A/N: Thank you everyone for reading

A/N: Thank you everyone for reading. Enjoy and don't forget to review!

Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar.

Chapter 5

The next couple of days went pretty smoothly for Zuko. Toph didn't seem down anymore and said she probably got a B on history. Zhou's test wasn't as hard as everyone made it out to be, and studying for math and chemistry actually went smoother than studying for biology. Zuko found that he was a mediocre chemistry student, but Toph had molecule models that really helped. Toph was a great math student, and he was nearly at her level. She just had had more time to study it than he did.

Hanging out with Aang, Sokka and Katara was getting easier since Jet was suspended, but they were still wary of him. But Zuko found himself letting his guard down around Toph. Every time he caught himself ready to answer a question or remark on something that he had experienced before, he stopped and saw Toph give her mischievous little smirk. He knew she was waiting him out, and he knew he was getting too comfortable with her. But it was so easy to fall into a pattern. He studied her as he followed her and her friends to the gym after school on Wednesday.

Toph was laughing with Sokka about who they expected to be at the first martial arts club meeting, while Katara and Aang walked in front of them, talking quietly. Toph would occasionally turn her head back towards Zuko as if she were listening to make sure he was still there and then give a little smirk. Every time she did it, he would frown at her, but every so often, he caught himself smiling at her. He knew he had to stop. The last time he had gotten comfortable with someone, they had blown his cover and he and his uncle had had to move immediately.

Toph must have heard the doors start to open as they approached the gym, for she smiled at Mr. Jeong as he held one of the doors open for the group.

"Good afternoon," the teacher said to them, smiling at each one as they passed him on their way into the gym.

They found the gym empty of people, but there were mats already on the floor, waiting for the club to start. Zuko thought that maybe he could get out of the club if no one showed up, but then people started coming in twos and threes. The scarred teen leaned against the far wall as Aang spoke with Katara, Sokka, and Toph in front of him.

"Well, I was going to have it at my place," Aang was saying. "But Gyatso is having a meeting that night with some of the heads of the museum. This is a big thing, and I wanted to have a costume party. I mean, how often is it that Halloween falls on a Friday?"

"We could ask our dad," Sokka said. "And maybe we could do it at our place."

Zuko watched with a frown as Aang seemed to get super cheerful, almost to the point of tears. Toph seemed to sense Zuko's mood and smirked back at him as Aang almost bounced on his toes.

"Easy, Twinkles," Toph said as she grabbed Aang's arm. "They still have to ask their dad. And then you can get excited. But…I don't know. A costume party? It's your birthday, not a masquerade."

"Yeah, but it's on Halloween!" Aang nearly cried as Zuko saw many other people enter the gym and huddle in their groups as Mr. Jeong welcomed them all. "I mean, what's wrong with having a Halloween birthday party?"

"First," Toph stated, frowning, "costumes. Second, who are you going to invite? The whole school?!"

"No," Aang said, waving it off. "Only the people we know and like."

"What's wrong, Toph?" Katara asked in a teasing voice. "Don't you like costumes?"

Zuko turned to see Toph actually glaring at her friend before he saw the blind girl turn towards him. He frowned at her as he saw the wheels turning in her head before she turned back to Katara with a small smile.

"I don't like costumes cause I don't see the point of them," Toph stated. "And I won't go if Sunshine doesn't."

Katara was about to remark, but Mr. Jeong spoke up at that time.

"Welcome all martial artists," Mr. Jeong said to the assembled students. Zuko noticed that the teacher had moved himself between Toph and her friends and the other students. "We accept all styles, all levels, and this is a club intended to learn about other martial art forms, improve ourselves, and learn from others."

Mr. Jeong moved to the side and Zuko frowned as he saw Hahn surrounded by two bigger juniors. Most likely his cronies. "These students are nearly masters of their arts," the teacher said as he waved his arm to gesture to Zuko, Toph, Sokka, Katara and Aang. "And they will be assisting me in helping you become better and showing you the different styles. We will meet here every Wednesday after school and I have been able to schedule two martial arts competitions later in the year. Anyone who wishes to participate in this club must have their parent or guardian sign a permission slip. Any questions?"

