Disclaimer: I don't own How To Train Your Dragon or anything associated with it. All rights go to Dreamworks, who made the series and films, and Cressida Cowell, who wrote the books that inspired it all. Don't try this at home, school or work. Just keep any stunts mentioned in my fanfics out of your life, OK!? I don't own any songs mentioned in this fanfic, either.
A/N: This fanfiction was inspired by another fanfiction called How to swat a Queen bee by vala411. I've always pictured Hiccup as a high school teenager protecting Astrid after she runs into a mean girl who makes her really angry/want to cry. And for those of you who read my story The photo album and remembered my modern-day equivalent to the Red Death being a car crash, don't worry about it. I wanted to give Hiccup a more badass look for this fanfic, which would explain the new backstory. I may switch between the two explanations, depending on what I think will work best. Oh, and a nappy is just the English word for diaper. Just putting that out there for the Americans reading this, who may be confused.
Astrid had been having a perfect day before it was ruined. She'd automatically woken up on the right side of the bed and in a good mood because today was her birthday, and her awesome friends had all gotten her some gifts, which ranged from birthday cards, running shoes from the twins, a book she'd always wanted to read from Fishlegs and Meatlug, and a booklet on hair and make-up tips from Stormfly, her adopted sister with naturally curly (dyed) blue hair that just wouldn't stay natural without malfunctioning somehow. In fact, let's take a closer look at Astrid's friends.
Hiccup (Henry) was her boyfriend of almost a year now, with auburn hair, green eyes and simply adorable freckles that she loved. He had a hobby of forging metal in both the school Product Design classroom and his own personal workshop. Naturally shy and sweet, Hiccup was known to be especially sweet to her, which earned her father's seal of approval instantly. Mr Hofferson had become tired of the long line of dumb but ripped athletic jocks that had come after her daughter because of her physical beauty, and when he saw the drastic differences between Hiccup and what he personally called 'the rejects club', he figured his daughter had finally come to her senses and found herself a nice man who'd finally treat her right.
Fishlegs (Felix) was somebody she'd always known, since he lived a few doors down from her and had always gone to the same schools as her. He was the nerdy, husky kid who always seemed to have a book in one hand and a snack of some sort in the other. He would usually be found in the local library, the tiny book doing nothing to hide his big frame, but made sure only a few tufts of short blond hair were showing over the top of it. He could babble about useless trivia for days if you let him.
Ruffnut (Roberta) and Tuffnut (Terrence) Thorston were the troublemaker twins that could never sit still unless they were waiting for the best part of a prank to unfold in front of them, occasionally having to push locks of greasy, blonde hair out of the way so it didn't block their view. Astrid knew them from the times they all sat next to each other as they sat outside and waited for the principal to speak to them in his office. Eventually the twins would ask her, like inmates sharing a prison cell, what she did to get here, as with her blonde hair, soft blue eyes and delicate-looking hands, she looked like the sort of kid that was more suited to picking daisies than picking fights. They teased her at first about how much trouble she'd be in, but backed off once they realized that Astrid had a set of fists she knew how to use.
Snotlout (Scott), Hiccup's cousin, also went to school with her, and made many attempts to get Astrid to date him, using flattery (she didn't listen), blackmail (it didn't work), bribery (she took the money and decided that with every girlfriend there comes a break-up) and finally, getting her into trouble until she caved and went out with him for a coffee and maybe a little more (which never happened). This was why Astrid was so familiar with the outside of the principal's office: the reason she was there in the first place was because she was tired of Snotlout's lewd and borderline disgusting pick-up lines and had sucker-punched him right in the kisser. Just because he knew lots of girls that would fall for his dark hair and green eyes, it didn't mean she was one of them.
But we've talked enough about them. Let's move on to their adopted siblings, who had the idea to become a vigilante group and call themselves 'Berk's Dragons'. They were the ones who went undercover around the school making Walls of Shame for bullies, pranking the more sadistic teachers in the school staffroom, and leaving baggies of food for the homeless to show Berk that teenagers weren't all drunken delinquents like Mildew (resident grouch) claimed they were. Even if they played pranks in school, that wasn't enough for Mildew to call the police on them, as what they did in school was none of his business. The police took care of the law, and they hadn't broken any laws. They were being better citizens than he was!
Stormfly (Sally), Astrid's adopted sister that has already been mentioned, was the exact opposite of Astrid in almost every way, but they still got along like a house on fire. Astrid loved sports, and was addicted to the tired-but-happy feeling she had after an intense workout and the borderline blissful feeling of massaging away all her aches and pains from a training session in a hot shower. Stormfly despised sports, and hated being sweaty after gym class. Astrid was more of a tomboy. Stormfly's face showed up every time you looked for a definition for the word 'girly-girl'. Astrid was the type to throw punches. Stormfly would scratch your face (and your car) if you got on her bad side. They still got on very well, exchanging clothes, cosmetics and revenge ideas on a daily basis.
Toothless (Thomas) was Hiccup's adopted brother, known as the 'Night Fury' after all the times he broke into the school at night to prank the entire building. He wore his customary black shirt and loose black jeans. The only colour he had was red shoes and his piercing green eyes, which led some kids to call him a goth loser and a clown. He retaliated by saying that the only reason he was here was because he'd been dragged here by their gravitational pull, and then went on to say that this was why so many people had come with them. Then again, Toothless was the sort of person to say "yes" if someone asked him if he thought they were stupid. Toothless got into a lot of fights for that reason, so he learned how to defend himself pretty well.
Hookfang (Harris) was Snotlout's adopted brother, with bright red hair (that he'd styled to look like two horns) that had people stand him next to Stoick, his adoptive uncle, and make a 'before and after' picture out of them. (Nobody's quite sure which one was the 'before' and who was 'after'.) His yellowish eyes were a little odd, but what gave him his nickname was a curled, unusually pointed tooth that could always be seen when he smiled or opened his mouth wide. He joked about it being more like a fang than a tooth, and since it was so oddly shaped, the name Hookfang was born.
Barf (Ben) and Belch (Barry) were the identical twins that had been adopted by the Thorstons. They frequently accompanied the twins with Loki Day schemes and cons. Now that they were old enough, they had decided to stay identical and dye their hair pale green. Their nicknames had been invented when the green-haired twins revealed that they once stayed off school by eating regular cows' milk (they were lactose intolerant) and throwing up to make people believe that they were ill so they could study for tests or just take a break. Apparently, it worked all the time until they were eventually caught by a teacher, who reported them to their mother. She wasn't pleased.
