Chapter 3 – Choice

Well, ready for chapter 3? How's the story going? So, this chapter will be introducing the three main supporting characters. Please say what you think about them. As always, I'd like to do a quick shoutout to:

- Stingray

- LordPublisher

- 54

Anyway, let's get into it.

The Isle of Berk was divided into 2 parts. The Great Hall was the main money maker. You could always find at least half of the tables full, at any time of the day. The other part of The Isle of Berk was 'The Dockyards'. It was a crummy take-away shop that Gobber had opened after he made his fortune with 'The Great Hall'. According to him, everyone always started off there, before getting promoted to a waiter or waitress at 'The Great Hall'. Gobber had called Astrid over and asked her to show Harrison around, but she took one look at him and said she was too busy before storming off with a scowl melted on her face. But Gobber took it in his stride. Harrison was beginning to like his new boss. He was always jolly and nothing ever fazed him. After signing the papers, Gobber took Harrison into 'The Dockyards'. He told Harrison to be here tomorrow at 9:00 and he can start work with the other new recruits. Harrison left feeling happy, with his uniform in his backpack. For once in his life, he felt happy and excited about his new job.

Harrison didn't know where to go. He decided to risk and see if his father was home. It was a ten-minute walk between 'The isle of Berk' and his place. While he was walking, he decided to practise for tomorrow.

"Hello, how can I help you?" Harrison asked himself. "Would you like to place an order?"

He was nervous and excited about tomorrow, never having done anything like this before.

When he got to his house, his spirits rose as he saw his father's Shelby Mustang was gone. It was his work car meaning he wouldn't be home for the few days. He didn't have a key, but his father was a forgetful old sod, who always kept a spare key under the garden gnome. He smiled as he lifted the gnome and saw the key under it. He was looking forward to a good night's sleep after last night.


Harrison decided to set a good example for his boss and arrived 10 minutes early. He tapped on the glass door at the front of 'The Dockyards'. He noticed a young woman mopping the floor inside. He banged on the door.

"We don't serve breakfast at this branch," the woman shouted as she looked at her watch.

Harrison shook his head. "I'm starting today."

"What?" the woman asked, cupping her hand to the glass.

"I'm working here," Harrison repeated.

The girl smiled and pointed to the staff entrance. "Go around and ask for Spitelout."

"Thanks," Harrison smiled, giving the thumbs up.

Harrison walked through the staff entrance and into 'The Dockyards'. The tiled floor was covered in muddy footprints and the massive freezer was making an unhealthy noise.

"Hello," Harrison said, putting on his politest voice. "Anyone in here?"

Harrison gasped. He knew the face. Spitelout Jorgenson. It was Scott's Father.

"Ahhhhh, here's the man of the hour. Harrison Haddock. I want you to know son, I expext only the best from you."

Harrison gulped. He was more imitating than his son. "Yes sir."

"We'll wait for the other two, then I'll start my little introduction."

Harrison wondered who the other two were. Spitelout told him to take a quick look around. Harrison looked at his watch. 9:00, 9:10, 9:20. It was nearly 9:30 when the other two waltzed in.

'Morning boss," the man said. Harrison studied him. He looked roughly 18, he was extremely well built with a handsome face and scruffy brown hair. The girl next to him had long brown hair, a pretty face and long tanned legs. She looked a little younger at about 17. Harrison would later find out the man's name was Mason and the girls was Sami.

"Afternoon," Spitelout said sarcastically as he glanced at his watch. "Nice of you to stop by. Weren't you due here half an hour ago?"

Mason waved his hand in front of his face. "There's only one bus an hour and it was running late."

"I'd appreciate it if you could get the early one tomorrow. Your training takes place on top of everything else," Spitelout said snidely.

Mason shook his head. "Why don't you take it out of our wages? Oh wait, its work experience."

Sami gave Mason a harsh look and whispered, "Don't start."

"This is the place of food preparation," Spitelout said pompously. "The golden rule is Hygiene, Hygiene, Hygiene. If the food isn't cooked according to 'The Dockyard's' guidelines, the result could be a nasty backlash of bad publicity and a hefty fine. I want you to put your uniforms on then clean yourself up. Grab a workbook and I want you to complete the questions. Report me once you're done."

Mason gave the thumbs up. "Super cool," He said.