Zuko moved his gaze away from Hahn as he noticed the icy eyed junior catch his eye and saw Smellerbee and Longshot in the gym as well as Jin, Song and a couple of other teens he didn't really know, but knew he had classes with them. A girl shot her hand into the air and Mr. Jeong turned to her and smiled.

"Yes, Meng?"

The girl stepped forward and Zuko almost stared at how her braided hair stuck out from her head.

"Yeah," the girl said shyly. "The flyer also said we could learn some self defense. Will we?"

"Of course, Meng," Mr. Jeong said gently. "All styles have self defense moves, and some are more defensive than others. Yes, Hahn. What is your question?"

Zuko turned to see Hahn frowning at him before turning a straight face to the teacher. "Why do we have to learn from a crazy new guy and a blind girl?"

Zuko stood off the wall and scowled at Hahn as he saw Toph tense up and frown at the spoiled brat. Mr. Jeong simply turned to them and smiled.

"Zuko, Toph, perhaps you two could give us a demonstration of your skill. Nothing fancy or fast. Just a simple spar."

Zuko almost stopped and stared at the teacher, ready to back out, but Toph seemed to relax and smiled back at him.

"Sure thing, Mr. Jeong," she said as she moved onto the mat and turned to face Zuko. "Just a simple spar."

Zuko saw her at ease and relaxed and willed himself to calm down before he joined her on the mat. She sank into a horse stance in front of him and he dropped into his own stance.

"Just like, Friday," she whispered as she grinned at him. Zuko nodded, and reminded himself to keep it simple and slow.

He started to punch in as the teacher explained that Toph was a master of Hung Gar, a southern Chinese style while Zuko was proficient in Shaolin, a northern Chinese style. Zuko relaxed more as he and Toph jabbed and kicked at each other, blocking each other easily as they stepped up the pace slowly. He grabbed her arm as he had at her house on Friday as Mr. Jeong explained that Shaolin was a more aggressive style, but still had many defensive moves, and Toph spun with her arm, kicking Zuko in the stomach before grabbing his arm and twisting it.

Mr. Joeng continued to explain that Hung Gar was almost equally offensive and defensive as Zuko ducked under Toph's arm and tried to kick her feet out from under her. She jumped over and he jabbed in and grabbed her throat.

"Relax," she whispered to him as she felt him try to take his hand away from her throat. They had both heard the sudden intake of breath from the entire group, but Zuko willed himself to relax and start to punch towards Toph's face.

Just as she had showed him in his own garage on Friday, Toph grabbed his incoming arm in a flash, and rolled backwards as she kicked her feet into his middle and flipped him over her. As they tumbled, Zuko managed to get one arm loose of Toph's iron grip and tried to get out of the hold. She felt it, and grabbed it again as she landed on his stomach and brought his hands together as she readied her right hand to punch him with the heel of her hand.

"And that is why they are both going to help me," Mr. Jeong said as Toph grinned down at Zuko.

"And I've pinned you," Toph whispered to Zuko. He simply smirked up at her and she seemed surprised that he hadn't relaxed and yielded.

"Not yet," he said with a smile as he brought his legs up and wrapped them under her arms and around her shoulders before pushing her off of him and onto her back.

Toph rolled backwards, out of his range, and Zuko jumped back to his feet in a fighting stance. He watched her, sure she would come in for another attack, but she merely stood and bowed to him. Zuko returned the bow and turned to watch Mr. Jeong. The teacher was frowning at Hahn, who had raised his hand again.

"I don't see what's so special about that," Hahn said with a hint of disgust in his tone. "I bet I could beat him."

Mr. Jeong simply turned to Zuko and questioned the scarred teen with the raise of one eyebrow. Zuko knew the teacher was asking if he would commit to showing Hahn how good he was and Zuko nodded once. Hahn needed a lesson in respect.

