?" Dr. Lawton suggested, his tone was so disgustingly kind. It made her want to puke, "You could even tell me if you'd like?"

"Sure thing," Azula said with her most convincing smile, "I'll remember that for next time."

His smile seemed to widen, hopefully he believed her. Azula was far too tired to tell if she was actually being convincing or not, "You seem tired? We could end this session early if you'd like."

"I would appreciate that actually," She perked up for the first time since she was awakened, eager to get back to her room and in her nice warm bed,

"Of course, your wellbeing is what is most important," Azula tried to keep smiling, she didn't want him to know she was repulsed by his kindness, "There's just one more thing. Your Father's house. It was found on fire this morning. Most of the upstairs- including your room, was completely burned."

He suddied her as she tried to think of a response. He couldn't know she was the one who did it. There was no proof. He was probably only worried about her; she reminded herself, "What happened?"

"The cops are unsure right now," He sighed, "I'm sorry-"

"No need for apologies," She was quick to stop him. She didn't need his pity, especially not for something she put on herself, "It wasn't your fault."

"I know, but I'm sure this is scary for you. Just remember you aren't alone, okay?" He tried to smile at her again. Did he ever frown? Azula just nodded at him in response, hoping he would get the memo that she was fine and finally pack up to leave, "Your mother even has full custody of you, so you don't have to worry about finding a new home."

"and that's supposed to be good news?" Azula mumbled, tightening her fists,

"I know it's been hard to get used to being here, but I really think you'll do well here with her Azula." He said, carefully picking up his briefcase and standing up, "Please remember you can call me anytime you need to?"

Azula nodded in response, barely able to keep her head from falling. She watched as Dr. Lawton waved to her as he walked away. Zuko was ready at the door to say goodbye to him as he exited the house. She waited until he was finally gone before finally pulling herself away from the table.

Zuko might have said something to her, but she was already up the stairs before he could even approach her. Her body stumbled into her room, closing her door softly behind her. Her room that was once dark and peaceful was now covered in light, how annoying. She fell onto her bed, curling herself deep into her blanks. Finally falling back into a nice warm slumber.

However, it didn't last long.

Her phone had been going off for the past ten minutes. It was unlucky that she had left across the room on her desk. Azula had tried her best to ignore it but it just kept ringing. Whoever was calling her clearly had a deathwish.

Azula groaned, fisting her pillow and slamming it towards her desk. Of course that didn't do anything, the phone just kept ringing.

Louder

And Louder

Finally she rose to her feet, stomping over to her desk,

"What do you want," She yelled, gritting her teeth as she answered the phone,

"Azula finally! I've been calling you for like ten minutes!" Ty Lee complained,

"Yes! I was trying to sleep." Azula stated, tightening her hand around her phone. The pain in her fists was irrelevant to her anger, "I clearly didn't want to be woken!"

"S-sorry, usually you're up early," Her friend said softly, she was clearly still upset, "I've wanted to call you all week- Mai told me what happened, but I wasn't sure what to say. I mean- thank you Azula. I know your mom must be mad- and you even got suspended!"

"It's not a big deal. Chan- he hasn't been bothering you at school has he?" Azula said, taking a deep breath and trying to calm herself down. She shouldn't be mean to Ty Lee right now, even if she was further depriving her of her well deserved beauty sleep,

"No- well I haven't gone back to school yet," Ty Lee said, "I'll be sure to be there on monday though. Mai said the school has been saying awful things about you- but it's gonna be okay! We will stay with you-"

"I appreciate it but I don't care what some losers think about me, just worry about yourself okay?"

"I-i will! I'm starting to hate being at home around my sisters all the time anyway- they're so annoying! And it's not like my parents have even noticed that I'm not going to school," Ty Lee started to ramble, going on about how each of her sisters were trying to make her life a living hell. Azula tried to actually listen for once, trying her best not to doze off. Her eyes failed her a few times before she shook her head to wake herself back up.

Ten minutes passed and Ty Lee kept talking. Azula was now sitting back in her chair, head resting on her own shoulder. She had been snapping a hairband on her wrist to try and keep herself awake. She thought about cutting her friend off and demanding her to let her get some sleep, but Ty Lee actually sounded happier now than when she had first picked up the phone.

Suddenly a loud knock came from her window. It made her jump, almost dropping her phone in the process. She could hear Ty Lee ask her if she was okay as she quickly turned towards her window to see what was going on. Azula grimaced as she saw Sokka waving to her. A smile was spread way too far across his face, she could tell he was proud he scared the crap out of her. He was practically laughing to god's sake,

"Jesus christ Sokka!" Azula glared at him, "What the hell is wrong with you!"

