Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

STORY INTRO:
Before this fic begins, let's introduce the modernized versions of the characters :)

MAIN CHARACTERS

1. Aang
Gender: Male
Sexuality: Straight Ally
Age: 15
Grade: Freshman (9th Grade)
Info: Despite being new, Aang quickly became popular. He is an outgoing extravert with a goofy, playful demeanor. Although he hates fighting and violence, he was trained in the art of Baguazhang. And to keep up with his family tradition, he was rewarded with his blue arrow tattoos, to represent mastery over the martial art. Aang is also very artistic, with his favorite class being art. He also SUCKS at math. He has a hard time paying attention in classes that he considers "boring", and can often be too trusting of people. His extracurriculars include Theatre, the Soccer Team, and Art Club. He has a HUUUGE crush on Katara.
Height: 5'6"
Hair Color: Yes, he DOES have hair in this AU. Brown hair, that he keeps short and well groomed.
Eye Color: Grey-Silver
Skin Color: Pale
Outfits:
*School Uniform with Nikes
*For comfort, baggy sweatshirts and sweatpants, as well as Nikes.
*Soccer Team attire
*Theatre outfits

2. Toph
Gender: Female
Sexuality: Aro/Ace
Age: 15
Grade: Freshman (9th Grade)
Info: Toph is rough around the edges and prefers not to talk to people. She can be rude and snarky, but she has a soft spot only for those she knows already. She is blind, and has to use a mobility cane to get around (quick note that because there is no bending in this AU, Toph cannot use Earthbending to 'see' with her feet like she does in the show). She also relies heavily on her sense of hearing. She doesn't do any extracurriculars. She's the type of person that's way too tired after school and just wants to go home.
Height: 5'2"
Hair Color: Black. Medium length. She keeps it tied up because she doesn't like to manage it. Though she'll add a few green bows and barrettes for extra style.
Eye Color: Dark grey, with glossed over pupils (she's blind)
Skin Color: Fair White
Outfits:
*School Uniform with Nikes
*T-Shirt, jeans, Nikes
*GREEN FLANNELS

3. Katara
Gender: Female
Sexuality: Straight Ally
Age: 16
Grade: Sophomore (10th Grade)
Info: Katara is definitely the "mom friend". She is fiercely protective of those she cares about. Though she's often easily annoyed by her brother, Sokka. She's very smart, and is mostly in AP and honors classes. She has good grades and a high GPA. However, sometimes she pressures herself into being perfect, and she reprimands herself over any grade below an A. Her extracurriculars include Cheer and Theatre. She starts out with a small crush on Aang, that eventually starts to grow bit by bit.
Height: 5'4"
Hair Color: Dark Brown. She keeps her hair tied in a bun with a long braid trailing from it. She also wears her signature "hair loopies".
Eye Color: Dark Blue
Skin Color: Moderate Brown
Outfits:
*School Uniform, usually with a few tweaks to make it look more appealing (such as cute pins and buttons), Converse
*Anything stylish, often paired with makeup, earrings, and blue Converse
*Cheer attire
*Theatre attire

4. Suki
Gender: Female
Sexuality: Bisexual
Age: 16
Grade: Sophomore (10th Grade)
Info: Suki is a fun loving character, a long time friend of Katara's, and the girlfriend of Sokka. She is always willing to help her friends out, and typically enjoys subjects that most people dislike, such as math. She's also in many honors classes. She's become a go-to tutor around the school. She has a hard time saying "no" which often leads to exhaustion and a lot of people-pleasing.
Height: 5'3"
Hair Color: Red. Cut into a bob.
Eye Color: Sky Blue
Skin Color: Fair White
Outfits:
*School Uniform with Black Loafers
*Often opts for red long-sleeved sun dresses, along with some light makeup, and Red Loafers
*Theatre attire

