Hi y'all, sorry if this one isn't as on par as the last few chapters. It was one of the two chapters I typed after my car accident as I waited for the tow truck so my mind was in two places, but I still wanted to put type this one up, because I was on a bit of a schedule and couldn't afford to stray from it. So hopefully this one is still as good as the last few chapters.

"My best wishes for your family as well." Thanks. It's been kinda stressful, especially for my mom but maybe it'll work out in the end this time.

"It's good to see, that the baby is getting well. Breathing issues and problems to maintain body temperature are sadly usual for preemies." She's still going to have a few chronic problems, but Suki and Sokka will take those as they come. "Good researches in this case." Thanks, I don't know very much about child birth and such so this was kind of a learning experience. "She needs this support so much and it's good for the baby as well to have her grandmother." Exactly. I think that Suki's mother realized that and she wanted to help support her daughter and granddaughter. "It's a heart-warming scene, when Sokka and Suki are cuddling with the little one." They needed that little moment of peace.
"I like also the character development, you have made with Chan. It seems, that he seriously tries to change his behaviour and his efforts were noticed by the others and rewarded as well." Thanks. One of the themes of this story is that people can change. You might have to put in a lot of effort but people can change for the better and fix their mistakes. "In general I like contrast, you have created in this story. Like the negative aspects had pushed each other up, and have caused negative support effects now the turnover and the positive aspects do the same as well." Thanks, I feel like its important to take negative events and try to turn them around as best as you can, if it's possible. "She will stay blind, I think, but little progress seems to be made and further might be possible" Yeah, I'm thinking that she's either going to stay blind or regain at least some of her vision, but not enough for it to really be efficient. I kind of wanted to leave that at least a little open ended. "And Aang and Harus relationship is strong. Such a positve and good thing." I've been meaning to work with Aang and Haru as a couple for a while so I was happy to finally write a scene with the two of them. "It seems, that bullies like Usha and Hide will have to face a strong allience this year." They're going to be knocked down a few pegs. "A good chapter again. Keep on having fun with your stories." And thanks again!

Katara scrambled to get dressed. She tied her hair into a high ponytail, it was a new year and she was ready to try something new. She buttoned up her uniform and packed up her supplies. She picked up her backpack, the same iridescent teal, seahorse backpack she'd been using since middle school, and put it on. This year she had taken the care to add a few silver pins in the shape of turtles and mermaids. The night before, she and her mom worked to touch it up with a few faux pearls. It was, after all, her senior year and she was planning on making it count for something.

She sent Suki a quick text asking how she planned to style her hair and do her makeup and went back to the mirror for some final touches. She clipped a few seashell barrettes into her hair and took a deep breath. Maybe her style was still childish but it made her feel joyful.

She decided at the beginning of summer, that she was going to be unapologetically herself from there on out.

'I have to take Jing-Zao to the hospital again.' The message flashed across her screen. 'Good luck today.'

Okay, a bit of rough start to the day. She gave her room a once-over. When she was certain that she hadn't forgotten anything she called goodbye to her mother and made her way outside. It was nice to be able to walk to school again, she missed the the scents of a fading summer and the way the warm breeze rustled her uniform.

The walk to and home from school could once again be the highlight of her day. The outside world was bright and held the promise of a much better year. She waved to Hama and her horde of cats. The woman flashed her a toothy smile. "I haven't seen you since last fall." The old woman noted with a smack of her lips.

"You'll be seeing me around this year." Katara smiled.

"Wonderful. My girls have missed getting treats."

"I'll remember to bring some with me tomorrow."

Hama was quite a personality. She hadn't realized that she missed the old woman until then. One day she'd have to drop by and visit the woman's garden again, maybe she'd get to see Lo and Li too if they weren't busy with bingo night. It has been a while since she got to smell lilacs and lavender and rose of sharon.

She sent Aang a text asking about his schedule. By the time he sent a picture of it, she had reached Wan High's heavy double doors. It would seem that they didn't have lunch together this year either. She sighed, it was the biggest downside to being close friends with an underclassman. 'See you after school?' She asked.

'I promised that Haru and Teo that we'd play card games at his house and probably some dungeons and dragons. You're welcome to join us.'

As fun as that sounded, Katara wasn't fond of board and card games. She would hit up Suki and see if she wanted to drop by for a sleepover after her appointment. 'Thanks for the offer Aang, but I don't really like card games. Do you want to stop by tomorrow?'

'Tomorrow sounds great!'

She shut her locker and headed for class. English with...Macmu-Ling. It was a better first hour class than math with June. She hoped that she'd have someone she knew in her class this year. She entered the classroom to see Azula arranging her things. She had gotten a haircut; asymmetrical, with the right side falling to her chest and the left reaching just above her neck.

"You're attending Wan High again!" Katara remarked.

Azula placed a final pencil and looked up."Yes, I'd like to finish high school with Mai and TyLee."

"What about your new volleyball team?" Katara asked.

"If they paid attention to me at all, they'll be able to manage without me." Azula replied. "How is Jing-Zao?"

