Senior Year

The weekend crawled its way through, and by Monday, everyone had found out about the kiss.  As I walked through the halls, I could hear the gossipers whisper away as they stared at me, but I wasn’t in the mindset to let them affect me.  My mother taught me to be better than that.

I watched Mom smile as she walked us observers who were obviously talking about our current dresses.  I looked down at my dress, the dark red highlighted by light green waves.  Why would they not like this dress?  Or is it because I’m in the dress?  I continued to ponder the stares when Mom spoke up.

“Ignore the chatter, Asami.  They’re just jealous of you,” she said, a smile proudly on her face.

I looked at her uncertain. “Really?” I asked, my voice soft.

She stopped us, kneeling down and placing her soft hands gently on my cheeks. “Asami.  Don’t ever let anyone tell you something that you’re not.  You can do whatever you want.  You can be whoever you choose.  The decision is yours and yours only.  If you think you’re beautiful in that dress, then you’re the most beautiful girl to have ever worn that dress,” she said with a smile.

I smiled at Mom’s words.  She was always right.  So I ignored the chatter that accompanied me, preferring to continue my current walk to the cafeteria where everyone was waiting on me to join them for lunch.  I sat between Korra and Opal, smiling when they offered faces of concern.

“Guys, I’m fine.  I promise,” I said, pulling out the chicken salad sandwich.

Korra continued to watch my expressions, so it was up to Opal to ask the question. “Are you sure?” she asked.

I rolled my eyes and wrapped my arms around their shoulders, pulling them close. “Guys, I promise if something’s bothering me, you two would be the first to know ok?”

They stared at me for a quick moment before nodding and returning to their lunch.  Soon, the boys arrived, followed by Kuvira, and lunch proceeded as it normally did.  Everyone was laughing, talking about the weekend’s tournament matches for both the junior varsity and the varsity teams, but I stayed quiet.

I sat in my seat, watching the interactions between Korra and Mako, and a pang of hurt, maybe even jealous, punched my chest.  I mentally shook my head.  I’m not jealous.  I’m not jealous.  I’m not jealous…fuck…I’m so god damn jealous it hurts.  The laughs.  The smiles.  Why hadn’t I seen it earlier?  Maybe then it wouldn’t have hurt as much as it does now.  Maybe I could have braced myself for it. 

Not able to take it any longer, I packed up the rest of my lunch and stood up. “Sorry guys, but I need to use the restroom before we head off to class,” I said quickly as I left the table.  I didn’t want them to see the tears that were already starting to form.

Thankfully, no one was in the bathroom when I stormed in.  I found a corner and slid down, pulling my knees to my chest.  I sat there, silently crying, for what felt like a good ten minutes.  Who was I kidding?  This shit hurt like hell.  Why them?  Why did it have to be them?

The bathroom door opened, and I found myself looking up to meet Korra’s deep blue eyes.  She sat in front of me with her legs crossed, an apologetic smile on her face.  I looked down at my knees, not knowing what to say to that smile, the smile that was apologizing for everything that I was sad for.

“How’d I know this is what you were really coming in here to do?” she said softly.

I shrugged. “Don’t know.”

We sat there in silence for a few minutes before she finally spoke up. “Do you hate me?” she asked.

I stared at my knees, racking my brain for an answer.  I should hate her.  She’s the reason why I feel this way. “No.  I don’t hate you.”

She placed her hand over mine. “You have every right to hate me, Asami.  After all, I’m the reason why you feel this way.”

I looked at her hand. “You’re only part of the reason.  Mako has every right to be a part of the problem; you don’t have to take all the blame,” I admitted.

She smiled a little. “See?  There the truth comes out finally.”

I smiled back a little then returned my eyes to my knees. “Are you and him going to…yeah know…” I asked sheepishly, feeling like an idiot for even suggesting it in the first place.

“In honesty?  I don’t really know,” she replied, causing me to look at her with confusion.  She rubbed the back of her head. “To tell you the truth, I really wanted to before I kissed him.  I was jealous as hell when you two started to date.  After the kiss?  Not so much.”

“Really?” I asked, my body starting to relax.

Korra nodded and looked at her hands. “In truth, when I saw how hurt you were after, I couldn’t help but feel even worse off.  Now, every time I think about actually being with him, I mentally see that look and hate myself even more.”  She raised her head and looked me in the eyes. “I really didn’t want to hurt you like that, Asami.  I’m sorry that I was so selfish to do that to you.”

I looked her in the eyes for what felt a lifetime before pulling her into a tight hug. “You’re a fucking goofball,” I said, trying to hold my tears back.

She chuckled and hugged me back. “So I take it that I’m forgiven, best friend?”

I nodded. “Yeah, but you so owe me for that heartbreak.”

She leaned back and smiled at me. “I’m never going to break your heart again, Asami.  I promise.”

“I’m holding you to that,” I told her with a smile as we stood up.

It wasn’t that easy to talk to Mako as it had been with Korra, but as the week progressed, we started to make our amends.  It would be a long time before I forgave him, but I was willing to at least try.  The weekend matches rolled in before we knew it.  The awkwardness of the previous week seeped its way into the cohesion of the junior varsity, which showed in their second round match, but Bolin was able to pull them out a win and a trip to the semi-finals.  The win seemed to pull Korra and Mako out of their funk afterwards as they were their more energetic selves.

Kuvira’s team still had their match to go, so Korra and the guys met us at the box seats after they had changed into clean, nice-smelling clothes.  Opal and I were just about to take our seats, snacks in hand, when they came into the room.

