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Read on…

Ana's POV

Toph is gone? But how?

I grabbed Heidi by the shoulders to support myself from the shock. "No-no-no-no-no! How can this be? I locked the doors! I locked the doors didn't I?!"

I couldn't breathe. I couldn't breathe. A sharp pinch on my arm woke me up.

"Ow!" I yelped as I rubbed the sore spot.

Then I waited…but it wasn't coming. The horrible images that should've been running through my mind crippling me to the point of collapse just…weren't coming. Why was that?

"Ana!" Heidi's voice snapped me out of my pondering.

I turned to her, "We have to go look for her. She's my responsibility and she's not here!"

Heidi ran a hand through her hair, "I don't want to be a Debby Downer but…this is Phoenix…Arizona. It's a really big city and there are millions of places that she could be in right now–" she gasped as if she just realized something. "What if she's been kidnapped!"

I gasped and tears pooled in my eyes. I've only just gotten to know her. She couldn't have been kidnapped. She just couldn't have.

A hand lay on my shoulder in reassurance. Todd's voice sounded close.

"We'll find her. We just have to split up."

I looked up at him.

"But…we have no idea where to even start," I told him.

He wiped away my tears with his thumbs.

"You know I hate seeing girl's cry, especially if they're my best friend. So cheer up. We'll find her." He smiled at me.

"Yeah," Heidi chirped up. "Todd's right. Have hope and we can find her." She wiped away a tear that still lingered just under her eye.

Heidi pushed up her quarter-length sleeves, pulled up her pants, pulled down her shirt and stood with two hands on her hip. This was what was known as Battle Mode Heidi, the most dangerous mode Heidi had.

She clapped her hands together, a sign of a plan forming in her scattered brain head. "Alright! Now I want two teams up in here. Ana and Aang will take her car in search of Toph on the streets. Todd and I will search around the areas of the parking lot. 'Cause in the streets I sure as heck ain't gonna go with another girl."

"Why not?" Aang asked.

Heidi sighed. "Gangs…people in general…" Aang still looked confused and Heidi was a bit too preoccupied at the moment with Toph to worry about whether or not Aang got what she said. "Okay, we've got to get a move on people. Move move move!"

Heidi practically pushed Todd into the ground with such force as she tried to get him to hurry up and get back into his car.

I dumped all the groceries into the trunk without even worrying which should go in which order and hurried to get my car started back up again.

"Get in and buckle up Aang," I ordered as I looked behind me to make sure there weren't any cars coming my way and tore my way out of the parking lot and into the streets, looking wildly for Toph but keeping a watch out for cars and pedestrians.

For the fifth time in an hour and a half Heidi called me on my cell phone to report that there was still no sign of Toph, inside or outside of K-Mart.

"Keep looking, make sure you don't miss anything," I said again as I shut my Hello Kitty cell phone.

I was so stressed that I was shaking from head to toe and it was making it really hard to hold on to the brake while I searched the streets. Agitated, I ran a hand through my brunette locks but was surprised to feel another hand on top of mine. Aang was rubbing soothing circles on the back of my hand.

I couldn't look at him. I concentrated on the road in front of me while I tried to keep the blush from appearing on my face.

"It'll be okay," Aang said. "Trust that Toph will be alright."

"But she's…" I couldn't say it. It sounded too mean, but Aang knew what I meant.

"She's never let that stop her before. Remember, she can see with her feet."

"I know but still…" I couldn't help but worry. I mean, Heidi was talking about gangs and that made me nervous. What if she was in the middle of a shooting or worse…eek!

Aang tried to cheer me up with a story, "One time she took on a hundred of Dai-Lee Agents all by herself and beat every single one of them to a pulp. In our group, she was mostly the brawn. But she knew how to listen before striking, which is why I'm not all that worried about her." In my peripheral vision I could see him smile at me, "But she's my best friend so I really want to find her."

I pulled my hand out from under his but not before giving it a little squeeze. Then I tried to hide my furious blush while looking for Toph.

My phone rang again.

"I found her!" Heidi squealed through the phone so loud that I had to hold it away from my ear. Far away enough for Aang to hear the uplifting words. "We're heading back right now, don't move!" I looked around to see if there were any cars coming before driving onto a deserted lot to execute a rapid u-turn and pedal to the metal so I could ask Toph what in the world had happened to her.

Toph's POV

I guess I was stuck in Ana's car for about an hour, napping, before I got bored. Yeah, I was bored of sleeping. Go figure.

