As promised, here's chapter 2! Hope you all enjoy it. Thanks for the reviews and don't forget to give me feedback on this next chapter.
Happy Reading!
Throughout the following weeks, the bond between the three girls grew stronger. As Asami gradually came out of her shell, it was clear that she had righteous head on her shoulders and quickly became the quiet voice of reason for the two other girls. Whenever Opal or Korra would find themselves on the brink of a situation that could very well get them in trouble, Asami would quickly and quietly reel them back in, out of harm's way.
She was also incredibly intelligent; out-competing most of her fellow students to reach top of the class. She wasn't egotistical about it though, in fact she was quiet humble and always went out of her way to tutor others when they were struggling. The one who ended up needing most of her assistance turned out to be Korra… but she was always a little resistant to her offers of support. Sure, she needed Asami's help a lot of the time, but that didn't mean she was going to say she needed it.
Despite her loving and carefree nature, she would often tend to come across as too proud to ask for help. She had done just fine on her own up until this point, why try harder now?
Asami, always the caring and persistent sort, would always find away to get past Korra's pride to a point where the dark skinned girl would relent and 'allow' her new friend to give her the advice she needed.
Opal of course would poke fun at the pair and playfully comment on how Asami had originally been her friend, but now had in fact gravitated towards Korra. She was always met by many a pout and shove from her best friend, but it was all in jest.
However, despite Asami's growing confidence, she still wasn't completely at home at the new school just yet; there were many aspects of the establishment that she still had yet to experience and get used to.
A perfect example of this was soon presenting itself, in the form of the Headmaster informing the students at a school assembly that, as the weather was finally starting to warm up, that the larger playing fields alongside the school were now officially open to the students during lunchtimes.
Opal and Korra, of course, were ecstatic. Asami….less so. She shyly voiced her opinion as the trio walked with the rest of the line back to their classroom.
"Do we really have to go and play all the way out there..?" She asked, rubbing her hands together nervously. She liked what they had already: sitting together on the grassy verge and eating their lunch together, followed by her watching her two friends dash around engaging in the usual playground games while she herself had her nose buried in a book.
Korra looked over at her and snorted, shaking her head "Asami, really, you haven't experienced TRUE fun until you've played out on the field!"
Opal joined in, a wide grin on her face "yeah! There's so much space and you get to run around and climb the trees-!" She frowned "well, you're not supposed to climb the trees, but Korra and I do it anyway!"
Asami glanced between the two of them before replying "okay.. I guess." She hesitated "I just like how things are, you know? We have a set thing we do and it's erm… good for me...?"
Korra couldn't help but roll her eyes playfully "you're always thinking about order Asami, just learn to let go for a little bit, yeah?" She grinned and ruffled the taller girl's hair, causing the girl in question to let out a whine as she tried to reorganize her now tousled black locks.
Asami pouted, an indignant expression crossing her face at Korra's actions, but as soon as she looked over and met the gaze of her friend's blue orbs, she felt herself relax slightly. There was something about Korra that made her feel at ease; which definitely had come as a surprise. The two were as different as chalk and cheese, yet it was like that difference enabled them to get along so well; a yin and yang if you will.
With a sigh she relented "okay, I'll try" she replied, still a little miffed at the current state of her hair.
Korra grinned "that's the spirit!" She replied warmly and gave the pale girl a hug; Opal joining in rather too enthusiastically and causing the three of them to almost topple over.
This caused the line of students behind them to come to a sudden halt, warranting one of the members of staff to walk up the line and find the cause of the commotion.
"Girls!" She exclaimed, her arms folded "this supposed to be an orderly line, please refrain from holding up the other students. Playing is reserved for the playground only."
Asami was quick to dip her head and give a quiet apology, while the other two just grinned widely "sorry miss!" They chanted out in unison. The T.A. huffed and returned to her place further down the line, leaving the trio to sort themselves out and begin walking once more. Opal and Korra giggled to themselves "pfft, what an old fart" Korra whispered to Opal before attempting a rather amusing attempt to imitate the adult; crossing her arms and giving her friends a rather comical looking glare. "Like for real? 'Playing is reserved for the playground only' well sorry, geez!"
Asami opened her mouth with the intention of preventing her friend from continuing her little charade, but the look of Korra's face was just too funny. She couldn't help but let out a little giggle and shook her head; something the other to girls were quick to pick up on. "What's this? Asami thinks you taking the mick of a teacher is funny?" Opal said, giving a loud mock gasp and clasping her hands over her mouth "you've broken her!" She said as she turned to Korra who also had a surprised expression on her face; an expression that quickly changed to smugness as she looped an arm around Asami's neck and attempted once more to ruffle her hair "this is just the first step!" She announced proudly "soon you'll be just like me Asami, like it or not."
She blew a raspberry at Asami who was once again trying to prevent her from messing up her hair again. However this time the dark haired girl was prepared. She turned to meet Korra's gaze, raising an eyebrow "no way, I'm too good for that" she said with another giggle, causing Korra's eyebrows to shoot up and Opal to let out a loud "ooooo!"
