Disclaimer: I own the Avatar and all its characters! Oh, did I mention that I was a pathological liar?

Read on…

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Toph's POV

When I woke up I felt so drowsy. I wanted to go back to sleep but there was a pain in my foot that was just like pulsing and I couldn't fall asleep. I remembered my trip to the doctor and got annoyed all over again. My foot was hurting and throbbing like never before. I was on my side so I flipped over on my back and I could just faintly feel something flexible on the injured foot. Wrappings? Where was my boot? Wait, I don't need a boot. I hated the boot anyways. It's not like I was crippled, I was just hurt. I didn't need it. Nope, not at all.

I got out of bed and realized I was still in my training clothes but my hair was down. I touched the back of my head and ran my non-plastered hand through my hair yawning loudly. That was possibly the best nights sleep I had ever gotten in my life. Whatever they gave me to fall asleep was totally working.

I hobbled and from the faint vibrations I got when I set my right foot down, I wondered what I was standing on. It felt fuzzy and underneath I could feel the faint particles of rock. Thank Earth for that because otherwise I'd be really blind and that would just serve to annoy me more than I already am. I hobbled towards the door and felt around for something to open it since it was wood. I found a knob and holding on to the wall for support I opened the door and stepped on wood.

Because of the wood I couldn't feel anything around me. Where was I? Weren't we coming back from the hospital? Is this that girls' house? Where was she then? Where was Aang? I yawned again and continued on my walk. I heard something up ahead and hobbled towards the sound. A loud laugh told me that I was in the right house. Then I heard Aang's voice.

"I'm going to go check on Toph."

"Again?" asked Toto.

"Yes. I want to make sure she's alright."

"How about I save you the trouble, Twinkles" I hobbled forwards and I thought I felt someone coming towards me but I wasn't sure.

"Toph, where's your crutches?" Aang asked as I felt him put an arm under my shoulders.

"Don't need them." I tried to push him off but he held me tighter and walked me over forward.

"The doctor said–"

"I don't give a flying hog-monkey about what the doctor said," I replied sharply. "I don't need them to walk. I don't need anyone's help. So stop touching me." I pushed Twinkles roughly away and was unbalanced and ended up falling on someone's lap.

"Morning," said the voice of Toto under me.

I muttered a small and embarrassed, "I'm sorry" and tried to get off of him.

Someone grabbed my hands and pulled me off of him.

"Let me go, Twinkles, before I earthbend you into the next century," I threatened.

"Toph, we have to talk."

From his tone it seemed urgent but I was still mad at him touching me and assisting me, but I relented and let him lead me into a quiet part of the house. He set me down in a chair and paced back and forth in front of me.

"Talk," I commanded.

He sighed. "Look, I don't think we're in the Fire Nation anymore."

"Earth Kingdom?"

"No. We aren't in any of the four Nations."

"Space?"

"No! Toph just listen!"

I knew he was getting to his limit so I decided to push his buttons.

"Was the swamp in a nation?" I asked in a sort of detached voice.

"Toph, focus. We aren't in our world anymore. I think…we're in the future. In another world."

I sucked in a breath through my teeth. "I think the fall totally dislocated your brain, Twinkle Puff. You're not thinking straight. I mean, how can we be in another world? I thought there was only one?"

I heard him scratch something; I think it was his head because he had a habit of doing it when he was trying to get something off of his chest. His muscular chest. His fabulous muscled chest with his sculpted arms and warm body. Those delicious muscles. Fingers were snapping in front of my face and snapped me back into reality.

"Toph, did you hear what I said?"

I bowed my head to cover the heat that spread across my cheeks. Katara told me once that when your face feels like it's burning: you're blushing and there's a color that shows up on your face that can humiliate you to no end if you don't hide it before someone sees it.

"I heard nothing."

"I told you that we are in another dimension. Teo's father talked to me about this kind of stuff once. It's like another world but the same all at once. He said that there are 8, well, technically, 9, dimensions. I wonder what drove the spirits to do that. I mean, it had to be them, right? It couldn't be anyone else…or could it? The only higher power above the Sprits is the Gods, but they've never really been involved in my business. How are we going to get back, Toph?"

"You know what I heard just then: blah-blah-blah spirit-y mumbo-jumbo; in another world."