And my mouth was so dry. I had orange juice in the morning but I guess I sweated it out of my system.

I fingered for the little handle that opened the door. I pulled it out and pushed open the door when all of a sudden I hit my head on the window. Rubbing (and silently cursing) the sore spot I wondered why it hadn't opened. Maybe she locked it?

"How do you open this again?" I wondered out loud as I went sifting through my head for the instructions that Ana had left me before we left the house.

First, find the handle. Check.

Second, find the lock and pull it up. Umm…is that what I was missing?

I really hated that there were barely any vibrations inside the car. Outside was not problem, but all the insulation on the inside really messed up my vision. I let go of the handle to search for the little lock thingy. When I found it I had trouble opening it because my nails were too short to lift it up. After about a minute of wrestling it, it pulled up.

Third, pull the handle and push open the door. Check.

I'm free!

I was careful to close the door because I didn't want to get my cast stuck. The stupid cast. The unneeded, unwanted, superfluous cast that was always making me mad and hurting my head when I wanted to scratch it.

I walked off towards the store, eager to find Ana so she could buy me a soft pillow or something comfortable to sleep on.

Why did this have to happen to me? I bet this would never happen to Melon Lord. Melon Lord would have a million pillows and a comfortable spot to sleep in.

"Oh, I've been waiting for you," Andy's voice made my skin crawl.

"Why?" I asked like it was the most stupidest thing in the world.

"We never really got to talk the last time we met." I could feel him coming closer and I stood my ground.

"That's because you ran away like a scared little chicken because of Heidi's dad." I felt him grab me by my hand and drag me off somewhere near the side of the building. Here, I felt that there were a smaller number of people who could watch us.

Good for him, better for me.

"Listen, I'm not going to have you speak about me that way."

"I speak however I want to," I assured him.

A slap on my cheek gave me a reality check. This guy wanted to control me. But I wouldn't let him do it.

I laughed. "Were you expecting that to hurt? Because it actually kind of tickled." My taunting tone took on a darker side, "I dare you to do it again."

He let out a disbelieving gasp as I punched his face. I could hear the breaking of bones and cartilage.

Ha ha, I broke his nose, I thought in a sing-song voice.

"I hope that let you come to your senses. If you ever hit me again…you're going to regret it. Same goes for any of my friends."

I couldn't stand to be in the same vicinity as this guy anymore. I took off towards the streets behind the store. Anywhere I could be alone.

He didn't understand how lucky he was to get off with a broken nose. I was ready to beat the crap out him, but I didn't.

Why didn't I? Oh yeah, if Ana or Heidi ever found out, they'd kill me because I'm not supposed to be involved with him. But did that mean I couldn't beat him up?

I pondered this for a moment.

I didn't feel like going back there to beat him up. Plus the punch to the nose was enough for the slap he gave me.

Ew! I exclaimed in my head in realization, He touched me! Now I have to go scrub my cheek raw. I hope stupidity isn't contagious.

I went around the block to avoid the spot where Andy and I had met in case he was still lurking around but before I could go back into the parking lot I heard someone calling for me.

"Hey Toph, you need a ride somewhere?"

"I don't know," I replied to Riley.

"Why's your cheek red?" he asked, his voice controlled.

"An ass slapped it but I broke his nose."

In a serious tone he asked, "Was it Andy?"

"Do you know of any other asses that are dumb enough to mess with me?"

He chuckled. "Do you want to get something to eat?"

"Why not?" I patted my belly. "This bad boy could use another meal."

"Get in."

"Do you miss China?" Riley asked me as I shoved sixteen fries down my throat.

I thought about that while I chewed.

I shrugged as I swallowed. "I guess. I mean, Its only been a week since I've been gone, right?"

He changed the subject, "Toph…please don't get involved with Andy anymore."

I leaned back against the cushioned seat.

"Okay, now does that mean I can't beat him up? Or I can but I just walk away from it after he's been pulverized and incased in concrete?"

He took a sip of his soda before answering.

"Don't get anywhere near him."

I frowned. "So that means I can't beat him up? Why not just shove the straw through my eye, I think that'd be less painful."

I heard him sigh.

"He slapped you, Toph," he said slowly so I could understand.

"Yeah, and I broke his nose for it. Nobody gets away with hitting me or touching me without my consent. That's just the way it is." I smiled, proud of what I had done, but it took me a while to realize that Riley wasn't on the same page as me.

