"Hey, Stripes!"
I sighed and turned away from the stupid, stubborn piece of metal I was trying to push. Toph was running towards me, barefoot as usual, glasses bumping against her nose.
"Hey, Toph," I said, turning around and trying to get the shopping cart to budge by leaning against it.
"So," she said, skidding to a stop next to me. (How does she DO that without killing her feet?) "You know, Christmas is in a couple of days…"
"Uh huh." I turned back around and pushed about as hard as physically possible, low tops digging into the gravel.
It moved about an inch.
"I was wondering if maybe I could spend it with you guys?"
My hands fell of the bar in shock, nearly causing me to faceplant. I turned to her, jaw still dropped.
"What? Why?"
She put a hand on her hip. "Have you met my parents?"
"No," I pointed out, going back to struggling with the cart.
She rolled her eyes. "Well, you've heard about them. They're going to suffocate me."
I sighed again. "Sure, why not? I'll just tell Skillet she has one more mouth to feed, she'll love that."
She rolled her eyes again.
I kicked the rung under the damned thing in frustration, only resulting in a possibly broken foot.
"Can I get some help with this?" I asked.
She stepped next to me and together we managed to move it fairly easily, actually.
"Okay," I said a moment later. "Two things. One: how the hell did you get so strong?"
She shrugged. "I work out. Second?"
She worked out. So did I! And I couldn't get the thing to budge!
"How do you plan on getting over there?" I asked, trying not to sound too annoyed at the previous answer.
"Easy," she said. "I just tell them."
I raised an eyebrow. "I thought you said they were suffocating."
"Yeah, but ever since the Aang incident they've learned not to stop me from doing what I want."
I nodded, trying to stifle a laugh. "The Aang Incident". She made it sound like they were together, or something, not like they were with two other kids and were just running around the neighborhood, playing "Save the World".
"Okay," I said, smiling. "Skillet's not gonna be happy, but everyone else will.
She smirked back and we finally reached the car. I walked up to the driver window and banged on it 'til it rolled down and the rap was turned low enough for the boy to hear me.
"Jet, you're helping this time," I said, pointing back at the overflowing cart.
Oh, Christmas Eve, oh Christmas Eve. How hectic are thy hours.
The few days between seeing Toph and now had been hectic. If I wasn't decorating, I was cooking (What? Tomboys can't cook?) or wrapping presents or trying to keep the younger kids *coughTheDukecough* from getting too exited and breaking – or exploding – something.
I woke up at 3 in the afternoon to the doorbell ringing. I dragged myself off the couch and to the door.
"Hey, Toph," I managed to mumble to ponytailed girl standing on the concrete.
She raised an eyebrow. "Are my glasses fogging up or have you not had sleep in the past week?"
"The second one," I yawned. "It's supposed to be my shift now, but Longshot took over." I stepped to the side so she could come in.
"Shift?" she asked, putting a bare foot on the tile.
I eased the door close and locked it behind her. "Taking care of the younger kids," I explained, leading her in.
She nodded and looked around. She'd never been to our house before.
I could only imagine what it looked like to her. Twenty-something kids 12 or under running around, only three of the thirteen older available to try to get them to calm down, half the cheap decorations drooping or shattered, a sad fake tree with only a smattering of ornaments still on, the rest laying around the base, most broken.
"Ta da," I muttered.
And then dodged a chuck of masonry, making it just brush by my head.
"Lace!" I yelled at the girl who threw it.
"Sorry!" she yelled back.
"Hey, Toph's here!" someone yelled.
"Hiiiiiii-iiiiiiiiiiiii!" a good sized group of kids chorused.
"Uh, hi?" the girl said back, obviously confused. She turned to me, eyebrows raised.
"I told them about you," I explained.
"Hi, Auntie Toph!" a younger voice piped up.
Toph turned around and looked down at Whistle, who was craning her neck up to look at her.
"Hey," Toph said, voice unusually soft, obviously not missing the scars lacing the 6 year old's body.
The little girl beamed, showing her namesake gap, and half limped, half ran off.
"Auntie Toph?" Toph asked, turning back around.
"I also told them about everything you did for us," I said, smiling a bit at our youngest "member"'s reaction.
"What happened to her?" Toph asked, lowering her voice so the girl, now several yards away, couldn't hear.
"She's been through…" I trailed off, not knowing where to start, "well, a lot." I sighed. "She's not an orphan like the rest of us, but maybe she would've been better off as one."
Toph nodded slightly, obviously getting what I meant.
"So, where's everyone else?" she asked.
