Just a little note, Toph isn't blind in this fic. There's a reason for that and it will be seen in future chapters.

gemsofformenos: xP I feel like the best way to know a person is to read their works. To a degree anyways, lol. Thank you so much lol, tbh I never really thought of my works as something that would get readers thinking. Not in this way anyhow! "I really start to dislike Sokka about his reaction to Sukis pregnancy." Yeah, usually I make Sokka more likable. But then again, so far we've only seen it from Suki and Aang's prescriptives and a bit of Katara's. "Sokka is splitting this group of friends with his behavior" He is causing a bit of a rift, yes. "Aang seems to think the same, even if he tries to moderate between Katara/Suki and Sokka, by keeping this opinion for himself for now." Aang wants to be neutral but he does veer more towards one side. "School could be hell for people like him, unfortunately I know what I'm talking about." Oh man, yeah I feel this too. I got a lot of shit in high school not only for being a late bloomer but also because I was the 'quiet' one. I also took a lot of shit for befriending the people no one else wanted to talk to. It's a shame how being friendly often gets targeted in high school. "The way some kind of people sometimes treating open gays is just disgusting and some of the ludicrous and absurd ideas a lot of these idiots have in mind about being gay." I feel like people just like to attack things that they don't understand and that in itself is crazy to me. "Beside Azula she is my favoruite character, and I'm sure you will give her the depth, she had in the cartoon but which was often disguised by her dark sence of humor. Keep on having fun with your stories." Toph is my favorite after Azula as well. Mai comes in third. But honestly, I love all of the characters. Except Zhao, Zhao is dumb. And thanks! Hope you enjoy chapter 9!

The last place Chan wanted to be right then was in the hallways of Wan High. He wished that they would have had the assembly closer towards the end of the day. Instead they wedged it right into second period. He punched at his locker. Now he was going to have to think about it all day. How the hell was he supposed to get anything done, with a searing reminder that he had let Ruon-Jian die.

Government class with Long Feng was the last place he wanted to be. He threw his textbooks in his locker as though they were responsible for all of his woes and slammed his locker shut. The sound was clear and booming even over the chatter of his peers. It drew a few looks, but not a voice was willing to pose questions. He stomped into Long Feng's classroom. His hand twitched, he clenched and unclenched his hand. He took a deep breath in. He wouldn't slam the door. He was the captain of the boys' volleyball team and he didn't want to lose that to an angry outburst. He couldn't imagine Long Feng taking him slamming the door well.

"Would you like to take your seat, Mr. Haga." Long Feng asked.

Chan scowled, saying nothing at all. He retreated to his seat if for no other reason than to refrain from wiping that smug grin off of Feng's face. The man knew that he hated being called by his last name. Haga had to be the worst family name, the sound of it was so unbecoming.

He mostly zoned out the lesson, his thoughts were heavy with wondering why Ruon hadn't confided in him. Had he done something to make Ruon think that he wasn't trustworthy? The assembly only made him feel more guilty. He had seen all of the signs. Ruon pulling away from everyone in the group, save for TyLee. Roun quitting the team. Roun giving him his lucky volleyball. Chan rubbed his face, how the fuck did he miss so many glaring signs?

He didn't, did he?

It was easier to deny it and hope that it would go away. That Ruon would have pulled himself together. Isn't that what they always did?

Chan didn't realize how hard he was gripping his pencil until it snapped. And then Long Feng snapped, ranting about how disrespectful it was to sling halves of pencils across the room. And Chan snapped too, he leapt out of his chair, sending it clamoring to the floor, and stormed away from the class room. It looked like he'd be talking to principal Roku after all and then probably one of the social workers. God, he hated the social workers and their forced care.

Hate. Hate Hate.

He hated a lot of things.

