Four Elements High School: Junior Year

Chapter 19: Spring Break

After Iroh took over as Interim principal, Azula and Katara became a lazer focused, prom-planning dynamic duo. The made a website and spread the news, booked reservations at the Gaoling country club, and prepared Toph and Ty Lee for the history exam all in the span of two weeks. It was spring break, and the gaang was in the Jasmine dragon. Nowadays, the group spent all of the time there on the weekends. The door opened with the jingle of a bell, and Mai and Zuko walked in.  

"You're here!" Ty Lee screeched, running up and engulfing her in a hug, "You have to tell me everything about Hira'a! We're going to spend the whole week together!" She gasped, "We should all go shopping!"

"I'll pass," Mai said. She waved to Azula and Katara, who were hunched over a computer, and Toph, Sokka and Suki, who were all stuffing their faces with pastries. Suki had just flown in a few days ago. 

"Besides," she continued, "I have to take care of my baby brother tonight. I've just gotten back and my parents are already making me a babysitter," she rolled her eyes. 

"Wait," Aang said, "Katara and I will babysit him."

"Really?" Mai said, a look of surprise on her face, "He's not exactly the most well behaved kid, but, hey, be my guest. I'm sure my parents won't mind. They're rich, but they're stingy as hell."

"I would actually like to talk to them, since they're on the PTA, right," Katara looked to Azula, who nodded. 

"Well, I'll give you the address," Mai said, "Be there at 5:30, on the dot. They'll be back at 10 pm."

"Got it," Aang said. Azula pulled him and Katara in close. 

"Do not mess this up," she hissed, "We need them to be on our side."

~~~

Mai's house was in the hills. It wasn't as nice as Ozai's mansion, but it was still extremely imposing to Aang and Katara (and Appa, who had begged to tag along) as they stood in front of it. 

"Well, I guess we should go inside," Katara said hesitantly. Aang nodded. 

"Mai told us about you," Mai's mother, Michi, said when they got inside.

"Granted, she didn't say much, but you two seem responsible enough," her father, Ukano added.

"Actually," Aang said, "Could we maybe talk to you about-"

"Sorry, we really need to get going," Michi said, "Tom Tom's in his playroom upstairs, first door on your right, Take good care of him." Mai's parents walked briskly out of the house as if they could not leave fast enough. Aang and Katara stared at each other.

"I guess we'll go find Tom Tom," Katara said. The two of them headed upstairs, and hesitantly opened the door to Mai's brother's playroom. It was decorated in soft pastel colors, and every toy imaginable was spread across the floor. In the center of the room was a large crib. 

"Tom Tom?" Aang said with uncertainty.

"Shh!" Katara warned, as they approached the crib, "You might wake him up!"

"Oh, Sorry." The fact of the matter was, that Tom Tom had awoken as soon as Aang and Katara walked through the front door. And once they walked into the playroom, he crawled out of the crib and jumped on Appa. 

"Nevermind," Katara said. Aang took Tom Tom off of Appa. 

"Let's go to the backyard," he said.

~~~

The next few hours went about how Aang and Katara expected them to go.  Mai was right. Tom Tom was not very well behaved, and it turned out that the only way they could stop him from throwing a full on tantrum was for Aang to zip around the yard on an air scooter. Eventually, it got dark outside, and they were forced to go back in the house. Katara attempted to make dinner, but with the constant yelling and screaming of Mai's brother, it was impossible for her to focus on anything. 

"Aang!" she yelled, "Make him stop crying!"

"How?!"

"Just do it!" A few minutes later, Aang was zipping around the house on an air scooter, and he was fairly competent at it. Tom Tom was clapping his hands, gurgling in a happy way. 

"You're doing great, Sweetie!" Katara said. Aang smiled at her... and promptly crashed into an antique bookshelf. Katara winced. 

~~~

"Ow." It was around seven o'clock, Tom Tom was tucked into bed, and Aang and Katara were still picking splinters out of their hands from setting the bookshelf upright. 

"I guess we'd make pretty good parents," Aang said with a nervous laugh. 

"Yeah," Katara smiled. She grabbed a couple of books from the pile they had made on the floor and set them back on the shelf. She was twirling strands of her hair around her finger, which Aang knew meant she was thinking intently. This was confirmed when Katara spun around to face him and said, "Aang, what do you want to do with your life?" 

"Huh? Well, I guess..." Aang tried to think of something, but he couldn't, "I don't really know."

"Well, don't you have, I don't know, Avatar advisors or something?"

"I haven't even formally gone public as the Avatar, yet," Aang said, "But... what do you want to do with your life?"

"That's, the thing, Aang," Katara sighed, "I don't know if I want to go into the medical field or not. I don't know what college I want to go to. Everyone else seems to have it all figured out. Suki and Mai and Zuko all went to their dream school. Azula has her whole life planned out. Even Toph has plans, and Sokka's going to get trucked off to Kyoshi University and leave me behind."

"No one's leaving you behind," Aang said, "You don't need to rush things. We still have more than a year of high school left," he gave Katara a hug, "This probably sounds really cheesy, but Spirits, Katara I think you're my soulmate! And I'm always going to be here for you." Katara smiled. 

"I think so too," she said softly. 

~~~

A few hours later, Mai's parents returned. 

"Great job, you didn't burn the house down," her mother said sarcastically. 

"Did you two say that you wanted to talk to us about something?" Her father asked. Aang and Katara shared a nervous glance. 

"Um, yeah," Katara replied, "We hear that you two are on the PTA, and we were hoping that you would vote in favor of Prom when the issue comes up in a few weeks." Mai's parents communicated non-verbally for a few moments. 

"It's our last year on the PTA, so, what the hell?" Her mother finally said, "You kids deserve to have fun, and besides, it's not every day that someone can actually get Tom Tom to go to sleep."

"Thank you!" Aang said excitedly. He and Katara left the house with a spring in their step. 

"Thanks, Sweetie," Katara said, leaning on his shoulder. 

"For what?"

"I don't know," Katara shrugged, "You just make things better, that's all." 

~~~

Thanks for Reading!

FYI, there are 5 or 6 chapters left in this book! But don't worry! 

*cackles evilly* 

I have plans for brand new stories that I'll be writing afterwards.