A/N: FINALLY!!! Chapter 4 is finally here!! I know it's been a while…OK! OK! A DAMN long time! Sorry, I've been really busy with school, and tennis practice, and art lessons, and the play, and…wait, why am I telling you this? Well anyways, I got really discouraged as the new episodes came because they didn't follow my shipping principles. But then I thought: 'the heck with it!!' so I decided not to discontinue this story!! Hip-hip, hooray! Now, please don't disappoint me! R' and R'!

Silence fell upon all of them. Not a sound could be heard except for the fade sound of their heartbeats and their short and soft breaths. Toph's words were still floating in the air, repeating themselves again and again, making Sokka even more anxious.

Every single muscle in his body was tensed. It was like if he had a dagger in every single pore of his mocha skin. He felt his body temperature rise with each passing second, yet he was cold, oh so cold… His mouth had dried and his tongue had swollen disabling him to emit a single sound. And even if he could, his mind had gone blank. The only thing in his mind was the outburst that took place a couple of seconds ago. He could not react to it; he didn't know how he was supposed to…

"Well?" asked Toph crossing her arms.

Sokka remained silent, eyes wide open and body flash-frozen.

"Aren't you going to say something?" she asked getting a little impatient.

Sokka shook his head to regain control over his mind and body. "Come again??" he asked softly to double-check what he just heard.

Toph let out a sigh and carefully started once again "I like you Sokka" she said and gave him a sweet and warm smile.

Sokka rubbed the back of his head nervously and chuckled a bit "Uh, I like you too, Toph. I mean you're a great friend and an awesome earthbender!" he said putting emphasis on the word friend.

"I don't mean that kind of 'like', I mean the 'like, like'. Do you get me? Or is it too hard for your tinny whinny little brain to understand?" she said smirking while getting closer to him. He automatically started backing up. Then he stopped for a second, and suddenly he starts to laugh hysterically. She looked at him quizzically while he rejoiced.

"Ok, ok." He said wiping a tear off his eye. "You got me good! Pretending to like me and…flirting with me! Ha! Now that was a good one! I gotta give you your props, that was-" he stopped when he saw the expression on Toph's face. She looked really, really serious and didn't seemed to be amused one bit.

"Do I look like I'm joking with you?" she said in an angry tone, placing her hands on her hips. She felt so frustrated! Why was it so hard to believe that she liked him?? She was human, wasn't she? She was a girl, a preteen, right?? And girls and boys can like each other, can't they?? Then WHY DID'NT HE UNDERSTAND!! 'stupid guys…' she thought to herself while rolling her eyes.

"Toph," he began, choosing his words carefully. "you're nice and cute and all but, there are…" he thought carefully for an appropriate word. "uh…factors… that make it clear that it wouldn't work out between us…" he said wincing at the thought of what she might do to him for telling her that.

Toph just stood there with an emotionless expression on her face but what Sokka didn't know was about all the things that went through her head when he finished that sentence. 'How can this be!?' she screamed in her head. 'I finally show my feelings towards this clown and this is what happens!!!' she mentally yelled. 'I knew I should've kept my mouth shut!' she mentally slapped herself. 'But why doesn't he like me? Katara said I was pretty and she's a horrible liar so it means it's true. And he did say I was nice and awesome. Ok, so maybe I'm not the nicest person in the world but I care! Besides I told him that the only reason that I bothered him was because I liked him!!' she thought trying to figure out why he rejected her. 'Maybe there's something more…' she thought hoping that it wouldn't come to that. Never did she think of her blindness as a disadvantage, NEVER. But know, when she finds no other reason, she can only think that her blindness was the one thing keeping her from what she really wanted. She felt horrible!! She felt heartbroken and, for the first time, she felt helpless… Nothing could change her condition thus Sokka would never like her. She felt torn apart… 'I can't believe that Sokka's like that…' she thought sadly and heartbroken. 'Well, can you blame him? Who would want to date an obnoxious blind twelve-year old? He deserves much better than that…' she mentally butt-kicked herself. Every word she thought felt like a thousand daggers through her heart. She noticed that she had been quiet for quite a while 'All right girl, get it together' she encouraged herself 'I you're gonna leave empty handed, at least do it with dignity!'

"Uh, Toph?" said Sokka waving a hand in front of her but quickly stopped when he remembered she couldn't see it. Then out of nowhere, Toph starts to laugh hysterically! (WTF??...o0)

Sokka immediately backs away afraid of what she might do to him. "Um, Toph, are you ok?" he asked confused.

"I can't believe you fell for that!!" she choked out while trying to calm down. "Man, you should have seen your face!!" she said pointing at him. "You looked so freaked out! I mean, seriously, ME liking YOU?? Priceless!" she almost yelled the last part.

Sokka started to laugh nervously "Jeje, yeah. Man, you had me going there for a second." He said relieved. Come on, how awkward would it be to have someone that likes you but you don't feel the same way about them traveling 24/7 with you? Honestly, he didn't think he'll be able to ever sleep again…

"That was fun…" said Toph wiping a tear off her eye. What he didn't know was that the tear was not of rejoice, it was of heartbreak and sorrow. "Well, see you later. Momo and I are going to take a nap" she said as Momo flew to her shoulder, then she headed to her room.

Sokka dropped back into the sofa with a sigh of relieve and sank back into his research.

What neither of them knew was that our favorite little airbender saw the whole thing. He was overwhelmed but at the same time, he wasn't sure if Toph was ok. He could sense that she was really hurt but since she was being, well, Toph, she didn't show it. He decided that maybe later he would talk to her. He waited a few seconds and came in through the door like his usual self: with a huge smile and a bright attitude. He grabbed the waterbending scrolls and runned back to where Katara was waiting.

A/N: Hey everyone! Chapter 4 is FINNALLY up! ALELUYA, ALELUYA!! As you can see, this was a major Tokka chapter with a little Tophaangy-ness at the end. Hope you enjoyed. Remember, more pairings will come up soon. Please Review!

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