Prologue

"That guy's got to stop... he'll see us."

-James Dean's last words, prior to a fatal car crash

Sometimes I think about life, about the meaning of it all.

Doing what you want with it, that is, enjoying what you do for a living... that's the name of the game.

Get up, go to work, come home, rest, go back again. You spend more than half of your life working. Why can't it be something you enjoy? If you can make money doing what you love to do; doing something that doesn't feel like a job... then you win.

That's happiness.

For me, happiness came from astronomy. I love it very much, and I always have. I love the stars. I love the planets. I love the galaxies.

I love the sky. I see stars dancing in the night, and I imagine myself flying among them.

I adore the sky.

I was in the right place for it all. My major was Astronomy, in the University of Colorado.

It was the first big school I'd gone to. I was so accustomed to cheaper schools that this one felt prestigious. I felt like I shouldn't be there, but the scholarship I'd earned from the grades I earned in community college made me feel proud. That scholarship covered $12,500 of my $18,000 tuition this first semester.

My first semester was... interesting. I was adjusting through most of it, but I enjoyed my time so far. It was spent learning more about the subject I so adored. I almost didn't want it to end.

It's positively therapeutic.

Still, money was an issue. Even with the scholarship... money...

Well, money's always an issue. We're not a rich family (not until I discover something awesome in the sky that nobody else noticed, anyway) by any extent. We're certainly not poor, but...

I'd never used a student loan before, because I hear horrible things about loans taking your hard earned money and your very soul as payment. Grants and a scholarship were sufficient enough to bring tuition at community college down to a level we could reasonably afford each year. Now, in my job (I sell Magipeel Vegetable Peelers), I earn a 4% commission on an $8 fixed rate, over a $4 item. I guess the commission is to make you feel better. Or maybe it's so I don't have to be paid minimum wage, which happens to be $8.50.

Needless to say, I don't make too much money. I have to work when I get off class most days, and my mind was on the financial situation I was soon to bear as I drove out into the snow (it having started about an hour before I left).
Even with my meagre pay, I've asked multiple times if someone needs me to help pay my tuition, or if I'm needed to help pay a bill or two.

My mother never wants to take my money, and she always tells me that she'll let me know if she needs it. My father says I can give him some money for car insurance (I hear Veiko saves you 16% or more) each month. Frankly, as long as I make over $100 a month (which I do, unless it's an exceptionally slow month, such as following the holiday season), I'd be golden in that regard.

I was jerked out of my thoughts by my vehicle. I was on the highway on my way to class again, and I started to fishtail. I was beginning to lose control of the car, but I managed to right myself and escape a rear-ending I would've given to the SUV in front of me. I ended up in the left most lane after all was said and done. I righted the skid, and I was moving along normally again.

I sighed in relief, having almost spun out in weather like this before. I just needed to get out of this lane and back to the right most, because that's where the exits are.

I heard tires screeching. I checked my rearview mirror- nothing. I looked at the SUV- nothing (except the driver giving me the finger). The last thing I managed to do was look up. I saw a car careen into oncoming traffic, and we collided head on.

Maybe I should've just rear-ended the SUV.

End of Prologue

...

Yeah, it's one of those. You know, one of those "If it's enjoyable, then it stays, and if not, then I shoot it." Well, not shoot it. I mean, delete... yeah. What I'm trying to say is, what do you think so far? I know there's not a whole lot to work with yet, but it'll come.

This story is essentially banged out already. Last I checked, I've got 20 chapters, and probably not very long ones at that.

Yeah, I know. "But Chuck. Chuck. Chuuuuuuck. Chuck. But Chuck! What does this have to do with How To Train Your Dragon?" We'll get there. I'm not a nice person to my characters, remember? Or if you're new, then guess what? I'm not nice to my characters. Actually, I'm just not nice. Except for when I'm working and I get paid to be nice.

Next chapter covers this guy (his name is revealed then as well) receiving medical treatment for the head-on collision he just had, and there's a little more, too. I think.