Chapter Text
“God! Katara, if you keep staring, he’s going to come over here.” Suki griped at Katara as the pair sat at their lunch table.
It was 1983, and the bustle of the lunchroom within the public high school was loud and distracting, but it didn’t keep Katara from glancing over at the new boy who had just transferred into the senior class. He sat alone at his table, with a black hood up and a Walkman set fastened to the top of his head.
“What’s with your fascination anyway? Hello? Katara?” Suki continued to pry, and finally Katara looked over in her direction.
“Sorry, I don’t know, it looks like he has a scar on his face. He just…I don’t know.” Katara stammered.
“There’s a rumor…he killed someone.” Suki leaned over and whispered.
Katara’s eyes grew wide.
“And…I am…totally…joshing you.” Suki said, manically laughing afterwards.
“That wasn’t funny, Suki. Oh my gosh, I nearly had a heart attack.” Katara replied, she scowled but shared a chuckle with Suki.
Katara looked down to her plate, and somehow, the school’s chicken and mashed potatoes looked even more disgusting than usual. She shoved her plate to the side.
Suki rolled her eyes and rummaged through her purse next to her. After a moment, she plopped down a package of Bottlecap candy in front of Katara.
“Can’t have you going hungry now, can we?” Suki concluded.
“Thanks.” Katara smiled.
As Katara began to unwrap Suki’s sweet treat stash, Jet, her boyfriend, suddenly plopped down next to her and draped an arm across her shoulders.
“Hey Kat, how’s it going?” Jet said, he reached a couple fingers into the candy packaging and popped a Bottlecap into his mouth.
“Fine. I’d just appreciate it if you didn’t take my lunch.” Katara responded, she laughed halfheartedly.
Suki raised her eyebrows at Katara, and she knew exactly what Suki was getting at, and at that, Katara took a deep breath.
“Jet, can we go for a walk?” Katara inquired, she slowly slid away from under his arm and stood up behind him.
“Um, sure?” Jet shrugged. He stood and began to walk toward the exit of the cafeteria.
Katara looked back at Suki who gave her a thumbs up and a wide grin. Katara rolled her eyes playfully as her and Jet walked out of the cafeteria and into the nearly empty hallway.
“So, I wanted to talk to you…” Katara began, she felt her heart begin to race and she wondered if she should just stop talking all together.
But she reminded herself that she couldn’t and that this was something that had to be done...it probably should have been done a long time ago.
“Sure, what about?” Jet replied, he leaned himself against some lockers.
“I know what happened last Friday night, and…I-I don’t want to be your girlfriend anymore.” Katara said plainly, she stood up straight and took another deep breath in.
Jet frowned and took a step closer to Katara.
“I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.” Jet said, his voice was genuine, but Katara wouldn’t be deceived.
“Oh my God, Jet. You made out with Izzy! At the party! I saw you!” Katara raised her voice a bit, but she took a step back.
“Katara, I was drunk—“
“It doesn’t matter. Are you really that shallow? You think that's an excuse?” Katara clenched her teeth.
A few students began to flood into the hallways from the cafeteria, and most stopped to observe Katara and Jet’s interaction, which was anything but inconspicuous.
“We’re done, I’m done. I’m sick of you treating me like shit! I've let you be downright mean to me for too long. You’re a grade-A asshole, you know that?” Katara concluded, she turned around to walk away, but then Jet grabbed her wrist.
“No, that's now how this works. We’re not done until I say we are.” Jet said, he began to pull her back toward him.
She wriggled free and turned to him and said,
“Fuck you.”
After doing so she walked away, pushing other students who had been observing the argument of her way. She felt tears begin to prick at her eyes but she held them back. She headed toward the backdoors of the school, where she could collect herself by the dumpster and alley near the parking lot. No one usually went there, and there was no way she could go to class after that whole ordeal, let alone have anyone see her like this.
Katara had never liked Jet all that much, she had thought he was cute and he made an alright boyfriend overall, but his ego only got bigger over time, and Katara knew she would have to break up with him at some point, especially with what transpired that past weekend. Suki had been telling her to break up with him for weeks, so she’s happy she finally plucked up the courage to do so. It needed to be done, and Katara knew that Jet was only going to get worse as time went on. Breaking up with him felt good, but he also hurt her. They’d been dating for a year and she knew she’d trusted him more than she should have.
Katara slammed the backdoor behind her and leaned her back up against it. She finally let her quiet cries out and she wiped her tears away as soon as they came.
Katara knew there was nothing wrong with crying, especially when she was hurting, but she still felt so weak.
“Could you be a little quieter over there? I’m trying to read.” A raspy voice came out of nowhere and nearly frightened Katara.
She looked over in the direction of the voice, and it was the new boy who she had been glancing at during lunch time. He was sitting on the ground a few feet away from the dumpster and was leaning against the school building. He had a cigarette dangling between his fingers, and an open book sprawled between his two hands. His Walkman headset rested on his neck and clung to the collar of his grey and black plaid flannel. His black hood on his jacket was no longer up, so Katara could see the scar she had observed earlier more clearly.
She quickly rubbed the remaining tears away from her face and turned toward him.
“Sorry, I didn’t know anyone else was out here.” Katara replied. She examined the lanky dark haired boy, but he kept his eyes to his book and didn’t reply.
