Chapter 10

I nibbled on my pencil, unable to pay the slightest bit of attention in class. It had been a week, and entire week, since Zuko and I had started our bet, and he had done nothing about it. The thought of it was enough to make me uneasy. Plus, there's no way he had forgotten about it. He was the one that brought the whole thing up in the first place!

"Katara."

"Katara!"

I snapped out of my trance, realizing the teacher was calling me.

"Your topic for the project is the Royal Family of the Fire Nation.", She said, still frowning at me.

Great, now I have two projects that have to do with Zuko. It seemed like even though he wasn't trying, the universe was doing all the work for him. I grunted quietly, but nodded all the same, fighting the teacher about the subject wouldn't change anything anyway.

Just as the teacher finished assigning everyone's topic, the bell rang. Packing up as fast as I could, I ran out of the classroom and straight towards Suki's room. I needed to discuss the situation with her, though I'm sure she's already aware...

I walked as fast as I could, dodging students and masters, nearly losing my balance twice. That is until a raspy voice called out my name.

"Katara?" Zuko asked, grabbing my arm, "Is everything okay?".

I turned to face him, my heart beating quickly at the sight of him. His face was flushed, with his hair slicked back and matted with sweat in some places. Was he glowing? It looked like he was glowing. Maybe the light was playing tricks on me.

Zuko bent down to meet my eyes, "Katara?".

I shook my head, snapping out if my trance and scrunching my nose, "I'm fine.", I shook off his hand, "I just really need to return a book I borrowed from Suki."

I gave him a quick smile and turned on my heel, eager to get away from him and his training suit, which showed off his body a little too nicely.

Zuko snorted, "Do I smell that bad?", he ran a hand through his hair, "Our training master went everything but easy on us today."

Turning back around, I gave him a once over, only to find him smirking like cat. Fine. Two could play this game.

I took a step closer and tilted my head, "Yeah... You could really use a bath."

Zuko's smirk turned into a frown, while my own eyes lit up in amusement.

"Anyway, like I said, I'm in a rush. So have fun cleaning up!", I smiled at him, the most innocent smile I could muster, and waved goodbye at Zuko while I walked down the hall.

Looks like I wouldn't be needing Suki's help after all.

————————————————-

Classes were over and I managed to avoid Zuko for the rest of the day, even during lunch. He just hadn't shown up at all. Maybe he had gone to take a bath, like I had suggested.

I snorted. I really got him good, and that frown on his face was priceless. I shook my head, smiling like an idiot.

Maybe the Fire Prince had no idea what he was doing. But then again, neither did I.

I changed into my casual water tribe summer clothes, braiding my hair back. I promised Suki I'd help her study for her Earth Kingdom history test tonight. Which to me just meant not seeing Zuko. Which was a very good thing.

The memory of him with slicked back hair and his black and red training suit flashed in my mind. I swatted the air, as if that would make it go away. Damn it. Maybe I should come up with a plan to get back at him.

I packed up my books and headed towards the library. Suki's creativeness would surely help with creating a plan. I opened the door, a newfound spring to my steps as I thought about the many ways I could get back at him.

Until I noticed the devil himself leaning on the wall across from my room.

"What? How?", I tried to say something but words seemed to fail me, "How is it that you're in here?".

Zuko pushed himself off the wall, "All clean and fresh now.", he geastured at himself, sliding his hands up and down the air next to him.

"What are you doing here, Zuko?", I grit out.

He rolled his eyes, "Why are you always so moody. You looked so joyful when you opened the door."

I frowned at him, "I have somewhere I need to be, so if you'll excuse me."

One step. A single step is what he allowed me to take before he said.

"No you don't."

I looked up at him, "Yes I do. I promised to help-".

"To help Suki out with her history exam, yeah I know.", He shrugged, "Sokka has apparently and mysteriously taken your place. So like I said, you don't have anywhere you need to be.". A small grin played on his lips, "At least not with them."

I blinked at him, my stomach plumetting as I dreaded the answer to what I was about to ask next, "Then with who?".

"With me.", He answered, "You and I are gonna go study Water Bending forms in the library."

I nearly dropped my books at that, "We're gonna go do what?".

Please, spirits no. The last place I need to be was in a library with Zuko. You need to be close to someone in a library and it's just going to be the two of us. And we'll be whispering. Which means we're going to have to be close to each other. At least, close enough to hear the other whisper. Moon spirit save me.

"Put those books back, I've got everything we need back at the library.", He nodded towards the books and then raised an eyebrow at me. Waiting for me to move.

I swallowed hard. There really was no escaping this. So I went back inside and put the books down before emerging back into the hall.

I let out a deep breath, "Lead the way then."

Zuko's eyes seemed to glow for a second, "Right this way."

—————————————

This was a nightmare!

He just had to pick the most secluded table in the entire library! Plus he was sitting close enough that our knees were touching! I bit the inside of my cheek, hard enough to draw a little bit of blood.

I was definitely going to kill Sokka. If he hadn't gone to help Suki out, I wouldn't be stuck in this mess!

"Katara!", Zuko hissed, "Pay attention. You need to learn how to do it properly otherwise it won't work."

Maybe... Maybe if I strangled him here no one would notice.

