Hey guys! Sorry for the delay. Guess that's what happens when you go on holiday and find the cottage you're staying in has no wifi. At all.
Anyways! This chapter is so long I decided to split it into two. If all goes well I should have the next chapter up tomorrow to make up for lost time.
Happy Reading!
"Ughhh... why are we doing this?" Korra whined, folding her arms and pouting.
Asami just sighed.
"We can't just draw it straight away, we need to plan! Or it'll be a mess." Korra didn't respond, instead letting out an irritated huff.
The project their teacher had given them that day was to design, what she called, 'The Car of The Future!'. It was meant to be a fun activity for the students that would encourage their creativity; also being told to work in pairs to improve their teamwork skills.
Despite their many protests, Opal had been taken away from the trio and made to work with another student, leaving Asami and Korra to work together, alone.
This had been a tactical move on the teacher's part; she knew the two of them were close friends, but she also knew that Asami was always quick to correct Korra on her mistakes to keep her in line. However, keeping her in line was an understatement.
It had been two months since the dark haired girl had begun her friendship with Opal and Korra, causing her confidence to sky rocket tremendously. Korra especially had been a huge help in that; although unwittingly.
The dark skinned girl had, without realizing it, become incredibly attached to Asami and would find herself spending more and more time with her when she could, even turning down Alec's offers of energetic playground games to just sit with Asami and watch her read. The teachers had found it pretty bizarre that she was behaving so well… as usually when Korra went silent it meant the adults had to be on their guard, but not any more.
Asami, in turn, found it much easier to voice her opinion around Korra as she felt the shorter girl was now taking her seriously. It resulted in a bond between the two that had surprised many of the other students specifically due to their clear differences in personality.
At the current moment in time the pair of girls were seated at the back of the classroom, a large piece of paper in front of them alongside a variety of coloured pens and pencils.
Korra had been eager to get started on the drawing straight away, but Asami, ever the organiser, had gotten out a notepad and pen to begin writing down ideas for their imaginary vehicle.
Initially, Korra had tried to be helpful, but she was quickly losing patience. With yet another huff, she picked up a nearby ruler and bent it back, balancing a small piece of rubber eraser on the end.
Looking around, she locked onto a target sitting a few desks in front of her and took aim, but suddenly she felt a pair of eyes on her. Slowly, she looked to her side to see Asami had noticed what she was doing and was now shooting her a look that made Korra quail. With a gulp she gently placed the rubber and ruler back down, shrinking in her seat under the icy glare of her green eyed friend.
That look was something she had learned to fear; more so than even her own mother's glares. Anytime she was given that look of disdain she would stop whatever mischief she had been up to and immediately return to her friend's side, stuttering out an apology.
She had spoken to Alec about that before, who had told her it sounded like she was 'whipped'. She had absolutely no idea what that had meant and while Alec didn't technically know either, (as he'd heard it used by his older brother many times and so thought it was the right word to use) regardless, it didn't sound nice whatever it was, so she disagreed.
She wasn't 'whipped', she just did as Asami told her to.
That wasn't a bad thing, it was just what she did... right?
Focusing back onto her current predicament, she gave Asami a small, guilty smile. The dark haired girl raised an eyebrow before shaking her head disapprovingly, biting back a smile of her own. Korra's lopsided grin was infectious, but she couldn't let her know that.
Just as she was about to speak again, the bell rang. Korra grinned and jumped up, starting to stuff her things in her bag as most other students did, but Mrs Windslow stopped them.
"Hold on a minute children!" She said, raising her voice "Sit back down for a minute!"
Korra grumbled and sat back in her seat.
"What now…?" She said, pouting and folding her arms over her chest.
"I know that it's Friday and you're all very excited to be going home, but as it seems that none of you have finished your projects, I'm afraid I will have to ask you all to complete them over the weekend and hand them in to me on Monday morning." Mrs Windslow continued, ignoring the annoyed children.
"Ughhhh..." Korra let out another sound of displeasure, continuing her sulking. She hated it when homework was set over the weekend. Weekends were for playing, not working!
Asami, on the other hand, seemed delighted at the idea; due to Korra's behaviour their project was nowhere even near finished and she would never dare let herself hand in any work unless it was completely finished. She was more than happy to finish the project herself over the weekend and let Korra do whatever she wanted to so, but their teacher put a spanner in the works within the next few words.
"Remember, this is a group project. I want both students in each pair to do equal amounts of work." Her eyes flicked over to stare pointedly at Asami and Korra as if she could read their thoughts. Then, she smiled and clasped her hands together happily. "Right, that's it! Class dismissed, have a good weekend and work hard!"
Some of the students grumbled to themselves as they were finally able to pack their bags away; Korra was one of them. She looked over at Asami with a huff. How were they supposed to work together on this project? The two of them didn't live anywhere near each other! Well, she assumed so, as she had no real idea where Asami lived. Either way, it was still a pain.
