A/N: Don't kill me, please. It has been too long I am completely aware. School has just started and the social calendar is booming. Help! But I got it out…eventually. Not too great and not much Zutara.
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Gryffindor Princess: Thank you for the offer but honestly I am too busy to contact anyone at this point. I hope my errors are okay for now. Thanks for your review!
Cathy: Your reviews are so full of energy! Katara is indeed the 'talk back' kind of girl and that will certainly show later on. Keep up your reviews, they're awesome.
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Punkey-Monkey: Here's the update you wanted.
South of the Same
Summary: Call it whatever you want, high school jitters are the worst and Katara is chock full of 'em. With an unfamiliar path in front of her, what or who could Katara find along the way? Zutara AU Revamping in the Process
Chapter 4: Doodle Marker
Chapter Summary: Katara has her lunch date with Jet and has a minor injury to show for it. Things are happening all at once and the romantic opportunity of a life-time is right at her fingertips!
All standard disclaimers apply
That morning Katara had received a text message as a wake up call. Suki had said told her that she had needed a ride that morning because her dad went down to Missouri for business late that night.
Since Katara was already awake she switched on a light and rubbed her puffy eyes. Her brain was fuzzy and her hair was sticking up in all directions. She flicked on the radio to bring her out of her fog and she stretched out.
Mid butterfly stretch it hit her like a truck. It hit her like a speeding truck. It hit her like a speeding truck full of pianos.
Jet.
Katara suddenly felt much more awake, giddy even. Jet was extremely cute and cool and she got to eat with him! She would be the envy of girls all over the school. That thought wasn't as appealing as was just sitting with him though. He was so suave and interesting though he was slightly intimidating…
After showering and putting her hair back, Katara thumbed through her closet. She pulled out a simple blue sundress. She slipped it on and smiled at herself in the mirror. It was just what she was looking for. She slipped on white flip-flops and scurried down for breakfast.
Katara poured herself some cereal and dug in still thinking about Jet. Everything seemed to be happening so fast but she didn't want it to stop. It wasn't what she had expected and she wasn't sure if it was better or worse just yet. All signs pointed to better…for now.
Sokka then strolled down the stairs and grabbed himself about four bagels. Katara swallowed a mouthful of Coco Puffs. "We have to pick up Suki today."
The milk Sokka was pouring went jagged. "Uh, why?"
"Because," Katara said slowly. "Her dad went out of town late last night. It was pretty last minute and she doesn't have a ride."
"Uh, yeah, okay." He sat across from her and ate his bagels rather slowly as if deep in thought. Katara rolled her eyes and put her bowl in the sink after drinking up the milk. She put on her makeup and brushed her teeth and was ready to go. The ride to Suki's was silent other than Sokka's rock music.
Suki clambered into the backseat wearing a Springfield High Girls Lacrosse polo and jean Bermuda shorts. She looked like she had just sprung up from bed and left which Katara presumed she did.
"Hey guys," Suki said. Her voice was still deep and raspy from sleep. Sokka glanced at the mirror view and the ducked his head back down. Katara rolled her eyes but when they made a left instead of a right at the school intersection she was just confused.
"We are going to pick some people up." Sokka said and drove down numerous side streets. Finally they pulled in front of a small white house with a plain garden. Katara recognized this as Haru's house. "Hop in back Katara."
Katara stuck out her chin. "Only if we get to listen to our music."
Sokka was quiet for a minute. "Fine, just get back there."
Katara complied and Sokka put in a mixed CD. Boys Like Girls spilled through the speakers and Sokka groaned, "This is crap!"
Suki kicked his seat and Katara stuck out her tongue at him. Just as Katara began to hum to the music someone shadowed over her. She looked up expecting to see Haru but it was none other than Jet. The next line in the song stopped dead in her mouth.
"Hey," he said with a smirk. Katara blushed and scooted over in the middle. "Are you getting a ride too?" Katara wanted to kick herself for sounding so lame. Of course he was getting a ride!
Jet slid in next to her, his leg touching hers. "Looks like it." He said. "Nice dress."
