Gradual Changes

Busy Day

Busy Day

Busy busy busy. Always busy. Katara rolled out of bed five minutes before her alarm went off that morning and began to make her bed. Then, after selecting her clothes for the day and tossing them into the bathroom, she made her way to the kitchen. Her father had left for work already, as usual, and he would most likely not be back until long after her classes had ended. She pulled open the freezer and took a moment to decide before removing a package of fish from the ice. After placing it in the sink to thaw for dinner later that evening, she returned to her room just in time to turn her alarm off after the first beep. A nice, hot shower was Katara's favorite part of the morning. She always took a little longer than she really should, but the water pounding against her back felt so good. After drying and dressing, next came her breakfast. Some eggs, toast, and a small serving of bacon and she was ready for her day.

In order to help her father with expenses, Katara had decided to walk to school rather than pay the monthly fare for the bus service that the school provided. School was only about a half mile away, so she did not mind. The only problem was that recently she had been running into a certain annoyance on her morning walks about halfway to school. On most days he got the hint, but the moment she saw him this morning she knew it was going to be one of those days.

"Morning, Katara."

"Go away, Jet," she smiled in reply without looking at him..

"Aw, don't be like that," he said. "We both go the same way to school, so why don't you just let me walk with you?"

"Maybe because you have no respect for me or my boyfriend."

"Hey, I respect you," he defended himself.

"Then respect me from about fifty feet away," she ordered.

"I just wanted to know if you're coming to the game tonight," Jet said.

"What game?"

"What game?" he repeated. "The last football game of the year! You're gonna be there, right?"

"No," she answered flatly, still not looking at him. "I have better, less painful things to do with my time than watch you idiots running around with a ball."

"Like what?" Jet asked.

"Off the top of my head? I could amputate my arm."

"C'mon," Jet cooed. "Just come to the game. You know you want to. Besides, there's gonna be a big announcement after the game."

"I'm only saying it one more time, Jet." Katara finally turned and looked him dead square in the eye. "I. Am. Not. Going."

Jet continued to follow along behind her until reaching school grounds. He was not nearly foolish enough to follow her into the cafeteria where Zuko would be waiting for her. Katara's mode elevated exponentially when she saw him too. A bright smile graced her face and she remembered that even though she was constantly busy, this was one thing she would always make time for.

"Good morning," Zuko smiled as she settled next to him at the table.

"Good morning yourself," she grinned. She leaned forward and gave him a light kiss. "Good morning, Toph, Aang."

"Morning, Sugar Queen," Toph greeted between sips of her drink.

Morning with her friends was probably Katara's favorite part of the day. Unlike last semester, she did not have the time to go to Zuko and Toph's club practices anymore and she found herself feeling rather lonely in the afternoons because of it. Her new schedule was to blame for this. Once the first class of the day began, Katara was once again busy. The majority of the students in her chemistry class were barely even awake for the lecture and usually had to ask her to go over the lesson again for them once the teacher had finished his lecture. She was more than willing to help, but not once did she ever allow someone to copy her homework.