Asami noticed Korra might not have taken her retort as she had intended it (she was still learning to give comebacks after all) and gave the shorter girl a pat on the head "I'm kidding I'm kidding" she said softly, a grin still spread across her face. She did honestly admire the other girl immensely… not that she would tell her that; Korra's ego was so easily inflated she had quickly discovered it was best to keep those thoughts to herself.
Thankfully, Korra just gave her a toothy grin. Clearly she had just been caught off-guard by the sudden statement but recovered quickly, giving her own quick response "you may say that, but the changes have already begun" she said, clasping her hands together in a very villain-esque way, a smug smile on her face. Asami just rolled her eyes, deciding to ignore her for now.
As much as she would refuse to admit it, Asami couldn't help but agree that Korra was right. There was a time when she wouldn't even have the backbone to put forward a contrasting opinion to anyone, and yet here she was giving quick retorts without fear of embarrassment.
The two of them continued to banter back and forth as they continued their walk back to class, with Opal adding in the occasional witty remark as and when she could.
The rest of the day went on without any further hitches, much to Asami's relief, and eventually the bell sounded announcing that the time for lunch had arrived.
As part of the older group of students, the three girls were able to enjoy lunch away from the insanity that were the younger classes. Asami had been pretty relieved at that, she'd never been good with dealing with large groups of people, especially when they were that much younger than her. Korra and Opal on the other hand were just very smug about things. It was clear that the pair of them saw this early lunch as something that bettered them from the younger classes, or as Korra called them 'the underlings'. This was all in good humour of course, Korra didn't have a bad bone in her body.
This time however the two of them didn't want to spend as much time taking advantage of their earlier lunch as before, as they were both eager to finally go out and enjoy the sunshine properly.
When that time came and all three had finished, Asami followed hesitantly behind the duo. She hadn't had time to grab herself a book, but Korra had insisted she wouldn't have time to read anyway. The field was for playing on, not sitting and reading on.
"So… where abouts are we going?" Asami asked curiously as they rounded a corner. Opal grinned and pointed ahead of them "just there, where that bunch of trees are!"
Asami looked up, finally taking her eyes off of the ground at her feet to take in the field in its entirety.
It was huge, intimidatingly so, bordered with a high fence and a long line of freshly planted hedging. At one end was a large jungle gym that was already crowded with a plethora of students of all shapes and sizes; at the other end was the small copse of trees that Opal had pointed out to her.
Before she could speak again, Korra bolted past her.
"Race you there!" The dark skinned girl yelled, which prompted Opal to join in on the frantic sprint to the trees. Asami quickly realized she had been left no other option available to her, she eventually ran after the duo
"Wait for me!" She called out as she tried her best to keep up with them, but it was no use. She wasn't a very active person, preferring brain over brawn, and ended up arriving at her destination panting roughly. As she tried desperately to get her breath back, she looked up to see only Opal there, leaning against one of the trees.
Asami raised an eyebrow
"Where's Korra..?" She asked, confused, to which Opal just smirked. Above her there was the sound of rustling leaves and, before she could even look up, Korra's face appeared in front of her, upside down with a silly grin on her face.
"Boo!" Korra exclaimed with a giggle. Asami let out a squeal of fright and fell backwards, landing on her backside with a thump.
Quickly Korra lifted herself up so she was sitting upright on the branch, kicking her legs as she looked down at Asami with a cheeky grin on her face.
"Hah! Gotcha!" She said, beginning to laugh which Opal joined in. It soon died down however when Korra hopped down out of the tree and walked over to Asami, holding out a hand and offering her assistance.
"Sorry, I just couldn't resist" she said, still grinning broadly "you're always so serious all the time, you need to lighten up! Have a little fun!"
Asami pouted as she took her friends hand and finally stood up, brushing herself down.
"I DO have fun!" She insisted, still pouting.
Korra sighed "maybe, but it's like, well..." she hesitated "reading is like, a grown up thing that grown ups do to have fun, and we're not grown ups" she stood up straight and looked over at Opal who nodded in agreement.
"Not like that's a bad thing or anything!" She continued quickly "it's just that erm… have you ever just had kiddy fun? Like climbing a tree or just laughing at a word like poop because you think it's funny?"
Opal snorted with laughter, prompting Korra to gesture to her "see? Like that! Just being silly and stuff. You don't have to be serious all the time, that's for the grown ups to do, not us."
Asami hesitated, looking between the two other girls with a slight confused expression on her face. She thought for a moment… and had to agree she saw where they were coming from. Her mum had always encouraged her to go out and play and be a kid, but she'd always found it hard. Talking to new people was always a struggle for her, preferring instead to sit at home with a good book.