Katara smiled, "Thanks!"
Haru sat in the front seat and grimaced at the music playing. "Girlie music…"
"Then you should like it." Suki grinned. "Song does."
Haru clamped his mouth closed. Sokka pulled out of the street and back down the main road. Katara didn't say much else to Jet, they just snuck glances at one another. Suki and the other two boys bickered most of the way.
Pulling into the parking lot Katara saw a lot of people looking at them. She tried not to smile but even she knew that they looked, in lack of a better word, cool. A convertible full of cute guys blasting loud music…yeah, that was pretty cool.
They came to a stop and Jet tried to unbuckle his seatbelt to no avail. He didn't look irritated in the least. He tossed Katara smirk. "Any chance you could help with this?"
Katara was just about to slide out when he asked her. Her cheeks warmed and she smiled delicately. "Sure,"
She reached across his lap and realized that the seatbelt was really jammed. Before she knew it, her whole upper body was reaching over his lap trying to un-jam the belt. Jet had an odd look on his face and he reached his arms up for a stretch. He brought them down hitting her in just the right spot to make her fall on top of him. She looked up at him in surprise and he mirrored her expression falsely.
"Whoops, my bad." He said. His eyes were twinkling with amusement. Katara blushed and grinned, "No, you're good." She pulled out a pencil jammed in the buckle for emphasis. He had planned the whole thing. Jet looked mockingly sheepish and slid out of the car helping her after him.
"It was worth it." Jet said softly and swung his backpack over his shoulder. "See you at lunch."
Katara smiled after him and ran to where Suki was tapping her foot impatiently. Katara giggled when she got over to her. She said rather perkily, "So what's on the agenda today?"
"I don't think we have any classes together." Suki said though not particularly answering the question.
Frowning, Katara grabbed her schedule and skimmed through it, Suki was right. Not only the fact that they shared no classes together; the only thing on there that didn't bore her to tears was Home Economics right after lunch. "This sucks," she said with a sigh. Suki agreed solemnly.
Song joined them just then. Her mouth was pressed in a firm line. She appeared to be in awe of something. Both Suki and Katara turned their heads to where Song was looking. A black stretch limo pulled into the parking lot and Katara's jaw dropped. When it pulled to a stop, two long legs stepped out. The girl was tall, pale, and had snake-like features. Her bangs hung sharp against her face, her lips were colored and dark sunglasses were perched on her petite nose.
The other two following after her were just as intimidating. One was tall, lean and the palest by far. Her expression was bland and she was heavily clothed despite the warmer weather. The next was cute and bubbly and her clothes were far more revealing. Katara recognized them instantly as the girls from the party. The superior glow emitting from them was easy to place.
The surrounding area was relatively hushed and all eyes were on them as they sauntered towards the school. They didn't glance in anyone's direction and fluidly entered the building with everyone still watching after them. Katara and Suki looked at each other. There weren't really words that could be said, anything would just sound lame and awkward.
Soon enough things lightened up again and they were back to pointless gabbing. First bell rang and it was off to classes. Katara just couldn't wait for lunch. But before she could scamper off and eat her turkey sandwich with one of the cutest guys at Springfield, she had French class.
"Bonjour!" Madame LeBeau boomed. "Welcome to French class."
Katara went in and out of concentration as the Madame went on about the order of French education. They would start with pronunciation and then make their way to numbers and letters.
As Katara's eyes swept the room she caught sight of vaguely familiar faces. There were some boys she had gone swimming with and girls that had struck up conversation. Then her eyes caught to another girls' face. It was long and tan. She had intense olive green eyes and her long jet black hair fell straight down her back. She wore a soccer jersey and jean shorts. When the girl looked at her, Katara flushed and turned away.
In the rest of the classes she had the faces were new. She tried to pay attention to the lectures teachers went into but it became increasingly hard as lunch came closer.
Finally her math class was out. She rushed to her locker to put her books away and scamper down to the cafeteria. Katara stood in line impatiently. She had nothing to eat but a sandwich and a bag of baked Lays. She grabbed a soda and scanned the tables but she couldn't find who she was looking for. Discouraged, she downcast her eyes.
