A/N- Eu aposto que estavam todos preocupados que eu não estava indo para atualizar, mas temo que não! (Translation-I'll bet you were all worried that I wasn't going to update, but fear not!) The greeting was Portuguese today! WEEE!
Guh, sorry it took me so long to get going on the last chapter, I went on a little vacation. But I'm here now! 8DDDD
Words of Weirdness- A truck driver will look at you if you drive past 98% of the time. And if you're making a weird enough face, they'll either smile creepily, or give you a 'WTM?' look. 8|
Review PLZ! PRETTY PLZ?! WITH AN AANGY ON TOP?! 8D
Swings
Third Person Perspective (Normal POV)
The crunch of woodchips was all the four year old heard as he was thrown to the ground from the swing he was previously swinging on. He felt the chips scrape his skin as he slid across the ground a few inches from the momentum of his fall. Gingerly, he picked his head up, his cheeks stinging with fresh cuts and turned to see a six year old standing over him, smirking.
"Oops. Sorry kid." he teased, obviously not sorry for his prank. The four year old felt tears well up in his eyes as his cuts started to sting painfully on his knees, forearms, chin, and cheeks. They were just scrapes, but the dirt from the ground made them sting more.
The six year old's eyes lit up maliciously in cruel amusement when he saw the four year old's eyes swim with unshed tears.
"Aww. Are you gonna cry?" he said in a mock baby voice. The four year old sniffed a little making the six year old laugh. Then he suddenly stopped cackling and his expression turned fierce.
"Well if you don't want to get hurt like you did today, don't sit on my swing." he growled before taking a seat on his supposed swing, smirking the entire time.
The four year old picked himself up off the ground, brushing the woodchips off his shirt and pants, blinking back the burning tears in his eyes and then walking away from the swings, head hanging sadly.
"I saw what that kid did. He's a meanie isn't he?" said a girls voice from behind him. The four year old turned to see a girl his age holding a bucket of sand. He stayed silent. Then the girl approached him and grabbed his hand, smiling dazzlingly at him.
"Come on, you can play with me. What's your name?" she asked, leading him towards the sand box, skipping happily.
"Aang." the four year old replied shyly, stumbling behind the girl as she continued skipping. The girl pouted in thought.
"Aang. I like that name. It's pretty." she said brightly. "I'm Katara by the way."
"Your name is pretty too, Katara." Aang complemented quietly. Katara giggled musically and Aang found himself smiling as she led him to the sand box.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
---Nine years later---
Aang's POV
"HOW can you like HIM!?" I exclaimed, thrusting my arms in front of me for emphases. I couldn't believe it…of all people…GAH! Katara couldn't like Jet! He was the one who pushed me off the swings all those years ago! She herself had called him a "meanie" if my memory serves me correct. I'm pretty sure it does because I remember most of the things Katara says to me.
"He's changed Aang. He's not the same kid who pushed you off that swing nine years ago." she insisted. I snorted. Yeah right, he's probably just putting on an act to get himself a pretty girl. Katara is NOT a prize to be won by smooth talk. She's far more valuable than that and I happen to be the only guy who sees it besides her father and brother.
"I'm telling you Katara, he's no good." I argued, hoping I'd make a point, but if I know Katara, she won't listen to reason until she gets hurt. And that worries me.
Sure enough, she answered,
"You're just mad because he was mean to you in the past." I felt anger bubble in my stomach.
"That isn't the only reason, Katara." I retorted. I immediately regretted it.
"Oh yeah? What are the others?" she asked, putting her hands on her hips. My gaze darted around nervously, trying to think of a way to cover up my slip up. Crud! I might as well have just said, "Gee Katara, the other reason is because I'm hopelessly in love with you! Now will you dump the angry jerk and go out with me?"
"Uhh…h-haven't you heard about all the things he does? Like shoplifting?" I suggested weakly. It wasn't entirely false. I heard a rumor about him stealing something from a shop in town the other day. Unfortunately, it didn't work.
"You know perfectly well that that's just a rumor." she retorted, narrowing her eyes at me. I flinched inside; she can be intimidating when she wants to. I opened my mouth to argue, but she beat me to it.
"As are all are the OTHER things that people say he does." Dang.
"You know, they could be true." I added. Pfft. Great job Aang, that'll really change her mind. She gave me a skeptical look.
"Aang, don't worry." she said, exasperated at none other than me, much to my frustration. To add to my anger, the jerk himself walked over to us, regarded me with a nod and looped an arm around Katara's waist. If his hand gets any lower, I'm grabbing the nearest sharp object, and sawing it off. Okay, maybe I won't do that…think pacifist thoughts Aang…
"How 'bout I walk you home?" he said smoothly. Katara blushed furiously and tugged her hair.