“You know, most people would ask someone who’s crying if they’re alright.” Katara continued.
She was intrigued by this boy. He had been at their school nearly three months and didn’t seem to have any friends. His sister, Azula, on the other hand, made friends and gained popularity amongst the senior class rather quickly.
“Well, sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I don’t really care why you’re crying.” He replied. He took a long drag of his cigarette shortly after. He still never even glanced at Katara.
“Alright, well, I’m gonna have to ask you to leave. This has been the spot where I go when I want to be alone for the past three years and I don’t want some cigarette-smoking, insensitive, asshole messing that up. So take your book and go read somewhere else.” Katara nearly exploded.
Her temper was short, and she wanted to be alone to recollect herself so she could go to her next class. Knowing the reputation of this boy, he probably would be skipping classes for the rest of the day, so he could easily find somewhere else to be.
The boy rolled his eyes before closing his book. He walked toward Katara, looked her straight in the eyes, and dropped his cigarette to the ground. He snuffed it out with the bottom of his boot.
“Happy?” He said wryly.
Katara rolled her eyes and looked down to the small book dangling in his fingertips.
“What is it you’re reading, anyway?” Katara pried. She quickly snatched the book from his hands and examined the cover.
The cover was a scarlet red with no art. Only gold lettering which read “The Catcher in the Rye. By JD Salinger”. The boy briskly took his book back.
“That’s a classic, hope you’re enjoying it.” Katara said, she gave him a small sarcastic smile.
“You're a piece of work, aren't you?” He replied, returning the sarcastic smile.
Katara scrunched her nose,
“I can be...now please…leave.” Katara gestured her arm toward the door.
The boy didn’t move.
She crossed her arms and straightened her posture as he stood tall and mighty in front of her.
“You know what? On second thought, maybe I will stay out here.” He said, he turned the other way and sat back down in his original spot.
Katara scoffed and rolled her eyes.
“Should have expected that. You seem the stubborn type.” She sat down on the ground and leaned her back against the door. She sat a few feet away from the boy. He stuck his nose back into his book as he dug around in his pocket.
This is hopeless, Katara thought.
There was a moment of silence, and Katara thought she might be able to manage to recollect herself here as long as he stayed quiet and unbothered.
“I could hear you yelling at Mr. Perfect all the way out here.” The boy with the scar said. He placed a cigarette in his mouth and flicked on his lighter.
Not so quiet anymore.
Katara’s heart sank, had she really been yelling that loud?
“You could?” Katara asked, she turned her head to him.
He just nodded and kept his eyes glued to the page he was on. Katara groaned and buried her face in her palms.
“I mean, he is a piece of shit, so I don’t blame you.” The boy said after a moment.
Katara looked over at him, but he just turned to page of his book.
“Well thanks, at least I know I have the mysterious new kid who everyone’s a little scared of on my side. You know how many rumors there are about you? You're like a mythical being or something.” Katara said.
She didn’t know why she was still talking to him, but she couldn’t help continuing to do so. She wondered if anyone in their grade had really talked to him at all. Sure, she thought he might hang out with Azula’s little friends every now and then, but it didn’t seem like he did much socially other than that. And, their class was small, Katara knew just about everything about everyone, so she really wondered about this boy…she didn’t even quite remember his name.
"Don’t know, don’t care.” He responded. He began to fidget with his lighter, making sparks appear in a second and then disappear the next.
Katara decided that perhaps if she continued to talk to him and disturb his reading he would leave, so she continued.
“Well, I think you do care.” Katara said, she surprised herself.
With that, the boy looked up from his book and maneuvered his gaze toward her. He furrowed his brow.
“Katara, right?” He inquired, and returned his eyes to his book.
“Yeah…” She trailed off, “I’ve seen your sister, Azula, at parties before.”
“Yeah, she would be apart of that crowd.” He scoffed.
Katara rolled her eyes and glanced to his Walkman cassette player peeking out of his pocket. In black marker written at the top was ‘Zuko’.
“You’re Zuko.” Katara thought out loud.
Zuko hummed quietly as to say ‘yes’, but he still wouldn’t look up from his book.
“What are you doing out here? Don’t you have class or something?” She continued to talk, hoping soon he’d get up to leave.
“Don’t you have class or something?” Zuko replied, he took a short drag of his cigarette.
“Ok, ok, touché.” Katara replied, she began to fidget with the silver rings around her small fingers. She adjusted the cuffs at the bottom of her baggy jeans and then concealed her hands into the sleeves of her lavender sweater as the breeze began to pick up.
“What have you got in your Walkman? Anything good?” Katara inquired. She reached for it sticking out of his jeans pocket but he shoo-ed her hand away.
“Alright, alright, you win.” Zuko said. He shut his book and put out his cigarette.
Katara celebrated internally.
Zuko stood up and Katara followed. She smiled softly and gestured toward the door. Zuko rolled his eyes as he reached for the doorknob.
“New rule though, whoever comes out here first, gets the spot. So, if I beat you here tomorrow, no yacking and forcing me to leave? Ok, Piece-Of-Work-Katara?” Zuko said, holding the door partially open.
“I’ll have to think about it.” Katara replied.
And with that, she shut the door behind Zuko.
Finally, she was alone.