"Looking for someone?" a cool voice said behind her. Katara felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. She turned around to see the snake-like girl standing there with nothing in her hand but a bottle of Dasani water. Hot tawny eyes narrowed in on her waiting for an answer.
She came out of her daze. Katara flashed her friendliest smile. "Yes in fact, he's a friend of mine." The girl smirked. Katara felt uncomfortable as if the girl was examining her. "M-my name's Katara." She blurted.
"Azula," the girl returned quickly. Azula unscrewed the Dasani cap. "It's too bad that you're waiting for someone. I would have saved you a seat." Just the way she said it made Katara think she thought it was a joke.
"Maybe another time?" Katara suggested. Azula blinked a couple times and said something that Katara didn't hear. Something distracted her attention in the corner of her eye. It was Jet walking her way. But before she could turn away from Azula to greet him he froze, brown eyes widening, and dove into the cafeteria line. Katara furrowed her brows.
"Excuse me." Azula sounded highly irritated which pulled Katara out of her thoughts, "I'm sorry, what did you say?"
Azula straightened, recovering. Obviously, she never got ignored. "I said that I'll certainly have to consider it."
With that the strange and intimidating girl sauntered away and out of sight. Katara blinked after her feeling itchy and uncomfortable. In less than two seconds Jet was at her side. Katara gasped in surprise.
"Where did you come from?" Katara breathed. Her fingers were starting to cramp from holding her tray. Jet smirked smartly, "Just conversing with a few friends. Come on."
He grabbed her by the crook of the arm and pulled her to a table where a few others were seated. They didn't notice them. One boy was lanky and wore a hat that shadowed his eyes, the other was huge and rather dumb looking, and the last was a tiny person Katara had to do a double take of to realize it was a girl.
When she looked back over at Jet she saw that he had no lunch. "Where's your food?"
"I can't stand cafeteria crap," he answered with a shrug, "it's so gross."
Katara pushed her bag of chips towards him. He seemed surprised. "I doubt you think that chips are gross." Katara said accusingly.
He smirked, "You're right, I don't."
Jet popped open the bag and took a few and turned the mouth back to Katara as if to say he wouldn't take them all. Katara smiled at him and took some for herself. She ate her sandwich and talked to Jet about random things. They shared chips and at some point they began sharing her soda as well.
Katara doubted she had ever been left so breathless from a guy before. He was so interesting. He had so much to share with her, nothing to hide. Katara could listen to him forever until she realized that lunch was coming to a close.
Jet looked up at the clock overhead. "Lunch is almost over."
"It seems like it just started." Katara said nodding. Jet smiled, "I'll take your trash up."
Katara opened her mouth to protest but he was already gone. She looked down at the table for the first time since she had sat down. The lanky boy with shaded eyes had his head turned towards her. The girl next to him looking uninterested and the big guy scratched at his ear. She thought about saying hi but decided against it.
"What class do you have next?" Jet asked standing over her.
"Beginners Home Economics," Katara answered back. Jet's mouth spread into a grin, "Me too, I'll walk you."
Katara bit her lip to keep from smiling. "Okay,"
They stopped at her locker and Jet commented on how organized it was. Katara had grinned and said that anything would be considered organized compared to his pig-sty of a locker. He carried her books like in the old-fashioned movies and they flirted all the way to their class.
The class was very small of only ten students. It had two dishwashers and about seven stoves. Not to mention there was every appliance known to man on the mint green counters. Katara blinked to get used to the fluorescent lights overhead. Jet chose the seat next to hers and she thanked him for carrying her books. He pretended to have not heard.
Mrs. Parker sat in the front of the room. Small grey eyes swept across the room, her thin pink lips were pursed unimpressed. She waited till all were seated to begin speaking, "Welcome to Home-"
The door banged open. Katara turned to see that it was the boy with the scar who had scrambled in. She blinked and Jet snorted. Mrs. Parker tapped her red nails on one thick arm, irritated. "Glad you could join us, Zuko. Take a seat."
