Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar. Derr.

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Toph's Pov

Today was such a strange day. Strange because everyone was completely out of character.

While at Heidi's house, Ana came over to bring me back to her house. Just as I'm stepping out the door after her she yells, "CRAP!"

My first thought is that she hit herself on something but I feel that it's not her toe she's holding, it's a rectangle that I've come to know as her cellular device.

"What's wrong?" I ask her.

"We have to get home now!" she grabs my hand and pulls me off the porch practically flying to her car thing, shoves me in, locks the door, and speeds off towards her house.

I'm terrified to say anything on the ride to her house because I'm to busy gripping the seats for dear life. Sure the seatbelt keeps me…somewhat in place, but with the way she's driving I don't trust it worth a-

"Darn!" she yells.

I summon my voice. "Ana…what the hell's wrong with you?"

"I forgot to get some chocolate," she answers.

I'm forced to look at her with a face that I hope shows: are - you - freakin' - kidding - me - right - now? Either she sees it and ignores it or is too busy doing this whole 'driving' nonsense.

We run to the supermarket and Ana tugs me everywhere, not noticing that she's about to rip my healthy arm out of its socket, then drags me back to her car and speeds off. Around us I hear bothersome honking and men and women howling words that I cannot comprehend.

She pulls up into her house, I presume, with a jolt that I swear just popped my back and gets out of the car running into her house. Slowly, I get out, afraid to break or dislocate any bones in my spine and trudge my way into her house.

I hear something being poured into a cup and smell the sweet aroma of chamomile, Ana's favorite. My favorite would have to be Gyokuro, a tea that is rich and silky-smooth. The delicate sweetness has a wide variety of flavors and mellowness so smooth that it seems to sooth the heart. Though it has a slight bit of bitterness to it, it leaves you feeling clean and refreshed that it's almost like a shower in your mouth. It's also called Jade Dew or Precious Dew.

But this wasn't my world and you couldn't find this stuff here. Suddenly I was in a bad mood.

A clatter in the kitchen brought me back to the present.

"Ana!" No answer. "ANA." Still no answer, just a bunch of cluttering and angry mumbling from her direction. "ANA!" I scream as I grab her shoulders and turn her around. "What in the world is wrong with you!?" I scream slash ask.

"What's wrong with me!? What's wrong with the world, Toph!? Men are so stupid!"

I let her go and cross my arms. My eyebrows knitted together in concern for her well being.

"What do you mean?" I asked her.

I hear her sigh and the scraping of a chair being pulled out and the small thump she makes by sitting in it. "It happened again."

"What did?" I pulled up a chair in front of her.

"Riley's dad got angry at Heidi and she texted me that she was on her way over here. She's probably crying."

I stood up straighter. "Why is she going to be crying? And why did Riley's dad get angry?"

She sighed and I heard a thump on the table just before I felt the footsteps running from the porch to the door. I heard sobbing and a voice cry out, "Why did he have to come home early? He's such a butt!"

It was Heidi.

I felt her throw herself on me and sobbing into my shirt. Uncomfortably, but knowing she needed some comfort I patted her back. Was anyone going to freaking explain this to me?

Heidi was sobbing and mumbling incoherent nonsense into my shirt. I caught a few words.

"…soda…no coaster…dumb couch…angry goatee man…stupid me…."

I put my arms around her. "You're not stupid. Why are you saying that?"

The sweet scent of chamomile came up behind me as Ana handed the warm cup to Heidi. Shakily she gulped down the drink, spilling some on my healthy arm. The sweet liquid turned cold swiftly as it ran down towards my wrist.

I could feel her heartbeat, rapid when she first entered, slowly begin to calm but still maintaining a fast beat.

"You're okay now. You're okay," I said soothingly.

I can't explain why I was being so nice. Normally I'd be like hardcore, "Stop your crying you big baby. It's not going to solve you're problems". But I just couldn't bring myself to say it. I don't know why these new friends of mine did this…thing to me. They made me feel protective over them like I was with my friends back home. But I had no problem telling Katara or Sokka or anybody else what was on my mind.

I guess I felt guilty for deceiving them. Ana and Heidi and all of them. I wanted to tell them. Heck yeah I did. But it could mess up time and space and blah blah blah.

Heidi pulled away and I sat her down on my chair. The rustling of a bag caught my attention as it was being set in front of Heidi.

