Four Elements High School: Junior Year

Chapter 21: The Mandatory Shopping Chapter

Can you tell that I'm putting less and less effort into the titles of these chapters?

~~~

Azula stood outside of the Jasmine Dragon, tapping her foot impatiently, when a sleek black car pulled up in front of the tea shop. 

"You're late," she said to her Chauffeur. 

"My apologies, Miss," the driver of the car said, "Here is your mail from the last week." he handed her two envelopes before driving away. Azula frowned and headed back inside. 

"Has your dad noticed that you're living here now?" Ty Lee asked while nibbling on a pastry. 

"Well, Ozai is the worst father in the history of fathers," Azula said, "I bet he thinks I've just been spending time with friends." Ty Lee pointed to the two envelopes. 

"What have you got there?" Azula examined the addresses. 

"They're from Sozin and Omashu," she said.

"Well, open it then." Azula nervously tore open the envelopes, and read both letters silently.

"What does it say?" Ty Lee asked, leaning over her shoulder. 

"I've been accepted into Sozin," Azula said, "No surprise there." She looked at the next envelope, "I've also been accepted into Omashu with slightly less financial aid." Ty Lee looked at her.

"So what are you gonna do?" 

"Well, money isn't a problem for me," Azula sighed, "I think I want to go to Omashu."

"I'll miss you," Ty Lee said with a sad smile on her face, "But I'm glad you're making your own choice," she stood up, "Now if I remember correctly, we're going dress shopping for Prom with Katara and Toph today."

"Toph agreed to go dress shopping?" Ty Lee paused. 

"No..."

~~~

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"Spirits, Toph, you don't even have buy something!" Katara complained, "Knowing Ty Lee and Azula, we're probably going to a really expensive boutique, and I won't be buying anything either." 

"Katara, I'm going to the storage unit. I'll be back in a few hours!" Hakoda yelled from the other room, and left before Katara could ask why. 

"Katara, I can buy you a dress," Toph said, "My parents are loaded, remember?"

"Thanks, Toph," Katara replied, "But I don't think I-" The doorbell to the apartment rang. 

"That must be them," Katara said. She ran up to the door and opened it, revealing Azula and Ty Lee, the latter of which immediately started talking about how classy the boutique they were going to would be as they got into Azula's car. 

"I told you so," Katara whispered to Toph, who smirked. After about 20 minutes they pulled up into the parking lot of the Lavender Lane Boutique: Bridal and Special Occasions. Ty Lee squealed as they walked inside. 

"Hold on," Azula said as she headed towards the racks of pink dresses (they were arranged by color), "I thought we agreed on gold."

"You're no fun," Ty Lee laughed, "But you have to wear glitter."

"Deal." Azula and Ty Lee headed over to the yellow and gold dresses, while Katara and Toph stood awkwardly at the front of the store. 

"Welcome to Lavender Lane! Can I help you with-" 

"No," Toph said to an employee who walked up to them. She turned to Katara, "So... do you want to find an overly expensive dress that you're only going to use for one night." 

"Um, let's just find one for you first," Katara replied nervously. Toph sighed. 

"Whatever you say, Sugar Queen."

"Do you care what color-"

"Green," Toph said. 

"Is it bad for me to ask why?" Katara said as they walked over to the green dresses. Toph shrugged. 

"Green's the color of earth. I like rocks, so I bet that if I could see, I would like green." Katara began taking dresses off of the racks and holding them up to Toph's petite figure. 

"Feel this," she said, handing her a dress. Toph grimaced. 

"Are these sequins?!"

"Sorry!" Katara hastily took the dress back, "I meant to give you this one." The second dress was made out of a very soft material, maybe velvet. 

"I'll try this on," Toph said, and walked towards the changing rooms. 

~~~

"Katara?"

"Yeah?"

"I don't like this one." Katara groaned and dropped the dress onto the mountainous pile of rejected outfits. 

"What if we tried something that isn't a dress?" Toph smiled a little bit. 

"Sure." A few minutes later, they settled on a lime green jumpsuit that was anything but traditional. It was made of a smooth, soft silky fabric, and Toph loved how light and free it made her feel. 

"I like it!" she said immediately. Katara beamed.

"Sorry if I forced you to be girly," she said sheepishly. 

"Katara, I was almost positive that you had to wear a floor length gown to Prom before today," Toph paused, "And you know, sometimes it's nice, just to do girly things."

"How do we look?" Ty Lee and Azula walked up to them. Both of them were wearing gold, with Ty Lee in a sleeveless, satin dress, and Azula in a sparkly floor length gown. 

"You look like you could be models," Katara said truthfully. 

"What about you?" Azula asked in a rare instance of her caring about other people's well being, "Aren't you going to buy something?"

"I'll just get mine another time," Katara said hastily.

"But-" Ty Lee started, before Azula touched her shoulder. 

"She can do what she wants," she said in a low voice, and the matter was settled. 

~~~

Katara opened walked into the living room of the apartment to see Sokka, Hakoda, and Gran Gran hunched over a large plastic container. 

"What's going on?" she asked, hesitantly walking over to them. 

"It's some of your mom's things," Hakoda explained, "They were in a storage unit and a friend of mine found it for me."

 Katara knelt down next to them and looked at some of the items inside the container. There was a watch, some photos, lots of sewing needles and funny looking pin cushions, and at the bottom was what felt like a pile of fabric. Katara carefully took the fabric out of the container. It was a pastel, baby blue color, and as she held it up to the light, she realized that it was a dress. Recognition dawned on Hakoda's face. 

"I remember when she was making this," he said. 

"Can I..."

"Go ahead, try it on." Katara ran across the hallway tried on the dress. It was made of a light tulle material, and it had a sort of ageless quality, like something someone could wear in the present, or 25 years ago. 

"Could I wear this to Prom?" she asked when she returned to the living room. Hakoda smiled. 

"I'm sure your mother wouldn't have had it any other way."

~~~

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