7 Days

Chapter 4

Skating

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"No way."

"Toph com'on."

"No."

"Toph, pleeaaaaaaase?"

"No."

"But Toph! It's Christmas!"

"No. I can only see when I'm on the ground. Why would I want to slide around on frozen water in a pair of tight shoes with blades strapped to the bottom?"

"Because it's fun!" Aang said skating by, his arrow hat covering a mop of black hair.

Little kids with their parents, couples and even a few dogs were all skating on the local pond, celebrating the few remaining days of the holidays. Katara, Aang and Sokka had all agreed last night, after Toph had fallen asleep, that they should go skating. So there they were, Aang getting taught a few tricks from Katara while Sokka was on the sidelines attempting to convince the ever-stubborn Toph to go out on the ice.

"Why would you not want to go skating?" Sokka said incredulously, ignoring Toph's rant completely.

"I. Am. Blind." she retorted pointing at her pale eyes. Sokka didn't say anything right away as a plan slowly formed in his mind. Grabbing her foot he tore off her snow boot and despite her noises of protest forced a skate onto her tiny foot.

After a few minutes Toph was standing on the ice, clutching the handrail, swearing furiously under her breath. Suddenly two arms grabbed her on each side; Aang and Katara skated around with Toph between them. She wiggled in their grip while they just laughed happily.

"Coming your way!" they shouted at Sokka and let Toph glide alone across the ice, her arms flailing wildly eyes open wide.

Straight into Sokka.

They fell over in a tangle of skates, jackets and blush. They slide to a stop, Katara and Aang laughing at the two while Sokka slowly stumbled to his feet, brushing a bit of snow from his hair "Hey!" he yelled at the giggling duo, "That was dangerous!" the sudden seriousness from the goofy older brother just increased their giggles.

"Toph are you alright?" he asked slowly helping her to her feet.

"Fine." She said coldly, "This just proves my point." And carefully she began walk/skating to the edge.

An arm wrapped around hers and Sokka was leading her around the pond, "Don't worry, I won't let go."