Chapter 2

Hiccup pulled into Berk High School's parking lot early the next morning. He turned off his car and stepped out, making sure to lock the doors, and made his way up towards the school. He entered through the double doors and walked to his locker, opening it and reaching in to grab his second period binder since it was a Thursday block day. Unlike most schools in the area, Berk had block schedules on Wednesdays and Thursdays–all odd classes were on Wednesdays, while all even classes were on Thursdays. While most students got out later on Wednesdays because of their seventh period, Hiccup got out at a Thursday block day time since he only had six classes.

He shut his locker and made his way to the stairs to the second floor and weaved through the hallways until he reached the door to his film making class. When he entered he saw that most students had begun to file in already, some looking at him with a weird look, causing him to roll his eyes in a way to make them flinch and turn away. He noticed that were a lot of new students since this was the time during the school year where students could transfer into different classes. He walked to his place towards the middle of the room and sat down in the office chair in front of his assigned Mac computer and set his backpack down. Hiccup ran a hand over his tired face and took out his phone to check the time–it was seven fifty-nine.

The moment the bell rung, Astrid Hofferson came trotting into the room and apologized to the teacher, Mr. Phillips, for coming in at the last second. Hiccup frowned knowing she wasn't in this class, but his eyebrows shot up as his green eyes widened when the teacher gestured to the empty seat next to him. He groaned and rested his face on his crossed arms on the table as she came over to sit next to him. It only took her a moment to recognize the boy sitting next to her from yesterday.

"Aren't you the guy who hit me with the volleyball yesterday?"

Hiccup slowly rose his head up and raised his hand slightly. "That would be me."

Astrid glared at him and crossed her arms. "You haven't even apologized to me."

"Oh, well that's unfortunate," he answered bluntly. "Not my problem, princess."

The sapphire-eyed blonde looked taken aback. "Princess?"

"Okay, okay," Hiccup said with raised hands. "Milady, is that better?"

She shook her head, ignoring the name. "What do you mean it's not your problem? Of course it is, you hit me with a volleyball!"

He shrugged. "In my defense, I didn't see you."

"Didn't...didn't see me?" she growled. "Everyone sees me."

"Huh, I didn't. So technically speaking, you're wrong," he said, still in his calm voice. Astrid was about to argue back when the teacher called for the class's attention and she sent him one more glare before turning in her chair to face the man. Mr. Phillips explained to the newer students–which was half of the class–about what the film making class was about. He explained the basics of making films and the software they'd be using on the Macs before telling them to find someone around them to teach them how to use the software and computers.

Astrid looked around, but saw that everyone had paired up and she was about to work on her own when Mr. Phillips spoke up. "Hiccup, can you be Astrid's partner and teach her how to use the software?"

Hiccup sighed and nodded. "Sure."

"Okay, thank you," he said and turned to Astrid with a smile. "Don't worry, you're lucky to be sitting next to him. He's my star student in this class so you'll be learning a lot this year with him."

Astrid shot him a smile and nodded. "Thank you." Mr. Phillips nodded his head back before he turned and walked away. She rolled her eyes as she spun the chair to face the computer and looked at Hiccup. He was doing something on his phone before he put it away and looked up at her. "What?"

"Aren't you going to help me?" she asked with a hint of annoyance.

He shrugged. "I guess so, now scoot over."

She looked at him with a raised brow. "Excuse me?"

For the first time that day, she heard him chuckle as he shook his head. "Well, I need to reach over to grab the mouse and show you the software, now don't I?"

"Oh, yeah," she said awkwardly and scooted away from him a bit so that he could reach over and wrap his hand around the white mouse. She watched him click around the screen before a software called BerkianFilm came up onto the screen.

"Okay," he began and clicked on random items. "So, BerkianFilm is pretty easy to understand and use, but if you're new to the software, it can get confusing." He clicked around and opened up a new project and began to point out things on the screen, starting with the main space at the top. "So those dotted squares that you see right there are basically where you're placing your films or photos. Call them sections if you want, but they don't stay that same size depending on the video that you place there." He pointed to the rectangular box at the bottom. "This is where you import all of your videos or photos. When you choose them, they're going to go down here," he gestured to the big space below the screen. "To put them in the space above, you just click down on what part of the video you want to start at and drag the mouse over to where you want it to end. From there you just simply click on it and drag it up, make sense so far?"

Astrid nodded and leaned forward to get a better look before Hiccup continued. "Okay, see that big black screen to the top right?" She nodded. "That's where you'll be able to see the movie you've created so far."

"So it basically plays it there?" she asked.