"Wait Sokka? Is he at your house? You're talking to him again!" Ty Lee quickly said. Her friend was getting a little too delighted about this news than Azula would have liked, "Did you make up? Why didn't you tell me?"

"I have to go Ty Lee, see you on monday." Was all Azula said before she hung up the phone. She could hear Ty Lee yell in protest but it didn't stop her. She was quick to get out of her chair and thrust open her window,

"What are you doing here?" Azula groaned still glaring at him,

"I said I would come back later, remember? Now is later- plus I found out some useful information," Sokka smirked proudly, "Now will you let me in before Zuko sees me out here and starts wondering why I'm sneaking into your room?"

Azula dragged her hand over her face, rubbing her fingers into the bridge of her nose, "Like you even care? I'm the one who would get in trouble,"

"I'd rather not have my best friend get all over protective brother on me okay?" Sokka rolled his eyes as he pushed his way into her room. He didn't wait for her to move out of the way, deciding to land right in front of her,

"Zuzu being over protective? Please," Azula scoffed, looking up at him. She didn't realize how close he was to her before she looked up. Regrettably she could feel heat rush to her face and took a few big steps back from him as fast as she could,

"You'd be surprised. You are his itty bitty sister aren't you?" Sokka snickered, smirking down to her,

"Call me that again and I'll rip off the itty bitty that's in your pants," Azula glared back at him, making him gulp. It was obvious he wanted to defend himself, but she refused him the chance, "Now what do you want?"

"No need to be so hasty okay?" Sokka said putting his hands up and moving over to her desk, "After I got up I started looking into what we're up against, since you know you wouldn't tell me, and I think I have a good guess."

"Do you now?" Azula asked, plopping down onto her bed. She waved her hand in his general direction, "Well get on with it."

"You said you and your father were kicked out of your "family", correct?"

"Correct," Azula nodded, "At least that's my guess,"

"Well I looked into what exactly your family is," Sokka continued, making Azula's eyes widen for a split second, "All the men that were destroying your house, they had a fire insignia burned into their left shoulder. I was sure I had seen it before."

Azula's watched him as he paced infront of her desk, "Last year I may have taken a look at some of my fathers case files-"

"May have?" She smirked,

"I was curious and I thought I could help!" Sokka insisted, making her chuckle, "Anyway! Inside there were pictures of buildings a gang called the Agni Kai had burned to the ground. They were littered with the same insignia that was burned into their shoulders- which means your grandpa, he's high up isn't he?"

"You think my grandfather is some mob boss?" Azula stated dumbfounded, turning her head to the side,

"It really isn't that surprising, your daddy is sketchy as fuck," He replied, "Barely home, suspicious amount of money, doesn't want you to be friends with people."

Azula quickly sharpened her glare on him, "He knows what's best for me, what's so wrong about that?"

"A lot of things," Sokka mumbled before rolling his eyes, "But I'm right aren't I?"

"Perhaps-" Azula yawned, letting her head fall onto her shoulder,

"Which means your dad did something that got both you and him kicked out of the kill club?" Sokka stated, clearly proud of himself for figuring it all out on his own. Azula could admit it was slightly impressive, slightly,

"Kill club?" She asked,

"I thought it would be a good nickname," He smirked,

"Absolutely not, it's the stupidest thing I've ever heard," She said, making his smirk fall into a pout,

"Rude- just hurry up and tell me that I'm right," Sokka groaned,

"Well I suppose I can admit that you were fairly accurate," Azula nodded,

"Yes! I knew it!"

"Calm down- you wanted to know what we're getting into?" Azula said, a slight smirk on her face. Hopefully he will back off once he realizes how dangerous it really is, "My grandfather isn't just some mob boss okay? He's the leader."

"Like the leader leader- head honcho?" Sokka's cocky face quickly paled as he watched her nod, "So if we keep looking for your dad?"

"We risk facing the wrath of the whole mafia? Yes," Azula smirked proudly, "I mean if you aren't up for it anymore it's understandable, considering how weak you are."

"What!" Sokka sneered, pointing at her, "I'm not weak! I punched that one dude straight in the face."

"And almost broke your hand," She added, making him look down at his fist. It had been bruised slightly, but luckily it wasn't super noticeable, "Face it Sokka, this is too much for you. Don't worry, I understand."

"Don't underestimate me Zula, I already said we were in this together and I meant it," He said, walking in front of her, "Plus if it somehow leads to me taking down your grandpa it's a win-win."

