Hey, people, hope you enjoy this next chapter. Sorry for taking so long! Anyway, Jack meets the whole crew from Berk. They don't exactly fit in perfectly-ish. Hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Rotg (I wish I did), or Hotd (if only)
Jack narrowed his icy blue eyes. They reminded him of the typical popular, arrogant kids back at the town he used to live in. The ones that had grown way too used to pushing around other kids to get what they wanted.
There were five of them. Two of them had football equipment, like shoulder pads and helmets tucked underneath their armpits. They looked like they could be twins, but Jack couldn't really be sure. They were arguing and bickering with slightly glazed blue eyes and long blonde hair. To the left of this group, sort of looked like he was an outcast. Part of the reason because of this whole nerdish aura around him. Maybe it was the anime dragon on his shirt. Or the comic books tucked into his armpit, in his backpack or in his arm right now. He had straw-like blonde hair with bright blue eyes. He looked rounder than the other kids. But that didn't stop him, from easily maneuvering through the crowd, talking at a fevered pace. Next to him was this kind of shortish kid. Jack disliked him at first glance. He looked arrogant and vain. He had greasy black hair plastered all over his face with an upturned nose and squinty black eyes. He had a football helmet tucked under his armpit. Jack shuddered at the thought of him actually putting the helmet on his head. Then there was her.
At first, Jack thought she was some typical Californian chick. She had her blonde hair tied in a braid. She had a tan. Her icy blue eyes scanned the room, as if checking the room for potential danger. Then he saw her stance. Ready, like if any idiot comes in her way, she would be punching faces. She looked like she would take no shit from anybody. Oh yeah, Jack would have fun annoying her. All of a sudden, she stopped when she turned her head to realize that there would were no more empty seats. Her blue eyes zeroed in on this poor kid's head who had taken two seats all by himself. One for himself and one for his backpack. She marched over to him and cleared her throat.
The kid's head turned and almost immediately his expression was transformed into a lovestruck one. Oh boy, Jack thought, rolling his eyes, already hit by Cupid's arrow.
"Hey, kid, you gonna keep all those two seats for yourself, or what?" the girl said, motioning her hand to the kid's backpack.
His gaze did not change. He just kept on staring at her. The expression on his face was like a puppy-face adoration. Oh how cute. It was just like this for an awkward minute before the greasy guy looked suspiciously between the two, stepped forward, grabbed the younger kid by his shirt and pulled him off of the chair. He pushed the backpack off the chair too. But once the backpack hit the floor, something black and shadowy sprung out and lunged toward the guy. Jack's eyes widened. What was it? But when he peered at the guy, now on his back, with a three thin slash marks across his face. Ok, now his attention was officially caught.
"Oh gosh, Snotlout, I am-" said the kid apologetic, gathering his backpack and standing up.
The girl looked interested in this kid, as if sizing him up.
"Hiccup," Snotlout said, grabbing the front of his shirt and pulling him forward, a menacing look on his face, "I swear, when we get off this train, I will-"
Jack decided enough was enough. He stood up and got in between Hiccup and Snotlout.
"You'll what?" Jack said, with just enough menace in his voice to make the threat sound serious.
He heard Hiccup mutter something behind him but he ignored it. He had enough of this ignorant pig. Jack had always hated people that pushed people around to get what they wanted. They were nothing but cowardly bullies. Snotlout quickly let go of Hiccup's shirt. Jack saw fear in Snotlout's eyes but he also saw that he wanted to impress the blondie and so love makes people stupid. Or at least, in Snotlout's case, stupid people even stupider. So he stuck his beefy chest out and stared Jack in the eye.
"What does it matter to you, freak?" Snotlout sneered.
Jack just stared his icy stare at Snotlout before answering.
"It matters to me because he's being pushed around by a greasy, sweating, cowardly pig like you," Jack replied.
There was a very pregnant silence before the blondie said something.