Ten minutes later, Mason, Sami and Harrison sat in a table in the shop. They each had a pencil and a workbook with a boat pulling away from the docks on the cover and the logo 'Welcome to the dockyards'.

"Okay, Sami, see if you can handle this one," Mason said, before reading aloud in an upbeat America accent. "You have now read the section on safety and hygiene. Now please answer the following 10 questions. Number one, after using the restroom, all staff must: A) Turn out bathroom lights, B) Return to work as quickly as possible or C) Carefully wash and dry their hands using soap and hot water. Which one do you think?"

Harrison had quickly realised that Mason was a joker. He managed to figure out that Mason and Sami were new recruits of the Australian Army. According to Sami, it was in their contracts that they had to do at least 100 hours work experience.

Sami tutted. "Mason, stop pissing about. We just got here."

"Its soooooo lame," he said, before reading out another question. "If you find a spillage in the customer area, should you: A) Place a safety warning cone over the site of the spillage? B) Ignore it because it's not your responsibility or C) Pull down your pants, grab your ankles and do a huge shit in the puddle?"

Sami kept silent.

"I made that last one up by the way."

'You never grow up do you Mason? If you get fired from this, the drill instructors will have you run the assault course till you throw up. Then we'll have to listen to poor old Mason whinging about how unfair his life is."

'Come on Sami, only you could take this seriously. This book has been used by fifty other people. You can even see where their answers have been rubbed out."

Sami managed a smile. "The disturbing thing is that quite a few people had got them wrong.

As Harrison and Mason started to crack up, the waitress that Harrison had saw earlier in the morning walked over. Her badge said "Heather".

"Sorry," Harrison said, wrapping a hand over his smile. "Didn't mean to disturb you."

Heather raised an eyebrow. "From cleaning? Don't sweat it on my account. There's two things you need to know working here. First is Spitelout is a miserable idiot. That's because he's 48 and his wife left him for a twenty something actor, leaving him and his son. The second is all the urban myths about people dropping food on the floor and spitting gum in the deep fryers are all true, especially if I'm doing the cooking."

Mason laughed and reached to shake Heathers hand. "You sound like my type of person."


A week later, Mason and Harrison had become good mates. Harrison looked forward to work every day because it meant he got to be with his mates. He never had friends in school, but now he knew what he was missing. Every day, a warm feeling would start bubbling in his stomach when he saw Mason, Sami or Heather. It was approaching the end of their shift and him and Sami were the only ones doing anything. Mason and Heather were both playing Poker at the back of the store on upturned buckets. Spitelout came out of his office.

"Excellent job Sami, you really know how to work," Spitelout said, standing creepily close to Sami before turning in Harrison direction

Spitelout turned to Harrison. "Let's see a bit more work out of you tomorrow, Harrison. Alright, off you go."'

As soon as he uttered these words, Mason and Heather shot out of the back room and out the doors, leaving Harrison and Sami in their trails.

Sami smiled. "We better catch them."

Sami and Harrison caught up to them at the doors.

"So, what are we up to this arvo Harrison?" Mason asked him.

"I dunno. Might buy lunch or something. There's a computer world across the street. I might pop over for a quick browse."

Sami smiled. "Never pegged you for a computer geek."

"I'm not," Harrison said defensively. "Just. . .. I've saved some money up from working. Might see if there's any half decent computer games."

"Suit yourself," Mason said. "If you want, I'm meeting a few mates at 'The Great Hall', if you want, you can tag along."

"Strolling the shops alone didn't seem very appealing to Harrison especially since Scott was still out for revenge (he thanked his lucky stars that Spitelout hadn't told his son where Harrison was working), so he ended up strolling with Mason, Sami and Heather back into The Isle of Berk and straight into The Great Hall. He looked around, hoping to see Astrid. Harrison thought for a second. He suddenly realised, he didn't care. Astrid had ignored him his whole life, why should he care. He had new friends and he didn't need Astrid in his life. Harrison nodded. He had made the right choice.

"Food smells alright," Sami said, taking in her surroundings.

Heather looked surprised. "You haven't been here before?"

Sami shook her head. "Looks pretty good though."

Mason nodded. "Sting, Dutchie and Teddy are here," he said, referring to the three men sitting down at the table to their right.

"Who?" Harrison asked.

"They're my squad mates. They are passing through Berk, on their way to Sydney."

