Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar or its characters. Though, I do use them for my personal amusement.

Toph's pov

I'd never been grounded before. The past week felt like prison because I wasn't allowed my usual distractions that came along with a usual grounding. It was strange not being able to listen to my music at full blast or have the video games on while my parents fumed. Being in a silent room staring at the ceiling had to be the cruelest punishment my parents had ever given me. Because of that I had conflicting feelings.

On the one hand, my parents were finally taking me seriously enough that they felt the urgent need to restrain me.

On the other hand they were restraining me.

They posted guards at my door to make sure I didn't get out. In the yard, guards constantly rotated to ensure that every inch underneath my window was covered should I plan to escape. I found that out the hard way.

This morning I had woken up at five a.m. and opened my window to try and climb down the flat fence where vines intertwined to create a sort of Romeo and Juliet type of feel. When I made it on the ground one of the guards decided to tilt their head my way and just like that, I was caught. Dang it, I had thought, shouldn't they be sleeping or something?

Apparently my father hired insomniatic humans because they were still down there, rotating robotically and scanning the grounds with beady eyes. I knew that they probably switched shifts, but they all looked alike to me so it was hard to tell.

I sighed when I heard footsteps come up to my door. I had a feeling it would be my father to give me another disapproving glare, but it was my mother back from work.

"Toph, dear."

My body was flat against my bed and my gaze was fixed on the ceiling.

"Your father told me that you tried to run away." Of course he did, I replied sarcastically in my mind. I'd been doing kind of thing a lot lately.

From my peripheral vision I watched her sit down on the edge of my bed. Discomfort prickled at my skin. Did she not get that I didn't want to talk to her?

"Why did you try to run away? Where did you think you were going to go?" she asked softly.

"I don't know mother," I deadpanned. Away from here, that's for sure.

"Toph, please look at me when I talk to you."

I didn't. She sighed.

"Toph. We're only trying to do what's best for you. But if you keep acting out like this we're going to have no choice but to restrict you to house arrest."

"You mean until you marry me off." Anger seeped into my voice and I lashed out by glaring daggers at the ceiling.

"Toph, dear, it's not so bad. Jory is a very nice young man." She paused and I took that opportunity for a snarky answer.

"You mean delusional and controlling." My voice was condescending and for a brief moment I wondered why I couldn't stop openly mocking whatever anyone said to me. I was losing control of my emotions and I knew I'd pay dearly if I couldn't hold them at bay.

She ignored me. "And he'll take care of you."

"Before or after the beating starts?" Alright, that one came out simple because I wanted it to.

She drew in a shocked breath. "Toph Bei Fong you take that back. Jory is a wonderful young man. He would never hit you. He is incapable of hurting a fly. He is well groomed, smart, fashionable and cares greatly about you."

I snorted. "And he's rich."

"He'll take care of you."

"He can't even take care of himself!" I exclaimed. I shot out of my bed and stood with my back towards her, arms crossed over my chest.

"Of course he can."

She didn't get it so I decided to elaborate.

"Whenever he gets in trouble his dad is always there to fix it. His dad magically makes all traffic tickets disappear. Jory does nothing but create trouble for everyone he meets. There is not a speck of moral fiber in that kid and he's got the intelligence of a plant. I was going to say monkeys but monkeys are smarter than he'll ever hope to be."

Her perfectly smooth face frowned when I turned to look at her. "Why are you spouting lies about him, Toph? Has he hit you?"

I frowned. "No."

"Has he demeaned you in any way?"

Shock was written all over my face. "He told me he wants to have my babies! If that's not a sign that he's mentally disturbed strap a pointy hat on my head and call me Dunce."

One look at my mother and I knew that she wasn't taking my words to heart and was instead frowning at my attitude.

"He loves you Toph. He wants to be with you for the long term and you should feel grateful to have someone like that."

I almost fell over. "Mom, are you even listening to yourself right now? I am sixteen. I've only been alive for sixteen years and already I have to worry about a wedding and becoming a mass baby producing machine? No, thank you. I'd rather choke on an eel." If I was lucky the electrical shocks would send me into a coma for the rest of my life.

"There's nothing wrong with having a baby. Although I'd rather you wait after you get married to consummate. If anyone finds out that you've been fooling about before holy matrimony, the press would have a field day."

"Oh my-!" I couldn't even finish my sentence. I was so flabbergasted. Yes, Toph Bei Fong was flabber-flippin'-gasted. Was she even listening to what she was saying? I wasn't an object. I wasn't her doll–or anyone's for that matter–to play Barbie Dream House with.

"Now Toph, you got me all off the subject." Her hand fanned the air as if erasing our previous conversation. "Why were you trying to run away? Do you…not love your parents? Is that it?" her voice grew thick with tears and I had to detach myself before I got sucked in to her emotional turmoil.

