The Shore

Aang used to see the beach as a kind of paradise. Now it just seemed like a place to get sun burn.

Maybe it was because it was Jersey, or maybe it was because the beach there was so alien to him, but there was something horribly wrong with the shoreline near his summer home.

Gyatso had told him that he could go to the beach anytime he wanted, that he should make some friends and see what adventures he could find. Aang didn't feel like. He had been at the Jersey Shore for over a month and he had barley talked to any teenagers, boys of girls.

He didn't think that it mattered anyway. Even if he did met some great friends, he'd just have to leave them in a few anyway. "Why start something if it is just going to end badly?" He asked himself one day and was instantly shocked. He never used to think like that.

After so many days of sitting at his laptop, trying to find Toph on the instant messaging sites (but never succeeding), he needed to do something, anything to pass the time and make him forget.

He'd habitually walk down the same sandy route, his toes just barely touching the water. Depressed was not the word, but he was definitively not having a good summer.

That day, he walked down the hot sand and heard two young people laughing, teasing each other. He looked over and saw a girl with shiny black hair and a green bathing suit. He looked up quickly…but the girl in the corner of his eye had a dark tan and bleached teeth. Not Toph.

"That's what's missing." Aang thought to himself.

He noticed how many couples there were on the shore. It was unfair…to him anyway.

He tried to pass the time with a few ice creams, always vanilla, always plain. He remembered that it was called naked ice cream, and felt more homesick.

Half way through eating the cone, he heard a feminine voice giggling out of his left ear. He looked and saw a pretty girl smiling at him, very noticeably. He ignored her at first, but then she waved at him when their eyes crossed and he blushed. She giggled again, then her friends came and took her away.

Aang didn't know how to feel for a minute. His own conscience took over after a few moments and he felt Guilt.

His cheek began to hurt again. The radio next to the ice cream shack turned on and, as if fate itself were mocking him, began to play "Accidentally in Love".

Hearing the lyrics, Aang looked up to the sky and asked God "Really? Are you serious!"

He noticed everyone looking at him for talking to himself.

Aang blushed again and decided that it was time to leave.

He walked home with no shoes on. The ground of the Jersey in the summer time was so strong that walking barefoot was a leisure in itself.

He sighed the whole way home, moaning to himself, wishing he was home. He probably would have been enjoying the vacation if he had told Toph his feelings sooner. Then maybe there would be a slight chance that Gyatso would have let her come down to the shore with him. He teenaged mind fantasized about it for a few minutes, but then he reminded himself that would never happen, not with his father being so old fashioned.

He passed by a few shops on his way home and saw a few model cars and airplanes in the window, waiting to be purchased and put together.

Aang slid his hand into his pocket to see how much money he had left. Twenty-eight dollars, after he bought the ice cream.

"Am I really about to buy a model airplane to pass the time?" He asked himself, already knowing that he was going to buy the tacky thing.

Gyatso didn't get home until later that afternoon. He was hard at work, while his son "relaxed" all day.

"I'm home!" He said, cheerful, yet tired.

"…hi." Aang mumbled. He was focused on the little toy airplane, actually enjoying the small project.

"How was your day Aang?" Gyatso walked into his son's temporary room and put his hand over his eyes, blocking the setting suns glare from outside Aang's window.

"…it was…okay." Aang lied. He didn't feel like talking about it.

"That's good." Gyatso had the mail tucked under his arm. He pulled out a small letter from the pile of bills and junk mail. "By the way, you got a letter."

"A letter?" Aang looked away from the model, surprised. Who mailed letters anymore?

"Yes. It looks like it came from back home." Gyatso recognized the return address.

"Um…that's nice." Aang looked back at his model airplane. "Just leave it on the table. I'll look at it later."

Gyatso examined the letter more closely. "The return address says 'Bei Fong'. Do you…"

Gyatso didn't finished. Aang jumped out of his chair and grabbed the letter right of the brittle old man's grip. The model airplane broke.

"Oh my!" Gyatso gasped.

"ThanksGyatso. I'llbehere, thanksalot." Aang spoke fast while glaring at the letter like Gollum glared at his ring.

"Um…alright then Aang." Gyatso smiled, knowing that it was from a girl, and quickly left Aang's room.

Toph's handwriting was notoriously sloppy, a sign of frustration. The envelope was smudged with ink on the sides and it was crumpled on its corners.

Aang didn't open it for a while. When Gyatso left, he became filled with doubt, thinking that it was a threat letter or a letter that told him that she was happy that he was gone.

He reached for it…then snapped his hand away. Several times he did this, swearing he could hear Toph's voice already mocking him.

Eventually, he picked it up and opened it, though he opened it with such care and precision that you would think the letter was made of glass.

He slid the letter out carefully, unfolded it and tried to decipher the horrible handwriting.

Dear Twinkle toes,

It's really boring over here without you. Hurry back.

Nothing is happening. Katara swims all the time and Sokka's playing in his band. He sucks.

Get back over here so we can hang out again.

But DON'T think that you are off the hook for what you did. I just miss you and my computer broke so I can't email you.

You better write back to me, or else. Jerk.

-Toph

There was no date on it.

Aang shuttered after reading, not sure what of what he had read. He reread the letter, over and over again. He checked the back for anymore. Nothing. He held it up to the sun to see if there was any hidden code in invisible ink. Nothing.

He swore that he sentence had a different message behind the words, and that he was too stupid to know what that message was.

"Why would Toph write to me if she is still mad?" Aang asked himself. "Does she forgive me? Probably not," he thought. "But she misses me…right? God, why are girls so confusing?"

The last two sentences left a stronger mark on Aang than the rest of the letter. You better write back to me, or else. Jerk. He knew that she really was expecting him to write back.

Confused (and a little scared), Aang took out a fresh piece of paper. He rubbed the hair on his head and thought of what to write. What he wanted to write. He knew what he wanted to write, but remembered what happened the last time he was completely open with his feelings.

Exhaling, he clicked his pen a few dozen times (a habit he had) before even pressing it to the page.

He spoke as he wrote, carefully writing each letter as neatly as he could, in the perfect, well curved handwriting he had.

"Dear…Toph."

Sorry for the scattered postings, but I am working on a new project. A 10 chapter short story that I think will be REALLY good. ^_^

Also, school.