"This is the one where we all go to school, right?" Zuko asked.

"Yup," Sokka confirmed. "Or at least Katara, Aang and I do, along with Azula, Mai and Ty Lee. As far as I remember, you and Toph haven't shown up yet."

"Oh, I'm sure I will soon," Toph said smugly. "In fact, my sixth sense tells me this is the chapter where I finally make my grand appearance."

"And since when do you have a sixth sense?" her Water Tribe friend inquired.

"Since the time you weren't aware of it. Now start reading, Snoozles."

Coach Yu crossed his arms across his chest and surveyed the gym full of noisy adolescents.

Toph raised an eyebrow. "'Coach Yu'? Is that supposed to be Master Yu?"

"Guess so," Aang replied. "Looks like he'll still have a teaching role in here."

Toph leaned back on the couch. "Now that's something I'd like to see. I know Master Yu holds earthbending classes, but I've never seen him actually teach a bunch of kids before. This should be interesting."

He clapped his hands to get their attention. "Students, please line up according to your classes immediately!" The volume of chatter decreased slightly as the students milled around to form two lines, pushing and shoving each other in the process and generally horsing around.

"Typical kid behavior, in other words," Katara observed.

"And where did you get the idea of 'typical kid behavior' anyway?" Sokka asked her.

"From traveling the world with you three; I've learned all I need to know to handle my own kids."

"You mean your and Twinkletoes' kids," Toph interjected, while Aang blushed slightly beside Katara.

Coach Yu sighed in exasperation. He had to take on another P.E. class today because their own coach was absent, and seeing as he could barely handle his one class, having to manage two of them at the same time was turning out to be quite a handful. He scanned the lines before pointing out the two students at the head of each line. "You two will be the team captains. We'll be playing dodgeball today, and you can do whatever you like as long as there are no accidents involved! Are we clear?"

"Yes, Coach," the students answered dutifully. Coach Yu smiled smugly, deciding that he had handled that rather well, and then turned around and headed toward his customary seat at one end of the gym. He had a magazine he wanted to finish before the class was over.

Toph snorted. "If that's really how Master Yu runs his earthbending classes, I'm surprised there aren't any casualties yet. Leaving a bunch of kids with not yet fully realized earthbending abilities is definitely not a good idea."

"Yeah, but the kids in here can't earthbend," Sokka pointed out.

"Given what Katara calls 'typical kid behavior', I'm sure they'll find something to do that's just as dangerous. The book did mention they were playing dodgeball; they might accidentally knock someone out with a hit to the head."

Sokka shrugged. "Oh come on, how hazardous can a ball be anyway?"

"Well, let's just take you as an example and try hitting balls at your head, and we'll be able to find out."

The Water Tribe teen gulped; he didn't find the idea all too appealing. "Let's just get back to the story, yeah?"

Katara soon found herself standing next to Aang and a petite girl as the two team captains chose the players they wanted on their team - or rather, the players chose themselves. One of the students picked out to be captain was a slightly plump teen with round-rimmed glasses and a neat crewcut,

"No Aang, we don't know what a 'crewcut' is," Sokka intoned automatically.

Aang blinked twice. "But I wasn't even going to ask anything!"

"Oh, sorry. I think I've got into the habit of answering questions before someone asks them."

"Yeah, and it's really annoying," Toph deadpanned.

Katara looked amused. "And since when have you found Sokka not annoying?"

"You got a point, Sugar Queen."

while the other had a muscular build and brown hair trailing down his shoulders.

"Meaning he's got long hair?" Aang wondered.

Sokka squinted at the book. "Sounds like it. Kinda weird though, a buff guy with long hair."

"That description sounds a bit like Xin Fu. He had long hair, and I guess you could call him buff," Katara recalled.

Toph humphed derisively. "So what? I still locked him and Master Yu in a metal cage somewhere in a forest in the Earth Kingdom. Actually, since Master Yu is in this story, maybe this long-haired guy really is Xin Fu."

"Xin Fu's hair isn't brown," Aang reminded her.

"And how would've I known? Colors mean nothing to me."

"Besides, it would be weird if Master Yu was a teacher and Xin Fu's still a teenager like us. What do you think, Zuko?" Sokka addressed the Fire Lord, who simply shrugged.

