MUHAHAHAHAHA! Sorry not sorry for that last cliff hanger, but how could you not see this coming? Anyways, this is the first chapter of the squeal and I'm so excited! DISCLAIMER: I HAVE NEVER BEEN TO HAWAII BEFORE SO PLEASE EXCUSE ANYTHING I GET WRONG ABOUT THE PLACE OR CULTURE.
Hm-hm. Ok, here is Chapter 1!
Chapter 1: Leaving
My father and I wheeled our suitcases into the huge doors of the airport. My father was stuffing his wallet in his pocket after he had just paid the limo that had dropped us off at the airport. (Yes, we arrived at the airport in a limo, and it was fricken awesome.)
"You excited?" My father asked me as we got into the line to check in our luggage. I nodded as I fixed the straps on my bag. I had one small suitcase and a small bag as carry on luggage. We were staying in Hawaii for two weeks, and I had packed enough stuff that I thought I was bringing too much. But, when my father took one look at my suitcase, he raised an eyebrow and said, "That's all you're bringing?"
Along with the new room that my father had done for me, he also got me new clothes, since I hadn't gone clothes shopping since I like….nine or something. It was a good thing I never grew, or else I would never have clothes.
Anyways, I finally got some new clothes. I had packed everything that I needed, which I guess wasn't a lot. I packed two weeks of clothes, my bathing suit, my tooth brush, a brush, and a bunch of other stuff I thought I was going to need.
All I had in my little brown rucksack was my laptop, my phone, and anything else to keep me busy.
When we finally got to the beginning of the line, my father grabbed my suitcase and gave it to the lady. Then he did his. He obviously had more stuff than I did, but it was still funny at the expression of the lady's face as she lifted up my father's heavy suit case.
She looked at the name tags on our luggage and her eyes bulged. "Haddock?" She looked at us with wild eyes, "as in Haddock electronics?"
My father nodded, but my face grew red. My father was the owner of Haddock electronics, the biggest electronic company in the entire country, and soon, the entire world. My last name was legendary, and whenever someone learned my last name was Haddock, they usually acted like this. And it was so embarrassing.
The women swallowed and straightened. "Wow…um…enjoy your flight…Mr. Haddock."
My father was beaming, and gently placed his large hand on my shoulder. "Thank you."
He directed me to the right as he walked towards the security lines.
"You enjoyed that, didn't you?" I asked, looking at my father. He smiled down at me. "It's nice to be recognized for all of my hard work."
Then he bent down and kissed me on the temple. "Ack!" I yelped as his kiss caught me by surprise. My father laughed as I gave him a playful glare. "Not funny."
"Yes, it was." My father ruffled my hair and then we heard a familiar voice.
"Stoick! Over here!" My uncle's voice floated over the crowd of people. I couldn't see where the voice was coming from.
"I don't see them." I said, standing on my tip toes.
"It's because you're short."
"Not my fault."
My father grabbed my wrist and made his way through the crowd of people. I spotted my Uncle Spitlout, dressed in causal tan pants and a pale blue shirt. My father and him looked nothing alike. My father was a lot older than my uncle, even though Uncle Spitlout had Snotlout before my parents had me. He had black hair and a short black beard. His face was full and round, and he clutched a grey bag in his hand.
My father was a foot taller than my uncle, and had a lot more muscle. My father had tree trunks for arms, and he was at least seven feet tall. He had flaming red hair and wide grey eyes. He was always dressed causal, but with one look, you knew he was an important person, just by the way he looked and held himself. It was extremely intimidating.
Unlike me, my cousin looked just liked his father. He had the same round face, black hair, mischievous eyes, and the same muscular body type. Snotlout was dressed in light colored jeans and a tight, red shirt that showed off all of his muscles. He was flirting with a pretty blonde girl that was probably Astrid.
Standing next to the girl that was probably Astrid was a middle aged women with sharp blue eyes and a smirk on her face. She was thin, yet with enough muscle on her to know she meant business. Her blonde hair was pulled back in a bun, and she was dressed in a black dress with pearls along her neck.
My father and my uncle shook hands and smiled at each other. They exchanged a few words, but I didn't hear them because Snotlout wrapped his thick hand around my skinny arm and dragged me to where he was standing before.
"Astrid, this is my baby cousin, Hiccup. Hiccup, this is Astrid." I sent him a look when he called me his "baby cousin" because he knows I absolutely hate it when he calls me that, but then I turned my attention to Astrid.
