Student Joy and Wellness Club – ch 2

Katara was nervous and antsy all through her shift at the tutoring center. It was two days since the Ty Lee Event, as she had taken to calling it in her head, and she was meeting Zuko after work in an effort to 'hang out and not get accosted by crazy people', as he had suggested. The minute hand on the large clock on the wall was making its slow way round and round, creeping ever closer to 4:30 and freedom.

Finally it was up, and she bid her tutee a hurried good afternoon and made a break for it. Maybe if she was really lucky—

"Katara, come into my office for a second please."

Nope. She'd been caught by Zhao after all. Dang it!

She turned and went meekly into the Student Assistance Coordinator's office, avoiding looking at the man's douchy, mutton-chopped face.

"Yes sir?"

"Katara, I'm a little concerned about you."

I doubt it. "Why, sir?"

"You've seemed distracted in your tutoring sessions these past few days. Is everything going alright in school? Your personal life?"

She looked up at him sharply to see that his eyes were fastened on her chest. "My personal life is fine, sir." And personal, you icky, creepy, douchy piece of—

"That's good to hear. But you know if anything should be bothering you, you can always come to me, and we can… come to an arrangement."

Katara's scalp rolled over. You sleazy, opportunist, ugly—! "I'll bear that in mind. May I go, sir?"

"Yes… do remember what I said though, hm?"

She resisted gagging. "Yessir, thankyousir, goodbyesir." She nearly sprinted out of the building. Her interactions with Zhao always made her feel like she needed a disinfectant bath, but this was something else again. If he meant what she thought he did…well, that was downright illegal!

She took a deep breath and leaned against a wall. She felt like a big, oily snowplow had just run her over, and that was not a good state to be in when she was on her way to a date… thing. She pulled out her compact and retouched her makeup and hair. Then she took three deep calming breaths, smiled brightly, and started walking towards the southwest gate that led from the University campus right into the downtown shopping district.

They tea shop they had decided on was a quick five minute walk away, and she focused on the budding trees and bustling pedestrians rather than the disgusting conversation she'd just suffered through. It really was a beautiful day. Spring was finally breaking winter's solemn grip, and the world was coming back to life. Even though winter was by far her favorite season, it was always exciting to see spring return.

The tea shop was a well situated building on the corner of Magnolia Street and Sixth Avenue. A large sign above the door proclaimed it to be The Jasmine Dragon. She'd never been inside, but she had heard it was excellent. She took one last second to check her reflection, then crossed the street and went inside.

It smelled delicious. Natural light flooded the space from two-story tall windows behind her, and waiters in green aprons moved between tables of happy customers. She peered around for Zuko, wondering if she was accidentally early. Oh, there he was, at a small round table along the back wall, speaking animatedly into his cell phone. She moved towards him cautiously, balanced between not wanting to interrupt what looked like an important conversation and knowing that he was actually there to meet her.

He looked up and saw her when she was close, and waved and mouthed 'sorry' while pointing at his phone. Thus reassured, she took the seat across from his and got her purse and jacket situated while he wrapped the conversation up.

"Yeah, I know you're—yes, but—ok, look, I have to go. I'm meeting someone. Can I call you tonight or something? Well, after that? No, I can't talk now! Well, I mean—ok, fine, whatever. Bye. Bye." He ended the call with an exasperated sigh and slid the phone into his pocket. "Sorry," he said, looking honestly contrite. "My dad picks the worst times to call."

"It's fine," she reassured him. "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, just my dad being an… himself. Don't worry about it. Um. How are you?"

"Uh. Good." Except for the last 20 minutes, she mentally added. But that wouldn't be a good thing to mention: she'd look like one of those whiny girls who expected guys to fix all their problems. "Really good. I had my Bio Chem class, and work, and now I'm here, so yeah, good. How about you?"

"Also, uh, good." He rubbed the back of his neck and didn't quite look at her. "Really good. I didn't have class, but I, uh, did some homework and stuff…"

The following silence was extraordinarily strained. Zuko twiddled his thumbs. Katara examined some abstract art hung above their table. What should I say? she thought desperately. Should I bring up the Ty Lee Event? No, that would be stupid. Should I ask what he and his dad were talking about? No, that's totally nosy! Damn it! It's been like twenty seconds!

Just then, the waiter arrived, and she breathed an inward sigh of relief.

"May I take your order?" the man asked pleasantly.

"Spicy chai," Zuko said swiftly, obviously glad of a distraction as well.

