Disclaimer: Well…we all know that I don't own the Avatar and I definitely don't own Phoenix, Arizona…Not until my plan for world domination kicks in at least.
This chapter was not meant to offend anybody. Since I am a Latino, this was sort of like insulting me but I found that it was fun to write. Sorry if I have insulted anyone, just know that, that was not my intention.
By the way, I don't mean to be making fun of the school system. But for my story to actually happen, well, things need to be less real and more stupid. Plus the Phoenix, Arizona in this story is totally different from the real one. This is fanfiction after all.
Read on…
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Toph's POV
"Bitch, don't run away! Get your gothic ass back here," yelled an infuriated voice not that far behind us.
I had no idea who she was addressing but I tensed up for a fight anyways. Someone grabbed my arm and pushed me forward so that I was in front of them. Behind me, no one was moving so I stopped too.
"You called your highness," said the voice of Heidi behind me.
"I wasn't talking to you so get out of my way."
"I don't think so."
"This doesn't involve you, Beaner. I was talking to the gothic Asian over there."
I heard the shuffling of shoes and a teasing voice say, "Ooh, Kitty got claws." People around me were laughing at the comment. I stomped my foot on the ground so I could feel what was going one here. I had felt Heidi's body composition – that was similar to mine in stature except that I was actually taller – before but the person standing in front of her, almost five inches taller, was unknown to me. This must the "Queen Bee" Heidi was talking about. I could feel someone walking up behind Heidi, possibly to assist or restrain because Heidi's heartbeat was pulsating violently from what I could feel.
The arrogant voice was saying, "I have more than that you fence hopping freak."
Heidi huffed and everyone around us ooh-ed. I didn't get what was so insulting about the comment but I decided that it was best not to interject especially when I was being protected. Why was she protecting me though? Was it because she saw that I was blind? I didn't need anyone to protect me. I tried to push my way towards the Queen Bee but an arm around my waist stopped me.
"No, Toph. Remember we have to maintain a low profile. Let Heidi handle this," Twinkles whispered in my ear. His breath made me shiver.
"But I could take her," I insisted in a whisper.
"I know you can but after that stunt you pulled back there with that guy's thumb, we need to keep a low profile. You can't just start picking fights whenever you want. Think before you act."
I let out a huff but that's when I noticed his arm was still around my waist and I was pressed against his chest. Oh, Spirits. I shoved his hand roughly away and hid my burning face from him.
"Excuse me?" Heidi was asking in regards to the fence comment.
"Oh, do you still have some of the river water in your ear? Maybe you should shake it out like a dog; I saw your mom doing it this morning."
Silence was coming from Heidi.
"Can't come up with a good comeback you Mexican hick?"
"How 'bout I come with my foot up your ass!" after that she said something but it sounding like it was in a different language and I could tell it wasn't an invitation for cookies by the way she spat it. "Let me go, Riley!" That comment had me tapping the sole of my foot down and I "saw" that someone was holding Heidi's hands behind her back. That must have been Riley. "Let me go so I can show this botox abusing – water bra using – witch how we Latinos fight."
"On your back, begging for more?"
Silence and then in a voice much harder, Heidi said, "Hell no! Let me go," more words that I couldn't pronounce and some words that I should probably not repeat, though, training new soldiers, I have heard them before. I felt Heidi land a kick to the guy that was trying to hold her down and she was let go while the Queen Bee seemed to be turned around, talking smack about Heidi to her friends, and was very unaware of Heidi pouncing on her. That is until Heidi actually made contact with her body and brought them both down with a loud thud.
There was a squeal that I know couldn't have come from Heidi. Thud after thud was being landed on a body and all I could hear was a chanting of "Fight, fight. Hit her left. No, go right." Heidi was growling and the Queen Bee was screaming her head off in pain. I could feel three bodies coming up to restrain Heidi. One of them was Twinkle Toes and the other was Toto. I didn't know who the third one was.
"Heidi really knows how to fight," Tweety whispered in my ear.
"Think of a good comeback now, Wicked Witch of the West!" Heidi growled.
"Why is she fighting her? To protect me?"
"Not so tough when your hoard of wannabees isn't going to protect you because they can't afford to break a nail, huh?" Heidi said.
"Nope. Heidi has always hated her because Katherine knows what buttons to push to get Heidi to explode. Heidi is fighting her because she likes you and it's your first day here. Plus, she could care less if she got in trouble if the fight was worth it. And trust me; Heidi is definitely not going to regret this fight because she is totally kicking butt! Katherine is the one who is going to be in the wheelchair after Aang, Todd and Riley get Heidi off of her. Oh, do you want your crutches back?"