"And he was all 'I see you're on my leather couch. Oh and there's a soda in your hand. Where's your coaster? I've told you a million times to use a coaster when you are here. Riley why is it here? I tolerate it being your little play toy but to bring it home? What are you thinking?' and Riley's all like, 'She's not a toy' and defending me and stuff. Well his da'gum dad get's angry 'cause Riley's defending his freaking toy and he got hit so I just walked out the door and came here," Heidi rushed through all of sudden as if we were in the middle of a conversation. Then she started sobbing again.

"You left Riley there?" Ana asked.

Heidi sobbed harder. "If I h – hadn't left then he'd get something worse than a – a bru-bruise!"

I grabbed a chocolate and melted it in my mouth thinking about what I had just heard, trying to make it make sense.

So, Heidi was in Riley's house on his couch with a soda when his 'da'gum' dad came home and saw her not use a…coaster. Then he got angry at Heidi and started calling her an 'it' (my eye twitched at that) and because Riley defended her, he was hurt (my eye twitched again) and so Heidi ran out of there so Riley wouldn't get punished more. Yeah, I think that's the gist of it.

"Now I'm pissed."

Heidi was silent for a bit before laughing through her sobs. The usually chirpy Birdie was deathly quiet, afraid of that look in my blind eyes that made even the bravest of soldiers run for cover.

"I'm gonna have beat some a – butt aren't I?" I asked no one in particular. I censored myself for Ana's sake. Pounding my fist into my hand for emphasis I was about to walk away when a hand pulled at my t-shirt.

"I thought you were kidding," Heidi croaked, her voice sore from the sobs.

I "looked" at her. "Hell no! If anyone makes any one of my friends cry and I'll bust a cap on his butt!" I learned that phrase from Skeeter during lunch time. It was so much fun to say, but I was totally serious. I definitely wasn't going to sit around and just watch my friends cry over somebody.

I was Toph Bei Fong. Woman of action!

"Toph, please don't," Heidi pleaded. "If you were to get hurt in your condition Riley would get angry at me to allow such a thing to happen."

"Toph, I understand how you feel but we can't take this guy out on our own. He owns like a whole chain of Karate studios around the country and Hong Kong. He could kill us with two hands and both legs tied behind his back while blindfolded," Ana explained.

I wanted to laugh. Laugh at the stupidity of that statement. If she knew my true strength she'd definitely believe that I could take out that Karate guy. But she'd also freak. Well, I wasn't allowed to tell her anyways.

"Fine," I accepted grudgingly. "But if I ever bump into him you guys can't stop me. Got it?"

"Fair enough," Ana said.

"Who'd want to stop you?" Heidi asked, regaining a bit of strength in her voice.

Both Ana and I sat down, drinking tea and eating chocolates with Heidi.

"Riley hasn't called has he?"

"No…" Heidi trailed off at Ana's question. "He doesn't like hearing me cry. I think he's scared that I hate him or something."

"Why couldn't you pick a guy who had a nice dad? One who just sat around reading the newspaper and working to provide for the family he loved?" Ana grumbled.

"But I love him. Riley! Not his dad." A pause. "If there's a price for rotten judgment, I guess I already won that."

Soon she started humming. Then singing.

If there's a prize for rotten judgment
I guess I've already won that
No man is worth the aggravation
That's ancient history, been there, done that!

Ana joined in:

Who'd'ya think you're kiddin'
He's the Earth and heaven to you
Try to keep it hidden
Honey, we can see right through you
Girl, ya can't conceal it
We know how ya feel and
Who you're thinking of

Heidi began again:

No chance, no way
I won't say it, no, no

Ana's turn:


You swoon, you sigh
why deny it, uh-oh

I wasn't sure what was happening but it was like music night in the general's quarters and brought back great memories. I was barely even listening to them as I thought of Iroh – always trying to spice of music night trying to get me to sing karaoke. He never could get me to do it. My heart filled with regret. I distracted myself by listening to the Loudmouth and Birdie sing.

Heidi was singing:

I thought my heart had learned its lesson
It feels so good when you start out
My head is screaming get a grip, girl
Unless you're dying to cry your heart out
Oh

Ana began again:

You keep on denying
Who you are and how you're feeling
Baby, we're not buying
Hon, we saw ya hit the ceiling
Face it like a grown-up
When ya gonna own up
That ya got, got, got it bad

Heidi's turn

WRONG: No chance, now way
I won't say it, no, noAna began again and I began humming the tune along with her.

