On Rotation

by Shirlene Obuobi

The worst thing I ever did was grow an ass.

“Ricky uses evade,” I said, smirking. “It’s not very effective.”

“Charming me will get you nowhere,” I said, even though it was getting him everywhere.

I watched him beadily as he reached in and produced . . . a Water Tribe pendant. It was a solid piece, with the heft of stainless steel, and a thick chain to support its weight. I didn’t know whether to balk or laugh. “What if I wasn’t a Waterbender?” I said instead, and Ricky scoffed. “The whole healer thing? The fact that you can be ice cold when you want to be?” he said. “All Water Tribe. You could be nothing else.” “Well, then you just made quite the move, considering we just met,” I said, turning the pendant over in my hands. “Don’t you know what it means to give a nice Water Tribe girl a necklace?”*

He would just play with me like he was doing now and tell me that he hadn’t meant it that way if I slipped up and tried to assign any amorous intent to his actions.

In the greatest Western animated series of all time, Avatar: The Last Airbender, the world contains benders, or people who can manipulate one of the four elements: earth, water, fire, and air. A better way to sort personalities than Hogwarts houses, in my very humble opinion.