Chapter 1

Summary: AU Sometimes normal life is a WHOLE lot more complicated. Taang, Zutara, Yukka, Sukka.

A quick note: Ok, no matter how much Aang talks about Katara in the beginning, I DO NOT ship Kataang (Dislike the couple) and he will get over her. Thank you.

"Save me, baby! Come on and free me from your soul, my soul is frozen in you if you'd only thaw me out!"

The 80's Air nation music by the now ancient band 'Nomads' blasted through Aang's radio. Aang lazily lifted his head, completely delusional. He tried to turn off his alarm, but he hit the wall. Then he hit his lamp. Then he hit the alarm clock off of the bedside table. Groaning, he pulled himself up into a sitting position. Reaching down, he pulled the small clock/radio back up and hit the snooze button.

"6:45….I've got some time." He said to himself, laying back down and getting comfy. He closed his eyes, and was about to drift back into the wonderful world of sleep, where Katara was his girlfriend, Sokka was a ballerina, and all was right with the world, then Gyatso called for him.

"Ugh….Coming!!" Aang called lazily, dragging himself out of bed.

He felt around in the semi-dark, the only light coming from what could sneak in between the shades, and pulled on a shirt, pants, his hat, socks, and shoes, and headed towards the door.

He slid open the door quickly. He stood still for a second, and let his eyes adjust to the light. Gyatso was working on their plane, 'Appa', again. The old man cared for that thing as if Appa was his own daughter. Aang noticed that Gyatso had left the hangar door wide open again, of course. He always did that.

Aang and Gyatso lived in basically a hangar/ office building. Gyatso used to run it, then, when the company shut down, he bought it. The hangar served as what it was called, as well as the main room and the kitchen. Beside that, the building had five other rooms; four were old offices, and one was a store room. The offices were turned into bedrooms and closets for Gyatso's many junk items, while the storage room served as a maintenance room for Appa. They also stored some of their cargo in there when they were stuck with it for a while.

Aang walked over to the Hangar door controls, which were right next to the door itself, and hit the "Down" button. Then he hurried over to the kitchen area to make himself some breakfast before Gyatso made it. In case you couldn't guess, Gyatso couldn't cook squat.

As he ate his cereal, Gyatso came over and sat next to him at the counter. Their kitchen was set up as more of a bar, a design from Gyatso's younger days, when he was a young man who loved women more than flying. Now it was the other way around.

"Hey, Kiddo, why are you still here?" Gyatso asked wearily, pouring himself some cold coffee.

"What? Why?" Aang asked, his mouth full of cereal. He looked at the clock. "It's only 7:25."

Gyatso jumped up. "Exactly! You forgot!" He ran around to the other side of the bar. "You don't remember that today is your big test, and you promised to go to school early, so you can actually catch the bus! I will not have you missing first period again!"

Aang swallowed. "Gyatso, I will leave soon, but it's too early now…Besides," He added quickly. "Even if I did miss the bus, I'd have my skateboard."

Gyatso snorted. "Oh yes, the piece-of-wood-on-wheals contraption. Bah! You couldn't catch up to a bus like that!" He waved his hand, as if dismissing the idea.

Aang rolled his eyes and picked up his bowl, heading for the sink. " I won't be late anyways. Don't worry." He said, dropping the bowl and spoon into the sink before grabbing his skateboard and heading out.

Aang skated along one of the many sidewalks of C.S., thinking about when he'd first see Katara. She had been gone on a trip to the Water nations for a month, to visit her grandmother. From what Sokka had told him, she had gotten back late last night, but was still going to school today. Aang sighed. Katara was his dream girl, his first and only love. Well, close enough, anyways. What would he, a teenager, know of love? But, then again, what would Gyatso, and VERY old man, know, either?

Aang was so lost in his thought, that he ran into a blue old beat up car.

"OOF!!" Aang rolled onto the ground and jumped up, rubbing his head. "What the-?!"

"Hey you! What do you think you're do-Oh, hey Aang!" Sokka called, getting out of the car.

"Sokka…" Aang started, straightening up, but still rubbing his head. "Why is your car on the sidewalk?" He asked, eying the old machine. In a way it kind of reminded him of Gyatso…

"What, my Baby?! Why, she's parked, stupid!" Sokka said, apparently very proud that he had successfully managed to maneuver his car between the lamppost and the bus stop sign. Aang sighed. "Great, Sokka." He said, giving up. Sokka nudged him. "Hey, guess who I'm here to pick up?" He asked, his eyebrows going up and down in a knowing way.

