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Chapter 10

Masks and Parties

Fear was not in Toph's repertoire of feelings. She did not do shaky knees and trembling arms. She was always brave, always confident. She always faced her problems head on, charging in with reckless abandon. Yet here she was. Hesitating.

The sturdy door that stood between her father and herself never seemed so big before. All she had to do was push it open and walk into his study. She'd done it thousands of times before, with and without permission, so why did it seem so heavy now?

It's not heavy! Just push the stupid door open and go in! Get it together, Toph!

The door flew open and banged against the wall inside. Not that hard, stupid! Toph walked into her father's study as she felt him lift his head from his desk. She just knew that he was either angry or confused about the door. Maybe both.

"Sorry about the door, Dad," she said as she came to a stop. If her father was not surprised before, he was most definitely surprised now.

"Excuse me?" Lao asked.

"I said 'I'm sorry about the door'." Toph frowned. "Can't you just accept my apology?"

For a moment, Lao entertained the thought of calling for the family doctor. Toph never apologized for anything she had done before. Certainly nothing as small as kicking open his door.

"Your apology is accepted," he eventually replied as he went back to his papers. After scribbling a few notes and marking a few pages, he noticed that Toph was still there. "Is there something else?"

"This is the longest we've been in the same room together in almost a month," she said. Lao did not deny it. There seemed to be an ever increasing rift between himself and his daughter that grew exponentially ever since their argument back at Toph's tournament. To his credit, Lao did not contribute to that argument, but he did nothing to fix things between them afterwards either. His daughter was always so unapproachable. She guarded herself so well from her mother and himself. But here she was, trying to close that rift.

"For that, I am sorry." Lao pushed his papers off to the side. "Is that the only reason you came?"

"Not really," Toph answered. "I wanted to let you know that I'm going out today. I'm going Sokka's for a costume party, and I just wanted to let you know that I was going to be home late."

This was just getting more and more odd. Why was Toph telling him this? She usually preferred to disappear and return of her own accord with no regard for what he thought. She really was trying, so he had better do the same.

"Well," he started hesitantly. "Have fun. Be careful and don't stay out too late."

Toph smiled at her father's response. She did not think that it was going to be so easy! She needed to start giving her old man more credit. Unfortunately, she had not told him the part that she knew she should. Taking a deep breath, she prepared for the inevitable yelling.

"Aang is going to be there."

"I've told you before that I don't want you associating with that boy!" Lao screamed.

"And I told you to deal with it! I'm not gonna stop hangin' out with my best friend just cause you don't like him!"

"You will respect my wishes! You come in here under the guise of apologizing only to throw this insolence in my face!"

"At least I tried!" Toph retaliated. "All you ever do is wish that I was the daughter that you wanted instead of who I really am!"

Toph ran from the study, slamming the heavy door behind her. If she were weak she would have let the tears that threatened to fall do just that. But weak will never describe Toph Bei Fong. Grabbing the back pack she prepared earlier from her room, she tore through the house and out the front door. Her mother called after her to try and find out what was wrong and where she was going, but Toph ignored her. She was done trying to fix things. Her parents would never change.

- - - -

"Why don't you get up here and help me, burn boy?" Sokka asked from the top of a ladder.

"Because I paid for all this junk and had to carry it here," Zuko answered simply. "Besides, your scraggly limbs could use a work out."

Sokka grumbled under his breath as he continued hanging cut out bats from the ceiling. Over the course of the week, Katara and Zuko had brought more and more decorations and snacks to prepare for the party, but it was finally going to be over after tonight. Just as Sokka finished hanging the last of the little bats, the door flew open into his ladder, knocking him to the ground as Toph stomped in.

"Hey, Toph," Sokka whimpered. "Bad day?"

"Where's Twinkle Toes?" she asked as she tossed her bag on the floor

"Not here yet," Zuko told her.

"Is that Toph?" a voice called from the kitchen. Toph turned on her heel and stormed back out the door as Sokka pulled himself from the jumbled mess of bats and steel.

"It was."

Suki entered from the kitchen door holding a large mixing bowl in one hand and a whisk in the other.

"What happened to you?" she asked, pointing the whisk at Sokka.

"I felt the wrath of Toph."

"That bad, huh?" Suki walked over to the window and watched Toph plant herself on the side of the porch. "Should I go out and talk to her? She looks like she could use an ear."

"Don't worry about it, sweetie," Sokka said as he put his arm around her. "She's got someone, he just isn't here to listen yet."

"Did you just call me 'sweetie'?" the woman asked as she smacked her boyfriend in the head.

"Well, you didn't like 'Foo-foo-cuddlie-poops'," Sokka grinned.

Toph sat outside Sokka's door and waited for Aang's familiar steps. Time seemed to drag on at a snail's pace as someone started the music back inside. Shortly after, a few of the students began to arrive. As the sun sank behind the house and the cold wind started to get to her, Aang's soft vibrations reverberated against Toph's freezing feet. But they were . . . different somehow.

"Twinkle Toes?" she asked as he arrived.

"Yep! It's me!"

