I need you guys to give me tomorrow's winning lotto numbers because YOU'RE SO GOOD AT PREDICTING! Also, the gaang will be back, so look out for some craziness! Btw, one of you said you were followed by a white van? goodness, thats scary! I would have peed my pants! Thats why i'm not allowed to walk the dog by myself. My parents are negative nelly's who think i'll be kidnapped like on Law and order SVU. (another show i am shamelessly and hopelessly addicted to.)
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Toph tried to ignore Hide who was more increasingly annoying by the day. He wouldn't stop laughing about her and Onji's embarassing fall from a couple days before.
"I didn''t know you guys were into girl on girl," he laughed. "Next time i'll get a camera."
"Shut up, Hide," Onji said for the tenth time. She glared at her untouched tray of food.
"I still can't believe you guys dated," Toph added.
"She couldn't resist my winning personality," Hide smiled. "So, how's your boy?"
"He's not my boy," Toph said. She rubbed her temples. With the direction the conversation was heading, she couldn't get out of lunch quick enough. "But he's awake now. You should stop by."
"Nah," Hide shrugged. "I have a feeling White Bread doesn't want me around."
"Why would you think that?" Onji asked.
"Because I keep hitting on his girl."
Toph pretended she didn't hear him and hoped that he was, once again, talking about Onji. She noticed that none of them were eating. It was like Aang was the only one that kept balance in their little group. Toph sighed and pushed her tray away.
"So, what's going on in prom world?" Hide asked. Toph could tell he really didn't care, but Onji perked up at the word.
"I'm so excited! I found this really pretty orange dress to match Aang. I hope he feels well enough to go. It's in a couple of weeks," Onji said. "Who are you going with, Toph?"
Toph wasn't sure, but there was some venom in Onji's tone...and she didn't like it one bit. "I don't have a date. I probably won't even go."
"Well, you really don't need a date. I mean, I'm sure a couple people there won't have dates. There's nothing wrong with being single."
Toph glared up at Onji. Before she could ask what her problem was, Hide spoke up.
"I don't have a date. I never really did like being tied down. You wanna go with me, Toph?"
"To where?"
"Prom, duh. Since neither of us have dates, we should go together. Thanks for mentioning that, Onji," Hide smirked. Onji stood, with her tray, and stormed out of the lunch room.
"What the hell is her problem?" Toph asked.
"Who cares. She's probably PMSing."
Toph laughed and shook her head. She was really starting to warm up to Hide after their revelation with the wallet.
"So, do you want to be my date?"
Toph choked on her juice. "You were serious?" she gasped through coughs.
"Oh, come on, Toph. It's kind of pathetic not to have a date. I personally could choose whoever I want, but-"
"So go ask someone else, then," Toph said. She twisted the cap on her juice back and forth out of nervousness.
"But I want to go with you," he finished. Toph stared up at him. His face was sincere.
"Uh...I have to think about it," she said. All she could think about was Aang. He was still with Onji, clearly, but she didn't want to hurt his feelings. She'd have to wait until Aang got a little better before she could give an answer.
"Don't keep me waiting too long, baby cakes. Guy like me can't stay single for long." Hide stood up and walked away, leaving Toph at the table with her eyes practically popping from her head.
"What the fuck just happened?"
XXXXXXXX
"Stop cheating, Suki!" Sokka yelled.
"Sokka, you're a bad dancer, get over it," Katara said from the couch. She leaned up against Zuko, who had his arm around her. "All you have to do is follow the movement with your hand, you don't even have to dance."
"Hey, thiss game is hard!" he complained. "Besides, I'm not Aang for crying out loud."
The four were quieted at Aang's name.
"Has anyone had a chance to see him since classes let out?" Suki asked. She set the remote down on the table. None of them felt like playing anymore.
"We should visit him later on," Katara suggested. There was a banging on the door. Zuko stood to answer it, and was pushed out of the way by Toph.
"Hello to you, too," he mumbled and followed her into the living room.
"What's wrong, Toph?" Sokka asked. Toph ingored them and peeked out of the window.
"Did any of you see it?" she said, closing the curtains shut. She started to pace the room.
"See what," Katara said, grabbing her shoulder and getting her to stop pacing. "What's wrong?"
