Aang's First Day

The bell rang and Aang charged out of his homeroom. As he searched for his next class, he felt an overwhelming sensation, a combination of nervousness and excitement; not knowing what to expect made him anxious.

The eager boy was so lost in the new sensation that he did not pay attention to where he walked. Without warning, he felt was a push and heard a loud crash, accidentally bumping into someone and sending both of their books crashing to the floor.

"Sorry!" Aang got down and picked up the stranger's books. "I didn't see you…" Aang gasped when he looked up at the taller, (much stronger), older boy that he bumped into. Aang had never felt as small or as weak as when he looked into his fiery eyes. The hideous burn scar on his left eye made Aang feel even more uncomfortable.

"What are you looking at?" The boy asked when he noticed Aang looking at the left half of his face.

"Nothing." Aang said, scared. He looked away.

"I said what are you looking at?" The older boy yelled and stepped on one of Aang's books.

"Look, I'm sorry." Aang ripped the book out from under his heavy foot and tried to walk away.

"Yeah. You better walk away, freshman." The tall boy chucked a ball of paper at Aang's backside.

"Zuko, come on!" A girl yelled out. Aang didn't look back at the scarred upperclassman, but he heard him leave.

The tiny freshman covered his face as some other students laugh at him. Suddenly, Aang didn't know if he liked school or not.

"The bell has rung students. That means you need to stop talking and listen to me." The old teacher closed and locked the door. "My name is Mr. Pakku and I have been given the difficult task of molding your young minds this year. I teach English for each year of students, and philosophy for seniors. If any of you last that long, feel free to choose my class as an elective."

Mr. Pakku had long whiskers hanging under his nose and wrinkled skin, common features of the typical old man. He also had an unpleasant aroma circling the bald spot on the top of his, probably from having his head shoved up his ass for many years. After a life time of living with an elder, Aang wasn't bothered by him but most of his fellow classmates did not seem to care for his strictness.

"Every other Friday you will have a small quiz. There will be four major tests, including the final and mid-term. We will read six books of my choosing, four of which will have book reports. You may choose which books you wish to report on, but keep in mind that the books get progressively more difficult and projects for the sixth book will be graded most strictly."

Mr. Pakku paced around each of his students, keeping an eye out for text messages and iPods. He noticed most of the other students were sleepy and looked bored, but, as a teacher with tenure, he was used to that. Then he saw Aang, who was smiling and listening diligently.

"Not nervous, are you young man?" Mr. Pakku crossed his arms.

"Why would I be?" Aang didn't get scared like Mr. Pakku had expected.

"Do you read a lot?"

"Yes sir." Aang said. Mr. Pakku nearly shouted with joy when he heard Aang say 'sir'. It had been years since a student spoke so respectfully to him…and on the first day of class! But he restrained himself and kept marching in front of the class.

"Not that it will help some of you, but my list of books has already decided. First we will be reading several works by Robert Frost. Then we will be reading Frankenstein and be finished with it just as Halloween rolls around. For Christmas, we will read A Christmas Carol…but I warn you! Don't even try to rent a movie for that novel. I will know. Treasure Island and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer will come after those, and we will finish the semester with Peter Pan. Any questions?"

Aang's hand shot up.

"Yes…what is your name again?"

"Aang sir." Mr. Pakku's heart leapt again when he heard 'sir' for the second time.

"Aang…Aang…Aang." Mr. Pakku repeated his name, knowing he would need to remember it. "What is your question?"

"Should we get the 1818 edition of Frankenstein or the 1831 edition?"

"What?" Mr. Pakku's eyes rose. "You know that there are two versions of that book?"

"Yeah. I've read them…both of them." Aang said with total modesty. He didn't think there was anything unusual with reading just for enjoyment.

"I think you do just fine in here, young man." A smile appeared on Mr. Pakku's face. His smile was a rare phenomenon that freshmen never saw. Aang was unaware of how special it was. "I hope everyone here is as good a student as Aang here…because this class will be graded on a curve."

Aang gulped. Every students on his side of the room gave him a nasty stare. He slouched down to the bottom of his seat and pulled his old cap over his eyes.

Aang didn't see Sokka or Katara all day, not even through lunch period. Everyone was busy on their first day, catching up with old friends and gathering new books from the school library…leaving Aang by alone through lunch. Aang told himself that his tiny appetite was why he left the cafeteria early, but he didn't fool himself.

He sighed as he left the other kids, hearing them laugh loudly. School was not as fun as he hoped it would be.

Aang spun his combination into his locker and put his heavy books away. He looked down, a little sad, and saw two sneakers next to his own. Aang closed his locked and… "Ah!" He jumped back startled. The large boy with the ugly scar was waiting for him behind his locker.

"There you go looking at my scar again." He slammed Aang's locker closed and took two giant steps towards him.

"I wasn't…" Aang nearly tripped over his own feet. "…I wasn't looking at your scar." He told the truth.

"I don't like you looking at me at all!" Zuko cracked his knuckles.

"I don't want any trouble." Aang felt his back touch the wall.

"Too bad. You got trouble." Zuko grabbed Aang by his shirt and lifted him off his feet.

"HEY! DROP HIM!" Zuko looked to his right and saw a tiny, tomboyish girl in green run towards him.

"Hi Toph." Aang whispered. His shirt collar was chocking him and he could do anything but muster out two weak words.

"Buzz off pip-squeak." Zuko said and looked back at Aang, completely underestimating Toph. "Someone's gotta teach this dork a lesson. AAAAHHH!" Zuko didn't know what happened. He just felt a sharp pain in his thumb as it was pulled backwards and towards the ground. Aang dropped and landed back onto his feet.

"That dork is my friend, Scarface. And if I ever see your hands on him again, I'm gonna shove my foot so far up your ass you'll be chewing on my shoes." Toph chopped him on the side of his throat and Zuko slammed to the ground with a loud THUD.

"Thanks." Aang said, rubbing his throat.

"Yeah. No problem." Toph patted him on his shoulder. She stepped on Zuko's hand one more time and heard him screech in pain. "Let get out of here before a teacher catches us." Toph started running. Aang looked down at Zuko, who shot a threatening look back at him, and then ran after Toph.

"I mean it." Aang said to her. "Thanks."

"Yeah, yeah. I'll see ya on the bus." Toph shrugged off his praise.

To Be Continued