I heard a growl of frustration and something grabbed the tops of arms, shaking me a little. "Toph! Please, pay attention. I mean, this is bad. Really bad. How am I supposed to save people from the renegades that have been attacking village after village if I'm not there! How am I supposed to keep my duty as the–" He paused.

"The what?" I heard Ana say as she walked past me. I heard a door open and close and the screech of something like a chair along the wooden floor.

"Oh, you didn't know? Aang is–"

I was interrupted by the Avatar himself. "Is–is very…thirsty. Can I have some water?" He sounded nervous and evasive. What was up with him?

"Sure, just get a cup. They're in the cupboard up there and the sink is behind me. You thirsty, Toph?"

I shook my head. "Sort of hungry though. When's the last time I ate?"

"Almost three days."

My jaw dropped. "What!? Three days!" Upon learning this little fact, my stomach suddenly clenched painfully and growled.

I heard the same door as before open and close followed by the sound of another door opening and closing plus the beeping of numbers.

"Are you mad that I told you?" asked the girl.

"No. Just kind of shocked….Why didn't you guys feed me?"

Aang answered, "You've been sleeping for two days straight."

"We tried feeding you but you'd fall asleep before the food reached your lips. I take it you have a low tolerance for medication?"

I didn't answer her; I was still annoyed at the fact that I hadn't eaten in THREE days! Were the doctors trying to kill me? The door opened and closed again and the smell of food had me foaming at the mouth.

I reached my hands out, "Gimme! Gimme!"

After a very full and satisfied stomach…

"That was good stuff," I said as I lied on Lady's' couch picking my teeth with my foot elevated on pillows. I was calling the girl Lady, because she always acted like one. I was sure that this was going to get on my nerves.

"You…are a pig," Toto said.

"Well, excuse me, but you would be too if you were deprived of food for three days." I punched Twinkle Toes in the arm; he was sitting beside me.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"That, my friend, was for feeding me leechee nuts before we–" a subtle cough had me rethinking my words. Aang had told me that Toto and Kitty had questioned him on how we got here. They had suggested flying and Aang used the suggestion to keep from getting them suspicious. "Before we flew here. Those nuts have no nutritional value whatsoever!" I amended.

"They are very nutritional!" He argued.

"Nuts do have some nutritional values," piped in Todd.

Lady came to my rescue, "Nuts are an acquired taste for some people."

I heard the door open and a huff.

"Is she awake now? She was giving me a heart attack if she didn't wake up – Oh, you are awake! How are you feeling honey?" Was it just me or did this sound a lot like Lady.

"I'm fine…who are you?"

"I'm Ana's mom. It's great to meet you. Ana, darling, can you help me get ready? I have to leave in thirty minutes and I can't do it by myself."

I heard the clicking of shoes going down the wooden hallway and Lady's muttered words, "With what little clothing you're going to wear I'm surprised you need help to get ready." To us she said, "I'll be right back. Continue watching TV."

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"I can't believe my mom is going to the bar…again!"

"Calm down, Lady. What's wrong with you? It's just a bar."

"It's not the bar, it's the fact that she goes out every single night."

Aang and Todd had left before Lady's mom had come out of her room with her "scandalous outfit" according to the description Lady was giving me.

"Well, just be glad that your mom isn't trying to set you up on a date with someone you don't even know – Ow!"

Lady was in the bathroom with me and was helping me wash myself since I couldn't stand up and I couldn't wet the arm with plaster on it. I was in my wrappings while she was, thankfully, not naked and fully clothed.

"Sorry. I'll be gentler." She gently picked up my injured foot and washed it as carefully as she could.

"Yeah, you do that."

"So, your parents set you up on dates?"

I blew my hair out of my face, only to have it land in the same place.

"No. They are trying to get me to marry a suitor – Ow! I thought you said you'd be gentle!"

I heard splashing of water.

"Sorry, sorry. It's just that…they want you to get married. At sixteen?" she asked incredulously.

"Yep. I'm of the marrying age in my…culture. That's the reason I was living with my other friends, Hotness and Sweetness. They, at least, weren't trying to get me to marry anyone and let me have my own freedom."

"How'd you end up here?"