5. Sokka
Gender: Male
Sexuality: Straight Ally (note that he used to be very homophobic and sexist, until Suki came in and changed his views.)
Age: 17
Grade: Junior (11th Grade)
Info: Sokka is very sarcastic, and he often says before he thinks. Still, he's goofy and fun to be around. He's the brother of Katara, and boyfriend of Suki. Despite the fact that he argues with Katara a lot, he cares a lot about her and will do anything to protect her. He doesn't care much for grades, despite actually being fairly academically smart. He may sometimes skip classes, however.
Height: 5'10"
Hair Color: Brown, tied into a scruffy wolf tail.
Eye Color: Dark Blue
Skin Color: Moderate Brown
Outfits:
*School Uniform with Vans
*Literally any random things he finds in the closet
*Basketball Team attire

6. Zuko
Gender: Male
Sexuality: Straight Ally
Age: 17
Grade: Junior (11th Grade)
Info: He's more of an outcast really, and doesn't really like socializing. He likes to come to school to get away from his terrible father, and instead of going home afterwards, he often hangs out with his uncle at the Jasmine Dragon tea shop. Extracurriculars aren't really his thing, but his uncle urged him to at least try something with one of his friends. So he joined basketball with Sokka. He still has a scar on his eye, in which he got when his father burned him with a hot iron as punishment for disobeying him. Zuko also happens to be dating Mai. He's the brother of the antagonist, Azula.
Height: 6'0"
Hair Color: Black, very scruffy and short
Eye Color: Light Amber
Skin Color: Fair White
Outfits:
*School Uniform with Adidas sneakers
*Red hoodies, Jeans, Adidas sneakers
*Basketball Team attire

SUPPORTING CHARACTERS

1. Ty Lee
Gender: Fluid (particularly uses she/her and they/them)
Sexuality: Pansexual
Age: 16
Grade: Sophomore (10th Grade)
Info: She has a very bubbly personality, and often attracts attention from most of the guys in the school.
Height: 5'3"
Hair Color: Light Brown, LONG hair tied into a braid with a pink scrunchie, and curled bangs
Eye Color: Brown
Skin Color: Pale
Outfits:
*School Uniform with pink slip-ons
*Anything PINK!! Wears lots of makeup, but she stays away from earrings. Wears slip-ons.
*Gymnastics attire
*Dance class attire

2. Mai
Gender: Unlabeled (she/her, they/them)
Sexuality: Unlabeled
Age: 17
Grade: Junior (11th Grade)
Info: She's the "gloomy girl". She's dating Zuko, and though she has a hard time showing love, she really does care about him.
Height: 5'5"
Hair Color: Black. Usually tied up in two buns, with some hair resting over her shoulders. She also has eyebrow length bangs.
Eye Color: Brown
Skin Color: Fair White
Outfits:
*School Uniform with black slip-ons
*Goth style, with goth makeup and black lace up shoes

ANTAGONISTS

1. Azula
Gender: Female
Sexuality: Straight, doesn't give af about gender or sexuality. Not exactly and ally, but not homophobic either.
Age: 17
Grade: Junior (11th grade)
Info: She's the school's popular mean girl. She practically rules the place. Everyone is afraid of her, and she always finds ways to make people do what she says.
(Honestly, think Sunset Shimmer from MLP EG before she was reformed 😭)
Height: 5'5"
Hair Color: Black, tied into a bun with long side bangs.
Eye Color: Dark Amber
Skin Color: Fair White
Outfits:
*School Uniform with black Converse
*Often tight fitting clothing items, with makeup, earrings, accessories, and slip-ons

2. Jet
Gender: Male
Sexuality: Straight, homophobic
Age: 17
Grade: Junior (11th grade)
Info: The school's popular sport's guy. He's in pretty much every sports team. He picks on anyone that he considers weak. He is also Katara's ex.
Height: 6'2"
Hair Color: Brown, scruffy
Eye Color: Brown
Skin Color: Moderate Brown
Outfits:
*School Uniform
*Jerseys, baggy jeans, sneakers, baseball cap
*Basketball Team, Soccer Team, Football Team attire
*Gym Class attire

In terms of appearances for other characters, like background characters and teachers... it's up to you, the readers, use your imagination 😅 I HOPE YOU ENJOY!

Chapter Text

"Sokka, stop speeding! You're going to crash the car!" Katara demanded, gripping tightly onto her seatbelt.

"It's not my fault you decided to sleep in! We're going to be late for the first day of school!" Sokka claimed, his foot pressed firmly onto the gas pedal.

