Chapter 5
During the next two days, people had been busy finding out more about their heritage, making their outfits, and asking people to go with them. The rush in school was severe, and not many teachers knew why. The dance seemed to plague the students, wanting to hurry and get home and keep designing their outfits. The day of the dance came quickly. People raced home to get ready.
Katara stared at her reflection in the mirror. " You look beautiful, Katara." her father said, leaning against the door frame and gazing at the almost exact replica of his wife. "You think so, Dad?" Her hair was pulled into two long seperate loops and tied up at the back of her head. Two tendrils fell down to caress her cheeks. She wore an ice blue v-neck gown that fell to her feet and split up her left calf and tied at the back of her neck. On the dress was the symbol of the Southern Water Tribe. For shoes, she dawned long black boots which came to her knees and were covered in shiny silver buckles. She ran her a hand over her face, the ice blue nails glinting in the light. Katara had decided to wear blue eye shadow and ruby red lipstick, hoping to catch Jet's eye tonight. To dazzle him. Her father looked like any father would when his daughter was growing up too fast; lost. " I think you might be missing something, though." Hakoda pulled from his pocket a black velvet box. He handed it to her. She slowly opened it, revealing an ice blue round stone. Carved into it were three spirals leading to waves. It was attatched to a leather strap necklace. "Dad, it's beautiful!" Katara pondered. Hakoda smiled. "It was the same necklace I used to ask your mother to marry me." Her head shot up in disbelief. "Katara," He said as he took it and stood behind her. She raised her hair from her neck. "I'm passing this onto you. Take care of it." He hooked the ends together and stepped back. "Just like your mother." He said. She smiled as she placed her hair back down and checked over in the mirror. "Dad, thank you so much." She hugged him. "Well, I better go help Sokka get ready. He might still be making muscles at himself in the mirror." They laughed and he left the room. 'I wonder what Aang will be wearing? His jacket did have Air Nomad symbols on it. Could he..? Maybe..'
Aang had begun to get ready, plotting every move he was to make tonight. "Aang, do you think it be wise that you wear an outfit based from the Air Nomads?" Gyatso asked with concern. Aang had changed into a yellow shirt with a red cloth belt around his waist. His yellow pants reached past his knees and stopped as another cloth had binded it to his legs. Wrapped around him was a long red cloak that reached near his feet. Sewn into it was the Air Nomad's symbol. His hair was covered by a black beanie with a blue arrow. He checked himself over in the mirror. He turned to the old man walking toward him. "Gyatso, it said to dress as your true origin," He reminded him. "I'm going to be dressing up as my own with pride." Gyatso smiled and held out his hand to hand him something. "This was mine and you should wear it tonight." It looked like what seemed to be a wooden circle with Air Nomad symbol carved into it. Two short ropes hung from the wood and had red clumps on the ends. It was all connected by wooden beads. Aang accepted it and lifted the beads over his head as it rested on his shoulders. He smiled looking back in the mirror. "I think I'm representing them well." He said to Gyatso. The old man pulled Aang to him in a hug, though he was small and frail, the hug was fierce and strong. " I am very proud of you, Aang. And I know that the Avatars before you are all proud too." He blushed, letting Aang go quickly and checked the clock. "You should get a move on, Aang. It's almost six." He nodded and moved toward the door, into the main room. "I'll be back later. Don't wait up!" He ran out the door, becoming more excited with each step. He walked to the park, which wasn't far from his road. Lights flared from the large front windows in the building. Some kids, mostly teenagers, were piling in, moving to the auditorium that held their own age group. Aang walked through the glass doors, looking around at the well dressed couples. Dizzying amounts of green, red, and blue covered the dance floor as he joined the crowd. There were masked bouncers, all dressed in Fire-Nation clothing, standing guard at each opening to the seperate rooms. Above the doors were large signs listing the age group assigned there. Aang joined the line leading from the fourth door down, his eyes searching the teens for someone he recognized. 'Just anyone from class, huh? Admit it! You're searching for Katara. I wonder what she'll be wearing.'
