Scandals (ZUTARA)

Chapter 15 : Sokka 🗡| Halloween

"Did we have to go trick-or-treating?" I ask as Toph drags him past Roku Bridge. "I'm nearly 17!"

"Trick-or treating is fun!" Suki says, chewing on one of the many sweets we received during our trip. 

She's dressed up as black cat, Zuko a vampire and Toph a witch. I have the worst costume because I don't even know what I am. A skeleton thing I guess?

"Hey Zuko, when's your birthday?" Suki asks randomly.

Zuko turns to me in response."April. What about you?" he asks, struggling to speak with his fake vampire teeth. April? How is he younger than me?

"December," Suki replies casually before freezing.

"What is it?" I ask, panicking.

Suki ignores me and continues to stare at the house infront of us. "This is where Luerah's family live and they give out the best chocolate bars!" she says, running towards it.

"Luerah's house it is then," Toph chuckles, and  Zuko knocks on the door. An unamused grey-haired women opens the door painfully slow. "Trick or treat?" Toph says cutely.

"Sweetie, there are some creepy kids here asking for sweets," the lady calls her husband and Toph's smile fades away.

A short man, supposedly from the Northern water-tribe, comes to the door holding a plastic bag. It's contents, unknown. "Pick one, but only one," he tells Toph and she gives him a rather nasty look.

Hesitating, Toph dumps her hand in and picks out a cocoa puff. "Uh, thanks?" she says and then stuffs it in her mouth. She turns to us and shakes her head.

"Is it that bad?" I ask and she nods.

"Have a good day," the man says, slamming the door in our faces. When we're a bit further down the street, I hear the lady yelling at her husband.

"Why did you tell them to have a good day? Now Kyoshi is going to curse us!" I overhear her yell.

"People like them are the reason my family regret Kyoshi," Suki tells Zuko and he sniggers.

"Suki, I thought you said they had chocolate!" she barks, spitting the cocoa puff she had in her mouth onto the floor.

"I did, but, that wasn't Luerah's house," Suki says, hesitating. "I think she moved house."

"SUKI!" Toph whines, throwing the rest of her cocoa puff into a passing bin. "You should have told me before I put that sh*t in my mouth."

"Sorry, I forgot," Suki apologises.

"No problem," Toph says rather quietly before turning to Zuko. "I heard Nulak say something about a HALLOWEEN PARTY!  Should we go?"

"You better be joking!" I exclaim, and Toph frowns. "Nulak sucks and besides, Yue will defo be there."

"I think this is the perfect opportunity for you to fix things with Yue," Suki advises. "Please."

"Okay," I give in. "But you guys owe me!"

🗡

"Fancy seeing you guys here," Nulak says as we enter his house. It's beautiful, just like Yue's palace, but smaller in size. The inside of Nulak's house is decorated with fake cobwebs and spiders, caution tape and real coffins. I'm impressed. I didn't think Nulak would be the kind of guy to buy Halloween decorations, let alone put them up.

"Nice party," I compliment.

"Thanks," Nulak replies, handing me a plastic red cup. "You drink?"

 I shake my head but Zuko nods and chugs the liquid down until there's nothing but a drop of whisky in the cup. "Do you have cactus juice?" I ask and Suki snorts.

"Sokka you can't have Cactus Juice, it makes you drunk!" she exaggerates and Zuko laughs. I give Suki a look.

"You got drunk from Cactus Juice?" Nulak cackles. "No wonder Yue broke up with you."

Immediately, Suki's mouth drops open and Zuko stops laughing. "WHAT DID YOU SAY?" Zuko asks threateningly, shaking Nulak by his shirt.

"Zuko, calm down," Suki hisses before turning to Nulak,"Sorry about him."

I turn to Toph who hasn't said anything since we arrived. "Nulak," she begins. He leans in and nods. "Keep your shitty thoughts to yourself," she snaps and Nulak gapes at her in shock

"You were amazing Toph," Suki says as we walk out of the reception and into the heart of the party. It's dark but the room is lit by a large crystal disco ball that hangs from the ceiling. There are people everywhere there's almost no room to walk.

"Thank you," Toph replies. "It's not like he could say anything back to me with a house 4 times smaller than mine.

"Is that what powers you?" I ask curiously. 

"What do you mean?" Toph asks cluelessly.

"Both of you aren't afraid to be mean, but I didn't realise it was because of your wealth till now," I explain.

"I wouldn't say mean," Toph cuts in. "More like being honest."

Suki bites her lip, almost jealous of Toph and Zuko. Though they are from prominently rich families, she has no reason to be envious of them. Her mother's father is the Mayor of Kyoshi, and her her father's great grandmother is Koko, Avatar Kyoshi's daughter, making Suki  Avatar Kyoshi's great, great, great granddaughter, and the next Mayor of Kyoshi is her older sister choses not to be. 

"Sokka, there's Yue!" Suki exclaims all of a sudden, pushing me into a coffin.

I hit my head on the wood and wince from the pain. "Oops," Suki giggles. "That was not meant to happen."

"That hurt!"I say but then when I stumble into Yue and I freeze.

"Oh, hey Sokka," she says. "What are you doing here?"

I scratch my head, trying to think of a response. "Uh, nothing."

"Okay well, I'll see you around I guess," Yue says, turning away.

"Wait!" I say rather dramatically. "Please." I grab hold of her wrist.

Yue raises her eyebrows, shocked. "Yes Sokka?" she says, her voice rough.

"I'm sorry," I say. "I never meant to hurt your feelings. The reason why I can't be with you, is because you're too good for me. You have a bright future ahead of you, and I didn't want to ruin it. Please stay."

"Thank you for, all of that, but I changed my mind ages ago. I'm not going anywhere," Yue chuckles to my surprise. 

"How?"

"Hahn convinced me," Yue says airily. "But thank you for being so supportive Sokka, especially when you're going through something worse."

"What?" I give her a baffled look.

"Loosing friends can be hard. I mean, I don't know what it feels like, but I can only imagine that it's a traumatising experience. I hope you and Suki can-"

"Actually, me and Suki are friends again," I snap. "So your sympathy is not needed."

"Ok," Yue says shortly.

"What do you mean by ok?"  I ask furiously. 

"That's enough Sokka," Suki interrupts. "Let's go. Clearly this party is for losers."