Gradual Changes

Soccer

Soccer

Boring. Boring boring boring. That was what Saturday was turning out to be for Aang. He had already walked across campus twice, had an early lunch at Burger Place, and cleaned his dorm room. Cleaned it! On a Saturday! How much more boring could things get? Zuko was no help either. When Aang tried to visit him and the rest of the martial arts club at the gym, Zuko had shown him back out growling about being a distraction.

"Go find someone else to play with," Zuko had said. "We've got a lot of work to do!"

So here Aang was, just wandering aimlessly around campus hoping some sort of invitation to fun would just fall into his lap. Or crash into his head while he was not watching where he was going. As he rubbed his head and apologized, his fellow crash test dummy recognized him.

"Aang?"

"Teo?"

With a pair of broad grins the two boys grasped each other's hands. Teo looked around and grabbed his things while Aang tried to give him a hand. Laying at his side, Aang found a small red heart shaped container.

"Valentine's chocolate?" Aang asked wiggling his eyebrows.

"My dad gave them to me," Teo smiled. "Apparently, one of his students made them for his fiancé, but his girlfriend got upset."

"Wait a sec. This guy has a girlfriend and a fiancé?"

"Don't ask me," Teo replied. "That's just what my dad said. Anyway, what're you doing here on a Saturday?"

"I live in the dorms," Aang answered. "You?"

"Game time," Teo said, holding up his soccer ball. "First game back."

"Cool! Mind if I join you?"

"Sure! Your team's gonna be there too."

When they reached the field, the soccer teams were already warming up. Teo waved to Aang before joining his team in the exercises, leaving Aang to search for his friends. About three rows behind the team bench, Aang spotted June waving to him next to Kei's burning red hair. Aang apologized as he pushed past the other spectators.

"Come to support Teo?" Yuan asked.

"Yup! You guys too?"

"Of course," Kei replied. "You've never seen him play, right?"

"You're in for a real treat," June grinned as she pulled Aang down onto the bench next to her. She wrapped her arm around his and smiled. "I hope they put him in sooner than last game though."

Yuan and Kei both gave her a disapproving look. Both of them knew that Aang was totally oblivious to what she was doing. If she kept that up, she was going to end up getting a less than pleasant visit from Aang's girlfriend.

"So where's Toph?" Yuan asked hoping it would remind June of boundaries not meant to be crossed.

"She's out with Katara for the weekend," Aang said, watching the soccer players take the field. The game was about to start and he could not see Teo anywhere. "Why's he not on the field?"

"Second string," Kei answered. "They won't let him play first string because of all the third years on the team, even though he's the best they've got."

"So they want everyone to have a chance to play," Aang said. "Sounds fair to me."

"No, Aang," Yuan said. "The coach only plays the third years because they're his favorite students. He won't play Teo at all unless he thinks that they're going to lose."

Throughout the whole first half of the game, Teo's team was falling behind. Their offense was the victim of multiple steals, and their defense was embarrassed by the ball control of their opponents. Teo was sitting on the team bench just shaking his head as the coach yelled at his players. Aang was starting to feel sorry for them. They were already down by five.