Again, that mocking tone appeared in my voice. "I was just trying to get some fresh air."

Her face scrunched up in confusion. "All you had to do was open a window."

I gave her a tight smile. "I'll be sure to do that next time. Anything else, mother?"

A large grin appeared on her face and I grew wary.

"You have a visitor."

"I'm grounded. Dad said no visitors. Tell whoever it was that I'm terribly sorry." I gave her a fake pout followed by a real frown.

"Oh, it's okay. You're father won't mind."

She stood up and closed the door behind her. I was rapidly losing patience with her–both my parents for that matter. What more could I say to make them understand? What more did I have to do? They, apparently, weren't going to listen to reason. The only thing they'd listen to is Jory but I'd never get him on my side. I didn't even want him twenty feet from me.

I reached into my nightstand and held my throwing knife at the ready. I kept it there for security reasons, but it worked great for other things. If my visitor was Jory, I was going to cut off a certain part of his anatomy and then maybe he'd get the message.

The door opened. I felt the knife leave my hand swiftly and precisely. It embedded itself into the wall with a thunk.

Standing in the doorway was a very wide-eyed Melody. What was she doing here?

"Well," she said. "That's one way to greet an old friend."

I scowled. "We were never friends Melody. I don't recall ever calling you up in the middle of the night whining about my unfair childhood."

She grabbed the knife and closed the door. "You didn't have to. I lived it with you."

"Hand that back."

She looked at the knife in her hand and shook her head with an expression on her face that said I must have been crazy to ask that of her.

"I like my head on my body. I'm just gonna put it right here for my own protection." She put it on top of my bookcase.

I shrugged, not caring one way or the other. Then again, it was probably a good thing that I didn't have it in my hand. I might have attempted murder.

"What do you want? I'm not in the mood for you or your cousin."

"He's not here," she said from her place near my bookcase.

"Good for him. Sadly, that means that only one of you gets thrown out, courtesy of me."

She smiled at me and I got a glimpse of her metal braces. About time she got those.

"You won't throw me out. Not yet anyways." She shifted her weight from foot to foot.

"Then to what do I owe the pleasure." Sarcasm dripped from every word.

"I just wanted to talk," she answered cheerily.

I narrowed my eyes at her. She didn't look threatening. In fact she looked a little bored.

"Did my mother put you up to this?" I gave her a dangerous look. If she answered incorrectly I'd have no problem grabbing her by her blond head and throwing her out my door.

She shook her head. "No one prompts me to do what I don't want."

That was true enough. Well, now that she was a legal adult it was.

"Then what do you want?"

"Well, I wanted to talk to you about Aang."

All thoughts seemed to cease as I mechanically shut myself off. Instead, I relied on my ever trusting friends, mock and anger.

"Elephant ears? What about him?" I asked between gritted teeth.

"He's not your friend?"

"No," I answered curtly.

"Well, I heard otherwise."

"You heard wrong brace face."

She groaned. "I knew that was coming."

I crossed my arms. "If you have nothing important to say then leave. I have a whole day of staring at walls ahead of me and I'd like to get started."

"Listen kid," she said, no longer playing. "I just want you to know something about my stupid cousin."

"Other than the fact that he's stupid? What other wonders does he hold?"

She ignored my mocking words. "He actually likes and cares about you…for some reason that I will never fathom. But he's new to rejection and has no idea how to deal with it. Like every other rich kid on the planet, he's used to getting what he wants. Jory has no idea what to do with you so he comes across as being a bit…forward."

"Understatement of the century. He said he wants to have my babies."

She shivered. "That's creepy."

My lips lifted up into a rueful smile. "No kidding."

I sat down on my messy bed, cross legged and without any prompting, or wanting, from me Melody followed suit. Though, she maintained a good amount of distance between us. She was older which meant she was smart. Smarter than her harebrained cousin anyways.

"But I had a talk with him and told him to tone things down a little."

"My knight in shining armor," I deadpanned as I picked my toes. "Don't you have dance rehearsals or something to get to?"

She was a pretty amazing dancer but I'd never tell her that to her face. No need to inflate egos around here. Anymore and the mansion would implode from the strain of containing them.

Her strawberry blond hair was pulled into a braid and shook slightly with her head.

"Nah, I canceled them."

"Bet your mom wasn't happy." I wiggled my toes when I was done picking them.

"Are you kidding? She almost had an aneurism."

I couldn't help the smile that forced its way onto my face to mimic hers. We weren't the best of friends, not by a long shot. When we were little my mother had involved me in play dates with other rich kids. I remembered that she was the only one who wanted to make mudpies, everyone else was worried that their parents would get mad at them if they ruined their clothes. She was older than me and fearless. I looked up to her for more than the fact that she was taller.