I had given her my crutches when we got out of the car because I didn't want to hold them.
"No. What's happening now?" I asked because I heard a punch land on someone so hard that they stumbled back a bit before recovering.
"Heidi accidentally punched Aang." What?! Okay, that's it. Wait, I can't go out there. Low profile and all. Plus, Tweety is holding me in place with her hand on my arm. "That's why whenever Heidi is near me I try to have Todd near too. Heidi is relentless when it comes to fights. That's why you really should wait until she gets out all her frustration on her opponent before approaching, but thank goodness that Todd and Aang intervened just now. Heidi just landed a punch to the sidewalk trying to get Katherine's face and I think I see bits of concrete stuck to her palm."
"Wow. She is totally my kind of girl, man. I could so relate to her. But she needs to learn who the correct person to punch is."
"Break it up," said this gravely voice with authority. "Break it up this instant."
I heard sounds of struggling and someone's soft voice telling her to calm down. "Calm down, you promised not to let your temper get the better of you. Why are you doing this?" he was saying. I figured that if she was like me, she was ignoring it.
"Who started this? I want to know now. If you spectators aren't out of here when I reach the count of three: detention for two weeks with me. One," I heard the scurrying of feet but I refused to move and so did Tweety. "Two," someone else walked away and there were only nine people left on the sidewalk. "That's it then, detention for the rest of you starting today. Now, what's this about?"
"Heidi just started attacking me for no reason, sir," said the Queen Bee with such an innocent voice I wanted to punch her.
"Bull!" Heidi yelled. "Mr. Dwight, she was over here talking crap about me and my friends. She went too far when she called me a Mexican hick and I couldn't take it anymore. I tried to walk away; believe me, I tried. But she made it really hard to do that." That last part wasn't a complete lie since she did warn us to walk away but there was nothing hard about it for her. She had wanted to fight the Queen Bee.
"Is this true?" I assumed he was addressing all of us and we all said, "Yes."
"We'll resume this in the Principal's office. Ladies, come with me."
Heidi was on the right side of Mr. Party Pooper while Queen Bee was on his left. I waited until just the right moment and I nonchalantly kicked my heel into the ground. I heard a yelp and a thud coupled with restrained laughter. I brought my foot back flat on the ground and tried to stop from laughing outrageously.
"Hey, don't look at me. I was all the way over here, sir. It's not my fault her platypus feet got in the way," Heidi laughed.
"Go straight towards the Principal's office, young lady. Come Katherine, I'll make sure you get to the nurse safely."
I felt Heidi walk away with heavy feet while we tried to catch up to her. Toto, Tweety and that other guy were ahead of us and saying words of encouragement to Heidi. I felt a hand over my shoulders and I recognized Twinkle Toes light footsteps beside me.
"What did I say about a low profile?" he hissed in my ear.
I shrugged. "You said no pillars coming out of the earth. You never said anything about a little rock. Plus," I added. "No one saw it. I brought it down before anyone could see it. You worry too much. Have a little fun. And, you knew that she deserved it. I mean, look at what she did to Heidi." She got her sent to the office because of something that was her fault.
He chuckled. "You mean: what Heidi did to her? That girl only got one good punch to Heidi's jaw because the rest of the time she was busy protecting herself from Heidi's continuous attacks. In a past life Heidi must have been a waterbender." I could feel his heart sort of stop for just a moment before it restarted.
So it was true.
Every time, every single time, Twinkles thought of Katara, his first crush, his heart seemed to stop and I swear I could feel it clench painfully inside his chest. When we were on Appa I had said something about Sweetness and Sparky and Aang was beside me – Appa was on autopilot – and I was holding on to him because I was laughing so hard at the little story I was telling him, but I could still feel his heart clench for a moment before he started forcefully laughing. I didn't call him out on it, but this just proved my suspicions about how he was not over Katara. Would he ever be done with her? It's been four years; you'd think that in that time he'd move on but no.
Why couldn't he get his mind stuck on another girl? Not that any other girl would be good for him, I mean, he was the Avatar for Spirits' sake. Hey…speaking of spirits….
"Aang?" I said his name so he could see that I was serious about something.
"Yes, Toph?"
"If you think that the Spirits brought us into this world then why don't you just go all Avatar on them and ask them to bring us back?"
Wasn't he the mediator between our worlds? The Spirit world and the actual world? I remember Blowfish saying something about a time when he spoke to Tea man (Iroh) about his trip into the Spirit world.
I heard him scratching his head and he was stammering some incomprehensible gibberish and I was losing my patience.
"Aang, just tell me what has you so nervous. Your heart rate is annoying me so spit it out."