"Very well, Mr. Du-moss," Mr. Jeong stated calmly back to Hahn. "If you can defeat my assistant honorably, you can assist me as well."

Hahn almost smirked in a superior way as he kicked his shoes off and made his way onto the mat. Zuko moved to meet him, but Toph caught his arm.

"What do you think you're doing?" Toph hissed at him. "The dumbass is mine!"

"Not today," Zuko remarked, but Mr. Jeong turned back towards him and Toph and smiled.

"Miss Katara," the teacher said as he suddenly turned to Katara. "Would you care to show Mr. Du-moss why I've chosen you as an assistant?"

Katara beamed and made her way to the mat as Hahn stopped and stared.

"No!" Hahn shouted. "I want to face the new guy!"

"We don't always get what we want," Mr. Jeong stated calmly as he turned back to Hahn. "And you are a student of Tai Chi, just as Katara is. Therefore, you will face Katara." Zuko watched as Hahn hesitated, seeming to weigh his options. "Or you can leave," Mr. Jeong finished.

Hahn scowled at the teacher, but nodded and stepped onto the mat. "I can beat any girl easily," Hahn remarked in a superior tone to which all the girls in the gym frowned or scowled at Hahn.

Zuko stepped back and watched as Katara beat the junior up in less than a minute, pinning him effectively. Mr. Jeong then proceeded to explain Tai Chi and Bagua as he had Sokka and Aang spar each other before splitting the thirty or so students up into three groups. The first group which mostly consisted of shy looking girls he had Katara help. They seemed to be all beginners and there mostly for the self defense. The second group was middle ranged, with some skills, though un-honed or rusty. These included Hahn, and the teacher had Aang and Sokka supervise while the last group Toph and Zuko supervised. The small group of five included Smellerbee and Longshot along with a senior in Zuko's English class, a sophomore and a freshman. They were all highly skilled and immediately started talking about how good Toph and Zuko had been.

"That was amazing!" Smellerbee said and Zuko let a smile tug at his mouth as he saw Toph blush. "You guys are great. Have you sparred together much?"

"Just once before today," Toph said as she turned to smile at Zuko before turning back to the five in front of her. "But enough about us. What are you guys good at and why are you here? Also, say your name, for those of us who don't know you."

Smellerbee and Longshot turned to smile at Zuko before Smellerbee stepped forward to start.

"I'm June," she said as she waved to the other girl and two guys. "But I go by Smellerbee, and this is my boyfriend, Johnny. He goes by Longshot." Longshot waved once, but never spoke up. "We both study a mix of Hung Gar and Tai Chi. I've also done Tai Kwon Do and kickboxing. We're here to see other styles, learn from others and just get away from schoolwork."

That brought a chuckle from the other three that Zuko didn't really know as Toph turned to them. The senior Zuko had English was a big guy. He was mostly likely a football player just by his sheer size, easily a foot taller than Zuko and looked like he had two hundred pounds on the scarred teen.

"I'm Chuck," the big guy said in a really deep voice. "And I'm here because Smellerbee and Longshot made me come. I learned some Hung Gar as a kid when I was really little. That's why my friends still call me Pipsqueak." Smellerbee, Longshot and Toph all smirked at the big guy, but he ignored them and continued. "And I'm here to learn more, and I'm especially interested in Bagua. A big guy like me can easily overpower anyone, but I don't like hurting anyone if I can help it."

The group turned to the sophomore, a girl with brown hair and eyes who smiled shyly at Chuck and Zuko.

"I'm Angie," the girl said quietly. "And I've been learning Shaolin from my grandfather for as long as I can remember. I started learning much more since I moved here closer to him a few years ago, but I don't think I'm nearly as good as you, Zuko." Zuko was startled as she smiled up at him and blushed slightly. The scarred teen noticed Toph start to frown, so he leaned away from the girl as she continued. "I would like to learn more about other the other styles, but also more about Shaolin."

