The water was cool, running over her skin at a temperature just above icy. Korra had always loved her showers cold, though she never knew why. She stared at the spray coming from the nozzle for a long while. She had already washed her hair and body, and was now simply letting the water calm her.

She hesitated for a brief moment before slowly lifting her hand. Gradually, small droplets of water started to separate from the continuous stream, rising into the air above it.

"Korra!" her mother called from downstairs. All of the water Korra had been controlling fell to the shower floor. "Don't take too long! You don't want to be late for your first day!"

Korra sighed, all of the relaxing effects of her shower now gone with the reminder of today's main event. "I'll be down soon!" she called in response.

After exiting the shower, she wiped the fog off of the mirror to make sure her brown hair was lying correctly. She studied her reflection for a moment before shaking her head at herself. She shouldn't have messed with the water like that—bending, she secretly called it. It was the whole reason for why she had to switch schools in the middle of the year (again). True, she hadn't done any damage with water-bending yet; it was fire-bending that had gotten her into trouble.

She pulled the front strands of her hair into two tails and the rest into a high ponytail at the back of her head. With one last sigh, she left the bathroom to get dressed for the day. She chose a blue shirt that matched her eyes and contrasted beautifully with her brown skin. She flexed her muscles in the mirror. She couldn't help herself; she needed the confidence boost for the day, and seeing all the progress she had made over the past year always helped to make her feel better.

"Korra!" her mother called once more.

"I'm coming!" she replied, giving her outfit one last glance in the mirror before grabbing her book bag and heading downstairs.

Just don't burn the school down on the first day. Is that so hard?

In the car, she couldn't keep her leg from shaking. Her mother, Senna, reached over to place her hand on Korra's knee. "Look, sweetie, I know you're nervous, but I'm sure you'll be fine. You've been controlling your… urges extremely well since this last accident, right?"

Not really. "Yeah, I know. I just… don't want something to go wrong again." And she didn't; she may not like having to hide such a huge part of herself, but she really didn't want to hurt anybody or mess anything up.

"I know you don't. Just have faith; it'll all be okay. You'll see!" Senna smiled at her daughter before turning her eyes back to the road and singing along with the radio.

Korra internalized her sigh. Her leg kept bouncing.

Asami hadn't really been expecting anything particularly exciting to happen at school that day. It was just another Monday for her. She had an exam in her math class the next day, but that wasn't anything to make a fuss about.

Then the new girl showed up in her physics class, and Asami knew she would remember this day. The girl was all gorgeous, brown skin over toned muscle, with eyes that shone as clear as the ocean in the Caribbean. And the worst part of it was that her boyfriend was absent today for a lacrosse game at another school, which meant the only empty seat at the moment was the one next to her.

"Okay, Korra," Dr. Varrick said to the new girl, "you can sit over by… Miss Sato! That's usually Mako's seat, but he'll just have to figure something else out. On you go, shoo, shoo."

Asami internally groaned as the new girl walked towards her. She quickly averted her eyes back to Dr. Varrick when Korra flashed her a pearly-white grin that made her heart flutter. She tried to ignore the pang in her chest that followed when she saw that smile fall.

Was this punishment? For lying to her father, telling him that these… feelings had disappeared, that the therapy had worked? Was the universe trying to torture her into confessing by sending a literal angel to tempt her?

She kept her eyes forward for the duration of class, but couldn't ignore the new girl any longer once the bell had rung. With a hand on Asami's arm, Korra introduced herself.

"Sorry to bother you, but, uh, would you mind telling me how to find room… 311?"

Asami closed her eyes and held back her sigh. "Yeah, that's actually where I'm heading. You can just… walk with me."

Korra grinned again. "Thank you so much. I really appreciate it."

Asami caught herself smiling back and forced her face to go blank again. "Yeah, it's no problem."

On their way to their next class, Asami was arguing with herself constantly. She could feel the awkwardness between them as Korra was struggling to keep quiet in order to not annoy her. Finally, she gave in. "So… my name is Asami, by the way."

Korra gave a hopeful smile at this. "Asami Sato. Cool. Nice to meet you."

Asami couldn't help the smile this time. "Yeah, you too."

She was in for a world of trouble, now.

Korra didn't know why Asami seemed so reluctant to talk to her. She knew she was the new girl, but that had never made people avoid her before. Treat her differently, yes, but not act like she was contagious. So when the Asian girl finally willingly spoke to her on their way to math class, Korra was caught off guard, but happy.

