Chapter 6

They went to orientation and the crew was looking forward to starting classes and finally down to what they came here for. Rachel, Korra , and Bolin were chatting animatedly in their first class though none of them was looking forward to this class in particular it was math and none of them excelled at it.

"I was excited for my first class in college but then it turned out to be math so.." Rachel spoke to her friends.

"I feel that, having to take this class first thing in the morning is definitely a downer" Korra agreed, Bolin nodded in agreement as the classroom door opened and closed loudly.

"Good Morning Students!" the teacher expressed loudly with an almost creepily large smile, "I hope you're prepared to learn." He moved close to students inspecting them closely until his eyes landed on Korra, he stared "well if it isn't Avatar Korra gracing my classroom" Korra smiled sheepishly and looked around nervously, "hi'ya" she said quietly.

"Such an honor, I sure hope that my abilities are to your standard" Tarrlok said as if testing her while still sucking up.

"Uh, I'm sure you're an excellent teacher Sir" Korra said nervously. Tarrlok soon started to lesson but still continued to keep eye contact with Korra throughout the two hours, by the time the class was leaving Korra was thoroughly creeped out by their teacher as well as dreading the next class a day from then.

There was a knock on the girl's dorm room and Korra got up to answer it. "Hey Jet, Tess isn't here." Korra stated.

"Do you know where she is?" Jet asked casually leaning on the door frame.

"No but that's a good question I haven't seen her since like six this morning and that's only because she bumped into my bed while she was leaving, and before that I didn't see her at all yesterday, I mean until she wandered in at three am and I only noticed because she was eating something crunchy " she spoke hand on her hip.

"Oh, well that's more than I've seen of her since Sunday, okay, thanks anyway. See ya around Korra" he said as he pushed himself off the wall and sauntered away. Korra closed the door and went back to her conversation with Asami.

Jet strolled through town, keeping a sharp eye out for Tess still.

He walked another block when out of the corner of his eye he spotted Rachel and Bolin sitting together, he could see them enjoying pasta through the window.

Jet crosses the street, easily dodging cars and hopped up on the window, using his arms to hold himself aloft with ease, "HEY! Rachel, Bo, have either of you seen Tess today?"

Rachel jumped slightly in surprise, Bolin choking slightly on his water, "Wha, Jet what are you doing here?" Bolin managed to say once he was done coughing.

"I was just walkin' through town, I'm looking for Tess, she said she wanted to hang out today. But now I can't find her anywhere. I was just wondering if you guys had seen her?" Jet asked, flashing them a lopsided grin.

"We haven't seen her at all today, we both had different classes this morning, sorry Jet." Bolin said sympathetically

Rachel nodded in agreement, "Tess always forgets she makes plans." She said with a laugh.

Jet rolled his eyes, "And don't I know it." He laughed, reaching in his pocket, "Anyways, have fun you two." He finished cheerily, tossing a condom onto the table before dropping out of sight.

"JET WHAT WHA, huh, I what." Bolin sputtered, looking at the thing like it was alive.

Rachel smiled, "I have one in my purse already, but it's always good to have a back-up." She said a wicked gleam in her eyes as she pocketed the gift.

Tess had been working diligently all day yesterday and today in the university's ceramic shop and she had completely forgotten to tell anyone where she would be it slipped her mind that anyone would want to know. The only person who knew where she was was Natalie and that was because Natalie would come and help her fire her work every Tuesday, this had been a constant since Tess had arrived at school and Natalie had always been able to make it. But this time Tess wasn't sure if she was coming, Natalie was still recovering from her attack and Mako was in protective over drive so it was likely that no one would be around Natalie outside of class and police training.

"Who's going to fire my work now?" Tess said quietly to herself as she looked at all we finished pieces waiting to be fired. Tess sighed and continued to work on her current piece as she listened to her favorite playlist, a few minutes went by and Tess heard the door open and close she looked up expecting to see Natalie even if that was unlikely instead there looking completely unsure of his surroundings was a person she had been avoiding in an attempt to not further annoy him. Tess raised her eyebrow questioningly, "uh, why ar…"

"Hi, uh, Zuko here."

'Natalie might know where Tess went, if I could just find her…' Jet thought as he walked through campus, 'I should have asked for her schedule…'

Jet blinked, whipping around at the sight of two lone figures walking through the campus.

He moved closer, it was Natalie and Mako. 'Ha, how lucky.'

"Hey! Natalie!" Jet called, his tone friendly, as he jogged over to the pair.

Natalie flinched slightly at the volume of his voice, instinctively pressing herself closer to Mako, before she turned and smiled, "Hey Jet! What can I do yah for?"

Mako glanced at Jet with a guarded expression, staying close to Natalie.

"I was just wondering if you know where Tess is?" Jet asked, deciding to keep a good distance, as ever since Natalie got attacked Mako had been overprotective to the extreme and he didn't really want to upset him.

"You can check the ceramics room, it's a Tuesday and usually I help her out. I sent Zuko since I… can't make it." Natalie replied, smiling slightly, although it was a pained smile due to the swelling on the entire left side of her face. Luckily it was slightly less swollen than it had been a few days ago.