"Yeah sure, because that would totally happen," Azula yawned again,

"It totally could! You don't know!" He pouted, "We find your dad, I catch your grandpa. Save you from a life of crime!"

"Oh no! Not a life of crime," Azula faked a gasp and pretended to faint onto her bed, "What am I going to do?"

Sokka rolled his eyes as he looked down at her, "Pretend all you want. I know you want much more than sitting on some throne being bossed around by daddy."

"I don't know," She sighed, "I'd look pretty hot on a throne."

A slight blush spread across Sokka's face. He didn't want to tell her she was right, more importantly he really didn't want that image to stay lingering in his head for too long, "Not the point."

"And you called me a party pooper," Azula snickered, a small smile appearing on her face, "Plus you could be my foot rest,"

"Uhuh, you'd like that wouldn't you?" He chuckled, shaking his head at her,

"You are constantly being reminded that you are beneath me?" She said, raising one eyebrow towards him, "It's my dream."

"Damn Zula, I didn't know I was your dream," Sokka smirked as he watched her face grow red, very obviously flustering her, "While I'm honored, it is a bit creepy- I mean we aren't even friends."

"Shut up!" Azula said, sitting up and throwing her pillow at him. He laughed as he easily deflected the pillow, "You know that's not what I meant."

"I am pretty dreamy," He continued to chuckle, "So I can't blame you."

"Please, you are the opposite of dreamy," Azula sneered as she rolled her eyes, "Now do you have anything else? Or can I get back to- I don't know, sleeping?"

"No, guess I don't," He shrugged as he walked back over to her window, "I'll let you get your beauty rest, clearly you need-"

"Get. Out." She spit,

"I'm getting, I'm getting." He said climbing out the window, "Jezz no need to be so aggressive."

Azula got up only to slam the window in his face, making sure to stick her tongue out at him as he jumped back over to his house. She smiled to herself as she fell on the bed. Was it okay to admit she missed him yet? At least to herself?

The warm feeling that had grown in her chest started rapidly disappearing along with her smile. The bright light from her room faded away as she felt darkness consume her body. She grew cold; her heart beating faster. Azula's eyes shut tightly as she felt a hand cross over her cheek,

"Don't get ahead of yourself not Azula," The voice growled into her ear, "We don't play with peasants."

"You're not going to tell me why Sokka was in your room yesterday are you?" Ty Lee pouted. She was leaning against the lockers as Azula put away her books. Ursa had forced her to ride with Zuko and the loser bunch to school. It was a less than stellar ride to say the least. Katara kept her eye on her the whole time, even while she was talking to Aang. Sokka had been half asleep, not like she wanted to talk to him anyway.

Luckily she had managed to avoid her big brother. He had tried to follow her from class to class, but gave up after she lost him the first few times. She wished Zuko was the only one watching her every move. Everywhere she went she felt eyes on her. Even when they were driving to school, it felt like she was being followed.

Whispers talking about how crazy she was didn't help. Classmates were making up lies about how she had previously killed someone and moved here to escape the cops. Or how she would snap your neck if you looked at her funny. It was whatever, at least they weren't trash talking Ty Lee instead.

She knew she wasn't crazy. Just because she had been feeling more paranoid and anxious than usual didn't mean she was going insane. For some reason though Sokka had seemed to think their stupid classmates were bothering her.

He started to walk with her from class to class, and glared at everyone he heard talk about her. Even when she insisted that she didn't care, or told him to leave her alone, he kept doing it. Maybe it felt nice to have someone have her back again, but she wouldn't admit that,

"Sokka was in your room?" Mai questioned finally looking up from her phone, "I thought you were done with that."

"I am." Azula stated, slamming her locker. She turned to face her glare at Ty Lee, "and It's none of your business."

"Aw come on!" Ty Lee whined, letting her hands fall down to her sides, "We're your friends you can tell us."

"There's nothing to tell," Azula said blankly, "Don't let your imagination run wild."

Ty Lee mumbled something under her breath but Azula didn't bother to listen to her. Instead she watched the people walking past them. It was hard to miss their snickers, or their looks of disgust. When Azula looked back to her small friend Ty Lee was looking at the ground, her fists tightening into balls as she held back a sob.

"Come on," Azula sighed, nodding for her friends to follow her down the hall, "Zuzu will throw a fit if I don't show up to lunch on time."

She watched her friend perk out of her gloomy state and rush to follow her. Azula caught her wiping a tear from her cheek, "That means we get to sit with them! Right?"