"Considering I don't even know who you guys are talking about, I'll choose to opt out of this discussion."

Apparently the latter was one of the 'in' crowd, as he was surrounded by more buff guys and a troupe of girls with slim figures who looked as if they would belong on the cover of a teen vanity photo shoot.

"A teen vanity whatchacallit?" Aang echoed

"Never mind the pronunciation, it's already told us what we need to know: they're a bunch of snobs who think they're gorgeous," Toph said with a dismissive wave of her hand.

"And who probably really are gorgeous," Sokka added.

Toph gave him a sightless glare. "See, it's idiots like you who encourage them. To me, they're all one and the same with the rest of you all."

"The rest of us all? And where in the line do you fit in?"

"At the level of total awesomeness, of course," Toph answered like it was the most natural thing in the world.

Sokka groaned. "And she calls me an idiot."

The other team consisted of mostly people who either had braces, pimples, baby fat or all three.

Zuko blinked. "Sorry, what are the three things again? I didn't quite catch it."

Sokka scrutinized the book closely. "Um, I think it has something to do with fences, warts and chubby newborns. Yeah, that must be it."

The Fire Lord raised an eyebrow. "That's a weird trio."

"You sure you didn't just mistake things for something entirely different?" Toph asked warily.

Sokka shrugged. "Hey, this whole book is full of weird stuff. Who cares?"

"Guess so."

"True."

There were a few exceptions, of course, such as Katara, Aang, and the petite girl who he was now introducing.

"Glad to know we aren't in the fences-warts-and-chubby-newborns category," Toph smirked.

Sokka looked up from the book at her. "Hey, who said anything about you in here? You haven't been mentioned once in here!"

Toph snorted. "How many petite girls do you know, Snoozles?"

Sokka looked thoughtful. "Well, I dunno if Ty Lee counts - "

"Just continue the story and you'll see it's me, Snoozles."

"Katara, this is Toph Beifong.

"Told you."

"Shut up, Toph."

She's in my homeroom.

"Which is probably their word for class," Sokka guessed.

"Wait, wasn't Katara in Aang's class as well?" Zuko pointed out. "In that case, she should've met Toph before this already."

"Yeah well, maybe it's a different class," Sokka decided.

The scarred teen shrugged. "If you say so."

Toph, this is Katara Clearwater."

"And here we have another strange surname," Sokka proclaimed to an audience who largely ignored the fact.

Toph's green eyes scrutinized the taller girl.

"My eyes are green?" Toph wondered aloud.

Aang glanced over at his earthbending teacher. "Sort of. They're kinda a pale milky shade though."

"Assuming I know what 'pale' and 'milky' looks like," Toph muttered. "Sheesh, why does everyone expect me to know what are colors when I'm blind?"

"Apparently you're not like that in this story though." Sokka pointed to the last line he'd read. "I'm pretty sure blind eyes can't scrutinize people."

"That'll be the second time Toph's not blind in a story," Zuko recalled. "The last time was during that story about the New Year carnival, right?"

Toph huffed. "Well, I'm happy to stay blind. I can still get through life without being able to see anything, and honestly, if traveling with the Avatar has taught me anything it's that some things are better not seen."

"You have no idea how true that is," Katara mumbled.

"So this is your first day here or something?"

"Yeah. I only met Aang during Chemistry class."

"Well, he seems to like you well enough." Toph glanced briefly at a beaming Aang before turning back to Katara.

"Funny how Twinkletoes always seems to be head over heels in love with Sugar Queen in almost every story we read here," Toph remarked.

"Except for when he was head over heels in love with Kara," Sokka added, "or he broke up with Katara so Zuko could be head over heels in love with her instead, or when he saved Zuko and ended up - mmfrgh!" he exclaimed as the book flew into his face, courtesy of a certain nervous airbender's gust of wind.

Katara smirked at her brother. "I think that's your cue to continue reading."

"Yeah, yeah, I got it," Sokka answered dully as he smoothed the ruffled pages of the book before getting back to the story.

"So, how do you like this place so far?"

Katara shrugged. "It's cool. Just a regular high school, I guess."

Aang pretended to shake his head in disbelief. "Wow, regular school. Wonder what that must be like."

