I had recently gotten a review from Kataangwaterbender to make the chapters longer. I will TRY. No guarantees, because I still have another multi-chapter one I'm working on (read: The Unknown Elements: The Spirit in Azula), and I'm kinda rushing to get this one down. Check the other one out, if you want to.

So! This one will be around 3,000 to 4,000 words… I WILL TRY TO.

OMG. 18 REVEIWS! That is like, the most I have EVER had! THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU!

Xxx

Opportunities are never lost; someone will take the one you miss.

Open Doors

Chapter Four: Confusion and Custard Tarts

"So… you're saying that Jet chased after you because you spilled Coke on him…"

Aang nodded, sitting on a rickety black fold-out chair. He tossed an empty Dr. Pepper can into a nearby trash bin.

"And then you decided to just run up on the ampitheater, even though there was a bunch of people surrounding it in the whole park? Didn't it ever cross your mind that it just might be one of the most super-important things in a particular someone's whole entire life, considering that someone is trying to save up for a super-expensive college across America?" Katara leaned back on her stool, and crossed her legs, one eyebrow cocked.

"Uh, I thought it just might be a gig for some band…"

Katara scoffed. "Even if it was, they could have sued you for it." She shook her head in disbelief. "See, this is why I don't have a boyfriend anymore. Boys are just so…" she ran a delicate hand through her chocolate tresses irritably. "Immature!"

Aang winced. Okay, that stung.

Sokka leaned forward a bit, and chugged his Sprite. The he lifted the can from his mouth, wiped off the fizzy moustache on his upper lip, and said, "And what mature part of you punching him in the face did I miss?"

Katara narrowed her eyes. Then she casually tucked a strand of silken hair behind one ear, folded her hands in her lap, and looked her brother hard in the eye. "Sokka, I have a question for you. If you were of the female gender, and someone ran up on stage and tore your blouse off in front of about a hundred people and some judges for a gigantic scholarship, what would you do? Say 'Hi! Didn't see you there! Oh, it's okay that you just revealed a private area to just about the whole city. That's completely fine. What's your name? Want to go get some ice cream?' "

Sokka fidgeted. "Uh…"

"No. Didn't think so."

Jet smirked, and folded his arms before leaning against the door frame he was standing beside. "Boy, that must've been embarrassing."

Aang frowned, and shot a look of hatred towards the guy. He was beginning to really not enjoy having him around. Not that he liked him in the first place.

Katara scowled, and stood up abruptly. She turned to the tall teen, and looked him straight in the eye. "Oh, you're not off the hook either. You acted very childish, too, Jet. May we be reminded of how you chased a guy you barely knew around a mall because he accidentally spilled a drink on you?"

Jet's face flushed.

"Yeah, that's what I thought." She plopped back down on her stool, looking very, very ticked off, her azure eyes practically radiating loathing.

Toph was listening excitedly, perched up on the front desk. "C'mon, you can't stop now, Sugar Queen! Punch him in the face, too!"

"Shut up, Toph."

Jet walked over toward Katara, and put his hands on her shoulders… rather intimately. This sent Aang nearly to the boiling point. "Oh, Katara. Don't be so stressed."

Aang gripped the sides of his chair until his knuckles were white. Who did this thug think he was? Was it some knee-jerk reaction to flirt with every girl he sees?

Wait- why did he even care? Aang wasn't bothered by this one bit! No, Jet could make out with her, for all that mattered to him. Just because she was pretty doesn't mean that he just suddenly had this liking to her.

Okay, so maybe he tried to tell himself this. But it was a determined effort, nonetheless.

"Jet, if you value your life, you will get your slimy scumbag hands off of me." Katara's jaw tightened, and the look on her impossibly pretty features was so deadly, Aang was certain she could slaughter someone by just flicking those sea-blue eyes at any of her foes.

Which might be himself, as well. His muscles tensed in a defensive reflex.

Jet smirked. "Oh, yeah?"

Katara threw a glare over her shoulder at the teen. Once again, Aang was positive the tall boy was going to be decapitated, or gutted, thrown across the room, or something equally painful and violent.

