Chapter 38

Episode 2, The Headband

"Where were you?" Sokka asked me immediately after I stepped foot into the cave.

"I was at school you already knew that," I answered, leaving out the Iroh thing and Aang jumped up from the ground.

"You too?" he exclaimed with wide eyes and way too much excitement.

I nodded. "But I'm not going tomorrow. They want to visit the Royal Palace tomorrow morning," I told them after they said that Aang would go again the next day.

"Jasmine," Sokka said and grabbd both of my shoulders, "School is important! The Royal Palace is important!"

"Yeah, you could get a first impression of the Palace. Maybe you'll even find something that'll help us with the invasion," Toph agreed.

I put my lips in a thin line and looked between the two.

"I'm not so fond of that idea," I mumbled, looking on the ground.

It was silent for a few moments and I could feel Katara glaring daggers at me. "You should go," she said with her voice full of anger and sarcasm, "Maybe you'll meet a friend of yours that will help you."

My head jerked up quickly. Now she is going too far. I never said anything about her hostile looks or some comments but that's just stupid.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked her and narrowed my eyes at her as I tilted my head to the side slightly.

"You know exactly what I mean!" She told me as her voice was rising.

I clenched my teeth and balled my fists which were growing hotter as the moments passed by.

"No Katara, I have no idea what you mean, please explain," I challenged her and took a step closer to her, "Whatever you have to say, say it to my face!"

The others looked between us not knowing what to do or say. And Katara, well, she didn't say a word but only glared at me.

"I thought so," I mumbled and turned around, leaving the cave. I needed some fresh air to calm down.

Taking a deep breath, I sat on a rock a few metres away from the cave.

Katara had no idea what she was talking about and it was making me furious. She always thought she knew everything better. She was judging me without even knowing what had happened.

"I want to be alone," I grumbled when I heard footsteps stopping behind me.

"I think you should talk it out with sweetness even though I think her behaviour is exggerated," Toph said quietly.

I didn't react in any way. But she was right. We needed to get our shit together and concentrate on the important suff.

Without another word, Toph got back to the cave leaving me alone with my thoughts.

The next morning, Aang woke me up by shaking my shoulders rather roughly. "Let me sleep," I mumbled and turned my back to him.

"We have to go to school!" he said excitedly and my eyes shot up.

Dear Spirits, I completely forgot about that. Screw me and going to sleep way to late. I quickly jumped up and got ready.

Aang and me quickly made our way to school together until we had to go to seperate classes.

Luckily, I made it on time and sat on the same seat as the other day. All the students, including me, waited for the teacher.

My stomach tightened as I absolutely didn't want to go into that palace. And I certainly didn't want to come aross anybody.

The whole way there I was so nervous I didn't even realise we were finally there until a class mate poked my shoulder.

I shook my head quickly and looked at her. "We're here," she said and followed after the class, me right behind her.

My breathing got heavier as my stomach tightend when we entered the palace and stood in the massive foyer.

The palace in the Ba Sing Se looked small and plain in contrast to this. Everything was red, golden and black. It was simply beautiful and breathtaking. I wonder what it's like to live in a palace like this.

A guard greeted us and started the sightseeing of the palace. I was on edge the whole time and looked around, trying to memorise some important doors and ways.

But I was also careful and the thought of coming across someone here was making me nervous. My hands were sweating the whole time and my heart stopped beating everytime we came across a guard or maid.

Luckily, we didn't come across anyone and I felt my muscles relax when we finally got out of the palace.

That's until I heard the girls squealing. I rolled my eyes slightly at their dramatic behaviour before getting on my tip toes to see what happened. They were probably fangirling over some guy from our class again.

I immediately froze while my eyes widened.

Zuko was coming our way probably to get into the palace. When he was a few metres away from us he eyed the class.

I immediately looked down to avoid making eye contact. Luckily, the teacher bowed and the students all did the same, including me.

I could feel eyes staring daggers at the back of my head so I slightly looked up. Mistake.

Zuko and I connected eyes and he immediately took a step back out of shock. And I quickly lowered my head again looking on the ground.

Our teacher stood straight and the students followed her lead. Not wanting to look at him, I kept my head lowered. It was already awkward enough.

I mean, I am his ex girlfriend who was visiting his home with a class she actually doesn't belong to. That only screamed 'stalker'.

Our teacher greeted him appropriately and then we left the palace grounds. I could feel his eyes boring into my back until we were out of sight.

This was more than worse. If he tells someone that he saw me, we're screwed. We have to get away from here as soon as possible.