"Hey, you did enrol in a 'regular' Fire Nation school before," Sokka reminded him.

Zuko's ears perked up. "He did?"

"Although of course, having your parents to see the headmaster on the second day of school isn't exactly regular, is it?" Katara added.

"Or getting threatened to be sent to the coal mines," Aang agreed.

Toph shrugged. "Good thing I had a personal tutor then."

Sokka looked at her. "You had a tutor? But you can't even read!"

"Oh, that one was for 'proper etiquette' or something like that, according to my parents." Toph blew off a stray lock of hair hanging over her face before grinning. "But in reality, he made a good pebblebending target."

"Poor tutor," Aang sighed, knowing all too well what being a target for Toph Beifong's bending was like.

"You said it. The most exciting thing that happens around here is when Coach Yu brings a Playboy magazine to gym class."

"What?!" Katara glanced at the end of the gym, where Coach Yu was currently absorbed in a car magazine.

"So I guess a magazine is something you read?" Aang speculated.

"And apparently these stuff are about 'cars' and, um, frolicking guys?" Sokka wondered.

Toph raised an eyebrow. "Why would Master Yu want to read about frolicking guys?"

Katara gulped. "I would say I have no idea, except after reading this book all I can say is that I don't wanna share whatever idea I have."

There was a silence, followed by Toph's voice. "Well, I did say before I'm happy to be blind."

"I'm just joking around. Most of the time Coach Yu just sits on his chair over there and ignores us, except to tell us to pipe down when he can't concentrate on his magazine."

"And the school's just going to let him do that?" Katara asked in disbelief.

"That would be a great school," Sokka said dreamily. "Just think: you get to do anything you want and nobody cares..."

"What if the thing you wanted to do was to just get out of that school?" Toph asked.

The Water Tribe teen frowned slightly. "Well, I suppose that would be a problem."

Toph shook her head casually. "He must be really good at covering up, because nobody's ever said anything. We don't really care anyway - he always gives us a good grade in P.E., so we can't complain."

"I trust nobody here has figured out what 'P.E.' means yet?" Sokka asked the whole room.

"It means 'physical education'," Aang said suddenly, earning him a few surprised looks.

Sokka blinked twice. "That... actually fits rather well. How did you get that idea?"

The airbender shrugged. "Spiritual Avatar wisdom, I guess?"

Katara raised a skeptical eyebrow. "And are all the teachers here like this?"

"Some of them. Others are the kind who just stay put in front of the whiteboard, scribbling stuff in a foreign language while rattling on about who-knows-what. Heck, they could be confessing to murder and no one'll notice, since pretty much everybody would've zoned out five minutes into the lesson."

"I get what you mean," Katara said, remembering her Chemistry class.

"That does fit the description of a couple of teachers in that Fire Nation school," Aang remembered.

"Too bad the headmaster isn't one of those teachers, otherwise I wouldn't have to hide a pillow under my shirt and pretend I was my brother's wife," Katara commented.

Zuko's eyes widened. "You guys really have to tell me that story."

"Later, okay?" Toph answered. "Let's just finish the task on hand first."

Just then, the team captain with the muscles picked up a ball from a rack standing against a wall. "Okay, peeps, let's play some dodgeball!" Everybody immediately scrambled to get a ball, and then they all took their places on both sides of the gym facing each other.

"I was wondering: does any of the earlier descriptions about the team captains fit anyone we know?" Sokka asked.

Aang pondered for a while. "Well, since nobody knows what a 'crewcut' is, and we don't know many people with glasses, I guess we won't know who the first team captain would be. On the other hand, Xin Fu probably could be ruled out as the second guy."

"I dunno, Twinkletoes," Toph spoke up. "That 'let's play' line does sound like his intros at Earth Rumble Six."

"Why don't we just get on with the story and find out," Katara suggested, and everyone agreed.

"Let 'em loose!" the team captain shouted with glee as he released a well-aimed throw at the other team's captain, which knocked the glasses off his face. As a few of the model-figure girls squealed "Good one, Hide!",

Aang's eyes widened in surprise. "That's Hide?"

"Oh, so you know him?" Sokka looked up interestedly at his bald friend. "Who is he?"

"He's this guy at the Fire Nation school I went to, the one who tried punching me and ended up getting the headmaster to see my parents."

