Gradual Changes

Stressful Studies

Stressful Studies

Aang blinked his weary eyes as he stared down into the jumbled mass of words that was his textbook. The print had long ago begun running together, but he still sat defiantly trying to study. The impending doom of finals was looming just a short two weeks away and he was positive that he was not ready for them. Between that and the last track meet of the semester only three days away, Aang's nerves were a wreck. He turned his head towards the digital clock on the corner of his desk.

"Three thirty in the morning," he moaned. "I better get some sleep."

The following morning, after nowhere near a peaceful rest, Aang readied himself as best he could and tried to rub the sleep from his eyes. Ever since Thanksgiving weekend had passed, Aang had been pulling these late night study sessions. The fear of failing his exams or a poor performance at the track meet was becoming overwhelming. He knew that if either one happened, he could lose his scholarship.

"What's wrong with you, Twinkle Toes?" Toph asked as he fell into his chair.

How does she always know?

"Nothing," he smiled. "Just didn't get much sleep last night."

"Are you sure?" Katara asked with concern lacing her voice. "You don't look so good."

"You look like you were run over by a bus," Zuko agreed.

"I'm just tired, all right?" Aang protested loudly. Toph shook her head. "What?"

"You're trying to lie to a human lie detector," she replied.

"Don't worry about it," Aang said, lowering his voice. "I'm all right. Really."

Aang could tell by the look on her face that Toph was not convinced. Neither were the others for that matter. Toph did not speak to him for the remainder of breakfast, clearly upset that he would not tell her what was wrong. Aang felt guilty but he did want anyone to worry when there was nothing that they could do to help anyway. When the morning bell rang, Aang forced himself out of his seat and sluggishly made his way to class.

"He's being stupid!" Toph told Katara and Zuko as they watched Aang leave. "He's always there, ready to help us, and he won't let us do the same!"

"Maybe he is just tired," Zuko suggested.

"Yeah, and I'm prom queen," Toph scoffed. "If he thinks he's tired now, wait til after track practice."

Sleep seemed to stalk Aang throughout the entire day. More than once his desk had a book dropped on it or a teacher would start talking rather loudly in front of his seat. Toph was still not speaking to him by the time lunch rolled around and Zuko just barely managed to catch his head before it fell into his spaghetti. As the first year's drool trickled into his palm, the temptation to let Aang face plant overcame Zuko.

"Huh? What?" Aang mumbled as he rose from his meatball pillow.

"You're disgusting," Zuko said as he wiped his hand clean with a napkin.

The rest of the day did not go much better for Aang. By the time that he reached the gym for his daily team practice he was ready to collapse where he stood. Toph's yelling voice in his ear was almost enough to wake him up.

"Get your butt over here now, Twinkle Toes!"

His first thought was to turn around and walk right back out the door. Problem was, this was the first time she had spoken with him since breakfast and he really didn't want to make her any more angry than she already was.

"Laps around the gym!" she barked.

Aang did as he told without bothering to point out that he was supposed to stretch first. The increasingly rough drills were bad enough, but the commentary was murder.