"Oh…thank you…sure!" she babbled, giggling madly. I gritted my teeth in annoyance. Jet smirked and looked over at me now.
"Doesn't she have the cutest laugh?" he asked, looking down at a cherry faced Katara. My anger melted and I frowned sadly.
"Yeah…she does." I replied truthfully, hoisting my school bag on my shoulder and heading for the door. I could feel Katara's gaze the whole way out.
~****~
I always went to the park when I had some thinking to do. It was the same one I'd visited when I was younger. Now, I came here at night to just sit myself on a swing, and think.
Gyatso didn't mind that I came here. He just made sure I was home before midnight. He insisted I had to get SOME sleep.
I sighed and sat myself on the former "Jet Swing" and kicked off, swinging slowly back and forth. I never went higher than a few inches off the ground when I was thinking. The slow back and forth movement helped clear my thoughts. Hopefully, it would help me make sense of the ones swirling in my head tonight. Clutching the chains of the swing tighter, I bit my lip and stared at the woodchips underneath me. What was so great about Jet that she would choose him over me? Was I too short? I was still a few inches taller than her, but Jet towered over her. I always thought that she was the kind of person who looked for more in a guy than just social stature and good looks. It just didn't make any sense! Maybe I was like a brother to her and she just didn't want to be with me in that type of relationship.
"Love." I mused aloud. "What a horribly, wonderful thing."
~****~
Third Person Perspective
It had been almost a week, six days to be exact, since Katara and Jet had started dating. Aang had been counting to see how long it took for her to see that the jerk was no good. It was on day six that he decided to pay a visit to the park. He didn't care that it was pouring rain that day; he just needed to have a place to think. He'd been doing a lot of thinking lately, more specifically after Jet became a problem.
He sighed and took a seat on one of the black, plastic swings. Cold rain pounded into his back, soaking him to the skin. He shivered and swung back and forth slowly, rain splattering onto his face, catching onto his eyelashes.
"I thought I'd find you here." a voice said from above. Aang looked up to see Katara, also soaked to the skin, smiling sadly down at him.
"What are you doing here?" he asked curiously as she sat herself on the swing next to him. She shrugged.
"Things with Jet didn't work out so well. We went on a date and I found out what a jerk he really was. He made me pay for the food!" she grumbled. Aang felt his heart swell with hope.
"Did you break up?" he asked, trying not to sound too eager. Katara nodded and sighed.
"Yep. You were right all along. I should've listened to you. You were only trying to do what was best for me." she replied.
"I just want you to be happy. I knew Jet wouldn't make you feel that way." he said quietly. Katara smiled at the ground at his words.
There was a long silence.
"Aang, there's something you should know. After Jet and I broke up, I fell in love with this guy, but I don't know how to tell him." she admitted sheepishly. At first Aang's heart sank, but when he turned and looked into her eyes, he understood.
With boldness he didn't know he possessed, he stood up from his swing and offered his hand to her.
"I'll show you how to tell him." he said. Katara took his hand and he pulled her to her feet bringing her face to face with him. They were only a few inches away now.
"You tell him…like this." he whispered before closing the space between them. It started as a sweet kiss on the lips, but deepened into a slow, passionate one as they parted their lips in time with each other. Katara's hands wrapped themselves in his soaking wet hair, pulling his lips harder against hers in a need to be close as his hands rested on the small of her back, and in her equally wet hair. Aang never forgot that first kiss.
It was a long time before they finally separated and sat back down on the swings, holding hands. Aang closed his eyes and smiled to himself thinking, no swing could ever take him to the height at which he felt right now.
A/N- You know, I read over this and I can't help but think, "WTM DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH SWINGS?!" I mean, I know it has swings in it, but Swings doesn't seem like an appropriate title for some strange reason. Oh well. I like how this came out, but I wish I was less cliché…--grits teeth--…RAWR. I hate cliché. XP I seriously couldn't think of a way to bend it though. I WAS going to do mood swings…but I decided against it. XDD
The first part was to develop Aang's early attraction to Katara. Plus, I wanted to use the word meanie. XDDD I had to show that Jet was a jerk too. Oh, and I love to write about ickle Katara and Aang. They're TOO CUTE! X3
So…reviews anyone? --blinkblink-- Don't make me send my security guard Misteh Moose after you. Because he will show no mercyyyyyy. 8|