Despite lack of sleep, Astrid woke up.
Despite the throbbing headache, Astrid stepped out of bed.
Despite how lethargic she felt, Astrid forced herself to get ready for the day.
Despite the fact that Astrid was coming down with a cold...Astrid still had to go to school.
And, she didn't want Hiccup to worry about her.
Her mother had tried to get her to stay home, saying she had a fever, but Astid told her she needed to go. "I have that Trig exam today." Hiccup had been helping her study for it for the last three days. And, once school was over with for the day, she had all weekend to recover from whatever she'd caught.
After taking some extra strength pain reliever/fever reducer, Astrid left the house, hopped into her car, and headed towards the school.
She felt her phone vibrate once in her pocket. Hiccup was probably texting her. A small smile crossed her face at the thought of him. He made her happy. He was the only person she'd let her guard down on, ever. Somehow, he'd made his way into her heart; flawlessly as a matter of fact.
As she parked, she felt her nose begin to run, and she quickly reached for a tissue pack from the glove compartment. Blowing her nose, she shoved the used tissue into the jean pocket, then pulled her back pack over her shoulder, and headed into the school.
Glancing down at her phone, she read his text:
7:34 AM - Did you eat breakfast?
Eek. She hadn't. She needed to lie.
7:41 AM - Toast.
She walked into the school and headed towards her locker, dodging other students gossiping about someone, walking in packs as they typically do. Rarely did anyone travel alone. After nearly running into someone that was too busy to look up from their phone, Astrid dodged them, feeling annoyed. Couldn't anyone watch where they were going anymore? No, they were glued to their phones.
Making it to her locker, she organized herself, grabbing the books she needed for her first three periods. Leaning down, she felt her nose begin to run again, and she reached into her pocket, grabbing the tissue, and dabbing her nose. It was going to be raw before the end of the day.
After closing her locker, she positioned her books in her arms, and headed towards her first class. School would be starting in the next ten minutes.
Rounding the corner to head into her homeroom, she felt the congestion shift in her chest as she took in a deep breath, trying to mentally and physically prepare herself for the long day.
Oy. Just the thought of surviving classes made her exhausted.
Walking into her history class, she glanced up and saw Hiccup sitting in her seat, supporting a welcoming grin on his freckled face.
"Good morning, milady," he said with a wide, toothy smile as she approached the desk. "You are running late."
She had been. Typically she was at the school a little bit earlier than now. Hiccup was always at the school much earlier since he took the bus. Often times she'd find him sitting across the hallway from her locker, reading a book or sketching, trying to blend into the wall as people hurried past.
"You are going to be late for class," she said, glancing at the clock. She knew it took him longer to get to his homeroom. It was all the way across the school, and the large crowds often held him back with his slight gimp.
He shrugged and slid out from her seat. "How was your toast?"
"Hard and tasteless," she said to him.
"That was what I thought," Hiccup said, reaching into his back pack and sitting on her desk a bowl of oatmeal from McDonalds. "And, I know you didn't eat."
She narrowed her eyes at him. Her cold was making her rather grouchy, she could tell. He was trying to play cute.
"How do you know?"
"You never eat before a big test," Hiccup said. He pulled a few peppermints from his pocket, and placed them onto her desk. He always kept them handy during test days. All Astrid could think about was how good they would probably feel coating her sore throat.
"How did you get to McDonalds today?" Astrid asked him.
"Dad dropped me off," he said softly. "See you at lunch?"
Astrid nodded, forcing a small smile. "Thank you."
He leaned in and kissed her cheek, and immediately was out the door, heading to his own class.
After forcing down the slightly cooled oatmeal, Astrid popped a peppermint into her mouth, and played with the wrapper between her fingers. She liked the sound of the wrapper when she rubbed it together. Taking in a deep breath, she opened her book to her history chapter and waited for the bell and the rest of her class to arrive.
...
Her test was during third period, right before lunch hour. She was having a difficult time concentrating as the day wore on, and it wasn't even midway through. Her head was throbbing worse, and her throat was beginning to feel like it was on fire. She practically kept holding the tissue directly to her nose to keep the snot from dripping down her face. She debated for a split second on having her mother sign her out once her test was over with, but if she did that meant she couldn't go to Hiccup's after school to have popcorn and watch a movie. It had become a Friday night tradition for them.
The test was placed face down on her desk by her teacher. As he handed out the final ones to the next row, she placed the peppermint into her mouth, grabbed her pencil into her hand, and waited for Mr. Eubanks to say they could begin. Rolling the peppermint in her mouth, she took in a breath, and prayed for a few seconds, readying herself for this test.
Then, they began.
