Some anonymous reviewer had the nerve to tell me that "being spoiled is not a bad thing". FALSE! Where are you? I want to preach to you. Write to me with an email address that I can actually respond to (angry face).

Patching Things Up

Aang ran as fast as he could. He didn't know if Toph was home or not, but he didn't know where else to find her. He ran (which was something he was used to doing) all the way to the wealthy part of town.

One big house after another went by. He knew exactly where to turn, he had memorized the streets that led up to her home.

"Sharp turn up at the corner." He thought to himself.

He turned sharply and, before he could react, saw a puff of black hair slam into his eyes.

"AWWW!" Toph screamed as Aang crashed into her. They both slammed onto the white pavement. Hard.

"Ow!" Aang felt the air get knocked out of his chest.

"Watch where…" Toph stopped when she saw it was Aang. She blushed a little, then her face grew angrier than before.

"Toph." Aang smiled. "I'm glad I found you."

"What the hell do you want?." She barked at him.

"I…um…" He felt his tongue swell up and his knees shake.

"Hmpf." She pulled herself up as Aang struggle to climb to his feet. She bumped into him, forcefully, as he tried stand up. "Watch it! I'm walking here!" She kept yelling at him and each loud insult pushed Aang closer to the ground.

"Wait. Don't go." Aang tried to follow her, but she moved unusually fast for her size. Her anger was probably the source of her speedy pace.

"Ah, go home to your mother. Oh, wait a minute. You don't have one!" That did it. Something exploded in his head. Toph had never said something so horrible to him before.

"T-toph, we need to t-talk." His voiced squeaked as he tried to shrug off her insult.

"Ah, shove it!"

"You're mad at me."

"No? Really?" Sarcasm, again.

"Please. Just listen to me."

"Why should I? And don't answer that! Just get lost." Toph started to walk away. She stopped after taking a few steps. Aang didn't know that she was waiting for him to come get her. When he didn't, Toph huffed and kept going.

But then she felt a cluster of skinny fingers grab her by her wrist and pull her around.

"Hey!" She yelled.

"Look at me." Aang grabbed her other wrist and clamped his hands down on both of them.

"Go to hell!" She nearly spat in his face. He didn't let go and Toph couldn't break free. Somehow, Aang had gotten strong enough to hold her.

"Toph…"

"Get off of me, you freak!" She tried to push him, but he was so much taller than her that she couldn't move him.

"…just…hear me out."

"Aang, let go!" Her eyebrows twisted, till they looked like little S's. He could angry heat coming off her. "I mean it! Leave me alone!" She gasped and looked nervous.

"Why do you always do that?" He asked. "Every time you get cornered , you get angry. And when you can't get away from something, you get scared."

"Get! Off! Me!" She closed her eyes tightly and turned her head

"I don't want to." Aang said.

"A-Aang." She stuttered. And gulped "I swear to God, if you don't let me go, right now, I'm gonna…" She opened one eye and peeked at him. "I'm gonna…"

His breath crashed against her chin and made her squirm. And breathe harder. And made her heart beat faster. He wasn't going anywhere. No matter how much she threatened or hurt him, Aang always stayed.

She twisted her arms around again, trying to get out one last time, but Aang pulled her wrists together and, finally, Toph gave up. Aang felt her resistance fade and her arms go limp.

"Just…talk to me." Aang said. Exaggerated

"Stop it." Her head was lowered. Aang could feel her tremble. Toph's body shook as if she was going to collapse. She leaned over gently and Aang caught her before she could fall.

"Toph!" He yelped as she fell into his arms.

"Stop it." She grabbed him and pulled herself to her feet the moment he caught her. "I can…do it myself."

"You're still shaking." Aang slowly grabbed her hands and rubbed them. Toph turned red and ripped her hand out of his grip.

"I'm fine. What do you want?" Her defenses went right back up.

"I want to talk. About…what happened."

"I don't want to." She rubbed her wrists.

"Did I hurt you?"

"I'll get over it. I just want to be alone."

"For how long? You haven't said anything to me in almost a month."

"Aang, please just stop."

"Stop what?"

"Stop trying to fix this."

"Why? Why can't I try?"