Meatlug (Miranda) was Fishleg's adopted sister, but unlike the others, it was easier to tell that she was adopted because she was of African background and Fishlegs was white. The other children that were adopted simply had different coloured eyes/hair to their siblings. She was a curvy girl, and she had been ruthlessly teased about it growing up, with fatass being a slur she knew too well. She usually ignored it, but after being told that she was "lugging around too much meat for a kid her age" she simply told them that this was why she was called Meatlug. Her close friends had called her that ever since, a spoken shrine to how badass she was when dealing with people who were a little dumber than average.
Although Astrid loved the book, running shoes, fashion hacks and cupcakes (Meatlug) that her friends had got for her, her all-time favourite gift was from Hiccup, who'd surprised her by forging a bracelet out of copper, and engraving the words "Astrid Hofferson" on one side of a cute charm and the word "Princess" on the other. Add that the charm was shaped like a Disney-style tiara, and you had a present that both looked classy and could make any romantic go "Awww, how adorable."
Astrid loved the bracelet, and had many of her friends from the track team jealous of her for her doting, creative boyfriend. However, there seems to always be a dark cloud in the sky for even the sunniest of days, and that cloud was called Nicola Evergreen, the school's queen bee and head of the cheerleading squad. There was a rivalry between the track team and the cheerleading squad, and that was made known in the changing room the school made them share. That changing room is where, for lack of better words, the shit hit the fan. This is where most of the school's gossip was generated, and if it had been forgotten, it would be revived, like Frankenstein's monster. So when Nicola heard the other members of the school track team fawning over something that wasn't her/associated with her (the scandal!), she set out to destroy everything about it that made it seem desirable. Like a predatory animal, she waited until she and Astrid were the only people in the changing room before she went over to her. Couldn't have her victim relying on the support of friends, after all. That was how you got defeated.
"What's that, Astrid?" she asked, pointing to the bracelet on her wrist and feigning ignorance about how it came into Astrid's posession. She wrapped a stray lock of black hair around her index finger and popped a piece of chewing gum into her mouth.
"Oh, it's just a birthday gift from Henry, my boyfriend," Astrid explained, feeling proud that it was hers, but careful not to reveal her nickname for Hiccup/Henry. "He made it himself as a surprise for me."
"The surprise must have been how shitty it actually is," Nicola sneered. "Ugh, couldn't he have just bought you one that was made out of gold, like my boyfriend, Matt? Oh, wait, he's not rich enough, so he has to make do with the scraps from the Product Design Club, located in the heart of Loserville."
"Don't say that!" Astrid defended. "Henry's not a loser just because he's a member of the Product Design Club! And what does money have to do with love?"
"Oh, you'll figure it out when you're around 30, living with him in a trailer park with all the other homeless losers in this dump of a village," Nicola answered cattily, her green eyes turning cold. "Besides, he's not even dating material, with that prosthetic leg and scrawny frame of his. I know he got it exposing some drug lord who called herself the Red Death who tried to kill him and all, but it won't make up for him being a loser his entire life before that. That's why I picked Matt, who has muscles to spare and is super rich. I feel sorry for you, actually. You had way better taste before you got with him, and deserve way better than someone who makes trinkets out of the same stuff found in wires."
"How dare you say that, you bitch! Henry loves me!" Astrid shrieked. She wanted nothing more than to leap out of her chair and rearrange Nicola's face so it was as ugly as her personality, but if she did that, she'd be pulled from the track team and her sports scholarship would be revoked instantly. Anyway, by the time she'd convinced herself to take a less physical approach, Nicola had gone, and her anger became sadness. She honestly wanted nothing more than to bawl her eyes out until there was no more tears left in her. Slowly and sadly, Astrid got changed, took her other presents out of her locker and started walking to Hiccup's house.
Hiccup had been chilling in his workshop, making designs for more jewellery before Astrid knocked on the door. Thinking it was his dad, he went to open it, only to find his girlfriend, the most beautiful girl in the world, on the verge of tears. "Astrid, is something wrong?" he asked. Astrid flung herself into his arms and sobbed. He held her tight and led her into the living room, sitting her down on the sofa as he got her a chocolate milkshake from the fridge and some tissues. "Oh, Astrid, what happened?"
"Just Nicola telling me that . . . the bracelet you made me was trashy because it was made out of copper instead of gold. She also said that I'd end up living in a trailer park with you because you weren't rich like her boyfriend was," Astrid revealed, before sobbing all over again, crying on Hiccup's shoulder. Hiccup sat on his hands to stop himself making them into fists. How dare somebody say that to his girl? And on her birthday, too! And just as Astrid's anger became sadness, Hiccup's anger became cool, calculated vengeance. His sharp brain was already coming up with a plan to put that girl in her place.
"I think I've got just the thing to put Nicola in her place," Hiccup stated, grinning as he mentally thought of all the things he would need. "You don't mind helping me, do you, Astrid?"
"You had me at 'put Nicola in her place'," Astrid grinned, her eyes shining with tears and determination. "What's the plan?"
"You show off that bracelet as much as possible, milady," Hiccup answered. "Lots of people are talking about it, and some are actually paying me to make them stuff. It won't be long until Nicola notices."
"But even if she asks you for some jewellery, what metal will you use to make it?" Astrid asked. Hiccup only grinned, and kissed her senseless so she wouldn't talk any more.
"Leave that to me, baby," Hiccup whispered, as Astrid gasped for breath and hugged him gratefully.
True to his word, Astrid's bracelet had spread around the school, and she got a variety of comments (all positive), from girls who waxed lyrical about her bracelet and wished aloud that their boyfriend would do that for them, to guys who would not-so-secretly ask Hiccup to make their girl one so they'd stop being so jealous of Astrid. Snotlout would just watch on from the sidelines, pissed off that Hiccup was getting so much attention. Hiccup was even taking the money and making these bracelets, quickly becoming rich as hell. And when a guy becomes rich in Berk High School, Nicola hears the sound of paper money rustling together in his pocket and is drawn to it like a fly to honey. Toothless, being a loyal brother to Hiccup, alerted him to the queen bee's sting. "You've got company, bro," Toothless muttered.
"Hey, Henry," Nicola purred, leaning on the table in a way that gave Hiccup an ample view of her cleavage. Hiccup stared at her face instead, knowing all too well the consequences he could get for not looking a girl in the eye, thanks to his cousin being the living guide on what not to do with a girl. "Can we talk alone for a few minutes?" she asked, glaring daggers at Toothless. Under Hiccup's instructions and not Nicola, Toothless got up and left, leaving Hiccup alone with a scheming Nicola.