He sighed in defeat. "Well, I was actually going to wait until later to tell you–"
"That's a lie. You weren't going to tell me whatever you have to say, right? What's the matter; think I can't handle it?" my voice was just daring him to challenge me.
"That's not it, Toph. It's just that…I like living. I like being alive and I want to grow old." I heard a door open and when I stepped into the building I immediately wanted out. Stumbling back I clutched my head and got back on to the concrete. "Toph! What's wrong? Are you okay? What happened?"
I groaned. "Sensory overload."
There were so many people in one little concentrated place that all the vibrations coming from them were killing my head. The underside of the floor was covered in millions of bits and pieces of earth and metal which caused an increase in the vibrations that were hitting me. Only one of my feet was able to detect vibrations since the other one was incased in a plastic boot so that made the vibrations all the more strong. I took a deep breath and stood up. Not being one to let anything get in my way, I placed my foot down on the freezing ground and let myself adjust to the vibrations that were hitting me from all directions. I knew I was going to get a headache from being inside the building with all these vibrations but I decided not to let that get to me.
"I'm fine, Twinkles. Now, back to business." I hobbled inside as Aang directed me where to go. "I promise not to kill you if you just tell me what's wrong."
"Well," he began timidly. "I'm…beingblockedoutoftheSpiritWorld." I felt him cringe as if he was expecting a blow.
I turned my head towards him. "What?" I asked.
He sighed. "I'm being blocked out of the Spirit World, Toph. I can't go in; something is blocking my way."
"That sucks."
Silence came from him until he got fed up with my answer and hissed in my ear. "Is that all you have to say? Why aren't you hitting me? Or doing something?"
"Do you want me to hit you? There's nothing I can do if they're blocking your way in. if they don't want you in there then you aren't getting in. Simple as that. Hey, what about your arrows? Can people see them? And stop looking at me." There were a lot of pricks in my neck that made me feel uncomfortable because it felt like a lot of people were looking at me, but they couldn't be looking at me. I rubbed my neck in discomfort.
"I'm not looking at you. You have no idea how many times I tried to get in but with no results. It's so frustrating. As for my arrows I don't think anyone can see them. They're there – I can see them – but no one's been looking at them and no one's asked me about them. And no, I don't want you to hit me."
If he wasn't looking at me then…
"Who's looking at me, Twinkles?"
In a strained voice he said, "Every guy you've passed since we entered."
His voice made it seem like he was jealous. This made it too good to pass up.
"Jealous, are we?" I said playfully.
I heard him stammer as he drifted behind me in embarrassment. I loved making him blush, it was so funny.
"Toph," I heard Lady yell as she ran towards me. She grabbed hold of my arms and whispered, "Blink every once in a while. You look weird when you don't blink." She let go of my arms and dropped an arm around my shoulders. "Aang, are you hot? You look red."
"I'm fine," Twinkles said a little too quickly. He changed the subject, "How's Heidi?"
"She's okay but she's scared of having to face her mom. Can you believe it? She could've been suspended but she's only scared of having to deal with her mom…or grandma, depending on who answers the phone call form the school. And I've met her grandma. Talk about a hard-ass. Those are Heidi's words, not mine."
"I think I'd like her mom," I added as a thought. I already liked Heidi so why not her mom. I heard a wolf-whistle behind us.
"Toph, I think you have an admirer," Lady said in a sing-song voice.
"Talk like that again and I'm going to have to hurt you. Second: what admirer?"
"It's just some guy who's too cocky for his own good. Aang, you're turning red again."
I smirked at him.
"It's ninety degrees in this school; I'm not used to hot weather."
'Hot weather' my foot. He was lying through his teeth (technically he was lying by his pulse rate but I was the only one who could feel that).
This was going to be a great first day.
________________________________________________________________________
This is so boring!
The teacher in Lady's first period class had me sent to the office because she didn't believe that I was an exchange student. Lady had slipped something into my hands before we entered the classroom, your binder, she had said. She had told me to keep track with it because it contained the papers that Aang had "lost" when we had arrived here in Arizona. So, here I was, sitting in the principals' office waiting for my turn to speak with him.
I heard footsteps that sounded familiar and Heidi's voice as she asked me what I was doing here.
"I don't know. Lady – I mean, Ana's – teacher doesn't believe that I'm really a foreign exchange student."
"Well, here comes, Aang. And, uh," she leaned in close to me and whispered in my ear, "word of advice: don't blink so much, you look like you're having a seizure. Oh, and when you're in there for the principal make sure you smile a lot; he's a sucker for smiles."
"Thanks. So, what happened?"
