Disclaimer: I own nothing!

Chapter 11

"Hi, Toph."

Silence.

Aang nervously shifted his weight from one foot to another, trying to think of how to proceed. It was painfully obvious that Toph wasn't going to make it any easier for him, but that was a no-brainer. Since when had Toph ever made anything easy?

"Toph." Aang tried again. He was certain that she had heard him, and he was determined to make things right with his friend.

She was determined not to.

"Toph." Aang repeated, this time firmer. He stepped towards the bed, like a man ready for battle. And he was walking into one, in a sense.

"We need to talk; we can't keep avoiding each other, you know." Toph's headphones were still in, but she had stopped tapping her fingers along with the beat. She looked just as ready for a fight as he did; probably even more so.

Still nothing.

Aang sighed and sat down at the edge of Toph's enormous green bed. She stiffened visibly when he did, but he ignored her. "Why do you have to make this so difficult for me?" He groaned and pulled his hat down over his eyes.

It took her a second, but she pulled herself up and yanked out her earphones, leaving the music running. "Me?" She said simply.

Aang was startled to hear her voice; it had been months. He pushed his hat away from his eyes and turned to look at her. Her face was red. 'Crap.'

"Me?! You think that I'm making this hard on you?! You better freakin' know that I am!"

Aang had had just about enough of Toph's constant attitude; why couldn't she be like anyone else and at least listen to what he was trying to say? He was convinced that she wouldn't be happy unless he got on the floor and groveled for all of his worth! "Why do you have to make this so difficult?!"

Toph looked like the wanted to punch him in the head. "Don't you dare get mad at me Aang! You're not the one who should be mad!" She jabbed a finger in his general direction.

"That's stupid; why can't I be mad?!" He clenched his fists.

"Because you hurt me, Not the other way around!"

Silence filled the room, and this time neither one wanted to break it.

Aang felt bad. She had been hurt by his obsession over Katara, and how he had always ignored her feelings. But what else could he have done? He hadn't even known that she had had feelings! But that still didn't make him feel less guilty. Toph was smart, and funny, and strong headed, and tough, and stubborn, and violent, and the best friend that he had ever had. But could she be more than a friend to him? It was true that he had definitely thought about it, but could it really happen? Did he want it to really happen?

Toph, meanwhile, laid back down and put her earphones back in. But her trip back to music-land was cut short by Aang pulling off the earphones and turning off the ipod. Or at least putting it one mute. Aang had never been too good with Toph's music stuff, so he wasn't really sure what he did.

"No, Toph. I want to talk to you." His voice was sad, yet firm.

Toph lifted one of her eyebrows and crossed her arms. "What?" She barked.

Aang never noticed, but he held onto her ipod like his life depended on it. "I'm…Sorry."

Toph said nothing.

"I…was thinking," he continued. "That…maybe we could…you know, maybe we could…try it, and…see if it would…work." His voice was quiet, and he wasn't sure how she's feel about it.

"…"

Aang's eyes were squeezed shut as he waited for an answer.

"…"

Suddenly, Toph burst out laughing. "Twinkletoes!" She managed between breaths.

Aang's face turned red indignantly. "What?"

Toph clutched her sides, rolling over on her bed, her laughter getting even louder. "You're…a laugh…Twinkles." She gasped.

Aang grabbed her shoulders and forced her to sit up straight. "I'm not joking, Toph." He insisted, and he found that he was perfectly serious.

Toph's features turned somber. "I know, Tinkles."

"…So?"

Toph ran a small hand over her pale face, sighing. "It…wouldn't work."

Aang pursed his lips. "Why not?" There she went again, making things difficult.

"Because you like Katara, not me."

Aang straightened up. "Well, you're my best friend, so I should give you a chance. I mean, we've worked out as friends, why can't we work out as more?"

Toph gave him a look. "You don't want it to work out, though."

Aang's twisted face relaxed into a half smile. "How do you know?"

Toph gave a smile of her own, but hers was bitter. " 'Cause I know you, twinkletoes."

"Well, obviously not enough."

She looked away so that Aang couldn't see her face. "Yes I do. And this won't work; you're doing this out of pity."

Aang sighed and let go of her shoulders, sitting back down next to her on the bed. "I don't know…Maybe I am." He admitted. She wouldn't have any lies, so he figured that he might as well tell her. "I told Katara, you know, after you…" He waved his hand awkwardly in the air.