Toph reached for him only to find what felt like shag carpeting all over his figure.

"What in the world?"

"I'm a lemur!" he cried happily. Toph just shook her head slightly and let Aang show her inside. The music blared throughout the house as everyone danced around them. As nice as it was, even being with Aang was not cheering her up like she had thought it would. As Aang bounced around the house for most of the night entertaining people with his lemur impressions, Toph sat comfortably at the table in the kitchen. That was where she was when Katara and Zuko found her.

"What're you doing in here?" Zuko's muffled voice asked.

"Yeah, we thought you would be with Aang," Katara agreed.

"What's with your voice, Hot Head?"

"It's this mask," he replied. "It's supposed to be a replica of The Blue Spirit."

"What's The Blue Spirit?" Toph asked only half interested.

"He's the spirit of the people's anger in my native culture," Katara explained. "When the people are wronged, he appears to take revenge."

"So what're you?" Toph asked her.

"I'm The Painted Lady! She's a river spirit from Zuko's culture!"

"You let her pick the costumes, didn't you?"

"I don't let her do anything," Zuko replied. "She just does it. What about you? You're not even wearing a costume."

"I happen to be a homicidal maniac," Toph replied. "We look just like everyone else."

Recognizing a Toph conversation ender when they heard one, Zuko and Katara excused themselves from the kitchen. Aang came in just as they left, laughing merrily.

"What's got you so upset?" Aang asked, still smiling. "I know you're upset, but I thought you'd like this."

"Not that this isn't fun and all, but it's not fun. I can't really enjoy a costume party anyway. No way to see the costumes."

"That's not all there is to costume parties," Aang said as he pulled her to her feet. "Relax a little! I know, why don't you come dance with me?"

"No way!" Toph refused. "First of all, I don't dance. And you're covered in hair! I'm not going to be itchy for the rest of the night!"

"Fine," Aang smiled. Toph felt him start shifting around and could not stop herself.

"What're you doing now?"

"Shedding!"

Toph felt whatever it was that Aang was wearing over his upper body fall to the floor. His now hairless hand grabbed hers and he pulled her towards the crowd.

"Twinkle Toes, I don't want to dance!"

Toph felt herself spin around in place before being pressed up against Aang's body. He was obviously not going to take 'no' for an answer. Toph was in no mood for this, but it did feel good having his arms around her. Just when she was ready to give in and let Twinkle Toes have his little dance, another unwelcome voice echoed in her ears.

"Toph, there you are!"

What are those two doing here?

Qiang stepped out of the crowd and smiled at her, but his smile quickly faded when he saw Aang. He had been looking for her for nearly an hour and here she was with this loser again.

"What do you want, Dunder Head?"

"I came to take you home," he answered. "Your dad's furious."

"Let him be! I don't care!" All eyes in the room were suddenly focused on the four of them.

"Brother, it is not our place," Rou said as he polite as ever. "If she does not wish to leave, then we must respect that."

"No! I'm not leaving here without her!" Qiang roared.

"Aw, don't leave!" Aang said. "The party's just getting really good! You guys should stay and have some fun!"

Qiang eyed Aang with a scoff as he looked at his hair covered legs with a contemptuous glare. This kid was beyond ridiculous.

"Shut up!" Qiang said with a push. Aang stumbled back over his long tail and tripped into the people behind him.

"Well that was fun," Aang smiled.

"Hey! What's your problem?" Toph growled dangerously. There was no way she was going to let anyone treat her friend that way. She felt Qiang's hand reach for her arm, but before she could swat it away, Aang was back on his feet. His hand wrapped around Qiang's fingers in a vice-like grip that Qiang's knee almost buckled under. Aang's eyes narrowed viciously at the martial arts captain.

"Touch her, and it'll be the last thing this hand ever touches."

Toph was more surprised than anyone at the threat that Aang issued. She had never heard such anger in his voice. Come to think of it, she had never heard any anger in Twinkle Toes' voice before. Aang released his grip on Qiang's hand and Rou grabbed his brother's shoulders.

"We should be going now, brother," he said calmly. "I am sorry for the intrusion."

Aang turned his attention back to Toph.

"Are you okay?"

Toph was dumbfounded. All of the anger in Aang's voice was gone. It was as though none of it had even happened. As Aang reached for her, Toph batted his hand away. All of the anger she had been holding back had finally reached its breaking point.

"Of course I'm okay! I would have been fine without your help!" she yelled. The crowd backed away a little at her outburst. "Did you think just because you got in my way I'd be grateful? That forcing me out on the dance floor was a good thing? You're just like my dad! You think I can't take care of myself when things start going crazy! Well I have news for you: I don't need him and I don't need you!"

Toph pushed her way out of the crowd and out of the house, leaving Aang to stand there in total confusion. She was so angry that everything was starting to hurt. Her cheeks and eyes were burning as her mind raced over what had just happened. What had she done? She just yelled at him. For no reason other than because he helped her! Why did she say that? Hot tears streamed down her cheeks as she continued to run.

A/N: Total emotional overload there. What's gonna happen now? How will things change? Will they change? If you want to know, I need reviews!