"I got ISS for three days but that doesn't start until next week. Thank goodness I didn't draw blood from Katherine, though. If I did I'd be facing court charges. Anywho, good luck."
I felt her skip out of the office and greet Aang before she skipped along to her class.
"Hey, Toph."
"Take the binder." I shoved the binder into his hands. "Leave the talking to me."
"Why you?"
"No offense, Twinkles, but you're not a very good liar," I whispered.
I felt someone come towards us with heavy boots that squeaked with every step.
"Step into my office you two," said this gravely voice that sounded almost like a rock-a-lanche or something grinding under my foot.
We both stood up and walked behind Squeaky. Twinkles took a seat and I followed suit.
"And who are you two?"
I cleared my throat and began in a formal tone, "My name is Toph Bei Fong and this is Aang Pipenpadalopsocopolis, we are foreign exchange students from China. We were chosen for a program that allows students to go around the world observing the best schools in the world and their teaching styles in comparison to ours. We both got sent out of our classrooms so we could discuss our stay in Phoenix, Arizona and at your school with you."
"Wow! Foreign exchange students? And our school was chosen?"
"It's very prestigious and it should be an honor to be chosen by our school."
"What school was that?"
"The Bei Fong Academy; my parents founded it." I figured that if I threw in the fact that I was loaded they'd give us a break.
"What city is that in?"
"Gaoling. Aang and I both lived in Gaoling."
"Where are you staying at?"
"We are currently staying at Analese-Victoria Lov…what was her last name, Aang?" I'd have to involve him in the conversation so that Squeaky here wouldn't think that he was mute.
"Lovington, Analese-Victoria Lovington's house is where Toph is staying at. I'm currently staying in Todd Radcliff's house."
"Yes," I agreed. "The School Board chose them out of a select group of people."
"Very well. I hope you two enjoy your stay, please tell me what I can do to make your stay here more accommodating to your needs. Anything," he insisted. I felt that prick in my neck as I reached my hand out to shake his and he eagerly pumped my arm up and down. I guess the rich thing worked.
When we left the office Twinkles turned to me and commented on the Principal, "He was pretty nice but he looked like he was sick or something."
"Really, I thought he looked rather well."
He ignored my sarcasm. "I didn't know you could act so formal."
I laughed lightly. "Have you forgotten that I was born and raised in a high-class society? I just decided to leave it." A burp found its way out of my mouth and I sighed in relief. I've wanted to burp for a while but it just never came out.
"Classy," he noted.
I felt the footsteps of a familiar and very stupid person approaching us and she stopped in front of us.
"You better stay away from Evan," Queen Bee warned me.
I crossed my arms and leaned on my good foot. "Or what?"
She growled, "Or you'll have to deal with me."
I scoffed. "You act like that's a threat."
"Oh, it is. And you better steer clear of him and me if you know what's good for you."
"Like I'd even go anywhere near you and your stench." I held my nose and fanned the air.
She didn't answer but I heard her heels click towards my left, towards Aang.
"Sorry that you had to hear that, baby," she purred and I balled my hands involuntarily into fists. I hissed when the action put a strain on my right arm. I let my fingers on that arm relax while the other hand was balled tightly. "Maybe I'll see you around, cutie."
She walked away and I stood there seething. How dare she just threaten me and then start flirting with Aang?! Why was Aang's heart rate beating so fast? And what was the noise that was building in the back of his throat? I waited for him to say something.
"Toph, are you hot?"
"No. Why?" I said in a strained voice. Is that all he had to say to me?
"Because your face is red," he teased.
I turned my head and crossed my arms. "No. It's not. It's too…hot in this school."
"Uh-huh. Sure it is." He began walking away in the opposite direction, laughing.
"It is!" I yelled at him.
"Whatever you say, Toph," he said in a knowing voice that made me want to beat the stuffing out of him.
I turned and grabbed the back of his shirt and turned him around to face me.
"You think something's funny? If you do, then say it to my face, Twinkle Toes. I dare you."
"Nothing's funny," he said nervously. "It's just that…well." He didn't continue because he was being crippled with laughter.
His laugh is so care free and innocent. I'm going to kill him if he's laughing at me. It was a nice sound though, I added as an after thought.
When his laughter began to die down I put on my fiercest expression and he sobered up instantly.
"S-sorry, about that."
"Were you laughing at me?"
He didn't answer but I heard a chuckle coming from his direction. I turned and walked away without another word.
________________________________________________________________________
"That…was awful," I commented as we sat in Toto's car after school. Tweety told us that we could skip detention because Party Pooper wouldn't notice. Like I was going to go in the first place.
