Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar. Derr. And I don't own any of the playlist songs, well, I own them on my iPod but I did not create them.

Playlist:

1. Metro Station – Shake it (Toph and Todd are dancing to this one in case you didn't know)

2. Gavin Mikhail – Brave (Ana and Aang are dancing...attemting to dance to this one)

3. Kris Allen – Live Like We're Dying

4. Iyaz – Replay

5. Rihanna ft. Jay Z – Run This Town

6. Jay Sean ft. Lil Wayne – Down

7. The Hours – Ali in the Jungle (Toph and Aang start dancing slowly to this one, although I guess it could be considered a fast song, but their taking it slow)

8. Blue October – My Never (Their dance continued)

9. Jackson 5 - ABC (haha, ending song)

Those are basically the songs I was picturing for this chapter. Of course, you can totally replace them if you don't like them.

Read on…

Aang's POV

The guys and I arrived at the school gym twenty minutes late and from what I could see from my seat in the back, the party was in full swing. We arrived late because I had been having trouble putting on one of Skeeter's old suits and needed help getting ready. It wasn't my fault that I didn't know how to put them on correctly.

We were at that dance. Homecoming, I think it was. This is where I was going to put my 'make Ana happy' plan in motion.

The air was cold, as it always is at night according to Todd, which was strange considering the sky rocketing temperatures in the morning. Even the Fire Nation stayed warm during the night.

Thinking of the Fire Nation, I wondered if Katara was doing okay. It's been, jeez, two or three weeks since we've been gone. Did she even know that we were missing? Would she send someone to look for us? Probably not. She'd probably be too busy with Zuko to bother with any thought of me. I mean, he was the one that was married to her. He was the one that she wanted.

Still, a man could hope, right?

The lights from other cars there were parking managed to blind me, but it also served as a good distraction from my melancholy thoughts.

I sighed and shook my head. Tonight my mind would be focused on Ana. I needed to make her happy, if at the very least, only tonight.

To distract myself from the bright lights I looked up towards the dark colored sky and noticed all the twinkling stars. Is it weird to say that they looked happy? The stars, I mean. Because they did. Or maybe it was me.

I mean, I was happy that I was finally getting to help someone. And all I really had to do was dance.

"Stop staring at the stars and start staring at the honeys." Skeeter steered me towards the gym door where a lot of tall, tan girls in various style dresses walked into the gym.

"This is why I like Arizona," he commented wistfully.

There was a loud, booming sound of strange music coming from the open doors. How loud was it in there? Were they really expecting me to go in there and bust my eardrums?

Todd punched his shoulder. "Cease ogling the fair maidens and strut to."

Riley walked up behind us. "In other words: move."

In all of the dances and balls I have been too I never once have been to one quite like this. And I've been to a lot. There was that formal ball in the Earth kingdom, the small dance party that I created in the Fire Nation, and a few more formal balls and parties that I'd been invited to throughout the years, though I only attended a couple. This one, in this strange new world, blew all of them out of the air.

There were flashing lights of a variety of colors all over the large expanse of ceiling. Streamers and balloons decorated almost every inch of the space. Though there were many lights, it was also very dark inside. Dark curtains covered the far walls that contained the schools logo and added much atmosphere to the dimly lit room.

People were dancing near and far from the entrance. Though they were split up into many different groups, some were laughing, others were dancing, and more than a couple just stood gossiping. My friends went on ahead, saying that they were going to look for the girls while I stood near the entrance just admiring the entire scene. The overall atmosphere from the place was just…fun. Unconsciously my foot started tapping to the beat of the music.

"Been here for five minutes and already you want to dance, huh, Fancy feet?" I turned around to face Toph.

"You know me; I just can't help myself when it comes to the rhythm." I looked at her outfit. "How in the world did they get you into a dress?"

She was wearing a short black dress that really contrasted with her light skin tone in the dark room. But she looked good, even though her bangs were once again covering her face.

"They promised me milkshakes."