I stayed silent while trying to come up with something to say. Why couldn't we just tell them the truth, I had asked Twinkle Toes. He answered, Because they don't know that we're not from the same world as they are; just let them think that we are so we can find a way out of this without involving anyone.

"The school I was attending had two positions available and they picked me and Twinkle Toes because, well, my parents are rich, and Twinkles had the highest grade in the entire school." That was a believable lie…wasn't it?

"That's awesome."

The only sounds coming from us for ten minutes were our breathing and the splash of water on my feet.

"So…"

"So what?" I asked.

"Is…Aang promised to anybody?"

"Twinkle Toes?" I laughed. "That's a good one! Whoo, him getting married. HA! He's seventeen, he's had time to look for someone but he hasn't found anyone so far."

She gently lowered my injured foot so that it was soaking in the hot water as she picked up the other one.

"So, that's a no?" her voice showed great interest.

"What's it to you?"

"Nothing," she hurried to assure me. "Nothing at all, except…well, he's just really cute and…it was just a question!"

"Uh-huh. Sure. Just a question right? Then why is your heart beating like you just ran the race of your life?"

I could feel the heat rise in her fingertips as she was scraping the bottom of my feet.

"Watch it with the feet will you? I don't like anybody touching them."

"You know what you need," she said, totally avoiding the subject we were just on. "A foot massage. More like a pedicure and an exfoliating scrub."

"I don't need any frilly do-dah or smelly thing put on my feet."

"It'll keep your feet from cracking so that way you'd be able to see much clearer."

This intrigued me.

"Really? Well, let's get exfoliating then!"

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"Why do we have to put my feet in a plastic bag?"

"The instructions said to put them in a plastic bag."

Lady had just put peach smelling lotion on my feet then she put them inside a plastic bag and then she put a sock over them (she tried to be extra careful about putting on the sock on my injured foot). Talk about being sensory deprived.

"I'll take them off of you in ten minutes and then I'll put on the gauze, but we need to get ready for bed. Tomorrow's a big day."

"Why? What's tomorrow?"

"School," she said like it was no big deal.

"School," I repeated. "School?"

"Yes. Why, is something wrong?"

"In case you haven't noticed, I don't do well around other people. I'm not exactly your friendly neighbor kind of girl."

"Yeah, I figured. But, since you are a foreign exchange student and you are living with me, you don't have to worry about other people because you will be in all my classes!"

Whoopdeedoo for me.

"You're going to have to change your outfit though."

"Why?"

What was wrong with what I was wearing? Sure it wasn't what a lady would wear but I liked it. It defined who I was. I wasn't going to be caught dead in a frilly-froo dress if I had a say in it.

"Clearly, you go for the punk rock type of clothing, based on how you act. And…at this school…well, to tell you the truth, you aren't going to last a day with what you're wearing."

"Of course I would! Who do you think you're talking to? I'm Toph Bei Fong the Greatest–"

"Greatest what?"

"Nothing. Forget it. But, who do you think you're talking to, Honey?"

"You're right. You're too conservative to actually consider the possibility of a new outfit. You're stuck in the past, Toph. But, that's okay. Go to school like that if you want. I can't wait to see what everyone does to you." She laughed.

"What?! You know what; I'll wear what you tell me too. No one calls me conservative if I can help it. I'll show you I'm not stuck in the past."

I heard the stifling of laughter coming from her general direction and that's when it hit me. I fell into her little trap when she took a hit on my pride.

"You," I pointed an accusing finger at her. "Are sneaky. How did you do that?"

"Well, I've been friends with Todd long enough to know how to make him do what I want. Take a hit on his pride and he's putty in your hands. You act just like him–except that he doesn't hit people–so, I figured that it'd work on you too. Plus, you should be thanking me. The way you're dressed will make you the laughing stock of the school. It's all about who's with whom and what kind of brand clothes you have to show off. It's all superficial but it's a good education, I guess."

I blew my damp bangs away again and brushed my hair away from my shoulders because it was down and getting on my nerves. "Sure. Sounds wonderful," I said with sarcasm. Then, with a sort of commanding tone I said, "Fine. I'll wear what you want, but if I feel it's too girly you're head's going to end up on a silver platter."