School was over and I couldn't be any more excited about that. It was so dull. I didn't do anything in all my classes. All I did was "observe their teaching skills" and pretend to write my observations down on a piece of paper. I threw away the paper at the nearest trashcan.
"It wasn't that bad, Toph," Twinkles commented from beside me. I turned my head away from his voice and crossed my arms. I was not going to talk to the little bugger until he apologized.
"Aang, you should have seen all the looks Toph was getting from all the guys in our class. Toph, could you feel them looking at you?"
"I felt a million pricks in my neck."
Toto started the car and I heard a tapping noise coming from Ana's window. She rolled it down and said, "Heidi?"
"Hey, ya'll. Umm, think you could help me? My car won't start and I need somebody to jumpstart it. Alexandra is getting annoyed at me because she's so freaking punctual and she doesn't want to be late because she has to hurry up and get to soccer practice. Mine doesn't start until seven so I'm good till then."
"Oh my gosh! You can come to the mall with us and we can drop Alex off at Park and Rec."
"That's cool. Alex, get in the back."
"No."
"Geez, what's wrong with you?"
I heard a girl with a nasally voice reply in another language and then Heidi's tone answering back in the same language that confused us all. It continued like that for a long time before Heidi yelled, "Oh my gosh! I'll get in the back then. Sit on Ana's lap." She muttered angrily to herself as she opened the left side of the car.
Even though everything inside the car seemed a little fuzzy and disproportioned there was no mistaking the thundering beating of Twinkle's heart as Heidi slid in the car. It was a small space and since my arm was touching his arm I could just imagine what the thought of having Heidi – who seemed to remind him so much of Katara – that close to him would do.
Even though I liked Heidi, there was a part of me that was mad at her for bringing up painful memories for Twinkles. I knew she wasn't doing it on purpose but I was still mad at her.
We dropped off Heidi's little sister and that's when Heidi turned to Twinkles and said, "I'm sorry about my lil' sis. She's just…she doesn't really like people that she doesn't know which explains her lack of friends."
He took a minute to calm down his raging heart beat. "It's fine. I don't mind."
What you mind is that Heidi's arm is touching yours, you pathetic wimp. Can't even get over your first crush. I got over mine. Mine was long gone. I feel nothing for Sokka now except that he's my friend. He's freaking married to Suki. As an afterthought I added, I wonder what Aang would do if he found out that Katara is expecting a little fire breathing munchkin.
Yeah that's right. She's expecting. Sweetness and Sparky didn't know it themselves until the day before Twinkles had arrived and they thought it was too early to spread the news. I found out because I'm amazing...and I may have overheard them have the conversation in their room while I was walking to my quarters.
Maybe I'll tell him. Or we can wait till we actually get back to our time because this era was giving me a headache with so many annoying noises. There was the constant beeping going off at night and the buzzing sound from bees and so many children laughing loudly into the air that it annoyed me so much.
"Toph, does your arm hurt?" Heidi asked.
I blew away a stray piece of hair away from my face because it was scratching my nose. "No, why?"
"Your…kinda frownin'."
"The sun is blinding me."
"Oh. Okay." I waited and waited and waited. Ding! "Hey…you're already blind." Then she laughed a short laugh. "That's funny," she commented. Everyone in the car started laughing at her.
"Your so random, Heidi," Todd said while his laughter was dying down.
"I try."
We made it to the mall laughing at Heidi and her random jokes all the way. Many jokes that she said, Twinkles didn't get and we had to explain it to him. There was one about a Jack in the Box that came from one of her favorite Latino comedians. When I asked her, "What's Latino?"
She answered, "It's a different culture from Asians. It's made up of Mexicans who are not all necessarily from Mexico. Take me for example, I was actually born in Chicago before I moved to Georgia and finally here."
"What other kinds of cultures are there?" I asked as we made our way inside. The mall was so huge and I could feel a basement right under my feet. So many people, too.
"Mexican, Asian, Indian, Native Americans, African–Americans…what else; Irish…and Caucasians, the world is filled with freaking Caucasians. Not that I don't love ya'll. Ya'll are awesome," she assured us...or was she assuring Tweety and Toto?
"What do Irish sound like?" Their name intrigued me.
"They roll their tongue a lot when they talk. Like: I'm 'avin a grrrret time," is what it sounded like to me.
"What language are you speaking when you speak?"
"Right now it's English. When I was talking with my little sister I was speaking le Spanish. It's the native tongue of the Mexicans. I speak it when I get really angry. You're probably better off not knowing what I'm saying."
I shrugged. "I've heard worse."
"Aang," Ana said. "Go with Todd to find some clothes. Heidi and I will go with Toph to go shopping!"