I sighed quietly, relieved to change the subject. I loved Whistle to pieces, but seeing her always made me upset.
"Longshot, Jasliene, and Jet are kid wrangling. Skillet, Jewels, and Abi are cooking. Pipsqueak and Bubbles are finishing up the shopping. Bug and Granyt are experimenting on something with the lighting. Miyuki's fixing a few of the decorations. And God only knows where Sneers is."
She nodded again and opened her mouth to say something, but, before she could, The Duke ran over.
"Hi, Toph!" he said, grinning.
She smiled. "Hey, kid."
He cocked his head. "New glasses?"
She sighed. "Yeah. Hate 'em, but might as well be blind without 'em."
He thought a moment. "You know, I could probably–"
"Hey, I wonder where Honey is!" I blurted out, cutting him off. "Why don't we go find her?" I grabbed Toph's arm and started walking upstairs.
She was sitting at the extremely old desktop in the media room, clicking and dragging something. I walked up to her, Toph following.
"What are you doing?" I asked, amused at the fact the entire screen was shades of pink.
"Playing Rapunzel," she said, clicking a check mark.
I could see the girl on screen's lips moving, but nothing was coming out. The sound was busted again.
"She's been on and off for the past three hours," a voice said behind us.
I turned around. Cinnamon was reclining on the (very beat up) couch with a book in her hands.
"Still reading Smile?" I asked her.
She nodded. "Not like I have much time to read. But it's really good."
I nodded back. I'd know, it was my book. "Where are you?"
"She just got her braces back on." She wasn't looking at me anymore, she was back to reading.
"Mashing her face into the couch cushions?" I asked.
She nodded again, smiling. I second later, she was laughing. Which does not happen often.
"Walked into a locker?" I asked.
"Yeah," she giggled.
I chuckled and heard the door open. Judging from the noise, Pipsqueak and Bubbles were back.
I sighed and shook my head. "Here we go again."
Toph laughed next to me.
"So, Rapunzel?" I asked Honey. I wanted distraction.
She nodded, grinning. "It makes me feel five again, but in a good way."
She was dragging puzzle pieces onto a mosaic. She finished the last few tiles and clicked another check. She clicked the next arrow a few times, framed the pieces with green, clicked check again, and picked up a pink sponge.
"So, she's staying over, right?" she said, not turning away from the screen.
"What?" I said, eyes snapping away from the strangely transfixing image.
"Toph." She dragged the sponge across the tiles. "She's sleeping over?"
"Oh, yeah," the girl in question said. "Where do I sleep?"
I shrugged. "Our room, I guess."
She raised an eyebrow. "'Our'?"
"Yeah. The three of us share one. Pipsqueak shares with The Duke, Bug with Bubbles, Abi with Miyuki and Jasliene, Whistle with Lace, you get the idea."
She nodded slowly. "And there's enough room for me?"
I nodded. "They have bunk beds and I have a twin, so yeah."
She looked a bit confused.
I smiled. "C'mon." I walked down the hallway to our room, Toph at my heel.
"Ta da," I said, stepping into the light purple painted room. (Honey wanted pink, Cinnamon wanted blue, I didn't care.)
She looked around the fairly large–for one person–room and plopped down on my (camo) comforter.
"Cool room," she said, toes digging into the carpet.
I smiled a bit. "Thanks."
A sharp whistle sounded.
"Well, dinner's ready," I muttered.
Toph raised an eyebrow again. "Already? It's only, like, three thirty."
I nodded. "But it'll be six by the time we actually eat," I sighed.
Toph laughed and followed me downstairs. A good 20 kids were yelling at each other and scrambling for access to the counter, where the food was laid out.
"QUIET!" Skillet yelled above the commotion.
Everyone shut up and looked at her. By now we were at the edge of the mob.
"I'm gonna get food for everyone under the age of 13," Skillet said, with an insane gleam in her eye. She really had been working too hard. "Bee will get drinks," she finished.
"What?" I yelled from my spot 15 feet away. This was not gonna be fun.
"You heard me," the overworked woman said.
I sighed and turned to Toph. "Help?"
She looked amused. "Whatever you say, Stripes."
Ai yi yi, I thought, walking over to the fridge.
"Honey, what do you want?" I yelled over at the mob.
"Tea, please!" she yelled back.
I grabbed a cup from a cabinet and the tea out of the fridge. Toph filled it; I handed it to the girl.
"Cinnamon?" I yelled.
That went on for at least 15 minutes.
Toph and I each filled a cup for ourselves and sat down. Some of the kids had their food, but they weren't allowed to start eating until everyone else had theirs. And Skillet didn't finish 'til 4:22. By the time the older fourteen had theirs, it was 4:59.