Somehow, Thor willing, she made it through the test with ten minutes to spare. She flipped through it, not able to locate a single spot that she needed to correct. For once she wasn't second guessing herself on a single problem. Perhaps the tutoring sessions with Hiccup were helping. After turning in her test, she laid her head down on her desk to close her eyes. She had to position herself just right so that she could hold the tissue to her dripping nose.
How elegant!
For some reason, Hiccup always looked at her as thought she were a swan, or a diamond. He always looked at her with the utmost endearment. Never had a boy looked at her the way he did. And, show some class and respect.
Astrid beat Hiccup into the art room for lunch. Usually she would stop at her own locker to change out her books prior to lunch since she usually packed. Inside her locker was a PB&J sandwich but she had no appetite to eat. She couldn't even breath to chew and swallow with her mouth closed.
She felt like lying her head on the desk and closing her eyes, attempting to get a few moments of rest...but she didn't. Hiccup would know right away something was wrong, and she needed to keep positive for him. Concern always grew in him so easily. The boy was a true empathist. Some people may call it overbearing, or consider him weak. But, he thought of everyone and everything. Which was very much unlike his father. Although, she liked Mr. Vast he could come across so cold sometimes. Where Hiccup learned this trait Astrid didn't know.
Actually, she did. It came so natural to him.
She knew he was coming just by the sound of his walk when he entered the room. He always had a minor pause in his step before he would drop the shoe on the prosthetic. She glanced his direction as he made his way into the classroom, and he gave her a kind smile.
"How do you think you did?" he asked her, taking a seat on the stool beside her.
"Not bad," she said, noting the tone change in her voice. Hiccup seemed to notice but didn't say anything.
"Think you Aced it?" he asked, setting his bag down between them.
"I think so-guess we will find out when the test gets graded."
"Mr. Eubanks will probably post them tonight if I had to guess," Hiccup said to her, now pulling out his packed lunch. "He doesn't like to sit on tests all weekend. He wants to enjoy his weekend, too."
Astrid gave him a small smile. He always seemed to know just what everyone was thinking. It was eery how he understood the teachers. Perhaps they shared similar characteristics his father did?
"You aren't eating," Hiccup said. It was more of a statement, not a question.
"No," Astrid said. "Oatmeal filled me up."
"Now that isn't true," Hiccup said. His eyebrow raised.
"How do you know?"
"That oatmeal barely gets me through two classes-by now I'd be famished."
"I'm not you," Astrid said simply.
Hiccup paused. "You are right. I am not."
She watched him lay out an apple, a turkey sandwich, and a container of applesauce. After pulling a bottle of water from his bag, he seemed to set it with the rest of his lunch, but he wasn't diving it. Although, Astrid was certain he was hungry.
Leaning over the desk, her forehead laid in the palm of her hand, and she seemed to feel herself go in a daze. She stared the marked up desk she leaned against, becoming loss in her daze. She thought about how her father was out of town for SWAT training. And, how her mother needed to go see her grandmother that evening to help with some organization. And, how disappointed Hiccup might be if she didn't come over to the house after school.
Suddenly, she felt a the back of a hand against her cheek. She met Hiccup's concerned stare. She winced, knowing he was investigating her.
"You all right?" he asked gently.
"I will be," she said to him, her voice breaking again.
She felt him touch her cheek again, then his whole hand reached for her forehead, and she shifted to let him. His cold hand felt good.
"Astrid, you should go home," Hiccup said to her.
"I've only got four more periods. And one of them is study hall-"
"It doesn't matter," Hiccup said to her.
"I'll make it," she said, finally meeting his eyes. "It's just a cold."
"That it may be," Hiccup said. "But, I can see it in your eyes you aren't feeling well."
Astrid glanced at him. "It'll run it's coarse."
"Jeeze, and you tell me I'm stubborn," Hiccup said to her with a slight laugh. She could tell he was trying to lighten the mood.
"We make quite a pair sometimes, don't we?" she asked, pushing herself back from the desk. She longed her lay her head down and fall asleep for the next twenty minutes. She wanted it more than food. But, not as much as sharing a conversation with Hiccup.
"Would you like an orange juice?" he asked her, suddenly rising. "I'll go buy you one-"
"Hiccup, no-" She reached for the sleeve of his zip up, pulling his gaze back to her. "I'll be fine-you don't have to take care of me."
"I just want to make sure you get to feeling better," Hiccup said, gently pulling her arm away. "The vending machine is just down the hall."
"Fine!" she said. "I won't fight you on this one."
"Good!" And he was gone.
He sure did seem pleased with himself when he arrived back. The coolness felt good against her raging throat.
Over the course of ten minutes, they talked a little bit. Hiccup doing more of the talking. She was listening, but sometimes it became white noise. His voice echoed in her head, causing it to throb worse. She didn't tell him, though. She knew he meant no harm. He just wanted to talk to her about school, his father, Katherine, the cat...the distant relationship he was having with her mother.
