Me Neither
Korra leaned back against the signpost she was sitting near, “What’s there to say? My family was too poor to take care of me, so I grew up with my Uncle Unalaq in the North.”
“And how do you feel about this?”
“How do you think?” Korra snapped back. “I hate it up there. I had no friends except for the girl I got caught making out with by my Uncle.”
“Did your parents send you up there?”
“Yeah. Where else could I go?”
“Surely they had friends you could live with.”
Korra’s throat felt dry all of a sudden. Tenzin. She could have gone to live with Tenzin and his family. She’d known them her whole life… but…
“My Mom and Dad said I was safe up in the North,” Korra said, shaking the thought out of her head.
“Hmmm, I think we’ve only scratched the surface,” Tarrlok said with a smirk. “Did your parents ever ask you what you wanted?”
“No. I was only ten years old.”
“So you didn’t even get a voice. Hmm.”
“What’s your fucking point?”
“Mind your tongue, girl. Your bratty attitude is probably a product of the situation as well.”
“What are you trying to say, Tarrlok?” Korra asked accusingly.
“Tell me, did you have any friends in the South pole?”
“Yeah. I had tons of friends. My best friend was my polar bear dog, Naga.”
Tarrlok’s eyes narrowed. “I think I have it figured out.”
“What?”
“Your parents sent you away from a happy childhood. You had friends and family. Why, you even had a pet dog! But they sent you to live with your Uncle in the North without your input on the matter. There were better places to send you, weren’t there?”
Tarrlok leaned forward.
“You grew up without friends. You had to take all that anger and loneliness, and put it somewhere, didn’t you? A homosexual spirit can only enter our soul when we are at our lowest. You must’ve been an easy target. Family issues, no friends, being stuck in an unfamiliar place instead of with your parents, your cousins teasing you—“
“How did you know my cousins teased me? I never said that.”
Tarrlok’s eyes widened as he realized his mistake.
“Got you now, fucker. You’ve been talking to Unalaq,” Korra thought with a smirk.
“It was an assumption,” he said casually, though the girl saw through the lie.
Before he could devise some sick skit for them to reenact, though, the lunch bell rang. All thirty campers (excited to get away from the horrifying all-camp activity) sprang up and walked to the dining hall. Tarrlok grabbed Korra’s arm.
“I’m not finished with you.”
“Yeah, yeah. Save it for someone who gives a shit, ponytails,” she said, walking towards her friends with a big grin on her face.
“The old Korra is back, bitches.”
. . .
“Called it,” Asami said, sitting down at the table.
“Called what?” Korra asked.
“Engineering is what makes me a homosexual. Every single time.”
“And yet you keep coming back for more,” Wu pointed out.
“I can’t help it. I’m just so gay,” Asami laughed.
Mako sat down. He looked up to see everyone staring at him.
“What?” he asked, his brow furrowing.
Korra found his hand and squeezed it under the table, “Are you okay?”
Mako looked like he was about to yell at them, but instead he just let out a big sigh, “Yeah. I think so. Bolin talked to me for a while after the ‘skit’.”
“What happened?” Asami and Wu asked in unison.
“I’ll tell you later,” Korra said.
Kuvira walked up to the group. She had her lunch in her hand, but wasn’t sitting down. She waited patiently while they all looked up at her.
“Umm… can I sit here?” she asked awkwardly.
They all glanced at each other. What was up with Badgermole?
“Yeah, sure. Pull up a seat,” Wu said, raising an eyebrow.
Kuvira sat down with a wince, as though she was going to set off a bomb.
“So… h-how was your day?” she asked cautiously.
“Really?” Asami asked with a frown.
Kuvira looked at her food, “Yeah, that was a stupid question.”
Korra looked over at Wu, who mouthed the words “What’s gotten into her?”
The Water Tribe girl shrugged.
Kuvira looked up with a smile, “Well, this afternoon will be a bit more relaxing. We’re going to have some silent time to reflect and write in our journals. And then after that you have free-time.”
They all nodded, their enthusiasm had vanished from this morning’s activity.
“Can we write outside?” Wu asked.
“I don’t see why not.”
“Can we sit on the dock and write?”
Kuvira pondered this for a moment, “Sure. Let me go talk to Noatak.”
While she was talking to the camp director, Wu turned back to the group, “Okay, what’s her fucking deal today?”
“What do you mean?” Asami asked.
“She probably went through the program, didn’t she?” Mako said, picking at his food. “She knows how god-awful that activity is.”
No one spoke after that.
Kuvira sat down with a grin, “You guys can spend the afternoon on the dock, as long as you write in your journals.”
