New Student (Zukka fic)

Part Twelve

"Don't you get it, Suki? My entire world is unraveling before my eyes. I mean, I suppose there's a chance that Zuko wasn't horribly offended by what I did, and he just needs some alone time-but if that was true, why has he been hanging with you instead of me? He hates me now, he's never going to be my boyfriend, and he's going to murder me in my sleep-"

"Uh-huh," Suki muttered. The trio had just been hanging out and chatting in the dorm, and the second Zuko left for the library, she was ambushed by a frazzled Sokka ranting about his recent drama. No one asked her about how she felt about the Yue fiasco, despite Zuko's promises to do just that.

Sokka put his hands on his hips and frowned at her. "Are you even listening to me?"

Suki readjusted her position on the couch and pulled out her phone. "To be honest with you? No, not really."

His jaw dropped open. "Wow, Suki, rude."

"Look, I just don't have time for this drama right now. Go tell someone who cares." She continued to stare at her phone and waved her hand for Sokka to leave.

He huffed and started to march off towards his room, when the door suddenly slammed open. Katara walked in, grinning. "Who's ready for sibling bonding?"

Sokka sputtered, having difficulty forming coherent sentences. "Wha-who-how did you get a key to the dorm?"

Katara smiled innocently. "Zuko gave it to me. Apparently he made another one using a 3d printer and gave it to me so we wouldn't have to spend all of our time in the hotel room."

Sokka cursed. "That sweet, angelic idiot."

Back on the couch, Suki called, "Dang, he gave you one too? I kinda don't feel special anymore."

Katara put down her purse and walked over to the living area. "Hey, Suki! How have you been?"

She rolled her eyes. "Oh, you know, I'm doing fine. Just listening to do this one ranting on about drama I don't care about. Please get him out of here."

"Wha-!" he protested.

"That's exactly why I'm here!" Katara winked at her. She started pulling Sokka's arm towards the door. "Come on, get your shoes on, we're going shopping downtown."

Sokka abruptly stopped his protesting. "Shopping?" His eyes lit up.

His sister flashed him a dazzling smile. "Yup. I heard there's a collector's edition pai'sho set available for a limited edition at the game store."

He quickly got his shoes on. "Well, okay. Just for the afternoon, I guess."

As they left, Suki let out a sigh of relief from the quiet. She wasn't sure how much more she could take of Sokka's prattling. She continued to scroll through social media, when suddenly a notification dinged. She frowned, checking her text messages, and froze.

Yue: Can we talk?

............................

Sokka buckled into the passenger seat, frowning as Katara slipped in front of the steering wheel. "It's my car; why are you driving?

She scoffed. "You're almost as bad a driver as Aang, and I don't feel like vomiting into a paper bag today." Then engine started up, and they slowly drove out of the parking lot and onto the road.

"So," Katara said, "besides the pai'sho set, was there anything you needed?"

"Yeah, actually. It's Zuko's birthday next week, and I need to buy him a gift," he replied, staring out the window.