"Go away!" She shoved him.

"What is wrong with you?"

"Me? You think I'm the one who…"

"Hey, don't act like this is my fault."

"It...it IS your fault!"

"I didn't know how you felt."

"How could you not have known!"

"You never told me!" Aang wanted to grab the annoying little tomboy and shake her.

"Why do I have to tell you everything? How could someone so smart be so stupid?"

"Stop yelling at me!"

"Why did you even come here?"

"Because I…I…missed you." Aang tried not stutter.

"…oh God. Just go home." Toph turned around and started walking again. Aang charged at her and grabbed her hands again.

"Just stay! I want to talk this out."

"Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop!" Toph began shaking again when he grabbed her.

"What is the matter with you?"

"I DON'T LIKE TO BE TOUCHED!" She flung her arms up and down until Aang let go.

"Okay, okay. Just calm down. Just relax already."

Toph's forehead look like it was going to pop, but she closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths. After a moment, she was steady enough to open her eyes and nod at him.

"Alright." She said. "What…is it?" Her breathing was heavy.

"I meant what I said. I miss you." Aang dug deep into his heart. "I don't know what else to say. I'll apologize, I'll…I'll doing your homework for a year. But I don't want to lose you."

Toph imagined what the next words out of his mouth would be, and in her own fantasy she imagined three words. Three words that every girls with a crush hoped to hear. She imagined him saying everything she wanted to hear, in a perfect scene where all of their problems were solved in a blink of an eye and both of them felt a fluttery feeling in her stomach.

"You're my best friend." And then Aang crushed the dream by saying that. It may not have been an insult, but that's how it felt to Toph.

"I…" She started.

"Please, let me just say something." Aang tried to remember something that the old man had said to him. "You are always the for me when I need you, but I've been afraid of facing you because I know I hurt you."

Aang waited to hear if Toph had anything to say, but she kept her mouth shut, her arm propped on her hip.

"I don't think I would be who I am if I didn't have you. You make me…less of a loser. And I don't want to complicate things by…taking things to another level."

Toph's eyes softened. She swallowed a lump in her throat.

"I don't…know what you went through…but I don't want it to end our friendship."

"There's that word again." Toph thought. "Friendship." It was starting to sound like a curse word.

"I…don't care about blame. Go ahead, blame me. I'll let you. But please…" He clasped his hands together. "…please don't walk away again. I want us to still stay friends."

Toph wanted to kiss him and shut him up. No, she want him to kiss her. She wanted to pull him by the collar of his shirt and smack one right in the middle of face, then say "Too bad. You're taking me out this weekend and you're going to have fun.". She wanted to do that so badly that it hurt.

But she didn't.

Coyly, she nodded. "…yeah. I guess that would be okay."

"Yeah?" Aang asked.

"…yeah."

"Thank you." Aang sighed in relief. "Thank you Toph."

"I'm still mad at you though."

"Right. Right. I'm really sorry." He said. "If you don't want to speak for a while…I'll understand."

"…I think…that would be a good idea." Toph admitted. "But that doesn't mean I don't want to…hang out every now and then."

"Yeah, yeah. I know."

"I'll…call you then." She said. Aang could see her shoulders tremble.

"…yeah. Whenever you are ready. I won't…push you."

"Okay." She gulped again.

"…okay." He nodded like a bobble-head toy, lifelessly and without real emotion.

"So…I guess I'll see you later." Toph nearly whimpered, but she forced some liveliness out from her voice.

"Sure. Whenever you want." Aang smiled. Toph didn't

"Bye." She said, turning her back on him as quickly as she could.

"…goodbye." Aang waved limply. His heart swelled up with guilt.

Toph walked away slowly at first, then her paced increased. She didn't dare to look back at Aang; she knew she was going to cry.

"Why did I say that?" She thought as she rubbed her wrist on her cheek. "That's not what I wanted…"

Aang looked back at Toph, feeling so ashamed for hurting her, for letting her down. He knew he did.

"How could I have said that?" He thought, hitting himself on his forehead. "That's not what I wanted…"

Even though meant it, that he didn't want to complicate things, he still could tell that he broke her heart.

Next post soon. This story WILL have 100 chapters.