New Arrival
Let’s see. This part should go here. This one here. Hmm, an extra part? Where was this one supposed to go? Oh right…it was supposed to go here. Well, if we adjust this part and put it here, then…yes! I smiled and drew a line on my schematics to where the last, almost forgotten, part was supposed to attach to in my Satomobile designs. And it was finally done! I sat back in my chair and looked at the digital alarm clock that sat on my desk. 2:37 am. Well, then. Looks like I wasn’t going to sleep. Again. I looked at my schematics, not very much caring what time it was at night. I had finished a three month project in designing my custom Satomobile at the age of 18. Dad was 22 and just finishing up college before he even thought about the very first Satomobile. I smiled to myself; Mom would be so proud of me.
“Look at you, Asami. Just like your father,” she said, watching me from the kitchen as I drew my first car drawing.
Mom, I miss you. I sighed, leaning back farther in my chair as I looked out the window of my room. The room used to be my mom’s painting room; she’d used to tell my dad that the view of Republic City gave her all sorts of inspiration to paint. He was very adamant against me making the room into my bedroom but relented when he realized that everyone has to move forward eventually.
I got up and rolled the schematics up before placing them into their protective tube. I sat the tube on a stand that held other finished schematics, intending to start at least one of them before the school year started. Since it was still too early to be up and too late to go to sleep, I grabbed my CabbagePod and laid down on my bed. I flipped through my song library, looking for something that was upbeat. Finally finding one, I selected it and set my CabbagePod down. I put my hands behind my head and looked out my window towards Republic City. Tomorrow was the first day of my senior year at Republic City High School. I could only wonder what was in store for me.
I wanted to beat the early first week traffic to school, so I arrived at the school earlier than I usually did. Thankfully, this meant that I’d meet up with Zhu Li and Opal. Zhu Li was always at school thirty minutes early working with a guy named Varrick; he always had some weird and stupid invention to create, and she was always there to help him out of the trouble he’d get into with the school’s administration. Opal came to school early with her foster sister, Kuvira, who was a member of the school’s Varsity bending team. I had known both Zhu Li and Opal since their freshman year.
As if on script and schedule, I found Zhu Li first by the sounds of a screaming Varrick. I sighed and rubbed my face, only imagining what stupid invention he had managed to screw up this time. I got out of my hand-me-down car, an older Satomobile model that my dad had INSISTED I drive, and locked it before heading towards the back of the school building. It wasn’t hard to find Varrick and Zhu Li thanks in large part to Varrick’s loud and high pitched screaming.
“Get it away from me!” he kept screaming.
The closer I was getting to him, the louder a barking noise I began to hear. My pace began to increase at the unexpected barking. Why would someone bring a dog to school? I rounded the corner, finding Varrick standing on a table with Zhu Li in front of him, clearly annoyed that he was using her as a shield. Below them was a dark-skinned girl holding back a white dog, who was barking nonstop at Varrick and Zhu Li.
“Sorry! I don’t know what’s gotten into her!” the girl apologized as she tried to rein in her dog.
“I didn’t do anything wrong to it! I just picked up this thing,” Varrick said, holding up what looked like a dog toy, “and it started its attack at me!”
I sighed and walked over to the table. “Varrick. That’s a dog toy. Just throw it away from you,” I told him, my hands going to my hips.
He looked at the toy before throwing it towards a tree farther away from the group. The dog, its interest of the toy taking over, immediately ran out of its owner’s hands and towards the toy. Varrick watched it, huffing, “Oh, well…I knew that.” Both Zhu Li and I rolled our eyes at him.
The girl, whose dog was now excitedly chewing on its toy, looked at us and rubbed the back of her head, clearing embarrassed by the recent events. “Sorry. I didn’t realize how far I had thrown the toy until I heard yelling. She usually come’s right back after she’s grabbed it, so I didn’t realize anything was wrong right away,” she said.
Moving out of Varrick’s grip, Zhu Li maneuvered her way down off the bench. “It’s no problem really,” she replied, smoothing out her skirt. Always with the professional look, Zhu Li. She really needs to lighten up in her style.
The girl smiled at Zhu Li before turning her attention back to the dog. “Well, I better go grab her then. It was nice talking to you!” she said before running off towards the dog.
Zhu Li and I watched her run off. Once she was out of ear shot, Zhu Li spoke up. “She’s new. I know everyone in this school, and this is the first time I’ve seen her around,” she said.
I watched as the girl led the dog towards the front of the school. “Well, she seems nice. Just…don’t introduce her to Bolin. You know how he is with new girls, and Opal’s trying her hardest to get him to notice her,” I commented.
Zhu Li nodded before turning her attention back to Varrick. He had moved off the table and was heading back towards the school. She sighed. “I better go after him before something else happens,” she said before looking at me. “Same spot at lunch?”