"Hello there, uh, Nicola," Hiccup greeted, not wanting to look at her face for too long and especially not her eyes, as those eyes were the ones that stared coldly at Astrid while telling her that the bracelet she loved was trashy and she'd end up living in a trailer park as a nameless loser, a nobody. "Why did you come here? Don't you have cheerleading practice or something to distance yourself from us regular folk?"
"Oh, Henry, we both know that I just came here to talk business," Nicola cooed. "I heard through the grapevine that you make some really pretty jewllery, and I was just wondering if you could make one for me. But please don't use copper like you did for all your other clients, I am the head of the cheerleading squad, and come from a very affluent background. I have a reputation to keep up around here, and I don't want anyone to think of me as . . . low class. Trashy. Tasteless. You know what I mean?" Of course you do, she thought to herself. You're not exactly the richest guy in school yourself. You probably live under a bridge for all I know.
"I'll keep that in mind," Hiccup answered curtly. "Just so you know, I'll need to take down a few details about the type of jewellery you'd like to have. Bracelet, anklet, ring . . . "
"Necklace," Nicola interrupted. "And I am telling you, use any metal other than copper. It's gross."
"Can you write that down here?" Hiccup asked, sliding a sheet of paper and a pencil towards her.
"What? Why?!" she demanded, ditching the naughty schoolgirl persona like an outfit that had gone out of fashion.
"Just so I don't forget that you asked me to make this for you," Hiccup answered coolly, motioning to Nicola to use the resourses he'd given her. "Written instructions are literally the only way I can remember this sort of thing. That, and it's more professional to have this in writing rather than a verbal agreement."
By now, Nicola was pissed off. She was pissed that Hiccup had subtly rejected her flirting, didn't gossip about his extensive clientele like so many other business owners she knew and didn't flinch when he heard of her social staus, or even showed signs of recognizing her other than knowing her name. He even had her writing notes, for Thor's sake. She hated writing notes, always having somebody else do it for her. So she used that piece of paper to vent at Henry Haddock, the person who'd given it to her. Here's what it looked like after she'd finished filling it out:
Name:
Nicola
What sort of accessory do you want? (E.g. necklace, ring, anklet, bracelet.)
Necklace, obvs
Any specifications about the metal used in the jewellery?
So long as it ain't coppar, I'm good. Shaep it to look like a hart with an arow thru it, coz that shit's cool.
Any engravings wanted on the item of jewellery?
Put the words 'Hot Stuff' on one side and 'Nicola' on the other. Do it in corsive, tho. I wanna look fancy so those dumb Year Sevins will get jelus.
"Thanks," Hiccup finally said, looking at the sheet with a growing sense of astonishment that someone who was nearly an adult and was going to be allowed to vote in a few years could have such bad spelling. "This will be very helpful to me when making your necklace, trust me."
"Good," Nicola asserted, strutting away in a desperate attempt to look hot after acting like a spoiled brat to Hiccup. "I want it completed in ten days, got it?" She didn't even wait for a reply before turning her back on him and walking over to her friends, who were already green with envy and focused on her, just the way she liked it.
Because they were so busy talking to her and didn't dare look at anything that wasn't her, nobody told her that Hiccup had left and had gone to meet up with his friends outside.
Toothless laughed as he read the hilariously misspelled sheet that Hiccup had been handed by the most popular girl in school, Nicola. Astrid couldn't resist giggling as she looked at the badly spelled piece of paper. "So that's why she gets her boyfriend to do her homework for her!" she joked, pushing her blonde bangs out of her field of view. "If she did it, she'd fail and get kicked off the cheerleading squad!"
"Hey, tell us the joke," Hookfang grumbled, and was rewarded with the piece of paper shoved in his face. He read it, snorted, and handed it to Stormfly, who laughed, and handed it to Meatlug. Meatlug sighed, facepalmed and gave it to Barf, Belch, Ruffnut and Tuffnut, who laughed and handed it to Snotlout. Eventually, everybody had seen it and was losing their minds over how bad Nicola was at spelling, but in different ways. (Meatlug and Fishlegs were groaning at human stupidity, and everyone else was laughing their butts off.)
"And my English teacher said I was bad at spelling!" Toothless chortled. "If she knew about Nicola, she'd freak out!"
"And she says I'm the ditzy one!" Stormfly laughed. "At least I can spell the word 'cursive' properly!"
"This is gold dust," Hiccup announced, grabbing everyone's attention. "This is what I need for revenge!"
"He's lost it," Snotlout muttered.
"What's he talking about?" Toothless asked Astrid. She quickly explained everything that Nicola had done, causing cries of outrage from the tight-knit group.
"How dare she?" Meatlug growled, her brown eyes blazing with anger.
"Why would she do that?" Fishlegs asked.
"Couldn't you have punched her?" Hookfang questioned. "That girl's got a mean right hook!"
"She insulted you and you didn't tell me?" Stormfly shrieked. "We're sisters! We're supposed to tell each other about this sort of thing!"
"Tell me where to go, and I'll prank her gym locker with rotten food," Ruffnut growled. "That. Bitch. Will. Pay!"
"We're pranking someone's locker?" Tuffnut, Barf and Belch asked. "Whoohoo!"
"Oh, definitely," Ruffnut grinned. "I'll let you help with the planning and sourcing what we'll need, but I'll set it up. You three can't do it, for obvious reasons."
"Oh, yeah? Like what? You don't think we're good enough?" Tuffnut challenged, only to be slapped in the face by Barf and Belch. "Ow!" he whined.
"We're guys, and this is her gym locker, which means girls only," Barf hissed. "We'll be caught for sure."
"Ruff's the only one who can get in and out without suspicion," Belch clarified, trying to make up for/explain his twin's behavour. "We're vigilante pranksters, not perverts."
"Is there anything I can do to help?" Toothless asked. "Nicola insulted you, and I can't let her get away with that."
"Same here," Stormfly agreed. "I can't let her get away with making my sister cry."
"Okay then," Hiccup said, handing over a £10 note he had in his pocket. (FYI, in this AU, Berk is a modern day town in the UK, as that just makes it more relatable for me. And for those who don't live in the UK, Asda is the British equivalent of Walmart.) "You two go to Asda and buy a roll of aluminium foil, some bread, a bottle of milk and some double chocolate cookies."
"Why do we need this?" Toothless asked, confused.
"The aluminium foil is part of my revenge, the bread and milk is because we're running out and Mom wants us to make a grocery run after school and the cookies are simply because I like cookies and don't want to get them myself," Hiccup answered, causing everyone to laugh as Stormfly and Toothless frowned. "Well, you did say you wanted to help me."
