Four Elements High School: Junior Year

Chapter 9: Fall Break

Toph was in her second bedroom, the one that used to be her nursery. It was carpeted, and as far as she knew, the walls and the floors were wood. The Beifong's luxurious mansion used to be quite a bit smaller, but over the years, it had been expanded upon. So the back of the house was almost 100 years old, and mostly made of wood, while the front of the house was much more modern, and more importantly, had much more earth and metal components. Toph didn't know how much time had passed since she'd been locked into the room. Probably a few days. Some of the housekeepers stopped by with food and anything else she might need. An alarm on her phone started to go off. Ah, so it was 8:00 AM on Monday, as she hadn't heard the alarm over the weekend. 

If the dinner with Glacier Moon industries went well, my parents have probably left by now, she thought, to continue business for the rest of the day. Toph had done absolutely nothing for the past few days, except for trying to find her way around the room. Her parents had been thorough, and there were no metal or earth objects inside it. She had always hated this wing of the house. It smelled musty, and old. Toph sighed. She tried to metalbend the lock on the door, or the window latch, but that required precision, and concentration, but Toph didn't have that right now, and she was still new at metalbending. She felt herself tearing up.

You need help. Toph scrambled over to her bed, and found her phone. 

"Call Katara," she said softly. After a few moments, Katara's voice broke through, the only one that Toph had heard, other than her own, in three days.

"Toph?"

"Hey Katara," Katara seemed to notice that something was wrong from the softness of her voice.

"Are you okay?"  Toph swallowed her pride. 

"No," she said, "My parents saw me earthbending. Do you think... you can come to my house. I-I'm locked in my room and I want to get out."

"Of course," Katara said warmly, "Stay on the phone, and Sokka and I will be right over." 

~~~

After about 15 minutes of Toph directing Katara to where her room was, on the second floor at the back of the estate, Toph heard a small tap at her window, then the sound of the window swinging open. 

"Katara?"

"Hey Toph, let's get you back on solid ground, okay?" Toph smiled as Katara picked her up and carried her out of the window. She felt something cold... ice? and after a moment she was standing on the grass. Toph breathed a sigh of relief. 

"How did you get up here?" she asked confusedly. 

"Waterbending," Katara said, "Then I froze the window lock to open it."

"But wasn't there someone at the main gate?"

"Sokka distracted him. Do you think you could use earthbending to tunnel underground-"

"Already on it, Sugar Queen," Toph said with a smirk." The two of them ran into the tunnel that Toph created.  

"Won't your parents realize you're gone?" Katara asked. Toph shook her head.

"They probably won't be back until tonight, and there's just one thing I need to do in town."

"And what's that?" Toph planted her feet in the ground, moved her hands in straight, rigid motions, and the tunnel gave way to a field about a block away from their house. Toph closed off the tunnel after they climbed out. It was like they were never there. A blue pickup truck rolled closer to them, and Sokka stepped out. He was wearing a ridiculous fake beard and mustache.

"I'm... not even going to ask," Toph said.

"That's probably for the best," Katara sighed.

"Where to?" Sokka asked as Toph and Katara sat in the back. 

"Is there a hair salon in town?" Toph asked. Katara and Sokka glanced at each other. 

"Yeah..." Katara said, "Why."

"Because I want to get my hair cut, Sweetness," Toph said matter of factly. 

"But... your hair's so pretty."

"And I don't give a crap how I look, so here we are," Toph replied, not even skipping a beat. Sokka shrugged and the truck pulled into reverse. 

"Jiang Hui Hair Salon, here we come." 

~~~

Toph rubbed the back of her neck and felt as though a huge weight had been lifted from her. Her hair was now in a choppy bob.

"Remind me again why you didn't want to cut your bangs," Katara said as they walked out of the salon, "They're always getting in your eyes and- oh." Sokka laughed.

"Welcome to the 'I forgot Toph is blind' club." Toph elbowed him.

"Half the population is in that club, Katara, don't worry about it," she said, "but do you think you could rob this candy store with me?"

"I- what?!" 

"Toph, you're such a criminal," Sokka joked. 

"I would never commit a crime, no matter how small," Katara scoffed, "besides, we all have money, we can just buy candy." 

"You're no fun," Toph said with a smile. After a few hours, the sun was starting to set and Sokka drove Toph back to her house. 

"Are you sure you don't want to stay awhile longer?" Katara asked, "I'm worried about you." Normally Toph would be annoyed when anyone acted motherly or protective of her, but not with Katara. Katara really seemed to care about her, which was more than Toph could say for her own mom. 

"I'll be fine," she said. Katara accompanied Toph through a tunnel she had earthbent up to the back of the mansion. Then, like she had before, Katara used ice to lift her and Toph to her room. She handed Toph some rocks and a metal bracelet, so she could still 'see' some things.

"When do think I'll see you again?" Katara asked glumly.

"I'm not sure," Toph shrugged. "But I'll find a way to sneak out and see you guys sometime soon." She heard Katara start to climb out the window.

"Wait! Katara?"

"Yeah?" 

"Um, thanks," Toph hugged her, "for everything. You're a good friend." Even though Toph couldn't see, she could almost feel Katara smile.

~~~

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