Four Elements High School: Junior Year

Chapter 15: Recovering

At first, Toph had tried to get expelled by flunking all her classes and being rude to her teachers, but all that that led to was detention and her new status as a troublemaker. Needless to say, Toph was starting to get impatient. Seeing Aang, Katara and Sokka (plus Azula and Ty Lee) a week prior had made her miss Four Elements High School, and just life as it used to be, even more. She missed the Boulder's geology class, her earthbending students, and above all, she missed her friends. So on the first of February, Toph decided to drop all subtlety and damage public property! 

She didn't want to hurt anyone, so the science classroom was off limits. Although she would have loved to destroy the auditorium and the theatrical production of 'The Boy in the Iceberg', the stage and the props were mostly wood. In the end, Toph decided to go the simple route and destroy the central courtyard. And that was exactly what she did.

 Causing a rupture in the ground and tearing some of the metal off of the surrounding buildings was something Toph could do with her eyes closed (pun intended) but she wanted the staff to see that she was doing it. So Toph exaggerated her movements, and the ground started to rumble beneath her feet. She rubbed her hands together, and the metal scaffolding on the walls of the building closest to her began to tear off. 

"Toph!" She felt a hand grabbing her arm. It was Joo Dee, "You are in a real load of trouble, young lady! I'm calling your parents."

"Wonderful," Toph said, "And I'm assuming I'll get expelled too?"

"What?" the woman said in shock, "Of course not! That would be a failure on our part, saying that Ba Sing Se has gone soft."

"Seriously!" Toph screamed, "How hard is it to get a girl expelled around here?!"

~~~

Professor Zei seemed to be quite fond of group projects. First there was the project on past avatars in October, and now, in early February, there was this. 

"You'll all be splitting into groups of three or more for this project on how uses of bending have evolved over the centuries," Professor Zei said, "I will expect full participation from all group members." Aang and Azula gravitated towards each other from the far corners of the room. They had gotten 100% on their last group project about Kyoshi, even though they had to do more work because of Jet slacking off. Speaking of Jet...

"Hey do you think I could join your group again?" he asked, sidling up to them. Aang and Azula raised their eyebrows.

"Go find someone else," Azula said. 

"Come on," Jet pleaded, "You guys single-handedly brought my grade up from a D to a B. Aang sighed. 

"Fine," he said, as Azula glared at him, "But this project is due in a week, so you have to start pulling your weight." 

"Deal," Jet said, Although Aang and Azula both knew he was lying.

~~~

"Toph, why did you have damage public property while we were in the middle of an important brunch with Glacier Moon Industries," Toph's father sighed. They were seated around a table in the main office of Ba Sing Se High School. Long Feng was sitting awkwardly between Toph and her mother. 

"I think I'll let you... talk this out," the vice principal said before almost bolting from the room. 

"And... You can metal bend?!" her mother said, her face morphed into a tiny "o" of surprise, "Why didn't you tell us?!"  

"Because you'd be even more protective of me and my life would be even more restrictive than it was before," Toph said calmly. 

"I- well, let's just take a step back," her father said. Toph could see that his hands were shaking,  "How can you even earthbend so well in the first place?"

"I feel vibrations in the ground with my feet," Toph explained, "For example, there is a cockroach sitting right beside you, Mom." Poppy looked down under the table and screeched!

"You'd be surprised how many bugs are hidden in plain sight," Toph said, "I can also feel people's heart rate." She looked at her mother, "Mom, stop hyperventilating over the cockroach." 

"I- I'm not scared of that thing," she said unconvincingly.

"Uh huh," Toph sighed, "And another thing, I can tell if you're lying or not. Seeing her parents' shocked faces, she couldn't help a little smirk apon her face.

"So, let me get this straight," her father said, "You've been able to earthbend, and metalbend, and tell if people are lying for how long?!"

"Well, I've only just started being able to metalbend, but I've had my seismic sense ever since we went on that trip to the Serpent's Pass National Park and I-"

"And you got lost for eight hours, I'm aware."

"Well," Toph recounted. She had never told this to anyone, "I got found by these badgermoles that were blind, just like me. We understood each other, and they helped me learn earthbending." The look on her parents' faces was pure shock, mixed with a little... admiration? Whatever it was, it gave Toph enough courage to continue. 

"Mom, Dad," she said hesitantly, "I have plans. I have ideas. I can completely revolutionize earthbending, and I'm going to do it with, or without you."

"Toph," Poppy started. 

"Let me finish," Toph snapped, "I could jump out this window right now and run away to who knows where. The only thing that's stopping me is," She sighed, "You're still my parents, and I care about you. And if you truly care about me, you'll let me see my friends again. You'll send me back to Four Elements, and you'll let me do what I love," She smiled a little bit, "I love earthbending, so please, please don't take that away from me." Poppy and Lao stared at her in stunned silence. Toph had never been so forthright with them before. 

"So," her mom said slowly, "Theoretically, you could tell if the neighbors are lying when they compliment my outfit at our Sunday get togethers?" Toph felt like banging her head against the wall. This was what she got for pouring her heart out to them?

"Yes," she said, barely managing to contain her temper, "And for your information, Liling is a traitorous lying snake who absolutely hates your cheongsam dresses. Poppy's face contorted with rage. 

"I swear the next time I see her..." 

"Toph," Lao said seriously, after almost a full minute of silence,"Nothing that you've said today changes my opinion on your friends." Her face fell, "But," her father continued, "We have always been so protective of you because we thought that you couldn't take care of yourself. We thought that because you were blind, you were fragile and breakable. I see now how wrong I was. You are a strong, capable young woman, and although I don't exactly approve of your choices," he grimaced, "I don't want to get in the way of whatever incredible things you're going to accomplish. I will send you back to Four Elements High School." Toph beamed as her face erupted into a smile. 

"Thank you!" she exclaimed, "Thank you so, so much." 

"Wait," Toph's father said, "There are a few conditions. No more damaging public or private property." Toph nodded, "No more lies," Toph hesitantly agreed, "And if the neighbors, or any of our business partners ever lie, I want to be the first to know."

"Deal," Toph said happily, and for once everything ended as it should be. 

~~~

Thanks for Reading! This chapter was super fun to write! I'm going to have a lot more time to write now, so expect more chapters than usual or maybe some oneshots in the coming weeks.