Hiccup couldn't stand it. Slowly her mother was working herself to like Hiccup. She was starting to let her guard down about him. She still thought he and Astrid spent too much time together. Truth was, since life with him had calmed down, and they were past the whole other drama, they had begun spending less time together. The whole week they had been together for about an hour in the evening, but it was just so Hiccup could help her study for her math test. A simple quick kiss on the cheek, and she was out the door heading home to finish her other homework.
Astrid quit talking about him in front of her mom most of the time anymore. Her father was still working on her. He knew, thankfully, that he was a good kid. Just getting her mother to see that was the issue. After all, up until three months ago, Astrid had never talked about dating a boy in the present tense.
She felt a hand come to her forehead again, causing her to blink, knocking her out of her daze. Hiccup rubbed his fingers together, and sighed.
"You have a fever-do you not realize this?"
It took Astrid a moment to comprehend what he was asking.
"I shouldn't-I took meds-"
"Probably four or five hours ago," Hiccup said.
"They are eight hour-"
He stopped arguing with her then. Instead, he took a bite of his sandwich. It was then Astrid realized he'd only had maybe one bite prior. His apple remained untouched and his apple sauce remained unopened.
Why pack an apple and have applesauce?
Suddenly, Hiccup had a hold of her arm. He was up, his items were packed up. In the opposite hand he had her books.
"Come with me," he said.
Without a fight, Astrid followed him from the art room and down the hallway.
...
Sure enough, she had a fever. The nurse pulled the thermometer from her mouth and sighed.
"Sorry, Miss Hofferson," she said. "I need to call your folks."
"Why?" Astrid asked.
"Your fever is too high-"
"How high?"
"It's over 100."
"Seriously?" Astrid couldn't believe it.
"Go sit in the waiting room. I will call your mom. Think she will come and pick you up?"
"I have my car-"
"You aren't driving yourself home-sorry." Her hand left Astrid's shoulder and she left the small room.
Astrid was alone in the room. Hiccup was probably waiting outside. Glancing at her phone, she realized the bell would be ringing soon to send everyone to their next class. Hiccup probably hadn't made it back to his locker yet.
Sure enough, the bell rang. A second later, a text came through.
11:45 AM - I take it you are going home?
11:46 AM - Yes. I'm not allowed to stay.
There was a brief pause in his text back. She was certain he had gone to his locker in a hurry, and needed to get to his class.
11:48 AM - Feel better. I'll text you soon.
11:49 AM - Thanks, Hiccup.
...
Katherine had somehow become Astrid and Hiccup's second mother over the past few months. Hiccup completely loathed her for so long. She wasn't really sure why she had either. Katherine was one of the most selfless people Astrid had ever met...next to Hiccup. Perhaps they had been too much alike, that was why Hiccup didn't like her so much.
Even though Katherine had been seeing Mr. Vast for the last nine months, it wasn't until February when Katherine had started becoming a part of their lives. Well, Hiccup's especially. He'd finally let his guard down enough to let her in. He still wouldn't admit it to Astrid, but she felt she knew a lot of the reason why Hiccup hadn't let Katherine in so quickly.
Poof.
She knew he feared she'd be gone...just like that.
Just like his mom.
How Hiccup had managed to live without Katherine in his life Astrid had no idea. Here lately she had been the one to take him to most of his PT appointments. Not his father. Especially during pre-trials, depositions and hearings. Which, seemed to have been coming up more often as of late.
Katherine was who retrieved her from the school. Her mother had actually called the law office, requesting to talk to Mr. Vast. And, in turn she sent Katherine to come for her. And, take her to the Vast home. Her mother was tending to Astrid's grandmother who was becoming reliant on everyone due to her dementia.
Katherine pushed Astrid to take a different cold medication after being asked, "Are you allergic to anything?"
Then, she proceeded to making Astrid a cup of warm tea and honey. Surprisingly it felt good going down her throat.
"I'll get you a blanket and you can take a nap," Katherine said.
She moved around the house as though she lived there, Astrid noticed.
But she didn't. She had her own house to clean, her own bills. Astrid wondered why she didn't just move in with the Vasts, but she stopped herself.
Too soon, she concluded. And, Katherine had her daughter, Heather, to think about.
The couch seemed to swallow Astrid the longer she leaned against it, and she felt herself slipping off into some form of light sleep. Curling up, she rested her forehead on the arm of the couch, held an already well-used tissue to her nose to stop the drip, and closed her eyes.
Hiccup was probably concerned.
...
I think this story actually GAVE me a cold. I have been working on this chapter for four days, and up until yesterday I felt FINE. First cold in a year. Mix it with some insomnia, stress between my full-time job, adding into preparation for team, and our upcoming move...I think I am just worn out.
I was originally only going to make this a one-shot, but I will at least do a two-shot.