"Green, please," Katara added.

"Just a moment then." And the waiter left, trailing awkward silence behind him like a cape. After another few moments of torture, Katara decided to take a gamble.

"Did we both have really terrible days and don't want to admit it on the first date?"

Zuko looked startled, but then extremely relieved. "God, yes," he groaned, plopping his forehead down on his crossed arms on the table.

"Thank goodness!" Katara exclaimed. "Quick, five words: why?"

"I-really-hate-my-dad," was the muffled response.

"I really hate my boss," she returned.

He raised his head and gave a tiny little smile. Her heart fluttered. "I haven't picked a major."

"My friend stole my hairbrush."

"I don't have any friends."

"My brother's in a frat."

"My sister might as well be. Wait, that was six…"

"Ha ha ha! Um… Five pages, Monday, haven't started."

"Ten pages, tomorrow, don't care."

"I like your tea choice." Katara was flat-out beaming by now. Zuko's eyes were the same glimmering gold as before, and now there was no awkwardness in holding his gaze.

"I like you." Ok, now there was a little. She blushed hotly. "I'm glad Crazy Pink Girl sat down with us."

"Me too," she admitted bravely. She was never this bold with guys, and it was oddly exhilarating. Especially because she was telling the truth: she really did like Zuko.

Upon hearing her response, he gave the sexiest little half-smirk she'd ever seen in her life, and leaned his cheek on his fist. "So you hate your boss, huh?"

She rolled her eyes. "Soooo much. God, he's a sleaze-bag. I think he tried to make a pass at me right before I came down here."

Zuko looked appropriately disgusted. "How old is this guy?"

"Like, fifty or something? Too old, in any case, even if he weren't my direct employer."

"Yeah, that's… super sketchy, actually. Can you report him?"

"Not just for what he's done, I don't think." There was a beat of mutual discomfort. Katara sighed. "So you hate your dad, huh?" she mimicked his earlier question.

"You don't even know," he sighed. "When you came in, he had just called to bug me about my major. Like 'you know who's paying your tuition, don't you? Do you want a good place in the world when you graduate?' Shit like that. It's such a pain: Dad wants me to major in Business and minor in Engineering, my uncle wants me to do Philosophy and Classic Literature, my advisor got the idea that I'm destined for linguistics and I don't even know how…" He ran an agitated hand through his hair, and Katara noticed how think and dark it was, like strands of black silk hanging down in front of those gorgeous eyes of his…

Snap out of it, Katara! He's sharing important stuff here!

"That sucks," she supplied eloquently.

"Yeah," he agreed. "I thought I'd finally get away from him when I got to college, but he's actually more communicative and domineering than when I was at home."

"I can't imagine my dad trying to dictate what I should study," she said after a moment. "I guess I am on a nearly full ride, so he doesn't have much to do with it, but still…"

"Wow, full ride." He sounded impressed, and she blushed again. "What for?"

"Merit-based, and need. My brother too. We live with our grandma since Dad went on tour."

"Not your mother?" She heard the hesitance, and that's what decided her on the truth. Usually she just said 'it's a long story' and left it at that.

She stared at the tabletop, focusing on not tearing up, and made it as succinct as possible. "She died when I was eight. House fire."

"God, I'm sorry…" Zuko breathed.

"Yeah." The agreement was heavy. "My high school graduation was her ten-year memorial day. How's that for…" She sighed gustily. "Well."

Just then their tea arrived, dispelling the somber atmosphere and allowing her to take the moments required to arrange the leaf dish and a napkin to compose her emotions. The only other first date she'd been on, back in 11th grade, had definitely not been this hard-hitting.

Soon they were stirring their drinks in meditative quiet and Katara was casting around for a different—and more lighthearted—topic of conversation.

"Makes me feel dumb for angsting about my situation all this time," Zuko said before she could bring up the nice weather outside (which would have been really stupid, she knew). He was staring at his teacup, reminiscent of how she'd been examining the tabletop before. His expression was tight and closed, and his fingers curled around the cup as if it were something both precious and disgusting.

"I didn't mean to bring up bad things…" she said awkwardly.

"No, it's fine." He dismissed her concern with a flick of his head. "I started it, after all." A pause of two breaths. Zuko took a sip of tea. Katara followed suit, watching him carefully the whole time. "My mom left us when I was eleven. Middle of the night one Wednesday. Not a whisper since."