Astrid was a really pretty girl, but with just one look at her, I knew she wasn't someone I should mess with. She had some serious muscle on her, but just the right amount. Her long, blonde hair was pulled into a long braid down her back. Her bangs fell into her crystal blue eyes, but she didn't seem to mind. Her eyes had a hint of competitiveness in them, as if anything that you did she could do so much better. She was wearing a blue striped shirt with dark blue jeans and brown ankle boots. She smirked at me when she saw me. She was at least half a foot taller than me, if not more. She put her hands on her hips and scoffed. "Wait, you're Hiccup?"
My face heated up and I stared at my shoes. "Um…yeah, that's me."
"You're dad is the new boss, right?"
I just kept looking down at my shoes and nodded. "You don't seem like a spoiled, rich kid."
I laughed a little bit. "Um..thank you?" I peeked up at her through my bangs, and I could see her smirking at me.
"So..you two are cousins?" Astrid said, looking at Snotlout.
"Yup! Are dads are brothers! And we're only born a few months apart. But, I'm still older." Snotlout nudged me, trying to get me to talk, but I just politely smiled in agreement.
"Cool." Astrid said, stuffing a piece of bubble gum in her mouth. "I'm an only child, and it sucks."
"Well, so are we." Snotlout said.
Astrid turned to me. "You don't look anything like the rest of your family."
I felt heat rush to my cheeks once more. "Um, yeah. I know. I look a lot like my mom."
Snotlout nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I mean, if you could see my aunt, you'd think Hiccup was just the boy version of her."
I chewed on my bottom lip, not liking where this was going. I only talked about Mom with my dad, mostly because it had a different effect. But, it was just too painful to talk about her in front of strangers. Memories of her washed over me, and I felt myself reach into my hoodie and finger the blue flash drive in my pocket. I had forgotten it was there, but discovered it when we were in the limo.
"What? What do you mean 'if I could see her now'?" She blew a bubble causally.
"She died when I was little." I said, staring down at my shoes.
"Oh. I'm sorry." Astrid mumbled. She shoved her hands in her pockets.
I shrugged. "It happened a long time ago. I've moved on." Biggest lie ever.
"Oh, by the way, I need your number Astrid." Snotlout said to her, whipping his phone out. Astrid cocked an eyebrow. "And why do you need that?"
"Well, what if one of us gets separated from the everyone else? How can I contact you?"
Astrid chewed her gum, and the shrugged. She grabbed Snotlout's phone and punched in her number. Snotlout looked over at me and winked. Smooth.
"I need your number as well, Hiccup." Astrid pulled out her phone and shoved it in my hands.
"Why?" Snotlout asked.
"Well, judging by your logic, what if Hiccup gets separated from the group?" Astrid said, smirking as I put my number in her phone.
"Here you go." I said, handing her phone back. Snotlout looked a little mad, but he was looking at me like "well played".
"Thanks." She blew another bubble.
Snotlout started to do some serious flirting with Astrid, while I just looked down at my shoes and half listened. I was best at being silent and morphing into the shadows. The constant attention I was getting from being all over the news and also having a father as the boss of a million dollar company was really getting on my nerves making me uncomfortable.
"What about you, Hiccup?" Astrid's voice drew me out of my thoughts and I blinked at her.
"What?"
"You got a girlfriend?" She asked causally, as she blew another bubbled and studied her nails.
"I've got a cat. Does that count?" I asked, smirking slightly.
She laughed a little bit, matching my smirk. "No."
"Then no, I do not have a girlfriend." I shrugged. "But, not a surprise there, now is it?"
Now she laughed for real this time, and so did Snotlout. I guess it felt nice to make other people happy, make them laugh. It sent a warm feeling down my spine, and I found myself smiling as well.
Suddenly, I felt my father's large, warm hand on my shoulder. "Our jet is scheduled to take off in about half an hour, so we better get going."
My father smiled down at me and ruffled my hair. "Let's go." I said to him.
We breezed through security since we were flying on a company, private jet. They opened up another lane of security for us. We walked over to some of the gates and saw a small door on the far left. That was ours.
"Where did you find that bag?" My father asked me, eyeing my brown rucksack. It was covered in stamps and stickers from all over the world.
"In the attic. Why?" My father was staring at my bag in awe, and then smiled. "It was your mother's bag. Before we had you, we used to do a lot of traveling. I forgot that I still had that."
"Oh." I said, a little off guard. "I'm sorry. It was found it stuffed in a bin in the attic and I didn't know-"
"No, no, no, it's alright. Just caught me by surprise, that's all." My father gently patted my shoulder.
"Dad, I'm hungry!" Snotlout whined.
"You ate breakfast not even two hours ago." My uncle said, rolling his eyes.
"Oh, yeah. That's right."
I heard Astrid chuckle behind me, and I smiled to myself. We approached the small gate and my father showed his company I.D. card, and then the man let us through.