Zuko flicked my forehead, making me blink in shock, "And stop frowning."

I was definately going to strangle him.

"Do we really have to do this right now?", I spat back.

Zuko gave me an unamused look and got back to studying the scroll in front of him.

"I mean like, can't we study tomorrow or something?", I said, crossing my arms.

"You were going to study anyways. I don't see what the problem is.", He said without turning my way.

The problem is that I'm studying with you. You idiot.

"You're going to burn a hole in my skull if you keep frowning at me like that.", he deadpanned.

"Good. Maybe we'll find out if I'm also a Fire bender.", I growled.

He snorted, but kept his attention on the scroll. All while I kept frowning at him.

After about a minute he finally leaned back on his chair and turned to face me.

"Demonstrate the technique for me."

"What?", I said, taken by surprise by the sudden request.

"I need to see which part of it you are doing wrong in order to know which part you need to correct.", He pointed his hand at me, "So demonstrate the technique for me. Please."

I grumbled something about stupid Fire Princes, but got up anyway and started with the technique.

Zuko eyed me, his whole attention on me, brows furrowed in concentration as I went through the technique. Every once in a while he'd ask me to repeat some moves, his brows furrowing even further. After about 15 minutes of making me repeat the same moves over and over he finally got up and without a single word he adjusted my hips and my wrists.

"This movement." , He said, stepping back, "This is the one where you mess up. Your hands are all wrong. They don't flow, and your hips look like they are a rusted piece of old metal."

I dropped my stance, frowning at him, "A rusted piece of old metal?".

He nodded, sitting back down, "Water bending is all about the flow of the movements, just like the flow of water.". He gave me a quick glance, "And right now you've got the flow of a sturdy old dam."

My stomach boiled, "So I'm an old piece of metal and a sturdy old dam?!"

"Pretty much.", He stated flatly.

It took everything in me not to smack him with one of the books. Teaching me how to bend correctly was one thing. Calling me old and sturdy, was another.

"We're done for today.", I gritted out.

"We still have about three more techniques to go through, I don't-".

"I said," , I growled, "we're done."

Without another glance at him I spun around on my heel and stomped out of the library. I needed air. Fresh air. And maybe something to punch.

I passed by Suki and Sokka, who waved at me, and who I dutifully ignored.

Before I could register where I was even going I found myself in the training yard. Perfect. I'd definitely find something to punch here.

————————— Zuko's POV ————————

I blinked at the spot where Katara had been a few seconds ago. She had stompped out of the library, her face red and twisted with anger.

I ran a hand over my face. Why was it that I couldn't hold a conversation with her for more than 10 minutes without her bursting into rage? But I guess that was better than Mai's usual emotionless reactions. It seemed that while Mai lacked any sort of emotion, Katara had mood swings to spare.

I was about to go after her when two heads popped out from behind the bookshelf.

Suki and Sokka were staring at me like they were scared I might be beaten half to death... Katara must have looked furious. Once they noticed I was unharmed, their concerned expressions turned into frowns.

"What, exactly, did you do or say to my sister to make her stomp out of the library like that?", Sokka asked, crossing his arms defensively.

"I don't know!", I exclaimed, throwing my arms up in the air, "It's like I suck at normal human interactions when ever Katara is involved."

"You suck at those almost all the time.", Suki deadpanned. "What in the world happened?", She asked, pinching her nose.

"We were going over bending techniques and I pointed out how stiff snd sturdy she was while doing so." , I looked at them with pleading eyes.

Suki's eyes went wide as a plate, "You called her stiff and sturdy?!", she sighed, "What in the spirits name, Zuko?".

"I just compared her movements to a rusted metal and a dam! Nothing more!", I exclaimed.

"A rusted metal?!", Suki yelled out of shock, immediately covering her mouth afterwards, since we were still in the library.

"It's true!", I huffed, "She didn't make her movements flow."

Sokka pulled a chair beside me and plopped down next to me, giving me one of those "let me give you some wisdom" looks.

"Zuko,", he started, "sometimes, calling a girl stiff and rusted is not the best compliment to throw at her. In fact, I'd even say that could be taken as an insult."

"But it wasn't a compliment,", I clarified, rolling my eyes, "I was just pointing out how stiff her movements were."

"I understand that.", Sokka said. "The best thing to do right now is to go apologize. Like I said, it sounded more like an insult than anything."

"Be glad all she did was stomp out.", Suki said, still frowning at me. "She probably didn't hurt you because she likes you-", Suki shut her mouth, blinking a few times, "Because she likes following the rules so much. Yes. The rules. Following. The rules."

Now it was Sokka's and my turn to blink at her in confusion.

"Never mind that.", Sokka said, waving his hands in the air, "Next time you try to compare her to something, don't compare her to something old and rusty. Women don't like that."

"Now go apologize.", Suki said.

I nodded and got up from the chair, before freezing in place a second later, "I have no idea where she went."

Suki sighed, again, "I might know where she could be..."

A/N: Hello everyone! I'm sorry this chapter took so long to get out. I was dealing with some personal stuff that cut my motivation and on top of that I had school and work. I don't know when the next chapter will be out since I write in my free time, so please be patient. I promise I'm not done with this story just yet. Thank you all so much for your support and I hope you enjoyed this chapter!