. . .
It was a fantastic change of pace from the morning’s events. They all sprawled out on the dock to write (Wu noticeably staying close to the shore). Kuvira decided to take a nap in the grass by the old shed, not even bothering to glance their way.
Korra opened her journal to the first page. She looked across the lake— completely overwhelmed with writer’s block. She looked back at her friends. The girl had to stifle a laugh when she realized that Asami wasn’t writing— but drawing. Korra scooched closer.
“What’s this one?” she asked, pointing her pencil at the sketch.
The raven-haired engineer looked up, “Oh, um… it’s the Boeing 787.”
“The Dreamliner?”
“Yeah. Future Industries helped design and manufacture the wings.”
“You’re amazing, you know that?” Korra whispered.
Asami’s face turned as pink as strawberry lemonade. She looked down at her drawing with an embarrassed smile.
“Thanks.”
Korra crab-crawled back over to her spot. She had an idea of what she wanted to write about.
Dear… uh… Journal,
Have you ever come across someone, and then BAM! Your heart felt like it was struck with lightning? I think that’s what I’m feeling. Shit.
Let’s do the math. I met Asami… at the end of day one. So that means it took me three days to become smitten— bullshit. Journal, I think I’m in love with this one.
I really want to run my hands through her hair. I could spend all day looking at those jade eyes. Fuck, I really want to know what her lipstick tastes like. What if I go through the program never knowing if it’s raspberry or strawberry? Oh shit, what if it’s cherry?
I’ve never seen a real fireworks display, but I don’t think I need to. The way her face lights up when she talks about engineering and robotics and design!
Oh, spirits, I AM in love.
Tarrlok told me that I was sent to the North without my input. That I didn’t have a choice. But my parents wouldn’t have sent me there if they could help it. I miss Naga. I wish I could have lived with Kya, or Tenzin and his family. Or even Bumi! I wish my parents hadn’t sent me to the North.
But…
I wouldn’t have met Asami. And Mako. Or Wu. Spirits, even Counselor Badgermole seems like an okay person. None of these people would be my friends if Unalaq hadn’t discovered my relationship with Hopah and sent me here.
You really can be grateful for the strangest things.
Kuvira checked her watch and told them that they could put their journals away. The counselor then went back to napping by the shore.
The teens decided to cloud-gaze. Korra was lying in-between Mako and Asami. She tried to ignored the way Asami’s hand brushed her elbow as they guessed which shape each cloud was.
“That’s clearly a duck.”
“Wu, you need new glasses,” Mako laughed.
“Shut up, shark-brows. What about that one?”
“I think it looks like the moon,” Korra said.
“That’s because it IS the moon, dipshit.”
“Oh. Sorry, I wasn’t really paying attention.”
It was true. Korra felt like she couldn’t breathe while lying this close to Asami. She needed to go get some air. She sat up.
“I’m going to go get a bathroom. I mean I’m going to the drink,” she said, hastily scrambling off the dock.
“You okay?” Wu asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” she nodded.
Korra nearly tripped and fell into the lake stepping over Mako. She told Kuvira where she was headed, who waved her off with a grunt and continued napping. The Water Tribe girl made her way to the bathroom, passing other campers spending their free-time under counselor supervision. Korra pushed the heavy metal door to the outdoor bathroom. There was nobody inside, and the place smelled just as bad as you would expect. She splashed clean, cold water onto her face and stared at herself in the mirror.
“Just relax, Korra. You’re only here for eight more weeks. That’s, like, no time at all. You can make it. You have a home to return to if you finish the program.”
“Korra?”
Asami was standing in the doorway. “Are you alright?” she asked with a worried tone.
Korra swallowed her anxiety, “Yeah. Yeah! I’m great! The heat was just getting to me.”
“Really? It’s only like 70° out.”
“Yeah... but I’m Water Tribe! I’m used to the freezing cold, even in the summer.”
Asami chuckled, “All right, you got me there.” She turned to leave.
“You know what? Fuck it. Fuck Unalaq. Fuck Tarrlok. I do what I want.”
“Asami, wait.”
The older girl stopped in her tracks, but didn’t face Korra— who grabbed one of her hands.
“I… I need to tell you something,” the younger girl said.
Jade eyes met cerulean ones. Korra’s heart was beating faster than a drum solo.
“What is it?” Asami whispered softly. The look in her eyes told Korra that she knew exactly what was about to happen.
Their faces crept closer and closer.
“I don’t think this camp is helping me become straight,” Korra murmured.
Asami smiled and closed the distance between their lips. It was cherry lipstick.
“Me neither.”