As we grew older we developed a distant friendship. We never shared deep or humiliating secrets. It wasn't that kind of friendship. All we really did was manage to make each other laugh at stuffy parties. We had been partners in crimes for a while, playing pranks on stuck up rich folk and I could never forget that.

Before I begged my parents to transfer to public school we had attended private school together. I never saw her much, since she was in another grade, but we'd acknowledge each other. When I left the private school in my last year of elementary I lost contact with her and because of that we'd grown apart.

She had always been able to fit in to high society fairly easy. Yet, like me, she was shunned in the eyes of my parents' friends. She didn't know when enough was enough and because of that she'd become sort of the black sheep of her family. I was more of a gray color but I could hide it with a cloak of white. She couldn't.

"Again?"

Melody shrugged. "What can I say? The woman is a medical anomaly."

"If you're not dancing then shouldn't you be in college?"

She waved my question off much like my mom had my accusations. "I'm not smart enough. In fact, I was looking for a tutor."

I laughed. "And you came to me?"

Her head was cocked to the side. "You kind of cackle when you laugh. It's a little freaky. I feel like a black cauldron bubbling with green smoke should pop up in the middle of your room."

"It's being repaired."

Her mouth formed an O and we both laughed a bit again. I was still wary of her but my mood was lifted slightly.

"Anyways, to answer your question, no I did not want you to tutor me. I'll call you when I want to fail."

My foot stretched to kick her in the shin. She rubbed the area while muttering "that's the Toph I know."

"Then what do you want from me?" Yes, we'd been friends before but there was almost always an alternative reason for her visits. It seemed her entire family was cursed with that. I should have been prepared for what she wanted but she had completely caught me off guard. I had expected her to say she wanted me to help pull a prank or something we were both familiar with. But she completely threw me for a spin so it took a moment for her words to actually process themselves in my head.

Distracted, I answered, "What?"

Her gaze never strayed from my face as she repeated herself. "I want Aang's number. I want to ask him to be my tutor."

I crossed my arms as if in doing so I was creating a shield between the two of us.

"What makes you think I have his number?"

"You went to the party with him so I assumed you knew him."

"How do you know him?" I watched her face and listened intently to her words, trying to discern whether or not she was lying to me.

She shrugged. "When you sat down next to your future husband I sat down next to your date. You saw us together, didn't you Toph?" Her tone was amused. It was almost as if she had a secret too funny to keep to herself.

I recalled that moment when ice cream was served and I had finally found Twinkle Toes. He was talking to Melody and seemed to be enjoying her conversation. For some reason, my fingers started tapping nervously against my leg and I couldn't help but to drill holes into the back of his head. Melody wasn't a snitch, but it never hurt to be too careful. She was notorious for shoving her nose in everyone's business–though she did so slyly–and there was no doubt in my mind that she was digging for information. When she noticed my look I held her gaze before my mother so subtly nudged me to focus on my dad's conversation.

"What were you talking to him about?"

I had tried to corner her for the remainder of the night so I could see if I had to do damage control from anything she might have said, but she eluded my grasp like the cat she was.

"You have his number. Don't you Tick-tock?"

I mentally winced at the nickname and openly frowned. Once, at private school I had blown up on one of the stuck up students because, frankly, they were getting on my last nerve. Melody later started calling me that, claiming that I was like a time bomb. I didn't like it and showed her through effective means the consequences of spouting the title.

Right now I was too confused to even want to hit her. She had something up her sleeves, I could feel it, but whatever it was she was doing a good job at keeping it from me.

"Yes I do brace face. Get my cell from my dad. Now, get out of my room." I didn't want to talk to her anymore. If I did, I would have undoubtedly played into whatever trap she was planning and I wasn't going down that easily. "Door's over there. Hope it hits you on the way out."

"Thanks Toph," she said as she jumped lithely up like the dancer she was. "You know," she leaned on one foot and put her hands on her hips oh so casually. "It is so hard to find cheap help these days. You're really doing me a solid."

Before she could take a step towards the door I scrambled towards the empty spot she had vacated and thrust my finger in her face.

"Aang isn't cheap," I said, my tone severe.

Melody didn't seem affected. "Well, excuse me. Compared to us he's like a half eaten hotdog. All he has going for him is intelligence and well all know that intelligence amounts to nada in our world."

My free hand fisted and I shifted my weight from one knee to the other, feeling my bed sink with the movement.

"He's worth more than your whole delusional family combined." My snarky attitude came back with more force than originally intended. "He's smart, funny and can look good when he wants to. If all you're going to do is take advantage of his kindness then you better leave right now before I kick your ass." It wasn't unusual for me to threaten anybody. I'd usually threaten someone for absolutely no good reason at all. But I meant this threat with every fiber of my being.

Her feet planted themselves more firmly on my carpet. "You aren't even friends with him. Why does it matter if I take advantage of him or not?"

"I don't want him around the likes of you," I spat.

She laughed and I could feel my agitation growing.