"Fine," Stormfly sulked, as Toothless glared at Hiccup. "You'd better have something good planned, Hiccup."
After school, Toothless and Stormfly were traipsing around Asda searching for the things Hiccup had asked for. Toothless had the money in his pocket, claiming that as Hiccup's brother, it was his responsibility to look after it. "Why did Hiccup put us on grocery shopping?" Stormfly groaned, as she held the loaf of bread in one hand and the cookies in the other. "This is boring."
"The aluminium is part of his revenge thing, and Hiccup being Hiccup, this is going to be good," Toothless answered optimistically, while holding the bottle of milk and the foil tucked under his arm. "I just know it!"
"Explain," Stormfly commanded.
"The last time Dagur was here with his 'armada' of friends, they stole his lunch, made fun of him, pushed him around and laughed at him every day. You remember that, right?" Stormfly nodded. "Well, Hiccup made some cookies with some extra ingredients in them - slow-acting laxatives and chili-infused chocolate. Dagur and everyone in his armada ate them, thinking they were regular cookies. Those guys had such a fun time with their burning mouths and shit-stained clothes. Everyone who'd eaten them had to go home with a note from the school nurse."
"Whoa," Stormfly gasped, laughing at the thought of Dagur with brown-stained clothes and a red face from the shame and the chili, sulking and feeling sorry for himself while he waited for his parents to collect him. "How much trouble was he in after that?"
"None. Loads of people remembered Hiccup telling them not to eat it, and the school basically told everyone's parents that if you're told not to do something, you do it anyway, and you don't like the results, you're to blame. So Hiccup wasn't punished for it. Dad even laughed when he heard about it, and went around telling all his friends that his son was sneaky. Hiccup literally got away with the public humiliation of Dagur and his armada, who never lived down having messed himself in the cafeteria," Toothless answered. "The fact that we still haven't forgotten is proof of that."
If Toothless is telling the truth about Hiccup, then this is going to be big, Stormfly thought, approaching the checkout, a smiling male cashier . . . and Mildew.
"So this is what you're getting up to in your spare time, is it?" Mildew asked, looking at them in an accusing manner. "Shoplifting? I knew Berk's teenagers were out of control."
"What?" Toothless yelped. "We wouldn't do that!"
"We've got the money to pay for these," Stormfly protested.
"Security, over here!" Mildew shouted. "Shoplifters!" Two tired-looking guys in uniform came to his aid and grabbed the two teens.
"You talking about these two, Mildew?" a tall, brown-haired guard asked, gesturing to a terrified Toothless and Stormfly. (His name tag read Sven.) Mildew nodded.
"We were about to go to the till and pay, honestly," Toothless explained. "Mildew came out of nowhere accusing us of being shoplifters! We've never stolen before, ever!"
"Let's go over to the till and see if you really intend on paying," the other security officer, a smaller, bald-headed man explained, guiding two mortified teens to a till, where their shopping was paid for and witnessed by the same smiling cashier they'd seen earlier. The name tag on his shirt read Magnus. "You two can go," Magnus ordered, when the transaction had finished. Toothless and Stormfly sighed with relief as they walked off. Mildew also attempted to leave, but he was stopped. "Not you, though."
"Why not?" Mildew asked, playing dumb.
"We've told you before that if you wrongly reported people as shoplifters, you'd be banned from the store for life," Sven answered grimly as they escorted him out. "That was your last chance, and you blew it."
"You wouldn't ban a harmless old man from his favourite store, would you?" he whimpered, as the doors were shut in his face. The vindicated teens grinned.
"I still can't believe that this is the guy you dressed up as for Halloween," Stormfly said to Toothless. The security guards swivelled around and somehow didn't look as tired as they had earlier.
"THAT WAS YOU?!" they yelled, stopping the pair in their tracks.
"Yes, I dressed as Mildew for Halloween once when I was younger," Toothless answered, bewildered. The two guards laughed and clapped him on the back.
"I remember that! One day, Mildew came into the store and he was complaining about how somebody had dressed up as him for Halloween. We didn't believe him until we saw a tiny Mildew on the security cameras," Sven remembered, smirking at the memory. "He then tried to get you banned from the store for defamation!"
"I never thought he'd still have a vendetta against the kid," Magnus thought aloud. "Shows how much I know about Mildew."
"Nice talking to you two," Toothless cheerily replied. "Didn't think that my Halloween costumes were so widely known around here."
"Have to go now," Stormfly smiled, dragging Toothless away. "Bye!" And the two walked out of Asda, grinning at the story they'd have to tell later.
"What took you so long?" Hiccup asked, as Toothless and Stormfly finally waltzed through the door holding the items Hiccup had asked for. "You only had four things to get!"
"And Mildew only had two shoplifters to report to store security," Toothless sassed. "Once security was through with us, they had to escort Mildew off the property. It. Was. Glorious."
"Why couldn't I have come with you?" Snotlout whined, partly leaning on an uncomfortable Hookfang. "Watching that would have been epic!"
"You're too lazy to make your own breakfast, Snotlout, I doubt you'd have been able to motivate yourself to get dressed and go to Asda to buy groceries," Hookfang pointed out. Snotlout glowered and attempted to tackle his brother to the ground, forgetting about Hookfang's size advantage. The redheaded teen quickly held Snotlout down and made a beeline for the boy's ribs and stomach. "Are you going to keep contradicting me, Snotface?" he asked, letting his fingers spider over his brother's abdomen.
"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Snotlout howled, squirming even more as Hookfang's finger traced the inner wall of his belly button, making tears of laughter spring to his eyes. "HOOKFAHAHAHAHANG, NOHOHOHOHOHOHO! I WOHOHOHOHOHOHON'T!"
"Good answer. Are you going to keep leaning on me whenever you're sitting on the sofa, or is that going to stop too?" To influence Snotlout's answer, he starting kneading Snotlout's sides like a chef kneading pizza dough, making him squeal girlishly.
"GAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! NEHEHEHEHEHEVER AGAHAHAHAHAHAIN!"
"Good to hear that from you, bro. Now, it had better stay that way, or you'll mysteriously find your name signed up to stay in those Renfaire stocks the council has tucked away somewhere. Just think, being put on display and having random people tickling you just because they're bored or because they feel like it. It would be sooo embarrassing," Hookfang cooed. Snotlout gulped, and then grinned, poking Hookfang's sides. "Hehehehehe! Hey! Don't touch that!"