Jet seemed to think so, too. He quickly removed his hands.

"Thank you."

This sent Aang's temperature down a bit. "So… are you still mad at me, or are we going to bury the hatchet?"

Katara glanced up at him, and began to twist a curl through her long, nimble fingers. He couldn't help but think that this little nervous habit of hers was extremely cute.

Whoa. Why was he even thinking these things? The caffeine from the Dr. Pepper he drank a few minutes ago must have had an impact on his mind.

"I don't know. I guess so…" then her anxious expression quickly turned to one of complete hatred. Her hand jerked out of her hair and curled into a fist. "But just because I forgave you, doesn't mean I have to like you!"

Yet again, Aang was afraid for his life. Those endless oceanic orbs sent him on edge, some emotions he couldn't identify. There was just something about her that was just so… he couldn't describe it.

He held up his hands in surrender, and tore his eyes away from her intimidating ones.

"Okay, okay. I understand."

"Good." She abruptly stood, and shifted the suede messenger bag that was slung across her shoulder. "Now, I am going to go play piano. Jet, get your butt out of my store, and stay out. Sokka, take your friends and leave."

"What? Why?"

"Because the last time I let you in here with your buddies, you ended up knocking over a whole CD shelf and snapped the strings on three guitars, driving me insane in the process, and I don't want to deal with that. So just leave me alone." She stalked to the back of the store, and slammed the door shut behind her.

After a long, awkward moment of silence, Toph chuckled. "Well, that was fun."

Xxx

Sokka slurped his chocolate mocha cappuccino. Brown liquid ran from the corner of his mouth; he wiped it with his jacket sleeve. "Wow. Katara was really ticked off, wasn't she?"

Aang shrugged, and looked down into his own caramel latte, very depressed. "Yeah…"

Toph chuckled, and punched Aang hard on the shoulder. "Ah, don't be so sad, she'll get over it soon enough. She'll just hate you for a couple weeks, and then she just won't like you, and then she can stand to be around you without having the urge to kick your butt. It's okay."

"And that's supposed to make me feel better?"

Sokka sighed. "Look; it's best to just not let it bother you. Katara will be Katara… and sometimes, Katara is quite the drama queen."

Toph snorted, her pale lips quirked into a small but meaningful smirk. "No exaggeration there."

"But, still, guys. I don't want anybody to be mad at me." Aang puffed at the steam that swirled from his hot cup.

Sokka sneaked an amused look over at Toph, and tapped her shoulder. "Should we…?"

Toph looked bewildered for a second, then her face broke out into a huge grin. "Yes, I believe we should."

Aang's brow furrowed in confusion. "What… what are you guys talking about?"

"You'll find out soon enough." Sokka turned toward the Starbucks waitresses, and yelled, "Hey, Maki? A couple dozen custard tarts over here, please! Extra powdered sugar… you know the drill!"

A girl with dyed red hair turned and waved toward the teenager with black-painted fingernails, wedging a tray under her arm. "Comin' right up!" Then she disappeared into the kitchen.

Aang cocked an eyebrow at his friend, a skeptical feeling whooshing through his stomach. "Custard tarts…?"

Toph waved him off with one small, calloused hand. "Dude. Don't question the legendary tarts. You'll understand. They are pure comfort food."

"Okay…"

Xxx

Aang stuffed a fifth tart into his mouth, the sweet sensation of custard and powdered sugar exploding on his tongue. "Ah, God, thesh aw gud…" He crammed in yet another miniature pie. "I gotta eat thesh mowa offen…"

Toph took a huge bite out of her own tart, leaned back in her chair, and smirked as she chewed. "Like I said; never defy the tarts until you have tasted their epicness."

Sokka nodded, a small smile dancing across his crumb-infested lips. "Too true, man, too true…" They watched Aang down desperate handful after desperate handful of the dessert.

Xxx

Katara sighed angrily, and tapped her pencil against the piano keys, the ivory making a little dink sound each time her eraser it the edge. Usually, working on the piano piece that she was trying to compose cleared her mind, but this time it simply just didn't seem to.

Her self-esteem was officially bashed by that stupid guy in the toboggan. What was his name again? Aang? Yeah, something like that.