"Since when do you care about being late for school?? You ALWAYS skipped classes!"

"Yeah, and dad said that if I don't do well this year and make up for my 'mistakes', he'll take my phone away for SIX WHOLE MONTHS!! How else am I supposed to talk to Suki??"

"Maybe go see her in PERSON??"

"She lives way too far away!"

Katara crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. "I'm just saying, if I had a boyfriend, I'd make more of an effort to see him in person."

"I try to! But-"

Sokka was cut off by the sound of a blaring siren behind him. "Oh no..."

"Nice one, Sokka. Pull over."

Sokka slowly lifted his foot from the gas and pulled the car over, awaiting the police at the window. "Dad's gonna kill me..." he murmured.

The officer parked behind them, leaving his car and approaching Sokka's. He knocked on the window, signaling Sokka to roll it down.

***

'I can't believe I'm 20 minutes late for class...' Katara thought to herself, staring at the pink slip of paper in her hands. A late pass. It's the first time she's ever had to use one.

She and Sokka had to go their separate ways once they finally got to the school. She had to admit to herself, walking to class in an empty hallway was... nice. No crowd, no students shoving you and flat tiring your shoes, no random couples making out against the walls.

Gross. She definitely didn't miss that part.

Finally, she found her class. Room 235. The doors locked immediately after the bell rang. At first, she was nervous to knock at the door and walk in, fearing that she wouldn't know anyone in this new class. But her fears melted away when she peered through the window, and saw her best friend, Suki.

She knocked quietly, and luckily, Suki was the first person to notice her. Katara waved, and Suki leapt from her seat and raced over to the door. With a faint 'click' of the doorknob, the door was opened. "Katara, you're in this class? Why are you so late? You're NEVER late!" Suki whispered.

"You can blame your boyfriend for that one. He got pulled over for speeding."

Suki chuckled. "Of course he did. Come in quick, Mr. Pakku is letting us choose our seats. You should sit next to me."

Katara smiled and nodded. She followed Suki into the classroom. Before heading to her seat, she placed the late pass on Mr. Pakku's desk. "Sorry I was late, sir. It won't happen again."

Pakku only nodded in response. "Please go to your seat."

"Okay."

Pakku continued to write down notes on the projector screen, while the rest of the class was expected to copy them down.

Katara trudged over to her seat next to Suki, and plopped her backpack down on the floor next to her. She unzipped it quietly and pulled out a pencil bag, and a red 3-ring binder labeled "Honors Algebra 2".

'Why do I have to start the day with math?'

Though she was fairly good at math, she still didn't enjoy it very much. She rested her chin on her palms and groaned, opening the binder to a blank sheet of paper, and scrambling through her pencil bag.

She caught a glimpse of Suki, who was already intently jotting down notes with a pink gel pen. She still couldn't wrap her head around how Suki loved math so much. After all, Katara only did it for the credits.

Katara refocused, and pulled a pencil out of her bag.

***

For once, Katara appreciated attending such a small school. She never had to worry about having a separate lunch hour than her friends. After picking up a tray of food, she scanned the cafeteria for the one spot that her group would always meet up in.

It was always the table furthest to the left, in the back corner of the room. She weaved through the crowd of students, towards the table. To her dismay, none of her friends were there yet.

But what she did see were two students that she didn't quite recognize. One carried a mobility cane, and the other... were those tattoos? She couldn't really tell. But it made her quite curious.

She sucked in a deep breath, and decided to sit across from the two kids. The kid with the tattoos was more extroverted than Katara had expected. He seemed to take to her almost instantly. "Oh, sorry, I hope we didn't take your spot." He said.

"No no, it's okay, I'm just waiting for some friends. You can still stay here if you want." Katara explained.

Upon getting a closer look at this boy, she couldn't help but find him a bit charming. "Well, thank you! I'm Aang by the way, and this here is Toph."

Toph muttered a faint "hey" before grimacing and turning her head away from Katara. Aang chuckled a bit. "She's not much of a talker around new people. We're apart of this year's Freshman class... we're newbies."