The man Mason called Sting stood up and shook Harrisons hand. "Names Christopher Woods," He said in a strong British accent. "Please to meet you lad."

Teddy nodded to Harrison and spoke in an ordinary aussie accent. "Terrence Trason is the name," he said, before banging his elbow down on the table. "All right Sting, stop stalling. Time to put your money where your very large mouth is."

As Harrison, Mason, Sami and Heather found seats around the table, they noticed a small pile of coins between Sting and Teddy.

"Ever arm-wrestled before, Harrison?" Sami asked.

"I've seen it," Harrison replied.

The man called Dutchie was acting as referee, and knelt at the end of the tables as Teddy and Sting gripped each other's hands and eyed each other up. Where's Teddy and Sting looked about 19 or 20, Dutchie looked a lot older, at about 30.

"Ready?" He asked, with a Dutch accent. "Three, two, one, Wrestle."

Sting and Teddy's faces contorted as they tried pinning the others hand to the table. Sting had the early advantage, but Teddy had the stamina. It took half a minute, but Teddy shot up and yelled to celebrate his victory.

"You suck!" Teddy shouted. "It's my money."

Sting took his loss in good humour. They sat around talking after they ordered. While waiting, Harrison found out that Sting, Dutchie, Teddy and Mason were all in the same squad. They had all completed training together and they were waiting for their orders. They all speculated where they would be posted, but they had no idea. Sami was in the Royal Australian Airforce. After passing training, she had flown two resupplying missions to Afghanization, but yet to engage in aerial combat.

Heather was a pretty ordinary person. After completing high school, she started working at the Dockyards to save money for university. She wanted to study Law, but she just hadn't found the time to enrol.

Mason was a little drunk and everyone burst out laughing when Sami slapped him after attempting to flirt with her.

'Mason!" said an impatient looking chef, holding up the steak he ordered. "Stop chatting up the girls and come get your dinner."


Four weeks later. . . .

Harrison's phones ringtone echoed around his bedroom. The alarm clock on his nightstand read – 23:40. His father still hadn't returned. Over the past four weeks, Harrison had slowly turned his room into a tip and he scrambled around looking for his phone. He eventually found it under a sweaty jumper.

"Hello," Harrison said dopily.

"Wakey wakey, hands off snakey," Mason's voice echoed from his phone.

"What the hell, Mason?" Its Midnight."

"Sorry bruh. My orders came through. We're getting deployed next week. They want me down me down in Sydney for briefing. Sorry mate, but my flight leaves at one in the morning. I gotta move. I'll call you later eh?"

"Sure," Harrison said.

"Sweet bro, talk to you soon."

Harrison sighed as Mason ended the call. Heather had quit work, and Sami got deployed two weeks ago. Mason and Harrison had been bumming around Berk, waiting. Now Mason was gone, Harrison was all alone. Again. What was here for Harrison? Had no family that cared about him, no friends who lived here anymore, he had a crummy job and a bully who was still hunting him. There was nothing here for Harrison. So, what was stopping him from leaving. He earned enough for a trip around Australia. But to what end? Blow all his hard-earned money on one trip. After that, he'd be broke, homeless and hungry. He needed a place that would provide accommodation, pay him and feed him. Harrison laughed. Not one place on earth would do that. Suddenly it hit him like a brick. Mason, Sami, Teddy, Dutchie and Sting. They all had one thing in common. How could he have missed it? The one thing that would solve all his problems. The Australian Army….

IT'S A TRAP! Just kidding. IT'S A WRAP. There we go. So, how'd I go? Did you enjoy it? Nearly 2500 words, pretty hefty. Please review and tell me your thoughts. Anyway, how was that? Better or worst then the second chapter? If you review, I'll make sure you get a shoutout.

I noticed you don't like the way Harrison has a crush on Astrid. Please tell me how you think I can fix it.

I also added a few characters to this story. Tell me about them please.

PLEASE REVIEW. Tell me your thoughts, how I can make this story better, how can I fix the mistakes? Please leave some constructive criticism and leave a character profile. Just Imagine how cool it would be to see your character in my story. Pretty cool aye! Also, I would love to see how you think the story should process. You never know, your idea might appear

***SPOLIERS*** (If you've read the original, you pretty much know what's going to happen.)

- A name

- A Nickname

- An age

- The relationship to Harrison

- A short brief about their Childhood

- Their relationship status

- And how they got recruited into the army