Of course.

"Toph," Todd appeared in front of us from a mass of bodies. "Thou are a feast for the eyes and a dagger to the heart." He held her hand up to his lips and kissed it.

My eyes grew big. Was Toph really going to stand for that? I've seen her take out nobles for even offering her a dance, let alone touch her.

"I take it that was a compliment?" she asked.

Nothing in her voice came me any indication that she was going to kill him. Maybe there was hope for him yet.

"Of the highest sentiments."

Toph smirked. "Well, I guess that's okay then. Oh, Ana's at the punchbowl." Toph grabbed onto Todd's hand securely and led him out onto the dance floor.

Toph did. My best friend who buried men for giving her a 'funny feeling' just took one of those men onto the dance floor. And as much as it pained me to say it, I didn't like it. I mean, it just wasn't like Toph to do something like that. Did she even know how to dance? Last time I ever remember seeing her at a dance was when we were with the gang in the Fire Nation. And even then she didn't dance.

I looked around for the punchbowl and found Ana's curly mass of styled hair. Before I reached her, I took one last look around for Toph and Todd and found them dancing like maniacs to a really upbeat song where someone was saying the words "shake it" a lot. Which is incidentally what Toph and Todd were doing.

"Hey Ana," I called out loudly for there was no other way she was going to hear me in this noise.

She smiled as she turned around with an orange drink in her hand. She tilted her drink towards me. "Hey Aang. You look good."

I took a chance to glance over her deep blue dress that really just brought out the beauty in her. And I told her so.

"You look really beautiful, Ana."

Her honey eyes looked surprised and there was a deep red that stained her cheeks and made her look so cute.

"Th–thanks, Aang."

She took a sip from the cup in her hands. I grabbed it and set it down on the table.

"Come and dance with me."

She looked around nervously and twirled a strand of curly brown hair in her hands.

"I'm not a very good dancer," she admitted.

I took her hand and tried to get her closer to the middle of the floor but she pulled back, truly panicked. I let go of her hand and as she turned away I grabbed her hips, picked her up and set her down on the dance floor. Her hand was cold when I grabbed it as my other hand tied itself around her waist so she couldn't run. There was a slow, pop song playing now.

When she looked up at me I felt sort of taken aback. Her eyes looked terrified.

"Aang," she hissed as she squirmed in my grasp. "I really can't dance. Why don't we just sit? Sitting's fun! I like sitting."

"Is something wrong Ana?"

She looked down and her hand clenched onto my shirt like it was her lifeline. Maybe I shouldn't have pushed her to dance. I truly was a horrible person. But I never thought that she'd react like this.

"It's just…" she trailed off trying to find the right words. "I…want…to dance."

"But…?"

She looked up with a rueful smile marring her beautiful face. "The last time I danced…was with my boyfriend. And he told me that I should never set foot on the dance floor for the safety of others. So…I'm a little apprehensive."

I smiled at her. "The dance floor is for anyone who has the heart and will to dance. It doesn't matter if you're good or you send people to the hospital. If you want to, then do it." I paused; a thoughtful look crossed my face before I looked back down. "Besides, it's all in the lead."

Then, I proceeded to glide over the dance floor, being careful of avoiding all the others who were dancing as well. Ana closed her eyes tightly and pulled herself close as if trying to curl herself up into a little ball.

"Relax, it's only about you and me right now."

She shivered slightly but still wouldn't let up her head. Small talk it is.

"He probably couldn't dance," I said. "I can dance, and have you hit anyone yet? So it's really not your fault. It's his."

As the song went on and we continued dancing, her eyes slowly opened up and it seemed as though she was truly enjoying herself. Sadly, the song ended and something livelier began blaring throughout the gym.

Ana's face came up to look at me and a spark of happiness shot through my soul. She was smiling. It was pure, innocent, happy.

"Your right," she said. "He was a horrible dancer."