You're doin flips read our lips
You're in love"You're right. I am in love," Heidi finished. "What's up with you Toph?"

This scene won't play,
I won't say I'm in love

I was shaking my head their antics.

"Nothing. I just wasn't expecting for it to be music night around here."

"Well," Heidi mused. "It's not good to stay mad or sad for long. Sometimes you just got to go with the flow, you know? Hey, I rhymed." She chuckled at herself. I grabbed another chocolate.

"So what? You forgive that…butthole?" I crumpled the wrapper in my hands.

"Heck to the freaking no! But…I don't like holding grudges – sometimes. It happened. And look, I'm still alive aren't I? It's in the past so it doesn't matter anymore. So why get mad when you can get glad, you know? Darn," she mumbled. "Didn't rhyme that time." A pause. "Hey! I did rhyme! I got this poetry stuff good man!"

Birdie sat down and sipped her tea. "You're an idiot Heidi."

"I am not an idiot! I am the entertainment factor around here!"

"So what do we do now that Heidi's all…better?" I asked.

Heidi was the first to answer. "Movie!" She screamed.

Ana's voice stopped Heidi's determined pace towards the living room.

"Toph can't see the movie Heidi," she said exasperated at having to constantly remind Heidi.

For at least one hour and thirty minutes we spent it arguing from subjects like how the eye works, to Ana's restrooms, to idiots in our lives and who was the biggest, to which season was better to have chocolate in.

Honestly, don't ask me how we ever got into such a wide spectrum of conversations because I have no idea. We were all talking so fast due to the caffeine in the chocolate that the conversations were almost a blur.

Suddenly something that was not us began singing.

I'm an emo kid, non-conforming as can be.
You'd be non-conforming too if you looked just like me
I have paint on my nails and makeup on my face
I'm almost emo enough to start shaving my legs –

"Oh, that's Todd." I heard a small beep and in an impatient voice she said, "What do you want you emo kid?"

Suddenly she got quiet. "Riley?" she softly said. Birdie and I took that as our cue to leave (with the chocolates in hand) to give her some privacy.

We sat down on her bed, listening to some soft music, melting the chocolate in our mouths. The high and low notes of the supple music surrounding each other in a beautiful dance that just made you think of the clouds through the castle like structures of the western air temples. I liked our time there. It was nice…excluding the burned feet.

But I was feeling tired…so extremely tired.

Ana yawned. "I'm gonna take a little nap Toph. Wake me up if something happens."

I nodded, suppressing my yawn. Soon Ana's breathing evened out, her heartbeat slowed to a soft, delicate rhythm.

I soon fell asleep. But not before hearing Heidi, "It's not crap! You know I hate to keep grudges-sometimes-but I don't want to keep living that moment in my mind so why not accept that it happened and be done with it? What's so wrong about that, Riley?!"

I drowned out her voice and fell asleep on the soft, plushy bed next to Ana.

I could see. Was I in the Spirit World or what? Was the first thought that came to my mind.

Colors swirled around me. Beautiful colors. A few I recognized. Bright blue, calm blue, deep forest green, soft pink, a warm yellow, dark brown, Aang.

…Aang?!

I could see him reaching out to me. I wasn't angry at him anymore. I wanted to be with him. I reached out for his hand but I couldn't reach it. He was fading. Fading into a warm color of bright yellow light.

Screaming at the top of my lungs I commanded him to come back. But the sound died at my ears. It couldn't reach him.

He smiled and I could feel my heart cripple me, trapping me in a painful darkness. I tried once more, reaching out for his hand I silently begged for him to take it.

His hand was the only visible part of him. I stretched as far as I could but he slipped from my grasp and was swallowed by the light. I was left in nothing. Emptiness. I grabbed my shoulders and knelt down, a hot tear rolled down my skin. It hit the emptiness. The sound was deafening.

"Wake up Toph. Are you having a bad dream?"

I opened my blind eyes not seeing a body but recognizing a voice.

"Toto? What are you doing here?" I asked him as I sat up on the bed. Ana's quiet breathing was still behind me. She hadn't woken up yet.

"I saw you crying and –"

I held my arms up. "Whoa! Toph Bei Fong does not cry."