He played devil's advocate, "But do you think that'll stop him from coming back again and again?"

Where was he going with this? "If he knows what's good for him."

"He doesn't know. He'll keep on coming back with more force, whether that means more people or just brute strength I don't know. But I do know that he won't stop until he's satisfied. Toph, you already have a broken arm. Take care of yourself. If not for you, for us. The ones who care what happens to you."

I moved the straw inside my milkshake in a circle. I can't believe Riley. He actually has the audacity to make me feel guilty for my actions. Now, I wasn't so sure I liked him talking.

"You sound better with your mouth shut." I slurped down my milkshake.

Riley dropped me off back in front of the parking lot. We probably would've stayed longer at the restaurant that served good fries if Riley hadn't left me to ponder what he said. I got tired of us not speaking about anything so I told him I wanted to go.

Now I was busy feeling the steps of each and every person that walked by. If they were in a car it'd be harder to detect them. Why does everything have to be so freaking hard in this world?

I heard my name being yelled out for the second time that day by a loud screeching sound, almost like a bird being strangled. It was Heidi.

"Toph! Toph! You gave me a freaking heart attack, woman!" I was brought into a tight embrace and I couldn't breathe.

I strained to speak, "One arm is broken already, want to go for two?"

Heidi, as small as she was, had managed to lift me up in the air and now she set me back down.

Dramatically she said, "If that's the price for another day with you I'll gladly take it."

"Doesn't mean I will."

"Toph," Toto's voice interfered in our squabble. "Where were you? You nearly gave Heidi a heart attack. Not to mention Ana almost died of an anxiety attack."

I smiled. "How many attacks are possible in a day?"

"For Heidi the limit is ten. For Ana, one is enough."

I heard a punch and assumed it was Heidi punching Toto's shoulder. I heard her flip open her cell phone, dial some numbers and had to cover my ears when she screeched like a wounded saber-tooth baby moose-lion, "I found her!" She shut the phone.

"Toph," Heidi said. "Ana and Aang will be here in a while. Are you hungry? We can go get something from the deli."

"I already ate."

"How?" Toto asked.

"With Riley. By the way, I'm craving another milkshake. Go buy me one," I ordered.

I heard the squeal of car tires behind me and edged a little closer to the store away from the pavement. I felt two people run up to me and hug me like I was their lifeline.

"You guys are just hell-bent on rebreaking my arm, aren't you?" I struggled to say angrily.

"Toph," Twinkles whispered in my ear, making me shiver in the intense heat. "I'm so glad you're okay. I was so worried."

Before I could stop it I felt heat rush into my face at his words.

I could hear the soft keening of cries coming from...a head full of curls it felt like.

"Ana?" I asked.

Ana detached herself from me and I could feel a prick in my neck from the intense gaze I knew she was giving.

Half hysterical, she shouted at me without taking a breath, "Where were you!? I can't believe you left the car? Were you too cold? Was it hot? I locked the door! I have groceries that are melting and I have to be home in less than an hour to drive my mom to work then I have to set up. And then I have to–"

Something clamped itself over Ana's mouth, stopping her hysterics.

Toto spoke, "Ana, calm down. Toph's been with Riley this whole time. She's been safe."

A surprised mumble came from Ana, "Rhiney?"

"Riley?" Aang said in surprise.

"Yeah, Riley," he assured them. "So don't worry anymore and hurry up and get home."

I heard her sigh. "Wait," she exclaimed. "Toph, I'm gonna be gone all night–and after a scare like the one you just gave me you are not staying alone!" she said in a hurry before I could open my mouth. When Ana was scared she sounded like my mother when she got angry.

"She can stay with me!" Heidi exclaimed.

"Are you sure?" Aang asked.

"Yay! Another sleep over!" she exclaimed.

I sighed.

"Heidi, are you sure?" Ana asked.

"Girl, don't worry about it. My parents won't mind."

"But Toph doesn't have a change of clothes…"

I decided to hurry up and solve this problem so that she could go home and stop worrying. Because if she stopped worrying then I'd stop feeling guilty.

"I can change into whatever clothes Heidi has. It's only for tonight so I'll be fine. Toto and Twinkle Toes can drop us off–if that's okay with them–at her house while you go home and do what you gotta do. Deal?" I answered for her. "Deal. Alright, now get a move on before I drop kick you." I turned her towards her car.