"Got it," she squeaked. "Did you know that you really know how to instill fear in people?"

I shrugged the compliment off.

"How are you going to handle school though?' she asked with genuine interest.

"What do you mean?"

"You're going to have to write and read from texts, you know. And you're blind, so, how are you going to do that?"

I shrugged. "Can't I just say I'm observing their teaching styles in contrast to ours? I think that'd be easy enough."

"Good point."

After she got the gauze wrapped around my foot, she left the room to go to sleep in her own bed. I was left to my own thoughts as I tried to get to sleep.

The problem with me sleeping was that all, I could think about is what Twinkles had told me when we finally got a moment to ourselves. He said I couldn't earthbend anymore because he couldn't risk it. What "it" was I didn't know? But when he asked me not to earthbend, I almost killed him. Earthbending was a part of my life, asking me not to earthbend is like asking me not to live; to stop breathing. He amended it by saying that I could earthbend; I just had to do it discreetly. No moving mountains and no pillars coming out of the earth. I complied when he asked me as, not the Avatar, but as my friend. That time he had dodged my punch, but today he was going to get it.

And what if people treated me differently because I was blind? No, I definitely couldn't have that.

The other thing that was bothering me was that I had never been to a real school before. For most of my life I've had tutors who read boring ancient texts to me while I took an oral exam afterwards. They were boring as heck. How was I going to survive? If all I had to do was sit and listen, I'd have to hit someone soon. Then again, I would enjoy that. I went to sleep with a smile on my face as I thought of the pleasures of punching some poor unsuspecting kid who got a little too close for comfort.

The next day…

"Five more minutes," I moaned as I pushed away the hand that was shaking me off my shoulder.

"Hurry up, Toph. It takes twenty minutes to get to school and you don't want to be late on you're first day," explained Lady.

"I don't care."

She pulled the comforter out of my reach and I was instantly cold. My eyes flashed open and I reached around me to try and get it back but I couldn't feel it anywhere.

"Give it back!"

"Nope. You are getting up whether you like it or not because I have your outfit all ready in the closet," she countered.

"Fine!" I yelled as I got out of the bed only to jump back because I had forgotten about my foot and I stomped it on the ground. I shut my mouth tightly so as not to scream and wake up the whole neighborhood.

"You forgot that you hurt your foot, didn't you?" Lady asked as I heard her rummaging through the closet for something.

I nodded and I heard her sigh and say something along the lines of, "Definitely like Todd." But I could be wrong.

"Put this on," she ordered as I felt cloth fall on my head. "Wait," she said and I stopped. "You need to get rid of that awful wrapping that you have around your chest. Don't you have a bra?"

"No."

"Well, I think you're a B, definitely a B," she muttered to herself. I felt a prick in my neck and that meant that she was looking intensely at me. "Hold on." I heard her footsteps fade away and I took that time to feel out my outfit.

At least it isn't a dress, I thought. I felt the outline of two rectangles that were attached to each other and thanked the Spirits that she had the decency to give me pants. She came back before I could feel anything else.

"Unwrap yourself."

"What? With you in the room? Yeah, right?"

I heard her exasperated sigh and was getting annoyed because she was getting annoyed with me.

"You don't have to take off the shirt, you know?"

I thought about that. Yeah, I think I could do it without taking off my shirt.

"I'll turn around to give you your privacy," Lady said. I silently thanked her. She was starting to grow on me. She was giving me something that my blindness too away from me sometimes: my privacy.

I reached under to unwrap my wrappings when Lady said something.

"You could totally do neutral colors, you know? Yellow would totally wash you out…could you do orange?" A pause. "Yeah, I think with your skin tone you could totally do orange. Just no neon, that's just weird and you don't want to be attracting the attention of The Populars. That would not be good. Your signature color should totally be green though. It just seems so earthy, so you, you know?"

"What? Who are The Populars?" I asked as I dropped the wrappings that were in my hand on the ground. "It's off."

"The Populars are the rich kids of this town. They rule the school and it's basically made up of – put your arms inside your shirt – of the most beautiful and vapid girls in the world with their Jock boyfriends. Lift the strings over your shoulders and I'll tie it in the back. You definitely don't want mess with them because they will ruin your reputation faster than you can snap your fingers." She jumped on the bed and grabbed something that pulled me back and I heard a small click as she clasped the bra tightly.