"Who's your grandfather?" Toph asked as she smiled at Angie. Zuko could tell it was not quite as sincere a smile as it could have been, but she seemed to be relaxing more.

"Mr. Jeong," Angie said, pointing to the gym teacher correcting a few stances on the beginners. "He's been here forever and I'm glad my dad found a job near him three years ago."

Toph smiled and nodded before turning to the freshman, a small boy, even smaller than Aang or Toph with green eyes and messed up brown hair.

"Me?" the boy asked and Chuck and Smellerbee held back laughs as the boy's voice broke. "I'm Lee. And I've learned a little of everything, but I'd have to say I've learned more Hung Gar than anything else. My brother taught me a lot and let me follow him to classes before he joined the army last year. I'd like to learn more, and I know I can be a lot better than I am."

The group turned to Zuko and the scarred teen frowned slightly as he saw Toph smirking. "I'm Zuko, and I learned Shaolin from my uncle. It's dangerous, but I've been told I'm good. I won't teach it, but I will improve your moves and stances. Toph dragged me into this."

He saw Toph blush slightly as the five turned their attention to the blind girl and she smiled up at them.

"If you didn't know, I'm Toph, and I study Hung Gar. Yeah, I dragged Sunshine here, and all my friends have nicknames. I will push you if you can be better, and sometimes I'll push you guys no matter what. I think we're out of time, but this is going to be fun."

Zuko glanced at Mr. Jeong and saw the teacher move to the center of the gym before calling out to everyone.

"Thank you all for coming to this first meeting," he said in a loud voice that carried throughout the gym. "Make sure you have that permission slip signed. Anyone who does not have it signed by Halloween will not be able to participate in the meetings or tournaments. Thank you again for coming and I shall see you all later."

Most of the students immediately fell into their groups and left talking excitedly. Zuko held back as Toph joked and talked with Smellerbee, Longshot and Pipsqueak for a while as Sokka and Aang cautiously approached the scarred teen.

"So, are you going to come?" Aang asked Zuko.

Zuko merely frowned at Aang and the younger boy shrank back slightly.

"Well, at least are you going to come to the movies Saturday?" Sokka asked with a wry grin. "Spiderman this weekend."

"Can't," Zuko muttered.

"Why not?" Toph asked as she walked up to the boys.

Zuko turned his frown to the blind girl, but she remained silent and continued to smile at him.

"What about you, Toph?" Sokka asked as he turned to the blind girl.

"Nah, family stuff. My parents are both off this Saturday, so they've been planning the 'family togetherness' for the past month. But maybe Sunday. Both of the parentals are flying out of town then."

"Aw," Sokka whined. "Sunday's no good for Katara and me. Our dad is off, too. Well, maybe next weekend.

"Well, I guess this weekend's a bust," Aang sighed. "Sokka, I can still go with you and Katara on Saturday. But then I have to study for geometry on Sunday. But what about my birthday?" Aang turned his innocent grey eyes back to Toph and Zuko. "Will you guys come? Please?"

Zuko frowned again at the cheerful sophomore, but not as severely as he had before. He glanced at Toph standing next to him and saw her face turned up towards him, questioning him with her unfocused eyes.

"I don't know," Zuko finally sighed as he was scrutinized by three sets of eyes. "Its three weeks away, let me think about it."

That response seemed to please Aang, as he smiled and Sokka relaxed a bit. Toph dropped her head, but Zuko saw her frown slightly before her bangs hid her features. He started to smirk. Maybe he would go to the party, just to make Toph uncomfortable like she had made him so many times.

"Well, I gotta go," Sokka said suddenly as he glanced at his watch. "Dad will kill me if I make Katara late for her dance lesson. See you guys."

Sokka turned and waved before going directly to his sister, and then proceeded to herd her out of the gym. Aang waved back to the senior before turning back to Toph and Zuko. "I have to leave too," Aang said. "Gyatso should be here for me."

"Catch you later, Twinkles," Toph said with a smile before turning to Zuko. "So, ready to walk home?"

