Sweet Tooth: A Zutara Fanfic

Chapter Two

Katara pushed open her door and collapsed on her couch, exhausted from the day. The walk home went smoothly and the tea was delicious however, she still had an essay to finish. But first she needed to get into more comfortable clothes, that way she could concentrate. Katara undid her messy braid and took off her mother's necklace. "Mother would be proud of how far I've gone." She thought, changing into some sweatpants and a old t-shirt from a Earth Day fundraiser she did last year. "I wonder how Aang and Toph are?"

Aang and Toph, friends still in their last year of high school back home were a big help on the Earth Day fundraiser. She knew Toph would be the only one up at this time. "Hey, how are you doing? Taking care of yourself?" Sent. Katara dropped her phone on her bed and slid her computer onto her lap, she could tell it was going to be a long night.

"DING!"
Katara looked over to her phone, "One-thirty already?" The clock seemed to glare right back at her. She picked up her phone and checked her messages, 'one new message from: Toph.' Katara smiled, Toph was like a little sister to her even though their personalities were so different. Katara helped Toph stay out of trouble and Toph made Katara loosen up and live a little more.
"I'm doing good, Katara. School kind of sucks but whatever." Katara frowned. "You shouldn't be up so late, don't you have class tomorrow?" Sent. A few minutes later the phone dinged again. "You're up. What's the difference?" Katara sighed, taking care of yourself can be difficult with so much to think about. "Goodnight, Toph." Sent. She put her phone on the nearby charger and glanced at her essay.
"Just one more paragraph," she muttered relieved at the fact she didn't have class tomorrow.
Katara's scholarship meant the world to her, it was proof that all her hard work, her restless nights and her prayers had finally paid off. If she couldn't finish the essay, what would that say about her? "What would Mom say if you gave up on the first week?" She eyed the necklace on her night stand, her mom's presence radiated off of it. She felt less alone every time she wore it, she felt like she was right there cheering her on.
"Mom, things have been a bit rough lately. I know I'll get through it and I know everything will turn out okay but I just feel kind of alone." Katara hugged her pillow. "On the bright side, there was this bubble tea place I found, it was small and really charming. Maybe I'll find some new friends, Ba Sing Se is a really big city after all."
She held her pillow tighter, her laptop screen dimming from not being used. The last paragraph finally done, she could get some rest.
"Good night, Mom," Katara tucked herself into bed and fell fast asleep.

"Beep, beep, beep." Katara clicked her alarm off. The sun peaked in through her blinds and welcomed her to the new day. "Mm, good morning," she groaned while stretching and crawling out of bed. No matter the day, Katara followed a morning routine. Any sense of normalcy is important, right? This felt especially important when she moved to unfamiliar Ba Sing Se, after dressing into black jeans and a blue knit sweater she prepared breakfast. Grocery shopping was one of the many errands she had to run that day.
Katara put on her necklace, grabbed her purse, and carefully closed her door, making sure to lock it. "Alright, let's start with groceries," she said starting down the block. Katara wanted her apartment to be as convenient as possible, having a grocery store not even two blocks down the street was one of the convincing points of the whole place. She pushed the door, ringing the bell attached to it.
"Good morning!" She said, waving to the cashier. "Let's see what's here," Katara thought, pulling out a list of essentials she needed.
The shop, unlike many of the corporate stores in Ba Sing Se was small and run by an elderly couple whom Katara had only seen once. There were about 6 isles in the entire store which meant there wasn't a variety but there were the basics.
"Alright... fruit, cereal and some lemonade," Katara murmured while grabbing a basket and taking fruit from the isle. "Maybe I'll stop by Sokka's workshop later," Katara wondered the store and became lost in her thought, " That is, if the professor doesn't assign too much work today."
"Huh?" Katara crashed into the arm of a young man, making his basket fall on the floor with a bang. "I am so sorry," Katara immediately fell to the floor to pick up its contents.
"It's fine," the young man said in a monotone voice. "Here you go-" Her words slightly slurring off as she sees a bright red scar on the side of his face, covering his eye and part of his ear. "Nothing's damaged right?" Said Katara, who was getting up trying to make it seem like she didn't notice the scar.
"Nope," the man said, handing her a box of cereal that fell out of Katara's basket during the collision. "It's okay to look, I get that a lot." Katara felt her ears burn up, even with the scar the young man was still noticeably attractive as well. He had semi long black hair that went over his face in all the right ways, and hazel yellow eyes that looked over Katara's complexion with such attentiveness.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to I..." Katara stopped herself from saying any more, "Sorry about your groceries."
The man smirked, "Again it's fine, better the groceries than a pretty girl's face." Before Katara could respond, the young man's phone pinged. "Well, I better be leaving," he said flatly checking his notifications. "Goodbye." Just like that the store was empty again, Katara still holding her bent cereal box.
'Well, I guess we can add that to the list of things that have happened to me in Ba Sing Se.' Katara thought, still not used to being called pretty. Especially not used to being called pretty by an attractive stranger with a scar.
'I guess they're always new things happening?' She pondered, her entire body felt hot from embarrassment.