Katara flushed as Zuko sat in the seat in front of her. Jet poked her with his pen, "It isn't polite to stare." He teased in a whisper.
She smiled and poked him with her pen right back. "It isn't polite to tell others when they are being impolite."
"Are you two quite finished?" Mrs. Parker piped over to them. The two teens stopped and Mrs. Parker cleared her throat. "Now, as I was saying. Welcome to Beginners Home Economics class. As our first day we will do something basic – the chocolate chip cookie."
There was an eruption of excited whispers. Mrs. Parker sighed loudly. "Don't get too excited. After today we will be sticking to the book."
The excitement receded but the whispering didn't stop. Mrs. Parker pursed her lips, "Pick a partner. Recipes are at the stoves."
Katara frowned when a few girls grinned in Jet's direction. She prepared for Jet to be swept away. Suddenly Jet's hand overlapped hers. Surprised, she glanced up with wide cobalt blue eyes. Jet smiled fondly, "Partners?"
It took less than two seconds to agree. The stove was shiny but looked rather old. Tying her apron Katara looked up to see Zuko working with the ancient corner stove…alone. She frowned as he was the only one without a partner. But Jet's apron struggles took her out of those thoughts. She giggled as he had part of it tied to his thigh and another part around his shoulder.
"Here, let me help you." She smiled and took it off of him. He scowled half-heartedly. "It's not my fault they make these things so difficult."
"Mhm." Katara said as she tied the waist. She brought her hands up and began tying the strings behind his neck. Her cool fingers touched his skin. She smiled bashfully up at him. After a moment of just gazing at one another, she turned away and examined the ingredients.
Katara smiled happily and grabbed the big mixing bowl. "Jet, you crack the eggs."
Jet looked a little flustered. "Uh-how many?"
Sighing Katara shoved the paper in his direction. His eyes scanned and he played it off coolly, "I knew that."
Katara rolled her eyes as they began making the cookies. Jet was completely clueless and Katara happily aided him. Though Jet liked to play it off as if he knew what he was doing. As he stirred the batter Katara glanced over at Zuko again.
He seemed to know exactly what he was doing, or at least until he picked up the white pepper instead of the salt. "I'll be right back," she said already making her way over to Zuko's stove, "Just keep mixing."
Just as Zuko made to start shaking in what he thought was salt Katara tapped him on the shoulder. He stiffened and turned. Katara took a half step back and sucked in to clear her head. "I-uh-"
He was staring at her now. Katara cleared her throat, "You're about to pour white pepper in your batter."
She took it from his hands and replaced it with the salt instead. She smiled warmly though it went unreturned. He turned his back and resumed making his batter. Katara jut out her lower lip, now he was just being rude. She would help whether he liked it or not.
"Here, I'll start the oven." She said as Zuko began stirring. He dropped the spoon and whirled around, "No, wait-"
Katara knew at that exact moment she had touched the wrong dial. Flames erupted from the stove licking at her hand. She yelped and Zuko yanked her back into him. Her hand stung mildly and her breathing was hard. Zuko released her wrist and cursed under his breath shutting off the stove. As Katara cradled her hand he twisted the knob on the far right – the oven.
He glared at her and seized her hand to examine it. She winced as his warm fingers pressured the bulk of the burn which wasn't too bad to begin with. He nodded and let it drop back to her side. "It's nothing. Just run it under cold water."
"Thanks," Katara said softly. "And sorry…"
Zuko looked at her a second but turned his back as soon as Jet came trotting up beside her. "Katara, are you okay?" He eyed her hand.
"It's nothing." Katara mirrored what Zuko said and walked away to her own stove. Thankfully no one really noticed her slipup. Jet wouldn't let her do anything else due to her hand and they finished their work without further blemish. The hour and a half class ended just as their cookies cooled.
"Here, you take them home." She said pushing them towards him. Jet shook his head, "I have a better idea." He flipped his hair. "We should enjoy them together."
"Oh?"
Jet smirked. "Yeah, Blackburn Park tomorrow afternoon."