Katara smiled. "I'm Katara. I hope you guys will like it here. I'd love to introduce you to my friends, they should be here any minute."

Aang's face lit up. It was pretty easy to see that he enjoyed talking to people and making friends. "Well Katara, I hope your friends are as kind as you are."

"My brother is kind of a dipshit, but you'll get used to it."

They both snickered, and they could've sworn they heard a giggle from Toph as well. A smile tugged at Aang's mouth, and he audibly gasped. "Was that a laugh I just heard, Toph?" He asked, jokingly pulling his friend into a hug.

Toph rolled her eyes and pushed Aang off of her. "Don't get used to it, Twinkle Toes."

"Twinkle Toes?" Katara repeated with a grin.

Aang rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "It's a nickname she gave me when we were kids. Who knows? Maybe she'll give you one too."

Katara just smiled in response. She couldn't help but look at Aang's arrow tattoos, and Toph's mobility cane. She fought the urge to ask about it. She figured it must be a touchy subject. Maybe she'd find out later. "KATARAAAA!" A familiar male voice called.

She turned her head towards the noise, and found Sokka and Suki approaching the table arm-in-arm. "Ah yes, there's mr 'we were both running late, so I decided to speed the car and make us even more late.'" Katara teased.

Sokka set his tray down on the table next to Katara and took a seat. "Pfft, I got out of the ticket, so it was fine."

"That was the first time I've ever seen Katara being late." Suki added.

Aang couldn't hold his tongue much longer, so he finally cut in. "Are these the friends you were talking about?"

"Yeah, about half of them." Katara turned to Sokka. "Where are Zuko and Mai?"

"Probably making out somewhere." Sokka took a sloppy bite of his pepperoni pizza. "Who's this kid?"

Katara didn't even need to answer that question. Aang had already done so for her. "I'm Aang, and this is Toph! We're new here."

"Aang and Toph, huh? So you guys are Freshies?" Sokka asked.

"Well... yeah."

"So what's with the tattoos?"

Katara wanted to slap her brother for such a question. Instead, she muttered his name through gritted teeth and elbowed him in the stomach. "Ow!"

"Anyway," Katara began. "This is my stupid brother, Sokka. And that's his girlfriend, and my best friend since childhood, Suki."

"It's nice to meet you all!" Aang said with a cheery attitude. He gently nudged Toph in the shoulder. "Right, Toph?"

"Sure, I guess."

"And I don't mind explaining my tattoos... if you're interested. Nobody's ever really asked about them before."

"Really? Nobody?"

Katara elbowed Sokka again. "I think what he means is, yes, we'd love to hear about them, if you're okay with it."

Aang lightly touched the arrow on his forehead before beginning his story. "When my parents were both young, they took the martial art 'Baguazhang' from my grandfather, Gyatso. Gyatso already had his tattoos. He said that it was kept in the family, and anyone who was apart of the family would earn their tattoos after mastering Baguazhang."

Katara was awestruck, with stars in her eyes. "Wow! So you're a master?"

"Yeah, the youngest one in the family so far. I got my tattoos when I was 12."

"That's..." Sokka paused for a moment. "...actually pretty cool. Sorry I judged you so quickly."

"It's okay, Sokka."

"So uh..." Sokka awkwardly cleared his throat. "What about the... other thing." He motioned his head towards Toph's cane.

Toph glared daggers at Sokka, and due to her glossy eyes, he immediately got the message. "She doesn't like to talk about it." Aang stated.

"Gotcha, gotcha..."

As the rest of the hour continued, the group went on to learn more about one another. Katara couldn't help but smile as everyone talked and gossiped. What an eventful first day of school...

Chapter Text

"What are you thinking about, Twinkle Toes?"

Even if she was blind, Toph was inept at sensing Aang's emotions. Probably because they had been friends for so long. He can never seem to hide anything from her, no matter how hard he tried. The two walked down the hall, side by side, to their next class. Toph traced her fingers across the wall, waiting to feel the texture of a wooden door, as well as the Braille that would read her classroom number.

Aang was thankful that Toph couldn't see how red his face was.

'I probably look so pathetic right now...'

"It's just..." Aang stuttered. "That girl we sat with at lunch... she was really pretty."

