I haven't updated in over two weeks… I'm sorry. I don't actually have any good excuse, except for that I have been sick, again. It was really difficult for me to write this chapter… You will probably understand why when you read it.

Katara and Aang walked into school. They were early today, and there were only a few students there except for them. And everyone was staring at them.

"Aang... Why is everybody staring at us?" Katara asked.

Aang looked around. "They know." He said.

"What?"

"They know I'm the Avatar."

"How could they have found out?" Katara asked while they rounded a corner.

Katara halted. The walls were covered with posters with pictures of Aang. Under the picture there was a text:

He is the new Avatar!

The students in the hallway stared at Aang, and then at the posters. Then they started to whisper. Katara was stunned, but Aang grabbed her hand and pulled her forward. They walked into another hallway, but the walls were covered with posters there too.

"Who… Who did this?" Katara asked shocked.

"I guess it was the same person that I blew off Zuko's yard." Aang said bitter.

"Azula?"

"Yeah."

"Stop that! Give me that!" Katara could hear a familiar voice shout.

Sokka was standing in the hallway, ripping posters from the walls and from people's hands. When he saw Aang and Katara, he hurried over.

"Guys! We got to act fast! If we hurry up, we can get the posters down before school starts!" He said and ripped another poster off the wall.

"It's no point." Aang said to Sokka. "They are all over the school."

"But-but people will find out you are the Avatar! You will get hunted by the whole Fire nation! We have kept this a secret for so long! Are you just going to give up?" Sokka asked confused.

"I already have Azula after me. Could it get any worse?" Aang sighed. "It's time for the world to get to know I'm the Avatar."

Sokka gaped, and his arms fell to his sides. Wrinkled and torn posters fell to the floor.

"So… Everybody will know?" Sokka asked slowly.

"Aang." Katara interrupted. "Did you know that this was going to happen? You don't seem surprised at all!"

"Well, I knew that Azula was going to do something to get back at us… But I didn't think that it would be this. I thought it would be something much worse. I thought that Azula would-"

Aang suddenly became quiet.

"What?" Katara asked. "What did you think that she would do?"

"Nothing. The main point is that this is what she has done. And I need to go and talk to the headmaster about this."

"Ok. I'll see you in the cafeteria at the lunch break, okay?" Katara said.

She leaned forward to give Aang a kiss. He gave her a quick kiss before he turned around and quickly walked away.

oOoOo

Katara was waiting outside Aang's classroom when the school bell rang. Aang looked surprised when he saw her.

"What are you doing here? I thought we would meet in the cafeteria."He said.

"I need to talk to you…" Katara said.

"Oh, I actually need to talk to you too."

"About what?"

"You go first." He said.

They started to walk towards the cafeteria.

"I was wondering… Now that everyone knows that you are the Avatar, you are going to be in danger." Katara started.

"Yeah… I wanted to talk about that too…" Aang said.

"Aang…" Katara said. "I think you should join the earthbending class."

Aang stopped. "What? Eartbending?" He said dumbfounded.

"Yeah. You have pretty much mastered waterbending already, so I think you are ready for the next element. And if you learn another element, you will be much more powerful when Azula confronts you!"

"Oh… Yeah. I guess you are right."

"The earthbending teacher is master Bumi. Toph says that he is crazy, but he is a really great eartbender."

"Well… I guess I should go and ask him right now then…" Aang said. "I see you in the cafeteria!"

"Wait!" Katara said and grabbed Aang's wrist. "What did you want to talk about?"

"Oh… It was nothing." Aang jerked off her grip and walked away.

Katara watched him walk away from her, and then she started to walk towards the cafeteria. She wondered why Aang had been acting so weird today.

oOoOo

Katara was sitting in the cafeteria with Toph and Sokka. They were talking about something, but Katara wasn't listening. Her gaze was at the entrance, waiting to see Aang enter.

"Hellooo, earth to Sugarqueen!" Toph said.

"Sorry." Katara smiled. "What did you say?"

"I asked you why you are so distracted." Toph said with a small chuckle.

"Aang just went to ask Bumi if he could join the earthbending class. I'm just worried about what he will say."

"Twinkletoes is joining eartbending class? That will be fun!" Toph said with a grin.

"There he is!" Katara said eagerly when she saw Aang.

"Hello, Twinkletoes! I heard that I will get to kick your butt in class!" Toph said grinning.

"No, you won't." Aang said and sat down. "Master Bumi won't teach me."

"WHAT?" Both Sokka and Katara said shocked.

"Yeah. He said that he wasn't supposed to be my earthbending teacher. He said that I needed 'someone who waits and listens before striking'. You were right, Toph, he is crazy!"

Toph nodded, but Katara laid a calming hand at Aang's arm.

"Then you will have to find someone like that." She said. "You need to find an earthbending teacher."

"I can't just skip school to go and find an earthbending teacher!"

"Maybe you don't have to! There are some really talented earthbenders in this school, too. Right, Toph?"