Hiccup nodded. "Yeah, if you want to see what you have so far all you do is press the play button below the screen. If you click on the box right there, you can adjust the sound and even tune out the sounds you don't want, but that can get complicated. That box with the microphone there is where you can record your own voice to do whatever you want, mostly narrating, but other stuff if you're feeling creative. Over here, you can choose music and any other type of sound affects and the box right there," he pointed to a little "T" box. "You can use to add some text to your video."

"Well, that seems easy," she said.

"I told you, but when it comes to actually making your video it can get pretty tricky when you want to make certain effects."

"Like what?" she asked, looking at him as he looked at the screen.

"Well," he began. "Say you want to add something to your video that isn't there. There's a way to add something there, but it mostly requires artist skills and a steady hand."

She glared at him again. "Are you saying I'm not artist or that I don't have a steady hand?"

He turned to look at her with his forest-colored eyes. "Well are you an artist? Do you have a steady hand?"

Astrid didn't respond and only grumbled in response. "Whatever."

Hiccup chuckled and turned back to the computer and clicked on a different part of the software. "Anyways, back to what I was saying. This whole page is meant for animation, that's why it's better to be an artist to use this since you want to make things look well-drawn or realistic. If not, just go to the simple sketch pad under the movie screen. But usually with this part of the software, it can be time consuming, depending on who you are and what you're making."

"Have you made anything?"

"I've been taking this class since I was a freshman," he said with a hint of amusement in his voice. "I've made plenty of things."

"Then let me see them," she said and crossed her arms over her chest.

Hiccup rolled his eyes playfully this time and went back to his computer and pulled up the software. He clicked onto the same screen Astrid was on and went to his finished projects that read "158 Completed". She leaned forward and widened her eyes at his designs, some ranging from basic objects to things beyond her imagination. As much as the guy irritated her, she had to admit that he had a talent.

"Those are really good," she admitted quietly.

He smiled. "Why thank you, Milady."

"Don't call me that," she snapped, but she was surprised when he didn't even flinch.

"Whatever you say," he said and spent the next hour doing a test run with the software with her. When they were done, he stretched and gave her a small smile. "Well, now you know the basics. My work here is done for today. Hope you learned something, Milady."

Before Astrid could say anything, the bell rung signaling that it was time for brunch. Hiccup logged out of his account and stood up, saluting Astrid, and walked out of the room. Astrid watched him leave and clenched her fists when she saw students part a pathway for him till he was out the door. Was this guy secretly popular or something? No, he was not going to be above her because she was Astrid Hofferson, she was the best of the best. She stood up and walked towards the door, smiling when students parted a path for her as well and she walked into the hallway.

She was halfway to her locker when she remembered something–she never knew that guy's name. She had heard the teacher say it, but she wasn't really paying attention to his name or anything, all she knew was that it started with an 'H'. She sighed and made her way to her locker where her boyfriend Scott Jorgenson was waiting.

Scott was the star quarterback of the football team and the most popular guy at Berk High School, making them both the school's most popular couple. Scott wasn't a bad guy though he was quite into himself, but then again, he wasn't the smartest either. The two began dating sophomore year when Astrid transferred to the school and they had taken a liking to each other, but quite frankly, Astrid didn't feel as strongly for him as she did before, but she had a title to maintain still.

The football player wrapped an arm around her and placed a sloppy kiss on her lips before she went and opened her locker. The rest of their group came up to them and greeted them. They consisted of the twins, Rachel and Thomas, and their nerdy friend, Floyd Ingerman, though the three were known by their nicknames Ruffnut, Tuffnut, and Fishlegs.

"Are we going to go out later today?" Ruffnut asked as she leaned against the locker next to Astrid's.

"I don't know about you guys, but I can't," Astrid said, shutting her locker.

"Why not?" Scott asked.

"Because I have to practice for basketball season soon and I have volleyball practice later," she said. "I can't waste my time for anything, no offense."

"None taken," they all said.


It was now the last period of the day and the group had P.E. as their last class. They were currently walking into the gym where a rack filled with basketballs was placed by the wall across from them. Astrid looked up to the bleachers and noticed Hiccup sitting in the middle, doing his homework from another class and frowned. She had never seen Hiccup in her class before and she wondered why he wasn't doing anything. Unbeknownst to her, Hiccup had always been in the class but he was usually in the teacher's office grading papers for him or helping deliver things to other classes from the main office. It wasn't like he could do much with a prosthetic anyways as much as he wanted to. He was only here today because there was nothing much for him to do and his boss had told him that he might need assistance with the class. Only a few moments later did their teacher, and Hiccup's boss, Gobber walk into the gym with his clipboard in hand and black whistle around his neck.

