I should have said this in the last chapter. This miniseries takes place over the course of a week and a day, because there are 8 parts to it. This is day 2.

Moonlight Serenade

"Hello?" Toph knocked on Aang's door, but no one answered. "Aang! You told me you were home!"

Fed up with waiting (even after only a few seconds), Toph pulled out her cell phone and looked for Aang's name in her phonebook. Just before pressing SEND, she heard faint music echoing gently across the house. Several clarinets played simultaneously and a light trumpet echoed behind them.

"AANG!" Toph yelled.

Creek. The little window at the base of Aang's house opened up and the skinny boy poked his head out of his basement.

"Hey!" Aang shouted back, smiling again.

"What are you doing down there?" Toph jumped over wooden railing on his porch and landed right in front of him. She crouched, her baggy jeans falling heavily over her shoes.

"Just hanging." Aang said.

"You've been just hanging down there a lot lately." Toph tilted her head. "Why?"

"Ummm…" Aang looked back into his basement, then at Toph again. "Come on in. I'll show you." He disappeared back underground.

Toph squeezed through the tiny window and jumped down next to him. The music was louder down in the cellar.

"What's that noise?" Toph cleaned out her ear with her pinky finger.

"Over here! Look what I found!" Aang grabbed her wrist and pulled her to the opposite side of the basement. Toph's heart leapt when he touched her.

He led Toph in front of a strange machine that looked like it belonged in a black and white movie. It was a box, red and gold, with a giant black CD spinning on its center. A gold trumpet-like horn grew out of its back and spat out the rusty old melody Toph had heard from outside.

Toph's wasn't sure what it was.

"Isn't this awesome?" Aang had discovered the old record player in mint condition, still fully functional and with albums to play. Moonlight Serenade danced out of the phonograph's shiny cylinder, accompanied by the scratching noise of the old vinyl.

"What the hell is that thing?" Toph pointed, never seeing anything as ridiculous as it before.

"It's a phonograph." Aang knew exactly what it was. Unlike like Toph, he read.

"I looks like a megaphone with a jack-in-the-box attached to it." She poked it. Aang laughed and turned up the volume up. "Of all the songs you could pick too…" Toph grumbled.

"Hey! Don't judge. This song is older than both of us put together." Aang said

"I believe you." Toph poked the spinning record and the song skipped. "So this is what you've been doing? Listening to old songs you could have downloaded?"

"Hey, hey, hey! Easy." Aang pulled her hand off the phonograph. "This is an American classic. They don't make these anymore, ya know."

"And I don't blame them." Toph grinned.

"I found this last month." Aang put the record back on the spinner and let the song start over. "I've been…practicing." He didn't look at Toph.

"Practicing?"

"Yeah. You know…for the dance?" Aang glanced at her. Her heart skipped again.

"You heard…about, um…that?" She scratched the back of her head. Doing so, she realized how messy her hair was and suddenly began to worry weather or not she looked ugly.

"The school is covered with big hearts and flowers. It was kinda hard to miss. Haha." Aang laughed.

"HAHAHA!" Toph laughed twice as loud as Aang did and thought that she sounds like a raving lunatic one second later.

"So yeah. I've been…practicing…by myself." Aang looked away from her.

"Be cool Toph. Don't act like…ugg…like Katara." Toph said to herself. "You look like you wanna dance." Toph said, calmly.

"Yeah right." Aang didn't notice his foot tapping softly.

"What's the matter twinkle toes? Scared?" Toph teased him.

"No. I just…I haven't…I'm not good."

"Not even to this?" Toph's thumb pointed to the phonograph. "Anyone can slow dance."

"Nah. Just forget it"

Toph sighed. "Come here." She grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him toward her.

"Hey. What are you doing?"

"Give me your other hand." Toph said as she put her arm around his waist. Aang turned red almost instantly. "Don't be nervous airhead. Just relax."

"We don't have to…" Toph put her hand on his shoulder. "…um…what…do I do now?" He asked.

"Just sway gently with the notes. Take it slow."

Aang exhaled and tried to take a step backwards. Then forward. Then to the side.

"See? Not so hard huh?" Toph smiled and tried not to blush herself.

"Yeah…p-piece of cake." Aang looked down at his feet, carefully making sure he didn't step on Toph's feet.

"Okay, now…" Toph tried to instruct him, but Aang seemed to be getting the hang of the dance on his own. So she let him continue.

They moved gently, not doing anything special, but that's not how Toph saw it. She was close to Aang, close enough to hear his tiny heart pound. She knew she was making him jumpy, but it looked like that was making him dance better, like he was trying to impress his teacher.

"Hold on." Aang said.

"What…whoa!" Toph fell backwards and Aang dipped her. Finally, Toph turned pink.

"How am I doing?" Aang asked.

"Fine…pull me back up." Toph said, but it was more of a suggestion than a demand. Aang did, but sloppily. His gifts were not in his strength.

He slowly spun her around, gently holding her in his arms. Leaning back against his chest, Toph felt how tall he had grown. She liked it.

"Um…" Aang coughed with his mouth closed.

Zip…zip…zip…zip…zip…

The song ended and the record began skipping, clumsily dragging the needle across the vinyl disc.

Toph tried not to look at Aang, but neither of them stepped away from each other. They just…stood there. They didn't feel a nervous awkwardness anymore. They both felt something else, at least Toph did. It was a mix of infatuation and respect, and Aang had earned both from her.

"I…" Then, Toph felt it again. That terrible, twisting urge of doubt and shame. The kind of feeling that stops people from doing what their hearts tell them too and makes them lie to themselves. "…I've…gotta go Aang."

She pushed him away and tried to hustle for the window, but while her guilty mind told her to run, her legs felt like they were tied to concrete bricks.

"What's wrong?" Aang shook his nervousness away and, suddenly, he was concerned for his friend.

"Nothing." She felt Aang put his hand on her shoulder. "Stop it." She shrugged him off.

"What did I do?" Aang told himself that it was his fault, that he had made her feel uncomfortable.

"Nothing!" Toph gulped. "I've…" She didn't finish. She just left, back through the tiny window that she had crawled through before.

Aang watched her go. She almost ran away.

Then, he felt it too. He felt an irritating twist in his stomach, and he heard his conscience yell at him, telling him that he had done something wrong.