"Perfect," Katara blushed and grabbed the cookies with her good hand. Jet carried her books again but neither of them noticed a certain pair of amber eyes watching them as they left the classroom.
That night she had loads of homework that she had to complete. Aang was at a friends' house so he would be no distraction to her. She sighed and set down her pen. She was completely finished-which was actually a bad thing. Her thoughts drifted again. What would become of tomorrow? Would Jet kiss her? Would he ask her be his girlfriend?
She decided that she would write a letter to her father. She told him how scary it had been to start high school, she said that Sokka and Yue were still going strong, Gran-Gran was fine, Suki and Song were good, and then she wrote in one sentence that she was interested in a boy. He would surely love to hear that one, maybe he would fly home from Iraq.
The next day at school was another school day. She took diligent notes, asked questions, and socialized in the hallways as much as possible. Her thoughts hadn't been focused on Jet until Song was walking with her outside at the end of the day.
"You're meeting Jet in the park today!?" she squealed. People stopped to stare and Katara shushed her, "Song, please."
Song cleared her throat and shied away from the eyes watching them. "Sorry, I just can't believe it. He's the cutest guy here I think. I bet he'll ask you to be- you know -official."
Katara blushed crimson and played with the bottom of her shirt. "I hope so. I mean, I would say yes."
Song squealed excitedly. She opened her mouth to say something but someone beat her to it.
"How could you be such an idiot!?" a voice shrieked from the hall. A tall girl with long white hair stormed her way from around the corner in fashionable flats and skinny jeans straight from Barneys.
Katara and Song exchanged glances. "Yue!" Katara called. Song and Katara quickly walked over to the gorgeous girl. Yue stopped and looked at them, her angry face softened. "Hi, girls."
"Is something wrong?" Katara asked.
Yue was frowning deeply and her blue eyes were filled with tears. "It's horrible!"
"What is it?" Song asked, concerned. Katara nodded with her brows creased in worry.
Yue sighed deeply. "Almost half of our volunteers- the guys- quit on us for pulling together the homecoming dance. All because Sokka told them about Mr. Journeys after school program to help the homeless-you get to go to Hooters at the end of every week." She grimaced and put her face into her hands. "How am I ever going to get this done?"
Song and Katara glanced at one another, a silent agreement passing between them. Katara smiled slightly, "Well, Song and I could lend a hand."
"Suki too," Song added.
Yue looked at them skeptically. "Are you sure? I mean…"
"It's fine. Besides, it seems like it would be fun." Katara shrugged, grinning. Yue still wasn't convinced. "But you baby-sit Aang and have lots of school work."
Katara crossed her arms defiantly. "Aang would be happy to help out and homework is completely taken care of."
Song smiled slightly. "I'm sure my Aunt would be glad to hear I was getting involved."
"We could get other people to help I'm sure."
"You girls are saints. Thank you." Yue said oozing with affection.
"No problem," the two girls said in unison. Yue waved good-bye and weaved her way out of sight. She said something about having to make more preparations.
"Katara," a voice said. Katara turned around to see Azula standing on the bottom step. Her two friends were behind her trying not to look interested. Azula looked frigidly amused.
"Oh, hi Azula." Katara smiled sheepishly. Song looked uncomfortable and mumbled an excuse to get away.
Azula swiped at a bang. "I couldn't help overhearing that you are helping out with the dance."
Katara nodded. "Yeah, I am."
"How exciting!" The bubbliest of the girls squealed.
Azula's eyes closed and she exhaled deeply as if severely annoyed. The darker girl glowered in the other girls direction and mumbled something about 'air-heads'. Katara bit her lip feeling uncertain of herself.
"You are welcome to help if you'd like."
The dark girl snorted and lifted her nose. The other girls eyes glittered with excitement and Azula looked…well…cold. She smirked as if finding it humorous, "It'll be considered I'm sure."
Katara's phone rang. She looked at the ID and saw it was her brother. She moaned and held up a finger to signal it would only be a moment. "Hello?"
"Have you seen Yue?"