"Aang!"

It was just then that Aang noticed that they were in front of a coffee shop, and that Katara had just exited, holding a cup of coffee in one hand, and a doughnut box in the other. She carefully set the items on the back of Sokka's car and ran over, pulling Aang in a big bear hug.

"Oh my gosh, I missed you so much! I have so much to tell you!" Aang was shocked at first, but then hugged her back quickly. "I missed you, too, Katara." He said, blushing. But Katara didn't notice. She pulled back, holding Aang at arm's length. "Wow, look at you!...You're a mess!" She laughed and straightened up his hat, pulling the blue arrow on his wooly brown hat back to the center.

"My doughnuts!" Sokka cried, grabbing the box that Katara had brought off the trunk of his 'baby'. "Did you get the strawberry kind?" He asked, opening the box in a hurry.

Katara let go of Aang and shrugged. "Sorry, Sokka. They only had glazed and a new flavor with a puke color."

Sokka pursed his lips and slammed the box shut. "I won't eat it, then!"

"Suit yourself." Katara turned back towards Aang. "So…Tell me what I missed. All Sokka told me was that I should have been here to save you yesterday!" Katara looked worried.

Aang blushed. "Well…Someone might have said something and then said that I said it, offending someone and getting him mad…" Aang rubbed the back of his neck nervously. The LAST thing that he wanted to do was talk about it in front of Katara, who would start acting like his mother. And that was even WORSE, because he wanted her to see him as a grown-up. Or, at least enough of one to date.

"Guys! We're going to be late for school!" Sokka yelled, running over to his car door, and pulling as hard as he could. "Come on, baby!" Sokka muttered to himself, pulling even harder. Finally, the door opened, and Sokka jumped inside. "Katara, Aang! Jump in!" As Aang started to pick up his skateboard, Sokka called. "Hey, Aang? Could you…Pick up my doughnuts for me?" Aang and Katara rolled their eyes.

"Sure, Sokka."

Right as Sokka parked, the school-bell rang.

"OkthanksguysIgottagogettoclassbeforeI'mlateorelseGyatsoisgoingtokickmybutt!" Aang yelled in one breath, jumping out of the car, grabbing his skateboard, and running to class as fast as his legs could carry him.

He ran into class, bursting through the door in the loudest possible way. "Oh, why hello Aang, How nice of you to decide to join us today." His Teacher, Mr. Peterson said sarcastically, completely un-amused. "Sit down." He commanded, handing Aang his test.

"Thank you, sir. Sorry that I'm late." Aang said, his head down, and sat down in his usual seat. He took a deep breath and opened the test. Everything was in red, as if taunting him, saying "You don't know this, haha, you can't figure this out. You're going to fail, all because of us! Haha!"

Aang blinked several times, trying to clear his head. This was going to be a long day…

Lunch time.

This was the best time of day, if you asked Aang. Well, the school day, anyway. It was the first time of day that he got to see Katara usually, and the only time that he could hang out with friends, most of the time. But there was one thing…One person that made Aang hate lunch at the same time. And his name was Zuko.

Zuko hated him to no end, a thing that baffled Aang to no end. Zuko had never been his friend, but until 3rd grade, he wasn't his enemy, either. That was year that he had gotten his scar. He was out of school for a few months, while letting his wound heal. But when he got back, he started acting mean o everyone, especially to Aang. He had gotten him in a fight a year ago, and afterwards he had shut himself to everyone, becoming more of an emo than a bully.

Aang moved forward a step in the line, holding his tray tightly, as if someone was going to steal it from him.

"Yo, twinkletoes." Someone playfully flicked him in the shoulder.

Aang spun around to see Toph Bei Fong, grinning like a maniac. She knew that it kind of freaked him out that, even though she was blind, she could tell where and who everyone was.

Aang smiled. "Hey, Toph."

Toph nodded in the general direction of the menu. "What's it today, twinkletoes?"

Aang glanced at the menu, reading the food schedule out loud. "Uh…casserole, beans, and…salad."

