A/N: Thanks so much for your patience guys! I'm back from my vacation, and I'm ready to write. You know my wifi crashed right when we came back? Doesn't that stink? Ah, well we fixed it, so all's well that ends well. I think my writer's block is totally gone now and I can thank you guys for that. I love all of your reviews, they are all very much appreciated, and I love your opinions.
Katara groaned to the roof of the car. They had driven for more than three hours, due to a flat tire, and now they were parked right outside of the Bei Fong estate. Hakoda was, and still is arguing with Toph's parents. They had been bickering for about four hours already, and Sokka fell asleep for two of them. He didn't seem to mind, but Katara was sick of it. Most of the neighbors were out of town, and thank goodness for that, but the neighbors that were disturbed glared at the parents and closed their curtains angrily. The two male parents were so loud, that Katara could hear them yell from inside the car.
"You don't understand! I fo—" Hakoda started.
"I understand that you had our daughter for three days more than you told us! We can-no, we will sue for this!" Toph's dad shouted.
"I JUST FORGOT TO CALL!" Hakoda roared.
"That is no excuse—"
"DAD!" Toph interjected. "If I was in any real trouble, I wouldn't be back right now! And he wouldn't have answered your phone call!"
"Maybe he's just dense..."
"MAYBE you need to let your daughter have a life! You keep her locked up all the time and treat her like a delicate daisy, but when in reality, she's the toughest little girl I have ever met!"
Toph "looked" at Hakoda with pride and happiness, while her dad was speechless.
"I...I...I LOVE HER!" He spluttered. "NEVER SET FOOT IN THIS HOUSEHOLD AGAIN!" He yelled, slamming the door in Hakoda's face.
"OHO! DON'T WORRY! I'M NOT COMING BACK FOR A LOOOONG TIME!" Hakoda yelled back as he stormed back to his car.
He climbed into the car, and slammed his car door. For a while, Hakoda just sat there, breathing heavily. Then, after what seemed like forever to Katara, he turned to the kids in the backseat and said, "So what do you want for dinner?" He plastered a very fake smile on his face.
At first, the two of them had nothing to say, and stared at their dad. Then, after they processed what he had said, Sokka suggested, "CHICK-FIL-A!"
Hakoda nodded his agreement.
"W-what? That restaurant is like an HOUR away from here!" Katara stuttered.
"Anything to get as far away from this place as possible..." Hakoda muttered.
Katara groaned. Awesome. Even more time wasted. I just hope I don't keep Zuko waiting for too long.
OoOoOoOoO
That evening, Zuko sat in front of his laptop, waiting for her to respond. She didn't. So he decided to answer all the rest of his emails. He scanned them, starting from the top of the page. Mai, Mai, Mai, Azula, Mai, Ty Lee...Why didn't he have any guy friends?
Ah, one from that Teo kid, and another from Haru. Then another dozen from Mai. She sent him so many emails, and they were all so weird and pointless. Only a few of them were actually worth reading. First he deleted all the chainmail, boy how he hated those. Then he opened the email from Mai.
Now in China. Very boring. Miss u.
He sighed and started to type. He hated when she used "u" instead of "you" and didn't bother to spell it out. It made the statement a lot less meaningful.
Miss you too. Coming back home in three days.
He clicked the send button and checked the rest of her emails. After she was done, it was time to move on to his sister. Knowing that all her emails were either death threats or blackmail, he didn't bother checking them, and deleted them without a second thought. On to Ty Lee. Oh, she was always so peppy, and he wasn't always in the mood for her, but he figured he could use a little distraction.
Hiya Zuzu! Howz the water park? I sure wish I could go too a water park! Wouldnt that b soooo kewl? Omg, it was sooo humid in China today, and Mais hair just went poof! neway, Chinese food is the cooooolest! I wanted to save some for u, but Azula said it would rot. Thats disgusting. I dont think rotton food would b a good present, unless u like moldy fuzzy stuff? How waz ur trip? Did I ask u that? I think I did...I'm feeling very pink today, hbu?
Hugz,
Ty Lee
((A/N:Gosh, this took me a looong time to type...had to put in some errors, you know? Hbu: How about you?))
Zuko cringed at the nickname his sister had given him. Apparently it had caught on. He was half smiling at the end of her email. She wrote 4x more than Mai ever had. He clicked reply.
The waterpark was pretty great.
He paused. Should he mention Katara? Probably not. She'd make a big deal about it, and tell Mai. He grimaced. No, Mai finding out about her would not be good.
No, Ty Lee, I don't like rotten food. Again, my trip is going great, thanks for asking. (Twice) I'm feeling bright red today.
-Zuko
(P.S Aren't you always feeling pink?)
Zuko looked it over and decided it was good. He had no idea what red meant, let alone bright red, but it was an answer, and he hoped it was the right one. He clicked "send".
Then he opened Teo's email.
Bad news: Broke both my legs in soccer.
Good news: We won.
Teo
PS: You wanna sign my cast?
Zuko smiled.
Sorry about your legs. Yeah I heard you won. Congrats! Sure, I'll sign your cast.
Send.
Lastly, Haru's.
Mom's giving me enough homework to fill a swimming pool. Help.
-Haru
Zuko laughed.
Help is on the way. Just wait three days.
Send.
Finally. He was done with his emails, and now his inbox was empty. It was 9:00, and he wasn't tired, so he turned on the T.V and waited.
OoOoOoOoO
Seven. Seven whole boxes of chicken nuggets. And, five chicken sandwiches. Why did her brother's stomach have to be a bottomless pit of nothingness? When is he ever not hungry?
"ARE YOU FULL YET?" Katara half yelled, half whispered to her brother.
In between bites, Sokka replied, "Not...yet...best...chicken...inworld...don't...want...towaste..."
Katara was ready to strangle him. It was almost nine thirty, she was very tired, and when she's tired, she's very impatient and grumpy.
"I...am about...ready...to kill you." Katara hissed viciously.
"Relax, sis, why are you in such a hurry anyway?" He asked, taking a big bite out of his chicken sandwich. The cashiers were looking at him with a mix of delight and disgust. He sure gave them a lot of business.
"I'm tired. That's all," She replied curtly. That was half the truth, but at least it was the truth.
Sokka took a noisy sip of lemonade. "After I finish these two boxes, and this lemonade, and this sandwich...we'll be outta here. Okay?"
"You better make it snappy, or I'm gonna shove the remains of your feast down your scrawny throat, okay?" Katara growled.
"Wow...I think Toph's gotten to you...maybe...she possessed you!"
"Shut up you knucklehead."
Sokka grumbled to himself, and continued scarfing down his sandwich.
Katara looked away. His revolting table manners were unbearable.
OoOoOoOoO
It was around 10:30 when Zuko started to panic. What if she just threw it away? What if she just laughed? What if she never opened the cookie? What if some hobo found it in the trash and pretended to be her? He shivered at the last thought. He didn't know why he even bothered to stay up so late. Giving up, he shut down his laptop and closed it with a sigh. Maybe she doesn't know how much her reply meant to him. Maybe she thought it was funny to leave him waiting. Maybe she didn't care how much it crushed him.
A/N: Like it? Hate it? VOICE YOUR OPINION IN A...REVIEW! Okay, commercial done, I really do hope you guys like it. Mgh...Jet lag. The only bad thing about vacation. :) Well, my work here is done for the day. Thanks for reading, and don't forget to review!