"You mean after I kissed you?" Toph crossed her arms, but her face was one that she had when she had pulled and embarrassing prank on poor Aang, but a kiss was hardly a prank.

Aang nodded "yeah, after that."

Toph poked him. "So, what'd she say?"

Rubbing the back of his neck, he replied. "Um…She doesn't like me. Never has."

"…Oh. Sorry."

"No you're not!" Aang laughed.

Toph shrugged. "So? I'm not perfect."

"So, what'd ya say?" He didn't know if it was just him, but Toph's rather large room seemed to be shrinking in on them, making Aang feel claustrophobic.

Toph's eyebrows knit together, like she was trying to make up her mind. "…If you want out," she finally said, "it'll be easy to get out, right?"

Aang blinked. "I thought it was you who liked me, but you're the one who's putting up the most of the fight!" He chuckled. "If you don't want to…" He added, this time in a quiet voice.

Toph shook her head. "No…We'll see how this works." She shrugged, and uneasiness filled the air, choking out all conversation. Neither knew what to say, and neither wanted to say something stupid. And at that moment, almost everything that either one of them thought of to say sounded completely and utterly stupid.

"So…" Toph shifted uncomfortably. "Now what?"

Aang rubbed his forehead subconsciously. "Well…I think that we're supposed to go on a date." He suggested awkwardly.

Toph blinked.

"…Whaaaaat?"

Later in the week, on just a normal, everyday sort of Wednesday, Azula was lounging on one of the famously uncomfortable plastic seats in the cafeteria. Her feet were propped up on the chair next to her, and she had her spork in hand, with a small piece of fruit on it; she, however, didn't look like she was about to take a bite of any food any time soon.

Her eyes were scanning the crowd, looking for the one special girl, Katara. Mai sat across from her and Ty lee was nowhere to be seen. She wasn't concerned about her friends at that moment, though.

"There she is!" Mai started, pointing out their target. Katara was in line for the food, right behind some of the riffraff that she usually hung out with.

"For this to work, we're going to have to get to her without her 'friends'." Azula stated; her voice low and dangerous; she was like a lioness on the hunt.

Azula kept an eye on Katara as she came 'round.

"Kataaara!" Azula cried in that peppy tone of voice that cheerleaders have ever-so-often.

Katara, being completely caught off guard by Azula's outburst, froze right on the spot.

Slowly, she turned to face Zuko's sister and girlfriend. "…Yes?" She asked uncertainly.

Azula let her feet drop from the chair that they had been propped up on. It was time to see if her gamble would pay off…And if Mai was really serious about helping her.

"Why are you eating the food from the cafeteria?" Azula asked like she had picked out poison.

Katara raised an eyebrow. "Um, because I didn't bring any food?" She offered.

Azula laughed and looked Katara up and down. She knew that Katara had noticed her…"fatness"; she knew that everyone else had, too. Azula was sick of not being one of – if not the – skinniest girl in school; she wanted someone else to share in her pain. And Katara was just too goody-two-shoe to pass up. Plus, she knew Zuzu.

"Oh, nothing…" Azula trailed off, but something in her voice sounded like she was about to say something really mean.

"It's just that, well lets just say that it wouldn't hurt you to skip this meal. You know what I'm saying?" Azula smirked, trying to sound nice.

"No, I don't." Katara blinked, and Mai snorted.

Azula laughed. "You're so cute, Katara. Let's see, how do I say this?" She stroked her chin, as if trying to think of a nice way to say it.

"Well, you've just put on a few extra pounds in the past few weeks." Azula shrugged.

Katara's eyes widened and her cheeks got all flushed, as if she couldn't believe that they were talking about her weight. "No I haven't." She insisted.

This time, Mai spoke up, not caring to put on the overly sweet sugar-coated act that Azula had on. She just…Tried to sound like she didn't want to kill her. "Listen, Katara, Azula's right. It's not good for you to gain too much weight." She was surprised at how good she was at acting.

Katara's cheeks were still flushed as her eyebrows knit together. It was obvious that she was trying to blow off what the two girls were saying. "I haven't gained any weight."

"Oh, Katara, you can't think that we're saying this to be mean!" Azula cried as if that wasn't what they were doing. "We're saying this because we're worried about you. Fat isn't very becoming of you."