"Hey, calm down Scotty. Didn't know your name was Snotlout. Not very impressive name for a ripped, awesome, first star football player," snorted Astrid before rolling her eyes and sitting down.
"Well, Astrid, I just-" Snotlout said.
Hmm, her name was Astrid. Seemed to fit her, since Astrid sounded like some sort of Norse warrior goddess. Snotlout turned to Astrid and began sputtering excuses. All of the sudden, talk began to fill the train and the attention was pointed away from the four people. Jack turned around to face the kid who was blushing and looked down.
"You know, you didn't have to do that," Hiccup said, slinging the backpack around him.
Jack got a closer look at him. Not to be mean, but Jack kind of felt that the weird name fitted him. He was scrawny, unusually so. He had pale skin with freckles all over him. He had sort of longish brown hair that looked like it had never been brushed. And when he finally looked up, Jack saw that he had unusually bright greenish brown eyes. But they were laced with shame.
"Sometimes, kid, just accept the help next time," Jack said, ruffling his hair, seeing that Hiccup was a bit shorter than Jack.
Hiccup scowled and messed it up again. He looked longingly at his seat which had now been occupied by Astrid, the scary blonde girl, Snotlout, the greasy monkey, and the two twins. Jack saw this and rolled his eyes.
"Eh, let's go find another compartment. Seats are overrated anyway," Jack said, motioning his head toward the door.
Hiccup cracked a grin before heading for the door. Maybe Jack had actually got a friend here. Things were starting to look up.
LINE BREAK
"So that's why they call you, Hiccup?" Jack said incredulously.
They hadn't managed to find seats, so they squeezed themselves in the luggage compartment. Hiccup was propped up against the wall of the train which occasionally rattled. Hiccup nodded. He had a weird past. His dad was a wrestler, a boxer and a hunter. He was nicknamed Stoick the Vast because he was huge. It was rumored he wrestled a bear and won. By the looks of Hiccup's photos of his dad on his phone, Jack believed it. That guy was huge. Hiccup's mom didn't really come up in the conversation, but Jack had some sense that Hiccup didn't really want to talk about it.
"So, in this entire history conversation, were you going to tell me your name or do I have to just call you Random Guy from now on?" Hiccup said sarcastically.
Jack grinned.
"The name's Jack Frost, but you can call me the Awesome Guy that Saved Your Butt," Jack said smirking.
Hiccup smiled too, but suddenly Hiccup looked down, avoiding Jack's eyes. He seemed to do that a lot. Jack sighed, he was tired of this constant silence. He's had 7 years of silence. He wanted stuff to be loud, explosive, even if he had to cause that noise himself. While Hiccup was fiddling with one of his shoelaces, Jack reached over and snagged his backpack and looked inside. What? There was nothing in here but a baseball hat, a few comics, and a leather-bound book. Hiccup snatched his backpack back.
"Hey, what was that for?" Hiccup said indignantly.
"Sorry. I just though I saw something come out of your backpack and attack Snotlout," Jack said mildly, closely watching Hiccup's face for any sign or reaction.
A flicker of surprise flitted across Hiccup's face. Then it resumed back to its original annoyance. But Jack could still see that Hiccup was nervous.
"Well, you must've been imagining stuff, because I don't keep anything alive. Here. In my backpack. Because that's the only place that anything would be. You know, living," Hiccup stammered, his cheeks glowing.
Jack rolled his eyes. This kid was the most terrible liar he had ever encountered. And Jack had seen a lot. Jack reached in and grabbed the hat and looked at it. It was brown with the edge of the rim tinted silver. The symbol on it was a viking's helmet, slightly dented though. Surprisingly, Jack recognized the symbol. It was way back in the day, when Jack was still 10. Those were the Berk Vikings, huge beefy dudes that pummeled the shit out of some of the hockey players. Hiccup didn't object at Jack's taking of the hat. In fact, he looked at it with such sadness, like a puppy dog would look at it's owner's retreating back. Jack looked up and saw that face, and suddenly the teasing comment on his tongue faded away. Jack handed the hat back carefully. Shyly, Hiccup touched the hat and brought it in front of him, his fingers gently stroking the rim. For a while, Jack waited for him to explain. And just when, Jack thought maybe Hiccup wasn't going to explain, he did.