"Yeah," Zuko muttered as he went to grab his backpack.

Toph met him at the gym door after he had seen her say goodbye to Mr. Jeong. As Smellerbee called out a goodbye to Toph, Hahn passed them both along with his two cronies that looked similar to the snotty teen, though much larger. Hahn scowled at Zuko as one of the arrogant junior's friends brushed by Zuko, bumping the scarred teen's shoulder. Zuko felt his anger rise within him and almost struck out at the big, brown haired junior, but Toph caught his arm.

"Relax," she hissed to him. She kept his arm at his side until he took a deep breath and just glared back at Hahn and his friends. Toph let his arm go as discreetly as she could and Zuko noticed that Hahn's blue eyes darted down at her hand on his arm. The junior scowled even more before smiling sweetly at Toph.

"See you tomorrow, Toph," Hahn said with his charming smile. Zuko just continued to frown at the junior as Toph turned her face up to frown at Hahn.

She remained silent until Hahn and his cronies had left before walking out of the gym. Zuko followed her, still angry with Hahn.

XXXXX

Toph could almost feel the anger radiating off of Zuko as he followed her out of the school. She couldn't blame him, she was angry with the dumbass as well. She had heard Hahn remark to his friends on how Zuko could have possibly gotten his scar during the club meeting. Each suggestion had gotten worse and Toph had wished she could close her ears. She herself was curious about Zuko's scar, but even she wasn't coarse enough to remark on it after the warning he had given in his tone on his first day. As she felt the cool breeze on her face and the fading warmth of the setting sun, she decided to change the topic and help relax Zuko.

"Sunshine, what are the acids again?"

"They're the molecules with the lowest pH," Zuko remarked, and Toph noticed he was getting calmer, though anger still made it into his tone.

"Yeah, but remind me of the strongest."

"Hydrochloric acid is one of the strongest," Zuko replied. "They're the ones that have only one spot open for the hydrogen."

"Yeah, but what are they?" Toph asked innocently as they turned onto one of the streets that led to their neighborhood.

She was surprised as Zuko became silent. He usually answered questions on chemistry.

"No, you tell me," Zuko said. His tone held a slight smile in it and a challenge as if he were testing her. "Come on Toph, you know these. Think."

Toph racked her brain as they walked to remember the periodic table. "Well, chlorine for sure. Above that is fluoride, and then below that is, uh, iodine, and ….um, bromine?"

"Good, but what else?" Zuko asked and Toph knew he was feeling better as she became frustrated over the last one. He gave her another question to ponder as she tried to remember the last element in that line. "And what are they called?"

She sent a quick glare his way and was sure he was smiling at finally finding a way to stump her.

"They're called halogens," Toph stated with a frown as she remembered the last element. "And the last, most uncommon is Astatine. Now, what's the other name for a base?"

"Alkalis, which have a pH above 7, the strongest being closest to 14," Zuko answered easily.

"Fine," Toph growled to which Zuko chuckled lightly. She was glad he was in a better mood, even if she was in a sour one because of chemistry. She decided to change the subject again as they turned into their neighborhood to get herself in a better mood.

"So, what are you doing this weekend that you can't hang out?" she asked him.

She heard his steps stiffen and his clothes move as if his posture had straightened and become rigid.

"Family stuff," he muttered. Toph frowned as his tone became guarded again, so she decided to make light of it.

"Hanging out with your uncle? That must be cool. He really cares for you."

"No," Zuko said before he retreated into silence. "Not that," he finally stated as they turned onto their street. "Toph, just drop it for now, ok? I need to study for these tests."

"Yeah, we both do," Toph said with ease. "Come on, math first and then chem."

She led the way to her house, almost disappointed that he had not confided in her, but she knew she was getting close. Sometimes too close, and she knew he knew that as well. She wanted to be there for him, to help him with all the rage, anger and resentment he seemed to have stored within himself, but she knew she was baring herself at the same time and that scared her. But Toph knew that he felt the same way, and that with time, they would both be ok.