"Alright, today yer gonna play some basketball," he announced loudly. "Yer going to work on form and then yer gonna play a game or two if yer lucky within the hour. After, yer gonna go outside and run two miles for the last thirty minutes." The whole class groaned at that while Hiccup stopped writing and sighed.

"Ah, quit yer complaining! Now pair up and grab a ball, will'ya?" he said in his strong Scottish accent. The class listened and they paired up before going over to the rack and picking up a basketball. Everyone stood a few feet away in front of their partner while Gobber stood in the middle of the two lines. "Yer going to be tossing back and forth to yer partner and when I blow the whistle yer gonna stop tossing and listen to the next instructions, we clear?" Everyone nodded. "Okay, go!" He blew the whistle and got out of the way of the flying balls as the students tossed them back and forth to each other.

For the next fifteen minutes, the class went through all the basic tosses and techniques before Gobber told them to gather around the basketball hoop to practice shooting and to work on proper form. He turned over to the bleachers to where the green-eyed boy was sitting, looking down at his phone. "Hiccup! Get over here!"

Hiccup looked up before he turned off his phone and shoved it into his backpack and walked down to the gym floor. He walked over to Gobber and shoved his hands into his pockets. "Okay, what now?"

"Now, yer going to teach these kids how to play," Gobber said simply causing Hiccup to shift uncomfortably on his feet. "Um, Gobber? I don't think I can exactly play..." The older man sighed and put a hand on his shoulder. "Look, I know yer not confident playing, but you already gave up on that other thing and I'm not letting you give up on basketball. I've seen you play at yer apartment, lad, and yer still the best at it. You just need to have faith in yerself, Hiccup."

The boy thought about Gobber's words for a moment before he sighed and finally nodded. "Okay, okay. I'll teach them, but if something happens, please don't step in."

"Hiccup–"

"Please, Gobber."

"Okay, I won't. Now get in there," he said and nudged Hiccup in front of him. Gobber turned to the class and smiled. "For the game, Hiccup will be teaching you proper form and how he chooses to teach you is up to him, and there will be no complaints."

Hiccup, so that's his name...Astrid thought.

"Can he even play, Gobber?" Scott asked and other students nodded before he smirked. "You know, with that whole thing going on with him, I doubt he even has proper form."

Hiccup heard other students snicker at Scott's comment and he rolled his eyes as he shrugged off his jacket, leaving him in his plain gray shirt. He walked over to the rack and picked up a basketball and spun it on his finger. "If you think I can't play, then it'll be easy for you to take the ball from me and score before I can, right?"

Scott scoffed. "Obviously."

"Then come on," Hiccup said and the students moved back as Scott stepped forward. "Bring it on, cousin," Scott said as he got into his stance and Hiccup did the same. "Don't call me that," the green-eyed boy snapped, catching Scott off-guard for a few seconds at his words, as he spun around him and he bounced the ball.

Scott went after him to block him from shooting into the hoop, but Hiccup widened his stance and dipped the ball between his legs a few times before he spun around him again. He leapt up a bit and shot the ball into the hoop without hitting the rim, making it go in smoothly. He caught the ball as it bounced back up and tucked it under his arm and he looked at Scott with an amused look. "Still think I can't play?"

His cousin grunted in annoyance. "Whatever."

Hiccup smiled before he turned to the class. "So, shall we work on form?"


For the next forty-five minutes, Hiccup taught the class form and they even managed to slip a game in, though Hiccup didn't take part in it. It wasn't as though he didn't want to, but it involved running across the court and he wanted to keep that far away from himself. Gobber blew the whistle and told everyone to go down to the track, not much to Hiccup's liking. He went back up the bleachers and gathered his things, placing them into his backpack, and followed the class out to the track.

He sat down on the first row of the metal bleachers and watched as Gobber set the time and blow the whistle. The students ran off and Hiccup closed his eyes for moment and when he opened them, he saw Gobber leaning on the railing in front of him.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

"Okay, I guess," he answered, but he knew he was lying to not only Gobber, but to himself.

The older man nodded and called out the time when some students asked before turning to Hiccup who was staring at his feet. "I was meaning to ask you something."

"What is it?" Hiccup asked as he looked up.

"My assistant for the volleyball team moved last week to Washington and I was gonna ask if you'd like to be my new assistant." Hiccup looked at the man as if he had grown two heads. "Assist you with the volleyball team? As in being in the same gym as Astrid Hofferson, assist you with the volleyball team? I think not."

Gobber gave him a look. "Do ye hate her or something?"

Hiccup shook his head. "No, I'm just not exactly fond of her and the way she is."

"Elaborate on that," he said and crossed his arms.