"Eww." Toph groaned. "Don't tell me you have a crush."

Aang's cheeks turned a darker shade of red. "No! I don't!"

"You're a terrible liar."

"I'm not that bad."

"You're pretty bad."

Suddenly, Toph felt the sensation of oak beneath her fingertips. She carefully read the Braille. "Looks like this is my stop."

She turned towards Aang, offering a toothless smile. "Good luck with your girlfriend."

Aang buried his face into his palms, more embarrassed than ever. Why did he feel this way about a girl he'd just met only an hour ago? "She's not my girlfriend."

'Though the idea doesn't seem so bad...'

"Yeah, whatever." In mere seconds, Toph had already disappeared behind the door.

Aang sighed and continued to his class.

***

Aang couldn't help but feel like an odd one out in the boy's locker room. With all the other boys being much bigger and stronger than him. He changed into his gym clothes as quickly as he could. He didn't want to be in there longer than he had to. He found that he was the first of the boys to leave the locker room and head to the gym. Only a few girls were there, along with the teacher, Mrs. Kyoshi, who sat behind a desk, waiting to take attendance.

Gym was surprisingly one of Aang's favorite subjects. For someone so small in stature, one would think that gym wouldn't be his strong suit. A certain someone would soon see that Aang is quite good at it, however.

"Aang! Thank goodness you're in this class." Katara squealed, racing towards the boy in her gym attire.

A stylish pair of denim shorts, with a blue T-Shirt, black sneakers, and long white socks that stretched up to her knees. Aang could never make himself look that good. Not with his boring black shirt, shorts, and shoes. "Katara!" He called, flashing her a bright smile, accompanied by a fruitful wave.

Katara skidded to a stop in front of Aang, and grabbed him by his wrist. He blushed at the sudden contact, hoping that Katara didn't see it. "Come on! Mrs. Kyoshi said we'll need partners for the daily opening exercises."

Before Aang could respond, Katara dragged him to the front of the room and sat down, pulling him down with her. The other girls there had already partnered up with one another, leaving Katara alone, until Aang had showed up. Aang couldn't help but smile to himself. He could hardly believe that someone as lovely as Katara would want to partner with him.

Katara's face fell when she noticed a tall, muscular jock enter through the gym's doors. Though Aang had no idea who he was, he did notice Katara glaring daggers at this kid. Katara gripped Aang's wrist a bit tighter as the tall boy began to approach them. "Who's that?" Aang whispered discretely.

"My stupid ex. Jet."

"That's your ex?"

Aang wondered how he could possibly compete with that. "Yeah, and he's a complete douchebag." Katara muttered. "Don't listen to anything he says."

Jet had finally made his way to Katara and Aang. He stood in front of them, his arms crossed, and a cocky grin on his face. He eyed Katara. "Hello, beautiful."

Katara avoided his gaze. "Fuck off, Jet."

"Come on." Jet knelt down to her level, attempting to reach out and caress her chin. "You're not still mad at me, are you?"

She immediately let go of Aang's wrist, and slapped Jet's hand away. "Don't touch me."

Jet didn't seem to get the message. He reached out once more. But this time, it was Aang who had stopped him. He grabbed Jet's forearm, and held it firmly in place. "You heard her. Hands off."

Jet glared at Aang for a few moments, before pulling is arm away. He let out a loud cackle. "Katara, who's this arrow-headed dweeb?" He said through obnoxious laughs.

"He's not a dweeb. And it's none of your damn business." Katara spat.

"Jet!" Mrs. Kyoshi called firmly. "Take a seat, now. Class is about to begin."

Jet groaned and rolled his eyes. "Fine, Teach."

He stood up, raising his hands slightly in surrender. He shrugged and walked to his spot on the gym floor. Katara turned to face Aang. "Sorry about him." She admitted.

"It's no big deal, really. I've been called much worse than a 'dweeb'."

***

A few minutes later, the other students began to flood into the gym. While the other students partnered up, Mrs. Kyoshi began to call attendance.

"Aang."

"Here!"

"Ty Lee."

"Here!!"

"Mai."

"I wish I wasn't here."

The rest of the names were a blur to Katara.