"I'm sorry, just a little confused. Which one of us does this apply to again?" Snotlout asked, pushing Hookfang onto his stomach and going for the boy's feet. That guy was going to really regret not wearing socks today. "That could be either you or me, man. Just making sure." When Hookfang didn't answer, Snotlout teased him further. "What's wrong, big guy? Cat got your tongue?"
"Maybe you should stop," Hiccup mumbled, taking the foil and leaving the room. "His face is turning red."
"That means it's going to happen soon," Snotlout grunted. True to his word, Hookfang started snickering, and when Toothless squeezed his sides, the redhead burst into howls of laughter that seemed to shake the walls. Toothless wanted to cover his ears.
"NAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! SNOTLOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOUT, NOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!" Hookfang's shoulders shook with laughter, and he thrashed around on the sofa. Toothless held him down as Snotlout got to work counting the boy's wiggling toes. "UNCLE, UNCLE!"
"Are you going to sign me up for stuff I don't want to do, Hooky?" Snotlout teased, playfully scratching at the boy's heels. "You seem to like this, don't you? You love it when I tickle you here, because that's where you've got it worst! I can tell from your grin, so don't bother hiding it!"
"YOHOHOHOHOU'RE LYIHIHIHIHING!" Hookfang accused, blushing. "AND DOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHON'T CAHAHAHAHAHALL ME HOOKY!"
"I'll ignore that remark," Snotlout smiled. "Or at least I would have, until I heard you accuse me of lying. Toothless, I suggest you go. I can handle it from here." Toothless nodded and excused himself from the room. Seconds after leaving it, hysterical laughter could be heard, mingling with the hissing sound of metal being melted in a nearby furnace. When Toothless took a closer look at the inside of the workshop, they found Hiccup, Astrid and Stormfly huddled around a kiln as they threw bits of foil into it. They used up about two sheets of foil doing this, and all three agreed that it was pretty fun watching the metal melt away.
"So this is what you needed the foil for," Stormfly mused, smiling. "How long will it take for you to make the necklace?"
"I have a mould I can use for this," Hiccup said, digging out a small heart-shaped casting mould, and pouring the aluminium into it. Even after he scraped off the excess, he still had the problem of how to use up the rest of the molten aluminium. That was quickly solved when he heard a shriek of disgust from Stormfly.
"EW! THERE'S AN ANTHILL HERE!" Stormfly squealed, dashing inside the house and peeking her head out the door. "THERE'S AN ANTHILL NEXT TO YOUR FORGE AND I NEARLY STEPPED ON IT!"
"No way!" Hiccup cheered, looking happy for some reason. "Now I've got a science project to hand in!" He quickly donned his gloves, held the pot of molten aluminium, and slowly poured the near-liquid metal down the hole where all the ants entered and exited. Steam poured out of the only visible orifice and the anthill, if you looked closely, seemed to deflate a little. "There goes your ant problem, Stormfly. Mom and Dad are definitely going to be pleased."
"How?" Stormfly asked.
"I am literally making money and doing my homework at the same time," Hiccup answered. "Nicola's paying me handsomely for this necklace, and tomorrow, I'm going to dig that aluminium out of the ground and hose it down. By then it will have hardened and taken the form of all those tunnels in that anthill, and I'm going to use that as part of my science project! That, and they were going to pay some fancy exterminator to get rid of this. I did it for free."
"This is why I'm with you and not some football team quarterback," Astrid whispered in his ear. "You're so much smarter than them, and more affectionate too. None of them ever bought me gifts, and certainly not adorable handmade ones like yours."
"That's because they didn't have the money, the time or the energy to get gifts for you, milady," Hiccup answered. "They're too busy paying for some new toys to show off around school, so they have no money to spend on you. They're always practicing for some big game, so they have no time for you. And they have no energy because every time their TV gets stolen, they ran over to the burglar to tell them that they left the remote behind, but it's fine because they've got it!"
Stormfly and Astrid laughed their butts off at Hiccup's joke, wiping tears of laughter from their eyes and leaning on the walls to stop themselves from falling. This moment of hilarity was cut short when Toothless came running over to them and yelled, "Hiccup! Call Snotlout off! He's going to make Hookfang pass out!"
Hiccup, Stormfly and Astrid followed Toothless to the living room, where they found Hookfang on the floor laughing hysterically and uncontrollably as Snotlout scrawled smiley faces on his tummy with a marker pen. He even blew raspberries on his sensitive navel. Hookfang had twin trails of tears trickling down his face, which was as red as his hair at this point and almost seemed to be wilting. One fist hammered on the floor and his shoulders shook from laughing so hard. Hookfang looked ready to collapse right there. "MAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAKE IHIHIHIHIHIHIT STOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOP!" Hookfang pleaded, his will shattered. "HE WON'T LEHEHEHEHEHET ME BREHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEATHE! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
"Snotlout, let go of him!" Astrid yelled, dragging the brothers away from each other and finally letting Hookfang breathe. "The guy has to breathe sometime!"
"Oh, come on!" Snotlout whined. "All I was doing was giving my brother a little lesson on why you shouldn't call me a liar! I was going to let him go once I was done, and you know that!"
"Why didn't you let me go, Snotlout?" Hookfang whispered, his voice too hoarse to talk at a normal volume. "I couldn't breathe, and you knew it." He looked as if he was going to faint if he got up too fast, so Toothless helped him up. "Thanks, T."
"It's OK, big guy," Toothless consoled. "You just concentrate on breathing. I think I know what happens to you now. The longer Snotlout spends tickling you, the more sensitive your skin becomes. It's perfectly normal."
"You said concentrate on breathing. How do I do that if I have to listen to you?" Hookfang teased.
"Save your breath, Hookfang. Literally," Toothless muttered. Hookfang was about to keep talking, but a sharp, ticklish squeeze to his side shut him up. Exhausted, Hookfang lay on his back on the sofa, where he eventually fell asleep.
"How does this revenge thing work anyway?" Snotlout whined. "I don't get it."
"You'll see," Hiccup smiled, not giving away any clues about his revenge.
The next day at school, Hiccup presented the necklace to the queen bee herself, with her loyal underlings present as witnesses. He wrapped it in a small gift box that was adorned with a red satin bow, and a name tag hung off that bow, the only word on that tag being Nicola. "Here is the necklace you asked me to make, Nicola," Hiccup announced, catching everyone's attention. The gift wrapping made some of the students feel lowly, and Nicola's smug smile only succeeded in rubbing salt into the gaping, fresh wound.