"Yeah, this hat was my mother's. She loved the Berk Vikings," Hiccup said, before stopping abruptly.
Jack noticed the past tense verbs. Then suddenly the puzzle pieces just fitted together. Why Hiccup didn't want to talk about his mother a lot. An overwhelming sadness filled Jack. No parent should ever leave their kid. Unless they were taken from them. Jack scooted toward Hiccup, who looked like he was about to cry and seemed to regret even taking the hat with him.
"Hey, man, I know it probably won't help. But sorry about your mom," Jack said.
Hiccup seemed to snap out of it. He grinned weakly and gently put the hat back into his backpack. He rubbed his eyes and smiled again. Jack grinned.
"Hey, I know we're friends and all, but if you tell anyone about this whole sap-story moment, I will personally kill you," Hiccup said, standing up and brushing off imaginary dust on his green shirt.
Jack just chuckled and stood up as well. Well this turned out to be much different. All of a sudden, the cart stopped. Hiccup and Jack pitched forward, caught by surprise by this sudden movement. Luckily, Jack managed to catch himself on a tall suitcase. Hiccup however tripped over a suitcase and landed on his back. He groaned with pain.
"Hey, maybe a warning next time, so I don't die" grumbled Hiccup to no one in particular as he got himself up.
Jack wasn't listening though. He climbed up the towering suitcase pile, (really, people, how much stuff do you need just to go to a freaking school) and pushed the roof off a little opening and poked his head out.
"Whoa, man, you have got to see this," Jack murmered, gawking at some of the sights. This place was like a fantasia come to life. There was this huge forest surrounding this enormous castle. This castle looked like straight out of a fairy tale book, with huge twisting spires and large windows. One side of the forest was strangely shadowed by the castle's shadow. That part sort of looked dark and twisted, with gnarled branches. It looked like some sort of poison lived in the shadow, and poisoned all the trees. But the side facing the sun, was all green and bright and pretty and basically spring-princessy. Jack could see small patches in the bright green trees, where he could see crystal clear lakes. This forest stretched out for miles and miles. Surrounding this gigantic forest, where huge mountains, whose tips dipped into the swirling clouds. They sort of looked like blue corn tortilla chips dipped in sour cream placed upside down. A rumbling sound reminded Jack that he was starving. That ice cream cone was hours ago. He looked down and saw Hiccup, squinting up at Jack.
"This place is freaking amazing!" Jack said, excitedly, climbing down the extensive mountain of luggage.
Hiccup's eyes widened. Inside of him, Jack knew he was excited. But there was part of him that felt a bit doubtful. What if this was all a joke? If they got to this school, and it turned out to be nothing more than a mirage. That would be the cruelest joke ever. To raise his hopes high. His hopes of starting over. Only to have them crushed. Jack shook these morbid thoughts away and locked them away in a chest inside of them. This was a new life now. No more of these past depressions.
"Come on, Hiccup, time to go," Jack said, racing toward the door.
Dun, dun, dun! CLIFFHANGER! Don't worry, Merida and Rapunzel will be coming in soon. Anyway, I am soooo excited for How To Train your Dragon 2! Hiccup finally gets puberty! And boy did he get it! I bet Astrid is more happier now, if you know what I mean. ;). Sorry if I made this school too much like Hogwarts. This school is based off of Hogwarts. I know the forest sounds like the Forbidden Forest. And you'll be "sorted" into groups. But don't worry. I have this whole plan thought out (not really). Remember the two important R's. Review and 'Rite. Just pretend "write" starts with an r.