I groaned. I had enough with Sweetness and her obsessive need for furniture but now I'd have to go shopping with these people. Spirits of Earth, please be with me in these difficult times.
"You sure?"
"Go, Aang," Ana insisted. "You will not have any fun with us…trust me."
Toto whispered in his ear, "Trust me, man, you do not want to be anywhere Ana and Heidi when they shop."
I was tapping my foot in annoyance and I saw Twinkles shrug.
________________________________________________________________________
"We've been here forever!"
"Toph, it's only been thirty minutes."
"Lady, I am not made for shopping!"
"Toph, it's only a few clothes," Heidi pitched in.
We'd been walking forever in this stupid mall going up and down escalators and stairs. Do you know how hard that is to do when you are wearing a walking boot; the crutches weren't really helping either.
"Uh…maybe we should go in this store," Lady said quietly. Her heart rate was going through the roof. What was wrong with her?
Lady's request went unheard by Heidi who was still trying to get me into the "spirit of shopping".
"Plus, you ain't paying for this. So enjoy it, girl. You know what? I'm gonna get you a job. Hey, Toph, random thought here: how do you get around? You don't seem like you need any help."
"Put your hand on the bench," I instructed. Her hand was on the bench and I gave it a smack near her hand. "Did you feel the vibrations coming from where I hit it?"
"Barely, it's wood."
"I can feel the vibrations throughout the floor." I showed her what was supposed to be the bottom of the shoes but the bottom was gone. "I can't really feel it with shoes on but without them I can feel the general position of a person in relation to where I'm standing. I can also tell that I'm taller than you."
"Yeah, crack jokes on the shawty. Ana, that's a furniture store. What's wrong wich you, girl?" It wasn't even with you; it was wich you.
"Nothing…."
Ana's eyes must have been looking at something because Heidi began muttering under her breath. Heidi had quite the Soldier's vocabulary.
"Don't let him get to you, Ana. He's ain't worth a crap. Walk with your head high and mighty don't let him see that you are affected by his presence because you aren't, right?"
I felt a huge prick on my neck and my hand instinctively went to soothe it.
"What's going on?"
They ignored me.
"Toph, walk a little behind me."
"Why?" Heidi's request was a bit bizarre.
"Andy's looking at you like you're something to eat. He knows not to mess with me because…well…let's just say that I put the beat down on his–"
"Heidi," a deep voice said. The tone gave me goose bumps.
Heidi said something in Spanish and I figured she cussed him out.
"Calm down. I just wanted to say hello to Ana…and her new friend," the way he said it gave me chills but I turned my face into a scowl.
Ana's POV
When Andy said he just wanted to say hi, he was smiling wickedly at me and I instantly cringed. When he mentioned my "new friend" I got possessive over Toph. She was my friend and he wasn't going to be able to do to her what he did to me.
"So…what's your name?" he asked Toph.
"That's for me to know."
"And for me to find out?" Andy questioned. The black leather jacket brought back some terrible memories for me and he seemed to just be showing it off.
"No. Just for me to know."
"Feisty. I liked that." He touched her cast and she jerked her shoulder away from it.
"Touch me again and you'll be lucky you can even walk. Now if you don't move I'll make you." It was scary how Toph could be menacing in a green neon cast and a walking boot.
He disregarded her icy tone. "You have such beautiful green eyes. Something about you just seems special to me."
"You know what else is special–my foot down your throat," Heidi's voice was strained and filled with anger.
"Down Lilly of the Valley, I'm not going to do anything," he said in that cool tone that sent a shiver down my spine.
He just had to get on Heidi's nerves. It pissed Heidi off whenever anyone made any references about her being a Native American (which she wasn't) or a Mexican. I saw her hands clench into fists.
"I'm going to give you five seconds to walk away, unless you want a repeat of November 15th, 2007. Remember? Another minute with you and you'd be in a coma and on life support. So, get out of our way and you better stay away from my friends," she said through her teeth.
Toph was glaring at him and he seemed to shrink a little under her intense gaze but he collected himself and gave me a smile that had me shrinking into Heidi's side in terror.
"Bye Annie, I'll see you later," he breathed and I wanted to hit him. It wasn't in my nature to fight but this guy was just asking for it. When he passed me he put a hand on my shoulder and I couldn't help the whimper that escaped my lips. His hand went to my neck and pressed down lightly before he dropped it and walked away without a look back.
Heidi saw this and she was going to go after him with but Todd came out of nowhere to restrain her.
"What is it with everybody and thinking I need to be restrained? I won't go after him…yet. C'mon Todd, even you know that he deserves it."
Todd didn't let her go but he did agree.
"Who is that?"
