Katara wandered the school's mess hall haphazardly, hoping to find a friend or two among the mostly unfamiliar teens. The only person she'd seen so far was her brother, who had disappeared into the sea of faces in search of a certain Kyoshi Warrior.
He headed toward her now, looking slightly flushed but happy. "I found Suki," he informed her. "I think I saw Haru in the crowd too, but I'm not positive. And we already know Toph and Aang are coming... Looks like things won't be as bad as we thought."
Katara knew better than that. If he wasn't here, than things would be just as rotten as she'd first anticipated.
"Attention students! Please take a seat! Until we sort you all out into your mixed groups, we'd like you to sit with your own nation! The Avatar can sit where he likes. Thank you!" An announcer was calling out to them from a raised platform, giving directions and answering questions while he waited for the students to settle into their respective places.
Finally, everyone was seated under their nation's banner. Aang had, predictably, come to the Water Tribe table, and was now chatting away while Katara pretended to listen, nodding in all the right places and making eager noises wherever necessary.
"Settle down now, kids! We know that a lot of you have never been to high school before, but this is White Lotus High's first year as a school too, so you shouldn't worry about a thing!" He beamed at the crowd and Katara couldn't help rolling her eyes at his talking-to-toddlers attitude.
"Now, we've got a different system here than you may be used to if you have been to high school before, so we're going to explain that now. Everyone will be in the same classes, no matter what age. Since a lot of you haven't been properly educated before now and there would be way too few kids in the years after freshman since so many would have to be held back, we've just decided to clump you all together. To make up for that, we're going to break you into four... teams, of sorts. You'll only have classes with members of your own team, and you'll share a dorm with them as well. Seems like that's about all you need to know, so I'll move on to extra info." He paused again to throw a huge grin out at his audience.
"Breakfast at eight every morning, lunch at noon and dinner at six. You'll have an hour for each meal and free time from seven on. Those of you who want to take any AP classes can sign up to be tested over at the table to your right, apply for regular classes to the left, and when you're finished there you can come up to me to find out what team you'll be on. We hope you have lots of fun this year!" He finished with a smile that looked like it hurt, then left the platform to leave the teens to talk and choose their classes for the semester.
"What's Perky's problem?" Sokka couldn't help grinning. He'd know that obnoxious voice anywhere!
"Toph!"
"The one and only, Snoozles."
"I still can't believe you came too! I mean, Katara and I thought we'd be stuck in this hole on our own!"
"Yeah, I think all the old people are conspiring against us." Toph shot him a devious grin and his got even wider. The Earthbender always knew when he was smiling. "Careful there, Captain Boomerang. You're starting to look like our peppy little tourguide."
"Please forgive me for showing happiness in a way that doesn't involve punching people. Speaking of boomerangs, though, do you want to see..."
The voices trailed off as Katara left her brother to his own devices and headed towards the Fire Nation table. She scanned the crowd. No Zuko.
With a sigh, she turned and headed towards the AP table. She wanted to sign up for advanced bending. She had just reached the table when-
"Hey, watch it!" she shouted to a boy who was busy signing his name on the AP bending application scroll. He'd practically collided with her!
She glanced up at him, annoyed, as she waited for him to finish signing his name on the list. Wait... that black hair... that pale skin... those intent amber eyes...
The boy looked at her and his longish hair fell away from where it had been covering the left side of his face. "Zuko! You're here!"
He grinned ruefully at her. "Unfortunately."
--
"Come on, Snoozles, I've already signed up for AP bending. Unless you've got something you want to do, I think we should head over and find out what our teams are."
"Good idea. But could you please not call me Snoozles in public? Suki is here!"
Sokka felt a sharp jab at his arm and bit his lip hard to keep from squealing girlishly. "Whatever you say, Snoozles."
--
"It's so great to see you!" Katara's relief and excitement was threatening to spill over, so she did her best to feign nonchalance. "So... what kind of classes are you taking?"
"I'm doing AP bending, AP weaponry, math, history, government, music, philosophy..." He trailed off, then looked like he was steeling himself for something difficult and spat out, "plus calligraphy and cooking. But-"
Katara giggled, cutting him off. "That's a lot of classes for one boy. And calligraphy? Oh Zuko, you really are a nerd at heart!" She threw her arms around him and laughed again, struggling vainly to make the hug as sisterly as possible. To her surprise he didn't seem to mind too much.
"What I was going to say before you so rudely cut me off, little miss water peasant," he went on with mock annoyance, "was that the last two weren't my idea. Uncle says cooking involves tea, and insists that I get better at making tea because it's 'a family tradition', and Mai wanted me to learn calligraphy because she said if I ever break up with her using a letter again, I need to at least make it look nice." He said the entire explanation in one quick breath, and his pained expression at its end made Katara laugh even more. I really need to stop doing that, she thought. It's a dead giveaway.