"Don't sound to excited," Azula said,

"They're always so loud," Mai grimaced,

"Don't lie Mai! I know you are dying to sit next to Zuko," Ty Lee giggled, making her friend's face turn red. Azula nearly gagged. She knew Mai always had a thing for her brother but its not like she would ever understand why,

"Shut up." Mai said, turning her flustered face back towards her phone.

It didn't take long to reach the lunchroom. It was already lively, for most of the school had already arrived. A wave of silence cast over the students as their head turned to the trio. She could see Zuko stand up amongst the crowd and gesture for her to join them. Usually she would hate listening to him, but it was better than standing here and being laughed at.

The three of them made their way to his table where everyone in the loser gang was already sitting. They had been in their own conversation before they noticed the trio standing before them,

"Took you long enough," Zuko said, sitting back down at the table,

"I had things to put away," Azula replied. She and her two friends sat themselves at the end of the table, far away from the rest of the group. It was quiet for a while as the group looked at eachother,

"Hello Ty Lee, Mai… Azula." Katara said, finally breaking the ice,

"Katara! How's the swim team?" Ty Lee was quick to smile and jump into conversation, "I heard you guys just won a match."

"Y-yeah we did," Katara responded clearly not expecting that level of enthusiasm. She may have glanced at Ty Lee but it wasn't long before her eyes made their way back to Azula. It was clear she didn't want her there,

"That's great!" Ty Lee smiled, "Sorry I couldn't make it-"

"Don't worry about it," Katara said, still keeping a threatening gaze locked on Azula, "Really, you can just come next time."

Ty Lee lit up at the suggestion, before digging into her lunch. Mai stayed on her phone as Azula pulled out her lunch as well. Today she had plain chicken with apples and carrots. It wasn't the most delicious thing in the world, but that didn't exactly matter.

"What the hell is that?" Sokka grimaced as he looked over Azula's lunch. All his friends, excluding Toph, looked at him shocked to see him talking to her,

"It's called food. I know you usually eat slobber so it's probably shocking to see an actual healthy meal." Azula nodded, refusing to turn to him,

"Don't talk to him like that!" Katara snipped, glaring even harder at Azula. She looked like she was about to pounce on her, but Sokka held her back,

"Katara, it's fine." He insisted, making his sister turn her glare to him. She looked back at Azula before grabbing her brothers arm and dragging him away from the table,

"Katara! Hey!" Sokka complained, trying to pull himself from his sister,

"What are you talking about?" She whispered, visibly confused, "You're just going to let her treat you like that?"

"I can handle myself, okay? It's really not a big deal." He whispered back, "Plus I don't want to make this harder on Zuko."

He watched his sister turn towards the table. Zuko was currently scolding Azula, something she responded to by flipping her dear brother off. Katara looked back at Sokka, clearly worried,

"Fine but- just remember she used us when we were kids," She mumbled, "She doesn't consider us anything but losers- I don't want to see you get hurt again."

"I'll be okay," He nodded, "I can handle myself, don't worry."

His sister nodded at him, letting him lead her back to the table where Zuko and Azula were bickering with each other,

"Who are you betting on?" Toph leaned towards Sokka as he sat down, "My bets on Azula."

"Hey!" Zuko said, turning to his friend, "Who's side are you on?"

"Usually the winning one? Sorry sparky," Toph snickered,

"Wow- even your friends don't believe in you Zuzu," Azula smirked, twirling her fork around at him, "Isn't that sad?"

"Sparky?" Ty Lee mumbled, looking over to Toph,

"Zuko almost blew up Sokka in the ninth grade, now I call him sparky." Toph smirked,

"My friends believe in me! Right Aang?" Zuko said, looking down to him helplessly,

"Y-yeah! Of course!" Aang smiled nervously,

"Convincing," Azula said, taking a bite of her chicken. She tried not to grimace, it's not like it was supposed to taste good. It never did.

"Whatever." Zuko finally sat back in defeat, receiving only an apologetic smile from Aang. Toph kept snickering as she shoved her sandwich down her throat. It was repulsive trying to eat around her and Sokka. They scarfed down their food like it was the last thing they'd ever eat. Azula glared at them before looking back at her own food, their food actually looks tasty too, what a waste.

"Oh Azula!" Ty Lee said, scooting her chair closer to her friend. She looked far too excited, it was worrisome, "I forgot to tell you yesterday, but we have a match against Suki's team soon."

"So?" Azula sighed, scooting away from her, "Who cares."

"I do!" She pouted, "She's coming back up here for that whole week. I thought it would be fun for us to hang out with her again."

