New Student (Zukka fic)

Part Twelve

Suddenly, Katara called over, "Hey, look! There's a bunch of old tea sets over here."

His mind instantly flashed back to the day they first met, when Zuko cut his hand. He said his tea set had broken in the drive, and he'd cut himself on one of the shards. He still hadn't replaced it, and he'd been using plastic cups and Sokka's old electric kettle ever since. 

"I bet he'd like one! His old one broke a few months ago." He inspected the shelves, looking for something that was just right. A few of them were plain, a few of them had symbols of the different elements, others had animals on them. Sokka kept searching, and he reached for one shoved in the back. The second he looked at the design, he knew it was perfect.

It was a plain cream color, with a white top. On the front there was nothing except a very large flower. The White Lotus. However hard he tried to forget about the most embarrassing pai'sho match of his entire life, he knew that he couldn't just sweep it under the rug. Why not turn it into something special?

"This one," he said firmly, and Katars just nodded and they checked out the tea set and the old pai'sho set. Turns out, the cups that came with the teapot had mini designs on them that represented the other tiles of the set.

They put everything in the backseat of the car and hopped in, but didn't start the engine. "Well," Katara breathed. "I'd say that was a pretty successful shopping spree! Thanks for spending the day with me."

Sokka grinned. "Anytime, little sis."

She groaned at the nickname, and the pair started talking about everything that's happened over the past few months. Somehow the conversation traveled to Zuko.

"He might seem really nice, but believe me, don't get on his bad side. I'm not even going to talk about the time he punched Jet in the face," he exclaimed, laughing hysterically at the memory.

Katara, who had been laughing along with him just a second ago, froze. "Jet?"

Crap.

"Um...well, yeah. He's attending college here too, somehow. I didn't know he had the brains for it, honestly," he replied tentatively. He wanted to avoid a rampage at all costs.

"And he hasn't been bothering you guys, has he?" she asked, staring him down.

"No, actually. He's just been ignoring us for the most part," he said, his face sweating like crazy. He had never been a good liar, and Katara knew it.

"Sokka."

He fidgeted.

"Yeah, he's been bothering us a bit. Nothing we can't handle, though." 

"What. Did. He. Do."

"..."

He fessed up.

The whole point of not telling her about Jet was so that she didn't go and ahead and commit a murder, but now that'd he spilled the beans about him attending, he was pretty much toast. He told her everything that had happened, and it was frankly a miracle she didn't crush her phone, she was squeezing it so hard.

"Excuse me for just a second. I need to to make a phone call." She left the car, and Sokka facepalmed. This wasn't going to end well.

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

Jet kicked back on the couch in his dorm, Bee and Longshot were blasting music in the kitchen, with Bee singing her lungs out. Longshot was a dancing machine. He was busy watching his favorite movie, Into the Spiderverse. 

Suddenly Bee stopped singing and yelled, "Hey, Jet! Someone's calling you!" She threw his phone a good ten feet, and he somehow managed to catch it. 

"Thanks, Bee!" He looked at the caller ID, and it was an unknown number. Huh. He pressed the green button and put the phone to his ear. "Yello?"

"JET, YOU PIECE OF HOT STEAMING GARBAGE!"

Jet nearly dropped his phone because of how loud the caller was speaking. Bee and Longshot abruptly stopped their dance session, and turned off the music so they could listen.

"YOU'RE LUCKY I'M NOT TALKING TO YOU IN REAL LIFE, BECAUSE IF I WERE, YOU'D BE BURIED ALIVE!"

"Um..." Jet stammered, "who are you, exactly? What is this about?"

"Oh yeah, sorry about that," the voice replied, lowering its volume and laying on as much sugar as it could manage. "It's Katara, and I'd like you to stay away from my brother and my friends or I'll leak the footage I have of you peeing in the shower."

"Katara? Wait, how did you get this number?" he spluttered, absoutely flabbergasted.

"It's still on my phone. You really should get a new phone, you've had the same one for 3 years. Listen to me carefully-you might think that you're invincible and you can get away with anything, but you can't. I have plenty of dirt on you, and I'm not afraid to make your life a living hell. It's simple-stay clear of who me and who I care about, or the consequences will follow. Have a great rest of your day!" 

She hung up.

Bee and Longshot were staring at him, dumbfounded. "Um...what do you feel like for dinner?" Bee asked.

Jet banged his head against the coffee table.

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

Katara swung back into the car, slamming the door behind her. Sokka tapped his foot nervously. He'd overheard the entire conversation, and he had to say, he was pretty impressed.

"All taken care of, see? Problem solved," she said, plastering a sugary sweet smile on her face.

He shook his head. "You're terrifying, sometimes, you know that?"