Chapter Text
Today was finally the day Jinora would to have time to start that historical romance novel. It came out recently, and she had been looking forward to reading for such a long time.
“JINORA!! Get downstairs right now!”
Just like that, all her hopes and dreams of binge reading her book had been shattered. She reluctantly went downstairs to see what it was her dad could possibly need.
Being the daughter of a famous and wealthy politician was not all that it cracked up to be, she had realized. Not only was she constantly under the pressure of behaving like a perfect daughter, but as the designated golden child, she was in charge of all her younger siblings. Plus, her dad was constantly hovering over every move she made and shoving more responsibilities on to her. But at the end of the day, she was still a 16-year-old girl, just trying to survive high school and life in general at this point.
Upon her arrival downstairs, she was met with the sight of her dad being used as a jungle gym by her two younger brothers Rohan and Meelo, who were five and eleven, respectively.
“Jinora, I need you to watch over the boys for the afternoon and evening and fill in for me at the community center. I was supposed to teach a class on mediation as a remedial class for juvenile delinquents tonight. An important event has come up that your mom and I have to attend.” Tenzin announced, not even batting an eye at the boys crawling all over him.
“Anything else, your highness?” Jinora responded dryly.
“Actually, I need you to pick up Ikki from her friend’s house at 7 PM,” Tenzin commanded, ignoring her sarcasm-laced response.
On top of being a wealthy and famous politician’s daughter, her dad’s side of the family came from old money. They had also inherited a community center called Turning a New Leaf: Community Center from her grandfather, Aang Gyasto. It had been his vision to help people turn around their lives and give them a new chance by providing a variety of services and funding to people. While Jinora was not sure of the specifics, the fact that Tenzin, Aang’s youngest son, had inherited the center and not either of his two older siblings was a cause of controversy in their family. As requested by her grandfather’s will, her dad was required to actively take part in running the center. To meet these requirements, her dad personally ran some of the remedial courses and sponsored some of the people in need from the center.
“And where exactly are you going that is so important that you and mom have to leave all your responsibilities to me, your teenage daughter?” Jinora retorted.
“Well, I am glad you asked. Varrick, one of our biggest donors at the center and one of my most important connections, has invited me to ‘a very important dinner that I cannot miss’ according to him. So, I will leave you to it!”
She decided to get ready for the long day she had ahead instead of lamenting the loss of her entire Saturday to her father’s whims. At least her mom and dad were dropping off her 13-year-old sister, Ikki, at her friend’s house, so she would not have to deal with her today. Jinora loved her little sister, but sometimes her mischievousness and high energy really got on her nerves, and she didn’t think she could handle that today.
Finally arriving at the center in one piece with her two younger brothers, Jinora sighed in relief, but the hardest part was yet to come. She really was not looking forward to teaching this meditation class. While she excelled at meditating, she had a bad feeling the person she really did not want to see today would be there. Before she could worry about that, though, she needed to set her two little brothers straight.
“Meelo, are you manly enough to keep Rohan in line while I am teaching this class on mediation?”
Meelo quickly fell for the challenge Jinora presented to him. “This is Meelo the man we’re talking about here! Keeping this baby in line will be easy!”
Rohan protested, “I am not a baby! I am 5 and a half!”
“Ok boys, if you behave while I am gone, we can stop by Sonic and get slushies after the class is over.” Both boys instantly stood up straighter and saluted at Jinora.
“You have all the boys eating out of the palms of your hand, I see.”
Jinora gave herself whiplash from turning around too fast. Kai in all his smug-asshole glory stood before her. She held in her sigh of annoyance as she quickly shooed away Meelo and Rohan to go into the center without her. Even she could only take so many troublemaking boys in one social interaction. Plus, she knew staff would keep them in line well enough without her supervision. Her luck really was getting worse today because this was the one person she did not want to see. Kai was the residential “delinquent” she could not seem to escape. He was one of the community center’s regular visitors, thanks to the fact he was always getting in trouble and had to take remedial classes to get out of some of the worse punishments he could be receiving. From what she had heard, all of his crimes were petty ones. These classes were only a slap on the wrist to try to prevent it from happening again, with no luck so far.
“To what do I owe the pleasure of seeing you today,” Jinora greeted, her voice dripping with sarcasm. She typically was on her best behavior around Kai and everyone else in the community center, but today her dad wasn’t around to chastise her. She wasn’t going to let Kai get away with messing with her this time, since there was no one around to witness.
“Wow, Jinnie does have a bite after all. And here I was thinking you were just a Ms. Goody-two-shoes.” Kai approached closer. “I am only here to see your pretty face. Obviously, what else?”
Jinora rolled her eyes. “Let me guess, you got in trouble again, and now you’re here to take this remedial meditation course again.”
Kai leaned back and scratched his neck, putting on an awkward smile. He laughed a bit before starting. “You caught me... I am not looking forward to this meditation class with Tenzin. Can’t he make a remedial class that’s more entertaining or something?”