Throughout the night, I caught glimpses of Riley and Heidi dancing together and my heart would do that clenchy thing. Though, I tried not to let it show so much since Ana truly began enjoying herself and that was the reason I came anyways. Well, also because Heidi told us to come, but Ana was a big part of that.

Currently, I was trying to teach Ana the finer points of fancy footwork so she'd be a lot more confident when we danced a slow song again. She was good, but there was still the occasional tripping from both of us when she knocked us off balance.

There they went again. Heidi was smiling and laughing as Riley whispered things in her ear.

Ouch.

No, that wasn't my heart this time. Someone actually pinched my arm from behind. Three guesses who.

"Twinkle Toes, want to dance?"

Toph's voice made me smile. Ana and I stopped tripping over ourselves long enough to face Todd and Toph. I hadn't really seen them for a while. When I looked them over they didn't look like they'd been doing much dancing. My forehead was starting to collect beads of sweat and Ana's once cold hand was really warm.

"Ana." Todd said as he held out his hand. If I wasn't mistaken, it looked like he was blushing. Then again, this light was really tricky. Ana took his hand and waved me a goodbye.

"I'll be back," she called out before they disappeared into the crowd, leaving me alone with Toph.

"So how'd it go?" she asked as she put her hands on my shoulder. In turn I put mine on her waist.

"She had a horrible boyfriend."

Toph snorted. "Yeah, she did."

"He told her that she wasn't a good dancer," I offered.

"And you told her that it depends on who leads?"

I paused our swaying long enough to stare at her like she was crazy.

"Were you listening in to our conversation?" I asked warily.

She laughed. "No. It's just such an Avatar thing to say. You incriminate people without really outright saying it sometimes."

I pursed my lips. "Do not."

"Do too."

That was enough talk about me. "I didn't know you danced."

She shrugged. "All I'm doing is swaying from side to side. It's not really dancing."

"You were dancing with Todd."

She shrugged again. "I call that a muscle disorder, not dancing."

"It looked like you were having fun."

She picked up a corner of her glossy lip. "If you call spastic–movement–of–muscles–disorder fun."

"Stop adding on to your illness."

She flicked my forehead before I could stop her. "It progresses fast; what can I say?"

We were quiet for a while, just us and the soft song playing as we swayed side to side. It was nice. It was familiar. For just a second, I could imagine both of us on top of Appa just sitting quietly as we soared through the air. I could almost feel the cold wind on my face. What would really make this seem like home was if Toph punched me, but I wasn't rooting for that anytime soon.

"Toph."

She nodded, to show she was listening.

"Do you remember when I threw that secret dance party for those Fire Nation kids?"

She squinted her milky, green eyes. Toph wasn't wearing her contacts today. Well, maybe it's because you couldn't really tell in this lighting.

"The one in the cave for the depraved little fire monsters?"

I nodded. "Yep."

"Yeah, what about it?"

I squirmed, a little uncomfortable with prying into her personal reasons. But we were friends. She had nothing to hide, just like I had nothing to hide from her.

"Well, why didn't you dance? I mean, I never saw you dance."

She sneered. "Maybe you never saw because you were too busy dancing with Sugar Queen. You don't really notice anything else when you're with her."

I frowned. "Of course I notice other things."

"No, Twinkle Toes. You really don't. Let me give you an example. Do you remember when you were dancing with Katara in the cave?"

Of course I did. There was so much rush of emotion behind the way we were dancing that that was where I first thought she might actually reciprocate my feelings.

"Yes."

"And you say that you don't remember me dancing?"

"Yeah."

"Did you remember that just now, or had you noticed it before?" she asked, her voice hard.

My hands felt a little sweaty under Toph's loaded gaze. Honestly, did she know just how much fear she could instill in people just by directing her blind gaze at them? I thought back, well, I'd never really given it much thought because after my dance with Katara we had to evacuate before any officials could catch us. And then after that Katara gave me a kiss on the cheek and all I remember was that Toph had told me that I really did help those kids learn a bit about freedom.