Asami was actually kind of intimidating. She was extremely pretty, with black hair that flowed down her back as if she were in a magazine, and her makeup done just as perfectly. Looking at her made Korra's chest feel weird. She hoped that they could become friends and feel more comfortable around each other; she just had the strongest feeling that she would love being Asami's friend.

Math class was where she met Bolin, a barrel-bodied goofball who immediately started "working his charm" on her. He's cute, she thought as he made her laugh with his cheesy pickup lines, but more in the… loveable-dork kind of way. Asami seemed to know him pretty well, and so she managed to calm him down a bit by the time class was over. Korra was following Bolin out of the classroom after the bell when something red, white, and furry jumped out of his backpack right in front of her face.

"What is that?" she gasped, leaping backwards and bumping right into Asami.

Bolin turned around and gasped, himself. "Pabu, no!" He shoved the furry thing back into the backpack, then sheepishly looked up at Korra. "Sorry about that… he doesn't do well when he's home alone, so I have to take him to school with me." Turning toward the backpack, he chided, "And Pabu should know better than to jump out and scare people like that, shouldn't he? Yes he should, and he will be getting a very serious talking-to when we get home!"

Korra raised an eyebrow at the boy's antics, not sure whether to find him endearing or slightly frightening.

"That's his pet ferret. Bolin, uh, does this kind of thing a lot," Asami breathed into Korra's ear from her position still behind her.

Korra gasped again and jumped away from the taller girl. "Sorry about that, I didn't mean to just… be all over you like that. I've heard that I have issues with personal space sometimes."

Asami chuckled, still sounding a bit breathless to Korra. "It's okay, really. No problem at all." Korra was still concerned, but Asami merely shook her head and pushed her further into the hallway. "Come on, tell me where your next class is."

Korra shook her head at herself before digging her schedule out of her pocket. "Okay, um… Spanish in 202."

"Oh, hey!" Bolin popped his head back up toward the girls. "That's my class! Awesome!"

As strange as he was, Korra wasn't disappointed that she had another class with Bolin. She was, however, a bit saddened that she had to leave Asami. As they waved goodbye and Asami left, Bolin seemed to take notice of Korra's slightly dampened mood.

"Don't worry, we'll see her at lunch. She's awesome, right?"

Korra chuckled lightly. "Yeah, she is. So, uh, are you any good at Spanish, because I suck."

Bolin puffed out his chest as they walked, putting on the most horrible Spanish accent Korra had ever heard when he said, "Yo hablo español muy bien, ¡gracias!" She couldn't help but snort at him. He didn't take it to heart.

"So, tell me, Korra," Bolin said with an arm around her shoulders as they walked to lunch, "do you… have a boyfriend, back home?"

Korra laughed and shook her head. "Nah, no boyfriends." She caught sight of Asami walking down the hall from the opposite direction and noticed how she chewed on her lip as if she were lost in thought.

Bolin glanced back and forth between Korra and Asami. "…Any girlfriends?"

Korra's head whipped toward him. "What?"

He lifted his arm off of Korra's shoulder so he could raise his hands innocently. "Hey, it's no problem if you're into the ladies, you know. I mean, it sucks that I don't have a chance, but it's all good!"

Korra just gaped at him, stammering a bit. "I—look, I don't like girls. I like boys, I just—you're not my type, Bolin."

He raised one of his bushy eyebrows. "Okay, okay, I'll keep your little secret." Korra scoffed, but he just leaned in to whisper, "Word of advice though? Asami's taken. You should probably set your eyes on another girl."

Korra rolled her eyes, ignoring her stomach as it churned uncomfortably. "I don't 'have my eyes set' on Asami because I'm not into girls."

Bolin winked just before they met up with Asami at the entryway to the cafeteria. The taller girl gave her a hesitant smile, and Korra tried to ignore the way her chest felt after Bolin said she was taken.

I'm not into girls. She's just… super cool. Korra shoved her hands deep into her pockets as she awkwardly followed the two of them to the lunch line. Really, really super-cool. That's all.

She really craved some stress-relieving bending right about now.

Hey, y'all! So, this is my first contribution to the LoK fandom. I don't fully know where I want to go with this, yet. Hopefully I can keep up the motivation to stay writing on it, though! Why don't you tell me what you think?