"Zuko, wake up! You'll be late for school!" Iroh yelled up the stairs. Zuko groaned and sat up, rubbing his head.

"I'm up! I'm up! God, Uncle, give me a break!" Zuko complained and got out of bed. Another grand day of high school, yippee. He got ready for the day, dressing in a black sweater and jeans and grabbed break fast. His uncle was reading the newspaper at the kitchen table. He looked up when his nephew came down the stairs and greeted him.

"Morning, sleepy head."

"Morning." Zuko replied as he grabbed a bagel.

"Happy December 1st!" Iroh said merrily.

"Hurray." Zuko said sarcastically.

"Oh, Zuko, you're never happy about Christmas. How come?"

"I guess I just never get quite what I asked for." Zuko joked. Iroh laughed, imitating Santa.

"Then what do you want for Christmas?"

"Nothing." Zuko replied.

"Nothing?"

"Nope, can't think of anything." He informed his uncle. Iroh sighed.

"What am I going to do with you?"

"You could just give me cash."

"You know your father pays you every month, you don't need my money. Besides, you'd just spend it on yourself. It's Christmas time, you should be buying other people gifts. Or getting involved with the community."

"I suppose it is the time of giving." Zuko said as he sat down with his bagel.

"I sense sarcasm."

"Yeah, you know it." And he took a bite. Iroh snorted.

"Well your sister is getting involved."

"Zula? Please, there's nothing good about her! She's evil inside and out."

"That's no way to talk about your sister."

"It's the truth!" Zuko tried to convince him.

"You'd better be nice to her when you see her in school today."

"I always am."

"And be polite."

"Whatever."

"I talked to your father the other day. He wants to know if you plan on going home for Christmas." Zuko stuffed the rest of his bagel in his mouth.

"I'll pass." He answered. Iroh sighed.

"You can't avoid your father forever."

"Nope, but I can try." Zuko got up and walked to the door. Iroh followed him.

"It's cold outside. We got four more inches last night. I suggest you bundle up."

"Stop nagging." Zuko pleaded as he zipped up his big, red, down coat. Iroh reached up into the closet and pulled out Zuko's ski hat. He placed it on his head. "Uncle, I'm not four!"

"Sorry, sorry! I just want to make sure you're warm. Zuko put his gloves on and his boots. He hated this every morning, getting bundled up with more weight just because Mother Nature decided to make everything so godly cold. In fact, he just hated winter period. "I will see you after school, Zuko."

"Yeah."

"Have a nice day." And Zuko left. He walked out to his red sports car and got in. He turned the key in the ignition, but instead of backing out, his tires spun in the snow. He growled and hit the gas full force, but still the car went nowhere. So he got out of the car and marched to the back, grumbling to himself about how he hated the snow. And he summoned his chi and sent flames from his fists, melting the snow around the tires. Then he went back into his car, still grumbling about the whole situation and backed out. This time he made it successfully out of the driveway and went off to school.

Upon entering, he removed his scarf and his hat as he walked to his locker. His locker wasn't the biggest, so he took out his books and stuffed his coat in his locker, fighting it to get in every step of the way! He tried folding it, and rolling it and eventually gave up and started to just crumble it up and shove it into his locker. His friend Sokka walked up to him and spoke. "Locker troubles?" he asked as he opened his own locker.

"Hey Sokka." He grunted as he slammed his locker shut. Finally!

"Yeah, the whole coat- in-the-locker deal. I know all about that." Sokka said. Zuko sighed and picked up his backpack. He threw it over his shoulder and looked at Sokka. Katara walked over with Aang. The whole group was there.

"Hey everyone." Aang greeted them all. "Cold day huh?"

"You're telling me." Zuko replied. "

"I think we should have had a snow day." Katara stated. The rest of them agreed.

"Mom said we would have, but the superintendent is new and doesn't give in so easily." Sokka reminded Katara.

"I hate that guy!" Zuko spoke up. "We haven't had a snow day yet!"

"Well, we'll soon be off for Christmas break, so let's all try to be patient." Katara instructed.

"Hey scar face!" said a voice from behind Zuko. Zuko rolled his eyes. He knew who it was.

"Hello Zula." He growled and Zula walked from behind him.

She had a fur jacket on and a matching purse. As usual, she had to look like she was on top, because in her mind she was. That was the thing about Zula, she was too self confident, not to mention self absorbed. She was the coolest of cool, the hottest of hot and the finest of fine in her book. But to everyone else she was nothing but a brat. And she saw that as a compliment. To Zuko, she was his nightmare since they were in diapers. She was the family favorite, except to Uncle Iroh. She had better grades than Zuko, more friends and, thanks to his scar, better looks. And Zula took advantage of every single subject she beat him in, making sure to put him in his place.

"Why Katara…" she directed her attention to the only girl in the bunch, "Where did you get that sweater? I saw one just like it at the salvation army when I was dropping off some of my clothes." Ouch! Katara turned red and refrained from saying anything. Zula turned and looked at Aang next. "Still hanging out with this little boy, Zuko?" Zula spoke up about Aang, making him blush. Then the turned back to Zuko. "Dad says 'hi'." She stated. Zuko just looked away. Zula giggled.