Fire Academy

Chapter 3

After heading into the classroom, Aang naturally took a seat next to Katara. As he did this however, the young waterbender could see the threatening glare Wen Li captivated her with, making her a little more than uneasy. The perky fire nation girl sat two seats down from Aang, an empty seat between the two, and to the left of her own friend.

"You know she's staring at you, right?" Aang suddenly whispered to her. Katara rolled her eyes and smirked.

"Let her stare. I'll get her to back off sooner or later."

Aang furrowed his brow.

"What do you mean?" he asked, although her comment was more to herself than him.

Katara hesitated. "Uh... she's just a little obsessive, you know? She wont let it go and it'll get annoying after awhile... You have a lot to think about right now, and her doing this just makes it a lot harder on you."

She listened to Aang chuckle as the teacher walked into the room.

She was an older woman, probably in her mid to late fifties, with black hair pulled neatly into a bun. Her eyes were brown, almost metallic in appearance, and her face had smooth features. It seemed that she wore no makeup other than the deep red on her thin lips. She wore a tidy black and grey outfit, along with a dark grey tie standing out on the lighter shade. Also accompanying her clothes was the black tote bag she pressed tight to her side, strangling it and leaving marks in it's leathery structure.

"Good morning, class," she said, her voice eerily echoing off the walls.

The whole class, other than the Avatar and his friends, all replied in unison.

"Good morning, Mrs. Shon."

Everyone evidently knew what to do, since they took their books out. The four newcomers followed suit soon after.

"Katara... I can't read," Toph said in a whiny voice from the left of her.

Katara nodded and hesitantly raised her hand. Their teacher approached with short, quick strides.

"Yes?" she asked tentatively, raising an eyebrow at the blue-eyed girl before her.

The sound of her voice gave Katara chills and she gulped deeply. Everything about the Fire Nation always seemed so... frightening.

"You see," Katara explained lightly, "my friend here is blind and can't-"

"Read it to her!" Mrs. Shon replied in aggravation, slamming a ruler than seemingly came out of nowhere onto the desk before her. Katara winced and nodded sourly as the other woman headed back over to her desk.

Katara, still a little shaken up, noticed as Wen Li departed from her seat and skipped contentedly over to the teachers desk. Mrs. Shon was unpacking her small bag, and as Katara peered at it, she was amazed it held as much as it did. Wen Li spoke quietly to the elder woman, who shrugged and nodded vaguely.

Wen Li walked, or more so, pranced, towards the door, twisting the handle slowly. Katara watched as she stopped momentarily and looked somewhere at the right of Katara, winking and abruptly making her way out the door. The disguised waterbender then brought Aang into view, who hand his arms under the desk and his lips slightly parted, a look of deep and utter confusion on his face.

Katara did not like this at all.

She adjusted herself in her seat, still peering at Aang as if in a trance, before Toph's voice broke the silence.

"Hello? Earth to Katara!" she hissed quietly, making sure Katara was the only one to hear it.

"S-sorry."

Toph simply rolled her pale green eyes and looked down at her closed book with a blank stare, waiting for her friend to begin reading.

Katara stole one more glace at Aang. He was looking at her in return, but promptly darted his eyes away, causing both of them to blush. Toph sighed over dramatically and asked Sokka for help instead, making Katara relieved she could focus on more... intriguing things.

Katara glanced around the room, looking at people who had partnered up and were answering questions from the textbook. The room was at a controlled level of sound, allowing all to talk as pleased. She quickly, but softly scooted her chair closer to Aang, trying to be as quiet as possible.

"Wha-What are you doing?" he asked apprehensively.

She stared at him with a kind smile on her face as she connected her desk with Aang's. He looked down at her hand as it made it's way to his book and noted the page he was on.

"You're going to be my partner."

She watched him smile.

"What?" she asked, a small giggle trying to escape. Katara then flipped to the same page as her 'boyfriend'.

"Nothing." Katara looked at him with a tiny frown on her face.

"C'mon, you can tell me."

He shook his head softly.

"Why do you think I have anything to-to talk about?"

"Because-" she cut herself off as Wen Li entered the room once again. She strode back to her seat, and as she did so, something popped into Katara's mind. Before she could even ponder it, it came out.

"Because I love you, Kuzon."

Katara looked from Aang's shell-shocked face to Wen Li as she whipped her head around and choked on her own oxygen. She then focused on Aang again.

He blinked wildly a few times, followed by him rubbing his eyes as if in disbelief. After coming to a conclusion that what just happened was real, phony or not, a satisfied smile played across Aang's features.

"I love you too, Tara."