He finally reached the doors after two kids had to be removed from the line for trying to sneak into an older age group. He walked through, eyes shifting around the room. He walked to a table and sat down. "Hey there, Twinkle Toes." Aang turned his head to see Toph walking up to him. She was wearing her casual earth-kingdom outfit. "Hey, Toph. Why aren't you wearing an earth kingdom-based dress?" he asked. She took the seat next to him and stared at the wall next to him, possibly hoping to be looking in his eyes. "Because I'm blind, so I don't have to worry about my appearance. I don't care what I wear to a stupid dance so why should I bother dressing all fancy for it?" He smiled. It was nice to know someone who didn't really mind how they looked. "So you waiting for Katara?" she asked curiously. "What? Psh. No! Why would I? I'm just.. Waiting.. For a drink! Hehe." he lied. She smirked. She knew he was lying. Toph stood up. "There's so many vibrations in here. I think I'll go searching for Teo. And Twinkle Toes? You're a bad liar." She walked away slowly as to not bump into someone. 'Well, so far no Katara. Go find her stupid!' Aang stood. The corner of his eye caught a glimpse of someone. Through the crowd, he could see Jet, dressed in a red layered shirt with two different armor plates on his shoulders with brown sleeves reaching the elbow. Long armed gloves ran up to his hand a looped over his fingers. Brown pants covered his thigh to his knees, brown cloth wrapping around his legs. 'A warrior. I didn't think he'd come as his nation, whatever that may be.' Aang was tempted to walk over and crack a joke. He decided against it. He walked toward the entrance, until he saw the blue angelic figure walk in. Aang thought his heart skipped a beat. His breathing became shallow as he rubbed his eyes to see if he was dreaming. He wasn't. Katara walked over to him while he gaped. "Katara.. Y-you look.. I'm st- Wow..." He finally managed to say. "Thanks, Aang. I really like your outf-" She looked him over and gasped. "You're.. From the Air Nomads?" He nodded. 'I knew it! I told you he was from among them!' Katara praised herself. "So uhh.. Katara, wanna d-" "Katara!" Jet ran over and took her hand. Like a true gentleman, he bowed over her hand and placed a kiss to her knuckles before letting go. A small shot of anger bolted right through Aang. "Katara." he said a little louder, agitation clearly in his voice. "Would you like to-" Jet tugged on her arm. "Come on, Katara. Let's go dance." She turned back toward Aang. "I'll see you, later. OK?" He nodded, crestfallen. As they were walking to the dance floor, Jet looked over his shoulder, smirking to the younger boy. 'Damn him.' He looked around for Toph. Spotting her, he smiled to himself. She was next to Teo, laughing. "Twinkle Toes? Shouldn't you be with Katara? I felt her walk in a little bit ago." Aang looked behind him into the crowd of dancers. He saw the dancing couple he envied so much. Jet spun Katara to the rock music playing. She laughed and giggled, the older teen smiling with arrogant satisifaction. After all, Katara was in HIS arms and not Aangs. Aang turned back around. "Toph. Help me get a dance with Katara!" She smirked. "Using me to get another? OK. This place needs a little drama anyways."
He grabbed her hand and lead her onto the dance floor, a few feet from Jet and Katara. Aang turned toward them. Toph grabbed his shirt and pulled him back around. "Listen here. If you're going to dance with her, you must wait for a slow song. Now dance with me and pretend to not notice them." They danced, jumped and smiled. 'Wow. This is pretty fun. I bet it'll be even better dancing with Katara!' "Let's turn up the heat, Twinkle Toes." Aang looked confused and Toph winked at him. She spun around so that her back faced him and started bobbing and weaving around Aang. Her body backed into his, grinding against him. Katara peeked over at the two and her jaw dropped. Toph was a dirty dancing goddess. Aang was probably the deepest shade of red. Toph slammed her foot down on Aang's. "Do something, Aang. She's watching us." she whispered into his ear, her arms around his neck. Feeling completely uncomfortable and awkward, he pulled Toph closer. Their hips ground together in rhythm to the music. All the while, he could feel Katara's eyes burning on the back of his head. He tilted Toph's face up to his, resembling a lover. The song began to reach it's end so with the final beat, Aang grabbed Toph's hips, pressing her tight to him and bending her back. The song ended, lights coming on. Aang straightened Toph, the two breathing hard. Slowly, he looked back at Katara. "Uhmm..Wow, Aang." she said, blushing. " I didn't know you could dance like that. Or that Toph could either." Aang rubbed the back of his neck, suddenly bashful. " Thanks. I think." he laughed, shooting a glance over to Toph that meant something along the lines of: "Okay, genius. What now?" Jet, who had been quiet this whole time, spoke up. "I'll admit your moves aren't bad." He pretended to flick a speck of lint off his shoulder. "But I've seen better." Aang smiled at him. " Really? I hope that doesn't include you. Because from what I saw, you looked like a dead stick on the floor. I almost pity you, Jet." Jet growled and moved forward, only to be restrained by Katara. "Jet." she choked out, laughter hindering her speech. "Don't." Aang gave Katara a wink. Her face reddened and she smiled nervously. 'Wow. Aang, I'd love to dance with you like that.'