Four Elements High School: Junior Year

Chapter 2: The Second First Day

Katara and Sokka's dad was back, which meant that they actually had a car. The pickup truck slowly rolled out of the driveway, and Sokka was much more cautious than when he usually drove, probably because it was Hakoda's.

"Pull up in front of Aang's house when we get there," Katara said, "We should give him a ride."

"Whatever you say, sis," Sokka said, rolling his eyes. 

"So what colleges are you applying to?" Katara asked, "Besides Kyoshi University I mean."

"Crescent City is where Dad went," Sokka said, "And Omashu is a good engineering school." Katara nodded absentmindedly. She didn't know why she even asked. It made her feel queasy to think that Sokka would be leaving in a year, most likely many miles away...

"I think that's Aang over there," Sokka said. Katara looked out the window. It was! Aang was still wearing the usual baggy orange sweatshirt, jeans, and vermillion hat with the arrow down the middle. And Appa was still by his side, but Aang had gotten a little taller, and his hair had grown out a bit, so it sort of stuck out from under his hat. It was really cute. Wasting no time, Katara jumped out of the car and enveloped him in a hug.

"It's so good to see you sweetie," Aang said.

"It's good to see you sweetie." Sokka's face soured.

"Oh, oh no," he said as Aang and Katara climbed back into the pickup truck, "I'm going to have to deal with this all year aren't I?" Neither of them denied it. Sokka continued down the road towards Four Elements High School, frowning, all while Aang and Katara chattered on about their summers. When he parked across the street from the school, Sokka literally sprinted outside.

"Where's Toph?" he said anxiously, "I can't deal with you two." 

"I don't see her," Katara said, "We've been talking on the phone non-stop for the whole summer, but last week she just stopped."

"That's really weird," Aang agreed.

"Found her," Sokka pointed over to the courtyard, where Toph was talking with her parents. She was wearing a very impractical white dress, and her hair was down. When she "saw" them, she gave them a death glare and gestured for them to go away. 

"I guess we should go get our schedules then," Katara said. The three of them walked toward the bending specific building, where the main offices were, and stepped inside. They expected June to be sitting behind the desk, but what they got instead was an elderly woman wearing a little too much makeup and a high opinion of herself.

"Where's June?" Katara asked hesitantly. 

"She got fired," the woman said flatly, "She had a tattoo of some explicit song lyrics on her arm, and the staff found out. My name is Aunt Wu, her replacement. I just moved here with my granddaughter. What can I do for you?" 

"We need our schedules," Sokka said, tapping his foot impatiently.

"Of course, of course." After a few minutes, all three of them had a piece of paper in their hands. 

"There is something seriously wrong with that lady," Sokka said.

"She just lives a different lifestyle," Katara said, "I think I've seen her telling fortunes at the Four Nations Farmers Market," her eyes widened, "Aang, we should go have our fortunes told."

"Uh, sure," Aang said. Sokka rolled his eyes. Katara took Aang's schedule and compared it to hers. 

"Well, we have waterbending together again," she said, "you're taking the level 3 class, right?" Aang nodded, "but I don't think we have any other classes together."

"It's okay," Aang said, although he was disappointed too, "At least we'll have student government starting on Thursday."

"Oh yeah!" Katara said brightly, "I had this great idea to start a tutoring program, and-"

"Hold up! You're still doing that?!" Sokka said hysterically. Aang and Katara glanced at each other.

"Yeah..." they said hesitantly. 

"Bu- But, is Azula still doing it?" They glanced at each other again.

"I'm actually not sure," Katara said, "It might just be me and Aang." 

"Hi!!!" Ty Lee flounced over to them, "Katara, you and Aang are doing student government, right?"

"Of course," Aang said, "is Azula doing it?" Ty Lee didn't answer, because she saw Appa sprawled out on the grass.

"Puppy!!!" she screeched, running over to Appa.

"I guess... we'll find out on Thursday," Katara said with a sigh. 

~~~

Toph stood in the changing rooms next to the pool in the bending specific building. After a few minutes, she had managed to get out of the constricting white dress her parents had forced her to wear, and into some sweats and a tank top.  Now she was stuffing the dress into her backpack, and it took up a surprising amount of space, especially considering how light and cloud-like the fabric looked. Once she was finally able to zip up her backpack, Toph threw it to the ground and let out a sigh that she had been holding all morning. She could hear voices and conversation coming from the pool. She was late to class, and as her parents had said, she would need straight A's if she was to earn her place at Four Elements High School. Toph clenched her jaw and quickly pulled her long hair into a messy bun. Her mother had never let her cut it. Then, in an act of anger, slammed her fist into the metal sink of the changing room. After a moment, she realized that there was a huge dent from where she had made contact, almost as if she had bent metal. 

But that's impossible. Toph bit her lip, and a little scared from what had just happened, she hurried out of the changing room and toward her first class, physical science. It was the only advanced class that she was taking, and one of the only classes that she was excited for, particularly the geology portion. 

"The boulder will now teach this class about rocks and other interesting subjects." Toph stepped quietly into the classroom, and saw Katara sitting in the front row. She quickly sat down next to her as the Boulder began taking attendance. 

"Hi Toph," Katara whispered, then after noticing that she wasn't in her white dress, "What was going on with your parents?"

"Oh, you know, just the standard, rich, controlling parent stuff," Toph said, brushing it off, "They want me to wear impractical clothes, get straight A's, they're constantly doting on me 'cause I'm blind." Katara did not seem convinced.

"Why don't you just tell them about your earthbending?" she asked.

Because they'd ship me off to Ba Sing Se High School without a second thought, and I'd never see you guys again. 

"Don't worry about it, Sweetness," Toph said instead. 

No one needs to worry about me. 

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I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I have tons of ideas for this book and it will probably end up being longer than the first one.