Heidi answered Aang's question while I went to go sit on the bench with my arms wrapped around myself. "He's a stupid jerk who needs to know when to walk away. Great! Now I'm angry again and I need to punch something. Ese estupido hijo de la–"
(A/N, Translation: That stupid son of–)
"Heidi," I pleaded. After being her friend for the past couple of years I was starting to understand some Spanish and I didn't need to hear her cuss him out right now. "Just let it go. He didn't do anything." At least not today, I thought sadly.
Heidi's eyes were wide and she struggled with her words because she was seething. "He didn't do – he didn't – he didn't do freaking anything? Let me go Todd, I'm not going to hurt anybody. It's cool, it's cool." She held up her hands in surrender and Todd let go of his hold on her arms.
I sighed as she came towards me. To comfort me.
Toph's POV
This whole encounter seemed a little weird and strange to me but this guy that just passed us seemed like such huge jerk that I just wanted to punch him. Well, I thought sarcastically, this day must be the best day of my life. So many things have happened today that it sort of reminded me of how we were always kept on our toes when the war was going on and Sourpuss was still trying to kill the Avatar and regain control of the four nations.
This day was giving me such a headache that it was probably going to turn into a migraine if it ever ended.
"Ana, he's a jerk. He's not going to hurt you. Dang girl, be strong. Don't let him get to you like that. Be assertive."
Ana sighed but didn't say anything.
Heidi tried to lighten the darkened mood. "Hey, let's get some blizzards. God, I freaking love the food courts. You can totally get Chinese, American, and even Tacos up in this place. But nothing is as good as a blizzard. Ya'll got to try some. But steer clear of the tacos because you may end up speaking Spanish because they're so authentic. Let's go." Ana stood up and with heavy footsteps walked beside Heidi.
I felt at the moment like I didn't belong. Heidi and Ana obviously had some sort of history with this jerk and it obviously involved Ana getting hurt but this didn't involve me. I was an outsider, literally. Aang and I walked behind him and I guessed he felt the same way. Like we didn't belong.
"Toph, Aang, whatcha doin' walking back there, walk up here. Walk up here." I moved to the right which was the empty spot next to Heidi. Aang walked beside me.
"Ya'll got to hear this. All right check this out, one day Ana and I were walking through the mall, everything was cool, nothing was really happening. But when we got to the food court I ordered a triple scoop of moose track ice cream and just as I was about to make it to the table where Ana and my mom were waiting, I didn't notice that there was a "Caution: Wet" sign next to me and I slipped on the tile. The ice cream went up in the air and came down on my chest and face. And that stuff was cold, man! Ana remember how we were practically peeing our pants because we couldn't stop laughing?"
"And you were pounding the floor with your hand because you were hysterical?" Lady asked in a voice that told me she was smiling a bit.
"It was hilarious! And then you tried to help me but your shoes slipped and your butt fell in the ice cream that landed on the floor. Everyone was laughing at us and that just made us laugh even more."
I heard Lady laugh lightly at the memory.
"And then your mom said, "That way you learn, stupid" and we were clutching our ribs because it was so funny. The janitors tried to get us up so they could clean but they were laughing too."
Heidi nudged me. "It took freakin ten minutes for us to stop laughing. When someone started laughing we would start laughing and my freaking ribs were hurting for two whole days after that."
Heidi laughed and Ana joined in. The whole thing was funny to me so I laughed.
"Hey," Heidi said and it sounded like she was talking to either Lady or Toto because her voice sounded just a bit farther away. "Tell them about the time I electrocuted myself."
"That explains so much," I said.
Heidi laughed. "It does actually. Okay, like, we were in Mexico on vacation visiting my other grandparents and my feet were wet because I didn't dry myself before coming home after swimming in the lake. My Grandma was like, "Ay, plug in the lamp it's dark" and it was like one o' clock in the afternoon and the sun was shining so I was like, "sure Grandma, whatever you say". I went to plug in the lamp and I accidentally touched the wire that was sticking out of the socket and for one whole second, my whole body stopped working and I fell to the ground. My grandma laughed at me and I was like, "Grandma! Did you see what just happened"? She said she saw and all she said was, "That way you learn"."
Everyone laughed at her story.
"I was like freaking crying because, man, you ever been electrocuted? It hurt, like, so bad but that's all my grandma did. You know, everything is so we'll learn. Every bad thing that has happened in our lives, for Latinos, is so we'll learn. You guys have no idea how many times I've been hurt in my life and all I got from my parents was, "That way you'll learn, stupid". No sympathy from them."
The sound of Lady's laugh was ringing loud and clear. I had to hand it to Heidi, the air of sadness and despair that was around Ana's entire being, was eliminated because of Heidi. How does she do it?