"And here is the money I owe you, Henry," Nicola purred, not even looking at her new item of jewellery (or Hiccup) when she handed over an envelope filled with what was obviously cash. She destroyed the wrapping paper to get to the necklace inside. She gasped with joy, and held up the elegant-looking, silver necklace decorated with a heart-shaped charm. The words 'Nicola' had been engraved on one side and 'Hot Stuff' on the other. Cursive script had been used, just the way she wanted it to look. "And you didn't use copper," she whispered joyfully.
"You told me not to in the form you wrote," Hiccup answered. He then reached into his bag and retrieved an A3 sheet, which he unfolded and stuck to the wall with sellotape. It was essentially a blown up photocopy of what Nicola had filled out for him. "I made it into an A3-sized copy, just in case you forgot about it." A few Year Seven students came over to look at it, curiously, before bursting out into laughter and calling their friends over.
"Hey, look! Nicola thinks we'll be jealous of her! At least we can spell jealous!" one of them giggled.
"Along with 'seven', 'shape' and 'heart', to name a few!" another one laughed. This prompted more onlookers, who all laughed at Nicola's frankly atrocious spelling. Her level of popularity had taken a downturn, as even her underlings stifled laughter.
"That piece of paper is what gave me my big break, because of the phrase, 'So long as it ain't copper, I'm good'. This meant that I could use any metal but copper and I'd have done what she wanted me to do," Hiccup continued, his soft voice quieting a room full of rowdy teenagers. 'Berk's Dragons', who were apparently the rowdiest of all, were still sniggering, but quietly. "I wanted to see if she really meant it, so I made a necklace out of aluminium foil, the type used to wrap your lunch in. And I should know. I used that to wrap my sandwiches in so they wouldn't be flattened by my books." The crowd chuckled; nothing like relatable humour to break the ice.
"What happened to them next?" Nicola asked. She didn't look so smug now, Hiccup noticed.
"That's when I put it in a fancy gift box and wrapped it in gift wrapping to make it look classy. Then I put a name tag on it, and I waited until lunch time today so I could give it to you," Hiccup answered. The canteen seemed to roar with laughter, and all over the room, you could hear people adding in their two cents, all of which were about how Hiccup had played Nicola.
"When I told you not to use copper, I didn't say you should use foil, idiot!" Nicola shrieked, no longer looking so refined. "Why did you do this to me?"
"You don't seriously think that I would go an extra mile to please you after what you said to Astrid, did you?" Hiccup asked. The room fell silent, shocked at the behaviour of their 'golden girl'. "I suppose she didn't tell you, did she? On her birthday, Astrid came to me crying because of her. She refuses to tell all, but I got the gist of it. You told her that her bracelet was trashy because it wasn't gold and she'd end up living in a trailer park with me because she picked a boyfriend who wasn't insanely rich. And you wonder why I made yours out of something so cheap."
"Well, pardon me for not wanting to look as trashy as your other clients! I've got fucking standards, you know!" Nicola shouted. All her popularity dried up when she said those fateful words. Berk's Dragons were the first to start booing, joined by the Year 7s from earlier, then all of Hiccup's clients. After hearing and seeing Hiccup take a stand against Nicola, they wanted to defend him.
Then the chanting started. "Get her out! Get her out! GET HER OUT! GET HER OUT!" Toothless and Stormfly chanted. That chant spread around the cafeteria like wildfire, and everyone used it. "GET HER OUT! GET HER OUT! GET HER OUT! GET HER OUT!" Sighing, Nicola walked out, but not before she took off the necklace and threw it into the crowd. She didn't want it anymore, but for some reason, she didn't go back for her money. The crowd cheered, and Hiccup and Astrid quickly found themselves being carried out by Berk's Dragons. They had a new chant now.
"HICCSTRID! HICCSTRID! HICCSTRID!"
At the end of the day, Hiccup and Astrid went to Hiccup's house, followed by all their friends.
"THAT WAS SO COOL!" Toothless and Hookfang cheered.
"I never knew you could be so sneaky!" Tuffnut complimented.
"Or so cold!" Ruffnut added.
"And he did it all for Astrid! How romantic!" Stormfly gushed. Toothless mimed being sick.
"I don't really care about romance, but that was fucking badass!" Meatlug whooped. "You've gone from evil cookies to tin foil necklaces!"
"Thank you, Hiccup," Astrid whispered, before punching him. "That was for not telling me what you were actually planning." Then she kissed him hard on the lips, as everyone looked away out of decency for the couple. "And that was for getting her to finally shut up. Thanks, baby."
"Awww!" Stormfly cooed. The moment of celebration was cut short by a chime coming from Hiccup's phone. Three more rings came after that, followed by four consecutive notification rings from Astrid's phone.
"Wow, even their phones are in sync," Barf and Belch commented. Hiccup and Astrid ignored them and checked their phones. There were four emails for each of them, and those four emails contained things that should never be told to anyone. (I will not retype what they said. I feel sick thinking about it.)
"Oh, Thor," Hiccup muttered, passing his phone to Toothless. Astrid passed hers to Stormfly. Their faces darkened as they read them, and the phones were handed back without a word.
"Nicola's gone too far this time," Toothless muttered. "This is just a low blow to disguise exactly how far the once mighty has fallen."
"I agree," Stormfly affirmed. "We'll need some time to plan our revenge on her. Don't do anything to those messages. Just leave them alone." They walked out of the door together with determination in their eyes.
Toothless and Stormfly spent many hours planning their revenge, not telling anyone about their plot until almost two weeks had passed. A group chat was set up by Toothless and Stormfly, where this conversation took place:
Toothless: Guys, I've got a message for you. Tomorrow, come to school early. Around 8:00 a.m. should be good.
Snotlout: What?! A guy's gotta sleep, T. What's wrong with you?
Stormfly: I know it's early, but that's the only way you'll get to see our revenge plan unfold. It will be worth waking up early.
Hiccup: Tell us more.
Astrid: You've been keeping quiet about this for two weeks. So much for how sisters should tell each other everything.
Stormfly: Sorry, no can do. Toothless and I have taken a vow of silence, and that's that!
Toothless: If we say anything more, we'll ruin everything!
Hiccup: Please?
Stormfly has left the chat.
Toothless has left the chat.
The next day, Toothless and Stormfly dragged an uncooperative Hiccup and Astrid over to the school gates at the early hours of 7:45 a.m. to wait for their revenge to unfold. They were joined by Snotlout, Hookfang, Felix, Meatlug, Ruffnut, Tuffnut, Barf and Belch, who all looked tired and irritated. "I had to go without breakfast thanks to you!" Snotlout yelled, startling an old man taking his dog for an early walk. "It had better be worth it, you hear me?"
"Here. Grilled cheese sandwich. Eat." Hookfang handed Snotlout a sandwich, who gasped and ate with gusto.