"That's terrible. You have no idea why?"

"I know why she left," he scoffed. "If I had to be married to my dad, I'd have done it years earlier. I just don't know why she…"

"Didn't take you too?" Katara inferred as the silence trailed longer.

He nodded mutely, and she gave him the moments the tea had given her to recollect himself. The tension eventually left his shoulders, and he took a gulp of tea. She chuckled when he gagged and coughed, but not very hard. This time, this place, were not right for a real laughing fit.

"So you said you have a brother?" he choked out, still trying to clear the liquid from his lungs.

She smiled ruefully at the question, recognizing his clumsy topic change and agreeing that it was necessary.

"Sokka, yeah," she said affectionately. "He's a bonehead, but I love him. He's on the soccer team here, that's mainly what his scholarship is for. But he was also in the computing club back home at school, and the robotics team."

"Weird," Zuko diagnosed.

"Utterly. He's a sophomore, like you, and he hasn't picked a major either."

"But it sounds like he's got a pretty firm idea of what he's into," her companion pointed out.

"I guess, yeah." Somehow, half her tea had disappeared. When had that happened? Was she really that wrapped up in Zuko? Well, the answer to that was 'yes', but still… "What about your sister? Younger? Did I hear that right?"

He rolled his eyes. "Azula. She's back home in New York, a senior in high school. She's destined for Harvard or Yale or somewhere they teach you to rule the world. Double major in World Domination and Kicking Puppies." It was Katara's turn to choke on her tea now, and she had a lot of trouble breathing around her drink and loud gales of laughter for the next several minutes.

Zuko looked bemused but flattered when she finally got her wind back. "I'm glad to make you laugh, but I was completely serious." That set her off again, and it was quite some time before she could speak.

"That's the funniest—thing—I've ever—heard!" she finally gasped, wiping tears from her eyes.

"There's actually a lot of math involved in kicking puppies," Zuko said seriously, and she dissolved into giggles again. "Really! There's weight of the puppy, force of the kick, speed and direction of the wind, all kinds of things. Cuteness quotient is a big one."

Katara would reflect later that it was amazing to not be worried about how red her face probably was, or that her makeup was most likely running, or that other customers were definitely giving them really disapproving looks by then. In the moment, she was too wrapped up in her laughter and infatuation. And it was wonderful.

Zuko was outright grinning by the time she was able to hold a straight face again. "I've never been on a date like this before," she confessed, feeling giddy and truthful.

"Me neither," Zuko replied.

"When I started dating Haru—he was my boyfriend in high school—he took me to see the first Pirates of the Caribbean at the local theater's Flashback Friday, and he was too scared to smile or hold my hand."

"He probably knew you were too good for him."

Could she do nothing but blush? "I doubt it, considering that he was the one to break it off six months later." It was a weak attempt at being demur. She just hoped she wasn't too transparent.

"Even more proof," he asserted. "My girlfriend kept breaking up with me because she thought she was too good. It's always the one with the opinions on better-ness who does the heartbreaking."

"'Kept breaking up'?" Katara repeated dubiously.

"We did the on-again-off-again thing for almost eighteen months, but—"

A piercing shriek split the air and they simultaneously clapped their hands over their ears and stared at each other in sock and confusion. Just then a man burst out of the kitchen doors, coughing and trailing smoke. "FIRE!" he shouted. "The cookies are on fire! Get out!"

Customers surged to their feet all across the shop, and Zuko grabbed Katara's wrist the same way he had when they made their escape from Ty Lee, and again she barely grabbed her bag in time. The fire alarm blared loudly outside the building as well, and the crowd was milling and confused while the manager—a 30-something lady whose nametag read Ming—tried to calm them down.

"I don't feel the need to wait for the fire department, do you?" Zuko murmured into her ear, and she repressed a shiver as his breath washed over her neck. She shook her head instead of trying to speak over the wailing alarm. "How does frozen yogurt sound?" he asked. She nodded, and he took her hand and they left the scene of The Jasmine Dragon. Katara could not have been any happier about the situation.

A/N: The readers cry "More!" so the author sits down and writes more. Hope you like! I have an idea for one more chapter probably, but after that I'm not sure. This chapter's a little exposition-heavy, I know, but I wanted an excuse to get all the backstory I'd already made up to write the first chapter out into the world. Plus, they have to get to know each other, am I right or am I right? ;)

All characters are owned by Bryke, Nick and Viacom.

E.I. signing out