I sighed. One of the things that I actually disliked was whenever Toph was right. Never liked it; never did. Well, except for when it saved my life, but otherwise no thank you.

"Just now," I admitted, mumbling it low enough for her to have to strain to catch it.

"See," she pointed out. "You don't notice anything when you're with Sugar Queen."

"We were dancing. It was an old dance that we both had to concentrate on."

She opened her mouth and then closed it, as if deciding against something. That struck me as odd. This was Toph Bei Fong, World's Greatest Earthbender and World's Only Metalbender. She was rock in its essence. Hard, never afraid to tell it like it is. So why wasn't she blurting out her thoughts like she always had?

"I never danced because there was someone that I wanted to ask me to dance but he never did."

"Who?" I asked, genuinely curious.

"Snoozles."

Sokka!? Really? Was she joking? The set look in her eyes told me that this was no joke. But Sokka? I could never picture rock hard Toph with crazy Sokka. It'd be like Todd being able to travel to the Spirit World. Impossible.

"Really?" I had to ask.

She gave a slight laugh. "Yeah, I used to have a crush on him."

My eyes grew wide. I mean, this was the first I've ever heard of this. I consider myself a pretty observant person, so why had I never noticed that my best friend had a crush on my other best friend? And since when? Did she still have a crush on him? What in the world have I been missing for the last seven years?

"What happened?"

"He married Suki," she said as if this was the most obvious answer in the universe.

Well, excuse me for being so ignorant. What happened to the whole 'best friend' thing that we had? Why was she just telling me now? Was she okay talking about this? I mean, I knew that I wasn't always okay talking about Zuko and Katara together, even now, so maybe neither was Toph.

"Are you okay?"

"Do you see me crying? Of course I'm okay. It was just a crush. I mean, I had a small crush on Teo for a while too."

"Really?"

She nodded. "Yeah. When you brought me to go visit them two years ago, remember? That's when I first met him. While you were off with his dad we got to know each other better. Well, you couldn't really call it a crush. It was more of an understanding of each other." She began to trail off in her thoughts. "I haven't heard from him for a while. When we get back, remind me to pay him a visit. His dad makes really good pastries, though they have the slight after taste of blasting powder. Don't ask me why. I don't question free food."

This was so much information to take in I didn't know what to say. My head was still reeling even after the song was over and it settled into another slow song.

"So–"

A finger on my lips interrupted my question. "Ask me later. When we train, okay?"

I nodded and she put her hand back around my neck.

"By the way," she said offhandedly. "You were a pretty amazing dancer back at the secret dance party."

"Thanks."

One of her hands on the back of my neck lifted up and I felt a sharp slap to my head. I cringed.

"Ouch. What was that for?"

"That's the lightest hit that you're going to get tonight. So enjoy the feeling while it lasts," she commented lightly as only Toph could.

A/N:

Goodness me, so I finally have a chapter out. Sorry I haven't updated in three months or so. I really am.

My first excuse is that I really had no idea how to write this chapter or what I even wanted to happen. Second was that the laptop kept getting taken away from me. Third: homework, self explanatory. Fourth was that I had family activities that I had to do. And fifth is that I'm horribly sick and have been for the better part of this spring break. Honestly, try coming up with ideas while you're sick and worried about hacking your lungs out, which is what I've been doing while writing this.

I was about to quit writing near the end of this chapter just because I was wanted to really get back into my bed and sleep for ten hours, but I didn't. I persevered. (Mostly because getting out of my chair and walking towards my bed would be way too much work and I'd most likely cough up a lung on the way there.)

Anyways, I hope you liked this chapter. Nine pages people. I sat here for eight hours–give or take a couple of minutes of breaks–to write nine pages of Toph and Aang.

The next is going to be in Toph's POV.

Oh, and I haven't started writing anything for my other story because I was very preoccupied with this one. So, I'm going to start writing something for a little bit before my medicine takes effect and I'm clonked out.

Love: Lola of the Peaches

=]