New Student (Zukka fic)

Part Four

This chapter is mostly Sokka's POV by the way. Also, this takes place a couple of weeks after the last chapter.

"Ugh. Look at him, thinking he's all high and mighty. Hey, I don't need to sit with anyone else, I'm too good for those peasants,"  Sokka griped, shooting a glare in Zuko's direction. Zuko didn't notice, and continued to read his book. He was eating lunch on a bench by himself, away from all the cluttered tables.

"Suki? Are you okay?" Sokka asked, noticing his friend had gone rather red in the face. She clutched her lunch tray so tightly, it looked as though it might snap at any moment.

"Su-"

"Sokka, will you stop acting like a child for two seconds and listen to me?" she snapped, finally losing her temper.

"What are you getting so mad at me for?" he retorted, startled by her outburst.

"Oh, you have no idea how furious I am with you right now, Sokka!" She took a deep breath to collect her thoughts, clearly trying to control herself. "Let's review the facts. You challenged Zuko to a pai sho game, and when he didn't want to play, you pressured him into it. When he finally did play, you forced him to play again, and again, and again, until your precious ego could be satisfied. When it wasn't, you screamed terrible things at him for being better at a game he didn't even want to play."

Sokka sweated profusely. He hadn't thought about it like that, and it didn't sound very good when she said it out loud.

"So unless you still need to get your act together, I suggest you go and rehearse your apology." In a huff, she picked up her lunch tray and left Sokka by himself.

Sokka turned back to Zuko, looking at him through a whole new lens. What Suki said didn't change his opinion about him, but he had acted out of line, and he needed to apologize. He stood up to face him, but as he did, his phone started to ding.

Reminder-Algebra starts in five minutes.

Sokka groaned. He'd have to find another opportunity later. Professor Pakku would kill him if he was late...again. 

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

Zuko dashed through the halls, notebook papers flying out his folders. He had never been late to a class in his life, and he wasn't about to start now. He pushed through crowds, angering a few of them by knocking them over unapolgetically. 

At last, he reached the Algebra classroom, and he slammed the door open, causing the class to jump in their seats.

"Mr. Meiyo, may I ask why you are late?" Professor Pakku asked, drumming his fingers on his desk expectantly.

Zuko shifted uncomfortably as everyone's gaze bored into him. "I-I'm so sorry, Professor! I was reading and I lost track of time, but I promise it won't be happen again!" he stuttered, flushing with embarrassment.

Pakku sighed, gesturing for him to sit down. "Make sure it doesn't happen again." Zuko quickly bowed his head and sat down, trying to ignore the stares he was getting. Most of all, however, he was trying to ignore the person sitting next to him.

An hour passed by, and Pakku was wrapping up his lecture and was beginning to ask questions. "Mr. Woda, would you please tell us which war Chin the-" He peered over his glasses that find the sleeping, drooling student next to Zuko.

"Mr. Woda!"

Sokka suddenly snapped to attention, nearly falling backwards in his seat. "Yes, Professor Pakku?"

"Since you clearly know too much about this subject for it to be interesting, perhaps you could answer a few questions."

Sokka gulped. "Alright."

"How many years did Chin the Conqueror rule over the Earth District?"

Zuko looked quickly over at Sokka, scanning his face to see if he knew the answer. Judging by how much he was sweating, he didn't.

"Um..." Sokka stuttered.

Before he could think about what was he doing, he quickly wrote a number on in his notebook, and left it open for Sokka to see. Sokka eyes quickly flitted down to the paper, then looked back at Pakku.

"Uh, 40 years sir," Sokka replied, his face dripping in sweat. 

Pakku look surprised. "Er...yes, that would be correct. However, please pay attention in my class from now on, is that understood?"

"Yes."

"Good. Now, Miss Feng, would you read part..."

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

It didn't make any sense.

Sokka had annoyed him, insulted him, and basically behaved like a wild hog monkey, yet Zuko had helped him despite having no reason to do so. He needed to ask him.

He saw his chance when Pakku tried to explain a passage on the other side of the room. He whipped out a pen and a piece of paper, and quickly scribbled a message. Than he nudged Zuko's arm for him to look.

Why did you help me? If it were me, I would've watched you flail around like a flipped turtle. So why didn't you?

Zuko took the sheet of paper in response, then pushed it back to him.

In all honesty, I'm not really sure. It just seemed like the right thing to do, I guess.

Sokka decided this was probably the best opportunity to make things right, so he took it upon himself  to write a new message.

I'm really sorry about what happened with our pai sho game a couple of weeks back. I promise I didn't mean anything I said back there. Could you forgive me?

This took Zuko a bit longer to respond, and Sokka could see his brow furrow with thought. He finally wrote something, and passed it back.

Yeah. How about we promise to not hate each other ever again?

Sure. I never hated you.

I never hated you either.