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Azula was bored.
Today was the third day they had studied this lesson – division with remainders – and she had mastered the concept within ten minutes on the first day. As far as she was concerned, the time remaining until next week’s test was just busywork.
She tuned out the teacher’s droning at the front of the classroom, having already completed the set of problems written on the board, and cast about for something worthy of her attention. Her eyes caught on Ty Lee’s braid, swinging back and forth slightly as she dutifully copied the problems onto the parchment. The end of it looked awfully like an ink brush. Azula grinned.
Very discreetly, so as not to let on what she was doing, Azula took the end of Ty Lee’s braid in her hand. Ty Lee, absorbed in her work and also trying hard to keep up with the lesson, didn’t notice. Slowly, Azula dipped the end of the braid in her inkwell. The rich brown hair immediately turned black as night. It was a very satisfying sight.
Just as slowly, careful to avoid any incriminating drips on her desk, Azula returned Ty Lee’s braid to its former position. Luckily Ty Lee’s hair was fairly absorbent and their teacher’s voice loud; the drips soon stopped without anyone hearing.
Great. Now there really wasn’t anything to do. Azula noticed Ty Lee hesitating in front of her and leaned forward to peer over her shoulder. She was stuck on problem twelve. She had half of it – three – but obviously had no idea what the remainder was.
“It’s seven,” Azula whispered, and Ty Lee scribbled in the answer in her untidy hand. She was always receiving low marks in penmanship.
Their teacher looked over with narrowed eyes.
“Ty Lee,” she said, and the little girl gulped. “Let’s see if you can answer a question on your own, shall we?”
“Yes ma’am,” Ty Lee said, going pink as she stood up.
Her braid hit the back of her blouse with a nice, loud splat and she went even pinker. Then she reached around and grabbed it as the entire class burst into giggles. She stared at her inky hand and sniffed.
“Princess Azula,” said their teacher sharply, and the roomful of girls stopped giggling. Azula stood.
“Is this your idea of a joke?”
“No ma’am,” Azula said, as innocently as possible. It was worth a try, and anyway it wasn’t even a lie. She had been bored, not joking.
“Somehow I doubt that. You will see me after class.”
“Yes ma’am,” she said, with an inward sigh. That probably meant the ruler to her hand or a note home for her mother to sign. Possibly both. No way around it.
Azula and Ty Lee sat down again. Ty Lee was still sniffling. That wouldn’t do. Quickly, Azula wrote her a note.
At least you didn’t have to answer the question! Then she included all the answers to the problems Ty Lee had yet to do. She passed the note forward and watched as Ty Lee read it, gave one last sniff, and began filling them in. A few minutes later she scrawled a reply on the back of the note and stealthily passed it behind her.
Thanks. I’m not mad anymore. My mom is gonna be mad when she sees my shirt, though.
Hmm. An actually interesting problem to solve. At least she wasn’t bored anymore.
Worth it.