"Well now, if you're done laughing your heads off at my previous mishap, we can get down to reading another story." While the others tried to stifle their hilarity - with a stray chuckle escaping now and then - Sokka browsed through the Companion while biting his lip indignantly, only for his eyes to widen when he reached a certain page. "Hey, there's a new chapter of Avatar High!"

"The one where you and Katara go to school?" Toph inquired. "Oh yeah, now I remember."

Zuko scratched his head. "Which one? I think I might have missed it."

"You were at a meeting that time. Anyway, Katara and I head off to a new school and she meets a non-bald Aang who starts grinning freakishly at her in class. Update complete; now let's start," Sokka declared before beginning to read.

In the cafeteria, Katara soon got a tray and went to stand in line behind Aang. As the cafeteria lady deposited a large gloop of mashed potatoes and gravy on her tray, she scanned the room to look for her brother, but all she saw were kids eating, talking, squabbling and a few minor food fights here and there. The usual high school cafeteria lunch scene, in other words.

"Even if this whole thing comes from another universe, I guess some things never change," Toph grinned. "Kids will always be kids."

"Yeah, except ours don't write crazy stories," Sokka pointed out.

"True."

Sokka must be hanging out with some new friends, Katara guessed as she started to move away from the line - and tripped over Aang's shoe. Losing her balance, she went crashing towards the floor, but not before her lunch had landed straight on another girl's shirtfront. Even without looking up, she could feel the boiling fury coming from above her, and she tilted up her head to see a pair of dangerously gleaming amber eyes and a set of full red lips currently fixed together in a scowl.

"What is wrong with you?!" the girl with her raven-black hair tied up in a neat bun demanded angrily as she towered over Katara. Katara quickly got to her feet and brushed the dust out of her clothes.

"I'm so sorry; let me help clean that up..." Katara moved to try and get what was supposed to be her lunch out of the girl's shirt, but the girl simply moved away and glared at her with disgust.

"No thank you, you'll probably make it worse! Can't you even hold a lunch tray right?"

Toph gave a low whistle. "Hothead lady alert; looks like Sugar Queen's met some trouble in here."

"That description back there kinda reminded me of someone..." Zuko trailed off, trying to recall where had he met a girl with a bun of black hair.

"I suppose Katara could bend her lunch out of the girl's shirt. Oh wait, she can't bend potatoes," Sokka joked.

"Ha ha," Katara responded drily.

Just then, two other girls joined the offended party while holding their lunch trays. The girl with the long braid stared curiously at her friend's dirty shirt.

"Azula, what happened?

"So that's why I thought the description sounded familiar!" Zuko exclaimed. "Though I don't know whether Azula would really make such a big deal out of spilled food on her clothes..."

"Why, you never tried dumping your dinner on her before?" Sokka asked.

"Usually it was the other way around; I would be the one with vegetables hanging down my head."

"Sounds as if she's the older sibling instead of you," Toph grinned.

Sokka shook his head."Man, you have to abuse your birthright a bit more. I mess around with Katara all the time."

"Only to get your payback later," Katara added while smirking, and Aang chuckled slightly.

"Yeah, and that. Whatever, I skip the fine details," Sokka said casually.

Are you trying a new fashion?"

"Of course I'm not, Ty Lee, don't be so dense!" Azula barked.

"You know, Ty Lee usually comes off as a bit of a dork in these stories," Sokka observed.

"Which is weird, considering that we used to regard her as a highly dangerous enemy," Katara added.

Aang shrugged. "She does look pretty nice to me."

"That's because you never got chi-blocked by her before," his girlfriend quipped.

"Oh, well yeah, I guess so."

The other girl with her black hair done up in two parts on each side of her head bent down and took a closer look. "It looks boring."

Azula sighed. "That's what you always say, Mai."

Sokka raised an amused eyebrow. "So Mai thinks mashed potatoes look boring?"

"Well, they do," Toph remarked.

"You can't even see!"

"Exactly."

"I thought she would say it looked horrible instead, although the boring comment isn't too far off the mark," Zuko mused.

"Well, you know her best, so we'll just take your word for it," Katara said.

She then turned to Katara. "Well? Are you going to do something about this?"

Aang, who had been by Katara's side the whole time, now blinked twice. "But you told Katara not to -"

"It's none of your business, Aang Meryson!" Azula snapped. "Why don't you just shut up like you always do!"

Aang blinked twice. "I'm Aang whatnow?"

"What's 'Meryson' supposed to mean?" Katara wondered.