"I'd like to ask you the same question, Toothless and Stormfly," Hiccup yawned. "Why so early?"
"You'll see," was Toothless' response.
"All in good time," Stormfly smiled. Frustrated, Hiccup and Astrid grabbed their adoptive siblings and started squeezing them for information. Squeals could be heard from down the street.
"Hehehehehehey!" Stormfly laughed, as Astrid's nimble fingers traced her ribs and swirled around her belly button. "Dohohohohon't do thahahahat! My tummy hurts!"
"That's because your abs aren't properly toned yet, slacker!" Astrid retorted.
"Hiccup, nohohohot here!" Toothless protested, face tinged pink from blushing. "Not in public! This is - ACK! Hahahahahaha! Ahahahahahahahahaha!" Toothless' speech was cut off when Hiccup's hands migrated upwards to his armpits, where nothing but giggles could be heard after that. An young couple smiled at the adorable scene, making Toothless blush even more.
"Toothless, you don't get a say in this matter," Hiccup answered coolly, focusing on Toothless' armpits now as his brother squealed and pleaded for leniency. "You dragged me out of bed, barely gave me time to eat breakfast, and you won't even tell me why. Well, I've decided I want to know, and can you blame me for it?"
"Toothless, Stormfly, which one of you is gonna spill the beans for us?" Astrid asked, grinning as she made it harder for Stormfly to resist as the ticklish feeling increased. "I have no problems doing this for another hour, at least, so you'd better say it before we really humiliate you." The two pranksters looked at each other, then their grinning siblings, and submitted.
"Fine. We'll tell you!" they replied, and everyone cheered. A pair of joggers going in opposite directions were so startled by the sudden noise that they ran into each other. Hookfang had Toothless in a headlock loose enough to keep him breathing but not so loose that he could break free. Meatlug did the same with Stormfly.
"We had Nicola's email from when she sent the messages, so we set up a fake account that looked like the school's official account and told her about a school pride event that was happening today," Toothless answered, grinning. "She has no idea it was us, because apparently, we're too uncool for Gmail."
"According to the email, since she is on the school's official cheerleading team, she has to come to school with a themed costume," Stormfly giggled. "You'll never guess the theme, you guys!"
"Good thing we're not," Meatlug answered, tightening her hold on Stormfly. Stormfly yelped and gasped for air. Meatlug returned to her original position.
"The costume theme is . . . 'Big Baby'!" Toothless and Stormfly chorused, before bursting out into laughter. The group looked around them, as if they couldn't believe their ears. Then, eventually, Hookfang began to snicker, then Snotlout, then Barf, Belch, Ruffnut, Tuffnut, Fishlegs, Meatlug, Hiccup and Astrid, in that order, all began to lose their collective minds.
"You're serious about this, right?" Hiccup asked, leaning on the wall. "You're not messing with us about this?"
"Deadly serious," Toothless shot back. "As far as pranks are concerned, the only person I mess with is the one on the receiving end."
"And the reason you're here now is so you can witness her grand entry into the school," Stormfly informed. "Which should be happening right about now, actually."
As if on cue, Nicola strode onto the school grounds, with the same superior, smug look she always seemed to have on her face. It was as if she'd never lost her popularity when she accused the entire school of being classless. Her stylish sports trainers were swapped with plastic, pink sandals. Her cheerleader outfit that had the girls jealous and the boys drooling was replaced with a frilly, pink, sleeveless dress that had the words 'Baby Girl' on the front and barely covered the tops of her underwear.
Her strangely thick, white underwear that crinkled when she walked and forced her to waddle a little.
Wait a minute . . . those wasn't a regular pair of underwear she was wearing, were they?
They were nappies!
She practically marched/waddled into the school, her nose high in the air, and then stopped to give them a dirty look. "Thanks for ruining my popularity, bitch," she spat out. "Why don't you do your own dirty work instead of your crippled boyfriend?"
"What?" Astrid snarled. "At least I look mature enough for one, baby girl!" A hand on her shoulder snapped her out of the desire to kill Nicola . . . just.
"Leave Hiccup out of it!" Toothless yelled, quick to defend Hiccup. "Why so quick to judge, Nicola? You probably got dressed in Babies R Us today!"
"Shut it," Nicola growled. "It's for a school pride event! Which says a lot about the track team, who probably aren't good enough to be in a school pride event!" And with that, she took her Dora the Explorer kid-sized backpack and stormed off. Everyone looked around each other, then looked at Nicola's retreating figure . . . and laughed.
"Well, that's Part 1 completed," Toothless giggled, holding a speaker that was linked to his phone. "But Part 2 is easier said than done. We need somebody to put this in her bag while it's open so I can play some age-appropriate music for her."
"I'll do it," Meatlug volunteered. "Hand over the speaker thingy and let the nerd defence work its magic on Nicola."
"The nerd defence?" Toothless asked. Meatlug and Fishlegs smiled.
"You'll see," she said.
Just before registration, Meatlug found Nicola going through her locker, her bag open and hanging off her shoulder. She got out her book, a mundane one on cupcake-making that she knew by heart, but it would do. She opened it to a random page, gave herself just enough room to see over it, and started walking until they collided and fell to the floor.
"I'm so sorry!" Meatlug squeaked, playing the nerdy fat girl stereotype perfectly. "I really should have seen you there, but I was so caught up in this book and-"
"Save it, Fatty Patty," Nicola interrupted. "If you want to show you're sorry, you can tidy my books and see if my perfume bottle is broken. This is your fault, after all." Meatlug complied, slipping the speaker in with her books and checking the perfume bottle for leaks that weren't there.
"It's not broken," Meatlug reported.
"No thanks to you!" Nicola snapped, storming off for the second time today. When turning the corner to go to the school library, she literally bumped into the rest of the cheerleading squad, who took in her outfit, looked to each other . . . and laughed their asses off.
"OMG! What happened to you?" Tracy asked, shocked. "Why are you dressed so oddly?"
"The local nursery is down the street, baby girl," Tracy's twin, Stacy, giggled.
"I could ask you the same question," Nicola yelled, angry and confused that she was the only one taking this 'school pride event' seriously. "You're supposed to be representing the school, you bitches! Today is a major pride event! I got an email saying so!"
"Well, we'll see about that, won't we, baby girl?" Leah asked condescendingly, as everyone on the cheerleading team giggled. "Oh look, here's someone who can help us! Our coach!"
"Ladies, what can I - Nicola? What on earth is going on?" Miss Giles, the cheerleading coach asked, as a myriad of confused giggles filled the air, and not just from the cheerleading squad. Onlookers were starting to gather around her, and everyone was discussing Nicola's new 'look'.