She couldn't help but notice Jet had partnered with some random girl. She grimaced. 'He's probably going to try and hook up with her...'

She then turned her attention to Aang. Though he was shorter than other guys, and maybe even a bit less 'manly', she still found him quite charming. Did she... have a crush?

She pushed the thought to the back of her mind. No, of course not. She had only just met him. Besides, she couldn't view herself in a relationship after the way Jet had hurt her.

"Katara." Mrs. Kyoshi said, snapping the young girl out of her thoughts.

"Oh, uh... here."

Mrs. Kyoshi made a few more edits to the attendance document on her computer, before finally getting up and standing in front of the class. "Ok, class. Before we start anything, every day we'll do some opening exercises. Today you will need partners, because we're doing sit-ups."

A few people groaned.

"And if you complain, you'll get after school detention." Mrs. Kyoshi added.

The room went silent. Mrs Kyoshi scanned the room. "That's more like it."

She pulled out her phone, and held up a timer for ten minutes. "For the first ten minutes, one person will be doing sit-ups, while the other holds their feet down. Once the time is up, you'll switch places. Got it?"

Everyone nodded. "Good." The timer started. "Begin."

"I'll go first!" Aang volunteered.

Katara sighed in relief. She hated sit-ups. Aang lied down on his back, with his hands supporting the back of his head. His knees were bent, his feet pointing toward Katara.

Katara grabbed the top of Aang's shoes and planted his soles firmly to the ground. With that, Aang pulled his upper body up and touched his chin to his knees, before gracefully falling back down.

He repeated this multiple times, barely breaking a sweat. 'Wow, he's good at this...'

She looked over at Jet, who was already starting to falter. Though still going, he was sweating and breathing heavily. On the other hand, Aang didn't seem to be struggling much. He seemed as though he could do this for hours.

Katara watched him, fascinated. She was so intrigued that she barely noticed just how close Aang's face would get to hers whenever he would sit upright.

Time flew by quickly. Ten minutes only felt like two seconds. The alarm on Mrs. Kyoshi's timer sounded. A stern wake-up call for those who would use that ringtone as their morning alarm clock.

Mrs. Kyoshi tapped her phone screen, and the vile sound finally stopped. "Switch!" She called out.

Katara offered Aang her hand. He took it, and hoisted himself up so he sat on his knees. "You know, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't impressed." Katara stated, lying down on her back. "You don't even look tired."

Aang grinned. "Thanks. The trick is to control your breathing. If you breathe to heavy while exercising, you waste your energy, and it makes you more tired."

"So basically, do the exact opposite of what Jet did?"

They both chuckled. "Yeah, pretty much."

"Begin!" Mrs. Kyoshi called.

***

After gym ended, Aang and Katara met up right outside the two doors of the locker rooms. "You did awesome out there, Katara!"

Katara wiped some sweat from her forehead. "You don't have to be nice about it, Aang. I got so winded after the sit-ups, that I couldn't even focus when we played dodgeball! And yet..."

She looked up at his face. There wasn't even a single bead of sweat! "You dodged every ball perfectly. How did you do it?"

Aang scratched the nape of his neck nervously. He wasn't one to brag. "Breath control and agility are a big part of Baguazhang, the martial art I learned to earn my tattoos..."

"Wow..."

"I could show you sometime!"

"That would be amazing!"

Katara pulled her phone from her back pocket and checked the time. "I should probably go, the bell rings in five minutes."

"Oh, right."

Katara waved before slipping behind the girl's locker room door, and closing it behind her. Aang waved back. As soon as she was out of sight, he had made his way into the boy's locker room.

But before he could reach his locker, he felt a sharp pull at the back of his shirt. A deep voice followed.

"Hey, dweeb..."

Chapter Text

"Hey, dweeb." Jet muttered into Aang's ear.

He spun the boy to face him, fiercely gripping the collar of his shirt and looking him dead in the eyes.

"Listen well, you little shit. I'm going to get Katara back. And if you get in my way, I'll kick your ass."

