Standard Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender or anything associated with it. This is for personal amusement only—so I hope you're amused!

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Chapter 2

Why did Uncle insist on paying for my books? I don't need his help, Zuko thought to himself as he picked up another textbook from the shelf. I do have to admit the old man is helping me locate them more quickly than if I was by myself.

Soon enough, Zuko was almost done picking up all of his textbooks until he realized that he forgot one small workbook. Unfortunately, the section the book was located in was all the way on the other side of the bookstore. He trudged along purposefully to the other side of the store.

"Zuko, don't you need a new backpack? It looks like it's on its last legs—it's practically threadbare," Uncle queried while staring at the bag barely hanging onto his nephew's shoulders.

"Uncle, the one I have now is fine, I don't need a new one," Zuko stated succinctly. "Besides, you're already paying for my books, you don't need to get me something else."

"I know I don't need to buy you a new backpack, Zuko, I WANT to buy you one. There is a difference," Iroh replied.

Zuko turned his head over his shoulder to retort when suddenly something or, more likely, someone pushed into his ribs with their shoulder. With that, all the books he had spent the last 40 minutes gathering went flying straight to the floor. He groaned in exasperation and looked to the person responsible for being so clumsy. At the same time, he heard a woman's voice yelp, "Oh shit!"

When he looked down, all he saw was the top of some girl's head as she picked up the books strewn about the floor.

"I'm really sorry about that, I guess I wasn't paying attention," was the response Zuko received from the brunette on her hands and knees picking up books. "Let me help you pick these up."

"You'd better help me—you know you should really watch where you're going," Zuko replied, barely containing the irritation in his voice. "I just spent 45 minutes picking up all of these and if I'm missing just one of them, I'll be holding you responsible."

"Look, buddy, I just spent an hour grabbing all of my books, too, so don't get all high and mighty about it," Katara said in a raised voice. She stood straight up and stared at Zuko straight in the eye. "Besides, if YOU were paying attention, you'd notice me coming at you anyways!"

While the bookstore was crowded, it didn't stop nearby shoppers from staring at the two, waiting to see what would happen next. A long-haired guy at the nearby customer service desk was watching, eyes wide, wondering if Katara was going to lose her temper…Not again…Haru walked out of line to help Katara out with the guy who was enduring her wrath.

"Did you just imply that this is somehow my fault?!?" Zuko asked in exasperation, his eyes squinting in growing anger. I will not lose my temper with some stupid girl—besides this is in NO WAY my fault.

Haru picked up a couple of books from the floor and walked towards Katara purposefully.

If someone doesn't intervene soon, we'll have an even larger scene on our hands soon enough, Iroh thought to himself and moving towards the two arguers.

"Hey Katara, looks like you dropped this," Haru said sheepishly to the blue-eyed brunette.

Katara was caught off guard and it temporarily lifted her attention from that jerk… "Thanks Haru, uh, what're you doing here?"

"Picking up my books…it's the weekend before classes start…" Haru trailed off.

With that, Iroh took his chance to get his nephew away from the young lady quickly and before this escalates, he mused. He started with a quick apology.

"Please excuse my nephew young lady," Iroh stated coolly. "We were so engrossed in our conversation that we didn't see you. Isn't that right, Zuko?"

"Hmph…" was all Zuko would say.

I guess this is as close to an apology as that poor girl is going to get, Iroh concluded.

"Please accept our apologies, along with this coupon for a free drink at DragonsTea," Iroh said as he handed a small piece of paper to the young blue-eyed girl. "As the owner, I personally invite you to come by and enjoy a treat on the house."

"That's really sweet of you…Thanks, I'll have to take you up on that" Katara said in reply as she took the coupon offered by the nice old man. At least one of them knows how to be a gentleman.

With that, Katara went to pick up the last book left on the floor and handed it to Zuko, "I believe this is yours."

Iroh elbowed Zuko sharply in the side. "Thanks," was all Zuko could mutter, his eyes glancing at his uncle and avoiding contact with the blue-eyed girl.

"Have a nice day," Iroh smiled as the young lady walked off with the long-haired young man. "She seemed rather nice, Zuko. Why couldn't you just apologize?"

"Uncle, SHE bumped into me, not the other way around. I'm not going to apologize for something that I didn't do," Zuko said, clearly glad to see the girl gone.

As previously planned, Zuko trudged over to the other side of the bookstore, picked up his workbook and double-checked his basket to make sure that he had all the books that he needed. Once assured that everything was there, he and Iroh made their way to the cashiers. They diligently took their place at the end of the snaking line, waiting 20 minutes until they checked out.

"Thanks Uncle," Zuko said quietly to his uncle as they left the store. He does mean well if nothing else.

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Thank goodness for Haru and that kind old man, Katara thought momentarily. If not for them, that situation could have turned into something much worse.

"So, Katara, you're already on campus for the semester?" Haru queried as he followed Katara around as she headed downstairs.

"Yeah, I just moved in yesterday. Sokka helped me move everything into my new room," Katara said. She quickly spied Suki, who was standing at the end of the long line with an armload of items with the school logo. "Hey Suki, I see you found a few things! Oh, and this is Haru. Haru this is Suki, my roommate, she just transferred here from Kyoshi Island College. She's also on the water polo team with me."

"Hey Katara, hi Haru—I'd shake your hand if mine weren't full. Katara, what was up with that 'scene' upstairs? The whole bookstore was practically watching you two go at it," Suki questioned.

"Well, I was minding my own business when some jerk crashed into me and all our books fell on the floor. I was being nice and helping pick them up. Then he started up with some serious attitude and we, uh, agreed to disagree, I guess, on whose fault it was," Katara trailed off. "Thankfully, this old man with him—and Haru, of course—helped smooth things over."

Not needing to hear too much more about it, Suki turned to Haru and promptly changed the subject. "So you go to BSSU, too? What's your major?"

"Oh, uh, geology. What's yours?" Haru replied courteously.

"Well, it was oceanography, but since I just transferred, I thought I'd switch to just biology," Suki noted quickly. Suki stared around the bookstore to emphasize her next point, "This place is SO much bigger than KIC…it's taking a little getting used to."

"Well, with Katara showing you around, you should be just fine," Haru said with a small smile and a barely noticeable tint to his cheeks.

They killed time for the next 15 or so minutes, exchanging small talk. They all left the store, Suki and Katara exchanging goodbyes and waving to Haru as they made their way to their dorm.

"He seems nice," Suki said. "How'd you two meet?"

"Well, Haru lived down the hall from me last year. He's nice, but almost too nice. That and he's a little too quiet for me," Katara summed up.

"He seems pretty fond of you," Suki noted.

"Yeah, he had a little crush on me last year, I guess. I found out from someone else in our dorm and it got really uncomfortable to be around him for awhile. This was the first time I'd seen him since last year. I'm kind of glad we ran into each other, especially since he helped diffuse that 'scene'…"

Suddenly, they were at their residence hall and went up to their room. After unpacking some more boxes and putting away all their new stuff, Katara looked at the clock. Too early for dinner. Remembering the small piece of paper in her pocket, she turned to Suki, "You want to head out for some tea?"

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Author's Note: So, another chapter has spewed forth. Again, this story has no beta, so please excuse the small errors you might see. As you can see, I'm slowly introducing characters from the show…