"There was a white van following my car," Toph explained. "I've been driving in random directions for two hours and it still followed me! Finally I lost him on the freeway. I didn't want to go home, so I came here."
The teens rushed up to the window and peeked out. The street was empty, except some people walking dogs or washing cars.
"Maybe they were lost and were just following you for help," Suki suggested. The group stared at her for a moment. "It's better than some psycho stalking her!"
"Did you get a liscense number?" Zuko asked. Toph shook her head.
"It was a temporary tag. It was probably fake."
"Well, let's hope Suki's right about being lost," Sokka said, picking up the controller again. "Being followed by vans is more scary than being attacked by monkeys."
"Has he been watching animal planet again?" Toph asked, moving away from the window. Katara nodded.
"We tried to block the channel, but he hacked it. He wakes up screaming sometimes."
"Hey, I haven't had a nightmare in two weeks! Unlike you, where you keep dreaming that your dancing with Zuko shirtless in the rain-"
"Okay, let's not bring that up again!" Zuko said. "It was probably nothing, Toph. Maybe they were just lost."
"I don't think so. A couple days ago this black car pulled up next to me and drove off. What if someone's after me?" she said. She started bouncing her knee up and down. Toph wondered if her father had any enemies, and what they would do if she was caught.
"What did it look like?" Sokka asked.
"It was shiny, new, and it looked fast. It was an Audi." She stared at each of her friends as they tried to put together the pieces. She stopped at Zuko, who seemed stiffer than usual.
"Did it have smaller lights around the headlights?" he asked.
"Yeah, I think so. Why?" she watched Zuko fish out his phone from his pocket and frantically scroll through the pictures. He found what he was looking for and held the phone up to Toph.
"Did it look like this?" he said, holding up a picture of a black Audi r8.
"Yes!" Toph said. "That's the car!"
"It's my dad's."
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"Don't worry, Toph. I'm sure Ozai wants nothing to do with you. He probably got you confused with someone else," Sokka said. He walked Toph out to her car. Katara thought it would be safe if Toph was never alone for any lengthy period of time.
"He knows who I am," Toph said. "My dad used to be friends with him. Or, well, business associates. But a couple years ago, Ozai started getting into some shady things, and then Zuko got his scar. Everyone cut all ties off with him. What if he's getting revenge?"
"He would have gotten it by now," Sokka said. "The one thing Zuko got from his dad is impatience. If Ozai wanted to get back at your dad, he would have done it by now."
"Yeah, you're probably right." Toph kicked a pebble out of her way and got into her car. "Hey, remember that time you tried to learn to play all the top songs on the piano?"
"And Zuko threw the radio out the window?" Sokka finished. "Good times, good times."
"Why does he have a picture of Katara peeing on his phone?"
"WHAT?" Sokka yelled. Toph shrink back in her seat.
"I saw it when you guys were freaking out. I thought it was a joke or something, but she was sitting in the sink trying to cover her face."
Sokka shook his head and grumbled something that sounded like "kill" and "Zuko".
"See you around, Sokka," Toph said. She started to go home, but turned around to the hospital instead. She was worried for Aang's safety. If Ozai was getting revenge, he'd stop at nothing until everyone around him was miserable. Toph drove down the street, still looking out her rear view mirror, looking for anyone who might be following her. She got to the hospital without someone stalking her. She snuck into the recovery ward, unnotived. It was becoming too easy for her. Aang was still awake. He was flipping through the channels on the TV, with the volume turned all the way down.
"Can't sleep?"Toph asked. Aang smiled when he saw her. She walked over to his bed, kicked off her shoes, and climbed in next to him.
"I'd rather watch you, anyway," he said. "What did you do today?"
"Walked your dog, cleaned up your cats vomit, pulled my shoe from your dog's mouth, almost died trying to get your cat off my roof."
Aang laughed, then cringed at the pain in his chest. "Momo loves being up on the roof. I should have warned you. Sorry."
"Actually it was my Mom who got him. She opened up my bedroom window, and he climbed out. She didn't want to call the fire department for a cat on the roof. This isn't the nineteen sixties." Toph rested her head on Aang's shoulder. Aang made a face when he heard sniffing noises. "Did you shower today?"
"I've been showering for two days. I'm suprised you didn't notice," Aang said.