“Meditating is a great way to reflect on your past actions and to turn a new leaf. Maybe the problem is you don’t take it seriously enough. What did you even do this time?”
Kai shrugged indignantly, “May or may not have been caught pickpocketing the principal again, but I gave back the wallet with everything in it! I don’t know what the big deal is here. That really was the last time, I swear!”
“I am pretty sure you said that the last few times, too, Kai. And I mean, if you’re going to be dumb, why do it at school anyway? Seems a little counterproductive to me especially when your brother is a cop.” Jinora retorted back.
Although he was far from a perfect person, and maybe even from being a decent person, Jinora could not deny he was very attractive. Not only was he tall and muscular in a lean kind of way, but he also had the most beautiful emerald green eyes and they really stood out against his mocha-colored skin. His hair was dark brown, nearly black hair shaved underneath, so his ear piercings stood out even more, giving him a “bad boy but don’t care” kind of vibe. Snapping out of her trance before Kai noticed, she zoned back in to the conversation.
Kai only laughed at her insult again. “We both know Mako had his fair share of bad boy moments too. Just because he has a stick up his ass now doesn't mean he was perfect all the time.”
Now that she thought about it, he was right. Kai had originally just been crashing with Mako and Bolin's house since Bolin had a really soft spot for Kai. Even though he had caused them quite a bit of trouble through the years, they eventually ended up officially adopting him and becoming his legal guardians so Kai could escape from foster parent hell. They had gone through so much effort to put him in a better place, and even though Jinora wasn't sure of all the details, she knew that her dad and the community center must have pulled a lot of strings to make it happen since Mako and Bolin were barely more than teenagers themselves at the time.
“I just don’t understand why you keep acting like this. Especially now that you have brothers that care for you. You are given so many opportunities to change. Yet, here you are, behaving like a criminal.” Jinora remarked, staring straight into his eyes. Her statement instantly shifted the mood of their conversation.
Kai looked away from her piercing stare, his face going dark. “Don’t pretend like you know me or could understand my actions when you’re born with a silver spoon in your mouth. Besides, I don’t want your pity.”
Jinora huffed. “Well, unfortunately for you can’t get rid of me yet. I am taking my dad’s place in teaching the meditation course. Thought you wanted to see my pretty face? Change your mind already?”
She already felt regret for snapping at him as soon as the words came out of her mouth, but it was too late to take it back now. Without responding, Kai stormed into the building. Jinora waited a moment, taking a second to breathe, before following him. It seemed like the meditation class was going to be anything but relaxing. Why she tried to start a fight with him like that, she didn’t know. She really wished she were at home reading her book right now.
Jinora walked into the classroom, calmly pretending like her conversation with Kai didn’t happen. She surveyed the room. There were only about fifteen people in total. She could work with that. She discreetly glanced in Kai’s direction. He purposely was looking everywhere except for her. She probably deserved that. Pinching her nose in one last attempt to calm herself, she decided to start her lesson.
“Hi everyone, today I will be replacing my dad, Tenzin, and teaching this lesson on mediation. Don’t think you can get away with slacking off just because my dad isn’t here. I have two younger brothers who are heathens. So know you guys don’t have anything on them and I am not afraid to crack the whip, even if some people here are older than me.” A few people chuckled at that, and Jinora smiled, feeling more at ease.
The class went by smoothly. Surprisingly, even after their fight, Kai looked like he was actually making an effort in class. However, as soon as class was over, Jinora bolted to avoid confrontation with Kai and to start the search for her two younger brothers.
She immediately bumped into Bolin on her way out. “If you’re looking for your brothers, I saw them go that way.” he said, pointing down the hallway.
“Thanks Bolin! You’re a lifesaver!” Jinora responded. Before she had a chance to speed walk down the hallway, Bolin stopped her.
“How did Kai do in class today?” Bolin asked with a worried look on his face.
“He looked like he was really trying! Anyway, I’ve got to go. I will see you later!” Jinora awkwardly announced, walking away briskly so he couldn’t ask her any follow-up questions. She felt bad she had cut her answer short like that, but it wasn’t like she was lying, just dodging any chance of their fight coming up in conversation. It wasn’t long before she spotted Meelo and Rohan. They actually were not looking too suspicious for once.
“Soldier, what’s the report status?” Jinora asked
“It’s Commander Meelo! Jinora, how many times do I have to tell you that!?”
“Well, soldier, if you behaved more often, maybe I would call you that.” She stuck out her tongue at him, since she was the mature one, after all.
Meelo huffed indignantly, but responded regardless. “I promise me and Rohan didn’t get in too much trouble. So can we go to Sonic now???” Rohan nodded along with him, looking as innocent as possible.
Jinora looked at the clock. It was only 6:15 PM. They had time to burn before picking up Ikki, anyway. “Alright soldiers, let’s load up!” Meelo and Rohan both saluted once more before running in the direction of the exit. Jinora ran after them to her car.