I nodded with a smile. “I’ll let Opal and Kuvira know.”
Zhu Li nodded before running off to catch up to Varrick. Once she had gone inside, I decided to head towards the bending arena, where I was sure I’d find Opal watching her sister practice with the bending team.
Sure enough, that’s where I found her, sitting in the middle of the stands with a book open on her lap. As I climbed the stairs, I noticed that she wasn’t reading but watching the bending team practice. I took a seat beside her, her attention more focused on the bending team than who joined her. I turned my attention to them, watching as Kuvira and the varsity squad knock the junior varsity squad out for a knockout. Kuvira removed her helmet while her varsity teammates high-fived each other. The varsity squad went undefeated last year, and they were favored to be repeat champions this year. I looked down at the junior varsity squad as they pulled themselves out of the water. One of them was Bolin; the other was his older brother, Mako; and the third was Hasook.
“You know, you could ask him out, Opal,” I said after hearing her sigh beside me.
Jumping, Opal finally realized that she had company beside her. “Asami! When did you…you’ve been sitting there for a few minutes, haven’t you?” she asked softly.
I smiled and nodded. “Caught the last knockout as you gazed upon your goof of a crush,” I teased.
She pouted at the nickname. “He’s not a goof, Asami. And you’re one to talk; you’ve been crushing hard on Mako since last year’s accident,” she countered.
Ouch. Nice one, Opal. It was somewhat true; I had been thinking a lot more about Mako since I accidently hit him with my moped last year on my way home from school. He had just finished up a shift at work, and I was on my way from a robotics competition. He had run out onto the street, intending on grabbing the bus just before it left, and he was lucky I didn’t do more damage than just a few bumps and small bruises. Course, he had argued that I should have reacted sooner.
I shook my head. “Sure, I am crushing a bit on Mako, but not as hard as you are.”
Opal beamed at the confession. “I KNEW IT!” she exclaimed. “I KNEW YOU WERE CRUSHING ON MAKO!”
I hurried to cover her mouth before looking down at the boys. They had obviously heard the screaming, but from their innocent smiles and waves they hadn’t heard what was screamed. From Kuvira’s look of confusion, neither had she.
I sighed and looked at Opal. “You are not to say another word, or I will let Su know about you and Kuvira’s little drunk experience last month at Garad’s,” I threatened softly. Her eyes went wide before she sighed in agreement to my terms. Garad was the oldest boy and heir to Cabbage Corp; he had thrown a rather large party in his father’s absence, which may or may not have had different variations of alcohol and a rather drunk Kuvira and Opal present.
I removed my hand and looked at the book on her lap. Traveling the World as the 12-year-old Avatar. By Avatar Aang. It was a popular book about Aang’s adventures after Katara and Sokka awakened him in the South Pole.
“Since when do you read this?” I asked, pointing to the book.
Opal looked at it and then looked at me. “You mean, you haven’t heard?” she asked.
I looked at her confused. “Heard what?”
“The new Avatar has been revealed and she’s going to be a student here!” Opal said as we stood up.
I look at her in surprise. As we made our way down the stairs and towards Kuvira, who was patiently waiting for us, Opal began to yammer about the rumors she had her in regards to the new student, the Avatar. From her knowledge, all that was solidly known was that she was our age and that she was from the Southern Water Tribe. Kuvira’s attention perked up when she heard our conversation.
“You don’t really believe that stuff, do you Opal?” she asked.
“Of course, Vee! Just think about it: the Avatar is a student at OUR school. OUR school. This is going to be so cool! Maybe you and her could do some cool earthbending stuff,” Opal said excitedly, but Kuvira just rolled her eyes.
I smiled at Opal’s enthusiasm. It would be cool that the Avatar would be going to our school. Hopefully she’d be ready for the fan club I’m sure Opal was thinking about starting.
Time for first period. Language class was always the easiest class for me, thanks to Dad having me studying different languages since I was nine. I walked into class and took my seat in the second row, pulling out a notebook. I was one of the last to arrive as Opal kept me back further to discuss her Avatar rumors. She was in math, which I was sure she’d ask for help in the next couple days with homework. I smiled; sometimes she was just too predictable. As I searched for a pencil, our teacher, Mrs. Vols, stood up.
“Welcome everyone. Now I know it’s everyone’s first day back, but I’d like you all to meet and greet a new student today,” she said, looking towards the door. She motioned for the person to enter. I set the pencil I had found down on my desk and looked up, surprised at who was standing at the front of the class.
There was the girl from early, the one with the dog. A nervous smile played on her lips as she waved. A blue Water Tribe armband was on her right arm. How did I miss that earlier? I continued to stare at her in amazement as she began to speak.
“Hi everyone. My name’s Korra Spark. And I’m the Avatar.”