"Oh, that one," Katara remembered. "You never told us his name before."

Toph shrugged. "Why would we need to know his name anyway."

"Because one day we are going to read a crazy story about us where he features as a muscly jerk who loves bullying little kids."

"For once Snoozles, you actually hit the nail on the head."

the unfortunate teen ducked down to look for his glasses, narrowly avoiding a second ball intended to pummel him to the ground. Meanwhile, Hide's team was attacking the other team left right and center, with balls and kids flying in every direction. It was all Katara could do just to avoid getting flattened. I guess this is the literal meaning of 'dodgeball', she thought as she swerved away from yet another ball.

Toph smirked. "What, you were expecting everyone to just toss balls at each other, Sugar Queen?"

"No, but I certainly didn't expect them to kill each other with balls either," Katara answered.

"And since Miss Beifong was so kind as to enlighten us on the potential dangers of bouncy spheres just now, we now know - hey, why is everyone staring at me?" Sokka asked as he stared back at his friends.

Zuko put up his palm to cover his face. "Sokka, using the phrase 'bouncy spheres' in a casual conversation is not a good idea."

Sokka paused for a full three seconds before the realization hit him. "OH."

Aang was prancing around the gym floor as if he was dancing while dodging the balls, to the amusement of the other team. "Training for the ballet, Meryson?" they sneered as they aimed more balls at him.

Toph laughed triumphantly. "I know, right? Good old Twinkletoes, always ready for a dance showdown - even though I'm not quite sure what a 'ballet' dance would look like."

"Maybe it's just another showcase of fancy footwork, like the camel-elephant strut or the phoenix flight," Aang suggested.

"Or maybe they're a bunch of chicks with hair in buns wearing pink frilly skirts and running around on their tiptoes," Sokka speculated.

Katara stared at her brother. "Sometimes you have the weirdest ideas."

He moved sideways as another ball flew over his head - and hit Toph in the stomach.

"Looks like even the awesome Toph Beifong has her bad days, eh?" Sokka smirked.

Toph huffed indignantly. "Hey, this is just a stupid story, remember? Even my awesomeness can be affected by something like that!"

"Like the time you went all swoony over Sokka?" Katara said slyly.

Toph gave her friend a sightless glare. "Yes. Exactly."

"Ooh, what's wrong Beifong? A little rich girl like you can't handle a teensy weensy ball?" Hide teased as his cronies laughed along. Toph didn't reply as she bent over, drooping her head.

Toph scowled slightly. "Okay, now this is getting ridiculous. If the author knows their work, I should be pummeling the ignorant jerk into the ground."

"If the author knows their work, you would be blind in the first place," Sokka piped up.

Aang shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe you'll get some amazing comeback in a few lines' time."

His earthbending teacher crossed her arms over her chest. "I'd better."

For one moment, Katara thought she was going to cry, or throw up, or even fall unconscious. What she didn't expect was Toph straightening up with the offending ball and swinging it at Hide's head in one swift movement.

Sokka looked up at Toph. "Well, there's your amazing comeback."

Toph grinned smugly. "Okay, fine, I forgive you author," she told the book.

Hide clearly didn't expect this as well, for he was almost knocked off his feet and staggered a couple of steps before regaining his balance. His features molded into an expression of fury. "Trying to play rough, eh Beifong? Fine, have it your way!" He then released a volley of balls of Toph, each one aiming straight for her head.

Toph shifted left and right as the balls sailed past her, leaving her unharmed. As Hide changed his target from her head to her feet, intending to topple her over, she swooped down and caught a ball before lobbing it back at the opposition, scoring another hit to his shoulder. Hide yowled in pain as he simply grabbed any ball within reach and flung it in her general direction, not even bothering to see where he was aiming it. As such, the other students gave the two warring parties a wide berth, Hide's support group hanging back a safe distance while cheering him on, and everyone else keeping as close as possible to the gym equipment and anything else that might provide cover.

"Funny, I thought everyone in here would've learned by now to not come within ten metres of Toph Beifong."

"Ha ha, Snoozles."

Toph deftly caught another ball and sent it soaring towards Hide, giving him a good hit in the nuts.

"Yup, I love this comeback," Toph said happily.