Aang tried his best to restrain from laughing. It was pretty obvious to him that this kid was all bark and no bite. Instead, he remained silent. Jet let out an angered grunt before throwing Aang harshly to the ground. A muffled "oof" arose from the back of Aang's throat. Jet stood over Aang, spit on his shoes, then proceeded to walk away.

The other boys in the locker room stared at Aang in awe. One of them took his hand and helped him to his feet. "Wow, he didn't beat you up!" The boy said,

Aang shrugged. "Guess I'm just lucky."

***
Aang had already decided on his preferred after school extracurriculars, and enrolled before school was back in session. It was engraved in his mind.

'Theatre on Mondays from 3-7, Soccer on Wednesdays from 3-7, Art Club on Fridays from 3-5. Today is Monday...'

He pulled out his printed map of the school. Due to being a newbie, it was hard to find where everything was. Even if he had already been to the Theatre for the in-school class on his schedule, it was difficult to remember. It took quite a bit longer than he had hoped, but eventually, he found it.

He folded the paper map and slid it into his back pocket before entering the amphitheatre. Everyone was already seated, circled up on the stage. The loud sound from the door caught everyone's attention. The theatre host, Mr. Roku, who also happened to be the teacher of the theatre class, raised an eyebrow.

Aang gave an embarrassed smile, and a quite chuckle. "Sorry I'm late. I'm still trying to find my way around."

"It's all right, Aang. Come join us."

Aang spotted two familiar faces in the circle, and his own face lit up. Katara and Suki. They both waved at him gleefully, and scooted over to make room for him. Aang climbed up onto the stage and sat next to Katara, shoving all of Jet's empty threats to the back of his mind. He would never let Jet keep him away from Katara, he swore it.

Mr. Roku continued speaking. "This year's stage play has already been decided. But I won't tell you what it is yet. We're going to do something a little more fun."

He pulled out a small white board from behind him, with an eraser magnet and Expo marker magnet stuck firmly to it. The board read seven popular non-musical play titles:
The Crucible
Romeo and Juliet
Hamlet
Macbeth
The Outsiders
Peter and the Starcatcher
To Kill a Mockingbird

The students read the titles, and looked at one another in excitement. Mr.Roku smiled. "We're going to do the process of elimination. The last title on the board is the one we're doing."

Students began whispering to one another, presumably about which one they hope it'll be. "Which one do you guys hope for?" Katara asked her friends quietly.

Suki smirked. "I hope for 'Romeo and Juliet', purely for you to get the role of Juliet and kiss someone."

"Ew, gross." Katara murmured.

Aang felt a tinge of jealousy at the thought of Katara kissing someone.

"What about you, Aang?"

"I really like 'The Outsiders'."

"That one's pretty good, but my money is on 'The Crucible'."

Mr. Roku picked up the eraser. He slowly reached for 'Peter and the Starcatcher', leaving some students booing. Then, to everyone's surprise, he switched to a different title, erasing it quickly. "We're not doing 'To Kill a Mockingbird'."

What followed were a few "aww's" and a few "yay's".

He erased one more title. "We're not doing 'The Outsiders'."

"Damn." Aang reprimanded himself, but was comforted by Katara's warm hand on his shoulder.

Another title. "We're not doing 'Peter and the Starcatcher'."

Once again, a few "aww's", a few "yay's", and lots of hyper focused eyes on the white board.

"We're not doing 'The Crucible'."

Katara gently punched the ground in disappointment. "You might've been right, Suki."

"If I am, would you audition for Juliet?"

Katara suppressed a gag. "No way. I'd probably go for the Nurse. I'm not going to kiss some random guy, even if we're just acting."

Suki scoffed in a sarcastic, yet friendly manner.

Roku continued. "We're not doing 'Hamlet'."

Just two more left. 'Macbeth' and 'Romeo and Juliet'. "Drum roll, please!"

The students began to tap lightly on the ground with their fingertips. "The beginning of the year play is....." Roku began.

He erased the title 'Macbeth'. "I was right! It is 'Romeo and Juliet'!" Suki beamed.

A few other students cheered, and some seemed more disappointed than others. "That's right." Roku said. "This year's play is a classic Shakespeare tale. Be ready for the auditions, they'll be taking place in two weeks. The cast list will be revealed in a month."