My father gently guided me past the little hallway and onto the runway. My hair whipped in my face, and the sound of planes taking off made my ear drums want to bleed.
There, sitting on the runway, was a jet that was half the size of an international plane. It had a blue capital H near the tail, which probably stood for Haddock.
There was a stair case like door that lead to the jet. One by one, we boarded the jet. Once we were all inside, the door was closed, and it became completely silent.
The inside made my jaw drop. The interior had three rows containing two seats each. The seats were made out of a comfortable dark leather, while the floor was a comfy, golden carpet. There was literally a crystal chandelier above it all, that contributed to the source of light in the plane. It had a desk in the back made of marble, and instead of the plastic trays you usually see on planes, there was a granite table. The windows were huge along the sides, and there were black, velvet curtains to block out any sun.
"Whoa." I said, looking around at the mini mansion.
"I love being rich." Snotlout said, in awe as well. My face went blank. He's never known what it's like to not be rich, to not be taken care of. He's never been violently hit by his father, he never came home to no food, he's only know peace his entire life. But, I shook the thought out of my head. No, I was beyond this. My father apologized, and he's shown me countless times that he loves me. Yet, still, that thought wouldn't leave my head.
"Ok, just put your bags above in the compartments or under your seats. Once we're up in the air, you can take them down or bring them out." A man said, who I realized was our pilot. He was very tall, with electric blue eyes and a Hollywood smile. He was standing in the doorway that lead to the control room.
"We'll be taking off in exactly 12 minutes, so already get situated." The pilot nodded and then disappeared behind the door.
I chose the second row by random and clicked open the overhead compartment. I slung my brown rucksack off of my back and reached up on my tip toes to put it in, but I was too short. I stretched as far as I could, but no matter what I was always a few inches short.
"Here. Let me help." Snotlout said.
I mumbled a thanks. I gasped as I felt his thick arms around my waist, and then I suddenly grew a foot taller. I shoved the bag into the compartment, and then Snotlout gently put me back down on my feet.
"You didn't have to pick me up." I said to him, pouting.
Snotlout laughed. "Some day, Hiccup, some day. Besides, you're like, seriously light."
"I've been told." I mumbled.
I could hear my father laugh behind me. "Why couldn't I be tall. Of all things, couldn't I be at least a little tall?" I wondered a loud.
"Sorry, Hiccup." My father said, kissing my forehead, "You didn't get my height."
"Unfortunately." Snotlout smiled down at me. "It's alright, little cousin." He said, lightly patting me on the head, "I got you."
I gave him a small smile and said, "Thank you."
I slide into the seat closest to the the window. Our jet was dwarfed by the other planes, yet ours was so much faster. I felt someone next to me, and spun my head around.
Astrid was sitting in the seat next to me. She was looking out the window over my shoulder. I had caught her off guard when I spun around.
"Oh. Sorry, I didn't think you would know I was here." She laughed a little, "Did you like sense me or something?"
I just shrugged. "I guess so."
But, I was lying. I had developed that skill from being bullied 24/7. I always had my guard up, my head on a swivel, so nobody could kick me down when I wasn't looking. It wasn't so much as a bad habit, but it made my nerves fried and it was exhausting, always being on the look out.
"Alright, ladies and gentleman, we will be taking off in approximately off in five minutes." A voice said over the intercom.
"Do you mind if I sit here?" Astrid asked, cocking an eyebrow.
Honestly, I didn't want her to sit with me. I could just image the questions she would pelt me with, or the comments she make about my body. But, I didn't want to be rude. So, I smiled at her and said, "No, I don't have a problem with it. Go ahead."
She smiled at me as she buckled herself into the seat as I did the same. "Have you ever flown before?" Astrid asked me.
I shook my head. "First time?" Astrid said, a hint of shock in her voice.
"Yeah, my dad doesn't really travel with me a lot." I just shrugged.
"But, if your dad was gone traveling, and you don't have a mom, then who-"
"This jet is huge isn't it?" I said to her, interrupting her thought. She got too close to my life before the accident. And that is not a subject I ever want to talk about.
"Yeah. It is." She said, looking around the jet. "Really cool, too. I"m so happy your dad invited my mom along. I've always wanted to go to Hawaii." Astrid's crystal blue eyes wondered around the jet.
"Me too." I mumbled. I sat back in my seat, and looked out the window once more.
"I love how big these windows are." Astrid said, gesturing towards the giant window I was looking at.
"Well, now you do. But, you won't when the sun starts setting. You'll be blinded."
"That's why we have curtains." Astrid said, looking up at the velvet, black curtains that were currently pushed to the side.
Suddenly, the same voice came over the intercom. "We are ready to take off." I felt a rumble below me, and we surged forward.
