Chapter Text
Bright yellow and blue lights running across the stage floor along with the dancers, the way they moved across the stage in harmony, movements perfectly timed with the music, their outfits perfectly constructed to move with their bodies and their facial expressions near perfection as they turned to face the audience. Katara can feel the rush of adrenaline course through her body as she spins upon pointed feet, she can feel the lights almost blind her as she lifts her head up and she feel her chest heave up and down with heavy breaths as she stays in position waiting for the curtains to close.The applause that fills her ears, she watches as the large red curtains move slowly before finally coming together, cutting off her view from the thousands of unfamiliar faces.She smiles at her fellow dancers, Suki and Ty lee, going up to hug them, feeling proud because they had done such an amazing job. They hurry off the stage and walk backstage in response of the next dance that was about to start, she walks past him as he makes his way to the stage, she turns to look back at him, glaring at his back, rolling her eyes before turning back to look at her friends.
“You guys were amazing out there especially you suki”, Sokka, katara’s brother, said while sending a bright smile the girl’s way
“Thanks sokka”, the blushing girl said sending a shy smile towards the blue eyed boy
Rolling her eyes as she looks between the two, katara interrupts their moment, “Yeah thanks sokka but don’t you have a job to do”, sokka was the stage manager,a job he took so that he could annoy katara as well as be close to suki.
Glaring at katara, “Yes and I also have assistants who help me”
“Well you're a really bad stage manager if you have your assistants doing all your work for you, don’t you think?”, with a smirk on her face katara can tell she struck a nerve based on sokka’s face
“Whatever, i’ll see you after the show”, he starts to walk away before noticing something, “Oh and katara I think your favorite person is performing, why don't you go watch him”, sokka sends an innocent smile to his sister before walking away
Katara can feel anger surge through her body as Sokka says those words but quickly washes them away because she won’t let sokka’s words get to her, this is one of the most important nights of her life and she refuses to let him ruin it for her. Not only will this night decide if she gets to be the main event at their next show but also determines her future as a dancer. She’s worked so hard for an opportunity like this and it’s finally gonna pay off but the only thing that was standing in her way was him, if she had any chance of getting her dream, he had to go but katara knew that wasn’t possible so she worked hard everyday but no matter how much her or anybody else worked, they would never get half the attention he gets.
Hearing the loud applause and cheering of the audience brings out of her thoughts and draws her attention to the stage where he had finished his performance and he stood there in his final position, face filled no emotion, staring at the thousands of people before him, she watches as he smiles after the curtains close and he begins to make his way off stage, he meets her eyes for a second before walking past her.
~
Katara watches as everyone from each dance number goes on stage for the final bow.It was now her group’s turn to go on and she feels happy knowing that they had yet another successful show.She always loved the feeling that came with performing and the appreciation that came from the audience, she loved the fact that people enjoyed her dancing.So just like every other final bow that she’s been in, she gives the biggest smile to the many faces that were smiling right back at her.She walked back towards everyone else as they all waited for the final person to come on stage, she watches as he comes on with a small smile displayed on his face, she watches as he bows then as he stands giving a air kiss to the audience after pressing both hands to his lips. Everyone walks up toward him, katara finds herself beside him, they place their arms behinds each other’s backs as well as everyone else , they all bow before standing up straight watching as flowers are thrown on the stage, the curtains close and everyone turns to hug each other, smiles are bright on everyone’s faces and cheers are heard through the air.
Katara hugs her friends and congratulate others on their performances, while doing so she can’t help but look for him, she finds him walking backstage, he does this every show, never hugs or talks to anyone, she counts this as him being standoffish or just being plain mean.He never talks to anyone in the dance room, never comes to after parties, even when he has a dance partner, he never makes an effort to communicate with them outside of dance or try to become friends. Katara thinks he acts that way because he thinks that he’s better than everyone else but that couldn’t be further from the truth.
She walks backstage to hear her brother’s voice, “You were amazing out there aang”, she then heard another voice, “Thanks sokka, I appreciate it”, she makes herself known to the two of them by clearing her throat, they look at her, she crosses her arms looking at her brother with a knowing look.
Aang looks between the two before speaking, “I think i’m gonna go now, thanks again sokka for your kind words and katara your performance was phenomenal”, he looks at her with a small smile but when katara doesn’t answer it quickly disappears, he leaves the two siblings alone.
“What were you doing talking to him”, she says angrily at her brother
“Katara listen just because you don’t like him means that I feel the same, what you just did was really mean, he complimented you and you didn’t even say anything, I don’t even understand your problem with him, he’s a really nice guy and you hate him for no reason,anyways I need to go talk to suki,i’ll call you later”, sokka walked away leaving his sister alone with her thoughts as his words replay in her mind.
Why did she hate aang?
Did she even have a reason?
Maybe she was jealous of him, he did get a lot of attention compared to every other dancer, he always had the best solos and he would get the lead in almost all the groups dances they had, it wasn’t fair. But was that really a reason to hate him, these thoughts never left katara’s mind for the entire might.
~
Getting a tighter grip on her duffel bag as she walks into the dance studio, where she has been dancing for the past 3 years, Katara opens the tinted glass door stepping inside to meet the face of her friends, watching as they stretch their limbs on the Ballet Barre. She sets her bag down in the small brown bench in the corner of the room, walking over to her friends, she feels the cloth of her leggings rub against each other and her loose shirt falling off her shoulder.
“Hey guys”, she was greeted with smiles and hellos, she looked around the room for a while before her eyes finally found him. There he was, on the other side of the room stretching just like everyone else, her mind going back to the previous night, remembering the words of her brother.
“Uh guys i’ll be right back”,sucking up her pride and rehearsing the words in her head, Katara begins to walk over to him going to apologize, not because she suddenly likes him now but because her behavior was rude. She starts to grow nervous as she gets closer to him, thinking about turning back and avoiding him but she continues to walk towards him, she reaches out her hand to touch his shoulder but the door opens, ringing the bell turning everyone’s attention to their dance teacher, Ms.Joo Dee, who walks in with a smile on her face.
“Hello everyone”, she always had a smile on whenever she came to class, it would sometimes creep them out but they knew she was a happy person. Katara can feel the relief fill her body when she looks at her dance teacher, she quickly walked back over to her friends, sitting on the floor along with everyone else, forming a circle with Ms.Joo Dee standing in the middle.
“I’m really proud of how the show turned out yesterday and I'm really proud of everyone here, so give yourself a round of applause”, claps are heard throughout the room as well as cheers.
“And as you know our next show is gonna be in new york, this is gonna be one of the biggest stages we have ever danced on and this will also open up a lot of opportunities, so we have to bring our all”,katara feels excited listening to the words coming from her dance teacher’s mouth,she touches the necklace around her neck and smiles because she’s one step closer towards her dream.
“So let's get down to business, for this show will be have ten numbers, five group dances, four solos and one duet , I will be listing off the names of everyone in each number, the first group will consist of……..”, katara gets lost in her thoughts, four solos, those two words are stuck in her head, she hopes she gets at least one,
“And for the duet, I chose aang and katara”, her head snaps up to look at the dance teacher, shock written all over face.
“Excuse me, what?”