Chapter 3: School

Any Lower Ring Ba Sing Se resident under the age of ten must be enrolled in a schooling program or enroll in mandatory volunteer community service.

-Dai Li Ordinance #765

Lee awoke just a few moments before dawn. Even without his unfailing inability to keep his eyes shut when he felt the sun's warmth on him, the existential dread kept him from any sort of good rest. He buried his face in his palms and seriously considered faking an illness, pointless as that may be since Lee was such a poor liar.

Dinner with Jin had actually been nice the previous night. Her enthusiasm had brought life back into the household for the first time since they found out about their move to the Lower Ring. Although Lee had been mostly ignored while Jin and his father gushed about their shared love, Lee wouldn't trade his father's first genuine smile in quite a while for anything in the world.

The lively meal could only keep him distracted for so long and now there was no more denying his situation as reality. Not even bothering to draw the thin curtains, Lee rubbed at his eyes before slowly getting dressed in the dark. A large wardrobe of nice clothes had been one of the first non-essentials they sacrificed in their old lives, so Lee was left with only a small selection of overly itchy cotton pants and shirts to choose from.

The smell of breakfast wafted through the cracks of his door just as he finished tying his hair back. Lee forced himself through the door and sat at the table without a word to his father.

"Good morning to you too, sunshine." His father's good-hearted teasing would normally at least cause Lee to crack a smile, but not on today.

Lee only grunted in response, deliberately not responding for fear of his bad mood souring his words. He knew that this situation wasn't his father's fault; Lee didn't want to lump any more guilt onto him.

Breakfast was a predictably muted affair compared to their previous meal. The pair didn't exchange many words, although that wasn't for lack of trying from Rui. Lee dragged out eating the small bowl of porridge, but it was only a matter of time before his father said those dreaded words.

"Time for you to go to school." Rui rushed his son out the door with all the practiced skills of a parent.

"Hey, Lee!" Jin was waiting just a few feet from the front door, having promised to walk together to school so he wouldn't get lost on his first day. She and his father exchanged a friendly wave and they were off.

The walk to school was much like every other walk Lee was having in the Lower Ring: confusing and filled to the brim with far too many people. Jin navigated through the crowds with such ease, even though none of the other citizens seemed to notice the two short school children. When they weren't squeezing between two people, Jin filled the time talking about how excited she was for Lee to be joining her at school.

Finally, they arrived at the place from Lee's nightmares. The building was not much bigger than any other shop dotting the streets and the only indication that it was a school were the children flocking inside. Not to mention it shared the same uninspired design that ran through the Lower Ring like a plague. Bland stone walls, wooden shutters, and a roof with probably more missing tiles than not.

"Here we are." Jin opened her arms wide as she smiled even more brightly. "You think you'll be able to find your way home this afternoon?"

Lee's eyes widened, he realized how little he had been paying attention on the long walk over. "Uh-"

"Don't worry about it." She cut him off. "I can walk you home as well. Let's head inside."

Lee's first day at school had actually been going pretty well. His teacher, whose name slipped Lee's memory the second he heard it, was having the class run through some rudimentary arithmetic that Lee had already learned about in a previous year. In fact, all the material was something he had already been taught at his previous school.

Rather than waste his time on something he already knew, Lee spent most of his class time daydreaming and looking over his classmates. Most were in a similar form of disinterest while a much small number, including Jin, took down meticulous notes about anything the teacher droned on about it. This lack of attention would have earned Lee a lashing at his old school, but here he was merely one of many.

It couldn't all be good though. The classroom, which wasn't much bigger than his kitchen, was packed wall to wall with students. Lee's jaw dropped when Jin told him nearly every district in the Lower Ring had its own school to help prevent overcrowding. They didn't even switch classrooms for each subject, instead the students were separated by something as trivial as age. No advanced placements, no extracurricular activities, no outdoors time, just sit at the desk with the other ten-year-old children and do your best to learn something.

Even worse was every time he caught the eye of one of the kids he'd fought with the previous day, they'd glare at him. Lee was sure things would be turning ugly again soon.

His mind wandering the entire day, Lee didn't hear the teacher dismiss the class by mid-afternoon. Jin walked over to his desk and stared down at him with a smirk.

"Anybody home?" She teased and knocked on his desk.

Lee finally took notice of the other students leaving the classroom and shook his head. He gave Jin a sheepish smile. "Sorry, let's go."

With school releasing a few hours before most Lower Ring citizens left work, their walk home was much less crowded. The streets were still packed, but two people could at least walk side by side without too much trouble.

Jin was being unusually quiet so Lee let his mind wander once more. He had gotten through the first day of school easily enough, but he knew that he could only take the tedium of it for so long. He gave serious thought to skipping class in the future, but the only time his teacher actually paid attention to the students was of course the attendance roll call.

"Can I ask you something?" Jin's question brought him back to the dirt packed road. For the first time in the short time since they had met, Jin sounded unsure of herself.

Lee did his best to disregard the wariness he felt at Jin's words. He was still quite not accustomed to someone other than his father actually talking to him this much. He nodded his head in confirmation and she gave a nervous smile.

"Um… don't take this the wrong way, but… um…"

Lee rolled his eyes as she struggled. "Just spit it out, Jin."

She blew out a deep breath to steady herself before trying again. "It's just, your father is a famous artist and I guess I'm a little surprised you guys are living in the Lower Ring."

Lee stopped dead in his tracks; he knew he should've seen this coming by now. Still, he had been expecting a comment like this from those jerks at the park. Coming from Jin made it hurt even more.

Jin's eyes widened as she observed Lee's reaction; instantly realizing her mistake. "Lee, I'm sorry! I was-"

Whatever she was going to say died in the wind as Lee brushed passed her shoulder roughly and continued his walk home by himself. It was a small gift that his father wasn't home, allowing Lee to wallow alone in his room for the rest of the night.

She was certainly a persistent girl. Lee frowned deeply when he opened the front door to see Jin leaning against a wall across the street. Her drooped head a clear sign of just how long she had been waiting. When they made eye contact Jin flashed him a slight grin, but Lee immediately turned to begin walking down the street without a word.

Jin jogged to catch up to him and fell in line with his fast pace. "Come on, Lee. Can you just wait one second?"

Her incessant tugging at his arm finally got him to stop and with a dramatic sigh he faced her. "What?"

Jin took a deep breath before her eyes dropped to the ground. "I want to apologize for what I said yesterday, it was very insensitive of me. Can we start over as friends?" She met his still icy gaze with a hopeful look of her own, as if his acceptance would make or break her entire life.

Lee noticed Jin's olive green eyes for the first time in that moment. They may have matched several other Earth Kingdom citizens in shade, but he could search through all of Ba Sing Se and not find another pair of eyes that shone in the light quite like hers. Jin wore her emotions on her face, and her eyes told Lee just how sincere she was.

"Sure." He extended a palm that she happily shook in turn. "I'm sorry for the way I acted as well."

With that the pair of them took off for school once more, both too preoccupied with their thoughts to speak.

Lee couldn't quite comprehend why Jin had apologized. Her question may have been a bit hurtful, but he could easily understand her natural curiosity. For some strange reason, he even felt the urge to satisfy that curiosity.

"His art stopped selling."

Jin had been humming, but stopped and looked at him with a perplexed expression. "Your father's?"

Lee nodded his head. "Yeah, that's why we had to move."

Jin didn't press any further and Lee silently thanked her for that. The admission made him feel lighter, even if it was only a half truth.