A girl linked our arms and snapped me back to reality. I turned my head to look at her as she wiggled her eyebrows at me.

"Prince Zuko was looking at you the whole time," she told me and I slightly tensed. Yeah, probably. But only because he thought I was a stalker and because I was one of the number one enemies of the Fire Nation.

"No, I don't think so," I told her with a shake of my head. No one should get suspicious.

"No he did," she almost exclaimed, "I saw it. He was speechless and had only eyes for you. You really caught the Fire Prince's eye."

Okay, she was making me uncomfortable with her fangirling. "I don't think so, really," I mumbled and tried to get rid off her and her theories.

I needed to suppress a groan as she kept insisting on it. "The other girls are already jealous," she giggled.

I raised my eyebrows and glanced at the other students who were shooting me glares. I gulped and turned back to the nice girl beside me who had let go of my arm in the meanwhile.

"And you aren't a fan of Prince Zuko?" I asked her.

She slightly shook her head. "No I've never been a fan of Prince Zuko, but Princess Azula has caught my eye."

My eyes widened and I gawked at her. "Why the princess?!" I exclaimed. Azula was crazy and needed to be stopped.

The girl looked slightly offended by my tone. "I mean there are many other pretty girls you can have," I told her. To be honest, I didn't want her to be swooning over that crazy psycho.

"Yeah I know but just let me fangirl," she said and I couldn't suppress the chuckle coming out of my mouth. She had no idea what the Princess is like. But there was nothing wrong with dreaming about and imagining things.

We finally were back at the school. After the teacher told us that we behaved well today, she dismissed the class.

Aang was standing in the schoolyard, talking to some random kids. I approached them and patted Aang's head twice with a smile.

The three kids stopped talking and looked at me. Aang smiled brightly at me, "Hey, how was the trip today?"

I shrugged my shoulders, "It was okay."

When Aang noticed the two kids looking between me and him, he introduced me to them.

"This is my sister Jasmine," he said and pointed to me. Their jaws dropped and I waved at them slightly with a smile on my face, playing along with the little lie.

Saying goodbye, we went back to our cave where Aang told us that he would host a dance party for the children in his class.

"I don't think you should do that. We should go," I told Aang. I shifted my weight on one foot and bit my lip.

Aang raised an eyebrow at me. "No, we need to help these kids. They should feel free and normal for once."

I looked away from him and let out a quiet sigh. I guess another few hours won't do any harm.

"Fine," I mumbled and Aang bounced up and down with a bright grin. "But after that we're going, I have a bad feeling after having been at the Royal Palace."

Aang nodded and we prepared everything for the party. Katara bended some punch into a small fountain which Toph made and Sokka brought cups.

I lit up all the candles which were spread along the walls of the cave. I could feel Katara glaring daggers at me.

Not being bothered by it, I continued with my work. I won't let her making me feel unwanted or uncomfortable just because she judges me about something she doesn't even know everything about.

"Stop bending, they're here!" Toph exclaimed and threw her arm in the direction of the entrance. We all stopped what we were doing when a whole lot of children entered.

While they were trying to party which worked in the end, Toph sat down next to me and handed me a cup.

"Thanks," I mumbled and we sat in silence for a while, just listening to the music.

"They locked Iroh up," I told Toph before taking a sip of my drink.

"You visited him the other day, didn't you?" She said and tapped her feet slightly to the rhythm of the music.

I hummed and took another sip of the sweet drink. "I wanted to get him out but he didn't want to."

"I bet he knows what he's doing," Toph reassured me and I slightly smiled. Of course he does but it still hurts me to know how this man is being treated. He did nothing wrong.

"You are hiding so much more from us," Toph suddenly said and I tensed, "But I won't push you to tell me."

The grip on my cup tightned and I took a deep breath. "Yeah, there are many things which I still need time process," I told her.

"My whole life's been a lie," I sighed as all the things Mai told me rushed through my head. I shook my head with a sad smile.

Before Toph could reply, the school's director and two other people barged into the cave.

Everyone froze and the music stopped. I stood up from my seat and saw Aang disappearing in the crowd.

While the director and the other's looked for Aang with the hairband, all the other students put on some hairbands as well.

Sokkii and me made eye contact and he signalled me to follow them to the back of the cave where we had been hiding Appa.

I send him a nod and grabbed Toph's arm. "Let's go," I said and dragged her with me.

We quickly got on Appa and flew away from there.

I let out a sigh and watched the cave get smaller and smaller as we were flying away.

I hope these kids will be alright. But now, we could at least continue our way until the solar eclipse.