Four Elements High school

Chapter 19: Three Days- Part One

Katara and Aang sat in the back of the bus. Their duffle bags sat on the floor next to their feet, and Appa sat between them. A whole weekend, she thought to herself, just the two of of them. Appa licked her face, well, three of them.  

"This is our stop," Aang said as the bus shuddered to a halt. They grabbed their stuff and hurried passed the disgruntled bus driver, with Appa close behind them. Katara's feet touched the ground and she breathed in the sweet, fresh air. Fluffy clouds implied that it might rain later, but at that moment, it was sunny and beautiful. 

"The town is in that valley," Aang said pointing to a small cluster of buildings, "We just need to follow the trail down for a few minutes. I'm so excited for you to meet everyone!"

"Me too," Katara smiled, "so how many people live here."

"There are about a hundred altogether," Aang said, "All of us are airbenders." As they got closer to the small town, Katara could see some little kids running around. It was early March, but tufts of green grass were starting to make their way out of the ground. 

"This is the park," Aang said as he led her through a pathway surrounded by trees. Small pink flowers were starting to bloom on the edge of the branches. 

"Aang! You're back!" two little boys that looked like twins ran up to him. Aang laughed.

"You guys have grown a lot since I last saw you." 

"Have you mastered all four elements?" they asked with wide eyes.

"I haven't exactly mastered them, but I can do this," he used earthbending to create a statue of Appa. The kids oohed and aahed, then they noticed Katara.

"Who's that?"

"She's pretty."

"Oh," Aang blushed, "this is Katara." 

"Is she your girlfriend?"

"I- um-," Aang stuttered. His face was bright red, "Katara, how about I show you the town square." 

"Um, okay!" Katara continued to follow him through the park. Why had Aang been so nervous? Why didn't he just deny that they were together?

"Sorry about those two," he said apologetically. 

"It's fine." They walked in an awkward silence for a while, moving away from the park and towards the cluster of about thirty houses that made up Aang's small hometown. 

"This is the town square," Aang said when they reached a brick area with a beautiful fountain in the middle. More children were playing and using airbending to fly kites, along with a few adults. An artist, painting the landscape, an older man, sitting in his rocking chair, and a mother, chiding her son. All of them stopped to greet Aang as they walked through. It was so odd, she thought, that he had never told her much about any of this. Katara felt a few drops of rain fall on her nose. The storm had come sooner than she thought. 

"Come on!" Aang said with a smile, "We can get to Gyatso's house before it becomes a downpour." He took her hand and they started running through the streets. Later, Katara would realize that she could've just used waterbending to keep the rain away, but where was the fun in that? Aang had been wrong, and they were soaked by the time they reached the front porch of an old ranch style home, just as a flash of lightning lit up the gray sky. It was a bit early in the year for a storm like that, but it did nothing to ruin the mood. Appa started jumping up and down excitedly as if he knew where they were going. 

"Calm down, buddy," Aang patted him on the head. He took off his shoes and placed them on the welcome mat, and Katara did the same. The door opened and she saw someone who could only be Gyatso.

"Aang, It's so good to see you. You've grown up," Aang ran up and hugged him. Then he saw Katara and smiled, "You must be Katara. I don't talk to Aang much on the phone, but when I do, you're all he talks about." Aang froze and looked away, "Now, why don't you come in." As soon as Katara walked into the warm, dimly lit living room, a small, scrawny cat with huge ears scurried past her and sat on Appa's head.

"That's Momo," Aang said, having recovered from the previous embarrassment, "Here, I'll show you your room and then we can have dinner. Aang led her down a hallway and showed her a small guest bedroom with a desk, a bed, and a wardrobe.

"Thanks," the door clicked shut and Katara sighed contentedly. She changed out of her wet sweater and leggings, and into some sweatpants and a cropped hoodie, then she went back to the living room and sat next to Aang.

"This is such a nice place," she said quietly.

"It is," Aang said, "Thank you so much for coming with me." He wrapped his arms around her in an affectionate embrace. Katara rested her head on his shoulder. It took a moment for her to realize that they had never really hugged before. It was weird. She had always felt so close to him, but they had never been physically close. Now she wished she could just stay like this. The way he looked at her was so loving and genuine. His arms were warm and comforting. She glanced up and saw herself blushing in the mirror on the wall. Earlier she would've thought it was from the heat of the roaring flames in the fireplace, but now she knew better.

I'm... I'm in love with Aang.

                                                                                        ~~~

Later that night, Aang sat in his bedroom that Gyatso hadn't even touched when he was gone. He was lost in thought for a moment, before taking out a sheet of lined paper and placing it on his small wooden desk. He had always been so afraid of touching Katara in any way, even if it was just a hug. He was always afraid of making her uncomfortable, of ever crossing the line between friendship and something more. Now he pressed the tip of his pen to the paper. He needed to write his thoughts down somewhere.

Dear Katara, he wrote, the past seven months have been the best of my life, and that is mostly because of you...

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This chapter was just Aang and Katara, but the next chapter will have more of the other characters.

Thanks for Reading!