Skillet sighed with relief, sat down at her table–there were three–and yelled, "Dig in!"
Everyone did.
I had a forkful of salad half an inch from my lips by the time Toph asked, "What happened to Grace?"
I blinked. "Who?"
She shook her head. "Never mind."
"So, what's–"
I raised a finger, cutting Toph off. I thought I heard something…
"'Twas the night before Christmas," I said, "and all through the house, every creature was stirring, even Mouse."
I swung my head under my bed to find, as I expected, Sneers' little spy hiding.
"Eh heh," he whispered.
"Out," I said, pointing.
The 10-year old scooted out from under the bed and ran for the door.
I got up and closed it behind him. We'd finished dinner and come back up to find Honey and Cinnamon already there.
"You were saying?" Cinnamon said as soon as I sat back down, next to Toph. She was sitting with her sister on the top bunk.
"What's it like, living with… What, thirty kids?"
That's right, she was an only child. I'd forgotten that.
Cinnamon turned to Honey, knowing she'd want to answer it.
The younger girl shrugged. "We're just used to it. All of us." She thought a moment. "Well, almost all of us."
Toph looked at me, eyebrow raised.
"Lace," I said. I looked back up at Honey. She could probably explain it better than me.
"She's eight. She grew up… higher than the rest of us," she said. "Kinda like you, I guess. But she loved it. She was an only child, too. So her parents only paid attention to her. Only got her the best of everything. And that's what she was used to. And then the fire, and…" She trailed off for a moment. "Well, when we found her, she was a wreck. And when we brought her back her, she was grateful, but she isn't used to all this. She's used to getting everything she wants, to people only paying attention to her. So she can act like a bit of a brat. But, somehow, she's Whistle's best friend."
Toph looked back to me. "The girl with the scars?"
Honey and Cinnamon glanced at each other.
"She said scars," I said. "Plural. That only applies to her."
"For the last time," Toph said, "yours look cool."
The two of them rolled their eyes.
I did, too, at them. I turned back to Toph. "Yeah, the girl with the scars. Some of us have been though quite a bit, but no one's gone though what she has. Her mom died in labor, and her dad wasn't exactly the nicest." I looked down, remembering the whole story, told from the girl's lips about a year ago. "And yet she's the nicest out of all of us."
Toph nodded slightly, seeming to understand. "It might be like what you said about Lace. She was just used to it."
I shrugged. "Yeah, I guess."
Toph thought a moment. "You know, in a way, she reminds me of Pink Poof." She smiled.
Cinnamon and Honey looked at each other. "Pink Poof?" they asked together.
"Ty Lee," I said. I thought about it. "Huh. She is a bit like her, isn't she?"
There was a knock on our door.
I got up and opened it, revealing Whistle and… Granyt?
"Hi…" I said, looking at the older girl.
She grinned. "I need you to come see something, and she wants to borrow your markers."
Whistle looked up, hopeful.
I smiled. "Hang on."
I went back and grabbed them from next to my bed. I walked back and handed them to the abused little girl.
"Thanks!" she squeaked. She ran–sort of–away.
"Coming?" Granyt said, looking… evil.
"To what?" I asked suspiciously.
"You'll see!" the girl half whined. "Grab your jacket and come outside!" She ran downstairs.
I rolled my eyes and grabbed my jacket off the floor.
"C'mon, guys," I said, looking up at the girls.
They climbed down. Cinnamon grabbed her jacket off a hook and handed Honey hers.
"Any idea what she's got planned this time?" Cinnamon asked.
I shook my head.
Toph smiled. She knew Granyt, and she'd heard me rant about her experiments, but she'd never actually seen one.
The four of us ran downstairs. Bug was at the door, beaming with pride.
"C'mon!" she said. "You guys have to see this!"
We walked outside and looked up, where everyone was staring.
In glowing lights was spelled out, "FREEDOM FIGHTERS".
I gaped. I glanced over at Cinnamon and Honey, who looked equally dumbstruck.
Toph nudged me. I looked over at her, managing to close my mouth.
"Freedom Fighters?" she asked.
Had I never told her about that? "Jet came up with it," I explained, "years ago. It was when we got Sneers. He said the way we explained the pact and everything made us sound like a superhero group. Jet said we actually were kinda like one. So the smartass asked for a name, and ta da!" I gestured up at the lights.
She nodded.
"Granyt!" I heard from next to me. Honey was jumping up and down, waving her over.
She walked over, beaming. "Yeah?"
"How did you…?" Honey trailed off, gesturing wildly at the roof.