It was hard to miss Sokka's head perking up at the news, why was he so excited? In fact it wasn't just him, they all seemed rather excited,

"R-really? Suki is coming back?" Sokka said, a smile quickly spreading across his face, "I haven't seen her in almost a year-"

"Why would you think I'd want to see her," Azula rolled her eyes,

"We used to hang out with her- plus were all friends!" Ty Lee insisted,

"Wrong- you are friends with her," Azula corrected, "I was not, nor will ever be, friends with Suki."

Ty Lee's face fell along with her shoulders. Did she really think they were friends? All Azula and Suki ever did was argue. Suki would always say Azula was too mean to be captain, and that she was much too hard on the other girls. That wasn't the main problem Azula had with Suki though, maybe Ty Lee just hoped they would finally get along after all this time? No way she was that stupid,

"But maybe- things could be different." Ty Lee said, hope filling her voice,

"She's your rival, you should be focusing on beating her," Azula stated bluntly, not even bothering to look at her friend, "That is the goal isn't it?"

"Please azula! We could all do old cheer routines," She said before turning to the rest of the table, "Maybe we could throw a party for both of the teams!"

"Wow a party- pass." Azula groaned,

"Not like azula could go, she's grounded," Zuko decided to add, the cockyness that appeared on his face didn't suit him. It needed to be wiped away,

"Like you could ever stop me," Azula hissed, glaring at him,

"You sure?" He replied,

"You wanna find out?" She said pulling her fork down,

"I think a party is a great idea!" Katara said, ignoring the siblings who were currently scowling at each other, " Where would we have it?""

"I don't think my parents would mind if we have it at our place!" Ty Lee said, jumping over to Katara and grabbing her hands, "You really think it's a good idea?"

"Yeah!" She nodded, "I can help make food- and help decorate"

"Mom alert," Toph snickered,

"I'm not a mom!" Katara was quick to argue, "Stop calling me that!"

"I mean- you kind of are," Aang said with a half smile,

"Aang!"

"What? It's a good thing." He insisted,

"When did Suki say she's coming up?" Sokka asked. Azula didn't need to look up to know he had a big smile on his face. Her fists clenched around her fork. She could feel her bruises pulse as her grip continued to tighten "Also did she uh- say anything else?"

"The match is in two weeks," Ty Lee said, tapping her finger to her chin, "So around then I guess?"

"Is everyone in?" Katara asked, looking around the table. She made sure to skip over Azula, clearly not caring if she came or not,

"Pass." Azula and Mai both said in unison,

"Mai, Azula, Please! I promise it will be fun," Ty Lee pouted,

"Define fun?" Mai sighed,

"I have better things to do then hang out with Suki," Azula groaned, shoving her lunch hastily into her backpack. Swinging it over her shoulder as she got up from the table,

"Azula! Get back here!" Zuko commanded, quickly standing up from his chair as she walked away,

"Relax I'm just going to class," Azula grimaced, not turning back to him,

"Azula!" He called again. He didn't give up like Azula wanted. No, instead he had the brilliant idea to run over to her and grabbing her arm,

"Get off my dick Zuzu!" Azula glared, snatching her arm away from him and stomping on his foot. He groaned loudly as he started hoping on his other foot trying to shake away the pain, "Your mommy isn't here to see you be a good little boy, so leave me alone."

Most of the cafetera had caught wind of what was happening already. Peoples heads turned to the siblings and it wasn't long until voices about her filled the room,

"See I told you she was crazy!"

"What the hell is wrong with her?"

"I feel bad for Ty Lee- I can't imagine having a psycho for a friend."

Zuko didn't move. He didn't say anything, not to her or anyone else. She saw his eyes glance around the room before she continued to walk away. Her chest felt tight as she pushed through the crowded halls. People continued to mock her, laugh at her, whisper things about her,

"He didn't say anything because he knows they're right," The voice chuckled in her ear. She wanted to scream, tell it to go away, tell everyone to go away, "You're losing it Azula- it's embarrassing."

"Shut. Up." Was all she managed to mumble as she disappeared in the halls.

-

I want to make it known that I do intend on finishing this fanfic! Consistent weekly updates have been a challenge for me, and while I'd like for it to be a thing, I don't know if I will be able to manage it. So thank you for being patient! Even if the updates are slow going I will finish the rest of the story. (I have it all planned out after all) Thank you for reading!

I also decided that I will try to respond to comments here from now on! I'm going to start with the ones from CH10

magicalunicorn000: This is honestly one of my favorite Sokkla stories right now I love seeing them as modern teens and you write them so well! Thank you!
I'm glad you're enjoying the story! I'm also glad people enjoy modern AU's as much as I do 3

Lara500: Please continue love the story

Don't worry I will keep continuing! Thank you for the support :3