Day 3

A Date?

"Don't you ever get tired of that game?" Aang asked Toph.

"What? Tired of the Master Chief? Do you hear what you're saying twinkle toes?" Toph didn't make eye contact with Aang as she played.

She stared at the screen, but Aang thought that she wasn't looking at him because of yesterday. Because of what he did.

Aang had been at Toph's house for over an hour and they hadn't done anything. Toph was beginning to wonder why he had come over at all, not that she didn't like his company. In fact, being her first real friend, Aang meant more to her than he knew, more than she could ever tell him.

Toph thought that she had started to like him as more than just a friend, but after yesterday, she wasn't sure.

There was she definitely…something though. When she heard him laugh, she felt warm. He looked at other girls, she felt defensive. Whenever he was alone with her, she'd emotionally shut down. She didn't know why, but recently everything she did around Aang seemed more important than anywhere else.

"So?" Toph said blandly, turning her emotions off again.

"So what?" Aang said. They still didn't cross eyes.

"So…what's up?" Toph still refused to take her eyes off her T.V. set. "You're the one who came over here." BANG! "No scope! Did you see that?"

"What? I can't come over just to say hi?" Aang gulped.

They didn't say anything for a while.

"I don't know." He finally said. "I've been…thinking a lot lately. About…stuff. We're growing up and all. I mean, we are going to be juniors in a few months."

"It's still February." Toph kept watching her game.

"…Yeah, I know. But things have changed." Aang looked down at her floor, assured that Toph wasn't interested. "You've changed. I've changed."

"Uh-huh."

Aang knew that he was boring her.

"Maybe I came over here looking for advice." Aang admitted. Toph didn't answer, so Aang didn't continue.

A few more minutes passed. Toph won her game and started another one before Aang said anything.

Toph took aim at one poor n00b and…

"You know that…uh, school dance is coming up." Aang said.

…she missed.

"The dance?" "There's that feeling again", Toph thought as she felt her heart jumped up into her throat.

"Yep. You know the one. Like, in a few days."

"Uh…I guess. What about it?" Toph pretended to be nonchalant.

"I don't know. I was thinking about going."

"Ha! News flash air head. You need a girl to ask you." Toph blurted out. "What am I saying?" She yelled inside her head.

"Yeah. I know that."

Toph glanced at him. "What? No one's asked you yet?"

"Asked me? I'm the guy. I'm supposed to ask the girl out."

"Nah. It's a Sadie Hawkins dance." Toph said.

"It…is?" Toph heard a nervous whelp come up in Aang's voice.

"Yeah. You didn't know?"

"I was…" He coughed and paused again. He didn't dare raise his eyes. "…ya know. I was…gonna ask someone out." Toph immediately forgot about playing her game. "But I, um…"He cleared his throat again."…I, I don't think she'd…say…yes." He stuttered, terrified.

Not knowing what else to do, Toph just acted dumb.

"Uh, well…you'll never know until you go for it twinkle toes." She leaned towards him. Her lips were open slightly and she was leaning on both of her hands.

"Yeah, I know. But…sometimes…" He looked up at Toph's ceiling, avoiding her eyes. "…you know someone is too good for you."

"What?" She almost giggled. "Aang…you're a great guy." She smiled at him and gently put her hand on top of his.

"I…" He gulped. "…I'm a dorky, Asian bookworm who can't do anything but run, pass tests and make stupid jokes. A girl like Katara would never go for someone like me.

For a few seconds, everything in Toph's world went silent and slowed down, like her life was a movie and someone was pressing Pause.

"Ka…tara?" Toph asked, hoping that she misheard. She took her hand off Aang's.

"Oops." Aang blushed.

"You like…Katara?" Toph's eyes squinted.

"Please don't tell her. I've had a…a…bit of a crush on her. For while."

"But…but…" For once, Toph didn't have a witty comeback.

"I know. She's older. But I think…" Aang saw the look on Toph's face and suddenly didn't care about his own problems. "What's wrong?" He asked.

"Nothing." Toph whimpered. "I'm fine." Toph said. She lied.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah Aang. I'm sure!" She yelled at him.

"What did I do?" Aang asked, completely clueless.

"Nothing. You did absolutely nothing. That's exactly what you did! That's all you ever do!" Toph turned away from him and pushed her palm into her eyes, rubbing it.

"Toph…" Aang put his hand on her shoulder, but Toph slapped him away.

"I don't feel good right now twinkle toes. Can you do me a favor and get the hell out of here? Now!"

Aang didn't know what had happened, but he grabbed his backpack and left, not even saying goodbye to her.

Toph turned off her game and forced herself not to cry. The pressure behind he eyes was so immense that she felt them coming, tears wanting out so badly, but she refused to cry.

"Aang…you're such an idiot." Toph yelled, hitting her floor.

She had stopped playing her game, but Toph felt herself die over and over again, painfully and slowly.

Everyone email me and tell me what a jerk I am. Tehehe. Next post, soon. :P