Scandals (ZUTARA)

Chapter 41 : Yarla 🌪 | Uh Oh

Yarla was getting ready for school when Aang crept into her room. 

"I need your help sneaking into school," he begged her, and Yarla could see the desperation in his eyes  through the reflection of her mirror. 

"Aang, we could get told off," Yarla told him honestly."Besides, school's not exactly a 5 minute walk from here. We need to take a metro, and Monk Gyatso always supervises us. 

"What if we take a boat to school?" Aang suggested. "Kat will take us. She water-bends to school."

"Isn't that illegal?" asked Yarla, making her way downstairs for breakfast. 

"Yeah. She leaves her house super early so parents don't know. Katara secretly crosses the river and hangs around town until it's time for school. Isn't she a genius?" Aang grinned.

Yarla smiled in return. If she didn't have a crush on Zuko, she solemnly believed she and Kat could be good friends.

 🌪

Kat's boat was teeny, and she did a sh*t job at avoiding the giant rocks in the river, but somehow the three of them managed to get to school in one piece. It was 8, so they still had plenty of time till school began.

"What do you wanna do?" Katara asked. "Ba Sing Se Mall is pretty fun?"

"Let's go there then," Yarla said, even though the Peasant Market was her favourite place. The shopping mall had curved walls that formed the water tribe symbol, but you wouldn't know that unless you looked from above. Stalls of antiques, vintage clothes and marshmallows were stacked around the building and a huge glass room was located at the top.

Yarla had been to Ba Sing Se Mall with Suki multiple times, so when she saw Suki and Meelu there, she became insanely jealous.

"Should we get some bubble tea?" Aang asked as they approached the local book shop.

"There's Suki! I'm gonna go say hi, but the two of you can go get bubble tea if you'd like," Katara said apologetically.

Suddenly Yarla's phone began ringing was ringing, and anxiety pulsed through her veins.   "Aang, it's Monk Gyatso, what do I do?"

Immediately Aang's face turned pale as paper. He knew this was bound to happen, but for some reason he was very shocked.

"Don't pick up!"

"I have to. Just tell me what to say," Yarla hissed as they reached the front of the bubble tea  queue.

"May I take your order please?" the barista behind the counter asked sweetly.

"Can we have 2 mango fruit teas with passion-fruit bubbles?" Aang ordered, putting on a toothy smile.

After they'd paid, the ringing had finally stopped. "Should I call him back?"

"Tell him you're in an exam and can't take his call right now," Aang poorly advised.

"What should I say if he asks about you?" Yarla asked sensibly.

 "Say I'm asleep."

"Aang, he's going to find out we're lying!" Yarla pressed.

"Just, give me your phone," Aang snatched Yarla's phone and started typing furiously. 

"Yarla": hey Gyatso, I'm at a very important exam right now and can not take your call.

Gyatso: do you know where Aang is?

"Yarla": he should be asleep.

Gyatso: I'm afraid he's missing.

"Yarla": really? I didn't know.

Gyatso: Yarla, come home NOW. we need to talk.

Aang's smile fell immediately. "Yarla, I'm really sorry, but I think I just exposed us," he said guiltily. When Yarla saw the messages Aang had sent, she panicked.

"Aang, I could be sent home!" she hissed angrily. "This is really bad."

"What's wrong?" Kat asked, approaching the two with Suki and Meelu by her side.

"Nothing," Yarla fibbed. "I think we should start walking to school now."

"It's 8:15," Meelu pointed out. "School doesn't start till 8:30."

"Exactly, that means we only have 15 minutes to walk there!" Yarla exclaimed.

"Are you okay, Yarla? You seem really stressed," Suki asked, concerned. 

"I'm fine," Yarla replied, turning towards the exit.

"Excuse me, you forgot to take your order!" the barista from earlier says, running towards them with two plastic cups of bubble tea.

"Thank you," Yarla said quietly, flushing red. She was a mess.