"Ow."

"You can keep the underwear wrapping for today, but tomorrow you're getting real underwear. I'm guessing boy shorts for you. Anyways, take off your shirt and put this on. Definitely neutral colors for you. A brown tank with a dark green sleeveless shirt looks amazing on you."

"Why are you describing it? I can't see it."

"It helps me think. Anyways, that top coupled with the black, baggy, Capri, knee length pants looks amazing! If I do say so myself."

"Guess I'll have to take your word for it." I grabbed the pants and was about to put them on when Lady stopped me.

"You're putting them on backwards." She flipped them over and put them on over my legs and left them there. "There you go."

"I can dress myself," I said cuttingly.

"I know you can but you promised I could dress you. So, there."

I couldn't believe I agreed to that. But, even though I did not need help getting dressed, I did need her help with something else.

"Lady?"

"Name is Ana."

"Lady," I said in a final tone.

"Why do you call me that anyways?"

"Because you act like one; now are you going to help me or not?"

"With what?" she chirped. New nickname for her: Tweety or Chirpy…Tweety it is.

"Um…I spent some time last night thinking about this and…I want to hide the fact that I'm blind."

"Why? Are you ashamed of it?"

"NEVER. It's just that it'll help me avoid all the questions and pity that I don't need if I can just hide my eyes from people."

I heard her chew her lips in response to my answer. After a minute she gasped.

"OMG, I totally have some contacts that you can wear! The only color I have left is green. Do you mind?" She went on without waiting for my answer, "Actually, your eyes are like a milky green already. The contacts would make your eyes look like sparkling jades! Oooh, good idea!" She jumped off the bed and ran out of the room, leaving me stunned.

"Okay…someone needs to lay off the sugar."

She came back and led me as best she could (I was hobbling and bumping into various objects) towards a place where I could feel the heat on my skin. (A/N: The bathroom has a lot of lights and lights give off heat…so, yeah)

I held perfectly still as she inserted something in both my eyes. Surprisingly they weren't uncomfortable at all.

"Now for your hair!"

Aang's POV

Todd had told me earlier in the morning that we'd have to pick up Ana because she had her license taken up for spilling coffee on her mom's white couch. I didn't see a stain when we were at her house but I didn't question him. I asked him what a license was and he said it was permit to get to drive that big hunk of metal he calls a car. I had shrugged in response.

I was preoccupied with something else. We had never actually told Toph that we were going to school. I was excited about the idea of going back to school but Toph was surely going to kill me for not telling her about it. I hoped that she'd take mercy on me and not hit me into the next millennium.

I said 'hit me' because I prohibited her from earthbending. I knew that it was cruel but I didn't know if in this world, earthbending existed or not for other folks. So, I decided not to risk it and make sure we were two normal kids in society. Toph wasn't exactly thrilled about it, but she agreed.

Todd reminded me so much of Toph. He commanded me to wear something else besides my clothes. I asked him why and he answered, "If you wear that to school your ass is going to be sore from all the ass kicking you'll get. Plus, you aren't getting into my car looking like that." I was going to say that I could just fly there but when I reached for my glider, it wasn't there. Needless to say, I felt stupid. Plus, it was my idea to remain inconspicuous in the realm so the glider would've been useless anyways.

He lent me some clothes that, thanks to my growth spurt, fit perfectly. Although the colors were more in Mai's general direction than mine. He was also nice enough to answer my questions about his car, like the parts and stuff.

I heard a honk that snapped me back into focus. Todd was leaning out the window and yelling towards Ana's house for them to hurry up.

Ana opened the door long enough to yell out, "Toph is in a freaking walking boot, you moron! Hold on!" Then she slammed the door.

"Girls," Todd muttered from up front. He told me to sit in the back because Ana's seat was always passenger. I complied because I didn't get what the big deal was about it anyways.

When Toph and Ana finally came out of the house I marveled at Toph. Her outfit fit her perfectly and her hair was away from her eyes and if was up in a something that resembled Sokka's ponytail except for the fact that it was teased in front and two small strands of hair dangled on the side of her face. Was she wearing makeup? A loud sound had me turning my head to Todd who was banging on the…what was it called again…a dashboard? Yeah, I think it was the dashboard.

