The Lies of the Phoenix

Chapter 12

~Aang's Perspective~

Toph told me that Zuko came back to school today. That was cool. He had only missed a day but, from what Katara had told me about what high school was like, he was probably going to have a lot of catching up to do.

I couldn't stop thinking about what had happened after school on Friday. That lady had said she was Zuko's sister. Maybe she was, maybe she wasn't. That wasn't what was bothering me. What I was worried about was her bending. It wasn't like anything I had ever seen before. Well, it wasn't like I had seen a lot of bending... but still. She shot lightning.

Freakin' lightning.

But there wasn't anything we could do about it right now. Not in the middle of science class anyway. Like physics was going to help me master the elements and save the world. In fact, it would probably only get in the way considering that bending meant doing things that, according to physics, were impossible.

Like, according to physics, it was impossible to laugh at gravity. Yeah, right. I laughed at gravity all the time. But I supposed that I did have to pass our upcoming test before I could actually start training to learn the other three elements. Sighing, I turned back towards our teacher, who was writing an equation on the board.

"Now," our teacher said. "before we finish up, let's review. Last week we covered the questions of what is momentum and what is it useful for. Can anyone tell me what exactly momentum is? Yes, Charlotte?"

"Momentum is defined as inertia in motion. It can be represented by the formula p = mv, where p stands for momentum, m represents mass and v is velocity. Therefore mass multiplied by velocity equals momentum."

The teacher smiled. "Thank you, Charlotte. Now, um... Aang. Please answer the following question. If a person of mass 500 kilograms is freely falling, what is the net force on that person?"

I paused for a moment before answering. "Well," I started, "it depends on whether that person is an airbender or not."

The teacher glared at me, the blood starting to rise to his face, filling it with a red pigment. Before he could say anything though, the bell rang, saving me from a long lecture on how you shouldn't mention bending and all that horrible stuff and whatever.

Once I was out the door, I turned to go towards the front doors of the school to go home when a hand grabbed me and started dragging me in the opposite direction. It was Toph.

"Where are you taking me?" I asked her.

She sighed. "Just come on."

I rolled my eyes and followed her. After a couple of minutes, we arrived at the high school, where Toph pulled me behind a huge hedge.

"Why did you bring me here?" I asked her, whispering.

"Ask him," she said, pointing towards the fence.

"Who?" I asked. "There's no one there!"

A familiar figure walked out from the shadows. "We need to talk."