"I'm still waiting to hear from Suki." So far, the last message she had received was the good luck text. "I can't believe she's missing the first day of school again. She doesn't have lunch with me this year anyways. So far, no one I talk to does. But I bet I have Usha." It was just her luck. It seemed as though principal Roku had it out for her social life.

"When do you have lunch?" Azula asked.

"Fourth."

"I have fourth as well. I'm pretty sure that Teo mentioned, he does too."

Katara smiled. At least she'd have them again. Hopefully this time, she truly get a chance to enjoy having both of them for company. "Mai and TyLee?"

"Fifth." Azula answered."

"With Aang, Toph, and Suki." Looked liked fifth hour lunch was the place to be. Slowly the classroom began to fill. "Hopefully Macmu is nice."

"I haven't heard anything about her, so she can't be terrible." Azula shrugged.

It was true enough. Katara set her backpack on the table.

"You're still using that one?" Azula rolled her eyes.

"Wanna swap?" She should have known better than to challenge the girl. She snatched the backpack, dumped hers out and tossed it over. Katara had to admit that it was a pretty nice bag, black in color with golden dragons curling around it.

"I'll be taking that back tomorrow, enjoy it while you can." She declared as she put her own belongings into Katara's former backpack.

.oOo.

Azula waved her off and parted ways.

"I'll see you after class?" TyLee called down the hall.

"Eventually." Azula agreed. "I'll text the both of you."

It sounded like a plan to her. They still hadn't decided what they were planning on now it was between going to the Jasmine Dragon cafe for a bite to eat and going to the mall. She supposed that it all depended on when Azula got there. She mentioned something about dropping by Teo's place after practice. For herself, TyLee was going to join poms again and hopefully bring the spirit that she was known for. She wasn't all too worried; she Azula, and Mai were close again, she had new friends in Katara, Toph, Suki, Aang, and Sokka. Things were going well, she was very much in the spirit again.

.oOo.

"Toph said to tell you she said hello." Teo greeted, causing Katara to give a small start. "I'm pretty sure she wants me to say hi to you too, Katara."

"She's back in school again?" Katara was always the last to know. She probably should have texted Toph. "I thought that her parents were still deciding on that."

"I get this feeling that Toph had more say in that than her parents." Azula pointed out as Chan seated himself next to her.

"Did we invite him to our table?" Teo asked.

"He tends to invite himself to places." Azula raised an gave no indication of asking him to leave though and she wondered if it was going to be on her to get him to go.

"Good afternoon, ladies and nerdass." He wrigged his brows.

"Not attractive." Azula said for her.

"Not even slightly." Teo agreed

"You know, I don't think that I've ever met a group of friends who insult each other the way you three do." Katara then she had never had friends quite like the ones she had now.

"With mountains of affection?" Teo asked.

"With great creativity?" Chan agreed.

"More like, with great truth." Azula mumbled.

"Truth?" Teo asked, sounding completely but so falsely offended.

"You are a nerdass and he is a dumbass."

Chan cracked a smile as though he were about to unleash the most clever commentary."And you are a smartass."

"Exactly. With great truth." Azula agreed.

"Please leave me out of this group activity." Katara didn't exactly what to know which type of ass she was. She didn't think that there were any options left, and she didn't consider herself to be a 'jerkass'.

"Are you sure?" Teo checked. "It's a real good bonding activity."

Katara took notice of the sound of heels clacking behind her. These days it was almost a reflex to dread the sound of those.

"You're really sitting with these nerds?" Usha asked, her face twisted viciously and unpleasantly. Katara didn't know how one girl could harbor so much hatred. Even at her worst, she didn't think that Azula was that bad.

"As opposed to sitting with yours?" The girl in question asked.

"Come sit with Kori and I, where you belong, Chan."Usha brushed the remark off.

"I think, I'll pass." Chan replied. "I was kind of hoping for a quieter year."

"You're really going to sit with the fat bitch and the whore?" The question was followed by an indigent sniff.

Teo, growing more brazen than ever put in, "and the cripple." At this, Usha's lip twitched. "Beat you to it."

Usha continued on and on about how things were much better at her own table. But the more the girl said, the less thrilling her table seemed. It sounded like a cesspool of gossip and drama. She had her fill of that last year. Two faced friends held very little appeal.

"Do me a favor." Azula spoke. "Let the girls know that I'll be filling in for you."

It took a moment for Katara to realize why Usha looked so unfathomably pissed. "They're not going to let you back on the team."

"The choice isn't theirs, now is it?" Azula asked. With that, the girl was on her way back to her own table.

"You're not a fat bitch." Chan said. The words sounded strange coming from him, but she would imagine that they relieved Azula at least a little bit. Even though she seemed mostly passed worrying over that, Katara thought that the remark had to have stung. It didn't seem to deter her eating any.

"Not what's bothering me." Azula confirmed what Katara had thought.

But it left Katara to wonder what was on her mind, "What is?"

"Usha took over the team after I left…" Azula let the answer finish itself.

"Are you considering not trying out?" Teo asked.