Katara realized that she was thinking about Haru. She still thought that he was a jerk, but he was a talented earthbender. According to Aang's face, he had realized who she was thinking about.

"Yeah, sure." Toph answered Katara's question and rolled her eyes. She clearly didn't think that there were any talented earthbenders in this school except for her.

"Someone who waits and listens before striking..?" Katara said thoughtfully. "Who could that be?" She asked Sokka.

Sokka leaned back in his chair and pretended to stroke his beard. "He needs to find someone who listens? Perhaps someone who can't use the obvious sense… " Sokka said. "Maybe someone blind?"

Three pairs of eyes turned to Toph. Toph snorted.

"You think that I'm supposed to teach Twinkletoes?"

"Think about it!" Katara said keen. "You listen to the earth, right? And you have to wait until your opponent strikes before you can attack yourself! You must be the earthbender master Bumi was talking about!"

"I told you, master Bumi is just crazy!" Toph said.

"But Toph!" Sokka said. "You are the best earthbender in this school! You have said that yourself! Who else could Bumi mean?"

"Yeah!" Katara agreed.

"Toph…" Aang said. "You are an excellent earthbender. And you know things about the earth that not many know. I think you are supposed to be my earthbending teacher." Aang bowed his neck. "I ask you, as the Avatar: Toph, would you teach me earthbending?"

There was a moment of silence, and everybody at the table waited for Toph's answer.

"Well, okay, whatever." Toph said bored.

"Yes!" Sokka said and high-fived Aang.

oOoOo

"Stop acting like an airbender! You have to be steady as a rock!"

"I'm trying!"

"Well, you are not trying enough!"

Katara watched as Toph kicked a rock towards Aang. Aang tried to stop it, but failed. The rock hit him in the stomach and he landed hard on the ground. Katara ran over to him and helped him up.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah…" He said, but then he did a grimace of pain and rubbed his lower back.

Katara walked over to Toph. "Toph… You know that earth is the natural opposite of air, right? Aang will probably have a hard time learning earthbending because of that. Maybe you should go a little bit easier on him?"

Toph rolled her eyes. "Sure, I can do that. He has no rush learning earthbending at all... I mean, it's not like he has a whole fire nation after him…" Toph said sarcastically.

"I know! But it will take much longer if you crush him all the time!"

"Look here, Sugarqueen! He asked me to learn him! So I'll do this my way!" Toph said angry. "And if you can't watch your boyfriend get some bruises, then I suggest you leave!"

"Well he is my boyfriend!" Katara shouted. "And I don't want you to-"

"Katara!"

Katara looked up when Aang said her name. He had walked up to them while they had been arguing.

"Katara." He said again. "Maybe Toph is right. Maybe you should leave."

"What?" Katara was shocked that he was on Toph's side.

"I don't want you to worry about me getting hurt…"

"You heard him, Sugarqueen. Now get off the field, we have some earthbending training to do!"

"No." Katara said stubbornly. "I'm not leaving."

Toph looked furious. "Fine! Then the training is over! Twinkletoes…" She pointed at Aang's face. "…we will continue the training tomorrow. And don't bring your girlfriend!"

Toph turned around and walked away from them.

oOoOo

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"You are lying."

Aang sighed, but he didn't say anything. Katara slowly moved her fingers through his hair. Aang was lying on the couch with his head resting at Katara's lap. They were alone in Aang's house.

"Is it what happened at your earthbending lesson?" Katara asked.

"No." Aang said.

Katara wasn't convinced. "Look, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have argued with Toph, and it was my fault that-"

"I said no!"

Katara became quiet, and Aang sighed again.

"Do you remember when I said that I wanted to talk to you..?" He said.

"Yeah."

"I have been thinking a lot ever since Azula attacked us at Zuko's backyard…"

Aang paused. He didn't meet Katara's gaze. "I lost control of myself when I saw you get knocked down. If you hadn't stopped me… Katara, I could have really hurt someone because I couldn't control my anger!"

Aang sat up, with his back towards Katara.

"No Aang, you wouldn't have done that." Katara said. "I know you, and I know that you wouldn't harm anyone, not even Azula."

"But I have hurt people before! I broke Jet's nose, remember?"

"That was different…"

"Now, it wasn't. He hurt you, and I lost control of my anger. And I wasn't even in Avatar state then! If I had been in Avatar state, it would have been much harder to control myself… But I also need the Avatar state. Without it, I'm not powerful enough to keep the balance in the world…" Aang seemed to be talking to himself instead of her.

"Aang… Where are you going with this?" Katara asked.

Aang met her gaze. "It's not a secret that I'm the avatar, anymore. The Fire lord has put a price on my head. And he has sent Azula after me. I'm in great danger, and everybody close to me too."

"Well it's not like they are going to walk into your classroom and attack you…"

Aang got up from the couch turned his face away. "To get me, there is a chance that they will hurt persons that are close to me. Katara…" Aang sighed. "I think we should break up."

I'm so sorry for that... It won't last for long, I promise.

Please review!