Toph shrugged. "It's probably just a surname, like 'Zhang' or 'Sam Yun'. Sounds kinda weird though."

"Maybe that's how surnames are like in that other universe," Sokka guessed.

Zuko nodded. "Maybe."

Watching Aang shrink back, Katara decided that she had already had enough of this girl's behavior. "Hey, you don't have to be so rude to -"

"I'm sorry, did you say something?" Azula cut off in a mock polite tone. "I hope it's the apology you owe me, plus an offer to pay for the dry cleaning fees for my horribly maimed clothing." She gestured to the front of her shirt as if it'd been torn to bits.

"Azula sure is putting on the drama in big doses," Toph commented.

"I guess it would be safe to say that this is a bit off-character for her?" Sokka looked towards Zuko for confirmation.

"Absolutely. The real Azula might be a lot of things, but melodrama isn't one of her strengths."

"Yeah, sounds more like a job for Sugar Queen," Toph grinned while said Sugar Queen sent her a glare.

Katara frowned. "Hey, now you're really exaggerating -"

Azula put a hand up to stop her from talking any more. "Look, since you're obviously new here, I'll lay out the rules for your sake. I don't know which school you were at before this, but in here we don't have a habit of throwing mashed potatoes at possible new friends - not that I would be one of them," she added as she sniffed haughtily.

"Katara didn't mean to -" Aang started to say, but Azula interrupted him again.

"Whatever, Meryson. Maybe you'd better stock up on spare shirts in case Bobo here decides to plaster any more of her lunch on your clothes as a sign of friendship," she sneered before walking away with her two friends.

Katara glared at their retreating backs. "That girl's a total jerk."

"You said it, Sugar Queen," Toph agreed.

"You'd better not let her catch you calling her that," Aang said. "Come on, let's go find a table."

By the time Katara had gotten herself a new lunch tray, with her lunch firmly located on top of it, and sat down next to Aang at an open table, her anger had slightly dissipated. "Who was that girl anyway? She acted as if she has every right to insult new students or something. It's not like she owns the place!"

"She might as well be. Azula Summers is the daughter of the head of the school governors," Aang explained.

"'Azula Summers'?" Zuko echoed. "Is 'Summers' even a surname?"

"Apparently it is," Sokka answered, "and it could very well be yours as well, if you're in this story too."

"Unless you're not her brother in here," Aang added.

Zuko smiled. "That would be nice."

"Her family's been contributing to the school for years, so she does consider us lesser mortals below notice," he joked.

"Well, that doesn't give her the right to be a major drama queen." Just then, Katara spotted her brother walking towards them and made way for him to sit on her other side. "Hey Sokka. Finally remembered that you had a younger sister?"

"Good to see you too," Sokka replied through a mouthful of mashed potatoes. "Man, the cafeteria food here sure is better than the one back at Kun Ming High. Looks like someone couldn't get it enough of it and went and dribbled it all over her shirt though - I saw her back there at one of the tables with a bunch of other kids," he said as he pointed vaguely at the other side of the room.

"That would be my doing," Katara said before explaining what had happened just now.

"Azula Summers, huh? She seems to be a hot shot here - even the kids in homeroom were talking about her." Sokka swallowed his food and looked at Katara. "So you got on the wrong side of the school queen on your first day? Quite a record, even for you."

"I dunno. I consider dumping food on Azula successfully an achievement," Zuko said, giving one of his rare grins.

"Yeah, hats off to Katara," Sokka added with a laugh.

"Thank you, thank you," Katara said as she stood up and gave a mock bow before sitting down and laughing as well.

"Yeah well, I'm not about to let her get the better of me." And as Katara ate her own mashed potatoes, she decided that no matter what Azula Summers did, she wouldn't be backing down from her. Ever.

"Dum de dum, Sugar Queen gets her game face on. Woo hoo," Toph cheered.

"Well, I gotta say this chapter was more exciting than the last one," Sokka said as he closed the book. "Now I've got mashed potatoes on my mind."

"I bet now every time I see that food I'll picture it on Azula's shirt," Zuko grinned. "Wonder if Uncle's making it for dinner?"

"I propose we find out now," Sokka announced, and they all trooped down to the kitchen, leaving the Companion on the low table in the upstairs lounge of the Jasmine Dragon.

I just discovered that writing about bitchy drama queens is one of the best fun ever. I'd apologize to Azula for warping her character this badly, except it was just too much fun. Reviews are welcome, and hope to see you all soon!