"Trying out was never part of the plan." Azula replied. Katara's jaw nearly dropped. She couldn't imagine Azula not giving it a try. "Coach already handed me my spot. Tryouts started the week before school started, anyhow. I'm trying to decide how much shit I'm willing to put up with this year."

That made a bit more sense. She had a strong feeling that Azula would stick with it.
She, after all, was going to get back into swimming.
She refused to let Jet take that away from her for good. They could call her whatever they pleased, the water was a second home for her, it helped her find a peace of mind. It helped her think things over.

.oOo.

TyLee set her poms down feeling completely and utterly wiped. She it had been a good try-out. She didn't doubt that she would make the cut. She took a drink from her water bottle and picked her poms up. She texted Azula to see if her practice had ended yet. 'I'm already in my car, waiting on you and Mai'.

TyLee climbed into the backseat, it would be a nice surprise for Mai.

"How did everything go?"

"Better than I thought. Kori is going to be a handful, but I think that the other girls and I can work something out." Azula shrugged.

"Were you able to squeeze in a jump serve?" Mai asked.

The self-satisfied smile she gave was answer enough. "What about you Ty?" She asked as she flipped radio stations. "How did your tryouts go?"

"Oh! They went wonderful!" TyLee chirped. "Mio heard that I was coming and she brought me some cupcakes. And I had a lot of fun, they chose my song to do our first routine to!"

"And what about you Mai, you weren't too bored were you?"

"I'm always bored." Mai replied. "I decided to stop by the poetry club. I'm sure Moo-Chee is going to entertain me for a while."

Azula pulled into her driveway. "I'll see you tonight, Mai."

"Absolutely."

The hours went by rather slowly, waiting for Azula to text. She was eager to finally go to the movies with them again even though Mai had her heart set on horror. If anything she'd make her way into Azula's room.

She grabbed her bunny keyring and waited on the front porch for Azula and Mai's cars to pull up. The air was getting cool, but pleasantly so. She was sad to see the summer out, she had, had a blast. But she was ready for the rest of her year at Wan High. She listened to the chatter of crickets and the last of the birds as they retreated for the night. It had been a kind day and the night held a lot of promise.

Her quiet musing was interrupted by a text alert. 'Tom-Tom is going to be coming with me.' Mai informed.
That was perfectly fine with TyLee. She missed squishing his chubby baby cheeks...and he might save her from the horror movie. TyLee smiled to herself, she supposed that it didn't matter what they did so long as she had her friends back. It had been a tough run, she would say that they earned one final, kick ass year at Wan High. And if Azula and Mai had any say, they would be making the most of it.

She saw Azula's car pull into the driveway.

.oOo.

Katara pulled her swim cap off and headed for the door. Taking back the rest of what Jet had stolen left her feeling satisfied and accomplished. Occasional dreams aside, she was finally free again.
Soaking wet, but free.

She would have to let the others know that she was back in the water again. Perhaps exchange some sports related success stories with Azula and TyLee.

She knew that Suki would definitely have a lot to share. Hopefully some good news this time. She rushed into her house and peeled off her sopping school uniform. She could do some laundry while she and Suki watched some movies.

She and Jing-Zao would be here at any minute. She hurried to tuck her things away as neatly as she could. She pulled out the spare mattress and turned the TV on. She dashed into the kitchen and tossed a packet of popcorn into the microwave, just as the doorbell rang.

"Suki's here." Kya called.

"In here!" She called.

Suki found her way into the kitchen and set her stuff down, more stuff than usual. "Hope you don't mind the baby clutter."

"Not at all." Katara smiled. "So how did it go? What was wrong?"

"She has asthma." Suki sighed. "I was worried that she'd have to go back on the breathing machine…would you mind holding her for a second?"

Katara held her arms out. "She's so cute." She cooed tickling the baby's tummy. Jing let out a cooing giggle of her own and squirmed around.

"Yeah, much cuter when she's not in me and kicking at my ribcage all night." Suki commented. "So what's the plan for tonight? Chick flicks and too much junk food."

"As always!" Katara answered.

Suki was passed out on the sofa, snoring softly. Luckily for the both of them, Jing-Zao was slumbering with an intensity to match her father. The credits roll had long since finished and Suki was still clutching the remote with the hand that dangled off of the sofa.

Looking at the scene she could pretend like nothing had changed at all.

But she didn't want to do that.

Because for better and worse, things had changed.

Changed and shifted until they settled into a new place.

A better place.

A place where Suki and Sokka could learn and grow and have something to cherish. A place where TyLee had discovered strength and thrived in it. A place where Mai could muster a smile every now and again, even if her thick eyeshadow made it look sinister. A place where Aang could settle into his sexuality. A place where Toph could face the new challenges she craved. Where Azula and Zuko could patch things up and move on as a real family.

A place where she knew who her real friends where. Where friends came from unexpected corners of her life. Where she knew exactly how far they were willing to fight with and for her.

She definitely wouldn't let herself pretend like nothing had changed. Because everything had. And everything looked promising.