Sometimes it baffled her at how impossibly stupid boys could be.

Well, it may baffle her, but it certainly doesn't surprise her.

She had to admit, girls are smarter. They think ahead. If boys suddenly decide their going to, like, play a prank on someone, they go ahead and do it without thinking of consequences or worst possible scenarios. Women plan their strategy for the trick. What happens if they get caught? They give a memorized, carefully thought-out excuse. What happens if the (for instance) shaving cream bottle ran out, or something? They pull out the Cheez Whiz, always kept at the ready. Boys don't do anything like that. They do whatever they want on a whim.

Katara desperately fought agains the urge to repeatedly bang her head against the keyboard of her precious Baldwin piano over and over again until her ferocious, unmerciful migraine was gone… but she couldn't. It would hurt the piano, poor thing. And besides; if she broke it, she wouldn't have the money to get it fixed. She usually spends all of the cash she earns from her job at the local day care to either forward it to her car fund or her college fund… and she didn't want to take any money away. Her dad could pay for it, but then he would ask how it was broken, and then it would just get worse from there.

She glanced up at the piece of sheet music with notes scrawled all over it. Her piece. It was called Bittersweet Memories. It was a slow, sad melody… it filled her heart with a feeling that yearned for no words. She, the all-knowing hope-lover, was starting to believe that her stupid song gave her false determination that maybe, just maybe, everything will turn out the way she wanted it to.

Xxx

Aang felt so completely… full.

He trekked through his mind to find out why, in fact, he just wanted to keep on stuffing his face with the wonderful, delicious, melt-in-your-mouth custard tarts?
He had no idea what the cause was. He wasn't usually this depressed over someone being mad at him.

So why was he acting like this?

This girl was completely CONFUSING him. He liked her… then again, he didn't like her. She certainly was pretty.

Okay, he'll admit. He thinks she's probably the most insanely gorgeous thing on the planet. He still remembered how her damp chocolate ringlets shone and flowed freely around her petite features, that dainty nose and heart-shaped lips, or how her caramel colored skin glowed with warmth, not on speck of makeup covering the bronze. And her eyes? Man, they practically radiated. The sharpest, most deep sea blue he would ever set his own stormy greys on.

But… the way she shot glares at him, made him feel… small. She was warning him that if he took another step closer, he wouldn't have just one black eye. She was… powerful.

But he knew she was hurt. Really, really hurt. She was going for a ten thousand dollar scholarship, or so she had told him in the midst of all of her snappy remarks. Ten thousand dollars is a lot of money. "I was saving up to go to Harvard! Harvard, for crying out loud!" she had exclaimed. Harvard had a fabulous music program... even he was thinking of going to Harvard. To, you know, devote his whole friggin life to music.

But one thing was for sure; he definitely had strong feelings for her.

He just hadn't decided whether his emotion was positive or negative yet.

Xxx

Toph and Sokka were in Hakoda's store. Aang had gone home to help Gyatso unpack some more boxes, and Katara was still banging away at the piano in the back room. Hakoda had sent Sokka back to the shop to work at the front desk; he had dragged Toph along. The business was low today; so Sokka had pulled out the beloved Mountain Dews and Cool Ranch Doritos, and they were sitting behind the front desk, munching the snack and listening to Toph's Ipod.

While Fall Out Boy was booming through their earbuds, the door to the store opened. There stood a long-haired teenager with a faded green t-shirt and jeans with brown combat boots. A black backpack was slung over his shoulder, and he had a bandanna wrapped around his head. A small goatee occupied his chin, along with a moustache stretching across his upper lip.

Sokka grinned at the bot, and waved cheerfully. "Wazzup, Haru?"

Haru shrugged. "Nothing much. Just came in here to get some albums." He began to flick through the various CDs.

Sokka reached behind him, and grabbed a spare soda. "Hey, dude, want one?"

"Sure."

Sokka tossed him a Dr. Pepper, and the teen caught it and flicked the tab off with one thumb. This was traditional; when it was available, Sokka would toss his friend a soda when he came in to buy music. It was, like, a knee-jerk reaction to suddenly reach behind him and grab the nearest can.