She hesitated. "Um…okay. But remember to call me if you need anything. Heidi, please be sure to feed her and–"

"Go!" I interrupted.

"Don't forget to call and…oh I know I'm forgetting something…"

"Yeah, your butt in the seat–now get going."

She had finally left after saying her goodbyes and more instructions.

Toto and Twinkles dropped us off at Heidi's house and I go to meet her family.

Her father, Carlos, and big brother, Alex, I had already met…yesterday? I believe it was.

I hadn't met her mom or her grandma yet and I was kind of looking forward to that.

"Mom, this is Toph. She's that foreign exchange student that's staying with Ana I was telling you about. She needs somewhere to stay. Ana's mom is going to host a party or something. Toph? This is my mom."

From behind I heard some shouting in Spanish. I think that came from the grandma.

"Nice to meet you, Toph. Tell me if you are hungry or thirsty. Do you want some water? Soda? Lemonade? If you don't want anything be sure to let me know."

"No thank you, but I'll be sure to let you know."

"It was nice meeting you. But now I think my mother would like to meet you...now."

Heidi spoke, "Sorry, Toph but my G-ma is getting a little restless and for some insane reason really wants to meet you."

Heidi's Grandmother grabbed my hand roughly. I could feel her nails digging into my skin and the prick on my neck became even more intense. I thought she was blind.

Then I heard words in Spanish that I really did not understand.

Suddenly I heard Heidi butt into what her Grandmother was saying. Soon shouts went back and forth across the rooms as other people joined in the conversation. A male joined in, then another male. I decided to just stay out of family affairs, especially if they were going on in a foreign language.

"Toph and I are going to hang outside for a while. I'll clean it before we go to sleep," Heidi yelled, frustrated from all the yelling I guess.

Behind me I heard the ranting of the Grandma as Heidi grabbed my cast and led me out the door.

Sitting on the hood of her car Heidi was laughing at how ridiculous her family was while I just sat down, enjoying the feel of the metal hood and the heat against my skin.

"…And then she gets all, like, defensive and is like 'I'm telling you she came from the sky'. 'She came to the U.S. on a freakin' airplane, of course she came in from the sky, I know she didn't swim all the way from China', I told her. Right, Toph?"

I gulped. "Yeah," I said coolly.

Heidi continued ranting about her Grandma, "I swear my Grandma's on crack. She thinks she knows everything. She even prides herself in being one with the spirits. I mean, I know this, but did she have to go that far?"

"How far are we talking about?"

"Football field far. She brought up that day last week where we had that freaky storm just pop up in the middle of the day and how she "felt" something coming through a portal. I told her it was gas but she didn't believe me. So now she's convinced that you're an alien from another world–and you only met her like freaking ten minutes ago."

"Another world, huh?" I said quietly as Heidi got to monologue about all the other freaky things her Grandma has seen.

Could her Grandma really see these things? I mean, right now Heidi was talking about some kind of leprechaun that had popped into her Grandmother's room one night. And I'm no Avatar but I seriously doubted leprechauns had anything to do with the Spirit World.

I interrupted Heidi who was just getting started on a story about a picture of a ghost she had captured at some island, "You're Grandma's blind, right?"

"Yeah. Ooh, you know I read this book once where there was this little boy who was blind and he was an Oracle, able to predict the future with help from his…well, not really masters but the one who gave him the power. And everything the creature uttered into the blind boy's ear was true. The boy, though, such a pity, could never lie and had to always speak the truth."

I sat up on the hood of the car, intrigued, waiting for her to continue, but she didn't.

I tried to get her started back up again.

"And then…"

"Then what?" she answered.

"Was there a point to the story?" I asked.

"No, not really."

I smacked my hand against my head in frustration, just like Snoozles used to do when we were traveling together.

My new friends were so random.

A/N:

Okay, I wanted to apologize for not getting this in sooner. Actually I was going to post yesterday but then my internet did this weird thing where I had to click buttons and in my life I try to avoid buttons as much as possible.

Anywho, I know my girl SLSGIRL, that is, will vouch for me when I say I've been busy.

I was going to continue this chapter but I'm already at twelve pages so I think I have to separate this again into two chaps.

Again, sorry for the delay. I honestly have to get a hold of my schedule better. Anywho, please R&R both my stories, tell me what you love, hate. And yes, I know I need to add some Taangy fluff up in there, but It'll come in due time, don't worry.

Love: Lola of the Peaches

=]