Nicola burst out with a pathetic "Thank goodness you're here! Can you please tell them about the pride rally happening today? They've all forgotten and obviously, as the head of the-" Miss Giles cut her off there.
"Nicola Evergreen, you've got a lot of things wrong here. First things first, there isn't a pride rally happening today, and if there was, you'd have been told about it weeks in advance, not a few days before!" the sports coach reprimanded. Laughter rang in the humiliated girl's ears as she glared at everyone around her. The fact that Miss Giles was in her late 30s and was much taller than Nicola helped to really hit the message home.
"Second, you are not the head of the cheerleading team, nor are you a part of the cheerleading squad in any way. Five days ago, we recieved a tip from two anonymous individuals identifying themselves as the 'Night Fury' and the 'Deadly Nadder' who had some damning evidence that you were cyber-bullying and cyber-stalking two students. Don't try to deny it. They had screenshots of the messages, along with an email and a mobile phone number we could use to call you if we wanted to."
"That's not true!" Nicola denied. "They're lying to you!"
"Oh, really?" Miss Giles shot back. Turning to the cheerleading squad, she asked, "Ladies, I will need to borrow somebody's phone to test this theory." Immediately, Leah handed over her phone, but not before unlocking the screen. "Thank you, Leah."
The female teacher went to Contacts and punched in the number given to her. Holding up the phone for showmanship, she pressed the Call button. Nicola's phone went off, blaring the song Count On Me by Bruno Mars as its ringtone. Nicola jumped, and her face turned pale. Miss Giles was livid, but Leah spoke up first.
"You lying hypocrite," Leah said coldly. "All that arrogance and bluster and accusing two people you don't even know that they were lying was all for naught. No wonder you're the baby." Nicola screeched and ran for Leah, only to be held back by Tracy and Stacy.
"Nicola, I am disappointed in your judgement," Miss Giles reprimanded. "Cyber-bullying and cyber-stalking! Wearing clothes outside of school regulations! Lying! For those reasons, you are off the Berk High School cheerleading squad. Now take yourself off to the Principal's office, young lady." The cheers that rocked the school walls were deafening, and Nicola wanted to scream at the crowd around her simply because she felt miserable and they were happy. And what Nicola wants, Nicola gets.
"Fuck you! Fuck you all! I am going to ruin you when I - WHAT'S THAT NOISE?" Nicola looked around her to find where the noise was coming from, and the crowd quieted. From that moment, Part 2 was initiated. The school was treated to a song blaring out from . . . somewhere.
"Rockabye baby on the treetop; When the wind blows the cradle shall rock..."
"When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall; And down will come baby, cradle and all!" Berk's Dragons sang, before bursting into peals of laughter. The school echoed with jokes about how much of a baby Nicola was becoming, and Leah took this chance to take the screaming, nappy-wearing girl to the principal. Oddly enough, the music seemed to come with her, as if it was following Nicola everywhere, and only Nicola.
"Um, Toothless, Stormfly? Is making Nicola go insane part of the plan?" Hookfang asked. The prank-pulling duo grinned.
"Well, we didn't think that would happen, but it was entertaining to watch," Toothless honestly answered.
"And there was never originally supposed to be a Part 2, but then Toothless found a speaker and had an evil idea," Stormfly answered.
"I should probably turn that thing off now," Toothless reminisced. "Wait, I just realized. If the speaker's in her bag, how are we going to get to it?"
"Simple," Barf answered, as Belch pulled out a fake spider. "All we need is a distraction. Here's how it will go . . ."
At lunch (Nicola was allowed to stay in the building for the rest of the school day, somehow) Barf strode over to Nicola, carefully hooked the fake spider to her dress and tapped on Nicola's shoulder. "Spider," he stated.
"Oh, will you grow up? There isn't a - SPIDER!" Nicola shrieked, twisting and turning in every direction. "GET IT OFF ME!"
"Spiders are fairly slow, so try running to the other side of the room to get away from it," Barf encouraged, nonchalantly kicking her bag over to his twin, who was hiding nearby.
"IT'S STILL ON ME!" Nicola screamed. "I TOLD YOU TO GET IT OFF! WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU!" Just as bratty as ever, clearly.
"You also have to stay very still, so turn around and make sure your back is towards me," Barf instructed. Nicola did what she was told (surprisingly) and allowed Barf to hem and haw as he removed the hook attaching her to the spider toy and then hid it. It also meant that Belch's hiding place was more secure, since he knew he wouldn't be caught now. He pocketed the speaker, zipped up the bag and slid it back to where it was before. "Got it!"
"Finally!" With a huff, Nicola took her bag and left. Belch came out of his hiding place and held their prize, the precious speaker. Contented, the twins left, slipping the speaker into a hidden pocket.
"It's done," Barf said.
"It is," Belch replied.
The aftermath of this hilarious prank went as follows:
Hiccup became a school hero, a golden standard for any guy who wants to know how to treat his girl. And the business Nicola rejected thrived even more, as he now had kids from other schools coming to him for jewellery. (The anthill he poured molten aluminium into was dug up and entered as his project. His parents were delighted at the score he got.)
Nicola became a pariah, as nobody wanted to be seen associating with someone who treated other people so badly or willing came to school wearing a nappy and a dress stating 'Baby Girl'. She lost her boyfriend, who ditched her once he found out what she was really like. She was eventually expelled for cyber-bullying a 13-year-old girl who reported her to the police. She lost her scholarship after being kicked off the cheerleading squad, too.
The track team and the cheerleading squad managed to establish a friendly rivalry instead of the bitchiness they'd exchanged in the past. It turned out most of the rumours had been generated by Nicola in the first place. (Who knew?)
Toothless and Stormfly, within the Berk's Dragons team, became the two people you didn't mess with if you liked your life the way it was. Berk High School learned to respect the already well-known 'Night Fury' and the more recent 'Deadly Nadder'.
And Astrid, the girl who Hiccup did this for? She married Hiccup and encouraged him to make a real living out of making jewellery. They started their husband and wife jewellery business a year after the wedding, which went down very well with the people of Berk. For their 20th anniversary, Hiccup made her the gold necklace he'd been pressured into getting for her when they were still in school together. So there really is a happy ending.
I have wanted to write a story like this for so long! I know you shouldn't let the line between fanfics and real life blur, but in this case, I'd happily make an exception! I hope this made you smile, folks, and if I didn't help make your day a little bit better with this fanfic, I'm sorry. FoxtrotTango543 signing off!