Haru let the dark brown bubbly liquid pour down his throat. He lifted the can from his mouth, and sighed. "Oh, I needed that."

Toph set her chin in her hands, looking bored. She reached into her chip bag, and pulled out a Dorito. Popping it into her mouth and chewing loudly, she said, "How's the work been with your good ol' Daddy-o?"

Haru sighed as he set his soda back on the counter. "Okay, I guess. A couple cars came in today, but nothing major. I'm on lunch break, and I'd thought I would swing down here."

Haru's father was a soldier in the army, and had recently broken out of a prison somewhere in Iran. He had returned back to the U.S., and had taken up a job as a mechanist, and then bought and fixed up an old vehicle fix-it shop. Haru has been working at Davis Automobile Repair for his dad almost a year now.

Haru's face suddenly turned a bit red. "Uh, is Katara still here?"

Sokka nodded, cramming a chip into his mouth. "Yeah. In the back, playing piano like she always does. Why?"

"I, uh, needed to talk to her about something."

A smile crept onto Toph's face. "Oh, really? What for?"

Haru's blush creeped down to his neck. He shuffled his feet awkwardly. "None of your business."

Toph nudged a smirking Sokka, and chuckled. "He's gonna ask her on a date."

"Duh. That's why he's the same color as a tomato."

Haru's ears turned the shade of a crimson strawberry. "Just, let me talk to her, dude, okay?"

Sokka snickered, and jabbed a thumb toward the back room. He could faintly hear piano music emerging from behind the door. "You know where she is. On the piano." He winked at his friend. "Good luck. You'll need it."

Xxx

Katara scrawled down a music note on her sheet music with her stubby No. 2 pencil. She studied it for a minute, thinking about the tune, chewing on the eraser.

No! No, that's not right! She thought frantically, shaking her head and erasing the blob of lead furiously, nearly tearing the paper.

Knock, knock. There was the muffled sound of a fist tapping against the paneled wood of the door.

Katara rolled her eyes, and concentrated hard on the sheet music in front of her. "Sokka, leave me alone."

She heard the door creak open. "Uh, it's not Sokka."

She whipped around, surprised out of her wits. There stood one of her good friends, green t-shirt smeared with engine oil, bandanna around his head. "Oh my gosh, Haru! I am so sorry, I thought you were Sokka, you know how annoying he gets…"

He smiled, and waved a hand as if to brush it off. "It's okay. I don't mind."

Katara chuckled nervously. "So, can I help you with something?"

His face was all of a sudden flecked with red. He shuffled his feet, and smiled sheepishly. "Well, yeah… um…" His blush grew. "I was kinda hoping maybe…"

Her eyes widened in realization. Oh, crapola. He's going to ask me on a date.

"If, y'know…"

Oh, jeez. How do I say no?

"If you would like to… go see the new movie Abduction with me?"

Katara tried to swallow the large lump in her throat. "Um…" He was such a nice guy. She really couldn't see her dating him, but he was so friendly… "Uh…" He would be really sad if she declined. "I…" She just couldn't say no. "Yeah, okay."

His green eyes lit up, and a grin stretched across his face. "Really?"

She forced a smile. It felt so fake. "Yeah. Uh, when?"

"How's Tuesday?"

Katara nodded, feeling extremely guilty. "That's… it's fine. Tuesday's cool."

He turned on his heels toward the door, waving over his shoulder and grinning widely. "Okay. See you then! I'll pick you up here?"

She plastered yet another forced smile onto her face. "Sounds good."

Haru opened the door, and waved again. "Okay, bye!"

"Bye…"

When he had shut the door behind him, and his footsteps receded (as well as Sokka and Toph's cheers), she plopped down onto her piano bench with disbelief. She put a clammy, trembling hand to her forehead. "What have I done…?"

Xxx

Oh, wow. It just gets worse and worse between K and A, doesn't it? Oh, it's going to get even better.

Woot! Kataangwaterbender, I gave you 3,520 words. Is that enough? I hope so. This took me forever. XD

Review, pleeeze!