A finger gently pressed under my unseeing eyes and smeared hot water on my cheek.

"Then what's this tear doing there?"

His hot breath fanned my face and smelled sort of like pie.

I pushed him away, uncomfortable at the small distance between us.

"Toph Bei Fong does not cry," I repeated again, more forcefully this time.

Crossing my arms I turned away from him.

"Listen," he put an arm around my shoulders lazily. Almost like it was the most natural thing in the world. I tensed uncomfortably. "I won't tell anyone you were crying if you do me a favor."

I punched his gut. "I already said I wasn't crying."

"Who was crying…" a soft innocent voice asked behind us.

"Well you see Ana –" I clamped my hand over Toto's mouth.

"Nobody," I answered her. "Toto's just an idiot." No need to get Ana all upset while she's so tired. She shuffled on the bed and her breath evened out once more.

Something wet touched my sensitive palm and I suppressed a squeal. I wiped my hand on Toto's shirt and flexed it, trying to get rid of the nasty feeling of his tongue. I walked out of the room towards the kitchen hoping to get a snack and away from Toto.

"Todd," Heidi said, "have you asked Ana yet?"

"Why do I even have to go?" he asked, irritated from behind me. I went to lean against the wall.

"Because it's homecoming! You have to go. Riley and I are going so I want my friends to be there too."

"You, my dear, need to expand your circle of gossips."

A frustrated sigh.

"Okay, okay. Toph's gonna go with me. Ana can go with Aang."

I raised my eyebrows. "Toph's going where with who now?" I asked.

"To homecoming." When he saw that I didn't understand he elaborated. "It's a dance."

"Hell no."

Silence followed my statement. Then a maliciously, sickly sweet voice spoke.

"Hey, Heidi. While I was in Ana's room I saw the most interesting thing in there. See, our little Toph here was –"

"– just saying how I'd like to come to homecoming with him since that seems like something your culture likes to do," I finished lamely for stupid Toto.

I could just feel the smirk radiating off of his form.

Heidi clapped, completely unaware of my murderous aura towards a certain guy.

"Oh, has anyone seen Aang?" Riley asked. "We came over here for that, but I sort of forgot." I could hear the fake chagrin in his voice.

"He left to go meditate but hasn't been back. We figured you'd know Toph," Toto further explained.

I crossed my arms tighter. "So what if I do? What's it to you?"

"We're worried," Riley answered.

"Not my problem."

"But you do have knowledge of his whereabouts," Toto stated.

I nodded. A soft hand touched my unhurt arm.

"Toph…" Heidi pleaded. "Please go find Aang. If not…I swear I won't stop bugging you for evers and evers." Her sickly sweet voice sent shivers up my spine that I thought only Katara could do. I narrowed blind eyes at her and walked out the door.

It was sort of chilly tonight. The air was not clean and sort of weighed on the body as I walked out into the streets. They were pretty much deserted except for the rowdy teenagers I could hear whistling and wanting to come over. But the glares I sent in their direction quieted them down until I passed.

Instead of using my hands to lower myself down into the canyon, I found a staircase leading down.

Using earthbending would be way faster, I know. But I wanted to take my time finding Twinkle Toes. I was still angry at him no matter what my dream self felt. She was probably the complete opposite of me: stupid.

I didn't want to think about it anymore so I just shut it out of my mind.

The walk was supposed to distract me, not annoy me to death. It was taking too long to walk down that I finally just jumped off of the stairs and landed inside a deep hole I had created in the ground. The earth shot me back up to flat land and I continued walking in the direction I felt another living presence.

The closer I got the more I could hear a conversation happening. With the next step I took I focused solely on the vibrations around me.

Bugs scurried on the rock floor, trying to find a place to rest. A snake was coiled and ready to strike a few feet beside me. Under me was a rat's dwelling. A few feet in front of me was a large boulder, behind that was Aang.

A/N:

Okay. This chapter was getting way to long. Guess it's sort of a filler. But I'll get out the next chapter as soon as I can. Today I didn't have homework so I was able to get this out. Who knows how much homework I'll have tomorrow. But I'm gonna work on it as much as I can.

R&R!

P.S. for my other story. I'll work on that chap. tomorrow if I have time. If I don't it'll probably come out on Saturday or Sunday. But I'm taking art classes on Saturday so it's a bit hard to work on it.

Love: Lola of the Peaches

=]