Confrontation of the Spirits
A Zutara Modern Day AU
By smartcheer917
So, I haven;t lost interest in Small and Insignificant, I've got the next few chapters almost done but I'm waiting for something before i post them. This is a new story and I plan for it to be short. Bold is text-messaging. R&R.
"So" Suki said, slamming herself into the side of Katara's gym locker at Spirit La's Academy for Girls. Katara jumped about a foot into the air. The room smelled of B.O. and mold. The lockers are a sad blue, un-dented and scratch free. A parade of girls occupied the mirrored wall with straightening irons and various pieces of makeup strewn about, trying to put on a mask before first period. The girls who participated in their mandatory extracurricular as a fall sport lined the benches, talking and laughing while they downed their morning painkillers. A loud but familiar creek sounded as the lower doors opened again to allow some other poor soul in.
"I Hate Agni days." Katara mumbled as the worked on yanking her socks over her feet at the same time.
"Eh," Suki said, sitting down on the bench, "Its not that bad."
"That's only because you're actually good at sports." Katara pointed out as she gave up and pulled her socks on individually, "I, on the other hand can't do squat."
"That's not true! You swim."
"That doesn't mean I'm good. And besides, the point of gym class is to encourage us to stay healthy, not to let us actually have fun in the pool. And some kids still can't swim, so we're not allowed to use it."
"Like who?"
"Like Toph!"
"Oh, yeah..." A buzz echoed through the room. The mask makers screeched in disapproval as they tried to collect all of their products, while the bench sitters pointed and laughed at the foolishness. Suki and Katara watched as the room quickly started to clear. Katara pulled herself up and headed for the gated door.
"You ready?" She said to Suki. She nodded and joined her.
The girls were currently in attendance at Spirit La's Academy for Girls, grades Young Learning-12. The adjoining school, Spirit Tui's Academy for Boys allowed a wider range of opportunities than the other academies in the area. The 5 floor with basement 100 year old building was a in perfect condition. The schools took everyone; they basically just wanted bodies so they could get more grants for the state. Anybody who's parent could write they're name could get academic support and attend the school. Considering the only other school was within 30 miles of the isolated town and was a disciplinary military style school the town was pretty happy to shell out money a month to send their kid close to home. There were a few renegades who were either thrown out or whose parents didn't want to pay who went to the military academy, but not much.
The area was all upper-middle class people, people who held a decent amount of stocks or held a good job. Many of them stayed in the city for the workweek and came by to see their families on Friday nights the weekend. The school was pretty lenient on most things, and many of the classes were co-ed. The boys' school held the East Wings, the Girls the West, and the North and South wings were gymnasiums, auditoriums, arts rooms and so on. It was the ground built by both schools. The school still had much open space, allowing for running trails through the woods behind the school and lots of open space for people to hang out on. The reason for having 2 different schools was tradition, and this town hung over tradition. Tradition was another reason that everyone was etastic to send their kid to school here, they had most likely attended themselves.
"Katara!" Mr. Namonai yelled, "Its not that hard. Its volleyball. Serve the ball!" Katara rolled ehr eyes and tried to whack the ball over the net again. It went about a foot, then landed on the floor. She glowered. Mr. Namonai slapped his forehead. She felt someone grab her from behind and jumped.
"Look," Zuko said from behind her. He grabbed her wrist and formed her fingers into a fist. "Go like this." He moved his and her arm up to hit the base of the ball slightly. "Can you stop making our team lose so terrible now?" Katara made a face at him as he backed away and whacked the ball as hard as she could. It flew up into the netting above the court. Mr. Namonai started to whimper. The timer buzzed, and class was over.
"Way to go," Han said to her as he walked by on his way to the boys' locker rooms.
"Ughh," Sokka groaned, "This sucks majorly. I've got 2 tests! In a row!" he shoved some textbooks into his locker so all he carried was a pencil and some paper. "Plus, I think those jackholes in my art class put something on my back. Is there anything there?" He spun around and tried to look over his shoulder. Katara inspected her brothers back while Suki pretended to look away. The blue sweater and kaki slacks were rumpled slightly.
"Its fine," She said. He turned around and faced her. The black emblem of the boys school was hanging under his shoulder. His dress shoes had a scuff on them, and his hair was wildly flaring in every direction. The girls uniform was hardly better, with a kaki colored pleated skirt and a blue sweater with the girls school's white emblem. The calf high socks were blue with white lines at the top, and the shoes were black. Katara's hair was down and waving slightly over her shoulders. Suki' bob was loose and down.
