(Three Days after the last chapter.)

Class Project – Pt. 4

Aang sat in his room, reading through his text books. He didn't have much of a social life outside of his friendship with Sokka and Katara, but Sokka and Katara were busy in high school making new friends and he had to get ready for his finals and school projects…so studying was his only option.

"But at least I have my books!" Aang said to himself when he realized that it was a Friday night and he was inside re-reading his Math book. "Ha-ha…yeah." Even Aang couldn't deny that he was a MAJOR dork.

Knock-knock

"Come in!" Aang yelled from the other side of his thin grey door. Gyatso walked inside, slow and decrepitly.

"Aang, one of your friends is here to see you." Gyatso said.

"Oh. Sokka or Katara?"

"Neither. She's outside waiting."

"She?" Aang was confused, but got up and walked downstairs.

"Jesus! This kid is even poorer than most families." Toph said as she kicked the rocking chair on Aang's porch. Living in a world of riches and luxuries, Aang's two story wooden house seemed primitive compared her mansion.

She had never asked about his home, but she now saw why he didn't talk about it. Aang's home was built from grey wood and was covered in old paint that was chipping off of almost every board. A few creaky steps separated his front porch from the sidewalk and a flimsy screen door and wooden frame was the only things keeping Toph outside. At least four windows were on each side of the house on each floor, with all blinds kept wide open; anyone could look inside and see what Gyatso and Aang were doing. The house was pretty big compared to others though, so at least Aang had some elbow room.

Even all the way outside, Toph could hear an orchestra of squeaking as Aang descended the staircase, which ended just in front of the screen door. Aang just stared when he saw the rich tomboy on his porch.

"Hey skinny!" Toph waved.

Aang didn't reply. He slowly walked up the wooden door inside his house and closed it in Toph's face.

"Oh come on! Don't be such a damn drama queen!" Toph yelled. Aang still didn't answer. "I'm sooooorry?" More silence. "Okay, look…I'm really, really sorry! I want to get this project done and not drop out of school…another school!" She paused. "Come on Aang. I need your help! Just finish this project with me and we'll never have to talk again."

Toph hoped that Aang would not remember that last offer.

She waited. Eventually she heard the handle move and the old door screech as it opened.

"Come in." Aang said. His tone of his voice made it clear that he was not happy to see Toph.

Toph scampered inside. She tried not to judge the interior of Aang's home, but she subconsciously did anyway. As she scanned his living room, words and phrases her father taught kept popping into her mind, words like 'peasant', 'low-class', 'not one of us'. Toph didn't dislike Aang, but after thinking hard for the past three days she realized that reason she was so defensive around him was because Aang was the kind of person Toph's family taught her to despise, even though she wanted to be his friend.

Aang led her into his kitchen and sat her down on a little circular table. Their chairs were metal and plastic and the one that Toph sat on wobbled.

"Meow!" A small black and white cat startled Toph.

"Momo, go away!" Aang said to his pet and the cat ran off. "You want something to eat?" Aang offered Toph. "Sorry, but we don't have any caviar."

Toph was temped to hit him for being such a smart-ass, but resisted.

"I think I can go one day without eating over priced fish eggs." She said. She took off her book bag and pulled out a few folders and binders. "Last night, I went all over the internet and found a whole bunch of stuff on tornadoes and junk. I even wrote a page…where is it…uh…here! It's not much, but it's a start."

Toph handed Aang the paper. The first thing Aang noticed was the atrocious handwriting, followed by numerous misspellings. He saw 'tornadeio', 'hemesfere', and 'ciclone'. There were also several scribbles and a doodle of herself in the bottom corner of the page, drawn when she got bored.

"This is…" Aang started. "…nice." He nodded.

"Yeah, I know it's crap. But it's the best I could do."

"I think you just need to work on your studying skills." Aang said as he folded the paper.

"You think?" Toph said sarcastically.

"It's not that hard. I mean, a study partner helps."

"You offering?"

"What? Uh, no…I was just saying." Aang looked away from her.

"…oh." There was a brief pause between them. They both heard Aang's kitchen clock tick extra loud.

"…well…we should get started." Aang said.

"Yeah."

Hours passed. Gyatso checked up on them often, not comfortable with Aang's female guest coming over without permission. Aang quickly realized that Toph was not the type for school or tests. What ever she used to go to, it was obvious why she was kicked out.

Eventually, they got most of the work done. Well, Aang got most of the work done, but a part of him liked doing Toph's half. For once, he wasn't alone when he did his projects.

They worked till 5:00 pm, when Toph caught a call from her parents not a second later.

"Yeah. I'll be home soon." Toph barked into her cell phone when they ordered her to return to her palace. "I gotta go Aang."

"Don't worry about…" Aang was cut off by another shout from the speaker of Toph's phone.

"What? Aang is just a friend from school!" Toph yelled back into her phone. "…he's a nice kid…no!…look, I need his…what?…oh for crying out loud! You're the ones who put me in the public school in the first place…" Toph hung up without letting her parents finish.

"Are you in trouble?" Aang asked.

"What? With them? They wouldn't have the guts to ground me even if they wanted to. They think I'm a timid, obedient, helpless girl…so I get away with everything." Toph laughed. Used to a life of strict rules, Aang didn't understand the joke. "Uh…so I gotta go."

"I'll walk you out." Aang stood up. Toph grabbed her books. Aang helped her.

"You don't have to do that?" Toph said. She felt that Aang was taking care of her.

"I want to." Aang smiled.

"Okay…" Toph was still suspicious, but she let him.

"Are you going to be okay walking home alone?" Aang asked, noticing that Toph didn't have a car or someone to pick her up.

"Yeah. It's only like half a mile." Toph reassured the concerned boy.

"Okay…I guess… I guess I'll see you Monday."

"…yeah." Toph sounded disappointed.

"Okay."

"Okay."

"Well…goodb…"

"Uh! I don't have anything to do tomorrow!" Toph blurted out. "…if you want to…hang out or something."

"Really?" Aang's ears perked up.

"Yeah. I mean…if you wanna." Toph tried to be nonchalant, but prayed that he'd say yes.

"I guess that'd be cool." Aang also tried to hide his excitement.

"Really? Okay."

"Why don't you meet me here like at noon?" Aang offered "Maybe we can meet up with my other friends too."

"Yeah! Sure!" Toph's enthusiasm grew.

"Okay!"

"Great! I'll see you then!" Toph waved and ran down the street. "Bye Aang!" She yelled back as she ran, sounding happy for the first time since they met.

Aang smiled and waved. "Yeah! See ya Toph."

As Toph left, she kept on thinking of Aang and the time they spent together.

The whole way home, the loner kept thinking to herself "I actually have a friend!"