Gradual Changes

Turbulence

Turbulence

Considering how great her weekend had been, Toph's week was turning out to be horrible. Ever since breakfast on Monday things seemed to be going south. Katara was complaining about how sore her everything was for one. For some reason, Zuko was more irritable than her. Then there was the real problem. Twinkle Toes was avoiding her. Well, not so much avoiding her as avoiding conversation with her. When they did speak, he was nervous about it. Not only that, but his footsteps had become heavier. Much heavier than she had ever felt them before. Something was bothering him and it was so obvious that even the people who slept through their first period lit class noticed that Aang was not himself. Why was he not talking to her?

At first Toph had decided to just let it slide. If it were all that important, or if he needed help, he would come to her about it, wouldn't he? Besides, if it was something personal she did not want to force it out of him. Okay, she did, but not if it was something he was going to get all blubbery about. So Toph allowed Twinkle Toes to keep his little secret to himself figuring that in a day or two things would be right back to the way they were. But now it was Wednesday, and nothing had changed. Aang was still avoiding speaking to her. It was starting to get annoying.

She was starting to worry that maybe she had done something. Of course that was ridiculous because Aang was the person who thought everything was his fault, not Toph. Still, she could not stop that feeling inside of her. She was worried and she did not like it. On the drive to school that morning she decided to get some answers out of him whether he liked it or not.

When Kuzon dropped her off at the school gate, Toph made a bee line for the cafeteria. She was not going to let herself get caught up in this worry for another second. Twinkle Toes was going to regret putting her through this, especially if this ended up being over something stupid. Kicking the heavy swinging door out of her way, Toph marched into the cafeteria and over to the gang's usual table.

"Toph, I have to-"

"Not now, Hot Head!" she barked. She put her finger threateningly in Aang's face. "You're coming with me. Now!"

While leaving their dumbfounded friends behind, Toph made sure to pay close attention to Aang's vibrations. She could feel his heartbeat rising. It felt as though he wanted to panic, but he followed her as he was told. Toph's nervous, worrying feeling only escalated in reaction to the way he was behaving. Maybe it was not her that had done something wrong. Maybe it was him. After climbing the steps to the roof and making sure that no one else was up there with them, Toph turned on him. He was shaking, and his heart was going a mile a minute. A small part of her was afraid to find out what was bothering him so much now. But when has she ever given in to fear?

"Spill it, Twinkle Toes," she ordered. Her voice was quiet and stern. She did not want to speak any louder for fear of her voice giving away her worry.

"Spill what?" Aang's shaky voice replied. His muscles tensed as he spoke. Toph just crossed her arms and began to tap her foot. Hopefully he would assume that she already knew whatever was bugging him. Unfortunately, she was now positive that he was not feeling nervous, but guilty about something. After a long silence, Aang sighed and bowed his head.

"Just tell me."

"I don't really know how to tell you," Aang started. "I wanted to tell you right away, but I was kinda scared of how you'd react."

"React to what?" she said with an angry twitch forming in her eye.

"Do you remember June?" he asked slowly.

"Yes," Toph growled.

"Well, I kinda went to a soccer game on Saturday with her and the guys."

"And?" The anger was beginning to swell to dangerous levels. If her hands had not been squeezing her arms, her fists would have been shaking as her eyes narrowed into a glare.