Toph rolled her sightless eyes ever-so-slightly. "Great. Poison, disgusting, and a great tool for bulimic people." She said as Aang read. She sighed. "Oh well… Hey, twinkletoes, how's Sugarqueen? Did she get back?" She asked with little interest.

Aang immediately perked up at the mention of Katara. "Oh, she's fine…As far as I know. We only talked for a second on the way here. Hey, did you know that Sokka has a car?"

Toph laughed as they moved forward and Aang got some casserole. "Dude, seriously? Wow, hey how's it look?" She asked, eager to get a picture of it in her mind.

Aang Frowned. "Um…Like Gyatso, only a baby blue color."

Toph just snorted. "Wow. Not a very clear picture, since I've never seen either one of those…But I think I get the picture." She said, grabbing some casserole herself.

Aang looked at her. "Sorry," He said shaking his head. "It's just so hard to remember that-"

Toph shrugged and cut him off. "No big deal, twinkletoes. Just…Don't get all sentimental on me, ok?" She asked, punching him lightly on the arm.

Aang smiled "Ok."

The two friends got out of line and started to look for a table. Well, Aang did, anyway. Toph just kind of…Followed him.

"Ow!" She said, bumping into Aang as he stopped walking. "Twinkletoes, what the heck are you doing, move!" Toph shoved him, since the cafeteria was really very crowded and there was no other way for her to go. Usually, she would be able to shove him to the ground without much effort, but Aang stayed rooted to the spot.

"Toph…" Aang said suddenly, his voice filled with fear. "Hide me."

"Mo…Wait, what?!" Toph asked, and stopped pushing him.

Aang ran behind her. "Hide meeeee!!" He whispered loudly, clutching the back of her shirt.

Toph pried him off of her back, and rolled her eyes. "Ok one, no way am I letting you hide behind me! And two, you're going to have to face Zuko sometime today." She would have crossed her arms if she didn't have a tray of food in her hands. Or at least, whatever it was in the cafeteria that they passed for food.

"Yeah, well I'd like to live long enough to see Katara one last time!" Aang wined.

"Oh get over yourself, baby! You see her, like, every two periods!" Toph exclaimed as she made Aang continue walking.

Aang found their usual table and sat down as quickly as possible, one of his hands hiding his face from Zuko, or at least, trying to. "Besides," Aang said as soon as Zuko was out of their line of sight. "Gyatso will kill me if I come home with another black eye!"

Toph snorted. "So? Don't get one. Defend yourself!" She picked up her spork and sniffed the casserole with disgust. "Besides," She said, putting it down. "Zuko hasn't talked to anyone in, like, a whole year."

That time, it was Aang's turn to snort. "Pu-lease. Zuko doesn't want to talk to me, he wants to beat me up!"

Toph took out one of the many, many, MANY salt packets that she hid in her backpack, since the school didn't offer salt. A true crime, in her opinion. If they wanted to stop obesity, they should stop selling their ice-cream. But, since she always had a bowl of it, she wasn't too upset about it.

"Hey, Aang!" Katara waved from the other side of the cafeteria.

Aang stood up in a flash, knocking over his can of soda. "Katara! Over here!"

Toph heard the spill and picked up her tray as to keep her lunch dry and non-sticky, which was more than she could say for Aang's shirt.

"Ahh!" He looked down at the brownish stain, and started rubbing it furiously with his napkin.

Katara plopped down next to Toph and picked up Aang's can, setting it back upright on the table. "Oh, Aang. You need to watch what you're doing!" Aang's cheeks burned 100 different shades of red, but Katara took not notice, or if she did, she didn't show it. "Toph, I can't believe this, but I missed your sarcasm while I was gone!" She laughed and started to eat her lunch, blabbing on about her vacation.

Toph rolled her misty-colored eyes. "Glad to know that I'm loved." She said in a tone oozing with bitter sarcasm. She had never liked something about Katara, but she could never put a finger on it.

Toph pursed her lips while barely listening to Katara, unlike Aang, who was hanging on her every word. 'Love-sick baby.' She thought to herself.

"Really? Wow, that's great, Katara!" Aang said happily, in a tone that he reserved only for Katara. When Katara was there, Aang would agree with every word that she said, even if she was dead wrong, and he knew it.

Katara giggled at something that he said, and Toph could just picture Aang grinning like the idiot that he was.

Yeah, there was definitely something about her that Toph didn't like.