She sighed "I… I don't know" She confessed "I've never really had that many friends my age I don't think" this prompted the two other girls to stare at her in surprise for a moment, before Korra stepped forward and patted Asami on the shoulder affectionately. "Well, you have now, you've got us two and we're not going anywhere."
She stuck out her tongue and grinned "so, now we've cleared that up, it's time to start your um.. Ini.. initia..." she hesitated, clearly struggling to remember the word she was looking for.
"Initiation!" Opal exclaimed in realization. Korra grinned and nodded "Yeah! Initiation… Wait, what does that mean again?"
Opal thought for a moment "I think it's like, when you want to bring someone new into a group and you wanna see who they are and stuff" she concluded.
Asami wanted to correct her on her definition, but she was honestly too intrigued, instead continuing the conversation.
"So, what do I have to do?" She said hesitantly. Korra chuckled
"Don't worry, it's nothing bad! We just wanna show you how people our age like to play and have fun" She grinned "and I know the perfect thing… Imaginary games!"
She took a dramatic pose as she said this, giving it a theme of importance. Opal jumped up and down, clapping her hands
"Yay! Oh oh! Can we play that one we always play?" She said with glee.
Asami looked confused "and this would be…?"
"Time travelling dinosaur hunters!" Announced Korra, striking yet another pose.
"An evil scientist has gone back in time and kidnapped dinosaurs, spreading them all through history. It's our job to go back and catch them and take them back to dinosaur times!"
Asami watched, seeing the two of them bouncing up and down with glee. She couldn't help but smile and tilt her head, clearly interested in finding out more. "And, how do we do that?" She asked.
Opal took over "The brother of the evil scientist contacts us and tells us we're his only hope, and he gives us special weapons to catch the dinosaurs and fight the bad guys!" She drew an imaginary weapon from behind her back, whirling it around her head "I got a super awesome grappling hook that helps me fly through the trees "
"And I got a pair of awesome swords that help me fight of the bad dinosaurs and the scientist's evil henchmen!" Korra said, whirling two imaginary swords around and making several ninja style kicks "Hi-Ya!"
Both of them looked over at Asami expectantly "What weapon do you want?" They both said, grinning widely.
Asami blinked, taken aback by the sudden dramatic show that had occurred before her.
"Are there… like rules or something?" She asked, which prompted Korra to sigh and roll her eyes.
"No you dummy, that's why it's called an imaginary game! Use your imagination!" She said, reaching over and knocking on Asami's head for emphasis.
"It can be anything you want, anything at all!"
"Anything huh..?" Asami said to herself, tapping her lip in thought. If she had to choose anything to go hunt dinosaurs with, what would it be?.
Then she had an idea "If we're time travelers, does that mean I could have a weapon that's from the future?"
The two other girls looked at each other wide-eyed "...I never thought of that" Korra said, her mind clearly blown, to which Opal agreed "but er.. Yeah! Future stuff is cool too!"
"Well then, in that case" Asami said, her eyes lighting up as ideas began to flood her mind "I want to have a lazer gun."
Korra and Opal stared at her in surprise, then Korra spoke "that… is so.. AWESOME!"
She said with a grin as she bounced over to Asami and patted her on the back "that's what I'm talking about! So you can like shoot it all 'pew pew!' Stay back dinos!" She made a motion of shooting a gun, rather enthusiastically.
Asami smiled "yeah! But instead of it being a gun I could have it as a glove to make it easier to hold?"
"I like it!" Opal said, joining in the conversation "how would you shoot it?"
"Erm..." Asami thought "like this?" She said, holding out one hand and grasping her wrist with the other, then making a few 'pew pew' sound effects. Looking over at the other girls she smiled nervously "is that okay..?"
Korra ruffled her hair again "'Samiii! You don't need to ask us what's okay and what's not okay! That's the whole point of imaginary games, you can be who you want to be, do what you want to do and it's just fun because there's no rules! You want a lazer glove thing, then have one! You could use it to stun the dinos and make them sleep so we can take them back to their homes!"
Asami went to re-organize her hair, then hesitated. No rules, be whoever you want to be, do what you want to do…
Her shy expression changed to one of warmth and happiness, her eyes twinkling with glee as she felt herself relaxing. She was going to be whoever she wanted to be. She was going to do whatever she wanted to do. And Korra and Opal weren't going to judge her for it.
'Let's give this a go' she said as she started grinning. "Okay, let's go!" She said "where are we going first?"
Opal beamed "we've got to go back to the times of Knights and rescue a dinosaur that they think is a dragon! But we've gotta wear disguises cause the henchmen are waiting for us."
Asami nodded, looking over at Korra who had the same smile on her face
"Alright, let's do this" she said decisively.
'Time to be a kid, Asami.'
So that's chapter 2 all wrapped up!
If you're wondering where I got the idea for the imaginary adventure, it was actually a game I used to play with my friends back when I was a kid believe it or not; thought it'd be perfect for a story like this :)
Don't forget to leave a review.
See you in the next chapter!