"Yeah, just a few minutes ago. Why?"
Sokka was quiet. "Well I am outside waiting."
"Right, bye." She turned to the other girls and frowned. "Sorry but I have to go. We'll talk another time."
Azula's eyes narrowed and Katara took this as her cue to leave. "Wait!" Azula called out. Katara stopped and turned. "Meet us at the mall this Sunday at noon."
Katara nodded, "Okay."
As she rounded the corner she heard a dull voice say, "Why are you even bothering with someone like her?"
"I see some potential." Azula said. Katara shuddered against her will and ran out to where Sokka was waiting for her.
On their way home Katara brushed the stray hairs from her neck. "So, what's going on with you and Yue?"
Sokka grimaced. "I don't know."
"What do you mean 'you don't know'?"
"I don't know!" Sokka growled and smashed down on the brake once they hit the driveway. "Things haven't been so good, okay? And you stay out of it."
Katara blinked. "I-uh-okay…"
It was a bizarre thought picturing Sokka and Yue having problems. Or worse, breaking up. They had been together since they were in Jr. High and now out of the blue things were going sour.
Katara pulled on a fitted polo and basketball shorts. She wanted to appear casual for him, so that she wasn't expecting too much. Her flip-flops thwacked against the pavement as she walked to the park, cookies in hand.
Jet was standing in the mouth of the near-empty park. He smiled as he saw her approach. He took the cookies from her and gave her a one armed hug. "How's your hand."
Katara rolled her eyes. "Fine,"
Jet smiled fondly and they began walking. They talked about their classes mostly, and the people in them. Finally Katara took a brave step to ask him about his past. "So, why did you come to Springfield?"
Katara flushed when he stopped in his tracks, his jaw was set. The air was heavy between them for a long time. Finally Jet exhaled, Katara had the feeling he had been holding his breath the whole time.
"I lived in St. Louis," he said slowly. "I had a normal childhood. Our house was only a couple minutes away from the arch and everything. I went to all the baseball games and it was just…home."
Katara could see that speaking of his home pained him. A yearning Katara had never seen in him before. She almost told him to stop but he continued.
"We weren't rich or anything so we didn't live in the best neighborhood." He clenched his eyes closed. "I came home from baseball practice and saw my door was left open. Police cars were lined all down my street. I ran inside the apartment before anyone could see me and…I saw a man being detained over the dead bodies of my parents."
Katara held in a horrified gasp. But Jet went on still, "He broke in for burglary but killed my parents because they got in the way. I lived in orphanage after orphanage until my friend Longshot took me in just this summer. The family and town are nice enough but it isn't mine."
"Jet…" Katara said after a silence. "I am so sorry."
Jet acted as if he hadn't heard and looked up at the blue sky. "So, what's your story?"
Though Katara hesitated, she knew it was only fair. She touched the gem on her necklace. "This was my moms. Before she died." She self-consciously looked up to see he was watching her, listening. "She died in a fire we had while my dad was in the war, he still is. This is all I have left of her."
Jet shook his head. "Looks like we both suffered."
"Yeah," Katara said softly. "But I think everyone has."
Jet nodded in silent agreement. Again, there was silence. Jet looked at her and grabbed her hand into his. It was a little too big and a little too rough. His brows were furrowed and his eyes sparkled with intense emotions.
"Katara, I am not very good at getting close to people. But with you I want to try, I really do. There is something about you…that sounds lame but it's true. Will you go out with me?"
Katara her whole body tingle with excitement as she stared into his honest brown eyes. She smiled and brought her lips to his. It took a while to mold them together but Katara was soon locked in his embrace-lips clicking together. When they parted Katara blinked up at him, "Yes."
A/N: Well, I've had this done for over a week and totally forgot about it. Silly me. Enjoy and hopefully the next one will be out sooner. Oh, I also have a myspace account now. Though you can add me-do not speak of Avatar related topics in comments. Messages only. Please.
m y s p a c e . c o m / b e y o n d c y n i c a l - - remove the spaces
Coming up: The homecoming dance, some major drama, and the spark of an interesting friendship