He hated Wan High, he hated Long Feng, he hated his last name. He hated Teo and his eyesore of a wheelchair. He hated Katara for being a kiss-ass. He hated Azula because that was the in thing now. But he hated Usha too because her voice was nerve grating. He hated that he was dating her. He wondered if it was worth it just to get under Azula's skin. Usha did have a nice rack. And he hated his weakness for such things. He hated Zuko more than anyone because somehow he blamed Zuko for Ruon's death. Maybe if Zuko would have let him have Mai…

It's irrational and a part of him knew that. That part of him knew that there was much more to it, something he probably didn't know about. But that part of him was diminishing. He was going to lose it soon.

Because more than any of the other things he hated, he hated himself. It all started going down hill after that party. That stupid homecoming party he didn't really feel like hosting to begin with.

It was building up inside of him, it needed a release. He took a turn away from the office and wandered towards the gym. He looked around the hall and slipped into the vacant boy's locker room. He approached his least favorite locker and began slamming his fist into it, until at least half of his anger had been released. His knuckles were bloodied some, but he still felt as though he should get in a few more punches.

"God." He huffed, running frantic hands over his face and hairline as he paced in the dark locker room. "Oh, God." He tried with all of his willpower to breathe deeply and exhale. "God, oh God," became a repeated phrase. And then a hissed, "oh fuck" at the realization that he probably shouldn't stick around. He'd caused quite a stir.

So he bolted from the scene of the crime.

He just needed to get to the principal's office.

No, that's not what he needed at all. He needed some air.

He needed to get out of that school.

He needed to go home.

.oOo.

He didn't get to go home. No, they had made him stay, they kept him nice and secured with social worker Yangchen and a few Dai Li officers. Roku was making it all too apparent that the only reason he hadn't been expelled yet was because his father was one of the school's top donors.

A talk, a few pills, and two hours later, he was sent off to lunch. He hadn't much of an appetite for it though. He had less patience for joining Chu-Leng and Jet at the lunch table where he would be surrounded by at least another hundred or so noisy classmates.

He slammed his backpack onto the table.

"Oh come on, man!" Chu-Leng exclaimed as his milk carton toppled.

"Fuck your milk."

"What's your problem?" Chu-Leng grumbled.

"What do you think is wrong?" Chan asked. He stood and grabbed, fully intending on fetching some paper towels to thrust in his friend's face.

What happened instead was rather different. He took a backwards step right into Teo. For his poor attention he was on the ground. "Are you fu—" He could hardly seem to get the words out of his mouth. "Can you watch where you're going with that thing?"

"You ran into me!" Teo was being awfully bold and Chan was ready to let him know that he had picked a bad time to grow a pair of balls.

He grabbed ahold of the wheel chair and gave it a good shake. "I wouldn't have ran into you if this thing didn't take up so much space." He gave the boy a good shove, eliciting a round of 'ooo's' from his lunch table.

"Give it to him, Chan." Jet snickered. It was just the kind of encouragement that he didn't need.

"Alright." Teo lifted his hands. "Sorry, I'll move out of your way next time."

He was already over the edge and gathering a crowd. He wasn't one to disappoint. "Oh, I know. And I'm going to help you remember to do that." His fist landed on Teo's cheek before he could process what he was doing. He was raising it again.

"Chan." A voice cut through the cheering and chanting, smooth and soft but somehow more powerful than the rest. He lowered his fist and turned to her. "What are you doing?" She asked. "I know that we like to bully our nerds but this is…"

He cut her off, "We?" He laughed, he was faintly aware that he sounded maniacal. "You are one of the nerds we bully. Remember." He took a step towards her. He knew that she wanted to forget, but he was going to remind her just as well as he was reminding Teo to know his place.

Azula held her ground, he knew that this was drawing even more eyes. They all wanted a show, they were going to get it. He ran up and gave her a decent shove. He thinks that the only reason he was able to do it, was because she didn't think that he actually would. He heard her wince and noticed that she was clutching her side.

There was an absolutely murderous glint in her eyes.

A glint that mellowed him out just enough for the Dai Li to escort him out in a pair of cuffs.