And here's an update! I had a lot of trouble with the names, and then stuff didn't seem to make sense. But I still hope y'all enjoy this chapter thingy. 

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               That Monday, July and I woke up in her bedroom to her obnoxious alarm clock. Clifton had gone home on Saturday night because his parents wanted him home. Yesterday we had helped July’s dad put another bed in the room so we wouldn’t have to stay in the Sleepover Room. We didn’t need to get me any clothes, for July and I were pretty much the same size in everything, and she had lots and lots of clothes. She would buy stuff then it would go in the back of her closet. She actually used to give the clothes to me and then my mother would give it to charity, but now I could just wear her clothes. The only thing that didn’t fit me all the way was her shoes. I was a half a size bigger than her and she had more dressy shoes, like ballet flats and boots, while I liked sneakers and flip-flops. Yesterday evening we sewed shoes from a pair of sneakers that we found on the Giant Shoe Rack (we call it that. I think its real name used to be the “Shoe Boutique” or something like that, but we started calling it the Giant Shoe Rack instead, and now the name fits in). We got the idea to copy the design of Toph’s Fire Nation shoes, so we cut out the whole bottom of the shoe and then put some sort of thin, durable fabric to make it look like normal shoes.

               Anyway, we got up and changed. We were ready to have people be confused about me being around, because clearly someone had to tell them that I was dead. I was much more interested in meeting the five new kids who we had heard about.

               After we were ready, we rushed out to the bus stop. There was a cold breeze that bit my nose, and my feet were a bit cold, but I didn’t really care. The sun wasn’t over the horizon yet, but orange light was starting to creep up. The trees were almost bare from the winter, and the neighborhood seemed to be asleep-besides the occasional car driving by.

               “Hey, where’s Clifton?” I noticed that Clifton hadn’t come with us to the bus stop.

               “Did I forget to mention? He had texted me and said he was sick and wouldn’t be at school today.”

               “Oh,” I replied. “He seemed fine yesterday.”

               July only shrugged, turning away to look if the bus was coming.

               After a pause, July spoke. “You’re going to have a ton of make-up work, even if they narrow it down.” 

               “Aw, I forgot about that. Ugh, you are totally right. I hate schoolwork.” I pouted. The bus then appeared from down the street and stopped in front of us.

               “Who doesn’t?” we climbed up on the bus, and the driver raised an eyebrow at me but kept quiet. We went to our usual seats, but it was taken, as was the seat behind it. Those must be the new kids, I concluded. In one seat sat a girl with a high ponytail and long, messy bangs that went down her face, covering most of her eyes. Sitting next to her was a tan boy with short brown hair with a longer part in a small ponytail. The girl was holding the boy’s arm. Actually, more like clutching his arm. In the seat behind was a boy with darker brown hair and a headband going around the top of his forehead, who was sitting on the outside, then a girl that was tan (like the boy with the ponytail) and she had long brown hair that went down to her mid-back and the top part of it in a blue clip with markings. There was another boy that was looking out the window in the same seat as the boy with the headband, and he had almost-black, shaggy hair and you could only see one side of his face from the way he was turned.

               How do I recognize them? I know them from somewhere… July looked at the group but shrugged, and then we sat in the seat behind the boy with the headband. I sat on the inside, for I was especially interested with the boy with shaggy hair. I know them from somewhere! It’s driving me crazy! Think hard… How could I know them?

               As I looked at the boy facing the window, I saw his reflection and gasped as the fact hit me. He had a scar over his eye and on his cheek! They’re from Avatar! The boy and girl in the first seat are Toph and Sokka, and then in the seat in front of July and I are Zuko, Katara, and Aang! It has to be! There’s no other explanation! Maybe they got sucked into this world after I did!

               When we got to school, Team Avatar walked into the building in a big group. Everyone except for Zuko was chatting, so I decided to go say hi to him.

               “Let’s go say hi to him,” I whispered to July, pointing to Zuko. We walked over to him.

               July spoke first. “Hi there! I’m July. What’s your name?” July was being a bit too… hyper.

               “I’m... Zion.” He said it awkwardly, like it was a foreign name to him. He glanced at me and only raised an eyebrow. Does he recognize me?

               “I’m Elizabeth,” I said, holding a stare in his orange-yellow eyes. The rest of the gaang came over. July introduced herself again, as did I.

               “I’m Karina. And that’s my brother, Scott.” Katara motioned to Sokka. I was resisting the urge to laugh hysterically. This is just too funny! They even gave themselves normal names!

               “And I’m To- uh, Topaz.” Toph spoke.

               “Nice to meet you all. Do you know what classes you have?” I asked, wondering how much they planned.

               “Classes? For what?” Sokka asked.

               “Oh, it better not be an etiquette class! There’s no way I’d need to ever do that again.” Toph exclaimed.

               “Okay, guys, that’s enough pretending. We are going to go to the park down the street from here, and talk some things out. July, I’m going to be absent today. You should go and say I’m sick, okay?”

               “So you are going to skip? You’re mother will be angry.” July raised an eyebrow.

               “No! Don’t call it that. Not skipping, just ‘sick’. Okay?”

               “Fine. See you later.” July grouchily turned away and joined the stream of students entering the school.

               A little while later, we were all sitting at a picnic table in the very corner of a park, just by the woods. It would be rather suspicious if someone saw a bunch of teenagers not at school.

               “First of all, how on earth are there all five of you? And why would Zuko be here? It’s all out of order! The last time I saw you guys, Aang, Katara, Sokka and I were just at the Southern Air Temple!”

               “What are you talking about? It’s been a very long time since you disappeared! Zuko is with us now, and Toph has been here for a while. In fact, Zuko and I had just returned from the Firebending temple so he could get his firebending back! We had been showing what we had learned, then all of a sudden, everything went all swirling and we ended up somewhere in a forest!” Aang explained.

               “How is that possible? Whatever portal brought me there and back suddenly appeared to you guys much later! This is strange…”

               “But how do we get back?” Katara asked.

               “I don’t know. Maybe we should just wait and it might appear again.” I suggested.

               Zuko spoke up. “But that might be in weeks or even months! We don’t have the time to wait around! Aang still has to find a way to defeat the Fire Lord and still has lots of training to do!”

               There was a pause, and everyone just sort of sat in silence, contemplating the impossible happenings. There was a light breeze, and it ruffled my hair. Turning toward the breeze, I closed my eyes and let my hair flow back, sighing. Zuko was right. There wasn’t really time to sit around. But what else was there to do?

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That was okay, right? Yeah. 

I have wasted the whole day on the computer. Seriously. :P

I really need to get in the shower and eat dinner, but I want to exercise before the shower so I'll be all sweaty. Then I won't have to get all yucky after I'm clean.

What's the point in saying this? I really don't know. I'll just go now.

Have a nice weekend!

~Natalie