"Stupid radio," he muttered under his breath. I heard a raspy voice of a man coupled with some loud music. "Rock, the classics."

I didn't know how to answer so instead I opened the door for Toph to get in while Ana went around to get in the passenger seat. Toph felt her way around the frame of the door and climbed in. After she had her crutches adjusted on her lap I climbed in after her and closed the door.

When I turned around I was met with a pair of emerald eyes that sparkled with the sun. I did a double-take and realized that this was Toph. But just to make sure:

"Toph? What happened to your eyes?"

"Is something wrong with my eyes, Twinkle Toes?" she said defensively.

I put my hands up in surrender. "No, not at all. It's just…can you see me?"

She waved a hand over her eyes. "I'm still blind you, Airhead."

"Are you sure?" asked Todd from the front as he shot Toph a glance from the rearview mirror. "Nice outfit by the way."

"Thanks," Toph said quietly as she turned her brilliant eyes towards the windshield.

"Are you wearing make up?"

"It's not a fish on my face is it, Twinkles?"

"I think it looks nice. Though, you would've looked much better without it," interjected Todd yet again. Every single time I wanted to compliment Toph, he just had to beat me to it. I looked down and saw something that you do not see everyday.

"Shoes, Toph?"

"What's with the interrogation? Yes, they're shoes but Ana graciously cut part of the bottom of them for me. Is that enough answer for you?"

"The material is flexible enough for that," answered Ana.

"Good job. Now you won't have a problem seeing, right?"

"That was the point of it."

After Toph's statement there was no way I could compliment them. She'd just turn my words upside down and make it into something sarcastic. But, I remained confident that this day was just going to get better.

In the school parking lot…

Wrong, I was very, very wrong.

Todd had warned me about The Populars and their reputation at this school but I didn't believe it.

This huge, muscular guy had walked up to Toph and Ana as they made their way in front of us towards their first classroom. Todd held me back because I was ready to go over there to protect Toph, then I remembered that Toph was Toph, she didn't need any help. But what about Ana? I stayed behind with the crowd that gathered around them as the Jock leaned up another car right in front of Toph and Ana.

"Hello, sweetness," he said to Toph. I could see that Toph's hand was clenched into a fist and I tapped the ground with my foot lightly so she knew that it was me. Her hand had trouble relaxing but she finally managed a sort of clawed position with her hand. The tapping was a warning for her to control herself.

"What's your name?"

"Toph. What's yours handsome?" Did Toph just say that? And the way she said it…wow. This guy was in so much trouble. When Toph used her innocent voice, you immediately knew to evacuate the area, but this guy just met her. Poor man.

"Name's Evan, sugar. Tell me, are you new here?"

"I'm a foreign exchange student."

"From China?"

She hesitated. "Yeah, sure. China."

"I've always wanted to go to China…maybe someday you could show me around." His hand reached down to touch her injured hand and the other was trying to keep from clenching into a fist. "Did it hurt?"

"Did what hurt?" Toph asked, oblivious to the fact that he was asking about her that was in the green cast.

"When you fell from heaven because with a face like that you must be an angel."

I was not expecting that. I moved around to the side of the crowd so that I could see Toph better. Her face was in a tight smile as she tried not to laugh.

"How long have you been waiting to use that line?"

"Since I first saw you."

"And you couldn't have spared me? What a shame. Now I have to cleanse out my ears so I can get rid of the fact that I ever heard you." She tried to sidestep him but he put a hand on her arm. I was about to go out there when I felt a hand on my own arm, restraining me. Todd was shaking his head at me with a smile on his face and nodded over to where Toph was.

All I saw was that Evan still had a hand around Toph and Toph was just standing there while Evan said, "Don't be like that baby." I turned to Todd with a questioning face when he mouthed, "Be patient. Look." I looked back and Toph looked like she was caressing his hand but I knew her better than that. She was getting a feel of his hand and possibly body composition. Suddenly she grabbed his thumb and bent it backwards while pushing him down to the ground.

"Touch me again and your thumb will be the only part of your body that you will be able to move if you're lucky," she said in a hard voice that made me cringe. Toph certainly did know how to take care of herself. Why was I worried in the first place? Well, it's a perfectly ordinary thing to be worried for a beloved friend, I concluded.