"It's not your natural musk I'm attracted to," Toph joked in a seductive voice. Aang smiled and leaned down to kiss her lips. She clung to the front of his hospital gown and deepened their kiss. The monitor was running wild.
"That's starting to get annoying," he whispered against her mouth.
"Then maybe you should unplug it," Toph suggested. She dug her fingers into his short hair and traced her tongue on his lower lip. His monitor spiked. Toph laughed and pulled away. "I didn't know you were so into me, Twinkle Toes."
"I've always been into you. It just took me a little while to realize it," he said.
"A little while? I've been waiting forever for you to make up your mind. I almost gave up a couple times."
Aang smiled and kissed her again. "I'm sorry," he said. He trailed his lips down to her neck, up to her ear and gently whispered "Can you ever forgive me?"
Toph was at a loss for words. Her hands were shaking and she couldn't think of a simgle comment to Aang's question.
"Keep doing that, and I'll have to put you to work."
Aang laughed and rested his head on hers. "Oh, I almost forgot. Don't let Appa run outside by himself."
Toph rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I know, he likes squirrels. If I turn my back for a minute, we'll never see him again."
"That's not what I meant, Toph. Ozai came in the other day. He tried to-"
"Wait, back up." Toph sat up and looked into Aang's face. "Ozai? What the hell was he doing here? Did he hurt you? What did he say?"
Aang placed a finger over Toph's lips. "I was getting to that. He said 'it would be a shame if that dog of yours got hit by a car. That seems to be so common in your family."
"Is that all?"
Aang shook his head. "He wanted me to drop the charges against Azula. He offered to pay for college."
"But he didn't say anything else? No other threats? Nothing about me?"
Aang was confused. "Has he spoken to you?"
Toph rested back on Aang's shoulder. "He followed me. Twice. I'm not sure about the second time, but the first time was definately him. If Appa wasn't there, I would have been toast. Warm, buttery toast."
Aang took her face in his hands. "You have to tell someone; your parents, the police! He can't get away with harassing people! Toph, he's dangerous. Did you hear about the stuff he got into a few years back?"
Toph sighed and buried her face in Aang's chest. "I don't know what he wants from me, but he's freaking me out. I'll talk to my dad tomorrow."
Aang relaxed as the heart monitor slowly returned to normal. He stroked her hair. "I wish I was out of this bed. I wish I could leave here and do something. I hate being helpless."
"It's not forever," Toph said. "You're improving. Pretty soon you'll be back on your feet and annoying the hell out of us in no time." She stared at him while he gazed across the room. She hadn't noticed just how much he'd matured since they started senior year. She reached up and touched the stuble on his chin. He smiled down at her.
"Guess it's time for my monthly shaving," he joked.
"No, keep it. I like it. It's...sexy."
Aang blushed and laughed, flinching at the way his ribs screamed in protest. "I love you, Toph."
"I loved you first," she said. "Even though I don't think I should be involved with a bad boy."
"I'm not bad! What have I ever done that's bad?" Aang asked.
"Well," Toph started. "As of right now, you're cheating on your girlfriend. At first I wasn't into being the other woman. But now, it's kind of fun. I like sneaking around."
Aang groaned, for once not in pain. "She refuses to talk about it. She came by today and talked about everything but you. She keeps freaking out about prom. I'm starting to get worried about her."
Toph laughed. "Why does every girl in your fan club turn out to be a psycho?"
"You're not psycho...right?"
"I don't know," Toph said. "This one time, I stole a strand of hair while you slept and sacrificed it to a dead squirrel."
Aang chuckled, and cringed again. "Don't make me laugh, it hurts like hell."
"Then let's stop talking," Toph said, kissing him again. It felt like she'd never get enough of Aang.
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I love the fun facts, keep em coming! Remember Lizzy from kids next door? Number one's girlfriend? Remember mandy from grim adventures of billy and mandy? remember vicky from fairly odd parents? remember Daphne from scooby doo and the monster of where ever they end up? All played by Grey DeLisle, the voice of Azula! Also, I don't mind long reviews at all! I'm trying to tie up any loose ends because this story has a mind of its own and is taking over! I see a whole new plot in the future...but you already knew that, didn't you? lol, review, my preciouses. I don't own avatar.