"You know if I call up Aang he'll do whatever I request."

"I'll buy you a tutor. Just stay away from him."

She sneered. "Why?"

"I already told you. He doesn't deserve to be taken advantage of by your family."

A Cheshire cat smile lit up her face. "Don't act like you're any better Toph. You are just as bad as me."

My mouth opened in shock. "No I'm-"

She went on, disregarding my protest. "You knew that Aang would never be accepted with open arms in this stuck up society, yet you brought him along for the ride. Was it a game to you? An experiment?"

As much as I hated to admit it, her words were having an effect on me. I tried to start a mantra that said I was smarter and stronger than her. Her words shouldn't affect me. Unfortunately, I couldn't come up with a rhyme to keep the mantra in my head like one of those catchy cat food jingles.

"No." My tone lost a notch of ferocity and I hoped she couldn't hear it. "It wasn't anything like that."

She continued relentlessly. "You knew that sooner or later you two would have been split up so why even start anything?"

"I don't…"

"And now you won't even apologize to him?" With every word she grew closer to my face until deep blue was all I could see. I panicked and pushed her roughly away.

For a moment, I wished that the maids hadn't cleaned my room yesterday so that Melody would have something to trip over. She may have been a great dancer, but off the stage she was as clumsy as the rest of the world. Her butt landed noisily on the carpet and I took advantage of her silence to make my case.

"He won't talk to me! I've tried to talk to him but he refuses to talk to me."

I swung my legs out from under me and sat down on my bed, my toes digging into the carpet as I explained. Again, she managed to surprise me.

"Boo hoo," she exclaimed from her spot on the floor. "Are you just going to give up because it's too hard? That sounds doesn't sound very Toph like."

"What more could I do? I'm not enrolled in that school anymore and he won't talk to me." Despite my wishes, my voice grew desperate.

"Children," she scoffed. "If he won't talk to you then talk to him."

I ran my hands though my hair in agitation. "Have you not been listening to a word I've said? He won't talk to me," I said slowly for her slow brain to understand.

She shook her head. "He may not talk to you at first, but he'll undoubtedly be listening. Isn't it better for him to listen to what you're saying than have him talk and mess everything up as most men tend to do?" I stayed silent. "Besides, why do you care if he talks to you or not?"

I sighed and quickly brushed away a couple of tears at the corner of my eyes.

"Because I actually care about him," I said softly. I paused a moment to collect my thoughts. "I mean, it's not like I'm in love or even like-like him. But I do care about him and what he thinks of me." My face darkened as memories washed over me.

"You didn't know about the banner," she stated as if coming to a conclusion herself.

I gave her an incredulous look. "Of course I didn't. If I had your cousin wouldn't be able to walk straight for the rest of his life."

"Jory said that he was going to tell you about it. I made him promise."

"Why?"

Her face dissipated into amusement. "Because I know how much you'd hate that surprise. I told him to watch out or tick-tock would go boom."

"Well he's stupid."

She nodded vigorously. "His side of the family didn't get the brains."

"Neither did yours," I grumbled.

"You should talk to him about the party," Melody said in all seriousness.

I opened my mouth to retort that all I'd be doing to her cousin was dismembering him limb from limb but quickly closed it. She wasn't talking about Jory.

I sighed and fell back on my bed, feeling extremely fatigued. I hadn't slept much these past few months and I was willing to bet that I looked like hell froze over.

"In case you haven't noticed, I'm grounded."

My guard was down and she took the opportunity to stand up and sit by my side. The extra weight on the bed was comforting albeit a bit strange. In this whole mess, at least someone understood.

She patted my stomach. "Is Toph Bei Fong seriously giving up? I wouldn't have thought surrender was in your vocabulary."

My arm made its way across my eyes, blackening my vision.

"No, but house arrest is."

She snorted. "They only word that should be in your vocabulary is mercy, but you conveniently forget that one when it suits you. Why is it different for house arrest?" the mattress lifted up slightly now that her weight was gone. From a distance, possibly my door, I heard her say, "Find some balls and do what needs to be done."

"I'll just use your extra pair," I retorted.

She gave a small laugh. "Sorry, those are reserved for my stupid cousin for when he finally gets a clue."

"In eighty years I'll be dead and by then they won't be good for anybody."

Her goodbye was the soft click of my door as she closed it behind her.

A/N:

Well, this chapter was longer than I originally planned so it took longer to post it.

I wanted to show Toph's frustration with her parents and her confusion over the situation with Aang. Though, I think this was a bit of mediocre job compared to when she snapped. Let's just hope that something Melody said stuck with our persistant and stubborn girl. (that was foreshadowing right there)

By the way, there's a Super duper update on my profile that you guys should read. I'd relay the message here but I'm busy starting on the next chapter.

Hope you guys enjoyed.

Love: Lola of the Peaches

=]