Everyone else seemed to be so light and airy thanks to Heidi.
The rest of the day was spent shopping for new clothes at a discount and when Aang asked what Victoria's secret was because of a bag I gave Lady to hold for me, everyone laughed at him.
"It she has a secret why does she have a store for it?"
I laughed, "Aang, let it go."
"Who's Victoria though? Should I know who she is? Do you guys know what her secret is? Why is she advertising it if it's supposed to be a secret?"
I clutched my stomach and gasped for air.
"There," Toto stated. "Are some things that you don't need to know, Aang. Just leave this alone."
"Fine," he grumbled. "But I will find out what her secret it."
I patted his back. "Sure you will, Twinkle Toes, sure you will."
"Oh my ribs. Oh they hurt," Heidi laughed. She sobered up when she found out what time it was. "Hurry up ya'll! It's 6:30, we have to get back to school." She ran out into the parking lot and hurled herself onto the car like it was her territory. Toto opened it up and this time I sat next to her and Aang sat next to me.
I only sat next to her because I couldn't stand to hear that clenching and pulling of his heart.
I heard Heidi next to me unzipping her pants and I panicked. Aang's heart stopped for one second before restarting and pounding loudly against his chest.
"Whoa! Whoa! What are you doing?"
"Taking off my pants."
"WHY?"
"Because I have shorts underneath and I don't have time to change in the locker room."
"Oh," Twinkles said in an embarrassed tone. I couldn't help but snicker at him. At the same time I couldn't believe how much of a guy he was.
Heidi didn't call him out on the rising heat in his body which indicated that he was blushing.
"Yo, Ana. Hand me my bag 'cause I'm gonna take off once I get there. I'll call my mom to pick me up or something. Thanks for the mall trip. It was so much fun. Crap!"
"What?" Toto asked.
"I forgot a hair thingy. Toph, I'm gonna steal yours, okay? 'Cause practice gets rough."
I took off the elastic thing that was holding my hair back in a pony–tail and handed it to her and just for the heck of it, I took off the beret that was holding my bangs out of my face. Shaking my head around a few times I felt relieved because my head could breath.
"Bye ya'll!" I heard the door open and slam shut as Heidi's footsteps pounding on the pavement faded away.
Twinkles heat against my arm raised in temperature as I figured he was watching Heidi run off.
"Hey, Toph?"
I turned away from him and moved to my own side of the car. There may have been a small truce between us at the mall but I wasn't ready to forgive.
"Why are you mad at me?"
"You should know."
"But I don't."
"Don't act all innocent. I know you were flirting with the Queen Bee and I know what you were doing just know."
He started laughing. Laughing! How dare he?! There was nothing funny about this!
"What is so funny? I don't see what could be funny about you flirting with the girl that was threatening me!"
"Your – face – funny – not – what – you think," he managed to get out in between his laughs.
I punched his arm. "Stop laughing at me."
He tried to sober up. "You have no idea what you're talking about, Toph."
"Toph, what are you talking about?" Toto asked.
"We were in the hallway and Queen Bee was threatening me and then she was saying stuff like, "Hey baby" and "Sorry about that, cutie" to Twinkle Toes right next to me. Right in front of my face."
"Sounds to me like you're jealous, Toph," Toto teased.
I huffed. "I am not! I just don't want him to get mixed up in the wrong crowd. And she is the wrong crowd!"
Jealous? Me? I'm Toph Bei Fong, I don't get jealous.
"Yes, she said that to me." He wasn't even denying it.
"See!"
"But," the Avatar continued, "I wasn't flirting."
I turned to him. "I was right there! I heard what she said and I felt the way your heart rate was rising."
He laughed again. "You have no idea how hard it was to keep from laughing at her. Her lip was huge and her eye was turning purple and her cheek was swollen. I have no idea how I kept a straight face with her advancing on me like that. She looked hilarious and I tried not to laugh in front of her face but it was so hard. That's why when you turned to me I started laughing," he explained.
My smart answer was, "Oh."
________________________________________________________________________
A/N:
This time it's Toph's turn to get jealous.
So, how did ya'll like that chapter? Review and tell me what you thought. The next chapter is probably going to be about Aang's day, or I might just do something else. Not sure.
The reason I didn't dwell on Toph's day at school was because she didn't really pay attention in class. All she had to do was observe, though, remember? Plus, ya'll know that Toph doesn't pay attention to lectures and quizzes. Geez, she's Toph for goodness sakes.
Anywho, again, read and review. The reviews make me think I'm doing a good job and they keep me motivated. =]
Love: Lola of the Peaches
=]