"So..." She said, trailing off, watching Asami as the pair of them packed their bags and left the classroom behind. The dark haired girl once again raised an eyebrow
"So, what?" She asked; but before Korra could respond, Opal ran up behind them
"Whatcha talking about?" She said, popping her head between them with a grin on her groaned.
"I was just gonna ask about how we're supposed to do this project stuff. Teacher pretty much targeted us when she said we needed to work together on finishing it."
Asami nodded. "I was going to say I would just do it myself… but I don't want to get us in trouble."
Opal frowned. "Then one of you just goes round the other's house and does the project there, duh! Why are you making this so weird? You and I always go round each other's houses when we need to work on stuff together." She said, her confused look aimed at Korra. The dark skinned girl just scratched the back of her neck.
"Well, we could but my papa is working this weekend, and Mum said she was meeting up with some of her friends on Saturday afternoon... so..."
Opal shrugged. "Then go round Asami's! That should be easy enough, right?" She asked, turning to Asami with a grin.
Asami eyed both her friends silently for a moment. Of course, the only logical option would be for Korra to go stay at her house… but she hadn't had any friends over since she'd started her new school. She licked her lips, on the spot.
"I can ask," She said shyly. "But, my mother doesn't collect me from school, so I'd have to wait until I got home before asking."
Korra looked at her with new interest. Visiting her friend's house sounded like a great idea; it was also a big deal, since neither of them had seen how the other lived at home. With a grin she spoke up.
"That's okay though, right? I mean, I can just ask my Mum at home time today, and she can give me our home number to give to you. So, then you can ask your mum and then call us later today to say if it's a yes or no."
Asami blinked, slightly taken aback by Korra's burst of, dare she say it, logic? Biting her lip she flicked her eyes over to the two girls beside her and gave a small nod "...Okay..." she said with a gentle smile "That sounds like a plan."
"Woo!" Korra shouted, jumping up and down excitedly. "We could play so many games; like hide and seek, and tag, and you can show me your room, and-" She would have continued her verbal flood if not for Asami raising her hand and silencing her.
"We do have to do work, though." She reminded Korra, which caused the dark skinned girl to sigh and roll her eyes.
"I know, I know." She whined. "But if I stay over we'll have plenty of time to finish everything. And, since I know you'll get it done quickly, we'll have plenty of free time after to play!"
Asami let out a soft giggle and shook her head in disbelief "If we finish it early we can go play, okay?"
"Now you sound like my mum." Korra replied just before she stuck out her tongue and blew a raspberry at her green eyed friend.
"I feel like I am sometimes." Asami replied, sticking her own tongue out in retaliation.
Opal glanced between the two of them happily. She wanted to ask if she could come too, but she had her own work partner to finish her project with - one that was sadly not as intelligent as Asami - she knew she would have to work hard for a longer amount of time in order to get it done before monday.
As if reading her mind, Korra leaned over and nudged Opal playfully, "Don't worry." she said with a crooked grin. "We can hang out next weekend, yeah?"
Opal nodded, returning the grin
"Yeah, yeah, I know, you butt" she said, poking Korra's nose and giggling. Korra pouted and poked her friend back just as forcefully. The two of them then began a spontaneous poke war as they walked down the corridor, Asami following a slight distance behind.
She smiled softly and let out a light laugh at her friends' antics. What was she getting herself into?
Shortly after, the trio emerged from the school's main doors and into the playground. Opal gave the other two a big hug goodbye and waved frantically as she hurried over into her mother's waiting arms.
Korra and Asami waved her off, then Korra grabbed Asami's hand and grinned, "C'mon!" she said, tugging her arm excitedly. "Let's go ask my mum!"
Asami bit her lip and shook her head "I... I'd rather wait here, if that's okay..." She said quietly. She wasn't all that confident with strangers, and even though it was Korra's mum she was talking about, she still felt awkward about potentially talking with her.
Korra just shrugged, not wanting to pester her friend too much.
"Alright, be right back!" She said as she sprinted off down the playground to a woman Asami could only assume must be her mother.
She watched as Korra talked very animatedly to her, waving her arms around and jumping up and down. Then she turned around and pointed directly at Asami.
The dark haired girl blinked and glanced up to see Korra's mum giving her a wave, smiling warmly. She returned it shyly before wrapping both her arms around the books in her hands once more, flicking her eyes down at the ground and shuffling her feet.
Several minutes later she heard the thudding of Korra's feet as the girl sprinted back over to her, brandishing a small slip of paper in her hand.
"Mum says yes!" She said, handing the slip to Asami. "That's our home number. Call it when you get to ask your mum and just say you want to speak with me, 'kay?"
Asami smiled and nodded as she slipped the paper into her pocket.
"Will do." she said, before being pulled into a hug by Korra.
The shorter girl beamed. "Great! See you later Asami!" She said, almost shouting, as she hurried off back to her mum.
Asami waved goodbye, smiling, before she headed to another familiar face in the crowd.