Granyt giggled. "You sure you wanna know?"
Honey nodded eagerly.
"Do you have three hours?" the older girl asked.
"See ya!" Honey grabbed Cinnamon's hand and ran off.
I shrugged. I mean, really, what'cha gonna do? "Later," I said, walking off.
Toph was right behind me. "Was she serious?"
"Yes," I deadpanned.
"Hey, Bee!" an exhausted voice called.
"Yeah?" I said, walking over to Skillet, who was standing right outside the kitchen.
"Could I get a little help with the rest of these?" She gestured to the remaining table and a half of dishes.
I sighed. "Yeah. Sure."
"If you need me, I'll be over there," Toph said, pointing to the cleared tabled.
I rolled my eyes and went over to help.
An hour. It took us an HOUR.
"Thanks," Skillet sighed.
I shrugged. "Have you seen yourself? You need to get an actual assistant."
She shot me a look. "Like who?"
"How about Jewels?" I suggested. "She loves cooking."
I turned back to our (probably asleep at this point) guest.
"Toph?" I said, walking towards her.
She turned her head to me and lifted her feet off the table. "Ready?"
I nodded. We walked toward the stairs just in time for a certain little girl to barrel down them.
"Auntie Toph!" she said, stopping right in front of us. She held a piece of paper out to Toph.
Toph took it from her scarred hand and looked at it. It was a doodle of her, smiling, with a rainbow in the background. Not wonderful, but one hell of a lot better than Sokka's.
"Thanks…" Toph started. I could see she was trying to come up with a name for her.
Don't say Scars, I silently begged. Don't say Scars, don't say Scars, don't say Scars…
"Toothless," she finished.
Whistle beamed and ran back up. I could just imagine her squealing to Lace about her new nickname.
I smiled. "You realize that one won't last forever, right?"
She shrugged. "Neither will 'Whistle'."
I smirked. "Touché."
We walked up to my room. My eyes automatically went to the clock. 7:34.
"Wasup?" Honey asked, half-hanging upside-down from her bunk.
I shrugged. "Skillet's overworked, as always." I noticed something. "Hey, Honey, shouldn't you be taking your bath?"
She looked down at the clock.
"Shoot!" she said, jumping down. She ran across the hall to our bathroom and started the water.
Toph turned to me, eyebrows raised for the twentieth time that night.
"We kinda have a scheduled time," I said. "Youngest first. And since there are only a few kids younger than her, hers is at 7:30."
Honey walked back in and dug through one of the dresser drawers for her pajamas.
"Later," she said, walking back out.
"And then there were three," Cinnamon said, taking her sister's place in hanging upside-down.
There was a knock. I didn't even have time to answer it before it slammed open.
Jet walked in hand in front of his eyes. "Everybody decent? Awesome." He took it away. "We're playing The Santa Clause downstairs if you wanna watch it." He walked back out.
I looked at the other two. Cinnamon had already climbed down.
Toph shrugged. "Eh, why not?"
Another hour and a half later, the movie was over and I'd avoided the dessert rush. The four of us were standing by the counter, nibbling of tree-shaped cookies. Cinnamon's hair was wet; she'd just gotten back down from her shower.
Jasliene walked over and grabbed one of the last ones on the plate.
"Yo," she said simply, leaning against the marble next to us.
"Hey," the four of us said in unison.
"What's up?" she said, through half the thing.
Honey shrugged and spoke for all of us. "Not much."
Jasliene nodded. "Want me to pop in the second one?"
I raised an eyebrow. "Not like we can finish it in an hour." That was the Christmas Eve bedtime for everyone under 17. Aka everyone but Skillet, Sneers, Pipsqueak, Jasliene, and Jet. Even though there were maybe 5 kids who still believed in Santa.
Jasliene shrugged. "Fair enough." She swallowed the last bite of her cookie and reached for another.
"Later!" she said, running upstairs.
Honey yawned.
"Tired?" I asked, turning to her.
She shook her head. "Nah, I'm fine."
I rolled my eyes. I swear, that was turning into her catchphrase.
"Hey, guys," Bug said, walking up. "Skillet's reading the book in a minute."
I shrugged. "We'll be there, I guess."
Bug rolled her eyes. "Please, settle down. No need to be this enthusiastic." She walked away.
"Book?" Toph asked.
"The Night Before Christmas," I explained.
"Ah," she said.
"She reads it every year," I said, swallowing the last bite of my cookie.
We walked to the family room and plopped down on the fringes of the mob. Skillet was sitting in a chair she'd dragged over, counting heads.
