Chapter 3
A week passed and everyday Sokka had volunteered to drive everyone to the mall.
"Doesn't this drain your gas?" asked Katara.
"Nah, I don't have to pay for gas as long as I do the grocery shopping, the laundry, and keep my room clean."
Aang tuned the conversation out as he left their usual table at Chick-fil-A to go look for Toph. Unfortunately, she didn't show up again today and he cursed himself for not getting any other information about her other than her name.
"I didn't even get an email," he shrugged as once again, he trudged over to the empty bench.
As he plopped down he put his head in his hands and sighed. "Dang it," was all he could say.
He looked up at the fountain that was in front of the bench in the middle of the mall.
He started at the top and watched the water work its way down into the bottom pool and finally settle and wait for the pumps to send it back to the top again. But he noticed something strange at the base of the fountain.
There were also seats along the edge of the fountain where you could sit and look at all the coins people wasted on wishes that they knew wouldn't come true. So much wasted money on something so intangible as a wish. In the past, Aang could only wonder why people would throw away money like that. But today, it wasn't the sillyness of wasted money that interested him about the fountain. Under one of the attached benches he saw something white fluttering with the vibrations of the fountain against the wall which contained it.
He looked around making sure that it wasn't anyone else's, but he knew that it was impossible to see it except from this very bench where Aang found Toph that first day. Aang slowly stood up and meandered over to the fountain and sat down on the bench and reached under the seat and grabbed what he realized was a piece of paper taped to the bottom.
Hopelessly optimistic, Aang unfolded it and read the typed print:
Aang. Parents found out. I still want to be friends even if we can't meet each other in person anymore. Phone: 843-387-0934 and my AIM is sheltrdlite. I have AIM so you can add me so we can talk there too. Toph
Aang leaped into the air and pumped his fist. Then he ran back to the table and spilled the letter onto the table and told everyone to add her to their AIM as well. The rest of the afternoon was spent in anticipation of talking with his new friend in the coming hours of night.
Aang didn't know why, but a sudden wave of nervousness had fallen over him as he sat on his bed with his cell phone in hand. He had the numbers typed in and his thumb was lingering over the send key, but for some reason he was delaying it and making sure that he knew what he wanted to say when she answered.
He didn't really know why he was hesitating. He thought about her parents. What if they discovered that she was talking to someone who knew who she really was?
'Nah,' he thought, 'she would just lie and say that it was one of the guards' children.'
What if she really was pitying him?
'Wait, what am I thinking? We're not actually going out.' His thought voice got softer. 'We were just playing a trick to fool Sokka.'
He pressed 'send.'
Each ring made his heart pound more and more.
"Why isn't she answering?" he accidentaly mumbled out loud, then scanned the room to make sure no one heard him.
"Hello?" he heard.
"Toph!"
Toph became excited too.
"Aang! You got the note!"
"I know! How did your parents find out?"
"My mom caught me walking back to the bench and asked me where I had been. I can detect lying, but I'm not a very good liar myself."
"You can tell if someone is lying?"
"Yep. Their heartbeat speeds up and their body just goes out of whack."
"Wow."
"Eh, you get over it eventually."
"So, what do you do for fun at home?"
"Not much. Watching TV is out of the question, and I'm not so great at sports. So I normally just sit in my room and listen to music or do something on the computer, like talk."
"Yeah, how do you use the computer anyway?"
"I have a program that tells me what a person types back, and I'm a great typer too."
"That's cool."
"Eh, my parents can get me pretty much anything I need to function."
"So all you do all day is just listen to music?"
"Pretty much."
Aang was struck with an idea.
"You know, Sokka was joking when he suggested you sneak out, but seriously...what floor are you on?"
"First. Me plus stairs does not equal a pretty expression on my parents' faces, even though I don't have any trouble with them."
"Want to go do something later tonight then? Kana sleeps like a rock and I can slip in and out of the house no problem. I know somewhere you've probably never been that you would love."
"Hmmm, well, my parents are on the second floor, and my window opens to the backyard..."
"GREAT!" he shouted, making Toph almost drop her phone. "Now, where's a good place to hop the fence?"
"I don't know. In the back I guess. There isn't really a fence there anymore, you could just walk around and come right into the courtyard."
"OK, cool. What time?"
"Psh, my parents always say that stupid "early bird" thing. I never understood why anyone would want to eat worms."
They bothed laughed, enjoying each other's voice just as much as the other.
"11 would be perfect."
"Ok, Kana is really old, so I'm sure she'll be asleep and I can get out by then."
"Ok, see you in a bit," she said.
"Ummm, ok..." Aang didn't want to hang up, "...by-"
BEEP
Aang sighed. She had already hung up.
A/N: Short one. Not much more to say about it. Again, expect a few errors because my beta is still not able to run through them and I had the time to go ahead and write this one today. Same story as last time, I will replace this chapter with the real version once she betas it and gets it sent back to me.
RR&E (Read, Review, and Enjoy!)
