Ugh. New York had a heat wave for the past few days. I haven't had the energy to write new chapters.

The Summer Before High School

Tap…tap…tap…tap…tap

Toph sighed and looked back the clock on the wall, impatiently rapping her pencil on the side of her desk as she watched the little second hand inch towards the big 12. The last day of the school was always the longest.

"Okay, and lastly, I want you all to make sure that you keep up with your studies over the vacation." The teacher continued to preach. The nerve of him, even on the final day of class he refused to leave the antsy students alone. "Read a little…study…it will definitely help you out when you all go to high school in fall."

He paced around the front of the class and glanced at Toph. She wasn't paying attention to him.

"High school will be a great experience for all of you." Then he looked at Aang, as if to say 'I'll miss you' with his eyes. "I hope you all have a good summer."

RRRIIIIIINNNNGGGGG!

And with that ear piercing signal, the students stampeded out of the classroom.

"Race ya to the bus dork!" Toph punched Aang's arm and took off without noticing that he had intentionally stayed behind.

Toph bolted down the hall, darting through the crowd of her fellow classmates. She slapped her locker, spun around and yelled, "HA!", thinking she won the race. But when she turned around, her dorky friend was not there.

"Hey! Where'd you go?" She shouted. She tried to push her way back through the wave of middle-schoolers who were forcing their way to their buses. "Aang!" Toph yelled with her hands over the sides of her mouth.

"Over here!" Aang yelled. Ha was at the far end of the hallway.

"What took ya so long?" Toph ran next to him.

"I just wanted to say goodbye to the teacher."

"Don't tell me you're going miss that old wind bag?" Toph slapped him on his back.

"Well…maybe."

"You're such a dork." Toph reminded him, yet again. "What did he say to you?"

"Just…stuff. Like how he'll miss me and how I can stop by anytime I want."

"Why would you want to come back? This school sucks!"

"It wasn't that bad. I had some good times here."

"Name one good time that didn't involve me." Aang paused to think…but didn't answer. "See? I'm the only reason you enjoyed this dump. And the only reason you're going to be having any fun this summer is because I'm not letting you out of my sights."

Aang kept quiet.

"Are you listening to me?" Toph asked.

"Yeah." Aang said.

"Sure ya are. Now let's…"

"No! I meant…yeah, you're right. The only reason I did like this place is because of you."

"…oh." Toph suddenly felt uncomfortable.

"…thanks Toph. I made it through middle school cause of you." Aang said. "You're a real good friend."

"Yeah, sure…don't mention it." Toph looked away from him. "Let's get going already. Sitting Bull said he wanted to see another movie."

"Stop calling Sokka that." Aang said when Toph made the joke about Sokka's heritage.

This story is a pre-quel to several summer time chapters.