She seemed satisfied with the number and pulled the worn book out from behind her chair. She cracked it open.
"'Twas the night before Christmas…"
Twenty-five interruption-filled minutes later, we were getting up, all a bit stiff.
"Same as every other year," Cinnamon said, popping her shoulder.
"She made it sound better than my mom did," Toph said.
"That I don't doubt," Honey said, popping her neck.
We'd gotten up after everyone else, once again strategically avoiding the rush.
We walk back up and sat down. Honey climbed up to her bunk. She yawned.
"You sure you aren't tired?" I said.
"Alright, fine, I'm tired," she said.
I smiled a bit. "I'm just gonna get dressed, then let's go to bed."
Honey nodded and leaned back against her pillows.
I walked over to the dresser and pulled my pajamas out of one of my two drawers. I turned back to Toph. "You didn't bring anything, did you?"
She shook her head.
I dug out my other pair and tossed them to her.
"Uh, what happened to a shower?" she asked.
"The younger kids take theirs at night," I explained, "and the older ones take theirs in the morning. But then it's oldest to youngest, so mine winds up being at about 11."
Toph raised an eyebrow. "Well, my parents are gonna kill me, but what the hell."
I chuckled and went across the hall. I peeled off my sweater and jeans and traded them for sweats. I walked back out a couple minutes later and Toph was leaning against the opposite wall. She brushed past me.
I walked back into our room and plopped down on my side of the bed. I set the flash drive that had been in my pocket on the nightstand and crawled under the covers. I looked up and saw Honey already asleep and Cinnamon planting a kiss on her forehead.
I smiled. Cinnamon climbed back down and smiled back.
Toph walked back in and sat down on the other side of the bed. She looked up at the younger girl and obviously stifled a laugh.
She crawled under and pulled the covers over her head.
I chuckled. "'Night, Toph."
The blob under my covers mumbled something incomprehensible. I rolled my eyes.
"'Night, Cinnamon."
"Good night."
I yawned and sat up. I'd fallen asleep faster than expected. I glanced over at the clock. Huh. 9:15 already.
I glanced at the other side of the bed, remembering my guest. I poked the mass under the camo comforter. It squirmed and muttered something.
I chuckled and looked over at the bunks. Both the girls were gone, and I heard "The Most Wonderful Day of the Year" playing downstairs.
I poked the blob again. A mass of black hair popped out from under the green and brown.
"Bleh," it muttered, sitting up.
"Good morning, Sunshine," I muttered, getting up.
She rolled her eyes. "I'm not Sunshine. Mai's Sunshine."
I shook my head. "C'mon, breakfast is gonna be ready in a bit."
That got her attention. She jumped up out of bed and raced for the door.
I chuckled and followed her downstairs. Sure enough, a mob of kids were watching Rudolph.
We sat down on the floor next to them and stayed there for the next twenty minutes.
Skillet whistled, calling everyone to breakfast. We sat down at our respective tables and dug into French toast and cream cheese. We were all done about fifteen minutes later.
"Presents?" The Duke asked as soon as Whistle had swallowed the last bite.
This started the chant of, "Presents! Presents! Presents!"
Skillet whistled again, this time calling for silence. "As soon as we get everything cleaned up."
There was a more-or-less unanimous groan.
Skillet automatically turned to me.
I sighed and got up to help her.
Another forty-five minutes later, we were done.
Everyone let out a "Yay!" and peeled themselves away from Frosty and to the family room. Skillet dragged in five garbage bags and said, "Go right ahead."
Everyone tore into their presents. I wound up getting the new Now, a 64 pack of markers, the new Maximum Ride and Nightschool, a set of earrings, and a Borders gift card.
By the time everyone had destroyed everything, it was almost noon. I figured I'd skip the shower.
Honey ran over. "What'd you get?" she asked.
"A CD, some markers, a couple books, earrings, and a gift card. You?"
She smiled. "Lip gloss, earrings, a book, two CDs, and a sweater."
I nodded. "Wanna go listen to them? We have a good two hours 'til lunch," I said.
Toph looked over at me. "Want me to stay for lunch?"
I nodded. "Yeah, of course!"
"Should I stay for lunch?"
"Oh, no, not at all."
Toph smiled. "Well, then, I'll grab my clothes and be out of your hair."
I chuckled and she ran upstairs.
"Shall we follow?" Honey said, grinning.
"Duh," I said, grabbing my stuff.
We walked up and Toph was already walking out of the bathroom, dressed in what she'd worn the day before.
"Later," she said, walking down.
"Later," I said.
And then tripped and fell on a toy soldier.