Photo

8 years ago

"Everyone together. Hurry now, hurry. We don't want to make any mistakes." Ms. Wu desperately tried to gather the anxious kindergarteners together for the class photo, but the over-excited children were not cooperating as well as she had hoped.

"Everyone, come now." The photographer said as he waited.

"Yes, listen to him. Everyone line up in alphabetical order. Aang, you come here on the bottom row."

"Can Toph stand next to me?" Aang asked, innocently wanting to be next to his best friend.

"Yes, of course she can." Ms. Wu said to Aang, even 'Bei Fong' was alphabetically right next to him.

"Toph. Come here!" Aang yelled. Toph stamped her tiny feet over to Aang and huffed.

"I hate this dress! It's hot and it's stupid." Toph crossed her arms. Her parents had made her wear a frilly and expensive dress for the class photo. She had bows in her hair, as usual, but her hair was tied up tightly and it hurt her head. She also had on tight black shoes and a waist bow that squeezed her belly. She looked like a china doll with a bad attitude.

"You look pretty." Aang said. He told the truth.

"Don't make fun of me." Toph pouted again.

"Everyone hold still!" Ms. Wu yelled. "If you all hold still and keep quiet, everyone will get extra snacks today."

The kids quickly went quiet.

"Say cheese." The photographer said.

"CHEEEESE!" Everyone said and smiled. FLASH!

"Got it!"

The children started moving again.

"I mean it Toph." Aang said. "You look pretty." Toph blushed.

"Hehe…thanks Aang. But I still hate it!"

Today

"Hello young man." Toph's house maid let Aang inside her house.

"Hey." He said to the middle aged woman.

"I will fetch Madam Toph for you. Please, sit down." The maid pointed him to the living room, towards the expensive leather chair, and then left.

Aang jumped into the chair, a habit that annoyed Toph's parents. He looked up at the roof, then the walls, then the furniture, scanning them carefully. Every time he looked through Toph's home he saw something new, something that he missed the last time.

Today, his attention was drawn to the small pictures on the desk next to him. Her parents had several dozen photographs in their basement and every month Maggie was told to switch the pictures, to keep old memories ripe.

He saw a picture of Toph and her parents on some tropical island. It was really sunny and a glare shot across the camera, causing Toph to squint. 'Or', Aang guess, 'she may have been in a bad mood that day'.

Another was of Toph's parents, they day they got married. They were younger and happier. In that moment, they both look like their troubles didn't exist. They were dressed properly and were surrounded by rich people with coat tails and champagne. "Bet they never saw it coming…" Aang thought when he thought of how different their daughter was.

Then Aang saw a school photo of a bunch of kindergarteners lined up into three rows and each faking a smile. Aang's eyebrow rose, thinking that he had seen the photo somewhere before. He picked it up and examined carefully. Eventually, he picked Toph out from the thirty children and, big surprised, she had a grumpy look on her face. He laughed when he saw her in a dress…then paused, feeling Déjà vu again.

Suddenly, accompanied by numerous bolts of emotion, Aang saw a younger version of himself stand right next to Toph. Aang was first scared, then he felt a rush of warm, happy memories come crashing back to him. He remembered a rude and loud little girl being his only friend back when could barely ride a bike and how one day she just up and left.

"Oh…my…" Aang put his hand over his mouth and exhaled heavily through his nostrils.

"Hey skinny." Toph came up from behind Aang and rubbed her hand across his head, messing up his already untidy hair style. "Whatcha' looking at?" She leaned over the chair, not noticing Aang's shocked eyes.

"Toph…does the little boy in this picture look familiar?" He pointed to himself. Toph looked clueless.

"Is this an 'all Asians look alike' joke? Cause it's not funny."

Frustrated, Aang held the picture up to the side of his head

"How about now? Recognize him yet?"

"Give me that." Annoyed, Toph ripped the photo out of his hands and took a closer look. She stared at it for a while, then trembled. She looked back at Aang, then at the photo, then back and forth and back and forth. "Oh my god!" She nearly dropped the picture. "YOU!" She yelled. "It's you!"

"YEAH!" Aang yelled.

"This is you!" Toph put her hand on her forehead. "I remember you!" Feeling dizzy, Toph took two steps backwards and tripped over her father's footrest.

"Toph!" Aang jumped up and ran to her.

"Ow, dammit!" Toph moaned.

"Are you okay?" Aang asked, standing over her.

"I think I bruised something." Toph rubbed her back.

"Here." Aang grabbed both of her hands and pulled her up.

"Thanks. Argh." Toph hunched her way over to her couch. "You were that little kid from way back when?"

"I didn't remember you." Aang said, but then felt obligated to correct himself. "I mean, I remember you, and a little girl I knew in kindergarten…but I didn't…I mean, I forgot!"

"Me too." Toph kept looking at Aang's face. "Wow, you got tall."

"It's gotta be the outfit." Aang said with a snap of his fingers.

"What?"

"You wore dresses back then, not jeans."

"You remember those?" Toph said with a big smile.

"How could I forget? You looked like Daddy's Little Girl."

"Shut up. You were a big baby." Toph said, jokingly.

"I was not." Aang insisted.

"WOW! I remember you used to complain like that too." Toph laughed.

"Cut it out." Aang said.

"That's why you always sound like a big baby to me. It's because I remember you talking like a baby back then."

"I'm standing right here."

"Well, then say something. Something thing that isn't whiny."

"How about...I remember you still have that little attitude of yours?"

"Why thank you twinkle toes. That means a lot."

"It wasn't a compliment."

"Now whenever you start whining, I can say 'good-times' like it was in the old days…because it was in the old days." Toph smiled. Aang rolled his eyes.

"And I can say that you haven't changed." Aang smiled.

"Nah. Just let me do the talking." Toph shoved him and laughed.