Then her breath caught. "Mai?" she asked tightly. "Is she here too?"
--
"Hey, Sokka!" Aang nudged the older boy urgently, cutting into his conversation with Toph. "Have you seen Katara?"
Sokka turned to look at the Airbender in annoyance, then said shortly, "As a matter of fact, I have not. Why don't you go look for her?" The suggestion was a hopeful one, and Aang got the message that he wasn't wanted at the moment. Sokka hadn't seen Suki since they'd arrived, and was clearly cranky because of it.
He disappeared into the crowd to search for his lost lover.
--
"Oh, yeah." Zuko said breezily. "She insisted she wouldn't let me disappear on my own again." He chuckled a little as if he found this amusing, then moved quickly to another topic. "So, what kind of classes are you taking?"
"AP bending, AP writing, government, music, math, history, philosophy and cooking. Almost the same as you."
"Cool." His grin made her heart do somersaults. "Then I guess we'll be seeing a lot of each other."
"If we're on the same team," she forced herself to remind him.
"Well then," he replied, unphased, "why don't we go find out?"
--
"Oh, good, you're back." Sokka said as soon as Katara came into view. Zuko followed. "And look! Mr. Jerkbender showed up too!"
"Nice to see you too, Sokka." Zuko's voice dripped sarcasm.
"We've seen just about everybody. Suki, Teo, and Aang are all on Team Yangchen. Ty Lee, Haru and Mai are part of Team Kuruk. Toph and I made Team Roku, and Team Kyoshi has Longshot and Smellerbee. That's everyone we know of so far."
Katara had to admit, she was impressed that her brother had been able to track down all of those people in the time it took to talk to Zuko and sign up for some classes. But then again, he probably hadn't signed up for too many.
Aang ran towards them like his life depended on it. He stopped a few feet away, panting, and managed a few words. "Meng's here!"
She smiled. Meng had been Aunt Wu's assistant back in the fortuneteller's village. More importantly, she'd had a major crush on Aang. And if she could provide some distraction... well, the year had just gotten a lot more interesting...
"Wait, who's-" Toph and Zuko started at the same time, then the Firebender sighed and she went on instead. "Never mind- I'll find out if it's important."
"What team is she on?" Sokka asked, clearly interested. Katara wasn't sure if he'd ever figured out that Meng wasn't his mystery crush.
"Kyoshi, thank the spirits," Aang replied.
"Wait, but you're on- ahhh...." Sokka gave the Airbender his best knowing look, leaving them all to wonder if he knew anything at all.
"Come on, Katara. Let's go find out what team we're on." Zuko led her away, and Katara did her best to ignore the butterflies in her stomach and the glare at her back. Aang would be watching them the whole way...
--
"Name and parents please."
"Zuko, son of Ursa and... Ozai." He hated mentioning his father. He was nothing like his father. Not at all. He hoped that someday people might see his uncle in him- he wished he could be so wise and supportive. Maybe one day...
"Let me look you up. Just a sec!" He flashed a huge grin again, interrupting Zuko's thoughts.
"You're on Team Roku, buddy! Your roommate is Sokka of the Water Tribe! Make sure you have lots of fu-"
"Did you just call me buddy?"
"Zuko sounds too gloomy, buddy. You need to lighten up! Have fun! Get a girlfriend! You're in high school!" Another sickening smile.
"Fine. You know my name, I get to know yours."
"I'm Doo Jee, buddy."
"What are you, Joo Dee's cousin or something?" Zuko understood now why all this exaggerated beaming looked so familiar.
"Hey, hurry it up up there!" an angry high schooler was yelling from near the back. Zuko quickly stepped out of line with an I'm-not-finished-with-you glare at DJ.
He just smiled.
--
"Name and parents, sweetheart."
"Did you just-"
"Name and parents, please."
"Katara, Kya and Hakoda."
"Just lemme peek at the list for you, sweetie."
"Would you stop-"
"You're on Team..." he paused, scanning the list, and Katara felt her heart thumping even louder. Would she be part of Team Roku? Or would she have to survive Team Yangchen with Aang?
"Roku!" She breathed a sigh of relief and DJ went on with a smile that, for once, she shared. "Your roommate is Toph of the Earth Kingdom! Make sure to have lots of fun, love!" Her smile slunk away to a corner and died.
Toph? Toph?! As in the sloppy tomboy prankster Toph?
Katara sighed as she stepped out of line. The road to graduation had just gotten a lot longer.
and that's all for now! i've pretty much banished all the people who interfere with my chosen ships to other teams lol, we'll see how that works out. we'll see how many side characters (as in one-time guests like meng) wind up showing their faces- and how many you can remember! some can be pretty annoying *coughMENGcough*, but really, who doesn't love teo?