"Where's the munchkin?" Suki asked.
"He's probably off being the great and powerful 'Avatar'. How did an 8th grader get named Avatar of the school again?"
"Just lucky I guess." Aang said, coming up next to Sokka to open his locker.
"So Sokka, about my lunch money..." Katara said. He nodded and dug around in his pocket and pulled out a few crumbled ones and a 5
"That's nine, so you should be able to get something good for me and you."
"Did we have math homework?" Suki asked Aang.
"Nope." Aang said, "But, Will you walk with me to class? That Jet kid is out for my blood." He shivered
"Sure." Suki said with a laugh, "Ill see you at lunch Katara." She called over her shoulder. Katara nodded and counted the bills. Winked at her brother and stuck the wad into her pocket.
"See you in two blocks." She said and headed off for her math class.
Katara fought the urge not to fall asleep. "Why oh why did I choose advanced math? Why couldn't I have just stuck with my 10th grade instead of bumping up to 11th? Why, WHY?" She groaned in her head and almost threw her head onto the desk. She stared down at her paper, admiring all of her stars and goldfish she decorated it with.
"Mrs. Mizu." The teacher called her name and she looked up immediately. The guy who was occupying the desk next to her hid his snicker from the teacher. "What is the answer to this rational equation?"
"Uh," Katara said, studying the board and then looking down at her work. Stars and goldfish. Great.
"Well you multiply everything out and you get 2 over 1?"
"Correct." The teacher said and started explaining how to get the answer. Katara let out a breath and looked over the rest of the work. She had gone ahead in the workbook and finished the next two chapters, so she didn't really have to pay attention. She began to add more decorations to her already highly illustrated paper when her phone started to vibrate her leg. She looked up to check and see if the teacher was watching her (She wasn't) and slipped her phone out. She flipped the top up and found she had a new text. She slid her pone into the crook next to her right thigh, but behind her knee. She darted her eyes up for a moment to see that the teacher was still on the 2nd step, the moved onto her text. She opened it up.
"Stars and goldfish eh? We have a bit of an attention span problem don't we?" It read. She didn't even have to look at the sender.
"You need a life." She typed back and hit send.
"Mrs. Mizu, are you texting in my class?"
"No," Katara said, looking round bewildered, "I'm itching my pocket." Instantly the room burst out in laughter and the teacher shook her head. Katara's phone began to vibrate in her closed hand
"Smooth" it read. Katara tightened her lips and attempted a smile."Creative, I'll give you this one." The teacher said and returned to her lesson. Katara slipped her phone shut and snuck into her backpack pocket. She bit her lip and worked on concentrating on the problem before her.
Katara exited the school late that day. She had stayed for math help. She wasn't exactly ready to return home, especially since her mother had just passed away last month and then her father and left. It was strange to go home, and her Gran-Gran to be at work. It was strange for her that her father was gone but a check from him was sitting on the table with the rest of the mail. It was depressing that her mothers scent to run thorough the house, but so faintly to make you want to follow. But she couldn't follow. She knew she couldn't follow. It drove her crazy. After the accident, she had scrubbed the house down 3 times with every cleaning product possible. She had 3 shirts with fade spots to prove it. It was still there though. She knew she should cherish it, but she couldn't. The scent made her fell like hugging her mom, but she couldn't. Not without jail time involved. Her grades weren't exactly as wonderful as they used to be either. The teachers knew something was wrong, but not exactly what. She sighed as she walked down the street. It was nearing dark, and she'd spent every night that week at Suki's house until late. She had to go home tonight, for Gran-Gran.
Zuko winced as he dug into his pocket, searching for his lighter. He leaned against the alley wall once he found it and carefully lit his cigarette. Once his mother died last year he had started thinking about smoking. When his father and his group of crazed followers set fire to his car and burned his face severely, then disowned him 6 months ago he actually started.
"Today is the anniversary." He thought to himself, looking at the cigarette in his hands. He stuck it back into his mouth and finished it before discarding it and shoving some gum into his mouth. He headed over to his car and sprayed himself over with some non-flammable deodorant spray. He looked at the can and sighed, hiding it in his glove compartment before starting the car to drive home. He thought about the incident today in gym class, where he talked to that Katara girl. It wasn't usually his style to help people, or touch people, but there was something about her. Something that made him want to jump out and help her. Then in math class, Jet was messing with her. It made Zuko jealous, and that wasn't a good thing. He cruised past the school entrance and saw Katara walking out. Something compelled him to pull the car over.