Toph walked away but not until she gave Evan one last push on his thumb that had him gasping for air. Ana walked beside her wide-eyed while whispering something into Toph's ear that made Toph laugh. Todd nudged me and motioned for me to follow him to where Toph and Ana were waiting.

"That was so cool!" Ana exclaimed.

Toph shrugged. "It's the basic form of survival. Hit your opponent's weak points and even the strongest of men will fall."

"True dat!" said Todd.

"Oh my gosh, did ya'll see that?" said this husky voice that appeared next to Ana's shoulder. "Girl, you rock." She was addressing Toph but Toph kind of tilted her head in a confused way.

"Oh," Ana exclaimed. "This is Heidi, one of my friends. Heidi, this is Toph and this is Aang," she gestured towards both of us. Her skin reminded me of Katara's. It was a bit deeper in color but it just reminded me of that. The painful clenching of my chest told me to stop thinking about her. I focused on the fact at hand.

"Hi, I'm so glad to meet ya'll. Did ya'll just move out here?" What was wrong with her voice? "I moved here not too long ago from Georgia's red-neck county so my voice might sound just a bit southern. Hope it doesn't bother ya'll."

"We all have something that defines who we are," I said.

She smiled at me and her brown eyes seemed to sparkle.

"Thanks, man…I mean, Aang. What's your last name?"

What? Oh Spirits what was my last name again?

"His name is Aang Pippenpadalopsocopolis and I'm Toph Bei Fong, nice to meet you."

Who knew that Toph could sound so formal?

Toph stuck out her hand but accidentally hit Todd in the stomach who turned around to look for something.

"Sorry," Toph said without looking at him.

Heidi was regarding her with calculating eyes.

"Say…Toph. I don't mean to be too forward or anything, but…are you blind?"

Toph's eyes widened.

"Me?" she pointed towards herself. "I'm not blind. What gave you that idea?"

"Tell me what color shirt I'm wearing."

"Blue."

"Wrong, I'm not wearing a shirt; I'm wearing a black jacket over a tank top because all my clothes are in the washing machine."

It was silent for three whole minutes before Toph gave up with a sigh.

"Fine, you caught me! I am blind. But…how'd you guess?"

"Your eyes, Hun. I gots a Grandma who's blind and I put contacts on her once. Her eyes had that sort of dullish sparkly look to it, like yours does."

"So much for hiding it," Toph grumbled.

"Why would you want to hide it?"

Ana stepped in before Toph could say anything.

"Heidi, there are times when you need to keep your mouth shut. This…is one of them."

Heidi's face was apologetic as she turned towards Toph.

"Sorry about that. I can be too forwards sometimes. Forgive me?"

Toph shrugged and Heidi's eyes widened.

"Okay," she started. "I know that ya'll said to keep my mouth shut but this time ya'll need to hear me out when I say: walk away. Walk away like your life depended on it because it probably does."

"Why?" I asked as Todd pulled me away and we walked towards the humongous red brick building.

"Because Queen Bee is making her way towards Toph and she looks about as angry as my cat when I stuck him in the microwave." I looked at Heidi and she shrugged back at me.

"I was seven and my kitty was cold. How was I supposed to know not to stick him in there?"

I let that slide, but from now on, I'd be watching her.

"Bitch, don't run away! Get your gothic ass back here," yelled an infuriated voice not that far behind us.

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A/N:

Sorry about taking so long. This eighteen page thing was long! Hope this makes up for my negligence. Look on my profile for a note on the stories I'm currently working on.

In case ya'll are wondering the ages are:

Toph: 16 going on 17

Aang: 17

Todd: 17

Ana: 16

Heidi (who is an important character in this story but you won't get why until later; I don't precisely know when): 17

The rest of the non-important characters will be in the 17 region of the age chart. They're juniors in Highschool.

I'll try to update soon, but tomorrow is Christmas Eve so I'll be beyond busy!

Hope everyone is satisfied. Don't worry if your not, the next chapter will be a lot more exciting. Toph and Aang's first day at school, different POV's.

Happy Holidays To All!

Love: Lola of the Peaches

=]