The Point of Tangency The Point of Tangency

Summary: So, Sokka, who's not very good at math –failing- ends up being assigned the rebellious, math genius Toph Bei Fong as his tutor…Will friendship pursue? Or will they just drive each other insane? Tokka, AU, Modern-Day

A/N: Wow, I'm really just whippin' out new stories, huh? This one is going to be real fun to write…

ATLA

Chapter 1: I'm Stupid

Fine, I'll admit it to you. I'm really not that good at math.

Or school in general…but that's a different story. Totally different story.

Anyway, when it comes to math class I pretty much suck. To be very precise and use all the details or whatever, I'm failing. I, Sokka Wei, am failing math class. 12th grade math, and I'm failing.

I seem to recall Mr. How droning on about how 'if you applied yourself Sokka. If you only applied yourself.' I also seem to recall a disapproving head nod, and a mention of not doing homework.

Who cares.

It's my senior year, I can coast. Coasting is allowed when you reach senior-osity. Or seniority is it?

Either way, I'm supposed to be able to breeze through this last year. Just parties. Parties, football games, bonfires, you name it. That's what senior year was all about.

So, when Mr. How said I'd be having a tutor, twice a week, until my grades come above an 80, I gaped at him. Obviously.

There was another disapproving head nod, and then he picked up a clear blue clipboard. He used his finger to scan the list for my name. His finger came to a stop, then tapped the clipboard. "Your tutor is Toph Bei Fong."

Mr. How then smiled at me. One of those vicious, teacher 'I'm trying to be nice, but I really love your pain' smiles. Or that's what they always seemed like to me. "Are you familiar with who she is?"
I did my best to hold back a groan. But, apparently, my best isn't very good. I groaned, a loud tormented groan. An annoyed groan. Of course I knew who Toph Bei Fong was. Everyone did, didn't they?

Her parents only practically owned the whole town, they're insanely rich. Their large meatpacking company employed almost everyone's parents…including mine.

Now the weird thing about Toph was, she hated it when people acknowledged her as a Bei Fong. She always appeared to be a rebel type because from the way she looked, you'd never be able to guess how rich she was. She wore dark clothing, mostly in shades of black or washed out forest green. Her raven-colored bangs were forever hanging in her face. She was blind, but very self-sufficient. She had no guide dog or guide-person…or something…like that. And a pair of beat up gray converse never left her feet.

A few months ago, one of her rebellions made the newspapers. They say that the farms where the meat is raised were mistreating the animals. Giving them too many hormones and giving them no room to move and junk like that. Toph apparently took this very hard when she found out (Though she never struck anyone as an animal lover) and became a vegetarian. The daughter of the largest meatpacking company in the world, goes vegetarian. It made headlines everywhere…

Funny though, I never thought of her as a straight-A math student either. Interesting…

XXX

Sokka Wei.

My…student.

Who the hell is that?

XXX

On Thursday, Mr. How gave me a note. He said it from Toph Bei Fong.

Great.

Awesome.

It was handwritten, which seemed peculiar to me, considering she was blind. Maybe she talked and there was a writer-man-person. Scribe, I think it's called?

Yeah. So.

Basically, she said to meet her at the Elementary School Playground at six o'clock. So that's where I was headed now.

As I pulled up to the school, I saw her. She was sitting on the swing, looking at her feet. Well…I guess she wasn't really looking at her feet…her head was just…mindlessly angled downward.

That's it.

Since that first day Mr. How had told me that she was my tutor…a thought had been bothering me and I intended to get to the bottom of it tonight.

As I approached, I raised my hand to wave…then realized she wouldn't see it.

Oops.

As I opened my mouth to say hi, she stood up off the swing and readjusted her green headband. She nodded slightly. "Hey…Sokka?"

I did one of those weird body-jerks. You know when you're not paying attention and something snaps you back in…then you jerk? Well, that's what I did. "What?"

She rolled her blind eyes at me. "No, you id-, …No. I was asking if that's your name."

"Oh…" I nodded. "Yeah, Sokka's me. That's I. They call me Sokka, my name. But…you were gonna call me an idiot, weren't you?"
She ignored my question. "Okay, Sokka. I'm Toph."

I shrugged and sat down beside her on the grass. "Yeah, and? I already knew that."

"Unfortunately." She sighed, pulling a notebook out of her brown drawstring bag. "You ready to get started?"

"Well…first, I wanna ask you something."

She thought for a moment, "Uh…fine. Shoot."

"How can you be a tutor…?"

She raised an eyebrow at me.

"What I mean is, well…yeah. How can you be a tutor…you're…ya know…"

She ran her fingers over the spirals of the notebook, close to almost ignoring me. "Blind. I'm aware."

"But how are you qualified?"

She took a deep annoyed breath. "Do you really want to know? Because it'll sound like I'm bragging, and I don't want you to think I'm some snobby rich kid. Okay?"
"Er…yes. I do want to know."

"I took the math course you're taking now, as a freshman. As in two years ago. Okay? I'm already into advanced Trigonometry… my 3rd college math course. That's why I'm qualified."

"But…you're still blind."

She swiftly hit me upside the head with her notebook. "Shut your face."

"But-!"

She hit me again. "No whining."

"But-!"

Another smack, "SHH!"

"Come on!"

I winced, expecting another hit, but she hadn't even lifted her notebook from her lap.

She stared (Well…not really stared, but it might as well have been) at me, dumbfounded. "Are you stupid? Do you just want to get hit?"

Now, while I could get a sexual innuendo out of that, I replied truthfully. "Yeah…you could say I'm not very bright."

She punched me in the shoulder. "You'll get better." She smiled cockily. "Since you have me for a tutor and all."

I winced and rubbed my shoulder. For a blind girl, she was strong. "Why are we at the playground anyways?"

XXX

A/N: Ooooo! I'm soo excited for this story. Yay original-not-song-fic-ideas! Yay! And, the point of tangency is a math term, yes. If you know it you get a virtual cookie or sut'n. My math teacher, Mr. Howard, has inspired the character of Mr. How (shocking, right?) and he also inspired the some of the plot of this story. The PLOT. Good job, Mr. H.

Reviews would be awesome-ness.

-Mandi (Toruh)