"Zuko? From that diner you love so much, huh?" Jet questioned thoughtfully, "Alright well thanks, glad to see your doing better." Jet finished with a handsome smile, before nodding at Mako and turning on his heel towards the Art area of the campus.

Are you sure you want to help me, you don't have to, I can just ask...uh..I could ask…" Tess struggled to find a name of another firebender she could ask.

"It's fine I don't mind really" he said almost offhandedly as he admired her work, "these are all really good" Zuko added looking into her eyes.

"Really? You think so?" She asked more with her eyes then anything.

"Yeah," Zuko spoke in an uncharacteristically sweet voice, "I'm really impressed."

"Thanks," Tess said, "uh you can start with the ship right there by the leaf, just make sure to do it really evenly".

"Okay I'll start on that" Zuko said setting to work just as Tess did. While he fired the pieces he watched as Tess worked not letting anything distract her, except for the occasional comical blurt of the chorus of whatever song playing. Zuko couldn't help smiling as he observed her odd mix of pure concentration and sing songy outbursts.

'Ceramics room, where would that be?' Jet thought to himself as he made his way around the campus looking into classroom windows. Finally he came across Tess sitting and working diligently, Jet smiled and watched her for a moment, her tongue was slightly out of her mouth because she was concentrating he had seen her do this before while training. 'she must really love this if she's been working all day' Jet thought as he let his view move around the classroom to where he could see what looked like the controlled flame of a firebender. Jet stiffened and his smile dropped when he took in Zuko, who though working quite diligently was also watching Tess with a look of admiration and a slight sheepish smile on his face. Jet decided it was time to drop in on them at last.

In through the window came Jet "Hey" he said as he moved next to the Tess.

"Hi'ya" she said looking up at Jet who looked down at her with a striking smile, she blushed and smiled visually swooning, "what are y-oh" she realized why he would be there; she had forgotten that she that she would hangout today. "I'm sorry I forgot I had to actually communicate with people and that I changed what I had planned or I mean what I normally do, this, to hang with you" she sputtered on nervously. Both Jet and Zuko watched her as she struggled with her words. 'Ridiculously cute' Jet thought as he reached his hand down to Tess's Cheek, "It's okay" he assured her, "No big deal, I was just worried is all."

"I'm sorry" she apologized again.

"Yeah, I know" he said sweetly bending down and kissing her forehead, Jet had become accustomed to her constant apologizing and found it quite charming. Jet leaned back up and remembered Zuko's presence and stiffened looking in his direction. Zuko had stopped firebending and was staring openly shocked in their direction. Jet and Zuko looked at each other for a few moments sizing each other up. Their body language was stiff and both looked unhappy with the others existence in the universe and in this room.

Tess realized the silence and Jet's expression, she pulled her gaze from Jet to look in the direction he was staring at so intensely; Zuko. Tess remembered her surroundings and quickly called out introductions "Jet this is Zuko, Natalie sent him, and Zuko this is Jet my uh...This is Jet" Tess sputtered out planting another crooked nervous smile on her face.

"We've met" they stated together in monotones while holding eye contact.

"Oh, right" Tess said looking between them. Jet turned to Tess again, "So he's helping you out? That's very nice of him" he said looking slightly at Zuko as he held out the word generous.

"Yeah it was really nice of him. I told him he didn't have to but he insisted" Tess explained looking nicely over at Zuko. Zuko smiled back to her as Jet muttered quietly about how he bet Zuko insisted. The room was full of tension but Tess was too, let's say distracted to notice. She did however notice the clock which read eleven and she looked over to Zuko again, "It's getting pretty late Zuko, I won't make you stay longer, thanks so much for your help" she said.

"No problem, any time" Zuko said to Tess looking as genuine as possible before shooting Jet a look Tess didn't see. Zuko waved and walked through the door leaving Jet and Tess alone, he did this begrudgingly.

Tess bended the clay off her hands and covered her current piece, "I should probably stop now since we have training tomorrow." She put on her satchel and looked up at Jet who she was surprised to see was already looking at her.

"I don't know," he said moving closer to her, "I think it's still pretty early". He moved his arm around her waist and held her against him, using his other hand he guided her chin up. she lifted her arms up and around his neck tangling her fingers in his always messy hair. His lips drew closer to hers.

Bolin was preparing to go to bed when the door to the dorm room slammed closed. He looked up curiously, only to find Zuko stomping about as he pulled of his hoodie and shoes and got ready for bed, Bolin could hear him muttering something under his breath about planes, or something.

"Rough day?" Bolin asked sympathetically.

"Did you know Jet and Tess are dating?" Zuko spat as he tugged his shirt over his head.

"Uh, yeah. Everyone knows..? They're partners in their police training program too. Jet was Natalie's partner last year." Bolin supplied carefully.

"I know that." Zuko groaned as he flopped onto his bed, "But why are they dating?"

Bolin shrugged, shifting his gaze uncomfortably, "I dunno, you can ask them?"

Zuko growled, a plume of fire escaping between his teeth.

"I suppose. Or I could go to Natalie, and she can fix this."

"Um, fix what Zuko you're acting really weird…."