Katara's hands gripped her tray firmly, her knuckles white. She was insulted, skeptical, and amazed that Azula and Mai would even want to talk to her, let alone tell her that they were worried about her. "Why would you be worried about me?" She voiced her thoughts.

Mai and Azula exchanged a look, one that said that they were shocked that she'd even question them about their concern. "Katara, you're one of Zuzu's friends. I'm just looking out for him, in the end."

"And why would you telling me that I'm fat help Zuko?!" Katara practically shouted, causing several people to stare and snicker, as well as look her up and down as to try and figure out for themselves in she really was fat.

Azula opened her mouth, a sly smirk on her face; she obviously had a very good answer, even if it wasn't true.

Unfortunately, Azula never got a chance to explain why Zuko would benefit from Katara loosing a couple of pounds because Sokka came up, looking flabbergasted.

"Katara!" He grabbed her elbow. "Why are you talking to…Those?!" He pointed to Azula but meant both of them. Neither took his insult very seriously. They had both been called way worse than that in their life time.

"I was wondering the same thing, Sokka." Katara sounded mad. "Goodbye." Only manners that had been drilled into her skull for years allowed her to offer the farewell, no matter how begrudging it sounded.

"Bye-bye, Katara!" Azula waved as if they were the best of friends before turning back to her friend.

"I thought that went well." She was very proud of herself, as usual.

Mai nodded. "Me, too. I think that we can persuade some of the people who heard her outburst to start calling her "fat", too.

Azula laughed. "I haven't had this much fun in months!" Neither needed to say why. She closed her eyes and propped her feet back on her chair, relaxing.

Mai rolled her eyes. Azula's pride made it oh-so easy to get her to do something that she thought would hurt Zuko in the long run. Little did his sister know that she was really helping him see the trash that Katara really was, that hussy.

Zuko was going to be so happy.

While the two devious girls had been putting bad thoughts into Katara's head, Ty lee had been off trying to make some use of her connections for her friend's sake. And she had to admit that she had a burning desire of her own to know who the baby's father was. And finding out was harder than she had first thought. But at last, she had run into some luck.

Someone along the way had directed her to one boy, who was supposedly the last one seen making out with the prissy princess.

And it happened to be that he even had the same lunch period as her! So during lunch, Ty lee had left her friends and was searching the crowd for the guy called "Jet".

Funny, she might've put a stop to her friend's devious plans if she had just stayed with them.

This Jet turned out to be really something with the ladies. When Ty lee found him, he was surrounded by a bunch of his lady-friends, all laughing obnoxiously at his jokes.

Ty lee blinked, and then chuckled to herself. Figured that she'd end up with someone like that.

Jet, being ever so keen, noticed that there was a short, pink-clad cheerleader shoving her way towards him. He didn't bother to get out of his seat, but once she had made her way to him, he eyed her up and down. She seemed sort of familiar. Sort of.

"Hey, you! J…J-jack? James? Uh…" Ty lee scratched her head, trying to remember his name.

"Jet." He clarified, crossing him arms. "What do you want?"

Ty lee didn't really knowhow to say it, so she figured that she'd just…Let Azula say it!

"Uh…My friend, Azula, wants to talk to you…" She said awkwardly.

Jet, not remembering who Azula was, raised and eyebrow. "Is she cute?" He asked plainly.

"How should I know?! I'm a girl!" Ty lee waved her arms in the air. This whole "search for Azula's Baby's father" thing had really exhausted her.

Jet shrugged. "Whatever. Where is she?"

Katara, though completely insulted, had pondered the girl's words. It was true, she had been really busy at work recently, and she always ate when she was stressed. All but one of her volunteer jobs were stressful. She would be going to that one job tonight: a greenhouse near the edge of the city. One of her mother's old friends owned it, and always welcomed Katara's help.

Staring at herself in the mirror in her bathroom, Katara examined herself. She didn't really have big boobs, or overly wide hips. She couldn't really understand why they had wanted to point something out that wasn't there.

But, then again, now that she thought about it, there was a little flab on her arm. Maybe that was what they had meant. But that wasn't a big deal, she'd just do a few more push-ups in gym.

Katara continued to stare at herself in her mirror.

There, problem solved.

…Right?

Aha! So late! And short!

Sorry, but I've just been a little down recently, with the lack of comments and all… (hint, hint)

Anyways, that taang scene was being a butt to write, and I'm trying to put real struggles in there for our beloved characters. Tell me what you think.