"Do you need a ride?" He asked her. She blinked a few times at him. A million thoughts ran through her mind, many including the words arrogant, ass, and jerk. Then a smell hit her nose. It was amazing. Something told her that is she got into the car, she would get to smell it a whole lot more. Even if he was a jerk.
"Sure," She said and climbed into the passenger door.
The next day Katara tossed her tray down onto the table and pulled up a chair from a neighboring table. The cafeteria smelled like funk. There was a small area set up where a speaker could get up and talk. The walls were pink because someone from the military school thought it would be funny to squeeze their main school color, red, into the paint when they repainted the cafeteria. What the idiots didn't incorporate into their plan was proportion, and the paint went on white and dried light pink. To get back, of course, the captains of the football teams (JV, Freshman, and Varsity) got together and sprayed their mascot over with some blue spray paint in inappropriate areas.
"How were your classes?" Sokka asked her, taking some of her food off of her plate.
"Annoying." Katara replied as some kids walked by and made an itching motion on their pockets. She rolled her eyes. The old speaker on the wall cracked a bit, but everyone ignored it.
"What use is math anyway? I don't need to count to be a trainer!"
"Yes you do." Aang pointed out, "How else are you going to track your money?"
"Hmn..." Sokka said, gripping his non-existent beard.
"Hey guys." Suki said, putting her tray down next to Katara and taking a seat. Sokka brightened.
"Hey Suki." He said. She pushed a lock behind her ear.
"Hey Sokka."
"Can everyone quiet down?" The announcer said over the speaker system. Everyone ignored her.
"So, Katara, I hear you itch your pockets?" Suki asked, looking at her. Katara fumed slightly
"It was a slip of tongue." Katara said, " I meant to say leg." A loud piercing screech echoed through the cafeteria and everyone ducked, covering his or her ears. The announcer moved the microphone away from the main amplifier and glared at the crowd as they all stared at her.
"Alright." The student said, flipping her blonde hair over her shoulder, "Would the following two students report to the counselors office? Katara Mizu and Zuko Agni?" Katara slumped her shoulders and stared at the ceiling.
"Why me?" She said and shoved her chair back into the table.
"Oh," The speaker girl said, "And bring your lunch." Katara grabbed her sketchbook and her lunch tray and headed for the counselors' office.
Usually the only reason for going to the counselor was you were in trouble. Class behavior, they caught drugs on you, things like that. The counselor was a big joke. He made you talk things out on your own. He didn't give anyone advice. Everyone always used outside sources for help at getting into collages and such. Katara breathed in and out a few times. Was the pocket thing getting her in trouble? She came to the office and the door was open. A table with 2 chairs was set up, so she took the one on the right and started to finish her lunch. Zuko came in soon after, head down. He sat down and slouched in his chair. The sound of approaching feet neared. Katara sat up straighter. The councilor entered the office.
"Hello children." She said, sitting at her desk.
"Hello Mrs. Wu." Katara said, brightening up her smile. A smile can get you out of almost anything.
"A smile is not going to get you out of this dear, and call me Aunt Wu" Aunt Wu said. Katara slackened her jaw slightly. Aunt Wu looked over a few papers before nodding and putting them all into a single file folder.
"You both have a severe issue." She stated, somehow managing to look both of them in the eye at the same time, "You both have had people you love leave you. I believe that the best way to help restabilize the mind is to talk it out with someone going through a similar problem. You two cannot leave this room until you have achieved some sort of, understanding. Until you feel you can face the night like a normal human should." Aunt Wu smiled, "And now I will take my leave. If you need to use the restroom just yell it out." The old woman was gone in a flash.
"What the heck?" Katara said when the door closed. She got up and grabbed the handle; "The door is locked!"
"What does she believe she will achieve from this?" Zuko grumped.
"How did she move so fast?" Katara wondered aloud. Zuko huffed and look to the side. The office was in the middle of the building. It had no windows, small ducts, and only one door. There was a couch and a telephone missing its cord to the wall jack.
"Ah!" Katara cried, "My cell!" She pulled out her phone
"No reception" It blinked at her. She pouted and put the phone away. She moved over and flopped onto the couch. It appeared to be fine, but was lumpy and uncomfortable."Ew." She mumbled, getting up and leaning on the wall. She slowly sunk down to the floor and curled up.
"This sucks." She mumbled to her knees. Zuko leaned back in his chair.
And there they sat.
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