His fury now fueled with pain, he gave what sounded like a battle cry as he sent it flying towards Toph. Unfortunately, his aim must have been affected by the pain, because the ball cleared Toph's head by a good two feet and sailed right across the gym - and landed on Coach Yu's head.

"Whoops, trouble coming up," Sokka commented.

Toph shrugged. "It's just Master Yu - he can't even hurt a fly."

"I dunno, Toph," Aang said hesitantly. "Master Yu might not be a good mentor, but I'm pretty sure there's a reason why people still attend his earthbending classes."

"Because they're all idiots who're easily tricked to give up their money to him for a couple of lessons?"

"Uh, no."

Katara winced. No matter how incompetent of a teacher Toph made Coach Yu out to be, even he wouldn't just have balls bouncing off his head and let it go. True enough, Coach Yu abandoned his magazine on his seat and stormed towards the middle of the gym. "Alright, WHO DID THAT?!" he yelled at the students. Hands immediately pointed towards either Hide or Toph, who each got about the same number of votes.

"Looks like you two are equally popular candidates," Zuko remarked.

"It was Beifong, Coach Yu!" a girl with brown locks framing her face accused as she pointed at Toph. "She threw the ball at Hide, but it hit you instead!"

"But Star, everyone saw Hide - " Aang was interrupted by Star.

"Shut up Meryson, who cares about what you saw!"

Katara frowned slightly. "Wasn't Star that girl who made that joke about you looking like a dressed-up poodle monkey, Toph?"

"No, she was the girl who made a joke about me looking like a dressed-up poodle monkey - and ended up being swept down a river."

"Oh, that one." The two girls laughed at the memory while their friends stared at them in confusion.

Sokka cleared his throat. "Never mind the fact that I don't know what you two are talking about; does anyone notice how almost everyone in this story seems to treat Aang like's he insignificant?"

"Quite a change from how people treat him in reality, that's for sure," Toph added, "what with him being the Avatar and all."

"It's definitely a contrast," Katara agreed, "but then again, these stories aren't really known for following reality closely, now are they?"

"You said it, Sugar Queen."

"Now now everyone, please settle down." Coach Yu looked from Hide to Toph and back, not being able to decide who was the real culprit.

"Still think Master Yu's a decent teacher?" Toph asked Aang. "He can't even tell apart the bad guys from the good guys."

"Well, just put yourself in his perspective," Sokka quipped. "On one hand you have some kid who always pretends to be the innocent softie with a seriously over-the-top act - according to what Aang told us about Hide before," he explained as Aang nodded, "and on the other hand we have the notorious Blind Bandit. It'd be a tough choice for anyone."

"Except that in this story, Toph isn't an earthbender," Katara pointed out.

Sokka shrugged. "Somehow I don't think that fact would lessen her evil levels much."

"I have evil levels?" Toph looked amused. "Cool. Thanks, Sokka."

"Don't mention it."

Just then, Katara spoke up. "Coach Yu, Toph couldn't have thrown the ball because she was standing with her back to you. If she was really aiming it at Hide, she would've thrown it in the opposite direction from you. On the other hand, Hide had thrown the ball at Toph's head, but he missed and it hit you instead."

"That does seem rather probable," Coach Yu mused.

Star tensed. "But - but - it really was Beifong! She threw the ball at Hide, but it hit the wall and bounced back at you, Coach Yu!"

"And how is a ball supposed to be able to bounce back and fly the whole way across the gym?" Katara countered.

"Sugar Queen to the rescue, huh?" Toph observed. "Well, I won't say anything for Master Yu, but anyone would've realized there was no way I could've thrown the ball at him from the direction I was facing."

"But in this case, someone had to point out the obvious and ends up taking on the role of savior," Sokka continued. "If I didn't know better, I would've said this was a scene straight out from The Tale of Kara."

Katara shrugged. "I really was stating facts in there. There's nothing wrong in that."

"We know, and besides, Master Yu can't even tell a pebble from a boulder," Toph smirked. "It's okay for him to miss a few blatant points once in a while."

"You really hate his guts, don't you?" Zuko asked her.

"Yup. Live with it."

Star fixed her with a furious glare. "Nobody asked you to talk, newbie!"

