Making Sense of It: Sukka (on hiatus)

Chapter 9: Sokka

A/N: Hey, so I just realized that there is a bit of an important typo in chapter 4: Mai says that Yue left in January of last year. She actually left in the late summer or fall of last year. I don't know how I glossed over that error, but I fixed it now, so this was just a heads up about it. Okay back to the show!

~~~

After Sokka's soccer game, after the night at the ice cream parlor, the next few months had been the best of his life. He and Yue had started dating, and even though they were only sophomores, they seemed almost like celebrities at their school. For Yue's birthday in December, they'd gone to a lake near her house. They hadn't done much to celebrate, they'd just sat and talked about simple things of little consequence. Sokka's G.P.A kept getting higher and higher, the more advanced classes he took. Then, one day, Mr. Piandao, his Science teacher, asked him to stay after class.

"Since you've shown so much interest in the Omashu University Science Fair, I've decided to sign you up," he said, "I'm sure you have some plans for your project."

"I do!" Sokka exclaimed, "I'm so excited, you have no idea how much this will mean to me!" It was true. The top submission from the science fair would be given a scholarship to Omashu University, a scholarship Sokka desperately needed if he wanted to go there.

"And the theme for this year is sustainability," he said to Yue as they sat near the lake, "So I think I'm going to do something related to air quality, or maybe natural gas leaks." 

Yue sat quietly for a moment before saying, "Sokka, are you sure you want to do it?"

"Do the science fair?"

"No," she said, "Go to Omashu. It's so far away, and sometimes it seems like you care about your future more than you care about me." 

"Of course not," Sokka said gently, "I'm sorry if you felt that way. Besides, I probably won't win the contest anyway. I was- I was just getting ahead of myself is all." She seemed to brighten at that, and they talked about the marching band performance of the last soccer game. 

~~~ 

Sokka stepped off of the bus, about a block away from his house. There was a chill in the night air, so he hurried home as quickly as he could. 

As soon as he walked in the door he was accosted by Appa, wagging his tail, with his tongue hanging out. Sokka wished he shared his enthusiasm. Curled up on the couch together were Aang and Katara, fast asleep. A cooking show was still playing on the t.v. Sokka shut it off. He walked upstairs, and heard his grandmother's snores, meaning she was asleep too. Once he was inside his room, he promptly collapsed on the bed, still in his homecoming slacks and suit jacket, feeling utterly exhausted. He glanced at his bedside table to see if there was a glass of water there. There wasn't. There was only the framed photograph of him and Yue. Sokka grimaced. 

Why was that still there? He turned the frame over. 

Oh, he thought, that's why. An envelope was tucked in the picture frame. And inside the envelope was a folded piece of paper. A letter. It had been over a year, and never once had Sokka opened it. As far as he was concerned, that was how it would stay.

~~~

For a month Sokka had worked tirelessly on his science project, creating a way to monitor natural gas leaks caused by fracking. He conducted interviews, and tracked the path of tagged bacteria down a river to see if he could predict its path of travel. Through it all, his grades in school never wavered. It was easily the hardest he had ever worked, but he just kept thinking about Omashu University, its beautiful campus, all the science and engineering materials he would have access to. The only thing that was missing of course, was Yue. 

After the fair, Sokka sat nervously near the lake with Yue, who was looking unusually somber, while awaiting the results. If he lost, well, it wouldn't come as that much of a surprise. The odds were pretty low after all. If he won, then he would get to go to his dream school, but he would be leaving Yue. But then a thought crossed his mind.

"Come with me," he said. 

"What?" Yue replied, surprised. 

"If I get the scholarship, then I'm going to Omashu, but I know that you can get in. You have the grades, your parents have the money to afford it-"

"Sokka," she said, "I can't go. I want to, but it wouldn't work."

"What do you mean," Sokka asked, "If you want to, then what's stopping you from going." 

Yue took a deep breath before the words seemed to flood out of her,"I have heart problems, a congenital heart defect that affects blood flow, and... I can't go to school out of state. I can't leave where my parents and my treatment is." Sokka stared at her.

"Oh," was all he could say, as suddenly it made sense why she was absent from school periodically, and why she preferred to hang out by the lake instead of at her house. 

"And I was afraid to tell you because I thought that you would treat me differently."

"Why would you think that?"

"Because all of my friends know. They're the only ones at school that know, and they treat me like I'm made out of glass," Yue said, "You were the only person I trusted who didn't see me that way, and I didn't want to lose that."  

"Oh," Sokka said again, and he thought back to what Yue had said earlier, about caring more about his future than her. He wasn't kidding himself. He knew what the answer was. 

"Sokka, I don't want to stop you from going-" Yue started. 

"You don't have to worry about that," Sokka said,  "I'm not going to treat you differently, Yue. I would never do that. I love you, and I'm going to work things out," he finished, "I promise." 

"Sokka!" Mr Piandao said as Sokka walked into class the next morning. It was earlier so no one else was in class but him."I got the results back for the science fair and-"

"I don't want the results," Sokka said. Mr. Piandao opened his mouth to speak but Sokka continued, "I've changed my mind, I don't want the scholarship, so I don't care about the results."

"Sokka," Piandao sighed, "You can't be serious." That was when Sokka saw the sheet of paper hanging limply from his hand. Certificate of Excellence: With Great Honor we Formally Present a Scholarship... Sokka couldn't see anymore of it, but he didn't need to. 

"I'm serious," he said, pushing back the lump in his throat. 

"Sokka," his teacher said, disappointment on his face, "You know you're ruining your future by making this choice."

"I know," Sokka said quietly, "But there are more important things." 

~~~ 

Sokka put the picture frame in the drawer of his bedside table. For a moment he felt a surge of anger, then guilt for feeling that anger, but eventually it was all replaced with sadness as Sokka stared up at the ceiling. No, he wouldn't open the letter. Opening the letter meant that she was really gone, and he couldn't face that. 

~~~

Thank You for Reading!