She slapped him and all he could do his hold his left cheek and glare.

“ What was that for?!” He yelled, not caring that they were standing in the middle of one of the many courtyards of the college campus with a few spectators now staring at the feuding friends.

“ You jerk! You asshole! You inconsiderate fool!” She yelled, pointing her finger at him.

“ What happened to the ‘ oh! I missed you so much. You don’t even know how much I’ve missed you!’ ?!” Katara resisted the urge to punch him in his ‘good’ eye, directing her anger to other means, like glaring a hole through Zuko’s face.

“ You were here for a whole year and you couldn’t call? Or say that you’re back?!” She nearly jumped at him to strangle him. “ You douche! You could have visited us!”

Zuko sat down on the bench and sighed. There really wasn’t a good excuse to come up and say to compensate for the lack of not contacting his best friend that he’s known all his life. He patted to the empty spot next to him and motioned for her to sit there, which she did, albeit reluctantly.

The whole morning since their fateful meeting in Spanish had been one extreme emotional roller coaster. How in the hell did they both end up in the same college? Especially in the same Spanish class? There was someone up there having a ball with paying around with their lives. He was afraid to speak to her, in fear that if he even acknowledged her that he would have been someone else, or worst wake up and it all be a very terrible dream.

“ I didn’t feel ready to … go back.” He said softly, intertwining his fingers, leaning forward to look at dirt beneath his black and red Converse All Star low tops. “ I thought that I had to adjust to college life first before I ever decided on stepping into that neighborhood again.” He glanced up at her. “ You understand, right?”

“ Yeah…” She leaned against the wooden bench. “ I do.”

There was a long silence between theme, the crowd of spectators now going back to their regular business, and it bothered them. Stretching, Katara decided to go for the gold and strike up the conversation again.

“ Do you--?” They both said at the same time. They both laughed.

“ Go on, you first.” She wiped the tear from her eye. “ Boy who doesn’t know how to call.” Zuko glared at her for the quick jab but chuckled, it was to be expected. That’s who she was.

“ Do you… uh… Did you… Did you find….” He cleared his throat. “ Do you have a boyfriend?” Katara raised an eyebrow.

“ Do you have a girlfriend?”

“ Yeah….” Katara tensed up slightly but relaxed. No need to get jealous, it was to be expected.

“ Then I have a boyfriend.”

“ Really?”

“ Yes, really.” She looked at him from the corner of her eye. “ And if you want to know, his name is Jet.” She smirked. “ And he is a very nice boy who treats me well and always knows what a girl wants.” She crossed her legs. “ And knows how to call too.”

“ Can you stop it with the calling! I already told you…!” Katara shrugged.

“ And?”

“ You’re hopeless.”

“ Still eat twinkies?”

“ Of course.” He smirked. “ Who do you think I am?”

“ A crybaby who danced behind the school in a dress for a twinkie.”

“ It was a skirt!”

“ You still did it!”

“ Whatever!” The laughter died off again and the two sat in silence, the wind picking up and blowing the leaves off of the ground into the air. Zuko reached over and pulled Katara closer, wrapping an arm around her shoulder. She rested her head on his shoulder and played with the ends of her baby blue button down blouse.

“ You know,” Zuko began. “ I really did miss you. A lot.”

“ I missed you too.” She bit her lip and whispered: “ You don’t know how much….”