"That is enough!" Coach Yu said firmly, and the gym fell silent. He eyed Hide suspiciously. "Mr Chadman, please come with me. The rest of you stay here, and if I have any more trouble from you all you'll be joining Mr Chadman!" He then stomped out of the gym, Hide trailing behind him and looking nothing like the smug kid he was at the start of the game.

"So now it's Hide's turn to get a weird surname." Soka nodded wisely. "Right."

"What have we got so far?" Katara started counting off fingers on her hand. "Sokka and I are Clearwater, Aang's Meryson, Azula and presumably Zuko are Summers, Hide's Chadman and Toph still gets to keep her original surname."

"Guess being a Beifong does have some perks after all," Toph mused.

With one of their team captains gone, the dodgeball game was discontinued and the students milled around chatting among each other, just like how they were when class started. Katara and Aang walked over to Toph, who was standing by herself in the middle of the gym watching the doors where Coach Yu and Hide had exited just a few minutes ago. "Wow, that was probably the most emotional release I've ever seen in Coach Yu. Guess he really is human after all."

Aang blinked twice. "Who said that last sentence?"

Sokka scanned the paragraph again. "I dunno. Might be Toph."

"Or Katara," Toph added.

"Nah, Katara's only met Master Yu for one whole class period, which isn't much to go on if she wants to judge his behavior. It could be Aang though," Sokka said before reading the next line.

Aang stared at her with wide eyes. "How did you get to be so good at dodgeball? You were amazing!"

"So it isn't Aang, which means I was right," Sokka concluded. "The author could've been a bit clearer on that though."

"Yeah well, as far as authors in this book go, I'd say this one's decent enough," Toph stated.

"You just said that because you got to hit someone in the nuts with a ball."

"Of course. Why else would I say that?"

Sokka sighed. "You and your big ego."

"I know I'm amazing; just that nobody bothered to find out," Toph grinned. "Besides, it was about time somebody put Hide in his place," she added as Aang nodded fervently.

"Too bad Toph didn't come with you to that Fire Nation school, eh Aang?" Sokka grinned.

"It would've been too strange; people would notice she was blind, but could still get around like any normal person," Katara pointed out.

"Besides, the last place I wanna be is in a stuffy school," Toph added. "Why would I even want to go there?"

"Because you want to try experiencing a regular Fire Nation kid's lifestyle like Aang?" Sokka suggested.

Toph shrugged. "Meh, I like staying as I am."

Katara raised an eyebrow. "Is this Hide guy really that much of a jerk?"

"Pretty much. Hide Chadman's dad runs this big architect firm, so he's always walking around as if he had been crowned emperor or something. He's got a whole ton of loyal worshipers too." Toph jerked her thumb towards one side of the gym, where Hide's dodgeball team from before was gathered talking in hushed tones, presumably discussing their captain's fate.

Katara sighed. First there was Azula Summers, and now this Hide Chadman. "Is this whole school full of stuck-up people or something?" she wondered aloud.

"The sooner you accept the fact the better, sis," Sokak told the book.

Toph shrugged. "You did say this was just a regular high school, which means you get the bad as well as the good. But hey, at least you've still got us!" she said cheerfully as she slung an arm around Katara and the other around Aang.

Katara smiled at her two new friends. This first day of school isn't turning out too bad after all, she thought.

"End of chapter." Sokka closed the book and looked up at everyone. "Comments?"

"How did I get to be so chummy with Sugar Queen after having just met her?" Toph wondered.

"Because her friendly aura is so overwhelming, even you can't help sucking up to her." Sokka paused and considered his words. "Wow, that really does sounds like something to describe Kara."

"Except I haven't exactly achieved her amazing levels of perfectness yet, otherwise Star would be busy doting on me instead of insulting me." Katara stood up and looked around at her friends. "Well, I think we've done enough reading for today. Iroh said something about making jasmine tea before Aang and I went out for a walk; anyone want to come and check up on that tea?"

"I do!"

"Count me in."

"Sounds good, Sugar Queen."

"I want red bean buns!" And so saying, the members of Team Avatar left the Companion on the coffee table and headed downstairs.

Sorry this took so long to write, I've been busy with quite a few things lately, plus a new obsession with fan art memes on Google Images! Any comments will be much appreciated, and see you next chapter!