The smartly dressed man offered her a warm smile.
"Ready to go Miss?" He said warmly, to which Asami responded with a smile of her own.
"Yes I am, thank you Rusho." She said politely; the man nodded before he guided the young girl out of the school and around to the car park, where a sleek, black vehicle was parked.
He opened the back door for her which she thanked him for before settling into her seat as he closed the door behind her, before he, himself, got in the front.
Starting up the engine, he glanced back at her giving her another smile before reversing out of the parking space, heading home.
It wasn't a long journey, Asami could have easily walked it, but she'd been told that this was just one of the rules; and besides, Asami wasn't one to break rules. Instead, she silently gazed out of the window watching the scenery pass her by.
"Miss, we're home."
She was slightly startled, having found herself deep in thought about the upcoming project. She sat up as the door was opened for her and stepped out, looking up at the sound of the front door opening.
Her green eyes lit up and a grin spread across her face as she hurried over.
"Mother!" She shouted excitedly, almost dropping her books in her hurry to reach the woman stood at the front door.
She wasn't the kind of kid to get overly excited often, but the one person who was guaranteed to make her feel that way was her mother.
Her mother chuckled and bent down, wrapping her daughter in a warm embrace.
"Welcome home sweetheart." She said softly, stroking Asami's hair affectionately before pulling back and giving her a soft, gentle smile. "Did you have a good day at school?"
Asami nodded eagerly "Yes! yes! I've got a big project to do over the weekend, it's about cars!" She chatted away eagerly, to which her mother chuckled and ruffled her hair. Looking up, she gave the suited man behind her daughter a smile.
"She wasn't too much trouble, was she?" She asked with the same smile on her face.
Rusho laughed and shook his head. "She was a perfect angel, as always Mrs Sato."
"I told you, you can call me Yasuko." The woman replied softly.
Rusho shrugged and gave her an awkward smile. "I'm sorry Ma'am, I've got my orders, you understand? Rules are rules and all that."
Yasuko sighed and shook her head.
"Very well, safe trip Rusho." She said as she waved him goodbye and followed her daughter back indoors.
About an hour later after Asami talked animatedly to her mother about the day's events and the pair sat comfortably in front of the fire, the cook respectively informed the pair that dinner had been served.
As they sat down to eat, Asami felt herself getting a little nervous. The one thing she hadn't asked her mother about was the plan she had made with Korra. She wasn't used to asking her mother about that sort of thing.
She took a deep breath and spoke up.
"Mother?"
"Yes love?"
Asami looked down at her plate. "Well, you know that project I was talking about? Well we, uh, need to do it in groups and erm... well..." She glanced up to see her mother watching her, her eyes giving her silent encouragement. "We need to do it this weekend, so I was wondering if I could invite her over to stay? Just to do the project?"
She waited hesitantly for her mother's reaction, only to find an arm wrapped around her instead and a gentle kiss placed on her cheek.
Her mother smiled. "Oh sweetheart, don't look so worried! Of course you can have a friend over!" She seemed ecstatic at the idea of her daughter finally having made a friend. "When would this friends of yours be coming over?" She asked, a broad smile on her face.
"Um… tomorrow morning if that's okay?"
"Perfect! That sounds lovely, I look forward to meeting her!"
Asami smiled back and giving her mother a polite 'thank you' before tucking back into her food.
Once dinner was finished, Asami headed down the hallway and picked up the phone. Pulling the neatly folded piece of paper out of her pocket, punching in the numbers.
She placed it to her ear and waited nervously as it rang. She hated making phone calls.
She gulped when a voice came through from the other end that she didn't recognise.
"Hello, Water residence."
She took a deep breath.
"Um, hi, is Korra there?"
"Who is this?"
"It's Asami. I-I'm her friend from school."
The tone in the other person's voice picked up almost straight away.
"Oh! You must be that young girl she pointed out to me earlier! Hang on, I'll go get her for you."
There was the sound of muffled speech and movement before Korra's voice came bursting out of the phone.
"Asami! Hi!" She said, the excitement in her voice almost palpable. "What's the news!?"
Asami bit back a giggle before replying. "It's a yes." She said softly. "You can come over and stay tomorrow."
She had to hold the phone away from her ear somewhat as Korra let out a shout of excitement. The girl didn't seem to have any sort of volume control.
Once she'd calmed down, Korra spoke once more.
"Awesome! I'm so excited!" She hesitated slightly, the sound of someone else talking in the background taking her focus away.
"Ah.. yeah, could you tell me your address please? Mum says she can't get to your house without it."
Asami laughed a little at that, before giving Korra the required information.
Once done, Korra spoke again. "So! I'll see you tomorrow, yeah?"
Asami smiled and nodded her head.
"See you tomorrow, Korra."
Hope you all enjoyed that :) I'm really enjoying writing this so far, and I hope you're enjoying reading it just as much!
Don't forget to pop me a little review!