He sighed as he spoke. "She's just very two-faced in my opinion. One minute she'll be the sweetest thing ever to you, and then she'll be pinning you against a locker, getting mad because you said the wrong thing. Today was the first time I've ever talked to her, and let me tell you that she has this attitude that I really can't stand. It's worse than mine and that says a lot. Yeah, she's probably the most gorgeous girl on the planet, but the attitude she has makes her less attractive. And–"

"Hiccup, yer ranting now," Gobber interrupted with a smile, causing the boy to blush. "Erm, sorry."

Gobber was about to say something when they heard the said girl stop by them, hands on her hips. "Why isn't he running?" she asked and gestured to Hiccup.

"Because he–" the coach began, but Hiccup cut him off, not wanting her to know anything. "I have really bad asthma."

Astrid frowned at him. "So? Fishlegs has asthma and he's at least trying."

It only took two sentences for her to rile the auburn-haired boy up. "Why the fuck does it matter to you?" he snapped as he stood up and walked over to the railing and knelt down to look at her. "Because it's not fair that you get an easy way out of the class for a stupid reason. Isn't this your first day in this class? Cause you sure haven't made a good first impression."

She frowned even more when Hiccup laughed. "My first day in this class? I've always been in this class, I'm just always in Gobber's office or being a teacher's aid in the main office. And speaking of first impressions, you sure do know how to make a bitch of yourself."

Astrid gasped at his insult and clenched her fists. "First off, don't you dare ever insult me. Second off, how the fuck do you get to do nothing and the rest of us have to work our asses off in this class?"

"What are you, my mother?" Hiccup asked sarcastically. "And is Astrid Hofferson jealous of my luxury? I thought you liked this type of stuff."

"I do, but it's not fair since you seem to be in perfect condition for this stuff." Hiccup stayed silent for a moment before he spoke. "Go back and finish your laps, Milady."

"Don't call me that," she snapped. "I still don't get why you don't get to do anything, it's not like you're a cripple."

"Astrid," Gobber said in a stern voice. "Get back to running."

"But–"

"Now," he said and she groaned as she ran off, but not before shooting Hiccup a glare.

Hiccup sighed as he stood up and walked back over to the bleachers and sat down. He ran his fingers through his messy auburn locks and put his head in his hands and looked down at his prosthetic. He had stopped Gobber from telling Astrid about his prothetic because as much as he didn't care about what people thought, he hated the look on their faces when they found out about it or looked at him. His first prosthetic was metal-like and looked nothing like a foot. He had asked for a realistic prosthetic after he realized that people would never stop looking at his old one when he walked around school, so after a while, he finally chose the one he had today. It was a modern prosthetic that was metal at the beginning and a plastic foot that was the same size as his normal foot so that he could wear shoes over it. That was why Astrid and other students didn't know about it, since he had it concealed under his jeans and shoes, making him look normal with all limbs intact.

"I'm sorry, lad," Gobber apologized sincerely.

Hiccup shrugged. "It's okay."

"You don't have to sit there, you know," Gobber said and gestured to the track behind him. "You can still get back into it."

"We've been over this, Gobber," he began with a sigh. "Say if I did get back into it, would it get me back those offers? The ones I earned because of my hard work and dedication? It could never happen again."

"You don't know that, Hiccup. You haven't even tried running again–"

"Because there's no point if no college is going to offer a scholarship or even accept a one-legged runner!" Hiccup finally yelled, causing a few students running by them to slow down and give him a sympathetic look, knowing what he meant.

Gobber sighed when he saw the tired and broken look on the boy's face and sat down next to him. "I'm sorry yer feeling this way, Hiccup. But you've still got time to practice and get back into running. You don't have to give up just yet."

"The thing is, Gobber," he began and looked out towards the track. "I've already given up on it since the day I woke up in the hospital."


A/N: Does the summary of the story and hints from the last chapter make sense now? So, Hiccup used to be a runner, and you'll learn more about it in the next couple chapters. I know Hiccup seems quite OOC, but you'll learn why he became that way later on. As for Astrid, I know I'm making her harsh, but it's all apart of how the story's going to work out. Hiccstrid seems to be having a rough start, but don't worry, I ship them to the moon and back, but it's all about working them out since they both carry attitudes, and we all know what happens when fire meets fire.

Just to clear things up: Hiccup lost his leg during freshman year and changed prosthetics sometime during the beginning of sophomore year, but at the time Astrid hadn't transferred to Berk High School yet, so she knows nothing about Hiccup's disability. And since she never associated or even knew Hiccup existed, she never heard about him. So, finding out will be a huge surprise for her.

Also, thank you for the lovely reviews, follows, and favorites! I got a lot more than I expected, and it was only the first chapter, so thank you again. Reviews and feedback are always appreciated to know how I'm doing.