“I smell popcorn!” Korra shouted as she ran over to us, jumping into the seat next to mine.

I smiled and handed her the cup of popcorn.  I turned my attention to Bolin and Mako. “Snacks are on the counter for you two if you’d like some,” I said with a smile.

Bolin smiled wide as he turned towards the snacks; Mako gave a small smile and nod before joining his brother in looking through the snacks.  Opal’s eyes never left Bolin as he started to scarf down the nearest snacks he could get his hands on.

“For Spirits sake, Opal, just ask him out!” I said in a whisper so that only Korra and Opal could hear.

Opal glared at me. “Shut up!” she whispered back.

Korra snickered beside me. “Do it before someone else does, Opal.”

“It’s not the right time yet!” Opal said in a louder voice.

“Not the right time for what?” Bolin asked, mouth full of food.

Opal, visibly stunned, tried to backtrack. “Uh…time for…uh…”

“The match, Bolin.  My watch is off, so I thought that the match was running late,” I said, offering Opal a way out.

Bolin nodded his understanding before joining us with more snacks.  He looked at his watch. “Should be starting soon.”

It wasn’t too long after that Kuvira and the rest of the varsity team arrived to the arena to face their opponents.  The match didn’t last long as the varsity claimed a first-round knockout.  To see how fast the varsity worked was incredible; I swore they didn’t even break a sweat.  I heard Bolin gulp at a realization that we all had after the match.

“If we make the finals…” Korra started.

“And if they make the finals…” Mako continued.

“We’re in for a long, long match.” Bolin finished.

We met up with Kuvira and the rest of the varsity team at the front of the arena.  They had changed quickly out of their uniforms and were waiting patiently for us.  Acari was the first to notice us.

“Anytime, juniors.  The champs need to get their rest in,” she said, stretching out to reiterate.

Mako rolled his eyes. “You might need rest, Acari, but I know it’s not going to be beauty sleep.”

The group broke out into laughter at the shot, which only intensified after Acari’s Mako-directed glare.  We walked out of the arena still laughing as Acari and Mako traded jabs back and forth.  As I laughed, my eyes wandered, looking for Dad’s limo.  When I found it, confusion filled my body.

Beside him was the Chief of Police, Lin Beifong, and two sergeants.  I didn’t mind the police, but the last time I had seen the scene was when Mom died.  Fear running through me, I quickly sprinted over to him. “Dad!” I called out.

Chief Beifong and Dad both turned to my voice.  I ran into his arms and hugged him tight. “Asami!  What’s wrong?” he asked, leaning back and quickly looking me over.

“I’m ok, but what happened?” I quickly asked, fearful of what could have happened.

Dad smiled a gentle smile. “Honey, it’s ok.  Nothing’s wrong, I promise.  Chief Beifong was just informing me of an unfortunate event with the Fauns.”

“As in the Security Fauns?” Mako asked as the group joined us at the limo.

Chief Beifong nodded. “The largest security firm in all of Republic City was just found to have connections to the Equalist movement.”

I covered my mouth.  So many companies…Future Industries included… “What’s being done now?” I asked.

“Chief Beifong has an investigation going on right now, Asami.  As for Future Industries, I’ll have personnel security increased.  As for our documentation, we’ll have it moved to a more secure location,” Dad said.

I nodded.  Hopefully they weren’t able to get ahold of any of our projects.  Thankfully, my projects aren’t in any of Future Industries databases.  A warm hand appeared on my shoulder.  I turned and looked at the source, finding Korra smiling gently at me.

“Don’t worry, Asami.  Everything’s going to be alright,” she said.

Outside of her being my best friend and the constant fear that anything and everything could go wrong, there was no reason that I should trust her logic, but I did.  I nodded and pulled her into a hug. “I hope so,” I whispered into her ear.

I was a wreck that night with worry.  Even as my body begged for sleep, my mind continued to run on today’s events.  I stared at my ceiling, thinking about almost everything, when my phone alerted me to a text.  It was from Zhu Li.

Zhu Li:  Are you busy in the morning?

It had been a while since I had been to school early.  I grabbed my planner, turning it to the next day.  Nothing was really that important.

Me:  Nothing that can’t be handled later.  Why?  What’s up?

I set my phone back down, adjusting so that I could put my planner back into my bag.  Zhu Li’s response came back quickly.

Zhu Li:  Varrick and I just made a very interesting discovery.

I frowned.  I don’t like the sound of this.

Me:  What kind of discovery?

Her response was almost instant.

Zhu Li:  Have you heard of the bloodbender Yakone?

No, Zhu Li, I haven’t.

Me:  Doesn’t ring a bell, but I have a feeling you’re going to tell me.

Zhu Li:  He was a crime boss who could bloodbend without a full moon.  It took Aang taking away his bending for his rampage to finally stop.

I shuddered at the information.  A bloodbender who could bloodbend without a full moon?  Thankfully his bending was gone.

Me:  Scary, but what does this have to do with anything?

Zhu Li:  A week after his bending was taken away, Yakone disappeared from jail.

Me:  Zhu Li, I’m still not seeing the connection.

Zhu Li:  The connection is this:  His last name was Arlin.  Asami, Tarrlok Arlin is Yakone’s son.

Well, shit.  This wasn’t good at all.

Me:  And here I thought there was going to be good news.  So, what do we do now?

Zhu Li:  I don’t know yet, but I have a bad feeling that Mr. Arlin is more involved in this Equalist movement than just trying to “stop it.”

I sighed at the thought.  And senior year was supposed to be the easy year.